QRIMOLE July 2023

It’s time for QRIMOLE! Let’s take a look at this month’s questions for Kpopalypse!

I read a social media debate (likely my first mistake, tbqh)

Agreed, but go on…

yesterday, about buying digital media vs print media. The standard argument was that you never truly own digital media, whereas you will always own whatever print media you purchase. Which isn’t entirely true, but another argument for owning solely digital media was just how much waste physical media creates. I’ve been thinking about this in the context of kpop albums, with all the unnecessary packaging and just, frankly, junk it includes. Photobooks we look at once or twice, photocards that get shoved in a binder, endless plastic bits and bobs. But contributing to the waste is fans’ most assured way of supporting the artist. Buying an album in iTunes isn’t going to help out a group the same way buying 4 versions of the same album does. For me though, there is a bit of guilt about helping to create so much waste, and also a lot of regret in spending so. much. damn. money. on the groups that I love. I don’t think I really have a question, just wondering if you see any sort of balance to be struck there, or if you don’t bother worrying about it.

To be honest, buying physical albums doesn’t support the artist all that much either, even if you buy a lot of them. The higher cost of buying a physical product compared to a digital product is offset by the cost of print manufacture. (It’s similar with books, as I’ve just learned by publishing one. Physical books are priced much higher than e-books, but I don’t actually make more money from the physical book because the price just mainly covers the manufacture cost.) Add to this the fact that the money left after printing costs are done, is then split between the agency and the group (a split that’s always in the agency’s favour) and then split again between the members of the group, and then each portion for each member has to go towards paying off debt first before that person sees any actual money… it’s a system set up deliberately so the artist doesn’t win. If the artist doesn’t have an absolutely monster hit, physical sales don’t mean much at all. Read here for more.

As for the larger issue of trying to support idols, this article may interest you.

This American YouTuber who everyone knew about in their childhood and had a sizable audience but also isn’t that popular anymore got accused of child grooming. I plan on staying away from the media storm and letting the authorities handle it if the allegations reach that level of severity, but the notable part was her recent apology/response video, a humbly self-composed ditty accompanied by the YouTuber’s own ukulele strumming talents.
1. If she’s telling the truth in singing “the only thing she grooms is her cat”, is this a good example of following Kpopalypse cancel victim guidelines and not giving into hate?
2. Is there an equivalent of a troll or half-assed apology you could think of for some famous music industry scandal?
Thanks!

I’m not in the loop on who this person is, but I’m not a fan of trial-by-social-networking, because of how easy it is for this sort of system to be weaponised by bad actors (k-pop fans simply looking to take down the ‘competition’, people pushing a very specific political ideology, etc etc). If it’s a serious crime, report it seriously like a serious crime deserves, go through the proper legal channels. If not, shut the fuck up.

1. yes

2. Anal Cunt’s “Picnic Of Love” album could be seen as a troll or half-assed apology for all their content up until that point

Hey kpopalypse, I know you’re not a big socializing person but I think your life experience could help me with this.
I’m in uni in a big city, so I get to talk to all sorts of people with widely different life stories every semester. Sidenote: I’d recommend caominas go to schools in big cities if possible, it makes you less of an asshole and teaches you how to interact with a variety of people.

One thing that I’ve realized is that both professors and students of all backgrounds alike seem to trust me and open up to me very quickly for the most part. Mostly this results in me hearing interesting stories, sometimes people share bizzare opinions / info that I could honestly blackmail them with.

This trait by itself is just fine…like it’s not really good or bad, but the issue I have is that people open up to me easily but I’m having difficulty keeping friends. Not making, keeping. It’s literally like people befriend me -> tell me about their problems / we chat -> they leave. Usually happens in a span of a couple of months.

I had to learn that people opening up to me didn’t mean they cared about me, which is disheartening. For me, opening up to someone is like an ultimate act of caring.
Most recently I was becoming close friends with someone over a year. And unfortunately, I was playing my little therapist role this entire time. As soon as I became more comfortable opening up to them or maybe just became inconvenient they left.

My older friendships don’t have this issue. But I feel like people I’m meeting now are generally somehow getting some vibe that they can just talk my ear off and then ditch me. How do I avoid this? I want to seem friendly and engaging but not like a diary to write on.

Not really a problem I’ve ever had. But it’s true that many people I’ve spoken to at length in the past I’m more distant from now. That’s probably more my fault than theirs just because I’m so antisocial. All I can say is what are you doing on your end to keep the relationship alive, or not. Maybe you should reciprocate a bit by telling them things about yourself too (doesn’t have to be totally personal secret stuff). Trying to keep the amount of interaction even might help. Ultimately I guess I don’t know, but perhaps you’re not following up these big chats with any effort to remain in touch. Perhaps get people’s numbers or something, or invite them out to things, I don’t know. This is a really bad question for me to try and answer, because a lot of my conversations go like this too but the difference is that I’m actually completely fine with that. Perhaps readers can help.

I despise my reproductive organs and I’m not sure whether it’s gender dysphoria (I don’t want to be male, but I would genuinely trade these for a dick and balls if I could) and body dysmorphia, or due to not wanting children ever and having nightmarish periods. I don’t know how to proceed. At first I thought about therapy, trying birth control to regulate the horrors inside of me, maybe talking to an endocrinologist and telling my parents to shut up about grandchildren, but I am unsure that after all this I would actually be fine with having a female reproductive system.
I know you might be out of your depth on this but pls help?

Most women I know hate their reproductive system, just because the female one is relatively higher maintenance and comes with a lot of extra unintended features, like periods, cramps, etc. “How simple my life would be if I just had a dick!” is a statement I’ve heard from nearly every single woman I’ve ever been out with, and quite a few I haven’t been out with. I can’t deny the accuracy of it either – men do have to worry about a lot less. It’s definitely worth talking to a doctor about your feelings, not because their work is necessarily the law, but just to help you get to the bottom of it. They might be able to recommend some treatments so having girl-parts is a bit more liveable, certainly birth control pills can lower symptoms in some people (but it can also raise them in some people) and there are probably other options too that stop well short of “why don’t I give you a penis”. So I’d start there. Good luck!

gonna try to keep this short; i’m gay, i have a friend who is seemingly into me, but their parents are iffy gay-acceptance wise. we fooled around quietly last night (didn’t have sex) when i slept at their house and their mom might have heard us because she called for them to go sleep in their room instead of in the living room with me abt an hour after we stopped because “we were going to have sex”. keep in mind we are both 21, fully grown adults. & this wasnt the first time she had been suspicious that we were going to have sex, before i even came over she made a comment. should i continue to pursue them? we dont have to go to their house, i just don’t want their mom to be a barrier tbh

You’re both adults. I would continue to pursue them, in fact I’d make a point of continuing to pursue them despite what their mother thinks. They’re not getting any acceptance from their family, so if they can get acceptance from you that would make their lives much easier. Just keep seeing them and perhaps meet and sleep together at other places in the future.

Although maybe it’s not as bad as all that. One thought I had though was, is the mother’s comments about sex specifically related to gayness, or is it just the normal hesitation that many mothers might have about their own children (gay or not) having sex in their house. Sounds like she already knows he’s gay. So it’s worth finding out what boundaries really exist here and how she really feels about it. Just a thought. But of course you can avoid that entire conversation if you want to by just not sleeping there.

Are there remixes of songs that you enjoy that you like? I know there are songs with elements that are good that aren’t implemented well that could benefit from a remix. However, a remix can also easily mess with what makes a song work, and that’s far more likely for songs that are already good. Are there any examples you think that a remix improved a song that was already good? What about songs that are remixed to a style that you’d normally prefer that actually makes a song worse?

Generally remixes I feel are a waste of time. They’re really only good for advertising the talents of the remixer, which is why so many people do them. It’s a way to try and grab fans of another artist.

I mean, I really like the remixes that Front Line Assembly did of Fear Factory… but then, I’d rather just listen to a Front Line Assembly album than a Fear Factory album if it comes right down to it.

If we’re talking about the same artist remixing themselves… well why didn’t they just create the track how they wanted to the first time around?

“Songs that are remixed to a style that you’d normally prefer that actually makes a song worse” – the metal remix of Rockit Girl’s “Little Cat” springs to mind instantly. 

I really like the metal sounds, but part of what makes the original song so great is the dynamics – the flow of the song and how the quiet and louder parts contrast. All of this is lost when everything’s turned up to 11.

While I wish you well in your book writing efforts, I just want to add that you’re equally, if not more, adept at the short story. I really liked how tightly plotted your short stories have been, and fast and simultaneous exposition/characterization seems to be one of your strengths. So if you ever get the urge to write more short stories I would welcome it eagerly.

Also, re: villainous perspectives, I’d just not glorify his actions. Make the audience root against him, and then you can say you intended to provoke disgust, you’re supposed to be repulsed, and if people reading it find it compelling, or see it as an endorsement, then that’s the reader’s doing, not yours.

There will definitely be some short story content for Halloween this year! Expect it fondly.

What do you think will come out of the Wagner group’s (short-lived because the leaders of these dictatorial states are always cowards who send others to die for their sick childish power plays) rebellion? Will the cracks finally show in Putin’s Russia? I know accurate speculation’s probably impossible with how insane the war’s been, but I really wish we could have some idea of what’s brewing behind the scenes. I can’t imagine being a Ukrainian and seeing these events unfold and just hoping one of these maniacs will just off themselves.

I’m no expert but I think that cracks have been showing in Russia for quite some time now and the Wagner rebellion definitely made these cracks bigger. It’s made Putin look very weak. Not only can he not invade a country (remember the original “special military operation” was meant to be over in three days) but he can’t even guarantee the security of his own country, everyone sees this now. He’s never been more unpopular. To the left-wing in Russia that want to see a democracy there, he’s been exposed as a pissweak adversary, and the right-wing hate him too for wasting Russia’s military might, making constant bubble-headed decisions and throwing his power against a brick wall. Right now Putin is going on a purge of his top staff because he doesn’t trust them, and it’s those kind of actions which will be his undoing. In order to lead a country, you need people who are close to you to have the courage to come up to you and say “sorry, but you’re full of shit, this isn’t going to work”. If you kill all of those people off, there’s no more self-correcting mechanisms, nobody is there to prevent you from doing dumb stuff, and everyone below you also becomes too scared to give you bad news, therefore increasing the probability of you getting bad information and doing even more dumb stuff based off of that bad information in the future.

I recommend Bill Browder to understand Putin’s mindset. Some background on why he’s so relevant:

And on the current situation:

kpopalypse, I’m feeling delayed and justified guilt about a recent choice. I’m 21, and I’ve heard this is about the age when the prefrontal cortex starts kicking in so I guess it makes sense.
I became really interested in a guy. When I first met him I thought his wife was dead since he always spoke to us about his kids and never mentioned his wife nor had pictures of her on his phone or anything.

I later realized that they were still together, but probably had some major problems. At that time I was so wrapped up in my own selfish feelings I didn’t care. We talked a lot, there was a lot of sexual tension that thankfully wasn’t acted on (workplace environment) and I would fantasize about him.
Now that I’m out of that situation I’m realizing how poorly it could have turned out. At the time if he had initiated something physical I would have eagerly gone along with it. And honestly, even with the information I know now I would still probably not care. I had never met the wife so I guess in my brain it’s kinda out of sight out of mind(??)
And that scares me that I’m that kind of person. Am I a sociopath or something?
I guess it’s good to know yourself.

Now whenever I see stories about cheaters and cheating I understand much better how that “other woman” didn’t care about how the wife felt. Everyone feels that when they’re the one cheating, they have a good reason, unlike all the millions of others lol.
But now I feel that I’m in this position of unreconcilable moral failure. Like, “I would have helped this guy cheat on his wife, can I really judge anyone for any bad decision they make?”

If actions speak louder than words, then actions almost certainly speak a hell of a lot louder than thoughts. I don’t think it makes that much sense to beat yourself up over an action that you didn’t take just because there was the potential for you to maybe take it. The bottom line was that whatever you were thinking about doing, you didn’t do it, you managed to stop yourself somehow. Hell, I fantasize about going over to my annoying tennis-playing neighbour’s house with a sword and stabbing all of them probably on a weekly basis, but I haven’t done this and I won’t, so am I on the same moral level of someone who does?

Also who’s to say that you were in the wrong anyway. I’ve never cheated on anyone, but I’ve been the “other man” and I felt fine about it because I knew both people involved and that their relationship was pretty much on the rocks and doomed to failure anyway, if she didn’t cheat with me it would have been with someone else probably, and he was being kind of neglectful to her so I didn’t feel like I was in the wrong. Relationships aren’t sacred if the people in them aren’t behaving as such, I felt that by giving the girl some action I was doing her a much-needed favour, and I think she felt that way too (especially as she was the one who initiated it).

I’ve heard a couple western songs recently that sound more like kpop than western pop and I can’t quite put my finger on what it is that makes these particular songs sound more like a kpop type reflection of western pop despite that fact that they’re just… regular western pop. First one is MGMT’s “Love Always Remains” which came out in 2005 but sounds like a dead ringer for a song one of those late 2000s/early 2010s b or c list boy groups would release (thinking b1a4/teen top/boyfriend/beast/etc). I know this was also just a popular style then, and that it came out too early for it to be copying any kpop trends, but it still sounds more ‘kpop’ ish to me. Might just be that the singing/yelping style is similar? but not entirely sure. The other one is Tyla Jane’s “Coffee“, a song my coworker who mostly listens to kpop played and which I immediately thought sounded like a somewhat recent girl group track. I feel like this one is pretty blatant about trying to emulate kpop (right down to the unnecessary cutesy rap verse) but I’m still having trouble figuring out what exactly it is about the instrumentals specifically that gives me that feeling. Do you have any, like, concrete answers regarding what exactly it is that I’m hearing? Or am I just hearing regular American pop through a fried brain? As always, thank you!

I think it’s the second one. They both just sound like pop music to me. Perhaps MGMT’s song sounds like late 2000s k-pop to you because the production on the MGMT song is pretty rough like a lot of k-pop from that era was, and the Tyla one sounds like more modern k-pop because the production is relatively smoother. Other than this, they definitely didn’t remind me of anything specific to do with k-pop, other than the fact that all pop music from Korea or elsewhere tends to follow the same kind of structural conventions in terms or melody, harmony, and arrangement, at any given point in time.

Last year Wonho held concerts in 4 European cities in small venues with an average capacity of 2000. Taking into account the costs of flights, hotels, local transportation and meals for Wonho + backup dancers + manager + make-up artist + stylist and other staff, wouldn’t he be making a loss? I’ve felt the same way any time a kpop act with a small fanbase was performing abroad. Is the point of the tour to increase their visibility to generate interest, rather than make any money?

Depends how well booked the shows were. Yes he could have made a loss, it’s quite common for touring artists to lose money on tour! As a result a lot of touring is seen more as a “promotional activity” rather than actual money-making activity. Here’s an excellent video on the subject.

Would Moonbyul trigger your gaydar without the extra tomboy presentation and her own hinting at it? Also, how common is it that you’re attracted to women who are not into men?

I feel like she still would, there’s just something about her. But then it’s hard to be sure after the fact, since I already have that perception. It’s not really a “blind test” if I’m not blind.

Although lesbian porn doesn’t interest me much at all, it’s VERY common for me to be attracted to lesbians in my real life. I had a crush on a girl in a band for years not knowing that her, and in fact her ENTIRE BAND were lesbians and that they were even somewhat of a “lesbian concept group”. I had no fucking idea, I just thought that it was cool music and lots of women liked going to their shows for wholesome music-related reasons. My gaydar is truly broken. Also, the majority of my girlfriends have been bisexual.

The second thing I thought after seeing these Waterbomb fansite photos of Eunbi (the first is obvious) was “ha, I’d like to see them wrap THAT softly!” I curse you for somehow getting that stuck in my brain for all these years.

Yes I think that’d be a pretty full-time Photoshop excursion.

1. This is just based on my shallow experiences living in the U.S., but all of the political violence I’ve heard of in recent memory appears to be more led by reactionary forces rather than progressives. As a gay man, I feel as if I am being discriminated against by a corrupt media state that fails to cover belligerent liberal vigilantes and enables only the self-pleasure habits of conservatives who jack off at the sight of school security officers with AK-47s and grizzled men bombing abortion clinics. Where did all the sexy Marxist revolutionaries go? Would you say that with regards to recent events of political violence in Australia, there is some kind of pattern related to the political motives of perpetrators, perhaps a connection to right or left-wing beliefs?
2. Wooo I won my first Try Not to Have Gay Sex With Yves game and it was the most recent one. My question here is, there were a bunch of random items I collected that I don’t remember Chuu using as I completed the story. Did I totally miss what to do with the wine, etc., or were these just like more in-jokes or “trolling”?
3. What was the most likely kind of drugs that coaxed the (probably U.S. based) album reviewer for Apple Music to say that “Holocaust” was the best song off of “It’ll End in Tears”? Yeah everyone has their own opinions on music and there’s no point in defending subjective musical opinions but I have qualms with this take nevertheless

1. Not sure if you’re referring to a specific incidence of political violence in Australia as I don’t follow the news here. However most of the extreme political violence in western countries seems to be by neo-nazis, cultists, incels or soverign citizens, and they tend to occupy the space generally considered to be ‘right wing’. If you add up all the mass shootings in the US for instance, those with extreme right-wing beliefs are responsible for FAR more incidences than anyone else along the political spectrum. Which is hardly surprising as a lot of those movements specifically encourage violence. You don’t see too many swing voters loading up their guns in the name of political ambivalence.

2. Several items in the game do nothing, either because I had plans for them to do something but then decided not to incorporate those plans, or, I just put those items in the game for fun and to make the world a bit more interesting and interactive. I was always a fan of useless details in computer games, I loved how in the original Duke Nukem 3D you could turn on the kitchen sink taps for no reason etc. having such details really enhances the world in my opinion. There’s a walkthrough for the game over at my Patreon (free to access for everyone) so check that out, it actually has a list in there of useless items.

3. I definitely think “Holocaust” is one of the best songs on that album, so I don’t think the take is all that awful. The song deals with loss so perhaps the person reviewing it had a death in the family recently, it could have made the song speak to them a bit more. It’s tough to even pick a favourite as that’s such a great album overall, but if I was forced to I’d probably pick “Dreams Made Flesh” as the song that introduced me to how good Dead Can Dance can be.

1a. mr. kpopalypse, this your 3rd episode of “help! my family is homophobic and i like a girl so you are stuck hearing about it” this is a filler episode…next one should be more interesting. Brackets are for things I want private, sorry I did not clarify last time.

So I finally got the chance to meet up with the mutual friend. I’ll just call her Jane. I was nervous about asking Jane about her friend Alex (not real name) because I feared Jane could be homophobic and it’s very miserable dealing with that sort of thing and would ruin my chances with Alex.

[brackets stuff removed]

In this new confidence (and confusion about why so many of my friends are turning out to be gay)I ask her about her friend and she agrees to meet us up with her friend group. I chickened out unfortunately from being direct about my interest and presented it as “wanting to get to know her friend group etc.” I need new friends anyways so I thought it was better to interact with a few people and go from there rather than trying to romance some girl I barely met once.

and to other queer caominas, it looks like the gays attract each other by gay forces mysteriously so you’re probably in better luck asking a friend out than you think!

1b. I think to answer your question as to why people are using brackets for privacy, for me it’s just a paranoid fear that someone who knows someone will recognize what I’m describing because it’s very specific or it’s not like…information people would want me to share with the public.
Also I don’t want it accidentally showing up in someone’s google search results.
People also use the brackets because they see other people using them. I do hope it never gets to the point where people are censoring half the interesting shit…I like reading qrimoles.

Glad that things are progressing. People tend to find their element, sometimes you just have that ‘connection’ with a person.

I get why people do the brackets thing. You may be overestimating my readership… but then maybe not as it sometimes surprises me where my content turns up. I don’t mind if people be careful, but yes I can assure you that probably the most interesting content I receive is stuff that I’m sworn to secrecy about. This is why I don’t write non-fiction books but instead very fictional stories that are very fictional.

Oppa sunbaenim

Ur lub has returned, but slide it in gently pls ~~ like a virgin, bred for the very first time….

But first, a few Q’s that need A’s

1. Who is your bias in the Sandy Boys? You never covered them for some reason

2. Do you have any good resources on mixing? I feel like there should be ‘mixing theory’ but the books I come across just cover how to use the tools, but not something like ‘proportionality in space’ or esoteric math or structure in the same way you’d find for harmony

3. Can I make an arrangement of ‘Show Me Love’?

4. Are they chicken tenders, chicken fingers, or chicken strips? And can I mail you some? It make take a few weeks to arrive so they’ll be kinda moldy and rotting. But I’ll send it with my… special sauce I call it my love milk

That’s all this month, my naega. Blackswan Power

1. I don’t even know who the characters are (never been a big Spongebob fan or even seen it really) but the one on the right sings like most k-pop idols when the Autotune is turned off.

2. No, which is why I have a music theory series that covers it. If I thought there were good resources out there I wouldn’t write about it.

3. Not sure what you mean by ‘arrangement’. Cut up the pages, toss them in the air and rearrange them William S. Burroughs style?

4. I’ve only ever heard the phrase “chicken tenders” here but then I’m not much of a fast-food lover. You’ve made me hungry now and I can’t wait a few weeks for you to send stuff in the mail (although I’m sure your special sauce is outstanding on the taste buds, I doubt it’s much good as a preservative) so why not just send money instead.

How do you feel about the Fat Acceptance Movement? What do you think about the ideology and what drives people towards it? I know you’ve mentioned liking women with larger bodies, which goes against beauty standards, especially of those in the east. K-Pop is particularly dominated by women with thin to the point of underweight bodies, and it seems people eat that up (we know K-Pop is a visually dominated medium). Fat Acceptance is essentially the opposite of that spectrum, yet I don’t want to consider all adherents as merely and vainly reacting to societal beauty standards (I say vain because the argument to F beauty standards seems just as shallow to me as said beauty standards, a consideration only for outward looks).

I think people should try and accept themselves regardless of their body type, just because you’ll have a much mentally more peaceful life if you’re not always beating yourself up. However there’s also a solid argument for just being healthy to enhance your life in general. Obviously being overweight isn’t healthy, but the way it works is this: there’s a certain amount of weight that your body can healthily carry. This amount of weight is different from one person to the next and is based on genetics etc, it doesn’t strictly correlate to BMI. Some people can carry quite a lot of extra weight and others not so much. If you exceed whatever your personal weight threshold is, you will get sick. So it’s pointless to generalise about health when you see a fat person. No doctor is going to tell you not to lose weight if you’re overweight, but I think people should look at it more in terms of health risk management than beauty standards, and that goes for both being overweight and underweight. It’s nice to be pretty (whatever that means) but it’s better to be healthy, and both overweight AND underweight people are a “drain on the health system” (as incels love to put it).

Can I start playing on a super cheap £100 second hand guitar, eventually become really good, and then purchase an expensive electric guitar once I can justify the cost? Or should I just purchase expensive from the get go? Does quality make a difference when in the learning stages?

Buying cheap stuff is fine, that’s how I started, and it’s how most people start. The advantage of buying an expensive instrument is that they tend to retain the resale value better so if you quit you get most of your money back, but who wants to learn just to fucking quit? Just don’t buy the absolute dogshit bottom of the range (like no-name guitars from Amazon, Alibaba or pawnshops etc), get something of a reasonable quality. I learned on a Squier and that was fine, I’d personally recommend Squier Affinity series for beginner pop/rock players as they’re 90% a fender in all but name, and the Ibanez GIO series for beginner players who want to do heavier styles.

[yotuube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pu0eWLLOZU]

i just re-watched the X Factor UK series that had eventually resulted in the creation of One Direction and after years of being engulfed in the kpop world, I just realised how similar everything is!! Simon Cowell specifically chose the more attractive teenage boys to keep on going up in the line-up competition, and he gave an exta chance to Harry Styles (notably the prettiest contestant by a long shot) after a not great first audition, whilst other boys were kicked off for similar things.

Are there any other sneaky sneaky things about appearances in the music industry? Looking back at all the X Factor and Got Talent audition shows, I’ve just now realised that pretty much 99% of all the winners or people that Simon Cowell/other judges approved of had some degree of attractiveness.

How to be successful as a pop singer:

• be conventionally pretty (this dot point is #1 for a reason)
• be at least somewhat good at what you do, and at least trainable
• be likeable
• don’t make a fuss or piss off the wrong people
• pray to luck/the deity of your choice
• did I mention that being conventionally attractive helps

That’s pretty much it. There’s no secret to it, just gotta have the right combination of assets have people like you enough to want you to succeed.

Thoughts on the Italian rock band Måneskin? I recently got into their music (and the fact that they’re really hot) and since you’re a rock guy, I feel like you’d have comments on their music.

I don’t know, they’re alright but I’m not really wild on this style of rock music in general. I think it’s good that rock is making a slight comeback int he pop realm but I generally prefer rock music to be heavier than this.

I recently found the time to watch the full version of Evangeline Pang’s interview with Nayeon’s stalker. IMO this interview should be used as a teaching tool for students in psychiatry and psychology. Josh’s mindset is terrifying and I am certain that he will eventually hurt or even kill someone he’s obsessed with (assuming he has the means and opportunity).
I checked what he was up to and he managed to go back to Korea last October, tried to go inside Nayeon’s apartment building, failed and filmed himself outside the building leaving a video message for her. He also posted a short clip “I am still waiting for Clear Answers from Nayeon” only 3 months ago. It makes me so angry that he was allowed to enter Korea again but stalking laws everywhere in the world are either useless, non-existent or not enforced.
In Nayeon’s case, he already knows where she lives. Even if she moves, he can watch her family and then wait until Nayeon shows up for a visit and follow her to her new home. Once Twice disbands, Nayeon will no longer have access to the resources of JYP to help and advise her. I’m genuinely concerned for her safety, now and in the future. He’s been obsessed about her for years now and he shows no sign of moving on to another celebrity. What do you think victims of stalking can do to protect themselves when laws don’t protect them?

The stalkers who have committed crimes like murder etc all got away with it precisely because the people around them didn’t see it coming, so that stalker was then able to cosplay as a regular person convincingly enough so they could get close enough to the target to do damage. To protect Nayeon, that’s what you’ve got to prevent, and in the absence of an effective police force/laws, exposure is the only thing that works, however unpalatable the thought of that might be to today’s k-pop loving clout-obsessed pieces of fucking human garbage who think that fame is some kind of life-enhancing “reward”. Make him so famous that literally everyone who sees his face is like “that’s that fucking piece of shit Nayeon stalker!” and can report him. Evangeline/Ploopy678 did a great thing by exposing the true depth of his psychosis, whether people know it or not, whether they acknowledge it or not, whether they understand it or not.

Hi! Is this video a good guide in your opinion?

I don’t have half an hour to watch this, but I skimmed it and it seems fine?

Hey oppar, as I’m writing this it’s going to be almost a year since I started taking singing lessons with a young teacher. I am panicking a bit because, even though I’ve been practicing for months, I don’t think the quality of my voice has become better.
You see, I carefully listen to the feedback my teacher gives me right in the moment, and I understand it to a logical level, but I just don’t know how to make it work physiologically. I’ve watched thousands of YouTube videos but none of them hit the mark for me –almost all of them are just ads for paid online lessons.
So I come here to ask you if you have any advice, or any orientation you could give me towards legit sources of vocal technique. Honestly, I don’t know if I should keep practicing because I’ve become very discouraged with what I perceive to be very little progress. My teacher says that my main problem is fear, but that’s more an abstract and difficult subject to tackle on, and it mostly depends on me haha.

A good teacher doesn’t actually teach. A good teacher guides you so you can teach yourself. Your teacher is probably right about fear, worrying about the technique itself is probably less of an issue (or they would haven picked up on that instead). People tend to move their muscles different depending on their mental state, and that includes when singing. The body is an extension of the mind, which is why so much (good) vocal coaching is about mental state. It’s difficult to advise you further, without seeing you sing, but the physiology of singing is so much a mental game because it taps into movements that are subconscious that we don’t really think about in our day to day lives.

The cheesy tone of this video is a bit cringe, so apologies for that in advance, but the advice given is actually excellent.

Yo I am glad to see you are still doing the nugu roundup. Recently I have wondered though, why do these companies keep trying to make these groups? Like I can understand the factors that make idols join nugu companies (desperation, getting lied to, etc.) but on the corporate side you’d think someone would look at the industry and say “there’s a 0.5% chance we make any money off this, why the hell are we doing it?”

• Love of music
• Maybe it’s a scam
• “got to be in it to win it, everyone started small”
• That money won’t launder itself

Not really sonically or musically related, but what do you think are the best K-pop music videos? And what do you think characterizes a really good music video?

A good music video: I enjoy it when I watch it, and am engaged and not bored.

For a lot of k-pop fans, the “star power” fulfills this role (it’s engaging for a fan to watch their bias do even the most mundane things). For me, what engages me is usually either a really good story, or failing that, just the feeling that they’ve “gone the extra mile”.

Is it coincidence that all these videos have swordfighting in them? Probably not.

Recently I started a long distance relationship with someone who lives in a different continent and I wanted to ask: have you ever been in a long distance relationship? how did it go? what advices would you give to someone like me who is in one?

Normally I wouldn’t ask and would just go with the journey and see what happens between us but this is a person that I clicked with unusually well, I care about her, and I really want to make this work and make it a good experience for the two of us, even if everything were to crash and burn at a later future. For context, we’re both women around their 30s and we’re almost the same age.

Btw thank you so much for having this space for readers, this is my first romance qrimole question but not the first question I’ve ever sent you (I’ve sent a lot of random things). You give excellent advices always so I trust your judgement. Cheers!

Never done long distance personally. I’m not saying “don’t do it”, but for me the long length of build-up before physical contact in a long distance relationship is a complete deal-breaker. I can’t really commit to anything with someone if I can’t actually be in the same room with them. Everything always changes when you meet in person and you never quite know how it will change.

Main advice I’d give to anyone going for online romance is to watch out for gift card scams and pig-butchering scams. Don’t think you’re immune because you might be LGBT, far from it.

Do you know anything about trainees being traded between kpop companies like athletes? I’ve heard people mention it and it was in Jessica’s books but I’ve never seen actual news sites (even kpop ‘news’ sites) talk about it. It makes sense that such a thing would happen but yeah do you know if it’s real?

I trust anything Rachel Kim says. Jessica wrote those books for a reason…

Hello Kpopalypse Oppar,
I loved the new game and after an entertaining two hours of cute destruction, annoying Olivia Hye(which remains my favorite part of every game) and the awesome game inclusions, I unsuccessfully prevented Chuu’s gay sex with Yves. Your creations are always entertaining, I am waiting eagerly for Love Light!
Now to my actual question, I have become such a huge fun of your trolling no nonsense attitude towards this genre that I would like to follow more cunts like that. Are you, by chance, aware of more bloggers like yourself based on other genres of music?
Thanks again and have a cunty day!

Thank you!

No, not aware of another single writer in any music genre who does something similar to what I do. If anyone knows of one I’d be keen to check them out. The closest I can think of might be some of the writing over at Metal Sucks, but that’s probably more like what Asian Junkie does, than what I do. I don’t think many people do my sort of thing because it’s not advertiser-friendly or fan-friendly so it doesn’t make money or give much recognition, anyone who starts trying to go exactly down my road gives up quickly, and with good reason.

1) Every time I listen to CRAXY I’m always shocked that they actually swear LOL. Uncommon for the kpop world, gosh.

2) Also actual question – what are the differences between the kpop + western music industries? I keep having people try to tell me that kpop is more artifical and fake than western music but when I mention Britney all of a sudden that’s an ‘exception,’ lol. Was also under the impression that a decent amount of western musicians have other people produce their songs, which is also what happens in kpop… maybe it happens less frequently in the western world? Since you’re experienced with the music industry, I was wondering if you could give me a clear (or clearish) answer on this? I’m genuinely quite curious.

3) at time of sending this have played a decent amount of the new Yves and Chuu Gay Sex Game, LMAO. It’s really great, I love how creative it is. I laughed at BTS paving the way. Just wanted to say how much I appreciate everything you do for this blog, I love reading your articles / sassy reviews / etc. in my spare time, your unfiltered reviews keep me sane as I am always on kpop twitter and I feel like it’s quite rapidly been degrading any brain cells I have.

<333

1. Yeah I like Craxy for that… and their drama videos. I hope they keep it up.

2. You might find this post of interest.

3. Thanks! Glad you’ve been enjoying the game!

I’ve been wondering for a while now. Zelenskyy is often considered the symbol of Ukrainian resistance, and it’s usually stated that resistance likely wouldn’t have been as strong if he had fled or capitulated. Do you think there’s any other current major political figure who could have become as big of a symbol as him? What missteps do you think he’s made? I guess I’m just a bit wary of any person who’s lauded as widely as him, despite recognizing how important he’s been during this crisis.

Zelenskyy is praised as a hero because he chose to stay in his post at precisely the time when most leaders would have chosen to run (witness how quickly Putin vanished from Moscow as soon as the Wagner insurrection started making its way there). Of course he’s not perfect, nobody is. Ukraine, just like Russia, has a big problem with corruption, and I think that’s a very difficult thing for Zelenskyy to weed out. The reason why Kherson was initially taken by Russia with no shots being fired is precisely because of corruption within Zelenskyy’s high command.

What’s your skincare routine? I recently learned how little most guys my age care about such things (fuck societal expectations for women that make us feel obligated to spend hours every day to pretty ourselves for men who don’t bother to do the same), but I wonder if an older man like you who’s been through decades of sun damage does anything special.

I have really good skin for my age because I stay the fuck out of the sun, this is top #1 tip that I give anyone and is more important than anything else in my experience. My girlfriend also hates the sun and so she has great skin too. The best way to have your skin look good after decades of sun damage is to not have decades of sun damage.

I asked you about DIY speakers a few months back.

This is a recent video on making DIY speakers. I was definitely confused during the process, but it seems very impressive. Can you briefly explain the parts he bought and the software he used? There seems to be quite a lot of assumed knowledge so that he could get into why he designed the speakers in the shape and with the materials he used, and I don’t have the prerequisite knowledge.

Any question that involves me watching a long-ass video to answer probably isn’t going to get a good answer. In any event I’m not a ‘gear head’ and I’m way out of my depth here, I can see just from skimming the video that this guy is far above my level. I don’t like to build things and I’m not good at it, I just go buy fucking speakers when I want speakers, the effort to make DIY is definitely not worth it when there’s people in my neighbourhood literally throwing old salvageable speakers out in the trash…

To know more about this process requires a very in-depth knowledge of acoustics, I did a post on it here but it only really touches the surface.

Have you ever played You and Me and Her? It’s a VN that’s rather similar to Doki Doki Literature Club but came out before it. It’s not the same kind of thing, but they both deconstruct the genre and are both considered fantastic. Since it’s like DDLC, I really don’t want to say too much. You know how much better this kind of game is if you go in blind.

No, but I’ll take a look at HOLY SHIT THAT PRICE yeah even at sale price I don’t fucking think so. Doki Doki was free.

What do u do when ur best friend is falling for your boyfriend?

Get a new best friend.

Are there any general principles or advice you could give to make good videogame soundtracks? Also any good filter to apply when searching for an artist? Thank you for your time.

I tend to play all video games with the music off, I consider any music at all to be an annoyance. But if I’m going to have music, I like it to not be too subtle. Genshin Impact and The Binding Of Isaac are two games I’d single out for good music (but yes I still turned that shit off).

I am coming to accept that I am balding and am preparing to do the do “the shave” and stop coping with beanies all the time. As I’m sure you know this is very difficult for me.

I guess I just need a little reassuring or something. My biggest worry is that this will stop me from finding a partner. I’m pretty young to be bald (26) and I’m worried it’s going to really hinder me finding somebody. Were you already bald when you met your girlfriend?

I went from a full head of hair to completely bald in only a few weeks, there was nothing gradual about it because my baldness isn’t normal pattern baldness from aging, but alopecia which is an immune disorder. When I went to the dermatologist and she explained the disorder to me, she said there were treatments but they weren’t reliable and had limited success, but I was just like “fuck it I don’t care, that’s too much hassle, if my hair comes back it comes back, if it doesn’t it doesn’t”.

Nobody really gives that much of a crap about hair seriously. If you’re someone likeable, you will be liked. My girlfreind (which I met before I went bald) wishes my hair was back of course (and so do I) but she didn’t run screaming when it fell out. If she was the one going bald, I’d feel the same way. Some people shave their heads by choice too, doesn’t mean people will find you ugly or anything. Just roll with it, you’ll be fine.

WHY IS EVERYONE SO SKINNY NOWADAYS. IS BEING ANOREXIC *THAT* PROFITABLE TO THE FASHION/DIET/MUSIC INDUSTRY???

During my 2nd gen stan days I read SO MANY confessions of girls who developed eating disorders because they wanted to have bodies like SNSD and Kara and that shit was horrific back then but now the kpop girlies are even MORE skinny and emaciated like these are… extreme starvation bodies. I’m seriously worried about young kpop fans now, i’ve come across “eating disorder twitter” accounts and they all have the skinniest kpop girls like Yuna, Won young, Rose, Jennie etc. as icons and they seriously consider their bodies as goals and it’s just very disturbing to me like. What do you think is going to happen, kpopalypse oppar? this shit isn’t long term sustainable and eating disorders fuck up people’s bodies permanently. Is someone just going to die of starvation?

/also i’ve heard that now there’s this diabeted medication called ozempic that EVERY hollywood celeb is taking, because it suppresses your appetite and you don’t feel hungry at all, or if it does they just take a xanax pill and sleep through the hunger pangs (INSANE behavior), so it makes you super skinny. and now everyday people in america are taking it so it’s causing a shortage of the drug and some people are so desperate they’re even buying the “raw material” and compounding the medication themselves or on pharmacies. it’s insanity. i know korea is super strict on medication but i bet every big 4 idol is taking this drug now. it’s just too convenient and also i’m putting this paragraph between slashes because i don’t want your audience to google that medication and start getting funny ideas about taking it/

I guess this is part of the same question, in a way.

Life’s too short to spend it giving a fuck about what other people think. As soon as you discard that, all the pressure about appearances, weight, hair or no hair, etc etc, just goes away. Just live true to yourself, ignore celebrity culture bullshit. Nothing good comes out of caring about celebrities and trying to hold up that kind of image as a goal.

I like to peruse your top / worst 30 of the year lists once in a while, they are fun little time capsules.

I will be sad to see them gone when a Kpop fandom finally manages to take down your blog somehow because they grew too afraid of your musical opinions.

If it was even possible for someone to do that it would have happened years ago.

Why are kpop making all these crap songs lately

To annoy you

Hi Kpopalypse,

Is there any technical term for IVE’s I Am pre-chorus and chorus? They both sound similar but the chorus is punchier. I thought that would make the song boring but the effect on me has been the opposite. Is there any song in general that also use this kind of arrangement (?). Thank you

Not really a word for it. Just a pre-chorus and a chorus that use the same melody and harmony. Can’t think up another example of exactly this thing off the top of my head although I know there are many.

Look, ik most advice for physically ugly people feeling sexually and romantically unwanted is to ‘be confident, pretty up, some hot person will like you’. From the scientific articles (legit or not) ive read, people of the same physical attractiveness level tend to end up together, and its uncommon for a hot person to fall for an ugly one – they say it’s biology, and Now in my case, im considered attractive enough, yet i do hoe down for obese / ugly guys / gals if theyre very confident and intelligent. Idk why more people cant be like this, ive accepted that its cuz of evolutionary programming, still lookism upsets me. I guess, from my limited knowledge, more practical advice for physically ugly people would be to get smart, confident and accomplished enough to attract a really successful, nice but physically unattractive person if theyre not able to pull a hot body / face. Thoughts ? Are there exceptions to such behaviour ? Am I too cynical / jaded or are humans really this un – idealistic and physically driven ?

And re : the ugliness ask, though i acknowledge that acc to the current scientific knowledge ive read, there are valid reasons for the general human preference for hot physiques and sexual dislike of physical ugliness – the idealistic part of me hates this. Because ugly ppl, male or female, are treated so badly by society and popular culture and many cunts just because they didn’t win a genetic game of pure chance, just because they happened to be born in such a body. It’s awful and makes me hate this shitty world. It makes me depressed.

Everyone’s idea of attractiveness is different. The “there’s someone for everyone” isn’t feel-good nonsense, it’s actually the truth. However some “someones” might find it harder to find someone. I mean I’m not someone who is considered generally attractive by most, but the people who do find me attractive definitely really do. Ultimately I find it doesn’t pay to overthink it. I also think that confidence plays a HUGE role in attractiveness. Confidence doesn’t mean “force yourself to be extrovert if you’re not”, it just means be confident in who you are. People who are smart can pick up on when someone else is being real, and also when someone else is full of shit. But the way people carry themselves when they’re confident is a huge attractiveness factor, and that’s regardless of how they look physically.

what is your favourite food to get from a vending machine.

The one that actually gets to the bottom when I put the coin in. Chocolate bars are best because they’re dense per volume so they don’t tend to get stuck on the window like chips etc. I hope this knowledge helps you in your daily life (but if it doesn’t, JAV of the month for May is SDDE-697 and JUQ-320 for June).

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That’s all for this episode of QRIMOLE! This series will return next month! In the meantime remember that there are places in Taiwan you should visit!

Oh, and do you have a question that you’d like to see answered in the next episode of QRIMOLE? If so, use the question box below, or if no box appears, click the Qri on the sidebar to open the box as a separate webpage! Kpopalypse will return!