Infinite 2015 Season's Greetings Review

I finally ordered and received my 2015 Season's Greetings, despite being a few months late. I'm always hesitant about purchasing any Season's Greetings because they're about $35USD (32,000₩) if bought in Korea, plus a $15 shipping fee for international fans. $50 just seems too ridiculous for a one-year (and one month) calendar. So last year I finally bought Infinite's 2014 Season's Greetings in July and opened it at the end of August, and this year I found a great deal and ordered it online in early March, so only three months wasted! I ordered from "vipshopkorea," a Korean seller on eBay selling it new for $34.99 with free shipping, which is practically buying it at a store in Korea. It took just 11 days to arrive since I placed my order and I noticed the shipping fee really was roughly $15 for the seller so I got a great deal. Also I'm so pleased that it arrived in perfect condition despite the large size, which restores my faith in online orders.

What makes this year's calendar even more appealing is Dongwoo's unboxing video of it on his Instagram account^^ Just to have Dongwoo endorsing this product on his own makes it so much more special. Anyways, this Season's Greetings is very similar to last year's, packaged in a cardboard box with dimensions 12.25" x 9.125" x 1.75".. Though it's hard to see, the Season 2 logo is outlined and intended, creating a nice touch.

The backside has all the technical information. Something random I noticed, last year it was called "Season's Greeting" and this year it's called "Season's Greetings."

The contents are also similar to last year's, with the calendar on top, then underneath the DVD and scheduler on the left, and calendar photocards on the right.

Here is everything laid out. The cardboard box is especially nice and sturdier this year with the indented sections keeping the contents snug and well-packed. All four items are also nicely packed in their own sealed clear plastic bag.

This is listed as a "mini calendar," but it's more like monthly photocards. They're in this makeshift box. The size is really convenient to carry around with you, but I'm still trying to figure out how I could carry these around with me without damaging them.

Here is the backside of the box. The quality reminds me of the the box for the first press edition photocards from L's Bravo Viewtiful, because it's like a thin cardboard box that you'd make in elementary school. When you open the top flap (which is hard to do without ripping if you don't have the patience), all four flaps open to reveal the photocards.

Here are all 12 photocards, one per month, from January to December (left to right, top to bottom). All these photos are different from the calendar and scheduler. There was this black dot printed on Dongwoo's precious face and I kept scratching it to try to remove it, but it only left scratch marks...so I suggest being careful with these cards! As you can see, the photos are from both photoshoots (the cozy winter jacket one and the cute door frame one).

The backside of each card looks something like this, which is really helpful so I wouldn't mind bringing this along with me everywhere though I just realized smartphones have calendar apps...

The DVD comes in this square paper envelope.

Here is the DVD. It states that it's for Region 3. It's weird, my Region 1 laptop and DVD player both play last year's Season's Greeting DVD (also Region 3) perfectly, but it's not working for this year's Season's Greetings...I have to find a way to see it through my own disc and not just from YouTube...I finally found a DVD player that would play my DVD! The DVD contains the behind the scenes from the photoshoots, and is 11 minutes and 30 seconds long. It begins with a focus on each member's individual shots, and a short message from each member to the camera. Then there is footage from the various group shots, including the infamous part where Dongwoo slides his hand up Sungyeol's thigh...

The scheduler is very high quality, especially because it has a very thick hard cover and the overall elegance of its simplistic design.

The front cover has the Infinite logo embedded into the cover. On the spine is the logo and "Infinite Scheduler" in gold lettering, making the whole thing so elegant. The backside is simplistic as well.

The scheduler includes a 12 month calendar, then a yearly plan, then a monthly calendar with Infinite's birthdays and anniversary, then a weekly plan, followed by pages of lined, blank, and graph paper. I love how the monthly calendar (bottom left) includes "5th Anniversary" and how the pages are filled with the beautiful Season 2 logo.

Spread throughout the pages are two gorgeous photos of each member and one group photo. The first set of member photos are like on the left, with just the photo, and the second set is similar, and includes the logo and member's name. The only "disappointing" photo is the small, black-and-white group photo (different from the one I just mentioned previously) on the top left two photos above.

And on to the calendar! I tried to limit the pages I'd show on here, but I was so awestruck with each page that I ended up taking pictures of practically every page. This sounds weird, but I also really love the smell...like pages fresh off the press, just like Infinite's albums. Anyways, the calendar is 8.625" x 11" when it's upright.

The thing I hated the absolute most about last year's Season's Greetings was the theme of "Lovely Seven Boyfriends," and I am so truly relieved that this year the theme is "Style of the World," which is random but it's fine by me! There are several photoshoots, one being this one and another one where they're standing in the doorway, and a few more with similar outfits fitting the style.

Placed between the gap of the calendar is a sticker sheet for you to use to mark special dates throughout the year. It's the same sticker sheet SM provided in their 2012 wall calendars...

After the title page is a page displaying all 12 months and the birth dates and anniversary of Infinite, and then this simple but beautiful page. The overall theme of the calendar is very mature and professional, with the boys wearing timeless and simplistic outfits; here is now I can see the theme of "Style of the World."

Each month has two pages; the first page is a closeup in color, with the calendar as one line at the bottom and includes Infinite's birth dates and anniversary if it's on that month. The second page is of the same member or members, and the photo is more distant and in black and white, with the calendar on the side. Here is January, with Infinite H starting the year~

Each member gets one month, then there are three subgroups each with a month, Infinite H, Sunggyu and Sungyeol, and the remaining three, Woohyun, Myungsoo and Sungjong, and finally two months of group photos. I love these photos; they look like they could be in a fashion pictorial! Though Myungsoo's just being his dorky self in that photo^^

And Sungjong's black and white shot really stunned me the most; I love the vintage look, and Sungjong looks so much more mature and grownup from his photos last year, of him in preppy clothes and with frosting on his nose.

Here are two pages of the group photos. The right photo is my favorite group photo; they all look like they're having so much fun! And I love how Myungsoo's pose is so similar to the cover of Infinite F's album!

After December, there's another page for the 2016 calendar, followed by this last page of Infinite.

This time they sadly don't include a page for January 2016. The very last page has 2015 global calendars for China, the US, Taiwan, and Thailand, and includes those countries' own observed holidays. I thought it was funny how at the very bottom of the page, there's a disclaimer that states "The Global Calendar's national holidays may be different since the information was gathered in Korea."

Overall, I love the quality (everything is very thick and durable!) and the contents of this year's Season's Greetings, and especially the concept and photos. I didn't think the photos could be better than last year's, but somehow they just are! I can't wait to enjoy the remainder of the year with such a fabulous calendar.

BTOB: 뛰뛰빵빵 (Beep Beep) 4th Mini Album Review

In February 2014, BTOB came back with their fourth mini album named after their title song, "뛰뛰빵빵 (Beep Beep)." BTOB's music never disappoints me, and this album is no exception; all the songs are high quality and I love how the members continually participate in writing the lyrics, making each song more meaningful.

This album is the size of many Kpop mini albums, except it's thicker because of the beautifully thick photobook. The overall concept is the black-and-white tough schoolboy theme. The front cover adds a nice touch by making the album title and "BTOB" reflective to give color to the album.

Here you can see just how thick the photobook is, compared to the clear plastic that holds the CD.

The back cover continues the tire pattern from the front cover and includes the tracklist. As a mini album, it's a pretty short tracklist with only five songs.

Here is a closeup of the tracklist provided in the photobook. All the members participated in at least one song, and each song is has several members contributing, whether it be the lyrics, chorus, or rap. I like how this album has covers several genres, from the poppy and fun title track to ballads. Honestly I don't like these songs anywhere nearly as much as as the previous three mini albums (where I found all the songs absolutely stunningly amazing), I don't know how I convinced myself to buy this album when I usually don't buy random Kpop artists' albums.

When you open up the album, the photobook is on the left and the CD is on the right, with a wheel design matching the title song.

And here is the very thick photobook, with a total of 112 photos. The first section is the largest, with the photoshoot from the album cover; there are many group photos, and then many more individual photos, all in black and white. I like how the individual photos show off the members' various expressions.

The next section is full of bright and colorful photos of the members in various everyday scenarios.

Lastly there are the lyrics, along with outdoor group photos in black and white, and then several more pages of group photos in color.

Overall, I didn't feel any of the songs stood out to me, especially compared to all their previous songs, so I am a bit disappointed I bought this album...but I will continue to support BTOB and look forward to what else they have for the future!

How I Store Kpop Goods (Photocards, Clear Files, etc.)

Part of what I love about Kpop is the additional goodies that Kpop album include, such as photocards and postcards. After getting into Kpop, I fell in love with collecting random memorabilia besides photocards and postcards, such as mini posters, A4 clear files, as well as fansite goods. I started collecting stuff like this about two years ago, and it wasn't until last year that I figured out a decent way to store these types of things. Here I'll be writing about how I store my Kpop goods. I mostly collect Infinite memorabilia, so I'll relate this post mostly to Infinite's merchandise (and somehow they managed to be mostly of Myungsoo).

So many Kpop albums now don't just include a standard sized photocard, but they're getting more creative and they're getting to be postcard sized and even A4 sized. I didn't want to just leave my photocards in the albums, so I decided to buy art portfolio books in several dimensions, to best fit my various sized cards. My smallest dimension one is for 4" x 6" postcards, which contains 60 sleeves. I bought this, which is actually just for postcards and not specifically to hold art, for $2 at Daiso, a Japanese $2 store, but sadly I haven't seen this product for a year or so now.

I use this one to store all my small photocards, as well as my 4" x 6" postcards (above); the small photocards can slide around a bit in their sleeves since they're so small, but the postcards fit so well. In this sleeve is one of the bookmarks from my You're Beautiful OST album; many of the paper goods from albums will fit in this size.

You can see that many of photocards fit in this book, including the typical trading card sized photocards like Infinite H's, 4" x 6" postcards like from Infinite's New Challenge and from Myungsoo's endorsement for Shara Shara, and Infinite's Natuur Pop postcard set.

My remaining three are official art portfolio books, that I bought at my university bookstore in the art section. I bought them all from the brand Itoya, and they all have 24 sleeves and are more expensive for much fewer sleeves, at about $10 to $20 each.

The smallest book I have of the art portfolio books is 5" x 7" (above), which is perfect for postcards slightly larger than the 4" x 6" postcards. This size is perfect for Infinite's Destiny postcards and the postcard set from the drama My Lovely Girl.

The next size up that I bought was 8.5" x 11" (above), which is also A4 sized or regular printer paper sized. I have a set of IU and Infinite bromide mini posters that are just slightly shorter than A4, and fit perfectly in this book. This is also perfect for A4 photocards, like Infinite's She's Back photocard on the bottom right, or cards just a bit larger than the standard postcard size, like Infinite's Be Back on the left.

And lastly, I have an 11" x 14" book (above). I have several A4 clear files, which are meant to store A4 sized paper, meaning that the clear file itself has to be larger than A4. The top is from Infinite's Rally 1 in 2013; the one of the left is the folder containing all the files. The bottom ones are clear files from Infinite's That Summer Concert 2.The clear files (and the folders they came in) are a bit smaller than the full dimensions of this book, so they slide around a bit if I'm flipping through them quickly, but this is the best I could do.

Also the mini poster included in Infinite's IDEA Photobook are just slightly taller than A4, so I had to put it in this book as well. On the left is the backside of one of Infinite's Natuur Pop endorsement clear files.

And of course the next size up would probably be my posters, but for those I just frame them up and display them on my walls or sadly roll them up into a poster tube.

Some people would rather store photocards in binders like collecting trading cards, but that seems too complicated for me and I'd be too inclined to collect every photocard from each album to complete the sets. Also because photocards come in so many dimensions, it'd seem too difficult to find sleeves tailored for each one. I've settled on my method with these art portfolio books, but I just recently ran out of room in my 4" x 6" book and have photocards waiting to be put in sleeves...maybe I will try the binder method some day, just for the smaller photocards, and have the larger cards in these books. The only downfall about the way I organize my cards, however, is if I get a new photocard and have to change the order of my cards, since the sleeves can't be moved like binder sleeves.

KDrama: My Lovely Girl OST Review

My Lovely Girl is a lighthearted drama starring Rain, f(x)'s Krystal, and Infinite's L that aired with 16 episodes from September to November 2014. It is about a CEO who takes interest in his late girlfriend's younger sister and soon falls for her...or so I believe. I honestly stopped watching this drama at episode 10 because it was just so boring. The reason I bought this OST and originally wanted to watch the drama was because Myungsoo (L) is the second lead, and Hoya had a small part as well. What's most intriguing about this drama and what I thought would keep me interested was that it is set around an entertainment company and the behind-the-scenes lives of idols. Myungsoo said he was drawn to his character as an idol because he could portray feelings that he as an actual idol feels; this made me sad to think that Myungsoo's having a difficult time as an idol, has feelings for someone, and has horrible relationships with his band members. It was so difficult watching the angst between Myungsoo's and Hoya's characters. Anyways, I hope to someday finish this drama, for the sake of watching and supporting Myungsoo's acting.

I originally bought this album on YesAsia.com for $20.99, but sadly my album arrived damaged. The post about my damaged album is here, and if you want to know more about returning damaged items to YesAsia, I discuss it here. Finally I have time to do an unboxing on this album~

The album is very high quality and thick, and the matte finish gives a nice, elegant touch to the overall design.

The back cover is very gorgeous, but honestly very random...usually the second lead wouldn't really have a cover all to himself. Myungsoo had his hair dyed blond for the first half of the drama (due to Infinite's Back promotions), but I'm glad they settled on him with natural hair for the back cover. I personally was not a fan of his blond hair, and was sad to see it in the drama as well, but dying hair for comebacks is definitely a thing for idols, so the timing of Infinite's promotions along with this drama fit well with him dying his hair blond.

Here is a closeup of the tracklist; sorry it's still hard to see. This album comes with two CDs, for a total of 27 songs. In the drama, Myungsoo and Hoya's group (and honestly I completely forgot, the other members of the group are Woollim trainees, Sungyeol's younger brother Daeyeol and Choi Sungyoon) performed Infinite's "1/3" and Myungsoo performed two songs for his solo debut, but sadly none of these versions are actually included in the OST. It's understandable that "1/3" isn't on the OST, but for Myungsoo's songs it is other artists performing it. Despite this, there are some great songs on here  that were played consistently throughout the first 10 episodes, including "너 하나만" by Kim Tae Woo (I'm so glad they included this version over Krystal's version) and "사랑해줄래" by Alex.

The album is designed as one of those tri-folds, so opening the first flap reveals the photobook attached to the left side (the back of the front cover) and a quaint image of the two leads on the right.

Opening up the album flaps fully reveals each disc in s its own side, and a set of postcards in the center. I like how the left side of the album matches the front cover (they're both light green) while the right side matches the back cover (they're both black) and how that matches the trifold center.

The two discs are really pretty, with the first CD of blond Myungsoo and the second of Rain and Krystal, both with the same setting.

After flipping the front cover of the album, the photobook starts from left to right (I honestly thought it starts from right to left, because the last page looks like it'd make a great front cover of a photobook).

The photobook has 26 pages and has song lyrics and credits nicely spread out throughout the pages.

As an Inspirit, I only selected the pages with Myungsoo; there are actually 11 pages with him, but one was just a minuscule photo so I didn't include it. I love how these photos not only show cuts from the episodes, but also from the photoshoots, and photos of the imaginary group Infinite Power, and just a few behind-the-scenes photos.

The album also comes with a set of three postcards (5" x 7") of the three main actors with blank backsides. I cannot get over the perfection of Myungsoo's postcard; I've never seen him do this type of photo before and the fact that it looks like a glamorous magazine pictorial makes this one postcard completely worth buying the whole album!

Overall, I love this album because of Myungsoo's significant presence throughout, though I don't think I'd actually listen to these songs very much. This album is just a nice collection to have for Inspirits and the packaging is nicer than many OST albums.