Don't feed the British K-pop fans

It creates flash mobs all over the world, it crashes ticket websites, it has snubbed Britney Spears of an EMA award and it has sold out Madison Square Garden in minutes.

In just a few years, Korean pop music (K-pop for short), with its upbeat-dance-friendly tunes, colourful fashion, dynamic dancing and a ridiculous amount of group members, has seen a great surge in popularity all over the Western world – not least in the UK.

Last night's 'MBC Korean Culture Festival' at the Indigo2 (smaller venue at O2) in London, which featured both traditional and modern Korean acts, saw no exception in the British fans' enthusiasm for everything Korean.

All eyes on the Koreans Photo: Me

The concert, which is a part of 'All Eyes On Korea', a 100 day event promoting and honouring South Korea and its culture, saw 2000 plus Korean culture enthusiasts cheer and scream (mostly the latter) for traditional Korean music acts as well K-pop groups.

While the traditional cultural acts included performances with drums and traditional instruments, dancing and a fashion show of 'Hanbok', traditional Korean dress received loud cheers and woo's, it was obvious that the K-pop performance was the concert's main attraction.

Volume Up: Hyuna from 4Minute Photo:Mine

The first taste of the crowds' excitement came when an introduction video of the first K-pop act, girl group 4Minute, came on the big screen. It could have been a video of one of the One Direction boys getting undressed and the reaction would have been about the same.

Not deterred by the fact that the songs are entirely in Korean (except for the occasional oh yeah's and other nonsensical words) the fans sang heartedly - and loudly - along.

Contrasting the sensual  performance by the five-member girl group, were the comedic duo Norazo - combining funny dancing with humorous singing about everything from Curry to Supermen (I could only assume).

EXO-K performing their title song 'MAMA' Photo: Mine

However loud and excited the audience might have been during these acts (not to mention the dance performances of popular K-pop songs by international dance crews), it was nothing compared to the hysteria that exploded in the venue when 6-piece boy group EXO-K took to the stage. The group, which debuted less than three months ago, performed the most elaborate and energetic dances of the evening to ear-deafening cheers and screams - all worthy the likes of Take That and The Wanted.

The concert is the latest evidence that the British K-pop fans' are not to be underestimated.

Because I'm a sh*t blogger

And in pain, I'll just post a few hipster photos for you. Please love me.

That was me done

That's the 27 page dissertation I handed in this Tuesday, right there. Surreal.

Three years - 36 months - 1095 days and now I'm done with university. In fact, I might be done with school forever (please never let me do a masters, please please).

I looked forward to that last day of handing in my dissertation for so long with such an immense loathing of studying I actually thought I would burst into tears once it was all done, but I didn't. Instead I was quite freaked out. Never having to go to school ever again? Never having to study ever again? Studying is all I've ever known, what now? It was like a wish I should've carefully wished for.

As of right now, I'm looking forward to a week and a half holiday back in Swedenland, back to London for a few months of work, graduate from university properly (with gowns, diplomas and all those fancy stuff) in September and then, who knows - might stay in London, might go back to Sweden, might go to China. Who knows.

I have a dissertation to write but I made this instead.

10 ways to spot a tourist in London

People go to London. I get that.  We got Big Ben. I get that. We got a K-pop section at HMV. I get that. Still, the sheer volume of tourists that are walking down these already-crammed London streets is mind boggling. In fact tourists have become so common in my daily life that I've learnt how to spot them miles away (I take boring tube rides).

So why won't I share some of that tourist spotting knowledge of mine to anyone who may want to avoid them for any weird reason - especially this summer.

A person is probably a tourist if he or she is:

1. Carrying around a (any kind of) book that says London in the front (or Londres, Londra, ロンドン etc)

2. Travelling in a pack of more than 4 people in the same age (teenagers and pensioners are dead give aways - except for Chinese people because they might just some rich men off spring studying at UCL)

3. Carrying a plastic/paper bag from any of these places: Natural History Museum (or any museum except for the artsy ones because half of them might just be hipsters), Disney store or M&M world

4. Overdressed, especially those with a down jacket, scarves and gloves. (I tell you no real Londoner owns a down jacket)

5. Carrying a London tube map

6. Having their picture taken (together with someone else is a give away) in a place where they're clearly obstructing other pedestrians.

7. Carrying a paper travel ticket and isn't wearing a suit or any other formal clothing.

8. Carrying a large plastic/paper bag from any of these places: Primark, HMV or Whittard of Chelsea.

9. Walking down Oxford Street slowly.

10. Within 5 metre radius of Buckingham Palace

(NB: These applies to any location in London, except for Oxford Street where there's a 80% chance that a person is a tourist)

Happy tourist spotting!

Once Upon a time in Tweeter Street

My article on Verve Media

A while ago I got the chance to interview this awesome fellow about his just as awesome photography project, Tweeter Street where he captures Twitter users re-enacting one of their tweets at the location they tweeted it.

I did an article on it and was lucky enough to get it featured on our student magazine wesbite, Verve media.

Please have a read here (or the picture above) if you've run out of socks to fold and beans to separate or something. Cheers!

Why I can't do nothing anymore

I don't know about you but I used to be so fed up with people who kept saying that my generation wouldn't survive without our phones - in a "we used to write letters to our friends and it was so awesome and you'll never know how it is" kind of way. Not only does it make them sound incredibly stuck-up but it was also a completely untrue generalisation.

I've never been a person who saw much value in my phone and to be honest before I got a smartphone I barely used my mobile at all. I wasn't constantly texting someone or getting tons of calls, I was too cheap for that! So whenever someone would proclaim their love for their phone, I would think they were simply daft.

Then I got an iPhone. I was naively unaware of what the phone which tweets, emails, googles, facebooks and whatever tickles your fancy would do to me - the full effect of which only came crashing on me a few days ago when I took the tube.

It was Tuesday afternoon and I had just finished a long and rather depressing day at school and I needed a pick-me-up. So sushi it was! Getting on at Holloway road it was a 7 stop journey to Piccadilly Circus (which has this small sushi place I like), fine no big deal.

Having become the overground snob as I am, taking the tube is a receptionless nightmare - a unbearable receptionless nightmare if you've forgot to bring your book and haven't been able to snatch someone's Evening Standard.

After four minutes of reading the menopause ads, memorising people's shoes and identifying tourists, I was scratching my jeans, shaking my leg and wanted to scream out loud due to boredom. "How do you people do this?!"

It was a terrifying experience for two reasons, one: I was actually about to go crazy due to boredom and two: it made me realise how dependent I've become on my phone.

I'd become so used to being able to multi-task and being stimulated with silly Twitter trending topics, the latest news updates from my 37 news apps or funny direct messages, that when I just had to sit on the tube and do nothing for 20 minutes (with a working iPod btw) it was one of the most difficult things to do.

Thinking back, it was the fact that I could do all of that if I just was above ground that did me in. Because the fact that you know you have the ability and freedom to do something but just not at the moment, make you want it all the more whereas it's easier to disregard such a desire when you know you can't do ir regardless of the situation (unless you actually go and buy a smartphone).

However I still don't believe that we "couldn't survive without our phones", we have just become so used to be constantly being stimulated that we automatically turn to our phones when there's nothing to do.

We just have to work on that don't we?

Forward thinking

I promise to have a life after I graduate. I promise!

Let's not do that again

As I write this it's been exactly 25 days since the worst week of my life started. I study a lot, I admit that, but I have never ever studied that much during a week's time that I did that week. For seven days I studied from 10am to 3am (4am for two days). I have never drunk that much coffee and Red Bull in my entire life.

Let me roll some numbers for you. Out of the168 hours during the week, I studied for approx. 105 hours, slept for 42, ate for 21, spoke to people for 1 and listened to Korean music for 120 (my last.fm ain't nice now).

I think the highlight of the week was when I was lying on the floor at 2am in the morning singing my hearts to a sad Korean RnB song not knowing any of the words in the lyrics. It was an unforgettable moment, I can tell you that.

To be honest though, I look back at that week now and almost boast about it, but it genuinely was a nightmare I hope I'll never have to go through again. It was f-cking brutal. The funny thing is, my coursework and exam turned out to be so crap it probably wasn't even worth it.

Isn't life wonderful?

For your hipster needs

I'm not a big fan of fashion blogs or hipster things (if you can bear I'll even write you a whole post on why), but I'm unconditionally for everything that has potential.

Drawn + Sewed

Drawn + Sewed is a fairly new artsy slash fashion blog by a blood relative of mine who has an immaculate eye for everything creative and inspirational.

Bustling with brilliant original photos, drawings and sources of fashiony inspiration, this blog is a hipster haven for everyone who enjoys a visual treat.

Happy reading!

New year promises no sleep

Happy New Year!

First of all I'd like to wish everyone a happy new year and may your new year be a lot more promising than mine. (Virtual 90 degree bow)

There are two reasons as to why my blog's been dead ever since I came to Sweden:

1. My exam was moved forth one week and completely destroyed my schedule. So now I've got two assignments, one of which I've practically haven't started, and an exam for the 16th. I'm thrilled to bits and f-cking pieces! (These tears coming down my face are happy tears I swear)

2. Koreans. And worst of all: Koreans and YouTube.

So as it looks like now, I'll either have to screw the exam preparations and focus on my assignments or not sleep for one week and try to fit in all of it.

Fun times ahead. Fun times.

Review: Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Photo: Columbia Pictures

In total it took me three days to regain my normal (whatever that is) mental state after seeing a midnight preview of The Girl With Dragon Tattoo and another three to be able to even think about writing a review of it.

Taking on the success of the Swedish movie adaptions of the best-selling Millenuim triology, Hollywood now launches its own version of the $200 million worth franchise with The Social Network director David Fincher leading the way.

The first part in the series introduces us to the investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), who comes under fire after publishing a libellous article and therefore takes on an autobiography writing job for a retired business magnate who promises to help the journalist in his libel case. Blomkvist soon finds himself investigating a family murder that occurred 36 years ago and have to take help from the prolific hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara).

Those familiar with the book and the original movie knows that the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is not for the faint-hearted and the American adaption is certainly not an exception. Embrace yourself for a two and half hour of captivatingheart-racing unadulterated brick shitting. Helping you to get completely drawn into the thriller is the impeccable acting by Craig and Mara (already strongly tipped for an Oscar) as well as from Stellan Skarsgård and Christopher Plummer.

Despite the fact of having to cram in 500 plus pages into a movie, it still felt awfully long. After the murder case is cleared up we're led on to a seemingly never ending story closure with  sub stories.

The Girl With Dragon Tattoo premieres on Dec 21 in Sweden and Dec 26 in the UK.

Rise of the Mini Fashionistas

My article in HerUni.com

When I was 14 years old, the most fashionable things I owned were probably striped knee socks and a pair of fake Converse – which tells you a lot about my teenage fashion sense.

Did I wear blazers and skinny jeans? No. Did I wear the next season’s Kenzo heels? No. Did I wear Chanel cocktail dresses? No. Could I even spell Chanel? Probably not. But they do. The mini fashionistas, that is.

Earlier this week I contributed a fashion feature for the student website HerUni.com, where I hit out on the (ridiculously) young and fab. Read the whole article here (or click on the picture above).

Review: In Time

Amanda Seyfried and Justin Timberlake in In Time. Photo: 20th Century Fox

I'd love to start off this review with a cheesy time pun like "time is literally money in In time", but that would be disrespectful to director Andrew Niccol who obviously went headfirst for the task of cramming every possible time pun into a 140 minute movie.

In Time is set in a future where everyone's life is dictated by a ticking internal clock - displayed on your arm like a tacky matrix tattoo - which kills you once it hits zero. The only comfort you've got while you earn, steal or have some transfer extra time to you, is that you stop ageing at 25. At the center of this is Will Salas (Justin Timberlake), a good-willing hard worker from the ghetto, who sets out to shake up the system of "the rich lives forever on the expense of the poor" after his mother (Olivia Wilde, yeah really) is cruelly "timed-out".

As much as I love a truly original story idea, I hate being projected far-fetched situations such as a helpless female lead running around in 6 inch heels as if they were a pair of Nike air. The helpless female lead in this case being Sylvia Weis the rebellious rich man's daughter, portrayed by Mamma Mia star Amanda Seyfried who merely convinces us that Sylvia has any guts at all or any facial expressions for that matter.

Timberlake doesn't really meet the Sean Parker standards with his Will Salas neither being rough enough nor affectionate enough. The only one who's leaving this flick with a gold star is Mad Men's Vincent Kartheiser. The 32-year-old is impeccably frightenining as Sylvia's 90-year-old aristocrat father.

Apart from time puns, the script (which is written by Niccol) also has a ridiculous amount of oneliners. Only 20 minutes into the movie and the audience have heard enough dowdy oneliners to make 24 Bond movies - leaving the dialogue extremely bleak and cringe worthy.

Despite running out of steam half way and having a pathetic fart as an ending, the concept of In Time together with scattered acting talent (having not mentioned Cillian Murphy, Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki and Matt Bomer) is still impressive enough to be worth a Wednesday evening trip to the cinema.

The long wait

John Lewis 2011 Christmas TV advert

The first time I saw this on TV I actually teared up. It's THE most precious ad I've seen in years (if not ever). The concept is absolutely genius, it's simple yet it hits all the right spots. How come no one has done it before?!

John Lewis, I applaud thee.


On another note, happy advent Sunday everyone!

Eastern promises

Dweller of Eastern things.

Something has happened to me lately. I don't know if it's good or bad, but in terms of finding true inspiration, I'd say it's leaning towards the former.

I'm going to be honest, in the past few months I've been trying really hard to hide my Korean pop obsession. It hasn't been the easiest thing to do. Writing cryptic tweets, private tumblr messaging, creating anonymous blogs -all while hoping it would pass soon enough.

The hoping, as you can tell, has been in vain. What's more, the Kpop thing has turned into a great appreciation for (SE) Asian culture and the minimalism that often goes with it, which prompted the birth of this blog.

It's a portfolio of everything Asian from pop culture to architecture. 'An Asian who likes Asian things', that's the cliché I'm going for here.

'An oasis of minimalist and Asian awesomeness'

A little thing called Fandom

The subject of my fandom for a very long time. Photo: Hollywood Records

I rarely claim that I know a lot about anything. I don't claim to know a lot about movies, photography, politics or whatever. I don't. However, I've come to realise that there's actually one thing that I'd consider myself an expert in; fandoms. Yes, the obsessive, stalkative and screaming kind.

With a little less than a decade of experience (sadly enough), I can say with certainty that I've gone through more or less all of it, everything on the right side of the law that is. Every inch of one's room walls filled with posters? Check. Midnight queuing for a new release? Check. Going abroad for a concert? Check. Waiting outside a radio station in the rain and a temperature below freezing? Check.

What's most often associated with crying or screaming (or both at the same time) young girls, a fandom starts out just like any other interest. Like your fondness over sushi, knee-length skirts or the Young Apprentice (which is rather awesome actually). But for it to turn you into a info hungry, squeal inclined, stalkative fan, there has to be a community of people who shares your newfound interest and a flow of material that keeps it interesting.

Once you've found those things, you're only a few overcomings of pride and a vanished good judgment away from joining me in the rain and minus 5 degrees outside BBC radio 1. Our heavily wired society -make that our heavily wired global society, isn't exactly making it any harder to stay away either.

Being a fan isn't flattering, I can admit that. Most of the time you're impelled to do things that you can't explain, you feel things that you can't explain, you want to buy things but don't know why. You dedicate yourself unconditionally to the fandom with no assurance of getting anything in return. And above all you're frequently subject to ridicule, be it from your friends, other fans or rabid tweeters. It's not glamorous.

However, I've come to think that people who make fun or belittle fandoms, can't possibly have been truly devoted to anything or actually had a fandom because if they would have, they wouldn't be bashing it. Why? Because they would know about the passion and pure happiness one so often feel while being a fan. Practically every waking moment is a natural high. Believe me, it's one of the best feelings there is.

So if you want to keep making fun of people who are genuinly happy, be my guest.

Destinations

Gröna Lund in Stockholm, Sweden

Fiskehamnen in Malmö, Sweden

Household cavalry museum, London

The thing with designer stores

Photo: Mine

I'm just one of those people who are excessively anxious about a lot. School (no kidding), the future, school work, work experiences, socialising, not updating my blogs enough, having to change tube at Green Park (everyone living in London know I'm quite serious about this) and the things just pile up.

One of the things that I get especially anxious about is: designer stores. You see, there's a reason as to why after three years of living in London I still haven't been to Selfridge's (GASP!) and avoid Harrod's like the plague - I know my place.

There's nothing more cringeworthy than people who aspirationally wear designer clothes and particularly; bags. With other words people who shows off their designer wear (might even be real for all I care) when obviously they can't afford the lifestyle.

So when we get assignments which require you to physically visit a designer store, and believe me it happens often enough, I dread it for my life (ok this I'd say would be journalistic sensationalism but you get the idea).

Going into a designer store when you obviously aren't there to shop is probably the most self-conscious thing you can do. Imagine this: a fancy well-lit, minimalist store with huge glass windows on Sloane street with its millions of security guards and well-dressed staff. You don't even have to step into the store with both of your legs before: BANG they see you're not there to buy something. They see it on your bag. They see it on your shoes. They see it on your coat. They see it on your watch. They see.

So if you know a secret sign that says, "Hey please don't mind me, I'm just here to check the country of origin labels. Just pretend I'm invisible and don't talk to me. Cheers!', please let me know.

The fine line between brilliance and silliness

Valentino's Valentina perfume ad featuring Freja Beha Erichsen.


Lancôme Trésor's Midnight Rose perfume ad featuring Emma Watson.

Yes, I spend sursprisingly a lot of time analysing ads. Perfume ads (along with car ads) are usually the ones that play on aspiration and 'artsy feel' so much that they end up just being silly. However I have to admit that, every now they turn out to be absolutely brilliant. Which is which?