Category Archives: Music

Ecstasy and Agony

Sooo… last night the 2nd round of JYJ ticket sales happened. Just like last Wednesday, my friend and I headed to the local PC 방 (faster internet than the crappy connections we get in our building), hoping this time we would be successful, since last week’s venture left us empty handed. I logged in to my Interpark account, and at 8:00 pm on the dot, I tried to pull tickets. SUCCESS! I got 3 tickets in the VIP section within the red oval:

seating map

JYJ concert seating map – Seoul August 2014

Yes! Seats in the area that is encircled by part of the stage! RIGHT NEAR THE ROTATING PLATFORM WHERE THEY WILL PROBABLY SING IN HEAVEN AND DO THAT THING WHERE THEY TURN TOWARD EACH OTHER AND FEED OFF OF EACH OTHER’S ENERGY AND CREATE THIS AMAZING SYNERGY THAT I WOULD SERIOUSLY CONSIDER GIVING A KIDNEY OR PART OF MY LIVER TO SEE UP CLOSE! Yes, those seats!

Life could not possibly get better! Those seats were literally a dream come true for me and I had them in my hot little virtual hands!

I proceeded through the ticket purchase process – something I’ve done at least a dozen times by now, so I can do it quite easily, even in Korean – and got all the way to the screen where you select the method of payment, but for some reason, the list of bank cards wasn’t coming up, and where the ‘Next’ button usually is, it said  잠시만 기다려주세요,  so I waited for a bit. But I also didn’t want to wait too long and lose my tickets, and there was that little ! in the status bar at the bottom of the window that indicated an error, so I had my friend on the computer next to me try to grab a single ticket elsewhere and see what happens if you hit the ‘previous screen’ button. She did and the tickets were still intact, so I decided to back one step and then try again, hoping that when I got to the payment screen, my tickets would still be there, and they were! I was successful!  Yay!

It allowed me to select the method of payment and move forward one step. Then… when it came time to input my card details, there was a notation of an Active X that needed to be allowed. So I allowed it, because otherwise I couldn’t proceed. AND THE DAMN PAGE REFRESHED BACK TO THE BEGINNING AND RELEASED MY TICKETS!!!!!!! And try as I might, I never got them back.

So, now, I’m stuck sitting in the seats within the navy triangle on the map above. It’s a far cry from what I had been in reach of just moments before. Now, unless you’re a  huge, devoted fan of something, the way I am of JYJ, you might not understand how I feel, but let me tell you that my heart literally hurts and tears well up in my eyes when I think of it. So I am doing my best to try not to think of it, and just focus on the fact that we got tickets, which is much better than our attempt last week, and that I will finally, after years of waiting, get to see JYJ together. Live. In concert. Making magic like only they can.

But I needed to get it all out of my system in order to move on, hence the post.

I’ve also decided that I’m going to try to get a ticket for their Hong Kong concert the following week and change my flight for my trip to Japan to accommodate a side trip to Hong Kong… They have general admission floor tickets, and that’s what I’m aiming for. Wish me luck! Maybe third time’s a charm?

Oh, and just in case you want to see what I mean about JYJ’s synergy as they perform In Heaven, you can watch a fancam here. It’s a great performance, and the synergy part really kicks into high gear around the 3:37 mark.

 

New Year’s Eve thinky thoughts

2014

With a little less than 5 hours left in 2013 for me, I feel the need to reflect for a moment or two.

This has been an interesting year. The first half was uncomfortable for me. I felt isolated a lot, both at home and at work. Ahh… work… yeah… Work made me really unhappy a lot of the time. Not as unhappy as my first year managing the training team, cuz that was disastrously stressful, but it definitely wasn’t making me feel fulfilled. Or useful. And I think that feeling seeped into my non-work life as well.

Fortunately, I  have some good friends near and far (especially my KDKP fam) who helped prop me up when I needed some extra TLC. And I had Kpop. Roll your eyes if you want. Shake your head and judge me as a weirdo and crazy fangirl if you need to, but the truth is, Kpop is my happy place, and has been for a few years now. It’s my escape from all manner of stressful emotions: whether I feel sad, angry, frustrated, worthless, overwhelmed… whatever negative emotion I feel, if I immerse myself in Kpop for a while, that feeling dissipates. I don’t know why it works that way for me, but I’m not gonna question it.

Kpop also played a part in my decision to quit my job and move to Korea to teach English. It wasn’t the REASON I came to Korea to teach – my interest in Korean culture goes beyond pop culture, and my desire to teach English overseas goes back many years – but the idea that living in Korea could mean more opportunities to see Kpop shows, and specifically to see JYJ live in their own country, gave me the courage to cast aside my fear of rejection and ignore the large part of my brain that kept screaming “No, you don’t like change! Change is scary! Change is bad! Don’t do that!!!”

So, despite 2013’s rocky first half, today I sit here on New Year’s Eve happier and more content than I’ve been on any NYE in recent memory. I love my job to the point that I didn’t mind working until 4:40 today, because it meant hanging out with my rural school students watching Star Wars, decorating cupcakes to look like Princess Leia, having battles with lightsabres made of animal balloons and laughing my butt off on more than one occasion. I’m going on about 4 hours of sleep, because yesterday, I booked it to the bus terminal after school, hopped on a bus to Seoul, met my friend at the subway and headed to Jamsil Sports Complex to see Junsu (yes, JUNSU!!!) in concert. Afterward, we stayed up talking until way too late, then I woke up a good 2 hours before sunrise, hopped on the subway, headed to the bus terminal, then got on a bus back home to Chungju so I could get washed up and ready for my afternoon at school running English Camp. Yet, despite being tired, I’m happy. And I’m going to head upstairs to one of the other English teacher’s apartments where a bunch of us are going to enjoy a Mexican themed evening filled with games, yummy food, sangria, and, I’m sure lots and lots of laughs. Yeah, not a bad way to welcome in 2014. 🙂

Happy New Year, everyone! If 2013 was good to you, I hope that trend continues. If it’s a year you’re happy to see the end of, I hope 2014 is much more to your liking.

Kim Jaejoong is a Rock Star

I want to start off this post by saying I love, love, LOVE MTVK for airing an interview with Kim Jaejoong. It is so rare for us JYJ fangirls to see our boys on any sort of broadcast outside their own YouTube channel, so it makes me over-the-top giddy when I do.

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(Sorry, WordPress doesn’t like MTVK’s embed code, so the best I can do is insert an image and link it to the MTVK page…)

Jaejoong released his first solo mini-album, entitled “I” on January 17th.  He also released a video for “Mine” the album’s lead single. I wasn’t sure what I thought of it at first, but I was also sick and cranky at the time, but after a couple of views, I started to like it. Now, I love it. It’s a solid track and the MV supports the lyrics well. Here, check it out for yourself:

So different than what he’s done in the past, but at the same time, so completely and utterly Jaejoong. I think his voice suits the rock genre, and I get the feeling that he enjoyed the change of pace.  I also love that he was brave enough to step outside the pop idol box and do something unexpected and different. He didn’t stay within his performance comfort zone, and I respect him for that.

I love the entire album and strongly recommend that if you like this song, you should absolutely buy the album. I got my copy from Kpopmart.com, who are super fast at shipping stuff out, and they even send you pictures of your order packed in the shipment box, when they send out your confirmation. YesAsia.com is also a great, reliable source for any Kpop purchases, but not quite as quick with delivery as Kpopmart. Or, if you prefer to do it digitally, it’s also available on iTunes.

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Jaejoong on MTVK

Woohoo! MTVK will be airing an exclusive interview with Jaejoong. They posted a teaser today and my oh my is Jaejoong ever sexy when speaking English. The image below links to the video on MTVK because WordPress doesn’t seem to like MTVK’s embed code…

Kim Jaejoong on MTVK

Jaejoong will release his new single “One Kiss” on Jan 8

This makes my little fangirl heart squee with delight!

JYJ3

Kim Jaejoong will release ‘ONE KISS’ as a preview track on Jan 8, prior to the release of his first solo mini-album called ‘MINE’

C-jes entertainment official said, “MINE, which is the title song and album title of Kim Jaejoong’s first mini solo-album, was produced together with Kim Bada. A large scale music video for the heavy rock song was also produced.’ONE KISS’ will be released online on Jan 8 around 12 noon. It is a song which features Kim Jaejoong’s charming, husky yet sweet voice and is suited for the cold winter weather.”

Also,”We will release an MV behind the scence cut and MV teaser for ‘MINE’ on Jan 8″, he added.

Pre-orders (both online and offline) for Kim Jaejoong’s mini solo-album will begin on Jan 7. It will be available on offline stores like Kyobo Bookstore and Synarra record store, as well as online sites such as Kyobo…

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JYJ: a group worth falling in love with

Junsu, Jaejoong & Yoochun

Junsu, Jaejoong and Yoochun, the 3 members of JYJ

If you’ve read my about page or scanned through earlier posts, you’ve probably figured out that I’m a bit of a JYJ fan. And within JYJ, Junsu is my favourite of the trio. He is the perfect combination of ridiculously adorable, dorky and sexy as all getout. His voice is unequalled, not only within the Korean music industry but worldwide. Seriously, the boy gives me goosebumps when he belts out a tune. He’s also a phenomenal dancer and the ultimate showman. I was fortunate enough to catch his show in New York City on August 30 of this year and he rocked my world from the moment he stepped onto the stage. I still get a fluttery feeling in my tummy when I think about that show. I’m not gonna lie; I was so overwhelmed by the experience, that I found myself unable to contain my tears by the time he sang his final encore song, Fallen Leaves, which he wrote, composed and arranged himself.

Junsu, Jaejoong and Yoochun are all incredibly talented and passionate performers who deserve to be in the spotlight, yet because of an ongoing dispute with their former management company, they are banned from all broadcast stations and have a hard time finding venues in which to hold events. This article in the Asia Sentinel does an excellent job of explaining the situation, so please take a few moments to read it. Perhaps if enough people know about the situation, some sort of solution will be found.

And if you’d like to check out JYJ and Junsu’s music, visit their YouTube page, and then, because I know you’ll love them, here’s where you can buy their albums.

Kim Junsu was at the 32nd National Para Games, but not on TV :(

Junsu performed at the 32nd National Para Games opening ceremony, but somehow it didn’t appear on TV as expected. This is such a frustrating thing for his fans and for him, but I have to say that I’m super proud of Junsu, because he handled it with class, grace and dignity.

Read more about it in the link below the image.

Junsu's tweets and selca

Junsu’s Twitter response

NEWS] 121009 JYJ’s Kim Junsu Treated Unfairly at the 32nd National Para Games Opening?.

After working with Junsu on Uncommitted, Bruce “Automatic” Vanderveer tweeted some highly complimentary things about him Bruce “Automatic” Vanderveer has also previously worked with singers such as Christina Aguilera, The Wanted, Leona Lewis and more.

JYJ3

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Ebay will be the death of me

I’m a bit of a walking contradiction. I love to buy things, yet I absolutely abhor shopping malls. I’m not sure when it happened, because I was a total mall rat just like every other suburban teen in the GTA, but somehow, somewhere along the way, I began to hate malls with a passion. I also don’t particularly like the hassle of shopping for clothing, except for shoes, but even then, I prefer to go to shoe stores that are outside of malls so that I don’t have to experience the torture of being inside one. Same thing with anything else I need/want to buy. If I can get it somewhere else, I’m totally there.

It is for this exact reason that the ability to shop online is both a godsend and pure, unadulterated evil for me. You see, I really, really like to buy things, and when you partner that up with my fangirlish tendencies, havoc will ensue. Take this weekend, for example: I purchased 4, yes, 4 JYJ CDs; a JYJ cell phone charm; 2 JYJ pillow cases; a JYJ wall calendar; and a new case (miraculously not JYJ) for my iPhone. Did I need all that stuff? Well, I did need the case, as mine has broken, and a new case does dictate the need for a new cell phone charm. But the CDs? Maaaaybe kind of, sort of, but, not really. I already have most of the songs on the CDs I bought, but the reason I say ‘sort of’ is that I’m a firm believer in supporting the artists I love by buying their products and going to their concerts. So even if I download something for free, eventually I will buy it, or buy enough of their other products to restore my musical karmic balance. Also, the CDs come with posters and photo books, so, there’s another reason to buy them. But again, not enough to dictate need, really.

The calendar was completely frivolous, since I already have two calendars at home – one of them from another fandom: Bleach – yet I absolutely had to have the JYJ one. (Really, I was thiiiiiis close to buying it back in November, but I changed my mind, so really, all I’m doing is changing my mind back again.) And let’s not even discuss the pillow cases, because frivolous is not a frivolous enough word to describe that particular purchase. But OMG they’re so adorable! Ahem. Yeah. Frivolous to the Nth degree.

Anyway, this is just a long-winded way for me to document the fact that I really need to stay away from eBay. And YesAsia.com, and J-list, and all the other e-commerce sites that suck me in so efficiently. Truly I do, because I’m supposed to be saving money for Japan, not buying things that I can probably get cheaper there anyway!

On the up side, I have been a good girl when it comes to concerts. I’ve made a rule that I’m not allowed to buy concert tickets for any band/artist I’ve seen before, though what I’m actually aiming for is to spend no money on any band unless JYJ return to North America like the rumours say they will. Now that I’ve written that down, I think it means I’m obligated to adhere to it…

Ugh, wish me luck!