BLACKJACKS ARE HOME

2NE1 known as force that does it's best to reinvent itself calls to their fans to start a revolution against the accepted Virtual Paradise in their latest music video.

A lot awaited comeback has burst forth with a new stage for 2ne1 who just finished the second day of their All or Nothing WORLD tour.

Blackjacks, as their fans are called, have been trolled by YGE CEO, Yang Hyun Suk so many times that fans are not sure when the MVs for COME BACK HOME, as well as the promised three other MVs (another 1 for Come Back Home, 1 for Gotta Be You and 1 for Happy) would come out.

But after a few days of delay, and perhaps some media play on the part of the CEOs, the comeback was pulled off, two concert dates are behind them, a crazy after party was staged and they have managed to deliver two MVs for their fans to feast on.

Dates for the next concert stops have been set and fans all around the world are either anticipating purchasing their tickets or hoping their blackjack counterparts would be nice enough to post as many fancams as they can risk to post.

CRUSH has hit roofs of major charts and their songs competed with each other to take #1. They have managed to get into not only the POP charts but the MAIN charts internationally making them in the league of digital queens Sistar, who was the only other Korean female group that was able to do that thus far.

The details of the album success is everywhere and that is not what I am really going to blog about.

Since I can't do a reaction video (I do not want to subject you guys to my mug) I would make a reaction blog.

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The MATRIX is one of those very few movies that made me come out of the house and want to look around for deja vu. So seeing that the concept of virtual reality being placed in this MV brought back memories of this beloved movie. Then there is that movie Surrogates where everyone lived in their homes and they lived in their "perfect" version in the real world. The sci-fi concept was spot on.

Fierce as they are, 2ne1 presented themselves as a group of rebels against what has become a norm in a world full of fake realities.

Dara's beloved is trapped in a virtual life where he is happy with her and there is no misery and she frees him from it even if it cost him his life.

Minzy and Bom prepare the bomb that would destroy the institution that made the so called paradise. CL is their fearless leader of course. What else would she be?

I can understand why the graphics took a while to make. This MV took a while to make, graphics-wise. At the very least it didn't look like it was rushed at all. The fact is, if a person like me who edits videos with normal programs can IDENTIFY what kind of edits were done on your idol's MV. Then it means it was done haphazardly. Because the whole point is to be able to distract us from that.

The song itself is a strong one and the music video  just proved that 2ne1 is back and ready to break all the parameters set up for a female group. This is a music video that even nonKPOP fans would understand and LIKE.

I have mentioned before that I am a fan of MVs with a story and this was definitely one of those.

YG, I forgive you for trolling us for so long.

+++++

The show SEX and the CITY was something that I loved for years. I still do. And the fact that there are four members of 2ne1 just leaves me with giddy feels.

Dara is the Charlotte of the group. CL is Samantha, in her fierce fashion and blondness. Bom is Carrie and Minzy is Miranda. Their group doesn't need to act to look like they get along. I am sure that the making video would show NGs because they were just having way too much fun to pay attention.

I love how fresh this video is. And the fact that it was done a couple of years ago is just uncanny. Because their beauty has not faded since. They are even more beautiful now. I think LOVE has something to do with it.

The fact that four independent women (Minzy just became of age this year) are in such a colorful video, with Jeremy Scott, no less, made me happy.

Happy kinda of reminded me of a CF for a communication app like Line and Kakao beacause of the graphics. But it was cute without trying too hard.

+++++

In the end it's all about the fans and it's all about the music. So views or no views, haters or no haters, I am happy YG didn't troll us this time around.

HERE YOU GO!~ NOLJA!!!

#BlackjacksAreHome
#TrueBlackjacksNeverLeft
#2NE1CRUSH

++++++

P.S. I had so much feels I had to write them down. So feel free to read up on my 2ne1 shorts in AFF. 

Let me know what you think of the videos, okay?
I am curious if you liked it or not. No need to control yourself. Feel free to bash. <3

Here is Kenny's reaction video. <3

CTTO

YG EXPLAINS WHY VIRTUAL WORLD GETS DESTROYED IN 2NE1′S “COME BACK HOME” MV....

“The MV of “COME BACK HOME” is set in a near-future city, and the concept is that people in this era prefer the virtual world over the real one, just like the movie ‘Matrix’.”

“These days when people meet they look into the screens of their phones instead of having a conversation, which shows an addiction to cell phones and games. I think this behavior demonstrates that people like the virtual world. Even at playgrounds kids play with cell phones, and this will worsen in the future and people will be more enthusiastic about the virtual world than the real one.”

He continued, “In the MV of ‘COME BACK HOME,’ DARA is heartbroken by a man she is in love with, as he prefers the virtual world. For these reasons, the four members of 2NE1, DARA, CL, BOM and MINZY enter the virtual world themselves and turn into warriors to destroy that world. Through this, we tried to convey the message of how important the real world is, and about the human touch.”

He also explained why he leaned toward a music drama rather than a MV filled with choreographic scenes.

He said, “2NE1’s MVs were mainly choreographic ones until now, so we wanted to try something new. We wanted to invest our time and money in the computer graphic work, which ended up in a 500 million won budget.”

cTTO

“Love Does Not Hurt” Bloggers Night

I got a message from a friend about a Bloggers Night event that I wanted to share with my blogger friends since the last time I checked almost all of them are mommies now (and/or daddies). And I think they would get a real kick attending something like this. I have ooohhhhed and ahhhhed at baby pictures and infanticipated with most of them so I am sure they would get a kick from learning more about parenting.

As for me? I don't have a kid yet but I grew up believing that Love Does Not Hurt either. Bless my grandfather for making corporal punishment illegal in my family. ^..^

But in a time when the internet and technology can expose children to a lot of things too soon, how do you raise your children without spoiling them and leaving the rod behind?

*Darn it, now I am curious*

So if you are too, please contact them and get more details that YOU would need. (I have met my mom and when she wants to do something she squeezes all the info she can get from the organizer before she commits to something)

I dunno if it's a BYOB (bring your own baby) kind of event, you'd have to ask Rash about that.

+++++++++

24 February 2014

Greetings from PETA Arts Zone and Dakila!

Let children grow in love and teach them to be better persons! Advocate Rights to Safety Zone (PETA Arts Zone) Project, a cultural campaign that promotes positive discipline in place of corporal punishment, in partnership with Dakila - Philippine Collective for Modern Heroism, invites you to “Love Does Not Hurt” Bloggers Night on February 26, 2014, 6PM at the PETA Theater (#5 Eymard Drive, Brgy. Kristong Hari, New Manila).

Gather up with your other parent-bloggers for an informal dinner-sharing on your true potentials in influencing fellow parents to support positive discipline in children. Get parenting tips, and listen to stories of parenthood from positive discipline advocates, and learn from experts on how positive discipline affects a child’s growth. You could also catch the video launch of PETA ARTS Zone’s stage performance entitled, “Rated PG.”

For more information and for confirmation, please contact Ms. Rash Caritativo at (+63) 917 860 8055 /(+63) 915 178 0240 / (02) 435 4309 or email at mabuhay@dakila.org.ph.

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All Or Nothing for 2ne1

For a Blackjack that felt like it's been AeONs since the last time we heard something new from our empresses, the past few weeks have been an overwhelming time. Unsure of whether or not I can afford to go to this anniversary concert in the Philippines, I just hope that things would work out and I would be there, to chant, to sing and to dance. I was not there during the first party because I was not able to afford it and I didn't know any YGstans, Blackjacks and VIPs during that time. But this time around, I would definitely burn more for 2ne1 than I did for Big Bang. I wish to come back to the times before Big Bang went here and save like there is no tomorrow. But it would be true this time that my love for Sandara Park (I started as a hidden Krungkrung fan) will shine brighter than my lust for Seunghyun Choi.

In 2013 and early 2014, I dipped into the craziness that mixed my second life into my first life. So I decided to move all kpop friends into a different account. So I can spazz in peace and then revert back to my nonkpop self (still an otaku and my quotable quotes self) to check up on my blogger friends, offline friends, old classmates and clear up the one's who I do not speak to at all, not even on Facebook.

I wish that things could get compartmentalized as easily. And that there are not a lot of things that would be lost when the dust settles.

For now, I urge Daralings and 2ne1 fans to help us vote. ^..^ *click on pictures to get to the voting page*

Go on a YT MV watchathon

And remember #ComeBackHomeBlackjacks

How to 2ne1fangirl right 

1. Go on a Good Vibes MV watching marathon on YT.
2. Write fanfic moments about OTPs. (if not a writer : Read fanfic moments about my OTPs) 
3. Use bashers as villains in fanfics. (if not a writer : Replace bashers as villains in fanfics) 
4. Rant on my private group so as not to instigate anymore shit with shitheads. 
5. Post multifandom things on my wall that are positive. 
6. Yoga breathing when I read grammar errors. (Correct own typos in one's own posts except for rant posts.)
7. If time permits, make positive memes that are not sarcastic. 
8. Talk to ELFs and Cassies so as to reassure oneself that there are truly mature fans of kpop out there. Spazz over SUJU and DBSK accordingly. ‪#‎oldschoolfeels‬
9. If time permits, check out news about my own country as to remind myself I am not Korean and I have my own country and its music industry to support. 
10. BACKread on so-called fanwar threads and munch on my KPOPcorn judging everyone and their arguments accordingly. 
11. Post one or two long posts with my own opinion and then move on to more positive spazzing. 
12. Remind my dongsaengs that our empresses won't like interfandom and innerfandom hate. 
13. Watch funny videos of my ladies. ‪#‎paGV‬. 
14. Chat with friends on this side of the fandom and the other side to see how REAL life is like for them. Because being fangirls together is one thing. But what we take from this spazzing are some unusual friends we would have never met had it not been for 4 fab ladies and a Troll CEO. 
15. Remind myself that I still don't have money for my AON ticket. 
16. Pray that I can find money for all the merchs I want. 
17. Pray that someday I meet a fanboy of 2ne1 and we can fall in spazzlove together and we can go to concerts, save money by doing tipid dates whilst thinking that our major date should be a 2ne1 concert or our honeymoon would be going to Korea and going all kpopcouple crazy over there so much that Koreans would squirm when they see us. 
18. Help dongsaengs with homework (basta wag math nyeta).‪#‎becauseBJsSTUDYevenwhenwespazz‬
19. Converting nonkpop friends to the 2ne1fandom fold.
20. Praying that kids would grow up and earn their own money so they can realize that merchs are not bought by their own steam but by their parents own money. So they should remember to show that their parents raised them well by being good people, offline and online. 
21. ‪#‎Comebackhomeblackjacks‬ campaign

Please share, repost and tell our dongsaengs and friends that we care for them. Spread the blackjacklove. 
(c) Pinaywriter


 

Kpop is my only drug

And I am having too much of it lately.

So I wrote this in AFF.

Signs you are writing/reading too many fanfics

1. You think in auto-OTP.* 

It doesn't matter who ship who, you see a picture, read a post and watch a video and automatically your mind turns into an idea spewing machine.

(And for this I am thankful for the note apps and AFF so I can put my ideas somewhere as soon as I think about it. Kinda like an idea cloud. Because God knows I do not back up my data. [yes, I am a babo like that.]) 

2. You mutter dialogues in the oddest places. 

It used to be in your room when you are alone. Now, you do it when you are walking to work/school, when you are washing the dishes and when you are in the bathroom/loo/jon. And your friends/family members are contemplating your sanity because of the frequency of this "talking to yourself" when for you it's just a tool to test if the dialogues for your fic is something smooth to say in the real world. 

3. You often ignore reality and think it's getting in the way of your second life. 

Oh, please. You have statused on at least one social network that work/school/other major responsibilities have been getting in the way of your writing, admit it. 

We are all guilty of wishing we were billionaires and have time to write all the stories in our minds. 

In my case I imagine a beach house and I have a super workstation that has lightspeed fast internet connection so I can spazz, watch subbed videos (in my dream I can speak, understand and write in 10 languages but I still like to read subtitles like the good old days) and write. And the rooms in my villa are named after Big Bang members and Sandara. 

4. You have at some point imagined an M-Rated scene involving you and your bias.

Granted that regular fans also do this. BUT you as a writer have an advantage. Because you can smell the scenario and taste your bias' skin because of how freaking imaginative you are. So it's fangirling + spazzing 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000x 

5. You SHIP** too hard. 

Meaning you would have heated fanwars with other OTP shippers. So immature. Hahaha. And you DGAF. Because (insert pairing here) is REAL!

6. You are probably single or is making your hubby/bf's life miserable comparing him to your bias. 

I am single. Though I have been a writer for far longer than I have been a fanfic writer. So the whole my husband/bf is my bias doesn't really apply to me. I just treat TOP as my lust bias and go to lust thought. But I can't imagine or want to actually date someone who has fans. I am FAR too possessive and prone to jealousy for that.
BUT I wouldn't say no to a one-night stand that would lead me to have his love child. ^..^

7. Your non-kpop loving friends have probably hidden you from their newsfeed. 

It's not because they don't care about you. It's just that their walls are flooded with kpop they don't even care about. So to keep from unfriending you, you have accepted this reality. That or you have a kpop account and a nonkpop account. (guilty) 

8. You are probably trying to learn or already know how to speak another language apart from your native tongue and English. Like, I dunno, Korean maybe?

I took Nihonggo in college. But I already forgot it. I have not even tried to learn Korean. TOO HARD. Maybe later. Yey for subs!

9. You have more ideas in your head than plans for the future. 

It's not such a bad thing. Unless your job is not related to writing creatively. Because then you would have to shift your thinking pattern to just focus on what needs to be done (programming something or finalizing a boring report). Luckily for me I write workbooks for my company. So it's pretty much the same. Bad thing is, it takes time from my fanfic writing. 

10. You know more about Korean culture than you care to admit. 

In my case this is good because I am an online English teacher to Koreans. (This is how I got in this mess in the first place - researching about Big Bang because a group of girls called themselves TOP, DLITE, VICTORY, GDRAGON and SOL in my group class. TT_TT) 

Got anymore to add to this list? Please tell me in the comments section. ^..^

*OTP - One True Pairing - term to mean a couple that is being paired up in reality or in fanfics
**to ship - to pair up or to be a fan of a pairing

 

2014 Power Word(s) : Redirecting Creativity

I finally chose one after writing a blog in AFF 

THIS IS IT!!! <3

Last year my Power Word was BALANCE. I was able to live up to it for about 80%. 

I am hoping this year, I can live up to my Power Word(s) up to at least 90%. 

In AFF, T.O.P. (Tagalog Online Pocketbook), at work and in LIFE. 

Because resolutions are just too constricting. And we always break them anyway.

PICK a GOAL or PICK something you want your WHOLE year to be about. And use it as you Power Word. 

Then plaster it all over your wall, your mobile wallpaper, your workstation and make it the first thing you see every morning. Think of ways to achieve it.

Your Power Word must be something that is going to help you in that year and also part of how you want your life to be like as a whole. Because what is the point of having a goal and not achieving it.

The wonderful thing about not having a list of things to do like a New Year resolution list, is that you can MAKE mistakes and SKIP some steps along the way. It frees you from having to tick things off from a mental list or an actual list. 

So what's your POWER WORD for 2014?

p.s. 

"As you all can see the ball has stopped half way to its porch. It's suspended there to remind us before we pop the champagne and celebrate the New Year, to stop and reflect on the year that has gone by. To remember both our triumphs and our missteps, our promises made and broken. The times we opened ourselves up to great adventures or close ourself down for fear of getting hurt. Cause that's what New Year's is all about, getting another chance. The chance to forgive, to do better, to do more, to give more, to love more. And stop worrying about what if and start embracing what will be. So when that ball drops at midnight, and it will drop, let's remember to be nice to each other, kind to each other. And not just tonight, but all year long. Thank you." -- Claire Morgan, New Year's Eve

pps. 

Where ever you may choose to travel, may it be to overcome your fears and visit paradise. You need people who love you for you to make your fears the thing of the past and open you to new adventures. Despite invisible bacons and altophobia.  

Finding sisters is always a fabulous thing!

12/31/2013 : Just a few hours is not enough but years of friendship keep the gap small Once a C.A.T.s always a C.A.T.s

2014 :Less Go!~~~

Still my True Love

Troll or not, Still YG. <3

Officially Missing You : Cheesy post ahead

I miss you guys.
My wall may explode from all the kpop that RoK has to offer and I might seem to be only reading and commenting on my new dongsaengs and peeps' walls. F.U. Facebook for doing it like this. (I promise to try to make a group for my contacts with just you guys and flood your walls with likes and notifs again. Soon as I have a smartphone I will attack your IG and twitter as well. *throws aegyo kisses*)

But just because I might be a little crazed and spazzing all over the place doesn't mean I don't miss you guys.
Because you are a part of who I am and you know who you are. If you are reading this know this.

1. I am happy that I met you when I was still a stupid, lazy and arrogant person. You made me believe in myself and that I am good at something and that I should always pursue what my heart wants me to do.

2. I am grateful that even if I am the stupid, lazy and arrogant person that I was before (still kind of am) that you put up with all my crazy and let me show you that although I am loud (all the time) that there are things I could never say like, "I am sorry I hurt you." or "Thanks for loving me even if you don't understand me all the time."

3. Just because I am not available to hang out doesn't make me not miss you all the time.
You know the feeling when you hear something or see something and you lean to a direction as if to say something to someone that you have with you for so long that it becomes a knee jerk reaction to tell them what you think of something or a situation and you know they would probably be the only people to get it? I get that a lot. It makes me lonely at times. But it also makes me feel like I am never alone. (I know I am weird, but you get it right?)

4. I don't know how valuable being bullied by you guys can be. Until I live in a quite space and I try to think of what this person would say when I say something really stupid.

5. I think I learn a little bit about being more responsible from you guys. I always sit in a safe place and wonder about things that I want to do but I never get around to doing it. But being fed stories about your guys having more balls to juggle (no pun intended) makes me realize that if I am friends with these really awesome people, why the fuck am I not doing something with my life that requires more...(que dramatic sfx music) responsibilities?

Which gets me to #6

6. I want to thank you for telling to want more. To do more and be more. I did try to do more but I made a mistake of taking myself where I should have been in the first place and going somewhere I was not mean to go. But detours and mistakes tend to just help you acquire more realizations so that by the time you get to where you need to go (which at some times is exactly where you were in the first place) you know that this is it. This is where you should be and this is what you are supposed to be doing.

7. You are the best gifts the universe, Santa and Maria Makiling ever gave me. Enough said.

So yeah.

8. I miss you guys, gals, geys.

9. I wish that you would be comfy in your lovelives and acquire hubbies soon and gimme pamangkins.

10. See you next year. December is WAY TOO PACKED for me to go anywhere. Literally all my weekends are booked like...three months ago. *throws hearts* *throws kisses*

2013 was EPIK. I wonder what 2014 would be like? Hectic for sure. But happy, I hope.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2014 in advance!!!

Divide and Conquer

If you are like me who works best alone. You must be beside your mind. ^.^

I have heard about teamwork and delegating work as good strategies to get a project done in record time. But I can honestly say, and my old bosses can vouch for this, that I work best alone. But this recent project has shown me that there is indeed strength in numbers and that my limitations can be augmented by the strength of others.

I know, it's pretty late for me to realize this when I have been thrust into group work since grade school. But I have always been the kind who wanted to do things my way and others could just follow me or get out of the way. I pretend to take people's ideas in but in reality I am just checking if they are thinking along the lines of what I was already planning to do.

This frustrates a lot of people. But I also have a pet peeve that matches this personality tick that I have. It's people who just complain but never do anything or suggest anything productive. And I am glad to say, I don't have anyone in this project who is like that. There are still those who do things their own way but somehow it works. And they are able to make great contributions to what needs to be done.

Having people you like work on something you would rather be doing than wasting your life away looking at the work clock and doing a Nakamura to make it go faster, feels great. Despite the need to pump myself with caffeine and chocolates to rush my creative juices, I find that there is a kind of peace in this kind of existence.

I wake up (or try to) as early as I can to get to work (as early as I can). [Yes, I know. I surprise myself as well.] And endure the commute (which as you know I really hate doing since it's a torture on my nose and feet as well as a challenge to my claustrophobic tendencies to be on the subway) to get to where my new office is. Just so I can do something that I would otherwise not have seen myself doing in...ever. And taking responsibilities like the one I am tasked to do now never cross my mind in the last three years since E-lamp. I didn't want to because I felt like my skill set didn't match anything they wanted me to do. Or I didn't want to do it because I felt like I would just be overexerting myself for someone else's profit. I was told that this year the best thing to do is to work on a project with friends. And that is exactly what I am doing right now. I am working on something creative and useful and I am among new and old friends.

So what if I am a bit tired and on a coffee buzz? I am sure I can handle it. And I don't catch myself daydreaming anymore or thinking that I am somewhere else doing something other than what I am supposed to do.

And I know there aren't a lot of people who can say that about what they do to pay their bills. But I can. Bohemian or not. I am glad I went back. And I am staying for as long as possible.


p.s.

Sometimes the greed that is found in the world astounds me. And it irks me when I am the one who gets caught up in the wake of it. Like a fisherman in a freaking storm surge. I expect that I am going to need a new brain after all this is done. T_T