Month: November 2020

Life
27 Nov 2020

Yow Yow! Travels to Thailand

More than any other traveling post that I’ve delayed in the past, I’ve had the most trouble writing about this one. Our trip to Thailand coincided with the start of the pandemic that we are still in now. I’m talking like…I was at the gate about to board when I had heard about the first cases near my hometown. Part of the reason why I put off writing this post was because it never felt like a good time to share. Did it make sense to share a personal vacation when the coronavirus was still ravishing our entire country? Does it feel like we are flaunting a vacation during a year when some people will not even have one? Instead, I waited eight months to be able to be okay to write this.

In San Francisco

For weeks, leading up to the trip, I nearly backed out a handful of times. Friends and family gave their opinions on whether or not I should cancel and ultimately, I made this decision harder on myself. They say if you’re looking to make a decision, you should ask 1 or 2 people, but never 15 in my case. What’s humoring to me now is that the people that advised me to cancel have absolutely no problem at all taking their trips now as cases and deaths have increased. Oh yes, I haven’t forgotten. If the administration can’t set the tone for how to handle the pandemic, what is one supposed to do? And in that reality and one where new information comes out every day, how can you possibly know what is accurate and true?

People say that when you take a vacation, the first two days are a wash. You’re in work mode, but in the process of transitioning. For me, it was less about work, but the thoughts and opinions of others that got in the way. As appreciative as I was for the concern, it brought on an unexpected level of anxiety and uneasiness that I carried with me through the entire trip.

Admittedly, Angel and I did not do as much planning and research for this trip as we had with Taipei. Our last trip had every outing and meal planned whereas we let our moods drive us this time around. Our agenda included a visit to the Tree Tops Elephant Reserve which Angel gets the credit for planning. There are plenty of places like this in Thailand, but not all are ethical and provide a safe environment for elephants. It was the most outdoorsy part of our trip and gave us a chance to spend some much needed time out of the busy town. At the time of our visit, we had a very pleasant experience. However, I’d be lying to you if I said watching Tiger King afterwards didn’t make me nervous about the similarities I observed.

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Music
27 Nov 2020

Cover of the Day

I was watching a BTS interview the other day when the guys mentioned Song So Hee would be covering one of their hit singles, “Spring Day.” I haven’t been interested in listening to other BTS covers, but have been lately when they show up in my feed. With little context about So Hee’s musical background and history, I started to play it. It didn’t sound anything like “Spring Day,” but I couldn’t figure out what this reminded me of. It was slightly stripped down without the pop-iness of the original. In So Hee’s arrangement, the song was entirely different, but still captured the beauty in the lyrics against what reminded me of traditional Vietnamese style music I grew up listening to in the house. After a quick Google search, I discovered that that’s essentially what Song So Hee is known for – traditional Korean music called gugak.

It’s hard to imagine our favorites as anything else than what we know. These moments of discovery are always so refreshing to me though.

Music
24 Nov 2020

2020 American Music Awards Performances

Awards shows in 2020 are still very weird, but despite all of that, they are continuing and I will still watch. Granted these days, I’m mostly watching for BTS, but in order to keep in an open mind and to see what other music is out there, I’m watching the entire show. Another reason for this is that the American Music Awards literally put BTS as the closing performers which meant I had to watch three hours of performances I didn’t care too much about. However, out of those, here are the ones that caught my attention a little while longer.

Jennifer Lopez blew us all away at the Super Bowl this year, but that was no surprise. For as long as I’ve known her to be a performer, I’ve always been impressed. Have we ever seen a poor performance by her? Her duet with Maluma was so steamy, you couldn’t peel your eyes away from the screen. It’s worth mentioning that I didn’t mean “steamy” in a bad way. It was incredible as a performance from start to finish.

For some reason, I’m not able to find a full version of both performances by BTS, but lucky for us BANGTANTV has got it separated into two. While it’s just a fan cam, I tend to find these to be even more intimate and less theatrical. You feel like you’re actually there because you can hear the drones whizzing by!

The Kenny G cameo was everything, wasn’t it? The Weeknd had an amazing performance at the AMAs taking over the city of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, The Weeknd was incredibly snubbed by the Grammy nominations that came out this morning. After a successful album release and hit singles from 2020 alone, he received no recognition by the organization. This news is now overshadowing the performance that he just had and no one really knows what to do with the information.

Last, but not least – the throwback Bell Biv Devoe performance was so much fun! You may not know this, but any chance I get, I will always request “Poison.” And that’s exactly what I got from this performance. Sadly, there is no video, but like the things we love in the past, we’ll continue to cherish it forever. <3 (even with no evidence of it)

Music
24 Nov 2020

BTS Perform “Life Goes On” on James Corden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnKtptlKnfI&feature=emb_title

It was a nice surprise to find out last minute that BTS would be performing their latest single “Life Goes On” on the Late Late Show with James Corden! While there will be many of these in the coming months, I’ll only feature my favorite ones. The production team behind the group’s stages and performances, however, need a raise after this season is done. In the performance from last night, we watch the entire COVID-19 timeline unfold in front of our eyes as Jungkook reads about it as a headline in a newspaper. In the next transition, Jimin is already beginning his own version of shelter-in-place by being indoors. There is, however, an interesting twist to this performance that I completely missed the first time watching it. We watch the guys go through their entire 2020 calendar year indoors even celebrating Christmas in the present time. However, in the last shot, Jungkook is in a suit and preparing for what looks like a concert. If you’re not a fan yet, then you may not know that their entire album centers around this theme: Life Goes On. This challenging time that we’re in will pass and we will get back to doing the things we love again.

Style
23 Nov 2020

Snaps for a Snapshot

Who: Cara Delevingne

Wearing: Dolce & Gabbana suit; Dior corset; Christian Louboutin shoes

Where: 2020 American Music Awards red carpet

My favorite part of this is the neutral corset. It’s so subtle, but incredibly elegant at the same time. I also love that she didn’t go for a bright or deep red for her lips and really like the violet hue for her eyes. Cara’s stylist needs a raise.

[Source]

Life
23 Nov 2020

Should I Travel For the Holidays?

In case you’re still on the fence about what you should be doing this holiday season, a friend of mine created this very helpful and informative [website]. Hopefully you’re also aware that 3 million people went through TSA this weekend before Thanksgiving. Not surprisingly, this was the biggest travel period that we’ve seen since before March. Unfortunately for that, a lot more loss and disappointment is on the way.

Style
22 Nov 2020

Blog Roundup

  • Get Out of Thanksgiving With This Interactive COVID Risk Map [Lifehacker]
  • How Lorne Michaels Created Saturday Night Live [Far Out]
  • Curfews Will Do Almost Nothing to Stop the Spread of COVID [Curbed]
  • 10 Winter Cocktails to Warm You Up this Season [MyDomaine]
  • Second Life Podcast: Jenna Lyons (former President of J. Crew and now Founder of LoveSeen) [WhoWhatWear]
  • The Making of BTS’ “Dynamite” with David Stewart | Deconstructed
  • It doesn’t Matter If Trump Never Concedes, Twitter is Giving @POTUS to Biden [Gizmodo]
  • Why Even A Small Thanksgiving Is Dangerous [FiveThirtyEight]
  • Timelapse Videos Show How Much Our Houseplants Move in a Day [Moss and Fog]
  • People Are Waiting 12 Hours In Line For the First In-N-Out in Colorado [SFGATE]
  • A Pioneering Vietnamese-American Pop-Up Bows Out After A Stellar 9-Year Run [SF Eater]
  • Carine Roitfeld Has Some Thoughts on Emily in Paris [The Cut]

Style
22 Nov 2020

KITH’s A New York Love Story

Though I’ve never been to New York around the holidays, I am sure that this is the most romantic time of the year. Watching this short campaign video by KITH along with Dash & Lily last weekend has confirmed it for me. In a time where retailers are struggling, it’s refreshing to see pieces like this. Collections are still getting released and of course, there are reasons for us to get dressed up and find love along the way. Watching this from start to finish didn’t feel like a campaign video, but rather a short story of how a couple came to be in the early stages. The focus wasn’t on the looks when it came to the campaign, but once you know who this was made by, it sort of all came together. That being said, we’re posting for the video first and foremost, but here are some choice looks:

[Source]

Music
22 Nov 2020

BTS – Life Goes On: on my pillow

It’s safe to assume now that every time we get one official music video from the group, it’s likely we’ll get a second! Just like “Dynamite” and getting the b-side, we now have a 2nd version for “Life Goes On.” Essentially, this video is an extended scene of the second verse featuring rappers Suga and J-Hope and is the backdrop for the entire song. Their fanbase, ARMY, have already described this title track from them as a “warm hug” and this video further elaborates on that. We can’t get enough of this song even despite it’s sad undertones from reflecting on the pandemic.

Tonight the guys will perform “Life Goes On” for the first time at the American Music Awards along with “Dynamite.” I’ve heard that this was pre-recorded already and will feature Suga who has recently been out of promotional activities due to his shoulder surgery.

Design
22 Nov 2020

Twitter’s Disappearing Tweets

Following in the footsteps of Snapchat and Instagram Stories, Twitter is now getting into the game of disappearing tweets. They may be a little late to the game, but that’s not stopping them from moving ahead with “Fleets.” Like similar features before them, “Fleets” are tweets that you only want around for 24 hours and not any longer. Many of us noticed the feature this week, but before that, it had been tested successfully in South Korea, Brazil, Italy and India. “Fleets” isn’t necessarily a bad idea, but one has to wonder, why now?

Written in a recent blog post by the team, “…some of you tell us that Tweeting is uncomfortable because it feels so public, so permanent, and like there’s so much pressure to rack up Retweets and Likes.” Not exactly anything groundbreaking in that statement or what we wouldn’t expect them to say.

[Source]