My Visit to Chinatown

Hello, my Chirashizushi!

How is everyone today? I decided to post about my trip to Chinatown a couple of months ago. It was a fantastic *baby* experience, and I wanted to share it with all of you~

I went to Chinatown the same weekend as the BIGBANG concert. We were close to it, and all of us really wanted to go, so we did! Among our group was my mom, my step-dad Jim, my best friend's big sister Maddie, Maddie's friend Eva, and myself (we took Maddie and Eva because they were going to the concert the same day and didn't have a ride). I had only had a few, albeit interesting, conversations with Maddie before, and I had never met Eva before, but we became really close on the extremely loooong car ride to NJ.

We actually were able to find decent parking for a Saturday in a huge city, so we were pretty happy ^.^ We got out of the car and started walking around. At this point, it was still light outside, so we had lots of time to explore the shops! Eva, who is taking a Buddhism class in college, found a Buddhist shop immediately, so we stopped there first. It was really interesting to see the pretty statues and fountains, and Eva told me about all of the different Buddhas! I had fun, and Momma got us little statues of the Happy Buddha. (I carried it around with me for a week after that xD)

We also found this cool dollar store there. Momma was happy, cause she loves American dollar stores, and now we had found one with a bunch of cool Asian stuff!! I really wanted to buy one of the cool parasols, but Momma told me to wait until we visited a few other stores before I made my final decision on what to buy. So we continued on.

By this time, it was sunset. Yes, we spent hours in just those stores. In our defense, there were a bunch of cool street vendors there, so it was really hard to go anywhere. Anyways, we went to a few other places as the sky started turning darker. I think the thing I loved most about Chinatown was the look of it. It was so pretty, especially in the sunset. The fiery orange of the sky accented the colors of the city well. It was sooo beautiful~

We ended up going to a Vietnamese restaurant, I think... It might have been Taiwanese. Idk. But the food was really good, and all of us were stealing each other's food just like a family x) And Maddie made me pour everyone's tea because I was the maknae. Leave it to her to find a Korean reference in anything... Then again, I squealed in delight when I saw the words "4 Minutes" on a phone booth (I was like "OMG, 4Minute!"), so I can't judge xD

What made my day was when I saw boxes of Palty hair dye in the window of a shop!! I screamed "Tsubasa!!!" and ran inside, pulling everyone behind me. When we got inside, the first floor had a bunch of cool food, and  when we went upstairs, they had every Asian beauty product you could imagine. There was a whole WALL of Palty hair dye. I just about died!! There was the original kind (all colors), the bubble kind, the American kind, all of them. Omg, I was so happy! And to top it off, I found all of the Dolly Wink eye products!! I really wanted a pair of fake eyelashes, but Momma said I'm too young to have it... Just wait, it'll happen. Maddie and Eva spent their time testing BB cream and nail polish, haha. We went downstairs and got a bunch of Japanese candy. Eva bought me Hello Kitty Pocky~ And my parents got me Sakuma Drops! I told them, "you have to get me these! I saw them in 'Grave of the Fireflies,' the saddest, most beautiful anime movie EVER!" So yeah. That was my favorite store. Don't remember the name though >.<

There was this one produce stand that all of us were fascinated by. Maddie, Eva, and I were looking at these HUUUUUGE apples, taking pictures and saying, "GD would have loved this back in his 'Heartbreaker' days!" My momma and Jim were looking at the dragon-fruit, and even bought one to bring home with us!

By the time we finished shopping (and has only gone, like, one or two blocks), it was completely black outside. The lights of the city looked beautiful in the night, even if you couldn't see the stars. The lights of Chinatown became the stars~

I hope you enjoyed my post! Sorry if it bored you, but I had a good time ^.^ Have a great day! Remember that every day is a beautiful one!

Review of Girls' Generation's "I Got a Boy"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq7ftOZBy0E

Hey, my California Rolls!

Girls’ Generation, GG, So Nyu Shi Dae, SNSD, Soshi, whatever you prefer, released their long- and largely-anticipated comeback video, “I Got a Boy,” on January 1^st, 2013. Let me tell you that, honestly, I have not been this excited about a comeback in all my fourteen years. Seriously. Before, I was just like “oh yay, *insert group name here* had a comeback, cool,” but with this comeback, I had gotten to the point of running back and forth through my kitchen, squealing. Even so, I can’t say I’m all too fond of “I Got a Boy” in general. And because I always give my honest, unbiased opinion on things, I’m going to say that I was truly a bit disappointed. Please don’t kill me, Sones. I’m on your side, I swear! Ask my friends, I fangirl to them about this group all the time! I’m just going to give my real, albeit blunt, opinion here.

As for the song itself… sorry, Girls, but I’m just not a fan. When I watched the MV for the first time, I was disheartened. The teasers sounded cool, and I was interested in their new song style, but the full song itself was nearly a train wreck (hides from Sones). There were, like, seven beats (yes, I counted), and even more melody changes. There was no possible way to make it flow smoothly. I’ll admit that the more I listened to it, the more I liked it. But that was a risky move on SM’s part. Think about it: if there’s a song that you’re neutral about at first, then it’s easy to hit the replay button and learn to love it. For me, those songs would be “Cherry Blossom Ending” by Busker Busker and “You’re the One” by JYP.  What about a song you hate at first? Don’t you avoid it? Exactly my point. Listen with your ears, not your bias. For the song, I’m giving it a 2 out of 5. Sorry. Wonderful singing, wonderful rapping, not-so-wonderful song. Just be glad the raps and Seohyun’s vocals saved it from a 1 out of five.

Now for the music video: I liked it. They look awesome (will elaborate later), and the cool, chic settings were fun to look at. I’m loving this style! I’m soooo happy they incorporated the “Dancing Queen” time-traveling concept! When I saw that MV, I was like “OMG it’s a mini-Tardis!” So yeah. It made me happy. The plot, though… well, I had some issues with it. In the teaser, I could tell it was an “all group members being played by the same player” sort of video, and I haven’t seen a good one of those since Miss A’s “Goodbye Baby.” The teaser played it off just as well, especially when Hyoyeon went all Jackie Chan and beat up that dude. It was awesome! Us girls and our sweet revenge~ In the actual MV, the plot was too vague for my liking, and there was only a tiny bit of Hyoyeon’s beat-down, so I was depressed in that department. This video gets a 3.5 out of 5.

Their style in this video completely blew me away! I’m in LOVE with their new look! I may miss the blue jeans and white shirts they sported when I was nine, but I’m glad to see that they have matured with me and have grown to bigger and better things. The outfits were all blinged out and were totally cool. The teaser photos were perfection. I really loved Taeyeon’s pic, and Yoona’s electric blue lenses made her look gorgeous. Tiffany and Jessica are our California goddesses, and I would be a complete liar if I said I didn’t want Hyoyeon’s hair. I’m sad that some of the wigs and outfits didn’t make it to the MV, but I’m impressed with the final results. Great going, coordinators. I give you 4.9 out of five. Sorry, Sunny’s clown-like green hair and those orange wigs at Tiffany’s solo part brought it down a bit.

Considering the hating I’ve done on the song and plot, I’m going to leave off on a super happy note-- the dancing. This might end up being my favorite dance of the Girls. The moves showed off the talent of their best dancers- Hyoyeon, Taeyeon, and Sooyoung, imo. They also fit well with the raps and made them even cooler. I adored the fact that they could somehow have so many different moves (hip-hop moves, cutesy “Oh!”-style moves, sexy hip rolls) and somehow smooth them together. Good job, Girls. Good job. Five out of five.

So, all in all, “I Got a Boy” gets a 3.8 out of five from me. Not their best work, but not the worst I’ve seen. I was disappointed in a few aspects, but other aspects partially made up for it. I hope I don’t have too many Sones after me because of this.

Have a spectacular day, everyone! Remember, everyday is a beautiful day!

Welcome!

Hello, my fellow lovers of the Asian culture!

You can call me Kiseki, or Kit-Kat if you prefer, and I'm the maker of this blog~ I hope that you'll enjoy my posts! In this one, I'll give you a run down of what you can expect from my blog, things I plan for the future, and even a little bit about me. let's be friends, 'kay? :)

So, a bit about myself: I'm a fourteen-year-old American girl, a freshmen and on the honor roll as well. I'm intelligent, work hard, and absolutely love anything that involves creativity. Drawing, painting, making jewelry and other crafts, dancing, singing, doing makeup, fashion, playing instruments, the list goes on. As you'll find out, I'm a blunt and painfully honest person. I have a little thing called Asperger's Syndrome which makes me this way. So, if you think for a second that all I talk about is the good in something, then you are terribly mistaken. But don't think that I'm a pessimist either-- I talk about the good AND the bad, is all. Every little detail will be included in my posts, okaaaaaay? Okaaaaaay!

From the previous paragraph, and my unique blog title, you may be wondering just what will be in my posts. Well, I'll tell you! Basically, anything that interests me in the Asian culture (keep in mind that I'm open to new ideas and suggestions!). It could be anime (what to watch, how to draw, etc.), Kpop, Jpop, Jrock, Visual Kei, Harajuku styles, Korean fashion, different makeup and outfits based on the previous things, Asian cuisine... a large variety of things. I like to keep my horizons open. I'm willing to go off into different directions as well, as long as it involves something about Asian culture, so feel free to spam me with ideas xD

I've already typed up my review for SNSD's "I Got a Boy," so I'll post that as soon as I've posted this. As for other future plans, I know that as soon as 2NE1 has their comeback, I'm jumping right onto a review of that!! As for other things, I might do a belated fan account of the BIGBANG concert in New Jersey, because I already posted it to Facebook. I also might do reviews for older Kpop songs too, so shoot your ideas out to me. After that, I may do makeup tutorials based on Asian fashion figures. Any other ideas guys?

That's about it for this post. Did I bore you too much? Sorry >.< I hope you read my future posts that and we can be friends! I wanna be friends with you (>^.^)>

Have a beautiful day! I always say that everyday is a beautiful day <3