'Cause I'm Like All Crafty

Title is a quote from Boxxy. Find out about the strange phenomenon here.

I still love my new layout. I was thinking of changing the words in the speech bubbles from time to time, but when no one comes to visit your blog there's really no point because no one would notice when it changes. :'c

I feel like I've been getting so crafty lately it's weird. But at the same time, I don't feel like it's being crafty because I always found that word to be more associated with scrapbooking and making ugly things cute and other such creative junk. I don't do that stuff. What I do like to do, though, is knit. And now make costumes. Yeah, costumes. Because I hate that Halloween is the ONE day every year that you're allowed to dress up. I love dressing up, 'kay? It's fun to pretend to be someone you're not. And it's fun bringing characters alive, whether they're ones you came up with or ones someone else invented. I suppose part of this comes from the "writer" in me. I love making characters. It's fun playing with different personality combinations (uh, Blogger? Why are you putting a red spelling squiggle under "combinations"? :\ ) and imagining how these different personalities would interact with each other.

So back to feeling crafty. Here's why: I just finished making a Faris (Final Fantasy V) costume that I wore to Saboten Con 2010, I'm planning on doing an Orange Caramel (and also maybe Perfume if time permits) with Emily and Maggie for another con in January (that I found out about only a day after Saboten, pahaha. Mom's sure gonna be happy... 8D; ), I'm also putting together a Hufflepuff costume (or persona, rather, hehe~) for the Harry Potter movie and for a Harry Potter party, I'm "knitting" a blocked stripe scarf for that costume, I want to knit a Sackboy for cousin Jessica (andthenoneformyselfahhhsocute~) for Christmas and maybe some little accessories, and then after that I want to really knit a trapped bar striped Hufflepuff scarf for Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2. I'm super excited to do all this, but I almost feel a little overwhelmed too. Oh, and then there's Phoenix Comic Con next summer too! What am I going to cosplay for that?! @A@

With all this stuff going on, I'm surprisingly not going to spend a lot of time on a Halloween costume this year. If I wasn't doing all these other costumes then sure, but I think add on one more to the load so soon would be too much. That's not to say I'm not going to dress up, though. I'm going to be a cow~! :3 I'll use my cow pajamas that Emily gave me for Christmas (looooove iitttttttttt, loooooove herrrrrr~) and wear black gloves and black socks over some flip flops. I thought about maybe painting a black patch around my eye, too. I think we're going to a cardboard box maze on Halloween and I'm pretty stoked. It'll be fun crawling around in a cow costume. :D

So my Harry Potter/Hogwarts/Hufflepuff costume is getting me real excited. I found THE perfect skirt at Goodwill the other day!! I was just in awe at how good my luck was that day. It completely made my day. So much. You don't even know. It's gray and the perfect length and PLEATED. I didn't really expect to find a pleated skirt anywhere. I was just going to go with a plain gray skirt. I found one there that I would've been completely content with, but then I thought, "Let's try looking just a little bit more." AND THEN FIVE STEPS DOWN IT WAS THERE. ; A; Those are tears right there. Tears of joy. I was looking at some character stills from the movies the other day and saw one with Hermione wearing basically the same exact skirt that I got. Seriously. I found a Hogwarts skirt, guys. All the way over here in America.

Wizards do exist.

I also found a good plain white button-up shirt at the same Goodwill. At DI the next day, I found a good black v-neck knit vest and a black graduation gown that I might use. I already had black knee-high socks with yellow stripes and Shauna is letting me use some old, black, slip-on shoes of hers that work great. I'm working on my scarf. I'm going to sand down a scrap of pine wood we have into a simple wand. I would love to actually buy a legit wand because some are just gorgeously made and it would just be awesome. Buuut they're also a little on the expensive side and I don't want to invest too much into this costume. Maybe I'll buy one for Pt. 2. And then the tie. I can't decide if I should buy an officially licensed one for $20 or if I should make one by modifying a yellow tie. It might be cheaper to modify, but would it turn out just as nice? :\ And then maybe I'll get a Hufflepuff patch. Dunno.

Sooo that's my life right now. c: The semester is halfway over hallelujah. That also means I need to go in and see an adviser so I know what to do with my life. D;

Concerning Democracy's Countdown (And Fwd's!)

This is a forward I received from my mother. I think the message is very interesting and a little worrying, to say the least. Just thought I'd share it...in it's original form. More thoughts about that at the bottom.

This is one of the most interesting things I've read in a long time. The sad thing about it, you can see it coming.

I
have always heard about this democracy countdown..

It is interesting to see it in print.

God help us !

How
Long Do We Have?

About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler,

a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh ,
had this to say about the fall of the

Athenian

Republic some 2,000 years earlier:

'A democracy is always temporary in nature;

it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.'

'A democracy will continue to exist up until the time
that voters discover they can vote themselves
generous gifts from the public treasury

' From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates

who promise the most benefits from the public treasury,

with the result that every democracy will finally collapse

due to loose fiscal policy,

which is always followed by a dictatorship.'

'The
average age of the world's greatest civilizations
from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years'

'During those 200 years, those nations always progressed
through the following
sequence:

1.
from bondage to spiritual faith;

2.
from spiritual faith to great courage;

3.
from courage to liberty;

4.
from liberty to abundance;

5.
from abundance to complacency;

6.
from complacency to apathy;

7.
from apathy to dependence;

8.
from dependence back into bondage'

Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University
School of Law, St. Paul , Minnesota
points out some interesting facts concerning the

2008 Presidential election:

Number of States won by:

Democrats: 19

Republicans: 29

Square miles of land won by:

Democrats: 580,000
Republicans: 2,427,000

Population
of counties won by:

Democrats: 127 million
Republicans: 143 million

Murder
rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
Democrats: 13.2

Republicans: 2.1

Professor Olson adds:

'In aggregate, the map of the territory the
Republicans won was mostly the land owned by the
taxpaying citizens of this great country. Democrat
territory mostly encompassed those citizens living
in government-owned tenements and living off various
forms of government welfare...' Olson believes the
United States
is somewhere between the 'complacency and
apathy' phase of Professor Tyler's definition of
democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's
population already having reached the 'governmental
dependency phase.

If
Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegals, and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA
in fewer than five
years.

If you are in favor of this, then by all means, delete this message. If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.

WE
LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE
FREE,
ONLY BECAUSE OF THE
BRAVE

WE MUST VOTE !

Okay, so the message is provocative. But the thing that bothers me SO MUCH about this email is the atrocious formatting. And obviously it's not just this one person that originally wrote this email that does it either. My parents send me a lot of forwards and they all have good messages. But they all share a common trait: atrocious formatting. What if this were some pamphlet you wanted to pass out to the public to spread this info? Would you ever want huge text with obnoxious background colors like NEON GREEN?? NO!! Then why is it excusable in emails that you want forwarded across the nation?!?! It's really hard to take a lot of these forwards seriously, y'know? It's like they typed it up and then asked their five-year-old daughter to come make it pretty for them.

I'm so sick of it! Someone should send out a forward with a lesson on how to send effective forwards. Maybe I will, 'cause it doesn't seem like anyone else has yet. In fact, anyone else want to join me? Cover more ground? If I can get some volunteers, we should definitely cook up something and send it to all we know. Something professional and intelligent looking. I know that appearance shouldn't overshadow the message, but if it's controlled and simple, it makes the message much more effective, don't you think? First impressions are real. And if someone gets a forward claiming it's the best thing they'll ever read, yet they see neon green text at the top, do you think they're going to actually want to read all of it? How does neon green text at the top convince them that it's nothing to be brushed aside and forgotten?

But really. Let's set up a campaign against bad forwards. D:

New Rook~

Yes, I finally changed the template. There are still many other cute ones I must use, and my collection only keeps growing. But I wanted to do this one. They're paper dolls! So they're cute. As such, they're headless, kekekekeke~ So now it fits an even better description: morbidly adorable. Doncha think? >:D

This title, by the way, is a reference to this song by Namie Amuro, which randomly popped into my head and fit so well.


Teehee. I particularly like the dancing mannequins. Well, since I showed you that, I might as well show you the others now. Namie Amuro, a huge pop star in Japan, released these three singles back in 2008 that sampled well-known American songs of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. This song samples The Supremes' "Baby Love."


Sweet car. And can you believe that hair? :0 So long and straight, but beautifully silky! In fact, I think at this period in time, Namie was a face for Vidal Sassoon and they used her and some of her songs as part of their marketing campaign Fashion x Music x VS. So that explains the emphasis on the hair. But the thing I love best about this MV (technically called PV in Japan, Promotional Video) is all the Americans, lol. Random, but funny. Actually, out of this trio of singles, I think this is my favorite MV. This samples Aretha Franklin's "Rock Steady."


Finally, we have the last of the trio, and my favorite song. But, um, totally love the suited dancers. They're awesome. If you're at all familiar with house/electro house music or acid jazz, you might recognize the name Shinichi Osawa, a famed Japanese producer and DJ, who helped produce this version. This is probably the most widely recognized, as it samples Irene Cara's "What a Feeling" from Flashdance (which I have never seen).

UPDATE: So I just realized that Vidal Sassoon is still using her as part of the same marketing campaign (at least as of late 2009, when her latest album came out). A series of commercials were released, featuring many of her new songs. And, because I oddly feel like it (must be late, so I'll bore you), I'll show them to you. ;D


Although this one is kinda weird, haha, I think Namie looks gorgeous.
Song: "Do Me More" which is actually a single that was released in 2008, not a part of her latest album.


Song: "My Love"


Gosh, what a setup just for a 45s commercial. o_o I love her hair though, hahaha.
Song: "Dr."


Song: "Dr."


I like this one too~ The first look is my favorite.
Song: "Copy That"

Also, didya know that she won the award for "Best Artist From Asia" at the World Music Awards this summer? Interesting, I know.

Well, what started as a simple post to bring attention to my new layout turned into a whole post about Namie Amuro. Hah. Forgive me. Now that I look back at it, it's like, "WHOA VIDEOS GALORE! D8 (<-terrified face)" I tend to get sidetracked and ramble. But, I think you might like to know that I have another post in the works. > o> Which is odd, since I never plan out posts. Basically, I post when I suddenly randomly remember, "Oh yeah, I have a blog." So, look forward to it! (Or maybe not, if you'd knew what it will be, heh heh heh heh!)

LOLWUT

LOLWUT is this. I'm so bad at keeping up with my blog. I'll find something semi-worthwhile to say soon, I'm sure of it...okay, well maybe not that sure, but I will try to post something, ANYTHING. Like, looking back at some of my older posts makes me laugh. And my music has been here since I created this thing 20 years ago. And as much as I love my adorable little rocket ship, I think it's time I change that too. There are just so many other layouts who want to come out and join the party and show off their pretty colors too! I hope you'll welcome them with warm applause, make them feel better about themselves or something. 'Cause right now they're stored away in a dusty, musty old folder somewhere that I don't even know about. They could really use some uplifting. But not right now. No, not now, for you see, it is time for corn. I had corn on the cob for breakfast (yaiknowweird) and so now I shall have it for dinner! I love corn~

And yes, it is hand shucked.

Let's Get Ready to Look SOOOO GOOD!

So. My dear sister-in-law Marily has just informed me that an amazing photographer named Lloyd Zeffler is doing a mini photoshoot giveaway. He took pictures of my brother's family about a week before Marily had sweet little Owen, my fourth nephew. The pictures were totally adorable but that's 'cause that family is just so stinkin' adorable. But I did look further into other shoots he's done and I completely love his style and it's so perfect for my new style I'm going for. Not gonna lie--I imagined me rocking a photoshoot inspired by non other than K-pop. At that time, I was especially into 2NE1, who, if you've watched the music videos I put up in my last post, have a very funky style. So yeah, I thought something with crazy shades, colors, kicks, and a 90s-ish vibe would be fun. And now that I've got short hair, it can be even funkier. Shauna already did a mohawk-ish type thing with it for an 80s dance a while back and it was pretty wild. Pretty wild as in pretty awesome.

I love his style 'cause it's got a gritty, raw look to it but he also manages to locate the coolest places! A lot of the pictures have featured cool graffiti and abandoned tunnels and forgotten stairways and other such things. Even if I don't win this free giveaway, I still wanted to save up some money and order a photoshoot from him sometime in the future, when I still have my short hair. I haven't quite decided how long I want to keep it short...I really love it, but shortly after I got it cut, I was thinking I hadn't had actual long hair since...maybe 8th grade! So I'm tempted to grow it out, even though it'll take foreva. But don't worry, it won't be any time soon 'cause I still love my hair. Short hair is the trend now, actually, from what I've noticed. And although I got my hair first cut about three months ago, I still keep getting people commenting me on it left and right. Random people, too. It amuses me.

Well anyway, I don't really have much else to say. Y'see, Mark, Marily, and Courtney are really behind me, having a great time playing Boggle and waiting for me, but I had to rush to get this in before midnight. Although I don't entirely anticipate winning, it's worth a shot, right? ;D

WHY DO I LOVE MESA?

The people. I've heard Mesa has been declared the boringest city in the nation, or the biggest city no one has heard of. Although that may be true to out-of-staters because we have virtually no attractions--aside from some golf courses, I s'pose--I still manage to have so much fun here. It's all about finding the right people to be friends with, and thankfully Mesa is actually full of them! I would love to travel all over the world and live in different countries, but I will always return to Mesa--my home.

Hah, okay, that was a bit cheesy, but hey--it's true. ♥

Peace.

I Just Saw Haley's Comet!

:0
NO REALLY.
And it inspired me to do something here. It seems every plan I make to reinvigorate this joint fails. Therefore, I shall make no more plans. It'll just happen. I'm not very good at following through with goals. Looks like Personal Progress didn't work for me after all...

Well right now I'm just kinda bored so I'm listening to K-pop. THERE. That's what this post will be about! K-pop. Whatever does the K stand for, you wonder? That's right: Kazakhstan.
...
Naaah. KOREA! xD Korean pop! Well, it's more than just pop music but I just say K-pop to refer to Korean music in general. Now don't jump to conclusions now. I bet when you hear Korean music, you think the typical twangy Asian sound and all that ethnic stuffs. Wrong, my friend. K-pop is far more advanced than that. It really is quality stuff, which is why I've been addicted to it for the past two months or so. It really has been just about all I've listened to. Let's start from the veeeery beginning of how I got into the Asian music scene in the first place.

Y'see, back in the 90s there was this show called Sailor Moon. I fell in love (I was a kid, 'kay?) and I gained an appreciation for anime (which really is quality animation as well; I should elaborate more on anime later). Anime originates from Japan. A common trait in anime is having opening and ending themes, mostly J-pop. After a time, I gained an appreciation for J-pop because the tunes were just catchy to me, although sometimes they can be cheesy and dinky but it's still kinda fun, tee hee! For a while the only Asian music I listened to was J-pop. I knew K-pop existed but I never bothered to check it out because I thought it would be inferior (don't know where I got that idea!). The years went by and in Spring 2009, Courtney happened upon a Korean girl group known as the Wonder Girls on a video game website ('cause they had a PS3 in their music video, haha). They were cute and their songs were catchy so we decided we liked them. We decided to check out a few more groups we had simply heard of, like Boa, DBSK, and Super Junior (my dear friend Emily Nguyen had told me a bit about them in a class we had together Fall '08). We watched their music videos and thought, "Hey, they're not half bad at all. Actually, we're really like this. Really." I also later discovered SNSD (Girls' Generation) through someone else.

Well in July 2009, Emily Nguyen popped up to me in Facebook chat just 'cause I think she wanted to say hi although we didn't talk all that much at school. I'm not exactly sure how it started...hm...well anyway, I think I maybe mentioned Wonder Girls to her and the ball got rolling! She started linking me to other K-pop artists and divulging all her knowledge about K-pop. Yes, Emily was my mentor for a while but now Courtney and I are catching up to her! Now we conduct research on our own and continue to build our own K-pop library.

Korea's music has evolved very well, I must say. Now it's kinda hard for me to go back to J-pop, although I can still enjoy it because it's what I started with. I guess you could say K-pop has more of an international sound whereas J-pop still maintains that bubblegum-y Asian pop feel. I'll have to illustrate that later too. K-pop was influenced by American pop, sure, but I think now it's starting to gain it's own identity. I find it much more exciting than most of the American pop coming out these days. I've also found that Korean is a very good music language. It has long and short words for variety and flows together nicely. I'm sure you'll come to notice that too. c: Oh, and another thing you'll notice is that it's very popular to have rap segments in a song, no matter the genre of the song, really. 8D

You gotta believe me. K-pop is great. Don't be a doubter! Shun the nonbeliever! Shuuuuuuuunnnnnnnn~

So, to get you started, I'll include a few videos. PLEASE give it a chance! You won't regret it! Enjoy!

This here is 2NE1 (pronounced 21). They just debuted this year and are already at the top. What made them popular and stand out was their unique, funky style and hiphop-ish feel to their music. They are definitely a favorite. ♥


Another song by 2NE1 with a more R&B feel to it. This song was their second big hit.


Here is Big Bang. Yes, they are indeed a boyband, but don't scoff just yet. Boybands didn't quite die out in Asia like they did here. Big Bang especially made an impact when they debuted in 2006/2007 because they broke away from the typical boyband stereotype and adopted a more hiphop-ish style. Big Bang belongs to the same company as 2NE1. Actually, before 2NE1 debuted they were rumored to be the "female Big Bang," which created quite a buzz. Big Bang is one of the most popular groups in Korea right now although they are currently on hiatus as the 5 members pursue solo activities. Anywho, this song is one of my favorites of theirs and I especially dig their shoes!


BoA is next up. She's probably the biggest pop star in Asia, having conquered both Korean and Japanese music markets and selling around 20 million records. I really love her. She's got a great voice and she's one amazing dancer! She made her American debut this year and the album is great. Stupid YouTube wouldn't let me embed this video, so here's a link to one of her title songs, "Eat You Up."

Alright, I'll finish off the post with the Wonder Girls and their most recent hit "Nobody." The Wonder Girls are actually debuting in the States right now and have are finishing up their English album. They also have an English version of "Nobody" but I kinda like the Korean better and the MV doesn't have the stupid English dub with the guy that sounds like Cheech Marin, LOL. I'll go more in depth about the Wonder Girls later because I have a special story about them. Anyway, they're going for a retro/motown feel. They're just too cute. Enjoy this catchy tune!


So that's it for now. I think maybe later I'll just post playlists with some of my K-pop faves but I just felt like sharing these music videos with you. These are only scraping the surface, too! Ahhh, so many great things for you to discover! 'Til next time, then!

BLARGH

-brushes some dust off- >___>;
Sheesh. Well, I really oughta be headed to bed right now because my contacts are drying up. Dx But I felt the sudden urge to post something. A forewarning, perhaps? I want to intend to pay a little more attention to this here blog, though I can't say I'll guarantee it'll actually happen. But the want is there, 'kay? I feel like rambling some stuffs again.

Well let's see, what's on my mind right now? Oh--y'know why I love my blog more than others? BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE CUTESTBLOGONTHEBLOCK LAYOUTS. I swear, every (Mormon?) blog these days has those cutesy scrapbook-y backgrounds. Sure, some are cute I'll admit, but the pattern is the same in every one. So simple. I mean, I got this rad li'l rocket, y'know? Doesn't get any cooler than that, I think.

Well my random spurt is over, I think. Rather short, warn't it? Maybe that's what I'll do more; random spur-of-the-moment thoughts. Oh, and I know you're wondering when Part Two of "Stacey's Guide to the Internet" will be published, too. I started it but need to finish. Still trying to decide what to do for Part Three, though. Would you like to see internet memes or perhaps I could do a Q&A thing to the best of my ability? Or it could just remain a two-part guide... >>;

Ahem, well if my stringed-together thoughts weren't incoherent enough for you, I better go to bed before they get worse. Peace.