2NE1's fashion makes me faint

I love a particular style of fashion, and 2NE1 is exactly the style that I love.  I LOVE IT. Sometimes I feel like fainting when I see their style.  omg. I'm in love.


CL's fashion in this performance is SO CRAZY. I LOVE IT!!!  /SCREAM

Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyg1Mv0eZ_c

CL -- you're so fierce.  I love you.

Big Bang is hugely popular in Japan starting last year. Like, insanely popular. I am almost 100% sure that its because Japanese women are preferring more manly men. Arashi? Kat-tun? News? Way too girly. Especially since birth rate is dropping in Japan and many women are staying single longer since they have more education and make more money, leaving their socially awkward men left to marry their NDS's. Stronger men is what they're looking for.

It's interesting how they're so huge in Japan, and one of the main things they have is charisma and individual personalities. I was reading the Japanese comments on youtube for their live performances in Japan, they all say the same thing: "Japan's Idols lose to Big Bang, we don't need them around anymore."

Reasons why?
1) Big Bang is fun, whereas most Japanese idols are more reserved, afraid to show their true personalities
2) Big Bang can dance, having been trained professionally for years
3) Most boy bands in Japan are born from Johnny's Entertainment, and it's widely known that "Johnny" himself is super duper gay. Therefore all the boybands look effeminate, with girly dance moves, hair, and clothes
4) All the "manly" boy bands copy African American hip hop, most just dress like that and have no charisma. 

It's been like this for years, no wonder Big Bang can just debut over there and take over the market by storm. This also rings true for the girl bands. Besides the fact that AKB48 is hugely popular (thanks pedo salarymen), 2NE1 is about to debut and probably win over a huge share. I wouldn't be surprised if they get a ton of female fans from Japan, especially since they sing about being stronger women. They're one of the most popular and charismatic girl groups in Korea right now, if not #1. 


This big export of KPOP to Japan is so popular and successful that its crazy. Almost more than half of the top acts right now are from Korea. What are you going to do with your talent, Japan? If they were smart, they'd start getting some more realistic artists, instead of the ones that just dress cute, african american, or "rock." The style of their artists are so old and 3 years ago. Which is probably why KPOP basically took over. 
hiroak86 
5 months ago 32 
日本のアイドルはもういらない。ダンスヴォーカルはK-POPに は敵わない。 

ryo600 
6 months ago 11 
おーい、日本負けてるぞー 
やっぱあれだけやられたら 
日本のアイドル達は悔しいでしょうね。 
ビッベンはアイドルというくくりではないけれどもさ 

Piles and Piles of....

excel sheets! I guess since they're digital you can't really get stuck underneath them but I sure as hell feel like I am.  Sometimes I find myself updating the same status over and over to the same group of people in different emails.  Why not just read the other one? Or... why do you need an update...EVERYDAY?  I think every 2-3 days is good enough, maybe 2x a week.... why? why? why?

There are too many meetings.  Meetings that I sit there and start looking at my nails, wondering if I should wake up early for the rest of the week and go to the gym, or wondering if I should go get a massage after work.  When the meetings make your mind wander --- its an inefficient meeting.

People in Asia just looooooove to discuss. Discuss discuss discuss. DURING meetings. Look. The meeting is for a decision to be made. Not a discussion about the decision that hasn't been made.  The discussion part happens BEFORE the decision part, so that a decision CAN be pulled out of that mass of random digression.

So.  I know Americans in Asian meetings go crazy because nothing is ever done.  All the discussion happens, people are afraid to make a decision, and the decision is made somewhere later in a smaller meeting or on a smaller email chain with actual power to make a decision.  So why even bother to have a meeting for 2 hours (supposed to be 1 hour) discussing stuff you probably will not make a decision on....?

This happens in Asia, all the time.  Asians just loooove to not take responsibility for any action, or not step on anyones toes if they make a decision (Japan).  Man. Meetings in Asia suck.

I miss meetings in the US. Short, sweet, to the point, and done when the 30 minutes are up.

ugh.

Today all my coworker and I did was chat on MSN during the meeting. We had no idea what it was about after they stopped speaking in English.  I could understand all of it but I'm not going to listen since its a bunch of digressions and philosophy.  Also, most of the important decisions are made in English. So.  If its being discussed not in English, chances are there is no one important enough there to make a decision. :P

It's only Monday....

Usually Mondays are like a free holiday for me. Well, not all the time. But usually I do schedule my doctors appointments or annoying errands on Monday, knowing that I would have more time to handle them.  Well those precious days are over! Mondays are now as stressful as my every other stressful day!!

I don't think I would mind stressful days so much if I didn't feel like I was always ninja'ed that I have to handle a new project... or, if I could just get some definite answers in the beginning of the project, or maybe some pointers at the best way to handle it -- I don't think I would be so stressed out.  I really hate doing anything wrong.  I hate it. I always have to be right, I always have to do everything to the best of my ability -- so when I don't have enough information to do that I feel stressed out.

Unlike the events I plan myself where I can go and demand answers from everyone and anyone I feel like, I unfortunately can't do that in certain situations so I don't know what to do.  And I HATE not having the answers. 

Ah well...

Bohemia

That's basically where I am.  And I like the music here.  I think I'll come back and visit.

There's a coffee shop here with GREAT coffee that I used to frequent a lot.  It's called DANs. 
However, as business picked up, so dropped its quality. The coffee is still great, but the service isn't as quick as it used to be, and the servers attitude has become defiant, probably because they no longer need to beg for business since they're always full.

If I ever open my own business, I will never be a bitch to my customers.  Only the ones that deserve it. :P
Don't worry, I'm not an entrepreneur, I hate customers and they're always wrong because I'm always right. If I want to serve you slop you eat it, bitch.  I'm the boss of you.

Anyhoo.

I came here to do some work but of course ended up procrastinating.  At least we switched to a less busy cafe.  D came and ate dinner with me, then left for a client dinner so now I'm all by myself, watching people walk by.  I really like this place -- minus the 5 billion tourists. I know it's not their fault that they're so fucking n00by but fuck stop being such a fucking n00b!! I say in my head.

It's funny that the waitresses in front of me are talking about ChinaJoy. That was months ago.

I love people watching.  Japanese people to my right, talking about whether or not they like their lives in Shanghai. Some dude across from me reading a book -- careful dude, the lighting is so dim you're going to go blind.  Some customer annoyed the place only takes cash -- "Where's the ATM??!" 

I saw a friend today.  He was with a girl, and just passed by and we said hi.  He said, "I haven't been around, been traveling and getting the hell out of here." "Oh? What's the matter?" we said.

"This place sucks. I'm going to move. It's the same group of guys. Getting into fights with also the same groups of guys. Sometimes new guys come, and they get into fights with them too. So fucking stupid.  I'm tired of this small ass group, these people."

"How long have you been in living here now?"
"Almost 2 years."

Ahh.... that explains everything. The 2 year crisis, where you realize that living here sucks when you can't find a group of close friends.  Close friends are hard to find here. People are fake and stupid, stuck in their own little bubbles, insignificant lives.... when you're tired of clubbing, partying, hoes, sluts, drinking.... and you look for deeper meaning and fulfillment.... its hard to find here. People are shallow. It's Vegas with even less rules. Money goes a lot farther here. You can imagine what life is like, how much debauchery there is, Welcome to Never Never Land....

But congrats to him though.  He recognizes what it is... people tend to grow cynical when they realize what is really happening around them. Bravo for him for realizing how shallow the ties here are.  I hope he finds some better friends too. Some more intellectual people who he can find common ground with. Because I see so many people here stuck as if its still the first 6 months of their adventure here.  As if they're still in high school.  Drinking everyday. Fighting everyday. And for what? KTV hoes.  So sad. I wonder when they'll realize how big the void is in their hearts that they're really trying to fill with all this partying, hoeing around, and drinking.

Bliss

Appropriately titled, this little lounge on Jin Xian lu kind of serves as a little after work escape for me.  I have been rarely out and about in this area for a long time, but since I haven't seen the girls in awhile I felt I'd show up for dinner. Plus, a mutual friend was visiting so a dinner was set up.

I know I haven't left yet but I'm already starting to miss all these little conveniences.  It must be a similar lifestyle in New York, where you can just take a taxi anywhere you want and not have to worry about driving, traffic, or parking.

Everyone at dinner today has work that is somewhat related with technology and trends. It seems somewhat of a given... since we did grow up in this generation. I read an article lately about how your job is most likely obsolete if you're not proficient with a computer.  Ain't that the truth.

I don't even think I can separate myself from one for more than a few hours.

Work has been pretty crazy lately.  When I get in the morning, I feel like my soul has been sucked dry by 2p.m.  I sometimes wonder how other people's days are.  I know we're a busy company, but it's so hard to explain the different kind of "busy" we are... versus... advertising, or marketing, or events.

I'm constantly looking at technology and trying to see if things can work with each other. I guess its 24 hour problem solving.  I hated word problems during math class, and I hate the Rubiks cube, as well. Maybe thats why my brain is so tired by 2p.m.

Which is why I'm even happier there are places like Bliss.  I can just sit down, talk to my friends, and relax.  De-stress, chill, unwind a bit before I go home and go to bed, and wake up and tackle the same thing all over again the next day.

Sure it's fun living in a big city.  But with your family all overseas, it's hard to unwind by yourself sometimes.  That annoying feeling called "loneliness" kind of fucks it up.

Okay, so I'm a slacker

When I moved here in 2003, I thought I was only going to be here a month. It's been almost a decade.

I used to have a blog that I updated at least 1x a day. When it broke it got deleted from the internetz and I never bothered to blog again. Also, back then, blogging wasn't as mainstream. There was no blogger, no livejournal, I don't even know if myspace was popular yet, though I remember Friendster did exist. Either way, I stopped blogging when my previous space in the internet abandoned me.

Since I won't be living here forever, I think I'm going to start blogging like I used to again. I think what happened was that, over the years, I did start to blog again, however because everyone and their mothers started to be more proficient with the internet, and myspace and facebook blew up, it was hard to really keep blogging since a lot of the stuff I wanted to write offended a lot of people. It's been almost 10 years since I really kept a blog. So, since I'm going to start again, here's a Fuck You to all of you that may get offended one way or another. :)

Is this what love is supposed to feel like?

Wow. Bruno Mars.

I like a little of what he's feeling.