KCON
Showing posts with label KCON. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KCON. Show all posts

2015 Iconography & Listography

Just when you thought that 2015-related posts are so last year... ;-)

I'm so pumped for 2016 but I'm forever grateful for all the things that happened in the past year. The good and the bad. I hope the good things will continue and all the bad things will get better. For you and for me.

I'll try something different. Iconography. I'm not exactly good at it but I'm testing out a website/service that makes it easy for Photoshop dummies like me. If you've noticed, I've been tweaking the appearance of this blog. A little change for 2016, yeah?

가자!

CONVENTIONS: 6.
I can't get enough of them. They're exhausting and I tend to spend much more than my budget - not to mention, adding to the clutter in my room - but I love them. I'm looking forward to going to more in 2016. Preferably, EVO 2016.

  • 3 times at the Los Angeles Convention Center. I can tell you where the nearest restrooms are. WonderCon is moving to LACC in 2016, by the way.
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KCON LA 2015, Day 3

I know, I know. It's been more than a week after KCON NY/NJ which means even more weeks have passed since KCON LA but only now am I putting up my Day 3 recap. Whut... I'm busy and lazy at the same time, okay? Plus, after the monster recap of Day 2, I didn't have the energy to dive right in with the final day. But I'm here now. What else can you do? ;-)


Aaah, the calm before the cray. By Day 3, I really didn't have any more plans at the Expo Hall. I was all bought out and I mean, how many times does one go around a small-ish convention floor? (Although I did regret not buying the TOP bear, Japan version. Oh well.) Most of my day was spent sitting down next to an outlet. I've learned my lesson in Day 2... never trust a power bank. Mine failed on me at 47% battery and I had to turn it off and then put it on ultra battery saving so I can call my ride after the concert. Yes, I'm anal when it comes to my gadget's battery life. I flat out panic when I reach below 50% with no charger.

I didn't go to any panels anymore. I was interested in one, something about traveling to Seoul on a budget but I got lazy getting up and making my way to LACC that "early" when all I really had planned was the 7pm concert. I would've loved to put in my 2 cents about my "16 hours in Seoul" experience. Plus, it was moderated by Professor Oh again.

Day 3 meant Block B. The day before, my AliExpress order finally came in. Just in fcking time for the final day of KCON LA. Why was I so excited? Well, I was able to represent Zico's most precious dongsaeng...


Song Minho of WINNER. The other one that I got is for Kim Jinwoo. I got to wear that about a week after KCON. (PS: In my head, it's always "Zico-hyung"... ala- Mino, but the funny thing is, he's not even an oppa to me LMAO.) But really, I was just too excited that there's YG on the front of the shirt. You bet that I went ahead and got the other 3 WINNER members. Hee!

And it was an awesome choice to wear this particular shirt. As I was sitting somewhere, charging my devices, minding my own business... and actually listening to Verbal Jint, I heard a familiar beat. (I was actually trying to tune out the events on the main stage because... well... let's just say that if you're not BIGBANG, please don't even try to cover Bang, Bang, Bang. The song, I mean. The dance is fine.) In between songs, I heard the first few bars of I'm Him. What are the fcking chances of this song being played at KCON while I'm wearing a Song Minho shirt?! The Hallyu gods love me.
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KCON LA 2015, DAY 2

In my KCON ticket post, I might have said that it only took one reason to tip me over the edge. I decided to just fck it and attend this year's KCON because Ki Hong Lee of The Maze Runner movies was invited. Along with Daniel Henney and Kim Soohyun, the actor lineup actually was the reason why I decided to go. And hey, I might as well go to the concert. At least I can say that I saw Super Junior live. (Psst, Mr. Simple is my forever guilty pleasure.)


I'm no stranger to lining up and waiting. I've waited 8+ hours just to see actors. I was interested in two panels from the Day 2 schedule, one of them was Ki Hong Lee's panel. The other one was the Hallyu Culture Shock Q&A hosted by KWOW's Professor Oh. In past conventions, people have started to line up hours before a panel. I knew that Ki Hong Lee's panel is going to be a big one so I timed my schedule around that.


I got to LACC early to have lunch from one of the food trucks. I love Bibigo and since there wasn't a The Return of Superman representation, I had bulgogi 비빔밥 and 식혜. My bbs 대한, 민국, 만세 love 고기 and 밥, and in a recent episode, 민국이 cried over spilled 식혜. Yep, I'm overthinking things. At least, my ringtone is the triplets' theme song. (No joke!)

After a quick lunch, I went straight to the assigned room. I was one of the first 10 people in line. Kudos to those who had the same idea as me. XD A Soompi panel was still going on. The staff lady kept saying "Sohm-pi" instead of "Soom-pi", I thought she was saying zombie panel that first time. Anyway, I did some reading while I was waiting. The line started to get longer and longer until, the last I heard before going in, that it was almost all the way across the building. Yes, he might not be as huge as the other K-pop acts but he's got Hollywood creds. And I'm sure a lot of those who wanted to see him were The Maze Runner fans.


I definitely am a fan of that series. I met James Dashner when he was doing promos for the first movie. The 2nd movie, The Scorch Trials, will come out September 18th, a day after my birthday. And I told him that! Oh you know me, I won't pass up a chance to talk to a famous person. ;-)
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KCON LA 2015, Day 1

Let me just get this out of the way... I cringe at the non-word "feelz". And to have these celebrities, especially Daniel Henney say it out loud? No. Just, no. But Daniel Henney is hot.


 We meet again, Los Angeles Convention Center. This time, 안녕하세요? We're scheduled to see each other at least one more time this year. 

 Having skipped last year's KCON, I was sort of not expecting much from this year. I didn't really know much about the featured acts (although I'm familiar with some of their songs). I don't have a particular fandom included in the lineup. And they're not really informative as to which vendors or booths are going to be there. 

 My previous KCON was a hot mess. Literally and figuratively. It was an outdoors event. Even the panels were outdoors under tents in the sun and wind. The booths were under the baking sun and there was a lot of walking, almost hiking around the venue. I enjoyed it for the most part but not the sunburn on my neck thinking that it wasn't going to be that hot. Silly me... it was in the middle of summer. It felt more like a flea market than an actual convention. That was one of the reasons why I skipped KCON 2014. I already had an all-day outdoor event the Friday before KCON weekend and I just didn't have the energy to do another 2 days of concert. Even if G-Dragon was there. Sigh.

 This year, GD wasn't in attendance. The only YG Entertainment people there were Danny Im and apparently, Masta Wu whom I totally missed. Grrrr. But you know me. I find YG in all places. My haul from Day 1 - from the rest of the weekend actually - you'd think that I went to YGcon instead of KCON. Not to mention that MAJORITY of the songs I heard over the weekend are from the YG playlist. From BIGBANG to Hi Suhyun. I'm not kidding. I heard Bang, Bang, Bang more times than when I play it for my own enjoyment. Dude, I even heard High High. The guy who looks like Crayon-era GD was there, saw him all 3 days; I spotted him within five minutes of getting to the venue for Day 1. And oh, I wore my Alive Tour shirt and a Song Minho '93 jersey on Saturday and Sunday. I guess I did good as a YG stan. ;-)

 But at the end of the day, YG was a no-show at this concert. JYP and SM were there as well as other agencies. That's okay. I like Sistar and Block B. And if you don't know Super Junior, you must be living under a rock. I wanted to see Shinhwa live because they're like, one of the first ones. And oh, I'm curious to see if Roy Kim is as adorable in person as he is on screen. ^_^

 So are you ready to "ignite your feelz"? (Ugh.) 가자!
So, KCON is now a 3-day INDOOR convention with a concert on the last two nights of the weekend. Indoor. Thank the lawd! Having said that I wasn't expecting a lot, I was kind of impressed at how it now looked like an actual convention rather than a Sunday morning flea market. They occupied the smaller side of the LACC, the place where panels are held during AnimeExpo.  I wasn't as familiar with this area as the bigger hall but at least I knew where the restrooms were. Those that weren't crowded hahaha.

 Even though this was the smaller of the two wings, there was still a lot of space left over on the floor. I mean, they could've made the Main Stage bigger or put it somewhere less crowded. It was near the Tous Les Jours, TVN, and MNET booths and they're always crowded. Add to that the crowd that gathers waiting for the next Main Stage act... it becomes a congested area vs the rest of the floor which was mostly empty. I'm not expecting ala-AnimeExpo where the bigger expo hall is filled to the edges. Just a better spacing. Lesson learned for next year, hopefully?

 There wasn't many vendors. I'm not talking about the Korean brand sponsors. Their area looked well-put together. The other booths, including the fanclubs... the layout was kind of all over the place. Not all of the spaces were occupied and each "block" was far apart so it made the floor feel kind of empty at times. Again, I'm not saying it sucks. It's just that coming from someone who's experienced bigger conventions, KCON could've tweaked things a bit to make the space work better for them. I hope they took notes for next year. I did like that they had LACC instead of the outdoor locations.
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미안해. 나는 거짓말했다.

I'm sorry. I lied.

I'm going to KCON 2015 in Los Angeles after all. ^.~

If you've been reading my posts for the past few months, you'll gather that I'm almost exclusively a YG fan. Meaning, I tend to favor the artists from YG Entertainment over other acts/agencies. But unlike other "stans", I don't treat them as gods nor excuse them for things they do that the public frown upon. Yet I can't deny that their stuff are really that much better than majority of the stuff out there. I can't bear to listen to some K-pop songs, let alone follow groups that are made up of 48615 members.

Having said all that, I am open to expanding my horizons. I do like a handful of non-YG talents. More the songs than the artists themselves. I will listen to the songs/albums but don't ask me the names of the members. I've ventured out of the YG building many times and found favorite tracks from other artists. But at the end of the day, I come home to YG.

Last year, G-Dragon was at KCON 2014. I didn't go. I was exhausted the day before because of the Josh Hutcherson charity basketball game. As much as I respect GD's talent, nothing - NOTHING - can replace that experience. (Read all about it; click the link.) And like the previous one that I attended, KCON 2013, GD was really the only reason why I wanted to go. But it ended up being such a YG experience! And Missy Elliott feels, no less. ;-) I never got around to writing about the concert night with all those acts. I had something to say about the rude fans of ~other artists but I think it's a good thing that I never talked at length about it. Let's just say that YG fans will never do that to your idol. At least BIGBANG is still one unit after all these years.  #kanyeshrug

This year, there's not a YG act in the lineup. But I'm going anyway. I have a handful of Sistar songs in my iPod. Sistar19's 있다 없으니까 is one of the loveliest songs ever. One of my earliest guilty pleasures is Mr. Simple by Super Junior. I also like Sorry Sorry. If you're a K-pop fan for a couple of years, you should know Shinwha. Without them, your bias wouldn't be there too. Zion T. made an appearance in GD's song 너무 좋아 in the Coup d'Etat album. And if you know Zion T, you should also know Crush. I thought Spring, Spring, Spring by Roy Kim was cute when it was released. Then he followed that up with a song called Love, Love, Love. Oh-kay. And I can't leave out the biggest reason (out of this lineup) why I decided to go to the concert nights... Block B. Nillili Mambo is so hot up to this day. I don't have a clue what it means but I've listened to it on repeat from time to time. If they are to do that live, that's my ticket right there.

 (If I haven't mentioned the artist, that means I don't know them. I may have a clue but I probably haven't listened to their songs. I'll get around that eventually. I have two more weeks. Suggestions? The video message from Monsta X is so freakin' adorable though. Such tourists! LOL.)

 But it's not the artist line up that finally pushed me into buying that ticket. It's the ACTOR LINEUP. Daniel Henney. I don't need to say anything else really. Gimme my Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders now. Kim Soohyun... every one in my workplace watched My Love From the Star. I watched the first episode but as the lazy ass that I am, I haven't gone past that LOL. But hey, it would be cool to see him... maybe it'll make me watch the rest of the drama. And yes people... Ki Hong Lee...  Minho from The Maze Runner. I knew he was coming but what convinced me to go too was the panel. That's the only panel that I was interested in. I can get there and line up the whole day if needed. And besides, I know the Los Angeles Convention Center better than my own backyard. For $25 for all 3 convention days, that's a STEAL compared to the other conventions that I go to. 

 I think I scored good seats having just bought them two days ago. Level Premier P3. I'm not after any artist engagements but if I have a free one, I'll probably go for Block B. If not, I might just give it away. I'm actually looking forward to the concert now. Not looking forward to mingling with people but I'm good at keeping to myself anyway. Where is the open mic room when you need it? On second thought... no, no open mic rooms for KCON please. Hee!

 So yeah. An expensive spur of the moment decision. I hope I don't regret it. See you, KCON 2015 LA!
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Tickets, 어떡해?!

EDIIIIIIT! SEE BOTTOM OF POST AFTER THE JUMP.

My main source of stress this fine June.  But first:


See? Seeeee?! It happened! I talked all about it here and now I have proof!

(I may have to lighten up on Epik High thing because my dreams these past two nights have been with them. One night, it was my endless quest to take a selca with them. Last night, I was at a random Starbucks and they decided to share tables with me. I mean, whut? I wish!)

Anyhooo... it's another start of the week. I look forward to Monday nights thanks to Mostly Walking. They have yet to announce the next game or if they are doing a show tonight but still, my body's been trained to love Mondays partly because of this show. (Edit: No show today and next week.)

We also have family coming over this weekend. One of my relatives from the Philippines will be spending a week with us starting Friday to tour Los Angeles. As you know, I love taking people around. I love playing tour guide and really, I don't mind taking time out to do so. And really, I love going to Universal Studios and Hollywood and the several different museums and tourist spots in this lovely city.

So it seems that I'm going to have an awesome week, right? Well, I sure hope so. But already, I am so very stressed out. The BIGBANG MADE in USA tickets are going on sale this week. From my experience during both bloodbaths of the last tour, this one is going to be the same. Never mind the ticket prices, I can handle that. But the stress... oh god. Siva Group, you spoiled me. It was so hassle-free with them. The Epik High concert is one of the very best that I've attended partly because of how well it was handled. How I wish they did this tour too. Alas... we are to rely on this huge promotion monster... quantity over quality.

At first, I'm willing to fight for VIP for the Los Angeles leg of the tour. I know how fcking awesome that experience was, from the sound check to being on the dance floor during Fantastic Baby. Plus, I got a VIP pass, special bag, shirt, and free light stick with it. All that plus the incredible experience was worth its steep price tag. And I went the next date as well, with my original, non-VIP ticket to just enjoy the show without taking pictures. It was the best two-night concert of my life.

This time around, they're doing LA and Anaheim. Ticket sales will be open to public on June 12, at 12nn. Going back to the paragraph about having family over, we've scheduled a trip to the Universal Studios Hollywood on that day. If I need to be at home in front of a computer with a fast internet by 12nn, it's not going to leave much time to enjoy Universal Studios. If it were just me, I don't mind... I have an annual pass. She doesn't. I've volunteered to buy per a pass and take her around. I can't just bail on that. Then there's this BS about the Anaheim date having a pre-sale starting tomorrow at 10AM. Originally, I was planning to get the cheapest ticket just to enjoy the concert. Now... I think I have a better chance of scoring a VIP there vs Los Angeles.

I was talking to my mom and brother about this, my unofficial voices of reason. They both said to forget about VIP and just go with the 2nd best ticket. I won't get the VIP swag or I won't be that close to the stage but I will have a reserved seat and a better view of what's going on as a whole. Having experienced that on my 2nd ALIVE Tour night, I did enjoy the view. But then again, this conversation happened after my EPIK night. I was pit and loved it. Waaaaah, I'm so torn. I can see the reason, the practicality, behind what they were saying but my fangirl heart wants to try for VIP still.

Mom and bro also expressed that they want to join me at the LA show. Not with the same ticket but somewhere cheaper. They just want to see/hear them live. I would LOVE to have them there. I really don't mind buying them tickets, to be honest. They were also telling me that I'm not a K-pop concert noob. "Give chance to those who are," they both said. I call BS on that but I kind of get it. Then, I was cleaning up my room last night and I saw my VIP lanyard and all those doubts came running back to me. ;_____________;

어떡해???!!!

And as for the Anaheim show, they're telling me not to go. 헐. 헐. 헐.

A part of me totally gets it and agrees. Yes, I've been VIP before and it would be selfish of me to want another one. It's unfortunate that I will not be at home in front of a computer on the day of sale but maybe that is a sign. Can't be too greedy. 

But on the other hand... VIP was such an incredible experience that I don't want to miss out on it. I know how it felt like and it was leaps and bounds better than any other ticket out there. Back then, I scored it by chance and I saw it as a sign that it really was for me. But this time... should I look at it as a sign too? Or am I being too philosophical about it? DX

As for Anaheim, that's another can of worms all together. Especially now that VIP Nation has released the perks of VIP. I mean... you get why I'm stressing out, right? If you're a huge fan of anything, you'd know the feeling. Presale starts TOMORROW, June 9 at 10AM. I'll be at work and our internet reminds me of stupid dial-up. I might pester my brother again for help on this because he has a faster computer and internet connection. Thinking about all this gives me the shakes. 

So yeah, I'm legit stressing out. Both Staples and Honda Center have released seating map and while I'm this close to giving up on going VIP for the LA show, the Anaheim show is giving me hope. But I think this VIP package information served only to stress me out so much more.
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