Supply and Demand - SM Entertainment, EXO and the fans

This past week I've been seriously thinking about not following EXO anymore because it absolutely tears my heart to shreds practically every time I see them sick and skinny and seeing that Jongin's practically an old man or a rag doll with all his injuries and Tao's body is just totally abused (by himself!) Who would want to see their babies like that?

It was about a week ago that the news came out that EXO was going to have a second tour and I found out this information literally seconds after it came out, luckily. Pretty much, right then, I witnessed so much of my fellow EXO-Ls being really excited about this news and I was so taken aback. I then went on a rage rant on twitter. My stance on this was and still is that EXO should not be going on another tour, reason being that it is sooo unnecessary as they already toured Asia and probably won't be visiting any places that are very different from where they went to before; almost all of them are either severely sick or severely injured, why do something as strenuous as a tour in that state? They need a break. And then I thought about the bigger problems that underly EXO having a second tour even though they just came off their last one that was 7 months long and resulted in two members leaving EXO and filing lawsuits on their company (yes, if that was not the direct reason, it was certainly the catalyst for their departure), SM Entertainment and the "fans" being excited about this second concert.

But who is at fault here? SM? Korean culture? The fans? EXO, themselves? Before you go on thinking that this is going to be a rant about how SM are monsters and they're treating their artists like machines. Stop, because that couldn't be further from the truth.

Let's stop looking at it that way and look at the bigger picture here.

Some international fans that blame SM for world hunger need to understand something that is a big part of Korean culture. A few decades ago, Korea was nowhere near as developed as it is today and it's because of it's hard working people that it has become what it is. The people work very hard in everything they do. They study hard, they stay in work even when it's time for them to go because their boss is still working. There are workers that live on the Samsung site. People work through sickness, they work for the greater good, for the team. This brings me to my point: SM Entertainment is not a person. It doesn't have a face. It doesn't have a face to save. It is a company. They are a massive business. They don't need to protect  their products health and well being if they can put them on a stage somewhere or put them in a chair somewhere or put them in a recording room somewhere and still make lots of money from them. They can leave out all the humane stuff because they are a company and their sole purpose after a near 10 years of doing this is to make money. It is natural of them as a business (especially in Korea) to work the idols down to the grind. They should not be blamed for doing this, they are company that has found a certain way of doing things like a lot of companies have. They can't change because like I said, they have no face. However, there are humans on the receiving end of things though; the consumer who can make a difference.

This supply and demand is what feeds the machine, the monster of SM. If fans calm down about wanting so much from EXO or any other idol group in a similar situation (SHINee) then there would be less demand and obviously the idols wouldn't have to be driven by such a force. The force is the fans that demand concerts. "Come to my country! You won't regret it." "Give them another variety show!" "They better be at this music festival!" "Hurry up with that album!" "Comeback 주세요!!"

Stop asking when SM will get their shit together. They never will. They've been doing this for so long and they haven't changed, in fact they've gotten a lot worse and as time goes on they will get more and more inhumane. Start asking when the fans will get their shit together. Because that's where there is a chance of change.

When will we actually care for our idols like we're supposed to.

My Top 10 Favourite Kpop Songs of 2014

8 days into January and I'm only just doing this but I'm not a kpop fan so I never thought to do this until I saw JRE and FreshlyFlipped's lists on their YouTube. I never thought that there was many good kpop songs to come out of 2014 but it was only when I was making this list that I realised that there was more than I thought.

I could've made a top 15 tbh but I decided to strictly keep it 10 with some honourable mentions.

Here's my top 10.:

10. Hyuna - Red

This is the song with probably the most ridiculous lyrics on the list but it's freaking awesome and catchy, especially if you don't know that much Korean to be really bothered by it. A monkey's butt is red~~~~!

9. BTS - Just One Day

Earlier on in the year, BTS surprised us with a new refreshing song and it's definitely been one of my favourites all year because of how mellow and romantic it is.

8. f(x) - Red Light

This song sounded like a mess when I first heard it but I've realised ever since Super Junior's Mr Simple that I like songs that sound like a mess. This got a lot easier on the ears the second time round of listening to it though. :)

7. Red Velvet - Happiness

I'm not sure why there wasn't that many international kpop fans that liked this and preferred Be Natural when it came out. As your resident depressed, crazy, nervous wreck I happen to love songs that are just happy and tell you to not get caught up in the troubles of this world. I can't help but dance along when I listen to this one.

6. Zhoumi - Rewind

Aigoooooooo! His voice when he sings Chinese (so smooth) and his accent when he sings in Korean (너무 귀여워ㅓㅓㅓ~~~). I love the dum dum dum in the beginning that carried out throughout the whole song. I just love it. I real nice surprise when I thought SM's music was going down in quality and our baby Panda Tao wrote a rap for it and it's awesome!!

5. Taemin - Danger

Just... perfect, from beginning to end. I think everyone loved this one. The whole concept and choreography of this and Ace was just awesome. And Taemin thank you for getting Kai onto your album.

4. Girls' Generation - Mr. Mr.

It took a few listens to really like this song but then I got addicted (중독 ㅋㅋㅋ) and it's always comfortably playing in my head. Plus the lyrics were so easy to memorise. I didn't have to look at the lyrics, they just melted into my brain which is another reason why this is so high on the list.

3. 2NE1 - Come Back Home

I can honestly say, this is one of my favourite songs of all time. It really helped me get through the whole Kris situation earlier on this year and it reminds me of that but things are better now so it's not such a sad feeling. I really enjoy this song and the choreography. I honestly probably don't go a day without listening to it and just so you know, I'm not even the biggest 2NE1 fan.

2. EXO - Love Love Love (Rearranged ver.)

When I heard this remix when the first fancams came out of the first day of The Lost Planet concert on 23rd May, I just died. I thought, 'how could they create such a masterpeice of a "rearrangement" so soon after the original was released?' Whoever created this song, I love you and I want to send you a big fruit basket.

1. EXO - Overdose

역시, my boys EXO's title track Overdose is #1. The reason is, this song is literally absolutely amazing from start to finish. The opening of the song with the clapping and the voice  and then Baekhyun/Luhan and then it all explodes into Suho's part. When listening to this song, especially for the first time I think, there's parts where you think it's going to end soon and then a whole other section of the song opens up, i.e. Chanyeol/Kris' rap. This song is really a exollent  excellent masterpeice and I've only come to love it more and more throughout the year.

Honourable mentions

• Taemin - Pretty Boy ft. Kai
• Orange Caramel - My Copycat
• 2NE1 - Mental Breakdown (CL Solo)
• EXO - Thunder
• BTS - Danger
• BTS - Boy in Luv

Yep, there were even more songs that I liked that I had to take off the list to get the right number and I didn't want too many honourable mentions 'cause that's not how it works. Anyway, thanks for reading and tell me what were some of your favourite songs? Maybe I can check them out if I haven't bothered to listen to them already ㅎㅎㅎㅎ

For EXO 2013

So I was writing about all the good things that happened to me this year, thinking I could make a post about it. When thinking about this year, I have to say, the greatest thing that happened that comes to mind is not really about me but my boys EXO.

Miss Korea vs Topokki

If you’re a looking for a restaurant in Birmingham, UK to eat some nice authentic Korean food well… there are only two restaurants LOL. Good news is that they are both awesome, cosy and the food and atmosphere is really nice. If you like kpop even better because they both play kpop (at times).

The two restaurants are Miss Korea and Topokki. Both are in close proximity to each other in the Chinese quarter of Birmingham.

Here’s the back story. Miss Korea showed up just a few years ago and I’ve been there 5 times, with different amounts of people, mostly at lunch time but I’ve been there in the evening as well. Topokki came on to the scene just about 2 years ago and I recently went there for lunch. Since the two restaurants are so close to each other and are the only Korean restaurants in Birmingham (to my knowledge), I’ve always wondered if they had any kind of rival-ship at all. Miss Korea was the place I first had Korean food ever, so it holds a special place in my heart, although Topokki has received a lot more positive reviews, well… even if there is no rival-ship between them, I will be putting them against each other in this post.

Muahaha!

>_<

Atmosphere:

I keep hearing on review websites about how small Topokki is, well lol because Miss Korea is tiny. But Miss Korea is cosy as well because of that and it's not all compact together like Mount Fuji (sorry Mount Fuji).

Now a big part of the atmosphere is what music is played. I will never forget the very first time I went to Miss Korea with a good friend of mine who was not a kpop fan. For the two hours we were in the restaurant they played just kpop songs with only two or three tops J-pop songs. It. Was. Awesome. I could not stop dancing! Really, I embarrassed myself in front of my friend that day lol. It was fun. But since then, when I went there, they started to play more American pop (bleurgh!), but I still always hear a few kpop songs while I’m there. Topokki, however, did not play one single kpop song! What the heck Topokki, this was it’s main down fall, I swear. My happiest moment is eating Korean food while dancing in my chair to EXO. Is that too much to ask for? All the time we were there they played some Michael Buble and then they had a youtube playlist of American pop songs like Miley Cyrus (barf!!) LOL We were going to ask if they could play at least one kpop song but haha, we didn’t in the end. It’s funny because I have heard they play Korean music sometimes, maybe we just went on the wrong day or the wrong time. I bet just as we left the restaurant we would have heard an ‘Awooooo…’

As Duizhang Kris used to say: Maybe next time.

The Menu:

Miss Korea’s menu is a lot more impressive than Topokki’s. Sorry Topokki. It is basically a large book with black rubber cover and there are pages and pages of delicious food to choose from with really good photography. You have lots of starters, main dishes, soups, side dishes and beverages. It’s all very affordable as well. Just to tell you what you can expect on the menu, you’ll see the classics like ddukbokki, bibimbap, japchae, kimchi jjigae, barbecued skewers, lots and lots more. If it’s your birthday, the chef will treat you to a special free dish Korean people apparently eat on their birthday which is basically a big bowl of delicious soup with my favourite kind of noodles – Udon noodles!

You are also given a tiny bowl of lettuce with vinegar before your meal, it makes you hungry. I think they give you this because it does take quite a long time for you meal to come out. I’ve never timed it like an a--hole but I’m guessing it’s around 10-15 minutes before you see your actual starter.

Topokki’s menu is smaller but I was so very impressed by the massive selection of types of bibimbap. There must have been ten or more. I didn’t even know there could be that many types of bibimbap. Miss Korea only gives you four. I’ve had the sea food one, very nice. I definitely need to try another kind of bibimbap next time I go there.

One awesome thing about Topokki is that you are going to get your food quick. Well at least that’s what happened to us, we got out food within 5 minutes I swear. It was amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such fast service. You’ll probably have to wait longer in the drive-thru at McDonalds lol.

Topokki menu still has quite a variety of choices including your classics, despite it being smaller than Miss Korea’s. I found it hard to choose even though I planned to get me some Japchae before I even entered the restaurant. What you’ll see in the Topokki menu is basically the main dishes, followed by side dishes, and beverages, they do have two choices of deserts as well (ice cream lol). Soon patbingsu will be added to the menu – which I find that strange because patbingsu is generally eaten in the summer and… it’s winter now… oh well.

So lots of nice choices on both menus and great presentation. Here's my meal, I had Japchae and kimchi, but you can't see the kimchi :) 

Very Important Factor: The Kimchi:

I had to compare the kimchi because it’s Korea’s most important signature food. They eat kimchi with everything. Two years ago when my Korean teacher went to Miss Korea, she told us that the food was awesome but the kimchi was too salty. Seeing how Maangchi on youtube used a shockingly generous amount of salt, I was surprised that my Korean teacher thought the kimchi was too salty but when I went there for myself I thought it was OK. However, in comparison to Topokki, their kimchi is sooo much more fresh tasting and a lot less salty. It actually tastes like I’m eating something healthy but also delicious. I’ve heard that Miss Korea buys their kimchi instead of making it fresh themselves which may just be true with what I’ve tasted but uh… I’m not going to spread any rumours.

Topokki’s kimchi is better than Miss Korea’s. Sorry.

Customer Service:

If you are Chinese, or speak Chinese, you will get to feel comfortable speaking to the waitress in this language at Miss Korea as 4 out of 5 times I’ve been there, the waitress was Chinese. One time, I heard her speak to one of the customers in Chinese. The other time I went there the waitress was European 0.o but all the waitresses (there are never any waiters) are friendly, helpful. They greet you when you’re coming in and when you’re leaving, thanking you for eating there. In Topokki, as we were leaving, it was like no one even noticed or cared that we were walking out. I never experienced that before and it wasn’t like the place was full, because it was lunch time! I don’t know. Anyways, the waitress and waiter we had were both attentive to us in Topokki whilst we were there. Our waiter was actually really happy and chipper. I liked him lol. He gave us a 10% discount which I thought was reeeally nice. Thanks so much waiter, if you’re reading this hahaha.

Prices:

All the times I went to Miss Korea, my friends and I would all end up paying around £15 each every time with ordering a starter, a main meal and a drink (the Korean tea has an unlimited refill) and sometimes they would offer you a free bowl of rice if it went well with your meal. When I went to Topokki, the two of us had just a main meal each and a £1.50 small side dish of kimchi. With our 10% discount , the overall price came to £16something overall. This is just over half of what we would have paid if we ate at Miss Korea that day.

The Miss Korea menu is set out so that you would always naturally want to order a starter and a main meal. Topokki's menu just shows the main meals and then a few side dishes near the end of the menu, followed by the beverages.

Because of this, you're going to naturally spend more money at Miss Korea because you'll be ordering a starter and a main meal (of course you can choose not to) but in Topokki you'll only be paying for the main meal. I don't know if this was Miss Korea being clever or it's just how things turned out but for the customer Topokki is better in this aspect. In terms of business, Miss Korea has the upper hand here, they're obviously making more money by tricking customers into ordering a starter lol. Hmm... clever.

Overall Rating:

I'm going to be giving Topokki a 5/5 rating based on the fact that the price was surprising low with the portions being nicely generous. The waiter we had was really chipper (lol) and nice. We felt really welcome at the restaurant.

The only thing that would have been better is if the menu was as impressively long as Miss Korea's, but that kind of feels like nitpicking so I shouldn't even really include this point especially with Topokki's two page spread of about 10 different kinds of Bibimbap. Daebak!

And also the food came out within 5 minutes and it was hot and the kimchi was fresh, big difference to Miss Korea.

Oh, yeah, it would've been nice if they played some k-pop while we were there but I've heard they have played it at times.

Miss Korea's rating is a 4/5. I'm sorry. I love the restaurant and I will definitely go there again, but the wait for our food is a lot longer and the kimchi is not fresh. You're always going to spend more money at Miss Korea because of their tricks with the menu, lol, it's true. Also the food coma at the end if absolutely unbearable sometimes. It's nice that their giving us lots of food but gaaad; my stomach is not that big. However, I love love looove that you are always guaranteed to hear some kpop while you're there no matter what time of the day it is.

Topokki: 5/5
Miss Korea: 4/5

Reccomendation: Go to both!!

P4A 2013: Liberty in North Korea

Negativity post: The dark world of kpop + uni workload

The k-pop world is messed up seriously.
Sometimes I just want to escape it but EXO.
I've been feeling negativity these past two days from k-pop.

• In recent news: Ailee's naked pics from when she was young were revealed online by allkpop. Her ex-boyfriend who was her boyfriend at the time of her taking those photos is the vice-president of allkpop.
• A guard at an airport in Hong Kong forcibly pushed Jessica (my Jessica /sobs/) into a railing where she hurt her head and slumped to the floor. It is believed the guard thought she was a fan.
• T.O.P.'s comeback is in like 3 days. It's very sudden (this isn't negative news but I'm just worried that I won't like his music and that's bad because I'm his fan and have been since the very start of my kpop days).
• Minzy got a nose job. Her nose is visibly thinner. Her reps are denying the allegations of plastic surgery, claiming that she "just became prettier". :3
• Our beloved Boom has a gambling scandal.
• So does Andy from Shinhwa.
• Shinhwa are beating EXO in MAMA votes.

hmm, what else...

I don't know, maybe I'm just feeling negative because I'm running on such little sleep because I have so much uni work to do and it's only my first year. The prospects of having much more work in the second year is looming over me. If I can't even sleep because of the workload now, how will I survive next year?


To leave this on a happy note:
I'm not even sad about EXO not winning the Worldwide Act at the MTV EMAs. The whole ordeal was although tiring, a lot of fun and unified k-pop fans from different fandoms together. The fact that EXO got that far to represent Japan and Korea is a huge achievement in itself. And it's something that no other k-pop idol has ever done. I think one of the greatest thing's we as EXO-stans got out of this was Directioners converting to EXO fans :) Welcome to the fandom!
I'd like to take this opportunity to say congratulations to Chris Lee. She deserved it as much as EXO.

You CAN do it.

If there's one thing I've learnt since starting uni three weeks ago, it's that, you have to be prepared for what's inevitably going to happen. Even if you think you're not going to like it, just think you can endure it and maybe when it actually happens it won't be anywhere near as bad you thought it would be. And hey, it won't kill you.
Just in the same way I was wary that if I chose to do Japanese I'll probably be in a class full of crazy anime fans (no offence) that I couldn't relate to and if I started attending hip hop classes by myself I'll probably find it hard to make friends. I don't know if my negative thinking made those things happen just the way I thought they would be (especially the hip hop class) but I survived. I enjoy learning Japanese and I enjoy dancing, especially hip hop dancing.

Just last night, I just went to the hip hop class that the Cheerleaders at my uni hold late in the evening (when it's dark and scary for a young pretty girl with no martial arts experience to be taking the bus home alone) and like I assumed the Cheerleaders are crazy. lol. But it's alright, I was kind of alone... but once I got warming up and dancing it was good. I really liked the choreography and that beats my fear that the choreo was going to be lame because I haven't seen much good hip hop dancing in this country - as opposed to the US.
Because of the fact that I went there on my own and was there alone I was heavily thinking that I should not go again because I HATE being alone. It's one of the things I hate the most. Of course I prefer doing certain things alone like shopping and running errands or something but things that are supposed to be done with friends I hate doing alone and that was one of those things. It's just scary to me, it's one of my fears, along with heights and paedophiles.
There was a fitness session the very next morning that started at 7:30am. I didn't even know about this before I went to the hip hop class in the evening and I was like: 7:30am! Hell no!
Seriously, I was very ill. Going out in the cold night wasn't a wise decision but it was something I had to do in as my last chance to do the hip hop class, but I getting to my uni for 7:30am the next morning would definitely not be a wise decision because it would mean I would have to get up at 4 in the morning which would mean I would have only 4 hours asleep. I'm sorry but I'm not a kpop idol, I'm a student. I need time to rest and recuperate because I am very ill. When you're ill, you need to sleep, not wake up after barely 4 hours and go out in the cold and then do some intense physical exercise. I saw on facebook, that the secretary was not happy that people did not show up that morning. That kind of scared me off going again even more, but I do plan to show up next week when I'm all better if they'll allow me.

Well... I wish I could 've found someone to do this whole dancing thing with me but... we'll see for now. I'm not saying I'm making a commitment to this especially as I feel like I don't fit in with these people. I just wish I could start a kpop dance cover crew. Message me if you live in the West Midlands, UK and you're interested. *gets no messages*

lol. The message of this post is: Take the opportunities that are offered to you, take them wholeheartedly and make the most of them. You don't have to write your name in blood and don't let anyone make you think that you do. Do as I say, as I'm trying to live by my own advice.

I'll never let you be alone.

I can't say that I've had one bad day since I started uni.
Of course, things have not always gone well. Negative things have occurred, mostly down to my own thinking I guess. Like how you think you've made friends with someone and then you realise... you just, haven't. But today ended well.

I met girls who are obsessed with Chinese and Korean guys (*sigh* they remind me of when I was young lol) I personally think that's a little insane and naive to be obsessed over some people like that but hey ...I'm insane too.
I have hope that there might be lots of kpop fans around our campus and we could possibly start a society if we figure out what to do when we meet.
I got some shopping done in my break as well. Of course I ended up going over my budget, but that's a given. I got my Dad a good birthday present after much struggle. And I bumped into a good friend from college that I haven't spoken to since we finished college. We had a nice conversation. I hope I see him around again. It would be nice if I could keep in touch with people from college but keeping-in-touch is really something I'm not good at...

I'm looking forward to meeting even more new people like I did today. That's something I love about uni; you can always meet new people and speak to people you've never spoken to before and they might have similar interests to you.

Well, I'm happy God will never let me be alone at uni. I seriously do like people, God knows that lol :)

9:46pm
Finishing my day with some Hiragana revision for my Japanese lesson tomorrow. I basically know everything. I revised so well in the week.

I can't believe I found you!

You know when something good happens in your day (it doesn't even necessarily happen to you) and you just can't help but smile to yourself about it for the rest of the day or rest of the night because it keeps coming back into your head.
I love that.
It's happened twice in the past 2 weeks.

Today... I found a kpop fan! In my uni. I have been talking to this girl for the past two weeks on some days whenever I've seen her because she was a mutual friend but a conversation we had today just kind of ended up along the lines of "cute korean guy" and then "I can speak some Korean" and then "Do you like kpop?" HELL YES! I can't believe it. Just the idea that I've been talking to this girl and she likes kpop! Not only that but she is a huge fan of EXO. EXO are my soul reason for living. Ok, not so much haha, but I do love them a loooot and to find another kpop fan in a sea of what looks to be non-kpop fans, was amazing. It was a God-send really. I now have someone to talk about my 12 boys with in my uni... I could just cry...

Well, that's what I couldn't stop smiling about today.
There are more kpop lovers on my campus I'm sure. I just have to find some, subtly.