well mannered frivolity is my middle name

Things I have recently typed up in emails for other people:

• A Taemin (of SHINee) starter pack of music video & fannish links
• A Thai BL Dramas starter/recs list
• An EXO (very Kai-centric) starter pack of music video & fannish links

Would any of these be of interest to DW? Should I post them here?

VOTE!!!
</poll-24944> This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth here and has comments. Feel free to comment in either place.

Hi all. I've been thinking wistfully about DW lately and wondering what life was like over in these corners of social media. I wanted to wave hello.

I have to confess, the fannish version of me is pretty much living on Twitter these days. Who knew?! I thought I hated Twitter version of fandom, but then I didn't? I'm also over there as "paintedmaypole," if you're looking for me.

Fair warning, my life on Twitter is about 85% k-pop, 5% Chinese dramas with queer subtext, 5% other BL dramas, and 5% random chaos.

(Those numbers are wildly inaccurate and nonscientific. But, there's definitely a lot of k-pop in there.)

I'm also having thoughts about what its like to be fannish on Twitter vs. DW vs. Tumblr:

• On Tumblr, I never felt connected to anyone. It was just an endless sea of reposted content. And, only about 45% of it felt like content I actually wanted to see. However, it was far easier to share and enjoy certain types of information. (Mainly, things that weren't text.)


• On Twitter, I feel much more connected to people. And, I'm not sure there are that many real reasons why I should feel more connected to people there? Something about the interface and the use of text contributes to this, but I suspect a big part of it is that people are posting their own content so much of the time. Even when retweeting, when they add commentary the interface makes that commentary the first thing I see.
  
  However, while I feel somewhat more connected to other users, I also keep my account public. Which means there are all sorts of things I never talk about. Or, if I do, it's information shared in the vaguest of ways.
  
  The whole threaded tweet culture has definitely made it easier to have a slightly more nuanced conversation and it feels more organized and coherent than when we tried do have conversation on Tumblr. It's still imperfect though.


• On Dreamwidth, obviously, you can talk in much longer batches. The interface makes it easier to start thinking things out with more care. And, of course, there are the comment threads, which allow for a more organized conversation in response.
  
  There's an energy that's missing though. I'm trying to figure out what that is. I don't think it's simply a matter of the smaller social network and the quieter pace. That plays a role, is that all of it? I'm not sure. It could also have to do with the way that social networking sites like Twitter automatically add various types of news and events infiltrate your feed?
  
  Or, maybe it has something to do with how specifically fannish my own DW network is. On Tumblr, a great deal of the energy on the platform also came from the mix of people/interests that would make their way into your dashboard. There was a greater element of productive chaos... if that makes any sense.

Having said all that, I also think there's a key outside factor influencing all my fannish social media use: Life, work, and actual down-time.

It can't be an accident that the moments when I think about and find time to come back to Dreamwidth are always the moments when I'm on break or nearly on a break from work. I seem to only be able to come back to DW in those moments where life starts to genuinely slow down and give me more time to breathe. Like right now, when the semester is starting to wrap up: Voila! A k8 appears! This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth here and has comments. Feel free to comment in either place.

In the past 1-2 years, Apple did a massive overhaul of iTunes and split off all the mechanisms for managing audiobooks into their Books app. For people who only ever buy audiobooks from the Apple store, this is probably fine-ish. (I have no idea. I'm guessing. I don't buy files from Apple.) However, the Books app is godawful for anyone who wants to listen to podfic or any kind of DRM free audiobook file.

With this change, iTunes won't even acknowledge my audiobook files anymore. I have been searching for a new way to manage my audiobooks and podfic for ages and I still haven't found a decent option. Does anyone have an audiobook manager they can recommend for Mac users? I need one that will let me manage the file metadata and that will connect with my iPhone. Essentially, I want something like Calibre or the Marvin app, but for audiobooks.

Alternatively, for anyone using the Books app, have you found a way to hack into it so that a) you can edit the file metadata and b) you can make it stop creating duplicate copies of each file in the Hidden Mac Library folder? Because, if I could figure out a workaround to these two things, I might be able to tolerate the Books app.

UGH. All of this is super annoying bullshit and it makes me hella grumpy. Everything worked fine before and now trying to listen to an audiobook has become an epic and annoying trial.

This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth here and has comments. Feel free to comment in either place.

Okay, stole this meme from jo_lasalle. :)

FIFTY QUESTIONS!

1. What is the colour of your hairbrush? I do not own one! I do have a purple comb that I never use.
2. Name a food you never ever eat? Lima beans.
3. Are you typically too warm or too cold? Too warm. Perpetually.
4. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? Answering work emails and attempting to calm down students.
5. What is your favourite candy bar? Does a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup count?
6. Have you ever been to a professional sports event? Several.
7. What is the last thing you said out loud?
8. What is your favourite ice cream? Oreo! And, Ben and Jerry is making a non-dairy version that's really good.
9. What was the last thing you had to drink? Vanilla Cream Ale
10. Do you like your wallet? I adore it. It's Korean and totally wacky and it will die one day and I WILL BE SO SAD.
11. What was the last thing you ate? Leftover pizza.
12. Did you buy any new clothes last weekend? Nope.
13. The last sporting event you watched? Hmm. I watched my partner watch college football a little while ago. Does that count?
14. What is your favourite flavour of popcorn? Kettle corn!
15. Who is the last person you sent a text message to? My partner. Who was in the other room. LOL.
16. Ever go camping? When I was younger I went camping all the time! I miss it a lot.
17. Do you take vitamins? I do, because I never get enough daylight and its bad enough that my doctor tells me to.
18. Do you go to church every Sunday? No. I did when I was a kid, but then I went to college and became an atheist.
19. Do you have a tan? I used too when I biked all the time! Now, alas, I do not.
20. Do you prefer Chinese food over pizza? I like both, but I like Japanese and Korean food more than either.
21. Do you drink your soda with a straw? Not really a soda drinker, unless its tonic and involves gin.
22. What colour socks do you usually wear? My sock collection has gotten totally bland! It seems to always be grey, black, and navy these days.
23. Do you ever drive above the speed limit? Heh. I do not drive. So, no.
24. What terrifies you? Having to taking care of my dad as he declines.
25. Look to your left, what do you see? A beige colored wall with art on it.
26. What chore do you hate the most? Cleaning the bathroom.
27. What do you think of when you hear an Australian accent? Daisy Wentham!!
28. What’s your favourite soda? Birch Beer
29. Do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? Typically, I go in.
30. What is your favourite number? I... do not know! I've never thought of this. 3? 3 is a nice number!
31. Who's the last person you talked to? The Robot. (aka my partner)
32. Favourite cut of beef? Lol. I have no idea. Whatever kind they serve at good Korean barbecue
33. Last song you listened to? Taemin, "Sayonara Hitori"
35. Favourite day of the week? Saturday.
36. Can you say the alphabet backwards? Dear lord. No.
37. How do you like your coffee? Hipstery, over priced, and with almond milk and sugar.
38. Favourite pair of shoes? I've got a pair of Clarks at the moment I'm pretty happy with.
39. Time you normally go to bed? 12am - 2am.
40. Time you normally get up? Depends 7am - 11am.
41. What do you prefer, sunrise or sunsets? Sunset!
42. How many blankets on your bed? Depends on where I am and what kind of blanket. I'm always too warm at night, but I also like weight on me.
43. Describe your kitchen plates? Fiestaware!
44. Do you have a favourite alcoholic beverage? Gin and tonic. Or, moscow mule.
45. Do you play cards? I mean... does playing Exploding Kittens count?
46. What colour is your car? I have no car. But the car of my heart is the batmobile. So, black with red pinstripes.
47. Can you change a tire? On a bike!
48. Your favourite state city? Tokyo and Kyoto are pretty amazing. I also really like Boston.
49. Favourite job you’ve ever had? Being a camp counselor was pretty fun. I'd love my current job, if it wasn't also exhausting.
50. How did you get your biggest scar? Getting a large birthmark removed badly.

This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth here and has comments. Feel free to comment in either place.

Okay! I posted part one and part two last week (ish), now on to part three.

This part almost feels unfair to me. Basically, this is a wall of recs from 2017-2019. Also, I'm incapable limiting my Taemin recs. Yes, there are things that I love from 2017-2019 that aren't on here, but I suspect these tracks also bumped some earlier stuff off the list unfairly. It's just that THEY ARE SO GOOD. I'm sure I feel that way, in part, because they're just more current and I definitely have a "type" of pop music I'm into at the moment and these reflect that. However, I also think it's just because the production for k-pop has just gone up and up in recent years.

So, here they are, the last batch of k-pop tunes that I listened to on repeat, incessantly, over the period of 2010-2020. (Again, with apologies to the artists who got crowded off the list due to all these recent/amazing tunes.)

( Favorite K-Pop songs of 2010-2020, part 3 of 3 (in semi-chronological order):Collapse )

OMG, I'M DONE. (Here are links to part one and part two.)

You know what's not anywhere on this list? Jopping. OMG, I haaaaaaaate that song. How can they put Taemin, Kai, and Ten in the same "super group" and then make that the first single?! UGH.

This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth here and has comments. Feel free to comment in either place.

Okay! I posted part one last week, now on to part two...

Here are the k-pop tunes I listened to on repeat, incessantly, over the period of 2010-2020. With apologies to the artists who got crowded off the list due to a bevy of recent and amazing tunes.

Favorite K-Pop songs of 2010-2020, part 2 of 3 (in semi-chronological order):

Ten: EXO 엑소, '으르렁 (Growl)' (2013)


Honorable mention for EXO: 'CALL ME BABY' (2015)


Eleven: 4MINUTE, 미쳐(Crazy) (2015)


Twelve: GOT7, "If You Do(니가 하면)" (2015)


Thirteen: SHINee 샤이니, 'View' (2015)
OH GOD. Picking a single Shinee song WAS SO HARD. And yet... not that hard? My criteria for this list was it had to be a song I listened to incessantly over the past 10 years. As much as I love other Shinee songs,* this is the one that was forever on repeat.


Fourteen: Wonder Girls, "Candle" (2015)
My favorite Wonder Girls song never got a music video. There were some live performances recorded, but they don't sound nearly as good. So, this is just the audio track. It's so retro-80s and SO GOOD.


Honorable Mention for Wonder Girls: "I Feel You" (2015)


Fifteen: BLACKPINK, '휘파람'(WHISTLE)' (2016)


Sixteen: JONGHYUN 종현, '좋아 (She is)' (2016)


Honorable Mention for Jonghyun: '빛이 나 (Shinin’)' (2018)


Seventeen: MOBB, '빨리 전화해 Feat. KUSH(HIT ME)' (2016)
It's just. So. Damn. Bouncy. I. Love. It.



That's part two! Links to: Part one and Part three.


*Okay, I'm sneaking in a plug for Shinee's "Married to the Music" (2015). This music video is so wackadoodle and amazing.

This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth here and has comments. Feel free to comment in either place.

A few weeks ago, when Spotify put out its cute little year and decade in review recaps for Spotify users, a GRIEVOUS OMISSION OCCURRED. Spotify neglected to note my k-pop listening anywhere on my decade in review lists!!

Out of irritation, I immediately vowed to listen to nothing but k-pop for the rest of December. (Or, more accurately, I started listening to my k-pop playlist on Spotify, fell down an epic k-pop rabbit hole, and realized I was going to be listening to nothing but k-pop for the rest of the month.)

I also decided to put together my own k-pop favs of 2010-2020 list. Which has proven complicated.

1. Big Bang, 2NE1, Epik High, and Wonder Girls got me into k-pop. However, some of these tunes have not aged well and, while I have deep affection for them, would not go on my "best of" the decade list.*


2. GD&T.O.P.'s album is still a number one fav, but most official content has been removed from the internet due to a copyright fight with Playboy and content censorship.


3. In the past 3-5 years, k-pop has gotten really really really good. Like, how can 2010-2015 compete when you've got so much more production money flooding into k-pop now?


4. I want to try and limit myself to 10 tracks, but it's literally impossible. It is also impossible for me to limit myself to only one Taemin or Kang Daniel rec. So, the list is proving much larger than originally intended.

But, with those disclaimers in mind... Here are the k-pop tunes I listened to on repeat, incessantly, over the period of 2010-2020. With apologies to the artists who got crowded off the list due to a bevy of recent and amazing tunes.

( Favorite K-Pop songs of 2010-2020, part 1 of 3 (in semi-chronological order):Collapse )

Links to: Part two and Part three.

*Mostly, I mean 2NE1 and Big Bang didn't always age well.

This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth here and has comments. Feel free to comment in either place.

For those of you who aren't following me on Twitter,* my life has basically been taken over by The Untamed. Like, oh, A LOT of other people in fandom.

Seriously, if you haven't watched this Chinese Drama, you should really consider it. (It's on Netflix!!) The production value on it is notably high too, which might make for a smoother transition for folks who are new to Asian dramas or who tried them previously and didn't quite like it.

(Although, to be fair, the production value for k-drama has been way higher for a while. I feel like it's more that the c-dramas seem to be catching up fast right now. )

Also, for the record, arallara has gotten totally obsessed with it now too. Which just makes me cackle with glee every time I think of it. (Can I take responsibility for her fall? I think I can? But I'm not sure. Others may have helped.)

I'm also trying to vid The Untamed and this is my first time working with a TV show, let alone a TV show with 50 episodes. Making the clips is taking F.O.R.E.V.E.R.

My life is basically 90% work and then the rest is me collapsing in a heap with wine (or a gin and tonic) and watching The Untamed. It's a life. I'm not sure its the best possible life, but it's working okay for me in the short term. ;)


* or Tumblr, but I'm there a lot less.

This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth here and has comments. Feel free to comment in either place.

Oooooo. How did I miss this when it first came out?!?! There are some gorgeous edits in this.

Dangerous by gwyn [DW Post, AO3 link]
Fandom: MCU, bucky/steve
Song: "Dangerous" (Sebu Remix), Big Data


This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth here and has comments. Feel free to comment in either place.