So, Awesome KPop Songs (The Beginner's Guide)

The videos go in chronological-ish order. I also tried to find videos with translations. The ones in italics are my absolute favorites and I hope you at least watch those.

2PM:

I love 2PM, but I have trouble taking them seriously sometimes. I'm pretty sure they do it on purpose.

"10 Out of 10"

"Heartbeat"

"I'll Be Back" --Make sure you watch the whole thing because there's something cool at the end.

"Take Off" --This song is actually in Japanese.

"Hands Up" --Turn on the captions for the translation.

Big Bang:

Big Bang is one of my favorite groups.

"La La La"

"Lies"

"With U" --This is in English and it's sort of hilarious and awesome.

"Haru Haru"

"Gara Gara Go" --In Japanese

"Lollipop Pt. 2"

"Tonight"

"Love Song"

"Stupid Liar"

G-Dragon:

G-Dragon is one of the members of Big Bang.

"This Love" --The video is for the Korean version, but the song is in English.

"Heartbreaker"

"Breathe" --That's his dog in the video.

"The Leaders" --Features Teddy and CL (She's in 2NE1)

T.O.P.:

Another member of Big Bang.

"Turn It Up"

Seungri:

Yet another member of Big Bang.

"Strong Baby" --Features G-Dragon

"VVIP"

Taeyang:

Still from Big Bang. He's also some kind of Korean Usher.

"Only Look at Me"

"Wedding Dress"

"I Need a Girl" --Features G-Dragon.

"I'll Be There" --In English.

Daesung:

The final member of Big Bang.

"Baby Don't Cry"

GD&TOP:

G-Dragon and T.O.P. from Big Bang.

"High High" --Look at all them white girls.

"Knock Out" --Banned in Korea because of the slang in it. Make sure captions are on.

"Don't Go Home" --Translations in the captions.

"Baby Good Night" --Parts of this are in French.

Se7en:

"Girls" --Features Lil Kim and is English.

"Better Together"

"Digital Bounce" --Features T.O.P.

2NE1:

"Lollipop" --Features Big Bang

"Clap Your Hands"

"Pretty Boy"

"Can't Nobody" --In English.

"I Am The Best"

MBLAQ:

"Y"

"Mona Lisa"

Block B:

This is a brand new group. They debuted a few months ago.

"Don't Move (Freeze)"

"Wanna B"

"Tell Them"

f(x):

"Chu"

"Nu ABO" --"Unni" is what a girl calls an older girl.

"Pinocchio (Danger)"

"Hot Summer" --This is a new favorite.

Beast:

"Bad Girl"

"Shock"

"Soom"

"Fiction"

"Bad Girl" --This is the Japanese version. I wouldn't put the same song twice, but it's really cute.

"Virus"

Miss A:

"Bad Girl Good Girl"

"Breathe"

Dalmatian:

"Lover Cop"

"That Man Opposed"

Rania:

"Dr. Feel Good"

"Masquerade" --In English.

SHINee:

"Replay"

"Ring Ding Dong"

"Juliette"

"So Sick" --Yes, it's a Ne-Yo cover. It's beautiful.

"Lucifer"

"Lucifer" --This is the dance version. They are amazing dancers.

"Hello"

"Replay" --Japanese version. It really shows how much they've grown.

ZE:A:

"Here I Am"

TVXQ!:

"Mirotic" --Banned in Korea for the words "I've got you under my skin."

"Mirotic" --Dance version. I couldn't just pick one version. Both are so sexy.

"Keep Your Head Down"

"Before U Go"

SM The Ballad:

This is a group of four guys from different groups on the same label. They only have one album.

"Hot Times"

Super Junior:

"Happiness"

"Don't Don"

"Sorry Sorry"

"Neorago (It's You)"

"Bonamana"

"Boom Boom" --Not the whole song, but you get the idea.

"No Other"

Super Junior-M:

Sub-group of Super Junior. They sing in Chinese. Two of the members, Zhou Mi and Henry, are only in SJM.

"U"

"Super Girl"

"Me" --Actually, this version is in Korean.

"Perfection"

Super Junior-H

They're kind of goofy, but that's the point.

"Pajama Party"

"Cooking? Cooking!"

Teen Top:

Teen Top are infants.

"Supa Luv"

"Clap"

"Don't Spray Perfume" --Really, we should be offended by this song, but they're so damn cute. Also, 'noona' is what a boy calls an older girl.

U-Kiss:

U-Kiss is my favorite group.

"Talk to Me"

"Man Man Ha Ni"

"Bingeul Bingeul"

"Mworago"

"Shut Up!" --"Oppa" is what a girl calls an older guy.

"Everyday" --Not the whole song.

"0330"

Also, I get my downloads from Asia Pop Addiction. It's a lovely site.

Okay, I hope this was a good intro!

Why Was This So Difficult?

This is a list of my top 10 horror movies. So far I’ve got:

1. Scream http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117571/—This redefined the horror genre. It was the first time anybody pointed out how cliche everything is in slasher films. And then it went ahead and used those cliches anyway!

2. It http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099864/ —This one holds a special place in my heart because it was the first horror movie I ever saw. Anything that can make a 3rd grader afraid to use the bathroom for a month is okay by me!

3. Cabin Fever http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303816/ —Okay, I know this one is actually kind of terrible, but I think that is where the fun lies! Plus, I am a big fan of gore and gore makeup, so this movie was a dream come true! It also started my fascination with Eli Roth.

4. Freaks http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022913/ —I think the scariest part of this movie is not the fact that they used actual circus performers, but that it shows how easily people can turn on you. All-around creepy—especially the dinner scene.

5. The Shining http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/ —This is another one that is scary because it could be real. Not that I’ve ever seen an elevator of blood—but I have heard of people just losing it.

6. Saw I-III http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387564/ —I realize that these are 3 different movies, but this is my list, so I don’t care. This is another one that redefined the horror genre. It became okay to be beyond gory. The really scary part, I think, is that a large majority of the traps are based on real torture devices.

7. The Haunting (1963) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057129/ —This movie doesn’t show anything. No monsters, no ghosts. And that’s what makes it so fucking scary. Your imagination is worse than anything a makeup artist or puppeteer could ever design. Just watch the scene with the knocking and you’ll know what I mean. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6kDCX2Diyg (Skip to about the middle.)

8. Black Swan http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/ —As a performer, I know how easy it is to get sucked into a role. How easy it is to lose yourself. It’s scary letting something take over you, letting it make you act differently. How do you know that after the performance you’ll come back to yourself?

9. Jaws http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/ —I never thought I would classify this as a horror movie until I spent the entire summer watching it over and over and over. It didn’t matter how many times I’d seen it, I would still jump out of my seat. This is another classic example of how showing less can be more.

10. A Nightmare on Elm Street http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087800/ —What’s better than a monster that can kill you in your dreams? One that will tell you a joke while he’s doing it! I don’t even know—just everything about this movie makes me love it. Another gem from Wes Craven.

You might have noticed that the majority of the movies on this list have more to do with humans and the mind than with monsters. I think that’s because, to me, the scariest thing on Earth is other people. You never know what the human race is capable of…

He Had Plans to Take Over my Music Library

A while back, I was in my college's production of Twelfth Night. Now, this was great fun and I made lots of new friends. And one of these friends I grew particularly fond of. His name is Damian.

On a regular basis, Damian would tell me that my taste in music sucked (he's a Kanye fan, so I don't put a lot of stock in his opinoin of good music) and that he was going to show me what real music was. One of the many bands he talked about over and over was this British band called Mumford and Sons.

Everyday, he would ask me if I had listened to them yet, and everyday I would have to go "Um, no. It's not really my top priority right now." Finally, he must've gotten sick of waiting. One day he told me to bring my computer to rehearsal. The plan was that he would bring a flash drive with Mumford and Sons on it and I could finally hear them.

That night in rehearsal, I opened my laptop and called for the flash drive. Damian told me to just copy the music folder to my music folder. I said "Okay" and hit copy. The next thing I know, there is a dialogue box popping up, asking me if I'm sure that I want to copy 256 songs to my music library.

"256 songs? Damian?! I thought this was Mumford and Sons!"

"Yeah, that's how it started out, but I was going through my library and I kept coming across songs that I thought you would like. And I put in some that I hope you'll like."

"Aw, thanks. That's actually really sweet."

And thus was born the longest, most awkward mixtape of all time. Thank you, technology.

Also, I think my music library is evenly split between songs that Damian told me about and songs that Tristan told me about.

And Now For Something Completely Different (The Adventure of the Treadmill)

The other day I spent maybe an hour telling a friend of mine about the awkward/funny/just plain weird things I tend to do on a daily basis. She had the bright idea of recording all of these things on the Internet, so that other people can share in my humiliation/awkwardness and then laugh at me.

I promptly told her that she was a terrible friend.

But then I started to think about it.

"I tell all these stories to the people I work with and hang out with, why shouldn't the rest of the world know? I have this awesome blog that I haven't been using very much. I like when people laugh. Aw, hell. I'll do it."

So, welcome, everyone to "Staci's Collection of Stuff that Happens to Her on a Semi-Regular Basis, But People Enjoy Hearing About It Anyway."

I should probably come up with a better title.

From now on, I'll relate to you guys the things that I do that either embarrass me, make me seem awesome, or that don't make sense at all.

I'll start you out with a classic:

"The Adventure of the Treadmill"

One day, I got the notion in my head that I wanted to work out. Looking back, that should probably have been a warning sign. See, exercise and I don't...get along. At all.

But, anyway, here I was on campus, wandering around the Heskett Center looking for a way to exercise that wouldn't make me look like a complete idiot. After all, the gym was full of beautiful/buff men getting their workouts on. Have to look good for the gentlemen, right?

I figured that the treadmill would be harmless. Ha!

Now, I do know how to walk. I feel like I should point that out. I can walk, run, and sometimes even skip. Okay? I can walk. It's just that sometimes I want to test gravity by falling over. ("Gravity's still working, guys!")

So, I was jogging on this treadmill, feeling the rhythm, rocking out to Glee on my music player when I felt my feet start to mutiny against me. My right foot had decided that we were going to have some fun.

I looked down and saw my toe catch on my other foot. "Oh, shi--"

Thanks to time moving in slow motion, I was able to grab the handrails on the machine before face planting completely. I grabbed those handrails and held on for dear life. I'm still not sure that this was a good idea.

Let me give you a visual here. I've got my arms spread wide, desparately gripping the rails on either side of the machine, I've got my legs being dragged back behind me by the still moving runner, my knees are touching the moving nylon (giving me a wicked rugburn), and my head is thrown back in a silent scream. So much for looking cool.

I decided that I would use my grip on the handrails to pull myself back up, get myself righted on my feet, and just continue running like nothing had happened. Of all the thoughts that were flying through my head, I don't know why I fixated on that one. I mean, I can't even do a chin-up with nothing pulling on my feet, how am I supposed to pull myself back up while being dragged?

Needless to say, that plan failed. I don't think I pulled myself back up at all. I had officially run out of ideas. The only thing left to do was accept my fate. I said a quick prayer, let my arms go slack, and let the runner pull me back as far as it could. Then...

I let go.

I'm not sure what I thought would happen, but it must've involved defying the laws of physics. Which is impossible. Anyway, I certainly wasn't ready for what happened next. What is Newton's first law of motion?

"An object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force."

Let me tell you, nothing acts as a better outside force than the treadmill behind the one I had been on.

As I lay curled up at the base of the machine behind me, I laughed at the situation. It was completely ridiculous and I probably looked like a cartoon character during the whole fiasco. But I also let out a few tears. First because, OW! And second because out of a whole room of people who saw my act, only the girl who was on the machine I hit took the time to look down and say "Ya alright?" She never even stopped running.

I'm not sure what lesson I was supposed to learn from this, but I'm going to say it was:

"Don't exercise."

The Feeling of Something Coming

I sit by the window in my bedroom, listening to records and waiting for the rain.

There is something terrifying about a thunderstorm. Especially right before it starts. I hear the news reports--the baseball-sized hail, the 100mph wind, the flooding. I help my mom gather up candles and flashlights, crackers and water, blankets and shoes (just in case.) I make sure there is a clear path to the storm shelter while she brings in the dog. I take a deep breath because I've been dealing with storms for 21 years and it still gets to me. Still makes my heart beat faster.

Still, it can be so beautiful. The clouds above our heads swirl together, creating patterns that change as often as I blink. The sky is shades of grey and brown and green and the colors of the grass and the trees and even the asphalt seem to be so much more vivid and real. It gets darker outside and the streetlights come on early, giving the neighborhood an unusual, almost supernatural glow. The wind picks up and the trees sway and bend--a dance of foreboding. I look at the trees and understand that something is coming.

I open the window so that I can hear and smell the storm as well as see it. A gust of wind blows in, rustling the papers on my desk and bringing in the smell of rain about to fall. I shiver in the cool air, thinking about earlier when the sun was shining and I was sweating in the heat. The smell permeates my room, making everything smell fresh and clean. The world smells like it is getting ready to start over. Right now, thunder is rumbling in the distance, loud even over the music I've got playing. My record stops and in the sudden silence I realize that I can hear tornado sirens. It reminds me that even though it may not be storming here quite yet, somewhere out there the storm is showing it's power and possibly gathering strength. I feel a thrill.

I lay back on my bed and close my eyes. My heart is beating and there is a smile on my face as I lay still, hearing the first drops of rain begin to pound on the roof.

Listen. Do You Want to Know a Secret?

40 Secrets about yourself.
Be honest no matter what.

[one] Have you ever been asked out?
Well...not really.

[two] Where was your default picture taken?
At the championship game for the Missouri Valley Conference. Go Shockers!

[three] What's your middle name?
Renae.

[four] Your current relationship status?
Tragically, tragically single.


[five] Does your crush like you back?
I can only hope.

[six] What is your current mood?
Pretty good, actually. Just downloaded some awesome songs, so...

[seven] What color of underwear are you wearing?
Blue and green.

[eight] What color shirt are you wearing?
Violently purple.

[nine] Missing something/someone?
Always. But on my mind right now are Tristan and Kalon.

[ten] If you could go back in time and change something, what would you do?
I would have given in. Probably.

[eleven] If you must be an animal for one day, what?
Hmmmmm. A tiger. Those are badass.

[twelve] Ever had a near death experience?
Yes, once. When I was a little girl. I choked on a piece of bacon.

[thirteen] Something you do a lot?
Sway. Seriously. I'm never standing still.

[fourteen] The song stuck in your head?
"Make Me Happy" from The Wild Party. But, when do I not have that song stuck in my head?

[fifteen] Who did you copy and paste this from?
Kalon Steinaway.

[sixteen] Name someone with the same birthday as you?
Fiona Apple. Also, Bella Swan. Even the same year. :/

[seventeen] When was the last time you cried?
Um, a couple of weeks ago.

[eighteen] Have you ever performed in front of a large audience?
Yes. I live for it.

[nineteen] If you could have one super power what would it be?
SHAPESHIFTING!!!!! And I don't just want the ability to turn into other things--I also want the ability to change my appearance and, like, grow extra arms and stuff. God, I love when people ask me this question.

[twenty] What's the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
Smile or style.

[twenty-one] What do you usually order from Starbucks?
Venti iced green tea lemonade with sweetener.

[twenty-three] Favorite color?
Green. Like, really bright green.

[twenty-four] Do you still watch kiddie shows or tv shows?
Ha! Yeah, ask me about Big Time Rush.

[twenty-six] What are you?
That's vague. Human, happy, female, awesome. What else do you need to know?

[twenty-seven] Do you speak any other language?
I'm not fluent or anything, but I'm pretty good at French. And I realized that I know an astonishing amount of Latin. Thanks, choir.

[twenty-eight] What's your favorite smell?
Rain. Play-doh (Don't ask).

[twenty-nine] Describe your life in one word.
Ridicusome.

[thirty-one] Have you ever kissed in the rain?
No. And I never will because some cliches make me gag.

[thirty-two] What are you thinking about right now?
Blueberry pie, strangely enough.

[thirty-three] What should you be doing?
Getting to sleep at a decent hour.

[thirty-four] Who was the last person that made you upset/angry?
A customer.

[thirty-five] How often do you talk to God?
Every couple of days or so.

[thirty-six] Do you like working in the yard?
No. I'm not exactly a big fan of Nature.

[thirty-seven] If you could have any name in the world, what would you want?
Molly Roxanne. What? I think it's pretty.

[thirty-eight] Do you act differently around the person you like?
Not really. I'm a little bit funnier.

[thirty-nine] What is your natural hair color?
Who knows any more? Dark blonde?

[forty] Who was the last person to make you cry?
My voice coach. She's tough on me, but I appreciate it.

The Night is Better When it's Spent With Friends

Take this as proof that I had a good night. I'll explain more later.