The obvious answer is a lot of people, but that's not what we're going for here. The more precise answer (and the one that should be obvious if you read the post title) is that WE ARE GOING TO KCON!
That's right. I'm so excited about about it that I resorted to shouty capslock writing to tell you about it. Last year, KCON was a blast, but this year, it's going to be even better because they have amped up the K-drama side of things quite a bit.
As part of that general amping up of K-drama activities, Coco and I will be panelists this year, which is pretty exciting! Should you happen to be going to KCON and want to stop by and say hi (or heckle us, or whatever), here are our panels:
1.Women in K-dramas:
Chunkeemonkeeato made this awesome poster for our panel. Isn't it great?
Description: The one thing that probably makes K-Drama stand out from all other TV genres are its portrayal of women characters. Top K-Drama bloggers and vloggers discuss the many faces of women in K-Drama. (That's from KCON's website. If I wrote that about my own panel, it would be weird.)
Time: Saturday, August 9 at 11:30 a.m. in Panel Tent 2
I don't have a poster for this one, but I DO have a sad Ji Hoo crying in the rain. Does that make up for it?
Description: Bond with your fellow K-Drama fans over the most heartbreaking second lead relationships. Just what is it that makes us suffer from acute second lead syndrome? Why does it seem like the “good guy” never wins? Let’s tackle the K-Drama second lead types and share our favorites in this must-see panel!
Time: Sunday, August 10 at 11:00 a.m. in Panel Tent 2
I've heard that a lot of bloggers will be heading to KCON this year. We should all chat and be nerdy about K-dramas together! Or just wave to each other on our way to the port-a-potties or something.
I've explained in the past that my life is kind of like a Kdrama. The only problem is that I'm still missing the male lead! In a quest to find the perfect Korean drama male lead, I decided to participate in speed dating at KCON 2013. (As a joke, mind you. I mean, 14-18 years olds are a little young for me, even by noona romance standards).
There are basically 5 questions that help you quickly filter out potential male leads in the one minute you have for speed dating.
I subjected several lucky men to these awkward questions and here are the amusing results:
So what other questions do you need to ask a man to determine if he is Kdrama male lead worthy? Comment below.
It's been a week since we got back from KCON, and we've finally settled enough to start posting some of our experiences. Brace yourselves for an extremely long post containing an absurd amount of photos...
I wasn't even planning on going to KCON because I like to pretend that I'm a responsible adult and can't just drop everything to go to Korean conventions in other states, but when I woke up on Friday and realized I had no plans for the weekend, my husband and I decided to just get in the car and road trip it at the last minute. I'm so glad I did! KCON was an absolute blast. Here are some highlights:
The line to get into KCON was enormous, and unfortunately Viki's panel featuring Sean Richard Dulake and the ladies from Dramabeans was one of the very first panels of the day, so we only caught the tail end of it.
Fortunately, we were able to talk to Javabeans and Girl Friday after the panel, and they graciously agreed to play a round of Kdrama "Would You Rather" for the camera.
So yes, they're just as delightful and hilarious in person as they are on Dramabeans. Seeing them in real life also made me feel a bit starstruck because I'm pretty sure that anyone who has every watched a Korean drama has also read something on Dramabeans. The only other time I ever met anyone remotely famous was on a plane to Albuquerque when I swear Robert Redford walked past me to use the lavatory. This experience definitely tops that one, though I suppose I could work on building a stronger celebrity-o-meter.
Javabeans and Girlfriday weren't the only ones we interviewed. We also really enjoyed getting to know the many kdrama fans at the convention a little bit better. Here was the first of our questions:
We got a lot of great responses, including some from Soompi, Viki, and 24-7 Kpop. I love how some of these people didn't even bat an eyelash before deciding on their villainous alter-egos.
This was just the first of our questions. We will have more of these fan question videos coming up in the next few days!
In the afternoon, we tried the "Anyone Can Cook Korean Food!" workshop, which should have been titled "If a chef prepares everything in advance, I'm sure you morons can figure out how to stir it all together, right? Right?" We successfully manged to put sauce into our bowls for some delicious bibimbap.
Okay, so I cheated and didn't place everything into a beautiful pile before I started eating. Apparently, even stirring a bowl of stuff is beyond my capabilities.
Bibigo, the company who ran the workshop, gave everyone free Psy masks in honor of their most famous sponsor. They also gave everyone free nightmares.
Of course, we also wandered over to the dance workshop, where everyone was learning sweet moves in preparation for the big concert. It took us about four minutes before we realized we really didn't belong.
What the dancing should look like. Notice how everyone is moving at the same time! So fun!
What our dancing actually looked like. I have no idea what either one of us is trying to do, but I feel pretty confident that none of it appears in EXO's music video.
What I really enjoyed about KCON was that there was always something going on at any given moment. Coco and I (and Coco's mom, who was the biggest Kpop fan out of the whole bunch) just ran around looking at everything.
There was a center stage that constantly featured performers or competitions.
And, of course, plenty of Kpop cosplay to observe.
But seriously,how adorable are these two girls dressed as Crayon Pop?
Most importantly, there were about a million food trucks serving delicious food.
Coco tried these amazing bulgogi buns. I went more traditional with a burger, which was great until I discovered that every single port-a-potty was out of toilet paper. NOT an ideal situation to face after eating food truck burgers....I'll say no more.
The other great thing about conventions is that they give you all kinds of random free stuff with your food:
I was so excited about this Kim Soo Hyun poster! Is he too young for me? YES! Do I have anywhere where I could reasonably hang a poster of a young Korean actor without being creepy? NO! But it was free, and that alone makes me happy.
Sadly, because my KCON trip was pretty impromptu, I wasn't able to stay for the concert on Sunday night. Fortunately, Coco was able to attend, and she took some pictures to rub it into my face (and---by extension--everyone else's faces who didn't get to go. Let's all moan about our misfortune together, okay?)
So excited for the concert to start! Who wouldn't be excited with a hot pink glow wand?
F(x)
EXO playing. Look at that crowd! So many Kpop fans, all in one place! The energy at the whole convention was pretty amazing.
I'm definitely sold on attending KCON next year. Stay tuned for some more KCON fan videos, as well as Coco's stab at KCON speed dating!
KCON is in a week, and I'm getting really stoked to go and meet a bunch of fellow Kdrama/Kpop fans! If you haven't heard of KCON 2013, it’s an all-things-Hallyu convention organized by the Korean network, Mnet, that will takes place next weekend in Los Angeles. The convention features concerts from top Kpop artists, workshops and panels on Korean pop culture, fun contests, and artist engagements. I'll be walking around filming footage for some YouTube videos and taking pictures of all the beautiful K-fans for a KCON slideshow.
I don't know about you, but the thought of being around my favorite K-stars makes the inner fangirl in me go a little crazy. Now, I don't want anyone to get too out of control when the time comes, so in order to be ready for KCON this year, let’s review some good ideas and bad ideas about how to fangirl/fanboy. 1. Good Idea: Fangirl/Fanboy so hard that your favorite band feels the love. Bad Idea: Fangirl/Fanboy so hard that you faint from too many feels.
2. Good Idea: Create a poster that says, “I love you Oppa!” for your favorite bias. Bad Idea: Create a poster that says, “I just. I can’t. Can’t even. This. jklasdfhdfa” because the feels are preventing you from forming coherent sentences.
3. Good Idea: Cosplay (dress up) as your favorite Kpop or Kdrama Star to show them your love. Bad Idea: Cosplay (dress up) as your favorite One Direction or Twilight star.
4. Good Idea: Go to KCON to meet your favorite artists and get their autographs. Bad Idea: Go to to your favorite artist’s house and make forcible entry to meet them and get their autograph.
5. Good Idea: Be in Kdrama Fighting's YouTube videos and photos from KCON. Bad Idea: Be in police surveillance videos and photos from trying to sneak backstage at KCON.
I'm really excited to see you all there! KCON 2013, here we come! Have you ever had an extreme fangirl/fanboy moment? Tell us about it in the comments.
