Week in Review: June 2nd-8th

The Good

- SeungHyun was out of town last weekend, so I got to spend some much needed time with some of my oft neglected friends. Spent Friday night in Suyu (my neighborhood) with members of the Suyu Crew. We had dak galbi at my second favorite dak galbi place in Korea and then proceeded to drink... heavily.

Suyu Station, exit 7, take the first right, walk straight, it's on the northeast corner of the second small intersection, you'll be glad you went.

Drinking on the sidewalk: can't get much more Korean than that.

- Saturday was my gayageum recital. I had to sing the first verse and chorus to Arirang (traditional Korean folk song), I only forgot two or three words, there's video, I'll post it when I'm good and ready to.

Me, in a hanbok (traditional Korean dress), 'nuff said

- This week did not have a whole lot of teaching going on. In fact, I only taught any classes on Monday and Friday. Tuesday was Sports Day at my school (like Field Day in America, but more intense), Wednesday was Memorial Day, and Thursday was the practice KSAT. All in all it's been a pretty relaxing week.

The Bad

-Well, there hasn't been much bad this week, other than the fact that I am totally not into what is going on in fashion this summer. I went to H&M on Tuesday hoping to find a top and maybe a skirt and found NOTHING to my liking. I guess it's my own fault for hating sleeveless shirts and prints that are overly complicated, but come on, can I get ONE nice fitting, short-sleeve or sheer top with a cute pattern? PLEASE!?

- I spent too much money this week, mostly because I had a wealth of free time and so did a lot of the other westerners in the city. Hanging out with westerners is EXPENSIVE! Why do we have such a fondness for western food and high quality booze? I'm going back on the Soju and Vitamin Water diet for this weekend's booze options.

K-Pop Music Video of the Week

I called this one last week when I had a class ask to watch the teaser trailer for the video (that NEVER happens, they hate teaser trailers!

This week was easily won by Big Bang's "Monster":

Focusing on the positive: I really like this song. The lyrics are really heartfelt and pretty poetic. The track fits the lyrics well and, for once, we hear T.O.P.'s voice sound legitimately emotional (see minute markers 2:25-2:32). Seungri's solo is also pretty silky-smooth, I guess his solo career in R&B is starting to rub off on the band (minute markers 2:03-2:17). I also enjoy the piano on this track, the dissonance fits the mood nicely.

Now that that's over: I HATE THE COSTUME AND HAIR DESIGN IN THIS VIDEO. Ok, so that anger is all directed at the choices for Taeyang and Daesung. Daesung is normally the most conservatively dressed member of the group and, in this video, they have him wearing what can only be described as an "anti-kiss" weapon of a nose ring. 

WHAT THE HELL, did he sneeze in -50 degree weather?

Then there's this monstrosity:

No comment necessary

I mean, how is it that they managed to make G. Dragon look like the more sensibly dressed one in the group for this video?

Never though I'd say this... but I'm actually attracted to G. Dragon in this music video... I don't know how to deal with that.

T.O.P., as always, looks impeccable (because he's NOT HUMAN, I'll soon do a post on "Why T.O.P. is Actually a Cyborg). However... come on, T.O.P.... throw your fan-girls a bone and show SOME skin. Taeyang, Daesung, Seungri, and even G. Dragon are not too shy to show off their impressive chests and abs, and you come into this video with a TURTLENECK?! You're killing me, T.O.P., my imagination can only work so hard...

Ok... well... maybe I can forgive you...

Ok, I'm going to call T.O.P. out on one more thing: SHOW AN EMOTION IN MUSIC VIDEOS OTHER THAN "I'M DISTURBINGLY SEXY AND COOL, AND I KNOW IT!"

This is NOT an acceptable position to strike when fleeing from a burning, exploding building

I am a little nervous about a possible pattern that might be threatening to emerge from these "music video of the week" segments. I am going to try my hardest to review a different music video than they do over at Eat Your Kimchi, but there was no avoiding it this week. Do yourself a favor and, after reading, commenting on, and sharing my review, go watch theirs, it's pretty funny!