I’m keeping my fingers crossed…

So guess who is going to drag her already tired self out of bed at half past five on a Saturday morning to watch MKMF live? *raises hand* That would be this poor sap right here. ^^ I’m kidding, really – I’m happy to do it if it means I’ll get to see my boys’ reactions firsthand (well, you know what I mean) when they win the Newcomer Award. Yes I know I’m talking like it’s guaranteed when it’s not but I can’t help it. (I’m biased, you know.)

To be honest, I wouldn’t normally be particularly interested in this stuff. Of course, I’m always happy when the boys are recognized and rewarded for their hard work and talent but the way I see it is if they don’t win this one, there’ll be another. The only reason I really, really want the boys to get this award is because I know they really want it. They’ve been talking about it for like two months in interviews and in their iple entries and stuff and it’s obviously quite important to them so despite the fact that I like most of the groups nominated and think that they’re all worthy of receiving the award, I’m praying SHINee wins. I mean, isn’t it natural for me as a fan to want for the boys what they want for themselves? That said, if SHINee doesn’t get it, while I’ll, of course, be disappointed, I won’t be upset or bitter – I’m sure the other nominated groups have worked hard as well and are just as deserving of this award as my boys or almost, anyway.

So in case you’re wondering how I’m going to watch the show live, thanks to the lovely folks at SHINee Forums (God bless those girls!), I downloaded a program that allows you to view the show live. It’s reputedly better than Tvants and since I haven’t seen it buffer or anything since I started using it last night, I’m going to agree. It’s funny that I’m saying this now when in my last post, I mentioned that I couldn’t see these things live and so had to rely on the lovely fans (and fansubbers) of the world. Funny how these things happen, no? Anyways, if you’re looking for the tutorial, catch it here. Keep in mind you have to be a member of SHINee Forums to access the post – although I know that it’s also been posted on the official SHINee and MKMF threads on Soompi so if you’re a member there, check it out. (In the meantime, I’m using the program to listen to Korean radio – can’t understand beans except the random word like ‘kamsahamnida!’ and ‘yeppeo’ but there’s some really beautiful music on it like the song I’m listening to right now – if only I could find out the artist’s name.)

Oh, and on a related note, I heard that one member from each of the groups nominated for the Male Best Newcomer Award is going to come together to do some tribute thingie to ‘the groups who have shaped K-pop’s past’ like H.O.T. and S.E.S. and the like. I’m really hoping that they choose Key because he rarely gets to do solo things – Onew and and Bling have their solos and duets and collabs, Taemin got to be in Wonder Boys and Minho has his modeling stints…what does Key get to do? Nada yet so I’m hoping he gets his solo moment in the spotlight here.

That said, I’m going to take my leave now – I’ve got to study for my class tomorrow, God willing and I want to go to sleep early so that I’m not falling asleep in class as usual because I got up early to watch MKMF. I know some people are planning to stay up until like 5 or whatever but I can’t do that – I’m practically a narcoleptic as it is, I need as much sleep as I can get. But before I go, let me share with you a really adorable Dubu fancam. It was taken during the rehearsal for the boys’ latest Ah.Mi.Go. performance on Music Bank – normally I don’t watch rehearsal videos but I’m really glad I watched this one. Onew is just so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so cute in it! This boy! He acts like such a child sometimes! But it just makes him seem even more endearing. Ah, I really believe he’s got a pure heart, you know. It’s impossible for him to hide it. (But why would he want to?) Anyway I seriously suggest you watch it, especially if you’re not having the best day – it’ll cheer you right up!

Oh, and I keep hearing ‘onew’ on the radio – not the boy, the word. (It’s driving me crazy! Anyways…(I just heard it again!) What time is it now in Korea? Quarter to ten in the morning? I wonder how the boys feel – nervous? excited? apprehensive? Well, I’m sure they haven’t got anything to worry about if that’s the case. Like I said, they’ve got this in the bag. Ah, I can’t wait to see them in their suits and to watch the show. Watching it live will make me feel a little bit closer to them which is a feat in and of itself. Going now. Next time I post, hopefully it’ll be with good news. SHINee Fighting!

Maki

Suits – the best article of clothing ever invented…

SHINee + pretty, pretty, perfectly fitting suits = a dead me. Dudes, just watch the video:

credit: randy1997 on YT

You know someone is seriously smiling on me these days – I mean, first I get to see BB donning smexy tuxes for their hottest intro performance to date, and now my lovely, amazing, amazingly good-looking SHINee boys are performing in them and then the Wrong Number MV came out today (oh, and guess what DBSK’s wearing in there? Yeah – suits) – I mean, it doesn’t get much better than this fandom-wise. I think the only way for it to get better is if SHINee takes home the Best Newcomer Award at the MKMF Awards this week-end like there’s any doubt they will?

Anyway onto the performance – you guys, it was so good! I mean, this is definitely one of their best performances – Amigo and otherwise. They sounded great and their dancing was shockingly good – you’d think it’d be super awkward to do that routine in suits (and at times it looks that way) but for the most part, their dancing is really clean and precise. To be honest, I think the suits actually enhance the dancing (if that’s even possible). Oh, and there were no back up dancers for this performance so it’s all them, no distractions. If they messed up, they couldn’t hide it.

Now onto the clothes…this is probably the first day where I can honestly say stylist noona, you did good. I have absolutely no complaints – everybody looked good, everyone’s hair looked good, it was just bam!wow!hotness as far as the eye can see. It was even better than the MV! And seriously, I think you need a raise just for dressing Jong-Hyun like you did. (You know it’s times like this where I realize how biased I am – because for all that I can see and appreciate how nice and neat everyone looks, seeing JH in that suit near about killed me. And when I watched the fancam – this fancam, the one you should be watching right now – I nearly fainted. How can one boy be so mindblowingly, charismatically, fantastically hot?! My poor heart can’t take it. Ah, I think admitting I had a bias just made it worse. XD)

And moving on…oh, MinHo wore the hat from the MV! I didn’t like that hat so much in the MV but coupled with his suit, it looks terrific. And Taemin’s hair looked so nice – it wasn’t fully styled like normal but it was styled just enough to give him a slightly older (but not too much older) look – I really like it! Dubu’s bowtie is like the cutest thing I’ve ever seen him wear – it’s seriously adorable – it fits him perfectly. And speaking of Dubu, after checking out that Jonghyun fancam, I suggest you watch the Dubu equivalent – he actually manages some nice charismatic moves in it. I was watching like *gasp* “Dubu, you look hot! Why didn’t you do that stuff in the MV?” By the by, the fancams are from a different performance but they’re still wearing the suits which is really what matters. There are Taemin and Minho fancams as well, I just haven’t watched those yet so I can’t quite recommend them – although I’m sure they’re just as great as the two I shared. Now go watch!

Oh, and on a side note, SHINee Subs just launched their streaming site so you can now watch their videos on SHINee forums – but you have to be a member to access them so make sure to join like I said. They’re really fast, ne? SHINee Subs jjang! Fighting!

Adios,

Maki.

Yunhanam, wherefore art thou, Yunhanam?

So am I the only person who really misses SHINee’s reality show, Yunhanam? I find myself wishing more and more these days that they had chosen to have a second season – although I certainly wouldn’t want to give the boys any more to do since they’re tired enough as it is – but still, that was my Friday night fare. I looked forward to that all week. I started watching other shows, variety shows like Come to Play and Family Outing and SNSD’s new reality show, ‘Factory Girl’ to try to fill the void but it’s just not the same. I miss my weekly half hour with the boys – just watching fancams and Mnet Wide News’ (apparently daily) SHINee segments isn’t enough – I mean, there’s only so much Onew Sangtae you can fit into an interview, you know.

And to make matters worse, SHINee Subs’ YT account just got suspended due to ‘copyright infringement’. Come on, YT – be reasonable – they’re just trying to do their best to bring SHINee to the masses and it’s not as though the people watching those videos have access to the actual channels (unless you have TVAnts or something – which I do not), I mean if we could watch it and understand, by all means, we would but we cannot so we have to rely on the kind, charitable fansubbers of the world. Ah, but what can you do? Youtube has a right to remove the accounts it deems unfit. We can complain but we can’t stop them. Thankfully most of the videos I linked to in my SHINee sample rec post, Oldies but Goodies were hosted by other people. For now, they’ve got a back-up account called SHINeeSubs02 up but they’re not uploading a lot of their stuff there. Instead they’re working on developing their own streaming site but it’ll only be available to members of shineeee.net so if you’re still jonesing for a SHINee fix, I suggest you go straight to the source – join shineee.net and SHINee forums and you can download the videos there. But don’t go uploading them to any other media hosting sites! That’s for them to do, not us. SHINee subs fighting! Ah, I can’t wait until they’re back up and running fully.

Oh, how I long for the days of Yunhanam…..Now I’m going to go check out Wonder Bakery. Wondersubbers just posted the subbed episodes. Maybe I’ll post about it? We’ll see…

See ya!

Maki

The Mushroom Has Returned…

Yo. Just passing through today. Watch this performance of Ah.Mi.Go at the Love Sharing concert. It was a really good showing by the boys – the dancing’s great and the vocals are very steady. Dubu sounds like he’s getting better – you can barely hear the cold in his voice now.

credit: misterkrabspatties on YT

Maki

Chukhamnida!

Okay, so I’m hoping I spelt that, right – let me know, okay? Anyway this is just going to be a short post because I’m tired and off to bed. Aish, it’s so late already and I was supposed to go to bed early tonight. Anyways, I just wanted to say a big CONGRATULATIONS to Onew-ssi from SHINee, SunYe from the Wonder Girls and Yuri from SNSD for passing their college entrance examinations! (I’m a little confused as to how come they took their exams and got their results back before other people even took their tests – if you know, please clarify. Maybe it’s because they applied to music schools, I don’t know.) I really have to commend these Korean stars for being able to juggle school and work – I mean, I seriously have no idea how they find time to do home-work and study in the midst of their busy schedules. They barely have time to sleep as it is! That said, I just wanted to say congratulations and good luck to them and do your best to all of the other people out there preparing for their exams. I know how that is – keep holding on, it’s just a little while longer.

Leader-ssi, Leader Min and Yuri fighting!

Maki

Oldies but Goodies

So a friend of mine recently got into SHINee and she asked me to send her some videos of them to help her get better acquainted with the group – lol, I’m her SHINee source, ooh – and as I wracked my brain and searched through my YT favourites list for stuff, I came across some videos that I’d like to share with her and with you. So I suppose this is a pimp post of sorts and you can consider it a prelude to the ULTIMATE SHINee REC PAGE that I’ll be creating in the future. So without further ado, here they are:

In My Room Performance at Madam B’s Salon

So this was actually the very first time that I heard ‘In My Room’ – my other RL SHINee friend had been pestering me to listen to it and finally she ended up linking me to a performance – not this one actually, another but I saw this one in the related videos bar and it had subs so I decided to watch this one instead. When I finally saw it, I wanted to hit myself for not watching it sooner. I’ve never said this about any other performance in my life but I actually think that this sounds even better than the studio version. The boys sound amazing and the closed, intimate atmosphere of the venue as well as the setup of the stage really adds to the feel of the song. You can see the emotion in the boys’ faces, you can hear it in their voices and you can see the attention on the audience’s faces. This is the performance that really made me realize how well those boys can sing and I think everyone should watch it, whether you like the song, the group or not. Oh, and they’re all wearing suits which is, you know, a big plus. M!Countdown cameramen, you could take a lesson from these people – they really understand when to close up and when to pan out.

Run It Performance at SMTOWN Live concert in Korea

This is another video that my friend recommended to me that I took forever to watch. I actually didn’t check it out until I’d gotten really interested in SHINee and I came across it one day while roaming around on Youtube looking for SHINee vids. Well I tell you – if I wanted to hit myself before, I wanted to kick myself this time. This performance is amazing – the dancing is crazy hot and it’s really not like anything you’ve seen them do before. (I was actually hoping the Amigo routine would be more like this one but it’s no big because the Amigo choreo is love all on its’ own). There’s actually not much singing here, it’s obviously meant to show off their dance skills (which it did!) and only Jonghyun and Onew sing the one slow part of the song (you know the bridge-y part in the middle) and while they both sound good, Onew’s (one) line really stood out the most to me – maybe because his pronunciation was practically perfect? Hyunnie dear, I love you but your English still need some work, okay? (Although it has improved a good bit since then.) Ah, but the stars of this performance are Taemin and Key – Key has a dance solo! – dude, their part of the dance was just fantastic. I was just staring at my computer screen in awe like “Whaaaat? I did not know you could do that!” So the lesson here is don’t be like me – if someone tells you to check something out, by all means do it.

Subbed ‘Onew Condition’ Compilation

Okay, now this video was made before all of those super funny, Onew sangtae filled episodes of Yunhanam came out so it isn’t particularly extensive but it’s still a good video to watch if you like Dubu or more so, if you don’t and you want to. Everything he does is suuuuuuuper adorable and you get about a lifetime’s worth of glimpses of his infectious smile. Gosh, I heart this boy and his dorktastic self so much! A lot of the clips come from the period when Onew and Jonghyun were co-hosting a radio show – I don’t know much about it, tbh. Anyway, my favourite part is the little interaction between him and Jonghyun where he’s smiling all bubbly-like at JH and JH is just like staring him down all stone-faced like “What are you so happy about?” and then Onew’s face just – falls. It’s really funny! Although I’m thinking now maybe it shouldn’t be…

SHINee Yunhanam BTS 13 - Warning: fangirling ahead.

So if you’ve ever wondered why Key is called the umma (or mother) of the group (Taemin in particular), then this video’s for you. It is just about the sweetest I’ve ever seen the two of them, especially now that Taemin keeps talking back to his umma. ROFL! And I wasn’t even planning to watch it! I just ended up watching it because I was bored – ah, boredom leads to so many SHINee discoveries, no? Anyway, it’s footage from episode 6 (with the model noona – you remember her?) and it starts off with Taemin adding foil to Key’s foil mic (contrary to popular belief, Taemin did not actually make the mic for Key, he just made it bigger) and then Key comes in chewing something and tells him (sounding for all the world like an older brother) “didn’t I tell you not to touch my stuff?” Taemin, obviously unperturbed, continues what he’s doing and replies that he’s ‘feeding’ it. Key, who couldn’t have really been that upset, then switches immediately to ‘umma mode’, sits down and takes out a small piece of candy which he then offers to Taemin who says “Nae~” in the cutest way possible. Key then proceeds to un-wrap the candy and feed it to Taemin in the greatest show of adorableness that I’ve ever seen in my life. I nearly died – it was so cute! I sent it to my friend and we fangirled about it for like a day – seriously. And the sad thing is that I know that it’s my fangirl self that’s making me react this way because that’s not so unusual – I’ve re-enacted similar scenes with my friends but because it’s SHINee, it’s just way more endearing. Key and Taemin did it so it’s the best thing on the planet. Aigoo, I’m sad, no? But what can I do? I’m like putty in their hands.

Love Should Go On Performance on Tablo’s Dreaming Radio

So if you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, it should be obvious that I really like the track ‘Love Should Go On’ (which is ironic considering the fact that I didn’t like it at all when I first heard it). Anyway, a little while ago, I went roaming around Youtube (I do that a lot) in search of LSGO performances by the boys, mainly because I wanted to see Key do his rap and a lot of the videos I found were fancams, none of which were on Key at that point. I was finally satisfied when I found this video – the performance, as most of their radio show performances are, was solid and I was able to actually see Key, Taemin and MinHo during the rap part. But honestly the best part of this video is when Tablo comes up behind SHINee sometime during the second verse and starts dancing (out of time with the music). It was really unexpected and I nearly fell out of my seat laughing. I sent it to my friend, who’s not really acquainted with the members of Epik High, and she said “OMG! Did you see when that crazy man came up behind the boys during the performance and started dancing?” I couldn’t help laughing – I had to tell her that ‘that crazy man’ was Tablo from Epik High and the host of the radio show. So this one you’re not just watching for SHINee, you’re watching it for Tablo as well.

MinHo covering the song ‘Psychedelic Forest’ on the radio

You know it’s funny – the first time I watched this video, I wasn’t at all impressed. I thought the song didn’t flow and it seemed like MinHo was rapping against the beat of the music instead of with it but then, a few weeks later, I went back and checked it out and it was like I was hearing it for the first time. So if you don’t like this the first time you hear it, give it another chance because it’s actually very cool. One of the things I love about MinHo is the way his personality seems to change completely when he’s rapping – the shyness is gone and it’s replaced by this really fierce, cool person. I remember when I first started watching SHINee’s performances, when it was time for MinHo to rap, I’d be like “Who is that?! And where did Minho go?!” It was like he was a completely different person! My reaction isn’t quite as strong now that I’ve seen more of what he’s like but there is still a distinctive shift – I think that’s really cool, no? Now I finally get what entertainers mean when they say that they have stage alter-egos. Anyway…I now really like this performance, sometimes I just put it on and listen to it when I’m surfing the net. You can tell from his expression that he really enjoys what he’s doing and his rapping is so smooth and his voice! There’s a little mistake towards the end but that just makes it more endearing to me, especially when you see how he reacts to it. So watch – it’s like a minute and a half, it won’t hurt you any.

Love’s Way Performance on SHIMSHIMTAPA radio

Now until I get to see a full length, proper performance of this song – no fancams, no short cuts (like in School Attack) – I will be citing this performance. This song is my favourite SHINee song ever, in fact, it’s in the running to be my favourite song ever. I listen to it every single day and I don’t care that it’s a remake or sampled or whatever. I honestly wish people would stop getting on SHINee (and other people’s) cases for making remakes and just enjoy the songs produced. (But I suppose that’s easy for me to say considering I don’t usually know any of the songs they sampled.) Anyway I really like this performance – it’s not the best, I know the boys could do a lot better – but it’s a performance of my favourite song! And it was the first time they performed it live so excuse me if I’m inclined to love it. Anyway, the important thing is that the harmony is on point and in this song, the harmony’s the best part. I mean, they harmonize well in all of their songs, sure, but in this song, it’s just on another level. Ah, I could write a whole post about this song (I’ve been planning to) but I’ll stop here for now. Oh! And this is the video that made me realize how cute Key is – right after he sang his lines in the second verse, he smiled and it was like someone had slapped me. I was like “WOW. Key’s really cute. Like really, really cute. How come I never noticed this before?” So watch the video, okay? Watch it, do it, do it, do it noooooooooow.

And since I’m all for mixing the old with the new (but not too much), here’s the boys’ most recent Amigo performance on M!Countdown:

Let me say first of all that I’m sure that this cameraman has a Taemin bias. Dude! Taemin got like a million close-ups, in this performance and the last one – it’s like whenever they don’t know who to shoot, they just go straight to Taemin. Aish, if you don’t know who to look at, call the Inkigayo cameramen and they can tell you! (Inkigayo cameramen shoot these performances perfectly – seriously.) I’m sorry for the mini-rant – it’s just that during their first performance there, the camera was on Taemin instead of Jonghyun during his high note and I was like “Aaaaaghhhhh!!! Cameraman!!! I want to beat you!” and I’m obviously still a little touchy about that. He only gets away this time because they panned out so I could at least see Jonghyun even if it wasn’t a close-up shot.

Anyway on to the actual performance, it was really good! The boys are already improving. The dancing is very good and the singing is starting to get to a good consistent level. They must be working very hard because I can hear the improvement in everyone, particularly Taemin. Now when he’s singing, it really sounds like singing and not shouting (I know it sounds like I’m bashing Taeminnie but I’m really not, I promise. Don’t you know by now that I love maknae?) So this was a good performance, very solid – although I disliked the ‘Amigo’ flashing across the screen during the chorus. It was cute at first but then it got annoying. Honestly I think the set designers must have a lot of fun with these performances – they always have seriously far out designs. I really liked the set for this performance though with the fog and the stairs – while I don’t usually like to see the boys walking during a dance performance (taking away precious dance time, people!) the stairs with the lighted letters were really neat. Also I love how while everyone walked down, Taemin stayed at the top and danced. Awesomeness! (See – I can say nice things) It was just really intriguing – all the flashing lights and the darkened set and the charismatic walking down the stairs and the back-up dancers coming out at the bottom and how close everyone was during the rap. Did you notice that Key wasn’t in front with the back-up dancers this time? It was just him and MinHo slightly in front of everyone else. I like how they keep switching up the rap part – it reminds you that not every part of this performance is completely choreographed. So this was a good performance – I recommend it – and I hope you actually check out one or two of my picks up there.

Later!

Maki

[EDITED] Death by Cuteness – the best way to go…

Watch this video and then tell me that MinHo is not the sweetest boy on the planet – go on, I dare you.

credit: shineesubs, claro

Man, I want him to be my hyung. XD No, but really – I was so touched by what he said here. It was always apparent to me that he and Taemin were close but I never quite understood why – now I get it. It’s hard to believe that Minho was the maknae once – he always seems so mature and deep. Anyway I really like this video – it was so honest and heartfelt and to tell the truth, it was nice just hearing Minmin talk so much without any outside compulsion. Anyway, listen and squeal at the adorableness of it all. I can’t wait until this thing comes out in its’ entirety.

“You only have me, right?”

edit:

By the way, in addition to reading my blog, I think SM’s reading my mind. Every time I wonder something about SHINee, a little while later, I find out about it. Like just before episode 9 of Yunhanam came out, I really wanted to know what SHINee’s dorm looked like and then episode 9 came out and in the next episode preview, I saw that we would see it! And then, I was wondering if the members were really close or if they were just playing up the closeness for the camera (I’m not trying to say the boys are insincere – I was just wondering how close they really are) and then the above video came out. AND THEN I’d been wondering how come I never heard Key call Jonghyun ‘hyung’ – I mean maybe he has and I didn’t notice – but I seriously could not recall that happening and I was wondering if he didn’t, why not and then I was watching this video and lo and behold what happened at 5:23 but Key called JH ‘hyung’. I nearly had a fit – I was so excited. To quote the lovely needareplay, ‘my poor fangirl heart~’ I don’t know – I just love to hear the boys call each other ‘hyung’ – it carries a real sense of respect and more importantly, affection and so I was just waiting for this to happen and now it has happened so I’m happy. I wonder what SM will do next – cook up some Dong Bang SHINee, perhaps? We can only hope.

Maki

Happy birthday, oppa!

So I’m going to be using the word ‘oppa’ a lot in this post since it’s not one I ever get to use with my other loves. Bear with this poor fangirl, ne?

Saengil chukahamnida, oppa! I hope you enjoyed your day since it’s surely already the fifth in Korea and that the other members treated you well. I know that you’re working around the clock right now with all the promotions for the Japanese album and the preparations for the second Korean album (which I’m really looking forward to!) so for this birthday, I wish you lots of rest. Please don’t overwork yourself, love – I don’t want you collapsing again like last time. I want my Toppie hale and hearty. ^^

In addition to good health, I hope that you continue to grow as a musician and a person. You have so much talent – don’t let it go to waste. Please stay determined. I can’t wait to see the cooler sides that you’ll show in the future. I also hope that you can grow closer to the other members, that you become an even better hyung (although I know you’re a great one already!) and that you achieve even more this year individually and with Big Bang. Remember your goals, don’t let the bad things get you down and stay healthy! I’m rooting for you, Choi Seung-Hyun. Saranghaeyo! Fighting!

Maki

CLOSE-UPS, FOR THE WIN!!!

OMG! I’ve never had more of a desire to illustrate a keyboard smash than right now – seriously, coherency is totally overrated. The Amigo MV is out and IT IS SO HOTTTTTTTT!!!! OMG! OMG! OMG! I can’t type right now – seriously I just can’t. I will edit this later with my review. Now go watch (in HQ)!

credit goes to adilahLoL

edit: All right, I’m back and slightly more coherent… You know this is how I know I’m turning into a fangirl – I’m freaking out over a music video. A music video? Seriously?! But it’s SHINee so that’s okay. Ah, so one thing I’ve got to commend SM for is that despite the fact that this MV has a ‘plot’ – MinHo chasing down a super pretty girl (who cannot really be 15 – what?!) because she picked his pocket – they didn’t lose sight of why we’re all really watching this video – to see hot boys dance, sing and rap. I mean, halfway into the video, I went “Wait, this MV has a plot, right? So I should be paying attention to that”. I mean, maybe I was just too busy spazzing over the numerous, suuuuuuuper hot close ups (more about that in a second) but I seriously didn’t even notice the plot except at the beginning and the end until like the sixth time I watched it.

So where do I start? With the close ups, of course! Thank you, producer, editor, director for all of those close ups (especially all those of Jonghyun) – they were, without a doubt, the best part of the video. I mean, I can’t get over how hot everyone (well, except Dubu – but that’s okay because he’s adorable) looked in this video. Stylist noona! You did good! Seriously. I mean, Jonghyun – what is there to say? He just looked so good in this video and I loved all of his little smirks and half-smiles and grins and any expression really. His expressions kill me dead and I know some people think that Key stole the show in this one but for me, it was Jonghyun – every single frame was just gorgeous! GORGEOUS! Can you say – gorgeous? And I can’t stand how obvious it is that he knows he’s hot – I mean, those smirks are just full of “yes, I know you want me – too bad you can’t have me, hmm?” WHY?! STOP TORMENTING ME LIKE THIS! Please continue. Really, it’s not good for my hormones, you know. Oh, and I always laughed when people said that JH gives off this badass air (oh, I’ve never used that word – I’ve never even written it down. *__* but of course, JH warrants it) but in this video, I really saw it – I just love his attitude. It’s something else. Ah, but I should really move on now…

So we start with MinHo doing his super hot, slightly squinty stare and then we go to Jonghyun – looking mega hot, owning all his shots and I got see him sing his ~sexy~ – they never close up on him during that line in the performances so it was cool to finally see him sing it. Then we go to KEY. OMO, Key! Key looks uber hot in this MV, just super fine – I want him to look like that all of the time. And of course, he’s wearing pink again – his signature colour – and rocking it as only Key can. And then we get – who? TAEMIN! Who did your hair, Taemin? They need to do it every day! Taemin looks really hot, you guys – I think all of those noonas were trying not to fall for him are seriously smitten now. (oh, and I totally had to do a double take when the video started and they were all dancing in the blue sweaters with MinHo in the middle with the hat because he looked JUST LIKE GD FROM BIG BANG. I never thought I’d see the day…) Wow, I think I called everyone hot – I do know other adjectives, you know, I’m just overwhelmed right now. You know I thought they looked hot in the LLO MV but I realize now that that was just like a prelude to this – that was like a cutesy sort of “hey, we’re kind of cute, you know? maybe you should notice” (I noticed) and now they’re like “yeah, so that cutesy thing – it’s gone. We’re hot, some of us are sexy and we will be very in your face about it”. And I say – feel free, be as sexy as you want – it may land some of us in the hospital, others in jail but that’s all right – keep it coming. So then when the chorus started, I was looking around waiting for Onew because he hadn’t gotten a close up yet and then when it popped up – I laughed. I couldn’t help it – he was just at odds with all of the hotness going on. Don’t get me wrong – I love Dubu and sometimes with the proper styling – like here – he really does look attractive but in this video, he just looks cute. So cute I want to snuggle him! He’s just so cuuuuute! Oh, but he did have some cool shots too where I went “Ooh, Dubu – looking good~”

Anyway onto the rest of the video – so let’s talk about the plot, shall we? Uhm, there really wasn’t much of one – the girl picks MinHo’s pocket (that part with the yellow effects looks really cool, by the way), then she stands on the other side of the train tracks, waits until he sees her and then runs off. He chases her, there are lots of really cool running scenes – Minho looked so good! Put him in a drama, now! Okay, maybe not now… – and then there was a part with a fountain. What? I don’t know – I think he lost her or something and then he sees her again and then there’s more running – up to a roof this time and then they stop. MinHo corners her, she touches him, the effects happen, there’s a cool heart-line effect and then he moves her to touch her and it ends. That’s it, that’s the plot – people were surprised by this but since I’d heard what the plot was supposed to be like beforehand, I wasn’t. It does suit the song though since you know she steals his heart, then acts all aloof and makes him chase after her and then when she gets caught, she gives it back. So you see – it’s fitting!

Now…dance scenes! So I was afraid that since this MV had a plot, there wouldn’t be much dancing but like I said earlier, SM dealt with that. There is, in fact, lots of dancing – which means there’ll be a dance version of the MV, yes! To tell the truth, I don’t really like how the dance parts were shot because obviously they were spliced in between the parts of the plot and so they were really disjointed and it just seemed really odd to me. In addition, it looked like they were dancing really slowly at certain points. I don’t know – sometimes it looked good, sometimes it didn’t. But the flashing lights and the part where they splice all of their faces into one shot is really cool! I loved that! Then the rap part – yeah, I didn’t like the effects they used there either – it reminded of the American version of BoA’s Eat You Up video and that’s not a good thing. But overall it was okay – I prefer MinHo’s shots to Key’s in the video. Oh, and then there’s the high note shot which looks kind of weird and fake because that’s not the way Jonghyun normally sings that but that doesn’t matter BECAUSE HE LOOKS REALLY GOOD. My gosh, his lips are so pink! Like pinker than everyone else’s and I am yet to understand why! The pink……..aish! (Sorry about the obviousness of my bias, by the way – I usually try to make it more subtle but I’m dying here. He was just so hot!)

Anything else? Aaah, I loved the walking close ups – OMG! So hot! – and the running scenes – and the fountain part was a nice interlude to the running – MinHo looked awesome – I loved Onew’s smiles in this video – Taemin’s hair was so good – that girl’s really kind of pretty – those outfits they were wearing in the first dance break were cheeeeeeeeeesy! – Taemin’s pink sweater during the dance break – not feeling it – I really want someone to take a cap of that last scene -just the ‘SHINee Ah.Mi.Go’ so that I can use it as my new desktop background and that’s it. I hope my review was long enough for you. Lol, overall I like the MV, I think it was hot, I don’t care that not much happened in it – as far as I’m concerned, once I can see SHINee and they look good, it’s a good MV. So yeah, go watch it now if you haven’t. And if you did, watch it again. I’m going to go read other people’s spazz about it because I love to hear people spazz about what I’m spazzing about. Leave a comment, okay? Here’s a bribe. And here’s a cap from the video – Taemin since he’s the one everyone spazzing about (if you take my pictures, make sure to credit, nae? Not me, the people I’m crediting): credit goes to kiechul on soompi

~Hajiman Sexy~

Oh, and I came home intending to write a post about yesterday’s Inkigayo performance – it was so good! You see I felt like I wasn’t giving credit where it was due and generally being really annoying and nitpicking at everything so I wanted you to know that I’m going to try to be more positive from now on and I was going to start with yesterday’s performance. It was great! That Music Core performance had me a little concerned because it really wasn’t that good, you know but this one was amazing! I knew the boys just needed some time to find their stride and I think they’re doing that. Besides, it’s still early – they’ve only been dong promotions for the song for a week so I can’t expect every performance to be perfect. That said, after you watch the video, watch the performance and then come back here and tell me how great they were! Or I guess you could disagree…but why would you? SHINee fighting!

Maki

The special stage to end all special stages

So I was thinking the other day about what my dream special stage would be and a number of collaborations came to mind (more Wonderbang, s’il vous plait?) but the one that seemed to me to be the most likely to happen is Dong Bang SHINee.

Why, you ask? Well, why not? I mean, they’re from the same company and there’s obviously already a significant relationship between the two groups, SHINee’s already done a tribute performance with Suju H and in addition, those boys just really, really love and look up to DBSK. I think they’d jump at the chance to get to perform with them. Besides, who doesn’t love some awesome sunbae/hoobae action? And you know with those two groups, it would be awesome.

I think now is a good time – they’ve both got upbeat songs (with similar themes!) out and I’m pretty sure that they could do the choreography for each others’ routines. I mean, the SHINee boys may not have gotten the ‘Miracle’ vocals down pat but they did the dance really well and I may not be a big DBSK fan but I know that those men can dance their butts off – it was the first thing that impressed me about them (just like another group I know…)

I think they could do a WonderBang-style collab where they sing their own song as well as the other group’s and do all of the choreo and everything but with this stage, things would have to be very hush-hush. They should keep us all in the dark. Just like how nobody knew about SunMi performing that tribute stage with Nam Gyuri and Ga-In or about the Miracle tribute performance until it happened, there should be absolutely no signs of this special stage happening so that we would all be taken by surprise. In addition, if we don’t know about it beforehand, the fans won’t be able to work themselves into a frenzy in anticipation – there’ll be no concrete expectations and that could definitely work in their favour.

I can see it now…SHINee starting off performing ‘Ah.Mi.Go.’ and then when it’s time for the back-up dancers to come out, DBSK comes out instead! Oh, I can hear the screams now…my poor ears…then they do the rest of ‘Ah.Mi.Go’ after which they go into ‘Spell-Mirotic’. To tell the truth, I don’t care how they split up the singing as long as JH still does his high note in Ah.Mi.Go and does NOT attempt Changmin’s ‘YEAH! WHOA!’ during Mirotic – although I think it’s important to let him sing a bit of the Mirotic chorus (lorsh, he really seems to love that song – I swear I hear him sing it more often than DBSK!) and can you imagine how cool the rap parts of both songs would be? I can…but I don’t want to have to. Make it happen, SM! I know you can do it if you want to. (Lol, I’m so demanding!)

But all joking aside, I really think that if both groups worked at it (and considering the groups I’m talking about, is there any doubt that they would?), this collaboration could be EPIC. I’m talking about the special stage to end ALL special stages here – if this performance went well, it could knock both WonderBang and WonderBoys off of a lot of people’s top special stage list. And that is quite a feat, I assure you. Still there’s always a downside and I’m afraid that if that happened, it would add fuel to the whole ‘SHINee are just DBSK copies/wannabes’ (dare I call it an argument? It does not even warrant the term) ‘point’ which is, you know, ridiculous but whatever, I don’t think I should let that bother me anymore. I mean, there are always going to be naysayers and the important thing is for me (and the rest of SHINee World) to continue to support the boys in their endeavours. I don’t even know why it’s a bad thing that SHINee might want to emulate their seniors. Do you see how hard-working and crazy successful DBSK is? That’s something anyone can aspire to. So if SHINee wants to be like them, I say more power to them! I certainly hope they can get there one day.

But I’m getting off track – my point is that Dong Bang SHINee, if properly executed, could very well be a special stage that would go down in infamy – it would become the first thing that popped in your head after you see the words, ’special stage’. It could very well be ‘the special stage to end all special stages’. I mean I didn’t expect WonderBang to be as amazing as it was but those groups really pulled that performance off – they sounded good, they had fun and I had fun watching them and that’s the way a performance should be. Enjoyable for all those involved. So what do you think? Anyone agree with me?

Oh, and I finally get a chance to use this gif – it’s perfect for this post. credit: bestiz and petiiil on Soompi

~neon nareul weonhae~

Just my two cents. Drop me a line and let me know what you think!

Night! Maki