2ne1, K-pop, J-pop, American Junk, OPM, Third World Airwaves

So Korean girl group 2NE1 has a new single out entitled I Am The Best, and that's the music video right there.  Hooray! for Kpop aficionados, Kill Me Now for the not so big fans of the genre.  A lot of people ask (third world city residents or not), what the deal is with these girl groups and boy groups who sing in a language we do not even understand, invading OUR airwaves and music charts.  

I remember this job interview I had where the interviewer asked me this:
Interviewer: What kind of music do you listen to?
Your Humble Servant's answer: I listen to a bit of K-pop, ..
Interviewer: Do you even understand what they're saying.
YHS: No, I don't.
(Interviewer had a big WHY? expression on his face and looked at his co-interviewer with the same expression)
Interviewer: What else?
YHS: I listen to the Black Eyed Peas a lot.  They have sick beats.

Ok, so I don't understand the language but there are ways to get what they're singing about.  One, you can google them. You can google everything these days and find the answers you're looking for.  Type 'lyrics translation' on the search engine.  Two, what I have been doing is I watch music videos with English subtitles on them, like the one posted up there.  If you can't see the subtitles, just turn on the captions by clicking on the cc button at the bottom of the video (watch it in hd if you can. the video's really good.).

In simple terms, what 2ne1 is singing about in that video is that THEY ARE A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH, and indeed, in my humble opinion, they are.  They're hot, they're feisty, they've got more sass than Lady Gaga (for those who beg to differ, suit yourselves, you may be right, i may be wrong), and the song has one of the most unique beats I've heard.  

Enough of that and let's get to the point of this blog post.  It has become pretty alarming for some people of this third world city that these Foreigners are dominating, infiltrating our airwaves.  It does not make sense to them.  Well, NEWSFLASH: what you guys are listening to are also foreign music.  Newsflash 2: Lady Gaga is foreign.  Kanye West is foreign.  Linkin Park is foreign.  They too are not singing in our native language, which is Supposed To Be Filipino.  (I know it's different in their case because most of us can actually understand what they're singing 'cause they're in English but still, the point is, they're foreign too.)

THIRD WORLD CITY LESSON # 2: As much as we want to patronize our local music industry, we can't help but be slave worshippers of what our American brothers and sisters are currently listening to.  It has got something to do with that age-old issue of Colonial Mentality.  I won't get into that so just google the term.  

In reality, what these Asian groups are doing right now is giving us more choices of what we can listen to.  They are opening our eyes to the truth that there are other good or even better stuff out there in the world aside from what the Americans are feeding us.  I had a classmate who listens to Norwegian music.  Japanese rock music rocks.  Spanish songs are soothing to the eardrums. 

Anyway, I'm not saying that our music industry sucks.  Jose Mari Chan, Parokya ni Edgar, Christian Baustista, Glock9, Charice can attest to the innate Filipino talent.  Maybe the reason why we can't get ahead of these foreign music in our own turf is that we don't invest so much in native talent.  Recording companies simply resort to buying distribution rights of foreign artists and sell tons of these records instead of spending on production value for local talents, eg. good choreographers, good stylists, good music producers, good composers, fashionable clothes, etc.  Doesn't it amaze you how YG Entertainment (2ne1 & BigBang's record label and talent agency) transformed Krung Krung Sandara Park into a bad-ass 21st century independent woman?  It's all about production value.  If you want something to sell, you've got to invest in it.

In the end, it's about you're own personal choice.  You can be a K-pop person, an American Hip-Hop person, a Classical Music person, an OPM person, or just be one of us who listen to whatever sounds good.  Not everything in K-pop is good anyway.  There is also such a thing as American Junk.

--This blog is not anti-America in anyway.  We love America.  The problem is that we love it too much.



--For another subbed video of 2ne1's I am the Best, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJKXzMuymj0&hd=1 .  Unfortunately, the other one has been removed by the user.  It had better video quality and English translations.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Transformers 3, Piracy, Welcome to the bloggosphere

New blogger here just watched Scott Pilgrim vs The World, and I must say, this will be one of those movies that I won't get tired of watching over and over.  And as I quote from my recent social networking site post, 'scott pilgrim is the most funnest, bestest movie ever! i don't really mean that. but it's really really really good.'  And I do mean REALLY GOOD. Like AWESOME.  It's a treat, especially to those who grew up with video games, even to those who haven't read the graphic novel.  Every moment of it entertained (as what movies should do to a person), which the recent Transformers flick failed to do.  

Yes, in your humble servant's humble opinion, the Scott Pilgrim movie is better than the third Transformers movie.  Can't say that it sucked though 'cause I was still generally entertained.  It's just that there were some boring parts - the fight sequences are too long.  You know that they would all live in the end anyway, why drag it on for almost an hour?  It would've been more fun if there was another twist or two in the story line.  (SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT) Eg. the Optimus Prime that came back was really a doppleganger decepticon and the real Optimus was sent out to planet Krypton due to the blast.

Why compare a relatively old movie to a new one?  They're the most recent movies I saw.  I watched the new one on opening weekend, meaning just last Saturday (in a movie house) and the older one just a few hours ago (if I say how I saw it would I be put to jail?).  OK so this is a blog post about PIRACY.  If I would be locked up in jail for watching Scott Pilgrim, so should the millions of inhabitants of Metro Manila, and neighboring towns and cities (I live in a neighboring town btw).

I remember having this conversation with my cousin: {not exact translations}

YHS (Your Humble Servant): Alam mo ba kung bakit nauuna lagi tayo sa pagpalabas ng bagong movies? Yung Transformers 3 sa June 29 na ipapalabas sa'tin, sa Amerika sa July 1 pa.  Parang may iba pang movies na gano'n eh.  Sa Japan nga sobrang tagal pa ipalabas pag narealease na sa Amerika. [Do you know why new movies get released here (in the PH) early? Like Transformers 3, for one, would already be seen in theaters on June 29, while in America they won't see it til July 1.  There were other movies that like that. See, in Japan, they won't show the movies months after they're released in the US.]

Cousin: Kasi hindi pa naipapalabas, may pirated DVD na.  Kailangan unahan.  [Because before they're released in cinemas, there are pirated DVDs of 'em available already.  Competition's tough.] 

YHS: Oo nga noh. Kala ko kasi dahil lang sa die-hard hollywood movie fans talaga mga Pilipino. [You're right! I didn't think of that.  I just thought it's because Filipinos are plain die-hard hollywood movie fans.]

THIRD WORLD CITY LESSON # 1:  We (by 'we' I mean most third world city residents (Filipinos)) more often than not do not think twice about buying pirated DVDs or downloading movies from the internet.   Why?   Because they're cheap.  Cheaper than a cinema ticket, way cheaper than an original dvd.  A pirated movie on dvd would cost you a third or even a quarter of what you would spend if you would watch it in a movie house.  There are even DVDs with multiple movies on them.  By multiple, I mean multiple: like 12 in 1 multiple.

So if you want to purchase one and you're in the vicinity, just visit the nearest public wet market or drop by D_ _ _ _ _ _A, S_ _ R M_ _ L, E_ _A C_ _ _ _ _L, or my favorite place to get them M_ _ _O W_ _K. (as if the police don't know where these places are. even They buy from these. Now I'm not really sure if piracy is illegal here.)

This concludes my first blog post.  I sincerely hope that this blog would be of help to those who do not understand the workings of third-world city societies.  Living in a third-world country (or developing country for political correctness) does not suck all the time.  We are in fact a happier people than most in the first world.

PS: If the authorities would read this by chance, please don't arrest me 'cause I'm just one of the millions you would have to.

And we do have internet in the Philippines.

And Scott Pilgrim rocks!