Fina has a CN Blue Adventure

Right after their set finished, and the lights came on.

I know twitter has been like a mini-blog, with updates almost everyday on mundane things i do and think about. But some things you just can't express fully on twitter. Like two days spent bathing in the awesome light of CN Blue!

Friday, the 20th of August 2010 (must never forget this day), there was a fan-sign event at City Square Mall. Seeing their faces in real life for the first time just blew my mind. They were ALL unbelievably pretty. Not in a gay way.

Since we (Ai, Mel and Ai's friend Dorothea) got CAT 2 tickets, we got an autograph from a random member. I didn't really have a definite must-have favourite for CN Blue, but Jungshin was the one I knew the least about, so I was a little disappointed that I got him, but he looked so nice and friendly that my disappointment with getting him soon turned into disappointment that our interaction went too smoothly and didn't last longer. I walked onto the stage and passed by all the other gleaming faces of the CN Blue members to get to Jungshin, but when I tried to show him a little sign that basically said "Jungshin-ah, jia-you" in Korean, some stupid ass security person beside me pushed it downwards so he couldn't read it. It's not like I was telling Jungshin to write my name or something >:(. When he looked up to give me the poster, (and this all happened in a space of barely 2 seconds) I took it while shouting "KAMSAHAMNIDA" in his face, because everyone around us was so loud. I probably scared the poor boy to death. Oh why why why couldn't I have just smiled sweetly and made longer eye contact before getting off the stage? I was almost the last person for him to sign for!

Aishah got a really bad cramp in her leg/ foot while we were just a few people away from getting our autographs, and could barely walk, so the staff had to support her while she limped on stage to Jonghyun. We went out by the side of the stage instead of getting back into the queue so that Aishah could rest and check on her legs, and by some divine coincidence it was where CN Blue would eventually exit the stage. Jonghyun and his BB Cream whiteness passed us by twice when he went to the loo (Lo! he is human after all!), and then the entire band passed us when they'd finished with the event. Yonghwa blew kisses and waved in the i-the-king-graciously-accept-your-love way, the rest I kinda missed because my camera was jamming :/ Dorothea got her hand clasped by Jonghyun I think! Large, sweaty hands? Haha

My Jungshin-signed poster.

Jungshin greeting fans.

Minhyuk in all his loveliness.

Jonghyun looking up at the fans gathered on the 2nd and 3rd levels.

Minhyuk with an ah-jumma fan, while an over-zealous security guard interferes.

Jonghyun on his way to the toilet.

His Majesty Jung Yonghwa thanking us for our presence.

Here you can see Mel doing a high 10 Jonghyun (she just wanted to show him her palms on which was written "Himnae", or jiayou), before Aishah is helped by a staff member to the table:

The next morning we met early, to hang around the van that would follow CN Blue and take us to the UCC for the showcase. It was my first time ever doing something like this (in fact my first time ever seeing Korean stars in real life) so I didn't know what to expect. We ran to the hotel entrance once the heads up had been given (nearly 2 hours after we'd arrived; it's all a waiting game). I got only one picture of Yonghwa and Jonghyun, because digital cameras snap really slowly haha. And as soon as their van left we ran to our van to CHASE! We were really lucky to have been driving right next to their van before their curtains closed too much. I only saw Jungshin's outline before he closed the curtain, but we saw Minhyuk shyly give us a backhanded wave (and we know it's only to us since we were the only ones who could see!).

When we arrived at the UCC, we gathered around their van and could see them exit clearly. By this time I'd learned from my mistakes: Whenever they're leaving or arriving, videos are always better than pictures. And it's on YT now!

We spent the rest of the time (between 10.30 and 3) hanging out in the toilet, where we could hear their soundchecks through a speaker connected to the main hall. Nobody else had cottoned on to this fact, so we were alone in the toilet most of the time. Except when people had to use the toilet, in which case we tried to talk over the soundchecks to distract the interlopers.

The show was... simply indescribable.

Yonghwa was an incredible showman, since his style and movements, which always appears over the top on TV music shows, translates well onto the live stage. He made jokes, he got our spirits high, he sang so well it should put many idols out there to shame, and he played his guitar with just the right amount of swagger and cockiness. He even spoke English with that same kind of swagger. But during the question and answer sessions he was personable and playful - his fanservice was unsurpassable. He seemed to understand almost exactly what it took to get us laughing or screaming in approval.

The good thing about sitting right smack in the middle is that you always think he's looking at you when he's speaking or singing.

(There's an obvious difference in the photo quality between the first and second day. The difference between my cheap camera and my brother's camera.)

Jonghyun looked shy, almost coy, like he didn't look at us as directly as Yonghwa did, but slid a glance every so often. His skills on the electric guitar got everyone screaming for more (heehee), and his deeper voice was steady and controlled and beautiful. When he speaks, though, his voice is soft and... doughy? Haha can't find the word to describe it, but it was very attractive. And yes, his slathered-on BB Creamed skin shone so luminously among his other members on stage that he kinda reminded me of a vampire. Non-human. The same shade as his white shirt haha.

Cheeky-looking Yonghwa knows how to get girls' hearts beating faster.

Jungshin was cute, and smiley, and shy looking. He doesn't seem like a natural showmanm but it was nice to see him play around on stage with Yonghwa while they were playing their songs. He teased us a little during the introduction part by not saying anything until fans were all shouting his name. Not much else I can really say about him, because my eyes were always wandering to either Yonghwa the magnetic showman (sounds so funny lol) or...

I think this was where Yonghwa said that the bad part to being famous was having to eat prettily. Minhyuk concurs.

...Minhyuk, who was sitting at the drums right behind Yonghwa. Fans sitting right in the middle, like Aishah, could barely see Minhyuk because of the microphone placements. But because I was slightly off-centre, I could see Minhyuk playing his drums. He looked so cute playing his drums, because his hair flipped to the beat and he was always mouthing the lyrics to the songs at the same time. He couldn't really look up to stare into the audience like Yonghwa could, but even if he could, I still think he'd seem so adorably shy and lovely. Yup, LOVELY is the perfect way to describe him. He turns away to drink his water, he sits with the most amount of propriety among the boys, his skin was baby smooth and glowing, and he smiles so prettily and cutely you just want to squish him up and take him home. The camera really doesn't do him justice, because he looks so unbelievably beautiful in real life, even if "beautiful" may seem a strange choice of words. Did I mention his hands looked so delicate and smooth when he waved at us in the van? Some lucky girl chosen in a lucky draw we didn't even know existed got to win his drumsticks. *dies*

And thus ended an incredible KPop adventure, my first encounter with stars and stalking and showcases and signatures. It was fun because of the company I had with me, but I don't think I'll be doing too much stalking after this. Maybe only waiting in the venue carpark to get a look, and that'd be it. It costs money I'm running out of. I'm not a natural at it, and I don't really feel comfortable chasing people. I never even called out their names once throughout the two days, except in the concert hall. Seems like I need to be in the dark, with nobody paying attention to me to be able to let loose haha. Sorry to all the people out there I may have annoyed by my fangirling about Minhyuk and screaming during the showcase. I thought myself too uptight to scream, but I couldn't help myself haha.

And next month, Jay's fanmeet!

P.S. songs I remember them playing: Let's Go Crazy, Love Revolution (in English), Love Light, Now or Never (in English), LOVE, I'm A Loner. Jonghyun strummed and sang a few lines of Sunday Morning by Maroon 5 while waiting for Minhyuk's earpiece to be fixed. I know I forgot one song, but it was the one song I'd never heard before.

World Cup is ending in less than 5 hours, and I'm sad. This tournament has been my life the past two weeks, after I came back from Malaysia where, surprisingly, not all matches are shown on TV1. In fact, the only time I watched the World Cup in Malaysia was during a teh-tarik supper where a match was shown on a huge projector. As soon as I came back home, though, I fell straight into the sleep-at-5am-wake-up-at-1pm routine. I've probably been worse than useless during this time, besides the usual clothes folding/ drying and sweeping. I stopped cooking nice things because I can't be bothered to plan and go out grocery shopping, so I've just stuck at cooking simple vegetable-ey dishes that we just eat with rice. It seems that I've been the most out-of-whack in my family, since I've caught all matches but one. No job or school to go to, you understand (yay), so I've made the late hours a routine.

Some nights I have to go at it alone, while everyone else sleeps, but my cousin Diyanah has stayed over a number of nights to watch matches with me, initially because my household paid through our noses to have the WC Channel (unfair of Starhub and Singtel), and then later for each other's company, when Channel 5 started showing the semis. Nothing beats watching football with family, except maybe watching football with family while having pizza, which we plan on having delivered tonight. And then the World Cup dream period will end...

I only managed to start watching WC regularly when the group stages were winding down and we were entering the Round-of-16. That, unfortunately, is why I, a connoisseur of male eye candy, didn't manage to appraise most of this year's teams. Such a waste. But I still managed to find a few gems here and there in the teams from R16 onwards, and a few durians as well. (Note: "Durians" are those specimens of the male species that don't look good at first glance, and whose taste will appeal to the palates of only a small portion of the existing human population. In this case, I am a part of that small portion of the global populace.) Spain, in my opinion, is undoubtedly the most good-looking team in the World Cup, but we mustn't forget other teams. Here are some standouts, according to Fina:

France's Yoann Gourcuff, 24

My only memory of him was him receiving a red card and being sent off, but anyone with eyes could see how really handsome he was, in the truest sense of the word. Kitted in France's royal blue, and with dark, slightly wavy hair, he looked like a romance novelist's dream; one could so easily imagine him as a French nobleman in the 1800s, in tan breeches, blue coat and silk cravat, his fashionably long-ish hair secured by a ribbon at the nape of his neck, strutting into a grand ballroom quite arrogantly as befits his high social standing. Ladies will swoon and flutter their eyelashes in his direction, but as usual he'll find them boring and silly and... I shall end the fantasy here, but you get my drift.

Spain's Fernando Torres, 26

He's the Golden Boy of football; mention his name to any warm-blooded female and they'll surely know of him. Blessed with dirty blonde hair, freckles galore and the cuteness of a week old puppy, he looks not a day over 18 (this cute button is actually 26!). Thank goodness for all of us ladies, he's decided to go for a shorter hairdo this World Cup. I always thought his long hair of the past EPL season did his face a disservice. Now he looks like the kind of boy you can bring home to mama, especially since, from what I hear, he's a good, religious boy too. One obstacle though: he's already married, and with a son to boot. Oh well. It would figure that someone like him would be snapped up already by some lucky lady.

The Netherlands' Klaas Jan Huntelaar, 27

Another young-looking dude, with a bony face that kinda reminds me of Kevin Bacon, except he's less skull-like. Admittedly, he has big teeth, but I still think there's something striking about this not-so-young man.

Slovakia's Vladimir Weiss, 21

He's not what you'd call conventionally handsome, but he has such a baby face! Literally! It's like someone photoshopped a baby's face onto his body! His big light grey eyes, smooth baby's-butt-cheek skin and bald head will make you think you're looking at a kid only 1 year old. I don't personally consider him eye candy, but he's someone worth noting for being so unique.

Germany's Mesut Özil, 22

Now here comes a "durian". People I've asked (my cousin and brother) adamantly state that he's ugly. They say he looks like a frog, or a newborn eagle baby, because his eyes looks like they're bulging. My cousin even (for comparison) said my brother looks better than him (barf!). But then there are others like me, whom I've found on the Internet, who think he looks adorable. And he is! There's just something that's attractive. Maybe it's his eyebags, or his skin, or a strange combination of all features set to attract only a select few ladies that somehow include me. But then, I've always liked the ones who are especially skillful and decent, like how Fabregas is king on the field, so masterful in the way he works the pitch, and yet has such cute stories of how hard-working and young he is (remember the Kinder Surprise and Coke story?). And how Jaebeom is spectacular in singing, rapping and dancing, yet so humble and respectful and loyal. Mesut Ozil is undeniably one of the brightest young stars to be coming out of the World Cup - the languid grace with which he handles the football and runs all over the field is exciting to watch. And he's also Muslim, which seals the deal for me. A skilled and decent man. So, so, SO unfortunate that he's engaged, to an older gal (I'm just being mean - she's only 29. But still!). But since she's converted to Islam for Özil, I can't hate her too much. She must really really like him. (Note: I really did try to pick the most flattering pictures; the last one I liked because he's smiling. How cute!)

There are others I would have initially thought should have made the list, but have some reason or other for not being there:

From the Netherlands, Robin van Persie, who seems to have suddenly turned old and unattractive, and Rafael van der Vaart, whom I used to love to watch. Especially Van der Vaart. He's sporting some patchy scruff over his jaw and played so horribly the few times he came on as a substitute, that it kind of embarassed me.

From Brazil, Kaka. Sure he's one of the better looking ones on his team, but I think he's just getting too old for those set of looks to work anymore. Maybe a little sag in the facial skin? I don't know.

From Spain, my dear Cesc Fabregas, who has been a substitute in only a few games. He played so well when he was on the field, but for the first few matches he had some horrible beard thing on his face that made him look 35 instead of 23. He's only recently shaved and returned to my cutie pie again, but it's a little too late for him to make the list. Pity =(

How Cesc looked for the most part of the World Cup.

How Cesc should have looked like for him to make the list.

From Paraguay, Roque Santa Cruz. Hotness in the EPL, but for the World Cup he sported long-ish hair that was parted in the freaking middle. The biggest of all hairstyle no-nos for men. Such a waste. You can see how obviously good-looking he could have been. Also such a pity.

His greasy look just doesn't cut it.

See how much better he looks now?

And there you have it. My thoughts on the 2010 World Cup in terms of eye candy available. Of course I may have missed out on others, or you may question my taste in men, but it's an accurate representation of what may or may not seem attractive in my eyes. Now let's go watch football and eat pizza!

fina

p.s. it's weird how over half the North Korean squad (14/23) seems to have been born between 1985 and 1990, and yet most of them look old. The '90-er especially, looks 30! It must be a conspiracy of some sort! Or my brain's just rubbish. Can't deny the latter...

Onew, Taemin, Key, Minho, Jonghyun

I've been wanting to do a SHINee post for some time now, and since I'm free at work now, here it goes!

Basically, SHINee (pronounced shiny) is a group made up of five guys, most of whom are younger than you and me. The youngest was born in 1993! Their fanbase is made up largely by older noonas (which is what boys call older sisters), since anyone born before December 1989 is a noona. And boy, do these noonas lavish their power of love and money over these guys! There's a story about the expensive gifts they bought for one of the members for his birthday. And they do that for every member's birthday!They sing well, and they dance well. And they wear bright, tight pants and strange tops. There's something feminine about more than half of K-pop boybands, but I've taken it as nothing to gasp over. Anyways, most of the K-pop boybands are prettier than you and I.

First up, their leader:

His name's Onew, but his real name's Lee Jinki. IMHO the least good-looking member of the band, but he's cute when he smiles. He's also the oldest in the band, born in December 14th 1989, which could partly be why he's the leader.

He's 181 cm tall, which is tall, whichever way you look at it, especially since the average height of South Korean males is 173cm, and that's the tallest in all of Asia! Haha

He does the vocals in the group. I think he has a rather nice, clean and strong voice. Did I mention that they sing well LIVE? haha

Anyways, for his birthday, the noonas gave him, among other things, a CD player, an iPod Touch, a digital camera, and a whole bunch of expensive colognes like Versace, Bvlgari, Boss and CK (and more!) See, noona-fans are better than pre-teen girls because they have money!

Second:

Jonghyun!! Finally, someone our age! He's an April 8th 1990 baby, and the shortest in the group at 173cm, which is average. His nickname's Bling Bling Jonghyun. Don't ask me why; maybe he likes SHINee stuff.

My first impression of him (when I first saw their A.Mi.Go. mv) was that he's the handsomest in the group. Because everybody else is just pretty. Haha But look at the jaw on that boy! Sharp enough to cut paper!

He does lead vocals in the group. His abilities are off the charts! He sings really high notes, and even live it sounds good. So good! I'm in awe everytime he sings live! He's the one who really carries the group vocally.

Third...:
Key! His real name's Kim Ki Bum, but I guess they changed it since there are like two other Kim Ki Bums in the music industry (one from Super Junior, the other from U-Kiss), and a Kim Bum (as Pat may well know). He's one year younger than us, born on September 23rd 1991.

He was a model before he joined the group (well, most of them are anyways), and he's 177cm if I'm not wrong.

He does vocals, and raps too. If you hear a deeper voice singing in any of the SHINee songs, you'll know it's him. I like him , 'cause I like people who are multi-talented. His looks are a plus too haha. But then, all of them look good.


Fourth is:
Minho!He has the funniest of all the nicknames - they call him Flaming Charisma Minho! I pity the poor boy; I'll bet he wasn't the one who chose it. He's one year younger than us (December 9th 1991) but look at when he modelled for Andre Kim...

He looks older than us, and so handsome! He hadn't even turned 17 when he did this gig. It's pictures like this that make me feel paedophilic haha. But who would have guessed that he was 16? *shakes head*

Minho does the main raps in SHINee, and sings sometimes. He's the other deeper voice in the group, besides Key. Can't say much about his singing, except it's in tune. His rapping's okay too, I guess, but I really hated his rap in their newest song called Juliette (It's a re-make of Corbin Bleu's Deal With It, but I don't mind since I haven't heard of Deal with it haha). My favourite rap would have to be in A.Mi.Go, where both he and Key rapped.


Finally, the magnae of the group:

Taemin! He's the noona-magnet, whom he attracts with his sparkly eyes and cute smile. He's a July 18th 1993 baby, which still makes him an illegal good for all the greedy noonas out there. Too bad! Haha

He's quite tall now, but really too skinny for my liking. I'm thinking their management is purposely trying to keep him skinny so he doesn't grow up too fast and lose all the noona-fans, but seriously, boy needs to eat. He looks too thin to be healthy for a sixteen year old boy! Just watch any Juliette video or performance, since it's the most recent (and while you're doing that, you can check out Jonghyun's singing too! Don't really dig the song, but Jonghyun is an attraction in himself).
He's the lead dancer of the group, having choreographed alot of their moves. Many have commented that they're like invertebrates, since they dance so smoothly that it looks like they have no backbones. Haha such unflattering description, but they really do look good dancing. Taemin doesn't sing solos much, although you can hear him in Juliette.




Okay, so that's it for SHINee. Lots of pictures. =))

fin*

okay, SS501 next!

Who Let You Go.

A treat for Pat: Kyu Jong from SS501 (i think that's how his name is spelt...) acting in some lady singer's video

A treat for me: Jaebeom!!! Swoon-a-riffic!

Okay, that's enough for now ;)

fin*

omg! did u catch the mr world pageant last saturday?

hahah
my sis went positively orgasmic at the sight of all those hotties
hahah
of course she didn't...
she just squealed her head off whenever any hot guy cam on screen

anyways, my hot favourites where brazil, chile, spain, lebanon, malta and ukraine
sad to say, malta and ukraine didn't make it
though the rest did
heehee

if by chance you didn't catch the show, here are some of the hottest people there:

mr spain, juan garcia, the winner (*squeal!*)

mr brazil, lucas gil, the runner up (*squeal! squeal*!)

mr chile, patricio laguna, top five

mr lebanon, anthony hakim, top fifteen (so cute!)

hahah
and that's just some of them
well, just in case that left you thirsty for more hunka-hunka-burning-love,
here's a clip from mr spain 2006 that juan garcia won
if you'll pay attention, you'll notice that there're alot more hot spanish men could have easily won mr world
hahah


anyways,
my favourite really was brazil
he just has that innocent, sweet, boyish look
hahah
really cute
here's more eye-candy:


isn't he just dreamy?
hahah
and chile really looks like an actor, really mature, distinguished, charming-like
hahah

ok,ok
i should stop
ok
i'm done
but i'm returning to this page again and again
hahah
=))