#anyways. very very funny and strange to hear this commercial truly

[loverboybrightsideghost]

there's a commercial on the local radio station for like at&t or something but it's in collaboration with the wicked movie, so it's a dad basically being like "my whole family is obsessed with wicked, our wifi can barely handle it!" idk it's just. i'm not entirely sure what it is i feel but i just remember how i was obsessed with so many musicals (including wicked) when i was in middle school and it was considered REALLY uncool. like i was a little weirdo for it, and i was always singing and always people were like "ugh shut up already." one time i tried to show my friend "for good" when i graduated eighth grade and her boyfriend (my former friend turned fucking bully asshole) told me "no, don't corrupt her with that!" by showing it to her. which is its own thing but. i don't know it feels weird to hear on the radio someone proudly say their family is obsessed with a musical, even if it is a fake family. it's like ha. in my time i got fucking bullied for that. there is also something strange i feel regarding that specifically as it is an advertisement, which means 1) the point is to advertise the movie (and the wifi) and 2) it's socially acceptable to some level to be obsessed with something that is being hyped up like some big cultural moment.

[duvayknox]

SUITCASE & A CIGARETTE

Just before you leave her and head out the door and hit a lick and a stick to the bus station with your raggedy suitcase and your last cigarette in your mouth, where you will ride among the destitute and desperate, you decide to write a letter of your intentions informing her of your decision. You know all about her. When she will get home. What she will do before she finds your letter in the bathroom because you decide leaving the letter where you take a shit is apropos of what she's put you through. You know she'll take off all her clothes soon as she hits the door and let her breasts swing free like monkeys in a tree. Then, she will come into the bathroom to take a shower and wash the world off her silky, smooth, cinnamon skin. And that's when she will see the letter taped to the mirror that you left behind for her. She will read how you always respected her even though she never gave you the same respect. She will smell the ashes of your Kool cigarette on the top, right hand corner of the letter because you always let the Cig hang out the left corner of your mouth while you're doing shit. So that's where the ashes fell as you wrote about love and loss. She likes to read so she'll read about how you never cheated on her because cheating is not what you do. Cheating is what she accused you of but cheating is not what you do. So yall argued. She'll read about that argument in full detail. She'll hear your side, finally. Because only after you're gone can she find it in herself to hear what you were saying. But she can't hear it from you directly. She has to read it. And you're not mad about that. You just wish you could be there to tell her yourself. But that's always been one of her problems. She never listens to you until after the fact. Until after the damage has been done. And how many times did you push that aside and clean up her mess anyway? Huh? How often were you the one she woke up to in the middle of night to provide a solution to the absolute hellish shit she was going thru? When her crazy ex began stalking her after he got out of the Penitentiary she nearly begged you to help her come up with a viable solution that would keep his ass at bay--and away. And you did. Does she even remember how grateful she was that you were there for that? It's as though you do these things for her and she promptly forgets them. In other words, she takes you for granted. And one thing you've always hated is being taken for granted by those who should truly be Grateful. You've always given her the benefit of the doubt. But you should know better because you learned over the years that there's something strange about giving people the benefit of the doubt. And that is: you tend to get left out. All that kindness for weakness shit crops up a lot when you deal with humans. Blame yourself though. Because you knew how she was before you got involved with her. Humans are merely animals. And animals can't change their Nature. Neither can humans, you dig? It's the law of the jungle that many like you forget. Then, before you know it you've invited the snake in the grass into your life. As you prepare to write you realize a lump is in your throat and a tear is in your eye. You can't even remember the last time you cried. Hell, you didn't even cry at your Mama's funeral. And she was your main girl. Not that you were a mama's boy. You just were close to your mama because you respected her. In hindsight, that's one of the things that attracted you to this woman you're about to leave--she reminds you of Your Mama because she has quite-a-many of those old school ways about her. At least she did in the beginning. Then, you don't know what happened. Where it truly all went wrong. Time, like cancer, has a way of sneaking up on you before you know it -- and DESTROYING shit. In the military it's FUBAR. Fucked Up Beyond All Repair. That was funny then. Now, not so hilarious. It's always like that though, isn't it? When it's somebody else's pain or goof--you laugh. But then when your own ass is in the sling, you want sympathy. You want the world to cry with you and offer up condolences. That is if you tell them. But you don't want to tell anybody of the failure of your relationship with a woman you've been with nearly 2 decades. 10 Winters and 10 Summers. And countless bouts of lovemaking. Now you've lost track of the number of times you and her have argued about: NOTHING. Nothing in particular. The arguments always snuck up on you when U least expected it now that U think about it. From out of nowhere the who left what, where became a major issue. Of course, the who, what or why was never really the issue was it? It was YOU. It was HER. It was YALL. It was LIFE. You think about that song by the group The Manhattans where they sing about finding "love on 2-way street and losing it on a lonely highway." You even think about that goddamn "somebody done done somebody wrong song" you useta hear on late-night commercials years ago because they wanted you to buy them cheap ass records. You shake your head because life is a trip. And now here you are about to take one. But where do you go when you don't really have no place to go? Remember how you useta ask yourself that very question for just a situation as this but never thinking it would come to this--and now it has? And you're afraid because you're a man of your word because you told her once that if you ever walked out that door you were never coming back. So now you're about to write this letter and head to the Bus Station with a raggedy suitcase and one last Kool cigarette in your mouth. And you ain't never coming back to a woman you still love.

[guardianofmemes]

fallout 4 companions best to worst

with funny images at the start of each character review! DLC companions included! also BIG TIME SPOILERS FOR FALLOUT 4 OKAY 3 2 1 GOOOO!

1. nick valentine - clockwork PI 

positives: he’s a robot detective who loves neon and smokes even though he has no lungs you know he’s a man who appreciates aesthetic.

negatives: none

2. old longfellow - old salty 

positive: grandpa time. he's perfect. this man is everyone's rough and tumble but supportive grandfather. he's a rough block of wood, well worn and with a sense of humor, drinking habits, great dialogue, fantastic personality and can follow you around, he never outwears his welcome. he can even follow you around the commonwealth. rivals nick valentine for best companion to me.negative: i can't really think of ANY.

3. codsworth - lovable orb 

positives: truly a stalwart companion, never abandons you, waited 2 centuries for the player character. it made me upset you couldn't romance them, the character who truly had a connection with you. they're fantastic and the top 3 was a REALLY close call.

negatives: cannot romance, wHY TODD YOU COWARD

4. preston garvey - minutemen general 

positive:  i can't even bring myself to post a jokey image for him he's just that good. god his character is good. he's a broken man, but he still doesn't stop helping others, or giving up hope. he's truly a good person, but not unrealistic. he has his limits, and can bend and break. and unlike other companions strangely, he DOES have more loyalty breaking points than the others, like if you side with raiders he will shoot you on sight. unless you deviate from the carefully curated quest paths in which case aaaaaaa also his backstory good, and i like how he faces his inner demons, altho i wish he'd just take the mantle of general. he honestly deserves it.

DOWNSIDES: ANOTHER SETTLEMENT NEEdS OUR HELP. making any companion a never ending, radiant quest hub, is a BAD FECKIN IDEA BOYO. BUCKO ITS A BAD IDEA. as a result of him being a radiant quest hub, its the onbly thing people know about him, care about, and experience while in game, because before and after every character interaction is something about his radiant quest hub quests. also romancing him feels HORRIBLE just like mac cready.

5. john maccready - ratface 

positives:  Positives, I like snarky mercs. And he had real Scout vibes.Honestly if you forget he existed in any other fallout games, on his own he's a decent companion. I like having him around, he's like that coworker of yours who keeps stealing office supplies but he always has spare smokes if you ask. honestly maccready is like if you dipped piper in the FEV. he's just a better version of her.  she's too heavy handed i'm sorry

negative:  again bethesda's bad design about being afraid of upsetting consumers. because once you finish his personal quest, spoilers getting the cure for his infant son's sickness, he should IMMEDAITELY RETURN TO HIS SON. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE MAC AND CHEESE. GO RAISE YOUR SON. also romancing him just feels dirty and manipulative. this MAN IS CLEARLY STILL GREIVING FOR HIS DEAD WIFE!!!  most of the romance paths honestly feel dirty and manipulative to me, like you're taking advantage of their friendship and trust in you

6. Ada - actual wife 

positives: i love robots and this is like if curie didn't suck and wasn't born sexy yesterday. she has a character arc and is cool and has personality and also she's made of different robot parts when she starts out and that's cool. her story is good and even her generic lines are charming.

negatives: after the mechanist dlc is over she has no more unique cool things to say, and its sad they didn't prepare enough dialogue for her

7. john danse - paladin pants 

positives: danse is a trooper, he's a boot boy yeah. in literal apocalypse land tho, understandable. also he is loyal to his team and anyone he considers his friends. once he spoilers is exiled from the brotherhood for being a synth and loses his way he does lose some of his hangups, becomes a more thoughtful person. his character arc is good, i like how he ends up.

negatives: holy fuck my cat just jumped in my lap he's like my way or the highway haha. anyways back to pants paladin. like i said he has some hangups, aka his racism from living in the brotherhood, a proto-fascist military cult. but honestly this doesn't make him a bad character, and he does get better from it. i'm gonna be real here the only negative about him is again, THE ROMANCE PATH. IT FEELS SO NEGATIVE AND DIRTY AND MANIPULATIVE. like i see people say he's a bad character but no he's just a bad person. and even then, he does learn and adapt.you can have characters who aren't good people in your stories

8. piper - waifu bait 

positive:  extra extra read all about it, the tracer of fallout 4 not totally a bad thing tho, she's just.obviously the companion you're supposed to like the most.

negative:  her quirkiness has its charms but it can be KINDA much sometimes. also she’s obvious waifu bait. however in the end she's really more a person i'd want to argue with as a friend and hang just chill around she's pushy tho and i don't like being railroaded into certain quests or storybeats.

9. dog - dog 

positive: dog is dog

negative: is not robot detective or butler, but is still good

10. deacon - MY EYES!!! 

positives: charming spy man, so deep in the weeds he doesn't even know his own past or even if he's a synth. that's quirky and cute. he also has that very obvious spy charm of, his disguise is just him wearing clothes. iits funny like superman putting glasses on.

negatives: honestly he's just kinda bland. he's such a mystery wrapped in an enigma locked in a puzzlebox owned by that demon guy with the needles in his head, that there's nothing to know about him. really i can't figure him out. or get to know him.then again some of that is due to trust issues. i mean neat character trait but there's not much for me to consume here.

11. john hancock - anarcho beef jerky 

positive:  he's a pretty free wheeling kinda dude and i like that, he stands up against bad authority, to an extent, and that's where some of my issues crop up

negative:  it could also be blamed on shitty bethesda afraid you wouldn't do certain content if it locked you out of your favorite companions, but he'll stand with you through allying with the institute, the brotherhood, anyone. also his anarchist leadership style has resulted in a lot of issues for his community he doesn't seem keen on fixing or reflecting on anytime soon. also constant substance abuse and he'll encourage you to take on the party hardy lifestyle tooi just look at freeside i mean goodneighbor i mean freeside and i think "man you're supposed to be the king i mean the mayor you should do better". ripoff of the king i'm gonna rip off the bandaid tbh, not even as cool as the king. the king really looked out for freesiders while hancock kinda just... meanders about the place. being mayor with no authority on purpose just makes you, a guy who kills people sometimes.

12. automatron - build-a-bear workshop BUT WITH GUN 

positive: there's a few distinct personality modules and voice actors for the automatron companions, each one is enjoyable, i liked them, and they were all different from each other. i consider them like mini companions. plus being able to build your very own custom robots with any parts you want is the most epic part of this companion.

negative: the dialogue for the voice actor packs is pretty limited, like pretty limited. not a lot to hear before they loop. i'd have to say these are more neutral than even X6-88 for me

13. X6-88: oh that uniquely named courser that showed up as i destroyed the institute, wait he was a companion??? 

positives:

okay negatives time

negatives:for real tho he's just uh, again kind of a Nothing character. not as disappointing as Strong tho. As an institute courser he's just... well he just Is. he exists. doesn't really question his nature tho, or consider what life would be like outside the institute... its like if Danse had no character arc at all and spoilers just stayed in the brotherhood like a good proto-fascist feudalistic power armored boot boy. he feels like a quota like todd howard walked in the design room and said "we need an institute companion" and then the designers said "... fuck. we're almost done with the game's story okay lets cook something up". i'd have to say he's perfectly average. he's like the bland guy from the wendys commercials about how spicy their chicken is

14. porter gage - why do i keep stepping on this rake 

positives: his armor looks cool, and his voice actor is good. i like that a raider character is portrayed by a sneaky advisor type instead of just a chest beating tough guy on chems. porter is an interesting take, and his motivations and methods are interesting.

negatives: his motivations don't make sense though. he's seen over and over in his life that raiders simply are unsustainable and don't work, always breaking apart. yet he... still wants to be a raider, and advise raider gangs? it doesn't make sense. also if you buddy up with him preston will hate you, and you have to eliminate your OWN settlements in the commonwealth. sorry porter but i'm not willing to make that kind of sacrifice at all. he's alright as a character but not really deep. having a backstory doesn't mean you're deep, that's Bethesda Deep™. Bad, no. Die now with the rest of nuka world, gage.

15. strong - fallout 3 was a mistake 

positives: non-human companion, i like that. super mutants are always cool

negatives: lumpy and misshappen as fuck oh god he's like a slab of moldy ribs. also his character? what character? he's just a bog standard super mutant, not even a cool one from the west coast. he's just an orc, a raider painted green with half a brain and a penchant for eating people. he doesn't change or evolve, he's just. he's a Nothing character.

16. curie - born french yesterday 

positives:  so i guess i should start with the positives since that's a trend in this list now. positives! robot, and one that's both aware of how the world's dead but wants to learn, and make it better. i always like robots, and well. uh. robot. i'm out of positives now.

negatives: she is the living embodiment of th e born sexy yesterday trope. profoundly naive, yet unimaginably wise. and spoilers once she gets a SEXAYYYYY human bod from a braindead synth, her naive nature is played up even further as WHAT EEZ DIS STRANGE FEELING UWU I FEEL HORMONE AND LUUUV its bad, its bad its bad. french maid plus nurse wrapped into one, with the mind of a child, aka its the born sexy yesterday trope. and you can only fuc once she's out of the robot body and this makes betheseda COWARDS. LET ME HAVE MY ROBOTS.

17. cait - drug

positive:

negative: commit go away from my game. rude, not fun to be around, substance abuse storyline is NOT handled well. also in boston the one irish character is all fucked up come on man.

[thekoreanenglishproject]

What is Kpop?

Kpop stands for Korean pop, a genre of music that is incredibly popular in South Korea as well as other Asian countries and other countries around the world. While Kpop does not stick to one genre, encompassing everything that Koreans would consider "popular", including RnB, hip hop, rap, rock, and even folk music, it is still an organized system. The industry itself is so popular that you can't take one step in Seoul without seeing another cardboard cutout of an idol or hearing a kpop song coming from a store.

Celebrities in the kpop world are called "idols", and they are either solo artists or part of boy or girl groups that can consist of anywhere from 2 to 13+ people, though the extremes are fairly uncommon. The average number of people per group is around 6 or 7. In each group, there are certain official positions that need to be filled. An average 7 member group will fill most of these positions, very rarely leaving any out.

Examples of some positions in kpop groups are:

·        Singers

Groups are either mainly vocals or mainly hip hop. In groups that are mainly vocals, there will be more singers than rappers and dancers. This does not mean, however, that singers only sing. In most groups the lead vocalists also dance and even occasionally rap as well. On the other hand, not everyone in the group has to be good at singing. In the early 2000s, most groups were mostly vocals, meaning everyone had to be able to sing; however, more recent groups have been a mix of different talents. The lead vocalists are always tasked with the high and long notes and often have a majority of the lines in a song, since they sing the chorus as well as some of the verses.

·        Dancers

There are often less dancers than there are singers in a group: some groups are more dance focused but most groups have their dance as an extra thing alongside their singing, so there aren’t usually many people in a group that are there as main dancers. In vocal centric groups like Super Junior, there are very few or just one main dancers that were recruited for only their talent in dance (although these members are also talented vocalists despite being recruited for only their dance). If there is a main dancer in the group, that person will be in front for most of the choreography and will often do solo dance stages with no actual lyrics. Often only about half the members are truly good at dancing, as it is not seen as super important to some companies/groups. Only once as far as I know has a group been only dance: a group called Younique Unit that was made up of main dancers from other groups.

·        Rappers

Rappers are the members of the group that, well, rap. There are usually less rappers in a group than vocalists, although more hip hop focused groups tend to have more rappers who have more lines than the average idol rapper. There isn’t necessarily always a main rapper, as all rappers tend to have around the same amount of lines per song.

·        Leader

The leader is the member of each kpop group that is effectively in charge of the members of the group. This member hears the schedule from the manager each morning and is then responsible for making sure the members show up to all their various schedules. This member is often the oldest but not always, and they are also usually in charge of properly introducing the group on variety shows and interviews. They are considered the official representative of the group, and they are given a decent amount more responsibility than the other members.

·        Maknae

Maknae is a Korean term meaning “youngest”. The maknae, or youngest member of the group, is the one who does the chores makes ramen for the group. While this is not always the case, the older members will often expect the youngest to do whatever they want, including making food and running to the convenience store to buy them something. The youngest is either known as the most obedient or the most bratty member, causing them to have another word attached to their “title”. Some are known as the “evil” maknae for the pranks they pull on their members, and Jungkook from BTS is known as the “golden” maknae because he is good at literally everything (anything athletic, dancing, singing, any sort of competition).

·        Visual

The visual of a group is the supposed “prettiest” member of the group. They may often be recruited for skincare commercials and other things like that, and they might have their face displayed more prominently in certain ads featuring their group. Though this may seem to be an unfair member of a group to have, the reality is, almost never is there an actual “prettiest member”. Also, even though there may be an “official visual”, they don’t receive any special treatment from their members, the fans, or even really their company. In some cases there is no official visual and all the members joke around about being the true visual of the team.

·        4D

4D is a term used to describe a member of a kpop group that acts a little…strange. This member might say weird things or do funny/weird things (strange facial expressions, overacting everything, etc) that goes slightly beyond normal levels of crazy. This member can usually make the other members laugh and is best suited for variety shows, where they can show off their comedic talents in order to promote their group. They will often be misunderstood by people who are not fans or who have never seen them in action due to them being “too over the top”, but this can actually help promote their group in the end.

·        Happy Virus

Happy Virus is similar to 4D, but not quite the same. The member of the group known as the Happy Virus is always smiling and laughing, and they can always be counted on to cheer the other members up. They will often interact a lot more with the fans on stage and do more cute fanservice with them to make them laugh and enjoy themselves more at concerts. It is very rare to see the happy virus genuinely be upset about something, as they are supposed to be the ones to help the other members when they are upset.

·        “Lines”

A line is a group of people within (or between different) groups. This is not the same thing as a subunit, as it is not an official group that makes music together (not always anyway), but it is simply the word for a subset of people within the group (or between groups) that have the same certain characteristics. For example, the “dance line” of a group is made up of the members of a group that can dance well.

·        Hyung Line

Hyung is a Korean word meaning “older brother”, although it is used in this case to mean older male friend. This term can only be used for a younger man talking to an older man. The hyung line is the oldest members of a group (could be just two members or 3-4). They tend to be the more responsible members (or at least considered to be as such) who have to keep the maknae line in check. When groups are competing against themselves, they often split into hyung line and maknae line teams.

·        Maknae Line

Maknae is a Korean term meaning “youngest”, so the maknae line is the youngest members of a group. There is an official maknae, or youngest, but there is also a maknae line which can have the youngest two or the youngest half of a group, it really depends on the group. The maknae line is supposed to be more crazy, acting more like teenagers and maybe being less responsible due to their age. Their job is to respect the hyung line, but they are known for sometimes being a little too mischievious and a bit disrespectful (would not be considered disrespectful in America, only in Korea). The members of the maknae line are all usually very close and often room together in dorms.

·        Age Lines

There are other types of lines, but one of the most popular is the “age line”. This line is the one that most commonly extends past the borders of just one group. An age line is made up of people born in the same year, so the two members of Super Junior born in 1983 are called the “83 line”. Sometimes same age people in different groups become friends with each other: for example, there is a “97 line” group chat made up of members of several different groups, all born in 1997. They meet up outside of their groups to hang out. An advantage to Koreans of hanging out with same age friends is that you don’t necessarily have to use honorifics, since you’re technically all the same age in Korean age terms.

·        “Eomma” and “Appa”

Some groups (mostly boy groups for whatever reason) have two members that are considered the eomma (mom) and appa (dad). These members take care of their other members by sometimes cooking for them and always making sure they know where they are going for the day and that they have everything they need. These members act like actual parents (though they are not, it should be noted) which makes me believe that they are being substitutes for the parents that the members seldom see. The idol life does not allow for much free time to visit families, so in all likelihood these parent like members are trying to help their members feel more at home.

HOW IS A KPOP GROUP CREATED IN THE FIRST PLACE?

In order for a group to have all of these positions, an entertainment company must recruit just the right people to form a group that has everything they think the public will like. In order to know how this happens, we must first know what an entertainment company actually is, and how they work.

In the world of Korean media, an entertainment company is a company that signs many different types of artists and manages their activities. An entertainment company generally has kpop idol groups and solo artists, actors, and models. In the case of Kpop music, there are three major entertainment companies that control a lot of the Kpop industry: SM, YG, and JYP. Out of these three, SM controls the most and is the most overall successful company, having debuted hundreds of artists to largely successful careers. Currently, they debut at least two successful groups per year, although the definition of successful does vary. Many people want to sign under their company due to the success that having their name attached to your group can bring, but unfortunately, there are some issues with this.

Because they know they can, SM has contracts that are often referred to as “slave contracts”, lasting around 13 years, in order to guarantee that whatever success a group achieves will go directly to their bank accounts. These contracts are often signed when a person is very young and they and their families do not understand what exactly they are giving to this company. They are also nearly impossible to get out of. This is extremely unfortunate given SM’s history of horribly mistreating their idols, especially non-Korean idols.

An extremely famous example of their crazy contracts comes in the form of TVXQ, widely considered to be the most famous and overall best kpop group of all time. This five member group debuted in 2003 and rose to high fame within two years. In 2009, three of the members decided to leave the group due to being mistreated and receiving almost none of the money they had rightfully earned over their 6 years. For reasons unknown, two members decided to stay behind. When the three members decided they had enough, they split off from TVXQ and became JYJ under a different company. Unfortunately for them, their troubles were far from over. It took until 2014 for their various lawsuits to be resolved, although the court suspended their contracts all the way back in 2009. After the initial split, SM somehow managed to get JYJ banned from appearing on all major Korean broadcasting channels, meaning it was impossible for them to promote their new music anywhere other than YouTube and V-live, a Korean broadcasting app. After the split, in 2012, TVXQ came back as a 2 member group and continued to be successful. Their 13 year contracts finally ended in 2016, and it is unclear what they will do once they return from military service.

SM has had much difficulty maintaining their groups over the years. They have an extremely high rate of idols leaving groups a few years after they debut, regardless of how wild their success has been. JYP and YG, the other two big three companies, are not quite as successful as SM, but they are at least known to treat their idols better (although YG is known for being a bit sexist and giving more promotion time to their boy groups). Some smaller company have produced hugely popular groups, but these are the exceptions that prove the existence of the rule.

AUDITIONS

Every year, all major companies (and some smaller ones) hold global auditions all over the world to find more trainees. They go to places like the US, but they only accept those that have at least some Asian ancestry, even if it is not Korean. Besides their global auditions, they hold monthly auditions in countries close to Korea, and weekend auditions at their company buildings for Seoul residents. In other cases idols will be recruited from YouTube, talent competitions, and street performances some Koreans do to get a bit of extra cash.

Sometimes companies will accept people solely based on their looks, even if their talent is not that great; however, there is no guarantee these people will debut. Every trainee (with a few exceptions) has to go through a mandatory two year training program to learn how to dance, sing, rap, and act/look the way the company thinks will best attract members of the public. Some trainees are lucky enough to debut early when the company thinks they fit the concept of the newest group they are trying to debut, but most have to wait longer than the initial two years. Some wait 6 or 7 years, and some simply never debut and stop training when they give up on becoming an idol. It is not necessary for the trainees to know Korean when they audition, because the company will use their two years to train them in the Korean language, as well as any other language they feel their trainees need to be taught (Chinese, Japanese, English, etc).

TRAINING

Training to become an idol is an extremely grueling process, especially with companies like SM. While the company pays for the food and dorms for the trainees, they often don’t get all that much food and have to sleep in the same room as many other people. They are constantly on a diet, and there are weekly weight checks to ensure that the trainees are actually working out and eating properly. Some female idols told stories of how each week they would help each other by lifting each other up by the ponytail to ensure weight loss that showed on the scale. However, they had to be careful not to pull too hard, because then it would be impossible for the girl to lose that much weight for the next week. The trainees have to work out and train roughly 18 hours a day, and many still have to fit high school into their schedules as well. Every high school age kpop trainee goes to the same high school, but most don’t graduate until a year or more after they should due to their schedules.

Trainees are already exhausted and hungry all the time, but their weekly/monthly evaluations lead to a lot more stress and high tensions between trainees. At these evaluations some people are told they are good to continue training, some are told that they could debut soon, and some will be told that they will never debut and that they should leave.

Once a company has decided that they want to debut a new group, they start looking at their current trainees and thinking about a concept they can pull off. Sometimes they start building a group but then recruit new members specifically for that group because they don’t have enough people that fit their concept currently in training. Sometimes they build a group around one member: for example, BigHit Entertainment’s CEO saw rapper Namjoon and knew he wanted to make a hip hop group based around this one person who would be the leader. It didn’t end up being all hip hop, but the group was still based around one person. He started with adding rappers and then in the end decided to add four singers to make the group more desirable to a wider audience. In this case, the member line up was incredibly successful.

Once a group has been formed, they are ready to debut, but this does not mean they will reach fame and fortune.

THE RISE AND FALL OF A KPOP GROUP

Even after debuting, it is notoriously difficult for a group to become popular. First, there’s the debut song: if the debut song is bad, it is highly possible that people who were waiting for the group to debut will stop following them, thinking they are boring.

After debuting, if a group is going to be successful, they usually reach a high level of popularity within 1.5-2 years. If an extremely high level of popularity does not occur, there are a couple of other options for the career of a group. They will either end up continuing to promote with a small but extremely loyal fanbase that supports them enough that they can continue to make music, or they will completely drop off the map. Sometimes groups will be pulled back or disbanded just a few months into their debut when they are having little to no success. If this happens, the idol then will either give up or go back into training to potentially redebut later. This happened in the case of Jaebum and Jinyoung from GOT7. Originally, they debuted as a hip hop duo called JJ Project, which was put on indefinite hiatus after about 6 months due to a lack of popularity. However, soon after they were pulled back and put back into training, they debuted as part of the 7 member boy group GOT7, which is now doing extremely well both domestically and internationally.

If a group continues along with decent popularity as opposed to super extreme intense popularity, they will usually continue making music for around 7-9 years before disbanding. This most often happens with a group of 4-7 people that have reached high levels of popularity but not so high that they have stalkers following their every move (or at least not quite as many stalkers). If a group has 12 or 13 members, depending on the circumstances, the disbandment of the group is often preceded by 1-4 members leaving the group on their own. This could be due to mistreatment or due to the leaving member being tired of the lifestyle. When a member leaves, the remaining members experience a serious drop in morale, which can potentially lead to their downfall. Most groups attempt to continue promoting, although there will often be a recovery period to re-teach old choreography and adjust to the new group dynamic. If a group reaches insane popularity levels they will either keep going indefinitely (BTS, thus far) or have a major incident like a scandal or huge split (TVXQ). In TVXQ’s case, both groups recovered beautifully. JYJ (the split off group) has received a Guinness World Record for most pictures taken of them at around 500,000. At this point, TVXQ as five had already achieved two world records in a row for the largest fan club with 800,000 members.

Sometimes groups get taken down by mandatory military service. South Korea has one of the longest mandatory military services in the world, 2 years for each man. If all members of a group leave at the same time, it is possible for fans to lose interest. This is why many groups with a lot of members only have one or two members go at one, so they can still promote even while those members are away.

So where did it all start?

A BRIEF (brief) HISTORY OF KPOP

Kpop truly started in the early 90s, although most people consider it to have started with the “grandfathers of kpop”, Shinhwa, in 1998. Shinhwa is a 6 member boy group that still creates music to this day. All members have already completed their military service. Until they disband, it will be impossible for a group to be considered the longest running group of all time besides them, since they have currently been going for almost 20 years

Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, it was difficult for kpop groups to reach wider audiences than just Koreans. TV wasn’t as high quality, and the programs such as variety shows weren’t exactly polished. The mid 2000s is truly when the popularity of kpop as a genre and an industry began to skyrocket due to better promoting and more widespread access.

After all this time, kpop is now the go to genre for Koreans: it is on the radio everywhere and plays in every shop on every street. This change happened particularly easily due to the inclusion of many genres (including folk music!) within the overarching genre of Korean Pop. This wave of kpop came after things like Korean traditional folk music (which is still very much alive and thriving) and trot music (mostly older Korean men in bright sequined vests singing in an overdramatic manner).

The popularity of Kpop has only continued to grow: currently, around 80 groups debut per year, and more groups continue to break into international charts. Soon, everyone will know about kpop! You heard it here first, folks!

WORKS CITED

"What Is Kpop?" Critical Kpop. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.

Gani, Aisha. "K-pop: A Beginner's Guide." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 03 Mar. 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.

Wallace, Gabrielle. "THE HISTORY OF KPOP." Prezi.com. N.p., 29 May 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.

"Realities of Korean Music Industry." Billboard. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.

[mackidsbooks]

The Inspiring Norfolk Airport and Envelopes Filled with Hubris: Defining Creative Moments for the Author and Illustrator of Two’s a Crowd.

Matthew: Hello, there. My name is Matthew Swanson. I’m the author of The Real McCoys series.

Robbi: And I’m Robbi Behr. I’m the illustrator. 

M: We are married and have four kids and make books together in the hayloft of a barn on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

R: The people do not want to hear about our family. They want to know about The Real McCoys, especially book 2, Two’s a Crowd, which just came out! 

M: Right. Two’s a Crowd is the second book in a critically acclaimed middle grade mystery series about an overconfident fourth grader named Moxie McCoy who thinks of herself as the world’s greatest detective. She’s great at some parts of solving mysteries but is terrible at others.

R: And so she is forced to join forces with her quiet, shy, observant little brother Milton, who not coincidentally, has the exact set of skills that Moxie lacks.

M: Moxie interrogates the suspects and collects the clues. 

R: Milton notices the small details and strings them all together. It takes both of them to get anything done.

M: Kind of like you and me.

R: This is true. Two’s a Crowd is a true collaboration. It has been written like a novel, but it has 1,000 illustrations. Our librarian friends tell us that it’s part of a new genre called hybrid, a cross between a graphic novel and a traditionally illustrated chapter book.

R: But I want to point out that even though you do the words and I take care of the pictures, I feel like we’re both equal contributors to both parts of these books. I’ve had a lot to say about the writing and you’ve had a lot to say about the illustrating.

M: Agreed. You’re a remarkably good editor. But then there’s the fact that I can’t draw to save my life.

R: I feel these people need some evidence. Here are a few of Matthew’s drawings:

M: I just gave myself goosebumps. I mean…do you think it’s possible that I’m just a man before my time? 

R: I love your drawings. They just aren’t very good. But what you are good at is helping me think through my illustrations. Maybe you can’t execute your own ideas, but you sure do help me with mine.

M: This has been an invigorating introduction. But perhaps we should get to the point. For this post, we have been asked to talk about a defining moment that helped us realize when we wanted to devote our lives to writing and illustrating books. 

R: That sounds interesting. I look forward to hearing. You first.  

M: All right. Since I was really little, I loved doing creative stuff. In elementary school, it was community theatre. Throughout high school and the early part of college I wrote a lot of poetry. Rhyming poetry. Truly awful rhyming poetry. My college application essay was a four-page poem in heroic couplets. At one point I offered an invocation to Zeus.

R: I’m so glad this was before we met. I don’t think I could have handled it. 

M: I took a poetry workshop in college and learned in an abrupt and painful way that I am not, in fact, a gifted poet. It was a disturbing insight. I spent a full year fretting. 

R: This story is so sad. 

M: It gets better! My junior year, I took a fiction workshop and found my stride. People liked my stories, but they didn’t understand them. I was good at certain parts of writing and lousy at other parts. I wanted to be a writer but didn’t think I was good enough, so when I graduated from college, I moved in with a girl, went to work at a grocery store, and surrendered my dreams of literary glory.

R: This story got sad again. 

M: It was a really nice grocery store. 

R: I’m talking about how the story with the girl ends. 

M: Ah yes. Well, as you know, the girl and I eventually broke up, I got a job as a college admission officer, and I got together with you.

R: See? THE SADDEST. 

M: One day, I had a really long layover in the Norfolk airport. I took out my laptop and started to write. But for some reason, instead of writing the serious stories I thought I was supposed to be writing, I let myself write a weirdo story with a funny voice. The story was called Top Gun, but it was not about fighter pilots. It felt so good. It was so fun. Something in me started to sing. And from that moment, everything changed. I stopped writing like somebody else and started writing like me. 

R: Are you almost done? 

M: Almost. Today, I know that a project is going to work if I feel like I did that day in Norfolk. It felt like Norfolk when I was writing Two’s a Crowd. But every once in a while, I still start working on something that my HEAD thinks is a good idea, and the experience is awful and painful and doomed to failure. 

R: Wait. So was that your defining moment? In the airport? 

M: Yes.

R: That felt like a long moment. 

M: You DID interrupt me a few times.

R: True. I will try to make my story short and uninterruptible.

M: Go for it.

R: I actually am not sure if I had a DEFINING MOMENT. 

M: Well, then, your work here is done. You have answered the question. That really WAS short and uninterruptible.

R: No, no, I’m not done! Ok. Let’s see. I have to say growing up I always liked art and liked making things. Drawings and elaborate machines and costumes made out of paper bags.

I always thought that illustrating picture books would be a “fun job” that could maybe turn into a career, but I had NO IDEA back then how hard it actually is to break into this business. 

As a project in college, I made a picture book and comped it up and even sent it out to some publishers. I found it again the other day in my parents’ house –in a manila envelope on which I had written in big letters, “HANDLE WITH CARE – ORIGINAL BOOK COMP INSIDE” like it was some kind of amazing priceless artwork. In retrospect, I see it was a really truly TERRIBLE book and that it’s no wonder I never heard back from any publishers about it. I cringe at the thought of it coming across anyone’s desk.

Anyway. Long story short (or maybe I mean long story less long): I think I always wanted to be an illustrator. It just took me a while to figure out how. But when I realized how much fun it was to work with Matthew on books, it really lit a fire under both of us to make it happen. We self-published for ten years before breaking into commercial work, and now we have 60-some very strange illustrated books to show for it.

M: 62. I recently counted.

R: Well, I wish you had been around to write the manuscript for that class I took in college. It was truly horrendous. We could’ve saved ourselves a few years, and I wouldn’t have felt such shame when I came across that envelope full of hubris. 

M: If it turns out we can’t make a living in children’s books, maybe selling envelopes full of hubris could be a worthy plan B?

R: Who would buy them?

M: Aspiring college students, maybe? 

R: Are we done? 

M: I think so. We need to put these people out of their misery. 

R: If you are interested in more misery, you can find us on our site or visit our shop to browse our wares and book us to speak at your school, library, or muffler convention.    

M: And if you want to hear us say things out loud, follow us on Facebook or Instagram where we post a new 60-second video every single day.

R: The videos are about nothing at all. Such as what we had for lunch. That sort of thing. Do not expect to be enlightened. 

M: But do expect to have a defining moment. 

R: No. Do not expect that, either. That is not going to happen.  

M: Well then, what can they expect?

R: Envelopes full of hubris. Nothing more. Nothing less.

M: Sounds like a defining moment to me.