Unboxing #9 - Miryo's MIRYO aka JOHONEY

Ahem.  I've literally had this post as a draft since late May...meow.

Anywho, Miryo, of Brown Eyed Girls fame, released her first solo mini-album, titled MIRYO aka JOHONEY on February 1st, 2012.

A rundown of the tracklist:

1. Party Rock ft. 개리 (Gary) of 리쌍 (LeeSsang) and THE KOXX
2. DIRTY --> Official music video linked!
3. 사랑해 사랑해, (I Love You, I Love You) ft. 써니 (Sunny) of 소녀시대 (Girl's Generation) --> Official music video linked!
4. Revenger ft. 루드페이퍼 (Rude Paper)
5. Leggo ft. Narsha of Brown Eyed Girls

And now for the goodies:

Poofy packages are so cute aren't they.

Now whose hint of a visage is that I see...

Miryo! ♥

View of the spine.

Top view of the album.  Notice how thick the photo booklet is.

A hint of the photo booklet and the design of the CD.  Photo booklet is glued to the cover.

Direct look at the front cover of the photo booklet.  Buy your own copy to see all the pictures for yourself!

Back cover with tracklisting.

I like how sturdy the album is.  The case is hard material that will bend if you purposely apply enough force, but the corners should stay sharp and pointy no matter how you store your CDs.  However, beware, because while sturdy, the casing has a matte finish, meaning that scratches (and the like) will show quite readily.

Also, more personal preference than anything else, I am not a fan of gluing photo booklets to CD casings.  I'm just not.  There are a myriad of reasons why.  Sometimes (read: most of the time) the glue isn't strong enough so the booklet peels from the casing even though it may be brand, spanking new.  You can't take the booklet out to fully enjoy it.  You can't protect the spine of your casing from wear and tear; you have to open the casing all the way to even get at the booklet in the first place.  Granted some CDs, (like this one) are made so you can open it all the way up without damaging the spine, but yeah.  Still.  Phooey.

As for the music itself, I can honestly say that I was definitely not expecting Miryo to come at her music in the pop rock / electronic sort of way.  Perhaps I shouldn't have been so surprised at the latter.  Everyone and their mother has been jumping on the electronic train because of...well, I don't really need to say it right?  The majority of the type of music played on mainstream radio has this type of sound.  Anywho, I was gearing myself for hard-hitting, spitfire raps, and hopefully we will get to see that one day as one of her future endeavors.  What she gave us for her solo debut was certainly not what everyone expected of her, but it was well done.

One of my favorite tracks on this mini-album is "Leggo".  It bears some similarity stylistically to "Love is...", Miryo's duet track with fellow Brown Eyed Girls member, JeA, but it is still magic every time I hear it.  Hell, both songs are beautiful. ♥

Here's to the Fathers!

So boneheadedness abounds...

It took me this long to realize I forgot to put up a Father's Day post.  So many things happened between my last post until now.  Sort of.  Well, on Father's Day, I graduated, so yay for that!  (And of course I wished my father a happy day!!)  I'm sure he's also thrilled at the fact that for the first time in eight years, he doesn't have to pay for college tuition for his children anymore.

Bottom line, I hope everyone gave their dads extra strong hugs!  Heck doesn't have to be only one day out of the entire year! :)

Thanks a lot Dad. ♥

Happy Mother's Day! ♥

I hope all the mothers out there feel extra special and loved and cherished on this day!  Lord knows there are too many of them who work too much to support their loved ones.  To you and yours: Love not only this day, but the next day and every day after that.

Unboxing #8 - Ga-In's Talk About S.

Well, hey, I survived finals...*flops*

Just barely.

I slept for 14 hours when I came home.  Blissful oblivion!


Anyway, here is Ga-In's Talk About S., released October 5th, 2012.  The tracklist for the mini-album is as follows:

1. 팅커벨, (Tinkerbell)
2. 그녀를 만나, (Tiredness)
3. 피어나, (Bloom)  --> Official music video linked
4. 시선, (The Gaze)
5. Catch me if you can

Now for the visuals:

Ordered from a different Kpop seller this time around, so different outer packaging.  It's so cute!

A hint of the album cover...

Ga-In looking gorgeous, as per usual.  The title of the album is glossy, just so you know.

I have words to say about the CD packaging...

Side view

This packaging...;~;

Folds open like so.

A closer look at the left panel.

That's hot.

Right flap folds open once more to reveal the CD and album booklet cover!

I really like the dark colors for the album's innards.  Heh.  I mean to say, the album's contents.

The front cover to the album booklet.  Held in place due to the fact that the last page is glued to the flap.

Album tracklist

Alrighty, so where to begin...

First off, I prefer the packaging of step 2/4 to Talk About S.  The case came in a sturdy, solid cardboard-y material.  You pretty much had to drop it or purposefully bend it with your hands to dent it.  Talk About S. is...not sturdy.  Not by ANY means.  It's basically made of cardstock.  This is why the thing looks flattened in the above pictures.  It's because it is.  The case is impractical for selling in music stores let alone shipping it halfway across the world.  Even with all that bubble wrap.  The pictures are hot and tasteful, but I'd prefer hot and tasteful AND NOT SQUISHED, but hey, that's just me.  I am also not a huge fan of adhering album booklets to the cases...

As for the music itself, I think I liked step 2/4 better.  That doesn't mean Talk About S. is terrible or anything like that.  I just liked her first mini-album better.  I have a friend who prefers this one over her first.  *shrugs*  Chalk it up to personal preference.

...And LOEN Entertainment, I'm still waiting on that Tinkerbell music video.  It deserves so much more than this one teaser.

Coming next: Miryo's MIRYO aka JOHONEY!

Unboxing #7 - the Gazette's REGRET -Auditory Impression-

Wow, it's almost the end of February.  Er.  Or it was when I started this post.  Now it's March...time's moving much too quickly.  There's only a few months before graduation, and then...I honestly have no clue.  It's extraordinarily terrifying to have no real direction, nothing solid to grasp for the first time since, well, ever.  (If only I could make a living organizing music/doing unboxing posts...employ me please?  Yes?  No?  It was worth a shot...)

Anywho...I've been meaning to get around to an unboxing post, and then suddenly, I found myself with three shiny lovelies all lined up for photo ops.  Er.  Well.  At least I won't be hurting for new material?  Heh...  Anywho, the first up will be the GazettE's REGRET -Auditory Impression-, released in 10/25/2006.

Here's a quick tracklist for those interested:

1. REGRET
2. Psychedelic Heroine
3. Worthless War

Now onto the goods:

I love the sturdy boxes that CDJapan packs the orders in.

The oh-so-familiar packing paper--always fun to unwrap.

Bubble wrap.  Pop pop pop.

Single + the shrink wrap with nifty stickers.  Yes.  I kept them.  The stickers I mean.  Not the shrink wrap...

The texture of the booklet is fun to touch.  Heh.

Side view.

I like the contrast between the tan and white colors.

Sans CD.  Very artistic.  Sorry about the abrupt change in scenery.

Gorgeous rose motif is gorgeous.

Now this single may not be a favorite of mine, but it's still a good addition to my collection.  I am super sad that it's nigh impossible for me to own their entire, physical discography.  But I guess my wallet is a little less sad about that, ahaha.

Now the packaging is quite standard for a Japanese single, but I absolutely love the texture of the booklet.  It almost has a cardstock-y feel to it and I like the artwork that's inside.  Now y'all might ask, "What does it look like?"  Well, that's for me to know and for you to buy to find out! ~_^  After all, the point of these unboxing posts is to give you taste of what things are like so you can decide if you want it or not.

And the music?  Well, chances are you've already heard the three songs in this single, considering its release was about six or seven years ago, so no one needs to read my opinions about them.  (a.k.a. excuse to be as un-longwinded as possible...)

The brevity of this post was quite amazing eh?  Haha, well, I have finals coming up, so the next few unboxing posts will go up after that.  Maybe one at the end of March if finals haven't yet rendered me completely comatose.

Coming next: Ga-In's Talk About S.  Be excited~!

Unboxing #6 - BEAST's MASTERMIND

AH HA.  SEE.  This post was up before the year was over.

As I've said in my previous post, I got BEAST's 3rd mini-album, MASTERMIND, from placing second in a KpopHeaven contest.  I was browsing their site to check album prices and it just so happened that they had the contest banner uploaded on the home page to promote it.  I decided, why the heck not, and entered a few of my posts I did in this blog for the contest.  Little did I know, I not only won a prize, I placed SECOND.  There were a total of five AUTOGRAPHED albums that KpopHeaven was giving away, and I won the BEAST one.  Yay!  Someone in the Interwebz Universe likes my posts! \o/

Alright, enough of the ego-stroking...

I really haven't been exposed to BEAST other than briefly watching about maybe 2 or 3 other MVs that they've released.  That being said, I've linked the official MV of their title track 숨, (Breath) in the tracklisting below.

Tracklist of MASTERMIND, released in 2010:

1. Mastermind
2. 숨, (Breath)
3. V.I.U (Very Important U)
4. Break Down
5. 주먹을 꽉 쥐고, (Clenching a Tight Fist)

And here are the goods:

KpopHeaven's packaging.

First layer of bubble wrap...

Second layer of bubble wrap!  Ooh.  Album shiny. *.*

Very, very shiny...

A second picture of the cover with the flash off so y'all can see the artwork unobstructed by any glare.  Excuse the shadow.

Side view.  Holographic too, but not too obvious in this picture.

Autographed on the back by the band members in silver sharpie. ^^b  The lettering on the back cover is holographic, even the copyright on the bottom.

Lookit at what's inside!

A closer look at the holographic sleeve that houses the album/photo booklet.  It's so pretty!

Folds open as such.  Interesting packaging.

I was sorely tempted to find something to fill in that empty, square-ish spot.  Too bad my shadow wasn't square.

Holographic sleeve sans booklet.

Booklet printed on tough, high quality paper.

Side view of the booklet.

It's autographed on the inside as well! d^^b

Back cover of the booklet.

Yes, there is a funky jump from carpet to tile floor in the background of the pictures.

Happy to announce that this experience with BEAST was a good one.  I liked MASTERMIND and the packaging was quite nice.  The case of the album was holographic, which was an interesting touch.  I like shiny things. XD  The inside of the case and the booklet are black, but the outer surface of the case, the sleeve that holds the booklet, and the backing that the CD is on are actually a really deep navy blue.  The case is a hard cardboard-y/plastic-y surface.  It's durable, but dent-able and scratch-able.  As for the actual shipping packaging, I love it.  I'm glad that the people working at KpopHeaven put two layers of bubble wrap.  You can never have enough, I swear.  Their shipping process is pretty speedy and their customer service personnel are prompt in their responses.  Awesome-ness all around.

Anywho, I'm glad all the members of the band finally found a bit of success.  As I understand it, their previous individual endeavors didn't quite yield results, but kudos to them for sticking through it!

Oh!  As an aside, KpopHeaven is having an end-of-the-year sale, so empty your wallets and check them out! :D
_____________________________________________________________________

And so another year passes.  I feel that there's a lot to say, but I can't quite find a way to say it, so I'll just leave it at that.  Happy New Year everyone.

Merry Christmas~!

I found out (quite a while ago) that I won a second place prize in KpopHeaven's Top Reviewers Contest!  I ended up nabbing BEAST's 3rd mini-album, MASTERMIND.  What's more, it's autographed by all six members, so super cool!  Before this, I wasn't too familiar with the band, but I ended up liking the mini-album.  I'll be posting up an unboxing post about it very soon.  Er.  Before the year ends.

Thanks to KpopHeaven for hosting the contest!

I hope everyone has a safe holiday season~!^^v