Dramabeans Giveaway: Tell us your drama addiction stories!
by javabeans
It’s been a while, but it’s time for another Dramabeans giveaway.
Up for grabs this time: the limited edition You’re Beautiful director’s cut DVD box set! Yup, it’s the very same DVD set that was announced previously, and comes with an A.N.JELL poster. (Note: the DVDs are Region 3.)
To enter: Tell us what you’ve done in the name of your k-drama addiction.
How far have you gone to satisfy your drama craving? What wackiness have you perpetrated because a character or a story got under your skin? It could be anything, like flying to Korea to visit a famous filming location, or making up a story to skip class so you could watch the latest episode, or setting up a half-dozen alarm clocks to make absolutely sure you wake up in time to live-stream a finale. We know you’ve done it, and we want to hear about it!
(True story: I once called in sick to catch a finale episode. No, the episode wasn’t actually airing DURING work hours, but I knew I’d be too wound up all day to wait and just HAD to watch it right away! And I’m willing to bet real money that I’m not the only one who’s done this.)
Post your stories anytime over the following week. Be sure to enter a real, valid email address when you post so we can get in touch with the winner. We’ll close entries on Thursday, July 1 at 9 pm PST (that’s midnight East Coast time, or you can check out when that is for you via the World Clock).
Girlfriday and I will read over all the entries and select a winner. We understand that “best” is subjective, but we’re thinking there are some truly entertaining, outrageous, funny stories out there. We’ll let ya know who wins soon after the contest ends. But really, when we’re sharing and commiserating (and, I suspect, laughing our heads off maniacally) about our drama addictions, I’m gonna say we ALL win.
Tags: giveaways
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251 f3rrollez
June 25, 2010 at 7:36 PM
Hey Javabeans,
I just thought I'd share with you and the rest of the Kdrama addicts on my craze with kdrama and the influence I had on my circle of friends. Beware! It will be a bit long. My kdrama obsession only started about 4 years ago when the likes of My Name is Kim Sam Soon and Full House started the new generation of rom-com trend in Kdramaland. The culmination of this obsession was in the form of Coffee Prince and the gorgeous Yoon Eun Hye.
Coffee Prince had become one of my most favourite dramas of all time and my obsession expanded outside the kdrama realm into fascination over korean lives, culture etc. I had then recommended the drama to my friends and lent them my DVD boxset while I was working offshore on an oil rig for a week-long shift. I sensed their addiction as well with the barrage of everyday emails on Coffee Prince from them... and that was also when I discovered the truly wonderful world of Dramabeans. I read all your recaps on Coffee Prince during my time off on the rig and I'd then share your thoughts with them.
When I got back to the shore, that was when I learnt of their plan on a trip to Seoul and of course, I jumped with excitement at the idea and started looking for tickets right away and "googling" how to get to Coffee Prince cafe. In the end, we decided to just go for a group tour organised by a travel agency. So... it was then Summer 2008, we were in Seoul and learnt that it was a mistake to have followed the tour (it was family-oriented and we spent too much time at theme parks like Lotte World and Everland) and we learnt initially that the agency didn't allow us to break away from the tour for even just a day due to US beef import demonstration/riot in Seoul at the time. It was very frustrating as I had already planned a day on exploring Seoul ourselves - including sipping coffee in Coffee Prince cafe in Hongdae. But luck came our way... and the travel agency agreed that we could leave the tour ONLY for a day and that we had to sign a on-the-spot HAND-WRITTEN agreement saying that should anything happened to us during the time we were away from the group, the agency would not be reponsible for that. Ha!
So, the next day, we set off early and asked the hotel's concierge to help us locate Coffee Prince and tell the address to our taxi driver. He dropped us off at some street in Hongdae and we were clueless on where we were. Started asking all the pretty ladies on the street with my beginners' Korean if they knew where the cafe was, some knew and some didn't... and after a long, uncertain 20-min walk, we saw the Coffee Prince sign and our excitement went a gear higher... but all crashed down a minute later when the cafe looked like it had been closed down - gate was closed, a car parked at the entrance, a korean sign attached on the gate. My excitement kinda half-died while I was writing on the stone wall when an old guy clad in white, chef-like outfit shouted at us saying "Open at 12". Hahaha.... fuhh, and an hour later, we were enjoying our coffee and cheesecake at this quirky little place called Coffee Prince. It was a great vacation - the highlight of that vacation!
Fast forward to March 2010... My obsession in anything Korean had multiplied and I went back to Korea with another group of friends for another vacation and this time all on our own. Too many highlights this time from driving around in Jeju, climbing Seongsan Ilchulbong, eating live octopus in Busan while downing soju, took the KTX train from Busan to Seoul (MNIKSS) and again... another trip to the First Shop of Coffee Prince cafe in Hongdae.
So there you go... I'm planning another trip to Seoul may be fall this year and I can be assured that another trip to Coffee Prince will be in the pipelines. And may be this time... the rest of the Coffee Prince cafes including the one that was shown in Personal Taste.
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252 ais
June 25, 2010 at 7:43 PM
Boys over flowers introduced me to Hallyu. K-dramas have been making waves here in the Philippines for years but I never really took notice until Boys over flowers. What lured me into it? Three words. LEE MIN HO. I watched the entire series in one sitting.. and yes like most of k-drama fans out there, I canceled plans to go out just to see the story unfold. My mind refused to rest until i finished the 25 episodes. The craziness began after that. I opened a savings account which I aptly called my Korean Fund to finance my addiction to this k-drama. Being a fan cost a lot after all. Every single thing that relates to BOF, i buy... the Samsung touchscreen phone, the cute earmuffs, the EXACT ramen that Junpyo ate (i had to search it on a number of korean groceries (thank god to Shinmart korean food store), went to Macau to follow Jandi's foot steps.. and yes, almost cried when I saw the bridge where Junpyo dashed Jandi's heart to thousand pieces. I am now finalizing my plans to go to Korea this autumn and turn into a full blown BOF nut case.
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253 Endroine
June 25, 2010 at 8:11 PM
I didn't really experience something funny but .. kind of annoying O-O And a little bit funny because of that XD
When I was downloading the latest episode of Boys Over Flowers (I know, so recent right D:) Internet died >.> OMG I freaked out! So I went downstairs to reset the router, then went upstairs but it still didn’t work, went downstairs and resetted the modem, went upstairs and it didn’t work, I tried to fix it on my laptop itself, I called the company thing from the internet in the middle of the night but they didn’t answer (obviously), and I threw the phone across the room. (lol yeh i lose my temper too fast >.>) Then I closed my laptop angrily, but it fell on the floor X_X on the side right on the what’s it called.. . the power thing.. recharger? And the inside of the thing where the recharger has to be put in broke off O-O
In the mean time it was like 6 am or something and I changed my mind and opened my laptop again (I didn’t know that thing was broken yet XD) I tried to call the internet guys again but they still didn’t pick up then I called my dad if he knew what I could do, he didn’t know. Then my laptop shut off because the battery was empty I was like WTF o-O and then noticed something was wrong D: I called my dad again and he was angry for killing my laptop X_X I went to my dads place with it (luckily he lives close to where i live XD) He looked at it, got angry again, and decided I should go to the shop where they make laptops and pcs and stuff like that o-o I went there around 8 and they weren’t open yet ;_;
So I went somewhere else on the other side of the city, they weren’t open either D: But then the owner or idk an employee or something stepped out of a car and said they won’t open until 9. But then he said he could help me anyway O-O So I told him what was going on and he said you have to take everything out of it and then place a new thingy in (the thing that broke off o-o) but they only have weird ones like.. | but I needed ¬ for some reason O-O and they didn’t have that! I went to that other place again which was open by now and they didn’t have it either.
Went to my dads place again (he was at work >.>) looked it up on the internet there, seems like it doesn’t even exist? XD then I went home to try again if it maybe did work (the recharger) it didn’t >.> then when my father was back we went to the store to buy a new laptop (this one was old and dying and I needed a better one for school anyway (media designer so yeh o-o))
We bought a new one and went to my uncle because my drama was still on my hard disk in the other one O-O (luckily in that laptop were 2 hard disks, not 2 partitions but really 2 hard disks o-o) and my uncle has this thing you can put an hard disk in and plug it in to an other laptop with USB, then we needed a password o-o I typed in my password it didn’t work o-o typed in 947566023659 other passwords it could be and all didn’t work ;__; so I almost cried cuz i thought it was good bye drama, LUCKILY IT WASNT because my uncle is this almost hacker guy who knows a solution to everything that has to do with laptops/pcs (<3) so he did whatever (I really didn’t understand what the hack(lol) he was doing o-o) and then we could put all my drama on his hard disk (we had to wait like.. LONG XD) and then put it on my new laptop's hard disk (again, we had to wait LOOOOOOOOOONG) So then it was all on my new laptop, I was happy ^-^
Then I got home o-o OHYEH internet didn’t work. By then it was around 8 in the evening, I tried to call the internet guys, they finally answered o-o I said I did everything to get internet to work on my laptop they said a few things like, resetting the router or modem or RESTART YOUR LAPTOP O-O. Okay that was kinda off-topic but the funny (and annoying) thing was I ALREADY HAD THAT FREAKING EPISODE I WAS DOWNLOADING &^#%*@#$@NHDD@*$TF*#
Thanks for reading, may the best/funniest/most epic story win =D
(ps: I also bought an extern hard disk for 100€ 1,5 tb It is almost completely filled with drama and movies (only 80gb left o-o))
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254 LadyIgraine
June 25, 2010 at 8:11 PM
First drama that got me hooked was "Coffee Prince" back in 2007. Here in L.A., we get Korean channels late at night to cater the Asian community. One night, I was flipping channels and there was a scene with a person riding a hopper bike. As the scene progress, the person enters a women's sauna carrying a metal basket. The women inside the sauna started freaking out thinking a guy came in the sauna, however, the main character suddenly say, "wait...I'm a girl!" I was thinking that is a girl after she took off her helmet, I decided to stick in the channel for a while and as the episode progress, I found myself hooked. I thought the title was a bit childish (The First Shop of Coffee Prince) not knowing what it had in store for me. The next morning, I was all over the internet trying to find any related issues or blog about the show, and found out that it aired in Korea about a month ago (we're a bit delayed here in the States). I decided to watch the show online and stayed up until 3:00 AM because I was hooked like crazy. My brother saw me watching it, and he was hooked himself, lol! This is a 21 year old alpha male who likes working out and drinking with his friends, but the impact of Coffee Prince is something that in my opinion, will never be topped or nor imitate ever again. Its one of those rare one's in a blue moon dramas that sucks you in, and leave you with fond memories about the show, that it has now become pop culture. I sometimes, find myself watching some episodes again and again to reminisce my summer of 2007.
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255 Alice
June 25, 2010 at 8:18 PM
1) When I'm watching a particularly good drama with lots of "squeee!" moments, I find it really hard to hit pause, even to go to the bathroom. So then my only other option is to lug my laptop to the bathroom and watch it while I sit atop the porcelain throne. (Haha I know, it's gross, so don't touch my laptop! -- Great acoustics in there, though!)
LOL these entries are starting to read like confessions at an addicts meeting.
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256 EmJaye
June 25, 2010 at 8:27 PM
Hello, my name is MJ, and I'm an Asia-addict.
My addiction all started a couple months after my older sister moved to China in the summer of '08. She sent us the link to crunchyroll.com, saying that we could watch Asian dramas with English subtitles there. I was very interested in watching these shows, especially since I was to visit her in December, and I wanted to have a better idea of Chinese and Chinese culture. I started off with a couple animes, then transitioned to J-dramas, then watched my first TW-drama, Romantic Princess, where I fell in love with Wu Chun. (My youngest sister was following a similar spiral) That semester, my grades suffered like never before.
While I was visiting her in China, we watched "Seducing Mr Perfect" after she reassured me that there was no seduction involved. Needless to say, we were hooked - on Daniel Henney. Pretty soon, I started watching "Spring Waltz", and she started watching with me. (This was after I watched "Meteor Garden" in 2 days, as well as at least one other TW-drama at a similar pace - I was a total drama zombie.) It was my first K-drama. I had to return home before we'd watched the whole show, but quickly finished it back in the US. My sister told me later that she put off grading her final exams and watched the rest of the show to take her mind off the fact that I'd left.
Pretty soon, I was watching Full House (sometimes I turned off the sound, because I didn't like the sound of Korean (that changed pretty fast)). I watched Iljimae at the beginning of Spring Break, because the non-drama people at home were on a study trip abroad, so it was only me, my grandma, and my drama-addicted dongsaeng. At one point, some of my mom's friends from Maine (I live in FL) stopped by, but I was still in my pajamas at noon and desperate to keep watching, so I wound up being rather rude and unhospitable to them and kept them at the door (which I have since regretted/repented of). It was nearly the end of Spring Break when I discovered Super Junior (It was RIGHT after their 3rd album was released). I fell hard and fast - I had all 13 names and faces memorized in short order. On a study trip to Scotland in May, I was bereft of my laptop, but Sorry, Sorry was playing in my head along with other SuJu songs.
I came across seoulbeats.com at the end of May, and through Seoulbeats, I gave myself a kpop education. I took a personal fitness class for college online that summer, and was delighted to find out that "exercise to music" raked in points more substantially than any other activity, so I turned my parents' mirrored closet into a dance studio, where I proceeded to learn the dances for Lollipop, Mirotic, Gee, and other songs.
I absorbed a lot more drama, K, J, and TW, over the summer, including That Fool, Shining Inheritance, and others, but I did not know true drama love until YAB began to air. I had been thinking of passing it by, but my unni insisted that I didn't want to miss it. I watched the first 2 episodes and laughed so hard that I knew I wouldn't miss another ep. That was the first week it aired, so the next 7 weeks were torture. I watched the episodes as soon as they were available, even at college (where I was NOT supposed to be watching internet tv, even though I'd been doing it since the previous fall). I nearly got myself in hot water during one episode, when I made such an audible, pained reaction to some event onscreen that the girl who was in charge of my part of the dorm came in to make sure I was okay, sneaking up behind me and saying, "You're not watching tv, are you?" My answer, "Not American tv..." Thankfully, she did not turn me in, and I watched the rest of my dramas with my back to the wall. When the fan projects were announced, both on Viikii and here, I knew that I HAD to participate! I made 6 posters with ink and brush, and took them around campus, taking pictures of various willing(-ish) friends holding the signs, but I kept the HongKi sign for myself, adding to the bottom, "Can I be your noona?" (Yes, I love HongKi/Jeremy, especially after the bus scene, where I came thiiiis close to crying. (My unni said if anyone were in the hall by her apartment when she watched that scene, they would have thought that a family member had died - she cried so hard.))
Of course, I was still coping from YAB withdrawal when JB announced the director's cut dvds available for preorder. Guess who blew around 160 bucks on it? Me. (But if I win, I'm giving it to my unni, who's more of a fan than I am!) I converted the day planner from a 16 week calendar into a more than year-long calendar, so I can show my YAB pride longer.
In addition to my YAB addiction, I watched Autumn's Concerto (an excellent TW-drama) in marathon fashion while at my brother's when I was supposed to be celebrating Christmastime with the family, including a brand-new nephew. Then, at another visit, I was watching Wish Upon a Star and Pasta. I wound up skipping a class so that my Korean friend in Vancouver and I could watch an episode of Pasta together over Skype (which worked pretty well). Of course, the whole 'watching drama instead of doing homework' thing was pretty constant in this last year of school.
I told a few of my classmates about my addiction around the time OML and PT were airing, and would express my frustration at the fact that I would have to wait at least 24 hrs to watch the new episodes. They still tease me some about it, but I think they're jealous. My unni and I decided we will become drama writers - the white version of the Hong Sisters - and we'll write both Korean and Taiwanese dramas (the TW ones tend to need the most help a lot of the time).
Toward the end of April, I was turned down for the ESL job in China that I had been applying for, so I naturally began to look for an ESL job in Korea. At the end of July, I am fulfilling every K-drama addict's fantasy and moving to the Seoul area. Be jealous. Be very jealous. ^_^
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257 k4ice4thu
June 25, 2010 at 8:59 PM
LOLOLS at everyone's stories.
So my own kdrama addiction story.
I started out watching those old crazy ancient Chinese dramas dubbed in viet, you all know, the ones that were 30 VHS tapes long that you'd have to rent, when I was younger. I drifted away from those a bit but in Uni, but I got addicted to HK movies and Japanese anime instead.
In I think it was 2006, we went to LA to visit some cousins and we all drove up to San Fransisco. In the hotel we stayed at, our aunts all stayed in one room and us girl cousins were in another room - we were watching tv when an aunt comes charging over demanding that we change the channel b/c a kdrama she was watching was airing - it was Hotelier with Bae Yong Joon. The episode was one near the end of the series and we sat absolutely glued to the tv watching the rest of episode..I got so hooked from that one ep that when we got back to LA and went to Korean store(or maybe it was a Chinese store) I went straight to the video section and spent an hour trying to hunt it down. Brought it and took it home with me. I watched the entire thing in 2 days, then watched it again with my mom and sister. Its one of the few dramas my mom has gotten so hooked on that she would stay up till midnight for (YAB is another one ironically enough AHAHA - got her hooked on it over Christmas break - her, my sis, an aunt and 2 cousins).
After that I started hunting for anything to do with Hotelier and kdramas. I found soompi in the process along with Javabeans' site eventually, learned how to read/write (understanding everything is another thing) in Korean, learned how to photoshop, subtitle videos/make fan vids, discovered Kpop (1st love is Shinhwa), discovered kvariety shows..the list is just endless.
I've done a lot of the things people have mentioned from watching an entire series in one sitting, to hiding from my parents at night by shoving a blanket at the bottom of my door to block the laptop light - actually, i've sat in my closet in the middle of the night to watch before LOLS. I've gotten up at the crack of dawn to stream a series live (only if I'm uber hooked on it). Most people think I'm insane; my family tells me that my physical body may be vietnamese but i'm korean at heart ahaha.
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258 sidekik101
June 25, 2010 at 9:05 PM
Last summer I was veerrrrry fortunate to be able to study abroad in Korea. Even though I was supposed to be studying for my classes, I didn't let that stop me from visiting everything from the bookshop where Go Eun Chan went to get barista books in Coffee Prince to a traditional house from the set of Iljimae. I became close to a Korean classmate who would go out to eat afterwards with us. I had her laughing because I'd constantly be asking her things like if this were the random street from Drama ___ where Actor A and Actress B filmed such and such a scene. I also would stop at every poster or cutout of famous actors to take pictures (If you can't find the real thing a poster board cutout is fun to pose with!). My classmate helped me by getting into the spirit of things by yelling out things like "Look it's Lee Jun Ki!" Unfortunately a cutout was as close as I got to the real thing.
Over the phone I told my drama addicted friend how I couldn't escape Lee Min Ho, as his likenesses were everywhere! She challenged me to find a poster or cutout of each F4 member from Boys Over Flowers, and I gladly accepted the challenge. Lee Min Ho (Joon Pyo) could be found anywhere that was pink (Baskin Robbins, Dunkin Donuts, and Etude House). Hyun Joong (Ji Hoo) was only slightly harder to find at what I think was Bath and Body works as well as in a poster of him and SS501 (his band). I finally found Kim Bum (Yi Jung) at a footlocker, but sadly I never did find my favorite of the F4, Kim Joon (Woo Bin). When I came back stateside, I told my friends that we'd have to go back as soon as possible to complete my stalking of cutouts!
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259 all4movies
June 25, 2010 at 9:15 PM
You know you're a kdrama addict when you start converting others. Besides telling all my close friends, I have also recently converted my niece.
It all started with the famous Boys over Flowers. She started watching it and got hooked on Kim Bum. I think my brother got a little annoyed at me because she was staying up late to watch it. Next, I introduced her to You're Beautiful and I fanned the flames of addiction even more by hunting down a Pig Rabbit for Christmas. ( I pestered my kdrama supplier on a weekly basis.) She was over the moon when she opened her present!
There's nothing like making other people into converts to satisfy your own addiction, heh?
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260 Vivian
June 25, 2010 at 9:30 PM
I would literally not sleep and sneak in my bed on school days to watch these kdrama. I would be hiding with my laptop in my blanket hoping my parent will not find out. But the bad side is that I would fall asleep in my classes. More crazy things I did was during break or a lot a free time I would go on a drama spree watching drama endlessly. If I seriously fall in love with the drama I would go all stalking mode which means that I would go search up the actor or actress background. I once almost used up a whole box of tissue watching star's lover b/c is was so sad. come on who hasn't watch a sad drama. I would literally do anything to watch those breath taking away kdrama.
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261 pohonphee
June 25, 2010 at 9:31 PM
I think labchick story is the crazy one, ha, ha, ha
I admit I never called sick because I had done kdrama marathon night before, but she did that before she had a labor, perhaps her doctor is kdrama addict too, allowed her to did that....LOL
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262 epyc
June 25, 2010 at 10:56 PM
Dear JB and GF
This post will be permanently bookmarked and shown to whoever dares to question my kdrama obssession! Thanks for having this brilliant idea for us to share our craze. Many stories told here are all so familiar in my daily life. I don't envy your job in selecting the winner.........
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263 Anabelle Ong
June 25, 2010 at 11:10 PM
The endless nights of loading and watching, keeping one eyed peeled even though you are dying of sleep just to watch your show but to wake up to find your lappie the next day on the floor , hiding it in/under your closet/bed/underwear drawer to avoid the parents we've been there.
I became so obsessed with this series that it has caused me too watch it non stop for a whole day (from 5AM till the next day 4.55AM) to realize I was to wake up on that exact time to prepare for my journey to Singapore! I was enduring the whole drive there with a du lan (upset/pissed) face because I never got to finish the show. 3 days in Singapore and I couldn't shake it off.
On the way home it was my birthday and I made a wish that I'd be home on time to watch a few more before falling asleep. I watched till the wee hours again and I had school too the next day.
I finally finished the episodes! But I beh tahan (cannot stand it) so Im re-watching again. Im rather upset that my mother is taking my lappie away though.
But at least I have my iTouch to recap on dramabeans. Heh.
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264 Minch
June 25, 2010 at 11:11 PM
I missed my flight from the Philippines to go to the States only becaused I had to finish that last episode. Does that count?
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265 Jessie
June 25, 2010 at 11:18 PM
Pretty sure not gonna win but im just going to do this for the heck of it :)
I started watching dramas just a year ago i remember my first drama, it was Soulmate. Once i started watching the first episode i couldn't stop myself. i didn't even know that i was watching a Korean drama. it was so cool!! Later on i would try to look up more dramas that sounded interesting to me and i kept this all a secret to myself because i didn't want anyone to find out how good they were..... and i knew my friends would think i was weird but oh well i didn't care at all. I remember i would come back from school everyday and go straight to the computer and continue the drama i was watching.i even ate in front of the comp watching dramas. my parents would get mad at me often for being on it 24/7. Also watching all these dramas have changed my life literally. It gave me hope that when i get older maybe i would be a Cinderella one day. Maybe that i might find my true love and live happily ever after like those girls. It also helped me get some ideas on what i might want to be when i grow up. I may sound like a little kid talking about things i want to do when i grow up but i really think that these things can happen. anyway i would stay up all night till 2 or 3 in the morning and my parents wouldn't even know(like right now) hehe but i loved it. Whenever i go to sleep i look forward to the next day hoping i would find another really cool drama. lol what can i say......im addicted :) Even though i'm an Asian( from india woo!) sometimes i even wish i was Korean or Taiwanese.I would even question my mom saying why aren't we Korean? lol Now wherever i go i would find someone even if it was a stranger and persuade them to watch dramas. I would always tell them how i got hooked but they look at me like i'm crazy lol all my friends think im weird but i don't care becuz we all have our own things we love :D
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266 sara
June 25, 2010 at 11:31 PM
oh this is good i've always wanted to tell people how much i love drama lol
i started watching drama in 6 grade now im in 8th and i can't tell you how happy ive been ever since ive started watching. its like as soon as i start watching a drama im off in my lil own world. i dont notice anything around me. sometimes i would even go hungry the whole day because it took too much time to go downstairs and eat.i put everything and i mean everything just to watch dramas. i would wake up early in the morning before i had to leave for school i would try to watch at least a bit of drama because i knew it would give me strength to survive the day.
Dramas are like my food and air supply now (sounds so cheesy but its truee)
i hope that more people discover the addicting power of dramas haha these dramas are way wayyy better than hollywood movies........to me that is
right now im reading ppl stories about theie drama craziness im glad im not the only drama freak :)
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267 SuziQ
June 25, 2010 at 11:43 PM
I am a Asian Soap opera addict . I admit and love my hobby. I'm retiree, so about three years ago, my youngest son got me hooked after watching the movie, "My Sassy Girl ". I'm Cantonese Chinese. My first preference is K-dramas, J-dramas, Taiwan, and lastly Mainland China dramas. Then I started to watch them like crazy. Mostly stayed up at night until 4 and 5 AM laughing and crying at my soaps.I keep telling myself that I will go to sleep after this last episode, but then another cliff hanger stops me. I have stayed up until 7:00 AM finishing up a k-drama. I have seen over 600+soap operas and movies.When I first started, I didn't recognize the actors and actresses names, so I started keeping several biography folders separated in Korean, Japanese,Taiwanese, and Chinese about them.It was hard to remembering their three names. My favorites are Koo Hye Sun, Moon Geun Young, Yoon Eun Hye,Misaki Ito, Ueto Aya,Chen Qiao En, Jang Geun Suk,Lee Jun Ki,Lee Min Ho, and So Ji Sup,Oguiri Shun,Matsumoto Jun,Zhang Yuan Chang, Lam Cheng Long, Show Lo, and Mike He.Also, I kept a notebook of Korean phrases and words that kept coming up in the English subtitles.I think I know more Korean words than Mandarin.Found out about the different Korean dynasties and rulers especially after watching the sageuks,"Dae Jang Geun","Jumong", "Kingdom of the Winds","Yi San", "Queen Seun Duk","Empress Cheon Chu". Currently, watching "Dong Yi" and "Kim Soo Ro"Besides eating kimchi, I have started to love eating kimbap,man du, ddukbokgi, Korean spicy noodles, and grilled pork and beef.I have re-watched my favorites several times,"Goong","My Girl", "Full House""You're Beautiful" "Boys Before Flowers"(that one I have seen in Taiwanese,Japanese, and Mandarin versions)Love the scary Korean horror movies,"Red Shoes" "Tale of Two Sisters", "Old Boy", "Sympathy of Lady Vengence".Also, started to enjoy the music of Bi, Super Junior, Big Bang,Wonder Girls, Girls Generation, and 2PM.I have reviewed with my friends about some of the new K-dramas that I'm watching or coming out soon. My daughter and I are planning to visit Korea. After seeing so many soaps and movies, we want to visit the Korean palaces like in "Dae Jang Geun" and especially visit Seoul and Jeju Island.My goal is to watch 1,000 soap operas and movies. I am an Asian dramas and movies FANatic.
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268 dblue
June 26, 2010 at 12:08 AM
I love Asian dramas. Sorry for my long post ><
Let me share you my Jdrama stories first XD
I got hooked to this Asian drama trend because of Gokusen. I sooo loved Matsumoto Jun before! I was around....11 yrs old when the show got broadcasted on local tv (dubbed versions :P) I was really sad when that show ended. I had to mark the date when the show started and the date when it ended!!!! Ahh I still remember, it ended Aug 15 on our local tv. That was yeeeeeaars ago though and my cellphone which had the dates broke down. I told my little brother jokingly that I cried. It was true but not that hardcore crying, just sobbing. When I said that to him, I didn't know he'd take it seriously! And so to my surprise, the next day my older siblings and my parents are laughing at me literally for crying over having my favorite show end.
The addiction continued to Hana Kimi and Hana Yori Dango. God Hana Yori Dango is still the best! I was also watching Kdramas but during that time I was more in love with Jdramas. (I even had that dream of meeting and marrying MatsuJun, lol at the mind of a 13-yr old) I missed out of my lil bro's school play because I need to go home early to catch the last episode of Gokusen Replay.
Then My Girl aired, Coffee Prince, Full House, Goong, the list goes on (all of which aired on local TV! I think our country is the most affected by the Asian drama craze) I loved those except Full House :P I know there's still a lot of dramas that I'm missing.
But when I heard that there would be a Korean remake of HYD, I just can't sit and wait for some local network to buy the rights for its broadcast XD It's my first time that I watched a drama online. I also watched it as it was being aired on Korea. I got over my MatuJun-fangirl mode, and switched to Kim Hyun Joong ship. That time I was blind to everyone's acting and just bought the show for the cool looks.
I remember not reviewing for a major exam on Psychology because the new subbed episode of BOF had just been released. I even named my mobile phone Bum, after Kim Bum XD I would crazily call out "Sunbae" just to know how it feels like when saying it.
My next major and my biggest addiction is You're Beautiful. I didn't know that it was a hype. I actually only heard it from one person who was asking for fanart. I again watched it online. Don't belittle Hwang Tae Kyung's appeal, because the whole watching period, I would sleep while thinking of his tight hug, and wake up still feeling that hug. Then I was already on the 15h episode. I had to delay watching the last two eps because it's Dec 24.. I was feeling guilty for watching the whole day when I'm supposed to have some family time. So I waited until Xmas eve. But oh god, again NEVER (in the history of ever, as a cute joke by JB) underestimate the haunting powers of Hwang Tae Kyung. After Xmas eve feast and after opening my gifts, I hurriedly opened up the computer (in the middle of the night!!! When our BG music is "Slient Night"!) and watched around 2 parts of Episode 15. I got my short fix of YAB but had to stop because my family was giving me weird looks. The next day, we had a family reunion. Those few hours seemed like eternity. The whole time, I just wanted to see Tae Kyung and Mi Nyu reunion! I was even looking around while on the car, expecting for some hot guy who could sport eyeliners manly. At the end of the day, finally I finished YAB.
YAB addiction didn't stop there. I had to download all episodes. I cried after it was done (I just have to cry after a favorite drama ends, it's part of my withdrawal) I rewatched YAB for over 10 times already. The "Sunbae" was replaced by "Hyungnim", again I was crazily calling out "Hyung". I also had to cut my hair short because we know short hairstyles are the new trend in Kdramas! I subconsciously was trying to be cute, and at other times, charismatic. I even did the rockstar strut!!!
I watched a lot more, Cinderella's Sister, a little of Personal Taste, Prosecutor Princess, Coffee House. And I could also remember calling out "Ya!" to my friends. Now I taught my 7-yr old brother "Palli", and he'd say "Would you stop with this palli, palli thing?!!"
As if it wasn't enough, I got addicted to CNBLUE, the first idols that I ever liked. I wasn't a big fan of Shin Woo....but you know what happened when I heard Oetoriya XD
Ahh and by the way, you wouldn't want to know how much our electric bill rose because of the 24/7 watching of YAB.
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269 dblue
June 26, 2010 at 12:14 AM
Ah but now, my phone has been renamed to "Jung" after CNBLUE's JUNG Yong Hwa and Lee JUNG Shin.
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270 minah
June 26, 2010 at 12:23 AM
The sky will literally be raining cats and dogs before someone can separate me from my love of dramas. xD
I remember clearly that the first drama that started my drama craze was called "Save Your Last Dance For Me." From the moment I set my eyes on hot actors speaking in a foreign language that I could not understand, I knew that I had found my passion and interest.
I made a list of all the asian dramas I have watched over my 2-3 year addiction. Currently, I am watching my 102th drama (maybe more O.O). In any case, for halloween, I handmade my costume and dressed as my favorite character Chang Hui in Hong Gil Dong <
On the otherhand, I was alittle more productive by making up my own korean drama, writing the script, and filming it! (I used it as my extra credit project for my drama class) It would be so awesome if a director one day asked me to be his scriptwriter xDD
Anywaz, that's my kdrama addiction simplified to 6 paragraphs :)
I must say, I'm so happy to see so many people like me who love dramas just like I do <3
Ok, off I go to rewatch Your Beautiful hugging my new pigrabbit that I got for my bday :)
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271 minah
June 26, 2010 at 12:28 AM
Oh that's weird, one of my paragraphs accidentally got deleted. lol
But yeah, it was about how I spent literally 36 hours watching kdramas without sleeping and that I had to hide underneath the covers at night with my open laptop without getting caught by my parents. And yes, I have also skipped school to watch a final episode ><
Another crazy thing I did was not studying for my finals and instead watching another episode of Bad Couple.
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272 Maii
June 26, 2010 at 12:59 AM
LOL! Real entertaining entries.
I doubt I'll win, but i'll give it a shot; YB fan here!
Started kdramas since 6th grade .... I am now going to be 11th ^_^
First kdrama was Goong/Princess Hours . . . <333
and even the first kdrama to own on box set/DVD.
I also became a Eugene Kim Drama addict .. Just because my teacher at the time was her sister. :P Mrs.Yooky Kim. Awesome-st teacher! Beautiful Voice!
That was the closest I came to a Korean actor. Me and my friend would joke, "Ay. maybe she can get us close to Jun Pyo." BOF was airing at the time. haha
Cute drama. <3
[ Loved Wonderful Life & Save the Last Dance; Creating Destiny was okie. ]
If i remember well .. it was either MNIKSS or Full House .. IDR
(I don't remember. lol.) But anyways yeaa .. skipped school.
Well technically went home, cramps, I was pratically finishing up. haha
So called my sister, thinking she was working, unfortunately not ..
I was still able to watch the ending<3 Yea, had to wait until she left.
YB (If I must say Hands Down Best Drama Ever!<3) final episode couldn't wait,
I mean who can when the drama have guys like taekyung (Jang Guen Suk. <3)
Anyways computer @ parents room (Technically extension, but you'd have to go through my parents room to get there.) Parents sleeping. Snoring like animals ... thank God! ... sneaked in. Heart racing. Thinking to myself I must be insane. Finished it. <3 But my mom woke-up. uh-oh! Thankfully I was right by her side
so i made it looked like i wasn't feeling good. She checks me .. no fever. Tells me just go back to sleep it'll go away. Goes back to sleep ... Satisfied. :D
[ Good thing she couldn't hear the computer shutting off. lol ]
Finally, I just woke up before going online and I had the most awesomest dream!
Although it had no Korean actor, but it had GD from big bang. LOL!
[ Yes, I'm a Kpop addict. ] It was like a drama i was sick there was he hugging me .. Ahhhh. "OH, if only it was real!" <3 And their was another guy in the picture but he was like ... I guess a JiHoo lol. Didn't quite get his face. Unfortunately I was sleeping next to my mom and she snored like crazy, so I was interrupted, woke up, but fortunately it was one of those few dreams that I continued once i fell back asleep. hehe ^_^ OH! -Lovely Day. <3
[ I must say the story about the girl and her sister who was in labor ... Classic. ]
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273 Jen
June 26, 2010 at 1:16 AM
I'm a pretty big Korean drama fanatic. The craziest thing I've ever done for a drama is probably search online for an overseas broadcaster to watch one of my dramas live during finals week. I didn't even sleep a wink and I didn't study for my finals either. I went from finishing the drama straight to school to take my finals. (I passed all of them. =)) Even so, I don't know what possessed me to do that when I don't even understand Korean or speak it. You know what's worse, when I got home, I didn't even sleep. Instead, I downloaded the RAW version of the episode to watch again just in case I missed anything important.
Oh, and I drove myself to school.
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274 boogiesbottom
June 26, 2010 at 1:44 AM
There wasn't really a specific drama which got me hooked on korean shows, but i think i sort of started with Autumn in My Heart a coupla years back. I was only in secondary school back then and it showed really late so i'd usually go to school the next day with puffy eyes (or it might be due to me crying from almost EVERY SINGLE EPISODE, the story was REALLY depressing).
but then i stopped watching drama because somehow, i watch more english shows , but they started to get repetitive and boring (like Gossip Girls, you know, how everyone sleeps with everyone) and I was searching for something more entertaining and different. SInce my mum is always on her laptop watching her korean dramas religiously every night, i figured that it's something different to try. I started with Boys Over Flowers and i went CRAZY. i watched the taiwan version of it before and didnt think much of it, but the korean one was AWESOME. i streamed all of it online, didnt sleep for 2 days just to finish it, and after that i still went out to buy the DVD and watched all of it again. My mum and i went out one day and we saw that a korean shop was selling the golden pot which hye sun used to cook the noodles for jun pyo and we preorder it. waited for 2 weeks and when it arrived, i played the part where they were eating noodles at jandi's house with that pot and i felt like i was eating noodles with them :| haha, my mum was just so amused by it.
i like how korean dramas (and japanese dramas actually) have interesting plots, albeit the sometimes cliche scenes. I watched Lee Min Ho in Personal tastes too and i liked how the story is different from the typical dramas.
I've recently watched You're Beautiful even though i've been hearing raving reviews about it simply because i couldn't understand the idea of male actors wearing eyeliner. BUT, i saw it one day on cable (it was the last episode actually) and i immediately went online to watch. I didnt sleep the WHOLE night. took me around 17 hours but i watched it. I was supposed to head down for 2 job interviews the next day and i missed both of it cos i slept through them since i was so tired from staying up the whole night/morning. :x when i woke up, i continue to watch previous shows which Jang Geun Suk acted in too, and also find the different variety shows he had appeared in before. Too bad i was too late for the You're Beautiful DC Gallery gift thing if not i would have joined, the fans there were awesome !
hha don't know if i'll win from this but i'll especially love it if i get the You're Beautiful DVD set since there's english subtitles which is not available in my region :x but i had fun reading entries of people who are addicted to dramas too, it's reassuring to know that there are people like me who go without sleep to complete the shows :D
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275 cck
June 26, 2010 at 1:50 AM
Years ago, I purchased a "Hotelier" DVD-set from a book-store. It was a cheaply-made duplicate, since a few DVDs were scratched & unwatchable.
I took out my orbital buffer (used to polish cars) and tried to "buff" out the scratches on the DVDs. I tried different types of polish -- ranging from wax, fine-grit rubbing compounds, and even toothpaste. After experimenting with different combinations of polishes, rotation speeds, and times, I was finally able to get the DVDs to play!
But I learned my lesson; instead of buying cheap knock-offs from bookstores, I buy dramas from an officially-licensed distributor, watch digital episodes on the web, or just read about 'em on dramabeans ^^
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276 Belinda
June 26, 2010 at 1:50 AM
Whenever I'm in the middle of watching a drama or even finishing a drama, I have a few habits that..I'm always doing.
One: I finish everything [homework and chores etc] before watching a drama or continuing to finish a drama. I must have everything done so that I can have time to enjoy my drama and not have to worry about anything else. Once I finished a report that had to be five pages long, single spaced-- all because I wanted to watch the last episode of "You're beautiful" xDD I tend to stay up ALL night just to rewatch dramas and finish them, if I don't--it bothers the hell out of me the next day..so I have no choice..but to bring my laptop along and watch it at school [sometimes I watch during class--that's why I like sitting in the back :D]
Second. I do not like to be disturbed, so I put a sign hanging on my doorknob and in front of my door that says "DO NOT DISTURB"/ "STUDYING" --I actually made this sign the moment I started watching kdramas and started getting addicted to them.
Third. If I end up loving a certain drama show, I download all the episodes, including the OST, pictures, joining fanclubs, discussion boards and even making fanvids--and then I have a moment where I chose my OTPS and let my imagination [ fanfics] run wild xDD Ive made fan vids of Goong [sometimes spending hours or even the whole day, making it] and sometimes buy the accessories that the actors/actresses wear [for example: BOF, i bought the moon necklace that Goo Jun Pyo bought for Guem Jandi, I had to beg my mom for the money, yes the going-down-on-my-knees and persuading over and over again.
Fourth. I pick up phrases like "HYUNHNIM or SAMSHIK-AH!" Sometimes I have moments where I start speaking in Korean, my mom called me and I answered without hesitation "YEOBOSEYO?" My mom thought it was the wrong number and hanged up on me xDD I even call some of my older guy friends "OPPA" and older chick friends "UNNI". It came to the point where I started remembering Korean phrases and using them around the house, like "YAH!" or "PALI"
Fifth. It comes to the point where I start having daydreams based on the dramas I'm watching that I zone out in school. Lectures in some of my classes are really boring, and my notebook is filled with doodles [stick figures as well] of a certain scene in a drama show. I drew that once scene in YB when taekyung was in a grassfield and listening to the Breathless song and then was chased by a boar. I had moments where I remember a funny scene in a drama show, sometimes--okay most of the time, I burst out laughing out of nowhere, scaring my professor, classmates..and myself ^^; One time, in my psychology class, we were finishing up presentations, and as usually I zoned out..and started daydreaming about that one scene in My name is Kim Sam Soon [where she's drunk and messing with samshik], I burst out laughing..and err..fell off my chair xDD luckily class ended in a few minutes..and I rushed out of the door.
LOLZ! well that's pretty much all I have xD
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277 Cherry
June 26, 2010 at 2:17 AM
I've been a kdrama addict when i was still in my elementary days. I was 11 years old then.My most favorite was Winter Sonata, and Stairway to Heave! Imagine my age watching such heavy dramas. I did cry a pail of tears while in front of the television. No one in the world had made me cry like that.
Because of kdrama, I became a deeper and more sensible person at a very young age. After airing Stairway to Heaven into our local television network, a few had come to our country. It's because Japanese dramas had been a hit here after Gokusen was aired.
" I miss kdrama, I miss Choi Ji Woo, Bae Yong Joon, Kwon Sang Woo and Park Jin Hee", That;s what I always say before going to sleep.
When I turned high school, I had watched Hana-Kimi, a Japanese drama and became a jdrama fan. I had no choice, that's the only Asian drama I can watch. I thought my love for kdrama would be gone forever.
I was wrong. I don't know what happened at me that time but I had opened the DRAMABEANS site. I saw the article KIM BUM CAST AS Park PARK JIN HEE'S YOUNGER BOYFRIEND. Since Park Jin hee is one of my most favorite Korean actress. I patiently waited for the airing of the show. I'm not Korean and can't understand the Korean language but just like magic, I watch every episode of it raw and steaming in the internet. THE WOMAN WHO STILL WANTS TO MARRY's airtime in Korea is Wednesday and Thursday, 9:55 in the evening and it will be uploaded in the internet in 12:00 midnight. Imagine how I can stay that late in front of the computer just to wait for my favorite show! The following day I have class at 7:30 in the morning. Since it's raw, IT'S NOT SUBBED. And even though I can't understand what they're saying, looking at Min Jae and Shin Young's eyes, I can feel that deep love is between them.
My obsession does not stop there. I made an account in different forum sites just to keep in touch with the other fans. I also printed every picture I find in the internet. I even made a FACEBOOK FAN PAGE and GROUP just to let everyone know about the drama. GOAL: Goal: Promote this Drama to all FaceBook and internet users around the world.
Yes. I was that obsessed with THE WOMAN WHO STILL WANTS TO MARRY. Because of it, I've learned to love Korean culture and Korean people, studied basic Korean Language and have self worth and confidence. I'm very young, just 18 but watching that drama, I've learned that people should not be very upset with age. Young or old age, EVERYONE SHOULD ENJOY LIFE! IF LOVE COMES, ACCEPT IT WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND SOUL SO YOU WON'T REGRET IN THE FUTURE.
I would call everyone my sunbae..
I remember last April, my cousin bought me a pirated DVD copy of it. I know it's inappropriate but I was happy I can watch it with subs. I watched it from 8 in the morning until 3am the next day. What happened? our DVD player did not play anymore after that! I think it was overheat! My mother scolded me the whole day. But it's okay. I still have the computer. Everyday, until now, I still watch it until my eyes get hurt.
I think that's really the spirit of a fan. I can't think of another fan who is as crazy as me When it comes to The Woman Who Still Want To Marry. I even followed Park Jin Hee in twitter and tweet her the pictures and videos I've uploaded.
Until now, The Woman Who Still Wants To Marry is still invading my dreams.
It will be forever my most favorite Korean Drama.
Thanks for reading my post. I will be forever a fan of dramabeans.
@dramabeans @girlfriday: Thank you for the excellent recap.
"Close your youth with me, I will love you till' death."
-Ha Min Jae
"kyaww!!!"
- Lee Shin Young (her favorite expression)
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278 lani g
June 26, 2010 at 2:41 AM
Loved all the stories! Am a 55 year old ajumma who got hooked on kdrama because of my youngest daughter who was 14 at that time (she's now 20).
In the Philippines, we get a lot of kdramas dubbed in our language. At first I didn't like watching it because of what I felt was the chauvinistic attitudes of the male leads who had a tendency to drag the females around and shout at them. I scolded my daughter about this because I felt that it was "bad" role modelling. Short of stopping her from watching, I would always criticize the actors and tell her that as a female, she shouldn't get treated like that (Stairway to Heaven was her then obsession).
Well, she had to go on a retreat with her class and specifically gave me instructions to record that evening's episode of Full House. I had no choice but to watch it so I could cut out the commercials. It happened to be the episode where Rain was going to propose to Song Hye Kyo at the skating ring. What can I say, I felt all tingly after, the same kind of feeling I get after reading historical romance novels by Lindsey and La Vyre which was my obsession. I just had to get hold of the complete set and watch it from the beginning.
Luckily in the Philippines, they have the "pirated" version of the original. It takes time to air it on local television because it is dubbed in Filipino but one can buy the "pirated" discs in Korean with English subtitles. That weekend, I went out to buy the whole set and had a marathon watching it from the beginning to the end. I was "in love" not with Rain but with Kim Seung Soo, the second lead who I found more dashing and charming than Rain. I bought their pictures which were also sold in street stalls and put them in an album. I logged on to Rain's website to get the latest news about him and became a member of Soompi.
My daughter was so happy that I bought the pirated discs. It became a bonding session for us. She would tell me which Kdrama was interesting and we'd go out and buy the vcds and spend the weekend on a drama marathon. As she grew older, she has resorted to downloading the episodes. I know so much about the actors and actresses that my friends and relatives are just amazed at the depth and breath of my kdrama knowledge. I even accompanied my daughter to watch FT Island when they came to Manila because of You're Beautiful. There's no stopping my kdrama obsession and am only to happy to be part of the fandom.
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279 Atsirk
June 26, 2010 at 3:30 AM
One summer day, my father brought home a bunch of DVDs whom his Palauan co-worker had lent us. There was "Full House" and "Tree of Heaven".
"Arlene said you're going to love 'Tree of Heaven'," my father told me casually.
I was like, "Yeah, right. Korean dramas are so passe," I told myself.
Bored out of my mind that day, I popped "Tree of Heaven" into the DVD player.
And guess what? Ten hours later, I was bawling my eyes out.
After crying for ten minutes, I decided to watch "Full House", hoping to ease the tension I felt after watching Lee Wan and Park Shin-hye's doomed sibling/incest/depressing love affair.
That's how my love affair with Korean dramas began.
I realized I was so addicted with Korean dramas when I spent almost ten dollars buying pirated K-drama DVDs near my place (they're pretty cheap here in Manila, and ten dollars in Manila is a lot of money...well, at least for a college student like me. I could be spending those ten dollars on books instead of dramas, but I told myself, "What the heck...I only live once. Might as well spend what I have on my obsession...)
Two summers ago, I decided to hold a Korean drama marathon, which meant I was awake for almost three days. Before starting, I stacked food right next to me, so that I wouldn't be disturbed while watching.
In three days, I finished "Which Star Are You From?", "Spring Waltz", and "Princess Hours". I paused the DVD player for bathroom breaks and for kitchen trips once food became scarce.
A month later, school began, and my parents told me that I should stop watching Korean dramas. So I told them I'd stop, but they did not know that while they sleep at night, I turn on my laptop to watch more Korean dramas. My evil scheme allowed me to finish "Coffee Prince" for two nights ;)
Then I discovered the wonders of live stream, thanks to "You're Beautiful". One Thursday evening, the connection was so bad that I started cursing at the laptop and began to cry. I was so frustrated. The episode turned out to be Tae-kyung realizing that Mi-nam had feelings for him, so when I found out that Tae-kyung will finally find out why Mi-nam does the pig nose, I was so pissed that I started tearing up. I skipped dinner just to watch the episode, only to end up with super bad connection.
Recently, while watching "Cinderella's Sister"'s last episode, I almost peed in my pants when Ki-hoon was about to cross the road to follow Eun-jo and then he pops out of nowhere. I was silently squealing, and the person next to me was looking at me as if I were some weirdo. I would slap my sister whenever there were some "romantic" moments between EJ and KH, and she would frown at me. "You're such a loser," she would tell me.
Thanks to Korean dramas, I fell in love with Korea. Korea and its beautiful culture. Korea and its awesome technology. Korea and its handsome and beautiful people.
A single girl like me finds herself fantasizing now and then about Chun Jung-myung, Jo In-sung, Kang Dong-won, Lee Jun-ki, Kang Ji-hwan (sorry JBeans. I like him too...kekekeke...), Lee Dong-wook, Bae Soo-bin, Lee Seung-gi, Jang Geun-seok, Im Joo-hwan, and So Ji-sub.
If I weren't bored that day, I wouldn't have discovered how beautiful Korean dramas are. One way or another, they always leave me memories that even though they were simply brought out of one's imagination, these memories make me feel how beautiful it is to live. They tell so many stories. They leave us things to ponder on.
If Korean dramas were drugs, heck, you gotta get me to a rehab. Really. I'm so crazy about them.
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280 m
June 26, 2010 at 4:26 AM
I define addiction as, the inability to say "No". Since 2004, I have never said "NO" to any Korean drama that comes my way. Be it good or bad. I know that I can never know what great is ("Thank You") if I didn't know what isn't ("Partner").
I helplessly suffer a lot from this incurable habit because though I've seen a whole lot of wonderful Kdramas, there is also no shortage of ones you'd just love to shred on your mental bin and pretend never to have laid eyes on.
For instance, I'm currently watching "Style" (after procrastinating for almost a year) and even if I feel it's like a complete waste of my time (not to mention electricity), the Kdrama addict in me bears with it unconditionally. I still get nauseous over Lee Ji Ah's acting skills (or lack thereof) but my Kdrama heart is built to endure such incompetence.
The bittersweet truth is that I don't watch both so, I can discern what to watch better next time. I watch every single one because my Kdrama addiction has stripped me of the option to even choose.
Here's to more sleepless nights and climbing electric bills! =)
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281 Kiongna
June 26, 2010 at 5:40 AM
OMGGG All these posts are so hilarious and I see myself in EVERYONE of them, all except the giving birth one and watching MNIKSS at the same time, OMG that absolutely took the cake for me! Pwhahaha KUDOS!
My addiction started when one day after the usual 9.00 p.m. drama slot on Malaysian TV finished one Hong Kong Series, a new one came on and LO AND BEHOLD it was Korean “LOVERS IN PARIS” ULALA there came Mr Park Shin Yang into my life, I was hooked line and sinkered! I did not know there was a K-drama world, boy oh boy a whole new world opened up to me!
From being a mega fan of Park Shin Yang and being so ardent at his website(now inactive..not much.. since he left SidusHQ), being on his website daily and chatting with like minded fans, joining competition of essay writing about my love for Park Shin Yang and actually winning his Album signed with my name and sent to me from Seoul all the way to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia WAHHHHHHHHHHHHH, meeting and holding PSY fans gatherings, both in KL and in Singapore, then watching any dramas that came on and trying to catch up for lost time on all the other dramas that had gone by. I probably watched over 80 k-dramas in 1.5 years? LOL I bought cupboard full of CDs and became slightly higher tech with learning doing downloads (not torrents, that one is too complex LOL, I do the simple Megaupload One step pwhahaha), joining fan sites, Soompi, met so many good online pals, some became real life friends till today ha ha. Oh I remembered Javabeans, from when she was at Soompi (still remember your tomato in water picture there *winks* and all your insights and writings as we watched certain dramas together), then when dramabeans started, I tried to help a little with the CUPPA but later could not find any icons to donate – actually is there one now Sarah? I sure cannot find it for ages and was too shy to ask!)
So I became well known to my friends and family as a Korean Drama Queen, (to my husband, he said he lost his wife to K-dramas OMG, but he has acclimatized some now heh heh LOL) this 30+ Ajummah with kids and career, sleepless nights, chasing dramas! Then I hit a variety show called “We Got Married” with my darling Kim Hyun Joong and Hwangbo – got stuck with loving them and finding out all about them their past and present aka Xman – Chakra, SS501 idol pop group, meeting with other fans of the Joongbo/Ssangchu couple, chatting on Chatango, watching WGM “LIVE” with Korean American fans doing live translation simultaneously as it is shown in Korea! – WOOT WOOT such exciting times I tell ya!! Then all the hopes and wishes that they are together and then KHJ went to star in BOYS OVER FLOWERS, ahhh our craze continued with again LIVE translations while the show as on in Korea until it ended – totally totally amazing times! Then with this came a lot of exposure to Korean Pop Music because of KHJ and his SS501, then on to Big Bang and DBSK – watching all their performances, buying their songs, watching all about them on youtube subbed by fantabulous fans on a host of variety shows, trying to catch up with lost time with getting to know about K Music celebrity stars (all k-entertainment) following ANYTHING and EVERYTHING about KHJ and HWANGBOHJ from that time on till today!!
I still watch dramas now (not as ardently..arghhh can help me massage time?!), but I have almost zero time to be on websites to write on my love for them what with new responsibilities etc. – I do feel bad about this but, life goes on, there is only 24 hours in a day, I wish there were more and I could do everything! I have such high respect *bows* for Mr X aka Saguek Oppa, WithS2 subbers, AJA-AJA girls, Harusubbers, Band of Nuts subbers, Dramabeans *winks* and so many others who have dedicated so much of time life to K-dramas and time on Jisubaddicts was incredible and I will never forget it. When I tell people about K-drama dom and all the incredible people who work so selflessly and giving so much of their time and life to making it all happen for us non Korean Drama speakers, about Soompi, about International Subbing – they all look at me like I have gone crazy that such thing actually exist – WELLLLLLLLLLL WE ALL KNOW IT SURE DOES YES? YAYYYYYYYY – THANK YOU TO EVERYONE OF YOU WHO IS A K-DRAMA/K-ENTERTAINMENT (MUSIC ETC.) FAN FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT KOREAN ENTERTAINMENT FOR MAKING MY FAN GIRLING, FAN ANTICS ALL SEEM NORMAL !!! WE ALL KNOW THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT INTO K-DOM MIGHT THINK WE ARE CRAZY – BUT HEY THAT’S THEIR LOST YES? PWHAHAHAH GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COREA! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO KOREAN ENTERTAINMENT!
TODAY, anything Korean makes my heart race, be it Korean food, Korean strangers talking Korean around me (surreal feeling I tell ya, like in K-dramas LOL), Korean Music , Korean Fan Clubs, Korean Clothes BASIC HOUSE *winks* haha – and what more KOREAN FOOTBALL – TONIGHT SOUTH KOREA VS. URUGUAY!!!! GOOOOOO TAY HAN MINGU WIN VICTORY VICTORY – in tandem with Super Junior’s world cup song – yeah I’m pretty mitchin ahhhha!
So folks THIS ALL STARTED WITH JUST ONE K-DRAMA “Lovers in Paris” and boy my life has never been the same again – and I have not regretted it for one second!
… gosh.. I had not written anything for so long… thanks dear Javabeans.. for thinking about this topic and bringing all us K-drama lovers to share these wonderful stories… over..and out
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282 Ashton
June 26, 2010 at 6:52 AM
Haahaa, some of these are really funny! But yeah, my story is my journey into dramas through Japanese dramas actually. Japan was always my first love and one day a friend showed me DBSK's Mirotic and after that it was like doing drugs because I cheated really hard on Japan with Korea.
Eventually, and happily, I made it to South Korea for a year and while there I made it my mission to visit as many k-dramas sites as I could. Yeash, part of my reasoning for going to Korea was the music and dramas... sad, yeah? Pft. Not at all! It was the best decision of my life! I paid a crap ton of money to Jeju Island and I also went on the K-drama tours in Seoul. I found the house from Full House while traveling with some friends kekeke
My biggest achievement was finding the original Coffee Prince in Hongdae (don't be fooled cause there are two! The one by the Hello Kitty Cafe is NOT the one from the drama) just by the street signs and views that I saw in the drama. It took about two hours but I finally made it and actually paid $5 for a coffee -.- Luckily, it was tasty. (and there were NO hot guys working there >_> only really nice girls! but i sat by the window so i got to stare at the hotties walking down the street anyway xD)
After that, I went to Busan and saw the temple where Jewel in the Palace was filmed! Overall, a successful trip! heehee I went a lot of other places as well. The k-drama fandom trips while I was in Korea was definitely worth the money though >_<;;
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283 g3mdr3i
June 26, 2010 at 6:59 AM
Hi javabeans and girlfriday~! ^^ Trying my luck. And at the same time, I want to share also these experiences of mine. I have to warn you, this one's gonna be long.
I am a k-drama addict. I love watching Korean dramas. It all started when I was in high school. I'm now in my 5th year in the university. That's making it almost 9years already.LOL. So, as you will see, I actually need to think on how to put those nine years into words. And what of those experiences would be worth sharing. ㅋㅋ I did a lot of stuffs in order to satisfy my Korean drama cravings. And here are some of those...
The final episode of the drama Endless Love Autumn in my Heart was the same day as our school field trip. I was really worried that time on how I'm gonna watch the final episode. Good thing the bus has a television. But when it was almost time for the episode to air, we were almost near the school. Like, 15-20minutes away? My friends and I prayed there will be traffic and it did have but I guess that was not enough. We thought we're still moving fast so what we did was told the bus driver to move really slowly for us to be able to watch the whole episode, which we eventually did. HAHA.
It was just the start. After that, I started watching other dramas, sacrificing my sleep just to watch these dramas which were aired in local channels late at night. (My class starts at 7am and I’m living quite far away from school so I had to wake up early and my class usually ends at 6pm, go home, do assignments and watch these dramas. I barely have 5 hours of sleep – that’s when there’s not a lot of things to do. But that’s just sometimes. LOL) When I finally knew where to buy vcds (yes, still vcds at that time.LOL) of these dramas, I went there and started watching these dramas. I remember how I finished watching Sassy Girl Chunhyang in one seating. (O well, I watched from 1 in the afternoon till the next morning which made my mom really angry.LOL.) And I even remember how I used to rewatching Sassy Girl Chunhyang. After coming home from school, I had the need to watch the drama so I watched one episode a day. I joined different forums and sites. And I started studying the Korean language. I started to dream of coming to Korea one day and visiting the filming sites, which eventually happened.
I was in my third year in the university when I decided to apply for an exchange program scholarship to Korea. It was quite a hard decision for me since my ultimate goal when I entered the university was to graduate on time (that is finish my course in four years) but I thought this is a chance of a lifetime. A really good opportunity for me. So I applied and luckily, I got in. I remembered writing in the essay I passed for the application the things that made me started to like the Korean culture and Korea itself. I wrote there about my great interest in the Korean dramas and music as well, but yeah the k-drama started it all. I wrote about K-dramas as one of the things that motivated me to apply and try to go out on my own in South Korea. I even told about it in the interview. ^^
I stayed there for one year which means one year of learning the language, their culture and tradition and fangirling. I went to a lot of filming sites, most of which are my favorites. I went to Namwon and looked for the sites where they filmed Sassy Girl ChunHyang. I also went to Boseong, the tea farm where they filmed Endless Love, Summer Scent, to the Coffee Shop where they filmed Coffee Prince, to the Full House and Sad Sonata House which are way too far from Seoul (It's in a different island so we had to ride a ferry). We also went to the Teddy Bear Museum in Jeju Island (since this is another island, we had to ride the plane. Lol) where they filmed Goong (Princess Hours) and even tried climbing Hallasan for My Name is KIm Samsoon (yes, tried is the word for we were not allowed to climb since it snowed so hard that day that they didn't allow nonprofessionals to climb. haha. But we still got to take pictures of the foot of the mountain. :))
And my last kdrama fangirling? It was the 미남이시네요 drama. I went to 명동 church (where 태경 dropped 미남 to meet Mother Superior) and the 사거리 or intersection where 신우 asked/wished 미남 would turn her back again for her to see him but she didn't. Next stop was the A.N.Jell's house which was way at the end of the world. HAHA. The place where it is located is really away from Seoul. It's at the foot of a mountain. And buses only come once in a while. It was in a far-flung area. And we actually tresspassed:)) There was sort of a fence/gate before you could get near the house. At first, we would like to ask for permission to get near the place but since no one's around and no one's in the supposed to be guard house, we just tresspassed to have a good view of the house. We took pictures but suddenly a dog started barking and my friend heard someone opening the door so we rushed going out of the place:)) (We even thought it could be Jollie.kkk) Next stop would be the ANJELL office which my friend and I visited during winter and it was damn cold that time. Remember, there was a sort of small pond in front of the office? It was totally frozen. And yeah, the building was actually a private one owned by a certain company so we seek permission first and it was granted. But we weren't able to go inside since it was Sunday and there's no office that day. :D But we were able to go around the building and found the infamous stairs and what made us really excited is we actually found a pentel pen, which when I rewatched the drama, found out it's the same pen jeremy used in signing 미남's fan. =)) (We found it in the entrance, under one of the trees, near the place where Jeremy signed 미남's fan. Okay, let's just think it's his.haha) By the way, the office and the house were both on the other ends of Seoul (it's not even in Seoul anymore.haha.) And lastly, we even went to the subway station where 미남 ran to when she was chasing the woman in red who gave the picture to one of the staffs for her:)) And I even planned of going to the Baskin Robbins where she and 태경 where standing when they got lost but was not able since I didn't have enough time:)) And it was not easy to find these places, mind you since they are not tourist spots and the drama's almost ended. We even got lost. HAHA. Our first try in going to the office was a failure since the company that owned the building has 2 headquarters in 경기도 (the province where Seoul is). We actually thought it was in Seoul but when we went to the office it's really different. Thank God, we found it the next time we went there. ^^ Thanks to naver bloggers, my little knowledge of the korean language and language translator sites/programs... oh plus the naver map~! I was able to know these places and how to go to them. ^^
Aside from going to these places, I remember how I sleep so late just to wait for uploads of the drama or even rush to my friend's place from my class just to be in time for the drama. ^^ And it doesn't end there, I joined different fan clubs (the benefits of having an ARC.kkk).
Ooops, I suddenly remember, did I mention I even use my friend’s mother’s Social Security Number just to be able to join the raffle of SBS in choosing who are to watch the first concert filming of ANJell? Kkk. (It was before the drama was aired.) It’s really absurd and funny at the same time. I was trying to register to SBS but due to some problems in their websites, I was not able to register. I asked for my Korean friend’s help. She told me she has registered there before so she tried logging in. Unfortunately she can’t remember her password and worse came to worst when she can’t even retrieve it. (Oh well, she can’t register again since she’s registered already. I know you know how strict Korea is when it comes to registering online. ㅋㅋㅋ) So our final resort was, 자짠... using her mom’s social security number~! ㅋㅋ Unfortunately, I, rather my friend’s mom’s account, didn’t win the raffle. I guess, age is one of the reasons why. ㅋㅋㅋ.
By the way, I was not even studying in a university in Seoul. I was studying in a school in Gwangju, which was 3 1/2 hours away from Seoul. So when I went to these places, I went during weekends, go to these places and sometimes go back to Gwangju in the evening, if I have no place to stay at… And yeah, transportation fare isn’t even cheap. And staying in Seoul isn’t even cheap… Sometimes, I spend my whole monthly allowance for 2 day stay in Seoul. haha. Thank God I had some part-time jobs that kept me alive. I didn’t ask money from my parents, because one of my goals while there is to be totally dependent and thank God I did survive. ^^
So from my first year in high school till now that I am almost finished with university, I'm still a K-drama fan. (Oh, I just recently finished watching God of Study and it made me cry buckets of tears.) And to tell you the truth, it's not that bad to be addicted to watching these dramas, as long as you know how and when to stop… :)) kkk. Because of these dramas, I met a lot of new friends. ^^ Because of these dramas, I learned a lot of things that didn't exist in my brain before. I learned a lot about Korea's culture and tradition. From then on, Korea started to exist and their culture, tradition and almost everything about Korea became a part of me. ^^
-----끝---------------------
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284 piggy
June 26, 2010 at 7:14 AM
endless love (autumn in my heart) started it all.. i watched it with no subtitle and zero korean understanding.. yet i loved it.... then i followed each and every available series that came to the philippines. it became easier when we moved to singapore where original dvds are available at very affordable prices.. then even made better with the online streaming sites since i get to watch the series the next day of airing in korea. the addiction, made me set up my blogsite then make a lot of wallpaper, calendars for the series that i love. it makes me proud to see some of my work posted by others on forums. :)
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285 mrs. dong hae
June 26, 2010 at 7:34 AM
It is about 5 years ago since FULL House aired first time in my country. I'm starting to save my money and buy the DVD. Even if my father getting angry because it is wasting my money, I didn't really care as long as I'm happy. I’m watching it more than 5o times, there’s no reason I just know how much I like it. I’m starting collect my DVD drama, I’m saving my money again and again. Then I bought Sassy Girl Chun – Hyang. I’m addicting K-Drama more and more. No day without watching K-Drama, I like how I feel when I watching it. I was laughing in the night while my family was busy in their dreams, I was crying alone without tissue. I just feel like into the new world, where I can forget all my sadness and play with my emotion. K-Drama just like my research, so that I know how to bring life characters and the story. That’s why I love writing my own fanfic, wish one day I can be scenario writer or director.
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286 LadyVengeance
June 26, 2010 at 7:50 AM
I have a terrible confession: I am an addict to dramas.
Korean dramas never used to mean much for me, I was way more into Jdramas, TWdramas and wuxia epics. Then, I watched Boys Before Flowers. At the time, I watched it for the pure reason to mock it and compare it unfavourably to its Japanese counterpart. Now that the hype is over and I have retained some semblance of sanity, I maintain that Hana Yori Dango is the best version: but if you attempted to tell me so during my BBF craze, you might have landed yourself in the ER.
My obssession with BBF was crazy. I woke up on Tuesdays and Wednesday with a smile, knowing that new episodes had been posted (they get posted a day late in my country - timezone). As mysoju wouldn't upload them fast enough, I went to viikii, braving the waters of grammatical errors and retarded subbing. Then, when rush hours hit and viikii was no longer viewable for guests at those times, I joined it.
Looking back, I broke so many codes of mine. I swore never to view crap quality videos, or badly subbed videos, or join a random website for the sake of using it for a short time, and many more. And BBF really isn't the best things since sliced bread. It just took something that bad to pull me under.
When it ended, I cried. I wept for the emptiness I felt during Tuesdays and Wednesdays (that sounds ridiculous just typing it out). But strange and absurd as it sounds, I blubbered like a baby. That was, until my friends reminded me that there were more Kdramas out there. And so it started.
I got my hands on all the kdramas I could find. I watched Goong, Iljimae, The First Shop of Coffee Prince, IRIS, Time of Dog and Wolf, You're Beautiful, Shining Inheritance, Personal Taste, and many more.
Once, during an especially addicting phase for me, I spent the whole night watching a series. I didn't sleep that day, but watched until my eyeballs were sucked dry. You know how it starts: when you have the box set at your fingertips, there's nothing to stop you. You'll start one episode, thinking "I'll just finish this and then go to sleep." And then the dang plotline stops at just that one, exciting moment, and you start the next episode, telling yourself you'll sleep after that one. Guess what? That cycle will not end until you either pass out, the laptop breaks down, or you finish the series (which was what I did in that case).
I've gotten into the habit of reading recaps everytime I finish an episode now. It's the first thing I do when I start a series: look for recaps online. Of course, if you're recapping, I'm extremely happy, but it's always a scuffle moment when I can't find any recaps (does no one write recaps for Goong?). They're extremely helpful if I missed some part of the conversation, or overlooked some key points and portrayals. It's also good for me to remember the character names if I read about them again. And that's really how I stumbled across your site (which I practically worship and live on - your Top Posts page is my number one visited webpage. Sad, right?).
Now, 90% of music in my iTunes consists of korean music. I can't understand it, but I like it anyway. I started taking classes to learn Korean (I can count to ten now! And some other everyday phrases! YAY!). I am a frequent at all the korean restaurants around.
I am planning a trip to Korea in the holidays. It will be fun and I want to take the opportunity to visit some famous landmarks (any recommendations?) and experience the Korean culture.
So, you see, kdramas isn't so much as addiction for me, it's actually more like a life-changing tool. I won't exactly say it's for the better (*cough* missing classes *cough* faking sick to catch episodes *cough* physically unplugging the TV and carrying it to my room when my laptop broke down, and then barricading my room from my sister who also wanted the TV), but it's certainly changed much of what I think today.
I think we really should make some sort of rehabilitation centre online for Kdrama addicts. It would be good if I could remember how to lead a normal lifestyle again.
Also, just a random question: which side are you on in the endless Sub vs. Dub debate? Personally, I'm a sub girl, just because dubs are always made weird and don't fit the mouth shapes exactly (picky picky, I know). Also, I don't have the problem of alternating my view from the picture to the subs. And I'm a bit biased because I'm a subber myself (chinese).
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287 crane
June 26, 2010 at 7:51 AM
An example of what my K-drama addiction has made me do recently
After going cold turkey for one week without Bad Guy due to the world cup, I was eagerly waiting for this Wednesday as I thought Bad Guy will resume.
11.30 pm - Waiting in front of my computer for the episode to be uploaded
12.30 pm - Still no Bad Guy, refused to give up waiting
1.00 am - Desperation creeping up, start searching the korean TV site for broadcast news. Couldn't read korean at all, but nevermind, there is online translator. Bad Guy postponed for another week!!
Cold Turkey for another week then. Seem like i have to find more of Kim Nam Gil other works to pass the week while I wait for next Wednesday! Really evil of the producer to show the kiss for next episode to keep us hook!
Yeah...I have gone through the finish one drama in 1 night craziness before. But nowadays, most show I am catching are ongoing in Korea. My desperation has me catching the show RAW on the same day and watching the translated version the next days.
Just recently tally the number of K-drama I have watched over the years. More than 100 at my last count!!!!
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288 Hema
June 26, 2010 at 10:02 AM
Well, the most extreme which I've been to in order to watch something (and I don't think it's as extreme as probably some of the others have written) but this happened about 2 years ago. It wasn't so much a drama but I wanted tp watch Hansel & Gretel (K-movie) after reading the synopsis for it but I read it in the morning so I would have had to wait until after I came back from college to watch it (and knowing all k-drama addicts, that's absolutely impossible, right?)
So anyway, I went to college like normal and, surprise, surprise, I find out that we have one of our most inpormant assignments due in on that day *cough cough haven't even looked at the assignment brief* O.O
We found out that we had the whole day in the computer room to finish off any assignments that we might need to finish or need help with. So the usual procedure followed: Go into the computer room, fight over the corner computer with the idiot who you know isn't going to do work but check out clothing sites, plonk yourself into the chair and realise it's broken because you nearly broke your back when you threw yourself onto it and THEN finally get yourself logged in on the computer.
Now, knowing that you have a good six hours to do your assignment when you haven't even started would be the best opportunity to at least get some of it done. NAH!!!! I'm sure all k-drama addicts know this is the best opportunity to get yourself zoned in on your desire to watch that drama (or movie in my case) before you kill someone just because they looked at you. So yeah, I started watching Hansel & Gretel, and as I was watching I had this weird sensation that someone was looking over my shoulder. When I turned around I found some of my classmates had pulled up their seats and sat behind me to watch it. hahahah never thought I'd see the day they'd join me in watching some *foriegn rubbish* as they like to put it >:C
More or less when we were just getting to the end, you'd never guess what happened. Well, we got caught and I got an earful for *not doing as I was told and bunking off doing something totally irrelevant, and that if I ever want to pass this course, I better not do it again* Also I was told to explain myself.
Now, you see we're doing a research project about things affecting kids, and mine is how media affects how they grow up and think, sooooooo to get my self out of trouble, I ended up telling a great big fat lie that I was watching the horror movie to see if there were any aspects in there that may distort a child's imagination if they were to see it and how/why, although technically it was part of my research I just didn't intend to mention or use it at all. hehehe...all I have left to say is... I got what I wanted and I didn't get into trouble. The things you'd do for the love of k-dramas.
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289 swsgsl
June 26, 2010 at 10:22 AM
tempted to write just a simple one for now after reading so many posts. i watched episode three and episode seventeen of all about eve forty-two times just because i loved this two episodes. :D
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290 onemorepls
June 26, 2010 at 10:33 AM
I don't have any practically story. But my love for kdrama is taking over my professional judgment. A patient came to the pharmacy to have a anti-depression prescription filled and asked for advice on what she can do for depression beside taking medication. On my most deprived sleep day I advice her to watch kdramas. I even set her up on where on the net to watch like viikii and dramafever. Now mind you she followed my advice and have came back thanking me and blaming me for lack of sleep. hahahaha
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291 KPOPADDICT
June 26, 2010 at 10:34 AM
Mine seems really small compared to some of these amazing stories by these amazing people helping to spread kpop love. I'm still in highschool, and people here arent so much into any change that its outside of the north american sterotype norm, and in the morning we play music. We used to always hear the same old song and everyone hated it. So me, and I did get help from a couple kpop fan friends and few who didnt even know what kpop was so play little parts of kpop songs to people and a lot liked it and then we got them to sign a petition to change the music and so that worked and each month we were going to change geners. Since i made the petition I got to choose one myself, so I choose Kpop. At first a lot of people who were uncomfortable by it hated it but after trying new songs every day for a month people started to admit they liked it. In the end we play Kpop a lot now and a whole bunch of new kpop fans are willing to admit their fanism at my school now :) Its nothing huge or dramatic but its a unitment and a step closer to changing music norms in north america i believe. But whoever wins Im going to be happy for, because they will have done something extrodinary in the name of Kpop, they'll probably be my new hero haeng uneul binda :P
Everyone hwaiting!! <3
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292 jayjay
June 26, 2010 at 11:41 AM
after venture into dramaland, there's no turning back. I have all the k-drama addicts symtoms but I also worry so much about the after life. Could I still watch drama after me dead ? if not, then I'd come to you guys and watching with you. please give me your address, I'll be your best ghost friend drama watching buddy! Oh, never mind, I don't need your address, I'd be ghost, therefore I'd know where you live.....my OT families : )
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293 luvyoo
June 26, 2010 at 12:04 PM
Thumbs up for Sarah-Javabeans and friends who always satisfied my cravings for K-drama obsessions...my life turned upside down because of Coffee Prince.
I'm 37 yrs old Indonesian ahjumma with 2 boys turned into 17 yrs old fan girl after i found this amazing blog 3 years ago.
Nobody can replace Choi Han Gyul at least for now :)cheers for all Yoo lover around the world.
I started digging everything about Gong Yoo right after i finished the series
I joined the soompi forum but not so active to post comment
I joined group and get to know many friends around the world
I managed to join the birthday project for Gong Yoo
I made one MV but didn't dare to post at youtube so i just shared with my sisters hahaha low Q MV, my sisters and friends thought that i'm crazy
I bought the most expensive imported DVD about Yoo eventhough stated at the forum NO English subtitles,i managed to get a friend at the forum and shared the shipping cost, am i crazy enough at this point??maybe i love Yoo too much as a whole package not only as Choi Han Gyul
Thank you Sarah and friends that through your blog i get to know a lot about K- Drama and the latest scoop about K-Entertainment news...Cheers for all of you :)
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294 nyckp
June 26, 2010 at 12:24 PM
After a 7 year hiatus from Korean dramas (loved Kwon Sang Woo but Stairway to Heaven pushed me to the edge of sanity when I invested time and tears into a drama that closed with a depressing and dissatisfying ending), I somehow found myself returning to them with a vengeance the day I decided to watch Boys Over Flowers. My reaction went from "Why would males want to look like females in Korea and why is the heroine sporting the most heinous hairdo" to "I love a man with a full head of pahmah hair and dons fur garb" and "maybe I can rock a bowl cut...yeah??".
Slowly my world changed to one where I followed the standard protocol of staying up all night watching every episode, dreaming about the drama (including dreams that JunPyo was my boyfriend) to studying more than I ever have in my academic career to decipher every uncertain word in the drama by semi-permanently fixing a Korean/American dictionary to my hand (falling asleep with it at times).
To the dismay of my boyfriend, I was a little meaner to him during this time of BoF enchantment and it did cross my mind that I might love another and wondered how unacceptable and disturbing it would be for a 30 year old woman to go to Korea and date a 22 year old (that would be Lee Min Ho) haha.
My claim to fame though is taking 10+ of my girlfriends on the same journey - converting all of them into BoF addicts - friends who haven't seen a drama since Feelings or Autumn Story and had no interest but gave in per either my constant pestering or trickery (I would invite them over and then force them to watch it until they were duly sucked in...it also being my 4th, 5th, 6th, etc time of watching it). Yes - I precipitated the delinquency from work, school, social commitments but knew it would be worthwhile and hey, I needed someone else to share in the excitement of it all with me and certainly my boyfriend wasn't going to understand (although he was subjected to watching it multiple times as well). Some of them also admitted to me that they were also just a little bit meaner to their boyfriends and spouses but no worries - I am no home-wrecker and all their relationships are still intact, as is mine :).
My sister's productivity is also at an all time low - one fateful family vacation, despite all her protests about watching Korean dramas (she only likes odd or serious American-based dramas a la The Closer, NCIS, West Wing whereas I have been a superficial junkie who revels in very bad MTV reality shows), we had no cable so I forced BoF upon her. She is now a complete addict - possibly knows more about the world of K-Dramas than me now and has extended into an obsession with K-Pop as well (2PM, 2AM, KISS - you name it, she knows it, loves it, and has bought all their albums for her iTunes collection).
Fast forward a year and I am now my circle of friends' resident k-drama expert - provider of Korean celebrity news, drama recommendations and I have much thanks to give to dramabeans for that! I always rave about your site as my sole source for information and sing praises for your wonderful recaps and writing style. Sometimes I know I am way too emotionally invested in these dramas, find an unhealthy blur between fantasy and reality but it is hela fun to talk about, analyze, criticize, praise and of course crush on the leading men and abhor the villainesses. Thank you and + Girl Friday for helping to enable my addiction - I mean my ever-expanding knowledge of a fascinating phenomenon that I don't think will fade anytime soon :P.
Oh and despite the loss, great showing by Korea's soccer team today! Dae Han Min Gook!
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295 eagertravelercris
June 26, 2010 at 12:27 PM
hi there... just like everyone else i'm spilling the dirt...
oh golly... where to start?
dear fellow kdrama addicts,
there had been numerous kdramas that i had already watched during my college years but my addiction only started last year when i was introduced to Boys Over Flowers... it was already airing in the local channels but I just had to view it faster hence my access to mysoju and viikii.. while BOF was airing in the local channel, i had been watching over the internet.. fyi... i was watching both on the tv and the computer, i guess i didn't care which came first.. oh the sleepless nights... i was even able to force my ultra-macho brother to watch with me.. so there done seeing BOF over the internet... oh the sleepless nights! the latest i've gone was during weekends 12hour marathons, i had to pretend to my parents that i woke up early when in fact i hadn't slept yet... on the weekdays, i immediately left the office at around 430pm so i could catch the local airing.. my colleagues would always force me to stay so we could hang out but i would insist i had errands to do at home and the other excuses like i was attending classes elsewhere...
after a few weeks of harrassing my brother, i was able to force my brother to buy me a dvd (sorry i was desperate this was pirated copy) after a few days of watching the dvd i reached the end and the subs just didn't translate it too well... damn! my face would just have the WHAT? HUH?! expression... so i just thought there was something wrong with that particular copy and there i bought myself a new pirated copy... and it was all the same.... haha... instead of understanding the last episodes i just tried to feel what those korean sentences were... korean BOF was such an eye candy anyway... hahaha
after my BOF sessions ended, i was trying to look for a new drama but nothing satisfied my hunger for kdrama... i tried to satisfy my addiction with kpop music but it didn't end there... it was June 2009, i saw a promo for flights to Korea and got tickets for my autumn trip.. my mom was kind of mad at me for doing this as I had just been to korea for a layover trip to the US last April of the same year..
as preparation for our trip, i TRIED to study korean language which was a bit difficult... i knew no one from korea... i even added people in networking sites just so they can try to help me converse.. i even asked my brothers to call me noona.. hahaha.. they just laughed at me.. i even went on a weight management program so that i don't look fat around koreans.. i have not seen a fat korean girl ever...
so there after several months of saving for an unexpected trip, my friend and I had arrived in Korea, we spent a week there... my favorite place was NAMSAM tower... remember the scenes? jun pyo was waiting for jan di on a cold night.. the
overnight on the gondola... ahhh the memories... as we rode the cable car I was trying to look for the seats which jun pyo and jan di sat... and i was in shock to find out that there were no seats, i was even confident in telling my friend we had to hurry so we can take the only few seats in the cable car.. damn! (my friend and i were already too tired since we've been touring Seoul in the morning)... silly me... of course those were just part of the set.. and if you were wondering no i wasn't look for the jun pyo and jan di first night etc... lol! so another blooper, i was looking for the particular fence or bench where jun pyo waited for jan di... took lots of pictures of the area.. except i forget to ask my friend to take one with me in it... i'd definitely recommend going to Korea for all you k-drama addicts out there.. after that trip, i was still in a trance of being in Korea.. i'm definitely going back for either autumn, winter or spring with other friends i have encouraged to go...
so if you're thinking i'm just another BOF fanatic.. during our trip, you're beautiful was airing.. i just happen to chance upon it during my browsing through channels.. i was only able to watch a few scenes from some episodes.. and when i came back home, i tried to look randomly on kdrama sites to know which drama it was i didn't even know that channel it was on.. and there on mysoju, i saw a cover of an angel-ish girl with a few men beside her.. i watched the first episode... i was so happy to have finally found what i was looking for!!!
another addiction started! after you're beautiful, there were personal taste and prosecutor princess and the list goes on and on... i was watching the kdramas over the internet from 9pm til about 8am because i couldn't just stop.. (just a random thought, i'd like to believe that the new corner for currently airing in your page was because of me because i tried to ask which drama it was through your site.. haha)
for over a year now i have turned into an insomiac.. i sleep at around 4-5am..
its good that i left my previous job and transferred to a new one that can adopt to my new lifestyle.. i had to wait every morning on thursdays and fridays to be able to watch newly released episodes from vikii with english subs.. my addiction has turned into a virus or an epidemic among my friends, everytime i see a new k-drama posted here on dramabeans, i inform them as well..
call me crazy but now i feel like i'm a korean, i even blogged about it..
i watch korean channels without even understanding what the show is about.. ask me before what my favorite food would be, it would be pasta, pizzas, steaks, burgers, desserts..now it would be KOREAN FOOD and.... desserts (i can't let go of my sweets!).. i have grown accustomed to spicy food and having veggies as a main part of their meal..
thats it! the skeletons are out of the closet...
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296 reluctantbutaddicted
June 26, 2010 at 1:11 PM
@ ladyteruki: "Well, never trust a girl who has a DVD full of dramas under her keyboard, my friend." A life lesson we all should learn!! Ha!
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297 alwayshungry
June 26, 2010 at 1:33 PM
I remember one summer when the Dae Jang Geum craze was hitting US and my family, we started following it on TV on channel 18 (dubbed). But we caught the show in the middle so I missed the beginning. It was during my college days so I still had something called summer vacations. So when a family friend lent us their dvd set, I spent over a week living and breathing Dae Jang Geum. I watched episode after episode until 5-6am in the morning and finally collapsed in bed due to exhaustion then slept til 2pm to wake up and make food to eat in front of the TV. There were pauses for bathroom breaks and during dinner, I stuffed in whatever I can before returning to the TV. The worst part was that the dvd was dubbed in Chinese. So to this day...I don't believe I know the original voices of the actors. I guess the dubbing team's budget got cut because at one point they only had like four people dubbing so several characters had the same voices. It was so irritating and I almost went crazy but I had to finish the drama. So when I finally finished the drama, I think I was mentally and physically exhausted.
From this point on, I've learned to NEVER watch dubbed dramas again and search for English subtitles instead. My access to technology and internet has made k-drama viewing a lot easier and with the growing committee of dedicated subbers and recappers, I no longer have to suffer awful awful dubbed dramas. I once sat down to try and make a list of all the dramas and movies I've watched and I'll continue adding on.
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298 Kdramaloverforever
June 26, 2010 at 1:33 PM
OK, since I have many drama addiction moments, I will list them in order of what I can remember about each drama I watched:
1.) I have watched boys before flowers three times, who are you three times, Iris two times, Over the rainbow five times, Hong Gil Dong five times, Goong four times, Lobbyist three times, Love story in Harvard three times, Full House two times, Prosecutor Princess two times, Soulmate three times, New Heart two times, Surgeon Bong Dal Hee two times, and My Girl four times
2.) All the dramas I have watched more than once, I have watched the whole series in one day
3.) I visited Jeju islands just to visit the "All In House" which is in commemoration of the drama, All In and to visit the teddy bear museum
4.) I visited this site daily to see the summaries/reviews of the dramas I was watching
5.) I watched so much dramas that my mom broke/crushed the video that I borrowed weekly from the Korean video store and also had to hide my laptop charger so that I would not be able to watch for a long time
6.) At work and at the library I would watch Korean dramas. At work, I would watch the dramas without the audio while I was working and when my employer was not in the office
7.) I did not study for a total of six of my exams because I was trying to finish my dramas
8.) When I did not have a laptop, I would watch on my computer. The computer turns off automatically every hour and takes around forty minutes to turn back on. I watched a total of ten dramas on that computer enduring the same cycle over and over again of having to turn it on and wait for forty minutes.
9.) Of course, I collect stuff from the drama such as the samsoon pig and also various drama posters like Boys Before Flowers poster, etc
10.) I download all the songs from the Kdrama OSTs and also collect some CDs
11.) I have translated many korean dramas including Iris and Over the Rainbow and Hong Gil Dong so that my friends could watch as well
12.) I go on sites that have the links to the Korean dramas I watch and look at the list to see if any new dramas are out. Then I watch the first episode of each new drama and pick the ones I want. This happens daily. i also have around 6 korean drama sites I rely on so that if one fails, I have many backup sites.
13,) I used to take my laptop to school and watch korean dramas daily during class when we had free time and I downloaded the dramas the day before.
14.) In most of the kdramas I watch, I fall in love with the main guy, whoever it is. After I watch the dramas, I look up and watch all the press conferences and interviews just to see the main guy talk and also look up other dramas/shows he has been on and watch all of them.
15.) For all the dramas I watch, I look up the ratings and I try to promote the drama by going on different sites/webpages and posting and commenting on the drama.
16.) On my Korean Language Proficiency Test, ( this was right after I watched Youre beautiful), the essay topic was "Who do admire the most and why" and while everyone put the president or some other famous figure, I put "Jang Geun Seok" and explained I admired him for his awesome acting skills and good looking face. I got the results back and found out that I did not pass the test.
17.) I went to Korea after watching the drama that she starrs in "That summer typhoon" because I heard that she was having a signing session at the Bean Pole in Lotte Mall. I got her signature and took pictures with her
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299 Kdramaloverforever
June 26, 2010 at 1:37 PM
I would also like to add that when I visited Korea, I also visited SBS and MBC and I also witnessed actors/actresses shooting an actual drama.
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300 jenn
June 26, 2010 at 1:43 PM
i watch dramas 24/7 im so freakin addicted thats its not even funny
i cant even last one day without watching them.
now im trying to learn korean bit by bit so that i can watch the dramas that dont have subs. :) lol
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