Stuff I missed in 2010, la tercera parte

And we're on the home stretch! The third and last edition of this trilogy will include general things I have yet to blog about. One of them being, Korean Pop Music, or K-Pop. One of my friends, Chris, has a segment on her blog called "K-Pop Friday" where she adds a new K-Pop video every week. It's an awesome idea and she has some great stuff on there. To find her blog click here or look for it on the right hand side of my blog's homepage.

Anyways, K-Pop is by far the most popular genre of music in Korea and is even one of the biggest music industries in all of Korea. From what I've heard, we will be hearing some K-Pop on our travels to SE Asia (!!!). From my experience here in Korea, kids and teenagers go nuts for K-Pop stars. Almost every clothing market sells shirts and socks with the likes of Rain, 2NE1, MissA, 2PM, and others printed on them. And when I want to keep kids' focus levels up during class, I'll throw on the occasional K-Pop video just to keep them entertained.

While American Pop stars are celebrities, K-Pop stars are idols. Teenage girls scream, and I mean scream, just hearing a song. For the latest and trendiest fashion, hairstyles, etc. you need to look no further than the newest K-Pop video.

The other interesting thing about K-Pop is that it is completely manufactured. By that I mean, every single band or group has been created by major record labels. Music execs pick the best combination of dancing, singing, and looks and ensemble a group out of it. The entire industry follows the ideology of P. Diddy's "Making The Band" where Mr. Diddy hand-selects individuals that he thinks would be successful. And in Korea, successful it is.

Here are some of my favorite songs and videos from 2010. The first is a popular favorite among my friends in Korea. Not to name names or anything, but 2 of my guy friends, we'll call them Scho and Eric for the hell of it, think that the blond guy in this video, TOP, is the best-looking dude in all of Korea. In fact, hey're in love with him. The song is pretty tight though. It would probably be popular in the States, but as far as I know has yet to make it to mainstream USA.

The next video is "I Me My Mine" by 4Minute. It's a pretty cool video with a catchy chorus if you listen to it enough times. It also brings up another staple of K-Pop. The English. K-Pop songs almost always have English in them, but rarely does it make sense. For example, "I My Me Mine" makes no sense. It's just 4 consecutive words all dealing with first person possession. Gotta love it.

And finally we have a guilty pleasure of mine by one of Korea's favorite boy band 2PM called "I'll Be Back". A funny tidbit about this band: after they had some measurable success a new band, named 2AM, came onto the scene. That's like forming a band called M'Sync, Lady Tata, or Kanye East. Anyways, the song is pretty good and every time I play this for my middle school boys they sing along and attempt all of the dance moves. Like a lot of K-Pop, it's not that good it's just catchy.

And finally, I have been mentioning it throughout this latest batch of posts, but I am leaving for Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam this Friday! I am extremely excited because a) I've never been to any of these countries, b) I never thought I'd be going to these countries just 5 months ago, and c) it's hot there and Korea's freezing cold! There's probably a d), e), and f) as well but we'll limit it to just those 3. I'm borrowing the following format from my friends Chris and Scho because it's the best way I've seen it done. My itinerary is as follows...

Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur

Penang

Thailand

Phuket

Koh Phi Phi

Bangkok

Vietnam

Hanoi

Ho Chi Min City

Phu Quoc

And here are a few pics of what I'll be checking out...

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Thailand

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

I. can. not. wait. 

Thanks for reading thus far! I'll be back to tell you all about my travels in about a month. Oh and Mom, Dad, and Seegz have fun in WDW. Don't forget to hit up ToT more than a healthy amount of times. And think of me when you're grabbing dinner at the World Showcase. Miss you guys! (You too B, M, A, and T)

I'm out!