@ samsooki,

I agree that My Girl's Lee Dong Wook didn't grow much and neither did your Binnie in MNIKSS, but I'm sticking to my guns on Gong Yoo... I didn't see him at the start as being a good guy, not a gangster or anything, but lazy, arrogant, used to being rich and having his own way. I was pretty sure he was not going to be the lead guy b/c he was so dislikeable (CP was my first k-drama; I did not recognize the signs). His interest in Yoo Joo seemed to be mostly rooted in the fact that his cousin had something prettier than he had and he wanted it. Not a nice motivation. Courting your cousin's girlfriend just isn't nice in any circumstance even if you do think she is your true love, as it is clear (she believes) the cousin is her true love. Had she chosen him, he would have pretty much stayed as he was. He wouldn't have done a good job of the cafe, would not have developed his leadership and business skills or ability to work with others, just waited out his 3 months and gone off back the States with Yoo Joo, IF, having agreed to get married didn't get him out of the cafe altogether with grandma. But he didn't get Yoo Joo and eventually realized he didn't really want her. He ends up being a very likeable and a great boyfriend--loving, enduring, fostering his partner's own growth, etc. Clearly, he had to have the capacity for those traits already, in order to be able to develop them, but he wasn't expressing them until challenged to do so. I would argue the same with Jae Hee in DGCH--those traits, the capacity to have them, had to have been in him already, but not needed or prodded out out of him except through the narrative trajectory of the story. Both were immature, both matured. That one matured more than the other... well, isn't Jae Hee still in high school at the start of DGCH? How much maturity can we expect of high school boy? By definition he has to mature, the question being, to the good or to the bad? Gong Yoo's had a little more life experience by the start of CP. But it's clear he's done as much growing as he's likely to do on his own, and he's on the path of getting through life as easily and comfortably and unsociably as possible.

I wish I felt motivated to put as much thought into the work sitting on my desk as I am willingly putting into this discussion...

@ belleza

Yes, in that sense HTK's development could have been much more interesting. GMN's was expected--she comes out of a convent, she has to learn how be in the world. If we'd seen more of HTK developing according to the steps that GMN was experiencing, that would have been much richer. But I got the feeling that the eventual focus on HTK was an evolution of the script/drama through the filming, not the original intention. So that by the time it was evident HTK was by far the more fascinating and charismatic character, it was too late to develop the story in that way. Not that he was ever going to be a bit character, but that GMN's development was intended to be the central conceit and HTK the foil against which she grew.

Social relations are a big part of life. Development of greater or better capacity to relate to others who are different or who present challenges, is a big development. In that, a character's ability or experience of developing in one major aspect of life is rather realistic. How many people undergo a major 'awakening' as an adult and change completely? Not many, but most of us go through experiences that help us to become better people, ideally, though the opposite happens maybe more frequently, we go through experiences which make us harder/bitter/cynical. That's character development, too. Again, I would say we have those capacities already, but our life experiences are what propel us to develop some in particular ways rather than others in other ways. So I like the aspect of the dramas which shows us how people experience life and learn from their experiences (in HTK's part, which JB pointed out, he learns from his mistakes quickly--he acts one way in keeping with his established character, it doesn't take him to the relationship with GMN he wants so he works to rectify it, but the rectifying action requires him to act in ways he didn't want to (more humble, more open, etc)). We see them making mistakes, being unhappy with the results, and changing their behaviour...

... and I like too that the drama format allows for change to happen incrementally. Sometimes in the movie format (90min) it just happens too fast for me to find it believable or to really see how it took place. But over 10-16 episodes, watching the characters make mistakes, alter behaviours, learn to develop new habits, it feels believable and that's enjoyable, the rooting for a character to not make the same damn mistake again and seeing that s/he doesn't, yay! but has in fact moved on and up and will reap the emotional rewards. You can see why I steer clear of weepies--I need to see those rewards.

OK, I'm going to the gym and I'm going to come back energized and ready to deal with this mess on my desk!

"Not that he was ever going to be a bit character, but that GMN’s development was intended to be the central conceit and HTK the foil against which she grew."

Pretty much, but what I was more speaking to was the overall story was more episodically written than a normal K-drama. Each episode or two would cover a mini-GMN lesson detailing something she learned from her ANJell experience. This structure is familiar in J-dorama, because most youth stories are written this way, whether the character is the wacky one or the straight man.

I enjoyed YAB as it is. Part of the magic for me was how the show sustained a delicate, hermetic bubble where GMN and HTK, GMN and ANjell developed as a friendship/relationship in accordance with her development into being an adult. When the

"How many people undergo a major ‘awakening’ as an adult and change completely?"

I think it's more about a show is written. The coming-of-age narrative is the dominant one in J-dorama because most J-doramas focus on teenagers and young 20-somethings. Obviously, most main characters in K-dramas aren't these people.Nevertheless, the majority of J-doramas shows (provided it's not a specific genre one like a police drama or a detective drama), are pretty much written around a set of lessons or thematic points that develop the characters as they go. The focus is often "macro" or big picture, and so the character often arrives at a better understanding of their integration with the community, be it family, work, whatever. In that sense, the character development can be very linear. The character goes through another checkpoint and by the end the show, they deliver The Big Speech in order to bear weatiness how changed they've become. In a renzoku, that is often how they fall in love.

A good example is Hana Yori Dango and Boys Before Flowers. More or less the same story, a lot of the same screwball fun, but HYD-J is more tightly episodic (each episode has a resolution with a message to take away) whereas BBF flows more like a soap. The trials in BBF are just that, trials. Whereas the obstacles in HYD-J are kinda teaching points for the Doumouji character.

One caveat with this psuedo-episodic format is that the character development can seem kinda linear, and the relationship can seem "built" or "propped" around story rather than through chemistry or characterization. As a result, there's often a desire in J-dorama to load up on the plot in order to develop the relationship to the audience. Whereas in K-drama, often it's about acting presence, chemistry, ad-libs, and a lot of small talk and casual situations. Sometimes the story itself seems arbitrary, and so the viewer (such as I) may be somewhat suspicious of investing cause-effect with the story point, as opposed to looking at other stuff. It's a different way in doing a romance.

happy new year! i just had to say i heart jamie cullum :) thanks for your awesome blog!

@momosan,

"(and BTW, did you know it’s hard as heck to get Arashi anywhere but Japan…what’s with that? – honestly someone over at Johnnys needs to get their minds around the fact that if they allow international downloads they’d be cutting into the illegal file sharing) –"

Yeah . . . that's J-pop for ya. :D That's one of the baffling differences between Korean and Japanese approaches to pop culture. Koreans are proud of their stuff and are happy (even overzealous) about sharing it with ohers. The Japanese are like "uhm, sure, but why??" The Japanese entertainment companies are so anal retentive about the distribution of their media product, that it hurts their exposure outside of Asia.

"Off the top of my head, maybe Pride as the most k-drama like romance – from the contract dating to the separation to the various sidekicks; but I’m stumped on a j-drama like k-drama…"

Thinking through this . . .

Second season of HYD-J is very much like a Korean melodrama.

Tokyo Wankei was a deliberate attempt at a Korean-style melodrama, and it kinda highlights where the two style don't meet. Because J-doramas gotta substantiate everything about a relationship in details of story, the usual melodrama plot twists are almost treated with literal, earth-shaking importance. And it turns the whole thing into a wacky parody of melodrama. Shame too because Tokyo Wankei took on an important theme, that is the treatment of Korean-Japanese.

A lot of Nojima Shinji's romance scripts (Pride, Bara, Love Shuffle) have the same kind of small talk, banter, and chemistry-building stuff that is associated with K-drama. The overall framework is still episodic, but the J-dorama speechifying is dialed down for, again, layers of small talk and witty banter. It's just wonderful.

Alone in Love is -- more or less -- a Korean J-dorama. The story is serial, but every episode is written around a theme/topic. The presence of parents is dialed down (unless a J-doramas is an asadora or family drama, J-doramas keep the presence of parents to a functional level, and usually the families are merely nuclear.) You hae a pro wrestler character. You have lots of bartender scenes. Divorce. You have lots of middle shots showing characters walking back and forth. There's lots of voiceovers, and progressive development around Son Yeh Jin's character.

Return of Iljimae feels a bit like a jideaki. More episodic. You got a narrator who kinda yaps through the show a la docudrama. The romance is treated very casually. Lots of floor-level interior shots and "soundstage." Very strong coming-of-age element.

You're Beautiful can be kinda watched as a fusion of TW-drama and J-dorama. TW-drama in the whole shoujo "reverse harem" silliness of it all. J-dorama in that a lot of the gags and romantic moments are diligently storyboarded and thought-out prior to shoot.

Personal theory that Noh Hee Kyung is a J-dorama writer trapped in a K-drama industry.

@ bspanda

Eeep, I totally forgot one final novel, the first LC novel ever written actually.

The Revenge of the Book and the Sword was set after all the novels I listed chronologically - Duke is set in the Qing Dynasty reign of Emperor Kang-xi (one of the great emperors in Qing history). Book and the Sword is set in the Qing Dynasty Reign of Emperor Qiang-long (the grandson of Kang-xi), so like 80 years or so later.

LC's first and last novel bookends his Qing Dynasty stories, and the Book and the Sword reflects LC's early choppiness as a weaver of compelling stories, and reflects also in my opinion the height of his complete ineptitude at writing female characters. The two female leads in Book are just wasted and the love story was like, jesus are you kidding me level bad. Worth noting that while Shi Kele, aka Princess Fragrant was truly a dumb broad if ever anyone fit that description, her complete useless idiocy seems quaint in retrospect to the lobotomy LC gave Xiaolongu, who started off fine, and the refusal of LC to give Wang Yu-yan a redeeming arc. So the three glorious beauties of all of LC's novels are collectively the three biggest affronts to womankind, and yet I still love LC and his novels. Credit to the man, he insults my gender time and again, and still, his storytelling knows no bounds.

To this day, I hear this epic refrain, and I swoon: "I ask the world, what is love? That it would cause a person to give one's all in life and in death."

And that is why I love k-dramas so much, a good k-drama really knows how to explore what "love" is and give me a compelling story in so many different ways.

I'm expecting Chuno to be all that many shades of awesome and then some.

"I’m expecting Chuno to be all that many shades of awesome and then some."

Yup. Really curious what Kwak Jung Hwan can do with a budget :D

@ mookie

"And Barbara+ Michael’s chemistry was OFF THE ROOF in The fearless Duo "

I have never seen this TVB drama - but am tracking it down ASAP. There is a another drama with Michael and Barbara I've not seen, life will not be complete until I see it! I always thought these two should have dated in real life, Kent and Barbara always seemed so wrong. And Michael ended up marrying another actress that has always reminded me of Barbare, prettier even, but less animated and luminious. Sigh, my childhood fanship fantasies only.

Oh, and we cannot even begin to discuss whether Xiaolongnu deserved a Xiao Fong ending, a ala Demi-Gods. Put aside that LC has never written a long novel centered around a female character, Xiao Fung was THE tragic hero, I can't bring myself to read or re-watch Demi-Gods because I started convulsing, gut-clenching, screaming at the TV, generally want to bash my head in because of the tragi-horror happening on screen. It's like watching a train running head on into Xiao Fung, and I can't stop it. LC creates the most ideal hero in terms of valor, skills, intelligence, empathy, every good quality in the book, and then makes the man make every correct decision, only to have it backfire at each juncture. I can't watch, it's too much for my psyche to bear. And I'll write her name but once - Ah Zhi - and snarl. I hate that woman with the heat of a billion poison arrows. The older sister Ah Zhu on the other hand, swoon, such a fine woman. XF is proof there can be too much tragedy.

Damo was just enough tragedy and beauty, watching Demi-Gods, it took it just one step further, and that's one step too much for me.

K-drama fans and lovers of wuxia films alike

My "I lub you" is BACK!

http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/12/02/first-pictures-of-john-woo-produced-rain-of-swords-starring-michelle-yeoh/

Oh lord have mercy on my mental stability - first I have Chuno - whats looks to be the most kick-ass wuxia in flavor saguek EVER (following in the footsteps of Damo).

Then I have the fantasiest combination I can ever imagine - My Jung Woo-sung starring in a Gu Long classic wuxia novel movie adaptation!

They might as well have cast JWS as Linghu Chong in a Smiling Proud Wanderer Remake and then I would cease to live life other than holding the DVDs in my arms and rocking back and forth and mumbling incoherent thoughts after my brain has short circuited.

Anyways, hjkomo, I know you haven't yet experienced a genuine HK style wuxia movie/drama (trust me, The Restless is, LOL, not a proper introduction into the genre by any measure) - but if Rain of Swords in a Martial Arts World is done right, you may just want to borrow my wuxia dramas. ;-) Either way, our JWS is all sorts of awesome as a wuxia hero. He was born to play it!

@ockoalatwin,

the other one of Barbara+Michael is United We Stand. It's my fav genre of TVB when I was a kid... turn of the century period (costumes!!) + goofballs!! (and we got Barbara in TWO characters!!!!!!!!!

this is ep 1 in mando:
http://mv.baidu.com/export/flashplayer.swf?vid=e5dc630bb0c24c0d87eea2c0

@epyc
' Many a nights I was so hooked in his Wuxia world that I read them overnight under a blanket before going to school with panda eyes.'

same here! I used up many batteries for my flashlights... and the Smiling Proud Warrior, gosh I loved it sooo much I reread it as soon as I turned the last pp and it was 4 phone book volumes long... so when my 8 yo nephew complained to me his mommy (my cousin) won't let him read his Harry Potters past 10pm... I slyly taught him the blankie setup and passed onto him my 'torch'.

@twin: o my squeeeeee, JOE CHANG as Yang Kang!!!!!!!! u r seriously killing me, I'm off to lalaland first day of work in twentyten, my gosh he's born to own this LoCH08 role...my mom, who is one stubborn purist with LoCH being her fav LC novel, was pissy at me when I felt sthsth for YK in LoCH08, if YK was reincarnated by Joe, I'll be in mad starryeyed love a la the novel bimbo NianChi...and she will seriously disown me. It's perfectly understandable that your hubby thought YK was the guy1 in earlier eps, PD/scriptwriter did pour out all his manlove for YK, that's y the casting is so so spot on, HuGe is humongous in China, he owns the flower boy matinee idol crown. He suffered thro a horrible disfiguring car accident at the beginning of the filming with one of his close buddy killed, making his performance here all the more anticipated... and he did one fine job as is, and added much more gravity considering the tragedy. I can't begin to imagine all the fangirl squeeing just with him onscreen. As the story progresses on he'll be in the foreground, the meat of LoCH is how this dumbo mastered his martial arts and his road to saintly herodom under total puppeteering of HR still. O I'm in mad love with your babyboy, he's born with FINE taste. *Giving him an auntie muak*!

O don't touch Chinese Paladin, at least I'm very sorry I did: 1. Liu YF ...ie block of super pretty wood 2. Its aspiration is to showcase CGI mainland style... u saw that condor in LoCH08 right?! 3. N O plot: it's based on a Chinese originated fantasy PC game...ie the clinks were so not worked out yet storywise, it felt pirated and borrowed...in a chopsueyed way.

See y I loved DemiGods as a novel is that as a dress rehearsal for Deer Cauldron, it's as complex as can be. It's almost my 'Buddism for dummies' for me. more on that later and that AhZi, *sigh* is sadly an invention of Mr Ni Kuang.... just another proof how impossibly hard it is to write a good Wuxia.

*NEED TO SNAP BACK TO WORK*

@203 reluctantbutaddicted I don't remember the running, but the timeslip where they made that Japanese pancake thing (can't remember what it is called) and discussed which regional variation they were going to make is what stuck with me. That dish was also featured in an episode of Kekkon dekinai otoku and in Ganbatte Ikimashoi!!

I think my favorite Yamapi drama so far, other than Nobuta, is Stand Up!! and I wasn't even expecting to like it much. Maybe he was less of a star then, but I thought his acting was superior to later efforts. And Suzuki Anne was quite wonderful, and only 16 years old at the time.

Since I find the food in dramas so attractive, I have decided that my new role model will be the grandma in Aishiteru, a woman who obviously enjoys eating, or the second daughter who is kind of solid looking, unlike her willowy older sister.

And I hope you have the Proposal Daisukensan Special on hand, since the original episodes didn't wrap it up.

@ mookie wuxia-sister of mine:

Let's start off with an ode to LC (probably the greatest modern Chinese fiction writer - his world is as rich as Tolkein's LotR trilogy, and way more complex).

After LC completed all his titles, it was discovered that the first characters of the first 14 titles can be joined together to form a couplet with 7 characters on each line:

飛雪連天射白鹿
笑書神俠倚碧鴛

Loose translation
Shooting a white deer, snow flutters around the skies;
Smiling, [one] writes about the divine chivalrous one, leaning against bluish lovebirds (or lover)

Cha has stated that he has never intended to have the couplet. The couplet serves primarily as a handy mnemonic to remember all of his works for his fans.

Just beautiful heady stuff.

Anyways, Ah-zhi as a character in Demi-Gods, yes I blame my second fave Chinese writer Ni Kuang for that travesty (let's not say that THE ultimate sci/fi writer in Chinese fiction cannot write female pathos worth a damn - but this was proof in the pudding) - but ultimately, who told LC to take a random sabbatical and have NK write a few chapters of Demi-Gods for him.

Imagine if J.K. Rowling decided to tour Easter Island and cleanse her soul for 6 months, and then Stephen King stepped in to write a few chapters of Harry Potter for her. We would have Hermoine turn into dark Hermoine for a few chapters while killing half the population of London before Ron sacrifices himself to bring her back (oops, episode of Buffy I'm cribbing on). In conclusion, writers should not step in for each other and cross-pollinate their styles. Not good.

And hee hee - oh langdon-unni, you've gotta watch Legend of the Condor Heroes 2008 version with Ariel Lin, it's sublime, really, I'm a purist but when something works, you have to applaud it. It's a great introduction to the Chinese sageuk. @ mookie - I *knew* you'd go as batshit insane as I was watching LoCH 2008 and all the Yang Kang scenes and going....."Joe Cheng, Joe Cheng, you were born to play this role....Joe, please, oh god please why didn't they cast him!!!!"

Only the 2008 version of Yang Kang though, the un-revised version of YK, Joe is not suitable to be a genuine sociopath. But this version of YK is wow in a bucket, and then if Joe played YK, we'd get what I always felt, as an undercurrent of sexual tension between Yang Kang and Huang Rong (and that always pervasive frisson between Joe and Ariel anytime they are onscreen), omg you know it was there in the novel.

See, Guo Jing as the lead hero was never that interesting - that's why the entire world focuses on HR, who plays HR, as the barometer by which LoCH succeeds or fails as a production. And Yang Kang is way more interesting, except, even if you stretch your moral codus, you still can't root for a pathologically devious and self-absorbed ass, no matter how freakin awesome YK is as an adversary.

Which is why it works when LoCH 2008 took that possibility, added the layer of nuance to YK, and then sent him out to face the viewing audience, and collectively make us reconsider 40 years of LoCH written in stone unchanging views of the main four leads. Audacious move by this production, ballsy and its paid off, it appears.

Lastly - aint no production ever can successfully digitize an image of giant condors. The scene when two giant white condors appear and start stomping on a couple of Jin lackeys, hubby and I were in fits rolling on the ground laughing. It's better than anything done before (or better than the condors who used to be guys dressed up in costume flapping their wings), but still...ROFLMHO.

Ockoala unni, you did not just give an eulogy of LOCH 2008 while dismissing its mainland China remake LOCH 2005, did you? AHHHH!

I love Ariel, she having starred and shined brilliantly in two of my most beloved Taiwan series, ISWAK I & II, and many of the actors in there, even including actress NaNa, though her role as the Mongolian Princess was rather small, but seriously??!!

I won't go into the dubbing horrors of LOCH 2008, I'll just focus on the haphazard directing that made the storyline lose its transitioning - if it weren't for the original novel, and the appeal of the actors, I really would have chalked this up to be redundant drivel - nothing new nor inspiring. Granted, I had desperately wished they dubbed Zhou Xun's voice in LOCH 2005, and the production certainly had its misses, but its paltry compared to the effort and result - a more detailed and expansive protrayal of bringing the novel to life.

My issue is, with such great storyline already written, and many predecessors, I really expected something refreshingly new, if they could not compare in bringing the world of Jin Yong novels to life like Zhong Ji Zhong's productions have - that's with lots of money and manpower of course - than at least do something entirely unique. Anyways, anyways...*wink to Smilers*...I'm getting too impassioned. BTW, I concur with Wuxia dramas being a bonding bridge - my little brother and I completely love watching them together. I swear we're almost complacently delirious after watching a good wuxia drama.

And omg, I finally finished SOAM, one of the best dramas of this year! I love Kim Kang Woo! For me, he beat GHJ, as much as I love Mishil, for best villain or "force of nature" of 2009.

Now I need to watch Friends, Our Legend.

@ Kgirl

Confession: I did not watch LoCH 2003 Zhang Zi-zhong mainland production. I watched his other two hack jobs (in my opinion) that he did to Demi-Gods in 2002 and then to RoCH in 2005, and having the four leads of 2003 LoCH not what I imagined, I pressed skip.

I have heard 2003 LoCH is MOST faithful to the novel. But I'm really a 0-2 for ZYZ adaptations of LC novels, so I'm not dissing LoCH 2003. I am however, praising LoCH 2008 (up to where I am currently watching, episode 8).

Can I say.....LoCH 2008 reminds me greatly of a k-drama. ZYZ productions are very mainland drama style (not my style). TVB productions have the HK touch all over (my style).

But LoCH 2008 is blending the best parts of HK production (the lightning wuxia, the scenes with many talking parts which seem large but acting wise feels intimate), with my favorite k-drama melo (lovers torn apart, lovers can't be together, lover is a giant goonball, etc.).

The dubbing *for once* does not bother me (usually it does), but here, my audio is pretty good. Anyhoo, just my meager 2 cents, really, LoCH 1982 is always nearest and dearest to my heart, but at the end of the day, the epicness of the story always draws me in, and when someone does a remake, I always want to check it out.

It's like if there was a hamster version of Pride & Prejudice, I would watch it and learn hamsterish. I love it just that much. :-)

And I'm a gonna wrap Ariel Lin in a blanket and abscond with her, I love her rendition of HR that much. Too bad that Hu Ge does not not much chemistry with AL, sigh, even that real block of wood Wu Zhun had more chemistry with AL in Tokyo Juliet. That dude who plays Yang Kang actually, I can see clicking with AL, too bad their direct scenes are few and far between. Yeah, like I said, if Joe was cast as YK, I'm be first on the line to break canon and tell LC I want HR to get with YK. And then I'll get stoned (much rewatch a few scenes from ISWAK for a ArJoe fix).

"It’s like if there was a hamster version of Pride & Prejudice"

Hey now, don't be hating on My Fair Lady like that. ;)

Ockoala, yea, the actor who plays Yang Kang was one of the biggest draws - plus Ariel, to this drama. He's been riveting in quite a few historical dramas actually, a real acting talent. But the thing is, mainland China's entertainment industry don't lack talented actors (since its almost like an unspoken law that you must be schooled in order to enter the industry) it lacks drool-worthy, completely charismatic, internationally recognizable actors who have similarly influential material to work with. I blame it largely on the meager marketing campaigns of Chinese dramas and films.

And HK's LOCH is completely true and dear to my heart as well - actually almost all the JY remakes the 5 Tigers participated in are dear to me. I discovered my beloved Tony Leung from them so how can I not love these classics? I simply find the amount of detail, character protrayal, effort, and sweeping production values so wonderful in bringing JY's novels to life that I am truly inspired by ZJZ's productions. I mean, it's like bringing Harry Potter and the amazing wizarding world to life onscreen, except not using the CGI.

@ momosan and Belleza

Thanks for all the Jdrama 101 tutorials. I confess I was hoping my "BTW I watched Hana Yori Dango this weekend" post would illicit long jdrama vs kdrama discussion since I am interested in the comparison from an intellectual POV.

I have already watched "White Tower" which is my #2 all time favorite kdrama after Resurrection. I will watch the japanese version to do a point of comparison. I had heard the original Japanese version had great acting. One problem I have is getting access to Jdrama with english subs. Where do people watch this? Only the really popular ones seem available.
---
I'm loving the YB discussion. I need to mull over my response since I'm having dinner right now but I actually loved 3/4 of YB and just liked the last 1/4. I actually would have been fine if there was no love resolution between GMN and HTK but I can imagine fangirls worldwide going crazy ala Lovers in Paris ending.

@ 263 ockoala

JWS!!! :D

...but I grew up watching Kung Fu Theatre on Saturdays and then frequented HK movie night at the local theatre in college. And I'm pretty sure I've seen LoCH. ;)

"but I can imagine fangirls worldwide going crazy ala Lovers in Paris ending."

Word is, the alternate ending was to have YAB be revealed to be a piece of fanfiction, done by a guy named Han Tae Kyung, who was a fan of the real ANJell, fronted by Shin Woo, Go Min Nyu, Jeremy and UEE. In real life, Shin Woo and GMN were together. And he was a UEE anti. :D

(KIDDING!!! But I'm hoping this entry gets processed by Google, so angry YAB fangirls can come and flame me. ;) )

265 isabelh : thanks for the warning, no I hadn't really taken in that there was a special. I might try Stand Up!, too, while on my Yamapi tangent, unless I get tired of the pouty lip alternating with muscle-twitching-in-cheek stock face. A leeetle more range would help.

I saw Okonomyaki flavoured potato chips in my local korean grocery store today. (I didn't buy them.)

Kgrl,
sorry I have to nudge in...

'I really would have chalked this up to be redundant drivel – nothing new nor inspiring...'
'My issue is, with such great storyline already written, and many predecessors, I really expected something refreshingly new, if they could not compare in bringing the world of Jin Yong novels to life like Zhong Ji Zhong’s productions have – that’s with lots of money and manpower of course – than at least do something entirely unique.'

I do think y it's always open for colorful debate when we're making adaptations of masterpieces. I can't agree on 'nth new', whether u like it or not, now that's another issue. we got a totally new YK (imo improved)...which I appreciate a great deal. See if you lovelovelove the novel, LOCH03 is truest, you shouldn't even like LOCH83 fr the absolute purist standpt. My relationship with the novel is a seriously neverending lovehate. Along with koalasis, the Mongolia part was BORING, and imo LC failed miserably in YK. I can't stomach a portrayal of a child born devil, Omen still scared me sh*tless, so when I was reading the character development for YK, it was oddly superficial and lacking in delving into his deeper psyche, I need to know the y and hows, I need some making sense, or I'll be perpetually disturbed. So to me the true 'villains' in LOCH was always that Qiu Chuji (his irritable irrationality started all the mess of YK ended up having his enemy as a stepdad.) and that brainless YK mom in Bao Xiruo. Bring the adults, don't blame the child...In other words LOCH08 gave me everything what I wanted changed in the novel, which I never thought would be in any form passable for a LC masterpiece. LOCH08 has flaws, but I went in as a skeptic, I treated it as watching a well done fanfic and it delivered. My problem with ZX as HR was not just her husky voice, she seemed tooo rehearsed and never come across as a 16yo, and lost the spontaneity and an underlying innocence crucial to a HR@ LOCH depiction. I do think ShiuLing is a terrific actress, too bad a true to novel NianChi is an impossible role to flesh out. (and that YK in LOCH03...my gawd...) See, I'm again with ocloala in all that sexual tension btn HR and YK, they are so alike (theoretically... I still think LC (to his discredit) made YK into a dumbass in essence in his stubbornness to just BE the devil without giving us any more depth to his psyche), and fr deduction of opposite attracts...hence they totally hated each others guts instinctively. But as with any smartasses, there is the innate narcissism.... so to their own disgust, they r drawn to each other in some hidden dirty ways.. (sigh ArJoe as HR/YK *sigh*)

ZJZ is a respected scholar/filmmaker, I do like his DemiGod03. but his ROCH06 (do u really consider this a respectable adaptation and 'inspiring'?!) and his 'award winning' RoyalTramp08, were imo cringeworthy messes. I don't think he has any basic understanding or connection to DeerCauldron the novel at all to make a snorefest that is beyond imagination how polar opposite fr the original work. He's tooo serious/commercial almost. And though I agree in general mainland China is dripping with talented, schooled actors.... on the other hand we have HXM.

@ hjkomo

Sorry I didn't respond earlier but I have no idea regarding grammer books since my korean has no grammer to speak having never studied korean formally.

My MIL shakes her head and corrects me when I refer to "two people" as "dou ma-lee." At this point I think I just say it because its our routine.

I'll ask my older sister who studied two years in Yonsei for her masters if she can recommend anything. She is my source of all things korean. Though we are only 4 years a part, she speaks, reads and writes fluent korean while I can't do any of those remotely well and I require subs for kdramas for 100% comprehension. I think its funny how attending kindergarten in Korea makes that much of a difference in language skills versus me coming over to the states when I was an impressionable blob.

@belleza
"(KIDDING!!! But I’m hoping this entry gets processed by Google, so angry YAB fangirls can come and flame me."

The mob against the one woman performance critic.

BTW does your weekend hobby include barbed wires, cat o'nine tails and paddles?

I've been so busy today and finally have a bit of time to jump in...

@255 momosan

Matsujun – clearly an idol – (and BTW, did you know it’s hard as heck to get Arashi anywhere but Japan…what’s with that?

Because they can't sing... no, they can but in general none of Japanese idol groups can be described as fantastic singers. I think, Smap is the best example. Boy, they can't keep tunes at all. Somehow, as it happened that most of those idol singers have turned out be from good to excellent actors. Unlike DBSK's Jun su, Yuchun and Jeajung. Gosh, they are so talented musically!

@231 nycgrl

There is a lot less romance. I’m not an overly romantic person but being used to Korean melodramas I found myself wondering, “Where’s the romance?” There doesn’t seem to be a climatic love scene and if there is some “I love you exchanges” it doesn’t come in a big bang way which I actually kind of like but I could see others finding it a tad boring.

Hanadan! Not romantic!? To (Japanese in) me it was really really romantic and I've played certain scenes over and over till I got more than enough of them: like Matsujun embracing Makino from behind in the kitchen/living room area of that run down apartment and so on

@belleza somewhere above

Nobody says “I love you” in J-dorama.

It might be so and it's like that in real life as well not limited within TV dramas. It's strange but when I switch my brain from being in English mode to in Japanese mode, suddenly it seems like "I like you" can mean exactly "I love you" and people use them like that. It's more about non verbal part of interactions and communications. Since Japanese are more reserved in expressing their own emotions in straight forward way, a lot more is implied with a word or two, I'd say. Which is very complicating to me as I've been here for 30 years and I have gotten myself in enough troubles at various situations in my life because I was taking the situations at face values. Whoops, I'm going off...

Anyway, On TV some time ago, This student from Nepal mentioned an interesting thing about Chinese characters depicting Love and being in love. The letter love（愛） has a heart （ 心)under a roof literally as opposed to being in love (恋), where as a heart is directly attached to a human body. So love encompasses greater range of emotions as opposed to being more specific... I thought he was sharp. Anyway, expressions of love can be shown in various ways without ever saying that word we want to hear, I guess. I'd be seriously frustrated myself. Yet come to think of it, I don't think I've ever told my mom nor my now diseased father(he was not dad kind of guy, quintessential Japanese dad) that I love you... Sigh. I tell how much I love him to my son (to death) which , I'm sure making him tired of hearing it. On the other hand, it's another story, if next time I'll see my mom, whether I'll be able to tell her that I love her. It'll be more likely something like I really appreciate her or something... Macro within micro cosmos... So much more than words.

Started on East of Eden. !!! Wow! What a twisted story! I Quintessential K drama, it is!

@ kgirl and mookie

"LOCH08 has flaws, but I went in as a skeptic, I treated it as watching a well done fanfic and it delivered."

So far, I'm in line with mookie's viewing experience. I've only just started, but I like what I have seen, it is like fanfiction, in that that high-handed son of a gun priest with a stick up his butt, Qiu Chu-ji, fully admits and is called out for his horrible decisions each step of the way leading to the Yang and Guo family tragedy. And didn't we always know that QCJ was allowed into the Jin palace to teach Yang Kang martial arts - why the hell he didn't make it a point to teach him basic ethics is beyond me. And if you told me he taught YK, and YK just didn't want to learn it because he was a spoiled Jin prince at that time, then okay again. But then, QCJ should have said, no more teaching you any martial arts, dude, you're not fit to learn this shiz, but then again, QCJ was always more intent on winning that lame ass bet with the Southern Seven Freaks about which of them has taught a better disciple, GJ or YK, and so QCJ kept teaching YK even though he knew better that he was training a sociopath.

And YK's mom, Bao Xi-ruo, when she died, I ripped a hallejuhah because woman was the utmost cause of all the problems because she was too damn nice and cried all the time. End of story for that character.

You know - LC needed to create certain characters for plot purposes, but to dissect his novels is a treasure trove of amazing hours of discussions, its a never ending source of delightful debate.

As for Huang Xiao-ming, from the fact that the boy has gotten EVERY SINGLE big budget remake of TVB classics, from RoCH, to Duke, to The Bund, one would think he was a thespian of the first order. What I deduce is that he looks very good in 3-piece suit, and is very tall. That's it. His Yang Guo is cringe-inducing hammery of the first order during the teeange years, and I never got past that. And Liu Yi-fei (as both Wang Yu-yen in Demi-Gods and Xiaolongnu) was like a block of marble came to life to walk around and then do retarded things. I KNOW those two woman suck, but there is some heart in them, and Ady Chan did a spectacular job in hindsight of bring forth the inherent warmth within the ice princess facade.

Anyhoo, I'm still stuck on my ArJoe fantasy as HR-YK in LoCH. Watching this clip didn't help, I'm suddenly missing my ArJoe chemistry like you wouldn't believe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uXarB6pp6s

I never saw the Golden Bell clip when Ariel won Best Actress, but it was so sweet when Joe came onstage and kissed her. I'm glad TW-drama produced an ArJoe, until they came along, there hasn't been a coupling that sticks like this in terms of connection and chemistry.

@ hjkomo

I'm a mite concerned about Rain of Swords, and its not going to showcase our JWS. First off, Gu Long may be the second best wuxia fiction writer, but IMO he's a distant second best to Louis Cha/Jin Yong. Gu Long writes "characters" and not true gripping narratives. Perhaps he's the Lee Kyung-hee of wuxia writing? He creates unbelievable larger than life heros, and then kind pastes together a plot to move the hero from one situation to another.

His Chor Leu-heung, his Little Flying Dagger Lee - all mythical hero men and no one quite remembers their little stories, only that the guy is so awesome all women want him.

So in Rain of Swords - would JWS be properly utilized? His character fleshed out and the story gripping? I sure hope so!

Ooh, and you watched LoCH. :-) Makes me warm and happy.

@nycgirl,

"BTW does your weekend hobby include barbed wires, cat o’nine tails and paddles?"

Yes. Some netizens told me that this is how Ha Ji Won mastered OPW.

@celestialorigin,

"Because they can’t sing… no, they can but in general none of Japanese idol groups can be described as fantastic singers."

Yeah, but who doesn't love Seishun Amigo? ;) (To our non-followers of J-pop, this was the #1 song of 2005)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDoQhUQ75pg

K-pop vs. J-pop always springs healthy debate. (K-pop is probably more popular all over Asia in terms of exposure, but J-pop still exceeds K-pop in actual sales by a wide margin.) But I think the consensus is held that DBSK is the best singing boy band in all of Asia.

"Hanadan! Not romantic!? To (Japanese in) me it was really really romantic and I’ve played certain scenes over and over till I got more than enough of them: like Matsujun embracing Makino from behind in the kitchen/living room area of that run down apartment and so on"

I have to agree with this. It's kinda weird, because we've been talking about how nobody says "I love you" or "I'm sorry" or "I'm sorry, I love you" in J-doramas, but there is something profoundly romantic and transporting about a good renzoku. Because a good renzoku reveals the nature of love that seemingly transcends the mechanics of relationships and touches upon spiritual or existential notions of love transforming us in unique situations.

I immediately felt that during the first episode of HanaDan-J, when MatsuJun is spying on InoueMao in the morning. Where HYD-J is unique from its other HYD cousins is that this specific adaptation nevertheless evokes onto the violent spring season of first love, and it proposes MatsuJun is a Byronic antihero in search of a humanizing redeemer, which he finds in his Makino.

As a follower of the Hana Yori Dango for a better part of the decade (before I ever heard of Meteor Garden), FOR ME, HYD-J is the only adaptation that truly expresses what I loved about the manga. In my world, "What Happened In Bali" is the adult, dark version of HYD. What if Makino didn't reciprocate Doumouji's feelings? Would the monster have destroyed her?!?

But then again, it could have been Tsukushi's theme motif. OMG I love that song. So much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC1hnFSp2DQ

That's also another (very) general difference between K-drama and J-dorama. In J-dorama, every main character gets their own theme, which exists apart from their relations with the other people. As a result, the music is scored as such to express each person's spirit, giving us an essential distillation of that person and mood as cells bumping into each other. Whereas K-drama is often scored against each relationship. The the music expresses the messages of each evolving relationship, motifs interlinking chains of romantic chemistry.

So I'm now on episode 7 of Hwang Jin Yi and laughed at the rival girl getting dumped. She really shouldn't have opened her mouth. :x

Hey guys! Loving the OT discussions this week! I'm too woefully ignorant to join in but it makes for fascinating reading. I'm definitely going to check out the Ariel Lin version of LOCH if nothing else. I love that girl, I'd marry her off to one of my sons if I could. ;-)

Thanks to whoever mentioned The Devil/Mawang earlier on; you reminded me that I never got past Ep 3. For the life of me I can't imagine why though, because I started rewatching it from the beginning and now I'm completely hooked. Obsessed even. Uhm Tae-woong....WOW. How did he manage to fly under my radar all year? Oh well, at least I've learned my lesson. Lots of UTW catching up to do in 2010!

Gotta hurry though...2 MORE DAYS!!!

@ langdon-unni

"I’m definitely going to check out the Ariel Lin version of LOCH if nothing else. I love that girl, I’d marry her off to one of my sons if I could."

Oh my frippin lordy on high, we may have to sever ties for this one. Oh wait, my kid is like 5 years old, so nevermind, she can marry your son and I have visiting right, please? :-)

I'm up to episode 16, and I can conclusively say that Ariel Lin is a stunning Huang Rong, there is no way she can have an acting meltdown midway and beyond. She's studied the role and instead of aping the great Barbara Yung version, or relying on her natural cutesty charm (as Athena Chu did), she has really tapped into the bipolar nature of HR - one minute adorable, the next minute deadly. Her eyes definitely do most of the acting (as mookie says), not her eyebrows, but her entire eyes, the way her eyeballs shift and circle conveys the mercurial nature of this whipsmart eccentric brat.

And I am seeing for the first time a love story developed between Yang Kang and Mu Nianci and jeez is the chemistry off the charts. Guo Jing and Huang Rong was always a two kids in the lets hold hands and just gaze adoringly at each other antiseptic G-rated romance, which is fine and all. Previous LoCH versions only hint at the sexual attraction between YK and MNC, and here we really get to see a really viable totally into each other attraction, and I love it.

unni, knowing how much you love Ariel, I think LoCH will be a nice treat, even if you don't get as vested into the story as us Louis Cha fanatics are, this is one great drama production, with Ariel already shining despite her role not yet getting into the heavy drama territory (which will happen in the middle seciton - during the Plum Blossom Island Scenes, and later, during the dual on Hua Mountain and the Mongolia scenes in the very end).

I used to criticize her Golden Bell win (I thought it should have gone to Chen Qiao-en for Fated to Love You, but I take it back, though she should still have won for ISWAK I instead of II), but she is an actress that does not rely on her physical looks but always transcends any such limitation or advantages.

Anyways, I'm desperately trying to finishing CitC before Chuno starts, but the LoCH addiction is full blown. So much so that I want to also watch Pick the Stars (my choice in the Mon battle), but will wait until a few more episodes air.

@ ockoala & samsooki

I guess you guys forgot the ironclad Kdrama Law, which specifically states that any drama starring The Voice is mandatory viewing. Good thing you can represent each other when you both get arrested by the Kdrama Police. ;-)

＠281 belleza

I immediately felt that during the first episode of HanaDan-J, when MatsuJun is spying on InoueMao in the morning. Where HYD-J is unique from its other HYD cousins is that this specific adaptation nevertheless evokes onto the violent spring season of first love, and it proposes MatsuJun is a Byronic antihero in search of a humanizing redeemer, which he finds in his Makino.

You are making me want to watch Hanadan again(for the 5th? 6th? time again!)

@284 momosan

Yes. and it seems at least Korean boy groups are more capable of doing that. My current passion is Bigbang. Half of their songs are totally fabulous and it sounds like with G-dragon creating some? most of their music, they have more creative control.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQjcJBGIFsA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGizwpinnmk&feature=related(live)

And Shelter by JeaChun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khgqR_U0Huk

What a beautiful song! Listening to it over and over and over. I even bought CD just because I wanted to get all the lyrics of Yuchun's rap part. I didn't know there was even a name for his rap=Chunglish. There was a website partially dedicated to decipher his lyrics. Thank God, it wasn't only me.

@ langdon813
"I guess you guys forgot the ironclad Kdrama Law, which specifically states that any drama starring The Voice is mandatory viewing. Good thing you can represent each other when you both get arrested by the Kdrama Police. "

ROFLMAO!!! Hear, hear!!! :D

@ ockoala, Samsooki

While I will also be checking out Wish Upon A Star for the gratuitous-ness (not a real word, right?)...with Pasta, you get both auditory and visual pleasure. ;)

@ Samsooki

Excuse the guffaws while reading you describing Baby as "sucking up time" :P

@ nycgrl

LOL at the doo-ma-lee! I still remember the time that my aunt laughed her head off when I said yook-dal for "six months" (I was thinking a cross between han-dal, doo-dal, etc. and yook-gae-wol). At least, this past Xmas, she was quite surprised and impressed with how much my Korean had improved.

@ langdon-unni and hjkomo

Dude, I won't get arrested by the k-drama police if you guys don't tell on me (or samsooki, but its each man/woman/person for oneself, so I can't really beg on his behalf here).

But if I were to get arrested, it'd be for the following infractions:

1. Not being audibly mesmerized by the Voice in Coffee Prince, but loving instead his ROFL turn as SJS's sidekick in the classic 1000 Years of Luuurve. I have no compulsion to watch his dramas. Arrest me now. ;-)

2. Monopolizing OT in a k-drama site with my babbling on Chinese wuxia dramas, and most likely confusing over 90% of OT, or anyone not named mookie. Arrest me, I'm a closet Louis Cha wuxia addict who wished that she was born in that world, looked like Xiaolongu from RoCH, with the personality of LoCH Huang Rong, and the devil-may-care attitude of a Linghu Chong from Wanderer, and the luck of a Wei Xia-bao from Duke. Or else, I want to be the commander of the Skull Squadron. Either or is fine. Fantasy RPG, baby!

3. Thoroughly appreciating CitC for the masterpiece that it is, but not feeling an ounce of "heart clench, gut wrench, shortness of breath, gasping, eyes turning into faucets of its own volition." Arrest me now, but perchance Damo killed me on the emotion, maybe I have none left for CitC?

"Not being audibly mesmerized by the Voice in Coffee Prince,"

Remember that scene in 10 Commandments when Charleton Heston is talking to a burning bush,? That's right. The Voice. Thee Must Answereth to a Highereth Authority!!

"classic 1000 Years of Luuurve"

aka That Show Where Sung Yu Ri OPWs for 20 straight episodes. :D

"Yes. and it seems at least Korean boy groups are more capable of doing that. "

I think some of it is due to good casting. Usually there's only one or two really strong vocalists, one or two rappers, and then "background guys." I always got the sense that majority of Johnny groups don't do this kind of specialization, since they don't only do R&B/hip-hop.

Actually, one thing I love is Korean singers singing in Japanese. When they pronounce the syllables, they don't have the nasal tone typical of Japanese singers. Also, when a lot of Korean artists switch over to J-pop, they really do J-pop, hiring J-pop producers and go for that pretty, lush, string-heavy sound. The combination is just best-of-both-worlds to me. :D

For example . . . remember the Lotte Duty Free tune with Song Seung Heon, Kang Ji Hwan, Rain, Park Yong Ha, and Big Bang?

That's right. They also did that tune in Japanese. Wanna hear Kang Ji Hwan sing JAPANESE?!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuWsEG5Z5wI

(And, yes, I like the Japanese version MUCH MUCH more than the Korean. This is just . . . wonderful, wonderful. J-pop = HAPPY HAPPY :D )

@ ockoala

So, there was only one get-out-of-jail-free card, and it looks like you got it. Too bad for Samsooki. ;)

1. If you liked The Voice as SJS's sidekick, then you gotta watch Pasta. Smirking, smooth-talking...ridiculously adorable! :D

2. I don't really remember LoCH, since it was such a long time ago...but, hey, this is what the OT is for. Rave away!

3. Perhaps, CitC was too soon after your Damo watch...but I'm just going to pretend like I never read your #3. ;)

@ hjkomo

You'd give me the get-out-of-jail-card regardless just cuz you love me. Ditto! :-)

Remember, I'm still on just finished CitC episode 4, so the latter 4 episodes may just suck my brains out and eviscerate my heart with its clenchiness, so I was merely stating a "up until now" comment. Please don't disown me!

As for the Voice, heh heh, Pasta sounds like it'll be intelligent, charming and hearty fare, I would of course watch it, eventually. I have a super soft sport for Mr. Choco-Abs, and as shallow of a woman as I am, I must pick his drama first. My love for KJH the second is even enough to make up for my complete and latter apathy towards Choi Jung-won. Good to know she's not half bad, and rom-coms may be her thing. All I know is, someone better keep her far, far, far away from sagueks. The luscious Ha Ji-won, however, can seamlessly do both, and I want to pimp her out a bit. And even my cutie patotie Sung Yuri can do both (as long as we forget 1000 yrs). And Lee Da-hae - whew, not even going there, anticipation so high.

Anyways, hubby is now bored with LoCH, he says it "so gay" - let's just say he's not the most discerning viewer, he'd rather watch Anthony Bourdain eat pig brains right now.

I'm going to sleep and cuddling my princess, who I am not letting out of my sight until she turns 48. And definitely nowhere near any falling objects or her brother. Sigh, long story, all is well, but I definitely suggest that samsooki highly baby-proof his house (congrats on the new car purchase, BTW, mid-size SUV is a great family vehicle, good choice. I drive an Acura MDX and it's an extension of my self, especially when I need to duck out to buy more dramas, oh, and take the kids to school and other equally important things).

"And even my cutie patotie Sung Yuri can do both (as long as we forget 1000 yrs)."

Bora must die, but Paekche Princess ("Die You Shilla Scum!!") Puyeoju is forever. No really -- Sung Yu Ri spent almost 5 brutal years trying to overcome the memory of this show LOL.

@ 292 belleza

Hey now, some of us here are OLD(ish) and up way past our bedtime...you didn't give enough of a cuteness overload warning with that video! I might need some nitroglycerin, for reals.

*fanning furiously*

Sweet dreams for me! G'nite all! :-D

@290 momosan

Oh, yes! Those are my favorite songs as well. I listen to them pretty much everyday. They are good for running, too!

Here's another favorite of mine with catchy beat and cool melody.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcQweBg6tao

@292 belleza

I think some of it is due to good casting. Usually there’s only one or two really strong vocalists, one or two rappers, and then “background guys.” I always got the sense that majority of Johnny groups don’t do this kind of specialization, since they don’t only do R&B/hip-hop.

I see, I hear you. Another Korean ingenuity! On the other hand, Those Japanese boy scouting guys, they just recruit whoever they are with pretty faces and then, decide later what they can do with them, Hahaha... I guess it sometimes works, only sometimes...

Thank you for the link to Lotte Duty free link! OMG! OMG! All star casts! I've bookmarked it right away and am going to back to watch it again to rest my strained eyes from working well into this late night. It's an oasis!

@296 langdon813

Oh, we posted at the same time! Good night and sweet dreams.

And I'm older!? but will still be up for a couple of hours. Oh, wait you are on East Coast. My goodness. it's 3am!

Sweet sweet dreams!

AGREED @ 292 Belleza so, care to share more of your thoughts on jejoongwon?!!? (pleassseee) That's the show I wanna check out....after it's aired 10 eps at least. Han Hye Jin is my deterrent. Thanks for the Lotto CM, that's exactly what I want SSH to do for the rest of his pretty career. Am I in serious antiBi territory to think all of them better a singer than Rain?!

I'm in the mood for it... I think I'm ready to thoroughly enjoy a 1000yrlove rewatch