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Long time no see!

Since I no longer have time to write long posts (college, y'all), but I still want to blog, I started a tumblr! This version will just have stuff about girl groups, though (no MGs).

Check it out!

http://finding-the-magic.tumblr.com

November Update: Blah

Oh yeah, I forgot I was supposed to do monthly updates... oops.

Well, here we are. It's November. Thanksgiving is less than a month away and Christmas is soon after! WOOT!

But my blog has been... kinda dead. I've had other interests and responsibilities appear in my life since this school year started, and blogging has been at the bottom of my priority list. So I don't get to post the  things I want when I want, and then when I finally get the time, everyone else has already written about it so I feel like I'm too late, and then I just get discouraged and decide not to write anything at all.

I guess once again I set my hopes for this blog too high, which always takes away my motivation after a while.

I'm not saying all this to be depressing or anything. :P I know everyone has some form of writer's block all the time, I just didn't expect it so soon, that's all. And I figured anyone who takes the time to actually read my posts (y'all are awesome!) deserves an explanation for why I haven't posted in nearly two months.

BUT despite all this I refuse to start a formal hiatus for my blog. If I do that I'll have even less motivation, and I'm not ready to give up on this yet.

Oh, by the way, last month I saw my idols Morning Musume in CONCERT! In NEW YORK (my favorite city)! It was one of the most amazing days of my life. I started to write a post the day after, but didn't get to finish it, and well... I definitely waited too long. But it was great; I got to shake hands with the girls (Mizuki called me 'cute'!), talked to some nice people while waiting in line, and added a new CD to my collection. The whole experience definitely made me wanna support them even more. If only I had written my whole blog post about it...

But it can't be helped now. I'll write again whenever I get the motivation and energy. Thanks for reading, everyone, and have a great holiday season. <3

EunB, RiSe, and Simone Battle

This past week was a dark time for girl group fans. All in one week, we lost three singers: EunB and RiSe (from Ladies' Code), and Simone Battle (from G.R.L.).

Ladies' Code was in a car accident on Wednesday, September 3. EunB died on site, and RiSe passed away at the hospital from her injuries today (Sunday, September 7).

Simone Battle was found dead in her home on Friday, September 5. Her cause of death is still being investigated.

I don't really follow either group that much, but I had obviously known of them and heard their songs before. I even watched G.R.L. perform on TV a few weeks ago so now that Simone is gone... it doesn't seem real. All three deaths happening in just once was truly heartbreaking for me, and today I just cried. Even though I don't know any of these girls personally, I know that they were surrounded by people who loved them, and my heart breaks for those people.

Simone was 25. RiSe was 23. EunB was just 21. But even thought their time on earth was short, I believe they fulfilled their dreams... and that gives me a bit of peace. Everyone dies at some point, but what matters is how you live.

That's why we should never give up living, never put things off until later... because it could happen to anyone at any time.

I only wish there was something more I could say... but I have nothing, so I pray for their families and friends. Even then I don't really know the words to pray... but I pray anyway.

Everyone, please pray.

R.I.P.
Go Eunbi (November 23, 1992 – September 3, 2014)
Simone Sherise Battle (June 17, 1989 – September 5, 2014)
Kwon Rise (August 16, 1991 – September 7, 2014)

Orange Caramel "My Copycat" MV

Orange Caramel has released a music video for "My Copycat", which is my favorite K-pop music video in a long time!

The music is standard Orange Caramel, so if you're not into that I guess you won't be crazy about this either. But what really makes the video stand out for me is that its interactive. I LOVE interactive videos!

In this one, the main goal is to spot the difference in the split screen scenes. There's a number in the corner that tells you how many changes there are. You can pause to spot them all, or if your like me you make a game out of it by seeing how many you can spot before the scene changes.

There's also a "Where's Waldo?" type challenge where you have to spot the members of Orange Caramel.

It's silly, but I haven't had this much fun with a music video since Girl's Day's "Hug Me Once". And "My Copycat" is even better!

There's really not a lot to say about this video because it really speaks for itself. It's simple, but it's so much fun!

You can find this song on Orange Caramel's fourth single album, which also comes with a new song called "Gangnam Street" (a really great dance song).

Check out the dance version of "My Copycat", too!

Country Musume Audition Results: No Winners

The results for the Country Musume New Member Audition came out today.

Finally, after six months of waiting and guessing and excitement (for me, anyway), the results are finally in.

And...

No winners. None.

We didn't even get to see any of the auditioning girls. No one even said if the finalists will get a chance at being Kenshuusei or not yet, either. No word on what's gonna happen to Country Musume from now on: Are they finished? Is another audition coming up? Will Satoda Mai remain the sole member of Country Musume? The world may never know!

I know Country Musume wasn't the most popular Hello! Project group, at least not without Ishikawa, Konno, and Fujimoto backing them up, so maybe it's just me, but I kind of feel betrayed. As a lover of all things 90s H!P, I was so excited to see such a great group make a comeback. I was eager to see new faces in Hello! Project.

But nothing happened and we didn't even get a good explanation why.

I guess I should have expected this after last year's aborted 12th generation audition. Those girls were apparently too good for Morning Musume and would have changed the image they have now. So maybe the Country Musume auditionees just didn't have the same image as the former members, and they didn't want CM's legacy to be tarnished.

It's also highly probable that UFP is just being difficult because they can and that's what they do.

Whatever. Let's all just pretend this never happened and enjoy this performance of a flamenco version of "Iroppoi Onna ~SEXY BABY~".

My thoughts on Berryz Koubou's hiatus

Yes, yes, I know this is old news now; forgive me, but I have to share my thoughts on this eventually.

Berryz Koubou announced on August 2 that they will be going on an "indefinite hiatus" after their spring 2015 tour.

While I'd like to say I'm happy they're not disbanding, I'm not sure how I feel about a hiatus either.

Truly I can see why they would not want to disband. I think they've grown so close these past ten years as a group that they're practically a family, and you don't just break up a family. If anything, when their time to quit really does come, I think they should "retire" Berryz Koubou, together. It seems so wrong to say that they would "break up".

But I'm getting ahead of myself; no one is disbanding yet, just going on hiatus. On one hand, some good could come out of this -- the members will have more time to try other things, take a break, or maybe even go to university if they haven't already.

The thing that stinks about a "hiatus" though is that constant state of uncertainty we're left with. No one really knows when or if they will ever come together again like they were before.

It reminds me too much of where the Wonder Girls are at right now -- they're a family, so they don't wanna just "disband". But some of us fans are left wondering if things will ever be the same again. And I hate it. I hate hiatuses.

The Civil Wars already broke my heart this week by announcing their split after nearly two years of a hiatus. Please don't do that to me in two years, BK!

I guess I should end this post with the cliché "I'll still support you!" comment to the girls. And it's true, I will follow and support you all until the day you retire for good.

Also, admittedly, my first thought when I saw the announcement my first thought was "This would be a great time for a Buono! comeback..." For real though, if y'all could make that happen, I would totally forgive this whole hiatus thing.

Now that I've finished writing down all my jumbled thoughts, I'll share with you the playlist of (nearly) all of Berryz Koubou's music videos. Watch them in order from the oldest, because it really is a delight watching them grow up from adorable kids to beautiful adults.

Girl's Day - "Darling" music video

Girl's Day has released a new video for their song "Darling".

It seems like lately K-pop music videos have been giving me the same mixed feelings. On one hand, I'm a not a fan of the "sexy concept" at all, and the number of shots of their butts in this music video is ridiculous. On the other hand, this song is super catchy, the video is well-made, and the girls are actually adorable when the camera focuses on something besides their rear ends.

Obviously Girl's Day has been trying to push this "sexy concept" a lot lately, since songs like "Expectation" and "Something" have been some of their most popular songs. (Those two were so over the top for me that I never finished watching either video.) But it seems now they're remembering that they also had a hit back in the day with "Twinkle Twinkle", which was cute and quirky. This video seems to be a combination of the two styles, which is rarely ever attempted, but in this case I think it actually worked.

The song is so catchy and fun, and probably one of my favorite summer songs this year. I've only listened to it a couple times and it's already stuck in my head. It sounds like something Secret would do, actually. It's bouncy, happy, sweet... it makes me wanna sing and dance along. The replay value of this song is very, very high, and I have no doubt I'll listen to it at least once more this summer.

The music video is where my feelings are slightly mixed, but I've already gone over how I feel about the "sexy concept" so I'll just skip that part, because I don't think I'll say anything that everyone else hasn't already said.

The video is very bright, with lots of yellow and orange, but your eyes will adjust after a few seconds (probably). There's lots of summer fun in this video, from chilling at the pool to playing darts or washing a car. None of it really has anything to do with the song, but it is amusing to watch. As I said before, the girls are absolutely adorable in this video. It makes me miss their "Twinkle Twinkle" days just a little bit.

I also enjoyed the combination of dance scenes; there are four different combinations of locations and outfits. It really gave the video a lot of variety, and I wish more groups would use this many different sets more.

Overall, I'd say my thoughts on this are mostly positive. If Girl's Day can continue to release catchy songs like this, I may forgive them for changing their image so abruptly. The truth is that the members really are talented, and I'd hate to stop listening to them simply because they look different now.

If you enjoyed this song, you can buy it on Girl's Day's new EP Everyday 4, which released yesterday! Let me know your thoughts on this song and video, too.