Toronto: Kpop Stores

My kpop obsession sent me on a wild goose chase all around Toronto today to find all the kpop shops in the vicinity. Though exhausted and mostly empty handed, the exposure to Toronto's kpop scene was well worth it! To completely document my experience, I took lots of photos, so beware of the visual-heavy blogpost!

My first stop was the Koreatown at Bloor and Christie:

Jong Ro Korean Books and Music
650 Bloor Street West

The man at the counter was very kind and friendly, quickly greeting me as I stepped into the long, narrow, old-smelling shop. There were mostly books for sale, with a hint of kpop on the left wall and at the counter.

The wall displayed several legit kpop CDs, including Infinite's Infinitize, showing a fairly updated selection. I came to his shop on March 27th, just a couple of days after Infinite's New Challenge physical album release. He checked his books and said it won't be another two weeks before he gets that in. Against the wall there were kpop shirts and posters. On the counter were small pins and mugs with low quality pictures.

Just You Sarah and Tom
624 Bloor Street West

This tiny shop carries adorable Asian knickknacks, similar to Morning Glory. There is stationary, Hello Kitty products and kpop items. They were even playing Teen Top's "To You," getting me into the kpop mood. The worker, a young Korean woman, was very friendly. After asking me my favorite band and my responding with Infinite, she showed me the collection of Infinite posters that consisted only of Sungyeol from the Paradise shoot. Realizing the limited selection, she even phoned their other location and asked if they had more variety in stock, which they did.

Just You carries a variety of not authentic kpop posters, socks, notepads, and other small kpop merchandise. Sadly they don't sell CDs.

This shop also sells not legit photocards, $0.95 each. I decided to buy one of Infinite. Then the worker surprised me by wrapping the photocard. She let me choose two wraps: clear or clear with opaque pink flowers (of course I chose clear so no flowers would obstruct the photo!). Next she told me how many girls choose two photocards to get wrapped in one to place in their wallets. I knew this was a good marketing strategy, but I fell for it and decided to buy a photocard of Myungsoo too. She then wrapped both photos together and taped it up, then let me choose from an assortment of colorful ribbons. She slid the center of the ribbon together and it suddenly became a bow to tape on top of the photocard! Somehow one simple photocard became a gorgeous card that I'll treasure even more.

Here's the final product! Myungsoo and the boys of Infinite look amazing, but the bow blocks Sunggyu's head. I don't know how fangirls place the card and bow into their wallets, so for meantime ill just find a nice place to stick the bow elsewhere.

My second stop was in between the two Koreatowns:

Just You Too Sarah and Tom
686 Yonge Street

This shop seems identical to the original one, but with smaller inventory.

After the friendly, conversational worker asked me my favorite kpop group and bias, she recognized me as the Infinite girl who called from the other shop. She showed me her Infinite selection: one of Sungjong from the Paradise shoot and two of Sungyeol from the Paradise shoot, again.

This store's stack of posters and photocards were smaller but it had legit kpop CDs on display! There were only a few CDs, including one of Exo-K and an OST of a recent drama.

My third stop was at the second Koreatown at Yonge and Finch:

Morning Glory
5619 Yonge Street

This Morning Glory is much larger than other ones I've visited, and offers a greater variety. There are display cases full of Korean cosmetics (many brands of which I'm not familiar), stationary, Nintendo/Mario character slippers and other plush goods, as well as kpop merchandise. They were playing CNBlue's "I'm Sorry," which got me excited.

There were random, not authentic kpop goods, such as mugs, posters and key chains.

What set this branch apart from other Morning Glories I've visited, however, is that this one carries legit kpop CDs! There was IU, Infinite-H, and more, all on shelves behind the counter so ask. I asked the worker, an older Korean woman, when she'd get the new Infinite album, but she had no idea. She had no knowledge of kpop either, but was still very friendly.

If you're in Toronto, check out these shops if you have time! They're spaced out throughout the city and selection is very limited, so don't be disappointed if you don't see anything to fangirl over.

Montreal Chinatown: Kpop Stores

While searching for any sign of kpop in Motreal online, all I found was that I'd have much better luck in Toronto (which has two Koreatowns!). Yet while sauntering through the streets of Montreal's Chinatown, I stumbled on two kpop stores! In order to explain my experience with both of these stores, I'll tell my day's story.

The first store I saw was at the corner of Clark Street and Rue de la Gauchetière. The official posters of Boyfriend and Teen Top caught my eye, then I spotted the (fake) Korean dramas underneath them. (I took this photo before they opened, when there were no dramas on display). Inside the 12 by 12 foot space held many fake Asian dramas, CDs and concert DVDs, as well as a pile of fake kpop posters. I asked the shopkeeper about the official posters outside, and he said he'd call up his friend who has another store just around the corner with mostly kpop goods to open his store for me. It's already after 11AM and it still wasn't opened...so just beware that the store hours are whenever the store owner feels like operating it.

The second store, called Studio A, is directly across the street and a few doors down from C&C Korean Cosmetics Chinatown location. The address is approximately on Clark Street, directly across from the back entrance of Swatow Plaza. The front is covered in official, recent kpop posters, including Super Junior, Nu'est, Exo-K, and more. But what drew me to this storefront was the beautiful Infinite Infinitize poster in dead center! That was the only poster I had my eyes set on. Once the shop owner came to open up, inside there was a small box of official kpop posters, and then long rows of Asian dramas and kpop CDs and concert DVDs. The kpop CDs were definitely legit, factory sealed with holographic stickers of authentication. Some were priced at $15, but majority of the popular CDs were priced at $30. I had wanted to buy Infinite's Evolution album, but priced at $30 is ridiculous when Amazon offers it for $11.99. In the back are lots of fake kpop merchandise, including more of those fake posters from the first store, mini desk calendars, stickers, key rings with photos, rubber wristbands and messenger bags (which may be real?), and even pillows.

I took a quick photo of the pillows and bags but the shop owner then told me that photos aren't allowed he was probably afraid that I would report him for all of his fake goods. I came to this store so happy about seeing that Infinite poster, but left disappointed at the illegitimacy of majority of this merchandise. Then again, I came to Montreal expecting no life of kpop, so these stores were bittersweet, for lack of a better analogy.

Moral of the story: official posters are on the storefront to make their businesses look legit, but inside they sell mostly fake goods. I used to buy fake goods because that's all I had access to, but now that I have my legit CNBlue and Infinite merchandise, I only want real goods released from their entertainment companies!

Montreal: C&C Korean Cosmetics

In Montreal, Canada, I had the pleasure of finding a Korean beauty heaven, known as C&C Korean Cosmetics! There is a flagship-like store in downtown, a small satellite-like store in Chinatown, and an online store. This company carries popular products of popular Korean brands, such as Etude House, Innisfree, Missha, Skin79, Skin Food, The Face Shop, Tony Moly, and much more!

Downtown Location
1837 Sainte Catherine West, Montreal, H3H1M2

Based on the photos I saw of the downtown location, it looks very high end and modern. However, at the Chinatown location, I found all of the products I was looking for, and more that I didn't need to come to this location.

Chinatown Location
Swatow Plaza, 2nd Floor, CRU2-7
998 Blvd. Sainte-Laurent, Montreal, H2Z 9Y9

The Chinatown location is located inside Swatow Plaza, a kind of rundown Chinese mall. Despite its super small size, there are a lot of products inside. I was so thrilled to see majority of the items on my wishlist (practically all the Tony Moly products that are cutely packaged) were in this store.

There was one worker on duty, and she was very friendly, helpful and engaging. My mom was interested in Tony Moly's snail line, so the worker threw in two free samples of that.

I bought a lot of products, mostly from Tony Moly and one from Skin Food. The prices are all very reasonable, much cheaper than Amazon, which would be my only other option of buying these goods. There is also a promotion of which I think is ongoing, where if you purchase $60 or more, you get 20% off, which is a pretty steep discount on top of great prices! The worker gave me the choice of choosing one of three Laneige sample sets (I chose the Basic Water Bank Moisture Kit), and she also gave two Tony Moly Floria Whitening Mask Sheets and the Tony Moly Intense Care Snail Lotion as mentioned before. I'll be sure to review all of these products soon!

If you're in the area, check out their stores! Or check out their website, which ships internationally (I haven't actually ordered online from here, so I don't have a say on the quality of service and shipping through an online order).

Tony Moly Floria Flower Energy Foam Cleanser Review

I still have two samples to use from my A-Poly package, and I'm finally getting around to my Tony Moly Floria Flower Energy Foam Cleanser sample. This is one of the products within Tony Moly's Floria skincare line. Like my other Tony Moly cleansing foam sample, this sample is packaged in the shape of the bottle. The backside is written in all Korean, and I'm not sure what it says.

An English description is on the front, saying that Floria's secret ingredient is the key to young and glowing skin.  I can't access the Tony Moly website, but according to YesStyle's website, this product is to clean the face and to make tired skin more lively.  According to other sources, this cleanser contains 14 different flower extracts to improve the skin, making it moist and soft.

 

This product smells mild, like typical clean soap.  There is no distinct smell.  The consistency is very smooth and a tad runny (like in the top picture), but within a minute it coagulates comparable to the dried up lotion buildup in lotion dispensers (like in the bottom picture).

The instructions on YesStyle say to place the product in your palms and add water to create foam, then massage your face with the cleanser.  Then wash off the foam with lukewarm water.

The Pros

• A little goes a long way: the amount in the above picture is more than enough for one use.  Also once you add water, the foam is very abundant.
• The cleanser foams very easily with just a bit of water.
• I felt no sensation on my face, but maybe that means that it's not working?
• My face feels and looks clean right afterwards.
  

The Cons

• Though my face seems clean, my face doesn't really seem youthful or vibrant.
• No matter how much I rinsed my face, I kept feeling soapy residue on my face.
• The smell stays on my hands for awhile, which isn't so pleasant the longer it lingers.
  

Overall, this is a decent face wash if you want just a basic cleanser. I didn't see any immediate results for youthful, vigilant skin, but maybe if you use it on a regular basis you'll see better results.  I usually write more information in my product review posts, but I couldn't access the Tony Moly website; sorry for the inconvenience.

The Awakening of a Korean Wannabe, Part 2

These past few months my obsession for kpop group Infinite has skyrocketed more so than anything else, so much that majority of the Infinite songs I downloaded starting in late December have been played two, three, even four times as often as songs I had downloaded in September 2010. I have been so obsessed that I even watched the Google+ Album Release Press Event Hangout on Air at 8PM and the Google+ Hangout with Fans at 5AM despite having a final at 8:30AM. But it wasn't until the Google+ After Party with Fans Hangout that I had another revelation...

For those unfamiliar with Infinite's schedule, they finally made their comeback on March 21st (yesterday in KST) after 10 months of individual activities. Infinite first aired the press conference of the highly anticipated song, Man in Love, and corresponding mini album, New Challenge at 12PM KST. At 9PM KST, Infinite had a more personal video chatting session with 7 lucky Inspirits, one from each Inspirit community and I think two from the Korea community.

The chosen fans ranged from the quiet, cheering-from-the-sidelines type to full out Korean wannabe fangirl. Please note that I'm not bashing any degree of fangirling, but rather simply making observations.

I have always been more on the shy, self conscious side so I hadn't considered myself as a fangirl who threw herself out there. But then I started wanting to learn Korean, and immerse myself in their culture. I realized from my previous 'The Awakening of a Korean Wannabe' post that I'm not a Korean wannabe, but watching this Hangout confirmed it for me. Several fans were Caucasian and clearly were learning Korean. They understood Sung Kyu's questions when he spoke in Korean and they actually responded back in Korean! I was astounded at how dedicated they were and how they were actually able to communicate effectively. Another girl spoke in English but was very bold, always asking questions directly to specific Infinite members and even giving Hoya her heart. These fangirls had a much further degree of obsession than me, heading toward being a Korean wannabe if they're not already there. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong about learning and loving another culture, and being a "wannabe," I just don't want to go that far and shun away my own culture. I'm simply impressed at these devoted fangirls and how they're dedicated, bold and not afraid to show off their devotion and I know I'll never be like that. I'll simply admire my idols from afar.

Infinite: Infinitize 3rd Mini Album Review

Since I'm musically naive, I'll only review the album itself and not the actual music. This is Infinite's 3rd mini album, titled Infinitize. The album cover is very simplistic, illustrating an artistic infinity sign, yet it is still very classy and elegant. The gold-on-white color scheme makes this album absolutely gorgeous.

When reflected in the light, you can even see a clear infinity symbol underneath the gold infinity symbol. The little details make this album that much more special. The very bottom also gives a definition of "infinity," giving meaning behind the group's name.

The back cover reveals a photo of the Infinite boys dressed in off-white, cream tones and with serious expressions. The clothing, attitudes and casual street setting is the main focus of this album's photoshoot.

Infinitize comes with a beautiful photobook opposite of the actual CD. The photobook dedicates one page to each member, listing his position in the group (vocal, leader, rap) in very small font along a gray ribbon. You can see this on the left photo of Woo Hyun; the diagonal gray strip is where it says his position. The second half of the book presents the members around the town. I love this photo of Sung Gyu on the right, as if he's offering the seat next to him and longing for someone to be there with him. All the members look like such mature, young adults in this photoshoot!

I love how though most of the photos were portraying a serious Infinite, that they end the photobook with a cute group photo of everybody smiling warmly.

Overall, this album is very elegant in its well thought out simplicity. The photos offer a casual, yet mature Infinite. And of course the songs are fun and vibrant too! The Intro blends very well with The Chaser, and In The Summer is such a carefree, breezy track. Anytime I'm feeling down, I just play this album and flip through the gorgeous photobook!

Infinite: Paradise The First Album Special Package Review

Infinite's Paradise is the repackaged version of Infinite's first full length album, Over the Top. It is a beautiful alternative to purchasing Over the Top, which is an album that seems impossible to find online (and probably in stores). I bought this album purely for the goodies inside, so I'll just review that and just a bit about the bonus music tracks. This album has all the songs from Over the Top, as well as "Paradise," "Cover Girl," "Be Mine (Remix)" and a hidden track containing an informal recording of "In the Summer" that has a conversation among the Infinite members at the beginning.

The album contains a photobook that holds the CD in the back, a folded poster, and a randomly selected photocard out of seven different ones, one for each member. These are bound together in a folded cardboard packaging with a paper cover of Infinite on the outside. I wish they had put more effort into creating a more sturdy casing, because my album came with a crease due to its lack of durability.

Here is the backside of the album, which is enclosed by a flap.  It seems a bit fragile, so I'm trying not to open and close the flap too often.  You can see the tracklist of the left and the holographic official seal on the right.

Opening the flap from the backside revealed my mystery photocard, Sung Jong flawlessly gazing at me. Though I wanted Myungsoo, I'm quite happy with getting the maknae, though he doesn't seem like a maknae at all in this photo!

And here is a closeup of each side of the photocard. It's adorable how Sung Jong signs with a star at the end.

Underneath the photocard was my folded poster. The paper quality is very high and thick, to my surprise. This album had three different posters, two of which were very similar to the Paradise album cover and one that was more unique. However, every album contains this unique poster, while the other two can be purchased separately. I love this poster; it looks so elegant and glamorous! Infinite looks stunning in all black and I love the vintage feel. They all look amazing and so mature with their hair gelled up, too! My favorite pose is Sung Gyu's because he looks like a handsome secret agent!

The photobook is beautifully created and organized. Here is the front cover, which is simplistic yet has elegance and a vintage feel due to its color scheme.

The back cover is just as elegant, except it doesn't list the members' names.

Here are the first two pages (sorry to Sung Yeol for cutting him off in the binding)!  The right gives the tracklist.

The beginning of the photobook focuses on each member individually, in all seriousness.  I can't help but laugh every time I see Myungsoo in that backless top!  Though he was embarrassed wearing this top when Sung Gyu revealed Myungsoo wearing it (video can be found on YouTube), Myungsoo still wears it so well in this photo.

The very back of the photobook holds the CD. On the opposite page is Hoya and Sung Jong, looking pretty glamorous. I never paid much attention to Hoya, but boy does he wear pinstripes well, which is so hard to pull off!

Overall, this is my most favorite album ever! The poster, photocard and photobook are so beautiful, and the songs are classy too! I absolutely love Be Mine and Paradise, which have been on repeat on my phone for a few weeks now, and have yet to listen to the other tracks. If you're an Inspirit, you'll definitely love this repackaged album!

My Amazon Package!

Amazon.com is a very reliable and reputable company, and I have only positive experiences with them.  They sell many items of all sorts, but I never would have thought that Amazon would sell kpop merchandise directly from its own company!  I found a few Infinite albums sold directly through Amazon, or sold through MegaHitRecords but fulfilled by Amazon, but items will still be shipped together and in the usual 5-8 business days.  These items are also eligible for free shipping, if totaled at least $25.  I ordered Paradise (sold directly through Amazon) and Infinitize (sold by MegaHitRecords) on March 7 (at night) and my estimated delivery date is March 13-16.  After my packaged was shipped, they estomated its arrival to be March 15. Usually my Korean orders take 3 weeks, so I'm very excited to have my CDs coming in just 1 week!

The downfall about ordering kpop CDs through Amazon is the lack of information provided on the item.  Both of my Infinite CDs on their webpages are simply entitled "Infinite by Infinite," not the actual title of the album.  The only description is the tracklist.  Honestly I only ordered these CDs for the photo booklets, poster and bonus photo card, but without these in the description I was wary of purchasing them.  I had to rely on the comments, which were very sparse, as well as watch unboxing videos to verify that these albums contained goodies besides the CD itself.  But now that I have received my package, and see the faces Infinite on the booklet, poster and card smiling back at me, I know I can order kpop CDs from Amazon in the future!

My package has arrived, by 12 noon, on the estimated date March 15th!  I have never been so excited for a package.  I have never escalated my obsession for anything as quickly as I have with Infinite, and as my first Infinite merchandise, I'm so excited to see which photo card will come with my Paradise CD!  Here is a sneak peek at my package:

It came in a flat, folded cardboard box.  Overall the package was pretty good, though I'm sad the Paradise album has a bit of a crease on the left.  I'll post my review of these CDs shortly!

U District: Korean Tofu House Restaurant Review

I haven't found many Korean (authentic and fusion) restaurants in Seattle itself, though there is a significantly larger population of Koreans in Federal Way with many more Korean restaurants and shops.  I was ecstatic to find Korean Tofu House in Seattle, that I came here practically every week since I had found out about it!  Korean Tofu House, also known as just Tofu House, is adjacent to The Ave (University Way).  Just look for the painted green building, and walk down a short flight of stairs to get to the entrance.  It is one of the many ethnic mom-and-pop restaurants populating the University District, and definitely my most favorite of the bunch.  As my brother has said, you know a Korean restaurant is authentic when you smell of Korean BBQ when you leave!

Each entree comes with a bowl of rice and a variety of side dishes, including kimchi, bean sprouts,glazed potatoes, bean curd and seafood pancake.  Each of these side dishes were delicious and offered its own flavor and texture, creating diverse flavors.

I ordered #1, which is the Mixed Tofu Soup (clams, shrimp and beef), for $8.99.  This soup came out in a sizzling clay pot with a raw egg poured on top, which I skipped.  There were two clams, two shrimp, sliced beef and lots of very soft and smooth tofu. 

 

The Mixed Tofu Soup is my usual, but all of their selections are just as tasty!  I also love their Soy Bean Paste Soup and Bulgogi. 

This restaurant gets crowded during lunch and dinner, so prepare to wait and don't forget to sign your name by the cash register.  Though this is a full scale restaurant, a lot of it is self-serve.  Napkins, chopsticks and spoons are in a tray at each table and there is a tray near the cash register for takeout containers and plastic bags.  You pay up front at the cash register, and you must pay in cash if your bill is below $10.  I especially love coming here because it's affordable, tasty and I always end up boxing half of my soup and some side dishes because it's so filling.  I can't wait for my next meal at Korean Tofu House!

Why Kpop? My Journey into Finding My Music Identity

I was always the difficult child in the family, having to be different from the beliefs of my brother and parents.  On deciding on the design of each of our bedrooms, I was the oddball out, choosing light flooring instead of dark, a doorknob instead of a door handle, a bench instead of a deck and a sliding door instead of a regular hinged door.  I'm also very old-fashioned, in the sense that I prefer outdated technology (I have an antique rotary phone).  This same stubbornness applies to my music preferences. I despised pop music because of the typical American messages they presented and because of how overrated they all were.  Instead I listened to musical soundtracks that displayed elegant meaning and a story behind each lyric, as well as oldies (50s-90s) that laid out music genius, values and catchy tunes.

Though I was passionate about these two genres, I felt that something was missing.  Then as I was first exposed to fictional band ANJell of You're Beautiful, and then kpop bands CNBlue and FTIsland, I soon found that piece that I had been longing for but hadn't found.  Kpop always lifts up my spirit no matter how stressed or low I'm feeling.  Watching the slickness and synchronization of kpop dance music videos impresses me.  Once every couple of months I do get sick of listening to only kpop, but that feeling quickly fades and I'm back to jamming to my current favorites, CNBlue, Infinite and Teen Top!

I have always been ashamed when people ask what music I listen to, because I don't want others to think I'm shallow for listening to music I don't even understand.  Yet this same situation applies to many others.  American and British pop singers have such an international fan base, yet many of these fans don't understand English.  There are also songs produced in English that other English speakers can't actually understand, but still enjoy (Sean Paul's 'Temperature' comes to mind, as well as rap songs).  But to address my personally not understanding the lyrics of kpop, it may be true that I'm being ignorant by listening to music where I don't know the meaning.  Yet this helps me listen to music more enjoyably, because I originally strayed away from pop music to avoid the valueless lyrics that reflect its society, or at least its artist's views (I'm referring to the first verse of Katy Perry's 'The One that Got Away').

I have been thinking about why I started listening to and how I became so fixated with kpop, out of all the genres out there, and wanted to share my thoughts.  I hope I didn't offend anyone, because that was definitely not my intention!  I have full respect for artists such as Katy Perry, because they are well-put together and have gained so much respect and support from fans around the world, which is an unimaginable accomplishment.  I am just not fond of their music :/