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: 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: 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!

Book Review: Shining Star by Trish Milburn

Book: Shining Star by Trish Milburn

Genre: Kpop romance

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This book is book 8 in the Idol in Love series, and the second book following the stories of the boy group Sky High. They continue to break all the rules by falling in love. And THIS time it's even crazier because it's with one of their stylists! (Seriously though, we always wonder how the stylists in real life keep from doing this. Especially if they are at all near the same age as the idols. Mostly we assume they are quite a bit older, so maybe that helps? LOL!)

Anyway, our girl is basically being stalked by a dude who has bothered her for years, wanting to date her. He shows up again in her life and our idol is having none of this. And he is struggling to know if it's just because he wants to make sure she is okay. Or does he really like her? Hmmm.....

This books are very short and very fast to read and are perfect to fit in when I want something fun and swoony. I love them.

So now I'm all caught up and ready to read the next one whenever Trish has it done!

The Sunday Post: First Post

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

I've seen Jenni Elyse doing this meme for quite awhile now and we were talking about blogging last week and I said maybe I'd give this one a try. I've done my own newsy "Currently" post for several years, but it would be fun to try and connect to with others, so here we go!

LISTENING:

I've been all about this song by ONEUS this week/month. It's called Same Scent.

 

 Here's another one from them from the same album, but a totally different feel. Just them standing and singing and not be too distracting with the dancing, lol! This one is called Gravitation.

WATCHING:

Still trying to finish up a kdrama called Extraordinary Attorney Woo. Everyone else has loved this one, but man I am SLOGGING through it! In the meantime we started a reality show called Young Actors Retreat with a bunch of kdrdama stars doing games and interacting and being funny. I'm loving it. 

We watched the movie about the dude who wrote Rent... Jonathan Larson called tick tick BOOM. That was really good and fantastically acted, especially by Andrew Garfield. 

I'm wondering if Survivor should be starting up soon! Isn't it about time? We can't miss that show after watching it for 23 years! WAH!

READING:

I read the book club book (The Good Sister) and another for fun kpop love story book. I started J. Scott Savage's latest one in the Lost Wonderland Diaries series.  I acquired two fun romance books at the Rom Con I went to yesterday. More on that later. 

WRITING:

UGH! Thinking about my story ALL THE TIME, but never actually sitting down and finishing it! I need to figure out how to get back in the groove of the voice. That is SO HARD for me!

BLOGGING:

I did a lot of catching up posts the past couple weeks. Pretty much reviewed my whole summer's reading and watching consumption. I think there's a few more to go still until I'm truly "caught up."

YOUTUBING:

I'm doing a ONEUS (see above) week on the kpop channel this week.  I'm also working on my 25 favorite songs of the month video. 

And I'm pondering starting a booktube/writing/life learning channel. What do you think? Am I crazy? Am I too late to the game? Is the booktube community already too saturated? If I do this then I really need to step up my reading game and get back in the loop. But I do want to do something else on YouTube in addition to the kpopping. I can't stop thinking about which is usually an indication I need to just jump in and don't look back. But I'm scared. Sigh. 

EATING/EXCERSIING: 

I walked once and did Supernatural once this past week. At this rate, I'm going to never make any goals in this category!! I also made a lot of cookies and treats this week. Baking is one of my biggest life joys and I wish SO BAD it wasn't something that was "bad" to do... 

MISC:

* We have another kpop event in LA to go to this month. If only all the groups would stop coming! Anyway, this is a huge festival thing and we'll be seeing a ton of groups all at once including the one that starting this whole crazy thing... Super Junior! YES!!

* I spent a week with my daughter and granddaughter this past week. It was fun being a grandma for a bit again! 

* I picked a couple of things in the garden. I think it's all we'll get! Seriously one of the most depressing things in my life!

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: It's STILL winter???

 

I know today I'm supposed to be doing a Top Ten Tuesday post, but I had no idea what list there, so instead you get a little life catch up, since I've been gone for a bit.

Listening:

One of my favorite groups had a comeback last week and I love love love their new song. It's called X-Ray. Their dancing kills me every time.

 

And for something totally different from that, here's a group called Kingdom singing a song called Promise that I totally can't get enough of.

 

Watching:

Just finished one of the best kdramas I've watched in a while. This show is a perfect example of everything I love about kdramas. It's called Business Proposal (you can find it on Netflix) and I'll do a review here soon. But yeah, used nearly ever kdrama trope there is and I giggled through the whole thing. Here's a scene everyone went crazy about. This is the second lead couple, who got such as great a storyline as the first! 

 Reading:

While on vacation I finished a couple of books. The first one in Trish's new kdrama series, Summer Rain. And Nicola Yoon book that's been on my list forever, The Sun is Also a Star. I enjoyed them both! I've also been doing some beta reading for new writing friends. I wish I could clock these on Goodreads!

Meanwhile I'm still working on Iron Flower and I've started Lemon Drop Falls. 

Writing:

I haven't been writing at all lately. Just doing the beta reading. I need to get going again.

Blogging:

Well. I'm obviously VERY behind again. I need to do a couple of book reviews and one kdrama review. 

YouTubing:

I compiled 50 of my favorite BTS songs into one fast video.

 

And I put all my favorite songs so far this year into an even faster video:

 

Health Watch:

I'm gaining all the weight I lost in 2020 back very nicely. So much fun. I'm addicted to this collagen drink, which I like to think is helping me be healthy somehow. And I am still love love LOVING going into the virtual world to exercise. 

Misc:

* we survived our trip to Mexico. Sat on the beach beds and read a lot. And also got to visit Chichen Itza. 

* got together with old collage roommates last night (and I mean OLD in both senses of the word!) and that was fun!

Actually we don't look too bad for being so old!!

And that's about the sum of life around here lately. How's life where you are?

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. 

Book Review: XOXO by Axie Oh

Book: XOXO by Axie Oh

Genre: YA contemporary

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

I promise when I picked this one up to read I didn't know it was yet another kpop book! I just knew it was a contemporary romance. But then when I looked closer I was like... oh, seriously? So yeah, the kpop books are finding me now, I don't even have to go out and look for them! I don't think it's just me, I think they are becoming a thing. So interesting.

So this one is about a girl who ends up going to Korea with her mom for a semester of high school. She's a huge celloist and plans to get into a prestigious university, so to help her with those goals, she ends up enrolling in a performing arts high school in Seoul. And guess who else goes to performing arts high schools in Seoul... kpop idols!

Turns out that the guy she bumped into briefly and hung out with for an evening before she went to Korea goes to that high school! What are the chances! And yes, he's in a band, and yes the band is very popular. So they become friends, even though they try to keep it kind of secret. That's because one of the other band members has just had a bit of scandal himself. With the girl who is now our girl's roommate. Yes. The craziness!

Anyway, it was another fun look into the kpop industry, and what it might be like behind the scenes of a famous group... and how they are just regular guys trying to live a regular life and have regular friends, in between being extremely famous. It's seriously a crazy world for them.

I really enjoyed this one, yet again. This author knows her kpop and everything felt spot on for me and was presented in a good way and not a dumb "let's make fun of this" way. 

And now I have yet another fictional band to love.... XOXO! 

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.

Book Review: A Million Beginnings by Sabrina T. Rudolph

Book: A Million Beginnings by Sabrina T. Rudolph

Genre: Romance

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

I first heard about this book several months ago when I saw a tweet that looked like it was promoting a new kpop band. I was all... WHAT? WHO IS THIS? And Sabrina answered me to explain that it was the band she and her friends (and sister I think?) were creating as part of a new kpop romance book series. 

So from there I followed this band (because yes they have their own twitter! @Millions_ivp) and the company created by these guys to promote the book and series. It's been fun to watch! And I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy and can tell you about it here and now!

(I did a little video shout out about this here if you are interested.)

 This story introduces us to the kpop band Millions, who are coming back after taking a two year long  break (forever in kpop land.) Their previous company treated them like crap and so they have decided to start their own company and promote themselves. We join Seohee as she is approaching this new company to interview for a position there. 

They end up hiring her as their manager (not exactly what she wanted, but she figures it will get her foot in the door) and she starts helping them get ready for their comeback and working on their promotions.

In the meantime she is learning all about the members, which of course we get to do as readers also. So  much fun. The book flips back and forth from the points of view of Seohee and one of the members, Taejun. And each one of the other members has a turn or two with their viewpoints also. The chapters are divided into "tracks" instead of chapters, all named after a kpop song. So awesome. 

Taejun is especially flirty, and especially with Seohee. She blows him off for a long long time, assuming that's just how he is, but deep down she is loving it and eating it up. And soon he is getting hard to resist. Meanwhile Taejun is flirting in earnest, and not just for fun. But he knows it's going to be hard to change her mind and convince her to be more than friends because she is so determined to keep things professional. 

And so it goes! The romance of these two, with the backdrop of a group trying to start over again and deal with the painful and sad backstories that they all bring to the table. It feels like a very authentic look into what it might be like behind the scenes. And this is why I think we kpop fans love these stories so much (well, and the romance of course!) because it's really interesting to imagine what it's like for these guys in their real lives. 

I totally enjoyed this story and loved falling in love with yet another band, even if it is fictional! 

Sabrina and her friends are funding this whole endeavor themselves, so if you are interested in this book and helping them out, check out their Kickstarter site here where you can also learn a TON more about this book and their project. 

In the meantime, I will be looking forward to the next installment to see who conquers their demons and gets to fall in love next!

Kdrama Review: Imitation

Drama: Imitation

Genre: melodrama

Starring: Jeong Ji So, Lee Jun Young, Park Ji Yeon, Jeong Yun Ho

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤

This was a fun drama that got a lot of buzz because it stars a bunch of our favorite kpop idols playing... kpop idols. Kinda cool, yeah?

It's about a couple of different kpop groups... two boy groups and one girl group, and follows them in their journey to debuting (in the case of the girl group) and struggling (in the case one of the boy groups) and being huge and popular (in the case of the other boy group.)

It deals with a bunch of issues swirling around the industry...the competition between groups, the comradery between groups, the terrible management and manipulation by management, the struggle these idols have with dating relationships, and so on. It's heartbreaking at times.

But also really heart warming at times too. Our main dude is very popular and a bit of an angry young  man, but then he connects with the girl from the girl group and they bond and fall in love. And then he turns all sweet and soft. But the other dude from the other and already loved her, so he has to deal with that sadness.

When the drama opens, one of the guys from the popular group just up and disappears right in the middle of a performance, so we have the mystery to deal with and learn about. And that's part of the heartbreaking bits. 

Anyway, it was very fun to see boys from ATEEZ, and SF9 doing some great acting. And it was fun to fall in love with a dude named Park Yuri (he does solo stuff) and also the main dude who used to be in a group called U-Kiss back in the day. They were all great. The girls were from real live groups too... Pristin and I forget who else.

Jongho from ATEEZ and Park Yuri... so much comic relief in this drama. LOVED THEM!

But the fun thing is that these fictional bands, since they were made up of people in real bands, all did songs and performances as part of the show. I loved that. 

Our cute couple

So yeah, it was great and a lot of fun. It did get a bit slow for me in parts and I always just wanted the cute romance parts, but everything about it was quite interesting.

Here's a tiny trailer:

Here's the "popular" group SHAX with their song:

 

 Here's the "struggling" group SPARKLING with their song:

   

 The debuting girl group OMEGA 3 with their song: