Well despite the title my new interests aren't all that recent. I just haven't written anything for that long.
My new interests seem to rotate around one thing, or place really, South Korea. It's a strange place to say I am interested in and I am judged because of it. Most normal people say they really like the romance or France and Paris, or the History that took place in America, but here I am with South Korea.
I will start at the beginning; have you ever heard of Gangnam Style? Of course you have! If you haven't you must have been living under a rock.
It starts with that famous video. I was one of 1,256,048,373 (when I checked last) people who had looked up the video on Youtube out of interest. To be honest I actually liked the music and how quirky and weird the music and video was. This is when I first heard the phrase Kpop, so naturally I looked it up. What I found is what now appears to dominate my life. I was lead to a video about the top 5 kpop songs, and at #1 of this chart was a song called Fantastic Baby by a band called BigBang. My first thoughts were 'wow! This actually quite good' and 'their name sounds funny, and this video is weird'. I then proceeded to do what most 18 year olds would do, I showed my friends. Only one showed any interest.
This happened late September. I have now been to see BigBang live in London as part of their Alive world tour. I have seen most of the TV shows they have appeared in, and I own most of their music. I have also got a large poster of this band on my wall which will soon be joined by their official callendar and a poster for another Kpop band called FT Island. I have a twitter account which should be called more of a fandom account. I have also spent most of my waking moments reading about them, looking at photos, or listening to their music.
Kpop has literally taken over my life in 4 months. I also like other groups like Epik High, 2NE1, FT Island, Tablo and CN Blue. It has almost got to the stage where I will lose sleep if something about them is being reported on twitter.
I have also taken up trying to learn how to speak and write korean, but so far I am still below a basic understanding. I also watch Korean TV, yes I know... But I really enjoy the variety show called Running Man, and my friend and I are huge fans of the (cheese-tastic) drama You're Beautiful.
Having told you all this, I don't mind if you call me weird or point and laugh. I just want to let you know how much my understanding of other culture have grown. Through this one band I have learnt about the Korean and Japanese cultures, I have learnt about the war between North and South Korea. Above all that, I am completely hooked on one person... Yes as they would put it over there, I have found my bias. The one celebrity I idolize and admire (also he is easy on the eyes). Don't laugh when I tell you his name, it's T.O.P of BigBang. I will leave you with that and maybe you can expect another update, or I will just vanish for a few months again.
