My Story...내 이야기...私の物語

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

kinda find it hard for me to juggle btw blogging here and LJ-ing on LJ..so yea now i officially move my blog to the below address

http://nccgal89.livejournal.com

all new entries will be posted there frm now on....

i will still keep this blogger running...but no new posts until i feel like re-posting here again..till then everything will be on my LJ....

yoroshiku onegaishimasu

11:36 AM

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Sashiburi desu ne... I think this lj has been empty for months and months... Aniwae I want to tell you something I have been talking and talking over and over but only now I will rant it all out here..... Somethings relating to my fandoms....

So I'm going to start with my journey through music... I'm from a normal person like any other ordinary people who listens to pop musics from US who turns to a person who listens to Indonesian rock who then turns to be a person listens to gory rock musics to hardcore rock musics to a person who listens and adores Korean pop music to now a person who listens adores and fell heads over heels with Japanese pop music....

I think many won't believe when I said I listen to hardcore or gory rock music cos I don't seem like that a person at all... FYI I actually did love listenIng to them... And that is how I started to play the drums and guitar... And during those days, I listened to Avenged Sevenfold, Alesana, Saosin, Bullet For My Valentine, Atreyu, The Used etc. Well guess what.. I even shocked my guy friends in school when one of them asked me to borrow my mp3 Is not tat I hate kpop... I've been loving it since 2007.... But I hate the fact tat new birds trying to be noe it all... to him one day... Lolx I can't forget those days....

Then along came Se7en or Choi Dong Wook whom I saw in Goong S back in late 2006 when my younger sister was talking to me about watching the follow up of my ever first Korean drama that I have watched which is Goong.. Fascinated by the songs featured in the drama and by Se7en's acting, did a research on him and found my first se7en song I love 문신 or otherwise known as Tattoo... I instantly fell in love with the song and then I saw 열정 or Passion and the dance blew me away... And that is when my interest in Korean pop begins... I joined an international forum se7enth heaven.. Made alot of overseas friends.. Even when into setting up our own Malaysia-Singapore Se7en forum knowing there weren't many Se7en fans in our countries. And we were right and so the forum closed down and my interest slowly fade away but not fully till I watch Fullhouse which has Rain in it....

Rain or Jeong Ji Hoon... The first time I saw him on local tv promoting his concert here in Singapore back in early 2007 I thought he was a Chinese... Never did I know he is Korean nor did I know there's a country called Korea till I watched Goong on local tv... Well I love his acting in Fullhouse fosho and I love his dancing skills too.... Haha yup i saw I'm Coming MV and fell in love with the dance too.... And that is when injoin the Rain Clouds fandom and started joining RainSingapore... Then I was among one of the young members of the FC... But I'm still the youngest admin for RainSingapore... Haha... Rain was super hot.. His life story even make me love him even more.... Then along came MTV when they showed Big Bang Documentary...

Actually I watched Big Bang Documentary knowing that I know Se7en will appear since he is my favorite and not Big Bang then.... But after hearing 거짓말 or Lies in early 2008 I start to like BIGBANG to loads... and yea I found a new fandom... Joined BIGBANG Singapore(BBSG) and made a lot of new friends who were around the same age as me.... Yeah!!! My BIGBANG fandom was one of the best I ever had cos we tend to gather alot last time... And yea we did enter the Korean Pop Talent contest back in late 2008 and those days were fun!!!! Haha...

I remembered when the admin posted the news on this contest... Being so enthusiastic about dancing and performing I posted a comment "I feel like joining this contest but I don't want to do it alone..." and then a reply came back "hey how about we make a team...?" and after that we gathered the 5 of us we some other helpful team mates and we set up our first ever BIGBANG team here in SG called the BBSG...

The fun part began when we only had 2 weeks to learn the routine to 하루하루 or Day by Day for our preliminary round.... It was tough... I was still rough at some parts... When the day came, and when it was our turn, I was nervous... Kept myself calm... But I forgotten to switched on my mic... I only realized that when I left the stage.... Well didn't stick around for the results as I had to go urgently... Then I received a SMS from my fellow team mate saying we made it... I was shocked cause I thought we didn't do as well as we wanted... From there we had to go back to training.... And now we had to learn additional 2 routines for finals in case we made it.. Which is 거짓말 and 마지막 인사 or Last Farewell... And the next round and finals were back to back... It was tough knowing we had to learn it in a week while still trying to remember 하루하루 rountine for the semis...and then one day we thought of spicing it up for our semis by including Taeyang's 나만 바라봐 Only Look At Me dance break.. So in total we had to memorize 4 routines... Tough it was and finally that day came... the semis and finals were held at vivo city... So it was apparently opened to public and foreigners... Scary .... We started out doing a song check... Well we didn't sing well during sound check so as to not show what we had in store... So afterwhich when the time came, it's time to perform as good as we can... Well apparently we blew the audience away... The performance was awesome I must say... Haha...after everyone performed.. It's time for the results... Whn the emcee was announcing we got nervous .. We held on to each other hand... And when they announced our number we screamed with joy!!! Haha for amateurs like us to be making to next round beating some pros was cool...

So we had less than 24 hrs to master 거짓말 and 마지막 인사.. And then final day comes... Again sound check wasn't good but we will do our best on the actually.. It was nerve wrecking when we were back stage... I was more nervous as I was scared I might not remember the dance routine knowing we had little time to remember it... So our turn came.. Well we did our best but I find we still ain't good and yea my prediction was right.. I did forgot some of the dance... Sad case but we hoped for the best... Results time... Since there was only 6 temas and solos left as the emcee announce number after number we got scared...I actually thought we would get number 4 to 6 but guess not... Haha as our names passed from number 6 to 4 ... I was so shocked... My teammates were about to cry cause there on the stage left my team with 2 other soloists... Top 3 baby!! We beat the pros to be in top 3!!! And yea we got third.. I was happy about it as we did our best... Our very best in only one day of practicing that final routine...well that was my glory moment...

Well after that my kpop fandom was going well till one day while watching MTV back in late 2008, I saw something weird on tv.. A PV with skinny guys who dances like ballerinas and who would have known these guys would be the people I love the most now.... Yup I saw Truth PV with Arashi and thought they were gays... Sorry I didn't love jpop and was only into kpop... But that song got stuck in my head... So one day when I got a job at a Japanese Crepe shop... I heard a familiar tune.. And recalled the PV where I saw those gay guys dancing in... Hoping to find what that song title and the band name, apparently I failed... With god's will I saw 花より男子 Final playing at the opposite DVD shop and got interested in it... Went home and search online for the drama and movie and had my 3 days marathon for HYD... Got baited by Matsumoto Jun and then went to research on him.. And that is when I found out Arashi and the gay PV which was actually belongs to them...

So did further research... Learnt about each members and found their other PVs and soon knew they too sang the OST for HYD... Found out they had variety shows and also acted in various dramas... Watched their variety shows and yea it attracted me alot... Their shows are super funny... And then I saw Step and Go live from their Arashi Around Asia 2008 concert and that is when I got interested to learn their choreography... During the first few months into Arashi fandom, as I was searching through the web, alot of people said Arashi can't dance or dance as well as Korean pop artistes.. And so I thought the same too till I saw Step and Go and wanted to learn the dance.. And yea I did.. And till now I still remember it and even thought some people how to dance it too... At that time I didn't have friends who liked arashi as much as I did till one day when a Japanese idol contest was held in SG and that is when I gathered people to join together with me... And also started to use livejournal alot and joined forums after forums... Arashi was apparently very well known worldwide... They were bigger than kpop even...

So yea Japanese idol contest... Because I knew step and go from the back of my hands, we used that song for the competition... Well we trained 3 weeks before the competition so we knew we can make it. And so when the preliminary day came, we went all out... Well we did our best but guess it didn't turn out like what we wanted it to be... our team Kaminari failed the preliminary rounds and were long forgotten... But we still kept in touch.. In fact they were my first few friends I know who likes Arashi like me...

After a few months later... I decided to do a concert screening similar to what BIGBANG Singapore did for Big Show 2008 and Taeyang's first concert... So I posted a post on LJ to gather interest and set up my first Arashi fan crew called yamaXkaze... Yea we are still active till today... Haha... So now my circle of friends actually grew from 4 other people to more than 30 plus maybe now even more than 50 people already...

Haha so we planned hard and well for the screening and it took place on 24 Jan 2010, a day before Sakurai Sho's birthday my new ichiban after MatsuJun... Haha.. Well apparently it turn out well.. For the fact the one we screened was actually Arashi's 2008 concert... I was so happy seeing so many happy faces... And that is when my journey with yamaXkaze begins... After the screening, my friends grew... Even overseas fans added me on facebook and twitter.. Now I have friends from japan to US to Peru to Europe etc... My arashi friends are global!!! Haha and that is when I wanted to do regular fan gatherings for SG fans but apparently if didn't turn out that well so last year May we wanted to do another concert screening but it didn't happen sonwe had to put yamaXkaze on a hiatus... Then I decided not to let yamaXkaze left like that and that is when I came up again with the idea of a concert screening in October... And this is when our plans are put to motion... This time we planned carefully and try not to over budget like the previous one as mainly the previous screening was bass on sponsored by our own pockets... This time we will utilize the money collected only... And we manage though we had to go through obstacles to get a successful screening... And yea we did... Haha I was so happy.. Again my circle of friends grew after that screening which was held this year on Jan 23... And after that my Arashi fandom just grew and grew...

Okay now you all have known briefly Bout me and my fandoms... So time for me to summarize it...

For my American pop and rock fandom, it seems only so so and I never got so I to them like how I did for kpop or jpop but yea I still do listen to those songs today once in a while... The kpop fandom, was wonderful at first till the kpop boom when everyone starts talking about it and the born of the new birds starts to appear and trying to be so know it all or trying to say how cool kpop is when back in 2008 and before when I hear kpop songs, people kept dissing me about listen to it... Now they want all the songs I have as if I'm a walking jukebox or something... It's very irritating when I see new birds go kya~ing at little things about these Korean artistes and starting to call them 오빠 as if they knew them for a long time already... And what is more worst is that these so called "kpop fans" are the worst bunch of people I ever met.. Giving we true kpop fans a bad name... Why are people following the trends?!. When one person says kpop is cool.. Everyone starts listening to it... Weren't you people who said they were uncool back in 2008 when I first started listening to it?! God I dunno if I felt happy that people start to know kpop exists... But instead I felt I'm losing my touch on kpop already and have moved on more to jpop because jpop from once being cool is now the uncool thing... Which apparently now is the fandom I felt most happiest about.... The fans are great...no they were awesome!!! The feeling I got from kpop fans and the feeling I feelings I got from jpop fans differs alot... Jpop fans are more united and don't diss each other much but kpop fans like to find anger in me these days especially those new birds!!! I simply HATE NEW BIRDS KPOPPERS!!!!!

Well back in 2009, my biggest break in kpop fandom when I got to be a journalists for a Malaysian based online web for kpop stories and fashion Elosoul and I got to cover the first Seoul'd Out concert in Singapore with another close friend of mine... Well I met artistes like T-Max (yup they are my Arashi fanboys!!!), FT island, brown eyed girls , Mario and Lee Ji Su upclose and it was breath taking... That time the kpop fandom wasn't that bad... But in 2010it got worst and that was when totally hate new birds to the max!!! Shinee came followed by cn blue and more kpop artistes starts to flood SG... And again another sundown festival happen and this time there was a mixed of kpop and jpop (more like jrock) in the lineup... So yea after that, instead of Arashi, I have another Japanese favorite which is LM.C!!! And my favourite member has the same name as me!!! Haha what a coincidence.. Again I got to cover the press conference... This time I met F.Cuz, Afterschool and yea LM.C!!! Was happy but he way he press gave their reaction towards the Japanese artistes compared to the kpop artistes disses me off.. What's with the difference in treatment?! And best part I got to see fans going wild at the airport... I pity the F.Cuz guys... You new birds are EVIL!!!! and then a big news came in august when they announced big big groups and coming for a concert here and one of them are my boys!!! BIGBANG has come to Singapore!!!! I was going wild!!! shocked I must say but I cannot control my happiness and joy... But when it come to get the tickets, we had to go through a very difficult path.. But it was worth it somehow... Have u heard orchard rd being flooded by kpop fans...? Well that is what happened when the concert tickets went on sale at HMV Somerset... Well I thought I t was already hopeless to get our tickets but we had to go through black market for the sake of BIGBANG... And then we got our tickets!! Happy much... And when the say came I super can't contain my excitement.... But when I arrive at the venue, hell I wasn't happy seeing the new birds and also the fanboys of the PLASTICS!!! freaking irritating to my eyes!!! Argh!!! Well the concert was awesome... So there was ft island, DNA, ZE:A, Infinite, shinee, SNSD aka PLASTICS!!! and last BIGBANG!!! When BIGBANG appeared as the last performers, I screamed till my hearts content!!! I was so excited and I practically sang along to all their songs!!! Yea they performed 7 songs which apparently pissed the SNSD fans but who cares!! BIGBANG is the kings!!! and we are the VIPs!!! Haha... Most new birds didn't noe the songs especially their old songs like How Gee and Number one nor their Japanese songs like Hands Up!!! Thank god I have been following BIGBANG throughout their activities in Korea and japan!!! The feeling was awesome... I will always remember that day.. Well after BIGBANG came, a few month later was Se7en's turn!!! Happy like he'll cos I waited long for him to come!!!! And finally through luck I got to meet him upclose and personal!!!! Haha he is such a sweet guy... Haha I still love home loads since 2007!!! Haha... And again he came back to SG just recently... I'm happy much!!! Now when will arashi come!!! I'm still waiting and hoping cause in my whole lifetime, I vow to attend at least one Arashi concert!!! And yea it is a must!!!

So now though I had good lucks with kpop but now I find jpop more worthwhile... Not that I hate kpop cause I still love it ( just look at the many BIGBANG and rain and se7en albums and DVD I have) it's just that I will only be into only BIGBANG ( and BIGBANG is back to Korea!! Woots!!) and rain and se7en only... And arashi will always be my ichiban!!! They are my inspirators And my motivation through life!!! I will always adore these 4 artistes only....

12:43 AM

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

What happens when you put one of the best Korean pop artiste and fashion on the same stage? A whole lot of excitement, entertainment and eye pleasures. On 26th November 2010, fans in Singapore and even non-fans of Se7en were treated to 1 hour of fashion and music in an exclusive event organized by one of Singapore’s premier telecommunication company, Singtel and Samsung Singapore. Read on for more scoop from the event.

On the 26th November 2010, at 6pm, fans which were mostly Lucky Se7ens have started gathering at the outdoor stage in front of Singapore Mandarin Gallery. The stage which is also the runway for the fashion show was approximately 10m in length. At the foreground of the stage was a huge Samsung Galaxy Tab as this event was also part of the launching event for this new phone from Samsung. What makes the whole area even nicer was the surrounding Christmas decoration along Orchard Rd and around Mandarin Gallery.

The actual event which began at 8.00pm, were opened by the launching of the Samsung Galaxy Tab phone and started off with the fashion show which displays a mixed of modern non-casual and casual attire.

As the models walked down the runway, they were accompanied by fire dancers, modern dancers and even street dancers. The mixed of different dark and bold colours makes the whole outfit very stunning and well balanced. The fashion show was a success as there were a lot of cheering from the crowds as the models strut their stuff down the runway.

At approximately 8.30pm, the person most of us have been waiting for is finally going to appear right in front of us. For me particularly, I have waited 3 years to be finally meeting him in person. As the DJ shouted through the mic, ‘Are you ready?’ the crowd went wild. Digital Bounce opening played and Se7en’s dancers went on stage and finally the man himself appears.

The crowd was cheering so loudly and even sang to the song. Se7en looks exceptionally hot in the black jacket and pants. He was also wearing a white plain long sleeved shirt inside, a pair of leather pointed shoes and a pair of cool shades. Overall he looks awesome and stunning in the whole outfit.

Se7en performed a total of 5 songs. 3 of which from his new album, Digital Bounce and one song from his 2007 album, Se7olution and another from his 2004 album, Must Listen. Se7en, despite not being able to adapt to the heat in Singapore, performed so well and even wowed the guests who were mostly non-fans of his. The first song he performed was Digital Bounce which was followed by a small interview and an introduction of the new Galaxy Tab to him by the host, TV personality, Andrea De Cruz.

During the whole short interview, Se7en spoke in English and it awed most of us as his English was absolutely perfect. After the host left the stage, Se7en introduced the next song which is ‘I’m Going Crazy’. There wasn’t must choreography done but Se7en kept moving from right stage to left getting nearer to his other fans outside the VIP area.

After the ballad song, he performed one of my all time favourite, La La La from his Se7olution album. Most of the fans who knew this song even sang along to it and Se7en seems impressed with it. Towards the end, the song breaks into the remix version. He was moving up and down the stage, getting the fans hyped.

After that, he sang his last song which is ‘Better Together’ from his recent album. Fans were cheering and he seems very happy with the crowd as most of us sang along to it too. He finishes off with a final pose, lifting his both arms in the air and lifting his head up. He thanked the crowd and went backstage before the hosts went up asking us if we want more.

Upon hearing the fans cheering for him, Se7en returned back to stage and performed his last song. The song titled ‘Passion’ from his 2004 album, Must Listen. During the dance break, he took off his black jacket and did his usual dance routine for the dance break. This includes the famous handstand. It made the crowd goes wild when he did that.

Everyone was impressed and awed by Se7en performance. He did an extremely good job. He left the stage waving to the crowd and guests and went back stage.

About a few minutes after the whole event ended, lucky fans who won VIP tickets to the event and Singtel staff even got to take pictures with Se7en. He came out in the same black jacket and pants and shook hands with the guests and the lucky fans. One by one, in groups Se7en took pictures with them.

He seems rather tired but he still kept smiling and composed as he shook everyone’s hand.He is such a humble person. After the photo session, he went into Mandarin Gallery and disappeared from the view of the people from the main event area. The whole event ended at 9pm.

Overall, this event was successful. Everyone left with happy faces. Fans who have been hoping to see Se7en has finally got their wishes come true. Se7en, himself was truly impressed with his fans that once he returned to Korea he tweeted this:-

“Just got back in SEOUL! It was sooo good time w all the fans in S'pore n beautiful city! Can't forget!! Thank u so much S'pore!!! Love yall~” – Se7en [@officialSe7en]

Do check out the other photos from the event below.

Fashion Show:-