mblaq 30 days challenge, week 1
In quite an unreasonably good mood today, despite various annoyances that may balloon into serious hindrances, thanks to absenceofmind's incredibly adorable MBLAQ ficlet:
[fic] MBLAQ. Tongdak Goyangyi (Chicken Cat)
My own writing's struck a bit of a snag -- I still like to plot things out in my head, but the actual writing process isn't going so well at the moment. *g* Also, I'm moving next month, the graphics card for my $2000 laptop seems to be slowly dying, I have half a dozen work projects that need to be finished or started soon-ish and I'm looking over a pretty long story for ayalesca, SO OF COURSE this is the time to be indulging in Kpop 30 Day challenges. *rolls*
I don't actually intend to subject my flist to these every day, but I think a post per week is not unreasonable:
MBLAQ 30 Day Challenge
Day 1: Favorite member and why
Thunder. He was the first one I got to know (I learned of MBLAQ through 2NE1TV, when Dara was pimping out her little brother and his band), he's not as talented or popular as the other members, so he's got that underdog thing going for him, and I find him easy to relate to, more so than any other celebrity I've ever liked.
One of the reasons for that is that I feel you have to have a certain amount of attention whore in you to even want to be a celebrity, which is a mindset that's fundamentally alien to me: I prefer to peer out from the shadows. :p And while I can admire and even be fascinated by people on the other side of the spectrum (Joon!), I find it equally fascinating that someone who seems naturally shy and quiet and retiring, who doesn't have any special artistic talents, can navigate the entertainment industry with a decent amount of success.
I want him to succeed. If this were fiction, I wouldn't bother, because it's usually the underdogs that win out in fiction, but that's not the case in real life, and I feel like the odds are stacked against him.
Of course, I don't like him just for the pity points. *g* I like the fact that he's sweet and amiable, but not weak; I like the fact that it's impossible to tell without digging into past history that he's walked a difficult path to be where he is. I like the fact that he's never talked about his father in public, that when G.O. asks him about his family in Sesame Player and trips over a mention of his father -- it's so awkward, G.O. gets the first syllable of 'father' out and then stops -- Thunder just smoothly glosses it over by mentioning all his other family members. I like the fact that, looking at old performances and interviews, it's impossible to tell that there were fans talking about how bad he was, how useless, how he brought the group down, and that he knew about it and didn't respond except by working harder.
I like watching clips of him falling asleep in the middle of the Idol Championships and jerking awake at the sound of the starting pistol, of him submitting to an interview half asleep, with longer and longer pauses in between words, until finally he shakes himself and goes, "...What did I just say?", of him dozing off in the middle of a fan-signing, oh my god Thunder HOW ARE YOU AN IDOL, HOW?
I like the fact that he seems to straddle the line between Ordinary Joe and charismatic idol with surprising grace, that he has the most adorable kitten ever and falls asleep with him to provide the most adorable photos ever, that he seems to be a balancing influence against Mir's hyperness, Joon's mood swings and Seungho's strictness. (G.O. doesn't require a balancing influence; IMO he's supremely well-balanced already.) I like that, even though he doesn't talk much in interviews, he makes a good audience; he generally looks interested in what the other members are saying. I like the fact that he looks distant and even a little forbidding when he's blank-faced, but then he'll laugh, or even just smile with his lips parted, and it's like all the doors and windows have been thrown open.
And really, at this point there isn't any reason to it anymore. He's my favorite because he's him. Muah. *g*
Day 2: Favorite Song
Probably Stay, although I don't like the MV at all. Mona Lisa's also up there. I like parts of Y, but dislike the others; same goes for Oh Yeah. I like the music for This is War, but I skip it whenever it comes up on my ipod, because it makes me think of the stupid, stupid MV plotline. *rolls*
Actually, scratch that. My favorite MBLAQ song is definitely this one:
Day 3: Favorite OTP
Uh, if it's not already disgustingly obvious: Joondoong. I love Joon, and I love Thunder, and I love them as a pairing. I find the maknae line (Thunder and Mir) really cute together, but I can't help thinking of them as a couple of kittens rolling around in a cloud of yarn: adorable, but not something to inspire great passion.
Possibly it's because I'm a hurt/comfort girl at heart; both Joon and Thunder make my heart ache for different reasons, and IMO it would be kind of nice if they could lick each other's wounds and solve both issues at once. IT'S ALL ABOUT EFFICIENCY.
Sadly, there's not as much slashy material between them nowadays as there was in the past, mostly I think because Joon is so focused on his career at this point that there isn't much slashiness between him and anything except the fans and possibly his house.
Even so, we get things like this:
Day 4: Favorite MV
They're in nice costumes, they have awesome guyliner, they're very, very wet, and Thunder for once has a decent hairstyle in an MV. What's not to like?
Sadly, the answer is: the song. (YMMV, of course. Personally, I just cannot get into this one.)
Day 5: How did you find out about MBLAQ?
As already mentioned, through 2NE1TV. Dara's a good PR person to have on your side!
Day 6: Favorite live performance
...I don't have one? I think their dance performances are all pretty good, and their singing performances are all pretty meh. XD
I do like Seungho and G.O.'s performance of This Love, though. Seungho playing piano is always a treat. ♥
Day 7: Favorite picture of the group as a whole
A ton, really, but this is my favorite out of the ones currently saved on my computer:
(Of course, it doesn't hurt that everyone else is looking off to the side while Thunder and Joon are eyeing each other with smouldering gazes, coughcough. SORRY ONE-TRACK MIND I KNOW.)
[fic] MBLAQ. Tongdak Goyangyi (Chicken Cat)
My own writing's struck a bit of a snag -- I still like to plot things out in my head, but the actual writing process isn't going so well at the moment. *g* Also, I'm moving next month, the graphics card for my $2000 laptop seems to be slowly dying, I have half a dozen work projects that need to be finished or started soon-ish and I'm looking over a pretty long story for ayalesca, SO OF COURSE this is the time to be indulging in Kpop 30 Day challenges. *rolls*
I don't actually intend to subject my flist to these every day, but I think a post per week is not unreasonable:
MBLAQ 30 Day Challenge
Day 1: Favorite member and why
Thunder. He was the first one I got to know (I learned of MBLAQ through 2NE1TV, when Dara was pimping out her little brother and his band), he's not as talented or popular as the other members, so he's got that underdog thing going for him, and I find him easy to relate to, more so than any other celebrity I've ever liked.
One of the reasons for that is that I feel you have to have a certain amount of attention whore in you to even want to be a celebrity, which is a mindset that's fundamentally alien to me: I prefer to peer out from the shadows. :p And while I can admire and even be fascinated by people on the other side of the spectrum (Joon!), I find it equally fascinating that someone who seems naturally shy and quiet and retiring, who doesn't have any special artistic talents, can navigate the entertainment industry with a decent amount of success.
I want him to succeed. If this were fiction, I wouldn't bother, because it's usually the underdogs that win out in fiction, but that's not the case in real life, and I feel like the odds are stacked against him.
Of course, I don't like him just for the pity points. *g* I like the fact that he's sweet and amiable, but not weak; I like the fact that it's impossible to tell without digging into past history that he's walked a difficult path to be where he is. I like the fact that he's never talked about his father in public, that when G.O. asks him about his family in Sesame Player and trips over a mention of his father -- it's so awkward, G.O. gets the first syllable of 'father' out and then stops -- Thunder just smoothly glosses it over by mentioning all his other family members. I like the fact that, looking at old performances and interviews, it's impossible to tell that there were fans talking about how bad he was, how useless, how he brought the group down, and that he knew about it and didn't respond except by working harder.
I like watching clips of him falling asleep in the middle of the Idol Championships and jerking awake at the sound of the starting pistol, of him submitting to an interview half asleep, with longer and longer pauses in between words, until finally he shakes himself and goes, "...What did I just say?", of him dozing off in the middle of a fan-signing, oh my god Thunder HOW ARE YOU AN IDOL, HOW?
I like the fact that he seems to straddle the line between Ordinary Joe and charismatic idol with surprising grace, that he has the most adorable kitten ever and falls asleep with him to provide the most adorable photos ever, that he seems to be a balancing influence against Mir's hyperness, Joon's mood swings and Seungho's strictness. (G.O. doesn't require a balancing influence; IMO he's supremely well-balanced already.) I like that, even though he doesn't talk much in interviews, he makes a good audience; he generally looks interested in what the other members are saying. I like the fact that he looks distant and even a little forbidding when he's blank-faced, but then he'll laugh, or even just smile with his lips parted, and it's like all the doors and windows have been thrown open.
And really, at this point there isn't any reason to it anymore. He's my favorite because he's him. Muah. *g*
Day 2: Favorite Song
Click to viewProbably Stay, although I don't like the MV at all. Mona Lisa's also up there. I like parts of Y, but dislike the others; same goes for Oh Yeah. I like the music for This is War, but I skip it whenever it comes up on my ipod, because it makes me think of the stupid, stupid MV plotline. *rolls*
Actually, scratch that. My favorite MBLAQ song is definitely this one:
Day 3: Favorite OTP
Uh, if it's not already disgustingly obvious: Joondoong. I love Joon, and I love Thunder, and I love them as a pairing. I find the maknae line (Thunder and Mir) really cute together, but I can't help thinking of them as a couple of kittens rolling around in a cloud of yarn: adorable, but not something to inspire great passion.
Possibly it's because I'm a hurt/comfort girl at heart; both Joon and Thunder make my heart ache for different reasons, and IMO it would be kind of nice if they could lick each other's wounds and solve both issues at once. IT'S ALL ABOUT EFFICIENCY.
Sadly, there's not as much slashy material between them nowadays as there was in the past, mostly I think because Joon is so focused on his career at this point that there isn't much slashiness between him and anything except the fans and possibly his house.
Even so, we get things like this:
Day 4: Favorite MV
They're in nice costumes, they have awesome guyliner, they're very, very wet, and Thunder for once has a decent hairstyle in an MV. What's not to like?
Sadly, the answer is: the song. (YMMV, of course. Personally, I just cannot get into this one.)
Day 5: How did you find out about MBLAQ?
As already mentioned, through 2NE1TV. Dara's a good PR person to have on your side!
Day 6: Favorite live performance
...I don't have one? I think their dance performances are all pretty good, and their singing performances are all pretty meh. XD
I do like Seungho and G.O.'s performance of This Love, though. Seungho playing piano is always a treat. ♥
Day 7: Favorite picture of the group as a whole
A ton, really, but this is my favorite out of the ones currently saved on my computer:
(Of course, it doesn't hurt that everyone else is looking off to the side while Thunder and Joon are eyeing each other with smouldering gazes, coughcough. SORRY ONE-TRACK MIND I KNOW.)