My first Internet Meme Comic: Forever Alone at a candle store....and yes....this did happen to me today

I absolutely love internet memes. The little subtleties and nuances expressed in this online phenomenon is unparalleled to none, and it's sort of amazing to think about how such simple, pre-set images can express a wide array of emotion and can generate so much discussion. To me it's pretty cool because it sorta brings everyone in the internet community to one common ground where we read about and laugh at situations that we've all been through before. It's almost like we're all sharing a moment together, something rarely seen on the internet with everyone flaming each other.

 Anyways, I had an interesting encounter at a White Barn Candle Store this morning that I thought would be best expressed through a Rage/Forever Alone comic, which is pretty simple to make.  But be nice...it's my first time...

BTW while this did indeed happen to me, this is SUPPOSED to be humorous.  No need to read any further into this.

I hope you all found this to be funny.  It was alot of fun to make. And don't even ask why I was shopping there in the first place.  I really do enjoy candles, and I do what I want.  I just wanted to share my embarrassing encounter with you all to brighten up your day at the cost of my own.  As you are reading, I probably have the "Evergreen" candle lit on my desk =D

My First Music Video: Young Blood in Japan

*EDIT* This was meant to be an inspirational post, not an emo one.

Rinko Kikuchi from the 2006 film "Babel"

So I was really bored and I decided to take my first attempt at making a simple music video.  For some reason I just thought these two pieces of work would go well together. My inspiration came from after a long day of contemplating life during these past few months and meditating about the brevity and preciousness of our youth, something I sorta touched upon in my Seattle post.

The song is "Young Blood" by The Naked and Famous, and the clip is from the film "Babel".  I really enjoyed this movie (although I will warn that it is not for the casual viewer) and I have always wanted to make a MV on it, especially this particular character's journey. The film is an amalgam of three separate stories from different places around the world that are interrelated, and I found Rinko Kikuchi's character's quest for attention and acceptance as a handicap to be quite moving.  If you're interested, Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett's story is touching as well. And if you're even further interested, Kikuchi plays a pretty badass role in the movie "The Brothers Bloom."

Below is my MV.






I did all of the editing myself on a program I never used before.  This was sorta rushed, so I apologize for not making this as polished as I could have.  However, I did try to time certain sequences of the movie with the song and lyrics themselves and I hope that you will find this as effective as I did.

For those that haven't seen the film, the Japanese girl shown is deaf and is constantly on the search for love due to her disability (there is a bigger side story to her, but then I would be revealing too much).  After knowing this, the MV should make a bit more sense and will hopefully make you cry.

muhahaha

I hope you all will enjoy this video.  Even though this MV ends on a rather sad note, the point is I wish that all you readers won't take your care-free years for granted.  Take it from someone like me, where I lost 2 precious years of my early 20's in Korea being a slave among people I utterly detested. Imagine what I could have done during that time if I hadn't wasted it away?

So go out, explore, have fun, make mistakes, fall in love, get hurt, and just live.  Because before you know it, all those chances and opportunities will vanish before your eyes.

*Another sidenote*  I tried uploading this on Youtube, but literally a minute after I uploaded, they automatically blocked my MV due to copyright infringement.  It was extremely frustrating, especially when you see all the other million fan-made MVs' on there.  Thanks Vimeo!

A Thank You and a Dirty Korean Comic

I just wanted to quickly say a big thank you to all you people that regularly read my blog.  Strangely, I've actually been getting a surprising amount of hits.  All the emails, messages, and personal comments that were given, I found them to be extremely encouraging and I truly appreciate it.  It's nice to know that you all are reading and enjoying my content, which obviously is my aim.  I just write things to entertain or to provoke your thoughts.

I know I haven't written or posted as much as I should, but I will definitely try to keep things updated on a regular, if not weekly, basis.  So stay tuned,  I have some ideas formulating in my head !


Until then enjoy this hilarious Korean comic, both the original and translated version (although the English translation is a bit, if not totally, off -_- ).

To all the socially conservative, I apologize in advance....sort of, not really.  I mean, hell, if a KOREAN Korean drew this, then shut up.

Original:

Translated:

*Note* I don't like to post things that I find on the internet, because I'm under the assumption that most of you all frequent Reddit, Imgur, or other internet portal sites, and have probably already seen everything.  So I make sure that anything I re-post meets my criteria, which is simple:   If a certain image/web content has made me LITERALLY (not figuratively) laugh for over 2 minutes, then it gets my seal of approval.

However...then again there is the issue of my sense of humor...which can be stupid and bizarre at times.  But hey, I can't please everyone.


Anyways...must definitely use that as a pick up line someday.

Scarlett Johansson...I am disappoint...

Scarlett Johansson in "Lost in Translation" one of my favorite film.

Usually I don’t like to post things multiple times during the week, ESPECIALLY when dealing with celebrity gossip/news.  I HATE celebrity gossip, but this one I just couldn’t pass up.

After an arduous day of errands and the gym, I came home to my computer to find that the internet community was abuzz about the latest A-list celebrity leaked nude photos.  To my surprise (and somewhat to my delight), I discovered that this time it was the goddess of my dreams, Scarlett Johansson.  I immediately thought to myself, "This is either a really cruel joke, or it must be my Birthday."  


You see, this beautiful woman had me intoxicated ever since her absolutely adorable role in one of my favorite movie “Lost in Translation”, where she portrays a recently graduated newly-wed finding herself among the fast-paced city of Tokyo, Japan.  She had the whole “girl next door” kind of look in that film (as opposed to her sexier roles in other works), which I utterly adore, and it would be hard-pressed to find any straight-man that does not.  

There is just something about pretty girls with big headphones...It's so cute.

I’m not going to lie and pretend to be a self-righteous person, but as a warm-blooded male of course I had to check it out to see what it was all about and to determine whether this was real or not.  To my bewilderment there she was in all her glory and to put it bluntly, she was everything I imagined her to be.

You can judge me all you want, call me a pervert, or whatever.  I really don't care; HOWEVER, I’ll be honest in saying that I have rather mixed-feelings about this. 

Scarlett Johansson is one of those actresses that I have much respect for, not only for her natural beauty, but also for her talent and ethics.  As I said before, she stole my heart in “Lost in Translation”, and ever since she was in my top 3 most beloved actresses (Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman are my other 2).  So in some ways, it was rather disappointing to see her get involved with something as stupid as this.

Seriously, if you’re one of the top people in the business, you don’t just take nude photos of yourself on a hackable device. You would think that people would learn by now from the abundance of other cases where celebrities and even politicians had their pictures leaked on the internet due to hacking.  I mean, it’s one thing to have some creepy paparazzi secretly taking shots of you, but it’s an entirely different story if you do it yourself.  You’re almost asking for it if you do. Things like this are expected of retarded celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Tila Tequila. Don’t stoop down to their level Scarlett!

As a guy, I guess I can sort of get why girls would do this; whether it be for self-reassurance, to feel sexy, having a negative body image, etc.  You can blame Hollywood for that.  But my point is that if you’re that high-up on the celebrity chain,  these are things you simply cannot risk...especially with the abilities of hackers these days...

Or who knows, maybe this was all done on purpose to help garner more attention for her (The Avengers is right around the corner)…but then again…why would she need to?  She’s f*cking Scarlett Johansson.  

With a smile like that, how could you not love her?

Realizations after a beautiful wedding in Seattle… (WARNING, a no-fun SERIOUS post)

This past weekend I had the honor of witnessing a college friend tie the knot in Seattle.  I hadn't seen her in 3 years since our time at the University of Illinois, and her wedding is the first wedding that I’ve ever attended.  First off I should say congratulations to the couple.  Despite the long span of time of not seeing her, she still looked as beautiful as ever, and nothing else about her character-wise seemed to have changed.  It was a nice reminder that sometimes people will remain their awesome selves.

My recreation of Unofficial 2008 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a wedding gift.

Probably to the disappointment of some, this post isn’t a recap of the events that took place in Seattle.  There was indeed plenty of drama, laughs, food, drinking, and the sharing of memorable moments that I could write endlessly about.  Just think of any romantic wedding in any Hollywood movie, and you’ll probably get the idea. However, I’ve decided to share some realizations I’ve made after returning home from a remarkable time in the emerald city.    

First off, I’ve realized that I’m getting older.  
Anyone that knows me, if even for a short amount of time will know that my absolute GREATEST fear is physically growing up. To me, time is my mortal enemy, and I find myself constantly trying to battle it day by day by desperately holding on to my youth, whether it be through working out at the gym hardcore, or eating ridiculously healthy. After seeing a friend suddenly get married like that, I started becoming more aware that people are moving on with their lives. Another stark example of my skirmish with time was when we went clubbing after the reception in Seattle.  Feeling young and energetic, I walked in there thinking that I was still in my prime.  On the contrary, when we stepped on to the dance floor, everyone there was literally a few feet shorter than us, making our group the tallest ones in there.  The kids dancing were all baby-faced and so full of life that just watching them made me feel like an old man (and not to mention dancing with them made me feel creepy as hell). We still had a lot of fun, but it was a little jarring to see the sharp contrast between our group and everyone else. While I’m still in the process of trying to come to peace with aging, I’m starting to recognize that time is just the natural order, and it’s only fighting a losing battle if you try to wrestle with it.  It’s a struggle that we all must face, and how we make use of our time on this planet depends entirely upon the way we view it.     

Second, life is really about the people you meet, no matter where the location. 
While I’ve already somewhat grasped this idea throughout my experiences in both the U.S. and Asia, the wedding in Seattle helped to solidify this concept even more for me.  Here we were, gathered all together to share a momentous occasion in another person’s life half-way across the country.  While it was nice to be able to see the wonderful city of Seattle and enjoy many of its cultural aspects, we were ultimately there for each other.  New friendships were made, old ones were re-enforced, and fresh memories were created.  Also another good friend of ours was having his birthday at the same time in Chicago.  Even though we were far from each other, we took the time for a group photo and sent simultaneous birthday texts to him. If this should continue to happen as time goes on…then maybe getting older isn’t such a bad idea.

Last but not least, I’m still young and I have to make the BEST use of my youth.   
I had a small chit-chat with the bride afterwards about life in general, and just listening to her talk about her passions and seeing her get excited for her future aspirations was quite inspirational.  It made me realize that we are still young and still very much in control of our lives.  Also in Seattle, we were still partying, still exploring, still cracking immature jokes, and still enjoying ourselves. I may be getting older, but I’m still as childish and naive as ever.  The moment to live life to the fullest is NOW, because later on in life, we just won’t have the same energy as we did back in high school or college to do things anymore. I know I’m only 25 years old and probably should have no right to complain, but what I end up doing is just wasting more time worrying about getting older, rather than going out there and loving it.  As been once said:

“They are not long, the days of wine and roses:

Out of a misty dream

Our path emerges for a while, then closes

Within a dream.”

With the bride, friends, and the Seattle skyline.

This picture made me laugh so hard for a RIDICULOUS amount of time that I just HAD to put this up. I am probably still laughing as you are reading this.

"A Speech 70 Years in The Making?"

Just browsing Youtube a few months ago, I came across this absolutely brilliant video of Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" speech where he passionately articulates the need for fundamental societal change during an era of where men's greed has overtaken the heart and mind of humanity. While his commentary in itself is very powerful, this particular uploader synched the video with Hans Zimmer's just as efficacious composition "Time" from the critically-acclaimed film "Inception". Just watch the video below and you'll see what I mean

Zimmer's score with Chaplin's oration is such a compelling combination that I sometimes wonder if Zimmer himself constructed this piece with this clip in mind. Nevertheless, I found myself repeatedly watching this video several times and never getting sick of it, where each viewing helped keep certain factors in my life in perspective.

I admit that I haven't seen this film in its entirety, which may affect my interpretations of his dialogue within the context of the entire movie. However, without getting overtly political, I feel that this message pertains to us now more than ever before. With the amount of corruption I see in the media and throughout the world, and with how people are too complacent to do anything about it (except miraculously in recent cases with Tunisia and the Egyptian revolution), it's amazing how Chaplin addresses this over 70 years ago, to the point where it's almost like he deduced this would happen in the future.

Anyways, off the soapbox I go. I'm just being a hypocritical hippie. Maybe I should actually take the time to watch the entire film...or actually make a relevant impact on the world...

True love <3

My Top 5 Guilty Pleasure K-Pop Songs

First of all, I want to state that I am a huge fan of K-Pop, at least from the golden era of the 90’s and early 2000. Glorious were the days of H.O.T., FinK.L, S.E.S, Sechskies, Seotaiji, etc. However, I don’t know about you all, but I generally find most Korean pop music these days to be almost borderline unbearable, and I’m not sure I really like the direction of where it’s going (although I will admit that I GENERALLY feel they are more talented in terms of vocals and dancing compared with current western pop music, but that’s a whole another can of worms that is up for debate, and I do not wish to walk down that road).

Maybe it’s just because I’m getting older now…sort of like the old grandpa that yells at all the youngin’s for listening to devil music.

Despite the plethora of Idol groups that is over-saturating the music industry in Korea, there are a few gems here and there that pop up that I subconsciously find myself singing along or dancing to (sometimes embarrassingly in public, where I try to cover it up by pretending to do something else…. like stretching. Seriously. I’ve done it while I was in Korea -_-). As much as I try to tell myself I hate K-Pop of this generation, every once in awhile I find myself being drawn back to some songs that gives me an overwhelming sense of guilt that aches my heart to the point of self-abuse.

So here are my top 5 guilty pleasure K-Pop songs. Some of them aren’t too bad actually, but the others will probably make those who aren’t as accustomed to Korean pop culture to cringe. But hey, haters gon’ hate right?

#5) Taeyang - Only Look At Me



I decided to start off with a relatively safer video, because this one isn't too hard on the eyes/ears compared with the other songs. But coming from a perfectly straight/heterosexual male, man... Taeyang is a stud, and if you've seen his "Where U At" video, you can definitely see how much swag this guy has. Girls go crazy over him, and being a guy, sometimes I'll be a bit hesitant before finally admitting how much I wish I could be like him. But yeah, while this song can be considered an anthem for douchebags, it's got a nice flow to it and has merited a high number of play counts on my iTunes. Damn you Taeyang.

#4) 2NE1 - UGLY



For the most part, I would also say this isn't too embarrassing to like, because I personally feel that 2NE1 is probably the one female Idol group that has alot of potential. I was always a fan of their very distinct and edgy style that REALLY sets them apart from the multitude of cute/sexy girl groups. Not to mention that Park Bom is so adorable, especially in this sad, yet catchy, video. But man, these girls have ATTITUDE. So badass.

Park Bom...you are so cute.

#3) After School - Because of You



I'm actually not a big fan of this particular girl group, but this one song has a bit of sentimental value for me. I remember listening to this song on a bus towards Seoul during a rainy day, and for some reason it struck a chord in me that I did not expect. Weird how music does that to you.
The music video is whatever...but at one point while watching I thought those girls were going to make out....but no dice....sad. But always +1 for sexy girls and pillow fights!

Rawr.

#2) Kara - Rock U



Okay...now we're starting to get into some shameful territory. This might be a bit "over the top" and ridiculously colorful for some, but I still find this song so damn addicting. I remember when this debuted the summer before I left for Korea back in 2008 and thinking to myself "Man...are all Korean girls like this? I can dig that". I get such a warm feeling whenever I hear this, but I just make sure to lower the volume on my iPod whenever I listen to this song in public.

"ROCK YOUR BAHSAY!"

#1) Girls Generation - Gee



Okay haters, give it to me. I love this song. I KNOW the dance. I have a pair of colorful skinny jeans that I impulsively bought at a Uniqlo in Korea. Screw you all. This catchy song actually holds a special place in my heart and is near and dear to me. This is because right when I arrived in Korea, this was the hit song at the time, and was playing EVERYWHERE I went. Cafes, restaurants, department stores, clubs, you name it. I mean, hell, when they played this song in the clubs, EVERYONE was doing the dance, even the guys! This song has such a lasting impact on Koreans there, that it has moved the people in surprising ways. For instance, even middle-aged Korean businessmen have appeared on television programs to say how much Girls Generation's music was so uplifting and helped them to get through their day. How cool is that? And with over 49 million viewers, and climbing, I think this song will continue to have an impact on people. So to me, this sweet melody essentially represents the Korea I know while I was there for 2 years. Whenever I secretly blast this on my headphones, I am immediately confronted with a flood of memories, both good and bad, of my meaningful time in a beautiful country.


It’s funny how I stated previously that I didn’t like current mainstream K-Pop music, and yet the very things that make me hate it also makes me love it at the same time, even if it makes me want to kill myself. Oh well. I’ve been listening to a lot of Indie/underground Korean artists as of late, which I will probably do a post about sometimes in the future.

So yeah, you all can make fun of me now. I can take it. I do what I want.