The Way of the K-pop Geek

As defined on UrbanDictionary kpop fan - noun. "an air-headed, delusional person who loves korean pop (kpop)." I am not an air-headed, delusional person, but I am a K-pop fan, and a Geek. Join me in my journey through K-pop, Geekiness and life.

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Luminar 3 vs. Lightroom?

I recently downloaded and installed Luminar 3 to try out for 30 days.  Supposedly, this application is an alternative to Adobe Lightroom.  I’ve only been playing with the application for several hours and have edited the same photos in both Luminar and Lightroom to see which one, if there is one, is better than the other.  So far, I feel like Luminar 3, while it does have a pretty good AI, is still a bit limited in the amount of editing power it has versus Lightroom.  There are a few features I do like in Luminar, the AI’s which I just mentioned and I also like this feature I shared below where you can slide across your image to see the differences in “before” and “after.”  Lightroom has its own versions, but your choices are a side by side comparison or toggling before/after.  This slider function in Luminar is nice because you can really see the changes and differences your edits make in a single image versus looking at them side by side or toggling before/after.  Still need to play with this application more, but I believe I’ll end up using this as a secondary editing application to Lightroom when I just want to do quick edits or just have the AI do most of the work and then use Lightroom when I want more editing control.  I also don’t like how the watermark feature works in Luminar versus Lightroom.

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Guess who’s back?

I decided I’m going to revisit blogging here on Tumblr.  I was scrolling through my past posts and it was kind of fun and interesting to read my thoughts on the things that interest me and things that I love.  I mean short posts on Facebook or a random photo shared on Instagram is cool and all, but I just never got into really dropping my thoughts on either of those social services except randomly when it was something I felt super strong about like representation in media or how much Trump is a fraken moron and should have been swallowed before he was conceived... you know, stuff like that, but I kind of missed having another outlet for my random thoughts.  So here I am... again...  Not much has changed about me, still a huge Kpop fan, still a geek, still love my games and sci-fi and fantasy.  I have taken on photography as a hobby and since my birthday decided I needed to change my diet both to lose weight and because I want to live forever lol! Like I just mentioned, I’ve gotten into photography and I will be sharing some of my random shots and experiences as I learn by trial and error.  It’s Halloween Horror Nights season so I’ll be sharing shots that I take throughout the run of HHN.  Below are a few shots from this past weekend that I edited tonight.

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This just happened... It stopped exactly on 24.00. I don't prepay.

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Found these at Target! Didn't know there were Fallout vinyls! #fallout #geekstuff #nerdstuff (at Soshified Fortress of Geekiness)

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Tonight's entertainment #madmaxbeyondthunderdome had to download from torrent because it was the only Mad Max movie NOT on Movies HD, watched Mad Max & The Road Warrior the other night. Love my Plex Server. I can pick whatever media I have on my PC through the app on my tablet and send it to my TV. Yeah, I'm a tech nerd.

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Steak and eggs. Never tried cooking with thyme before, but after seeing the video Noel posted earlier decided got try it out. Smelled amazing while it was cooking. (at Soshified Fortress of Geekiness)

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Hey #Zack the #pekingnese #uglydog there's a monkey on your back! (at Soshified Fortress of Geekiness)

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#BACON! #Zack the #pekingnese #uglydog (at Soshified Fortress of Geekiness)

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So, I happened to come across this teaser video because it was shared by BESTie’s official Facebook page.  Naturally, as a fan of Uji and BESTie, I watched the teaser. Uji looking gorgeous and sounding great was a given in this teaser, the thing that caught my attention was “Chad Future”... Who the heck is this “Chad Future” guy?  So, I did what any person with a question does, I went to Google. Apparently, Chad Future (birth name David Lehre) is an American singer, producer, and entertainer completely inspired by Korean pop music.  His one main goal is simple: to bridge the gap between K-Pop and American music, and to become a successful American born K-Pop artist, promoting in America, Korea, and all around the world. That’s all well and dandy that an American wants to cross over to K-pop, but why does it have to be a “white” person that bridges the gap between K-pop and Western Music? Isn’t it Korean Pop? In an industry that pumps out over 100 rookie groups a year, why would it be a White American that bridges this gap?  I’m sorry, but this makes no sense, in my opinion, that would not be K-pop, K-pop inspired maybe, but not K-pop.  I’m not hating on the guy, as a K-pop fan myself, I understand the love for the genre and culture, what bothers me, is the fact, that again, we are presented with a possible scenario where a genre of music could become mainstream... as long as it’s a white person doing it(see rock & roll, hip hop etc).  I am so fed up with how the entertainment industry in the West already “white washes’ everything, for example the casting of Emma Stone as a 1/4 Asian 1/4 Hawaiian character in “Haoles”, er... I mean “Aloha” while native Hawaiians and Asians were relegated to background or minimal support roles in a movie that takes place in Hawaii, with an all white cast. Hawaii, is one of the few states in the U.S. where White people are truly the Minority group.  And now I see an article stating a White person could be the bridge between K-pop and Western Music? I’m sorry, but WTF?

*end rant*

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Time to make some coffee... #frenchpress #godiva #ghirardelli #blueagave (at Soshified Fortress of Geekiness)

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So, I barely made it through this song. I love CL, but this song is garbage I really hope her U.S. album consists of better tracks than this shit. 

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For many Memorial Day is now a cliché, a 3-4 day weekend, sales, the start of the summer blockbuster season, and a day to celebrate the beginning of summer with friends and indulge in gastronomic excess. While these are all things to be enjoyed this past weekend and today, let’s not forget the true meaning of this day.  

To be honest, I don’t think most people even understand what the true purpose and meaning of Memorial Day really is anymore.

Memorial Day's is a day to honor our dead, to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice made by our citizens who served in the military. Those efforts that gave us the freedom we experience today, but whose sacrifice prevents them from enjoying those same freedoms. 

So, I take this moment to thank those men & women who have paid for our freedom & liberty with their lives.  I remember your sacrifice.

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Keeping myself occupied tonight with this project. Turning this image of #4minute into a 5 foot wide wall mural behind my tv. (at Soshified Fortress of Geekiness)

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My listening enjoyment on my drive home all this week. #learning #korean #pimsleur #anyeonghaseyo

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SISTAR to Go Up Against Girls’ Generation with June Comeback?

“SISTAR and Girls’ Generation are both known as the national girl groups, it will be interesting to see how they will perform if they end up going head to head with each other directly.”

I was talking about this with another friend of mine a few weeks ago. This summer has the potential to become the battle of the girl groups. As mentioned in this article Sistar and SNSD are both slated to comeback around the same time in June. However, that's not all, KARA ver 3.0 has already begun teasing their comeback, add to that Girl's Day and Apink, who are both in the process of selecting which track they will be promoting and we've got a summer of girl group madness. I'm waiting to see which other girl groups are going to join the fray, I wouldn't mind seeing Secret join the foray, or even T-ARA, who despite their drop in popularity have persevered. I'd also like to see After School make a much over due return to the K-pop scene, but I doubt that will happen considering they appear to be more focused on Japan promotions lately and leaving Korean promotions to Orange Caramel. I'm not sure when AOA is making it's comeback, it would be nice to see them throw down with the other big groups considering their rise in popularity lately. It's also too bad we've already seen 4Minute, Miss A, EXID and Crayon Pop earlier this year. Unfortunately, for Blackjacks you won't see 2ne1 in this mix with CL currently here in the States preparing for her Western debut. With all these top names already in the mix, I'm sure some of the smaller companies are looking at moving some of their promotions around to avoid promoting against these groups lol!

Anyhow, since I'm a fan of all these groups, it's pretty hard for me to pick a victor. Let's just sit back and enjoy the pending wave of great girl group MVs and performances heading our way!

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Someone refused to move so... #zack the #pekingnese #uglydog (at Soshified Fortress of Geekiness)

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I came across this video last night while hanging out with Noel​ and Nikki​.  The ARK did a dance cover of EXO's new track Call Me Baby at a recent street performance. These girls are so good!

The performance was part of the Street Performance below if anyone wants to see the whole show.