Movie Review: Miracle in Cell 7

Probably in the top 5 best movies I've seen this year. The synopsis is about a mentally disabled person being accused of murder. The story unfolds as he is imprisoned and finds ways to see his daughter. Unfortunately, I think anyone that has to watch this with subtitles will downgrade the movie. The linguistics of emotions that comes from Korean is different when read in another language.

The story line was done perfectly. I wouldn't have changed anything.

The acting was superb. Particularly the two main characters, the mentally disabled guy and his little daughter. I did not know someone so small could act so well. Amazing. I actually cried at the end scene during the climax of the movie.

Highly recommend this movie. Specially if you can understand Korean.

Rating: 10/10.

Song of the Day: Goo Goo Dolls - Iris

The Best Mp3 / Video Players

I've been using KMPlayer for my videos and Winamp for my mp3's for the past few years. Both lovely softwares and work as intended. Winamp started to pop up some error messages and I did not like how bloated the software has become. It was such a great player before it was bought out by AOL. KMPlayer has also been a nice video player and has worked fine, but I wanted something better. I found two new softwares that have impressed me.

AIMP3 - Is a free music player and works great. It's very similar what Winamp used to be before the bloat. It's a simple mp3 player and does what it's supposed to. In terms of features it's basically another Winamp. What makes it better? Less bloat and loads fast.

Daum Potplayer - Is another free video player. The great thing about this is that it plays pretty much everything you throw at it. KMplayer had some limitations as it did not play quicktime files or flash files. Additinally, KMPlayer's audio decoder was buggy and created some back noise on some of my older videos. Potplayer has been pitch perfect. Great find.

Song of the Day: Imagine Dragons - Demons (Cover by HanByul LED Apple)

Much props to this kid. Great voice, good looking, Australian accent, fluent in English.

Go the to the channel and check out all of his covers. Very similar style as Bruno Mars. Too bad LED Apple isn't the most popular group out there. He has a bright future. I think he probably would have had a great chance to make it state side or as a solo artist.

Layout Changes

Everytime i get in the mood to do some coding, i always feel gratified with the finished product. Something about making something and having it displayed for others to see. Anyways, got tired of the leaf background and the width was too narrow. Changed some stuff.

Song of the Day: Lorde - Royals

Song of the Day: Norah Jones - Don't Know Why

Someone reminded me of this song. Didn't know Norah Jones until one fall night near Redondo Beach. Perfect Fall song.

Song of the Day: The ONe - Are you well

말보다, 행동보다, 노래가 마음을 어쩜그렇게 잘 표현할까.. 잘 있나요? 보고싶다.

Bronx's Six Pack Challenge Weeks 4 and 5

Oh no.. been slacking off. Rather, been too busy to squeeze in those much needed work outs. For the past 2 weeks I only got about 4 days of work outs. Hence the 3 month plan is now extended. I am just so exhausted at the end of the day I can't find the energy to go work out. Gotta keep myself motivated.

Changed my wallpaper to this:

Bronx's Six Pack Challenge Week 3

Week 3

I only worked out 3 out of the 5 days this week. Was feeling a little depressed because the weather here in Southern California just changed. I can see how Seattle has such a high suicide rate.. gloomy weather makes people depressed. The weather has cooled down significantly in the past 3 days as well. I have been consistent with my diet though. Brown rice and chicken and I think it's finally paying off. Jeans feel looser and I lost about 5 lbs this week. Now I just need to be more consistent with my work outs.

I think the best thing so far about the diet is that I don't feel bloated. Not too hungry, not too full. Eating the correct portion is so important - which is something I came to appreciate very late in my life. About 1.5x the size of your fist.

I can't believe this is already the end of the 3rd week. Technically the end of the 4th week that i've been eating healthy. I need to build more muscle before I get into the 2nd phase of the program. This last week should be a no brainer. Fighting!

Bronx's Six Pack Challenge Week 2

Week 2

So the turbulence continues. The original week 1 was complicated by soreness. This past week I hurt the right side of my lower back. It felt like a pinched nerve - but it must have been just a pulled muscle because it feels better after 5 days. I hurt it on Tuesday of last week while doing some squats. How I hurt it is unknown. I only recall finishing my work out and laying on the couch watching TV. My muscles must have tensed up and my bad posture while lying on the couch probably did it.

I could barely walk, or get out of bed. If I dropped anything on the floor - that would have been the death of me. My roommate gave me some muscle relaxers and IB profine. I put an ice pack on my back every 20 minutes on/off to minimize the inflamation. After the 4th day it was getting better, and today I feel completely healed. I started right back on my work outs and the 5 days of extra rest must have helped me re-build a lot of muscle. The workout today would have killed me 3 weeks ago; but it was actually a breeze. I didn't have to cheat during any of the exercises and the rest times got shorter.

I do worry about missing those 3 days of workout from last week, but life goes on. I will just have to extend the program a bit from my original goal of 12 weeks.

Results so far. In terms of how i feel - i feel stronger and durable. I gained about 5 lbs. Probably muscle since I am generally working out my quads A LOT and my jeans still fit; which means my waist line didn't get any wider.

I'm just hoping I don't injure myself again - or something else comes up where I have to halt my work outs. Week 2 is done. 10 more weeks left. Fighting!

Diet Tip #9

Work out your major muscle groups.

1. Chest
2. Legs (hamstring, quads, calfs)
3. Back
4. Arms

I had an incorrect view of this. Before I used to think that working out parts that I wanted to shrink meant that I shouldn't work them out. I wanted skinnier quads because I have soccer legs and cannot fit into skinny jeans if my life depended on it. But that is false. Working out the 4 major muscle groups is important because they will help you burn the highest amount of calories per day even if you aren't working out. Particularly legs. You pretty much use them everyday - and I believe other than your glutes - it's the largest single muscle group in the body. Having a strong muscular leg means you will burn that much more calories per day. I have been dismissing my quads too long - when I would have been training them the most.

This story all comes into a circle now. That's because I remember back in High School when I was training hard - I would do the stairmaster for 15 minutes every day. That thing really works your legs compared to regular treadmills. Looking back at that fact now, is probably the reason I was so successful then.

The commercials that try to sell ab machines.. completely BS. Doing 15 minutes of abs everyday will not help you loose weight. Abs are such a small piece of muscles in your body that it will not help. Curse at those infomercials next time you see it.

Squats, Dead Lifts, Bench Press, Pull Ups. Work those major groups. Stronger major muscles = more calories burned.

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Additionally - I forgot to mention that my weekly shopping expense has significantly declined. Who knew eating healthier was also cheaper?! haha. If you go to Diet Tip #8, it will show a list of what i used to buy. Now my list is this:

Water $3
Eggs $2
Chicken Broth $1.50
Brown Rice $2
Chicken (8 pack) frozen $7

$15.50. That's half of what it used to be. Perfect.

When I read some of my older entries, my strategies seem to keep developing and evolving. Guess that's just part of life. Experiencing things first hand to see if it works or not.

Bronx's Six Pack Challenge Week 1

Week 1

The original week 1 was a failure. I worked out on Monday and probably overexerted myself. The following day I was completely sore. My quads were gone and i could barely walk. I decided to take that week off. I did however eat everything I cooked on Sunday. Brown rice and chicken. 2x a day and that was all I ate.

For the past 5 days, i followed all of my training routines and they were very hard. I had to cheat on some parts because my muscles were on FIRE! I realized how out of shape my body really was and it was comforting to know that I finally decided to do this - and at the same time discouraging of how much I let go in the past year. When I wasn't working - i would go to the gym and work out for 2 hours and play soccer 2x a week. I felt healthy and was at a good 175lbs. This roller coaster ride has to stop. If... no.. WHEN i finally get the body i want; I will NEVER EVER EVER drop the ball again. It's too damn difficult to get back on the wagon.

Overall Week 1 was a success. I completed my meal plan - in addition to adding 1 egg during each meal for the extra protein. Technically this was the second week that i've ate just chicken and brown rice - and it's difficult. So many other things I want to eat... bacon.. doghnuts.. in and out.. But it's done. 11 more weeks to go.

I have not lost any lbs. No significant difference as far as I can tell - but it could be to the fact that I am probably gaining a lot more muscle (since Week 1 is for muscle building). I predict shedding the scale will come into play around week 5.

Fighting!

Song of the Day: Girls Generation - Galaxy Supernova (Japanese)

I like this song from the first time i heard it. I like the music video.. just the girls dancing. Taeyeon and Yoona Go Go!

Drama Review: Good Doctor

Story is about a young doctor who is a savant. He is a genius and has an amazing memory, however he is socially impaired. He lacks communication skills and acts like a small child. The drama portrays his difficulties as a resident in the top children's hospital in Korea.

Overall the acting is a B. The story is a B. I only started watching this because it's the #1 drama in Korea in an article i read.

Rating: 7/10

Watch it free at Drama Fever.

Drama Review: Master's Sun

Story is about a woman that can see ghosts and is terrified. She eventually meets a handsome businessman that is able to repel the ghosts. This is an ongoing series and is one of the top drama's in Korea at the moment. They did a very good job with the ghost/zombie makeup and the storyline is good.

Rating: 9/10

Watch it free at Drama Fever.

Drama Review: Pasta

If you like shows like Hells Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, Master Chef.. or anything with Gordon Ramsey - you will probably enjoy Pasta. The story is about a young woman who wants to be a pasta chef in an Italian restaurant in Korea. Her dream is shattered when a loud mouth chef comes from Italy to her kitchen.

The storyline is mostly predictable and slow at times. I fast forwarded many times, but the overall acting and story telling was well done.

Rating: 7.9 / 10

Watch it for free at Drama Fever.

New Toys!

Once every couple of months i splurge on a list of things i've wanted to buy. Finally got around to a few.

Earmes replica chair. The original costs about $600+. Got these open box replicas at a local warehouse for $120. These chairs have lumbar support and should help my posture and back. Love the contemporary look too!



Logitech K750 solar powered keyboard with chiclet keys. I've wanted the aluminum apple keyboard for a while, but they don't have a wireless version with the numeric keypad. Had to settle for the Logitech. It's wireless and solar powered. No batteries. Ever! Additionally i picked up the Logitech M510 wireless mouse. Big upgrade from my previous mouse. More DPI = more accuracy on the screen. The biggest plus was the USB dongle that comes with most wireless logitech products now. It's a tiny piece that plus directly to the USB. No wires = less clutter.



Feenix Collection mouse pad. I was originally going to get a desk pad from office depot, but figured I wanted something more designed specifically for a mouse. It's made out of plastic so it doesnt have the resistance of most cloth mouse pads or leather, but it's smooth and responsive. So far so good.



Sescom A/B switch. My other A/B switch i got from Radio shack was having issues. I picked this baby up from BH Photo and the sound quality went up. No interference and no back noise. Loving them. If you switch between headphones and speakers often, i highly recommend these, instead of always plugging / unplugging your headphones.



I also picked up Command Cable plugs that will help hide all the wires around my desk, along with a Blue Lounge Cablebox that will hide all my wires from under the desk. I haven't got around to setting it all up. I may just wait until i get a new desk which is next on my list. I'm looking at the Conference table by Galant from IKea at the moment.

Lastly, i may have to wait until Cyber Monday, but i'm pretty sure i'll pick up the Sager NP8235 this year.

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On another note, I have not been able to work out since Wednesday. My body is completely sore and i can barely move right now. I must have been really out of shape. I'm going to try again starting Monday. I have been eating better though. Brown rice and chicken.

Reboot. Restart. Go!

Bronx's Six Pack Challenge

I'm going to start on a lean muscle building diet for the next 3 months (12 weeks) to create some six packs. I will try to log my progress through out the entire thing and possibly post before and after photos when the program is done.

The program is rather simple and I took a bunch of tips from Mike Chang's Six Pack Shortcuts program. Here's what's needed.

1. The want / need to change. It won't work if you have no self motivation.
2. A program calendar with goals for each day. A black marker to cross each day you complete. Work out about 30-45 minutes for 5 days. Rest during the weekend. Something like below.



3. Take a photo and weigh yourself each week

The program is simple with my own small modifications. The biggest problem I had with the original program was not being able to eat 5-6 times everyday. I'm too busy to find time to eat. I plan on eating 3 times a day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Breakfast will be 2x egg whites. Lunch and dinner will be chicken breast and brown rice. I was hesitant on using brown rice or carbs in general but i read that carbs is needed to avoid constipation, bad breath, fatigue, and slower brain functions. I will be eating this way from Monday to Friday. Sat and Sun will be cheat days where i eat anything i want with moderation. Additionally Saturday is my weight in day and photo day. Sunday is cooking day. I will be cooking for the rest of the week, which is 10 meals. Here's what you need for cooking:

1. George foreman grill
2. 10x re-usable microwaveable tupperware
3. Rice cooker
4. Brown rice
5. Chicken broth to cook instead of water for flavor. (I just cooked the rice, and i can't really taste the chicken broth, so i don't know if it's of any use)
6. Extra virgin olive oil spray
7. Spices (salt, pepper, lowry's seasoning, etc.)
8. Chicken breasts

Cook the rice for 10 servings. Cook the chicken with your own personal preferences in terms of spices. Use the olive oil to grease the foreman grill. The chicken should take about 8-10 minutes to cook on the foreman. Let it sit for about 5 minutes to cool. Use a cutting board and chop them into biteable pieces. Each container will have chicken and brown rice. The containers i use are pretty small, which is to control my portions.

Next is the actually workouts.

Week 1-4 is for muscle building and increase metabolism. (more muscle = higher metabolism)
Week 5-8 is for burning belly fat
Week 9-12 is the final phase to complete the physic.

If the goal isn't met by the 12th week, I may continue for another week of intense workouts to finish it up.

Six pack shortcuts talks about the importance of the "after burn effect" which is the calories you burn when not working out. We will see how this works out. The actual work outs would be too long to post here, so if you are interested you should checkout Mike Chang's Youtube channel for more information. Day 1 is tomorrow. Fighting!

Drama Review: Shark

Revenge!! That is what this drama is about. A boy's father is murdered, and the boy is almost fatally killed after he came too close from finding the truth. He receives plastic surgery and plan his revenge for 12 years. The story unfolds as he tries to make the people responsible pay.

I don't really like the male lead on this one.. but Son Ye Jin made up for it. She is so gorgeous. Kinda looks like my ex-gf in a way.

The storyline is a little slow during the first 8 episodes. It gets more interesting from 10-20.

Rating: 7.5/10

Watch it free at Drama Fever.

Drama Review: I Hear Your Voice

A young girl is a witness to a brutal murder and helps convict the criminal in court. The son of the murder victim is forever grateful to this girl. He uses his supernatural power of being able to read people's thoughts to help this girl who is now a public defense attorney. During this time, the murderer is released from prison and is out for revenge.

I don't know any of the actors in this drama - and wasn't really interested in it until I was told it was the #1 drama in Korea at this time. It's receiving over 20% viewer rating. I agree with the people, this is a surprisingly good drama and worth the watch.

Watch it free at Drama Fever.

Song of the Day: 2NE1 - Falling in Love

Loving this song the more I listen to it.

Drama Review: Runaway

Rain before going to the army and before he started dating Kim Tae Hee. How he ended up landing Kim Tae Hee is beyond me - and i'm jealous. That's an entirely different topic though. In this drama he is actually charismatic and plays his role very well.

The story is about a private detective that is hired to find the man that killed the heroine's family. Rain plays the private detective and Lee Na Young plays the traumatized victim. There are lots of plot twists and turns in this drama - but it feels very overdone. Many of the scenes were predictable and the dialogue between the characters starting after episode 10 starts to put you to sleep. The action and fighting sequences were done well during the first 3 episodes - then it kinda gets boring. Boring in the sense that it's the same guy chasing Rain down a street.

I would recommend watching at least the first 3 episodes because they are jammed packed with expensive action scenes and explosions. I'm not a big Rain fan, but did come across this drama because Lee Na Young is dating Won Bin.. I didn't know who she was so I googled her and this drama popped up and sparked my curiosity.

Rating: 7/10

Watch it on Dramafever for free.

Drama Review: Love Rain

Oh Yoona.. so pretty. I have to rank her in the top 10 natural beauties in Korea. From all the pictures I've seen of her - there is no evidence that she had any plastic surgery done to her face. Didn't she originally debut as a child actress? My memory deceives me, and I can't be sure.

Love Rain is a story about young love. There are typical Korean drama: triangle love connections, parents objecting to their kids relationships, someone gets sick, and of course break up and make up. The setting in episode 1 is in Korea during the 1960's and Yoona and her friends are College students. Guy falls in love, girl falls in love, friend falls in love with the same girl, and the girl gets sick. That's just the beginning - as the story progresses into the future. What happens after? Go check it out. It's only 20 hours of your life. And about 15 of those hours you get to see Yoona. Oh, and there is lots of kissing... haha. :)

Rating: 7/10

Check out all 20 episodes @ Drama Fever.

Song of the Day and some updates

Psy - Gentleman

The awaited follow up to Gangnam Style. Everyone (including myself) thought Psy's next song would be a complete fluke and he would remain a one hit wonder in the eyes of the world. My first impression of the song was:

1. Copy the dance from Brown Eyed Girls Abracadabra
2. Many of the same concepts from Gangnam style in the MV
3. Catchy beat

Took me about two listens before I liked the song. There are many Psy song's i enjoyed even from his first album. He is talented and i give him props with how much he has accomplished. There are a few misconceptions about the song and it's suprising how many ignorant people there are in this world.

1. His NOT from north korea.. lol?
2. He does NOT say "mother fucker Gentleman" - it's actually Mother Father gentleman - but i'm sure he used it cleverly
3. He does not say "WEST SIDE" - this is probably the biggest mistake people make. He is actually saying "WET PSY" - which is a nickname he received during Infinity Challenge where his armpits were soaked in sweat. He came out on TV and admitted that he sweats a lot - hence WET Psy.

45 million views on Youtube in less than 2 days. Not bad.



Ailee and Baechigi. This girl has some crazy vocals. I love her. If someone asked me to choose between Ailee and Hyorin - that would be tough. Probably the two most talented idols in Kpop at the moment.

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Life overall has been good. I've been running around like a chicken with my head chopped off. Been very busy with work, but it's fun and stressful at the same time. I already have my ficticious business name which is REP appraisals. REP is an acronym of "Reputation, Excellence, Perfection".

There are a few restaurants i tried out recently.

1. Kang Ho Dong - Korean BBQ: The best Korean BBQ i've ever had. Better than Honey Pig. Hands down. The meat just melts in your mouth.
2. Orochon: I did their Spicy #2 challenge and failed. Not because it was spicy or because I ran out of time - but because there are just too much vegetables. I hate vegetables - and it just had too much of it. It was 1/3 noodles, 2/3 vegetables. If they offered a free shirt or something maybe I would have forced it - but I'm not going to force myself to eat something i don't like for bragging rights.

Been really thinking about buying another bike. This time i might actually do it, but the only thing holding me back is do i save the money for a house? That's the other thing, been seriously thinking about buying a condo soon. Possibly a 1bed / 1bath in Ktown or Studio City. Short sales are going for about $300k. I need to get out of my current rent situation and get settled soon. I've been getting ahead of myself and started looked at interior designs and how i'm going to spice up my rooms when/if i buy a home.

I did realize that I usually stop blogging when I get into a relationship. I just got out of one and look where i am.. lol.. back to blogging.

More RAM Please!

I have been debating on getting a new laptop since last year. Never got around to it because the one i'm using right now still works fine. I just wanted something beefier with an updated graphics card. Around January, I noticed my computer being very slow after closing certain programs such as Photoshop which take up lots of ram. I thought it was just my computer being old, but I also believed it was because the computer was using up the entire 2gigs i had, and making up the difference from the HD cache. I figured a $70 investment on a 4gig ram made more sense than cashing out $1,200 for a new laptop. Also updated my nVidia drivers and behold - fast computer again.

Closing programs, alt-tabbing, all go much smoother now. I'm running Win7 32-bit so technically the system only registers 3.5gb of ram, but it still makes a HUGE ~~~ difference. Very happy with the upgrade considering it only cost $70.

Currently running a Dell Inspiron 1520.
2.2ghz Intel Dual Core
4gb 800mhz DDR2
120GB HD
nVidia 8600GT

Still runs like a champ.

Diet Tip #8: Eat Right

"Blah blah blah" is what i used to hear when people used to talk about just dieting or eating right instead of working out and burning calories. Things have slightly changed now. I experienced it myself. Let me tell you the back-story.

Around sometime in July when i first started working at my new job, my boss was on this crazy chicken breast diet. Chicken breast and some mixed garden salad. That's all he ate. So, he would feed me the same thing he was eating for lunch and dinner. I ended up loosing like 15 lbs in one month. However, this didn't last because we started eating really bad and late at night. Pizza, KFC, etc. Guess it was comfort food since we were so stressed out from work. From about September to December of 2012, i ate really bad. Also in November i stopped working out because i was too busy to go to the gym. Drinking Goose and Redbull at 1am didn't help either. In any case, i ended up getting a belly. The turning point was after lunch in January 2013 when my pants were too tight and i needed to unbutton the top to breath.

Round 2 began around January 15th 2013. There were two resolutions i came up with.

1. Work out at home at least every other day.

2. Eat right. Completely cut off bad sugar. Sugar is digested and is processed into fat. Sugar is bad. No more soda. Lower carb intake - specially simple carbs like White Bread or White Rice.

Eating right is harder than it seems. I crave junk food - especially food loaded with carbs. So i made an adjustment. I get to cheat on weekends. Ever so slightly.

Here's what my diet consists of and i've lost about 10 lbs in 1 month and gained about 10 lbs in muscle mass.

Breakfast:
1. 2x Egg whites (no yolk). Seasoned with salt and pepper. Cooked in extra virgin olive oil.

Lunch:
Option 1: Tuna Melt. Canned Tuna / Wheat Bread / Pepperjack cheese
Option 2: Chicken Melt. Chicken Breast / Wheat Bread / Light American cheese

Dinner:
Option 1: Chicken Breast. Baked in a toaster oven. Marinated with olive oil and salt and pepper.
Option 2: Progresso or Chunky soup. Clam Chowder and Chicken Noodle are my favorites. Low in calories and filling.

This is lots of protein and very low in fat. I should probably add some garden salad for lunch, but i hate vegetables. I do need more fiber in my diet, and have been buying the Double Fiber wheat bread.

Impressions:

So far so good. My pants are now looser. I can definitely see more definition in my chest and shoulder area. I have a 2 pack.. almost 4 pack right after i work out. I feel leaner and healthier. I gotta do this for another 2 months and step up my work outs by mixing in some endurance training to get leaner.

Other Blurbs:

Shopping List. I generally go every week.

1. Dozen Eggs - $3
2. Frozen Chicken Breasts - $7 (pack of 10)
3. Canned Chicken Breasts - $3 (I try not to buy too much of this because it's expensive, but nice to have if you are in a hurry and can't defrost)
4. Water 24 pack - $3
5. Wheat Bread (double fiber) - $3
6. Canned Tuna - $89 cents each
7. Light Cheese - $4
8. Soup (Progresso / Chunky) - $2 each
9. Orange Juice $4

I buy about $30 worth of food every week. $30 / 5 = $6 per day for breakfast / lunch / dinner. That's pretty damn good.

Save money. Loose weight. Gain muscle. Be healthier. It's win win.. and more win.

Favorite TV Shows of 2013

There is some awesome TV shows returning in 2013. I just realized that many of these shows are on AMC cable channel. I would highly recommend the following:

1. Breaking Bad (drugs)
2. Game of Thrones (magic and boobies)
3. Spartacus (warning: lots of penis)
4. The Walking Dead (zombies)
5. Falling Sky (aliens)
6. How I Met Your Mother (getting closer to the final episode. who is the mom??)
7. Mentalist (Simon Baker just kills the roll as Patrick Jane)
8. Law and Order SVU (has some of the best story telling)
9. Top Gear ($$ cars.. nuff said)
10. Beauty and the Beast (only because of Kristen Kreuk - drama itself is so so)

Song of the Day: Bruno Mars - When I Was Your Man

I'm in love with this song.

Happy 2013!

Hope everyone is having a safe holiday season. 2012 was quite a year, and 2013 hopefully will be even better. I have been completely neglecting my blog, and it's unfortunate because i wanted to keep the news flowing. One of my resolutions will be to update this place more regularly.

The big news i heard today was that Kim Tae Hee and Bi are dating.. W T F. Who's the lucky one? Bi is pretty damn lucky. I predict a break up in the next few months though. If his not an idiot his not going to mess this one up.

Girls Generation came out with their new album. More powerful dance moves, but the song is iffy. Might be one of those songs that needs more listening time. It starts out with a powerful beat with nice rhythm, and in the chorus it gets all melody and soft. I don't get it.