UGongHyeon - Rocket (live @ Hongdae Freebird 06/26/2014)

One of my middle school friends is a musician,
and few months ago, he got a contract with a Korean record label called "Mirrorball Music."
He also got himself a new nickname, "UGongHyeon."

Even before he got a record label contract, he and I messaged each other frequently on Facebook, and eventually decided to make a music video for his song, Rocket (which is my and also his personal favorite.).

and on June 26th, 2014, (which was the day of our first video shoot.)
he and his friends wanted to do a warm-up live rehearsal before filming.
It was also my first video shoot ever, so I also did a practice video shoot of their live rehearsal, because I definitely needed it.
Well, that's how the video you see above was created.



Oh, and about the actual music video...
Here's a sneak-peek!! :D



and because it is a sneak-peek,
this is all I'm willing to show, for now.

but don't worry
The final music video is expected to be completed pretty soon!
:D

[Seoul, KR] @Gangnam with My High School Friends (Curry House Coco Ichibanya + Wolmaenae Joomak + Karaoke)

June 22nd, 2014
My high school friends and I decided to meet at Gangnam station.

It's been about a year since I have been here or have met my high school friends.

The tall buildings were still tall.

That "Gangnam Style" sign was still there.

and the streets were busy as always.

The road wasn't as busy as I expected. (Probably because it was Sunday)

So I was taking some pictures of Gangnam with my camera while I was waiting for my friends.
Two of the three I was supposed to meet came first.

So me and my 2 friends went ahead to have some dinner.

we decided to eat here, Curry House CoCo Ichibanya.
sounds like a place where you can have some Japanese style curry, doesn't it?

It has a really bright, yellow, and clean atmosphere.
this place might have been opened not so long ago.

The three of us sat at a table.

and ordered our stuff.

Oh, by the way, all of the entrees are at least 10,000 won (= 10 US$)
I think it's an outrageous price for a bunch of curries.
(it's basically because it's located in Gangnam, pretty much everything is expensive at Gangnam. Kind of like how everything is much more expensive in New York than it is in Chapel Hill.)

One of my friends ordered 'beef shabu curry.'

want some?
I heard they have some CoCo Ichibanya's in the US.

Another friend of mine ordered a cheese donkatsu curry.

which I believe, has the best visuals.
I mean, LOOK AT THAT CHEESE!

I ordered a shrimp & beef shabu curry.

It just has some extra shrimps on the same beef shabu curry one of my friends ordered.
I just really like shrimp and beef, I really do.

This is 'beef shabu curry' after it's mixed.

Again, LOOK AT THAT CHEESE!
Although I'm not really a huge fan of cheese, I really have to say, 'cheese donkatsu curry' has the best visuals.

Yes, I do love taking pictures of my food.

We found that there were some pickled radish on the table, when we're almost done with our curries.
That's also when my third high school friend finally showed up.
He already had his dinner on his way.... >:(
Well, that explains why he was late about 20 more minutes.


Anyway, after having some dinner at Coco Ichibanya.
These dudes wanted to go for some drink.

So we went here, which is called 'Wolmaenae Joomak' (Wolmae's Tavern)

The interior decoration actually suited the pub's name pretty well.
Since "Joomak" is like a really-old style Korean tavern, everything looked really old-fashioned.

Everything was primarily made out of wood.

Even some corn, and farming tools.
To be honest, I really like this kind of atmosphere.
It kind of makes me feel comfortable in a way. :D


While I was preoccupied with taking pictures of this pub.

My friends were busy drinking.
Soju, Beer, Makgeolli, and Maehwasu... My goodness these guys drank a lot!!

Yea, drink up, ya alcoholics!

I'll be busy eating this Haemul Pajeon (Seafood Korean-style pancake?? If you can call it that.)

and steamed egg.


After this, I recommended the whole party to go to a karaoke.
and we did go there, I just forgot to take some pictures of that place.
I just sang a lot of rock songs like I always do, but this time, I mostly sang the songs that I've never tried singing in a karaoke before (by that I mean, mostly Muse songs.).
'Cuz rock songs are the best!! YEAH \m/


So..... uh...
It was nice to hang out with some of my high school friends at Gangnam after not seeing them at all for about a year (because of college, of course.).

[Seoul, KR] Buck Wheat Noodle Lunch with My Family

June 21st, 2014
which was two days after I arrived at home in South Korea.
My grandma and my aunt came to visit me, after 10 months. (Oh yes, they missed me a lot, especially my grandma)

So, having been reunited,

All of us headed to this restaurant to have lunch.
This place (Bongpyung Maemil Makgooksoo) is located at Jamsil Trizium arcade.

We ate some Maemil Jeonbyeong, which looks like this.

some Maemil Jeon, which looks like this.
(by the way both of these are delicious)

and some Maemil Makgooksoo (Buck wheat noodles.)

It was actually a bit surprising to see my dad order a double portion of something.
He normally doesn't eat this much.

My mom ordered a Maemil Bibim Makgooksoo, this one has a bit more spices and less soup(?).

and I ordered a Maemil Mool Makgooksoo, which has less spices and more soup.

By the way, both of these Makgooksoo are served cold, so they make a really nice treat on a hot summer day.

and, I'm not sure about the Maemil Jeonbyeong, but I am pretty sure that the Maemil Jeon and the Maemil Makgooksoo are all vegan food (if you take out that boiled egg out of it.).


Wow,
what do you know?
I ate an almost vegetarian meal for once!!
WooHoo!!

My New Lens: Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 VC!

When I came home to Seoul, South Korea after finishing my summer semester,
guess what was the first thing I was looking for.

that's right...

It was this lens.
You have no idea how happy I was to get this thing.

I bought a used Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 VC lens from my former teacher for whom I designed the "Jc Kalculus" logo.
He lost the box for this lens, so I was only able to get the lens just by it self.

No matter.
As long as the lens is functioning well, I'm perfectly okay with not having the box.

The lens was in a great condition:
there was no front or back-focusing problems, it was pretty clean, and he did say that he only used this lens for about 10 times.

Here's a comparison shot with the T3i body and the 18-55mm kit lens.
The Tamron 17-50 f2.8 VC lens is definitely bigger, bulkier and more beautiful. :D

This is my T3i with the 18-55mm kit lens mounted on it.

and This is my T3i with the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 lens mounted on it.
If you compare the last two pictures, you can see for sure the new Tamron 17-50mm lens is so much bigger than the kit lens.

Since I now have a better lens,
I'll take a good care of it and also take some nice pictures with it!
:D