SWEET FANCY MOSES! The Little Mermaid is up on PBS's site! HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS?!?!??!!!!
So... like... if you wanna have your mind blown by the San Francisco Ballet. If you want to watch something haunting and beautiful and heartwrenching. If you have a few hours to kill...
WATCH THIS BRILLIANCE!
Yuan Yuan Tan is crazy strong and crazy exquisite. I've seen her perform in SF so many times and she's always immense, but this piece is made for her and she's simply ridiculous in it. We're not talking Disney, of course. It's Hans Christian Andersen.
It's dark. Daaaaaaaark. And stunning.
Oh yeah, Real Madrid stomped Barcelona 3-1. Nearly finished with a clean sheet. How 'bout them apples! Mesut danced his way to a corner and delivered yet another beautiful header for the baby giraffe, Varane. Hell of a start for a 19 year-old defender. As far as I know, he has scored 3 goals for RM and all three were headers off of passes/corners from Mesut.This season is proving quite exciting despite chronic troubles. Copa del Rey finals in the bag and the 2nd leg against ManU for the Champions League next Tuesday. Hala Madrid!
This low point of my life is agonizing and perpetual.
BUT the panic attacks are less and less frequent. I've been able to eat fairly normally for the last couple of months. My body is compensating by being hungry all the time, so I'm trying to keep up with it. I was hanging around 95lbs there for a while. *shudder* Scary.
Better.
I think I'm going to dig up that site I made for Kpop fans/newbs. It's just basic HTML/CSS from a class project, but now I'm thinking it could be useful for the uninitiated. Adding a few things here and there. Making a few fun graphics 'cause my fingers are happily deflated currently. So, yeah, I think I'll put that up soon. Mostly for the lulz.
On that note... lulz...
Cultural note: In Korea (and Japan), ladies send chocolates to the dudes they are fond of on Valentine's. The dudes return the favor (or not) on White Day in March. So, the chocolate-begging is standard comedy for guys on Valentine's.
A lot of the humor is lost on non-Korean speakers since Jaejoong and Yoochun are channeling their ancient Korean acting roles with the fierce language of nobilityduring the Joseon Dynasty.
Oh, and Junsu singing a cappella. That, too. T___T My three favorite themes from his musicals: Mozart's love song to Constanze, Joon's desperate grief of missing Lin while stuck in the Vietnam War, and Death's seduction of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria.
Brotherhood and solidarity, joy and openness and the capacity to endlessly tease each other...
The burden and darkness was seen so easily over the last few years, but now... Light-hearted. Radiant. Fun.
Laughter.
So much laughter.
Junsu EU KYANG KYANG-ing up a storm, knocking over the microphone pack, and barely able to breathe for laughing so hard...
Priceless.
These Kims are killing me.
Jaejoong released his solo album last week. It's a rock album. And it rocks! Seriously! It was a long time coming. That's how he started singing in the first place... convinced to front a little high school rock band by his friends. I highly doubt he would've ever had the chance to do a rock project while still in SM. YAY FOR FREEDOM! He took that freedom and ran with it. Raaaaaaaaan with it.
Jae's 'rock voice' has always been my favorite voice of his. In TVXQ, he almost exclusively used his smooth, clear voice to help the other four blend. In JYJ, he still does because it perfectly balances Junsu's permanently hoarse/damaged tone. But throughout Jae's career, he would have one-off rock performances at concerts and TV shows. Mostly solo stuff. He'd open up his throat and totally let loose. That voice, I really love.
I didn't have super high expectations for the album, since it's so new and personal to him, but I'm completely delighted to say that I love it. It's solid and different and covers a range of styles in just five songs.
Then there's the music video for Mine. Basically, he's one-upping Junsu in the budget department. He went ALL OUT. It's very visual-kei. It's over-the-top. It's a bit ridiculous and campy and gorgeous.
It sums up the spazz that is Jaejoong.
And obviously, it's highly symbolic of freeing himself from SM's chains and facing the backlash head on. I'm glad he went there. I don't think anyone could argue that he half-assed it. It's also an amusing response to people saying he looks like a vampire... long before the Twilight craze, mind you.
The rhinoceros beetle hat thing... kills me. XD
That's the most aggressive track on the record. If there is any consensus in the fan community, it's that One Kiss is the strongest track. It preceded the music video as a teaser for the project. And I agree that it's pretty lovely.
I'm generally just really happy for him. Well done, Jae. Dream successfully accomplished! It's charting like crazy, of course. A little solo Asia tour is next. Then it looks like they're working on a JYJ album for the summer. Who knows what that'll be like after these incredible solo efforts. Exciting!
Speaking of dreams. Junsu held the concert that he always wanted to. A series of three shows. Live orchestra and band. Covers of his favorite songs. Musical numbers. Intimate venue. And on the last day he brought his mom out and they sang a duet. A promise he made to her as a child. I bawled.
Here's a rare treat of him playing piano. Looking like a hybrid of his cats, Leo and Tigger, with the hair and the fur. Lol. Cute.
From the Innocent Man OST
Truly
