Sapphyria's Books: Book Spotlight & #Giveaway ~ Murder in the Christm...

Sapphyria's Books: Book Spotlight & #Giveaway ~ Murder in the Christm...:   Murder in the Christmas Tree Lot (A Tory Benning Mystery) by Judith Gonda About Murder in the Christmas Tree Lot: Murder in the Christ...

 Releasing November 16, 2021! From Level Best Books! Includes recipes from the pages of your favorite cozy mysteries, including Uncle Bob's trifle from the second Tory Benning mystery, MURDER IN THE CHRISTMAS TREE LOT! Order one for yourself and for the mystery lovers on your list!

Join us on Facebook!

Tuesday, November 16

5 pm PST (8 pm EST)

(Teaser) [BE ORIGINAL] Stray Kids '소리꾼' (4K)

 Busy writing but needed to post this teaser. No Easy released on August 23, and as usual, Stray Kids have given us so much great content, like the main MV. Focus on streaming Thunderous right now, but for closeups this Teaser looks amazing. 

[풀버전] ♬ 기도 (I'll Be Your Man) (Stray Kids Ver.) - 스트레이 키즈(Stray Kids)

My last post was January. It's now May. I told you I wasn't that into reading or writing blogs, so totally on brand. I thought that maybe my new obsession with the Stray Kids would make me want to blog more about them. That was the plan at least. 

I'm more obsessed than ever with them now as all-round brilliant performers and producers. Mind-blowingly talented group of young men. As a writer I've learned that producing quality content and persistence in doing that is the path to success. But it's hard. Balancing quality with speed of production. I feel I'm improving in both areas, but then I look at the enormous content the Stray Kids (SKZ) produce and it's mind-boggling. (Even though many of their songs admonish not to compare yourself with others, it's almost impossible not to be in awe of the quality and quantity of their content). True, they have an entertainment company backing them, for better or worse (more on this in a moment), but still. I haven't even begun to appreciate all their work because I was too busy enjoying their more recent big hits that attracted me to them in 2020 when I first heard of them. The wealth of content online of not only their music videos, but their practice videos, their fan cam videos, their live performance videos, and all their other gigs and then there's their VLives, zones, bubbles, and zoo where you see their playful personalities and humor. I've always been partial to adolescent boy humor, one of the reasons my husband and I hit it off when we first met, so the SKZ good-natured teasing of one another and their repartee is endearing. 

From a marketing standpoint, getting to know them more as people and finding out how tight they are as a group, is so powerful. Their loyalty to one another and the fact that none of them are selfish or narcissistic is refreshing. They all seem in awe of each other's talents and the producers, 3Racha consisting of Bangchan, Han, and Changbin, are truly brilliant in the way they showcase each member's strengths and blend them all together to produce perfection. That's why I love God's Menu so much because it represents their group so well in concept and practice. 

Two more points for today. I love their lyrics. First of all, I love all the songs where they blend Korean with English lyrics. Absolutely love. But the meanings and themes are classic and very positive in general (more on this in a minute). My current inspiration is My Pace, a song they released a while back, but it speaks to me as a writer and all the advice I've read to writers: don't compare yourself to others, keep looking forward, don't worry about being slower than someone else, keep on keepin' on, pretty much. Also, since I'm also on a newly rigorous exercise regimen to rid myself of the stress-induced extra pandemic pounds I gained, I'm listening to SKZ with ear buds and, wow, really appreciating all the details and voices so much more. New appreciation for Changbin's rapping and gruff voice juxtaposed with the honey-voiced Seungmin and melodic Chan, the strong voices of Felix (his deep voice is amazing--and incongruous given his angelic looks), Han, and Hyunjin, and the sweetness of IN and Minho. Especially in My Pace, for instance. 

Secondly, I'll address the two parenthetical asides I mentioned above: their entertainment company, JYPE, and their departure from positive themes. They are interrelated and both tied to the main reason why I haven't blogged since January: Hwang Hyunjin, my ultimate bias in kpop terminology. He was suspended by JYPE from all activity in late February due to alleged bullying...in middle school...by someone who claimed he hurt their feelings back then by his gruff attitude. After an investigation by JYPE, the bullying claims were dismissed, Hyunjin apologized for any hurt he had ever caused and, you'd think, that would be that. But no. JYPE decided to put him on hiatus, seemingly their call, not his. (I'm gleaning all this from online buzz since JYPE has not posted any updates since their initial couple of announcements which were vague). JYPE never said for how long the hiatus would be. Apparently, typical hiatus in the kpop industry is two to three months, and it's already been more than seventy days. I know with all the horrible problems in the world this seems like no big deal, but that's exactly the point. SKZ and their positive attitude has been a lifeline to joy in the past dark year to so many young people (and older, ahem). Other than Schitt's Creek, I can't think of another entertainment source that represents so much positivity through their uplifting messages about self-love, self-acceptance, and self-care, acceptance of all, gender neutrality, and love for all. And Hyunjin and the other seven SKZ members embody that positivity. So when the original true eight OT8 are broken up, we all hurt. The camaraderie of the fandom has helped all of the Stays endure his absence, but I am amazed at how much it's affected me. 

Which brings me to their last Kingdom performance where they did a cover of BTOB I'll Be Your Man, but changed the narrative by having the song about a young innocent child who died and how the SKZ made a deal with the devil to trade their lives and die so he could be brought back to life. From what I've read, the best analysis of their performance is the young boy represents Hyunjin and that they are going through hell until he returns. Very powerful performance you can view above. Unless he has requested such a long hiatus himself, which we doubt but who knows since JYPE has been quiet, the length of his hiatus or punishment seems out of whack with his purported offense, especially because he apologized profusely. Anyway, we all hope he'll be back soon and we wish him and the other members continuing success and happiness.

 First post of the new year - January 31, 2021

I finally feel like getting back to blogging again. I've never been into blogging that much to be honest, whether it's posting on my own blog or reading other blogs. I think part of the reason is that I'm on Twitter a lot and if I see someone promoting their recent blog post I'll sometimes look at it then, but I almost never read blogs otherwise. And even though I subscribe to blogs I must admit I rarely read them. I feel guilty spending time reading blogs instead of writing and reading other things that I feel help me more with my writing. 

Okay, now that I have my full disclosure out of the way, I can confess what has motivated me to get back to blogging. Stray Kids. Yes, I am probably their oldest fan "girl" or "Stay" as their fans are known as, but I feel compelled to share my enthusiasm for this mighty and abundantly talented K-pop boy band (and cute, make no mistake, each member has their own brand of charm, my "bias" as its called is the sex symbol of the group and dancer extraordinaire, Hyunjin). 

My obsession has surprised no one more than myself. I happened onto them one night on Twitter. One of the book blogger accounts I follow (must confess cannot remember who it was) posted a short video link to YouTube. I think it was God's Menu one of their biggest hits that had just been released. I was mesmerized pretty much right from the start. Probably after the second time I viewed it, since there's a lot to absorb in all their MVs. Because they are absolutely brilliant! 

Future posts will be devoted to "reviewing" (who am I kidding, "praising in detail" will be more like it) their huge body of MVs and other content. They produce so much content for their Stay--super productive bunch of young men. So my posts will focus on their MVs and dance practice videos (my faves) to open up discussions and interchange about this amazing group. 

Mystery Fanfare: CHRISTMAS CRIME FICTION ROUND-UP: Authors A-Z & S...

Mystery Fanfare: CHRISTMAS CRIME FICTION ROUND-UP: Authors A-Z & S...: Over the past few weeks, I've posted my Christmas Mysteries List in multiple parts . Here's an updated Final Round-Up all in one ...