good old Dobby

Dobby's lip trembled and Harry was seized by a sudden suspicion.

"It was you!" he said slowly. "You stopped the barrier from letting us through!"

"Indeed yes, sir," said Dobby, nodding his head vigorously, ears flapping. "Dobby hid and watched for Harry Potter and sealed the gateway and Dobby had to iron his hands afterward”—he showed Harry ten long, bandaged fingers – “but Dobby didn’t care, sir, for he thought Harry Potter was safe, and never did Dobby dream that Harry Potter would get to school another way!”

He was rocking backward and forward, shaking his ugly head.

“Dobby was so shocked when he heard Harry Potter was back at Hogwarts, he let his master’s dinner burn! Such a flogging Dobby never had, sir….”

Harry slumped back onto his pillows.

“You nearly got Ron and me expelled,” he said fiercely. “You’d better get lost before my bones come back, Dobby, or I might strangle you.”

Dobby smiled weakly.

“Dobby is used to death threats, sir. Dobby gets them five times a day at home.”

He blew his nose on a corner of the filthy pillowcase he wore, looking so pathetic that Harry felt his anger ebb away in spite of himself.

~Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, page 176

Shinhwa The Return 2012

16 June 2012. The day I went for the first concert in my life. No it's not SPEED :( Unfortunately SPEED won't come to Singapore, but it's another band that I hold just as dearly in my heart.

Shinhwa.

The first song that I heard from them was "Perfect Man", from watching "My MVP Valentine", but it wasn't until I watch "X-Man" that I fell in love. Turns out that besides their charismatic performance on stage they also have this adorkable side :)

24 March 1998 to present. 14 years, it really hasn't been easy. SPEED had debut earlier in 1996, but sadly they disbanded in 2000 (although they returned in 2008!). So to me it's really amazing that Shinhwa has stayed together till now. How many idol groups can accomplish this feat? Faced with many challenges from members doing solo projects to military enlistment to differing popularity levels of members, it takes a great deal of determination and hard work to stay together.

I had rewatched their guerilla concert in 2001 before yesterday's concert. (Go read the youtube comments for the backstory.) Thinking about that day in 2001 on that stage when they had cried so hard after their blindfolds were taken off, and looking at the six of them shining so brightly on the stage in front of me, I feel really touched. Our boys have come a long way. It was tough, but they had done it. They remembered their promise to their fans, and 4 years after their 10th anniversary concert, they have returned.

신화 창조!

Cannot rotate this picture :( Cat A tickets sold out so I got this instead. I was in the last row so I pretty much stood throughout the concert. Wootz!

The giant poster for chanjos to take pictures. Damn I didn't bring a camera -.-

The very nice folks at http://2012shinhwathereturnsg.wordpress.com/ distributed these mini-banners and flags (see below) for fans.

Shook it too hard, it's kind of tattered...

The black shirt is nicer but was sold out by the time I got there! T_T

Just had this horrible dream in which Shinhwa's concert was shifted to a school auditorium. I was so angry in the dream, and I was arguing with the concert director. It all seemed so real, I'd even quoted the price of the ticket! Then I rmb what Dom said in 'Inception':
Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.

Freaky...

아무렇지 않은 척 (Act Like Nothing's Wrong)

I like the live version a lot better than the studio one. Has more emotions to it, and it feels so raw. Dedicated to his ex... Oh T.O.P.....

To quote the words of another blogger (happiebb.com):
me thinks somewhere in that delightful 4D-dinosaur-slide-playing near-perfect specimen of a guy lives a sensitive soul who can pen very beautiful lyrics.

Big Bang comeback

~Faints at explosion of T.O.P charisma~

Blue is such a, well, blue song, and Fantastic Baby is such a fantastic song for concert. Darn high!