Happy New Year to my OT Family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! May 2010 be a year of great health, Asian dramas, laughter, love, good friends and family, and plenty of fun!!!

So is it weird that I am just about to finish You're Beautiful. I'm one of those people who when a drama ends I like to savor it and wait a while to watch the final episodes even though I know what is going to happen. I have 4 episodes left to enjoy:)

IDK...I always end up doing that if I am active in the soompi threads for a drama and it ends before subs come out.

So what are you all looking forward to in this new year/decade? I am looking forward to finally going to Seoul by God's grace this February and starting that new chapter in my life. I cannot wait to go:)

Happy New Year everyone!

I feel like I've done my job this year in Kdrama land. As in I've gotten my best friend hooked on it. She's two episodes away from finishing YB and she's already asked me (repeatedly) if we can watch ALL of Jang Geun Seok's dramas next. I was leaning toward Coffee Prince...but we'll see.

I'm so glad it's finally January. I want my damn City Hall DVD SBS, you hear me?! ;)

2009 was interesting for me. I went from a casual drama watcher to full-on addicted. There was a total of 13 dramas (Korean and Japanese) I watched... wow. Where did the time go? 2009 was fast!

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!! ^_^

JavaBeans! Thanks to you too! Because of your interesting, user friendly, lovely site, I got to have a wonderful year of korean dramas and entertainment (that includes a year of DROOLING over korean guys!!!), and got to LMAO along with your faithful, insightful followers!

GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY!!!!!

Cheers to 2010! First OT for 2010! Woohoo!

@ockoala
Really those links for the Louis Cha classics were mega awesome (and mega tempting!). Only thing is I wish that site used paypal - as there whole convoluted way of verifying international CC orders makes me @_@

As a form of thanks (but you know I love ya - we are family after all!) I was browsing that site and thought I should bring this to your attention.....

http://www.dvdasian.com/_e/Pre_Orders/product/39300/City_Hall_The_Director_s_Cut_Boxset_20_Episodes_Region_3_5_DVDs_.htm
(*not sure if they is the same ver as mentioned in the soompi thread way back? Curious that yesasia has no mention of it *tsk tsk*)

To paraphase Optimus Prime - 'City Hallers transform!' (into a squealing pool of gee and happiness!)

To all those family member of City Hallers who are now suddenly deaf, sorry but HAD to share.

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMOGOMG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7EtGQ4qWDo
(credit to behang @ YT and zin_90 @ soompi for bringing it to my eyeballs oops attention)

I just saw this and yep I took my own advice - ‘City Hallers transform!’ (into a squealing pool of gee and happiness!)'

A short clip but a gold mine - smiling MC Jang Geun Seok, So Ji Sub (Oh man on man is he sexy, even with his guyliner but love his hair) AND Cha Seung Won (who did look a bit bored, except with KSA and then he was not bored until SJS looked toward....) lovely Kim Sun Ah!

Loved how Kim Sun Ah was giggling then pretended to be serious. So Mi Rae! Too cute.

This is like th Yang Saga of short clips! Belleza I know you had said that table was full of manilness - but PWOAR this small clip was sorta nuclear, and it wasn't even the whole show! Did you have a radiation suit on while watching it?

2010 sure is great :) Lovin' it!

@bspanda

I watched it live, so the second time around I was focusing on KSA & CSW.
KSA looks so cute shuffling toward her seat... ;) And it was so nice of the Cain & Abel guy to take the flowers from her... it looks like he put them in his lap.

Happy New Year JB & Everyone!

Thank you to JB for giving us a place to go for our daily Kdrama fix. Its like a crack addiction coming to this site everyday for any updates, insights and news.

Hope everyone will have a healthy and prosperous 2010!

Ah...had ddukgook at my favorite restaurant. Now, the new year is starting off right. :D

@ 54 bspanda
Why is there a picture of Kang Ji Hwan on the City Hall dvd page?
Did he have a cameo in the drama...and Samsooki failed to mention it?! o_O

@ robotmatsuri
How did you survive the hotness the first time round? hehehe

"And it was so nice of the Cain & Abel guy to take the flowers from her… it looks like he put them in his lap."

That nice guy is not in Cain & Abel - but City Hall. He is the much loved Jo Gukie *sigh* - Cha Seung Won. <3

Speaking of Cain & Abel - the evil bad guy with the high pitched voice in C & A doesn't look half bad in glasses (for those he have never watched C & A and just watching the clip he is the guy sitting next to SJS). Had to rewatch that clip again and again just to check - ok ok maybe wasn't for him per se but the company he kept ;)

Speaking of cuties was JoGukies cute assitant at the SBS award show?
@ hjkomo
"Why is there a picture of Kang Ji Hwan on the City Hall dvd page?
Did he have a cameo in the drama…and Samsooki failed to mention it?! o_O"

No way! Nope there was no KJH cameo - be assure I would have shared that news with you! But what a bonus - seeing KJH even in error!

@bspanda

No, the guy sitting next to Cha Seung Won. She passed the flowers to CSW and the he passed them to the guy next to him... I think he kept the flowers on his lap?

Sigh, no movie this afternoon since extended family has gone insane and no childcare in sight.

@ bspanda

I'm sure our robotmatsuri wouldn't not recognize our beloved Jo Gook CSW himself. ;-) robotmatsuri is right, the guy who *ended up* with the flowers is the guy from Cain and Abel, he took them from CSW, who took the flowers from KSA. It was flower musical chairs!

Thanks for the clip, mwah!

City Hallers unite and have transformed into a bunch of love sick swooners again.

As for the TVB classic releases, you can buy them on yesasia as well, which takes paypal. I posted a link to dvdasian just to show a place to buy them, but most places sell the sets, which are priced as official releases are priced, pretty steep unfortunately.

@ Taohua

I think you'll really love the Duke DVD set, one thing for sure, the story is not flimsy, it's probably one of the most densely plotted, paced and executed Louis Cha novel adaptations.

I, however, am a sucker for a good romance and melodrama, which doesn't exist in Duke (except for the best bromance ever on screen, even Vic and Mark pale next to Andy and Tony). Which is why I love ROCH and LOCH more, despite the superiority of the Duke story, ultimately, only a good love story is what I need.

@ockoala

I’m sure our robotmatsuri wouldn’t not recognize our beloved Jo Gook CSW himself.

B-but I'm a girl... :( lol.

City Hallers unite and have transformed into a bunch of love sick swooners again.

That's for sure! My heart was thumping hard all night from the site of the two! They are definitely a beautiful couple! :D

@ robotmatsuri
I sincerely apologise to you for mistakenly thinking you were referring to JoGukie. Obviously my brain was fried by seeing SJS and CSW in that clip!

@ockoala
My poor dongsaeng (or is it unni?)! If I could I would so go over and babysit the ockoala babies for you! I'm good with kids, just as long as you don't mind a kdrama loving babysitter who might make your babies seem mature in comparison. :P

I will probably continue to hunt for the compressed ver of the Louis Cha TVB gems - as I think my festive spending has given my CC battle fatigue!

@ robotmatsuri

Yes, I know you are a girl. The "himself" in my very grammatically poor sentence referred to CSW. My bad. :-P

@ bspanda

Thanks for offering to babysit, I'll going to take the kids to the bookstore instead. My second drug of choice, books! I've been forbidden from watching anymore CitC online today, apparently, I'm supposed to interact with humans who live with me. Sheesh, hubby is such a tyrant.

Gee YT is dishing up the goodies for me today. :)

I have been curious about how SJS and KSA had appeared in a sitcom many moons ago. Found this fanclip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGgWoh6UQlE
Does anyone who where I can get this sitcom - is there another name aside from Joa Joa? Does anyone know now many eps? I think I saw the 'brother' of Kim Rae Won (oh how I miss him) from Gourmet in this series too.

So Si Sub is so young, but you can see the makings of his current sexy self there already. This clip had the added bonus of SJS in trunks. Hmmm not defined chocolate abs, but a awesome physique. He really should teach JGS that this is how you dive into a pool - with style and grace. And yep you can tell he knows how to swim :)

@ ockoala
Books are very good drugs! Shockingly I have not OD'd on books this festive season. But am very :( that I can't seem to find Pullman's 'Once Upon a Time in the North' at any of the local bookstores. Might have to go Amazon :P

Currently I am reading Charlaine Harris' first Sookie Stackhouse 'Dead Until Dark", while I watch True Blood (up the last disc of S1). Quite enjoying both.

@ ockoala
"I’ve been forbidden from watching anymore CitC online today, apparently, I’m supposed to interact with humans who live with me. Sheesh, hubby is such a tyrant."

:( Aw...no more CitC today? Even if you tell hubby I'll babysit the little ones next time I visit?

And...hey, isn't he busy watching the Rose Bowl in his man cave?

@ Samsooki

What an awesome idea!

BTW how is that Samsooki Space Odyssey Epic masterpiece script going? May I suggest you add CSW, SJS and JGS to the cast? :)

Happy New Year all! Many thanks for the year end reviews recently posted -- the only problem is that there are so many that I now want to see, that I will probably spend 2010 catching up with what I missed in 2009.

Has anyone tried streaming dramafever on a WD TV Live networked media player? I am debating between the networked and non-networked versions, and they don't mention dramafever among the options for streaming.

@momosan Hoppin John at our house, too; time to get cooking I guess.

The super cute Cha Seung Won & Kim Sun Ah on the red carpet at the SBS awards show. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6goTT8SAVpk

my day is never complete without clicking on your website..thanks javabeans! Have a great new year!

@samsooki

So does that mean you're gonna do it? ;)

@ Samsooki

Go for it. It's all yours! :D
I'll send you more coffee. Will that help?

@ Samsooki

I have not eaten at either of those two establishments, but...

the point is -
Do you want to eat just good beef
or
OMFG-unbelievably-unforgettable beef?
:P

Happy New Year! WIshing one and all a great year of Kdramas in 2010! Thanks Javabeans for all the fun!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Wow so fast already in 2010, Chuno less than a week away, My resolution totally broken less than 30minutes into the newyear (hehe) what re great start to the new year... And BTW to my fellow Kdrama enthusiasts and Korean Lovers alike 2010 - 2012 is the "Visit Korea" years! so like me i still have two years to get my toosh there.. lol

As the above posts have done i would also contribute my drama preferences but am really still recovering from my New Years celebrations.. :p *ergo Resolution disregarded as of 12:24am 01/01/10...
gah~ hope you all have a good one! thanks to the OT Whanau (thats family in Maori, yes im from NewZealand) and you Javabeans! Cheers! *clinks champers glass to laptop screen * spillage * oh well new-year new lappy maybe?no okay ;)

PLEEEEASE stop talking about steak!!! I had just decided I wasn't hungry enough to bother with dinner and then I thought well, I'll see what's happening on OT and now I'm starving. I guess this isn't going to be a meat-free year...

happy new year to all.

@ jb, thanks so much for this site. this provides us with a venue to exchange ideas and insights, rave and rants about the dramas we are watching. also, your reviews point us to the right direction on what to watch and which ones will waste our time. i wish i've known you before i wasted so much hours on cinderella man that i didnt finish.

@ samsooki... what can i say, im deeply in love with you (sorry wifey!). i love your rookie review. i love reading your cityhall recaps. i love it that you're a guy and you love cityhall and my name is kim sam soon. it gives us women of the world a lot of hope. thank you for sharing with us your insights. i most appreciate your explanations of scenes that we wont be able to appreciate without the appropriate background on korean culture. (i.e your explanation on the scene when ju-hwa first met with go hae in cityhall... brilliant). i wish all the best with your diaper duties.

@samsooki wifey.... thank you so much for sharing samsooki with us. because of that i love you too.

it is also this year that i discovered mysoju and viikii and the fansubs. i used to get dvds from my regular vendor but the subs were horrible. the subs need subs. not only do i get the kdramas free, they are of great qualities. thank you to all kindhearted people who upload episodes and sub for us non-korean speakers. thank you for sharing your world with us (gosh im teary eyed). im so deeply in love with all you too.

i watched quite a few kdramas this year. one i love and treasure (cityhall), one i enjoyed so much (you're beautiful), a number that i dropped midway (cinderella man - why oh why KSW???, kingdom of the winds (maybe i will pick this up again), my fair lady (i deeply wish gong yoo will not suffer YEH's fate), iris (love LBH but dont know about KTH))... then there was BBF that i finished (i dont know if i should be proud or embarassed that i actually finished this series) actually, i was so inlove with cityhall that i couldnt take up a new kdrama after it was over. i just kept watching it again and again. took me 6 months to recover and watch you're beautiful... even then i still wait for samsooki's cityhall recaps. im afraid for the day that samsooki will give us the recap of the last episode because after that there will nothing to look forward to. so samsooki, take your time.

to all, happy new year.

I don't have much going on this week drama-wise and it's starting to get to me a little bit! I finished Damo a few days ago and thought I'd hold off starting anything new while I wait for Chuno. I do think I'll try to finish Alone In Love, which I've started twice now. It's really good, I don't know why it's taken me so long to get back to it.

I managed to see Avatar this week and thought it was actually pretty awesome. I have a couple of wee small complaints (it's a bit heavy-handed and preachy, and the bad guy is a little too OTT). There were about 10 minutes or so where I'd have sworn I was watching Dances With Wolves, too. But then I decided to just chuck all that and enjoy the absolutely incredible beauty of it. It's just stunning to look at; I'd kill to have seen the 3-D version!

Tonight I'm watching 500 Days of Summer.

Happy New Year 2010 everyone!
Looks like a lot of OT-lurkers are either still partaying their way thru the new year, or they're just too dead drunk to post. Haha.

Look what you've done Samsooki, you've started the CITC discussion here! Which of course is a great thing because it's such an amazing drama. No other words needed, EPIC is the one.

Meanwhile, I just started Alone In Love. And I absolutely love it. The drama is totally devoid of all the makjang and K-drama cliches. All the small and minute details of Eun Ho and Dong Jin's love-hate relationship, so quiet and subtle, yet beautiful in every single way. Can't wait to add this to my Top 10 list.. I'm sure it will. hehehe..

On the other hand, I also have Damo in my hands. I actually watched like 5 episodes but could not get into it. Anyone knows why? Maybe because I've seen the best of the best CITC?

Grumbles again. I feel like samsooki's lesser shadow puppet. Maybe I should just be quiet and slink away, since I have nothing to add, but then again, concurrence is a valid point to make.

"But is the drama better? That entirely depends. I look at dramas in terms of whether I am moved by watching it, and HGD certainly moved me quite a bit, despite its lesser acting, directing, writing, cinematography, etc"

Yeah, in between piles of smelly diapers, samsooki regains all his lucid faculties and continues to make pithy and bullseye observations.

Substitute Damo for HGD in my saguek-watching reservoir of dramas. I'm up to CitC episode 3, and I continue to watch with perfect clarity that I may be watching a completely flawless drama in every objective criteria, but unlike Damo, I do not have a single urge to *keep watching until my eye balls fall off*. Perhaps that moment will come just around the corner, or it may never come at all. And when I was watching Damo, past episode 6, I could not stop, no matter how tired I was.

There is as a drama-watcher that moment when you become fully invested in the story unfolding before you for that very special drama, when you feel personally attached to the characters, their plight, their emotions. I am waiting to feel it with CitC, and to be honest, I'm trying too hard to feel it.

I also tried a little hard to feel invested with the early episodes of Damo, and I stopped after episode 4 because, well, I liked it but it was just a nice drama. (@ ripgal, Damo was a different beast for me after episode 6, it took one amazing scene between Chae-ohk and Sung-baek, and then I was sold on what was unfurling before me - before then, it was just pretty good all around). So really, the drama can turn on a dime from love to hate and vice-versa.

If it continues, then I can say one drama is to me Northern Lights Trilogy and the other drama is the Lord of the Rings trilogy in terms of how I feel about it.

Btw, samsooki, apparently hubby doesn't like Dune? How is that possible, I thought all sci/fi junkies treat Dune as the holy grail. Just to sate my curiosity, I bought it at the bookstore today, will report back when I'm done.

@ bspanda: you're gonna have to amazon Lee Scoresby's book.

Thanks, samsooki (I genuinely do not get tired of saying it to you or anyone here at OT). I just shouted out after reading your post: "hey honey (who is watching football in another room), have you read the Foundation Series?'

Hubby: Yes, its one of the classics of sci/fi, absolutely incredible." He owns it so I'll be checking that out as well. And since I do love sci/fi, but not as into it as my romance novels/mangas/dramas, I'll start with the Foundation series per your suggestion.

Sigh, you get me and hubby talking again. ;-) keeding, of course, he's also willing to watch Duke of Mount Deer with me if I keep the English subtitles on with the Mandarin audio (as opposed to Cantonese original audio with Chinese subs). I shall oblige, for further spousal bonding purposes.

Happy New Year to you all!