FYI...my grammar sucks! I am warning you now, if you are an english major, forgive me. I slept through english and comp classes! Math & science were my specialties, algebra questions, throw them at me, biology, I'm your girl... punctuation, sentence fragments, hanging participles... huh??  You are warned! I write like I talk, sometimes ending my writing not where the sentence would end, but just stopping my thought... You will find many "..." in my writing. If that bothers you, you should stop reading now, really, don't go any further. My thoughts just jumble out all over the place. If they are not a complete sentence, I don't like using a period, so I just use...   again, you have been warned. ok, still with me? Let's take a look into crazy Kiki's head, shall we?

Ok, all joking aside :-) 

I have become absolutely obsessed with asian stuff... dramas, music, and the Kpop/ Jpop boy bands.... (swoon...)

I had an interesting experience earlier this year. I got really sick; like raging fever, delusional, pneumonia sick. I ended up in bed for over 5 weeks. What did I do? I had my handy dandy laptop with internet for company. I had always read manga (japanese comics that read back to front, right to left), and my boy hooked me up with a website where you can watch anime (japanese cartoons, mostly based off of mangas).. oh cool.. at the bottom of their webpage they had a little blurb on dramas (real people, limited tv series, like US soap operas but with no sex, some were of my favorite mangas)

... Oh kay! I was hooked on these babies in no time. With being sick and confined to bed I would start a drama and just watch from one episode to the next until the series was finished. They ranged from a series length of between 11 - 21 episodes and each episode was roughly 45 minutes or some were longer like 1hr 20 minutes. This is better than TV! No commercials and I don't have to wait a week to see what is going to happen next. I was drawn to certain dramas with certain actors. Like that actor? Look him up and check out his other dramas.

My smart friend noticed that they all had bishies in them... bishies?? bishonen= japanese for beautiful boy, pretty boy, boys that could pass for girls... oooohhhhhh... I had always liked long hair on guys. This just went further, with hairless faces and - um - just pretty.

Wanting to know more about what a bishonen is, I googled it and found a website that listed real people as examples. I started doing searches on them. It listed men like Brad Pitt (in Interview with a Vampire), Gackt (Jrocker), Hyde (another Jrocker), Lee JunKi (Korean actor), and my favorite of all time Hero (JaeJoong) from DBSK (Korean singing group).

Who the heck are DBSK? Dong Bang Shin Ki, or TVfXQ, or Tohoshinki (depending on which country you are from, their name is different) all roughly meaning Gods Rising from the East. I found some wickedly cool YouTube videos and just became hooked.  I have listened to their music for three months now and I just can't get enough of them. I've bought their albums, all their DVD's that come with english subs (Hey! Lets get those japanese ones subbed ok!!! AVEX - you listening??!)

They sing, they dance, they look hot. What more could you ask for? They are at the top of the charts in Korea and Japan, and are branching out to China and Thailand. I can not wait until they have a concert in the USA. I will drive anywhere. I will be bringing, um lets see, how many have I infected with the DBSK bug.... Starting with my house alone, six, then add more friends I 'bit'. We will be caravan-ing that is for sure. Ok, one disclaimer, they were here last month, in LA at the Hollywood Bowl for the Korean Music Festival, but it featured bunches of singers and didn't even start until 6:30 pm or something. I couldn't justify driving for 20 hours and spending over $1500 to see them sing, three songs. I did really want to go, like really really wanted to go, like painful to have to sit at home while they were in America, like pacing my living room when they were actually at the concert, whimpering... wow, ok, just remembering the pain of knowing they were on the same continent as me and not being able to see them... ouch... I need a moment to gather myself again... ow... that really hurt not being able to go... It didn't help that there were six of us who really, really wanted to go. I was the final decision maker, so I had the extra burden of disappointing everyone else, and carrying their pain too.

I need some chocolate. Talk amongst yourselves, I'll be right back.

... some time later, chocolate and milk in hand... ok back to writing :-D

I have found several very friendly websites who feed my obsession with news or english subbed video clips from Korea and Japan. Until I learn another language I have to rely on others to let me know what they are all saying.

I would encourage all of you to check them out on YouTube. The variety shows are the absolutely the best and guaranteed rib ticklers, if not even pee-in-your-pants funny. Many of them are subbed so if you are an anglo like me just search for 'DBSK eng sub' and you will find a ton. (check out tohoshinki or tvxq too)

My current favorite song is their newest single that will be released in July, the 16th I think. I think it will be called Doushite Kimi Wo Suki Ni Natte Shimattandarou... in english... why did I end up falling for you? It is just so beautiful, and haunting. Hero sings the chorus and his voice is so... I don't know how to describe it. When he sings, it is like my body lifts off the ground. His voice just takes me places. My heart literally catches in my chest when he sings. Oh... I need another moment ...  ok, back on the ground now. 

I have an mp3 that was taken from their Japanese radio show (BigEast Station), a preview, and I keep playing it over and over. I have already pre-ordered the single (with dvd) from cdjapan, and can't wait to get my hands on my very own copy.

Well, I have blathered on enough for one post. I will write more later on why exactly asian dramas are better than anything on tv in the USA, and why exactly I love DBSK.

Ciao!