Bay Area Renaissance Festival 2014

Yesterday I went, with my father and brother, to the Bay Area Renaissance Festival in Tampa. We went together last year, although apparently I didn't blog about it. Last year, I discovered (and rather fell in love with) Sirena, the best act of the faire in my opinion. They put on a performance within five minutes of our arrival at the faire, and it was excellent. Seriously, they were the main reason I wanted to attend and their performance alone was worth the price of admission. I took a bunch of photos of them, as well as a few short video clips (below) - if you like that sort of thing, I definitely recommend buying their albums.

Sirena might have been my favorite performance, but they weren't the only one I enjoyed. Below are a few photos and videos from other acts that I enjoyed:
Crannog
Crannog
Crannog
The Bawdy Boys
The Bawdy Boys
Demzarah Gypsies
Demzarah Gypsies
Of course, one of the best things about any renfaire is the opportunity for people watching:



My brother and I
My brother in the stocks.
I like posing with trees.
Lastly, remember Molly, the Christmas Puppy that my dad adopted? She's gotten a lot bigger! She's full of energy and incredibly sweet.
Watch Molly playing :-)

Because every blog needs two Olleh posts, right?

Yesterday I brought you Darth Vader in Seoul, courtesy of Olleh KT. Now, pre-Darth (and back when I had a TV), you couldn't go a single commercial break without seeing a 'do do do OLLEH!' commercial... specifically this commercial:

The tune's pretty catchy, and I can't see or hear 'KT' without singing 'do do do OLLEH!' to myself... although I never got what the very non-Korean black guy running around Seoul had to do with cell phone service. About as much as Darth Vader and his Trek universe WARP, I guess. Anyway, it never occurred to me that the tune wasn't actually created for KT advertising purposes. I never would have guessed that it had a life anywhere outside of Korea. Then it popped up on my friend G's Pandora station. So now we know: the Olleh KT 'do do do OLLEH' song is Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis.

K-Pop: Girls Generation Reviewed by Americans

K-Pop group Girls Generation appeared on Letterman on 1/31. Take a look at their performance:

Now, appearing on Letterman is a big freakin' deal for any musical act, so the fact that they scored this is pretty impressive. Of course, just because you've appeared on Letterman doesn't mean that your career is made and that you'll be taking the US by storm.

There have been several posts in the expat-in-Korea blogosphere about this over the past week:

From Roboseyo: Girls Generation on Letterman (소녀시대 on 레터맨)

From A Blog Abroad: It's an Asian Invasion!! Maybe.

I'm no Picasso has an answer to a Formspring question on this.

The Metropolitician has two posts on this topic: On the Embarrassing Debut of Girls' Generation on Letterman and Culture Codes and On the Value of Virtuosity

I should probably add before I write anything else that if it's not oldies or 80's pop, I don't dig it, so I'm hardly the one to judge the potential for success of ANY pop act.... still, my thoughts:

1. It reminds me a little of Who Let the Dogs Out? Something about the way the phrase we bring the boys out matches up a little too well with the phrase who let the dogs out, and after hearing this song, it was Who Let the Dogs Out that was stuck in my head.

2. My least favorite part was every time they did the 'Girls Generation make you feel the heat' refrain, which just sounded wooden and rather ridiculous to me.

3. One of those chicks totally looks like she went to Janet Jackson's plastic surgeon:

It's the Korean Janet Jackson!

Anyway, I decided to post the GG video on Facebook to see what the reactions were from typical Americans:

American Man #1, never been to Korea: Well, as a man who likes women it obviously has a certain appeal... but basically, Pussycat Dolls. Now, don't get me wrong... Asian version of Pussycat Dolls > original Pussycat Dolls, but if they do break into the US their appeal will likely be superficial and ephemeral. I just didn't see much other than the fact that they are visibly Asian, attractive by some standards, and doing music that sounds similar to a lot of stuff on mainstream pop radio.

American Woman #1, lives in Korea: The chick hunched over on the left at the beginning looks like she really needs a toilet. I have a feeling that a clip of Dave saying 감사합니다 is going to be all over TV.... forever.

She really looks constipated.
American Woman #2, never been to Korea: I agree with [American Man #1] it was the pussy cat dolls all over again. they reminded me of a group of cheerleaders... no offense to any cheerleaders out there but I was waiting for the moment they would make a pyramid. 
American Man #2, lives in Korea: IMHO Their Korean version of that song and their performances in general are much better than what they displayed on that show. 
American Woman #3, never been to Korea: i like it. the ladies are very pretty. i think it's about time asian people were more in the spotlight. i mean lisa ling and lucy liu are like the only asian people in popular culture that's not a whole lot. and really where is the asian sitcom. 
American Man #3, lives in Korea: Here are some reasons why I think K-Pop will not "make it" in the states: Their biggest selling points aren't really anything special. Sexy people, yawn. What pop star isn't sexy these days? The dances are snap locked to the track with no fluidity or emotion (for the opposite, watch Beyonce's "Single Ladies"). Their singing isn't really singing. Backing track my ass. If it is the same volume as the singer, its not "backing" anything. They can't really be interviewed in English, and will have a more difficult time connecting with an audience, hence why Letterman didn't interview them. They exude gimmick. And in a group with 10 or so members, none of them really distinguish themselves from each other. Its a parade of forgettable people with no personality. Granted, before you start telling me how different they are from each other and talented and all that crap, please bear in mind I'm not referring to them personally or individually. Their persona as a group is forgettable. On the other hand, I bet they could sell a hell of a lot of chicken in the USA. 

American Woman #4, used to live in Korea: It's as good as I've ever seen them, which means it's much better than the choked-up Wondergirls on So You Think You Can Dance a few years ago. However, I find the girls' gen to be really awkward in this song--it should be more in your face sexual and they're too cutesy cutesy to pull it off. In that way, they are inferior to the PCD. Just an opinion. I think 2ne1 with Will i am have a better shot at true notice in the US. 

Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments!