December Favourites

Red Band Society 

Admittedly Western TV shows have been really disappointing me as of late. For some reason I just have had no motivation to watch any TV show because for some reason, most of the ones I watch have been going downhill leaving me with no motivation to watch a thing. So safe to say I was in the market for a new show that was consistently good so praise the lord for 'Red Band Society'. The show trails the lives of various teenagers dealing with medical issues and their caretakers lives in the hospital as they all band together (see what I did there) and become a close knit group of friends who share many dramas and disputes but also love and support each other unconditionally, even if one of them is in a coma. The show had me in shreds at times but also in a trans as I watched all 10 episodes in a day without stopping. The subject matter may sound a little grim but I assure you although it can be dark sometimes, it is also light, funny and delightful to watch. 

2014 S/S - Winner 

Winner is the newest group signed to YG entertainment and I was probably a little late to jump onto that band wagon but anyway. '2014 S/S' is one of the best debut albums iv'e ever heard, there was plenty of emphasis on that trademark YG hip-hop sound which I love. I can rarely say this about music, but there was not one track I do not like on this album. While all the hip-hop tracks are real winners (see what I did again, damn i'm on fire today) there are also numerous ballads that are amazingly beautiful and captivating. Winner's lead rapper, Mino, is one of the best new rappers iv'e seen in a while, he has collaborated with fellow YG artists like Masta Wu accompanying him on his track 'Come Home' with fellow rising rapper Bobby of iKON and Dok2. This album was slick and fresh, definitely one of my favorite albums YG has produced. 

  

Block B 

To begin with I wasn't too fond of Block B's music but than of course, 'Her' grew on me. Iv'e been enjoying both of Block B's albums 'Her' and 'Welcome To The Block' equally over the course of this month. Their music is so fun, energetic, uplifting but kind of insane which is mimicked in their music videos too. I think everyone needs a bit of someone like Block B in their life, their music always puts you in a good mood. I can also safely say that are adorable as hell as people too. Although Block B aren't all fun and games, I mean did you see Zico's freestyle rap at the MAMA's? Damn boy.  

Youth - Citizen 

Finally for people who aren't as enthusiastic about Korean music as I am we have and English album. Citizen have a really cool and unique sound which is going to be difficult for me to explain but i'll attempt to do so anyway. Imagine if Brand New and punk music had a child you'd have Citizen. I love every track on this album which again is a rarity, absolutely every aspect of this album was perfect.  

Sims 4 with Dan and Phil 

If you don't know who Danisnotonfire and Amazingphil are you probably live under a rock or somewhere without a stable connection to YouTube. Dan and Phil released a gaming channel recently and what have I been staking out my subscription box for? Dan and Phil playing the Sims. I admit I find Dil Howlter's life more interesting and enjoyable than my own. This series is absolutely hilarious and enjoyable to watch and don't even ask me why. I could play the Sims myself but it's not nearly as enjoyable or entertaining as watching Dan and Phil play, probably half due to their commentary and how scarily alike their Sim actually is to the both of them.  

Watch it here:

Book Review: Noggin - John Corey Whaley

Side note: The cover I had for this book was far less terrifying and disturbing 

Noggin follows 16 year old, Travis Coates who is diagnosed with leukemia. Travis chooses to have his head "chopped off and shoved into a freezer" in the hope of having it re attached to a healthy body in the future. 

Once Travis is attached to the muscly and athletic body of Jeremy Pratt five years later, he must return home and face the fame that comes along with being a 'medical miracle' as well as coming face to face with his ex girlfriend Cate, who is engaged to another man. It is not only Travis who has changed but so has the reality he had left behind five years ago.

Whaley created an extremely bold and imaginative plot that was extremely different to traditional young adult novels. That being said with such an interesting and inventive plot I really wanted more out of this novel.

'Noggin' was one of those books I couldn't put down for about the first half of the novel, then retired to my bedside table for about 3 months until I decided to pick it back up. I was extremely emotionally invested in the novel for the first half then, basically it just became painful to read.

Loss and moving on is a central theme in the novel and Whaley did not shy away from emphasizing that. Straight up I cannot handle people bitching and moaning about ex partners in real life let alone fiction. If I had to read another line about how Travis was going to win back Cate, I was going to ring someones neck. Whaley's writing is exquisite and pleasurable to read, however it was eclipsed by the excess of whining.

I much more enjoyed reading about Travis' adventures with Hatton and Kyle, whom I thoroughly enjoyed the character development of, however there was very little of that. From something that started out so intriguing it turned into a whiny, repetitive mess that was slow and not pleasurable to read.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Dirty Vibe - Skrillex feautring Dilpo, G-Dragon and CL Review

Hello loves! Sorry for my long absence from posting, I have spent my last week and a bit in a hellish state of sickness where iv'e just about blown my entire body weight of disgusting gooey substance out of my nose. Regardless, I will be reviewing Skrillex's "Dirty Vibe" featuring some of my personal favorites.

'Dirty Vibe' is an entirely new sound for CL and GD, mostly because the entire song is sang in English as opposed to Korean. Because people are afraid of this new change of course it was to cause an inevitable shit storm.

YG is not affiliated with this project by any means, so people thinking this is some form of YG blasphemy it's not. CL is set to start her US debut under the management of Scooter Braun, who manages many successful artists today such as Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber. So - I guess you could say this is CL's debut song to break into the Western market.

Both GD and CL had heavy rap parts in the song with explicit language which (mind mine) was fucking awesome if you ask me, although some didn't seem to appreciate it.

You're always bound to get those probable 12 year olds who whine that "o mg CL has changed so much!!!!!!!!!!!! she ruining 2ne1!!!!" but let's be real guys, what is wrong with someone wanting to push themselves out of their comfort zone? CL is a fluent English speaker and an all around awesome artist, why should she be stuck in the confines of South Korea? To those people I say:

As for the song going into it you know what to expect because after all this is Skrillex's song, so you know to expect a dance type of song which was not any exception with 'Dirty Vibe' CL and GD's rapping did not disappoint, they both did really well in their respective parts, although Westerners didn't seem to agree.

Obviously if you don't listen to k-pop you probably wouldn't get CL and GD's style of rapping, so the rapping parts weren't exactly pleasing Western listeners. But in contrast if you listen to only k-pop you're not really going to get the music because it is very different to what you're used to, I mean nobody ever really ever says "motherfucker" or "bitch" in k-pop so you'd probably be a little shocked. This is one that's very difficult to please everyone with.

Evidently this isn't going to be some inspirational song we can all gather around and pray to but for what it is I thought the song was fun, granted I probably wouldn't listen to it on loop and it wasn't my favorite track either of them have ever produced, but you know those days you feel like an absolute badass mother trucker and you just need that song to get you hyped up? Dirty Vibe will be my go to song. It was really awesome to see CL and GD be able to try something new and feel free to let loose so I really liked the song in that respect.

The MV alone was very fun and colourful which was totally enjoyable to watch. It was lively, out there but still really cool and fresh. I mean, CL with a wall of squirt guns how can you go wrong?

And yes CL you are my lesbian crush.

Watch Dirty Vibe here:

*side note* sorry if I didn't cover Skrillex or Dilpo's part enough i'm not exactly equipped to handle that aspect as I really don't listen to dubstep music, so I couldn't really comment :)