Drama: Master's Sun

I would like to put this out there: this is the best drama of 2013 in my opinion. I've watched a decent amount this year, and Master's Sun stood out for me even amongst powerhouses like School 2013 and I Hear Your Voice.

The combination of romance, supernatural, witty banters and crazy charismatic actors and actresses was right up my alley and I found myself devouring this drama episode after episode.

It was the kind of show where you're just completely sucked in such that certain flaws don't hit you till you think back and wonder: "what the actual.." The entire evil twin arc was quite jarring, and the revelation did not entirely match up to the flashbacks throughout the show. It got a little draggy towards the end with the entire "Taeyang finding herself" moments, which was understandable but executed quite poorly. I also found myself not investing any emotions into the back story, with the bad acting and strangely pieced plot.

Then again, I appreciated that they even briefly touched on certain issues, such as the entire plastic surgery obsession as a culture that hits people when they think that they are better than others. I also liked the more sappy and emotional moments when they talked about the various backstories of the ghosts, and the variety of people you can see in this world. They didn't paint the world in an overbearingly positive manner where everyone just lives happily ever after once they're touched by Taeyang (such as the gambler squandering his inheritance), and there was something realistic about that supernatural world. Joo Joong Won was also made real, allowing the viewers to understand that he did not revolve his entire life around his love interest even though it was the focus of the show. All that on top of the perfect OST.

The characters had phenomenal chemistry and I can't see anyone else but Gong Hyojin pulling off the role as the charming Taeyang we know without coming off as annoying. There are just too many moments of the show which cemented my love for it - the coffee ghost, the drunk Taeyang (cats and sexy french ladies, anyone?) and the adorable jealously of Joo Joong Won.



Overall, Master's Sun is charming and addictive from start to the end. They got me tearing, squealing and at the edge of my seat at all the various moments as intended, I was wrapped around their fingers completely. I am still experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

"I just listened because I have earlobes."

Music: Hyorin - Love & Hate Album Review

This is not an area that I would claim expertise in, but I've been fully absorbing this album as of late and felt quite interested in giving an album review on Hyorin's debut album, Love & Hate. Everything is from my own personal experience when listening to the album, and undeniably cognitive biases come into play.

When the news of Hyorin's debut first came out, it was largely expected (good vocals in just another idol group?) yet, honestly, not too anticipated by me. Just a matter of personal taste - I can't stand songs that are overly mainstream pop with too much on an emphasis on ensuring that the singer belts as much throughout the entire song in order to showcase their vocal abilities. I sure thought her album would be filled with songs along those lines. But when the tracklist came out, I must say I had a change of attitude due to my preference for songs with solid rappers and in my book, Zico and Geeks can do no wrong. And I wasn't proven wrong.

I will go for a song by song review, before giving my final thoughts on it.

1. Lonely
One of my favourite songs from the album, a really nice ballad which surprised me quite a bit. I was acutely aware of Hyorin's ability to churn out high notes and sing powerful songs, and I always thought that she was limited to that. This song made me bite my words.

I really enjoyed the melody of the song, the slow-paced vibe and how she handled her song with her husky and toned down voice.

2. One Way Love

Quite a typical K-pop song in my opinion, nothing too exciting about it yet I wasn't annoyed by its presence in the tracklist as well. It is quite a public-friendly medium tempo pop song. I do feel that it has a distinct Sistar taste to it. The rap break, which she had to undertake with the absence of her resident rapper Bora, was an effort quite questionable as the song could have done without it.

I do have to say though, while it is in no way a bad song, I felt that there were better title tracks in the album. The dance.. Was quite embarrassing to bear.

3. Don't Love Me
A solid ballad that showcased her vocal skills. I enjoyed it, but wasn't too wow-ed by it.

4. Stalker (ft. Mad Clown)

I am quite a fan of Mad Clown since he does deliver powerful yet emotional raps that do have an old-school flair to it. Seeing him featured on the album was a pleasant surprise and I really did enjoy this song. I feel that they are quite a good match as his rapping style matched the powerful vocals, and I do have to say this as there are cases when powerful vocals seemed too forced on a chiller rapper (Ailee and Geeks, anyone?).

5. Massage (ft. Dok2)
Another song of a genre that I personally really like so I do have quite a biased opinion on this song despite not being a stand-out song for me. Certain bits in the song did feel a little awkward.

6. Closer

A good R&B/swing vibe which Hyorin handled really nicely, and I enjoyed the overall laid-back 60's vibe about the entire song. The chorus did sound a little forced and didn't match too well with the entire song.

7. Red Lipstick (ft. Zico)
Hands down my favourite song of the album. As I've mentioned, Zico can do no wrong in my book and the entire song was both fun, emotional and intriguing throughout. I feel that Hyorin does best in such a particular style emotional ballads since it showcases her vocal abilities without it coming forth as too out of place. And have I mentioned Zico?

8. Falling

I cringe every time this song plays. Anyone can pick out the Beyonce - Listen vibe from the song. I did feel that the bridge and bits of the chorus had potential to become another great song but it didn't. One of my least enjoyed song from the album, though I felt that I could understand this song's presence just because every singer needs to belt here and there.

9. O.M.G (ft. Lil Boi of Geeks)
A fun, poppy song that is public friendly while not losing too much of either Geeks or Hyorin's style. I like it and felt that it's presence was extremely suitable in this album just to bring some lightness to the album.

10. Tonight

A good followup to the fun sounds of O.M.G. Tied the album together nicely, and the entire song just felt well made.

Overall thoughts
I was glad that her debut album was an extremely solid one that is honest-to-god full length - quite uncommon for Korean idol soloists but one that was definitely warranted and appreciated. This album very well showcased the malleability of her vocals and secured her position as one of the best idol vocalists around, with a (in my opinion) good awareness of her own vocal style and music direction. The entire album, despite the variety in styles, did not feel repetitive and it also made me feel that there's an overall cohesive vibe about them.

While there were parts about the album that I felt wasn't needed, I have to say that I enjoyed this album very much and there were many aspects of this album that made me re-look my opinion of her as a singer.

7/10

Beauty: 4U2 Shade And Highlight Duo Review

I bought this particular duo at Bangkok's Watsons a while back on a travel trip. Honestly, the only reason I got it was because of the packaging - the box was cute, vintage, and looked like something that came out from a 60s magazine. I also wanted to try some of BKK's home brands, and thought that it seemed like a good one to try.



The price point was decent at about $10 converted. Sans the pretty pop-up exterior, the actual case of the product looked quite shoddy. Cheap white plastic with some rose prints that easily rubbed off. But it still felt quite substantial, so I'll give it that.



The product itself looked pretty decent on pan. The matte brown shade seems to be a good colour on my fair skin, and the white highlighter looked a little too white and shimmery but seems workable.



Above is the swatches of the product and with them blended out. The shader is a pretty decent matte brown, but the highlighting shade... It's just a glitter mess. When blended out, the white essentially disappears into the skin, leaving behind chunks of glitter that no one appreciates on their skin. I could probably throw in an Edward joke in, but the glitter also fell out of the skin in just a few minutes.

I do find myself quite liking the shader to contour the bridges of my nose and to even fill in my brows, so it is not a completely useless product.