That is all.

But no more, I think.

I know, each time I say I’m going to come back to blogging … it just doesn’t happen. I told you – I have commitment issues.

But fresh start right? One and a quarter years later,  I figure I can open up my life again. I can commit.

… I need therapy, I think.

Happy early birthday, Canada!

Credits go to Janchung @ Youtube

Woohooooooo, it’s out … !!! Out of everything I’ve been looking forward to in the past few weeks, this one tops the list!

…. Which might have something to do with the fact that I’d LOVE to honeymoon in Sydney (or Australia, in general), and that I think that Australia’s actually one of the most beautiful and romantic places in the world. Yeah, so mebbe I’m a bit biased … ?

In any case, I really wanted to see how the main actress and actor would work around the 8-year age gap. Would it be awkward? Well, it’s been done SO many times before, if it were still awkward, I would’ve actually thrown my shoe at my laptop. I mean, srsly. If Koreans haven’t gotten it right by now, it’s high-time they did.

The focal song of the short is really quite lovely, as is Baek Sung Hyun. If anyone figures out who it is, lemme know, because I’m seriously going to youtube that artist like mad. And yes, this movie (as pathetic as what I’m going to say is going to sound) has actually caused me to reinvest hope in unrequited love and all that shit. So yeah, MAYBE I haven’t had my first kiss yet. And yeah, maybe it’s about time I did, since I’m eighteen. But, you know, I figure that if I want my first kiss to be really really special, then I’d better do it with someone really really special. Like Baek Sung Hyun. And as of yet, that particular individual has been eluding me. =.=

In any case, watch this movie! Since it’s only 7 minutes long, you’ve really no excuse to, because if you don’t invest those 7 minutes in this movie, I know you’re going to spend it procrastinating on some other random site (like FML – omg, biggest waste of time ever, but hella funnnyyyyy). ;P

And, just to make this post even MORE random:

SHORRY SHORRY!

Hehehehehe. Sorrryyy, it just HAD to be done.
… It was BEGGING to be done. xP

Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.

- Iris Murdoch

Anyway, haven’t completely decided whether I’m gonna stick with wordpress, but I feel like posting here now. I have like, no friends on Livejournal, so it makes it difficult to find the incentive to post, cos no one’ll comment. :’((((( But be forewarned that password-protected posts (a.k.a. posts pertaining to the most private aspects of my personal life) will be found on my livejournal, which is Friends Only. Sorry, babes, but this I gotta do. Don’t want stalkers and pervies hitting up on my non-existent love life and all that.

Okay, so last week was the most stressful week of university YET. No joke. I had three midterms and four freakass assignments due in the span of five days. I was ready to throw myself off a cliff (… or well, a very high building, because there be no cliffs in close proximity to where I am. And if I were to throw myself off a cliff, I’d rather not put too much effort into finding a cliff. xP). And I got my calc midterm mark back this week and IT IS SO BAD. I’ve never in my life gotten such a shitty mark. This was beyond shit, mates. This was of the exploding diarrhea kind. I didn’t fail … but it was pretty damn close. *faints*

Hmm, updates.

Well, let’s see. Friends are good. =) Thank gosh for rez life. If I weren’t living in rez, I don’t think I’d have much of a life because my ridiculous procrastinating has extended to all areas of my life, and I STILL haven’t gotten my driver’s license. University has been awesome in that it’s let me meet awesome people. And I’ll be living with some of these awesome people next year, which makes me SO happy. And which makes me a tad scared, seeing as I won’t be living with my parents anymore. Like, next year, it’s official. I’ll be living on my own. Of course, my parents are helping me to pay for rent and all, but it will all be paid back in due time. I’m thinking of it as me being indebted to my parents and that I’ll pay them back (sans interest) eventually.

… Rez food still sucks.

She is amazing.

And as one youtube user mentioned, this is “goddess perfection”.

Agreed. Absolutely agreed. <3

Okay, so obviously, I’m a little behind on things.

Heyyyy man, I blame it on the atrocious amount of school work I have in first-year university. It’s UNIVERSITY. I should be out, having fun, enjoying my first stab at independence.

Nope. Instead, I spend my days finishing an assignment here, downloading a movie there, grabbing a bubbletea now and then, eating CONSTANTLY. Oh yes, and I get no sleep at all.

… My life is both pathetic and tragic. And it’s my own damn fault.

BUT, alas, I have found some Miura Haruma-related news to brighten up my day. And boooooyyyyyy, has it gotten sunnier already. Ignore the fact that it’s two in the morning, plz&thx. Blogging is my one vice, aight?

Apparently, this springhorse is starring in a new drama. And he’s the main character. Finaaaalllly, our Miura Haruma gets to be the MAN OF THE HOUR in Bloody Mary, where he singlehandedly fights off terrorism. (Hey, this probably isn’t true, but gimme this one chance to extol his virtues, alright? Like I haven’t been doing enough of it, already.)

In any case, if you’re looking for excellent recaps, Irugnotmis is summarizing it on her site here. Favourite her site. I dare youuuuu.

The show seems to be only six episodes long, and the title of the first episode (“Japan’s last day! The life of one person or the life of 40,000 people? The battle between the evil virus terrorists and the legendary genius hacker is finally starting tonight!”) is so long, it’s almost a turn-off in itself, but the premise seems interesting enough. Terrorism is a touchy issue all around, but people seem to be VERY interested in it, regardless. The key is to portray terrorism with enough tact and poise – to not go overboard with the drama until it almost seems ridiculously melodramatic, comical and unrealistic, but to have it strike a chord in viewers. Plus, the ethicality behind the show is an appealing factor – if you have the skills to defeat a terrorist and to save 40, 000 people in the process, why not? Or do you treasure your own private existence more?

In any case, I’m quite excited to start watching this show! Hopefully, Haruma is incentive enough to draw in viewers, but let’s not forget the significance of what’s being presented. Terrorism has affected the world in more ways than one, leaving behind broken, grieving individuals. And these individuals won’t easily forget those events that have transpired and changed their lives in the blink of an eye.

First off, I’d like to apologize for my utter failure at updating. It’s been extremely hectic, as I’ve just moved out of the family home and into university residence, and even with a meal plan, it’s really hard to keep yourself on track and completely organized.

In any case, I’ll probably start updating regularly one of these days just as a mini-break from all the craziness in my life. Of course, I might be acting a tad optimistic, as I’ve never updated regularly in the past (*giggles*), but … it could happen one of these days. You never know.

Just a shout out to those close cyberfriends of mine – you guys know who you are. I miss you all so much, and one of these days, we’ll have to get our butts onto msn and have a gab sesh. Yes, yes? FOUR/FIVE-WAY CONVOS FTW. <3

More on this lurvely Japanese actor to come.

In the mean time, DO watch “A Gentle Breeze in the Village”. I like it even better than Koizora.

Which says heaps.

Because Miura Haruma (that springhorse) is so delish.

I certainly did. I’ll even admit that at one point in time, I actually thought the authors were witty and not, y’know, downright cruel in their remarks. But recently, after the even more notorious split between the co-authors of the blog (there’s apparently a lot of drama in the blogging world), I’ve taken to following both the original Popseoul (owned by the Korean sista) and the newly-formed Seoulbeats (owned by the American counterpart). Now, obviously, there are pros and cons to both. I’ll start with Seoulbeats.

 Seoulbeats:

I find the layout of the site itself really really nice. It’s got that minimalist look – clean, precise coding; extensive use of thumbnails and borders; straight lines; and most importantly, the proper use of capitals (I’m a grammar nazi. Whatcha gonna do about dat?). What I really like though, is that their mainpage contains their ten most recent entries, complete with thumbnails, mini preview, date and name of author. This makes it EXTREMELY easy to pick and choose the articles that interest you, rather than having to scroll down millions of entries until you find one that’s witty AND interesting enough. As a result, very little scrolling obviously equates to a user-friendly site.

Additionally, the entries are short and sweet – great for someone who just wants the deets with a spoonful of sarcasm for good measure. It takes a maximum of five minutes to read through ten entries, which is all the time I have really for this sort of thing. Furthermore, I really like their image functions. Clicking on a thumbnail doesn’t open up the enlargened image in a new window, in a new tab or in the same tab, but on a different page (therefore requiring the use of the “back” button to return to the original entry). Rather, it opens on the same page - similar to those ads that pop up and overlay the page you’re currently perusing – getting rid of it requires the simple click of the “x” symbol, without the hassle of pressing the back button and waiting for your entry, complete with comments, to reload all over again. (Do forgive my inability to explain - the technical terms aren’t coming to me, at the mo).

In any case, the real gem lies in Seoulbeat’s team of writers. That’s right – it’s no one-(wo)man show. By my count, there are approximately 8 writers, assuming that Ms. Seoulbeats is an actual writer (though she’s given no profile) and probably the American counterpart herself, and that CiaoCiao is going to continue writing, even though s/he’s written … one entry so far? In any case, six of the writers have profiles up on the “About” page, and they’re rather fun to read.

Last but not least, I’m liking the new categories being introduced, most likely a means of differentiating the site from Popseoul. In any case, with a team of writers from all sorts of backgrounds, Seoulbeats not only brings wit to the table, but, dare I say, some rather intellectual thoughts as well. In any case, the fashion entries are a gem to read.

Edit: I just posted my first comment on the site, and OMG, you can edit your comments. I’m SO sick of not being able to edit my comments on gossip blogs, so this is a blardy nice change. THANK YOU for adding that function (or for establishing a domain that has that function).

Popseoul:

While Seoulbeats IS making its way up, it’s not always up-to-date. Popseoul does overshadow it in terms of number of current articles (however relevant they may be). It seems that this Korean sista (or sistas) spend(s) ALL her time on the website; it feels like it’s updated on an hourly basis – impressive for a seemingly one-woman show. Still, I’m not too sure whether there’s only one writer or multiple – we, as readers, aren’t given the privilege of reading the profiles of the different writers, should there be more than one.  

The site could do with a category clean-up. Honestly, the number of categories lengthens the page by an insane amount and to find a certain category, one encounters scrolling of Olympic proportions. Ridiculous.

Additionally, I’ve found petty grammar mistakes that, although unnoticeable by most, decrease the quality of the writing. Furthermore, it’s important to note that there IS a difference between wit and cruelty. The two shouldn’t be interchangeable. Still, I’d say that the site was at its worse when BOTH writers were writing together. Now, while there is the occasional snarky remark, it’s still loads of fun to read.

Also, Popseoul could work on previewing its entries, rather than have them all load on the same page, which takes an eternity and a half at times. I know pictures say a thousand words, but under the cut, please and thanks.

And, just a note to Popseoul commenters, GET OVER YOURSELF. Some of your comments are disgusting, and actually make me disgusted to be in your company. Honestly, after reading that a Korean’s not only WON a gold medal, but set a new world record, most of you can only say, “GROSS”, “SHE’S UGLY!”, “OMG, GROSS GROSS GROSS. I CAN’T SAY ANYTHING ELSE BUT GROSS”. Please, diss her only after you’ve won a gold medal at the Olympic Games, after you’ve set a new world record, and after YOU have a long list of accomplishments to your name. Sure, she might not be the prettiest thing, but it ain’t in her job description to be beautiful. Plus, you try being skinny as heck AND lifting 326 kg. It’d crush you, which’d give you the PERFECT excuse to plasticize yourself, right?

And please, do post a picture up of yourself so you can get a taste of your own medicine.

Both:

Credit your sources. Trust me, you’ll seem that much more credible when you do. Examples to follow: Dramabeans and Coolsmurf.

Famous Last Thoughts:

Both are decent and fun sources of info on Korean popculture. The writers are good (enough), witty/sarcastic (enough), and don’t take themselves too seriously, which is always craploads of fun for the reader.  

Thanks for the good reads, gals (and maybe a guy or two?)!