Andrew Barton Designer Curling Multi Styler Set Review Pt. 1

Yesterday I finally gave into Andrew Barton's Designer Curling Multi Styler Set after spending weeks eyeing on it on the Argos website. 

Initially I was immensely put off by the hot pink and diamante on the tongs, but seeing that most of the reviews on the Argos website was positive and that it was on 'sale' for £23.99 I decided to give them a try. Besides, it's not like I'll be lugging them around in public or anything, it doesn't represent me in any way, it's just a hair tool.

I recall that in the reviews many expressed their discontent with the tongs attachment and very much preferred the wand attachment instead. 

Personally, I dislike tight tendril-like curls, curls that the wand could offer. What I wanted was soft gentle wave-like curls, the curls that many Japanese magazine models wear.

It was very likely that the reviewers were aiming for something along the lines of tendril curls, after all, it seems to be the trend in Western countries. Since I wasn't aiming for tendril curls, surely the tongs would be fantastic for me, since many claimed that the tongs did little to their hair. 

Besides, my hair's thin anyway, it can easily be styled. Also, if the tongs were really that bad, I guess I could always improvise with the wand...

Anyway, when I tore open the box to reveal the tongs I was surprised to see that the tongs weren't actually hot pink, but the colour had neared the boundaries of purple. Sweet. Purple had always been one of my favourite colours. But alas, the diamante was still there, shining away uselessly.

Inside the box was the two attachments, conical wand (2.5 - 1.3cm) and tongs (3.2cm barrel), the handle itself connected to the cord, a heat protectant glove, manual, and some access code to AB's styling tips online.

Everything was packaged cleanly into seperate bags, sans manual and code leaflet. 

The gloves were easy to slip on, comfy as well. 

However, when it came to attaching the attachment to the handle, it was a different story. 

I didn't really bother reading the manual beforehand, so I attached the attachment using logic: match up the plugs. Attaching the tongs to the handle was an incredibly time consuming and fiddly process. After successfully attaching I then realised it was loose. That was when the manual came in handy and informed me that there was a twist-to-lock function (the black rim on the handle).

There were 5 heat settings to choose from:

1. 140 degrees
2. 155 defgrees
3. 170 degrees
4. 185 degrees
5. 200 degrees

I went for 170 - usually I my straightners are set to 160 or 170 anyway, 200 just murders my thin hair.

Didn't time how long it took for it to heat up, but during that time I was spritzing my hair with heat protectant, and by the time I was done the tongs were ready too. Let's just say it definitely took under 1 minute to heat up.

Unfortunately I am unable to give you guys a proper and accurate review on how easy it was to use, purely because of my non-existent experience with the use of tongs. But all I can say, at noob level, is that it was difficult. I mainly had issues with the clamp. But that's just the case with experience.

Once again referring to the reviews, some expressed that the tool felt heavy in their hands. Personally I didn't find it heavy at all. It wasn't lightweight, but neither was it heavy.
 In sum, there was nothing wrong with the weight of the tongs.

It actually gave me decent curls. The results weren't perfect, but I'm sure that with a little bit more practice I'll get those awesomely soft curls that I've always desired!

Though, I was a bit iffy with how the ends of my hair turned out - feeling dry and frizzy.

You can tell how crap I am at this by looking at the result pic on the left...

Anyway, take note that I haven't applied any styling product at all on my hair after this - not even hair spray or styling clay.

I used the tongs at around 5pm, left my student accommodation at 7pm, caught the train from Leeds to Peterborough. Stood in the wind for about 40mins waiting for my connecting train, and when the train came at 9.40pm-ish I checked my hair again and the curls were pretty much...gone. Perhaps they would've lasted longer if I upped the heat setting and applied hair spray after *shrugs* - personally I dislike applying hair styling product to my hair apart from heat protectant spray and conditioning serums.

Hence why this review was labelled part 1. Simply because it was my first time using tongs and also because I didn't bother to apply styling product to my hair after - I didn't have them in my possession anyway. A part 2 will be posted in June perhaps when I have had practice, upped the heat setting and used misted my hair with hair spray after.

Overall, I am content with these tongs. I have yet to use the wand.

But in a nutshell:

• Use tong if you have thin hair or aiming for the soft curls/wave look
• Use wand if you have thick hair or aiming for tendril tight curls (apparently)
• The ability to switch attachments (wand and tong) is convenient if you want something that can offer you more results
• The heat protectant glove is your best friend
•  Affordable (on sale at Argos for £23.99 from £59.99 - though I doubt that it was actually on sale at £59.99 before)
• Definitely produces curls - just make sure that you use a high heat setting and apply hair spray after

'The King 2 Hearts' and 'Rooftop Prince'

The King 2 Hearts

And so with the demise of 'The Moon That Embraces The Sun' 2 weeks ago I was left feeling lost and saddened upon the fact that I would be unable to see Hwon (Kim SooHyun) and YangMyung (Jung IlWoo) on my laptop screen again. I will dearly miss them.
Especially the eunuch with a Chopper-like grin, HyungSun. The comic relief and pistachio to the drama.

However, it's sucessor, 'The King 2 Hearts' (however it is spelt), having been featured on EpDrama's video player countless times before I viewed the last few episodes of TMTETS caught my interest, for it had appeared that Ha JiWon and Lee SeungGi (I thought it was Song JoongKi at first because of the angle) would be playing the lead roles.
BAM.
Instant interest.
Having loved Ha JiWon from 'Secret Garden' and Lee SeungGi in 'My Girlfriend is a Gumiho' I was intrigued as to how this pairing will fare in a drama. I guess you could say I'm a bit of a HyunBin and JiWon shipper after 'Secret Garden', hah.

I found myself furthermore intrigued after watching the preview teaser to the series. Romance that could spark between a North Korean and a South Korea in what appeared to be a military base. I have yet to stumble across this in any dramas yet - well the ones I've watched.
What really hooked me was the concept of including North Korean characters in the drama, especially as a part of the main cast.
Keep in mind that I have very little knowledge on how South Koreans will react to this drama for I am not a South Korean nor do I have any knowledge on the dominant ideologies of South Korea.
Personally I thought this may have potentially angered a handful of people, be it North and/or South Koreans. To further explain, the potential romance between a North and South Korean could be deemed as betrayal or unsightly. And also the portrayal and presentation of North Koreans and North Korean interior design could irk North Koreans. JaeHa who consistently mocks the North Koreans could add oil to the already burning flames.
But the first two explanations were just my thoughts of the moment, don't take it seriously. I think about a lot of things, but it doesn't mean I follow through with all of them. Of course society isn't as narrow minded these days, and how are North Koreans able to access such media? However, these are still possibilities that could occur in a small scale, say a handful of close minded people within society.

But getting back to the point, I found this type of juxtoposition (North and South) to be unique and challenging compared to other cliched pairings out there in the Korean drama sphere.
Nevertheless, despite the challenging feature to the pairing, Lee SeungGi's character (JaeHa) being of a higher status (King) in the pair as well as a douchebag is relative to the rich, uncaring, douchebaggy male leads of typical dramas. For example, 'Goong', 'Coffee Prince' and 'Lie To Me'. We have a cold prince and a commoner, lazy son sponging off his rich family and a dirt poor girl scrounging for money every day, and a hotel CEO matched with an average government employee.
Yet, such extreme oppositions are necessary if we were to follow Barthes' theory of 'binary opposites' and Hall's belief that 'difference is significant'. We need such extreme polar oppositions in order to create solid meaning, which is true but can be annoying.

But such things should be discussed another day...in another post...or on another blog...*ahem*

Back to the drama.

I went off to scrounge for more information on this intrguing drama before it had aired. On one particular site (Dramabeans perhaps) the writer had noted that the script writers of 'The King 2 Hearts' were somewhat notorious for their dragged out plotlines. What a turn off.
And thus my expecations lowered for this drama and I began to seek out Rooftop Prince - since my ultimate bias is the male lead.

However, in the end I fell in love with this drama. It has dark humour slapped all over it. A psycho villain - for the first time ever I actually feared a K-drama baddie. Serious politics that wouldn't bore me. AND I find Ha JiWon's North Korean accent adorable!
Perhaps it was because my expectations lowered for this drama hence why I was quickly able to accept it as my replacement for TMTETS.

Yet, there is potential for this drama to eventually reach to a point where the plotline will drag. So far I have watched three episodes, all of which had so much substance that I was left craving for more after each episode. Maybe it's because I'm not the script writer, but I can't possibly find this drama to be any more entertaining after episode 10.
I have read the character profiles that MBC had (perhaps) stupidly released, now I have a strong feeling that I know what will happen either next week or the week after. And because of that event things may begin to slow down.
This is a belief that I'm hoping not to follow through with. I do have a few ideas in mind as to how the series would be able to maintain pace and interest, it involves the heavy reliance of action - very much like 'City Hunter'.

Overall I do recommend this drama, it's too early to say that it would flop.

Rooftop Prince

Originally I had planned to watch both 'Rooftop Prince' and 'The King 2 Hearts'. Unfortunately the former disappointed me.

The drama appeared low budget, maybe it's because I was still in awe with TMTETS's lavish Joseon setting, but everything appeared plain and boring, including the colour treatment which was dulled to the point like I was watching a 90s historical TVB drama. Unappealing to the eye is what I'm trying to say. This is also applicable to the scene when YooChun's modern character was in New York...Mother of God. Words cannot describe my disappointment.

Not only was the editting and setting terrible but the English too. I was cringing, just like when I watched the first couple of seconds of Boyfriend's 'Boyfriend' MV *shudder*.
True, it's not like the actress is fluent in English in the first place, but at least dub her voice over with an English speaker or tell her to practice to the point that it wouldn't sound...strange and out of place.
I was also irked with the foreigner's perfomances in the drama, it was awful. It can be somewhat forgiveable if they were picked up from the streets with no experience, but really, surely the production team were able to snag one who had some acting skills and put them in the drama as the American friend of the lead actress. At least do that. Or was their budget too low to even hire one?

Another reason, perhaps crude, is that I dislike the actress (Han JiMin). No, the reason is definitely not because she's paired with my ultimate bias YooChun and that I hate any woman who kisses him. I had no problems with MinYoung when she played the love interest of YooChun's character in 'SungKyunKwan Scandal'. Perhaps it's because she killed my first impression of her when she spoke in terrible English. But I feel that her acting is a bit...mellow. Maybe it's simply just her character. Who knows. I haven't seen her in any other drama before. But her acting reminds me of a..."ba ja por" - Cantonese term describing a woman who's loud and overexaggerates...Her actions feel a bit abrupt and unnatural.
However, I felt the same when I first watched Jung IlWoo in 'Flower Boy Ramyun Shop'. I questioned Jung IlWoo's acting as it appeared exaggerated and over the top. Only to realise, after watching TMTETS, it is most likely due to his character and the genre of the drama being a comedy. Thus this is applicable to JiMin, 'Rooftop Prince' is a comedy, her character must be exaggerated and OTT.

The whole past and present intertwining with each other concept became complicated when they presented modern day YooChun floating the water with the drowned princess of the past. The main problem lies on the drowned princess. Initially I thought it would have been JiMin's character who drowned since prince YooChun seemed to have developed a thing for sister-in-law JiMin, and that her drowning may have happened after a few years when the princess was somehow divorced and so prince YooChun married JiMin. I believed this simply because it appeared that YooChun should be paired with JiMin, hence why YooChun should be more distraught over her death than the princess. But now that I think about it, it's logical that YooChun would be distraught over his pretty princess's death over an 'ugly' princess's death.
But hey, beats me. This twist may be confusing but provides plot for later episodes to unravel it all out.
Unfortunately I'm still a bit irked over modern day YooChun being drowned. I feel unsatisfied and unsettled as to how the plot would unfold without modern day YooChun - I had assumed that he would be transported back in time to the Joseon era, but alas no.
How is the gang going to find out who drowned the princess in the modern era?
Will the gang ever return to the Joseon era?
What are the consequences of the gang being missing from the Joseon era and running around in the modern era?
What are they going to do about the modern day YooChun and drowned princess?
Why are they presented as if they are somewhat tied?
What's the significance of it all?
This drama is going to have to answer a lot of questions for me. And I really can't see how they're going to answer it all without confusing me whilst trying to maintain a steady flow.
What happened to simple is best? I expected a simple fantasy romcom drama, not necessarily linear in terms of plot but with twists that are easy to follow. The additional dashes of 'time space continuum' and 'who dunnit' mixed together further complicates the series.

If I were to give some praise to this drama is it's comedic elements.
Lee MinHo (the younger one) and Do ChiSan's characters are perky and interesting.
The concept of bringing a gang of people from the old era into the new is bound to produce a lot of hilarious situations, and this drama dishes it all up.
Maybe I'll give it another chance whenever I feel like wanting to ROFL over something.

Overall, I still have very little interest in Rooftop Price. The plotline did sound appealing, but it was a disappointment and overcomplicated, thus making it intimidating to watch. It's not like I had high expectations of it in the first place.
The only thing sustaining my interest are its comedic elements.

Hair colour update.

I've noticed that in my previous post on my hair colour update on January 2012 I didn't include images of my hair in cloudy natural light. I only gave images of my hair under artificial light and a warm toned natural light. Cannot neglect that cool toned natural light either! After all, some of you guys might be living in dreary cloudy Britain too!

Despite this picture NOT being taken a few days fresh after the dye job I can safely say that my hair colour has not changed drastically after these 2 months - by this I mean that I haven't noticed any changes in colour vibrancy and all looks well.
Personally I'm not too picky whether my hair colour has dulled slightly or not, just as long as the colour's still there and it satisfies me still.

Take note that I have been taking care of it by using TRESemme's Colour Thrive Brunette shampoo and conditioner every other day. Not that I'm saying that this is the best shampoo and conditioner to use, but it's cheap and does the job. Better to be safe than sorry.

Food Diary: Term 2

For all those that are curious as to what one particular university student in England eats whilst at university.
This is no food plan, but just a vague breakdown and images of my food highlights whilst at university. As you can see I have very little cooking experience, heck before I even moved to Leeds for university I only knew (was confident in) how to prepare rice for the rice cooker.
Ever since I moved to university I am now very confident in making chicken/beef stroganoff, beef bolognase, tamagoyaki, lemon and honey chicken and lemon chicken breasts. Pasta bakes probably don't count hah!

So here's a quick run through of my diet which also helped me slim down ONE dress size. No exercise required.

I make sure to eat 3 meals a day, normally eating the most during breakfast and lunch, and then attempt to eat a smaller portion for dinner. Sometimes I snack in between on days where I have to go into universirty. Being a student who lives 40mins (walking) or 30 mins (bus) away from the campus means I have to wake up earlier than most students, and because I'm slow in the morning and carry out a long skincare routine it means I pretty much have to wake up 1 hour and 30 minutes before the bus arrives. 9am lectures mean I have to wake up at 6.30am, it's a real pain.
But getting back to the main topic, the snacks are either just breakfast bars/biscuits, muffins or some kind of bread-y stuff.

My breakfast would either be cereal with milk, or 4 pieces of toast with either pate, peanut butter, nutella or melted cheese and salami or tomato on top.



What I have for lunch and dinner are pretty much similar, they alternate depending on how long I have to be in university for and when I have university the next day. If I have to wake up early the next day for uni I would eat a small sized dinner or instant noodles/microwave meals.
Such meals vary between the aformentioned, tinned soup and 4 pieces of toast, rice with chicken/beef, pasta bake, omelette, tamagoyaki, ovened sausages and wedges, pasties and muller corners/yogurts.
Most of which are in smaller portions compared to the portions that I eat at home. When I cook rice I cook 2 cups worth which can split into 3 containers = used for 3 meals.

I gave up making omlettes after semester 1 and aimed for tamagoyaki instead after watching a 'how to' video on it. Most would say omlettes are easier than tamagoyaki simply because for tamagoyaki you have to roll the omlette - which is hard on circular pans. But hey, practicing helps. Look at this development! Before my tamagoyaki's were rolled loosely, but now it's tight!



I very rarely drink fizzy drinks/soda, I drink water most of the time and most recently I became very fond of drinking any form of oriental/chinese or green tea. Tis warming for the soul.

I also aim to eat at least 2 portions of fruit and veg a day. Sometimes I even manage to easily hit the 5 a day target! Though I can't say that my selection of fruit and veg is the best: banana, orange/clementine/madarin/satsuma, cucumber, tomato and grapes. I should really learn how to cook stuff like brocolli as well as move away from my lazy state to buy some celery and carrots to peel.

I rarely eat out, perhaps once every two weeks? Mainly because I need to restrict myself to maintin within the boundaries of my budget since I also have a habit of impuse buying whilst food shopping as well as that odd occassion where I pop into New Look, Boots, Superdrug, The Body Shop or H&M and come out with a bag of something OTL
If I did eat out would either be at McD's, KFC or Frankies and Benny's. Good thing they opened an F&B 10 mins away from my accommodation earlier this year! Best place to visit after handing in work on deadlines day.



As you can see these pics have been untouched by photoshop and photoscape. I believe my cooking isn't worthy enough to be exaggerated into something that one should desire hah!
As for F&B, do I really have to edit the pictures? I mean they already look droolworthy without it!

MY FEELS: TMTETS Episode 20

And so, the finale aired on Thursday night in Korea, peaking pretty much at 52% (rounded number) viewership which could pretty much reflect its success and popularity.
In reality this is partial, merely because it is the final episode where the rebellion took place, countless deaths occurred and we get to see Hwon and YeonWoo together at long last.
Events that would grab any viewers attention, not necessarily in a good way.

Subjectively speaking, I felt that NokYoung, Seol and YangMyung's death was unnecessary.
Sure NokYoung was a bitch who irritated me for keeping YeonWoo away from Hwon for most of the episodes, but thinking again she was like a caring mother who only wanted what's best for her 'spiritual daughter'. In the end she spilled the beans and wished YeonWoo and Hwon for a happy future. Must she really die? She didn't really have any sort of ill intention.
Seol, gurl, you should've just grabbed Yeom's hand and ran with him. If the assassins caught up, then you fight to the death. She was the Heo family's gem, the guardian, don't just kill her off! She was also like a sister to JanShil, a very much needed sister. Besides, what took Woon so long to fucking arrive?! If only had arrived earlier...jeez Woon.
And YangMyung. Oh boy...that death was just...I can't. Ok YangMyung wanted to die because he thought it was the only way, as if he was fated to, as if his death would help everyone. Right, I understand. But when that guy stood up and was ready to spear a member of the royal fucking family how can the guards just stand there and watch? Why the fuck aren't they tackling that bastard down and protecting YangMyung from death and unnecessary depression for everyone? JFC.

Now, objectively speaking, I suppose NokYoung, Seol and YangMyung's death was necessary...just like BoKyung, Great Queen Dowager and the evil Minister and his goons.
NokYoung offered her life to secure Hwon and YeonWoo's, as well as the nation's, happiness and safety, if NokYoung remained alive wouldn't she have to keep suffering in pain by warding off future evil curses from the royal family? That's a real pain in the ass. Besides, in the dialogue it was mentioned that she may have to be beheaded anyway, she might as well end her life usefully than unusefully.
Seol would've just lived a pointless life if she carried on living. JanShil didn't necessarily need her, everyone must learn to become independent, besides, Seol isn't a Shaman, she can't always be by JanShil's side. Seol clearly can't stay by Yeom's side knowing that he has a child with MinHwa, it would hurt her.
YangMyung needed to disappear off the scene merely because he would've carried on living a horrible life if he were to stay alive. To YangMyung, YeonWoo was his world, letting his younger brother have her means he has no reason to live anymore. Sure he could always find other girls out there to cling onto, but come on, YeonWoo had been in his mind even after her supposed 'death'. Clearly this guy could live on for the rest of his life clinging onto YeonWoo within his mind - clearly an unhealthy lifestyle. Walking on the same land knowing that his brother has his beloved would hurt him emotionally, it's unlikely that he would be able to cure himself of his heartache. So, in a crude way, he might as well end his life seeing as he is able to move on in this current life. That spear to the torso was his only opportunity to die with dignity. Hey, maybe YangMyung told the guards to just let him die. Who knows.

Also, another thing. Although I was overjoyed that Hwon and YeonWoo were finally together without any bothersome and scheming individuals in the background, and HyungSun was still alive rocking it out on the gayageum right before the credits rolled, it irked me that a number of lives were lost just so that Hwon and YeonWoo could find happiness.
Sure, it was fate, it was God's 'will' as the shamans said, bloodshed be the consequence of having the moon and sun near each other thanks to fate's forceful push. But really now, we the viewers just witnessed the death of our carefree and loveable YangMyung, a good majority of us wept because of that. It felt like YangMyung's death was just pushed to the side as if saying "yeah, YangMyung was unnecessary, Hwon and YeonWoo are definitely happier without him, he needed to die." I understand that it's not exactly practical to have Hwon and YeonWoo continuously mourning over YangMyung's death even when years have passed.
But the ending could have been handled and written more appropriately. Like say, we see Queen YeonWoo overseeing the West Infirmary's developments and Hwon decided to come over and visit, they hold hands and BAM! Ending. We're left with the impression that they're now happily together and ruling the nation well without over exaggerating the lovey-dovey-ness between Hwon and YeonWoo, they've pretty much been flirting with each other in the last few episodes anyway, that's enough. And also it would show that they're also fulfilling YangMyung's wish for them to treat the nation well, thus showing respect. Sure they mentioned in the end that YeonWoo was helping the West Infirmary, but we don't see it, it is only a momentary mention, an add-on. A short spark to respect YangMyung. Forgotten when we move over to the gayageum part.
This isn't an entirely objective criticism, but I honestly believe that the ending wasn't perfect. It was okay, it will do, but it didn't leave me entirely satisfied.

Comparatively, City Hunter also left me somewhat unsatisfied because personally it felt like I was left on a cliffhanger due to the open ending!! It may have been an open ending with nothing conclusive, but it was a positive open ending that suggested that the two are pretty much likely going to be together. Open endings tend to be safer than closed endings, it doesn't enrage the audience as much as they have no reason to be enraged, the ending is left for the audience to interpret.
TMTETS was a closed ending, it was definitive, meaning that the ending must be well thought out, if done badly it could leave viewers dissatisfied. Although I have no evidence that a majority of viewers were dissatisfied I personally felt that the ending could have been better to maintain the 'feel' of the series. The actual ending felt more like an add-on, a special episode, a doujinshi. Something that could have occurred within or outside the series, not the end.

Nevertheless, episode 20 made me shed tears multiple times for a good half of the episode. It was emotionally moving.
As for the series overall the kids, Kim SooHyun and Jung IlWoo done a great job. Ha GaIn was so-so, not awful, but okay, there could have been a bit more emotion and expression in her acting to polish it all off, she just needs a bit of a push. A second series is uncessary unless there is more material to cover from the book that occurs after this series, or if someone took interest in producing a drama about both prince's future which I doubt would be any different or interesting compared to the first series.

In sum, I recommend this drama, it's now one of my favourites. Not #1. Then again, I don't really know what drama is my #1.

MY FEELS: The Moon That Embraces The Sun

I'll keep this nice and brief.

'The Moon That Embraces The Sun', starring Kim SooHyun, Han GaIn and Jun IlWoo, has potential to become drama of the year. I'm not even exaggerating. Look at its ratings and popularity!

Initially I was intimidated by the historical setting of the drama, the only other historical drama that I've ever watched was Sungkyunkwan Scandal solely because Park YooChun - one of my ultimate biases, was playing the lead male role in it. Also because it was somewhat a romcom. I enjoyed it, but I didn't fall in love with it.
The only historical dramas that I can handle are Hong Kong produced ones - they are often incredibly cheesey with a dash of modern aspects to it.

The posters of TMTETS were giving off a dark and serious tone to the drama, it put me off a great deal like YooChun's melodrama - 'Miss Ripley'. Matching dark and serious tones to a historical genre puts me off greatly. Actually this wasn't the only poster that ever put me off, Secret Garden's poster looked like it belonged to a melodrama too! In this case it could be said that one should never judge a book by its cover, a true saying, however no matter how much you believe it the environment/society that you were brought up in will always tell you to judge things and people based on appearance, sad but true.

What made me want to watch this was because of its popularity. I remember stumbling across this drama title when I was going through my Twitter feed, Allkpop had tweeted that they had posted up an article about it and its soaring ratings!
Wow, I thought, this must definitely be a killer.
Oh, it was, it sooooo was.

The very fact that Kim SooHyun, Han GaIn and Jung IlWoo were the other factors for different reasons.
Kim SooHyun because I needed something to shake off his SamDong character from Dream High.
Han GaIn because I realised that she was the wife of the fittie Yun JungHoon.
Jung IlWoo because I needed something to rid my bad impression of him from Flower Boy Ramyum Shop - decent drama but his character was way too OTT that the acting felt overdone.

One sectence to describe this drama: ONE ROLLERCOASTER OF EMOTIONS.

I'm the kind of viewer who likes to spoil themselves, so pretty much in between episodes/waiting for episodes to load I would go off to dramabeans to quickly skim through the next episode's recap. So I knew what was coming.
After I had finished episode 4 I wanted to stop watching the rest, purely because I knew what would happen after episode 4 - everything's gonna go downhill and make me sad.
Nevertheless, I persevered and forced myself to carry on with the episodes, this drama was too good to skip episodes, even the boring old-goonies-devising-evil-deeds-with-each-other-in-old-tongues parts.
I can confirm that I have no regrets.

The storyline is complex, detailed and unique - to an extent. It may have frustrated me a great deal, I ended up hating NokYoung, but this hatred and frustration was reasonable unlike Heartstrings - dear God don't even get me started on this poorly written (and possibly acted) drama...
The whole shaman and moon-sun aspects made the drama feel furthermore mystical and unique, you know that dash of magic like Secret Garden. Subtle, not overdone. Me gusta, mucho!
The filming was beautifully done. Vivid vibrant colours of satin cloth, the flawless camera work and editting, those close up shots of emotion...I can't.

I have yet to find anything that disappoints me within this drama. Yet I can't say that this drama is perfect either.
Though I can't say that it may become one of my favourite dramas of all time yet. I'll leave it till the airing of the last episode - next week *sobs*, until I decide.

Overall I definitely recommend this drama.
It's beautiful, heart-wrenching, makes you want to cry for poor old YangMyung and take a good stab at the Great Queen Dowager.

Oh and happy leap year everyone!

Sheer Eargasm

Honestly, somtimes I wonder why I bother publishing a post about a band that I don't stan.

I should really be posting up entries like Block B's Narina MV, but to be honest there's not much that I could say about Block B's Narina MV.
I love it, the music and video itself has attitude and energy, but it's nothing special. You all know I love Block B to pieces, but so far all their works, to me personally, are average, there is still a gem that Zico (and Kyung) has yet to produce. Not that I'm saying that their current singles aren't great, the music is pretty much about the same level as other Kpop tracks out there, it just needs a little bit more of a push/a dash of uniqueness to make them and their music really shine. Subjectively speaking (from a fan's point of view) Nanrina is amazing, objectively speaking (from a critical view) it's nothing much to go absolutely crazy about.

However, Big Bang's tracks are something that fans should go crazy about for so many valid reasons.

Now before I begin, please take note that I am not a Big Bang stan, however they are one of my favourite groups, but I'm not ballistic about them, I mainly love them for their music.
They have pretty much never let me down with their new tracks, although in my previous previous post I did show a bit of doubt towards 'Blue', but I'm pretty much am near loving it now. Actually, the same could be said for 'Haru Haru' (you probably think I'm nuts), but loved it after the second listen.
And it also happened again for this track, 'Bad Boy', but only this time I spent the first minute feeling uncertain about it to then feel strangely hooked by the end of it.

I swear I'm going to go through this 'uncertain' to 'love' process throughout the entire ALIVE album.

Fitting the theme of the previous MV and album, once again the colours of the MV are muted, but not as muted as the previous MV, the colours seem to seep through the cold toned filters which fits the uplifting beats of the track. The jingling of the bells along with heavy beats in the track set an icey arctic feeling, once again complimentary to the colours of the MV as well as the season that this album/track is released in - YG/MV Director you smart. Anyone else noticed the steam in the MV? Yes, that adds to it also. TaeYang has skills to not shake and shudder whilst filming that MV with his bare arms exposed.
The track itself? Total eargasm. Again unique - perhaps that's why it initially put me off, subtle, not overdone, perfect. The beats really have an strong urban feel to it - probably why New York became the setting of the MV, although NY isn't urban it contains urban features/aspects.
I can't really see much of a flaw in this track apart from GD and TOP having to use sing-song rapping - I'm too accustomed to seeing rappers rap these days (too much khiphop), but nevertheless it works - so it's not really a flaw. The sloppy sing-song rapping adds a lazy touch to the track, perfect for lazy days!

A few subjective points:

• omg GD, your punk/gangster fusion attire and weave, what even...
• TOP you look like an absolute idiot with that huge skull medallion, who told you to wear it?!
  
• Dayum TaeYang, that little body wave at 1:22, DAYUM.