hither and yon

I meant to post this like a week ago but uh I didn't. Also I'm trying to do this on my phone lol there's some stuff that's tedious to add so please anticipate a shit ton of vacous edits later~

I liked these things:

Dancing Queen audition

Kang Minkyung (Davichi)
타타타 (Ta Ta Ta) I really like this
사랑 사랑 사랑 (Love Love Love) this was surprising and really so good (w/ the interview at the beginning)

Ali
얄미운 사람 (Hateful Person) she is a great performer, whoa. also 'hateful' is not the exact word but it's hard to translate according to my mom lol
새벽비 (Early Rain) when she performs it really feels like she's doing exactly what she was born to do. great great voice, great confidence, great everything
킬리민자로의 표범 (Kilimanjaro Leopard)

Hyorin (Sistar)
edit: 비 내리는 영동교 (Rain on Youngdong Bridge) this is more or less a straight cover, but it's different from both what we've heard from her and what we've seen on the show in general, and she sounds really lovely [edit: my mom said it was the name of a bridge lol]
edit: 마음이 고와여지 (The Heart Must Be Good Too?) 

I haven't watched IMS2 since Jonghyun left (my attention span is super short and I am biased as fuck) so the only thing I'd watched of the show since then was 2PM's Junsu's Wait a Minute and Sistar's Hyorin's Miniskirt, both of which I liked a lot. I feel like the women really make this show. Also the contestants have really been scaled up. The very first set were are pretty young and were all definitely idols. The batch on the latest episodes have generally been older, soloists, and just a lot more mature and experienced. It's great to watch. (I think the hosts have gotten more annoying though. I hate when they edit cuts of them saying stupid obnoxious shit in the middle of a performance with the laugh track and everything. :|) It's made me realize how fun it is when the competition is really good, like when the skill level is comparable so what really makes a difference is the energy and emotion and creativity.

They really gave up on the 'proving idols can sing' concept, right? Because the idols they do have on are not quite uhhh the logical choices. It's kind of a waste because idols are so controlled and you don't get to see them making a lot of creative decisions. And I think being in a pool with people a lot better can be helpful and inspiring, as long as it's not hopelessly overwhelming.

And um everything is SHINee: omg I'm really nervous for Taemin. The current cast outclasses him, and the majority of all idols, by so much. He's going to look sf hapless just like all the reaction shots they keep putting in of Infinite's Woohyun looking worried and/or dumbfounded all the time lol.

The other thing that's really nice about the show is that you can hear that these older songs are actually very well-written. LOL backhanded compliment~? idk I get headaches when I listen to some of the originals because they just sound sf dated lol and the instrumentals are too loud and it's annoying. But these clean good interpretations are legit refreshing. They're good songs! 

This is just too fucking cute.

edit @ 12:33 am
( whatevers )

Ugh I want EVERYONE to be touching and loving him ALL THE TIME. This is why I have to ship him with everything, there can never be enough love for him for my liking. EVERYONE LOVE HIM ALL THE TIME OMG. Plus, his body is as always too good to be true. That tiny waist omg. PLUS, TAEMIN TOUCHING HIM. (LOL the captions say "Taemin, thank you so much" when he pulls back Jonghyun's shirt.) Has Taemin been more touchy lately? I can't really tell because I don't pay that much attention to him but it seems like there's been a bit more casual Taemin-initated contact? Question mark? PLUS, THIS FUCKING PAPER UGH GOD I HATE MY LIFE

... other vids I've been watching
Jonghyun and Minho hug out of nowhere during the first concerts. I love that Jonghyun got OVERWHELMED with all his feelings during the concert and Minho picked up on that and hugged it out to ground him. And Minho yells "Jonghyunnie-hyung is/it's fine!" at the end of it (or some approximation of that). It reminds me of Key's shout-out to him during A-Yo, which in turns reminds me of the way the both them traded off yelling out Jonghyun's name over and over when they won for RDD when Jonghyun was out with the swine flu. Goddamnit someone write that 1000000 word Hello Baby outtake dynamic fic!! Ah god the way Jonghyun closes his eyes and just is ~in the hug~. It was a hard year for him and I think the concerts gave him (and ~the fans~) a lot of closure. And of course ever since the concerts it's been non-stop flirting between these two on-stage. LOL it's just their thing now I guess. BEST OTP 
Jonghyun cut at Immortal Song 2 press conference. I want this job. I could totally watch boring footage of idols and narrate dumb captions over it. Jonghyun provides a lot of good material because he's almost always DOING something. Is there anything going on in his head when he makes those random faces? (I know there's nothing going on in mine when I do it lol.) I'm obviously biased but I'm always amazed at how much SHINee members stand out amongst uh non-SHINee people. Their stupid little faces are pretty extraordinary. I also approve of Shin Dongyup patting his ass because uhmmm I don't need to explain myself to you!!11 No, I do think it's cute when people cop a feel show affection off-handedly like that, especially to someone like Jonghyun who thrives on approval and love. IU and Jonghyun are maddeningly cute together. Just two tiny adorable creatures being tiny and adorable together! Also him helping her with her chair, ugh frondly little gentleman. The way they edited and captioned the bit where they're all waiting for their turn in the photo call is very soash of gendery. Or something. The ease with which the guys dominate the conversation vs. how the girls just stand there, especially Hyorin who's been pretty much blocked out of the ~circle anyway. idk it's not hard to imagine this as representative of (idol) interactions in the general. Society is society. I think the way idols are networked is really interesting. In closing, lmao his giant cuffs.

Why do unfunny people try to be funny? The unfortunate part of internet memes is that it's really easy to pick up the structure without understanding what actually makes them funny. Macros are a perfect example. Relatedly, just because something is meant to be funny does not mean that it is actually funny. I hope people are just going along with the expected call-and-response sequence (ex: "[macro]" "LOL IRL WIN!!!11") because I refuse to believe so many people think all the dumb contrived banality in omona comments is actually amusing. Are we human or are we dancer?

I have no idea what I'm arguing anymore. Crying tears of blood. I wish I could just type up the required 5-6 pages in blog form and hand it in.

FUCKING S C R E A M I N G EXCUSE ME I HAVE TO GO PUNCH THE STUFFING OUT OF MY ENTIRE COUCH OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!!!!!!

JONGHYUN KEY TAEMIN ONEW MINHO JONGHYUN KEY MINHO JONGHYUN JONGHYUN JONGHYUN J O N G H Y U N N N N N N___N Z___Z X_______X ;__________; ;~~~~~~~~~~~~~; :D ;~~~~~~~;

THEY'RE SO DUMB AND CUTE AND GORGEOUS AND PERFECT LOOKING LOOK AT THEIR HAIR AND THEIR FACES LOOK AT THEM JUST FUCKING LOOK A;LKJQW;KEHNKAJNFD;KLANSDFLK;JDF;LAKJFD;DLAJAS;KLDJF;LAKJSDF

THE GROUP PHOTOS WITH JONGHYUN IN THE MIDDLE OH MY GOD I NEARLY THREW MYSELF OUT OF THE WINDOW OKAY OMG OMG OH MY GOD

OH MY GOD

SHINEE MAKE
LOVE
RIGHT
NOW
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man I really didn't realize just how popular SNSD was. I mean, I knew they were popular and beloved, but I thought it was like a generalized girl group popularity, even if they're at the top of that particular heap, and I was worried that they'd drop out of public favor and disband and be forgotten. OMG that's not going to happen anytime soon, AT ALL. They're the first girl group to ever win the Album Daesang award (which is like The Big Award I guess?? the Korean music industry is kind of shambling, they have like twelve different charts and different companies boycott different awards shows, etc. but I know this is a big deal!!) and the first artist ever to win both the Album Daesang and the Digital Music Daesang. They are so loved. Look at this fancam, they were so not expecting it. Everyone looks genuinely shocked. Taeyeon crying, she doesn't usually cry. The way they pull each other in for a hug at the end. ;____;

( ;____; i say ;____; )

Oh man, when they first debuted they had a lot of stupid little controversies that were just people giving them shit for no reason. In 2008 a bunch of fan clubs for other bands got together and decided to "boycott" them during the Dream Concert, so when SNSD went on stage like the whole stadium turned off their glowsticks and stayed silent the entire performance. Shit like that. But now they're really number one in the whole country, not just among girl groups or idols, and they're so down-to-earth and funny and kind and they really love one another. Oh man. I'm so soft inside right now. SOSHI FOREVER YOU GUYS

1. Trying to study for the statistics final (worth 40% of the grade)
2. See huge albino cricket crawling up the wall RIGHT next to me
3. Jump out of chair and accidentally step in the pumpkin pie my sister left on the ground (GROSS)
4. Call cousin to help get rid of the cricket
5. Cousin fucks with me by yelling and pointing at my feet
6. Scream and throw cup at cousin
7. FUCK HIM AND FUCK EVERYTHING

Also worrying about work and my social security card. I put off calling HR all day and now tomorrow will be a clusterfuck on top of a clusterfuck. I'm tired because I stayed up too late doing nothing yesterday. And my sister is listening to This American Life without headphones on.

THE ONLY THINGS THAT CAN UNDERSTAND THE HELPLESSNESS AND FML-QUOTIENT OF MY LIFE RIGHT NOW ARE THESE DUCKS

AM I LAUGHING OR CRYING???? SCREAMING INCOHERENTLY EITHER WAY.

okay I feel better

THIS IS A POST ABOUT KIM JONGHYUN

( cavalcade of pics+gifs+adjectives )

( edit @ 101221 )

oh fucking hell. I've been running around updating people on this important life update and I will not let LJ lag behind. I'm at my mom's office, sitting at someone else's chair/desk. It is soaked in this fucker's weird......................................... odor. I will be ladylike and let this distateful matter end there, except to say that I've been sitting here for an hour and not only have I not gotten used to it, I've developed a headache, a desperate way of breathing only through my mouth, and a deviated septum.

I've been listening to this a lot:

LOL what does this say about me?!

Robert Pattinson continues to be the best boy ever. I'm still vaguely conflicted about my tiny foray into kpop. Still stressed as fuck about returning to school. Still technically unable to return despite uhhh all plans to the contrary. HA HA HA. Jesus chriiiiist. STILL WORKING ON MONTH-LATE BIRTHDAY SPAM!! D: It's rolling like a broken egg, don't expect anything good. D:

OMG IT SMELLS LIKE A BASKET FULL OF PICKLES AND ASSHOLES IN HERE, WTF IS THE MATTER WITH THIS SEAT

I am on a contained, but thorough, youtube spiral wrt the Olympics (ie, endlessly clicking Related Videos BUT not going on wikipedia to branch out into other winter Olympics sports-->curling-->curly fries-->fast food commercials, etc). I am so so enamored of the pairs figure skating team who just won the gold medal, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China:


They have been partners (and they are SUCH partners ~on the ice~, it is so wonderful to watch!!!! I LOVE THEM) for eighteen years and they got married just a few years ago. He went down on one knee to propose to her on the ice after one of their performances, but she misinterpreted the gesture and kneeled with him ~in solidarity. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They came out of retirement for the Olympics because it was like the only medal in the universe they hadn't won yet. NOW THAT THEY HAVE WON IT THEY ARE RETIRING FOR GOOD AND FOCUSING ON THEIR FAMBLY. <3___<3

I LOVE THEM. THEY FIST-BUMP BEFORE THEY START SKATING. SHE SMILES SO BIG EVERY TIME THEY DO A BIG ELEMENT. THEY BOTH JUMPED OVER THE BARRICADE TO HUG THEIR COACH. THEY WERE SO HAPPY WHEN THEY WON. THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL AND WARM TOGETHER. THEY ARE SO IN LOVE. I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM I LOOOOOVE THEMMMMMMMMMM

The performances from the Olympics aren't up on youtube yet but this was their short program (Who Wants to Live Forever) for the 2009 - 2010 season and this was their long one (Adagio in G minor).
2002 Olympics short program (Kismet)
2003 Worlds long program (Turandot) <-- I LOVE this one

I have very little interest in men's figure skating. Women's figure skating hasn't started yet. I'm hella looking forward to it!

I'm in awe of Kim Yu-na! She is like the best in the universe right now. I don't know anything about figure skating, though apparently she is freaking textbook perfect, but just visually...!! The lines of her are amazingly pretty and it's all so easy and expressive. It's a thrill just to watch her go across the rink. Her skating is just so so pretty. (Note: I'm always surprised at how people choose to romanize Korean, because I saw her name in Korean and it's actually pronounced 'Yun-ah', not 'Yoo-nah'. But I didn't even know who she was until this Olympics, that's how bad of a Korean I am. They're going to revoke my card.)
2009 Worlds long program (Scheherazade)
2009 Skate America (James Bond medley) <-- It's a bit posey for my ~taste, but lol, it's a Bond medley and it's cute and she looks gr8 and I love how it follows the music, especially when it kicks into the main theme near the end.
2007 Worlds short program (El Tango de Roxanne)
2007 Worlds long program (The Lark Ascending) <-- She falls twice in this one near the end but everything up to that is so so so pretty. It's effortless to watch her. The music, the lines...!! also, my inner five-year-old is flipping out over her dress.

Of course Korea has been milking her for all she's worth so right now she's a giant cross-market commodity and, I think, the country's biggest celebrity. She's under craaaazy amounts of pressure. I want her to have a lion-shark-bulldog character who'll tell the Korean celebrity machine to back the fuck off (I have no doubt that the homeland pressure is the absolute worst). I hope she'll be alright. :<

I also like Mirai Nagasu. She is smooth yet lively! (Sounds like I'm describing wine.) And hella adorable, omg.
2010 US National Championships long program (Carmen)

yawww this was for my own reference more than anything else. I DON'T KNOW SQUAT ABOUT THIS SPORT (I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO ROLLER SKATE YO), I JUST LIKE PRETTY STUFF.