Been trying to up my productivity level these days. Which basically translates to attempting to sleep less and do more. And blog more.
Also excited for a new project that’s in the works. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Proper updates soon!
Author Archives: Rachel C
New pictorial candy
1. High Cut vol. 76 & 77.
2. 1st Look vol. 20.
3. Vogue Girl Korea (June) + EXO lightstick + cute cat pouch + rainbow Carebear socks.
Insanely happy with the new pictorial shoots I now own thanks to Justine. It also amazes me just how affordable High Cut is. I wish I could own every issue.
And I guess that’s a wrap
Funny how the last moments of my time as a student in TP was spent sitting in my grad robe outside the auditorium hall with a bunch of other latecomers and our faithful lecturer, watching the ceremony go on via the live screening on the TV outside as we waited for our turn to finally be let in to get our diploma.
Some of the best years of our lives, they say.
Thoughts on graduation via Tumblr
Listless
I honestly don’t want this to be one of those ‘I spoke too soon’ posts but lately I’ve had a lot of time to think and I’ve been indulging in a lot of it, enough to let me realise a lot of things. One of which is my lack of real attachment or concern.
Something I hope I’ll be able to figure out pretty soon.
Keep calm and bounce to you (JJ Project Review)
“Now everybody, shake it up shake it for me!“
I’m not quite sure how to describe the musical style of JYP’s new duo, JJ Project. It’s a little hip hop, a little rock and roll (Ok giving JB credit for that just because he utters that line), very dancey – in short, their title track ‘Bounce’ sounds like a whole mash-up of different things. It’s not bad, but it might get a little confusing. For myself, I still pretty much like the transiting of hip hop and rap to JB’s rocker moments…and basically the whole song.
From the song, we can also see that Jr.’s more or less the duo’s rapper, with JB taking on the singing portions. Can’t say much about the singing since it isn’t a very vocally demanding song.
The MV does help shape the fast-paced song a little better. Or at least I hope what JYP aims to do is give the song a happy, rather High School Musical feel (lots of cheerleaders, basketball boys, lots of dancing and singing around the school) except with wannabe bad boy delinquents…who are really into bright clothing, funky hair and the works. So no matter how overused the whole rocking it out in school concept is, if it’s done well it can still be fresh and fun. Plus I always believe MVs help mediocre songs up their credit, and ‘Bounce’ is one song that falls perfectly under that category.
The MV kicks off its opening scene with a typical classroom setting where the kids are looking deathly bored while the the teacher drones on – very ala Britney Spears’ Hit Me Baby One More Time. So when the bell rings, Jr. gets up on his feet to dance. Obviously loving his very flippant attitude, the entire class starts grooving along.
Where did that mic and stand come from?!
Then they take it out to the hallways, the indoor basketball court, a studio, before finally breaking out of the school building for a mini concert.
The direction and way the MV is shot would also remind one of 2PM ‘Hands Up’ – not just for the repetitive ‘bounce..bounce’ chorus akin to their muscular sunbaes’ ‘put yo hands up p-pp-put-put’ but for the whole ooh-look-at-me-only-my-head-stays-still-while-the-rest-of-my-body-is-jamming kind of stop motion-que dancing.
Yet, similarities to ‘Hands Up’ aside, throughout the entire song I kept having this nagging feeling that there was another song that was even more alike to ‘Bounce’, just that I couldn’t for the life of me remember the title at all. And then I googled lyrics and found it!!!
High, high, high, high
Modu ddwieo in the sky
(Shake it, shake it
Shake shake it, shake it, hey)
High, high, high, high
Jeonbu itgo in the sky
(Shake it, shake it
Shake shake it, shake it, hey)
Fly away (Fly away, Yeah)
Fly Away (Fly Away, Yeah)
So High, High, High, High
I bami kkeutkaji achimeul ggaeweo
Neowa na shake it
Every Body, eh eh, Every Body
Move Your Body
Move Move Your Body
Every Body, eh eh, Every Body
Shake It, Shake It,
Shake Shake It, Shake It
Kim Hyun Joong’s ‘Lucky Guy’!!!
The chorus with the whole ‘shake it’ thing. Sheesh our K-pop boys really like to shake their thang.
But back to the song, what really makes it gel so well with the video might just be the fact that these boys are young. At 18, they are in every damned position to sing about having fun, getting everyone on their feet to move along with them and having skinny, hot cheerleaders joining their throngs of high school worshippers.
The little ‘shake it’ dance in the chorus is awesome because who doesn’t love it when cheeky good-looking boys ask you to shake it, then go on to demonstrate how it’s done!
여러분, this is JB’s booty tooch. Tyra Banks would be proud.
I’m still not fully over JB’s lukewarm acting in Dream High 2, especially when Ui Bong (Jr.’s character) completely outshone him despite getting a much smaller role compared to JB’s leading one. But this MV has me drawn back to JB again for his brilliant hair. How many streaks of colours can you spot in this one MV? I’m loving the pink and blue.
Also, while we are on this topic of JB’s amazing coloured streaks, how incredibly cool is their website!!!
My kindergarten-worthy art piece with the spray cans on their website. You can literally ‘spray’ all over the page or draw as many hearts as you like around your preferred J.
And before I go…
Am honestly digging the overload of outlandish, loud clothes and accessories, but Jr.’s shiny leggings and spikey throat choker both really need to go.
P/S: What’s with the ‘Project’ title behind their name? Is it just for their debut or is it gonna be permanent? Because the last thing I remembered, ‘projects’ don’t last.
Blowing Hot & Cold
The weather these days is driving me nuts.
I know Singapore’s supposed to be tropical, but how is it that it is either blazing-till-you-get-skin-cancer kind of hot or raining like it hasn’t rained for 10 years?
As everyone probably already knows, I’ve been spending a lot of time at home catching up with all the variety shows and dramas I can manage, and I seriously want to recommend the tvN drama, Shut Up Flower Boy Band, to anyone who’s looking for a new k drama to dive into! For a teen drama with such a cheesy name (I had no idea what the title meant when I first saw it. Someone telling a pretty boy band to get lost and stop acting like rockstars?) it has a lot of gritty moments, a whole lot of heart and well-planned twists. Will dedicate a whole post to it when I’m actually done with the show.
That aside, I’ve been religiously spending my time looking up uni choices Down Under. It’s not that hard to figure out what I wanna continue studying, it’s just all the other factors that keep surfacing themselves in my head. But I’m definitely looking forward and am open to whatever new experiences are coming my way in the coming months.
And later, I’ll be getting my butt off to work at this year’s Audi Fashion Festival happening in town – much thanks to Julia! It’s a five-day event happening in town in conjunction with the Asian Fashion Exchange convention (the two other events being Audi Star Creation and the Blueprint tradeshow). I went to last year’s Blueprint tradeshow at Marina Bay Sands with my fashion writer last year – and it was friggin amazing. I loved how each brand was able to distinguish itself from the others, especially our homegrown ones. It was also there I fell in love with Al & Alicia for their androgynous yet girly looks.
Till then!! xx
Happy Mother’s Day to my family’s anchor
Strawberry Jelly Cheesecake, which took little effort to make and is so yummy!!! Props to having a sister who does most of the work while all I needed to do was cut the strawberries into hearts…and eat a lot of the cake.
Anticipating Big
So the ever popular Hong sisters will be following up Love Rain with their eighth drama, titled Big (inspired by Tom Hanks’ movie of the same name). Excited, considering I spend most of my days now being a homebody if I’m not working part-time for my mum.
I love the dramas these talented sisters churn out, or at least the popular ones I’ve watched so far: My Girl, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho and You’re Beautiful. While none of these dramas were plotted to be extremely at-the-edge-of-your-sit captivating or exciting, they all work really well because they have the right amount of romance and comedic elements that go really well together.
My Girl was one of the first Korean dramas I’ve ever watched, at a time when I was completely lazy to watch anything at all, and I really enjoyed it! You’re Beautiful was great because it was the drama that introduced me to Yonghwa from CN Blue (Yes I unbashedly loved his role no matter what people say about my tendency to have second male lead syndrome) and also showed me what a complete dork Lee Hongki could be, plus the whole girl-as-boy and concept of the band A.N Jell was addictive enough. But seriously…nothing beats My Girlfriend is a Gumiho! There wasn’t a single thing I disliked about the show, even though I usually don’t like the whole fantasy plot idea.
My Girlfriend is a Gumiho
Similar to my personal favourite body-swapping movie 17 Again with Zac Efron, or if you need a Korean drama reference…Secret Garden? Big is about an 18-year-old having his spirit swapped with that of a 30-something year old man after an accident and hilarious results are bound to enue – seeing how said 30-something year old (Gong Yoo) has a fiance (Lee Min Jung), but post-accident starts to crush on a teenage girl (Suzy).
Gong Yoo is famous for his previous drama Coffee Prince, and at the height of his popularity he had to fufill his army duties, so for his fans, I’m guessing it’s a pretty huge comeback. For me, I’m a huge Suzy fan (I think she’s the prettiest girl in K-pop ever!!), and Lee Min Jung (Boys Over Flowers) is just about every other K-pop male idol’s said ‘ideal type’, so the drama already looks set to be a huge hit.
*_*
And stills from the drama have been released over here:
Big is set to airing in June.
P/S: I’ve also added a new category ‘Dramas’, so I can blabber on about current/future shows whenever I feel like it.
Happy 21st Birthday, Cher!
Finally wrapping up the end of another good week! The second half of it saw a bunch of us going through with Cher’s surprise party for her 21st birthday, which was thankfully a success! Despite her suspecting something, she still didn’t manage to figure out what the actual plan was. Phew.
Photos from the second half of the week on day of surprise:
My huge leopard preenzzz clutch compared to the tiny EZ-Link card holder my mum gave me.
Gift from Keith! (Thank you so much for everything!!!!)
Headed to Cheston’s place during the afternoon on the day of the surprise party to decorate and help with the cake. Something about surprise parties make me awfully nervous and jittery! What if it doesn’t go well! What if someone says something! Ahh.
Day of surprise: Before the party, making the fondant for the cake.
Cher, what your cake actually looked like beneath that fondant.
Party essentials.
Three people I never thought I’d see in the same photo!!
Birthday girl!!
The birthday cake with one side completely bare because there wasn’t enough time to frost it hahaha.
Anyway, I hope you really enjoyed your party! 
It was crazily hard to not smile when you were complaining about your birthday itself on Thursday, so I’m glad that you managed to get a pleasant surprise on Friday night!
It’s Mother’s Day today, and I got my mum the cutest card in the world:
I’ve seen this joke floating around the Internet some time back and I think my mum will love it, can you guess how the next lines go!
And the current state of my side table. :S Will attempt to pack it right after I post this.
Have another great week ahead, all!
