Category: Fantastically Foreign Friday

before I knew what I was doing

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Fantastically Foreign Friday Vol. 5

On this (relatively) quiet, cloudy and very fall-ish Friday afternoon, I decided to forgo doing the dishes and actually write a F3 post on Friday *novel idea, I know!* and since I did promise to introduce you to my second favorite J-Rock band and the Granddaddy of all K-Drama’s I better get at it!

my first story 1This week’s featured artist is the Japanese rock band, MY FIRST STORY. Debuting in April, 2012 with their album My First Story (very original title, I know) the band released their sophomore project The Story Is My Life this past February. I wish I could say these guys’ music was incredibly easy to get your hands on but alas, it’s been quite the chore. my first story 2Maybe it’s because MY FIRST STORY is still a relatively new band, or maybe it’s just because I live on the wrong side of the world (well, at least when it comes to feeding my addiction to Asian music) but I have yet to find a music store (both physical and online) that offers MY FIRST STORY and that’s just sad because these guys are GOOD! If you liked anything I posted in my first 3F blog by ONE OK ROCK, then you’re going to like MY FIRST STORY. MFS has a slightly edgier sound to them (and by slightly I mean, very slightly) so when you’re in that particularly rebellious, “I don’t want to look at you or listen to you anymore” mood (which I find myself in a lot at the moment) these are the boys I turn to, to fuel my rebellious fire. Are these guys actually rebels? I have no idea but the very fact I can blast their music, make myself feel better and annoy the crap out of my in-laws at the same time makes me positively giddy. (And yes, I realizes I now sound like I’m seventeen but I don’t care; it’s just turned into one of those days.) So take a sec to listen and see if these guys really are the bee’s knees.


And now, as promised, I’m going to introduce you to the Granddaddy, the Godfather, if you will, of all K-Dramas…Boys Over Flowers.

boys over flowers

Ok, so I don’t really know if I can call BOF the Godfather of all K-Dramas, but it is one of the most talked about and well-known K-Dramas (at least in the world of K-Drama crazies, like myself).  I don’t think it’s actually possible to hold any K-Drama conversation (of any substantial length anyway) without making some sort of reference to Boys Over Flowers at some point. *Seriously, it’s just not possible.* Based on the ever-popular manga, Hana Yori Dango, Boys Over Flowers is essentially a modern Cinderella tale, about a spunky poor girl who finds herself caught up in a world of wealth and indulgence so very unlike her own. Starring Gu Hye Sun, Lee Min Ho, Kim Hyun Joon, Kim Bum, and Kim Joon, Boys Over Flowers is one K-Drama, you really don’t want to miss! (Don’t believe me, just read that lineup of actors one more time. Go ahead, I’ll wait…and now that you’ve gotten back up off the floor, I’ll continue. And for those of you who have no idea who any these guys are yet, this is why you need to watch this show…now!)

So that concludes another edition of F3 (I know, I was trying really hard to come up with another “F” word to throw in there just so I could call my Friday posts “F4” but I just didn’t want to go there). Hope you’re enjoying these post as much as I am and are back again next week to see what I come up with next. Until then…happy marathoning! (Oh wait, that’s not what weekends are for???)

Already a crazed K-Drama addict, like myself and walk to talk more? Join me on DramaFever as my fellow Drama Clubbers and I discuss love, fate and time-travel in DramaFever’s Marry Him If You Dare Drama Club. Hope to see you there!

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Fantastically Foreign Friday Vol. 4

Alright! Alright! I know I missed last week’s 3F post (blame it on a frantic rush to get Halloween costumes finished by Saturday) and for that I’m sorry; so to make it up to you, I’ll treat you to a Monday edition as well as a regular post on Friday. I know, you’re all squealing with delight now but try to keep it down or your boss may notice you’re not actually working right now.

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Today’s feature band is the super poppy B1A4, who made their debut in 2011 with their single, “O.K.” (Which, by the way, has to be one of the catchiest songs ever. Seriously! Every time it pops up on my iPod, I have to dance.) 4Since their debut, B1A4 has released a full-length album in both Korea and Japan as well as four mini-albums, their fourth releasing in May of this year. If, like me, your home has been invaded by a tweenage girl and you feel that if you hear one more Justin Bieber or One Direction song you just might throw yourself out a window, I’d recommend introducing her to B1A4. In true Bieber/1D fashion, B1A4‘s albums are full of super catchy tunes that’ll have your tweenage princess dancing around her room as she sings into her hairbrush (well, at least to the lyrics in English) and maybe, just maybe, you won’t spend the rest of your life with the lines “You don’t know you’re beautiful” running through your head. *Hey, it’s worth a shot, right?* (And just in case you’re wondering where all the music videos for B1A4 are, the embedding of their videos on YouTube has been disabled so if you really want to watch one, click on B1A4 anywhere in this post and you’ll be taken straight to a video. Have fun!)

The-Master-s-Sun-korean-dramas-35150294-1280-720

With Halloween fast approaching, I thought it only fitting to highlight a drama full of things that go bump in the night. Enter my favorite K-Drama of 2013 (so far)…The Master’s Sun. Written by my K-Drama writing heroes, the Hong Sisters, and starring Gong Hyo Jin and So Ji Sub, The Master’s Sun is the story of the master's suna poor, miserable girl, haunted by ghosts no one else can see. Labeled as crazy, she’s spent years alone, trying to hide from the unsettled spirits that refuse to leave her alone, until one stormy night, she happens to meet a man who, with the slightest touch can chase all her ghosts away. It doesn’t take much to imagine where things go from here but let me just say, this is one of the best dramas I’ve seen in a long time. There’s more to this story than ghosts and the seventeen episodes it takes to reach this story’s conclusion are well worth your time. If you only ever watch one drama, I’d recommend this one as its ending is probably one of the most satisfying in the history of K-Dramas and you won’t have to spend the days that follow in some miserable post-K-Drama funk because things weren’t resolved to your liking. Seriously, this was one of the easiest dramas to walk away from at its conclusion because it felt like everything had been really resolved. *If you watch any amount of K-Dramas, you know exactly what that post-drama funk feels like.*

 

So that’ll do it for this belated edition of Fantastically Foreign Friday. Join me this Friday as I introduce you to my second favorite Japanese rock band and one of the most beloved K-Dramas of all time. See you Friday! Oh…and Happy Halloween!

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Fantastically Foreign Friday Vol. 3

ft island 1

As promised, this week’s music spotlight belongs to none other than the amazing F.T. Island. Debuting in 2007, the five-member band has met with incredible success across Asia, with their single, “Theory of Happiness” grabbing the #1 spot on Japan’s Oricon Daily chart earlier this year. If chart ranking mean nothing to you, have no fear because listening to just one of F.T. Island’s songs is enough to impress you. Their pop/rock sound is taken to a whole new level with the vocals of Lee Hong Ki. Seriously, every time Lee Hong Ki starts to sing I feel like I’m going to melt, his voice is just. that. good. *sigh*

ft island 2

ft island 3

If, after downloading all of F.T. Island’s albums and singles, you still can’t get enough of Lee Hlee hongki nail bookong Ki, you can watch him in We Got Married-Global Edition or you can check out his book of nail art, which was released earlier this year…if you can get your hands on a copy. The pre-sales alone caused Nail Book to take the top slots on the Tower Record’s book and magazine charts and it’s been a bestseller since its release. The fact that it’s sold out on Amazon, with no indication of if or when it will be available again, should give you some of idea of just how popular Lee Hong Ki is. If anyone out there knows where I can find a copy of this book, please let me know! o_O

MischievousKiss-poster

As much as I’d like to go on and on about Lee Hong Ki and the rest of F.T. Island, I should move on to this week’s drama, Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo, which just happens to be the most recent adaptation of one of my all-time favorite manga, Itazura na Kiss. Starring Honoka Miki and Furukawa Yuki, MK:LIT follows the story of Aihara Kotoko, an ordinary high school girl with a severe crush on an extraordinary boy, Irie Naoki,  who turns her down flat seconds after she confesses to him. If that weren’t bad enough, Kotoko’s house is soon after destroyed by a meteorite and she and her father are forced to move in with her father’s childhood friend who just happens to be Naoki’s father. Things only better from there as Kotoko and Naoki find their lives intertwining in ways they could have never imagined.

 

So that pretty much does it for this week…enjoy and I’ll see you next week for another edition Fantastically Foreign Friday!

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Fantastically Foreign Friday Vol.2

Last week I introduced you to one of my favorite Japanese bands, ONE OK ROCK, and one of my all-time favorite K-dramas, You’re Beautiful. If you took the time to watch any of You’re Beautiful, you probably spent the last week with songs from the show stuck in your head and if you’re at all like me, you’re now wondering where you can find A.N.Jell’s album. Unfortunately, A.N.Jell only exists in K-dramaLand *waaah!*  but the three talented actors that make up A.N.Jell are also musicians which means you can get your fill of Jang Geun Suk (aka Hwang Tae Kyung), Lee Hong Ki (Jeremy) and Jung Yong Hwa (Kang Shin Woo) without having to watch episodes of You’re Beautiful every day for the rest of your life. *Hooray!* While I’d love to introduce you to the work of all three of these amazing artists at once, I feel like I would be gipping them of their time in my relatively small spotlight, so this week I’m going to focus on just one and that would be Jung Yong Hwa’s rock/pop/alternative band CNBLUE.

cn blue 3

CNBLUE debuted in Japan in 2009 with their first mini-album Now or Never and released their first Korean mini-album, Bluetory, in 2010. Since then, CNBLUE has released several albums and mini-albums in both Korea and Japan, all of which have met with incredible success. The band spent a good portion of this year on their Blue Moon World Tour while somehow managing to find time for both Kang Min Hyuk and Jung Yong Hwa to film for upcoming K-dramas. Kang Min Hyuk is currently starring in SBS’s newest drama Heirs (which you can watch here http://www.dramafever.com/drama/4274/Heirs/) and Jung Yong Hwa’s newest drama Mi Rae’s Choice (aka Marry Him If You Dare) is scheduled to release next week. How these guys find time to release new albums, tour and act is beyond me but they do and we love them for it, which brings me to our drama of the week but first, check out these videos from CNBLUE…


If last week’s drama and this week’s band wasn’t enough to get you hooked on Jung Yong Hwa, this week’s drama should do the trick. Starring Jung Yong Hwa, Park Shin Hye and Kang Min Hyuk (to name a few) Heartstrings follows the story of two college music majors, one majoring in modern music and the other traditional, and the sparks that fly when the two go head-to-head to prove which musical style is best. Being a fan of Jung Yong Hwa, Park Shin Hye and music in general, this rom-com is one of my favorites as it’s another drama full of great music and that classic love-hate relationship of which I can never seem to get enough. You can watch the first episode below and the rest of the series on DramaFever here…http://www.dramafever.com/drama/3934/Heartstrings/ and if after that, you still can’t get enough of Jung Yong Hwa you can watch the premier of Marry Him If You Dare here, http://www.dramafever.com/drama/4320/Marry_Him_If_You_Dare/ later this week and then join me for the newest DramaFever drama club where I and two other bloggers will be discussing each week’s episodes in-depth. Until next week…enjoy!

 

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