Kpop Running Playlist

About a year ago I decided I hated that I sucked at running.  I didn't want running to defeat me.  So I started training for a 5k, and then later a 10k, and then I started slacking so I'm back at the 5k level... but that's ok.  I'm still doing it.  And one of the reasons that I love it now is because I've got a pretty sweet Kpop Running Playlist.  When I'm less motivated to go, I just think of the lovely music I get to listen to, and that helps motivate me.

So does the lovely fall weather that we have right now, and the early summer mornings, and the start of spring... I am a sissy, though, and I don't run outside after Christmas.... It just gets too cold.

210. Bong Soon - a Cyborg in Love 사랑하면 죽는 여자 봉순이 (2016) Korean

Jo Kyu Hyun, Yoon So Hee, Ji Il Joo, Kim Yoo Mi

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A+

I saw this web drama in passing and I said, that looks like Kyuhyun, I have to check.  It was Kyuhyun, and so I had to watch it.  Partially because I wanted to see how bad/good at acting he could be, especially since he has trouble emoting in MVs.  Also, I like Yoon So Hee, so I thought I might as well.  It was cute, I guess.  It was a completely ridiculous plot and a lot about it was not accurately explained.  It was just weird.  But Kyuhyun wasn't as bad as I thought he was going to be.  He wasn't Yunho bad.  He was the worst actor in the cast, however.  The problem was that the topics the show was about, AI and Alzheimer, were way too big to deal with in a web drama.  This made the antagonist weird in his motivations, which was like money and fame, I guess, which made no sense because curing Alzheimer would bring way more money and fame than a cyborg that can fall in love.  Although that would bring it too, but not if it was malfunctioning like it was, because falling in love breaks it eventually. So, huge gaping holes, a male lead who I loved to make fun of, even though he wasn't that bad, and other random side characters that we didn't care about.  Yeah, that basically sums it up.  But Ji Il Joo is still super cute.  I've thought so since the Healer days.

More K-Dreamland Adventures with Marlubs and Lizabreff: Hello 2016 Dreams!

So far 2016 has been good to us in the K-dream department.  So many good dreams featuring our favorite K-pop and K-drama stars.  Apparently there is nothing more validating and helpful than a superstar K-pop group telling us we are awesome and amazing, or having a K-superstar saving us from gangsters.

Hurray for the best kinds of dreams.

Let's Not Fall For Magic: Kpop Groups Actually Treated As Separate People!?!

I've been thinking a lot about the new trends in Kpop music videos.  Recently there have been a lot of things that I have liked.  There have been a lot of really good songs and also a lot of music videos that have been different enough to make me do the nod of approval.  One of the trends that I noticed was the one where our boys were actually treated like separate people.

You know how most groups have to go through that thing at one point in time where they hire one actress and the entire group interacts with her as if they are the same person or something.  It's weird, but they pretty much all do it.

173. She Was Pretty 그녀는 예뻤다 (2015) Korean

Hwang Jung Eum, Park Seo Joon, Go Joon Hee, Choi Siwon

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

This drama was just fun.  I had a lot of fun watching it, even if there were gaping holes at times.  Like, it bothered me at first that they had Seo Joon come off as such a jerk-faced butt head at first.  That seemed to be way out of character for him.  Even with stress and misunderstandings as an excuse.  But they made up for it in a big way.  By the end, they were one of my favorite couples of all time.  What a cute OTP.  I really had second lead syndrome for Siwon, especially when he was making all those amazing faces.  So much fun!  I also loved the friendship between Hye Jin (Hwang Jung Eum) and Ha Ri (Go Joon Hee).  We see so many bromances that it was refreshing to see a... what is the word for that?  Womance?  Yeah, something like that.  I shipped that friendship.  As frustrating as it was, I liked that they had the relationship grow before he knew who she was.  That made it more real and feely when he finally found out.  Then I could ship the OTP like crazy.  I liked how they showed the level of understanding between our main couple that made them perfect for each other and helped us (well me anyway) get over Siwon.  I loved Siwon to the end, but I knew that he was just friends material, because there was that level of knowing and understanding that was missing.  That might be why I loved it so much.  There was no bitca and no evil second male lead.  I loved everyone in the whole show.  When Ha Ri started falling for Seong Joon, I was worried for her because she was going to get hurt, and the guilt she was feeling, yeah no bitca there, just her being stupid.  And Siwon was like the nicest (and goofiest) guy on the planet who saw her beauty from the start.  Cute!  Although, I did think that his part was too drawn out and mopey at the end.  That was a bit boring.  I even cared about the silly side romance between Gold Digger and Happy Boy.  Anyway, no, it's not perfect, but it's fun.  And I have to give it major props for avoiding some of the major tropes, such as prolonged noble idiocy, bitcas, one year time jumps (with long distance relationships that magically last even when they lose contact), and makeovers that last forever.  They touched on all of them, but twisted them for the better.  Bravo!

Kpop for That Sultry Sound... yeah, the sound ;)

There is a difference between sultry and just sexy... at least in my book.  Sultry has that special sound that can only be described as rawr.  Overly sexy can sometimes be too much, because sometimes you are just in the mood for a sultry sounding song.  Something that is perfectly exemplified through dance moves like these:

Sway those hips, boys.  Rawr.  Yep, that's where the sultry sound is at.  So here are my favorite sultry songs, for when I want to just listen to something that says "rawr!"

Kpop for the Frustrated

Frustration happens to us all off and on.  Right now I am frustrated with life, meaning work and other businessy obligations that make me fall into a busy rut where I feel like a robot with no control.

When times like these come, I have to listen to a certain kind of music to get those pent up emotions out.  And yes, that means another Kpop playlist.

Kpop for the Day Picker Upper

In the mood when you want to feel happy, laugh, energized, peppier?  I've got a playlist that I keep for these occasions.  Because my last Kpop post was sad and super personal, I figured the next one should be happy.  So I decided to make a list of the Kpop songs I listen to so I can get pumped up and feel happy.

I'll be honest, half of these are because of how ridiculous they are, or how fun the MV is (which usually means the song is fun too) and not necessarily for the song alone.  Sometimes the song is even sad, but because of how fun the beat/dance/MV is it makes me happy.  So here are some of the songs I listen to when I am super happy/silly or just want to feel happier, because these songs always put me in a better mood.

Kpop for the Brokenhearted

Sometimes, I wonder why I bother to like real boys, because that somehow just ends in hurt.  But then, so does most Kdrama crushes, either through relationship envy, too many feels, or just dying of frustration at the stupidity of drama peeps' choices.  However, real relationships are good, and at least we have Kdramas and Kpop to get us through those times when the inevitable hurt comes... as is does more than we'd like.  I hear sometimes it works out, but this time was not that time, I guess.

I find myself once again getting over a real life boy, maybe one of the hardest ones yet, because he was one of the best ones yet.  (He's even watched some Kdrama episodes with me, in seriousness, so that seemed like a winner).  Anyways, he's leaving so not much I can do about that, unless fate brings us together or I chase after him dramatically, buying a last minute plane ticket and running through the airport to stop him, etc.  It might just work.

Instead, I find myself drowning my sorrows in an unhealthy dose of sad kpop.  Is there such a thing as an unhealthy dose?  Only maybe there is, because I not only listen to a ton of sad songs, but I listen to them on repeat.  It works, ok!  These are the songs that speak to my wounded soul!

When Following Peeps on Instagram Makes You Like Them Less

Following my biases and other Korean and Taiwanese stars on Instagram and Twitter is generally a delight.  Countless hours have been wasted browsing their goofy, cute, and fun posts.  But then there is always the problem of a little TMI.  You get less impressed with them because of what they post.  This has happened to me one too many times to not write about.


It just so happens that the monotony or the stupidity of their posts just annoy us enough to where we end up thinking less of them to even not being able to take them seriously any more.

Some Kpop MVs that I Totally Know the Dance For

Sometimes you just watch a MV so many times that you can not only sing along with it, but dance along with it as well.  There are some that I literally have to jump up and dance if I can.  I guarantee I look nothing like them while doing their moves, but I totally have those moves down.

Throwback Thursday: 10 Kpop MVs With Super Sexy Necks

Let's throw it back a bit and explore some MVs that came out a while ago (like before I knew what kpop was) to the good old days when DBSK was still together and Big Bang looked like babies.  Well maybe these are not all that old... but...  It might be nostalgic for some, but for me it's more of a sign that I really love these peeps because I've pretty much watched every MV of theirs that I can get my hands on... or something like that. (In the case of SuJu, I am just getting started on that sort of thing, it took me a while, but I'm coming around).

So here are some of my pre-kpop-discovery discoveries that happen to also show how incredibly sexy these boys' necks are too.  Woo woo!

In 3.5 Min, More Chemistry Than the 23 Hours of Fall in Love With Me

So, Aaron just came out with a new dance version MV for his song No Cut, this time featuring Puff Guo.  No Cut is not my favorite song of his, mostly because of the rapping part in the middle which is just no.