From Japan and Korea.

*As you can see, there's a bit of a Korean bias. This is b/c as far as MVs go, I watch way more Korean ones than Japanese, though I probably discovered more great Japanese music this year than Korean.

*This is also based on my own taste, not like any kind of, you know, standards. I'm a big YG fan, and I like powerful girl videos as opposed to cute ones, so that's why you probably won't see a lot of K-pop female heavyweights on here. Anyways, take what you will from this, and enjoy my top 11 videos of 2011!

11) Block B: Freeze



These boys captured my interest the moment they released this video, and I followed them closely ever since. They're definitely my favorite nugus of 2011, and while this video might not seem like anything special, I believe they've got a lot of potential. They've definitely proven themselves this year to be...interesting characters, and they have their own, recognizeable sound, as well as an interest in producing. I can't wait to see what these guys will do next year!

If you like this video, you might also like this (though I didn't really...)

10) UV: Itaewon Freedom



How could I not? When I first saw this video, I wasn't sure what I was seeing, but I knew that I loved it. Not much to say here (it pretty much speaks for itself), except it's a great song full of funny dances, Bugle fingers and foreigners.

9) TVXQ: 이것만은 알고 가 / Before U Go



Of course, the dance version. For reasons. These guys put out a lot of great, fun songs and MVs this year--I really liked their Japanese MV for "B.U.T." and the other (long) version of this as well, but this one wins for me, because I love the dance. Also--perhaps, mostly--their dance crew. Watch them. They are SO into this. I think I scoured the videos of those music shows just to watch performances with this dance crew, because they got so into it and made it a really great experience.

Other favorites of the year: this, this, this

8) Perfume: Spice



I love Perfume, so it was hard to pick one video of theirs. This one stood out to me though, more than Laser Beam's weirdness and polar bear-shooting, because I loved the colors, the outfits, and the whole look of it along with the song. The dance is super cute, too :)

7) Leessang: Turned Off the TV



I'm not going to pretend I'm cool and I'll say right off the bat, I found out about Leessang from watching Kang Gary on Running Man. But that doesn't really affect my opinion of their music, since I love it for its mellow hip hoppy beats and raps, female featured singers and the little interludes/skits they put in their albums. I am really glad this album was so popular and widely-recognized, since I think these guys need more exposure. They also came to LA! About which I'm going to be jealous for a while...anyways, enjoy something a little different :)

6) Brown Eyed Girls: Sixth Sense



I wasn't the big BEG fan, and besides Abracadabra and Narsha's songs didn't pay much attention to them. Well, this music video makes you pay attention. This is just the kind of fierce video I like--military imagery, powerful ladies, great singing, it's got it all. Plus, there's a cello in it.

5) Big Bang: Love Song



Gah. BB put out some good videos this year...as well as some bad ones (let's just ignore everything they do in Japan, ok?) And as much as I loved Tonight (esp. Daesung), this one was my favorite because it's beautiful. The camera work is gorgeous, the boys are of course gorgeous, and the setting is beautifully barren. I even like the part where they dance out of sync, because they all do their own little thing with it. And of course the ending. I'm not really sure what it means, but that doesn't stop me from loving the crap out of this, haters be damned.

But I also did like Tonight.

4) Amuro Namie: Naked

I don't think I can embed this video, but here is the link! Watch it watch it watch it.

Furrrrce. That is all.

3) 2NE1: I Am The Best



Continuing with the trend of fabulous ladies, we have one of my favorite videos of the year, hands down. The fashion, the dancing, the over-the-top everything...it is simply the best. I love love loved CL and Minzy in this.

I also dug this a lot!, and this, and this.

2) Sakanaction: Rookie



Soo...it's no secret that I am a dai-fan of Sakanaction. Knowing this, you can imagine how hard it was to pick just ONE video to share with you guys. Bubble-headed people stuck in a glass brain? (Endless) Or Yamaguchi-san and his cast of creepy puppets? (Bach no...) In the end, I chose Rookie, because this year I suffered pretty badly from insomnia. Watching this video, the blurring of dreams and reality felt really familiar to me, so I went with this one. I loved the song as well. I hope more people listen to these guys.

1) GD & TOP: 뻑이가요 / Knockout



This, ladies and gentlemen and otherwise, might be one of my favorite music videos. Of all time. Literally, it has anything I could want in a music video: GD and TOP doing what they do best, bubble wrap, segways, puppies, ladies, butt chairs, fake eyebrows, dancing, amazing hair, tanks...the list goes on. I could and have watched this video several times in a row, and for that it wins favorite MV of 2011.

This isn't to say I didn't like the duo's other videos. I actually loved them all, but I could only choose one, and in the end, you have to choose the one where TOP reads a book about the American south on a lawn chair.

Everyone! What was your favorite video(s) of 2011??

I'm posting this now, because I know I won't feel this way when I wake up.

My productivity and sense of whether I can do things fluctuates with time, weather, sleep, what's on tv, and just about everything else these days, so when things are going good you gotta seize the moment.

I made a folder on my desktop for every post-graduation job I want to apply for, and when I should start applying.

I figured out that I want to work after graduation, and what kind of job/where I want to be.

I got my hair cut today. That should last me, oh, three weeks?

I'm almost done my laundry and am pretty much ready to jump out the door and get to school. Alls I need to do is pack some clothes, my hat and books.

I have an idea...and I don't want to say it unless I jinx it into not being feasible anymore. But it involves academics, and possibly doing something cool.

I downloaded the new Leessang album, Fish Story and a Zatoichi movie (because I need a reward after making myself do a bunch of work).

(Right now at least) I'm feeling very on top of things and okay with where I am. This rarely happens o_O

The only thing that's not going well is my novel, but I didn't put any sort of deadline or pressure on myself to finish it, so I won't stress out about it. Freaking out over how after 8 years it still isn't done is not going to make it end faster, so I'm just waiting till I have some free time to work on it. I did figure out some important things re: plot structure and the gender of a character (more on that at haroldscoffee) so there's at least that.

I'm still translating the manga called Jesus. You can read it at mangafox.com, or you can pass because I can see how some (most...okay pretty much a lot of) people might not want to read a cheesy comic from the 90s about an assassin-turned-teacher.

Other than that, I'm just here. Biding my time, waiting for summer to end. Less than a week to go!

EDIT: I JUST CHECKED MY INBOX AND DOUGLAS PATEY WANTS TO BE MY FULBRIGHT MENTOR GOD HELP ME

Instead of sleeping, I have apparently deemed it more important to research Korean skin creams and makeup for the drag queen inside me, endlessly refresh the deviantART page for reasons I have yet to really comprehend, and (somewhat useful) figure out what sort of work I'll be doing tomorrow on the train.

So here I am, awake. I think I'll blame it on the moon.

Anyways, for those unaware, I am writing a book! Yay, excitement, etc. I would probably be about 10x more jazzed about this if it wasn't 1:30 in the morning. But the point is, I've started a blog just for writing, which can be found over at

haroldscoffee 

Right now I don't have very much, but I hope to put up snippets, prompts, plans, pictures, music and anything involving my fiction. Mostly, this is because I have organizational problems and need someplace to keep everything. And also because I don't like how the "writing" tag is so disproportionally large compared to my other tags here. That's not fair, especially when out of all those posts about writing, hardly any of them actually have writing in them.

So if you're interested in following me through this journey to novel-land, feel free to add me. If not, I'll probably be shamelessly linking this at every opportunity, so it'll be back.

(Oh my god guys, I had the best barbecue in the world today. And cornbread in a skillet with cheese and jalapenos. I will be dreaming about that for a really long time.)