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Falling Down a K-Pop Rabbit Hole... Sorta

I don't think I'll ever be a "K-Pop Stan". My love of Lee Jung-Hyun's music has been making YouTube recommend other K-Pop themed videos, and I've been noticing something... The state of modern K-Pop is... not good. Sex scandals, contract scandals, cyberbullying scandals, relationship scandals, health scandals. Pick a K-Pop act that started in the last 15 or so years, and you'll uncover scandals. However, I notice that these scandals rarely go back to the turn of the millennium. Maybe 1 or 2, like the "Coming of Age" scandal and the BabyVOX scandal, go back that far, but for the most part, they're pretty much relegated to more recent days. And I think that's the charm of "1st-gen" K-Pop. And of those acts, I don't see a lot of them remaining relevant to the present day. Lee Jung-Hyun is the rare exception, as she's proven herself to be a woman of many talents even long after her most recent track came out in 2013. Singing and dancing, of course... but she is also a top-rate actress and, believe it or not, a skilled chef to boot. It was a different world in the industry in those days, and i don't know if I could ever get into modern K-Pop as a genre knowing all the shit that now goes on behind the scenes.

Not a General K-Pop Stan, Just a Lee Jung-Hyun Stan.

It's no secret that I used to be hooked on a different video game about 20 years ago. Back then, Dance Dance Revolution was my jam since I first played it in 2000. If I saw a machine in an arcade, I had to play it. I owned all the Playstation/PS2 games up to Supernova 2. Until 2007, I kept my Stepmania up to date with all the newest officially-released steps. I owned 4 heavy-foam insert dance mats for the annual DDR parties I'd run at Anime Detour, Anime Iowa, and CONvergence. I wasn't the best at the game, but I did have a couple 10-footers under my belt back when that was the highest level. Eventually though, so many new releases were happening that I couldn't keep up with the Stepmania updates, and between that and the resurrection of my old 1990s radio show, my fever for the game just waned around 2008-09. What drew me in mostly was the songs, many were hard-driving EDM, which still gets me today, but among the music, one artist stood out for me after I first heard one of her songs played on DDR4+... "Ba kkwo! Ba kkwo! Ba kkwo!...." -- hooked by the hook! Mall of America's first DDR machine in 2001 was a DDR3 Korean v2, which has all the tunes from the original DDR3 plus a selection of popular K-pop from the time. This was the first version of DDR that particular song appeared on, and about 3 or 4 K-pop songs from that version got their Japanese DDR premiere in DDR4+ later. Two of them were by S Korea's "techno queen" at the time: Lee Jung-Hyun. Her first 2 hits from 1999, "Wa" and "Ba Kkwo". They were two of the most amazing songs I had ever heard in my life... at the time. So I had to seek out more. This was 2001/2002, so getting my hands on an actual CD was pretty much out of the question. Luckily, Aimster existed, and I built a nice collection from that, transferred them to cassette, and looped them in my car nonstop (until I got my first iPod, that is) Dana deciding to recently order her first album from iTunes re-ignited my fire for this artist, and as for her image at the time, she kinda filled the gap of "artists of presentation" between Madonna before her and Lady Gaga after her, with outrageous outfits and elaborate choreographed dance moves. But my fave song of hers will always be that song of the gaslit lover who just woke up to the truth: "Ba Kkwo" (which translates to "Change"). It's angry. It's powerful. It needs to be played REALLY LOUD! And last night, I fell down the "Ba Kkwo" rabbit hole, listening to covers, and found one that had English lyrics, but it was a mashup between "Ba Kkwo" and "Wa" done in 2013 by Jason Ray. Unlike some other songs I could mention (coughQueenOfLovecough), these English lyrics actually fit the gist of the original lyrics, but rearranged and reworded for cadence, scanning, and rhyme. It's a process I call "WordFit", named after the same process Viz Media used to do for theme songs of anime shows. However, in the mashup, only the first verse and chorus of "Ba Kkwo" and the chorus of "Wa" were WordFitted. See, one of my holy grails of karaoke is to perform "Ba Kkwo" with full English lyrics. I tried my hand at a WordFit about 15 years ago to no avail. Jason Ray's mashup gave me impetus to try again, since now part of the work was done for me. I did it. Finally. And yes, I have obtained the karaoke track. --------------------------------------------

[Existing WordFits from Jason Ray] What do you want me to say to you? You drive me crazy with the things you do I don't believe your words, and don't know if you're telling me the truth. Quit tryin' to sell me all your dirty lies You know you're guilty and you can't deny Stop pointing fingers, and just think about the things that you have done.

[Official English lyrics] Thought it was a must to trust you, now I’ll crush you Analyzing my brain, feel nothing but pain The pain inside, I just can't take it no more Now I’ve got to let you go so just…

[Wordfits from me]

All you do now is bring up the past Can't I be forgiven for my acts? If you feel that way, then why did you think this was gonna last? Now I've changed because you hurt me so No longer the naive girl you used to know It's too late now to apologize for how you let me go.

CHORUS Ba kkwo. ba kkwo, ba kkwo, change everything Ba kkwo. ba kkwo, ba kkwo, change all the love Ba kkwo. ba kkwo, ba kkwo, change all the lies Ba kkwo. ba kkwo, ba kkwo, change all our world Ba kkwo. ba kkwo, ba kkwo, change everything Ba kkwo. ba kkwo, ba kkwo, change all the love Ba kkwo. ba kkwo, ba kkwo, change all the lies Ba kkwo. ba kkwo, it's time to make a total change, ba kkwo! ----------------------------------------------- EDIT: I just finished "Wa" too

[WordFits From Me] I didn't want it to end this way, no, my heart can't believe it's real Whatever could have gone wrong with our love, why did we change the way we feel? Although it hurts inside, I can't bear to look your way. 'Cause goodbye would only increase the pain.

[Existing WordFits from Jason Ray] CHORUS How could you play me like a game and walk away Tell me the reason why you act so strange You said you'd never ever play me like this way Now is the time for us to make a change Oh OhOhOh Oh Oh Oh Oh We're gonna change the way we play Oh OhOhOh Oh Oh Oh Oh I won't let you walk away

[WordFits From Me] Too often I've been betrayed by love, thought my bad luck was finally done I thought that you would stay with me forever, I thought that you'd be the one And now I'm all alone, left here crying out in pain I'll never heal from this, never be the same

[Official English Lyrics] Back to my fantasy, My own legacy Let me dream on and so on, Let it go on and on Now take me back to my fantasy, My only legacy Let me dream on and so on, Let it go on and on

#ba kkwo #lee jung hyun #jason ray #k pop #이정현 #바꿔 #와 #kpop #wa

Covid Finally Came For Me...

So this pandemic has been ongoing now in the USA for almost 3 years (though granted, nowhere near as bad as it used to be) and this past week, my luck finally ran out. Maybe it was due to the table of coughing Trumpie boomers we were seated near at the 50s Grill last Friday, maybe it was the packed crowd at the Mall of America the day after, but regardless, I'm now among the number of total Covid cases. As for my personal experience with the pandemic first-hand, like I said, I figured I caught it last weekend, but I didn't KNOW it was Covid until I tested myself Wednesday morning... the scratchy throat came first (Sun), then the coughing (Mon), then the chills and runny nose (Tue). At that point, I realized that, aside from the coughing/sore throat and runny nose, the rest of my symptoms were similar to my reactions to the vaccines. The more I thought about it, the more realization set in that it could be Covid. The test simply proved that it was. But in a way, I guess I had the luck of Nagito, because I seem to be recovering rather quickly. Thanks to 5 jabs (the most recent one being the new formula that tackles Omicron), my symptoms got no worse than those I get with the common colds. I didn't have to cancel a stream nor take any sick days from work (my job became mostly work-from-home in the Spring of 2020, and stayed that way ever since, so it's not like I took Covid to "the office"). As I type this, I'm already feeling about 95% recovered. The runny nose is gone, the cough is down to maybe 1 cough every couple hours (or even less). I never had any of the major symptoms-- never had shortness of breath, never had chest pains, never lost sense of taste or smell. And frankly, it's good that this happened *now*. I should be fine for my upcoming 11-day weekend, and with Covid transmission being low overall compared to last year, it hasn't been mutating much. There hasn't been a new full variant in over a year, just subvariants of Omicron that aren't different enough to fully evade the updated vaccine. And of course, since my partner and I live together, she got it too, and it's hitting her harder than it did me, but not too much harder. Hard enough to need Paxlovid, but not hard enough to even threaten to hospitalize her, and she's also slowly on the mend. Just her cough is a bit more persistent. Main takeaway from this is: We'll both be fine. I don't see any reason for either of us to worry about Long Covid, and by having had the current strain, that's all the more our antibodies are fortified for a future fight, assuming a new main variant doesn't appear. So that's been my first-person experience with Covid. Overall, I'm weathering it a lot better than I thought I would, but still, I'd rather not see the like of it again. 🤣

Could "Pearlina" Be Canon?

I'm not just being facetious here. When you add up the evidence, it does support it. First concert performance of "Into The Light": They share a tiny blink-and-you-miss-it kiss. (it was removed from later concerts) You can even see Marina pucker up in anticipation.

Chaos vs. Order post-banter (EN): Pearl (to Marina): "You know I love you!" Octotune liner notes, interview w/Pearl: Q: What do you consider the greatest gift you ever received? A: The chance to meet Marina! Kid vs. Grown-Up promo art: Pearl and Marina share a look between each other that seems a bit more than platonic. Conclusion of Octo Expansion: Marina, overjoyed at having saved the world, *tackleglomps* and *nuzzles* Pearl in excitement.

Hero vs. Villain post-banter (JP): Pearl: "As long as I can see Marina smile, I know my year will be a good one!" And of course, the most compelling evidence of all: When people were shipping Flick & CJ in ACNH, Nintendo released a press release saying that they were very much NOT in a romantic relatinship. When people thought it may be possible that Shiver is non-binary, Nintendo of America issued a statement saying that she is female (and JP text in the game later confirmed it). However, people have been shipping Pearl and Marina for years, almost since Splatoon 2 was released. It's a ship that sails far and wide, not some fringe ship. There's NO WAY Nintendo can't know about it... ...yet, Nintendo has yet to issue a statement debunking this ship. Personally, I think that says it all.

#splatoon #splatoon 2 #spaltoon 3 #nintendo

A Look Back At A Certain Splatoon Promo Image...

The more I think about it, the more I think that we got Splatoon 3 (and another event) a lot later than Nintendo originally envisioned. The image above was released by Nintendo at Midnight (JST) January 1, 2020. I even remember where I was when I first saw it: partying on New Year's Eve in a karaoke bar with friends. Right away people were wondering about the image, and what it could mean. This also wasn't too long after the fake-out "Where's Marina?" promo where the answer was "oh, she took the photo!" Of course, the most obvious hidden meaning was the text on the bottom disguised to look like a reflection in the waves: SOS. And written in the waves, combined with the "reflection", said "Save Our Salmons". This had people wondering if this was a hint as to a later plot. Maybe a new DLC for Splatoon 2, or even a Splatoon 3. Looking back, it's obvious now that this was meant to be our first tease for Splatoon 3, given the plot of its Story Mode revolving around the consequences of Salmon Run and why Mr. Grizz was having us all steal eggs. The only thing is...we all know what happened in 2020, and what it did to numerous industries, especially tech-based industries like video game development. We know now that Splatoon 3 development started about as soon as the Chaos vs. Order Splatfest ended, just like development for Splatoon 2 kicked into high gear after Marie won Splatoon 1's final fest. Given how fast Nintendo put out Splatoon 2 after only a year and change of development, it seems like it's possible Nintendo intended Splatoon 3 to be released sometime in 2021 instead of this year. But of course, a certain virus had other plans. Eventually with vaccines, air filtration technology, and the virus evolving to be overall less deadly, we we able to slowly get back to an almost normal lifestyle, and a lot of the bottlenecks in the supply chain started to ease up, but in 2020 itself, everyone's plans were thrown into... well... chaos. If I were to make a guess, absent the pandemic, we would have likely gotten the first Direct Splatoon 3 teaser in September 2020, with a release date of Fall 2021. Instead, Nintendo, trying to keep Splatoon hype going, gave us some extra rerun Splatfests, including a rerun of Splatoween over Halloween weekend (after all, not like anyone had any real plans for the holiday itself), while they played catch-up on game development in a pandemic-strewn world. And that leads me to another topic: The Super Mario Splatfest. 2020 was also Super Mario's 35th Anniversary as a franchise (discounting 1983's Mario Bros and 1981's Donkey Kong), and if you may have noticed, much of the celebration spilled over into 2021, including a Splatoon 2 Splatfest fitting the theme. Again, absent the pandemic, I think we would have gotten the Super Mario 35th Anniversary celebration confined within the calendar year of 2020, with the related Splatfest in July 2020, one year after "Final Fest". Again, this is just my musing, and I could be amazingly off-base with this, but given the original timing of the "Save Our Salmons" promo, it seems to make sense. Stay Fresh, Don't Get Cooked, and Catch Ya Later! 😊

#splatoon #splatoon 3 #nintendo

Which Network Will Come Out On Top?

The thing is, Twitter is imploding. If not its servers, then its userbase. So far, the platform of choice for many corporate journalists is Mastodon, with the "mastodon.social" server being the one everyone (including myself) is flocking to (same username, btw 😊). Mastodon's admins have seen a threefold increase of traffic in just the last half month, and it's growing. The only drawback is... it's now getting slow. My guess is the admins didn't see Twitter taking the piss. I also have an account on CounterSocial, which to be frank, uses the same code base as Mastodon (much of the interface is exactly the same). It's more meant to be a network for those who feel they're not being represented by society. It hasn't experienced a slowdown yet. Personally, I'd like to see more people flock to SpaceHey and it's retro-MySpace-like experience, but with some modern perks. It has all the customization you remember from 15 years ago, and it has 2FA and Verified accounts. And right now, I'm typing this on Tumblr, on an account I've actually had for a while but rarely used until now. I think I'm ready for whichever network becomes the new king (aside from Facebook, of course) Do I really see Twitter itself shutting down? No. But if all the corporate representation and well-built communities leave it for greener pastures, then it may as well be shut down. 2023 is going to be an interesting year for social media.

In Case Twitter Implodes

Hedging my bets here as well. Twitch: djparticle Twitter: djparticle YouTube: djparticle SpaceHey: djparticle TikTok: djparticle Facebook: djparticlecom

Instagram: djparticle

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