Pop corny! #1

I’m a child of the 80’s which means my musical tastes run heavily from the 1990’s. The latest stuff from the music industry hasn’t really had me bolting to the radio. If anything the majority of new music has been making me long for some Hanson, of all things (My Friday Ketchup co host tells me constantly I need help for my lack of musical taste!). I have been starved for a good pop group, since nobody does pop music like Savage Garden.

Until… I stumbled upon a music program on SBS which reminded me of RAGE (a program that is no longer the place to get all your musical needs in one hit). However, in my then migraine-addled state, I thought I was missing something; I couldn’t understand a thing anyone was singing about.

Checking the TV guide once said migraine had passed I discovered the reason for the confusion. The program was called Pop Asia and let me tell you, my musical tastes and I are happy as pigs in mud.

I’ve only had time to catch a few episodes and I want to share some of the best clips I’ve seen so far.

Today we head to Korea

I am in love with the cinematography, concepts and costuming for the Seoul based band, Big Bang and their clip Fantastic Baby. Guys on thrones with looooong red hair… yes please!

How about a little dance and Adam Labert-ish vocals… TVXQ, a duo from South Korea, covered almost all the bases with an industrial type soundtrack, an almost identical vocal style as Adam Lambert (who I LOOOOVE) and topped of with an awesomely choreographed dance sequence… Can you see the snake?

Got a hankering for Duffy, but don’t know the words? (Don’t worry neither do I) How about trying a cover version of Mercy called Dancing Queen by Girls Generation. You get the retro sound and a bit of weird dancing with cute fashions. Best of all you get that great tune, and new lyrics.

And last but certainly not least is Mine by Kim Jaejoong. This clip gives me goosebumps. Again with the Adam Lambert glam rock sound, but the production value of slow motion vision and a set of fangs never fails to send me to my happy place. It would not surprise me if this song ends up on the soundtrack to one of the many book to movie adaptations in the near future. It can almost tell a story all by itself. This clip has the English translations.

I’d love to hear what bands from the Asian region have hit your radar.

“Looks aren’t everything. Believe me, I’m a model.” Cameron Russell talks on ted.com

If you have a spare 9 minutes and 40 seconds after reading this, I’d love for you to watch a amazing, thought-provoking clip from ted.com

How big a role does beauty play in your day to day life? Do you take that extra 5 minutes to put make up on before skipping a healthy breakfast, so you can run to the bus, to try and shift a kilogram or two off your thighs, that would look so much better in that particular pair of jeans? ~Hold on let me take a breath after that one.~

Cameron Russell has been a model for 10 years, and in 10 seconds she changed the perception of her audience by putting on a longer skirt and a jumper over her short, designer, skin tight dress. She also ditched the 8 inch heels and came down to a more reasonable level. She went from a ‘supermodel’ to a ‘regular woman’ within moments, creating a more approachable, and arguably, more believable persona just by the way she looked.

It takes a genetic lottery, a few centuries of unfair biased opinions of what is considered ‘beautiful’ and a team of experts to make the constructed, glamorous, glossy pictures and runway shows we see in our day to day lives. Those ones that we aspire to emulate, even though it is considered unobtainable to a large percentage of the population.

So if you are not rail thin, if you have darker skin, or are around 5 foot tall, if you’re teeth aren’t gleaming and perfect … on the whole, honestly according to those same glossy magazines, society should look elsewhere to find a person of value?

How vain, how rude and how superficial.
But aren’t we all feeding this monster every day? So aren’t we all to blame?

I challenge you to make a conscious choice to not judge someone by the way they look, or even judging yourself by your appearance. For just one day, look a little deeper and don’t take things at face value.

As Cameron points out, ‘Being fearless means being honest.’ Do you honestly want to be defined by the society who believes the unfair statement, that “Beauty is Everything”? Or do you want to be the catalyst for not allowing this statement to define you?

I’ll get off my soap box now. Good job Cameron!

What’s in a Keek?

I was told I was living in the technological dark ages by my, recently turned 60, father, last week. I laughed it off, because I think it’s hilarious that my dad knows more about modern technology than I do.

What he actually said was “I sent a picture of my birthday cake to your phone.” To which I had to tell him my phone only did text messaging and phone calls. His answer was “Well what’s the point in that.” See, technological dark ages.

I guess if I were to go the ‘smart’ phone path, I’d be a little intrigued by some of the strange things people do with them. Things that have little to do with actually making a phone call.

Like Tweeting. Up until a couple of years ago this was something cute little birds did at 5am to drive you up the wall, letting the world know that the sun is rising. It is now a way for politicians to lose voters, pop stars to snipe at each other and for book lovers to brag about their latest acquisition.

The restrictions on tweeting (I do the tweets for the burn bright book club from my computer) are a mystery to me. How can one person possibly spark such an uproar in 140 characters? What would happen if we were allowed, say, 200 characters; would that be enough to create world war 3?

Apps or applications are a screaming hit. Angry birds, fruit ninja and whatever else is hot right now is right at your finger tips to keep little kiddies occupied.

Then there’s the whole FaceBook from anywhere idea. I will admit I am extremely addicted to FB. After fighting it for so long, the thought of being able to access it even when I’m out in public, scares me a little. I would be mostly concerned with the privacy settings as some people on my friends list end up having their location posted when they go out in public. Which to me screams… HEY I’M NOT HOME! ROB ME! See, I may be a little paranoid. But just because I can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me.

Youtube is filled with people making videos from their ‘smart’ phones. School children fighting, how make-up lasts through a normal day, and just generally random silliness caught on camera and uploaded for the world to see.

But finally there is the joy that is Keek. This concept as a viewer is cute, as a contributor, the thought of only having 36 seconds to get a point across seems impossible to me. But people do it. The woman who has me going back to keek regularly lately is the youtube sensation katers17 http://www.keek.com/Katers17 She’s a British chick in California working and living with her boyfriend who is also a rather famous YouTuber. Unlike so many other keekers (is that even a word yet) she goes out of her way to keep things cheery and light. We all need a little of that every once in a while. And quite frankly 36 seconds sure is the epitome of little.

While I can still remember a time when you either used a phone box, or you waited until you got home to call someone, this whole idea of being connected to everybody every hour of every day both excites and exhausts me.

What’s your favourite thing to do on your ‘smart’ phone?

Pop culture is so fun, and Supanova is just around the corner – so you need to get your thinking caps on. Costuming and make-up allows us to transform ourselves into an alter ego not unlike super heroes and villains. Here are a few nice ones I’ve found on YouTube.

Wonder Woman by Charismaster

Cat Woman by Cora at Vintage or tacky

Jessica Harlow’s Poison Ivy

Don’t forget to share pics if you decide to try any of these looks out.

Best books of 2012

Throne of Glass – Sarah J Mass

Falling to Ash – Karen Mahoney

God Save the Queen – Kate Locke

Besieged – Rowena Corey Daniels

Shine Light – Marianne de Pierres

Most Anticipated for 2013

Spirit – Brigid Kemmerer

Mystic – Alyson Noel

The Queen is Dead – Kate Locke

Hot Blooded – Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie

Last Blood – Kristen Painter

Books that were and are are to be released at the end of 2012 that I am itching to read but don’t fit into either of the other 2 lists

Undeadly – MicheleVail

Speed of Light – Amber Kizer

Darkness Hunts – Keri Arthur

Days of Blood and Starlight – Laini Taylor

Small Shen – Kylie Chan