Hey addicKts!!! You will never believe who this is. Many of you may not even know who I am. Wow, totally depressing out-of-the-blue random thought. O_O Yikes. Moving on from THAT bummer though because this is so not a bummer post and there's no room for that stuff here right now. If we haven't met, my name is Dongsaeng. Hi gals and guys! I started this whole blog thing and convinced my bestie, Unnie, to join me. Sucka! Then she and I kind of got wrapped up in sucky real life, and KMuse has been kind enough to take over the reins in our absence. Isn't she fabulous??? We love her!!!!! But enough about that for now, I'm too excited to contain myself anymore!!! I cannot WAIT to share with you what I came here to share with you!!!!!!
So, oh, I don't know, a few months ago maybe, my biggest blogging dream came true. And yes, blogging dreams are so totally a thing. Trust me. Mine included being asked to be a guest blogger on DramaFever (still waiting on that one by the way DF...) and one other dream invitation. Well, where as one has not come true (maybe DF just lost my number), the other actually has. Amazing, right? I mean, dreams can come true?? In real life? What is that all about? I wouldn't have believed it myself except for the email that shook my whole perspective on dreams and achieving them. One day, in my inbox, was an email I never dared hoped would actually come, but come it did. Oh yes, come it did. When I read it, I went numb from the shock. Then I hyperventilated, like for real, yo. Paper bag and all. Okay, not really. But I did freak. I mean, this was like the biggest accomplishment of my whole life! And I have made people and shoved them out of my body. And managed to keep them alive, even though I couldn't keep anything alive before them, not even a Chia Pet or cactus. Do you know how hard it is to kill a cactus? The instructions literally said that the more you neglect it, the happier it will be. Did I kill it with love? Maybe. Who knows? But that's beside the point! Why are we talking about this when there is such HUGE news to share?!?!? GAH!!!!
You ready for this? No really, are you??? Are you sitting down??? I am. Which is good, because even though I've had months to wrap my head around this, it still seems surreal. I've been DYING to tell you all, but wanted to keep it under wraps until I for sure made sure it wasn't some dream or scam. The excitement is still making me all trembly and nervous. And when I get nervous, I ramble. Add that to the fact that I am so totally and completely out of this whole blogging practice and then the rambling increases exponentially. Which is a bad thing considering what I'm about to tell you. It's going to make you wonder why in the world this invitation was extended to us in the first place. And then we'll be uninvited. Have you ever been uninvited from anything? I have. We were uninvited to my husband's cousin's wedding. It wasn't even for some weird family drama or feud or anything, it was simply a numbers thing. For real. Ouch, huh? So I guess I'm a little gun-shy now or something. However, we've been granted the green light by the powers that be to come out officially and announce this, so I'm going for it! I can't hold it in anymore! You ready?!?! Good!
Without further ado, it is my pleasure to officially announce to you that....
drum roll, please....
Ahem. *taps mic annoyingly* Is this thing on?
*clears throat as equally annoyingly and predictably*
Uh, uh, ah yes...
Guess what??? THE CRAZY AHJUMMAS ARE COMING TO KCON!!!!!!!
YES!!! You read that right! The KCON! As in thebig, giant, 2-day Korean Hallyu event being held in Los Angeles on August 9th and 10th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As in like OH MY GOSH!!! US! At KCON! And yes, it will be all three of us there! Woohoo!!!! KMuse, Unnie, and myself. On a panel. As "experts". They call us "special guests". Special guests - US!!!! Three random suburban white moms, special guests at a convention for all things Korean. Will wonders never cease? Let's hope not, because that is just oddly awesome and quirky. And if there's anything I like, it's quirky.
Wanna know what we'll be talking about? I'm so excited about our panel! It is something right up my personal alley and I'm sure my Ahjumma sisters would agree that it is up theirs too! (*giggle* I accidentally said "up theirs" and then laughed - because apparently I'm the mental equivalent of a 10 year old boy). We will be discussing Second Leads and Love Triangles in dramas. How fun is that???
As I watch all the KCON news and announcements roll out, I just get more and more excited! I have attended the two previous KCONs and this one is bigger and better than ever! Two nights of concerts?!?! Dude! How freaking cool is that??? The lineup is going to be epic! I can't wait to see the next announcement as far as line-up goes that is coming out on the 30th!
Okay, so you are all coming, right???????? How fun would it be to actually MEET our addicKts face-to-face? If you do come, you have to promise to come to our humble little tent and support us and grab us afterwards so that we can chat! I know we're not like super stars or anything, but still... we want to meet you! So, you'll come, right? Come and say hi? Please?! Oh, I'll beg if I have to. I will. Just watch and see. I will get down on my virtual knees and plead, rubbing my hands together while rocking back and forth like a drama heroine and everything. Not that I'm desperate. Just excited. ;) So, how about it? Is it a date? You, me, KMuse and Unnie with thousands of our closest co-addicKts all together in one place to celebrate this amazing and awesome world that we love so much. Like a dream come true if you ask me.
If you have been living under that rock again, or even if you haven't, check out more about KCON and catch up on all the latest at http://kconusa.com.
To read about my adventures at the first two KCONs, check out these links. 2012 2013
First, I don't know if you know this or not, but I was also able to make it to the inaugural KCON 2012. But I already talked about that here, so I'm not going to talk about it again. If you want to see how both experiences differed from each other, please feel free to take a journey back in time and check it out.
Now, some of you may have been aware of a little KCON related drama on a personal level. Basically I bought the ticket when I heard GD was coming because I couldn't function until I did. I was such a mess that day. Shaking and breathing fast and crying because I knew I couldn't go. And stalking Ticketmaster. Can't forget the stalking Ticketmaster part. I would check to see if there were still tickets. Then I'd sit there watching the clock count down as I vacillated on whether or not to pull the trigger. Somewhere around stalking #3 or 4, after selecting "best available ticket" option just like every other time, something unheard of happened. It was like fate stepped in and took over. Floor. VIP2 (VIP1 was long sold out) level. ON THE FLOOR. To see GD and all these other groups. G-Dragon. Right there in front of me on the stage. I mean, how could I not?!?! So yeah, I pulled the trigger. Tossed aside all reason and conscious thought and bought it, assuring myself that if nothing else, I could always sell it off later if I couldn't go. Fast forward a few weeks -- I decided I couldn't go. It was with heavy heart that I chose to be a responsible adult and not jeopardize or infringe on the needs of my family and I put them up for sale. First to a good friend and later to the public. Long story short, the ticket did not sell and it was time for me to make a game time decision. Drive my butt over to California and have a blast with my friends and GD or let the ticket go to waste? Well, when faced with that sort of dilemma, I mean, what else was I to do? So yeah, I packed up and hit the open road.
What a fabulous weekend it ended up being! Now, a lot of it had to do with the friends I was with and not entirely KCON itself. In fact, I didn't really have the "full KCON experience". You had to be lucky enough to win a spot at any of the artist engagements, which I wasn't. I didn't get to see any big names up close and personal. I didn't get to give GD a high five. *pouts* I did however, still manage to have a blast. And frankly, one nice thing about the way they did it was that I knew from the time I got there that I hadn't won any of those opportunities, so the rest of the time I was able to just let it go and enjoy myself. And enjoy myself I did.
What was one thing that struck me about KCON this year? It was HUGE!!!! It was so much bigger and more organized than last year. Also, going with friends is wayyy cooler than going as a mom with an 11 year old and being dropped off by your husband. I was there with two friends and the three of us had so much fun together! We collected our various swag items from different tents, entered all the raffles we could, played games, all of that. We didn't make it to any panel discussions or big activities like the dancing lessons or whatnot. Even still, we had a great time. We scouted the boys, squealing like schoolgirls when we saw a cutie walk by (oh, and believe you me, those squealing moments were coming fast and furious at times because there were A LOT of cuties). Is there anything better than girl time? Well, yeah, I guess my family ranks up there pretty high, but as a mom, it is just so therapeutic and rejuvenating to get out every once in a while and be a silly girl, you know?
One of my highlight moments of Saturday was meeting Sean Richard at the Viki tent. First, Viki people were AWESOME and so nice. And Sean, oh my goodness, Sean. Confession - before this, I had no idea who he was. After this though, I am seeing him everywhere! It's crazy. But seriously. He just randomly pops up in things when I'm not looking for him. You know when people say something like, "wow, you're even better looking in person"? Uh, yeah - it's true. Seeing pictures I was all like, "meh", but in real life I was completely twitterpated. He was so handsome and so nice and he laughed when I asked him to sign my light stick and was all like, "I wondered what these were". I made Sean Richard laugh. And I took the dorkiest picture with him. My eyes were closed yet I had the biggest, goofiest smile on my face. Totally twitterpated, remember? After I got my signature, we went back in line later so that my friend could get hers. Two times I got to stand right there with him and take pictures of my friend with him. Silly, gloriously wonderful moments like that. Another highlight was when my friend Jen was able to score a shout out from one of her favorite artists that just so happened to be there as well, Dumbfoundead, for her KPop radio show. I heard it - it was awesome and she was so giddy to get it. Ahh, all of our fun fangirl moments.
We eventually started to wind down. It was hot and sunny all day and we were pooped. It was time for some refreshments. We were off to KTown LA! We shopped and ate and had the best after party for 3 ever. Have you heard of the store called Daiso? It's a Japanese dollar store to put it as generically as I can. Everything in it is $1.50 and they have some super amazing stuff that you can get for $1.50. I was in heaven. Really. I'm cheap. I found all sorts things that I had been wanting but not bad enough to shell out normal retail prices for. How happy was I that I had driven to California all by myself in my 7-seater car? There was no limit on the space I had available - I could buy whatever I wanted to buy. Which I did. And it was fabulous and I can't wait to go back and do it again sometime. Hi, my name is Dongsaeng and I am a Daiso junkie.
The next day was the concert.
Omo...the concert. Wow! Just....yeah....I don't even know how to put it into words. Everyone that performed went above and beyond my expectations. There was the surprise 2AM stage. I didn't think I really cared for 2AM and had no interest in seeing them, but lo and behold, they were fabulous and I fully enjoyed their performance. f(x) gave me a girl crush on Amber. She was rocking it all night, appearing a couple of other times on stage throughout the show. You could tell that she was comfortable and feeling at home unlike her bandmates (sorry girls - but you seemed terrified up there). Teen Top stole my heart after I fought it for so long. I had refused to like them in the past because I felt they ripped off Big Bang in a lot of their concepts. But, one can not see those boys in person and not fall head-over-heels. Especially C.A.P. That boy is fiii-iiine! I was entranced. Mesmerized. He was my bias list buster of the night for sure.
not my picture - I have to see if I have one of him from that night, but until then, this one is a great place holder, is it not?
And then there was EXO.
Oh EXO. So many conflicting thoughts swirl around you with me. I like you. I like most of your music. I especially LOVE Growl. Then there's the mom side of me - the side that sees some of your fans (whom I call EXOhaustives - the crazy ones that is). Granted, all EXOtics are not created alike and I recognize that, but for whatever reason, this particular group seems to have appealed to a whole new batch of obsession unbefore seen to my eyes. I can understand how they were banned back in Korea from attending tapings. Rabid fans some (not all) of them. That's a totally lame old lady reason to not like a group, isn't it? I swear one day I'm going to be the cranky old lady next door yelling at kids to get off her lawn. Hey, at least I recognize and admit to this particular character flaw of mine. I is what I is -- and some of those EXOtics are cray cray and need an EXOcism. Just sayin. "Enthusiastic" fans aside though, their performance, at least what I could see of it was awesome. This was my first time ever on the floor for any show and I learned a hard lesson - floor seats are freaking rad, but there are downsides, like the fact that sometimes the stage is really hard to see because there are a gazillion people in front of you. The way they had the stage configured, there was a big stage in the back and one in the foreground. When they were on the front stage, I had a great view and felt like I was right there. It was magical. The back stage was different though. When they were on the back stage, I had to crane and peep through small openings between arms and cameras and freaking tablets (yes, tablets - people videoing the entire show with giant ipads blocking the view for the people like me unfortunate enough to be stuck behind them). Add in the lighting and the glare and I just kind of gave up when performances were happening there. At least there were screens to show what was happening on stage - when those screens were actually showing what was going on on stage and not just displaying the CJ logo as it all too frequently did. Annoying. Anyway, EXO is a large group so most of what they did took place on the back stage, meaning that I didn't fully get to appreciate them as I would have liked to. That and the sound was bad. I'm sure they had it optimized for the M Countdown recording they were doing, but with the crap sound and the screaming fans, it was sometimes hard to even hear what song they were doing. All of the little frustrations aside though, I really did enjoy seeing EXO.
The best part of EXO and the EXOhaustives though? After their set, a few, not many, but a few, EXO fans left the floor area, meaning that I got to inch just that much closer to the stage for my main man. *sigh* Oh GD. GD, GD, GD. What this boy does to me -- I am still a week later trying to G-Dtoxifiy. I can focus on little else besides that man. When he came out on stage, I lost all sense of everything. I no longer cared who's view I may be blocking or who I was pissing off around me with my screaming. I just lost it. There he was - as beautiful and wonderful as ever and I was there. The logical side of me knows that I shouldn't care as much as I do, but heaven help me, when he's around, logic dies and takes a heck of a long time to resurrect. I'm still not there. I'm still in GD lalala land. I've never had a hangover, but I imagine that in a lot of ways it would feel like this. Everything, all the time we had together as he danced and sang and performed is just a blur and I'm left scrambling to come down from this high. Have I mentioned before that I kind of like him? Just a tad? The absolute best moment was being able to see him perform his new song with Missy Elliott for the first time. It was cool knowing that we were the first audience to see and hear it. I have watched that clip, and all of his other songs from that night, repeatedly. I am starting to memorize his every move and action during these performances because I've watched them so much. I just have to. I have to keep reliving the magic in order to convince myself that it really happened and wasn't just some wonderful dream. Sheesh, Dongsaeng, dramatic much?
And that's my story. Or at least the parts worth mentioning. It was a fantastic weekend filled with friends and fun and fangirling and food and Korean immersion. I love my Korean immersion time. It still is awkward at first to be around my friends and actually say these things out loud. To talk about dramas or KPop artists or what have you. It is an odd feeling the first few times because someone is standing there, face to face with you, and conversating about this "underground" world that you so often feel all alone in. It's so very cool to do. I love it. I love getting out into that world where I can be me and express my infatuation with all of it and people around me get it. And feel the same way. It's nice to be an odd duck in a pond full of other odd ducks.
I've blabbed long enough. Time to throw some pictures up on this sucker and some videos and then I'm done. I can't believe I'm going to share these because I think I look weird. o.O
Signing a banner for Big Bang thanks to USAVIPS!
I'm in this shot ;) It's like a game of Where's Red?
My View
I was so gross and sweaty by the end but it was so worth it!!!
I have my own videos from the concert but am not having much luck loading them onto YouTube. I'm going to try later and I can share them here once I get it to work. Until then, I'm sure you've already seen these, but here are the "official" ones of GD's performance. I did post some of my videos on my Shannen Dongsaeng FB page the other day, so you can always check them out there if I can't get past the YouTube blockade.
Also, I'm going to toss up G-Dragon's newest MV that was just released a bit ago!!!! I am so excited! It was a crazy long day of very impatient waiting. But it's here now and I LOVE it!!! The imagery is amazing. He is a true artist. He's the real deal and the whole package and that's why I love him so. Yes, I know, this is, once again, a very GD heavy post. I can't help it. Do you know what this boy does to me? I cannot be held responsible for my reactions or actions when it comes to him.
Enjoy the music! If you were at KCON too, drop me a line and let me know! We can chat and reminisce together. Unless you got to give GD a high five then I just don't want to talk to you no more. ;)
Good morning AddicKts! I hope you all had a fabulous week and weekend! You probably already heard through the grapevine that I was on vacation this past week. I missed being here with you all. I tried to cover my tracks by getting my reviews done early before our 6 am Wednesday morning departure, but alas, only Faith 17 got covered. I watched 18 and tried to get it reviewed, but just ran out of time, what with having to prepare for a 5 day vacation all by myself (husband working late) and all. Then I planned on trying something new - dictating it on my phone while we were on the road using an app that will turn talk to type. Yeah, that didn't work too well. The best laid plans.... It was a great trip though. We were traveling with another family that we're good friends with. Total we had 4 adults and 5 kids and it was a blast. We hit the beaches, Legoland and Knotts Berry Farm. And then, at least for my purposes here, came the big day --- KCon on Saturday and my very first ever KPop concert!!! Yay!!!
'Cuz I am 'all things Asian cool' after all o.O
Okay, so I have to tell you a little back story as to how this all came to be, because I at least think it's funny how it all worked out. I had zero to do with the planning of this trip. Zero. It was the brainchild of my husband and his buddy Dustin. We had over the past months talked ambiguously about going to California with them at some point, but the menfolk actually went and made it happen. One day, as the plans were beginning to hatch and my husband was telling me the plans/dates they had discussed, the realization hit me - the dates lined up. The stars aligned. It was just meant to be. KCon had recently been announced and I really wanted to go of course, but already knew that I had the Big Bang concert road trip with Unnie already planned and didn't want to be greedy and try for a second K-related trip. We are a single income family after all and not fabulously wealthy and able to jet set around the world or even to the next state over on a whim. But, as fate would have it, our plans just so happened to put us in the same city on the same day as KCon. How could I not go? Except that being the stereotypical martyr mom, I still hemmed and hawed at the idea. I didn't want to spend the money. I didn't want to be rude to our friends and disappear for the day. Yadda yadda. You moms out there probably are familiar with the tune and have hummed it a bit yourselves from time to time. I'm convinced it's a mom thing. For you non-moms out there, you'll just have to take my word for it. We are, as a breed, generally speaking, pathological martyrs. Anywhoodlenoodlepoodle (totally channeling Martina right now), my poor husband had heard enough of my "should I/shouldn't I" and went and bought me the tickets. Aww.... See? That's why he's my number one bias (sorry Jaejoong, Lee Min Ho, Donghae, Hyun Bin, Lee Seung Gi, etc...we'll just have to be friends as my heart belongs to my very own personal star lovingly referred to as The Husband). *cue the sappy love awws*
We had a fab few days of family and friend fun time. But I'll save those details for my personal blog. You're not here to read about how my 9 year old ran wild around both parks with his pack or how my 11 year old literally had to be dragged onto rides. You don't care to hear how my poor husband's tendency to motion sickness left him popping Dramamine and skipping meals or how our friend narrowly avoided stepping on a sting ray. Or how I "came out" to The Husband's extended family about my K addicKtion and how now they all think I'm cuckoo in the clock. Oh well, go big or go home, right? Might as well own up to my zany ways. By the next time I see them I'll either be rich and famous (haha) and they'll be saying "I knew her when" or I won't be and they'll have forgotten anyway. See, I can't lose - why hide in the shadows anymore? ;)
So that's how I came to find myself there that day. Now to tell you a little bit about what it was like. It's difficult to describe. It's even difficult to tell you how I felt about and through the whole experience. There were ups and downs. I started out a little grumpy because we got there earlier than I wanted to. My family was chomping at the bit to get to the beach for a day of play and we had to be dropped off first. Sounds kind of crazy, right? Why wouldn't I want to get there and spend as much time as possible? Well, for starters it was an outdoor event and I am a redhead and it was a sunny day. And our SPF was on its way to the beach. Plus I was in full "mom mode" still because I was there with my daughter and not a bunch of fellow raving K-fans. Yes, my daughter likes Kpop and Eat Your Kimchi quite a bit, but she's still 11. A lot of what was going on didn't interest her and quite frankly, didn't interest me. I'm a 30-something mom, not a teenaged crazed fan girl. I was in the minority on every level. Off and on through the day I found myself resenting the fact that I was stuck there and not off having a fun day at the beach with my family and friends. But then there were those moments that made it all worthwhile. Those are the moments I will choose to focus on.
There were multiple tents set up and each tent had different things going on all day. We found ourselves at one tent about an hour before Simon and Martina of Eat Your Kimchi were set to appear in a panel. By this point we had already wandered aimlessly around getting familiarized with the scene and getting caught up in swarms (more on swarms later). I was hot. I was tired. My feet were achy. My daughter, Little Popper 1, was getting restless. We got to the tent a few minutes before the first current panel (Making a Hit - Songwriters) was set to end. I saw my opportunity. We waited for the current panel to end and for some seats to open up and then we swooped in and sat down. Ahh! A chair! Shade! Swarm-free! And as an added bonus, awesome seats all ready for Simon and Martina's appearance! Woohoo! It did mean that I missed the one panel I was most interested in seeing from a professional standpoint that day, "Inside Look at K-Dramas", but oh well. Chair, shade and EYK won out in the end. Good thing too, as my original plan to go to the K-Drama panel and then the "YouTube Idols Up Close and Personal" again with EYK wouldn't have worked out. We tried to get to the second EYK panel after the first and it was so packed we would have totally missed them if we didn't go to the first one and that would have ruined the whole day. EYK was what put me on to the "I really wanna go" side of the KCon fence after all.
So there we were - great seats and ready for the panel entitled "Rise of Foreign Influence in K-Pop". Simon and Martina made their grand entrance and were greeted by screaming fans. It was funny - about 10 minutes before they took the stage, we saw them coming, surrounded by security and being followed by their own swarm.
***Interruption time*** Probably time to define what I mean by "swarm", huh? I can't keep using it without describing the phenomenon. It really was interesting to see from a people-watching perspective (which is something I tend to do a lot of). You can probably already imagine sort of what it must have been like. But you really can't appreciate it without actually experiencing it. Now, I've not found myself in a real life fangirl position before - where actual fangirl/fanboying is going on. Especially not Asian fangirl/boying. I've heard people talk about how in Asian culture, the concept of "personal space" differs from our American idea of it. I understand that a little better now. Anytime a group or artist would show up for pictures or fan signings, or even when a staff member would show up with vouchers for fan signings (you had to have a voucher in order to be able to line up for the fan signings) or anytime something of fangirl/boy import happened, there would be a swarm. A completely solid mass of screaming bodies rushing one way or another. No one outside of the swarm ever really knew what the swarm was for. And if you weren't careful, you'd find yourself falling victim to this wall of swarming humanity rushing at you. For example, LP1 and I had paused near a post for a moment to check the map and get our bearings and figure out what we wanted to do, when all of the sudden we found ourselves literally getting shoved and pushed around by a swarm. One second we were free and clear, the next we were getting bowled over by screaming, shrieking bodies. It was...wow. A new experience. After falling prey to the swarms a couple of times, you can maybe see why a chair in a tent for an hour was sounding especially nice. I am so old, yes, I know. At least I wasn't yelling at them to turn the music down (though there was one point I thought about it as I thought my eardrums were going to explode and my whole body was vibrating from the music -but that story is later).
Okay, sorry about that interruption. Where was I? Ah, yes. The first spotting of Simon and Martina. They walked by the side of the tent, surrounded by security and being followed by their very own personal swarm. Someday I want a swarm of my own. Or not. They kind of scared me. But I guess if I had security ushering me around it would be kind of cool. Simon was easy to spot - he really is tall and with the red mohawk - hard to miss. Martina was harder to see as she was shorter and under an umbrella and blocked from view by security/staff members. But boy, did we scream our little fangirl/boy hearts out when we first spied them! It was an awesome moment! I tried to capture it on video. I'll just give a blanket statement now - I apologize for my sub-par videoing. I was using just my phone and was trying to conserve battery and storage space because I knew I would be there for many hours and would have lots to try and capture. So my clips are short and shaky and not very good. :( But they're something and something is better than nothing, right? *Turning on the aegyo shoulder shrug and cheesy grin with batting eyelids right about now*
The panel was awesome. Some very interesting things were said about foreign influence in K-Pop. There were other people on the panel besides Simon and Martina, though it was easy to see that they were the big headliners of the event. I felt kind of bad for the other people as they were totally dwarfed Eat Your Kimchi-style. ;) But in case anyone is curious or knows who the other panelists may be, I'll include them here and if you want more stories about them specifically later I can fill you in to the best of my abilities. The panel consisted of: Ashley Choi, David Lehre/"Chad Future", EYK, Jeff Benjamin, with Susan of Soompi moderating. The highlight of the panel though, for me at least, was a special guest appearance. So, I'm sitting there and this guy sits down in front of me. He was hard to miss. He was a big dude, with long dreadlocks and a very strong presence about him. My initial thought when I first saw him was that he reminded me of Bruce "Automatic" Vanderveer. I had read this article on allkpop.com a while back and had seen his picture. But I quickly brushed the thought aside as foolish. I mean, why would Automatic be there just sitting in the audience, entourage-free? Then came the Q&A session. It was all fine and good. Then the staff member running the event there in the tent announced that the last two people would be the final questions. That's when it was this guy's turn. He stands up there and announces who he was and the place erupted with squeals and cheers - even from the panel members! And I just about fell over in my seat! See, a few days before I had had a very excited phone call from Unnie while I was chillin' at Legoland. She had called me up with the exciting-for-us news that Bruce had retweeted her tweet on her Wednesday Write Up about the whole Junsu/JYJ snub. We were so thrilled to think that the Bruce Vanderveer had seen and retweeted our humble little tweet. And here he was - right in front of me and I didn't realize it until it was too late. Argh! Fangirl/budding blogger fail! It was still an awesome experience and I was so glad that I was there. I got my own video of portions, but I'll also share this other video that is not mine too as they managed to get the whole thing and I was late to the party with my camera. You can totally see LP1 and myself in the audience. I thought that was cool to see myself on a YouTube video that I found on a JYJ Facebook fan page while driving home from California.
Mine:
Not mine:
It was a very interesting panel with some very interesting and exciting things said. I left there just even more in love with KPop and the direction that it is headed. I felt a part of something special. Without waxing too philosophical here because there's still a lot of day to cover and this post is already freakishly long, KPop is just so much about community and feeling a part of that something special. It's not so underground that no one has heard it, yet, as Martina pointed out, it is underground enough that you're not going to hear it played on the radio (well, except for Gangnam Style) and I agree that that's how it should stay. Do I want to share the KPop love with the uninitiated? Sure. Obviously. I try. I fail miserably, but I still try. I want to add people to the community (uhm, I am a blogger about this stuff after all), but I definitely don't want to see it become mainstream. It's something so unique and this force that you have to experience in order to "get". Maybe it doesn't speak to everyone like it speaks to us. I don't know. I can only speak for myself and for me, KPop has spoken to me like no music has ever done before. Why? I don't know. Can anyone explain that? The panel tried. And they had very good and valid points that made a whole lot of sense - KPop is the product of a lot of hard, hard work and drive for perfection. The artists don't enter the field dreaming of an easy, cush life filled with swag and adoring fans. They know ahead of time that they are going to work like they have never worked before - long, grueling hours, intense schedules and seemingly impossible demands placed on them. It's not an easy life, but they are dedicated to it 110%. And the end result? Magic. At least in this humble blogger's opinion. Again, obviously I'm a fan and just a tad biased, but there has to be some reason why even I, an average, non-Asian, suburban housewife, was smitten by this KPop insanity after 30-some odd years on this planet and countless other opportunities to be snagged by a genre.
Phew. For trying to not wax philosophical, this place is getting mighty slippery. Better get back to the task at hand. Kids will be home from school soon and I am quickly running out of time. I sure do like to hear the sound of my own clacking keyboard, don't I?
That was our first panel of the day. After it ended, we hurried over to the next one that Simon and Martina were to speak at, but like I mentioned, by the time we got to it, it was already packed solid and we could barely see.
Well, I could barely see, LP1 couldn't see anything. We gave it the ol' college try, but after about 15 minutes of standing and baking in the hot, hot sun and pressed up against so many other bodies, we gave up and went to grab some lunch.
I was a happy, happy girl when I spotted the row of food trucks on our way in. One in particular. For some time now I have been dying to try the infamous Kogi Korean taco. Guess what though...I don't live in CA and we don't have Kogi Korean taco truck here in AZ. (Hey Kogi - how about it? A little Phoenician action sound good?) I had myself some yummy short rib and spicy pork tacos. Yumm!
The next 2-3 hours we wandered aimlessly. The tent events were over. We spent some time at one of the stages where they had various people performing all day. We saw the end of Shin B's performance. And a dance troupe from UC Irvine that rocked it. We also saw Chad Future. We were up close to the stage and right under the speakers. LP1 was loving it! I couldn't get her to move back (I had re-entered 'mom mode' and was concerned for the health of my poor child's ears). We hung out there for an hour-ish or whatever it ended up being. I'll have to talk about this more later I think because it's an interesting concept, but I learned of Chad Future for the first time that day, and I must say, I really enjoyed his performance. For those, like me, unfamiliar with who he is, he's a white guy trying to break in to KPop and has started (or at least is heavily involved in a new movement - forgive my ignorance if I got that wrong) called American KPop, or 'A KPop'. Again, I'll have to explore this more in greater detail in a future post, but it was intriguing and I think worth chatting about to see where everyone falls on the A-KPop spectrum.
The rest of the remaining time we parked ourselves on a patch of grass. I people watched as LP1 played her Nintendo. About this point in the day I was thinking that this whole event was like Korean Woodstock, only minus the drugs and free love. There were just people everywhere, all camped out in their groups. Maybe I missed my calling in life as a sociologist because I found is fascinating to watch.
Then, finally, after a very long day, it was time to enter the amphitheater for the concert. Yay!!! We got our official KCon lightsticks, stood in the crazy line of people filing in, found our seats (didn't take too long as we were pretty much all the way in the back) and settled in. This wasn't only my first KPop concert but really was my first concert concert. I did see the band Live ages ago at the state fair, but that was not a ticketed event and so I'm not going to count it fully. It gets like half a point at most. It was starting to get dark, the light sticks were coming on and it was magical. And then the concert started. SQUEEEE!!! After a couple of smaller opening acts, B.A.P. took the stage! They were who I was most excited to see and I found myself getting a lot more emotional than I thought I would. I mean, I like BAP, but didn't realize how much until I was standing there, waving my lightstick and singing along to No Mercy with 9000 or so other screaming and singing fans. It was...awesome. Daebak. Chincha daebak. BAP did No Mercy and Crash. Sad they didn't do Warrior or Power, but they were great.
Here's a small sample. Most of my videos didn't turn out because I was either holding the camera the wrong way (sorry, new-to-me phone), bouncing it up and down in time to the music, or horribly singing/screaming along, or all of the above. This will give you a tiny taste of what it looked like from where we were though.
Mine:
G.Na was next. Or was it Vixx? I don't remember the exact order. Sorry. Then Nu'est. And then EXO-M. They earned the loudest and most enthusiastic cheers of the night. After each group/artist performed, they would do a small little greeting and chat. We were asked multiple times throughout the event how we were doing. And we were told often to make some noise. EXO's after chat was the best. They had a little video with various random people from throughout the day asking different questions of EXO. The first was a girl who asked the leader, Kris, to do a little aegyo. Kris instead volunteered up Tao, who did a cute little "buing buing". Another member (I don't remember - I'll find a video clip hopefully so you can see for yourself) did it, and then finally, with a lot of encouragement from the audience, Kris did a half-hearted "buing". It was hilarious! Since we were up in the nosebleeds and had thousands upon thousands of screaming fans between us and the stage, I missed a lot of what was being said. The music we heard fine, but all the speaking was hard to hear and understand. I know that it was being broadcast on Mnet, so I'm hoping I can find video and see what I was supposed to have seen there that night. ;)
Ah! Here's a clip.
Again, not mine:
But wow! What an experience! LP1 was totally in to it - standing and waving her lightstick with the rest of us crazed fans. Once EXO finished, people started to leave. I then started to leave before realizing that there was one more group still to go - 4Minute. I tried to turn around LP1, but she had to go to the bathroom. By this time it was after 10pm and our ride had been sitting there already for half and hour waiting for us, so we took off, enjoying 4Minute as we walked the long walk out. It was crazy how loud that amphitheater was. We really could hear everything even from far away in the parking lot. And we avoided the crowds on the way out which was awesome. I am still a 30-something mom that had to drive with her family to a hotel in another city and wake up early the next morning for a family event with The Husband's extended family. I hope 4Minute can forgive me - it was nothing personal. Just like theme parks and thrill rides - concerts are different when you tack on a decade or so to your age, LOL. But there it is... my day at KCon and my very first KPop concert experience! Would I do it again? Yes, but only with a group of fellow fans. Did it get me even more excited and jazzed for Big Bang on Nov 3rd? Heck yeah! I CAN NOT wait!!!! If I was almost in tears over BAP, I can only imagine what I will be like with my favorite 5! Not to mention that I won't be in "mom mode" and can fully let go and fangirl like no one is watching. ;) Unnie won't mind, will you Unnie? She'll be right there with me. We'll just be crying and holding each other and acting like complete idiots and it will be magical and amazing and the experience of a lifetime.
Alrighty, so it is now after 2:30pm for me. Kids are home from school (I kind of lost track of time and almost forgot to pick them up - yikes! Better turn back on my 'pick up the kids now' alarm on my phone, huh?). I have been working on this literally all day. There's just so much to share! It was a full day filled with lots of memorable experiences. While they really stink, I may decide later to load some more videos on to my youtube page. Maybe. I don't know. They're really not worth it, but I feel bad leaving you with only one personally taken video of the concert. Okay, maybe I don't feel that bad as they really didn't turn out well. I tried. I really tried to focus on capturing every moment of the day in order to share with you. Next time I'll work on my videorecording-at-a-concert skills first, k? Like which direction to hold it and keeping it still and all. You know, important little details like that haha. This is why I blog and am not a camerawoman. People ask us why we don't post videos of our own creation. Maybe this will stand as a great example why not. ;)
If you're still reading this long post...wow! Thanks! I hope that the remainder of your Monday is fantastic. I am excited to catch up on dramas I missed while wifi-less and see the new episodes still to come this week. I'll also get cracking on that Faith review. My plan was to crank it out today, but seeing as how this one took a lot longer than planned, I don't see that happening after all. So sorry. It will come...eventually. It really was a great episode and deserves a semi-decent review not whatever would spew out of what's left of my already travel-weary and emptied brain. Thank you for your support and love! Saranghae!
