I’m Hana Yori Dango’ed OUT, people.
In the last two weeks, I’ve watched most of Meteor Garden and re-skimmed Hana Yori Dango. I’m not gonna lie — I’m doing studious, intricate prepping for Kkot Boda Namja. After this post, I’m gonna go watch me episode 1 of Kkot Boda Namja. ;)
Phew, where to start?
I tried to come up with a reason why this particular story of one girl and four boys is so damn popular as there continues to be yet another version of it made. And at the end of the day, I think the biggest reason is that a majority of the largely female audience of the HYD story likes the idea of a girl being a boys’ world — where she is not only an active participant in it, but where she’s the center of it. The idea of one normal girl being chosen from a bunch of girls who already have the appropriate “credentials” to satisfy rich, good-looking boys is a tried-and-true fairytale plotline; HYD is a modern spin of it.
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The majority of 2008′s new music has come off as kind of dead and dull to me. Not a whole lot of good new stuff from the artists I keep up with / artists I randomly keep up with. But, I did inadvertently open myself up to a much larger ground in the music terrain. I discovered some old music that I happened to really fall in love with. Okay, so saying that I fell “in love” with the music puts a lot of stress on the poor songs, but I just meant that it was refreshing to listen to and made some kind of impact on me, sentimentally-speaking.
Favorite albums of the year,
Favorite songs of the year,
王力宏 – 你是我心内的一首歌 If I had to narrow this list down to only three songs, this song would come first. The music of this song isn’t very challenging or groundbreaking, but it evokes some sort of familiarity for me. Of course, Leehom was going for that note of sentimentality with the song. (It’s very Shanghai-tan-esque, no?) The song reminds me of spring and spring is a good time of the year.
方大同 – Love Song In orderly fashion, this song would come second. I love this song for its melody and for its lyrics. The lyrics are a “fuck you” to what Khalil perceives to be the typical love song. Khalil’s a very articulate guy and you can tell from his lyrics that he thinks a lot about life and music, which is the kind of thing you want in an artist. He makes his peers seem silly. If I had to recommend one artist from the Chinese pop scene (which encompasses a lot of ground), I’d recommend this guy, and this song. Listen to the song here.
동방신기 – Purple Line This seems like an eon ago, but I really did love this song and all the hype around it. This was the first dance hit that I anticipated the release of after I became a fan of the group, and compared to their previous dance hits — The Way U Are, Tri-Angle, Rising Sun, O-Jung.Ban.Hap — this one wasn’t shabby. It’s got GREAT use of bass and it feels very strong and relentless. Purple Line is the sort of song that I feel makes a statement and leads somewhere. Minus the most embarrassing use of an English line in all the history of non-English songs, this is the one song I would recommend for the ballad haters and the DBSK doubters. F’real.
张力尹 – One More Try I can probably sing this song in my sleep. Of all the music fandoms I dabble in, this song is the only thing that inspired me to actually contribute to fandom in non-graphical ways, in the form of lyric translations…which is not a lot at all, but my translation of this song coincided with my official decision to major in East Asian Studies, so it means a lot to me. This is also the best song off Zhang Li Yin’s resume and a very inspiration song that symbolizes the return of a girl who I’m really rooting for.
Ibadi – 오후가 흐르는 숲 Song three of the “if I had to narrow this list down to three songs” train of thought. This song is mind-bogglingly beautiful. The entire song just evokes such a sense of tranquility and peace that I will never be able to properly articulate it for you to feel, unless you were me.
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Kanye West’s cover for his single “Love Lockdown” on the left and the cover for his album “808s and Heartbreak.” Both are amazingly simple and effective. My two things to look for in any piece is 1) color scheme and 2) simplicity. Both deliver. The cover on the right of course is more complicated, but it also has adds a nice sense of humor and a comic book feel to it, which belies the emo angst that is this album. (The album starts off well and then progressively gets worse but I still enjoy this album more than his others. I like mellow music?)
Another cover that uses the heart imagery so well:
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Utada Hikaru’s single “HEART STATION/Stay Gold,” which I think was one of the best Jpop singles from this year, and was subsequently included in one of my favorite albums of the year. :)
