I'm Not A Crazy Fan Like Some People..

Everyone has done it.

Don't LIE. 

ADMIT it.

It's a little creepy and weird, but we've all stalked someone before, either be someone we totally crushing on or someone we're just curious about. Whatever your reasons are, you've done it. It can be harmless. Like there's no harm in seeing what the person you're stalking is up to and just memorize their beautiful looks if it's a crush, ya know. As long as you don't try to find where they live and follow them everywhere they go, then it shouldn't be harmful...at least that's what I think...

With every K-pop idol I like, I would go out of my way to find any information about them because I love them so much and am so curious to learn more about their life like I'm their best friend. The things I find about them makes me like them even more. 

But I'm not the one to go find their address and sneak in to their place, and surprise them. I ain't a sasaeng fan (사생팬). For those who don't what sasaeng fans are, they're known to be extremely obsessive fans. They are the extreme stalkers who would actually try to find where you live and invade your privacy. Like I don't know how the hell they do it. They seriously got ways that are questionable. They're like super ninja spies. They treat their idols like Gods/Goddesses. If there is a sasaeng fan reading this, like I'm sorry, but it's the truth. Anyways, sasaeng fans would follow you around wherever you go. They would follow an idol's van around like a cop and thief chase. Some fans may hire "special taxi drivers" just to do that. The taxi drivers can be seen at concert halls, broadcast stations, or dorms and would get paid around $300-$500. That's a lot of money. I can use it to pay towards my college tuition and textbooks. Like DAMN!

These fans are willing to pay as much as they can just to be closer to their idols. They go all out man. If a sasaeng fans sees something that don't like about their idol like the idol being critiqued or being in a relationship, they would do anything to make you take back your words. They would defend them and find someone else to criticize on. For instance, recently EXO Chanyeol was under fire for his inappropriate hand gestures. 

The hand gesture he made means "whore mother". It is most common among elementary through high school students when someone is saying something their friends should believe in. It literally means "If I'm wrong, then my mother is a whore". Because of this gesture, netizens are saying that Chanyeol is disrespecting his parents. EXO-L's didn't like this at all and found someone else to pick on. They tried to find idols who has done similar gestures to Chanyeol's. So they found Beast's Lee KiKwang. This was when he appeared on 'Weekly Idol'. EXO-L's accused him of making the same gesture and believed he should be criticized. But netizens and fans tried to protect him and showed that he was making the 'promise' gesture and not the 'whore mother'.

As you can see sasaeng fans take things too personally. I'm sure you have heard numerous news about them. South Korea has even made a new clause to the South Korea Minor Offense Act to protect K-pop idols from fans. There's even a support center for them to get supportive advice and help artists cope with their fame. This is pretty serious knowing that there's a clause specifically for them. I'm just a regular fan who does obsess over idols, but not to the extreme. It's good to admire them and like them, but there's no need to know every single thing they're doing and get mad over the tiniest thing. People get criticized everyday. Honestly, sasaeng fans makes us 'normal' fans look bad and idols are terrified to approach them. There are more to things in life than to stalk idols and waste money on them. They're human beings just like us. They don't need this special treatment. So please sasaeng fans, find something better to do in life. There's so much you can do.

KDrama Review: Flower Boy Ramen Shop: I Hated It ***Semi Spoilers***

First of all let me just apologize for this title that doesn’t have any kind of witty connection to the title of the drama. I couldn’t think of anything nor did I really want to.

I know we all have that one show that we thought was just god awful. It had no perks, and you only finished it because you felt obligated to because you started it. That’s how this drama was for me. It was poorly written. I don’t know what the dialogue was, nor do I know what that horrible plot was, but let me stop being biased and throwing my opinions at you. I’m going to give you a chance to figure out if it’s worth watching on your own. ***READ THE BOTTOM***

This drama starred Jung II Woo; he played Cha Chi Soo, Lee Chung Ah; who plays Yang Eun Bi, Lee Ki Woo; who starred as Choi Gang Hyuk and Park Min Woo who is Kim Ba Eul (he was also in Modern Farmers.)

The plot of this drama… okay, Yang Eun Bi, leaves her father's Ramen shop to pursue her dreams of being a high school teacher—actually let me back track. Cha Chi Soo is this rich boy, essentially his father is very wealthy, making him so. He comes back to Korea from New York, without his father knowing, his father didn’t want him to be in Korea and upon hearing the news of his son’s return he sets out his people to find him to send him back to America. Cha Chi Soo pleads with father to let him go to school in Korea instead and his father complies.

Yang Eun Bi is this senior in college who wants to be, basically a gym teacher (I don’t know anyone who wants that) anyway, she only does this because she thinks it’s an easy job essentially.

Let me just stop and say this drama is based on this one fortune she got from this woman who tells her she’ll meet the love of her life with ringing bells or something like that. BOOM she meets Cha Chi Soo with ringing bells, but… only because he was running away from his father’s security and ran into her bathroom stall? Yeah… he ran into her bathroom stall… thankfully Yan Eun Bi has a boyfriend who

is in the military and he’s coming back the next day, no worries.

So she goes to meet him and he’s not there.. he left with another woman. Come up with your own conclusion. Blah blah blah. Her father ____ (this would be a spoiler so I left it blank), she sucks at her high school job she starts to work at the Ramen shop. She embarrassed herself in front of Cha Chi Soo who she has feelings for out of nowhere… overall her character was very childish, especially for someone who was supposedly a senior in college. Did I mention that she was a senior in college and he was like.. a junior.. or something in high school... that's a little weird. (But that's just me.)

She then meets this other man who knows her father and he starts to fall for her. THIS DRAMA AS YOU CAN SEE IS A GOD DAMN MESS.

You’re probably wondering where Park Min Woo comes in in all of this, and why it’s called Flower Boy Ramen shop. Park Min Woo has another story of his own in this drama. If you want to know what it is, I say go and watch it.

Trying to give the plot of this drama was ridiculous in itself because the plot was so messy you really couldn’t put it in like 5 sentences. There was this part about volleyball that seemed to come out of the blue as well, I don’t even know how they managed to connect it. Also there was another character who I don’t really consider important, but he was in it. He was running from debt collectors all the god damn time. There were so many background stories that it was hard to focus on the plot. It was like, they knew the plot was bad so they just threw all this other shit in there to distract you from it. It was okay, I couldn’t follow it anyway so, if anything it made it better?

They also talked about poop a lot in this drama, like it was the topic in a lot of scenes. I didn’t even

understand it.

I guess the pros of this drama was the small plot twist where you find out two people are actually related, like WHOA DIDN’T SEE IT COMING and the ending was garbage. Okay that was harsh, but I did like it because it wasn’t a happy ending. It was kind of like real life almost. Granted she got the guy she wanted, but they went through a lot of shit, I mean the stuff they went through isn’t realistic (well maybe where I’m from it isn’t’?) but I mean they still had a lot of hoops to jump through to get to where they kind of wanted to be and there was still more to go. 

So in that aspect it was good, but that small ending, and the plot twist could NOT make up for the rest of that horrible drama. This drama had so much potential. 

I give this drama 1 G-Dragon head out of 5. I have to say, I really hated it.

Watch Flower Boy Ramen Shop on DramaFever >>>>> Flower Boy Ramen Shop

If you really liked this drama please don’t feel offended by my OPINION. It’s not fact. If you liked it please tell me why, because I’d love to hear from someone who enjoyed it. Honestly I would.

My Friends Will Never Understand

There are so many things my friends who don't like Korean pop will never understand. 

                                        Yeah such as life. Oh well, it's okay I have friends who do know what I'm going through and we can all go through it together. I'm sure if you like kpop and kdramas you will know exactly what I mean. 

#1 When You Hear Strangers Talk About Kpop.

This is the best thing ever. I guess though this can apply to everything when you hear people talk about something you like. There is this urge to go over there and talk to them because you know it too and you have finally met someone who likes the same thing as you. The only difference with kpop is that the people who listen to it are a well hidden breed so unless they are going about repping it with merch you will never know so hearing someone talk about kpop I normally go over and talk to them about. We have to stick together. 

#2 Going Out Of Your Way To Remember All The Member In A Group  

To say that I haven't done this would be a huge lie. Let me just say, that it takes a while too especially because once you take notice in one group you take notice in another and another and now you're trying to learn all their names. On top of that you're watching old videos where all of their hair colors

are the same. So you can't tell them apart and when you finally can their hair has changed, and now you have to go back and get used to that color and remember who is who all over again. What makes this worse is that you're now trying to catch a glimpse of their face while their dancing and they keep moving so you have to pause the video. This soon becomes a hassle so you just go on google and type in the group name to see the members and it's another task in its self. Large groups always take the most time to learn. I know all the members names of Girls' Generation, but I don't know who is who.

"AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A TRUE FAN!!" 

#3 Learning The Dance To Your Favorite Songs

There is the need to learn the dance to favorite kpop songs. If you are the type to try then kudos to you because some kpop dances are freaking hard! If you are the type to succeed then super kudos because wow, you're amazing. The choreography is so good, it's too hard to try to imitate. I always end up comparing myself to them and I realize how dumb I look. Of course that never stops me from trying all the other dances. I wouldn't be a fan if I stopped trying now would I? The difference with

NU'EST "Good Bye Bye"

Korean pop and American pop is that a lot of American pop music doesn't really have choreographed dances. It's always fun to try to to their dances honestly it is. You know what I'm talking about if you tried. I'm tried, dances like "Hot Summer" by f(x) "Lucifer" by SHINee as well as "Hello" and "Ring Ding Dong"  EXO's "History" and G-Dragon and Taeyang's "Good Boy." That song I managed to do the whole dance correctly although it was hard as all hell. My friend and I didn't know whether to follow GD and Taeyang or the backup dancers. The list of course goes on and on. What dances have you tried if any?

#4 Watching Variety Shows With Favorite Idols 

So, personally I haven't watched many episodes of many variety shows, but I have watched all the episodes of every variety show that had BIGBANG in it. I've gone back into the past and watched all the shows and episodes they were in even if it was only brief or only one of them in the show's episode. While watching variety shows it allows the audience and the fans to connect their favorite groups. They get to know them on a new level. If you have ever watched a variety show you might know what I'm talking about. It's just seeing them and how they act with other people and each other, NOT in a music video. 

My first variety show was Weekly Idol with G-Dragon. It was his first time on weekly idol. It was pretty late in his career too, he promoting his album Coup D'etat so it was like 2013. Prior to this he was in a popular show Running Man and on another called Infinity Challenge. I feel like Variety Shows are the small bridge between the M/Vs they put out, and the "TV" episodes they do every once in a while and the concerts where you get to see them in real life. 

Variety Shows are everything man! 

These are just four of many things that only kpop fan will get and relate to. Sometimes being a kpop fan is just hard you know? Especially when you have friends who don't like kpop the way you do. It's so sad that my friends will never understand.

When In Rome, Do What The Romans Do

Whatever country you go to, you are bound to experience some culture shock. You're gonna have to deal with the cultural differences and may learn some things that you are not supposed to do.

So here are some Do's and Don't's in Korea. 

Do's:

• Do leave your shoes off when entering a place that don't allow shoes indoor. Some restaurants are supposed to be enter barefoot. A similar mistake I made to this was when I was at the jjimjilbang (public bathhouse) where I had to put on my shoes after getting out of the dressing room. It totally slipped my mind and I put on half my shoes before the lady that worked there told me I wasn't supposed to do that after I get out.
• Do always bow wherever you go. It shows politeness. Depending on the situation like a business meeting or parent meeting, the degree of your bow is important. In those situation, a 90 degree or further bow is good. It shoes great respect to those of higher status. When I was in Korea, I would do a quick bow and hello (안녕하세요) to show respect. Don't ever wave or give our handshakes first. Handshakes usually come after the bow, but if you're of high status then they usually initiate the handshake first.
• Do receive items, whether it be money or a glass of soju, with both hands. Another sign of respect. Usually with one hand under the other.
  

 Don'ts:

• Don't point at someone and call someone over with your palm facing up. This is considered a rude way of calling someone over. The reason they consider this rude is because it's the same way to call a dog or any other animal. 
• Don't take the first half of the seats of buses. Those seats are reserved for the elders and they have the ultimate power. You must respect the elders. But also reserved for the handicapped and pregnant women. Even if the bus is crowded, elders will  not be afraid to tell you to get off. This is the same for on subways. There are reserved seats for them so never sit there or you'll get a nasty look.
• Don't tip at restaurants. Korea doesn't tip. If you do tip, they might think you're looking down on them as pity or showing arrogance. So you save a little money by not tipping. No complaining there.
• Don't directly introduce yourself. Instead have someone who knows you introduce you. 
• Don't be the first person to eat at the dinner table. You must wait for the oldest person to take the first bite. As you may have guess, elders have the ultimate power and it's very strict. Never disrespect them or it'll be the end of you. 

Again, these are only a few examples of Do's and Don'ts in Korea. There are many, many more. If you're interested in going to Korea, you can look more into the culture and what's appropriate. I didn't experience much culture difference when I was there. So good luck and remember elders have the ultimate power!