Infinite Second Invasion Evolution T-Shirt Review

While I honestly don't know what I'll do with it (especially because I didn't even go to this concert), I bought a new Second Invasion Evolution T-shirt for 29,500₩ while original price was 22,000₩. Again, I'm skeptical about the the credibility of this item since I didn't buy it directly from the concert. But I'll just have to believe! It was sold only in one size and in white or in black, but I was only able to find a white one. The tee comes rolled up a plastic cylinder case with tin caps. There is a concert sticker on the front of the tube as well. And like how the OGS hoodie had a typo with a long English word, so did this item as "distributed" was misspelled on both the tee and the sticker.

I'm just under 5'4" and I wear an American small, and this tee hits just above my thighs and is a little loose but still fitted nicely, so maybe up to an American sized medium can fit this shirt. It's also made of very stretchy cotton. It's a white T-shirt with the Infinite Second Invasion logo in gold printed on the bottom left corner. The inside also uses this gold to print the information at the collar.

The backside has the same gold print, with the enlarged logo and the date and time of the concert: 2012.04.01 PM5. It's weird how the shirt doesn't look well made, as the hem isn't straight and the cut doesn't seem aligned. But despite being a white tee, it's still a nice shirt, especially because of the stretchy quality.

Infinite Comeback Slogan Towel Reviews

I bought some supposedly official Infinite slogan towels that were sold during their "Man in Love" and "Last Romeo" comeback promotions. I am so disgusted with myself, as I do think that my New Challenge towel is counterfeit...the authentication seal looks faulty and different from their others, and on the slogan itself the logo is cracked in the center. It's just...if I see anything Infinite and that seems legit...I have no rational thinking and I just have to buy it. Anyways...

The slogan towel comes folded in a vinyl plastic zipper pouch.

The towel itself is 23.5 inches by 7.5 inches. It is a black terry cloth towel with a gold vinyl print on top.

I feel a bit silly for buying these now (though I thrive on my Infinite memorabilia) because I wasn't actually able to use these slogan towels during Infinite's comeback stages though I was in Seoul during their "Back" promotion...the regret for not trying to go to music shows.

Infinite That Summer Concert 2 Merchandise Review (Part 3)

I'm finally finishing off the unboxing of my final two items from That Summer Concert 2, the light stick and the poster set.

Infinite Official Light Stick

Inspirits finally have an official light stick, and I'm so happy that it doesn't look tacky or childish, but rather very elegant and precious! Even just the box is so pretty.

Inside, the light stick is wedged on a platform, along with a strap. Underneath the platform is a manual.

The manual is in Korean, but it gives a nice diagram of the light stick as well.

The back of the box, as well as the back of the manual, state the technical information in English. Originally the information was printed directly on the box, but then they put a sticker on top...maybe there was a misprint. The light stick needs three AAA batteries to operate (which the concert venue sold a set for 1,000 ₩). Also when you turn on the light stick, it can either flicker, blink or remain on.

To put in the batteries, just unscrew the bottom of the stick and it's pretty easy to figure it out from there. Also there is a little hole for you to attach the strap.

The strap is made of plastic and shoelace material, with the OTT logo and New Challenge font printed on both sides.

Now onto the actual light stick, which again is just so pretty! The handle is curved ergonomically, with "Infinite" printed on one side, and the one power button on the other side. The base of the top part has the OTT logo on four sides.

The top half has an exterior clear plastic with gold flecks, and inside has the OTT logo. There are three LED bulbs on top of the logo that are white, and four at the bottom of the logo, which are orange. It also looks like inside the logo there are a few orange lights as well, but it might just be the seven exterior lights reflecting into the logo. The very top has a gold cover with the logo and font cut out of the cover, to create shadows on the walls and whatnot (though I couldn't really figure it out). To prevent anything from following inside the light stick, there is a clear plastic cover attached from the underside of the cover. Also it is a little big, as all fancy light sticks are, as the diameter is 3.875 inches and the height is 8 inches. I'm so happy Infinite finally has an official light stick, that it was released in time for this concert (and I'm sorry for 4th Generation Inspirits who were supposed to have goods only meant for them...) and that I was able to buy one at the source!

Poster Set

This poster set includes nine posters and comes in a very wide, heavy duty tube 4 inches in diameter and just shy of 18 inches in height.

The posters are placed inside a clear plastic bag-like tube that protects both ends.

Because the tube is so wide, even right when I take out the stack of posters, they're pretty flat and only the ends are curled up. The posters are 16.25 inches by 23 inches.

Here are the nine posters! In the tube, it was the two group posters first, then the individual posters from oldest to youngest. As you can see, the theme is the Colors of Infinite, so the clothes and backgrounds are the members' designated colors. The backgrounds also have a pattern matching their colorful article of clothing. I don't like how bold all these colors are...I wish they did something more like the group photos!

And that's it for the That Summer Concert 2 merchandise reviews!

You're Beautiful Jang Geun Suk Special Edition OST Review

Since You're Beautiful was the drama that brought me into this world, I figured I had to complete that OST collection and buy this Jang Keun Suk Special Edition.

Despite being a thin cardboard album, it still cost 12,000₩. The tracklist is printed on the back cover:

1. 어떡하죠 (What Should I Do) - 장근석 (Jang Geun Suk)
2. Good bye - 장근석 (Jang Geun Suk)
3. 말도 없이 (Without Saying) - 장근석 (Jang Geun Suk)
4. 약속 (Promise) - ANJell
5. 여전히 (Still As Ever) - ANJell

The second and third tracks are on the You're Beautiful OST 2 while the last two are on the You're Beautiful OST 1, so the only new song is the first track, which is already in the original OST but sang by the original singer. Oddly enough, the lyrics book lists the artist of "Good bye" as ANJell, though it actually is Jang Geun Suk, as printed on the back cover.

Inside the album, the left has credits while the right has information on Jang Geun Suk's character from the drama. Tucked tightly inside the left flap is the lyrics booklet and the CD is in the right.

One side has five photos of Jang Geun Suk from the drama's main photoshoot, and the other side has the lyrics and song credits, along with more closeups of Jang Geun Suk. All of these photos show his many disgusted facial expressions reminiscent of the drama.

Here's the CD. In the end, I probably didn't have to buy this CD as I basically have all the songs already and the photos are obviously only of Jang Geun Suk. But I'm happy to add to my You're Beautiful collection.

Infinite 2014 Season's Greeting Review

As it's already the end of August, I'm pretty late in buying and reviewing Infinite's 2014 calendar. But I'll do it anyways^^

This box is made of cardboard and works like a pizza box. And the front is so pretty, with the metallic lettering and bronze-gold design. As the cover of the box illustrates, this packaging includes a calendar, scheduler and DVD. As Woollim merged with SM, this is the same exact format as SM artists' calendars.

The calendar is on top, and underneath is the scheduler placed in a flimsy, thin cardboard platform, both in individual resealable plastic bags. The calendar is 8.6875 inches by just under 11.5 inches, including the spiral.

The calendar is really lovely, as it has a sturdy, folding board that allows it to stand well. The pages are made of high quality card stock. What was the really big turnoff that made me not buy this calendar for so long, however, is the marketing concept of calling Infinite "Lovely Seven Boyfriends" on the title (not just the awkward grammar, but the fact that it's boyfriends) and "hottest boyfriends" on the following page. I love Infinite for not just their looks, but actually for their talent, as they are a music group and they're supposed to sing, so calling them "boyfriends" and "hottest" is just so irrelevant and is just embarrassing to look at. And this cover photo is my most favorite photo of Infinite ever, but SM just had to ruin it with its wording.

The first few pages has a calendar of the entire year and Infinite's printed autograph and messages. Besides the members' messages written in Korean, the rest of the calendar and the scheduler are all in English. Infinite's birthdays and anniversary are printed on the calendar too. The last few pages includes a January 2015 page, two group photos, and a global year calendar for China, US, Thailand and Taiwan.

Each month has two photos, with seven months being the same members' photos per month and the other months being group photos or more individual photos. Each month is displayed in two ways: one with all the dates in one line and the other in a traditional grid format.

Slipped into the last page is a sheet of stickers to mark specific dates on the calendar.

The schedule uses photos from only the tough an dark photoshoot. The cover is black with diamond cutouts reveals each member's photo underneath. It's 5.375 inches by 7.25 inches and .375 of an inch thick, which is perfect for putting it in a backpack if anyone actually would be willing to use it.

The first half includes a 2014 calendar, two group photos, a scheduler by month, a scheduler by week, and two photos of each member spread throughout the scheduler.

The second half has lined paper, blank paper, graph paper and paper split into thirds, with one photo taking up two pages per member.

Attached to the back is a folder for the DVD. On the back is also a holographic seal.

On the DVD it states that it's for Region 3, but I was able to play it on my American laptop. This DVD has two special features, titled "2014 Infinite Season's Greeting" and "Special Message To Infinite." Both are in Korean with no subtitles. The first feature is 7 minutes 10 seconds long and plays the instrumental version of "Destiny" in the background, which is so beautiful; I don't know why it wasn't included in The Origin! This has the behind the scenes of the black leather outfit photoshoot used for the scheduler, starting with the group shots and then individual shots. The individual shots also include each member's message to Inspirits. At the end they included the gorgeous white outfit group shots used in the calendar. ㅠㅠ SM why WHY must you put the stupid "boyfriend" thing to ruin the most gorgeous photoshoot ever The second feature is 3 minutes 18 seconds long and plays the instrumental of "Nothing Better Than This." Each member gives a short message to the next member, forming a chain; here was the order: Sunggyu to L, then L to Woohyun, continuing down to Dongwoo, Sungjong, Hoya, Sungyeol and back to Sunggyu.

I'm so glad I held off buying it until I came to Korea, because my purchase came with a poster! This poster came rolled up with an Everysing paper holding it together...a sign of SM lurking around -.- The poster is 23.5 inches by 16.5 inches and is pure perfection!

Overall, besides the annoying "boyfriends" concept, I love this product and really regret buying it so late into the year! The calendar is really high quality and looks amazing on my shelf. I never thought I'd buy such an expensive calendar, but now I feel like I'll have to buy the Season's Greeting every year!

Infinite: Last Romeo ~Kimi Ga Ireba Ii~ Single (Type A) Review

On July 2nd, 2014, Infinite released their latest Japanese single album, Last Romeo, once again with three versions, one normal and two first press editions. Here I'll review Type A, which includes a DVD, and I reviewed Type B here. All three versions have different photoshoots, outfits and photos, making Inspirits more inclined to buy all three. I personally wanted the normal version because just the album cover itself looks so pretty, but it was difficult to find in stores!

This album is the same size as Infinite's other singles and the exterior is made out of thick paper, like Inspirit. The outfits for this album is the not-so-flattering or appealing geometric outfits.

While this is a Japanese album, I actually bought the Taiwanese version, which I didn't even know existed. Ever since the SM merger, Infinite has been releasing Taiwanese versions of their albums. The differences with the Taiwanese version is that the DVD is for all regions instead of just region 2, the album doesn't come with a lottery ticket for the hi-touch events in Japan, and included is a lyrics sheet translated in Chinese.

When you open the album, the left half contains the photobooklet and extra slip, which you can pull out from either the left or right side. It also lists the CD and DVD tracklists. The right side has the CD and DVD.

The single includes the Japanese versions of "Last Romeo," "A Person Like Me," and "Nothing's Over," which I think is a great collection of Infinite's softer songs and gives a variety of dance and ballad. The DVD includes the music video of the Japanese version of "Last Romeo" and the making of both versions of the music video. The Japanese version is pretty much the same as the Korean version, except the intro track has different excerpts from the song playing, and Infinite's main outfits are the white lace suits and the geometric outfits. And remember Woollim asked us to spot the mistakes from the music video? They should have asked us to do that for the Japanese version, because at 3:20, when Myungsoo should be in the center and they're dancing the chorus for the third time, they put in a clip of when Sunggyu was in the center instead. The behind the scenes was very short, only 8 minutes and 49 seconds long. It was cool to see them filming for both music videos, and to see the evolution of the dance in the video. They showed Infinite in their black outfits (not the lace suit ones) standing up for their ending pose! Also they showed individual members' shoots. Because this feature is so short, members didn't get a lot of screen time for interviews. For the most part, everyone spoke in Korean with Japanese subtitles. Though Hoya and Sungjong spoke Japanese at the end! And Myungsoo was so cute to tell his leg to "wake up" in English!

The photobooklet has 14 pages and only includes photos from this geometric outfit photoshoot. The back cover includes the credits.

There are two group photos and an individual photo for each member, as well as the song lyrics in Japanese. Oddly enough, the lyrics for "Nothing's Over" is printed twice...

This purchase also came with a set of two free posters! They're both pre-wrapped tightly in plastic, so it's protected well. The posters are 16.5 inches by 24 inches. While the posters look very similar, the image on the left is the same as one of the posters from the Korean version, and the one on the right is the same image as the cover art of Type B. I really like the poster on the right because it looks like a Japanese promotional poster, with information about the three types of CDs and information about the hi-touch event at the bottom.

Akdong Musician: Debut Album Play Review

Ever since I saw Akdong Musician live at the Brilliant Motor Festival, I fell for the siblings' awkward charms, writing talent and singing voices. I had to get a copy of their first album!

This album is very high quality and elegant. There is a clear slip that, once removed, reveals a canvas album cover. The back cover includes the tracklist and a cute photo of the pair.

Opening the album to the middle reveals the photobook on the left, two slips of paper, and the CD on the right.

The first slip of paper is a sticker sheet of motifs represented in the songs. The second piece of paper has an artistic design, and the backside has information about YG auditions.

This album is a little different, as you open the photobook by starting at the very left of the album, not from the middle of the album. And flipping to the first page reveals this really cool pop-up! I am a sucker for unique packaging, and this definitely is one of my favorite album designs.

Included on the following page is also the tracklist, along with English counterparts (though for track 10 I don't know why it's not just called "Hi"...?).

The photobook is 44 pages long, with a beautiful photoshoot of the two in a beautiful forest. The lyrics are also displayed really nicely, one song per page.

This full length album has 11 tracks, all equally stunning. I love all of Akmu's songs, as they're soothing and catchy, and their voices offer a relaxing atmosphere.

Overall, I really like the design of this album. It seems very organic, with the canvas texture, green papery CD platform, and nature photoshoot. And of course the songs are just as new and fresh as the album.

KDrama: Cunning Single Lady OST Review

I absolutely loved the drama Cunning Single Lady, and Myungsoo's role made it that much more special. So I decided to buy the OST in hopes of the photobook having a few photos of Secretary Gil!

Here are the front and back covers.

The tracklist is also printed on the back.

Inside, the photobook is on the left while the CD is on the right.

The photobook has 26 pages and mostly has stills from the drama of the two leads' developing relationship. There are also a few photos of supplementary characters, as well as behind the scenes photos. The lyrics and credits are displayed throughout the pages as well.

And, there are a total of four photos of Myungsoo! I would say that this purchase was definitely worth it^^