Sunshine Aficionada

Two days ago I got H.I.M.’s album from last month, Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice. A little mainstream but still beautiful. I’ve now returned to metal music, as these days I’ve been focused too much on playing classical and listening to DBSK (both on other ends of the spectrum). And since many people are wondering about (aka questioning) my taste in music, I’ve decided to list my favorite bands and their songs, with live or studio videos for each.

I may not be entirely objective…most of these bands are Finnish, and I am very biased when it comes to my favorite musicians: Tuomas, Emppu, Eicca, Perttu, Ville, Alexi, and Henkka. (Only Eicca is married at the moment, so hehehe.) Tuomas has thanked me publicly and Emppu knows of my existence.

Oh, as for the heaviest metal…I cannot guarantee clean language (I forgot some of the lyrics) but Children of Bodom and Wintersun are the only melodic death metal bands I can listen to without covering my ears.

SYMPHONIC:

Nightwish

Ever Dream (live with Tarja)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W39WaGTPnvg
Just before the band fired Tarja. It made Tuomas cry, so I obviously cried too.

Phantom of the Opera (live Tarja and Marco duet)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj7WrKfw6n0
The audience burst into tears. Amazing operatics.

The Siren (live with Tarja)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlYBsdvFORU

Sahara (with Anette)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aImI9UfdiU
May he now rest in Elysian Fields…

7 Days to the Wolves (with Anette)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVYEVYnuuME

Tarja

Damned and Divine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6Y5WQUWPzM

The Seer (with lyrics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGKc_fSoZ5w

Epica

Cry for the Moon (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2wvH3m3hHs

Never Enough (music video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfLtA8SkmVw

Amberian Dawn

River of Tuoni
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LVIca35Evk
LOL it’s female-fronted and the audience is entirely male…

CELLO:

Apocalyptica

Romance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14sRksQGgts
Perttu’s true hair color is actually blond…and isn’t Eicca’s accent mmmm?

One (Metallica cover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JjQGt7WjK0

Fade to Black (Metallica cover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x97f-_y93a0

Bittersweet (Apo + Ville of H.I.M. + Lauri of The Rasmus)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJIVdoyrgpI

LOVE:

H.I.M.

Love the Hardest Way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGySQFaH008
Love’s the devil counting teardrops in the rain…

Killing Loneliness With You (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB8G0zeRSWU

Poison Girl (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRDOth5A7uQ
Love his jacket.

PROGRESSIVE:

Cohobation (unsigned)

Eden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmgdklEQrrU

This song, among others, was written and composed by the lead guitarist/second singer John N-T when he was younger than I am now. I talked to him a few times before and would go to Sweden just to see the band.

MELODIC DEATH:

Children of Bodom

Angels Don’t Kill (Live HD)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc5wyajR0z4

Hate Crew Deathroll
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSlTJ9YHdr0

Triple Corpse Hammerblow (with lyrics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPB0TOlayy0

Summer (Vivaldi cover, Alexi and Roope)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iLIhLv8LuY

Winter Sun

Starchild
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc4WFzl-6Xs

And a Finnish cover artist:

Wintersun – Winter Madness Solo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozA234H0vFU

Wintersun – Death and the Healing Solo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04MLyyjW5TI

Vivaldi/Bach Stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmNMW352Zj4

I’ve been a fan of that Finnish guitarist for well over a year. His fingers are amazing, eh?

A French cover artist and composer:

Various metal/rock covers
http://www.youtube.com/user/BahamutZero62

Original compositions
http://www.myspace.com/JeromeBailly

Symphonic with a lot of piano. I ran into him two years ago and have been a fan ever since.

Yeah, this is my first 3-post blogging marathon. DBSK deserves the praise.

Today I discovered the UFOs – and too late to sign the SM Town English UFO petition. This is one of those moments when I wish I were physically closer to them. Korean and Chinese (and often Japanese) fans can have a direct way to communicate with any/all DBSK members, and through quite an intimate method of contact – texting. I spent all morning reading through translations of UFO replies on Cassiopeia Family (though I always had to post in order to see them). To ask the DBSK oppas for encouragement on school exams, to confess their love, to tell a joke…this is even better than Nightwish’s Nightmail, because fans and artists communicate through phone texts, and the right fan could get replies from several members and even initiate a conversation. Let me express my envy. So Chinese fans who don’t know any/much Korean, who probably can’t even pronounce the members’ names correctly, get to text them and receive replies in either Korean or Chinese (from Yunho) or English. All that simply on the basis that they reside in China. No fair. I’d get a phone (yes, I don’t have a cell phone) just for UFOs if it were possible.

Now time to promote. I’ve spent far too much energy drooling, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to post URLs. After all, I’d have to keep typing target=”blank” for new windows, and already one of my favorite videos has disappeared, and I definitely don’t want to waste effort on dead links. So here goes my selection of the best DBSK MVs, performances, covers, dramas, shows, and DVDs. Check out any/all of them on YouTube.

MVs:
Mirotic
Doushite Kimi wo Suki ni Natte Shimattandarou (Why Did I Fall in Love With You)

Performances:
Bolero
Mirotic
Love in the Ice
Wrong Number
Don’t Say Goodbye
Are You a Good Girl
You’re My Melody
Doushite Kimi wo Suki ni Natte Shimattandarou and Summer Dream (A-Nation 2008)
Choosey Lover

Covers:
I Can’t Put it Into Words
Lion Heart

Mini Dramas:
The King’s Man parody
Unforgettable Love
First Love
Dangerous Love
The Masked Fencer
Uninvited Guest
Finding Lost Time
Tokyo Holiday

Guest Appearances:
Rainbow Romance (Yunho)
Golden Fishery (Yoochun and Jaejoong)

Upcoming Dramas:
Paradise Meadows (Changmin)
Headbutting the Ground (Yunho)
Heaven’s Postman (Jaejoong)

Vacation:
Cassiopeia (Yunho)
Beautiful Life (Junsu and Changmin)
The Way U Are (Jaejoong)
Eternal (Yoochun)

Shows:
Star Show
Star King
Come to Play
Cooking Variety Show
DBSK BigEast 2nd/3rd Fanclub Event
Fantastic Partners (Junsu, Yoochun, Changmin)
Music Japan Special
Family Outing (Junsu and Yunho)
Shin Dong Yup and Shin Bong Sun’s Champagne

DVDs:
DBSK “Bonjour Paris”

I would say that the most worthwhile shows to watch are DBSK’s appearances in Star Show, Star King, and Come to Play (downright hilarious during the first half, but more deep the second half). DBSK in Paris is a rousing adventure; I was vicariously experiencing Paris through them. Sooo many great and funny scenes:

Junsu’s butt hurts, they sing a capella, Jaejoong gets attacked by tree branches, Yunho yells “everybody put your hands up” and “Korea fighting” to whole crowds of people, Jaejoong’s mission to get 5 people to wave back to him on boats and buses, Junsu drunk on sugary beverages, Yunho slapping horse’s butt on merry-go-round, Yoochun pretending he’s Jamaican, Yoochun’s dog showered, bowing pharaohs, Junsu’s gibberish, little girl scared of Yoochun in playground, Junsu food snatching, Jaejoong’s UFO trick, Micky & Minnie, Jaejoong’s diagonal run, Junsu and Yunho fly kicking and handstands, naming myths of fountain, Yunho’s prada wears the devil, Yunho still thinks Paris is a country at the end of the trip, Paris to Yunho = party, Paris to Junsu = mosquito, Changmin being the only sane person, but narcissistic enough to check his reflection in the glass display of a movie poster…wow that was the longest sentence ever. But, watch “Bonjour Paris” and support DBSK!

Aja aja hwaiting, oppas!

As for the lawsuit issue that started at the end of July…I fully support Junsu, Jaejoong, and Yoochun oppas! SM Entertainment has gone too far with a 13-15 year contract, letting each member get 0.4-1% of the total profits, and tiring the boys out with so many events that they only get 3-4 hours of sleep each night. Today (August 21st) was the first day in court…and darn the SM lawyers for implying that Junsu’s advance payment last month (to settle his account for income taxes) was used to file the lawsuit. And why on earth would Junsu, Jaejoong, and Yoochun becoming owners of a cosmetic company violate the “exclusive” contract with SM? I support DBSK all the way and hope they pass through this crisis with SM soon without conflicts among the members. And Cassiopeias always remember that 5-1=0!!

This will be a continuation of my last post, because I want to start afresh in promoting DBSK. After watching DBSK’s “Bonjour Paris” DVD about their photoshoot vacation in 2007, I can see why the five have set a Guinness World Record for the celebrities with the most number of pictures taken of them…around 500,000,000 and going up. This of course includes individual and group shots, whether for MVs, commercials, photobooks, or other purposes. The next Guinness World Record DBSK set was having the largest fan base, around 800,000. Today I made myself one of those crazy Cassies – a member of Cassiopeia, DBSK’s eternal supporters (and 99% female, haha).

First I’m going to shamelessly declare my devotion to Kim Junsu (stage name Xiah), my favorite member of DBSK. I’ve gone perhaps the same route as more than half of DBSK’s fangirls – paying attention to only Jaejoong when first introduced to DBSK, but gradually loving one of the other four. I still think JJ has the largest number of fangirls, but that’s good news to me. There are so many reasons to love Junsu, and no reason to not love him. Here goes:

- He has a very warm personality and is almost always smiling. He said himself that he’s a nice person without a tendency to get jealous. Very charismatic.
- He has the most unique voice in DBSK. Very sweet and angelic, hence giving way to his reputation as the “angel” and the “dolphin.”
- He composes absolutely beautiful ballads, like Rainy Night and White Lies. Since the pains of love in the songs are based on experience, he reveals a very deep heart.
- He can play piano and guitar, whoo!
- He’s very talented at soccer, and the second best dancer in the group, after Yunho. His bouncing hips, pelvic thrusts, and duck butt give me a nosebleed. He does awesome handstands!
- Even in the eyes of the other members, Junsu has no “Casanova potential.” When his chair plummeted in the game in Come to Play (representing his 5th place playboy status), I was beside myself with joy. Yeah, playboys are cool in dramas, but I prefer someone like…Junsu! Haha that was obvious.
- He’s a cute eater; because he has sensitive teeth, Junsu eats ice cream by sticking out his tongue first. He’s also an incredibly fast eater; he even drinks coffee in one shot. After returning to Paris from a brief commercial-shooting trip in Brazil, he receives such a warm welcome from the other DBSK members, but can only say in response, “I’m hungry.” Haha, he’s Changmin #2. Junsu can’t cook very well, but I would eat his messy natto takoyaki any day!
- Junsu’s a book lover; if he’s not at home, school, or SM, he’s usually in the library or bookstore. This was before he turned into a superstar with no time on his hands, of course.
- He has no alcohol tolerance. Which means he’ll never stay out all night drinking! It also means Junsu can get high on any sugary beverage…as demonstrated in Paris.
- He has fewer celebrity friends than the other members, mostly communicating with his older fraternal twin brother. When there’s an attractive, unattainable guy, girls always think “If only he had a twin brother I could snatch!” Well, his brother Junho (this would also be the name of a potential DBSK couple, Junsu & Yunho, but unfortunately there’s only Yoosu) would be the one, but there’s no one like Junsu!
- His mom is a former Miss Korea, who is also vocally talented. Beautiful voice and appearance must run in the family then! (Imagine a former Miss Korea as a mother-in-law…I’m going to get a nosebleed soon if I don’t stop hallucinating.)
- He’s the most predictable member in DBSK; according to the others, even if he disappears no one worries about him, because they know Junsu is probably in the PC room playing video games.
- Junsu isn’t the best at buying matching clothes…so while the other DBSK members fuss over what to buy, Junsu just gets whatever is on the mannequin! I’m a careless shopper too. We’re shopping soulmates! Ahem.
- He likes girls who wear turtlenecks, and especially likes girls who are intellectual (and wear glasses), with no make-up, and girls who are active and work out. (YAAAAY!!)
- He wears glasses and looks mega hot in them, as do the other four members.
- He can speak Kenyan – or a gibberish form of it. He’s shown off his “Kenyan” on two shows before, and I could’ve sworn he repeated the same phrases when they were in Paris discussing dogs to buy (Junsu was set on Pomeranian).
- His “sexy look,” as demonstrated on Star Show, consists of piercing eyes and licking his lips. Mmmm.
- His “killer smile” with his six-year-old mini version on Star King is the cutest spectacle I’ve ever witnessed. Two angels…and then a kiss!!
- Although the little gymnast girls on Star King were really pervy, three out of five picked Junsu as their favorite. Good to know that the youngest (who got Yunho to hug her and Jaejoong to sing to her just because it was her birthday) wanted to marry him. Back off my Junsu and wait at least ten years to be my age before you start dancing suggestively at Junsu, pervy girl.
- Oh, and also, Junsu is not a camwh–e like Jaejoong and sometimes Changmin, Yoochun, and Yunho (who’s the “surprise camwh–e”).
- He believes that flowers make better presents than movie tickets; he can’t express himself honestly to the girl he loves; he would choose music over love; he believes it shouldn’t just be the face that counts, but also the body. (Although I was slightly surprised, I understand his reasoning. His “type E” girl turned out to be very pretty, although Jaejoong, who picked the same for everything except the face counted more, got the prettiest actress in Korea. Haha, then I’m glad about Junsu’s choice.)
- I will never forget how cute Junsu was when he cried out “Ow, my butt” on the double-deck tour bus in Paris.
- Along with Jaejoong, Junsu is one of very few men who can get away with wearing earrings and man purses and still look unbelievably hot.
- He speaks Korean (duh) and Japanese fluently. He sings English beautifully and his Chinese pronunciation is better than that of the other members.
- He is the shortest member at 178 cm (5’10″), and exactly a foot taller than me. Mmmm.
- He’s the second youngest member. I get to celebrate his birthday all the way from December 15 to New Year’s! Junsu was born on December 15, 1986 but was registered on January 1, 1987, which means party all the days in between!!
- His message to his future wife is: “Sweetie~ If you become my wife, I will make you the happiest person in the world. I will sing for you whenever you want.” (From Star Show…all five members’ messages memorized word-for-word after watching it three times.)

Okay, in all seriousness, how do I know all this about him? I’m not even a stalker. …Or am I? Maybe all Cassiopeias are stalkers.

So, as I’ve lamented in my previous post, computers have been hating me viciously this past week. I’m doomed for my internship posters…and I haven’t really done anything this summer except reading too much Chinese and attempting some Korean. Oh, and I also attempted to type up one of my favorite books that is going out of print, which I got through an interlibrary loan, but I only typed around 20,000 words and gave up. Now I shall only think happy thoughts. Yes, happy DBSK thoughts. The only reason I survived mowing the lawn for an hour and a half two days ago in 88-degree weather was because I was keeping my mind busy replaying a DBSK performance of Hey! (Don’t bring me down), in which Junsu’s pelvic thrusts and duck butt drove all the girls wild. Of course, that made me burn up in the heat even more, but at least I had DBSK’s “angel” in mind so that I wouldn’t go crazy and do something stupid, like cut off my foot (if that’s possible with a lawn mower).

This post is more or less going to be a love letter to DBSK, haha. It’s been only two months and my opinion of these five singers has changed drastically. At first I thought only some of them were smoking hot performers, with Jaejoong the only one worth drooling over. I was so wrong. ALL of them are not just hot and talented, but also caring, funny, smart, and oh-so-lovable! And the lead singer Jaejoong isn’t even my favorite any more. Junsu oppa is! <3

Everything about them makes me drool bucketfuls. From gorgeous live performances to parodies/mini-dramas to variety shows, DBSK exerts their 110% effort with brilliant smiles.

Here’s an intro to the DBSK members, in the order they perform, from left to right:

Kim Junsu (Xiah) – my darling <3
Park Yoochun (Micky) – best at English
Kim Jaejoong (Hero) – lead singer, pretty boy
Shim Changmin (Max) – youngest, tallest
Jung Yunho (U Know) – leader

More fangirliness to come later.