Windowwatcher

Credit: sublimesvariety @ youtube [thanks for subbing!]

Other Leehom things that is T___T. But first things first. New mv; Cpop just releases thing so fast. Anyways, compared to how Epic! and Angst! “Heartbeat” was, this is a nice change of pace, very laid back and simple. Leehom looks like a little boy, and his painted guitar is super adorable. I especially love the faces he makes in this.

Oh yeah, related-but-not-really, I’ve been trying to pay more attention to lyrics not only in Leehom songs, but in all Chinese music. Tis hard. People say he can’t write lyrics, and that’s probably true, but I actually like that a lot of his lyrics are cheesy and simple, simple being the key word. My Chinese is just at (read: below) this level. In most Chinese songs, I’d be lucky to understand one line, but I can understand at least two in Leehom songs. Makes me feel better about myself.

:::Getting Geeky with Leehom:::

Okay, I’ve never been one to bring up Leehom’s intelligence every chance I get. I mean, we all know he’s a smartie, but I always thought his academic intelligence didn’t have too much to do with his creativity.

Boy was I wrong on that one. I swear I will beat you if you don’t read this. I’m serious, read it. It’s in English, so you have no excuses. I know nothing about music, so all that stuff went right over my head. However, I did take a few linguistics classes, so I more or less kept up with what he was saying there. It doesn’t really matter, because while I’m incredibly impressed by his knowledge (I think he’s one of the few people who pulls off pretentiousness naturally, which is an oxymoron, but eh~), what really strikes me, is the clinical way he talks about his music.

It’s fascinating read about about his process. His inspirations, goals, execution– everything is thoroughly analyzed, and choices are made deliberately. Producing a pretty song isn’t enough, since he has very clear ideas on the what he intends to accomplish with his music. I don’t think I can fully appreciate how much thought and reasoning he puts into every choice he makes. As a tone deaf science person, it’s nice to know that creativity is not the be all end all to producing great music. There is a definite degree of technicality involved, and I can relate to that aspect of music making.

So while Leehom can sound incredably confident and eloquent as in the above interview, he can also sound rambly and a little lost, as seen in these little promo videos (Chinese) and (English). He doesn’t say anything you haven’t heard before, but if you wanna see Englishspeaking!Leehom, here’s your chance.

Goodness, this blog has become like 80% Leehom. Need to tone it down a bit.

Screencap by: hey there~ @ soompi

Why is my internet running like the crapper right now?!?!? So, Cpop, Kpop, Kpop wannabe Jpop, Kpop wannabe Cpop, I’m just gonna throw it all up on here.

Tohoshinki I take back what I said eariler, DBSK has been gone from Korea for like two days, and I already miss them. *Am grass is greeener type of person* O__o. So this is the huge, big-deal music show everyone’s been crapping their pants about? I’m sorry, but after watching that SBS thing, how could this possibly be satisfying? The boys sounded great though, especially considering their travel schedule.

SuJu M | Part 2 SJM’s new year performance wasn’t much better. In fact, they had to perform outside, so that probably sucked more. I think this is also China’s biggest New Year’s show. So far, I haven’t found any other cuts but I really wanna watch the other acts. I mean, SJM sounded great (when they sung live ;___;), but again, boring. I sound bitter, but it’s not directed at them, the production value is just not high.

More the half of SM’s talent now spends the majority of their time promoting in other countries. This wouldn’t be so bad if the music shows elsewhere were decent. But they’re not, so it sucks. I hate that I’ve finally succumbed to the ”Kpop is better in Korea” mentality. Not that I don’t love SJM and THSK, but the shininess just isn’t there. I like shiny.

WonderBang Shiny!!!!!!! WonderBang is epic. While I didn’t think it was as great as their first special stage, it was still very much amazing. I liked how they paired up one boy to one girl at the beginning. Taeyang and Sunye sounded great. I thought Yoobin did an amazing job with the rap to “Lies,” but why did Seungri look kinda afraid of her? Was it cuz of her fugly pants? Of course Sohee would do “Tell Me,” and G-Dragon played his part well~. Then OMG, Yeeun and Daesung!!!!?!?! Totally, my faves from each group, loved them doing “Haru Haru” so fierce! Why was the Top/Sunmi part so short? So uncomfortable. They looked like they were roleplaying pimp and ho, not digging it. I loved how BB remixed “So Hot.” Sexy indeed! It sounded great, oh yeah, I loved that they were wearing pink ♥. “Last Farewell” was cool and I loved how they added the Wonder Girls’ name into the song. Kwel. Please don’t ever leave Korea.

Epik High + 2PM I haven’t seen an Epik High performance in a while, and the 2PM boys are always fun. Both performances were full of lulz, very happy and fun ♥.

Fahrenheit They had their concert in Beijing, so fancams only. I haven’t watched many of them, but it’s been awhile since I’ve heard “I have my Young” I absolutely love that song XDDD. I can’t really judge how good the performance was, although I’m almost sure they’re not singing live. Oh well, I love when bands sing their classics from back in the day : ).

Edit: Okay, I finally managed to find some more Cpop performances.

Jam Hsiao I just find it funny that he’s doing Bon Jovi. I think he did a good job, not great, but he’s improved so much as a performer. Yea!

Mayday asdklfjsaldfj OMG, Mayday!!!!!! I don’t get to watch nearly enough of their live performances!!! I”m really excited to watch this, so I’m just gonna link to part one and you can find the rest from there. *Off to watch now*

Eh, overall, the New Year’s Eve performances weren’t too special. But a new year is upon us, so plenty of opportunity for bigger and better! Have a happy new year, and please be safe tonight!

This is really horrible and sad news. It even made front page on the NYTimes website today. I thought I’d post this because some of you may know this as the company that sponsored Fahrenheit and S.H.E. for their concerts a while back. Actually, I’m not sure it’s the same company, does anyone know?

Corporation shadiness is pretty much a worldwide concept. While embezzlement and fraud is one thing, knowingly selling tainted milk, a product essentially made for children, is taking despicable to another level. The Chinese government is absolutely right in heavily pursuing this (death penalty talk aside), and I really hope those executives pay for what they did.

That being said, I hate how insanely biased the NYT (and every other news organization in the world) is sometimes. In a ~500 word article about tainted milk, variations on the phrase “state-run media” was printed five times. This isn’t an article about persecution of Tibetan monks or something. As far as I could tell, China is trying to do the right thing for it’s people by holding these executives accountable. It saddens me that everything has to turn into a political battleground.

Years ago, stories like this would have been swept under the rug with a well placed bribe here or there, but that’s not what’s happening now. What exactly is the government trying to cover up that warrants all this suspicion about the “state-run media?” While I don’t even come close to being a supporter of China and its political ways, I think the efforts it’s making are respectable, and should be commended.

But of course, in America’s eyes, China will always be seen as the festering red sore on the face of democracy. Perfect.

Before I go on, let’s all just take a moment, sit quietly, and soak in the visual above

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Lol, don’t you love it when non-Koreans use random Korean words they don’t understand? Unfortunately, this is what everyone is calling it, so I might as well fall in line. Anyways, I’m so late to the party because no doubt you have checked this out already if Kpop is your thing. SBS is all about the idol business, and IMO they put on the best music shows in Korea. Sadly, I’ve been so busy (Went to a bball game yesterday. We won, but it by like 20 points and therefore, boring as hell. I was secretly rooting for the other team by the fourth quarter~), I have not managed to check out many of the performances. I will eventually, because… well just because. But for now, I’ll just write about two performances. Bet you don’t even need two guesses to figure out which ones they are.

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