Inside Out

Done with the first week of school and I'm tired although I only went for two days because of my darn gastric flu. I think I need some time to get into the swing of things and I hope it will be soon.

Going for tvN K-Pop Star Hunt auditions tomorrow and I'm quite a nervous wreck. Uh well, I'll update this space on how it goes again!

Back to work!

Induction

Today was my first day aka induction day at Chapman University and thankfully it turned out okay despite all my first-day uncertainties - from meeting my senior from secondary school, mixing around with those from other Polytechnics (only four of us hail from Temasek Polytechnic), to getting to talk to the lecturers a little. Of course I was really glad that Clarissa was with me.

I have been watching To The Beautiful You (which is the Korean remake of Hana Kimi) and I can't help but make comparisons to the Taiwanese remake of the same series, which happens to be one of my favourite dramas... taking away the fact that I love Ella and Wuzun.
The Korean remake has definitely been moving at a much faster rate then the Taiwanese one, with a few differences here and there in the plot. I absolutely love HyunWoo in there but besides that, I feel that the rest of the characters are kinda weak - in the sense that they do not exactly portray their personalities very well. The Taiwanese version though, which I have just started watching again, for the gazillionth time, has actors that pull off their characters perfectly and everyone is really distinct in their own way.
One thing is the same in both though - both males leads are not the best actors... Hahahaha am I stating the obvious?

Anyway, I am feeling so sleepy now it is unbelievable. May I survive through the arduous journey to and from school four days a week. Goodnight!

A Night at USS

I finally got to go to Universal Studios Singapore after a gazillion years of wanting to! STAR (Straits Times Appreciates Readers) ticket holders were entitled to free admission to USS on either 18th or 19th August from 7.30pm to 11pm.

It was a really short visit but it was definitely worth it! Theme parks have always made me extremely happy because they satisfy my inner child... so much. I guess it was apt that I looked five years younger with my new haircut (Rach said that btw, just to clear things up).

It was a pity that we didn't get to take the Transformers 3D ride and the Cylon Battlestar Galactica. I would have loved to, but my stomach was not cooperating with me at all. Bummer. Human Battlestar Galatica was freaking awesome though. And I really liked the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, especially the three-storey drop at the end.

All fun aside though, I was really impressed with all the architecture because everything was so meticulous, even down to the design of the toilets - which were designed in accordance with whichever theme zone they were in.

Of course, no visit to a theme park is complete without camwhoring:

Lol Rach just take over her job already.

Obligatory shots with the globe.

Experimental low-angle shot by Brenda.

I really want to go to USS again, and this time, I wanna spend the whole day there. In the meantime, I guess I'll just looking forward to my visits to Everland and Lotte World in Korea in December!

MTV Sessions Featuring Kyle Patrick

When I received an e-mail from MTV stating that I had won tickets, I was really excited - I was gonna get to watch the lead singer of a band that I have been listening to forever, and also it was gonna be my first studio recording experience!

Rachel and I reached the venue just 1.5 hours before the doors opened and we were pleasantly surprised that we were second in queue.

That's me being annoying LOL.

And here's a decent photo for your sanity, or not.

Snazzy looking tickets that they didn't let us take home :(

The studio was pretty neat and the stage looked awesome. We stood right at the front and we were literally brought closer to the star of the show. I was kinda resting my knees against the stage while waiting for the man to come out. Hahaha. A little too close for comfort me thinks.

My iTouch on the stage LOL how annoying are we really.

Anyway, fast-forwarding to the recording, VJs Holly Grabarek and Richard Herrera hyped up the crowd and did an introduction whilst standing among the audience. I'm pretty sure I was captured on camera since I was standing next to Holly, and it was so awkward even though I'm a broadcast student and I've had plenty of experiences in front of the camera. Sigh, I just hope I look normal when they screen it, lol.

Handing the baton over to the band, Billy Justineau (keyboard), Kevin Rice (drums) and Jared Scharff (guitar, also guitarist of Saturday Night Live) and Kyle kicked it off with Follow Your Heartbeat. Seriously, the song was perfect as an opener. It's fun, upbeat and has such relevant lyrics ("I'm ready now, ready now, ready now" - that's the most apt it gets). He danced all around the stage and infected all of us with his energy. What a crazy ball of fun he was!

Keeping the momentum going, he continued with Wild Ways where he really impressed me with his falsettos in the chorus, and he did not falter one bit. Watching him perform is always a pleasure, because he is one of the most sincere and consistent performers ever.

He then took it slow with his rendition of Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine, which he quipped as one of his favourite songs. He slightly mispitched one of the higher notes but other than that he absolutely nailed the song, especially my favourite part (the never-ending 'I know I know I know...').

He then brought out his Gibson SJ-200 Custom Honey and treated the audience to acoustic versions to a few songs from The Click Five. While setting up, he conversed with the fans in whatever Singlish he learnt on his last trip here in 2011. He used chiobu and chope in a couple of sentences before saying that Singapore is like his second home, which earned him lots of 'awwws'. Aww indeed!

The crowd of mostly teenagers were obviously Click Five fans and sang along to Jenny, Happy Birthday, Empty and Don't Let Me Go. He looked visibly pleased with himself until he stopped abruptly in the middle of Empty before lamenting that even though he has played the song for hundreds of times, he still forgets the lyrics sometimes. How cute, haha! I'm guessing MTV will cut that part out though.

Spot me! (Photo credits to Aloysius Lim and MTV Asia)

The band then came back on stage and Kyle started crooning out the very emotional Baby Don't Board That Plane. The song sounds brilliant on the record, but listening to it live was another thing altogether - he put so much emotion into it and it was just... for lack of a better word, amazing!

He finished off his set with the lead single from his EP, Go For Gold! He said that the song was written when he was preparing for a marathon, and added that joining the marathon was one of the worst decisions ever. Hahaha. Anyway, Go For Gold was definitely the highlight of the whole showcase and Kyle even jumped off the stage into the crowd at one point. He also sung to me at the second chorus, and my natural reaction was to sing back. He gets bonus points for crowd interaction. Heh.

Photo credits to Aloysius Lim and MTV Asia.

He came back on stage for a surprise encore (it turned out that the production team needed him to re-do two songs) and sang Follow Your Heartbeat and Baby Don't Board That Plane again. I'm not complaining though!

My first ever studio recording session experience definitely ended on a good note (literally) and I had a blast! Kyle and his band could do no wrong. There was an improvement in his vocals compared to when I last saw him in 2010. He also looked much, much better without those long ugly sideburns he previously had. Thank goodness.

Rach and I ended our day with a meal at Aston's and camwhoring at some cave thingum nearby. Lol we never even knew it existed.

All these derp has to stop hahahaha

It was a great day! Thank you MTV Asia for bringing Kyle in! And also to Rach for the awesome company! Couldn't have asked for more. :)

For those who missed it, MTV Sessions: Kyle Patrick will premiere on MTV SEA Saturday 8 September at 11am (WIB), 12pm (SG/HK/PH) and 1pm (MAL).
Also, check out my review of Kyle's self-titled EP here!

Super Junior - SPY Review

Super Junior finally released the music video of their follow-up song, SPY, a good one week after the single was released.

The first time I heard this song, I was so pleasantly surprised at the cowboyish introduction. It gave off such a happy vibe and I was so happy that there was an actual melody to it. However as it went on, especially when Kyuhyun started droning his insanely low notes in the verse, my mood took a 180 degree turn.
And by the end of the song I was totally unimpressed with what seemed like a mash-up of three songs - a cowboy/Wild Wild West inspired tune, a Bond inspired hook, and chanting similar to that of Superman and Gulliver (also songs by them).
The composer was probably going for a 'playful' and 'varied' song but honestly this doesn't do it for me at all. I feel that songs shouldn't have too many motifs (unless you are talking about concert band/orchestral music) and this song totally deviates away from that rule. It would have been a perfect song if the droning verses were replaced with something akin to the beginning. Or you know what? Scrap that, it would have been perfect if the entire song sounded like that. Words can't explain how much I love Eunhyuk's parts in this song. Gone are the days when Super Junior got quality songs like No Other and Mirror.

Alas, as much as I dislike the song, the SM effect has yet again hit me and this song is now stuck in my head, to the extent that I feel inclined to make a cover. Oh no. Hahahaha.

Now, on to the music video. There isn't really anything to say about it except that's a typical SJ-dancing-in-a-huge-box and close-ups of them singing their lines video. Of course the boys look dashing wielding pistols and shotguns all decked out in sleek suits but I am getting so tired of the low-budget production. Seriously, what's up with all the random squirts of blood coming out from nowhere? I know it fits the concept, but it turned out to be more of a distraction than a complement to the video.
The thing that irks me the most, however, is the fact that the video for this song could have easily been scripted into a storyline - but no - laziness just gets better of everyone and Super Junior once again ends up with a less-than-stellar recycled music video.

The choreography of the song though, is quite impressive to me - especially the part before Kyuhyun sings his verse where he has to pass through some sort of 'obstacle course', and also the part just before Ryeowook takes over his lines. The disappearing-and-reappearing-as-another-person act is just genius. All these Bond-inspired dance moves are what redeem the song, making their live performances really enjoyable.

It also seems like any new SJ single is not complete without a small solo dance part from Eunhyuk. Not that I mind though, because I really like them.

So all in all, terrible song and music video, but amazing choreography. But no matter what I, or anyone for that matter, say about SJ's songs, you know that they are still going to top the charts and sweep ELFs off their feet. While many are getting sick of this formula they are using, you have to admit that it works and I don't see any reason why they are going to change it, although a huge part of me still wishes that they will.

Till then, I will just continue replaying SPY and watch SJ snag all their awards. Go kick it in the butt, boys!

Muggle Magic

So, I finally got the chance to visit the Harry Potter exhibition at MBS along with Stef, Brenda, Mel, Jon and Keith.

I've heard mixed reviews from my friends - some said it was boring, and others begged to differ.
For me, I was quite satisfied with it because well, Harry Potter is my childhood and I'm a huge huge Potterhead. I just wished that it was more interactive, and that they provided more information about the props. For example, instead of just 'Harry Potter's wand', they could have put something like, 'Harry Potter's wand. Made of holly and had a phoenix feather core, with the feather coming from Fawkes'... something like that.

I really liked the part where you could pull out the Mandrakes to hear their irritating high-pitched squeals and where you could throw quaffles into the hoops though. Sigh, I guess that's the closest I will ever be to being in a Quidditch match. Sob.

Anyway, some pictures next! Photos are not allowed in the exhibition but I'm a ninja.

The Flying Ford Anglia greeting us prior to the exhibition.

Jon wincing from the Mandrake's screeching hahaha.

Found my alter ego hiding near Dumbledore's costume.

Bought a Chocolate Frog and I got a 3D Gilderoy Lockhart Wizard Card. LOL uh well at least there's Harry in the picture.

We then went to the Andy Warhol '15 Minutes Eternal' exhibition which was also held there. I honestly don't understand artists sometimes - they seem so eccentric and... weird. His works were interesting, although Keith and I were more interested in our Running Man/spy role plays. Lol. Such nuisances we are.

A group of contemporary dancers came out of nowhere and started dancing. Well at least Keith looks happy. Haha!

With some oversized paper glasses from the exhibition LOL. 

We then met up with Jean to stuff our sorry selves with beef hor fun, kangkong and dim sum amongst other dishes, after which we headed to Keith's place to chill. It was just another night filled with laughter and banters. Sigh, I absolutely love these people. What am I gonna do when a good half of them go to Perth next year?

(I would insert a group shot here but it turned out blur. Pfft I need a better camera.)

Goodnight! xx

I'll Be Your Shelter

So I've been addicted to Boys Like Girls' Be Your Everything since it came out and I'm still not sick of the song. To make things worse, Martin and Paul always seem to come up with acoustic performances of my favourite BLG songs and making them a hundred times nicer. Help.

How is it possible that they make me fall deeper in love with them each time they perform like that?

P.S. I love Martin's guitar.

Tasty - Spectrum Review

Tasty, the twins (Jung Daeryong and Jung Soryong) from Woollim Entertainment, better known as the company which produced Infinite, finally dropped their debut mini album.

The boys of Infinite, along with Miss A's Min and Fei have been tweeting about them prior to the release of the album. Free promotion's great, but it is the music that will make people stay. For me, honestly, I'm still quite undecided about this debut.

Spectrum is the introduction to this album and preps listeners for what is to come. I was a little apprehensive at the beginning when I heard 'so sexy' and 'so hot' but when the beatbox came in I eventually got into it. Lots of electro-pop sounds and dubstep going on in this track. It then transits ever so smoothly into the title track, You Know Me.

The track is no different from what the teaser offered - electric drums, dubstep, and lots of synths. The beginning of the track was a little weird though, and I was really glad that it was over when the 'neona ara' hook as heard from the teaser came on. This track is basically a club jam, and unlike many K-Pop singles nowadays, it does not have a tasteful (no pun intended) melody or tune. In other words, this song is almost un-singable (the only part you actually hear them sing is the bridge). I find the song somewhat lacklustre - and don't even get me started on the lack of lyrics. The only thing memorable about this song is the 'neona ara' hook (and I have already listened to it around five times).
Bad points aside though, this song is a definite crowd-pumper. Just look at the amazing choreography and the charisma of these boys!

Solo is the whiff of fresh air to this mini album. Still retaining the synth, this song is based on R&B beats and is definitely my favourite. It showcases their vocals much, much more than any of the other tracks - and damn, these boys do have the voice!

Buster, an upbeat track (the beginning kind of reminds me of Nicki Minaj's Stupid Hoe oh why) provides a good closing to the album. While many may argue that this should be the title track, I beg to differ, even though I prefer this song. I feel like this song will not be able to bring out their charisma as much as You Know Me and it somehow does not pack as much punch. I really dig this song if not for the overbearing and over-repetitive 'buster buster buster' going on in the background.

All in all, I feel that this is a really mediocre debut, but I do believe that Tasty is capable of more than this. I sincerely hope that their next single will be one that showcases their vocals. They are amazing dancers and I am sure Woollim Entertainment will be able to stretch these guys to their full potential, as they have done with Infinite.

P.S. I think I like Soryong already. Hahahaha.

Happy Ending

Happened to chance upon this song after 7.9.4.2's Eungjoo tweeted about it (turns out he was featured in it too).

I loved it the moment I heard it and I have never even heard of Johnnyphlo before but I went to iTunes to purchase the single immediately... partly because I couldn't find any download links anywhere. LOL. But really do give it a listen. :)

Be back soon! x