Kpop

Back in 2009, I was introduced to K-pop by my friend of a guy named Taeyang in his MV "Where U At?". At first I didn't know that he was part of the group named Big Bang either. But I thought we was talented and I started to really like his voice, so that's when I looked and researched on Google for info on Big Bang. After I looked up the group, I went to Youtube and looked up all their songs and there were some that I loved and some that I didn't and that's normal in the K-pop world. Eventually I started googling more and more groups that debuted and in the same debut company that Big Bang was in, was 2NE1. I think the reason I liked them more than Girls Generation or other girl groups is because they were more edgy in style and songs. There were some songs that I did like by Girls Generation as the years went by, but I know that if I had to choose, I'd always choose 2NE1 over Girls Generation no doubt. The male group that I mostly like is B.A.P and BtoB since they seem like a huge group of dorks. I actually got the chance to see B.A.P in concert back in April and even though I'm pretty sure I was deaf for the night from 5,000 whistles blowing, it was still an AMAZING concert and I'm definitely going back if they have another concert in the area.

I'm sure everyone knows PSY by now with his Gangnam Style, but now he has also released Gentleman and Hangover ft. Snoop Dogg. Hangover was just released yesterday and already has 5 million views on Youtube. I just dislike that people think he's a goofy Korean guy when in reality he's a humble man, but let's face it, he wouldn't be popular if he didn't choose to do Gangnam Style, Gentlemen, and Hangover ft. Snoop Dogg.

Then last year, I got introduced to Korean Rap and I'm even pickier on the genre than I am for K-pop lol. If I don't find the song or rapper good enough, I won't listen to it and yes it sounds harsh, but I'm not imposing my feelings on anyone else but myself XD

Here's some of the rappers I like that were underground before they became mega popular:

Tasha/Yoon Mi Rae (half african american and half korean):

L.E., Feeldog, and Junhyung (She's towards the end):

Drunken Tiger:

Check them out and see what you think!

Pokemon

Back in '98 when Pokemon first came out, everyone became hellbent over Gameboys because at first it was only the card game and I remember from my own experience how crazy kids went to find the "shiny" pokemon cards because we knew that those special versions of the pokemon were way better than the original but mostly because we just wanted to brag that we had the best version of that pokemon card.

Then came the video games and even though we were kids, it went nuts from there. Parents were standing in line to get the newest version of the Gameboy console when it was released and somehow I'm glad my mom never got me one until 1 or 2 months later when it was released. I still went somewhat crazy trying to get all the games I could so I could brag to my friends that I had all versions already before they did and I'll admit I probably went a bit crazy about it, but I'm sure that there were other kids and even adults that went more looney than I did.


Now in 2014, we're up to 6 Generations of new and different pokemon. Some I think never needed to be released, but then again I think of the childhood I grew up with the games like Red, Green, Blue, Gold, Silver, etc and all the remakes they've done. Then we had Black and White (and the 2nd version of it), X and Y, and now they're remaking Ruby and Sapphire with the title ''Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire". I'm not too sure on the title, but the game sounds interesting enough right now. I'll most likely wait until the game is released to really see how good the game is and whether or not it's worth it.


Check out the trailer below and see what you think!

Sailor Moon Remake

Raise your hand if you remember that anime from the '90s called Sailor Moon -- now put that hand down and fire up Hulu if you want to see the show's female warriors kick ass on screen again. Apparently, the company recently cut a deal to stream a remastered version of all 200 Sailor Moon episodes, full and uncensored. Yes, that means you'll finally see all the elements that were cut during the series' first run on US TV. In addition to all the existing episodes, the deal will also include the Sailor Moon remake that'll start airing later this year, three feature films and various specials.

That's right. When the original Sailor Moon ran in the U.S., they cut out any scenes the deemed inappropriate. The original series had a lesbian couple (Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune) but the animation couple decided to make them cousins instead so they wouldn't get uproar and complaints from families back in the day. 


Overall, I'm planning to wait for the anime to premier to judge whether or not it'll be good. I can hear it now just thinking about it from the preview I saw over the weekend and when I checked my Tumblr the other day, there were already huge arguments between people on why they shouldn't diss it because someone doesn't like it. 

Studio Ghibli

I remember the old days before I knew what anime and anime movies were. I used to just sit there and be oblivious/amazed by the artwork put into for just creating a movie or show. But now with more than probably over 100 shows & movies I've watched, one never goes away and that would be Studio Ghibli (株式会社スタジオジブリ). I can't remember how many times I've rewatched Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し), Kiki's Delivery Service (
魔女の宅急便), etc. But one thing that always suprises my friends that don't know Studio Ghibli is when I tell them of Howl's Moving Castle. 

You guys know Christian Bale?

Yes this one....

And this one...

Well he voiced this guy named Howl....

I'm sure all your man dreams have been crushed by a guy you know as a badass, but yes he voiced Howl in the American Dub of Howl's Moving Castle. But don't get your hopes down, he was the only reason I decided to stick out the dub because honestly, American dubs of the originals suck horribly and I mean HORRIBLY. For some odd reason though, Miyazaki knows how to pick the actors to voice his characters pretty good.



Overall, no matter how many times Miyazaki produces films, I'd still honestly watch them even if they were meant for a different age group such as his film Ponyo (meant for children so was Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki's Delivery Service)


While I am sad that Miyazaki retired after he completed The Tales of Princess Kaguya, I know that it'll be in good hands hopefully with his son now taking over the studio.

Check them out below:

Ponyo:

Spirited Away:

Princess Mononoke:

Howl's Moving Castle:

 The Secret World of Arrietty:

From Up on Poppy Hill:

The Wind Rises:

Tales of Princess Kaguya:

 p.s. Studio Ghibli (pronounced JIBLI) also has a museum in Mitaka, Japan where the studio also produces museum only short films too.

Social Media Revolution

I remember when I first came to NCC and in one class we had to present about different topics. Ironically, my group had to do a presentation about New Media. While I was looking around the internet for research, I came about this video talking about statistics that new media was going to bring onto us in the future. Even though this video is 6 years old, it's still shocking at what this video shows about the world and there's also a new version (2014). What do you guys think of these vids?

Original Horror Movies

I'm sure everyone's heard of The Ring (and it's sequels), One Missed Call, etc. but I don't think many of us have seen the original movies and know where they've came from. Well to burst your bubble, The Ring (American Version) isn't where it started first. It started in Japan where it was a novel and then became the hit series of movies called Ringu, Ringu 2, Rasen, Sadako 3D,etc. The Japanese version I have to admit, made me not sleep for days on end unlike the American remake. Horror movies these days in the US seem to not scare people much anymore like the old days and I'm talking like 70's/80's horror movies. Yes, there are some that have been scream and cover your eyes worthy, but let's face it, the premise of horror movies just seem to be the same over and over again. Now, if you really want some horror movies to watch and I mean "Holy S***!" cover your eyes or scream worthy ones, then you should definitely watch the originals of the Ring and such. If you don't believe me that the original Ringu is so good, just look at the reviews. A 97% rating (good) on Rotten Tomatoes vs a 71% for the American remake of The Ring. I'll stop here from babbling on and let you guys determine if you like the trailers of all the original horror movies that Japan and Korea have done:


The Ringu

The Ringu 2

Ju-On:

One Missed Call:

One Missed Call 2:

Tomie:

Cyberbullying-Will It End or Not?

The new form of bullying in this day and age isn't going to stop anytime soon. Honestly, it's beyond devastating to see kids not only see their bullies in school, but now also online. The torment never ends for them and while schools have adopted this zero tolerance policy towards online bullying, there's no way the school can monitor every movement by the so-called ''bully''. I feel like it's beyond frustrating that no one wants to set an example to stop someone from bullying. I've seen examples of schools setting up a ''No Bully'' club to help set awareness to kids and how bullying takes place. But besides possibly at the beginning of school and when a story goes viral about a teen taking their lives from bullying, when are we really exposed and challenged to help change the actions of bullies.

I was bullied in grade school mostly and there were days I wanted it to stop and yeah, I'll admit there were days I'd cry myself to sleep and not tell my mom because I didn't want her to know. But the thing is, I had no clue where to begin and who to ask for help. And it was mostly because I was too afraid to ask for help. Eventually things got better and now I look back on the days I was bullied and honestly those situations have made me a stronger person. There's no day that if I see someone being bullied and needed help, I will come to their rescue and help stop the tormentor. We need more people to stand up and tell the person being bullied that they're beautiful and they shouldn't stop being who they are. To the bullies, we need to tell them that it's not right, that their actions and words cause scars physically and mentally forever in the victim's mind and that's not right. EVER.



''Nobody can hurt me without my permission''

                                                      -Gandi

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mahatma_gandhi.html#zoqZLLV3mdhUCIy9.99

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mahatma_gandhi.html#zoqZLLV3mdhUCIy9.99

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mahatma_gandhi.html#zoqZLLV3mdhUCIy9.99

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mahatma_gandhi.html#zoqZLLV3mdhUCIy9.99

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mahatma_gandhi.html#zoqZLLV3mdhUCIy9.99

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mahatma_gandhi.html#zoqZLLV3mdhUCIy9.99

Vines- Funny or Not?

Going off of Professor Macek's previous post about the ever so popular Vine and why it has become popular. It first started in January 2013 when Twitter introduced the now popular app called ''Vine''. Vine let's users create a 6 second video that could be funny or not. But we all know some people that become instantly popular through their hilarious Vine vids. 


We've all had our fair share of hilarious vines, but finding the right one is what brings popularity to Vine. Don't get me wrong, I love vines, but one con of watching a vine and then closing your browser is then searching for the vine you watched because we all know that if it's a hugely popular Vine, the post that we found it on whether it was Twitter or Tumblr, will be gone once the page is refreshed. One other con of Vine is that it doesn't allow you to share your videos to Facebook which could possibly harm Vine in the future. But in reality, since it is owned by Twitter and Twitter is a rival of Facebook, who would want to combine with your rival just to get more views from a "new" audience? Definitely not me if I was Twitter. Also, there has been rumors of Facebook teaming up with Instagram to bring a 10 second video platform, but I don't think it will be popular as Vine has become now.




Here are some of the Vines I've found hilarious over time

Curse of the calculator / Vine By: Thomas Sanders

 

 

Curse of the calculator by Thomas Sanders

 

When Someone Doesn't Return Your Pen or Pencil by Lele Pons

 

When You Expect Someone to say Sorry, but They Don't by Max Jr.

When you expect someone to say sorry but they don’t - See more at: http://vinesnow.com/page/7#sthash.E9LnxNyd.dpuf

Curse of the calculator / Vine By: Thomas Sanders

Curse of the calculator / Vine By: Thomas Sanders

Curse of the calculator / Vine By: Thomas Sanders

Google Addiction- Real or Not?

While Carr believes that Google is making us stupid, I don't believe it is. Before there was Google, we had to rely on dictionaries and thesaurus to make sure that the information we needed was all correct. But now that Google is around, it's the exact opposite. Now with Google, I can look up anything that my mind questions. Whether it's Japanese homework questions or a question that pops up during a movie. Without Google or if it was deleted permanently, I doubt I'd be able to survive a week without being able to use and most likely my grades would suffer without the help of Google as well. But the question is, is Google a negative influence over our lives? Not exactly.

Both sides have pros and cons to each argument. It is a negative influence on us when we're trying to complete a task because we'll think of something and become distracted on a new task. But while it is distracting, we have the option of bettering ourselves in the future to come. Past generations in our families were limited to what they could get their hands on and the time periods of our parents, grandparents, etc. also limited on how they would learn new information. In the age of technology, we have unlimited access to everything now even if it's a book or a lecture across the world. Overall, Google is one of the best inventions to happen for our generation.

Not Martha- A Place of Keeping

I read Rebecca Blood's interview with Megan Reardon and it was nice to see that popularity didn't play into her blog. She started her blog because she liked the personal voices it brought to each blog she read in her post-college time. It's mostly for to keep track on everything she does and it's refreshing to see a blog like this. While it doesn't tailor to people who follow her blog, I think the reason that her blog has popularity is that it doesn't fit to one follower, but yet everyone that reads her blog can relate to her posts easily or is interested in what she has to say. Overall, her blog is a refresher in the sea of blogs that have become popular these days.