BIGBANG #concertbreak: A fangirl's account

Happenstance maybe or just destiny? Three years ago BIGBANG was in Manila for their Alive tour. That concert I prepared for and obsessed about. I even won a rehearsal pass for my soul-wrenching fangirl post. Haha. The universe though had a different plan for their second world tour. Two days before BIGBANG MADE in Manila I received a message from KitKat PH giving me – what I felt at that time – was the Eiffel Tower of all opportunity! As part of their #ConcertBreak promotion they gave away 2 free tickets to lucky lucky lucky fans on concerts happening in SM MOA Arena. They are sponsors for the whole year of 2015. Imagine my surprise when I found out I don't only get free tickets. I got a VIP pass so we didn't line up (although that is fun but definitely tiring!). We were seated at the KitKat PH lounge right smack in the middle of the stage! We also get our own ladies room about 20 steps from the viewing deck. So if you need a quick dash that will not be a problem. How awesome is that?! Imagine, it's only August, how many more concerts are lined up in the coming months! Join the #concertbreak and enjoy these perks like I did!

Thank you KitkatPH! *sending lots of love* ♥♥♥

I'm sorry for my tired I no longer care how I look photo above. haha. Oh and warning! This post is image and #fangirl heavy starting from here. ~

Jdrama: Yamada-kun to Nananin no Majo

 

I'm on a roll!! I just finished watching this jdrama. Too bad it's only 8 episodes. I wish they focused more on the love story between these two instead of finding the witches. :(

The story is absurd (hello jdorama world *lol*) The lead guy kissed a LOT of people in every episode, part of what makes it funny is because he does it for the lead girl. There was one particular scene where he was begging to be kissed by the teacher and his face looked so horrified by the idea - he looked like he was going to poop. hahaha

Shiraishi Urara is the top student in her school. One day, due to an accidental kiss, Urara finds herself in the body of the school delinquent, Yamada Ryu! In trying to switch back to their own bodies, Urara and Ryo discover that kissing causes them to switch bodies, which leads to their discovery that there are 7 witches in their school. They soon try to uncover the identities of the 7 witches..

Yamada Ryu is played by Yamamoto Yusuke, I've always liked him and I'm glad he got a lead part in a rom-com. He's not particularly handsome but he has a bad-boy (yankee) look that would be best for rom-com's.

Shiraishi Urara is played by Nishiuchi Mariya, WOW I love this girl! I knew she was familiar. I was watching a jdrama (Switch Girl) before but I dropped it for some reason. Low and behold she was the lead girl in that too. She's super hilarious.

Comment below if you want to know how to download the episodes! :)

Phone camera & editing tricks

I get asked a lot on how I edit my photos but my responses get buried in the comments so I thought of writing a tutorial of sorts. It's really simple, anyone with a phone camera and Photoshop can do it!

First of all you need to know what kind of pictures your camera can capture. My phone is a Sony Xperia X10 mini pro. I call him Renji. *lol* It has a 5MP camera with autofocus, flash and 4 picture settings (Auto, Twilight, Sports and Macro). I always set it in Macro and no-flash. (When I take photos of hyperactive kids, I use Sports. *haha*)

When I use it indoors (with natural light), it produces a gloomy and slightly grainy look. When I work on them in Photoshop, they almost always come out looking vintage.



Option 1: Brightness & Contrast

1. Open your photo in Photoshop.
2. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness & Contrast
3. Play with the values until you get your desired look.

Option 2: Blending options - Brighten your photo

1. Duplicate your original photo in a new layer or press CTRL+J
2. Go to Blending options > Screen > set the opacity to 33% (play with the levels)

Option 3: Blending options - Sharpen/Darken your photo

1. Duplicate your original photo in a new layer or press CTRL+J
2. Go to Blending options > Overlay > set the opacity to 25% (play with the levels)

Note: Also don't be afraid to move the layers around. They don't have to be in a specific order. Play with it.

Try using one or more of these 3. Play with the levels. In this photo below I used all 3 because I wanted it to look old, bright, and sharp.



Also don't listen to people saying that's not real photography etc. You put stuff on your blog because they look nice and you like it. Be you and do things that make you happy. :)

Film camera: 2013 gadget wishlist

You know how I always mention about getting a proper camera? (which usually translates into a DSLR one) Well I realized, nope I don't need one! I'm happy with the photos my phone, Ipad and Photoshop produces. I'm only a hobbyist and lack the skills for a pro camera. I do want to learn more about photography though so I'm going to learn the basics first.

Pentax K1000: Fit for beginner or student film photographers. Here's a review on this camera by Kenrockwell. Isn't it handsome?!

Fujifilm Instax mini 50s: Here's another handsome one. ♥ I've always wanted a polaroid type camera but I could not justify spending so much on expensive film when I don't really have a lot to photograph. Plus the 7s is too bulky for me. This year I'm going to do a lot of traveling and crafting so I'm finally getting this smaller and shinier 50s!

I know it's going to cost me a lot of money in the long run because of film and printing. In return these will teach me patience, force me to focus and be resourceful. ♪( ^-^)/

BIGBANG Alive Galaxy tour in Manila fanaccount

Long time no post. I'm actually going through a very difficult time now. I wasn't going to come back here for a while but I have responsibilities. I should at least post this one. :)

Last week, October 24, was BIGBANG Alive tour in Manila. Despite what's happening in my life now, I'm happy that I had BIGBANG to ease the pain somehow. I also felt blessed still, who would have known I'd win rehearsal tickets thanks to Nuffnang and Samsung. I don't have any luck in contests so I really think God gave this to me to show me that there's hope. I really want to thank Nuffnang and Samsung and give them all the love but this all I can think of doing.

I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures because there were so many people! There were only 2 booths (Samsung & Jeju Air) but I didn't have time to go to both :( I didn't get the freebies too. *cry* I got there around 1 pm. It was already packed! I bought a BIGBANG lightstick, ate lunch and met with the Nuffnang representative. We got in line for the rehearsals at 3pm but we didn't get inside until around 4pm.





My Rehearsal pass!!!



More photos under the cut:

Kdrama: Arang and the Magistrate

Here I am featuring another sageuk drama. I'm glad it is still going strong despite having seemingly exhausted their stories of kings, heroes & heroines. Could we be seeing a new wave of sageuk fantasy drama based on folklore? (Started by 2010's Gumiho) Because of this I was inspired to read on Korean folklore, I'm currently reading Korean folktales: imps, ghosts and fairies by Im Pang & Yi Ryuk. This was translated and published in 1913! [Don't worry they are easy to read]

As much as Korean's love making sageuk drama, their international audience can't get enough either! I just found out The Moon Embracing the Sun will air locally soon via GMA [or is it airing already? I just saw the huge billboard while riding the MRT *lol*].

Anyway moving on!!! Arang and the Magistrate is set  as a comedy - melo - fantasy - sageuk drama. phew.

Based on a folklore about a female ghost named Arang whose sudden death caused her to wander and haunt the office of the Magistrate. Due to terror, past officers die on the first day they take office. It so happens that Eun-oh, the newly appointed Magistrate can see ghosts and is therefore not shocked by Arang's presence. He in turn vowed to help Arang in her quest to find out how and why she died.

Sound serious noh? NOT! Oh I can't wait till you watch the first episode. All my preconceived thoughts about Arang or Lee Eun-oh flies right out the window. Haha I love that they held back a bit on the summary. Better to be surprised than know exactly how things will play out on just the first episode.

My BIGBANG collection update

Free website icons

A product of another insomniac episode. Feel free to download.



You know the drill ;)

one. link to this blog post when you use it
two. do not share/distribute on another icon set pack. Do not sell or claim these as yours. If you must share, please share this link instead.
three. comment if taking!

Thank you for respecting MY WORK. :)

Download this icon set.

Collection: BIGBANG albums

Kdrama: What's Up!

I only watched this drama because of Daesung. I didn't know a single actor so I was feeling a bit unsure if I'm going to enjoy this. Going towards the first 3 episodes, each actor is perfect for their roles. I ended up loving the other characters more than I loved Daesung's character.

A drama revolving around music and the romance between students enrolled in the theatrical department of a university.

I'm not gonna go into a detailed review because (one) I suck at organizing my thoughts (two) it's better to watch on your own else I'll spoil the storyline.

It's 20 episodes long. The storyline had a strong beginning but dragged on a bit towards the middle. I honestly don't like watching teenage angst anymore. Maybe because I'm older now so I'm over that stage. So for me the middle part was boring & annoying. I just want them to deal with their problem and show me the juicy parts. I also didn't like how one of the most bubbly characters became gloomy in the end. That could be part of her character development though. After all the drama was about each character's journey towards finding themselves. That by the end of the series they're all changed people.

The ending left a lot of things unresolved. Which was ok in the sense that if they tied each character's story in a neat little bow it would feel quite rushed and much more annoying. So this unfinished feeling is all because they didn't resolve the other character's story towards the middle while they were dragging that other angst-y storyline. （￣～￣;）

Anyway the series is over now, after so much complaining, I still love this drama and highly recommend it! (^-^)v

Could there be a 2nd season? ¯\(ಠ_ಠ)/¯ That is still unsure :3

These are video cuts of their performances:

Kdrama: The Moon That Embraces the Sun

Since watching Dae Jang Geum I've been in love with period dramas.They're an interesting way to learn about korean culture and history (although some facts gets a more dramatic turn). I wouldn't say I've watched them all, probably only the popular ones. Some people may find it boring because the storyline are mostly serious. There are however sageuk dramas that are fictitious and those are the fun ones to watch.

One such fictional sageuk drama* is a novel adaptation written by the same author of Sungkyunkwan Scandal**.

Wishlist: Bigbang Bigshow 2011 dvd

 Its about time for another BIGSHOW but I'm a little late in watching the 2011 one. I found these dvd rips on youtube. *yey for generous VIP's* Ah but definitely I should be getting my own dvd. Especially..since I'd be getting a new tv next month. bwahaha I shall annoy my neighbors ( ^=^)v

Kdrama: Sungkyunkwan Scandal

I don't usually watch Korean dramas cause they tend to be long thus making it hard to download all the episodes. I'd run out of space! ( >.<)~ though sometimes one drama will stick out from the bunch and I'd get totally obsessed with it. Such is what happened to me with Sungkyunkwan Scandal. This was a 2010 drama but till now I still fall head over heels with it.

Sungkyunkwan Scandal is set in Sungkyunkwan University in the late Joseon era during the reign of King Jeongjo (Yi San), revolving around the exploits and love stories of four youths. When her younger brother's illness worsens and their family is in danger of being evicted from their house for lack of money, Kim Yoon Hee enters the school under his name, disguised as a boy in her desperation to support him. There, she becomes friends with the intelligent and upright Lee Sun Joon, the playboy Goo Yong Ha and rebellious Moon Jae Shin.

Congratulations BIGBANG!

You guys!!! BIGBANG frakkin WON!! MTV EMA Worldwide Act y'all!!! (=^ｰ^)ﾉ彡☆゜・。・゜★
I'm so happy VIP's & BIGBANG forever!!  

© ygfamilyy

Saranghe BIGBANG

Excuse me for getting sentimental--its 1AM and I really really miss BIGBANG. It's sad that they only just got back after a 2 year hiatus then bad things happen one after another. I really hope they stay strong, they're such an amazing group and they don't deserve all the bad publicity.

VIP's will wait for you. Please stay strong. FOREVER VIP ♛

Watching clips of their concerts....here are a few of my favorite BB songs.

Heaven and Pabo (Fool)...(2010 BIGSHOW concert)


Sunset Glow (w/c they almost always sing at encore) (2010 BIGSHOW concert)


Always (2009 BIGSHOW concert) -- 2010 -- 2011

They always sing this song when going around the concert grounds / interacting with the fans.