Ten Favorite Songs of the Year 2016

So, as you may (or may not) know, my music life took a drastic turn this year. It was such a life changing event that I remember the exact day... Saturday January 9th. That was the day I listened to kpop for the very first time... a song by an older (they celebrated their 11th anniversary this year) group called Super Junior... a song called Spy.. followed closely by one called Superman.

I loved it. It was weird. It was unique. It was upbeat and catchy. It was awesome.

You may, like me, have thought this was just a phase, a passing fancy, a glitch in my normal music loving life, but we have almost reached the year anniversary and all I can see is that the obsession will just get stronger and stronger.

I don't know why I was grabbed by this music in such a strong powerful way, when other people are just like... blah...that stuff is weird....and you are so weird for liking it... and just don't get it at all. It's a strange thing that makes me confused and perplexed and I don't know what makes us all different like that but it's a good thing.

Anyway, I truly didn't listen to anything else this year. I mean. I really really didn't. So all my top ten songs of the year will be songs that I especially loved from my first year immersed in kpop... both old and new songs. I hope that you, even if you fall into the "this is weird" category, enjoy my list and even maybe listen to a couple of songs, just out of curiosity!

I'm tempted to show you performances and music videos and dances, etc, but instead this time I will just embed only the audio of the songs. So if you do happen to click on one, you won't be distracted by the other things and can just listen.

SUPERMAN BY SUPER JUNIOR




FIRE BY BTS




LUCIFER BY SHINEE




FANTASTIC BABY BY BIG BANG




HERO BY MONSTA X





LET ME KNOW BY BTS 




ERROR BY VIXX





VERY GOOD BY BLOCK B





LOVE ME DO BY VIXX




BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS BY BTS





Yes... even though the year started with a fascination with a group called Super Junior... it ended with an obsession with a group called Bangtan Sonyeondan or BTS for short. And they have three songs on my top ten favorites. VIXX also ended up with two. Wow VIXX! Way to edge yourselves into my favorites list!

Anyway. Yes. I love these songs. I hope you click on a couple and see what I'm talking about it.

In the meantime, if you want a fast and easy glimpse of some of these favorites, here's a compilation of what our Kpop Konverters channel voted on as favorite songs that came out during the year 2016 (which include many of mine listed above.)






What songs did you love this year?

The Airing of Grievances 2016 Version

So, very many years now I've done an "airing of grievances" blog post as part of the Festivus celebration. I have no idea now where I learned about this tradition, but I look forward to it just as a chance to be especially snarky and overly negative on my blog.

Something that is oddly fun and cathartic.

The other day I thought of all the things I could grieve about. Let's see if I remember any of them now!

I HATE IT..:

• ...when I'm wide awake when I should be sleeping... and dead asleep when it's time to wake up. WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN???
• ...that people deem some activities worthy and others... not. (For instance, if your hobby is running or hiking, people think that's commendable. If you your hobby is crafting something, people think that's cool. But if it's reading, people think that's boring. If it's youtubing, people think that's downright weird and a waste of time. Did I say I hate this? I hate this.)
• ...when some people think they are so so nonjudgmental and open minded, and yet, they turn around and judge everyone (meaning, people who think differently than them) just as much as they are accusing the judgey people of judging. 
• ...getting old. And I hate that getting old means fitting into some sort of stupid mold that old people are supposed to fit into. I really really hate that.
• ...that I hardly read any books this year.
• ...that most people seem to have had a terrible bad year and, despite the fact that I suffered (am suffering) a bad reading/blogging slump, I actually had a really fun and unique year. I mean, I like that I had an interesting year but I hate that everyone else (it seems) did not so much.
• ...that I've gotten way way too fat! Gah. Something has to be done.
• ...that all my kids have pretty much grown up. I mean, way have kids if they're just going to go and grow up on you? 
• ...that in a cleaning frenzy the other day I'm pretty sure I threw away something that was definitely not garbage. Why does so much garbage sit around not touched be anyone but then the NOT garbage gets thrown away?
• ...that I have to go grocery shopping for Christmas food today.  Ugh. 
• ...that Twitter and Pinterest and Instagram and even Facebook all work in a weird way these days that messes with my brain and makes it so I don't see stuff that I want to see. Why people, why? 
• ... that bad for you things taste good and good for you things taste bad. I think I may have mentioned this hate before. I mention it again because I still hate it.
• ... that my ipod doesn't work well in the car anymore.
• ... that I had to give my rental car back after driving it across the country and back.
• ... speaking of, I hate that my kids took my grandkid and moved across the country. 
• ... that my laptop is on its last legs.

Hmmm... I'm thinking I could go on and on, but I'll stop there.

What do you hate these days???? Air your grievances with me!!!

And P.S.  Happy Christmas Eve Eve!!

Rambly Thoughts

Remember when I used to do random rambly thoughts all the time? Or at least from time to time? Well... I thought I'd give it a try again, and maybe actually get a blog post written.

It's not that I don't want to blog anymore, it's just that when I sit down to actually write a blog, my mind goes blank. Or sort of shuts down. Like it says... you know, you really have nothing to say on this blog anymore. So why try? And then I get instantly tired and overwhelmed.

And then I get up and never write the post.

It makes me sad.

So that's thought number one I suppose.

More thoughts:

* Is it truly almost Christmas? Christmas seems to have changed around here. There's still a frenzy of things to do but it's just different. Only one kid still at home. The others are trying to figure out how to split their time between two families. And it's hard. But I plan to still have fun... even if it's different, you know?

* Reading continues to be a a struggle. I thought I was about 30 books behind in my Goodreads reading goal. We were discussing this at book club and so my ever enabling friends looked it up for me (since I truly have been paying it no attention) and informed me that I was actually about 50 books behind. I'll think I'll be lower my goal for next year!



* We saw the latest Star Wars. I liked it. I will try to review it here with my "deeper" thoughts. But yeah, quite the story, eh?



* On the YouTube front, we got our first true copyright strike! That means we either hit the big time, or are really stupid. Probably the second. Yeah. Those YouTube people don't mess around when it comes to that stuff. Here's hoping we can learn our lesson and follow the rules better! But before we were caught, the video in question doubled our subscribers and was on it's way to 1 million views. No joke. It was exciting but then BAM! They shut it down and took it all away from us! (well, we could keep the subscribers obviously, but they took away our views. It was a very sad day.)


* WE GOT TICKETS TO BTS!!!!!! I know most of you (that is if I still have readers besides Jenni and Jenny!) don't know who they are but just know this... they are BIG TIME popular with a certain set and tickets sold out in minutes and there was much agony and angst involved... but WE GOT THEM! April Fool's Day will see us in California to experience the ride that is Korean hip hop boy band dancer singer rapper dudes. Ah. They are so good. Just believe me when I say this!!!






* All is going well with our Korean exchange student. She has been with us for four months as of yesterday, which also means we are nearly half way done with this experience. That is crazy. Time flies way too fast. And that's really all I want to say about that before I get too sad.

* Anyone have any good ideas on what to get husbands for Christmas?

* Oh, I made it just over a week with Nanowrimo... 18,000 words worth of a really cheesy, but fun story. Here's hoping I will come back to it and finish it. just like I hope to come back to and finish my other two unfinished Nano stories.... sigh.

* Blogger has changed since I was on and blogging. Do you know how weird that is? There's a smiley faced thing up there and everything. Wait what? It does Hangul????   대박 That says awesome by the way. But is way way too hard to use. Nevermind. Not so awesome. Unless I get way better at my Hangul....

Okay. There you go for some of my thoughts. Was it worth a blog post? I'm not too sure!!!

Movie Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Movie: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Genre: Harry Potter (that's its own genre now, right?)
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Colin Farrell
Rating: PG 13
My Rating: two thumbs


We went in the late afternoon to this movie. I was kinda tired and the first half was a struggle for me to keep my eyes open. Very slow. And Eddie, I love him, but... man he is hard to understand sometimes. These days, I'm used to subtitles and he really could have used some subtitles!!!

That being said, it was a fun movie, with awesome creatures and some pretty cool special effects. And I enjoyed the familiar music.

I'm afraid I don't know my Harry Potter history quite well enough to have made the connections I think I was supposed to make between this story and the books. But even so, it's cool to know there are the connections.

The "no maj"... and already I've forgotten the character's name

My favorite bits in the movie was the other dude actually, the baker dude. The "no maj." He was great! And I got a bit weepy in the end when... well, you know that one part at the end where rain is involved.

Anyway, I don't really have much else to say except Harry Potter fans should really go! And also, there's a little surprise at the end that somehow wasn't spoiled for us. And it was awesome.

Here's the trailer in case you've missed it somehow:

Movie Review: Dr. Strange

Movie: Doctor Strange
Genre: Super Hero
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch
Rating: PG 13
My Rating: Two thumbs up

I really looked forward to this, even though I know absolutely nothing about Dr. Strange. I'm not your most well-versed person in the Marvel Universe... like... AT ALL. So I had no idea who this superhero was/is.

But who cares. Because... Benedict Cumberbatch.

It was a great story. Famous doctor gets in an accident. His hands get ruined. He goes on a quest to figure out how to heal them. He ends up in some mystics house in some remote place in Nepal I think it is... and learns how to do some pretty cool mind tricks.

At first he's crap at it, and then he becomes a master really really fast. And then it's time to fight the bad guy.

And there's a really cool cloak/cape thing that reminded me a lot of Alladin's magic carpet.

Anyway, the special effects in this movie are TRIPPY... and I felt like I'd been on some sort of phsycaldelic  high after watching it. It was cool, but... trippy. The whole rest of the day I felt a little woozy and dizzy. (Yes, I did see it in 3D Imax... so that might have added to it!)

But I enjoyed the ride!

My only complaint is... LET HIM KEEP HIS BRITISH ACCENT!! I don't care if Dr. Strange is America. Whatever. Sigh. Benedict Cumberbatch speaking with an American accent was just WRONG.

And that's pretty much all I have to say about that.

Do you want a trailer? I have one:

Book Review Thoughts: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Book: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating:★★★★☆


Wow. I read a book! And a big adult type one at that! And guess what? I liked it. I really really liked it!

So yeah, there's been a ton of buzz about this one. I'm glad to have finally managed to read it myself. Thank you book club!

It's about two kids during WWII. One is a blind French girl who gets displaced during the German occupation and ends up living in a village outside of Paris for the duration of the war with her great uncle who has PTSD from the first world war. She adapts to things very well and is living a fairly nice life, helping her uncle come out again and learning all about his radio hobby.

The other kid is a German boy who is extremely smart and gets recruited to work in the war as the guy who seeks out people doing illegal radio transmission. Yeah. Do you see the connection here?

Well, after much much time, their stories converse for a brief moment. But before that happens, we get completely invested in BOTH of them. Who cares that they are opposite sides of the war!? I truly love stories that can do this... make you realize that there are just people involved doing what they have to do to survive and that there is no good guys or bad guys. I mean, there are, but the people are just the people, know what I mean?

Anyway. There's also a bit of a strange element of the supernatural in this story... but it didn't really bother me that much. Some at book club could have done without it though. What made me crazy was I was DYING for their stories to converge and when they finally did, it was for such a short period of time. Ah. I wanted more there!!! I wanted a nice little romantic happy ending.

But, you know, you can't have it all I guess.

Still, I really enjoyed this book. The storytelling was awesome. The writing was beautiful. The characters were fascinating. And it held my wandering and unfocused attention unlike any book has done for a long time.

Author Signings: Jeff Kinney, Cressida Crowell, Marissa Meyer, Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman, Shannon Hale, Jennifer Nielsen, James Dashner

We've had a plethora of author signings lately, so I figured it was time to catch you up! Plus a few that happened that I never reported on. Because... life.

Last night we managed to BARELY get to Jeff Kinney! (Dumb traffic and dumb accidents!) It was in an auditorium full of crazy excited kids! And I felt just like one of them. I don't know what it is about these books, but they make me laugh pretty much like nothing else. It was fun to see what this author was like and see his method of drawing and planning and plotting. I'm amazed how such a simple idea has been so popular and successful for him. It's awesome. 

He came through the audience answering questions
and walked right by us. Here's the blurry result.

They had the most awesome balloons out front of the event!

The night before last we meet the author of the famous and popular How to Train Your Dragon books, Cressida Cowell. She was an absolute blast.. so animated and funny and spunky!

Sangi meets Cressida Cowell

Toto meets Cressida Cowell

Tori and Sangi with Cressida Cowell

 The week before that was Marissa Meyer, who we've met too many times to count now. She has a new book in a new series out about the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland fame... and what she was like as a teenager. It's called Heartless. Yeah. I hope to fit it in somehow. When we talked to her, we asked her if there as any truth to the fact that she was inspired by the in real life Kai from the kpop group EXO for her very own Kai... she said... no.. but when someone sent her a picture she said... I approve! That's him!!!

Kai from EXO

We got a pretty good crowd of friends to go to this one with us! 

Marissa Meyer

Last year I was disappointed that these awesome authors of my favorite book last year, Illuminae, came on a night that I couldn't go. But they came BACK! All the way from Australia! Thank you for that Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman! So I got to see them this time and.. it was awesome. I find them to be pretty amazing and I've started the next book, Gemina, and am reading while cringing... it's so intense!

Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Probably last month it was, these group of crazy authors came to the library, all sporting read hair like Squirrel Girl... whoever that is. LOL! I'm not totally up on my superheros... but they've all written stuff to do with her and so they came together and talked. They are: Dean Hale, Ryan North, Margaret Stohl, and Shannon Hale.

And then there was on my other favorites, Jennifer Nielsen. She was promoting her latest book called The Scourge about a plague of sorts.

Jennifer Nielsen

And I just had to throw in this picture because he's so freaking famous now... we said hi to James Dashner at Comic Con, and yes, he still remembers me from back in the days when he was still a little author.

Toto and Sangi with Mr. Dashner Dude

Hmmm.... it seems like we went to see Brodi Ashton this past summer too, but I must not have taken pictures. Wait, Really?


I can't remember who's in the queue coming up! But I'm sure there's someone!!! What fun authors have you all seen these days?