My K-Pop introduction

In September of 2010, I flew down south to attend my cousins wedding. During that time, I bonded most with my other cousin, her younger sister, who was 16. We mostly hung out in the kitchen doing prep work for the reception and showing each other various crap we liked online.

She attends a high school with a significant Korean population. Her brother is friends with a lot of teenage Korean boys, to the extent that I'm pretty sure he curses in Korean now. I'm not sure if it was from him first, or from someone else that she knew, but her brother ended up learning ALL the hand gestures to this song:

It is pretty hysterical to watch a 14-year-old conservatively-raised Christian boy act that out. And it gives me hope that perhaps she and her brother don't have the negative associations towards homosexuals that I assume her parents do (but I'm too afraid to ask, as it would kind of crush me if their response was negative or derogatory... I feel I need to be ready to educate before I inquire).

Anyway. My cousin, in typical internet surfing fashion, then stumbled onto this in the sidebar:

"They just have this crazy thing for big groups of guys doing synchronized dances!"

We watched that video dozens of times over the 5 days I was there, gushing over their awesome dance, how ridiculously good-looking and feminine-looking the were, and their ridiculous lyrics ("He's no shupa-man, he must be mama-boy"). She eventually downloaded the song. I was hesitant, as it was not in English and I wasn't sure how into it I could get if I couldn't sing along. Anyway, I left for home not thinking anything much of it.

Upon my return, I decided I should show my friend the video (as we are both rabid ABDC fans), and so looked it up on my own to see if I could send her the link.

Then I, in typical internet surfing fashion, stumbled onto this in the sidebar:

Hooooooooly Shit. Did you just see that? Watch it. Seriously. The way its choreographed SO WELL to the music blows my mind.

Also, in retrospect, its obvious to me why I wasn't instantly hooked at my cousin's house - Super Girl is by Super Junior - M (their China touring group, kinda), which is lacking most of my favorite members. I've come to love them all, but really Eunhyuk and Leeteuk are probably the most responsible for this obsession. Eunhyuk is the dancing king - I have a hard time watching It's You and not having my eyes inadvertently drawn to him. (He's usually in the front row, and he's movements are fucking PERFECT - like Gene Kelly perfect. He's also the one with the little dancing solo and the crazy chest pops.) Leeteuk is just perfect in every way, but I'll expand on that at a later date.

And that's how it began. Then I kept clicking the sidebar recommendations until Kpop completely consumed my life. ^_^