A Whole New World {Monday Morning Therapy with Dongsaeng}

I had a hard time coming up with a title that accurately and succinctly reflected what I was wanting to chat about today.  The one I have is close, but not quite. 

Obviously, as I'm sure you have all experienced to some degree or another, my foray into this wonderful world of K has opened up a brand new life to me.  I mean, here I am, some random mom, writing a blog post and here you are reading some random mom's blog post.  Who would have ever thought this is where we would find ourselves that first fateful day we clicked "play" on our first drama or music video?  What I wanted to focus on today though goes beyond that - beyond the borders of South Korea and their pop culture.  Mostly, and more specifically, let's chat YouTube.

This past little bit, I have finally found myself venturing into this YouTube thing.  More than watching MVs and fan vids and whatnot.  More than Charlie (Bit My Finger) and David (After Dentist) and all those now cliche videos that may come to mind when one thinks of YouTube.  If it wasn't for my addicKtion, I don't know if I would have ever stumbled upon some of what I consider to be the very best entertainment out there.

It started with a little Eat Your Kimchi.  But that doesn't fully count, because I always accessed them through their blog, not directly on YouTube.

Then came KCon.  I saw Simon and Martina, but there were a lot of other internet stars there that I had never heard of - but I was pretty much the only one that hadn't.  They were hugely popular.  Hordes of people there, all clamoring to see them.  Maybe not as much as the actual KPop idols that were there, I mean, let's not be crazy or anything, but still, they were there and people knew who they were.  I was intrigued and realized that there was more to this world than I could have ever fathomed.

Then there was a video my sister sent to me because it mentioned KPop and she knew of my KPop "thing".
(sorry, tried really hard to embed this one but YT is being goofy for some reason)

Wong Fu led to others that they collaborate with.  Seriously, it's like this whole giant club of really cool people that have channels on YouTube and are incredibly entertaining (and beat the socks off of pretty much anything on TV).

This week or so I've been particularly obsessed with this guy:


I kept seeing him in Wong Fu productions like this one

(uhm...hello?  That's JAY PARK with them!!)

and figured that he was kind of a big deal and that I should check him out.  Yup.  He's kind of a big deal.  Jay Park I believe would agree.  Glad I checked him out.  I had seen a couple of his videos before knowing really who he was and how he fit into this whole online puzzle.  Did you know that there was this entire community of (mostly Asian) online entertainers?  I really didn't.  And I probably would have never known if it wasn't for my addicKtion.

Now I have something I can watch when I need a laugh.  Or information.  Or bonding time with my kids because they're just as hooked as I am.  I feel like I am learning so much about all sorts of things I never was exposed to before.  Like anime for example.  And just general nerdy or geeky stuff.  I love it!  It's the age of the (cool) nerds/geeks and I have a toe in the door cracking it open just wide enough to get a good peek inside.  And I love what I see!  And I feel sorry for all my friends who totally ignore the door and miss all that goes on on the other side.  So thank you Korea for existing, for entertaining, and for being a gateway into a huge sub-culture that just completely and totally rocks.  If you haven't seen or heard of any of these guys, check them out.  You might just like what you see.


 

P.S.  There are plenty of others out there - I have only scratched the surface.  KevJumba is another big name that comes to mind.  FamousAmos isn't too bad.  I've also been enjoying some of what ISAtv has to offer, especially their game show. Start exploring if you haven't yet.  You'll be amazed at the many directions you can go!