MMS Log 13: Competition Level = Korea

There are a few things that Korea love competing about, and I'm not going to mention grades. This is basically my rant and marvels about somethings quite uniquely Korean.

First, there's baseball. Baseball in Korea is like Football in America or Soccer in Europe. Season after season, teams compete year-round. It's definitely not a men's thing since females go with their friends for matches too. Families go together, all wearing the numbers for their favorite players.  Even baseball conversations can get heated.
I'm grateful that Doosan had arranged for Chung-ang University's exchange students to watch their last match of the season: the playoff(?) for third place. Doosan owns the Doosan Bears and is the main sponsor for CAU, so they hosted us for a game. Thanks to them, we had good seating to see the home base closely. They also had chicken for us! Chicken and beer is big at baseball but we got KFC in case of minorsㅋㅋ

Well I thought it was a good area.

Each team has a cheerleader

And his girls who are not freezing.

They look scarier without the clappers.

Korea is big about energy. Besides fengshui, people's cheers are a huge source of energy. In any game, you would have supporters shouting so loudly and united that echoes are formed. I feel sorry for away teams coz their support group is usually small, comprised of their supporters living in that particular city.

Secondly, there's school pride. Now, BESIDES GRADES, two schools will compete in skill and talent: Korea and Yonsei Universities. I think Seoul National University doesn't care since they're up top to compete with the other two SKY universities. There's even a wiki page of their scores! Link here.

How big is it? Well, let's say it's baseball big. Two universities, red for KU and blue for YU fill up their halves of stadiums and cheer for their school team. What's the competition? Shouting. The point isn't really about the sports, but it's about the faith you have in your school. Shouting, music, everything going on at once. I heard Infinity Challenge hosts had visited a few events.

I've only gone for the hip-hop competition this year. The venue was not strategic. It's on level ground in a tiny park; nothing can happen! Worst off, it was raining all day. YU groups would dance to the KU students and vice versa. Who danced better? I'd say YU. Unlike KU, YU groups don't depend on sex scenes to make their dances great. If not for their pants on, KU could have had orgy in the middle of the park. I believe in fun and enjoyment rather than sensuality when it comes to dancing. Hip-hop was never about sex anyways, in my opinion.

Nevertheless, I had a good time seeing some skill at the event. But the best part was the after party of the week-long competition. Someone will gather students and they head of to eateries and streets to cheer together for each other. Sinchon's street is cordoned off for the concert on the last day and students stay back after to cheer in circles. KU or YU, it doesn't matter.

Thirdly, there's K-pop. Must I say more? This competition drags on from Korea to the world, having fandoms hurling insults at each other on the Internet. Year-end competitions spike up Internet activity with international fandoms racing to vote their favorites to the top in award shows like Mnet Asian Music Awards or the Melon Awards. How bad is the competition? Well I'd say that voting is based on popularity rather than performance or song content. I'd have to say, I'm pretty upset with this year's competition: It's a PopULARITY competition rather than a Pop Song competition, much like English Pop. I'm biased. INFINITE's dances and songs have always been recognized. They even topped the K-Pop Billboard for 2012 (WINNING PSY) with The Chaser. I embedded the dance version! Hehe It's my favorite mv from them because of videography and performance.

But INFINITE (or other awesome bands like BAP, BTOB, or VIXX) will NEVER win MAMA because of two things: SM and YG. SM throws in every band they have, and YG just needs to send their two. Voila, it's a SM-YG war! Sorry CUBE and JYP, you can't even apply here at all unless you send the Troublemaker. I still remember last year's BAP-EXO war for the MAMA 2012 Rookie Award, and the trolling from the winner Busker Busker.

As you can see from the voting tallies on 28th October, most group categories are conquered by SM or YG right now: EXO, SNSD, SHINee, G-Dragon, and Lee Hi. As much as INFINITE's songs are likable, they don't have fans for 12 individual members or worldwide acknowledgement like G-Dragon. I'm surprised by Shinhwa's appearance for the Best Group (second last cat) though. How did that happen? But I have something that keeps me cool about the EXO-GDragon competition: both nominated songs are so good! As much as this year's competition isn't exciting, I'm glad that the winning songs are actually the good ones. 

Aren't I biased for wanting INFINITE to win either? Well, I guess you can say that. But I acknowledge EXO and GD's songs too. They're awesome. I just feel sad that SM and YG will always have that great whale of a fandom to help them win. Like I said, it's popularity that wins this competition. I actually gave up on voting for INFINITE lol. Just coz I don't have vendetta for "Growl" or "Crooked", like I do for "Wolf". I just don't think that song is award material. Noraebang, yeah. Award, no. Basically because of the beginning. It made my friends cringe. Even I did lol. The song's only good after the beginning raps, IMO.

Hopefully the other 80% of winner selection would bring some diversity to the pool of winners, or else this would be one short MAMA 2013. And FYI, Big Bang is ALREADY confirmed for MAMA 2013. That should say something.

And "Wolf" comes on my iTunes to haunt me. Yay. GEURAE WOLF NAEGA WOLF.

[Update]

And here's the marvel: INFINITE WON BEST MALE GROUP. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? I have to say, I might fail as a fan for having that much faith in my group. I even blew raspberries at the chance of them winning when I saw their nomination on the screen. Oh well, I'd say it's about time! Now they don't have to stress over that gold box anymore. They deserve that recognition after 3 years of working hard and apologizing for no awards. I don't need them to need another one. This was good enough.

Seriously, what's with all the sensitivity towards Samsung and Apple? So I own a sad iPhone 4. I take my friend's phone to see what he has in his phone, and there's literally nothing. NOTHING. Other than the chat apps, and 4 games, NOTHING. So I said his phone is boring. Then someone else snidely remarks that my phone is the one tinier than his. I felt cornered coz all the people who sniggered were… Samsung users. Like WHUT. I didn't care that my friend owned a Samsung Note 1. It's just BORING. I couldn't do anything on his phone, regardless of brand and model. Then I got so pressured around the table that I gave in to getting a Galaxy S4 when I get back home. 

I really want the S4, I really do. I've considered for A YEAR already. But thinking back, I'm just wondering if I only decided on it that night because of peer pressure. Which leads me to think this whole Apple-Samsung war is just immature. I like my ideal phone a certain way, you like your ideal phone a certain way. So we get the phone according to our preference. Why I got an iPhone? Back then, the Samsung wasn't reputable or compatible with Singapore's network system. Why haven't I gotten a Samsung, because my face is freaking small! The Samsung is too big for my face and everyone will laugh at me! But I'm getting swayed now because the iPhone 5s is too light according to its size. Specs-wise, I'm more impressed by the S4 too. And I feel like the iOS7 is following an Android design so much that I might as well go for an Android. But I don't feel a need to say Samsung or Apple sucks. It's just that I'm dissatisfied with this brand so I go for another. No need to call each other names.

I'm just glad the one who convinced me to get a Samsung actually told me why she chose the Note 2 over the 5s. She even told me the different benefits between the iPhone and the Samsung. She told me that she had wanted the iPhone but she was not as satisfied with specs the newest iPhone.  It's not that she hated the Apple that she got the Samsung. Get what I mean? It's the needs that drove her decision, not the support. Not "Apple sucks so you should get the Samsung" JUST BECAUSE "APPLE SUCKS". Maybe you don't get what I mean.

[Additional rant] I feel so misunderstood at times. I'm pretty innocent and single-minded at times, so my words literally mean what they mean. If I say "it's boring", I don't necessarily mean "it sucks". I don't mean to put someone down with my words but I feel like people always think that I'm insulting them.

I need a chill pill. People need a chill pill. I think I need anti-depressants sometimes. My emotions can go on the major low sometimes it scares me.