ELSA

Eunji, Luna, Solar, Ailee

I don't think it's an "official" name for the subgroup but they should sing together more often. At least Solar got equal time for this song; the first time they sang together Solar didn't get any solo parts.



I've seen two out of the four in concert. Ailee was at a local Indian casino recently but I didn't get a chance to see her.

K-Hip-Hop

One of our analysts at work is a closet hip-hop rapper. It was on his resume when he applied and of course, we make him bust a rhyme during the interview, He hears me talk about going to K-pop concerts so he was curious. Instead of Girls' Generation or Apink, I showed him these two videos:


Sse SSe SSe - Yezi (feat. Gilme, KITTIB, and Ahn Soo-min)

They are some of the contestants on Unpretty Rapstar 2 on Mnet. I didn't watch much of it but heard is was rigged since some of the contestants already signed album deals with Mnet before the show, and of course they won... though the audience consensus was that the winner wasn't the best rapper. The show also starred Hyolin from SISTAR and Yubin from Wonder Girls. I'm beginning to like Yezi, and Soo-min is cute in the video.


Stand Up - Basick (feat. MAMAMOO)

I show him this mainly because of MAMAMOO. Anyway, I think the overall impression was favorable. He liked Basick but mentioned that it sounded a lot like Macklemore.

NEW2U Certified Pre-Owned

Who comes up with these names? Marketing MBAs? Anyway, after a few Twitter messages, T-Mobile agreed to send me a replacement for my dying HTC One M8. I have been with T-Mobile for 10+ years, including several years where I only needed a "home" phone number and would use ~5 minutes out of my 700 minute plan each month. The replacement phone arrived quickly and I have 7 days to return the old phone.

However, T-Mobile managed to send me a different phone. So instead of a HTC One M8, I now have a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S5. Both phones came out around the same time in 2014, and both were $650 new. Even though both are running Android 5, there are enough hardware and software differences that it's a pain in the ass to copy apps and data over to the "new" phone. I'm struggling to remember dozens of usernames and passwords, and there's no way to transfer chat/text history. Ugh.

Also the Galaxy S5 is slow. My HTC was a bit slow already but the S5 is worse. Here are some quick impressions:

- S5 is lighter and thinner, and has a replaceable battery. If I could replace the battery in the M8, then I would be posting this.
- The screen looks nicer than the HTC, and has a much higher resolution camera.
- Even though the battery is replaceable, it doesn't seem to last very long... and it comes with a USB 3.0 cable port.
- Sound quality is bad. The HTC had awesome speakers, but I guess everyone uses headphones to listen to music.
- S5 only came with 16GB vs. 32GB of on-camera memory. Good thing there is a micro SD card (I hate Apple).
- The refurbished phone came with free headphones! Surprisingly, the M8 didn't come with any. I have lots, but I like the cheap Samsung ones. I'm still using the set that came with my original Galaxy S9000.
- Already bought a new case since the old one won't fit. $11.99 from Amazon.

Again, beggars can't be choosy. Having a S5 is much better than no phone, or spending another $700 on a new one.

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One more thing: The S5 is supposed to be waterproof so in case you drop your phone in the toilet or something. To achieve this, the USB 3.0 charging port has a huge cover that is hard to open/close, especially if you don't have long fingernails. The obvious solution is to get an inductive charger back cover (or a thin insert) and charge wirelessly. I'll see how long I can deal with the fat cover for now.

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Well, I think I've copied everything I could off the old phone and reinstalled most of the apps on the new phone. I did a factory reset on the HTC and it's going back to T-Mobile tomorrow. Looks like I'm stuck with Samsung phones for now.

Taller Than You

Another MAMAMOO pre-release song. I think they're dissing each other about their heights.


1cm의 자존심 (Taller than You) - MAMAMOO

I met them at a fan concert a few months ago. They are shorter than they look in videos.

Crappy Smartphone

My first smartphone was a Samsung Vibrant (aka Galaxy S9000) and it worked well for several years. About two years ago, I replaced it with a HTC One M8. At the time, conventional wisdom was to get a Samsung Galaxy S4 or an Apple iPhone 5; I got the HTC to show some love for Taiwan. I also ended up buying a special case (dot view) and an external camera (HTC Re) for it.

Last weekend, I noticed that the phone was cracked along the edges, and the glass screen had a bulge in it. Most likely the internal battery went bad since the phone wasn't holding much charge either. Lithium ion batteries tend to heat up and swell as they deteriorate. I'm kinda pissed since the phone cost me $650 and only lasted <2 years, while several iPhone 4's and my OG Galaxy is still fine. The HTC phone still works but now I'm afraid it will catch fire or something when the battery finally dies. Debating whether to buy a battery replacement kit online (looks like it will take hours to open case and replace battery), or get a new (expensive) phone. Sigh...

Boob Grab

What's up with that? Fast forward to 5:10 in the video...

New MAMAMOO Single

I Miss You - MAMAMOO

Only audio so far. Not sure if they will release a MV when the new mini-album comes out later. No MV, but they performed the song on a few music shows.