4th Philippine Kpop Convention Highlights

Hey guys! I was supposed to start out the new year as most sane people would - with a few resolutions here and there and concrete plans for the year ahead.

But when have I ever demonstrated the sanity possessed by most of my stature? Answer: Not that often.

So because of my utter excitedness and flail-deprived state, I've decided to put this post ahead of the rest and share with you my first ever Philippine Kpop Convention Experience.

Most of you who are my friends on facebook know that although I had concrete plans to go to the convention regardless of whether or not I had a free pass, I did indeed win one from a Nuffnang Blogging Contest not long ago. But even still, I thought why not go ahead and pay for the entrance because the proceeds go to a good cause anyway.

But at least I got some cool prizes from Globe, Liole, Pond's and Basic House. Lol They even made me go on stage, which was a little too embarrassing for my taste.

Photos by Philippine KPOP Committee Inc.

Other than that though, going into my first KCON, I was honestly mostly there for the prospect of meeting F.CUZ  in the flesh. I've followed their music since their first single Jiggy and I remember listening to them fondly on my delegation to Singapore as a representative of my high school LOL. So of course, the prospect of meeting them excited me greatly.

But one unexpected highlight of my day was actually being introduced to a wonderful rookie Kpop Band called A.CIAN. To be straightforward, they aren't the best looking, nor are they the most talented, but you can definitely tell that they have the drive as well as the mindset to make it big.

Photos by Ada Agupitan

When interviewed, their model and aim was to become as well-known and respected as TVXQ, and you can tell that they value each and every one of their fans. I mean, who else would hug their fans so tightly and sincerely like that?

Aren't they just adorable hugging their fans like that?

Photos care of Brandon Sy my partner in crime LOL

So much happened between A.CIAN's LIVE and then F.CUZ but I wasn't exactly able to catch it all. There were fanbooths, activities, giveaways, dance battles, singing contests, Kpop Cosplay presentations etc etc. It's almost too much to take in at once. So being the oddball that I am, I took a calm little tea break and read a book ahahaha. DON'T JUDGE ME!

A few hours later and it was finally time for F.CUZ to perform. I pulled off some fancy cheerdance moves and managed to shoulder-sit myself atop my kind Kpop Partner to get these shots LOL. Yay for having the tallest combined height amidst all the people standing on chairs x_x Also, forgive me, I am obviously very Kan-biased LOL.

Photos by Ada Agupitan

Photos by Brandon Sy

The boys were absolutely amazing. From Left to right you can see them in the above few pictures: Jinon (the leader, and also the smiliest of the bunch), Raehyun (the one who likes to give out hand-hearts and aegyo to the max), Yejun (the self-proclaimed puppy of the household), Deagun (the to-die-for vocal) and Kan (the house and the cool mysterious visual).

Everyone who purchased their album at the event had a chance to meet and greet the band, and might I say the boys were really happy throughout the whole thing. I remember Yejun's crescent moon smile-eyes, Jinon's super tight handshake and Kan's hug hohohoho. I think these three are by far my favorites of the bunch.

Their performance itself was amazing. I have a few videos of them performing Gangnam Style but unfortunately, the loud fanscreams made it so that the video was virtually un-watchable unless in mute haha. Just tell me if you guys still want it and I'll be more than happy to upload all their performances.

I was one of the few that knew all their songs by heart and actually sang along to their songs, No. 1, No One, Jiggy, and Rise Up. Sadly they didn't perform Answer the Phone, but hey, you can't have everything right?

Two lucky fans got to win a dinner date with the band. I WAS ONLY TWO NUMBERS AWAY FROM THE WINNING TICKET! (The winner was 60 and I was 62 hahaha). Owell.

All in all, it was an amazing day from 9 am to 8 pm, almost a full twelve hours for me. I really can't ask for more despite all the could'ves and should'ves because it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life.

Thank you PHILIPPINE KPOP COMMITTEE for organizing another wonderful successful event! Until next time!

P.S. Can we please have B1A4 and/or BAP next? hahaha Please and thank you!

Ada, signing out.

The 4th Philippine KPOP Convention

HUZZAH! If you were to ask me what particular part about being on December break I would be looking forward to the most this year, I would definitely answer, without reservation or qualms,

"The 4th Philippine KPOP Convention!!!" 

-Insert incomprehensible fangirl flails here-

Yes, my dear friends, after three years of lost opportunities, misguided priorities and thus the loss of any chance of my attending the previous three Philippine Kpop Conventions, I have decided to do my very best to make it to this year's event.

Ermherhgerhhd, Ada. How could you have let those chances pass you by!?!?

Oh, 4th Philippine Kpop Convention, how may I put into perspective all the fun that I have missed these past few years and all the fun I have yet to have once I attend this year? Let me count the ways.

And thus I bring you:

Ada's impossibly long list of things she is spazzing about/most excited about in this year's Philippine Kpop Convention

1) The SHEER NUMBER of Kpop Group Fanclubs participating is ALMOST UNREAL.

And these are just the groups I fangirl most. The semi-complete list of fanclubs is actually below with the names in bold being the fanclubs I belong to *in my head*, but hopefully after Kpop Con, I'll be an official member of all of these as well!

MAJOR FANCLUBS

2NE1 PH, 4minute PH, 2Oneday PH, Beast PH, Shrine of BoA PH, Bigbang PH, Cassiopeia PH, CNBlue PH, EXO PH, Girl's Generation PH, Beyond Infinity Philippines, MBLAQ PH, Primadonna PH, SHINee World PH, Shinhwa PH, Super Junior United PH, T-ara PH, TripleS PH, Ukissme PH, Wonderful PH

MINOR FANCLUBS

A Pink PH, B.A.P PH, B1A4 PH, Boyfriend PH, Brown Eyed Girls PH, Co.Ed PH, Dal Shabet PH, Davichi PH, F.Cuz PH, Fly to the Sky Philippines, Perf(x)tion PH, G.NA PH, Girl's Day PH, GP Basic PH, Hello Venus PH, High Skool PH, Jay Effect PH, IU PH, KARA PH, Airen PH, Nine Muses PH, Nu'EST PH, Play Girlz PH, Rainbow PH, SecreTime PH, Se7enolution PH, Supernova PH, Teen Top PH, ZE:A PH, Miss-A PH, SISTAR PH

ROOKIE FANCLUBS

4MEN PH, A-LIGHT PH, Double B21 PH, Block B Club PH, Brian Joo PH, C, REAL PH, Dalmatian PH, DNT PH, F1RST PH, JJ Project PH, Lee Hyori PH, N-Train PH, Oh Wonbin PH, SeeYa PH, Shapley PH, SHU-I PH, SM the Ballad PH, The Boss PH, T-Max PH, X-Five PH

And all these clubs have each of their own special activities, merchandise sales and get-together events planned. So you see, there's a place for  everybody here at Kpop Con, and even if you aren't much of a Kpop fan, who's to say you can't appreciate the hot gals and guys that comprise the industry? Hey, half the guys and gals in love with Kpop right now were visual-baited and I'm pretty sure it wasn't necessarily their music that caught most people's eyes haha.

Yehp, definitely here for the music.

2) Speaking of hot Kpop artists, did I mention F.cuz and rookie group A.cian will be there?

Ah yes, Engrish has never been so hot. And imagine being at the same convention hall as these wonderful acts, shaking their hands, getting to see them in fanmeets and actually getting to shake their hands (wait, I said that already) - doesn't that sound positively exhilarating?

I'm especially excited to meet Kan of F.cuz. IMO he's definitely one of the more breathtaking visuals out there~ Plus, his voice is absolutely to die for.

But what if you aren't a fan of A.cian or F.cuz? No worries, no worries. The organizers have thought this one out as well.

3) There will be dozens of Kpop Look-alikes at the event @_@

"Why? How? What????", you may ask.

Well, ever since the success of last year's Kpop Look-Alike contest, the organizers have taken it upon themselves to hold one this year as well. And might I say, the prospects are ah-may-zing. Let last year's winners be a testimony of the awesomeness of what is to come. So even if your favorite artists aren't going to be there, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to find someone just as pretty, talented and with the same interests as well. What's better is they'll probably speak your own language as well haha.

And personally, if I may say so myself, if you squint really really really hard, I look just a teeny weeny bit like f(x)'s Victoria.

No? Not really? Okay :(

And if stalking pretty men and women just isn't your thing, there's always the window shopping, because

4) There will be loads of concessionaires for KOREAN MERCHANDISE

That includes CDs, clothes, food, fan merch, and did I mention FOOD?
Not to mention awesome booths by the main sponsors of the event as well:

Globe

Standard Appliance

Pond’s 

Basic House

and

Liole

5. And the best part -- in lieu of tickets, donations will be taken at the door for CHARITY!

Not only will you be having an awesome time enjoying all the events lined up, you'll also be doing organizations like GAWAD KALINGA and PAWS a huge huge huge huge favor! What's not to love?

With all that and then some, I'm pretty sure of what I'm going to be doing this December 29th from 9am to 9pm at the PICC Forums 1, 2, and 3.

How about you guys? Are you ready for the biggest Kpop Convention in the Philippines?

Keep in touch and stay in the know by liking The 4th Philippine Kpop Convention's FB Page, and by following their twitter. And for those who are just as decided as I am, SEE YOU THERE!

Special Movie Screening - I WON!

Repeat after me. Ada is TEH AWESOME.

Okay, so remember the Energizer post I did a few days back? Yehp,  I won.

I think it's awesome that my name starts with two A's. That way on lists, I'm always first. (Although that always gets me during recitation and attendance but meh, you win some, you lose some). But since this post isn't in alphabetical order, I'm assuming this is in order of submission. I actually submitted my post on the first day of the contest, so I'm pretty sure I was one of the first posts they got to haha.

Of course I sat by, refreshing the Nuffnang homepage like a madman waiting for the announcement of the winners. Let's just say I was overly excited because this was my first event haha. So seeing my name up there first was an awesome experience :D

Ahaha. I feel happy to have won in the first ever Nuffnang Event that I'd participated in, and if I'm going to be completely honest, I can't say I was surprised at my win (oooh, swaggah). Partially because what I wrote was the truth and also because I'm pretty confident with my writing and blogging ability. And while I'm sure my post wasn't the most engaging out there, personally I felt it deserved even just a little bit of recognition.

So thanks again, Nuffnang and Energizer for providing me with this amazing opportunity :P Just for that, I'm giving you guys yet another free plug.

I guess I'll meet other new bloggers there as well, and I'm pretty excited to say the least :D If you guys want to participate in other fun events Nuffnang has planned for bloggers and social-media users, click the logo above and get started. It's actually quite fun :D

Now the question: Whom should I bring with me? Haha

Ada, signing out.

Energizer: Powering my Lifestyle

Energizer and Nuffnang power my life through indirectly instilling within me the passions that have made me who I am today.

Sounds cheesy, but it's true.

I remember my first ever portable CD player and the first ever CD I bought with my own money - The First Pokemon Movie Soundtrack. So I'd bring my large 7x7 "portable" CD player wherever I went, and spend the time on my way to school and on the rides back jamming to the tunes of Billy Crawford, B*witched and pre-mid-life crisis Christina Aguilera.

Remember this song?

Imagine me feeling so cool, being one of the very few seven-year-olds walking around with what was then a pretty darn good piece of equipment to be handling. I'd bug my parents everyday about the batteries for my CD player since I went through them like hotcakes and it came to the point that they'd promise me a full pack of batteries if I did well on my exams. Sigh, things were much simpler then - shallow joys being the highlight of my childhood.

It was no wonder then, that I grew up to be such an anime and video game enthusiast. I've always been a Nintendo baby and my brother and I grew up with one of the first ever old-school Nintendo Game Boys. Then when the Game Boy Color came out, my uncle, who was then as much a Nintendo enthusiast as my brother and I were, gave us his for free! Unfortunately for me though, both the Game Boys we owned were unsightly to say the least - the first one being so beat-up and old (not to mention covered with my brother's old Dragon Ball stickers) and the one given to us a rather icky shade of purple. Don't judge me - I'm a girl with taste haha.

But my passion for handheld gaming escalated past the need to appease my taste in color and for the time being, I tolerated sharing my Game Boy with my older brother. When the time came that I had a decent allowance and finally learned how to budget my money, the passion talked me into actually saving up a year of my allowance to afford my own pink Game Boy Advance.

You guys feeling old yet?

I think, on average, when I was an active gamer, finishing all the first, second and third generation Pokemon games as well as tending to my farm on Harvest Moon, I'd burn through a 4-pack of batteries in a month. That's saying something because I'd play almost eight hours a day. Yeah, awesome batteries are awesome.

Yehp, those batteries really did pack a punch. Don't ask my how I was such an addict and still managed to get my grades up, I'm awesome that way. I stayed up day and night grinding my Pokemon, playing Mario Kart and wooing the girl/boy of my dreams on Harvest Moon haha. Don't judge me!

Here are my babies <3

I'm a Nintendo Baby alright.

And then Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance SP, and while I enjoyed the fact that it had its own rechargeable battery built-in, I sort of missed the immediate gratification of just having to switch up your batteries for another round of gaming. But that didn't mean I was letting go of these old babies. Nope, I still use them regularly, even now ;) Hardcore 90's kid FTW.

That being said, I've evolved into a much deeper person now than I was then. I am a writer, artist, gamer, web and graphics designer, aspiring molecular biologist and a 100% fangirl. Even as technology seems to get more complex each day, my tools of the trade are simple and have stood by me on countless occasions. A tablet and a mouse are pretty much all I need in addition to my laptop and its charger (plus some wifi, but that's a given) and I'm pretty much all set.

When my tablet died on me a few months ago I've mostly been doing graphics and art on this mouse and it has not failed me since.

This baby's powered by Energizer.

I've just started as a Nuffnang Blogger, but already I feel the community spirit with all the events Nuffnang has afforded its users. I've drawn my inspiration from a lot of their bloggers, particularly from Xiaxue, Qiuqiu and other bloggers out there. Thus, while this blog has remained inactive for the past two years, it's stories like theirs, driven by their passions, stories and experiences, that have re-instilled in me the resolve to get this blog rolling once again.

And in that way, Nuffnang and Energizer have powered my lifestyle.

Wanna join in on the fun? More details on Nuffnang, their policies, events and how you can become a Nuffnang blogger right here. And for more details on this post and Nuffnang's latest event, click here.

Ada, signing out! xoxo

Disclaimer: I am not being paid to write this post. This post is an entry for the "Energizer and Nuffnang bring you The Amazing Spider-Man'" Event.