Hello everyone! Long time no see~

This post will be a review for my purchase of Vixx Single Album Vol. 5 -  BOYS' RECORD from KPOP Mart.

I was so excited to order another KPOP Album and it was hard to decide on what website to use since there were mixed reviews for so many of them. I ordered the album but it also came with a free poster if I wanted it, so of course I said yes! They give options with some of their albums as to whether you want the poster folded or in a tube, which is nice. I chose to have it in a tube.

It took a a few days for the order to shipped and when they did they sent an email with pictures showing the packages, which was really nice since it's reassuring to see proof. The other picture had my details on it so I can't include it here~

The shipping took a few weeks, as I expected, but when it did arrive I was a little concerned at how the package looked: 

But I imagine it was the customs checking to see what is inside, only to find a KPOP album and poster.When I took it out the packaging this is what it looked like:

They included some pictures that were printed out as well as the photo card inside the album. The poster was in great condition, but it's a large poster that was printed out on paper, not the official poster on shiny paper.

Everything came in perfect condition and at a reasonable cost. I have nothing bad to say, but I'm not sure if other websites would have provided a different type of poster. Making a decision on what website to use depends on those preferences.

I will shop from KPOP Mart again in the future since it seems to be the one with the best prices, but I would like to hear about other websites and how their products are. Let me know, if have any feedback!

Enjoy life!

Nina

Hello, everyone!

So, I'm not sure why I decided to write this post, haha, I was kind of lying in bed thinking about this great post I read on tumblr about the difference between admiring a culture and appropriating a culture, and wondered how much of this I have witnessed.

Personally, I come from two cultural backgrounds and am now delving into many more through my study of my third language, and I love it when people ask about the values and the different things that make up my culture.

But, since I have an interest in the in the Japanese and Korean culture, it's easy for me to interact with other people and see how other people express this interest.

Firstly, it says here:

“Cultural appropriation is taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else’s culture without permission. This can include the unauthorized use of another culture’s dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc. It’s most likely to be harmful when the source community is a minority group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways, or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive, e.g. sacred objects.” (Susan Scafidi)

I think the issue a lot of people see is that a group of people might use a culture and their values as 'accessories' or a 'background for fantasies', rather than using the language, costume or other values as I way to respect the people and the country.
Appropriating it inappropriately, might promote the culture in a different or negative way, disrespect the culture, or as I said before, certain aspects of the culture is being used just because the person thinks it is 'cool'. 

Two videos come to mind when I think about this, and that's Katy Perry's performance of "Unconditionally" at the American Music Awards:

 and Avril Lavigne's "Hello Kitty" music video:

Since I remember a lot of comments pointing out 'cultural appropriation' and 'racism', as it promoted stereotypes and the Japanese culture was used as an accessory for their music. Even though, I thought Katy's performance was really pretty ._.

But, in my own experience, but it irks be when I see the word "kawaii" or "baka" thrown about just like that. I've also seen how girls I know seem to be completely obsessed with Asian boys purely because of their interest in anime and KPOP. I'm only using one culture as an example, but it's not just that gets thrown about, significant things belonging to other cultures are being used as fashion accessories, and as soon as they do, it's considered 'cool', especially if they were looked down upon before they were appropriated.

The difference between appreciating or admiring a culture and appropriating it, depends a lot about the context, for example, if you are wearing a national costume just because you think it looks cool, that's appropriating, but wearing it to pay your respect or because you've been invited to partake in that culture (for example, a wedding), that's appreciating the culture.

I think if we appreciate different cultures more, it'll promote a lot more understand and a better relationship between countries.

But, it's so hard to know the difference these days, as the line in between is very fine. I am no expert , of course, but it is hard to not notice when people take it too far these days. What are your thoughts?

Enjoy life!

Nina