Kpop Survival / Competition Shows Spring 2023

My kdrama watching this past spring was taken over by kpop survival shows. This where a bunch of guys compete to survive at the end and thus be in a new kpop group formed with the winners. Many of the current popular groups were formed in a such a way. I've only watched a handful of them in real time, and a few way after the fact, because they are PAINFUL to watch. Highly emotional and manipulative and "evilly edited" as we love to say. 

But on the other hand, they are awesome. Because there's always amazing performances, and you get to see the boys working SO HARD to achieve their dream, and there's just something about that that is absolutely mesmerizing. And the interaction between the boys is always fun, not competitive, but friendly and encouraging with tons of bonds being made.

And of course you fall in love with every single one of them and want them all to debut (ie. make into a group and start promoting.) So it's fun to watch, and it's painful to watch, all at the same time. It makes for great TV.

So I watched two such shows these past couple of months. Let me tell you about them.

BOYS PLANET

This one was highly produced with an amazing set and resources. It started with about 100 boys, divided into two teams... Korean kids and Global kids (everyone else not from Korea.) It was annoying for us that they were pitted against each other at first, seeing that in the end, one group would be made from them. And it's always cool to have a group made up from members all over the world. Anyway. That's how it started and it was quickly narrowed down by half. Then they had several missions to accomplish, always so fun to see what they come up with for them to do. And every mission, the boys would be randomly (ish) divided into different teams each time. After several episodes of this, it was pretty apparent which boys would rise to the top. Each week we learn their rankings to see who made it that week, until the final episode when we see who made it into the final group of the top nine boys. It's seriously so intense. 

I had my favorite that I voted for... mostly because I knew him from a previous show and he barely lost that one and I felt like he had talent and charisma up the wazoo and NEEDED to be in a group NOW. That boy is Gunwook and he is only like 17 years old, but he was ready. Did he make it? SPOILER: YES HE DID! I was so surprised because he was in and out of that top list the whole show. Click here to see his fun reaction to making it. I could watch it over and over.

Park Gunwook

ZEROBASEONE

Anyway, the boys that made it are all awesome and their new group is called ZEROBASEONE or ZB1 for short and they already had their debut song come out. It's adorable. And yes, several global kids made it in, yay for that!

Already we are hearing about two groups that will have boys who didn't make it into ZB1. So obviously I'll be keeping my eye on them too. That's the other crazy thing about watching a survival show, you get invested in not only the group that wins, but all the groups that spin off from it! (Those groups have the very unique names of TIOT and BLIT. Look for them! LOL!) 

Also, if you are curious what it looks like for 100 boys to be in a music video.. here's the performance they ALL did before anyone was eliminated. Though the boys with the higher rank were at the top of this thing, and the boys with the lower were on the floor. It broke my heart! Also, the boys with blue are Korean and the boys with pink are the Global kids. Just in case you were curious!

FANTASY BOYS

Just as Boys Planet was ending, this one started. I wasn't going to watch, but I was drawn in by my number one pick dude for this one, another boy I'd seen on a previous show where he didn't make it. He's so sweet and shy and adorable, but changes to be fierce and powerful on stage. It's the best. Also, I was drawn in by the four judges/producers of this one... some great icons in the kpop industry. They were fun to watch too. This particular show, though, seemed a lot lower budget and had less talented boys than Boys Planet.

Yu Junwon

Fantasy Boys

At least that's what I thought at first... until we got more towards the end and the cream of the crop rose to the top and boy.. they were all amazing too. The top 12 boys who made it the end will be in group and unfortunately, they are keeping the name Fantasy Boys. Geez. And my boy Junwon, made it to the number position. Way to go dude!  There was another one I was really rooting for, but alas, he just barely didn't make it. And there are several boys that made it who are VERY young. I hope they can deal with what comes next, because it only gets harder.

These guys haven't debuted yet, but I'll watching to see what they come up with. Here's a song they did for the show though that they later made this mv for:

And then there was:

PEAK TIME

This show was a bit different in that it was a competition between groups. Some old established groups that have fallen from the spotlight, some groups that had broken up but decided to get together for this show, some groups that have been doing okay, but wanted a nice push, some very new groups that no one knows, and some groups that hadn't even debuted yet. So the range in age and experience was HUGE. They also put together group made up of a bunch of solo boys from various groups. 

The premise was that each group would have a different name for the shows, corresponding to the 24 hours in the day. And  their true identity would be "hidden" until they were dropped from the show. (Of course we all knew who they were the whole time, cheering on our favorites and adding a ton of new favorites to our lists.) The winning groups would get a ton of promotional help, a concert in Korea, and then the top group gets tons of money, an album produced, and a world tour. It was a great incentive for all these groups who were struggling in some sort of way.

There was huge panel of judges all from famous popular groups, and many producers and etc. They were awesome and so much fun to watch too.

This show was AMAZING! I loved it so much and hope they do it again sometime with a whole pile of new groups. The positive feeling and the love and encouragement they all showed each other was great. They competed as their own groups, but then were divided several times into random different groups so they all had to get to know each other and work together and cheer each other on. We were able to vote for our favorite teams and also our favorite individuals. (Man that was hard.) 

And the performances were so phenomenal. Here are two that really stood out. This is one of the randomly assigned groups for the dance competition:

And there's one from the randomly assigned groups for the vocal competition:

Chills EVERY SINGLE TIME! 

And the winning team? 

SPOILER: 

VANNER! They even actually came to my podunk city for a concert last year and I was out of town and couldn't go! And they only had like 50 people at all their concerts in all the cities, and they were struggling financially, paying for everything out their own pockets.

     

Their story is crazy good and it was PERFECT that they won this thing. Now they are popular and everyone loves them! I had several other favorite groups on this show and was sad for those that didn't make it, but so happy for the 6 groups who won in the end. And hopefully the ones that didn't make it got a ton of positive exposure. Anyway, it was so fun and like I said, let's do that again!

(I must say I'm pretty sure even if you aren't into kpop music and such, you'd still get into these shows. If you are one that feels like there's nothing good watch these days, you should seriously try this.)

The Sunday Post: Just Catching Up!

                        The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer.

LISTENING:

I am absolutely head over heels in love with this song:(There's no mv because it's a b-side.)

And the whole album is what I've been playing non stop for a month now. 

And I managed to get tickets to see these guys (TXT) in May! YES!!

WATCHING

I started a really cute, sweet, simple high school kdrama called A Love so Beautiful. 

I'm also watching two competition Kpop music shows: Boys Planet and Peak Time. Both are being pretty intense and quite enjoyable to watch. Rooting for everyone to make it, lol! I haven't found any English things to be interested in for awhile now. Suggestions?

READING:

Just finished up The Last Anniversary for book club and have started the second book from The Ember in the Ashes series called A Torch in the Night. 

I've also started Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson, and my plan is to read just a bit every day and finish it by the end of the year... and vlog the journey. Hopefully someone might be interested in that!

WRITING:

I've been quite a bit of time researching how to send queries. Yeah. This is not easy, this part. Writing the book is a cinch compared to this...

But I now have a list of about 30 to start with. That's something!  I don't expect anything to happen, I just want to say I've done it. I've tried. You know?

BLOGGING:

I reviewed my January books

I officially announced my challenges

I listed some new-to-me authors

YOUTUBING:

On the kpop one:

I highlighted my favorite songs in January

I vlogged our concert experience from a few weekends ago!

On the Booktube one:

I started going through every book in my home library. There's currently three parts, all the YA section. Click here for part one to get started! I've posted a bunch of other stuff, so be sure to go take a look!

And that's about all that's been going on around here! I hope you are all doing awesome!

The Sunday Post: Life Goes On

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer.

 

LISTENING:

The kpop music world is starting strong with a sweet rock song from Monsta X that I've been listening to a lot this week:

But Fall Out Boy had a "comeback" too! (Do you call it a comeback in the nonkpop world? I don't even know anymore!)

WATCHING:

I still haven't finished my latest kdrama watch because another Korean show took over... called Single Inferno. It's a Bachelor type dating show, that is totally different than the Bachelor (at least what I've seen of it.) I was leery going in, but everyone was right, it grabs and you are invested so freaking fast! I was annoyed that no one liked my favorite boy. Whatever. I hope he ended up finding love somewhere else with some real girl, lol.  (The girls felt very fake I must say, except one of them who was so different from all the rest of them!) 

Our household has also been watching the Harry and Meghan documentary. I've found it to so very interesting and quite sad and depressing too. The crazy lives some people lead, you know what I mean?  hope to get to his book someday to read down the road soon too. 

We also watched Super Junior's documentary thanks to Jenni and her Hulu! LOL! It was a quick two hour thing that give us a glimpse of how this, my favorite kpop band, came to be and rose to fame and how they have managed to stay together for these almost 20 years now despite some really really painful and hard moments. They are seriously some of the best humans out there. 

READING:

I finished My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You I'm Sorry for book club. That was an awesome book and made for a petty good book club discussion.  I will say more about it on my monthly review post. 

I started An Ember in the Ashes, which is one of my books from my forever TBR that I'm hoping to get through some of this year. Pretty intense and harsh story so far!

WRITING:

I signed up for the annual Storymakers Conference which takes place in May. 

I'm hoping to be brave enough to query my 80's story this year!

And the finishing up of the space opera story is slow slow going. I am so bad at this!

BLOGGING:

I've posted my top ten books of 2022, my top ten dramas of 2022, my goals for 2023, I crunched some numbers from 2022, and caught up on reviews with a couple of mini review posts. I think this will be my formant from now one. Anyway, be sure to scroll through and check them all out!

YOUTUBING:

On the KPOP channel I've uploaded a bunch more year end videos, but here I'll share my favorite title tracks of the year. Great songs, yeah?

Or you can watch my narrowed down favorites in a quick 1 minute short here!

One of these groups I get to see in person in two weeks... AHHHH!!!

One the BOOK channel I did another bookstore tour:

And also introduced my "Forced Phases" idea to the world. I hope to do a separate post about this here, but in the meantime, go watch it and I'd love for you to join me!!

HEALTH WATCH:

Trying to get back into the exercise routine still. Some weeks I manage it and others are quite rough. The struggle is real, for sure. I really need to stop eating stuff again too.

MISC:

Trying to think if there's anything else interesting to report on in life.  Lots has been going on but nothing that will be too very interesting to most I would imagine. I hope all is going well for you all! I hope the reading is being fun! 

         

The Sunday Post: Happy Christmastime!

 

 The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer.

Oh my word I am so behind with blogging posts! And now Sunday is almost over, but here I am writing a quick little post! AHH! Life is so crazy.

Listening:

Breaking out the the huge Christmas playlist that includes all my favorite things. My favorite (roughly speaking) is this one from last year by Stray Kids. It's so funny and so great and just try not to sing and dance along!

Watching: We have joined the rest of the world in watching Wednesday on Netflix. It's very fun, isn't it? I think it's funny that it came out at Christmastime instead of Halloween. Whatever! But yeah. We have one more episode and then... what will we watch next???

Looking forward to the season finale of Amazing Race this week. Rooting for two different teams so I have no idea who I'll be cheering for in those final moments!

Reading: Ah I'm so behind on writing up reviews! I've finished a couple more books. Since the last Sunday post I did, I finished Not Going There, The Fox Inheritance and Atomic Habits. I have "one minute reviews" posted on the booktube channel if interested!

Writing: Zero writing as been done. Ugh.

Blogging: Zero blogging has been done. Dang.

YouTubing: Lots of Youtubing has been done though!

Over on the Booktube channel  there's much happening, but one video you may be interested in is when I compare my reading to what Rory read in The Gilmore Girls. Dang that girl read some crazy stuff!

On the Kpop channel I just finished editing this fast-paced intense thing that shows off some cool images and moment from MVs this past year. You should totally watch and make me happy!

Health Watch: Well, my husband got covid for Thanksgiving, so we cancelled all our plans. Then a few days later, sure enough, I got it too, so we cancelled all our plans the week after Thansgiving too. That means we missed our outing to see Moulin Rouge at the theater... and kpop movie that I was so excited to support. Sigh. Whatever. Anyway, that was our first bout of covid, so we finally got that over with. My husband has felt pretty crappy, but I only had couple of days were I needed ibuprofen, and have since been fine. Really hoping I can go back to work tomorrow but I haven't tested yet today to see what the verdict is. We have gone through about 12 tests just this past week between the three of us. My daughter didn't get it this time, probably because she had her turn in July and didn't feel the need to join us this time. LOL! 

Misc:

* We finally got our tree up today. So now it truly feels like Christmas around here. I have no idea how I'm going to get all the gift buying done though. 

Here's hoping life can resume this week and we get through all the events planned for this month! 

The Sunday Post: Another Year Older

 The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer.

Time for another catch up post!!

Listening:

One of my new favorite groups is called TRENDZ... here is the "dance practice" of their latest song. I wanted you to see their amazing choreography, should you happen to choose to click on it! They blow me away with this talent! AHH!

And for something totally different that I'm loving from this week:

Watching: Just keeping up with the Survivor and Amazing Race episodes. I finally got invested in a kdrama from last year called From a Distance, Spring is Green. It tackles some heavy subjects, but stars an adorable kpop idol named Park Jihoon. I'm loving his acting in this one.

Reading: I actually finished several books over the past couple of weeks! It's a miracle! Fingersmith, The Maid, and People We Meet on Vacation. I really enjoyed all of them. You should be able to find my thoughts on all of them here on the blog, or over on the Booktube channel.

Writing: I've been doing pretty awful at my 10,000 word Nano goal, but I did add another 1000 the other day, for a total of almost 3000. Better than nothing, right?

Blogging: The Struggle!

YouTubing:

The Booktube channel is growing fast thanks to the Book Shelf Tour video I shared here last time. I have since uploaded the video where I reorganized the mess and tried to get rid of some things. Here's that one if you missed it:

On the Kpop channel I'm gearing up for all the year end video compilations I love to do. Maybe I'll have a cool one to share next time.

Health Watch: Ugh. It's still terrible in this category of my life. I dug out all my fat pants that I was wearing three years ago before I lost the weight. Most of it is back on now. Just like everyone said it would be. I am learning that "normal" eating won't work at all for sure. (Normal eating meaning normal carbs... not even out of control carbs.)

We all had a bit of a cold at this house since last I wrote. But we never tested for the covid, so who knows? 

Misc:

* I'm anxious about what's going to happen with Twitter since I'm quite addicted to that spot. I don't think many of you follow me over there, so it probably won't affect our little interaction here. I am embracing Discord and finding some places there. If you are in a Discord that you find is cool let me know!

* I had a birthday this past week! Is that reason to celebrate? I'm not sure any more!

* We are going to see Mandy Patinkin in concert this weekend. We saw him once upon a time years ago and I'm excited to see him again. He's quite the goofball! And an amazing singer.

The Sunday Post: NOVEMBER!

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer.

Sorry I've been so MIA lately! So much is going on here... well, it's slowed down a bit now but wow, October was INTENSE! We literally had some sort of party or travel, or thing every night for two weeks straight. It was fun, but so very crazy. Anyway. Here's my report!

LISTENING:

I had fun making a Thanksgiving playlist on Spotify. Here's the link if you're interested:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5fCPsYTuMrWulb6JBWyh8N?si=b34c3b47fd0b4a47  

One of my favorite songs from the past month is this from a boy group now called TFN (formerly T1419) and they are a less well known, new-ish group. We got to see them at the festival we went to in October (see below) and then they come out with this new song shortly after. I love love love the choreography! And it's so fun to know them better now after seeing them all in person. They are awesome!

If you want something a little more mellow, I'm in love with this guy's debut solo album. Seriously so good.  He's the dude from a brother sister duo group called AKMU. Anyway, this is the title track:

 

 WATCHING:

Doing pretty well at keeping up with Survivor and Amazing Race. Finished Young Actor's Retreat (which I reviewed here) and trying to find a kdrama that captures my attention. Struggling in that department. I haven't really watched much else lately.

READING:

I finished Feed by Mira Grant (reviewed here) and Fingersmith by Sarah Waters... review to come soon. Both strange books. I started The Maid by Nita Prose for book club. I can tell I'm not quite in the mood for it. I may wait another week and read something more... fun... for a minute. I really need something fun right now. What should it be??

WRITING:

I pledged to write 10,000 words as a NANOWRIMO rebel! So far I've done 1000! Woot! I haven't done much this weekend though, so that's not good. But seriously, having this bite-sized goal feels so awesome... and I don't know what it is about doing a big community event like this that makes writing more fun... but there's something there that drives me.  

BLOGGING:

I uploaded two posts this week lol! And I already linked to them... my review of Feed and of Young Actors' Retreat. This week I hope to review Fingersmith, maybe do a Top Ten Tuesday, and not sure what else. 

YOUTUBING:

I've posted several videos on the new booktube channel. The most popular one so far is a tour of my bookshelves. Go check it out if you haven't yet!

 

 We are now working on a video of us organizing the books. Look for that one to come soon!

The kpop channel has my favorites of the month compilation. So check that one out for some awesome songs that you might fall in love with! There's a bunch of mellow ones on the list this time, if that's your style:

    

In mid October we went to a thing called KAMP LA 2022... it was a brand new kpop festival that we were so excited about, but it turned out to be quite the fiasco. Half of the artists that were promised to come, didn't come because of visa issues, which is the fault of the festival organizer. We think they didn't have enough money because people didn't buy tickets like they thought and so they messed up the visas on purpose since they wouldn't have money to pay them. In they end they were giving away free tickets (that I paid hundreds of dollars for) and begging people to show up. It was crazy. But still we went because we just wanted to see Super Junior and thankfully they showed up! So... after six years of being into this kpop thing, I finally got to see the group that started it all for me. It was amazing. We did a vlog about the whole experience, with clips from the shows... here:

EATING/EXERCISING: 

Struggling. Always struggling. I finished the first month of doTerra's Metapowr stuff and it was all good, but I didn't lose weight or anything miraculous like that. I plan to at least continue with the collagen drink. 

MISC:

* I've been so devastated by the tragedy that happened in Seoul last weekend. My sister was there with her friends (in Seoul) but chose to go to a concert that night instead of partying with her friends. Her friends were in the area (Itaewon) where the crush of people happened, but hunkered down in a bar until it was safe to go. It took them hours to get back to their airbnb they were all staying in.  They are very traumatized by everything. But I'm so glad that they, and my sister are okay. This is an area my daughter was in just a few months ago and one I've visited myself when we went to Seoul. It's crazy to imagine such a tragedy happening there where everyone is so happy and having fun normally. It will never be the same again.

* Some of the craziness that's happened in the family since I last wrote: a trip to LA for the crazy kpop festival (see above), a trip to Oregon to look at houses and visit my daughter (we decided not to buy a house for now,) a birthday celebration for my husband, a wedding for my nephew, book club, church parties, work parties, an author event, Halloween, cheering on runners for a half marathon... and I can't remember what else. 

Seeing the grandkids while in Oregon.

* Oh, and the hot water heater broke, so we have been with out that until just yesterday. 

* Now the holiday season is here, so things will just keep being crazy, yes? We might be hosting Thanksgiving at our house, so that should be interesting. Wish me luck!

The Sunday Post: New Music, New Channel, New Me!

 

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer.

Happy new week! I hope everyone is doing well! 

LISTENING:

I have been overwhelmed with amazing music this week. This happens often in kpopland, TONS of new music all at once. It's kind of the best. But what to share for the listening prompt? I don't even know where to start!

I guess the one that has caused the most uproar is this one from Stray Kids. They are seriously so much and take nothing too seriously. 

 

And then there's a small little group called DKZ that's been through a lot and some pretty crazy ups and downs over the past year and they came out with this killer of song this past week. Such a great head banger!

 

There's so much more, like I said, but I'll leave it at that for now. 

WATCHING:

Yep, so we started the new season of Survivor. I have no idea what is so engaging about this show after so long, but it still somehow captures my attention. 

I've skipped some Amazing Race seasons, but we've decided to add that to the viewing party list again too this season. So fun to see them in places I've been to. It seriously makes me want to travel so much!

We also watched Enola Holmes and that was very cute and fun!

I haven't started another kdrama yet. I am overwhelmed with the choices.

I am watching a fun k-reality show called "Young Actors Retreat" where they grabbed the stars of three popular kdramas and are making them do fun games and compete against each other. I am absolutely loving seeing the personalities of some drama stars... we don't usually get this so much like we do with the kpop stars. Dang, some of them are SOOO shy and it's crazy how good they are at acting when they are so timid in "real life." LOL! 

I'm also watching a reality, just- for-fun show that features a new kpop group that has yet to debut. They are ATEEZ's little brothers (in the same company) and they are going to be AMAZING when it's their turn to come out into the world. But in the meantime, we get to learn about them through these fun shows they are doing pre-debut. They are adorable.

READING:

I am currently halfway done with Feed by Mira Grant. This is our book club book for October. I was hoping for a creepy Halloween-y book, but it's not doing it for me. In fact, I'm having trouble focusing on it and just kind of want to get done so I can get on to something else. 

The something else I actually started... Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. I feel like this one is supposed to be creepy? Am I dreaming or am I right? Anyway, hopefully I get to that one soon!

WRITING:

I'm frustrated with my inability to get going on this again. I would love to do NANO but I can't start another story until I finish up this one. So, maybe I'll participate as one of those "rebels" who work on an old WIP? I don't know what it will take to get me moving again. But maybe that would help a bit.

We went to another author event at the library. This time it was Sarah Eden doing a quick reading on her soon to be released book and then a Q and A all about writing. She is lots of fun and it was great to go support her. In a week or so we have another author event, this time it's the authors of our December book club book, In a Holidaze. 

BLOGGING:

I think I'm caught up on both books and dramas to review! And I even did Top Ten Tuesday on bookstores this past week! Go check it out!

YOUTUBING:

So I started the Booktube channel. But I'm scared to share it. LOL! I will in a different post. If I get brave enough. But dang I've put a lot of work into it so I HAVE to be brave enough! Besides, you'll all come and subscribe so I won't look so doofus-y out there in that community, right??? 

Over on the kpop channel I compiled very short snippets of my favorite songs from the past quarter, as is my tradition this year. Take a look/listen and see if you find something that pulls you in!

EATING/EXERCISING: 

I am starting a thing from doTerra. It's called MetaPWR.  It's a whole system of essential oil, and a supplement, and a collagen powder drink. I'll do it for 30 days and then see if I feel like a new person, or what. I'll let you know! (This is the "new me" part of this post's title!)

In the meantime I'll try to keep up on the exercising. And the eating. LOL! I can keep up on eating SO WELL! Anyway, we tried oatmeal this week. Not my favorite thing. But this wasn't bad. I'm still not convinced it's healthy though. 

MISC:

* I have so much stuff coming up in the next couple of weeks I doubt I'll be around here much. But wish me luck on all the things! And I'll be back eventually!

Currently: Post Conference Depression

  

We talk a lot about PCD regarding concerts, but I think it can totally apply to conferences too. Coming back down from a high is always rough, no matter what the thing was that caused it, right? LOL!

Anyway, I think it's about time for another monthly CURRENTLY check in post! 

Listening:

Maybe my favorite song of the week? Not your typical kpop I must say:

 

But also this one. TXT is just killing it for me lately:

 

Watching:

Enjoying yet another season of Survivor! And it's almost over again already!

Halfway through a kdrama called Tomorrow about grim reapers who save people from suicide. Lots and lots of tears with this one. 

 Reading:

Finished Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth for book club this next week. I loved it! Review to come soon...

I can't figure out what to start next. I am overwhelmed with possibilities. 

Writing:

I went to an awesome writers conference this past week (thus the bit of PCD) and learned so much amazing stuff! I hope to ride the wave and get going with things! Before the conference, I spent a lot of time this past week going through edits from beta readers for my high school 80s story. But I really really need to finish the space story. I also need to start a tiktok for writerly things. LOL! That cracks me up.

Blogging:

Still here!

YouTubing:

I put every single BTS song into one 8 minute video. Seriously. For reals. Also, I'm going to start a regular series of vlogging type videos. Just me talking. Awesome, right? Ha. That also cracks me up.

   

  

I have plans to do another non-kpopper series. I have a victim in mind. Stay tuned... WAH! So excited!

Health Watch:

I started keeping track of food again. I've had a couple of days of eating better. And lots of days of not. Why is this so hard? I can't even tell you how bad I hate this.

Misc:

* I went to Las Vegas to see BTS at the huge new Allegiant Stadium on their last day in concert there. It was awesome. Here's our vlog and concert footage of that experience.

* In two weeks I'm driving back to LA to see another group in concert. They are called The Boyz and they are awesome. Here they are being unbearably cute, click if you dare.

* I sent daughter Toto off to Korea to spend the summer with her aunt there. She will have a blast I hope and I will be fine without her here. Right?

* I need to plan another Oregon escape. 

* Our fridge broke so we got a new one.

* Our fence fell down, but we didn't get a new one. Yet.

Currently: Still Alive

 

It's been forever since I've done a weekly wrap up "currently" post. Thought I'd give it a try again. Even though life is mostly boring.

Listening: This past week I've rediscovered a couple of favorite groups that have recently received a ton of attention thanks to their two respective members being in a very buzzed about kdrama. Those groups are Dongkiz and KNK. Both very small, not well-known groups, but groups that should actually have ALL THE LOVE in the kpop world. So first off, I discovered I love this song called Fade, by KNK, which went unnoticed by me before. Here's a live stage of it:

(This group has members all over six feet tall. Can you tell?) 

And then the song from Dongkiz that I will push on everyone without restraint is called Lupin. The choreo is SO COOL!

Watching: Well, I watched the drama mentioned above starring the boys from those two groups. More on that later. I've started another drama called A Business Proposal which includes every single kdrama trope you can think of it.  IT'S SO PERFECT! We also started a new season of Survivor. Can't believe that thing is still going strong. 

Reading: I'm stuck on the second book of the Black Witch chronicles called The Iron Flower. It's good, but I'm just taking forever with it. I read the first chapter of Nine Perfect Strangers for book club next week. And I'm doing a bunch of beta reading for writer friends. 

Writing: I finished catching up on what I've written for the unnamed space opera book. (Please, someone figure out a title for me!) And now I just need to figure out how to finish up this story. I also need to add a bunch of stuff to the middle. I'm so bad at this! I have also sent out my 80's high school story to several beta readers. Anxiously waiting for that feedback, and then we'll figure out what the next step is for THAT book. 

Blogging: I'm happy that several author events have happened in the past few weeks, and more will be happening coming up. It  makes me feel like life is going back to normal more than almost anything else. I've missed it so bad.

YouTubing: I was on two live streams on my friend's channel hyping up a couple of different kpop book series. (I've blogged about them both here.) So that was fun.  I thought up a fun, fast way to introduce groups to people wanting to learn the members. I hope to make more of these types of videos. (I'll embed that one here because it would be cool if you clicked.)  I posted my favorite songs from February. And I made a snarky video about how I'm the worst kpop fan ever. 

 

Health Watch: I am loving exercising. But am discouraged that it seems to truly not make a difference in anything except that it lets me know how old I am because it makes my knees hurt. But whatever. I love it, so... sorry body. You have to do it. My diet is basically normal right now, with the few exceptions of life changes that stuck with me after the low carb thing. That doesn't really seem to matter either because the weight is coming back. Surprise surprise. I continuously argue in my head which is the worse thing... hating life because you can't eat fun things. Or being fat. I haven't come up with an answer yet....

Misc: 

* I want to find time to get going on another tshirt quilt. But my sewing machine says "are you kidding  me?" and needs a tune up and/or repair before that can happen.

* A family trip to Mexico is coming up (with my siblings and parents.) Wish me luck!

* We are one of the tens of thousands of lucky ones who ended up with a ticket to the BTS concert in April in Vegas! I will be shouting about that as the time gets closer!

* I went to a funeral for a friend who had brain damage from an accident 8 years ago. Her family finally decided to pull live support and let her go. It's been quite the reminder about how to enjoy life no matter the craziness it brings us. 

Concert Updates: ATEEZ and Eric Nam

 After two years, concerts are back! 

ATEEZ

In December 2019 we bought tickets to ATEEZ which was scheduled for April 2020. It was postponed... not cancelled. So these past two years we wondered if that concert would actually ever happen. But it did! On January 30, 2022! (Two years to the day of the last time we went to LA for a concert!) It was SO AMAZING to be back going to a concert again. I seriously have no words. 

We drove to LA for that weekend, doing our normal routine. To Barstow one day (with a pit stop in Cedar) and then to LA the rest of the way on day 2... concert day. Before the concert it was fun to meet up with kpop friends. Then we braved the traffic (there was a football game going on right next door... same place the super bowl was at last week) and the parking (it cost $45 just to park!) and stood in line and not so patiently waited to get in. But finally it was time! After waiting for two years!

And the concert itself? PERFECT! We ended up having pretty good seats (not on the floor but in the lower bowl) and seriously could have listened to those boys sing and dance for so many more hours than just the 3 we got. They are just so good and so much fun. 

Then after a very very late night, we had to drive ALL the way home on day three. This is our normal "go to LA for a concert" routine, when we drive anyway. If we were to fly, it would be two days, and one less hotel stay. Usually. Not even that always. It's crazy. But so much fun. 

Here's our vlog of the experience:

Eric Nam

Then just about a week later we got to see Eric Nam, right here in our very own city! This is the first time that's happened and I'm still not over that fact. So amazing. And there's more coming! (I will be out of town for one of them.. so sad!) So hopefully this is just a start of things to come. It would be so awesome if the word got out and they realized they can come here and we will show up!

Anyway, Eric is a Korean American solo artist who sings both English and Korean... lots of mellow stuff. But dance-y stuff too. And he's just the best and so fun... so down to earth and personable and funny and... all the things. It was great to be able to finally see him live. We paid a little extra to have seats in a "standing only" venue. I am starting to learn there are ways to get around the system. And this was the best thing I've ever done for a concert pretty sure. But we did not have true VIP which is when you got to go take a picture with Eric afterwards. Maybe next time. Ha.

Here's our vlog of this experience:

Anyway, I am so glad concerts are back, even though it also brings back a lot of stress about... to go or not to go. We have to pick and choose or else we'd seriously be driving to LA every weekend. There are FOUR (at least) concerts I'm missing in these couple of months that I would LOVE to be to. But oh well. I will be grateful for the ones I do get to see. And keep hoping for more to come locally. 

Kdrama Review: Let Me Be Your Night

Drama: Let Me Be Your Knight

Genre: melodrama, musical-ish

Starring: Lee Jun Young, Jung In Sun, Jang Dong Joo, JR, Yoon Ji Sung, Kim Dong Hyun

Rating:  ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

Okay, I loved it. LOL.

This one follows the adventures of a kpop band, letting us in on the back stories and struggles of all five members. But we especially follow the main lead who is suffering from sleep walking. So they hire a doctor to live in with them to help him through it. But it turns out the girl they hire is the real doctor's twin, and she ends up getting in the middle of the situation and decides instead of clearing up the misunderstanding, she is going to earn some much needed money (the whole drama starts out showing how she was totally scammed out of all her money.) She'll just get the month over with and be on her way.

Hmmm.... yep.

Our dude is grouchy and ornery and thinks it's all that. But of course that's all to hide his true emotions. And she helps him deal with everything and then he's all, I NEED YOU! And then she worries about him finding out that she's been lying and yeah... they don't call these things dramas for nothing.

The band in this drama: LUNA
The real boys and their real bands from left to right:
JR from NU'EST
Dongjoo and he's not in a real band
Lee Junyoung (the lead) was in a band called U-Kiss
Jisung was in project band called WannaOne and now he does solo stuff
Donghyun is in AB6IX

But all the other guys in the band too... dang. We fall for all of them. And they are all such great actors. I am constantly blown away. These guys are all played by in real life idols (except one, the second male lead, but still.. he sings crazy good! Of course he does!) And so, when they have songs, you know it's really them performing, and that makes everything so much better. 

I love it. Very heartfelt and sweet. And such great music. I've been in a bit of a drama slump since finishing this one. I just kinda want to start all over and watch it again...

Here's a trailer:

But really what you want to watch is their song. Well, I mean they have many (they even have an album... WAH!) but this one is the one that I love the most:

If you want to check out this awesome "fake" band, here's the rest of their stuff on Spotify.

My Top 30 Songs from 2020

 I made this video featuring my favorite songs of the year... it's really short... I used teeny tiny segments of the song which believe me is VERY painful to do. So... watch it and let me know what you think? If you aren't familiar with these songs, I'm wondering, does something jump out at you, even if I'm giving you just a tiny glimpse at them?

I did longer segments of many different categories of songs this year. Because it was really hard to narrow things down. 

Here's my favorite title tracks.

And my favorite b-side tracks.

And my favorite solo artist songs.

And my favorite OST songs (songs from a drama.)

And favorite songs not in Korean... but in several other languages.

And finally awesome moments from many many songs this year. This was a really fun video to make!

What were your favorite songs this year?

2020 in Kpop

 I'm working on a bunch of different year-end videos to show how we've survived this year thanks to kpop. Here's the first one which is fast clips of a bunch of favorite moments from music videos from this year. Check it out! Maybe there's a moment you'll love too!

Kdrama Review: Twenty Twenty

Drama: Twenty Twenty (link to first ep on YouTube if you're interested!)

Genre: coming of age web drama

Starring: Kim Wooseok, Han Sungmin, Kang Yuchan, Park Sangnam, Jin Hoeun, Chae Wonbin

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

So, I watched this for my two idol boys of course, Wooseok and Yuchan. Wooseok plays the main lead, with kissing scenes and everything! GASP! I wasn't sure what to expect of his acting (this is a dude who I've actually met in real life and have a certain preconceived notion as to what his personality is like... which is quite reserved and shy) but he was awesome in this!

The story is about a bunch of college kids (first year in college I think?) and they are trying to navigate the waters of growing up... of separating from their parents and becoming their own persons. Our dude is very emo (and yes this fits Wooseok totally!) and he is bugged at his parents for deceiving him when he was younger about their relationship. He trusts them not at all... and he's moved out and living on his own and trying to make a push for getting started in the music business. (LOL) 

 Woosoek (from UP10TION) plays the main lead Lee Hyunjin

He's friends with a couple of other guys, his sidekicks. Chan plays one of these guys and can I just say... I was BLOWN AWAY by this kid's acting! Who knew he was so good? He's absolutely hilarious! He has the comic timing down perfectly. He was pure joy to watch. 

                                        Yuchan (aka. Chan from A.C.E) plays the funny sidekick friend.

Our girl is living with her mom who is EXTREMELY controlling and all she wants to do is to be able to like... go out with friends now and then. But then when she meets our guy, she wants to like, hang out with him just a bit. You know? Not too much to ask.

Anyway, they do manage to get together, which really makes another dude who has hung out with our girl forever, really jealous.... and he thinks they are thing, when she only thinks of him as a friend. He was so nice at first, and then a demon comes out. Sad!

And so it goes. Just a normal coming of age everyday story about college kids. There are a ton of cameos by other familiar faces (the best is when Chan's band member Jun shows up as a snooty brainiac...the best!) 

I watched this on one YouTube... there are 20, twenty minute episodes, so it goes really fast. There's some language thrown in here and there (and yes I've finally figured out THAT word in Korean, so I know when they are actually saying it and when they aren't, because you can't trust subtitles... and yes, I think they actually say it here and there... CHAN... WHAT??? Sigh....)

Anyway, I quite enjoyed it. There's a great song performance at the end of course. And I loved seeing these two guys together. So fun.

Here's a little trailer:

And the OST (soundtrack) song done by another favorite group: Pentagon

And here's Chan singing (he's the blond... and this was years ago when he was still a baby!) He is crazy good.

And here's Wooseok's solo video from awhile back....also crazy good.

Yeah. A couple favorite kpop boys right there. So I had to support them in their drama project! I can't wait for more from both of them!

Kdrama Review: I-Land

 Drama: I-Land

Genre: music survival show

Starring: 23 awesome boys, Rain, PD Bang, and a random appearance by BTS, TXT and SEVENTEEN!

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

(This review is not spoiler free for anyone who thinks they might watch this and don't want to know the ending!)

I'm counting this as a kdrama review because I watched it on Viki, it was FULL of drama and there's also, you know, that whole K (AHHH!!! double meaning!) element to it. 

In the kpop world there have been lots and lots of music survival shows... where they bring together a bunch of kids who compete to be in the group that is formed by the survivors of the show. I've never watched one in real time, only after the fact (years later sometimes) and already knowing who makes it. Most of the time I refuse to watch because I KNOW it's painful and ruthless and very very manipulated. 

Still, somehow I found myself watching this one, out of curiosity... quarantine opportunity (more time) and I guess a bit because it was being produced by Big Hit aka. BTS' company... which meant I knew it would be big and everyone would be talking about it, so I wanted to be part of the buzz.

So anyway, it's 12 episodes long... and the finale just aired live Saturday morning. I got up at 5 am to watch it live (8 pm on Korean TV). And wow... as expected. It was brutal and ruthless.

The gist of this show was bringing together 23 boys (I think it was meant to be 24 but someone dropped out just before it aired) from all over the world, some of them Big Hit trainees, some of them just barely started in the business... to compete to make a group of 7 boys by the end. This huge AMAZING set was created just for this show... complete with high tech stages, living quarters for the boys and everything you can imagine. Right off the bat it was crazy because the boys, the second they arrived, had to perform each other and vote whether they stayed or left! Only 12 could stay! 

Turns out that the ones that got voted "off" actually went to a different place and were still able to compete for a chance to get back "in."  They called that the Ground and they fought hard to get back to the I-Land. 

Throughout the episodes, they had missions and tests to complete... different styles of music to sing and perform. They worked together as teams most of the time, even though they were competing against each other. Positions constantly changed between who was I-land and who was Ground. They were mentored by big wigs in the business (Rain for one. And he was awesome.) Conflicts happened all the time, but mostly, they bonded tightly with each other and formed lasting friendships.

And we the viewers fell in love with every single one of them!

At the end of part 1 they eliminated half of the boys... and they were done with no chance to come back. At that point we the viewers were able to start voting... and then one by one, the remaining boys were eliminated according to that vote... and also according to the producers' decisions. Until Saturday morning at the finale and we were left with the final seven.

I rooted for  many of the boys (some who had to leave at the end of part 1 of course) and voted evenly for pretty much all of them. But there was one boy (named K, see picture above) who was just amazing and I thought he would for sure make it... he scored high constantly and seemed to be a producer favorite. But there at the end, they shocked us by choosing to NOT save him... and he got eliminated. It was devastating.

This is one of the iconic performances that brought K a lot of attention. He's the one with the especially floppy hair hanging in eyes. The one that waves to us all there at the end. The first song in this medley is Rainism, which they are performing for Rain himself. I can't even imagine.

And now I see why everyone moans about these shows so much! And yet continue to watch them! They are such a draw, full of emotion and talent, and character, and everything. But it's so hard to know that they are all so good and all have such dreams, but then don't get their big chance. So painful.

The hope is that the ones who don't make it end up getting nabbed by someone who was watching and has their eye on them... and they get their big break after all. Here's hoping. 

So.. yeah. My first experience watching one of these things and having my heart ripped out! A blast! It's going to take me awhile to get over it! And here's hoping I can be strong enough to not get sucked up into another one of these things!

For the finale they brought back ALL the boys to perform this, their signature song. It's been stuck in my head ever since. They all looks so amazing. 

And this is the final test the remaining nine had to perform. They look so good. After this, two of them (including K) were eliminated.

And now we are left with a new group to love. They are called Enhypen. A very strange name that hopefully I'll get used to soon!

Book Review: Awakening by Christopher Keeler and Matthew Keeler

Book: Awakening by Christopher Keeler and Matthew Keeler
Genre: YA urban fantasy
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★


Years ago, (has it really been years already?) I was lucky enough to read this book as a sort of beta-reader for Matt (Matt-from-Australia as he is known at our house since we have a lot of Matts in our lives) and his brother Chris, when I first discovered he was writing a book. At the time I knew him as a fellow kpop fan and when I learned he was also an aspiring author I was all over that! It's been fun to watch as he's made his writing dreams come true all the way to publishing this real live book!

In order to properly review it I have just finished a re-read...because my memory is crap these days and I needed to be reminded about pretty much everything that happened in this story!

And... this story is about our girl Jenna who is a typical ordinary awkward teen who is struggling with self esteem and worried about things like the upcoming dance and friends and boys and working for the crazy cat lady next door. But things change when she is given a message to go meet a mysterious someone who has something to give her.

She enlists the help of her friends and together they go face whatever is going to happen and from then on they are mixed up something big and crazy and dangerous. At first it's just a series of strange occurrences, mysterious objects, weird feelings and visions and scary people appearing out of nowhere. But it quickly morphs into a sort of revolution between powerful entities... some who have bad intentions for humanity and some who have rebelled to fight against that. It appears that Jenna, although she doesn't remember, is a key element in making this rebellion succeed.

It's an intense story with lots of crazy things going on constantly! Which escalates to a final battle filled with both guns and magic!

It's one of those cool stories were the ordinary kids find an inner power they had no idea they had and become the strong heroes. It's awesome.

And, if you know me, you will know that I especially enjoyed the romance part of this story. Jenna is drawn to a mysterious stranger who at first fleets in and out of the story, never really sticking around.  When the two finally meet, the intensity is "out of this world" as you might say. I wished for more between them, more scenes and connection, but alas, they never really had much time because there was a world to save!

Another one of my favorite things about this book is how Matt and Chris have included so so many songs as a sort of musical background to everything that's going on. I know many authors write with music, but rarely is that music actually a part of the book itself. Since the reason I know Matt is because of our common passion for music, I felt the need to mark every time a song is mentioned with the intention to list them! And make a playlist! And look them up and add new music to my life!

So here's that playlist on Spotify! Check it out if you are into all sorts of music from classical to pop, country to movie scores, old and new... and yes Korean! So much fun!





This is book one in a series called Starwalker Chronicles. I look forward to what Jenna and her friends will be up to next! And also, congratulations to Matt and Chris for making this book happen!