Yellow Fever? Kimchi-Flavored

This is not a new phenomenon, but recently I've been observing the kpop craze going around Taiwan and may I presume, anywhere and everywhere there is some Asian population of consequence. In fact there has been a dramatic increase in minds that are besieged by boybands, catchy broken engrish songs, and fancy dance moves. This fever is no where near dying.

Eversince the ubiquitous "Nobody" by the flapper-attired Wonder Girls made it to the holy Billboard 100, I began to seriously analyze this madness.

What is it that makes Kpop culture so addictive?

The first conclusion I came up with was the recent huge group of Korean immigrants in U.S. They are everywhere, in every nook and cranny of U.S. It is only natural for them to propel their own culture and the goodies that come with it. I have to admit that this observation may not be 100% valid. Since I merely came to the conclusion from my personal sightings in the Midwest. Well if they are all over the Midwest, they HAVE to be all over U.S. right?

The second factor is based on the Taiwanese demographic: the kdrama fever. It has been widely known ever since the founding of this small island country that kdrama is the favorite pastime of the Taiwanese housewife, and by hereditary conditions or simply the transferring of traditions, a staple in the Taiwanese school girl's fantasies. It only makes sense then that the korean guy becomes the symbol of a dreamy beau. Thus this becomes another factor that makes kpop particularly selling: what you fantasize about in real flesh and blood + serenading + sexy dance moves. No wonder the Taiwanese are going gaga.

Last but not least, I have to laud the korean entertainment industry's effort in making kpop such a big hit. I'm not saying this out of personal indulgence ok maybe I am, but I think what these Korean artists do deserve recognition as performance art. The color, shapes, and theme of their costumes are all carefully designed and very cutting-edge if you can describe clothes in this manner. The small touches they add, a pin here, a scarf there, and the layers they create all send my fashion alarm beeping. Their dancing are just flat out amazing and was the main stunner that got me when I looked them up on YouTube out of curiosity. New age hip hop mixed with idol moves (I'm referring to ripping off shirts, charming winks, and the works). All their live performances are close to impeccable and to my surprise, their vocals are pretty good. In vivo, you get to hear their voices which are often auto-tuned in their songs. Without the autotuning, they definitely still have the right to call themselves singers. All the songs are fairly catchy and are what I would call techno mixed with elements of soul, R&B, and hip hop. It's no wonder kpop celebrities have gained some international fan base by talent alone.

Deducing from the three factors above, the craze over kpop acts no longer seems such a wonder. But I'm betting the new songs topping the korean pop charts are definitely going to leave me in wonder.
Not convinced? Go on Youtube to search up B2st or Super Junior.

The writer apologizes for her indiscreet bias.

蔡康永的說話之道

This book was recommended to me by two of my close girl friends, Fishe and Cat. I'm mentioning them here, since they will appear more often than not in this blog. And NO those are not their real names. Both of them are frequent watchers of the author's show, a Taiwanese variety talkshow called 康熙來了 which he co-hosts. I occasionally tune in on Youtube usually out of procrastination, which pretty much is 80% of the time. Anyway, the point is: I have actually experienced the author's conversational skills. His speech is humorous, specific, and occasion-fitting.  

The original plan was to attend the author's actual speech. But since we all had rather different plans this summer, we never really got together to plan it out. Then I saw his book in the bookstore and thought, Why not? Afterall, the suave talkers are  the ones who get what they want, much to the bitter distaste of the dull-talkers, like me. Therefore, I bought this book with hopes of it turning me into the observant youngest sibling who knows instinctively what tickles an adult's ears you can probably guess what order I was born into, the student council president who can make the student adminstrators nod assent and the students follow his every syllable as if mesmerized, or perhaps the silver-tongued talkshow host like the author himself.

Yes, I am an avid believer in the power of books. That they can change people. Call me naive, but you can never tear me away from the self-help book aisle.  God bless the publishing industry and the authors who are struggling to survive in this internet-controlled world.

Now, finally, let me get to the book. The book is split into short, concise chapters, each with a lesson on speech. This is one criteria I always look for when picking up Chinese books, because my attention span for Chinese readings is usually a quarter of that which takes to read anything in English. Each chapter, the author provides real-life examples along with his perception in simple language such that it was easy to grasp the main point of each lesson and its effects on people in conversation.

Another delight is the four-panel comic strip in front of each chapter drawn by a so-called 熊寶 (the direct translation would be: baby bear). All his comic strips revolve around the main character bear and his friends and are related to the lesson at hand. The drawings are all so cuddly and cute they could make a girl squeal. EEE!

What I really liked about this book was its main theme. The author stated specificly that the main goal of this book wasn't to help people become clever locutionists, but rather to help people rebuild their ways of conversing such that they become more lovable. I was also surprized by how easy it is and how silly we often miss the easiest things when we're actually opening our mouthes and yaking with each other.

I recommend this book to anyone lacking confidence in their speech and soial skills or to anyone looking for an easy read.

Summer To-Do List

-study organic chem atleast 3 chapters/day (0/27)   Afterall, I did carry it all the way home..-.-
-read ten books (3/10)
     1. 蔡康永的說話之道
     2. 我這樣考上東大和哈佛   本山勝寬
     3. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
     4.Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand  I have no idea how I'm going to be able get through this one. Judging from the thickness, I would not have even considered buying it if it weren't for its fame and numerous recommendations.
     5-10. TBA    
-write reviews for the books on my booklist (1/10)
-update this blog daily   FAIL
-Go to the gym Monday, Wednesday, Friday for 2 months (19/28)
-Jog on Tuesdays (2/11)
-Swim on Thursdays (2/11)
-Kenting road trip with my gals :)
-Luxy with highschool friends
-Danshuei trip with highschool friends friend :P
-Learn espanol and nihongo/hangul
-write something to show British Lit. teacher
-go to Austria and Czech/Japan with family <3
-practice driving (as often as possible)
-prepare for drving written exam
-burn CDs (2/3)
-preparation for pineapple cake business visit my other blog on this :)
-organize closet & computer files  esp. my music folder, it's a labyrinth.
-learn hip-hop & hip-hop jazz    my good friend T got me into this, I'll write a separate post on this.

Fingers-crossed, I'm ready for this.