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1 redfox
August 15, 2014 at 6:14 AM
Hi
I had a terrible headache yesterday. Newsflash: dramas cure migrene. It is like Lee Jun Ki threatened it with pure badassery and it escaped (but gosh was it terrible! Blurred my vision...or maybe that was also Jun Ki´s doing....
Last time I asked what skill or know-how of drama characters you envy and would like to learn.
This time I just ask: which drama characters´life are you most jealous of? Although they have their ups and downs and demons and crazy parents. But there must be a few that we think: I wish I was (like) that person! You know, not them, but a person like that. The personality you most admire and would want to be more alike.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 6:19 AM
If anyone cares, pretty scary to be Russias´ neighbor right now. Whioch hero should I ask for protection? we should gather them all so the events in Ukraine wont repeat. General Choi Young definitely. Iljimae... Yoon Kang might be too rash and un-diplomatic, but we´ll see where he goes... Do Min Joon... if he can find a wormhole that takes him here.
Worried about the situation in Ukraine. The fact that USA sends tanks and army here (To Estonia and Poland) might make things even worse and infuriate them. The ones I am most afraid of however are the finns. They are after their own good and might sell us out. Secret negotiations with Russia... They always just look out for themselves. Greedy fat rockers... Also, Obama will visit Estonia in the autumn some time. not clear when yet
I hope people don´t just sit comfortably and watch TV dramas, but that you help any way you can to stop this outrageous conflict.
Things you can do:
find an organization / embassy that sends medical supplies to Ukraine fighters. They make a huge difference.
Write letters to anyone who might matter and listen. Not some big presidents but people with a loud voice who will be heard by many.
Not buy any Russian goods.
Visit any of the Baltic states, if you can (too unsafe to go to Ukraine now). Come to Estonia till the summer lasts and before school starts, and write a story about it with photos.
Hope you don´t mind and creative cursing towards a certain VP is welcome. Like: „You f***** d***, give your people proper jobs and pays instead of turning them into paid killers! You incompetent s*******, instead of fighting your neighbors, fight the environmental disaster that is looming above all our heads! Instead of shutting your people up, turn them into poets and writers that the world would love, not agonize for. I would say Make love not war but I wouldnt want any more little VP´s crawling into the world.
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Mystique
August 15, 2014 at 6:38 AM
Hello everyone!!
Completely OFF TOPIC
Has anyone ever gone to the hair salon and left feeling so upset, you just wanted to cry?That happened to me today. I went to the salon around noon for a trim and change of hair color, what I ended up with was half of my hair gone, choppy layers and orange hair. I was so mad and the hairdresser was all like “I’m sorry but surprisingly you still look good” I’m not a violent person but that statement almost made me punch her in the mouth. And then they were still expecting me to pay, I was like you must be very high if you think I’m going drop a dime for the very horrible job you did, Lol and I couldn’t even walk out like a boss after saying that ( 1) I’m on crutches 2) had to wait for my brother to come pick me up 3) there was no way in hell I was going out with that hair atrocity)so I just had to sit there fuming. And when my brother came to pick me up, he just burst out laughing, which made me start crying(in the car) and that just made him laugh even harder. When i got home, my mom, babushka and cousins were busy fussing over me being all sympathetic and whatnot (while of course trying to hide their laughter) my deedo was all “you should have just left your hair alone, I don’t know why you needed to change your hair color, pssh women” so not what I wanted to hear. One of my cousins said to wait for like a day before I try fixing the hair, so for now my new best friend is a beanie. Lord knows I’m forever avoiding that salon like the plague. (-̩̩-̩̩͡_-̩̩-̩̩͡)(ʃ˘̩̩̩_˘̩̩̩ƪ)
Haven’t watched this week’s episodes except for FTLY ofcourse.
Fated to love you – After last week’s episodes, am glad this week’s episodes were lighter. I want Gun to do some serious grovelling though. Gun had better remain standing there to hear what reply she gives to Daniel, so that we don’t go through the whole “he walks out, doesn’t hear the reply, if she said no, he then starts to misunderstand their relationship and keeps his distance and blah blah blah” And how much do I love that MY’s mum is #TeamGun. Dear ol’ Dan why couldn’t you have just stayed as the neighbouring oppa or whatever you called yourself? because mister I forsee heartbreak in your future. And Jang hyuk’s new hairstyle ƪ(♥ε♥)ʃ
Marriage not dating – Man, I don’t know why I thought catching up on MnD was a great idea with my hair issue still fresh in my mind. By the time I was done watching ep 12, I just wanted to pummel someone into the ground(•ˋ_ˊ•). Ep 12 annoyed me soo much. Miss stiff upper lip telling JM that she was the one who butted in,what in the what now??. What the heck was JM thinking asking KT to go to crazy b*tch, her reason: she loves you so you should take responsibility for her feelings, Whaaat??. And instead of KT to vocalize his feelings for JM at that moment and trying to change her mind or whatever, he takes sperm lady by the hand and walks away, Whaaat?? Miss I want a baby from my ex saying “Go, I can see how you really feel from...
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 10:55 AM
hairdresser stuff: I have only been to the hairdresser twice in my whole life. for real. I cannot stand someone elses´fingers on my head. I guess I am a bit of OCD but not quite. but I feel your pain, Mystique.
Fated to love you: I only just started watching from some random episode. I just can´t stand Guns´ hair in the first ehalf of episodes. disturbing me too much.
what I noticed from the latest episode is that Mi Youngs´ art reminds me of the artist in upcoming Tim Burton film Big Eyes, she had similar style but she was a lady whose husband posed as the author of her paintings. but just that style and single portrait fraims are similar.
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Mystique
August 15, 2014 at 11:14 AM
Lool whaat?? It got posted on your post, lol I'm sorry..
korazylady
August 15, 2014 at 4:12 PM
Sorry for your experience!
Back in the late 80's when perms were the rage, I used to get perms every 3 months and colored my hair regularly. But I only ever got the roots colored. One time my hairdresser forgot and put the hair color over my whole head then stepped away. By the time I got him to rinse it out, it was too late. I literally was tiger striped, vertically, around my head. You could see every place where the color took more due to a perm, then less where it had grown out for a while. Plus my hair was breaking off at the top.
It seemed like a huge deal at the time, which it was. But the good thing is, hair does grow. Eventually. And at least you didn't pay for it. I was a regular client ad didn't have the nerve to not pay. Never went back, though!
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Manin
August 15, 2014 at 6:39 AM
Yes I can imagine being Russia's neighbor is not feeling very good atm. I'm scared of there being a conflict as well because I know if NATO gets involved Norway will get involved. Which is bad news for our own boarder next to Russia (we're already hit by sanctions from Russia). And I have friends that are both serving their mandatory service plus are in the reserve forces. So any conflict means they will all be back into active service.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 6:57 AM
well, I heard the US army landed some machines in Norway a few days ago? cars and stuff. I´d be sad if any conflict spurs in any part of Lapland, Finnish, Swedish or Norwegian (possible cause Russians have shares in mining industry in Finnish Lapland and own real estate like hotels and stuff) but Lapland was already wiped clean once in WWII, suffered horribly. the North should be untouchable cause it is a very delicate part of ecosystem
although mining does enough damage already.
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Manin
August 15, 2014 at 7:15 AM
I haven't heard of it since I'm still in China, but I would not be surprised if they did. Yeah Svalbard is also shared between Norway and Russia due to especially the mining resources . A lot of Norwegian companies have contacts in Russia which have now been closed. Same with counter sanctions which cuts affect the Norwegian fishing industry (which is the major export besides oil that we have).
Yeah The north of Norway was burned down pretty much during the end of WW2. We already had a sorta tense boarder with Russia from the stories I heard of my friends that served as boarder patrol. So any activity there is definitively not a good sign for us. My home town as well used to be a port for Russian boats as well as a lot of Norwegian-Russian relations, and safe to say things are tense atm.
Especially with America's actions that are not helping the conflict either. And if America goes into a war, that will drag in all the Nato countries which means Norway is in a bad position. I still think being closer to Ukrain probably makes you a little more exposed, since its a bigger boarder.
Quiet Thought
August 15, 2014 at 9:41 AM
Well, from this end of the world, I can assure that aside from the usual right-wing blowhards who want to posture at everything bad that happens, mainly to spite the president, there is no sentiment in the United States government or the people towards getting involved in the Ukraine, especially not from the president, who has a lot of other crises to deal with and some really hostile opposition at home.
The Americans do have to support the Baltic States, as they are part of NATO, just like we have to support South Korea in a crisis. Something that surprises Americans who weren't paying attention to the promises we were making when the Cold War ended.
The NATO governments will hopefully come up with some simple quiet way to keep the troubles in Ukraine from spreading elsewhere. My wife and I only got the opportunity to visit parts of Southern Europe over the last couple of years, just avoiding the riots in Athens, and I hope to get to Northern Europe in a year or two. Without any crises getting in the way.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 10:59 AM
but it is true that the U-S. air defense being here has held back border crossings by Russian planes. there used to be 10-11 in a month, now maybe 1 in 2 months.
and btw, Barack Obama will come here in the 3rd of september already, just found out the date.
owl
August 15, 2014 at 7:25 AM
It is a scary world, superfox. I like your creative peaceful ideas. Like the pope visiting South Korea, "Oh, fireworks for my arrival. How festive." No, those are N Korean missiles.
The world has gone mad for power, again. Or should I say still.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 8:17 AM
what irritates me most is not the conflict but that Putin and the rest are clearly idiots, who have no brains to deal with more complicated stuff like global warming or cure for epidemics, or even write an effin book! That country used to have some brains, what happened? never mind scientists, there are no more good films coming out of Russia like they used to have. all they have is conflict and thats why the world hates them. instead of feeding the army they should feed culture, cause you can get people to love you through something you create, not something you destroy. or maybe I am the idiot and we are all having a "hostage syndrome" where we love the abuser?
to create value, emotional, physical, cultural, thats what the existence is about. thats what earns us our grave being deweeded and raked some day . thats all there will be left. but he hasnt deserved even that... not even a glass box and a photo like in dramas. nothing.
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windsun33
August 15, 2014 at 12:54 PM
I came across a set of recent polls a couple days ago, and the huge dichotomy is just weird. They showed that Putin in Russia had an 87% approval rating, while outside Russia (including the US and Asia), he was ranked just below head lice, congress, and Chinese politicians.
CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 10:10 AM
Am so sorry about the migraine. Glad it finally left. I finally studied up on the Ukraine/Russia history. Ah me! Scary and complicated. I so hope the US doesn't get involved. We really would make matters worse. Honestly, it's been about 75 years since we "won" a war that "we know of." It seems we either lost every other conflict, created a bad iffy truce, made matters worse, or are still fighting. I just don't know why we are always trying to fix things when we have that track record.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 11:07 AM
well, it seems to me the air defense groups who have been based here for a few months now, dont know much at all about Estonia and they are here more to learn and gain experience than anything else. seems like they benefit more than we cause the landscape and the close proximity of Russia is all very new. they have never been this close to Russia.
I wouldnt mind the US tanks cause again, I think the US army knows extremely little of this part of Europe. feels like you gotta hold their hand all the time... but they have also helped in cleaning up roads from fallen trees after storm and that sort of stuff. some bonding with the local savages in our forests... LOL
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CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 11:13 AM
oh gee. well a little bit helps, i guess. I'm just so tired of our young men dying in wars that don't really matter in the long run.
CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 11:15 AM
oops! Let me correct that. The wars themselves matter but the US involvement in them might not...tend not to matter in the long run.
redfox
August 15, 2014 at 11:26 AM
oh dont worry. I personally think wars are a waste of precious time that would be spent creating something . inventing. discovering. protecting all the wonders of life that are in danger of disappearing. like elephants. they will die out in 10 years, folks say
there are so many things that need our urgent attention instead of war.
Quiet Thought
August 15, 2014 at 11:20 AM
Ah, I'd go with sixty years, and we live with the consequences of that victory in 1945, in spite of everything. Because, before then, for most of the nations of the world, it was much worse. And now, because of nuclear weapons and climate change and population growth and an integrated world economy, it could actually be much, much worse. Humanity could exterminate itself, or wipe out all trace of peaceful civilization.
That is the real horror of what Putin has been saying and doing. He keeps hearkening back to that old world from before 1914, when the tsars could conquer their neighbors just because the urge struck them, or take over some small country and force everyone there to be "assimilated" or be driven away, and where no one else cared, because that's what big countries always used to do to each other.
And the countries, nowadays, that thought that world had gone away, are rather confounded as to what to do about people like Putin. Or about American leaders or anyone else's leaders who act like that.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 11:34 AM
so true, that is exactly what he is trying to do and has expressed desiring. to take back Finland, Poland, Estonia, well, half of Europe. hey I would rather have the Danes or the Swedish back. although the tzar is crazy the king is a porn addict... why do we common folks have such a difficult life?
I am not familiar with the Game of Thrones but I suppose the only thing missing now is decapitations, dragons and inquisition.
our consolation is: Hitler is dead. Mussolini is dead. Ceaucescu is dead. all those horrible men are now dirt. we all become dirt. but some grow hooves and horns and turn into mythical monsters and some develop a glow of a genius and a hero. and some just turn to dust without anyone remembering them or a name on the gravestone. thats what I wish for Putin: a nameless grave. or no grave at all.
windsun33
August 15, 2014 at 12:56 PM
Putin seems to have forgotten what happened to the tsars, even though he is "channeling" them.
oftheshore
August 15, 2014 at 10:29 AM
Well, I'm actually *from* Ukraine, so dramas are one of my main distractions. At some point I couldn't work (I live abroad, but family's in Kiev), and only checked the news. Lately, I've gotten back into k-dramas, which to me is a sign of recovery and going back to my old self.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 11:14 AM
I know that feeling when you just cannot focus on anything and just wait for the next update. I have a friend here, who fell in love with an estonian girl and has lived here for 10 years I think (he was initially in the band Haydamaky, do you know them?) and he is just so broken and worried. but people show great support, he has a new band and at the last festival there was probably 6700 people in the audience and the place was so packed I had someones´teeth in my neck. but yeah, he says he is biting nails all the time and can´t even write any new songs...
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kopytko
August 15, 2014 at 1:02 PM
The hero to save us from Vova? KoD's Anthony! He would trick them into giving up politics and maybe even giving up the $$$ they acauired in the meantime *@&$*^#$^&$!!!!!*
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tatka
August 15, 2014 at 4:38 PM
I am sorry in advance, all my post is not about kdramas : )
I just want to ask not to be very judgemental regarding current political situation. Actually most of what common people like us know or think we know is what media manipulated us to think. We cannot be sure what is the truth.
This is a good article that can lead to some thoughts. (I am not saying that it tells the truth, it just shows that there can be a lot of different points of view).
http://rinf.com/alt-news/featured/profits-ukraines-war/
There are some things we should always remember regarding media war:
— there is NO independent media. It's a myth created so that common citizen wouldn't (no way!) get a thought to filter the information he or she receives. He should think that some responsible and independent people have already critically revised and assessed that information. Even if there is objective information, media will tell it in advantageous to its sponsors` way.
— character description depends on media's viewpoint. The same person will be called a rebel, a separatist, a militant, a terrorist, but he will never be described as a dissatisfied citizen or a protester…
— quoting opinions from some obscure social network accounts is usually used for propaganda (it relieves a journalist of responsibility)
— in real life it can't be so that one person is always right and another is always wrong. There are different people in any group. But during media war 'enemies' are identified by any general distinction: black, white, jewish, blondes, left–handers, etc. If you have thoughts like ‘they are all crazy there!’ or something like that — you became a victim of propaganda.
— there is no opinion of USA, Russia, Belgium, Zimbabwe… There are no goals, actions or intentions of Russians, Americans, Ukrainians, Europeans. There are goals, actions and intentions of ruling groups, particular people and opinions of different groups of citizens. If you believe that some country wants something regarding you, you became a victim of propaganda. It just makes us hate each other and this is so sad.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 4:52 PM
and how does all that change the fact that Russian military equipment crossed Ukraines´ border?
I am not a victim of propaganda. I am a person who know her history lesson.
I will not turn this into an argument with a troll in respect towards the site.
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tatka
August 15, 2014 at 11:11 PM
I am sorry if you feel somehow offended by my words.
This troll just wrote information which she thinks may be useful and interesting for someone.
redfox
August 15, 2014 at 11:48 PM
not offended. just suspicious.
interest groups. I have not strength to comment that.
the fact is all of this is funded and operated by Russia, and 87% of people in Russia support Putins politics. that´s a large number to be talking about interest groups. I don´t see western media suffocated, journalists beaten up or locals deported like some of the crimean tatars
of course there is Gaza conflict but I dont think that will ever seize. cause they never stop to think what would be best for both.
kanz
August 15, 2014 at 7:10 AM
Hmm, that's tough question because I have some drama characters in which I hope it was me instead or my life at least like that.
1. Jang Hye Sung (I Hear Your Voice)
Smart, badass, no nonsense woman and has Suha as her protector/lover/puppy what's not to like. Her life sure has ups and downs (many!) but if I were Jang Hye Sung I could survive anything.
2. Go Dok Mi (Flower Boy Next Door)
An aspiring writer and loved by Panda Enrique Geum and Oh Jin Rak. Everyday Jin Rak gives him milk and post-it drawing while Enrique energizes her everyday and changes her world forever. I wish I have my own Enrique and Oh Jin Rak and other flower boys as my neighbours... LOL
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Julia the Berkshire Beanie
August 15, 2014 at 7:31 AM
I second your drama heroine choices.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 8:22 AM
I would say Go Ae Jung actually had it pretty good in the sense of personality. She always had pride. I think I am a bit like her... and she could have Dokko Jin´s abs...I mean, Dokko Jin. khmm. with a bow tie. Phhf is it so hot cause I baked bread? phhhf....
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panda
August 15, 2014 at 10:34 AM
Hi redfox, I share your obsession and love with Dokko Jin and his abs.....
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 10:35 AM
I am also tilted towards her because she is pretty much one of two heronies who doesnt wear heels....
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Julia the Berkshire Beanie
August 15, 2014 at 7:56 AM
My thoughts are with you redfox.
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oftheshore
August 15, 2014 at 10:29 AM
So are mine.
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CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 10:11 AM
I'm jealous of the girl who just gave Jin Woo her tel # and cell phone in Savvy. Cause... she's going on a date with him, hopefully.
Warriors: General Choi, def. Maybe Iljimae.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 11:10 AM
what about Soo-Sun? ( Seung-Ki...chest...k...k...k...khmm)
whats wrong with me today
must be the bread soup that turned into something a bit alcoholic...
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CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 11:16 AM
Soo-Sun? Jog my memory. Bread soup...never had it but it sounds good
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 11:19 AM
You are all surrounded. Soo Sun chest kiss...planted right on Daegudaegu
redfox
August 15, 2014 at 11:22 AM
oh, bread soup: you take slightly stale bread, puour hot water on it, leave it to soak, then puree it and lift to boil on the stove. add some sugar or honey, whip it slightly, add raisins, dried plums, seeds or nuts what you like. you can eat it hot or cold with milk. mine soaked too long and kinda started turning into beer... I hate beer but I never waste food. but yeah. side effects.
2 mary
August 15, 2014 at 6:19 AM
Hallo chingus~ just dropping by to say that we are recapping Surplus Princess, as promised. ^^
First episode is here: http://dr-myri-blog.blogspot.com/2014/08/surplus-princess-episode-1-songjaerimjob.html
Also, please don't freak out so much when you see episode 2 and the censored fish. I swear I didn't have anything to do with the script/editing of that show...
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 6:20 AM
I took a peak and it was way weird. like some bad Australian teen fantasy show.
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 6:55 AM
:O Really? I didn't find it childish... maybe because teen dramas in our country don't have horny BFs trying to initiate sex every chance they get. Haha
It's very uhm... strange though. Like a 45-minute comedy skit. I don't chalk that up against the show though, we pretty much expected that. Coming from the SNL writers and all. :)
Actually, I wish a blog like DB would recap it*** because there are lots of puns and pop-culture references that I probably won't even get. I even missed the Man From The Stars parody in episode 2. *sigh*
*** also so I could just focus on Rim and not worry about missed jokes in our recaps. Hehe
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shaynanigans
August 15, 2014 at 8:02 AM
..I even missed the Man From The Stars parody in episode 2.
I totally missed that. Time to watch it again. Hardships.
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Waiting
August 15, 2014 at 10:08 AM
You'll remember when you hear the signature song playing ("You are my destinyyyyyyy"...listen for it. I was laughing so hard at that scene! OL
windsun33
August 15, 2014 at 1:01 PM
Maybe it is just my perverted mind, but I thought the funniest line in the whole ep2 was "... so THAT's what it looks like...". (you have to see the scene to get it).
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Waiting
August 15, 2014 at 4:09 PM
Well, I guess that is two of us then. It reminded me of the scene in Fried Green Tomatoes where they a circle of friends got together with mirrors in hand to connect with their womanliness, you could say. LOL
Here's the clip of the 'Womens Strength Class' scene if you are not familiar:
http://www.anyclip.com/movies/fried-green-tomatoes/Tpr6J2n7Jhtmb/#!quotes/
Towanda!!
fab
August 15, 2014 at 7:06 AM
LOL I know the show you're talking about.
Imma only given it a look for mary's yobo.
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Julia the Berkshire Beanie
August 15, 2014 at 7:34 AM
I happen to be right in the middle of watching a cheesy Australian teen fantasy show (Thunderstone) and loving it.
Happy Friday, Beanies.
I enjoyed seeing all the Twitter photos from KCon. Have you recovered yet?
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 7:58 AM
about Aussie teen fantasies: yes, some of them are really good, but some are just...hmm.
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korazylady
August 15, 2014 at 4:45 PM
I am recovering, lol. Too old for that Kcon stuff, although I'd do the concert(s) again
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windsun33
August 15, 2014 at 12:59 PM
I think Surplus Princess is hilarious, ridiculous, but funny.
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Manin
August 15, 2014 at 6:44 AM
I tried to comment on it a couple of days ago but the blog hated me and wouldn't let me post so I gave up. Loved the squeecap though and the mermaid is hallarious (and a bit like we all imagine you'd be like Mary ;) )
The drama seemed like wacky fun judged on the first episode. And I do hope it continues that way. Please don't turn to serious! (or follow the orignial mermaid story to closely please...)
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 6:56 AM
Awww Manin. :< That evil comment form does feed on the frustrated tears of squeeglets... *hugs manin*
As for your second paragraph... *keeps mum to avoid spoilers*
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Manin
August 15, 2014 at 7:19 AM
*hugs back* It's evil *said in dramatic voice*
Oh also, I had a dream a couple of days ago where I happened to meet SJR for some reason and my thought was "Must get Mary an autograph! It should give me a license for at least ogling rights". And then I woke up...
I'm not a spoilor phobe tell me! *looks around feeling hateful stares from others* Okay, does it go makjang or is it still funny at least? *puppy eyes*
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 7:42 AM
*****VAGUE SPOILERS FOR MERMAID EPISODE 2*****
It's still funny, but they're following the annoying part of little mermaid. The one where some girl tries to claim she's the one Prince is looking for.
Which means you'll get the urge to uhm... "cut a fish" when you watch EP2.
Also, the Mermaid does something really REALLY stupid and selfish which makes me hate her. Though orion and alan say it's because she's still immature and a sheltered princess. Hopefully, her character grows (and soon!)
Of course they make sense. ^^ But I still want to "cut a fish".
She had better pay for those stupidities next week. I'm just really mad at the stuff this week.
*runs off to watch YNS for comfort*
CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 10:18 AM
I've always had a problem with the Little Mermaid. Whether or not the Mermaid "wins." Anderson said he wrote it because a little Jewish girl he knew was rejected by her lover's family as unfit for him to marry her...because she was Jewish and her beloved was Christian. And most all of Anderson's stories, there is this almost nihilistic, pessimistic, grief. He's almost worse than Kierkegaard in that regard. He wrote the story to show how bad the world is and all. So of course little mermaid loses.
But when a version shows the little mermaid winning, i find myself getting pissed as well. Cause..she's gonna give up all her culture and even being important in her world...just to get any old loser from another "better" culture. It just grates.
Manin
August 15, 2014 at 8:52 PM
Ah I hate that part.. Also because lets face it, it's such a drama cliche as well. Do hope to see some grow in her too. And its always better when you have consequences so you then can have growth.
Carole: I agree with you, in a sense the story cannot win because she either disappears and gives up her love, or she gives up on a hug part of herself.
[POTENTIAL SPOILER FOR I NEED ROMANCE 1]
That's actually why I didn't have a problem with the girl from the first "I need romance" series going back to the ex. Because although there was a shot with the second lead and the family was excepting they were still asking her to give up on her own family and change her name and essentially make her a different person in front of the general public. She choose to stand up for herself, and although that didn't necessarily mean to go back to the ex, I understand her reasoning in wanting to be with someone that took her for her.
shaynanigans
August 15, 2014 at 8:00 AM
Mary,
I can't wait for your episode 2 recap, your fist one was just perfect. What a whacky drama. I just really hope it stays funny throughout.
Episode 2 was certainly squee-worthy, but that preview for episode 3....
Did you ever imagine SJR could make such a noise? *squeals and faints*
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 10:23 AM
Whuuut???
Since I watched it at 7am (yes, I waited that late to DL it even if I had work today haha) I might have missed that sound you're referring to. Or I might be hallucinating it. *runs off to listen again*
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shaynanigans
August 15, 2014 at 1:30 PM
It's a super quick clip, maybe 2 seconds. 48:07 ish if you are watching on Viki.
Maybe not check it out while at work....
"why is your face so red?" asks a passing co-worker.
Oops.
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 2:55 PM
OH. MY. GOD.
OMIGOD.
OMGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD.
That should be illegal.
Help!
Someone stop that scene from happening!!! My kokoro won't survive it!!!!!!
ladytron33
August 15, 2014 at 9:33 AM
I guess I'm the only person who's really enjoying the drama, weirdness and all. Actually, I think I am enjoying it because of the weirdness! It's silly and absurd and raunchy and bubblegum flavored and I love it for all of those things. (Which seem to be the elements that are turning off everyone else!)
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 9:58 AM
What d'you mean you're the only one?! We love it's craziness!!!
As soon as they announced that it was by the SNL team I already expected it to be some sort of long skit full of jokes and parodies.
It's the angst-y parts I don't like. Well, secretly I like them too because Hyun Myung is such a sad character you want to root for. You know his story is going to be good, but he just suffers so much that you want him to be successful ALREADY.
He's like a male Mi Young that way. ^^
(Rim is Rim of course. I'll watch him even if he just sits there and preens for 45 minutes.)
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Ladytron33
August 15, 2014 at 1:09 PM
I meant besides you and yours, dear Mary. Of course you love it too! I typed my comment early in the morning and forgot to post it until later in the day (busy, important person that I am), so at that point there hadn't been many replies to your comment.
So glad you are doing your recaps. Off to read ;)
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bbstl
August 15, 2014 at 11:26 AM
I think it's great for those reasons too! It has that manic feel of many J shows but this time it doesn't bother me. All the writing and drawing on the screen reminded me of the beginning of Goong and made me want to rewatch that, too.
Very glad you all are squeecapping! But I also feel the absence of someone who can explain all the jokes. Like, I'm sure there was something funny about the male former mermaid living in the "slums of Cheongye Stream" when that area is actually very upscale. But mollah, wish we knew! Please let us know if you find recaps that shed light on those parts.
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 12:04 PM
Woah. Cheonggye is supposed to be upscale? Hehe dang. We really need someone to explain those jokes...
Someone commented and explained the Attack of the Titans reference.
And JoAnne mentioned something about Ahn Ma Nyeo possibly being a pun on "Not Witch" though she didn't put it in the squeecap. ^^ I just saw her talking to refresh_daemon on twitter.
Then I also read somewhere that Ahn Ma Nyeo's entrance was a parody of Batman(?)
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 12:08 PM
LOL sorry "Attack of the Titans" should be "Attack on Titan".
Heeheehee
Mama J
August 15, 2014 at 12:28 PM
They call him Witch Ahn. 'Manyeo' means witch, but if you put 'an' in front of a word, that means NOT.
So Witch Ahn's name, Ahn Manyeo, means 'Not Witch'
Yeah, the hooded thing, that was reminding me of something. Batman seems likely :)
bbstl
August 15, 2014 at 1:34 PM
Well - the main part of Cheongyecheon (sp?)used to be run down and was reclaimed and made snazzy a few years ago. It's also in the middle of commercial central Seoul, so ... probably not residential. But maybe there is a seedy part? And a residential part? Just one episode and I already have so many questions! Mary, I'm glad you are searching for answers for us :)
windsun33
August 15, 2014 at 1:11 PM
Uhm.. no hardly the only one. :P
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Katlyn
August 15, 2014 at 8:26 PM
You're not the only one liking Surplus Princess! I love it! It feels like a comic book come to life with all its absurdity and antics but I can see there's a lot of heart too.
There are so many pop culture references too that kill me and music cues that make me guffaw with laughter. You can tell that the people who make this drama watch dramas and are up to date with pop culture. It's brilliant! Jo Boa's so charming too.
Also sharehouse! Makeshift families! A main struggling to find a secure job, such a relatable dilemma and especially relevant to graduates today. Mermaids! Puns galore! Whats not to love? :D
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3 thesandwitch04
August 15, 2014 at 6:20 AM
Happy OT Beanies!
I wish I could say I'm enjying the currently airing dramas but I'm not: I'm experiencing a drama slump and I hate it. So, I was watching old (ish) dramas and I was wondering: If yu were to ever choose a secnd lead for a change who would it be (in order of importance). My List would stand like so: 1. Gel Oh (Sungkyunkwan Scandal)
2. Chilbongie (Reply 1994)
3. Yoon Pil Joo (Best Love)
I was that bored, don't judge me. Let's hear your thoughts!
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 6:27 AM
Geun Woo! such a hoot! although I probably would never understand this mystery of a guy, but at least it would be fun.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 6:59 AM
Geun Woo from Trot Lovers that is, played by Shin Sung-Rok
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ama
August 15, 2014 at 6:45 AM
Probably Choi Han-sung ("Coffee Prince"), but that's mostly because I loved Lee Sun-kyun's portrayal of him to bits. Also the smile and the glasses. And that voice. And the music.
I am still at the beginning of my drama watching, however, so I'm sure there are still a lot of second leads to discover who could steal my heart in mere seconds, haha.
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readlead
August 16, 2014 at 3:14 AM
I choose Yoon Pil Joo but after read your answer, I remember how much I love LSK even more than GY in coffee prince :D
ah, yoon pil joo or Choi han sung??? oh wait, I love the 2nd lead in I need romance 2! LOL
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korfan
August 15, 2014 at 6:48 AM
StupidCupidinLove -
Yoon Pil-joo was absolutely fantastic!
redfox - Geun-woo is a hoot indeed! You just laugh when you see him.
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thesandwitch04
August 15, 2014 at 6:55 AM
Geun-woo is from which drama?
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 6:58 AM
Trot Lovers!
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korfan
August 15, 2014 at 6:59 AM
Geun-woo is from Trot Lovers.
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fab
August 15, 2014 at 7:13 AM
There are a few I was shipping but the one I can think of now is Chun-soo from Emergency Couple. Chilbongi also holds a place in my list.
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Kailani
August 15, 2014 at 8:58 AM
Yoon Pil Joo!!!!!! I still love him to pieces, he was absolutely adorable. Dokko Jin was funny, but still ... Ae Jung deserved to have someone like Pil Joo in her life.
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iamdeb
August 15, 2014 at 10:07 AM
Pil Joo is the only kdrama male character I would want to settle down and marry. My goodness he is so marry-able lol...
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panda
August 15, 2014 at 10:58 AM
I shipped the "Pil Line" too initially but by the end I was utterly in love with Dokko Jin. Pil Jo was too perfect. A girls gotta have some excitement
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Wag_a_Muffin
August 15, 2014 at 3:17 PM
I agree! Yoon Pil Joo, the first time a 2nd lead ever BROKE MY HEART shipping him. (I screamed at the monitor, "PICK HIM!!!")
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jadielaw
August 17, 2014 at 5:34 AM
Big handsome Shin Myun (Princess Man)
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4 zakin89
August 15, 2014 at 6:32 AM
Happy OT
I’m incredibly jealous of a colleague of my mom! He’s a teacher and also athletics coach and he is in China at the Youth Olympic Games with one of his girls and… KIM SOO HYUN IS GONNA SING at the opening ceremony!!! I’ve already been jealous that he got to go to China but now... T_T
Summer has also kinda said bye, bye and it’s just been raining the past weeks so my mood is… Never mind^^
What better way to lighten the mood than some K-Dramas then^^
Trot Lovers: Well… We got a happy end but… Did we really have to separate our OTP AGAIN? I was a bit disappointed in the finale bc too much time was spent with Soo In and her mom (the latter being her bat shit crazy self till the end -.-) w/o getting proper closure! Yes Soo In got somehow punished but Chun Hee forgave her and she is set free and back in the singing game? SERIOUSLY! Girl nearly kills someone and… Ah never mind… There were cute scenes in between and I thank the drama for giving us a very dorky Shin Sung Rok who needs a lead role ASAP!
Marriage not Dating: They’d better not be running in opposite directions or else :P So we got the fallout and man was it heartbreaking for Ki Tae’s mom. I don’t blame her for being devastated since she finally warmed up to Jang Mi and saw that she is the right one for her son. I still don’t get and like Se Ah and Yeo Reum hit a new low though I give him the benefit of the doubt. I think he really likes JM though the hug was just… URGH! I wanted to briefly strangle him^^
IOTL: I am again amazed by how this drama sucks me right into its world so that I lose all track of time! Jo In Sung and Kong Hyo Jin are amazing together and I just want their characters to be happy! Also… has someone counted the kisses so far? Must be a new record in a drama of one of the main broadcasters, right?^^ I won’t complain though :D
Nightwatchman: That waterfall scene was just AMAZING xD I did not expect Eunuch Song there^^ I'm still not quite sure what the real plot in the drama is but oh well... There's enough pretty and thankfully not so much Yunho yet^^
Variety:
1N2D S3: The teacher special was really great =) Maknae teach nearly killed everyone with his one liners^^ The last thing I expected to hear when SISTAR showed up was: ‘Their clothes are a bit inappropriate’, but there it was^^ I cackled :D
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 7:03 AM
did Trot Lovers already end?
Shin Sung Rok reminded me of Buster Keaton there. He should definitely get a lead role in something funny. He has too much comedic talent to play something dark and serious. fantastic timing and just... there are not many actors who can get me to laugh in 3 seconds.
I think if I met a star like Kim Soo Hyun I would be so dazed that I wouldnt notice when the act is already over.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 7:09 AM
that last thing: you could say he actually stops time...
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zakin89
August 15, 2014 at 7:28 AM
Yep it ended this week!
I'm not gonna lie SSR was great in YFAS and he does evil well but yeah I definitely want him in something funny where he gets the girl^^ Trot Lovers was the 2nd drama with him I've seen and I am a bit smitten :) His comedic timing was awesome and ... I mean he can sing! It's funny how I keep becoming a fan of musical actors :P First Jo Seung Woo and now Shin Sung Rok^^
:D Yeah same here.
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Ladytron33
August 15, 2014 at 1:14 PM
Watch him in Thank You. He just about broke my heart in that one. The last episode.....sigh...
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Ghost of Choon Hee
August 15, 2014 at 7:53 AM
Trot Lovers died about 8 episodes ago, done in by a useless script.
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Choon Hee's Ghost
August 15, 2014 at 9:20 PM
It's revised title was Trope Lovers.
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AJ
August 15, 2014 at 7:43 AM
Glad someone else is watching and enjoying Night Watchman. I can't even figure out what I like about it so much -- not at all my usual kind of thing ... and the lead girl's costume is a mess. Like Indian Princess Barbie. Still -- I am undeniably hooked. And I liked the 2nd lead's moves a lot in that fight with the king.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 7:59 AM
omg you gave me a fantastic dream about kdrama barbie dolls....
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Wag_a_Muffin
August 15, 2014 at 9:40 AM
I am liking journal of Night Watchman too. (I don't know if I've been disappointed lately when I was thinking a drama would be good and then it was like the writer's got drunk and slurred, "yesh. Let's make somebody get am-am-amneshee-ah."
So I wasn't expecting much with Watchman and so far, I like it. (Yeah, lead shaman girl looks like she was dressed by my 3 year old grand daughter, but other than that, I like it. And what is really good, is that I don't know where it's going, and I'm curious to find out.)
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5 Manin
August 15, 2014 at 6:32 AM
Heeelllo and happy friday beanies!
How are you all? It's been cooler here this week due to a series of thunder storms. Not that I'm complaning at all cause it means I don't die as much from the heath.
Been crunching numbers and doing preparations for going back to uni all day. So wierd that I'll be leaving China soon and going back to being a student again.
Kdrama toddlers style
- The rival and girl s had a day of acting like a married couple. Complete with arguments and "you never listen to me!". But also sharing os sweets and couple stickers.
-Boy H and boy J had this conversation:
Boy J: "I like you" *takes boy H's hands*
Boy H: "I don't know"
Boy J: "It's okay, I like you"
*girl T interupts*
girl T: "I like you too!"
*Boy J pushes girl T away*
Boy J: "I don't like you! Don't talk to her"
(and then class started....)
- boy A was repeatedly asked by the other children about liking girl A which he denied. Until She started crying and then he was trying with all his might to make it up to her. While giving her kisses and saying how much he liked her.
Dramaland
Gloomy Salad Days: almost finished. I enjoyed it, but it does get a bit repetative after a while.
-Akai Ito: stumbled upon this by accident. It was enjoyable at times but damn how much misery is one couple supposed to go through? One thing was the noble idiocy but seriously there was just no end for the tragedy in this drama. Was addicting though.
falling behind on pretty much everything else I've been watching.
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korfan
August 15, 2014 at 6:57 AM
Manin -
Good to see you! ...... Glad it's been a bit cooler. That's sure to bring some much-needed relief!
The students acting like married couples! *laughing* ...... At least they do end up sharing stickers and stuff.
Take care! ..... I can barely keep my eyes open to type, so I'm going to sleep!
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Manin
August 15, 2014 at 7:41 AM
Hi Korfan
Cooler is definitvely good though It's been hotter again today. I'm going to be so cold when I go home I recon.
They are cute! It was hillarious because he was just there twiddling his thumbs and absent mindley nodding while she was going "Listen to me! Why did you do that? It's mine! Why are you not looking?"
Go get some sleep and see you when you return from lala land ;)
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CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 10:20 AM
I remember Salad Days now, after you described it.
Oh those kids, so cute!
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Manin
August 15, 2014 at 5:24 PM
Haha I'm impressed my description was not very good :P
Yes, I'm gonna miss them and their antics
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pogo
August 15, 2014 at 12:01 PM
awwww, I will miss Kdrama, Toddler Style when you leave China! They do behave very true to kdramas in many ways (probably reflective of the maturity levels of most kdrama leads, heh).
Take care, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in China!
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6 Kim Yoonmi
August 15, 2014 at 6:33 AM
A Challenge
So I'm going to be a little bit of a brat. One of the dramabeaners said that if you research psychology well for fiction that the story becomes, "boring". So I thought about it and decided this, instead of arguing, as I did, maybe we can come up with a list of where trauma and psychological issues were well done in Korean dramas?
I think Secret Garden had anxiety shown in Secret Garden was well triggered and though that one had an explanation, it showed there was a clear trauma. The amnesia was actually well handled, though the memory recovery part where he could drive was unrealistic. There is no way you can drive.
I Can Hear Your Voice was well done on the reasons for amnesia.
I thought the portrayal of trauma in Marriage, not Dating was very realistic. Rather than being omnipresent, it was triggered by similar events, causing her to look for refuge.
The anxiety and panic attack shown, though the show is questionable otherwise in Love Myself or You is actually very well done. The sweating, rapid breathing, etc and having it triggered by similar events is well done.
The inclusion and doing it well through research shows in those shows and it's not boring. It actually enhances the plot when it was well done, because instead of omnipresent, the trauma puts them in a heightened sense of danger.
In some cases, though, shows haven't shown it coming from a trauma. I actually thought Master's Sun handled child abuse well, showing that it's the mental, not the physical damage that hurts the most.
And none of those shows goes and info dumps on you about mental health. Any others?
I became a Trot Hater--not of the music, but of the show. It's a slice of life that had an identity crisis like the English language and now wants to be Latinate, I mean wants to be a show with big sweeping events. You can't switch genres and hope people will be pleased with that.
Love Marriage, not Dating. Episode 10-12 was actually pleasant and I liked it.
FTLY-I still like it.
It'll be Alright, there is (still) Love (A better translation) that can't get it's science right... Dropped it. I don't mind facts wrong on purpose Empress Ki), but when you focus on a concept to do *better* and to better the cause of it clearly fail to research it such that it effects the plot and message of your show, it's like getting on top of a rotten soapbox. You need a better foundation.
Still on the fence about Night Watchman. And I don't know why I'm still watching Love Both of Me.
Upside, liked Running Man this week and Nobunaga no Chef a lot. Kodoku no Gourmet Series 4 Also King of Food, (though I get that most of the community isn't into food like that). Surplus Princess I'm also watching.
Are there dramas you liked/enjoyed, but would never recommend?
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thesandwitch04
August 15, 2014 at 6:47 AM
I would never recommend Dae Jang Geum coz of the size (58 episodes), plus it gets repetitive in the middle. It's my first K-Drama and first love, though (Sad Love Song, forget you!).
Next up is The Princess' Man because of the "angst and the lack of pay-off" (my friend's description. She hates angst-y dramas).
What's Up, Fox, I liked it but not as much as I thought I would...Even though the drama is 16 episodes it still felt draggy to me.
And finally, The Moon That Embraces The Sun: It's pretty but I think the pretty is a smokescreen to hide the lack of (deeper?) plot. I felt that this drama could have done a lot better, I watched it for the Flower Boys.
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Kim Yoonmi
August 15, 2014 at 6:53 AM
I also thought it was worth it to talk about trauma since some people seem to have misconceptions about what trauma is how it manifests, etc. Not so much personal trauma, but how much it can range and which shows actually have shown it done well.
I'm going to also do a light run down on trauma manifestation.
Trauma can be light and persistent. Imagine, for example, a parent tells a child every day, "You're ugly." at the same time when the child wakes up. What is a small event can turn into a larger event. It's a valid trauma. The person may end up shutting down at that time in order to avoid hearing it, etc. (This is lighter than Hae Soo's trauma)
It also can be a one time event... for example, I knew someone who was straight up told by his grandparents that he would be taken back to the orphanage when he was misbehaving, but because his parents never talked about his adoption until he was a teen, it developed into a trauma when he was told he was adopted.
And it can be for example someone gets bullied every day such that they develop social anxiety. That can be verbal and/or physical.
And of course, such as being in a war zone and seeing the members of your platoon die.
How big it is to the person depends on the person and how they handle it and the situation they were in at the time. For example, if the person in the bullying case was also experiencing child abuse, that may emphasize both. Versus a loving, understanding and listening family, where they address and discuss the issue, that may minimize it. Though no two people are going to be alike. You can put, say twins in the same situation and one develops a trauma and the other doesn't.
I also just want to make a note that physical abuse in child abuse cases. The longest lasting effect is psychological. vachss[.]com/av_dispatches/disp_9408_a.html
Trauma, as written in Master's Sun, Secret Garden, Love Myself or You, Marriage, not Dating is pretty accurate. Most people can function well outside of the trauma and don't hold onto it and have associative triggers instead. This is because being a victim is not pleasurable. Most people naturally want to move to the being a survivor stage (Unless there are other issues present.). I'm trying to remember other dramas where it was well done and showed more of a range.
Also been trying to remember a drama where the mental health issue was triggered rather than caused by a trauma and done well.
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Lixie
August 15, 2014 at 7:16 AM
I think many kdramas use traumas in a way to make the hero more vulnerable and interesting but fail to explore the issue in a realistic way. The causes are almost always traumas and it disappears or gets solved too simplistically.
One show that really bothered me on this was Flower Boy Next Door. Maybe because I was bullied myself I don't know. Either way I could not understand how people liked the heroine's role, for me the character wasn't realistic and it wasn't clear if she had depression or social anxiety or both and anyway it was all handled in a very wrong manner. It was like the show just used this problems to make her different and that made me angry.
Now I kind of see the same pattern in IOIL but I'm really trying to look past that and understand it in a different way just to enjoy the show.
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Kim Yoonmi
August 15, 2014 at 7:41 AM
Am I remembering wrong when I remember Wild Romance having a person with bipolar issues where it wasn't caused by trauma. I don't think it was particularly handled well since they used it in the story to justify why she was so good at art. But I don't remember an associated trauma in the show either. =P I wonder if I'm trying to find a rare bird when I ask that question.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 7:08 AM
It may be a little surprising choice but I think Yoon-Ho, played by Jung Il Woo, in High Kick!, showed that stress and anxiety well. He was always guilty in everyones eyes and he rebelled more than a typical teenager. I think the avalanche of accusations he faced every day was much more than a young person can handle and JIW showed it really well. I felt so sorry for him.
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kanz
August 15, 2014 at 7:19 AM
I like Cinderella's Sister because the casts are amazing but I would never recommend it to someone unless s/he wants it her/himself or s/he a fan of the actors. The drama makes me cry in every episode and in some way traumatize me, although I still enjoy it.
The problem with me, since I watch so many dramas, my friends usually ask for recommendations. But my taste is quite different from my friends because I like sageuk and melodrama while my friends love romcoms and other light dramas. I tried to recommend my favorite dramas, like Painter Of The Wind, Empress Ki, 49 Days, Full Sun, etc but only a few of my friends end up watching them.
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CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 10:30 AM
The problem with research is that researchers tend to want to show everything they researched at the expense of the plot. If one researches everything, one tends to get into preachiness "look at how smart I am" mode and then one forces the story to stop because one has to do scenes that show one's research. If the research s about some science or art or medicine in this world, the writer needs to pick and choose and yes to definitely be honest and correct. If, however, events take place in an alternate world --like creating a religion or anthropology for a fictional folklore world, then the research is allowed to only mirror the fundamentals and structure of the science.
I don't think Trot Lovers was slice of life. When you have every cliche in the book, you're just painting by numbers using big plot points. Slice of life usually has a rite of passage angle also -- for one person, or one community-- and tends to be "small." The American equivalent would be the blues movie Crossroads (not the horrible star vehicle movie). Slice of life teaches the value of smallness.
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Kim Yoonmi
August 15, 2014 at 11:15 AM
Still disagree. I don't think Slice of Life need rite of passage, which is another genre. (Coming of age). For example, clearly Kodoku no Gurume is *ntot* coming of Age, but it is clearly slice of life. There isn't much other genre you can tag it with.
In this case, the majority of the events in Trot Lovers was small and resolved within the episode. The marathon was resolved quickly. The competing for the ukelele. Worrying about who is stealing the lettuce. Bullying. I'm writing a song and it's not effort and now here it is. Does he like me? Mostly the second half around episode 10 went off the rails but that's the writer fighting what was already there--since most of the other events besides the unnatural inserted ones were slice of life conflicts. (A case of the writer not trusting the story they'd already written).
Personally, I think with something like It's OK, it's Love, you need to do the research, especially considering the amount of dumping they do, but in general one should have a rule of thumb of 100% research 3-5% shows up. That way what doesn't actually show up in the work physically works internally and makes sense. So there is internal logic to the story, even if the elements of it aren't fully explained--like catching in Game of thrones that he does not have a moon--never explained, but there is enough clues that it works that way. What's off camera is as important as what's on philosophy, like good dialogue has underwriting on it. Besides, most Fantasy writers need to be nerds to get that internal stuff to work out fast and quickly, though again, the world building won't show up. Maybe more so than Sci-fi writers. It's the rookie writer that dumps because they want to show up. But a good writer does the work and then dumps the majority of the research and only uses it in the background.
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CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 11:30 AM
I said "usually" not "needs." In English, those are 2 different words.
My topic wasn't It's okay, it's love. I didn't say you were wrong about It's okay, it's love or even mention it. My topic was aboout the difficulty of research and writing....and balancing them. The concept of the drama -- from what I've heard -- is about emotionally-wounded folks and the relationship of that emotional illness to love, normalcy, relationships. If that is the major concept, then we're going to see a lot of different kinds of mental illnesses popping up. I don't expect a writer to get them all right..as long as the theme is shown effectively. Because, the sum is greater than all its parts and the writer is giving us all a taste of this or that illness and essentially just dabbling. Who can become an expert on all those issues or present them to an audience that wants to be primarily entertained more than preached at? So I am prepared to skip on an omnibus story like this.
I didn't watch the story about the autistic doctor though. Because there was only one "mental spectrum disorder" being shown...and I would've expected the writer had more time to research it.
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Tara
August 15, 2014 at 1:53 PM
I watched Good Doctor (the autistic doctor you referred to), and didn't think it portrayed autism properly. Figures, right? He was more like a savant, with bits and pieces of other disorders mixed in...so I obviously disregarded any of it as based on reality, because it wasn't.
The dramas that have medical themes/issues typically are one of two...1) they are true to the actual science/terminology and end up being lecture-like and boring, 2) they use bits and pieces, kinda fudging everything together and consider it "medical" but are hit-or-miss.
It's weird because I liked medical shows in the US (ER, early years of Grey's Anatomy, House) but kdramas can't quite seem to bridge the gap.
pogo
August 15, 2014 at 12:05 PM
I certainly enjoyed chunks of Boys Over Flowers and went back to SoEul couple parts over and over again but I would never recommend it to anyone.
Goong, I enjoyed wholeheartedly because I loved the OTP and it was less makjang-y than the manhwa, but I would still not rec it to anyone because of all the time spent on political nonsense when all anyone wants is more skinship between the couple.
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Tara
August 15, 2014 at 1:48 PM
Ooh, another King of Food fan! :) I love that show, I've been watching since it was before the weekly format (the Chuseok specials). Shin Dong-yup is one of my fave comedians and MCs, so already on that front...it was a must watch.
Kim Jang-geun (is that his real name? I wonder) is also another person I love to watch...he will forever be to me the "little kid" in his skit on Gag Concert (after the news report bit) - he'd be wearing a bright yellow preschool uniform with red circles on his cheeks, with a "kid's" quip of the day. So freakin' hilarious...considering he's quite the hefty dude, but with an adorable face when he smiles :)
I'm really into cooking and food, so naturally this holds my interest :) I find it intriguing the weekly themes and am learning a lot about how certain foods can help certain ailments. At least here they definitely got their research done - unlike dramas with the medical/psychological issues as the main theme. I've put It's Ok It's Love on the backburner because the writing of the science is getting on my nerves -.-
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korazylady
August 15, 2014 at 5:00 PM
I was thinking of I Need Romance 2 today and how the male lead had commitment issues due to there being a genetic disease in his family. Believe me, watching someone die from something like that is definitely traumatic. Because there is the same issue in my extended family, I could really relate to his behavior and thought it was appropriate to the situation. A lot of watchers hated his character, but I understood him completely.
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7 mary
August 15, 2014 at 6:40 AM
And a separate thread for Yoo Na's Street!!! Kyaaaaaaaa~
I'm up to episode 23 and it's GOOD. Well, all the episodes are, but some are better than the others. It's just like saying double bacon cheeseburgers are better than bacon cheeseburgers.
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 6:47 AM
*pops up again to say* I've been reading people's tweets and comments about how they're all so tired of the usual kdrama stuff: funny at the start, painfully pointless and annoying in the middle.
To which I say, do yourself a favor:
GO WATCH YOO NA'S STREET.
Like, right now. Watch the first 2 episodes. That will give you a good idea of what the show is. There's no bait-and-switch here. If you like the writing/tone of the 1st two eps, you'll enjoy the other episodes too. :)
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iamdeb
August 15, 2014 at 10:14 AM
Really love Yoona's street. It's actually comforting for me to watch. Also LOVE gangsta harabuji.i I started watching because I wanted something different from rom coms and it's perfect.
I just realized Jtbc is also responsible for Secret Love Affair and Heartless/Cruel City and now Yoona's Street *starts slow clap*
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Chandler
August 15, 2014 at 12:50 PM
Yay, so good to see people spreading the Yoona's Street love :) I remember a month ago there were barely any subs and almost no one was watching. I was afraid with the sudden onslaught of good dramas, people would simply miss-out on it. So glad that it's getting such a dedicated following!
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Manin
August 15, 2014 at 6:49 AM
Yoona's street s awesome (although I'm lagging behind) Chul man is just so dorky and sweet and awesome (and huggable as the squeecaps point out) And Yoona is just pure awesomeness.
I'm liking how its the strangest bunch of people as well everyone just have their own things, although the morals are a bit questionable at times.
Can I have Nam Soo though? If Yoona doesn't want him, I'd happily heal his broken heart.
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 7:14 AM
My morals are spun around too! This dang show!
Also, *reluctantly hands Nam Soo over*
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Manin
August 15, 2014 at 7:48 AM
*happy dance* Thank you! I swear to take good care of him!
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CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 10:33 AM
dang, those morals! I'm only up to episode 19 but yeah....I'm hoping Yoona will at least one day seek redemption and see how this is not the way to go. Of course, she may not do that at all. Will see.
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Waiting
August 15, 2014 at 1:09 PM
Watching Yoo-na's Street here, too, and loving it. I watch up to ep 23 - last few were still unsubbed but the folks at Dark Smurf Subs are doing their best. There are only two or three of them so if anyone can help out, they'd likely love the help. These are times when I wish I could help translate Korean. :(
Also, I am hoping we don't get too draggy or that Chang Man loses interests in Yoo-na, though he seems to have the patience of a saint.
Y'all can keep Nam Soo...he is cute, but, Chang Man is just a steady champ. :)
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 9:46 PM
Oh, but you CAN help. Please help us! Haha
I don't understand Korean either, but we can help as editors. Just correcting the grammar and formatting of the translated lines.
One of the editors/QCers for YNS is also very nice and helpful about explaining things (jaque) so you 'll end up learning a lot of expressions and hangul too. ^^
And yes, Chang Man is just such a solid person in general! :D He's the smiley Candy to Yoo Na's stoic lead with a heart of gold. Hehehe
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Waiting
August 16, 2014 at 4:34 PM
Thanks Mary. I posted in the YNS DSS forum letting them know I'd help edit but have not heard back yet. :)
Chandler
August 16, 2014 at 10:22 PM
Lol. I've pretty much been in love with Chang Man since episode 1.
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zakin89
August 15, 2014 at 7:01 AM
Are the subs until 23 on DSS or womewhere else? I'm watching on a different site and they have subs just until 19 :( Though it'll take me a while to reach 20 anyway since I kinda watch the eps as your recaps on PotUP come out bc I don't really have much time to squeeze it in otherwise but have to once the recap is out^^ I just can't stay away from recaps long enough + don't want to get spoiled...
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 7:11 AM
There are partial subs on DSS up to 23 but they're machine translated. Hehe you can still access them if you're logged in though.
I think we'll finish 20 tonight. *cross fingers*
It's ok about watching it slowly, zakin ^^ I know everyone's busy with life and stuff. I'm really just thankful that you tried this drama and enjoyed it too. ♥ ♥ ♥
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zakin89
August 15, 2014 at 7:34 AM
I see thanks for the info :)
Sometimes I'm just too lazy to log in :P And tbh... Most of the time I have to try logging in like 10 times bc I've forgotten my password^^
I would have started watching sonner or later bc I was intrigued by the premise but since viki doesn't have it I thought I wait till all eps are over and marathon it^^ But then your recaps happened :D I just love that this is a drama that takes it slow and has characters that are all flawed (well except Chang Man I guess though I can't shale the feeling off that there is more to him^^). And the humour is just the right kind for me ;)
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james94131
August 15, 2014 at 8:15 AM
Agree 1,000 percent with you: Yoo Na's Street is THE best drama of the year! Starting to watch it is like eating potato chips, just cannot stop. For several weeks now I've been recommending it to everyone I can, and each person has ended marathon watching all available episodes in 2-4 days.
Yoo Na's Street is a complete rewrite by the same scriptwriter of his hugely popular 1994 MBC drama called The Moon of Seoul. Maybe its historical genesis in the hands of a real experienced scriptwriter is the reason why YNS seems so good. It doesn't use any of the standard WTF tropes that current lazy scriptwriters use, and is much more grounded and real. Although we're not supposed to ask for recaps, I would be very very curious about JB/GF's opinions about YNS.
If anyone knows where subbed episodes of The Moon of Seoul can be found, please let me know.
YNS is actually polling very good ratings in Korea, much higher than other cable shows like High School King of Savvy and as good or better than Marriage Not Dating. Yet YNS is getting virtually no love outside Korea because not getting subbed outside of DSS and episodes can't be found except there and myasiantv. Maybe Viki will realize it's not too late to buy the license and start subbing this incredibly addictive and super good show.
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 8:23 AM
Ooooh~ thanks for that cool bit of info!
I heard it was a remake of Moon of Seoul but had no idea it was the same writer! That might explain why it's just so awesome and perfect.
It's like if JK Rowling rewrote Harry Potter after she's gained 20 years more perspective in life, then you present the new books to someone who has never read the original and had no basis for comparison.
It will be ♥ at first read/watch.
They lucked out with the cast too. Great established actors/actresses. :)
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john
August 15, 2014 at 10:00 AM
mary ~
I can't praise Yoo Na's Street enough.
Cast, characters, script are all top notch. Just about 1/2 way through and no weakness in sight .
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8 samsooki
August 15, 2014 at 6:42 AM
Happy OT everyone!
I feel so lucky these days. Mrs. Samsooki and I have never had a stretch of dramas this good one after another.
Fated To Love You occupies my waking thoughts and now I need romance 3 fills the space between. Masters Sun and Love From Another Star feel like cherished memories, and Witch and Stranger occupy warm spots in my heart.
Joseon Gunman.and Arang give me my LJK fix, while Gourmet cleans my palette.
It has been a wonderful summer.
Thank you to all of the dramabeans family.
<3
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Panda
August 15, 2014 at 7:46 PM
Hi Samsooki!
How's the mrs?
I am still loving FTLY and Marriage not Dating. I'm in fact still obsessed with FTLY. Sigh.
Thinking of starting YooNas street soon. I just prefer watching shows on Viki and DF nowadays cos I can use chrome cast
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samsooki
August 17, 2014 at 6:53 AM
Hi P.
Mrs. and I are doing well. Everyone's doing just fine.
Mrs. Samsooki is hooked up Marriage Not Dating, but I cannot get into it. I have a personal bias that is involved, which is quite hypocritical and shallow I think, but it is a real block to me liking MND.
Both of us are REALLY into FTLY, and of course, I listen to Ailee's song on infinite repeat when I can. Yes, addicted.
I'm probably watching about 12-15 dramas at a time at the moment, evenly mixed between things I've seen, things that I've wanted to see but didn't have the time, and new things I've yet to watch.
I've heard good things about Yoo Na's Street, but 50 episodes scares me. Pacing is always an issue and I get bored when the story's pace just crawls.
On the other hand, I am really amazed at how many slick dramas I've seen in a row now. What is it, like seven in a row? That's like unheard of for me. I've never had a streak of seven new dramas where I've liked them all.
My current fluffy (but not light) drama is I Need Romance 3, despite its unfortunate title. The title is wrong in like six different ways, but whatever, I don't mind. This tvN drama rocks, and I'm not even sure why I like it so much. I am not really in love with KSY, and the other characters are bland-ish, except for the male lead. But that's not why I like it. I just think the production and the stylized everything is so well done, in a word, hynoptic.
=)
Oh, and chromecast rocks off of the iPad but not so much off of my phone. I have apps directly off of my TV but I don't use them because they are so clunky. and of course, dramafever < viki.
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9 korfan
August 15, 2014 at 6:44 AM
Hi Everyone!
I hope you are all doing well.
I'm posting this quickly and then running off to sleep because I'm completely exhausted! Busy week, running around fixing one thing and then another. ........ I'll return later tonight to read all your wonderful posts!
The cool thing that happened this week was that my brother and I got together with our Mom to celebrate her birthday ...... and all 3 of us watched the last two episodes of A New Leaf! ...... My brother actually said, "It's not that bad." ....... This is a positive thing, given that we usually get a bit of an "eyeroll" from him when kdramas are mentioned. Heh.
Watched this week:
Temptation - I wanted to check it out so I watched the first 2 episodes. ...... It was somewhat interesting and may continue watching.
Trot Lovers - *shaking head* ....... Mom's also watching this, or was, because right now she's not happy with the turn of events.
It's Ok, It's Love - Watched the first 2 episodes off & on as I was running around tending to other things. ....... I so hate to miss the beginning parts/first episodes of a drama, because it just throws everything off. I need to read recaps to find out what I missed. ....... It was great to see Gong Hyo-jin and Jo In-sung though!
A New Leaf - Finished this! ...... Sure, the ending was rushed and certainly more story could've been told, but I loved it anyway. ....... I think this was my 3rd or 4th Kim Myung-min drama and he has yet to disappoint. He always delivers.
That's it for now. Everyone take care and have a great Friday!
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owl
August 15, 2014 at 7:55 AM
Hi Korfan - I also love the rare times I get to watch kdramas with my brother. It has to be just the right one at just the right time, but then we've been able to watch a few together when I go home. You might like my cimitoons on my website about watching kdramas with my bro - (click owl)
have a great weekend!
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CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 10:35 AM
Happy b'day to your mom!
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Manin
August 15, 2014 at 8:55 PM
Korfan
I got my sister to watch White Christmas cause I got her to download it for me (cause I have no clue how to do it). Which I was quite happy to hear that she enjoyed. Not sure if I could get her to watch something else though.
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10 MistyIsles
August 15, 2014 at 7:04 AM
Happy Friday!
Wow, it has been a while since I posted for OT -- so I'll say in advance this is going to be long. A lot has happened in the past few weeks, including KCON! (I'll save that for a separate comment, since it'll be the longest part, I'm sure.) But first, on dramas, etc.:
Joseon Gunman: I'm still a couple weeks behind...
Finally got around to watching You From Another Star -- and I'm not sure when was the last time I marathoned a drama with this kind of compulsive pull, but I blew through YFAS in not even a week and a half. I liked that there wasn't a complete, easy fix at the end, and I think Hui Kyung wins the award for giving me the closest thing I've ever had to Second Lead Syndrome.
God's Quiz: Still not sure how I feel about the season finale, except that it was much better than season 3's ending, and that it kind of reminds me of the Sherlock season 3 finale. Also, now THAT was a kiss.
Night Watchman: The only currently airing show I'm totally caught up on. So much fun! Yes, it's ridiculous, but it's just what I'm in the mood for right now. I was a little wary, but I think I'm going to love Yunho's poetry-reciting swordsman.
Running Man: I'm not totally caught up, but I have watched this week's episode. Yay for the return of Bells Hide & Seek! I suspect the reason they stopped doing it so often might be because the cast got too good at it, though. ;)
Anyone else watching Jung Hyung Don and Defconn's new Hitmaker show? Only the first two episodes are subbed in English so far, but it's hilarious. Even if I do spend half the time simultaneously cringing from second-hand embarrassment and somewhat sadistically enjoying the awkwardness.
And lastly, I watched the movie Cold Eyes with Han Hyo Joo, and really enjoyed it. All the little personal details (like the Sudoku, or the finger tapping) were really fascinating. Though it was also really weird (and maybe more than a little frightening) to see the nice detective fiance from Two Weeks turn so brutal.
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MistyIsles
August 15, 2014 at 7:08 AM
Now: KCON!
[Disclaimer: If you talk to anyone who knows me in real life, I am not AT ALL the type to go crazy over celebrities or anything of the sort. I'm extremely calm and reserved most of the time.... but kpop has brought out a whole new side of me that my family is only just starting to see and marvels at. Being that this was a rare occasion -- possibly the only time I'll ever do something like this, and certainly the only time in the foreseeable future -- I definitely gave in and indulged my inner fangirl quite a bit. It will definitely show in my writing...]
I'm not really sure where to start, so I'll try to keep this chronological. We live on the East Coast, but my sister goes to school in Arizona, so we (my sister and I) flew to Phoenix and the three of us drove from there to her friend's cousin's house in LA. We drove out on Thursday and spent most of Friday in Korea Town. My sister's friend dragged us along to a meet and greet there for the YouTuber Famous Amos, which is where the story gets funny (and also a little sad). My sister and I had never heard of the guy, but we went along anyway and stood in the crowd. He was really nice though, and made sure he shook everyone's hand. The funny thing is we ran into him by chance at least twice later that day and again several times at KCON, so... long story short, I'm pretty sure he's convinced we're huge fans, when we've never watched a single one of his videos. (For the record, I do intend to check them out now, though.)
As for KCON itself, this was my first time going, and it was fantastic! I'll be honest, I wasn't planning to go for the longest time, even when my sister told me she was going, but when VIXX joined the lineup I just couldn't resist any longer. Still, we only had P5 tickets (aka the least expensive), so I didn't hold out much hope of seeing them an kind of up close.
Saturday morning, we got to the venue at around 8 or 8:15, and stood in line for about three hours before we finally got in (pretty short considering some people apparently got there at 2 am). We met some really interesting people in line, though, including a girl form Austria and a guy who had a boom box in line with him blasting kpop for us all to listen to. We didn't get any artist engagement passes, but VIXX started their hi-touch right as we were walking into the convention, and my sister and I were able to stand by the fence and look down the hill to where they were. After that we just walked around, seeing what all was there, and picked up our goodie bags so we could look at the panel schedule. Mnet had this stage set up at one end of the convention, and they were playing music and doing some sort of talk show I think, but we weren't really paying any attention to it until the guys on stage started calling out that VIXX were coming up next... needless to say my sister and I decided we were going to be staying right there for a little while. At first we realized they were...
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MistyIsles
August 15, 2014 at 7:12 AM
just recording introduction and transition clips, but then they kept saying VIXX is coming, VIXX is coming -- and then they really did. They came up on stage and did an interview, and I was seriously only about 20 feet away from them. After that we needed to sit down in the shade, so we went to a couple of panels, including the Viki/Dramabeans one (which I enjoyed immensely, especially being able to accurately predict how Javabeans and Girlfriday would respond to several of the questions asked). Then we realized it was 3:30 and we hadn't eaten all day (VIXX naturally distracted us right at our only lunch window), so we went out to the market and got quesadillas at a Korean/Mexican fusion food truck.
I think I enjoyed just being in the crowd at the concert that night almost as much as I enjoyed the concert itself (though, let's be honest, I was in heaven watching VIXX, IU was absolutely adorable, and everyone else impressed me in some way as well). It was my first kpop concert, and also my first major concert period, and the combination of the stage, the lighting effects, and all the lightsticks in the audience was just awesome. Seriously so pretty.
The second day we spent mostly in the market, since we didn't really get to look around there the first day. My sister wanted to get a selca with Eric Nam, so we actually spent a large amount of time in line. (Or waiting to be in line. They wouldn't let any line form until 30 minutes prior to when the selca sessions were supposed to start, but by that time everyone was simply in a big crowd that kept trying to form a line and getting pushed back.) So we missed the Dramabeans panel, and we didn't actually get to meet Eric (he had to leave to host the red carpet), but I got some decent pictures of him waving goodbye, and I guess I was still too hyped up over getting to see VIXX the day before to even be very bitter over standing in line so long and getting sunburned. All in all, it was a good day with more great food and a lot going on around us to keep us entertained.
The concert that night was fantastic too -- first impression: OMG sooo many SONEs. Second impression: Jung Joon Young is adorable, and I need to listen to more of his music. Something about him really reminds me of Sung Joon as Ji Hyuk in Shut Up (which is always a good association). But the standout for me was definitely CNBlue. I felt really sorry for them because they flew into LA four hours before the concert started, but they rocked it! THE performance of the convention, in my opinion.
But the thing I'll miss most about KCON is just being in that environment. There's something really special about being in a place filled with people who all share a common interest that by its very nature makes them open to new people and ideas. Also, on a slightly more shallow note, it was nice to actually understand and participate in the celebrity discussions going on around me. I don't know much about American pop culture,...
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MistyIsles
August 15, 2014 at 7:16 AM
[Wow, this is getting ridiculous. If anyone actually reads all of this, I applaud you.]
...and I don't know many people who are into kpop or kdramas, so to be totally surrounded by "all things Hallyu" was wonderful.
Okay, I'll stop. Short version: KCON was awesome. I hope I can go again someday.
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Faye
August 15, 2014 at 7:32 AM
I read it all - and enjoyed it! Every year I toy with the idea of going to KCON, and every year I chicken out. All the people I know who are K drama or K-pop fans live in other countries, so I'd be going alone, which makes me feel sad. Plus, I wonder if I'm too old for it (I'm 35).
Sorry you had to stand on all those long lines. I can't believe people were on that one line from 2 A.M. - that's dedication! I'm not doing that for anybody :).
Curious - what was the best part overall for you? What would you change/like to see be done differently?
Julia the Berkshire Beanie
August 15, 2014 at 8:06 AM
Thanks for sharing about KCon. I read it all!
Rachel
August 15, 2014 at 8:49 AM
Don't be sorry for writing so much! It's great to hear about KCON. Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to hear from JB, GF, Heads and gummi about their panels too!
MistyIsles
August 15, 2014 at 1:21 PM
Thanks for reading everyone!
@Faye: Don't worry--there were definitely people older than 35 there. I totally understand about not wanting to go alone, though, but I will say it was a perfect place to make friends. ;)
Oh, good questions! Hmmm best part...This may sound odd given what I wrote above, but I think maybe actually all the non-idol-related things, especially in the market. I understand why it's advertised the way it is, but once I was there it didn't feel like seeing the kpop stars was the real substance of the convention (unless you wanted to pay crazy amounts of money or spend all day trying to win free passes).
As for what I'd change, I'd say their system of forming lines for things like artist engagements and the Eric Nam selca thing definitely needs improvement. Not allowing people to line up ahead of time didn't seem to help anything very much, and pretty much resulted in huge crowds instead. I would say I'd also like a map of where each booth was in the market, but I actually think I saw more just because I had to walk around and search for the one thing I wanted to find. ;)
korazylady
August 15, 2014 at 5:52 PM
I read it all, too, and I was there! I wish we had met up. I actually did meet Caitlyn from Australia (must be the same girl - how many people do you think came from Australia?) and numerous other people who read Dramabeans. Actually, I was the one who asked about the bad English at the Dramabeans panel, the one Sean Richards said "It's my noona!" to. But honestly, my impression was a little different, I think because of my age, lol. I thought it was a LOT of waiting in the hot sun with little payoff, especially considering the price I paid for my ticket (had an awesome seat for the second night concert at P2 center, though) without getting any high-touch or audience passes. I did end up getting two audience passes from a really nice random girl who wasn't interested in seeing Lee Seungi or Jung Joon Young, but again a lot of waiting in line, which was worth it for JJY because he spoke a lot to the audience, but not LSG. One thing I will agree to, it was certainly a memorable experience! I'm glad you had such a great time.
MistyIsles
August 15, 2014 at 6:12 PM
@Korazy Lady: That's so funny -- I was sitting across the aisle from you! Too bad we didn't get to meet.
korazylady
August 15, 2014 at 6:34 PM
Oh, that is funny! Well, now you know what a Korazy lady I really am!
oozzeee
August 15, 2014 at 7:53 AM
,coincidentally, I just came across a tumblr post this morning on JJY where he was quoted expressing his frustration about not being able to perform a lot on music shows but rather spends his time promoting on varieties and such.. I can totally picture ji hyuk feeling the same..
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katlyn
August 15, 2014 at 8:42 PM
Sounds like a fun time! I would've loved to go the see the dramabeans panels and watch some artists perform alas I live in Australia.
Jung Joonyoung is great! I adore his voice. One of my favourite performances is this one with Roy Kim when they were on Superstar K: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50ywYTKpIic
He's got some singles out too. This one's a fave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v756q033tRg
He's kind of this mischievous man child on variety (he's on 1N2D atm) which can be jarring when you see him talk about music because he's gets serious and it's apparent that his passionate about his craft.
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owl
August 15, 2014 at 7:34 AM
Hitmaker is hilarious and so is American Hustle Live with Bangtan Boys - Korean hip hop meets American deep rooted hip hop in L.A. I was worried for the idols at first, but they're holding their own.
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CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 10:37 AM
where're you guys seeing American hustle and hitmaker? thanks!
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MistyIsles
August 15, 2014 at 1:41 PM
I don't know about American Hustle, but for Hitmaker episode 1 is on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx3JmGdZgyI) and episode 2 is on Dailymotion (https://www.dailymotion.com/randomsubs).
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Chandler
August 15, 2014 at 3:01 PM
God's Quiz: This season was pretty good, all and all. The ending sets us up for an interesting season 5, at the very least. And yes, that kiss was lovely!
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MistyIsles
August 15, 2014 at 6:14 PM
Yeah, it will be very interesting to see where they take it. (Hopefully we won't have to wait too long!)
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Wag_a_Muffin
August 15, 2014 at 3:21 PM
Thank you for the Hitmaker suggestion. I just spent a bunch of time searching for and find it and then LAUGHING OUT LOUD at my computer. (My husband came in, "what's so funny?")
Stress!
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owl
August 15, 2014 at 7:18 PM
chicken no cola
pizza no coupons
♥jackson
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11 Sajen
August 15, 2014 at 7:07 AM
Am I the only male that doesn't get Korea's obsession with Suzy? Sure she's pretty but so is everyone else I don't even think she's among my top 5 idols. Of course I am a bit weird as SNSD's Sunny and A-Pink's Jung Eun-ji being the two most attractive as far as I'm concerned and everyone else being too hard to rank.
Trot Lovers- I wish everything that happened in episode 16 had happened in 15 and everything in 15 in 16. In other words I wish the last two episodes were reversed. Of course I had a lot of wishes and hopes for Trot Lovers so I guess I should be used to being disappointed.
Night Watchman- I like it I don't think I'll ever love it though. I haven't watched episode 4 yet cause in general I no longer feel pressure, from myself, to watch episodes as soon as they come out, but I love adult Do-ha I hope she stays spunky, cute and fun.
On a side note I always like Go Sung-hee as Jae-hee in Miss Korea even though I always felt she was underutilized and was disappointed when she disappeared at the end instead of capitalizing on the budding friendship I felt was developing between Jae-hee and Ji-young. So I'm glad she has a bigger role here, I think, I hope, just don't let her disappear again.
Running Man- I must admit I was a bit skeptical when I heard Suzy was the only guest but all-in-all I'd say she did a pretty good job.
I haven't watched anything else yet.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 8:37 AM
I dont find Suzy evena tiny bit interesting she is so blank but not as bad as the...whatshername. Jinsu....something
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Aigoooo
August 15, 2014 at 11:14 AM
I don't get it either. She's okay and everything but nothing spectacular really. She kinda reminds me of a young Shannen Doherty. I think Eun Ji, IU and Soo Young are pretty.
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windsun33
August 15, 2014 at 1:28 PM
I don't get the Suzy thing either, but I thought it was just me. Reading about her activities she seems like a nice person, but I don't get the fan obsession part.
But, to be fair, I have never gotten fan obsessions for anyone... :/
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12 owl
August 15, 2014 at 7:16 AM
Good morning!
I’m swooning over hot men holding babies – Jae Yeol holding Hae Soo’s niece at the picnic and Gun demonstrating how to properly hold a baby to Park Joon Hyung (g.o.d.) – what a bizarre commercial, in fact I thought I had the wrong kdrama when the episode began…
Fated to Love You Room 2006 – this drama is tearing me apart – I can’t bear to see Mi Young aching for what is gone (Missing), Daniel hurt by the fake sister number and Mi Young’s heart not beating in unison with his, and Gun keeping a distance for all the wrong reasons and in all the wrong ways. So much love vapor in the atmosphere but it’s not solidifying. I think Gun will leave the painting in the theater and leave without saying anything, Mi Young will return to France, and Daniel ~ so Is Mi Young his lost sister after all?
It’s Okay That’s Love- I was shaken by how violent the fight/struggle scene between Jae Yeol and his brother was. With such a big piece of the story missing and with Jea Beom being such a loose cannon and the truth of the stepfather’s murder unknown, the way mom and Jae Yeol have been living until now is about to blow sky high. The relationship between Jae Yeol and his mother is interesting – he didn’t think twice about telling her that Hae Soo knew everything (sleeping in the tub, fight with brother), but his mother and Hae Soo were taken aback by his casual mention of that. A dark cloud looms, you can feel its oppressive weight on their lives. I am so worried for what is going on in Jae Yeol’s mind with the mention of suicide (through conversation with Gang Woo), his fixation on the ocean cliff to the point of going there, writer’s block, and transferring his publishing stocks to his brother. He even seems distracted being with Hae Soo; their games back and forth are necessary perhaps, and for Hae Soo I think their relationship is the main thing. But for Jae Yeol, his mind is in a different place and even though he may fight to be in the moment with Hae Soo – they really are not on the same page. Hae Soo, who is so in tune with her patients and so in control of her emotions, feels terribly vulnerable to me now from many directions – her ex, Jae Beom, even Jae Yeol. Hae Soo touched on something that I don’t think she fully realizes when she told him that he says outrageous things as if they are normal. This kdrama is my kick these days.
Surplus Princess: When Jae Rim was standing in the shower thinking about the semi-conscious underwater kiss and said, “Was it a dream?” I really thought he was going to say, “Was it a tuna?”
Enjoy the weekend \ /
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Kim Yoonmi
August 15, 2014 at 7:32 AM
For two seconds I thought in Surplus Princess she was going to turn into a man because of the other mermaid. TT Somehow I want to see that twist with the Little Mermaid storyline, but it occurs to me that's more of a Japanese plotline.
The shower scene was funny, though. I really liked how they made fun of the shower brooding and used the female POV.
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fab
August 15, 2014 at 7:32 AM
I too thought I was watching a different drama! For a second I also thought is that white haired guy Lee Gun?! It was weird but better than the first commercial with Clara.
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owl
August 15, 2014 at 11:16 AM
oh, had a KDQOTD: "I didn't want to run into him, even in my dreams." F2♥U ep 14
Also, I loved how many time Min Suk (King of HS) said "shi++y looking weasel" because weasel is one of my favorite words ever :)
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poulpion
August 15, 2014 at 1:42 PM
the commercial is just pure cheesy gold. At the end it looks like the actor is having a hard time not cracking up as he says his lines! Anyway, now I'm gonna watch it again every time I feel down ^^
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owl
August 15, 2014 at 2:22 PM
and it's funny cuz now they're trying to get images/artist that women can relate to and of course they want Ellie Kim - No wonder, since when can any woman relate to a pristine all white luxury bathroom with model-like parents and baby dressed in all white expensive spa wear and looking perfect? no can relate big time = no product sales. out of touch big time, so hilarious
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Waiting
August 15, 2014 at 4:33 PM
Probably my greatest downfall...guys and babies.
Must be that built in cave woman thing...he will be a good father/mate.
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13 kanz
August 15, 2014 at 7:34 AM
Hello everyone!!
Because I have one week's vacation, I miss a lot of dramas. I still haven't watched this week's IOIL and Joseon Gunman. Though I heard good things about it.
I love FTLY and cry with poor Mi Young and Gun. The fate seems not working on their side for now, but of course it will eventually. Still, haven't able to watch dramas properly and my dramas schedule is only on wed-thu.
Soo happy that my favorite actor, Ji Chang Wook, alongside Lee Jung Jae, Ailee, 2AM Seulong, etc will come as guest in Running Man. They have filmed in Korea and Taiwan and the episode will be aired in 2 weeks time. I have to say, RM lost its charm lately and the episode with Suzy (208) is so annoying. It's conditioned from the start that Suzy will win and it's rather unjust for Kwangsoo's team. They should create balanced and fair competition. But who am I kidding? Suzy is nation's little sister and everyone's favorite and someone might defend it and say it's just variety. Yes, of course it's just variety show for entertainment purpose, but that doesn't mean RM should create anything and everything just for the sake of her.
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14 Rovi
August 15, 2014 at 7:41 AM
Has no one noticed/reported in here at all that Lee Min-ki has already enlisted???
Anyways, happy Friday peeps.
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Rachel
August 15, 2014 at 8:51 AM
Yes I remember reading about this somewhere on the Internet! Surprised that it hasn't been posted about on Dramabeans yet since in the past there have been articles written simply about an actor's enlistment. Particularly as it's LEE MIN KI.
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spazmo
August 15, 2014 at 10:02 AM
someone mentioned it last week in OT...
i am in mourning... tho i think kang dong won will hold my attention for the 22 months lee min ki is in the service.
; )
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15 Julia the Berkshire Beanie
August 15, 2014 at 7:46 AM
I think I need to watch Korean movies instead. Shorter time to commit.
Can I please get some recommendations for Korean films? I like romantic comedy, steamy romance, and action films like Ajusshi.
I have come to the conclusion that KDrama for me is an all consuming obsession or nothing. I can't seem to mildly watch 2 episodes a week of a drama. I far prefer immersing myself in KDrama marathons. I want that build up of emotional investment that comes when I let the drama take over my life.
However, that is also what is keeping me from watching dramas now.
I don't have 16 hours to spare. I have started a few dramas, made it 2 or 4 hours in, then life is too crazy hectic and I don't get back to them. By then, I am a little fuzzy on the names of the characters and where it left off in the plot and restarting the drama feels more like a burden than a joy.
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Julia the Berkshire Beanie
August 15, 2014 at 8:19 AM
I got mad at my language exchange partner, and suddenly felt like chucking all things Korean. It was obviously an overreaction. But I decided to take a day off from Korean studies. Turns out, I couldn't do it! I have integrated studying Korean so deeply into my life, that I was at a complete loss what to do with myself.
I like the intellectual stimulation learning a language gives me.
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alua
August 15, 2014 at 8:28 AM
Hill of Freedom.... hahaha, I haven't watched that yet as it hasn't even premiered on the festival circuit but a Hong Sang-soo movie with Moon So-ri and Kase Ryo? It's like a combination made in heaven! This one better be on the London Film Festival programme in October!!!
My P.S. Parter and Love Fiction are pretty good rom-coms, with more substance than I expected.
Season of Good Rain (for a Korean-Chinese co-production).
Duelist (though I'm guessing you might have seen that already). Woochi for fantasy plus action. The Facereader is good – nothing new, but a well done example of its genre.
You could also go to the Youtube channel of the Korean Film Archive and watch some of the great, big classics there. Sopyonje, Yeong-a's Heydays, Chilsu and Mansu, Taebaek Mountains are some that I plan on seeing. Here's their Top 10 list.
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Rachel
August 15, 2014 at 8:53 AM
I second Love Fiction for a romcom. Gong Hyo Jin and Ha Jung Woo not only have the star power, they have great chemistry.
As a Kang Dong Won fan, I think you should have at least one of his movies as compulsory viewing. My favourites are Jeonwoochi (really funny) and Secret Reunion (which also has terrific Song Kang Ho).
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rearwindow
August 15, 2014 at 8:29 AM
Castaway on the Moon is one of my favorite movies EVER. It used to be streaming on Netflix but I think they took it down. I'm sure you could find it on other sites though. One of the most hilarious, heartwarming, touching movies I've ever seen. Even though it has a pretty dark premise (man tries to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge into the Han River, ends up stranded on a small island in the middle of the river in the middle of the most populous city in South Korea), it is HILARIOUS. I don't know if I've laughed so hard at another movie, honestly.
Special Girl K is an awesome miniseries if you haven't seen it. At 3 episodes, it should fit the bill. It stars a younger Han Groo as the most badass, fearless kdrama lead I've encountered (and that's saying something). It's dark and action-packed, with a strong emotional core.
The Host is also great (kdrama version, not American). Social commentary + stylish monster movie + legit scary exploration of humanity? Love.
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D
August 15, 2014 at 9:07 AM
Yes, Castaway on the Moon! I saw it at the Asian film festival in NY and it took me completely by surprise. The whole audience really enjoyed it. The director was tere and he was so nice and humble - and also completely taken aback by the warm reponse. Apparently it was a huge flop in Korea and reviews weren't good. But it was really enjoyable and unusual.
I think netflix periodically renews it - it comes and goes of he streaming list.
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rearwindow
August 15, 2014 at 9:48 AM
How disappointing that it wasn't beloved in Korea! I wonder why? It was such a unique, funny, heartfelt little story. It definitely had an indie vibe, but was honestly probably the best Korean movie I've seen yet.
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Julia the Berkshire Beanie
August 15, 2014 at 3:36 PM
I watched Castaway on the Moon before I was a KDrama fan. I didn't even know it was Seoul. But I was pretty depressed at the time. I thought it really accurately told the story of how it feels to be depressed and isolated, to find something to live for, by reconnecting with another human being.
Is it really a comedy?
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rearwindow
August 15, 2014 at 9:40 PM
I would say it's a dramedy. Or a comedy with dramatic elements. Or a drama with comic elements. I could definitely see how one's mental state would impact the viewing of the movie, since it deals with such heavy subject matter (but with such humor & grace!).
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carol
August 15, 2014 at 8:33 AM
I watched Marriage Blue yesterday, and it was nice.
Miss Granny is a good one too.
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CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 10:43 AM
11th mother -- sweet but not rom-com
you could try drama specials on kbs channel on youtube and the love and war @ dramas. Also you can find some drama specials here. http://www.gooddrama.net/drama-movies
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Mar
August 15, 2014 at 6:18 PM
These are some K movies that I enjoyed.
Going by the Book-dry comedy
Perfect Couple-actiony rom com
Heavens Postman-poignant and visually beautiful drama
Sunny-chick flick
Psychometry-kind of a who done it
Covertly Greatly-uneven, comedy at first, action, angst second half
My P.S. Partner-rom com, has it's moments
Penny Pinchers-uneven, more drama than rom com
Girl Scouts-chick flick with some com, some drama
Fly High-coming of age/drama a very young Ji Hyun Woo
Romantic Island-ensemble cast, not a rom com but not a drama either
Almost Love-uneven, coming of age drama
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Panda
August 15, 2014 at 7:57 PM
Watch War of the Arrows (action), The thieves,
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katlyn
August 15, 2014 at 9:02 PM
K-Movie Recs:
Sunny: All-time favourite I think. Lady friendships! Also really funny and very touching.
My P.S Partner: Watched this the other day and had more heart then expected. Steamy. Romcom-ish
Hwayi: A Monster Boy Has it's faults but it's great ride of a movie. Yeo Jingu is really amazing in this, such talent for someone so young. I'd watch for the acting alone.
Snowpiercer not exactly a ~kmovie~ but it's by a Korean director and is brilliant. A tale of class warfare inside a moving train which houses the survivors of an apocalyptic future. (action/thriller/drama)
I haven't watched it yet but Miss Granny also looks good too!
that's all I can think of at the moment. :)
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john
August 15, 2014 at 9:39 PM
Julia ~
Thriller?
Old Boy is a violent mystery thriller revenge film with a twisted ending.
Rotten Tomatoes says:
"Violent and definitely not for the squeamish, Park Chan-Wook's visceral Oldboy is a strange, powerful tale of revenge."
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16 LizJ
August 15, 2014 at 8:19 AM
Happy Friday, Beanies!
I have a lot of concern about events around the world and here in the US, but I am glad for the diversion of Asian Dramas to temporarily relieve some of that anxiety! Almost as good as taking a nice, long, relaxing bath (even better, take the iPad into the bathroom (and make sure its in a safe place so it won't fall or get wet) and combine both pastimes. Kind of like multi-tasking but multi-relaxing!
So, here's my round-up for the week. I haven't posted a weekly wrap-up for a while, and first wanted to say that a couple of weeks ago (prior to the FTLY tearjerker) I had the rare euphoric feeling with three currently airing( on the same days, no less) KDramas leaving me so satisfied after viewing. But we had to get past the tearjerker plot twist on FTLY, and since I'd seen the TW version, I knew it was coming. So my satisfaction is slightly tempered now, but I'm still thrilled with three good shows airing Wed/Thur.
Fated to Love You - I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it going into this one, since the TW version was a real tear-jerker. I am so thrilled that the Korean version has surpassed the original in so many ways. Less evil female second lead. More appealing and emotionally attached (from early on!) male lead. More comedy and more romance between the male and female lead.
And one improvement that you're unlikely to hear many people mention. There is a difference how KDramas and TWDramas typically depict people who live in, or come from, more rural areas. With TWDramas, they are often depicted as comedic country bumpkins, unattractive, no fashion sense, often loud, typically poor and uneducated, behind the times, with little common sense. Think: early episodes depiction of heroine in Rock 'N Road, the pre-plastic surgery heroine (and her family the entire time) in Substitute Princes (aka. King Flower), and the heroine's family in Fated to Love You (TW).
Occasionally KDramas sink to this stereotypical portrayal, but other times they are more realistic. For example, the currently airing Wonderful Days is set in a smaller city, and features multiple generations of characters, including some that are quite old fashioned in their outlook. But they are really not exaggerated bumpkins. And look at the family in Golden Rainbow - they're not sophisticated, but they're not made to be the source of ridicule.
I can think of a couple of older rom-coms that played the country bumpkin angle for laughs, but most of the time the KDramas are so much less stereotypical.
I've lost a little of my passion for FTLY (KDrama) because of where we are at in the story. I'm sure it will pick back up once the two leads are being drawn back together. I hope this is one thing that they pick back up from the TW version, that Gunn will really pursue Mi Young. Because that was one of the few really fun things about the TW version, seeing him strategize, grovel, entreat, and generally work really hard to win her back...
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17 john
August 15, 2014 at 8:19 AM
FTLY : The two Jangs are doing a fantastic job.
IOIL: Iffy at best. Time better spent watching a completed drama in its place.
Night Watchman: If they did it as a spoof of sorts or something like The Princess Bride, I'd buy it. As a serious drama, nah.
Yoo-Na's Street: If you aren't watching this, you're missing a gem of a show.
Harvest Villa: No wonder I like this show, it's a tvN production. Lee Bo Young, she's so sexy here. Baek Yoon Shik as the gangster ahjussi, LOL.
Dasepo Naughty Girls: Got another fix of Kim Ok-bin. I liked it. Could have used more musical scenes.
Surplus Princess: Haven't seen Ep 2, yet, avoiding spoilers. Liked Ep. 1 .
Various J Dramas: All About My Siblings, Love Affairs in the Afternoon, Gin Nikan
C Drama: Perfect Couple: Kinda cheesy, but fun.
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 8:27 AM
Yoo Na's Street!!! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
(And Song Jae Rim too. But YNS needs a signal boost. Hehe)
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Mama J
August 15, 2014 at 10:41 AM
Then John you might like how we're handling the squeecaps for it...3 and 4 go up tonight hopefully. 3 definitely will, anyway.
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 11:59 AM
You mean this crazy funny thing you did with captioning
Night Watchman screenshots?
http://dr-myri-blog.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-night-watchman-episode-1-experiment.html
Huehuehue
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Aigoooo
August 15, 2014 at 11:54 AM
Yoo Na's Street - Chang Man totally gives me that Jung Woo vibe.
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18 LizJ
August 15, 2014 at 8:27 AM
Otherwise in DramaLand...
So, I hear (article on Koala's site) that TW Drama Fall in Love with Me is suddenly ending this week. Good. It should be put out of its misery. Yummy Aaron Yan couldn't save this stinker, especially as it veered into a different story about halfway through, loosing the original premise and focusing on the most insane family I've seen yet in DramaLand, and you all know that's saying SOMETHING. The finale pictures on Koala's site indicate something I thought impossible - they make Aaron look bad. Even with his often freaky outfits, Aaron himself is usually really easy on the eyes. Not so here.
While the depictions of mental illness are still somewhat inaccurate (they get points for at least trying to be more authentic, IMO), I'm still loving It's OK, it's Love. Great, great chemistry between the leads, and I love how the plot slowly unravels its secrets.
Joseon Gunman is still compelling to me, even though the enthusiasm of first love on my part has wavered.
I am really glad things are finally developing between the lead couple in Marriage Not Dating!
Night Watchman...well, it's like the show is on crack. In a good way. Most of the time I don't know WTF is going on, but it's still entertaining.
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19 ZappyR
August 15, 2014 at 8:41 AM
If Jae Beom doesn't kill Jae Jyul first, i think blue balls will.
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20 apluszee
August 15, 2014 at 8:48 AM
Anyone else is sad that we won't be able to see cheeky Gong Kitae and Joo Jangmi (Marriage without dating) anymore? :( And the ever so hilarious Lee Gun (Fated to Love you)? It's a couple more weeks but I am already depressed at the thought of it (And I KNOW that new "good" upcoming dramas will make me forget about this but I just can't help it)
I hope Secret Hotel will be good & entertaining. I gave up on Trot Lovers after the amnesia thingy magic... and I started watxhing Surplus Princess but that one episode was not enough for me to line it that much yet. I am not into Saeguk dramas so... I don't know. More rom com modern drama please.
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Chandler
August 15, 2014 at 12:39 PM
Dude, I'm so with you on Gong Ki-tae and Joo Jang-mi. I can't believe we only get 3 more episodes of them. They were so cute in today's episode! (At least we have a few more weeks with Lee Gun)
I'm also just such a huge fan of both the actors as well. In fact, anyone who's a fan of MND or just Han Groo should watch this video about her because it really shows how awesome and hardworking she is and she talks a little about Yeon Woo-jin too :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6TwpBjDQbk
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21 harmonyfb
August 15, 2014 at 9:01 AM
Had a weird experience yesterday - I was watching "Surplus Princess" (whatever; don't judge me) and suddenly had to pause the episode to make sure I hadn't accidentally turned on my mp3 player...because the soundtrack used a Dengue Fever song that I have on high rotation.
So..while it may not be the most highbrow drama out there, at least we know the showrunners have great taste in music. ;)
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pogo
August 15, 2014 at 11:54 AM
I know! I've been a fan of Dengue Fever for years, and for a moment I thought I was hearing things - but hey, Surplus Princess showrunners clearly have great aesthetic taste anyway, just looking at the way they handle text on screen.
(and if anyone is judging me for watching SP, judge away, I have no shame)
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harmonyfb
August 15, 2014 at 1:02 PM
I discovered Dengue Fever when they were featured as the weather on "Welcome to Night Vale" - and ran out to buy all their albums. :) Their music makes me happy.
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22 harmonyfb
August 15, 2014 at 9:29 AM
Currently obsessing over:
"Marriage, Not Dating" - What the heck am I going to do when this is over? I am way too invested in this show.
Currently also enjoying:
"The Night Watchman" - I'm really enjoying it! Clearly the majority of their budget is spent on CGI, but I'm ok with that.
"It's Okay, That's Love" - Adult themes, whee!
"Surplus Princess" - A totally guilty pleasure.
"Three Days" - I love thrillers! This one has a somber tone that I really like.
"Ghost-Seeing Detective Cheo Yong" - Ghosts and damaged detectives; right up my alley. I'm watching one ep a week to make it last.
"Secret Garden" - Finally started it based on a friend's rec. Love the female lead, can't stand the male lead.
"Joseon Gunman" - Lee Joon Ki shooting period guns. I'll be in my bunk.
Dropped like a rock:
"Trot Lovers". I tried to watch the last two episodes and found myself so angry that I just turned it off.
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pogo
August 15, 2014 at 11:56 AM
+1000 for the Firefly reference <333
I think I really only like Joseon Gunman for, well, the two gunmen. And Hye-won. (I ranted a lot about Soo-in, lol)
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thesandwitch04
August 15, 2014 at 2:37 PM
Where are you with Ghost Seeing Detective? I tried it but after not feeling the pull 4 episodes in, I dropped it. Maybe later episodes are better? Not?
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harmonyfb
August 15, 2014 at 3:02 PM
I'm on episode 7 - it starts picking up around ep 5, and now all the threads of the meta-arc are starting to wind together (but there's only 10 episodes!) You find out why the ghost girl's in the station, and who she is, which is important.
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23 Trina
August 15, 2014 at 9:41 AM
Good morning,
To those who congrats me and send best wishes on my pregnancy. Thank you very much. =) I am happy and very excited even though I am 37 years old ahjumma. =)
Today, hubby took a day off from work. Therefore, we are taking our boys to the beach before school starts next week. They start on Wednesday which will be half day.
Night Watchman: I am surprised that it was funny and good show despite certain things like Yunho expressionless face (Do not kill me Yunho fans.), the main lead girl clothes like indian girl, the dragon, WTF villian guy blow air on sleeping concubine king. I am looking forward to see what is next.
Talk to you later.
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pogo
August 15, 2014 at 11:59 AM
Hey Trina! Hope you're doing well.
I totally agree on Night Watchman lead girl's ugly dress (it's period-inappropriate, I don't care if she's from some tribe, that dress is basically like being naked in Joseon) and uglier hairdo. It's not like her acting is good enough to get me to ignore it either, she's weirdly forced into cutesy mode. I preferred her as the stoic in Miss Korea.
(and please, when drama producers finally do cast a rookie actress in a drama lead, why can't they at least find GOOD rookie actresses?)
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Trina
August 15, 2014 at 6:18 PM
I agree. I do like the the 2nd female lead. OMG!!! She was awesome. I think writernim like the 2nd female lead better.
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24 CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 10:05 AM
Hi all:
Still trying to find a perfect day program for younger son. Battling vertigo which is interesting to say the least. For the past 4 days I've been just lying down and stuck in doors and grasping the floor to prevent myself from "falling." Not an experience I want to continue. I might brave going outside tomorrow but i do hate the fear of standing outside and suddenly "falling." It's just a very eerie feeling. Not sure if it's connected to the fibro, the fibro meds, stress, or what.
Liking Night Watchman a lot. Apparently young princes who somehow swipe the kingdom from the legitimate heirs always turn to drink. At least that's what I learned from kdramaland.
Awaiting the subbing of King of Savvy special. Not sure how long it'll take me to get back to totally evil chaebols and nasty office politics after seeing such human protags, antags, and support cast.
Loving Task Force MSS which is currently being subbed on kbs youtube. Apparently I needed a fun police procedural. It's a 4-parter looks like. Awaiting part 3.
Joseon Gunman has the best villain and the worst right now. Merchant Choi and Evil Old Guy (who is evil because he is old and yeah wants to save the country.)
I don't like Princess Aileen in Surplus Princess/Mermaid because ...well i hate the selfish overly-aeygyoed-cutie "outworlder" who goes about destroying folks lives because she's so dang cute! But hey, if i started liking Arang after hating her, I guess I'll like Aileen. Besides Song Jae Rim is in it. And well, now I've discovered another cutie --first lead guy-- to crush on. And the folks in the household are so much fun...so yeah...
Trying to catch up on Seoyeong, my daughter and Yoona's Street
That's it. Great weekend, all!
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mary
August 15, 2014 at 10:29 AM
Carole, I feel you~ I was so mad with what Aileen caused to Hyun Myung's life too. Technically it was a funny meet-cute, but poor guy is already down on his luck, and she just made it so. much. worse.
Hoping she learns and grows up as a character quickly. Or at least use her cute to heal the Surplus House people's problems, instead of making them more miserable.
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CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 10:48 AM
I guess the writers assume we all know the heroine will grow up but to have us wade through her selfishness! Too much! I guess she's an oceanic (stereotypic) valley girl but still!
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Aigoooo
August 15, 2014 at 10:36 AM
Vertigo sucks.. I had an inner ear infection a while back that gave me vertigo for a few weeks. It was the weirdest feeling.. everything looked like it was moving from left to right and you feel nauseated all the time.
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CaroleMcDonnell
August 15, 2014 at 10:49 AM
It's been awful. Just really awful.
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okiejune
August 15, 2014 at 1:26 PM
Have you talked to a doctor about your vertigo? When one of my friends had it, they did an interesting treatment where she was put on a surface that could move her whole body around, and tipped around (upside down slightly? & sideways?) to reset something in her ear. It helped her.
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bbstl
August 15, 2014 at 2:25 PM
Thanks for bringing up the Evil Old Guy in Joseon Gunman. Pretty unconvincing for a bad guy - I now laugh when he yells at Merchant Choi "this is your last chance!" Dude, you've only said that about 15 times.
Carole, sorry about your vertigo. It's about the worst. There are meds to stop it (once it starts) that are pretty effective for most, although there may be an interaction with your other meds. Please do see the doctor and look into the possibility of Meniere's Disease as well.
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korazylady
August 15, 2014 at 5:06 PM
Carole, so sorry about the vertigo. My husband had it so badly that he couldn't sit up or else he'd vomit. He actually lost his hearing (permanently) in one ear from it. Please take care of yourself and get some steroids if it gets worse. If my husband had taken them sooner, he wouldn't have lost his hearing. I can't imagine how you must feel because there's not much I hate more than feeling nauseous. I hope it goes away quickly.
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Tara
August 15, 2014 at 8:31 PM
Hi Carole,
I'm sorry to hear about your vertigo :( I can't even imagine that feeling, so I do hope it gets better soon!
I loved Special Task Force MSS...I watched it when it aired, so I was surprised to hear that they're doing reruns. Despite it only being a short drama special series, I liked the feel and of course, the amazing Sohn Hyun-joo!! (and Oh Man-seok, pre-Wang Family).
And you didn't like Arang in the beginning? I actually liked her quirkiness, refreshing in the world of sageuk-era dramas. Of course, her being a ghost allowed her to be so...unrestrained? ;P
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25 junny
August 15, 2014 at 10:28 AM
Hiya, happy Friday to all!
Am halfway through Love Shuffle, and loving it! Usa-tan is hilarious and I love his chemistry with Ai-ai. Ojiro is getting interesting too. I know it's a 2009 drama, but it's been a while since I've watched a good Japanese rom-com, so I do recommend this if anyone's interested!
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alua
August 15, 2014 at 12:29 PM
It's awesome, isn't it?
One day, I want to marathon this drama with fellow drama fans at a sleepover (a pajama party!).
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junny
August 15, 2014 at 3:16 PM
alua! I'm so glad I took your suggestion to watch it. I am loving Tamaki Hiroshi's expressions, they just crack me up big time. Usa-tan is such a sweetie at heart. And I super love the wordplay and innuendos, they add so much flavour to the dialogue. Karina is very good as the sassy Ai-ai. And I love the foursome's elevator scenes and pajama parties!
The only thing that really bugs me is Usa-tan's thing about Mei - I think it's a combination of both the actress and the characterisation, but I really don't like Mei. Even Yukichi and Kikurin are tolerable.
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alua
August 15, 2014 at 3:45 PM
I don't like Karina in a lot of dramas, but this is definitely one where she's great. (The other dramas I like her in are Watashi ga Renai Dekinai Riyuu and Priceless. Can't remember her in Long Love Letter, though I rather liked that drama... think she had only a minor role in it.)
The elevator scenes! THE PAJAMA PARTIES!!! (Who would not want to have pajama parties after watching this drama!) The PAN jokes. All of it.
Oh, I can't stand Mei. Don't like girls like her at all and I'm not sure why Usatan is hung up on her. The psychotherapist (or whatever his job was) I couldn't stand either... he's a creep and I found him pretty manipulative (you might not have gotten that far yet). I can take or leave the cougar, mostly because I can't really relate to her.
Keep enjoying!
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junny
August 15, 2014 at 4:53 PM
The pajama parties... man, I wanna move to an apartment complex like that and have beer and shabu shabu with my floor-mates! Hopefully one will be as gorgeous as Tamaki, hahaha.
Well, I just finished episode 6, with the not-so-big reveal. I can't say I'm that surprised even despite having the benefit of spoilers, but maybe this is when the manipulation starts? I am generally averse to Tanihara Shosuke (who plays the therapist, Kikuta), and he does give that sort of creepy vibe in most of the stuff I've seen him in.
Usa-tan... I think he's so hung up on Mei because of his protective nature. And she does do the sweet girl thing pretty well, but it gets icky real fast for me. Usa is such a sweet guy, but it's so obvious Mei is not the right girl for him. At times, I wanted Ojiro to just smack him on the upside of the head and give him some home truths, ehhh. Other times, I just want to give him a big big hug, because he looks so woebegone!
Kairi is finally beginning to get interesting. She was so mehhh for the first 5 eps that I was getting a bit tired of her.
alua
August 15, 2014 at 5:24 PM
The first reveal isn't that much of a deal... it's a later twist that really rubs me the wrong way. I think I've only seen Tanihara in Pride otherwise (I think he plays the ex? whom I hated as well), and nothing much else.
Not a fan of "kawaii" girls that toy with multiple people's feelings. That's why I don't find her sweet – just selfish. Kairi... works best with her "match". Or maybe it's her "match" that makes her work, since he has chemistry with anyone and anything (LOL). Ojiro is bad-boy-with-wounded-soul-awesome. Wish Matsuda Shota would do more interesting roles like that and would stop playing detectives! (Seriously!)
Damn, I might have to rewatch this drama soon.
junny
August 15, 2014 at 5:41 PM
You're right, she is selfish, but she has psyched herself into thinking it's all for Usa's good. Pah. I hate it when she does whatever she does to Usa. I just wish he'd drop-kick her to Timbuctoo.
I agree Kairi works best with her match (I know who it is, ehehehe). In ep 6, he was so freaked out but still kept telling her "stop doing that!", it was hilarious. I do like that she's beginning to open up. And yes, you should rewatch Love Shuffle!
But eh, everyone's a detective, doctor or some sort of "professional" these days - I know Japan does pretty good procedurals, but don't you think it gets a bit overwhelming? I miss the days when they had a good mix of everything per season.
thesandwitch04
August 15, 2014 at 2:44 PM
Permission to kiss you, Snow? I haven't watched it yet but I have a feeling this will be the drama to rescue me from this slump I'm experiencing. I'll be honest, the main reason I'm watching this is Hiroshi Tamaki, and this will be my second J-Dorama ever. I just hope it's available online...
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junny
August 15, 2014 at 3:35 PM
Haha, are you a Tamaki Hiroshi fan too? If so, hello! Tamaki is very good in Love Shuffle, although to be fair, it's the ensemble cast that really sells it. The main quartet have lovely chemistry, and every episode has had me busting a gut so far laughing at everyone's antics.
I'm not sure what your first dorama was, but if you are interested in more Tamaki dramas, I heartily recommend him in Nodame Cantabile (2006, where he sported a healthier look - he was rather skinny in Love Shuffle because he had to lose a lot of weight for a movie role). Tamaki and Ueno Juri had near unbeatable chemistry as Chiaki and Nodame.
I also recommend Shikaotoko Aoniyoshi - this isn't a rom-com, but it's great in the way the plot unfolds and how things come together.
They are all available online at gooddrama.net.
Let me know if you would like other recommendations (of rom-coms or other genres).
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thesandwitch04
August 15, 2014 at 4:34 PM
Nodame Cantabille was my first J-Dorama, and I watched it this year after I heard there was to be a Korean re-make and a lot of fans were complaining that the Korean version might not do justice to the original. I loved Nodame Cantabille and yeah, I would appreciate recommendations about other series that are worth watching, comedy especially, I don't mind dramas without romance but I like witty dialogue and realistic characters that actually emote and make me spazz with feelings.
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junny
August 15, 2014 at 5:10 PM
Nodame is a good intro to J-dramas - the cast was perfect and the classical music top-notch! Wasn't Tamaki just awesome as Chiaki? ♥
Well, the rom-coms I would recommend are all pretty old, but that was when Japan still did decent rom-coms:
- Love Revolution: This is one of my favourite J-dramas, with some solid acting and a great soundtrack.
- The Kimutaku classics: Long Vacation and Love Generation. Hero is also recommended (not a rom-com, but funny all the same)
- Kekkon Dekinai Otoko - Abe Hiroshi is a class act here.
- Hotaru no Hikari - 2 seasons of himono onna and her buchou
- Over Time: 3 girl friends, one guy under the same roof... and sparks fly...
- Beach Boys: 2 guys on a journey to find their dreams
Chandler
August 17, 2014 at 12:59 AM
OMG. Thank you so much for suggesting Love Shuffle! I literally only just finished the elevator scene in the first ep and I already know I love it!
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junny
August 17, 2014 at 1:47 AM
Their elevator scenes are awesome! Wait till you get to the pajama parties, hehe.
Glad you're enjoying Love Shuffle!
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26 NahlaJW
August 15, 2014 at 11:30 AM
Hello my friends, how have you been?
This is the 1st time I'm going to talk about my persinal life , I'm currently doing a summer training at a company which i have to do to get my degree after my final year in Uni, now here is my story:
I was introduced to many employees in the department where I was going to work , and there was a guy whom I noticed. He is from Holland . He is tall and handsome with a great smile ?? ..he sits next to me at the office...I don't know much about him but he is a nice guy and he helped me when I needed help ....I think I'm starting to like him ?? but I don't want to like him because I know there is a zero chance he'll like me back and I don't want to heart myself because of that and I suspect he is married ... Help me guys what should I do ??
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korazylady
August 15, 2014 at 5:12 PM
Most Beanies enjoy hearing personal stories, even of unrequited love, but if this guy is married (find out immediately--ask him!) then Run Run Run. Everyone will just be here with their hands over their ears going "la la la" if you bring it up.
Sorry if this sounds harsh but I'm probably one of the oldest beanies here so have seen these things a few times in my lifetime and I can tell you, nothing good comes of it.
If he's single - go for it and good luck!
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NahlaJW
August 15, 2014 at 6:11 PM
Hi Korazy Lady , I'm thankful for your help and your advice . It's ok I need someone to knock some consciousness in my head . I'll try to gather courage and ask ? and I'll try to avoid the heartbreak as much as I can.
Again thank you for the advice and have a good weekend ?
Now back to my Kdrama , I've started watching Surplus princess it looks like fun and crazy drama and planning to finish flower Grandpa investigation team. I stopped watching Trot lovers since ep 10 I hated where the plot was going to. Did they have to use that amnesia tool !? @#$%&
In my list to watch:
Marriage not dating
Joeson Gunman
And the one with Jung ill woo in it?
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korazylady
August 15, 2014 at 7:59 PM
NahiaJW, I also wanted to spare you the consequences of such an experience (not to mention the possible wrath of some beanies who may think you are out of your mind for even entertaining the possibility if he's married.) If you'd like to see a very realistic portrayal of a married man who gets involved with someone else, watch the Korean Drama My Husband's Woman. Of course it is based on much older people, but it was pretty eye-opening.
If he is married, you can be like the rest of us who pine over men who are completely unattainable from afar! We kdrama addicts are pretty adept at that!
BTW, I love Marriage Not Dating.
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NahlaJW
August 15, 2014 at 10:31 PM
I'll totally stay away from him , I will never get involved in such kind of relationships as you said there are many consequences that I'm aware of :) and thank you for the suggestion of the drama .
I only have a week there as my training will come to an end . so I'll not see him again in best cases and I think I'll be fine ?
27 pogo
August 15, 2014 at 11:31 AM
Hi everyone! I caught up with only a small handful of things this week, and the one I enjoyed most was Surplus Princess - it's quirky, and funny, and has a heart and is in the fun, no-noble-idiocy stage. All I could ask from a romcom <3
Joseon Gunman - I always love how action-packed it is, and how many twists and turns it brings us, and (best of all) the way even our bad guys have incredible depth and dignity in the hands of the absolutely magnificent actors playing the Choi father-daughter duo (serious, someone give Yoon Oh-sung and Jeon Hye-bin all the awards, NOW). I'm really glad Choi isn't dead, because he does really up the tension when he's got a plan, but Hye-won was pretty compelling to watch in grief-stricken, vengeful mode.
Lee Jun-ki is still good, though I'm glad episode 15 stepped it up a little by having him free the slaves. It's a nice change of pace beyond wanting revenge for his own personal reasons, and it's a new direction to go with the character that still feels natural (even if I suspect it was a one-off).
But Soo-in continues to frustrate me, because she serves pretty much no real purpose in the story despite multiple attempts to weave her into storylines (she dabbles in guns! she dabbles in explosives! she got tortured for it! she's now working for the Queen!), those attempts never feel organic.
Her purported awesomeness for being able to handle guns and being enlightened is largely a case of 'tell, not show' when she needs rescuing virtually every time she's in a situation, even one she SHOULD have in hand (like pulling a gun on someone to protect Yeon-ha, only to have it knocked out....after how many years of handling guns, again?).
I don't exactly find her romance with Yoon-kang believably developed either, because it just has nothing driving it once she's rumbled his Hanjo identity and he's outed himself. Both she and Ho-kyung are insipid as hell, and in fact literally the first time I saw her display something other than girlish petulance or saintly acceptance was in her disbelief over Ho-kyung's dad's identity.
God, this turned into one long Soo-in rant but she's just so insipid and some places seem to believe that we're only criticising her because she's 'feminine' while the far more interesting and driven Hye-won has 'masculine' traits. (if viewers don't like gently bred 'feminine' women, then how do you explain the universal love for Jang Nara's character in Fated To Love You?)
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pogo
August 15, 2014 at 11:49 AM
And speaking of Fated To Love You - I really did like this week's episodes a lot, we needed the palate cleanser after last week's extreme pain followed by noble idiocyx1000. Though we can't have Gun and Mi-young at this standstill forever, obviously. I'm really loving the supporting characters too, whether it's Tak-shilchang (forgot the exact translation of the term) or Yong, whose adoration of his sister-in-law has been the sweetest thing to watch ever since it started developing. They're such matchmaking busybodies, they're worse than Grandma, ha! (and Sera's new ballet teaching gig and ice cream with her students made me awww. She's not a bad person even if she did something really wrong under the influence of a mistaken impression )Also, Gun's new short hair looks really sexy, I don't think it detracts from his appeal anymore the way I did when I first saw him without the long hair!
And I really need to take a moment here to shower praises on the combined powerhouse acting talents of Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara. I noted this with So Ji-sub last year, but it bears repeating - a hot veteran leading man who's not afraid to let himself be made to look silly onscreen, or to totally commit to even the most far-out idiocies of romcom, is truly something special. And it's even better than SJS then, and JH now, manage the silly without compromising their hotness in the least even though we shouldn't be laughing at them AND swooning at the same time!
And Mi-young might just be my favourite female character of the last six months. I was so afraid she'd be a doormat/spineless, but Jang Nara plays her so effortlessly as a person whose kindness and love is the very strength that gives her a backbone. And Mi-young is technically everything I've been irritated by in kdrama heroines - super-girly, nice to a fault, a Candy - but the writing and acting manages to make her a character who sidesteps all the irritation she would normally cause.
I'm really glad the show took the top of the ratings table this week, because FTLY might be up against both my oppa and my unnie but imho they've got the best OTP in the Wednesday-Thursday slot. I hope we see Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara winning that Best Couple award together at the MBC end of year awards, too - they'd deserve it.
PS: I saw Record of a Night Watchman too. It's a hot mess and I'm sorry to report that Go Sung-hee is distinctly unnatural in her cutesy acting (which follows the Han Ga In School of Widening Eyes and acting as aegyo-ey as possible). I'm skipping this one, it looks like an inferior Gu Family Book and GFB was messy to begin with.
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Tara
August 15, 2014 at 2:15 PM
Totally agree with what you said about Mi-young...although she still gives off doormat vibes, even after the time jump and becoming a well-known artist. I kinda wish she stood up to Se-ra the day they met up - I wish she would have questioned why in the world she had the (fake) divorce papers instead of Geon. I do hope that does come back to bite Se-ra in the ass.
And I also agree about Jang Hyuk...I don't think I'd be having this much fun watching this if it were not for him totally giving 100% into making Geon into such a character :)
Night Watchman...eh, I'm putting it on the backburner. Haven't watched past the first ep, but I see my gripes have been confirmed from the comments on here (CGI overload, eh?). I had the inkling that Go Sung-hee was too green to be lead female, and that's so unfortunate she's acting a la Han Ga-in (I chuckled at your remark). I don't think it's that far of a stretch of NW being similar to Gu Family Book because same network - that's kinda why I kept my expectations low. I see I should lower them even further :/
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Quiet Thought
August 15, 2014 at 6:15 PM
There's something about Go Sung-hee's character that makes we want to buy Joseon Girl Scout cookies. I'm sure she knows a couple of fabulous recipes.
Really if she showed up in that costume at the Bristol Renaissance Fair, she wouldn't even win a prize. It looks like it was put together for a school pageant.
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28 sweetlove618
August 15, 2014 at 11:34 AM
Happy Friday to everyone on here.
Does anyone know where I can watch Korean subtitled movies?
thanks!
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spazmo
August 15, 2014 at 11:47 AM
drama dot net
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fab
August 15, 2014 at 12:05 PM
I am watching as we speak Spellbound(Best known on DB as Chilling Romance) there.
And I am dying!
It's a bit scary(ghosts) but hilarious at the same time. It's very much a movie version of Master's Sun.
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Chandler
August 15, 2014 at 1:09 PM
I loved Spellbound! Lee Min-ki and Son Ye-jin are adorable and hilarious in that. Also great for anyone going through Lee Min-ki withdrawals!
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owl
August 15, 2014 at 2:13 PM
Did you see him in the recent movie, Monster? Chilling. Horror.
Dal ja's spring never grows old, either :)
29 kopytko
August 15, 2014 at 12:13 PM
Hi Everybody!
How are you doing?
A RANT
Unusually for me, I am going to start off with a fierce rant concerning Glorious Day. Namely, I am terrified with the idea that my absolutely favourite character, the cheeky and witty In Woo will be coupled with a stupid, useless, whiny and dull girl. It makes me furious that he should stick with this brat just because "she loves him". Really, is a stupid girl's whim enough to burden him for a lifetime? I don't care that she's been after him for years, she's got nothing to give him except for her obsession and her money. I object to calling such obsession love. Where is the understanding, mutual interest, support? Where is the human behind the prey that is being chased?
I still hope that the writer is trolling us big time. Please, don't let In Woo got to waste, he deserves much better. If not a woman who can be an equal partner, then at least a girl with some common sense who will have some chances of surviving in the world without relying on her family's influences and aegyo *gets nauseated by aegyo*.
END OF THE RANT
Does anyone else watch Mama. I was scared at first. I didn't understand the mothers being so desperately set on providing private classes to their kids that I thought they were unbearably over the top. However, when I thought about the education in SK, that merciless system, I get where they are coming from. It is crazy what they do and how much they are willing to pay, but there are few alternative solutions.
As much as I understand (but don't approve) the matters of education, I am sick of the social relations portrayed. Hypocrisy, class-ridden society, jealousy... Again - even if I don't like it, it seems it's an accurate picture of contemporary social life. Not nice to look at, but gives an idea about what it looks like and thus is food for thought.
The characters in this story aren't very original or amusing, but the entire cast works to show how tangled their lives are.
The third drama I'd like to mention is Temptation. It is a very palatable melo. The pace is surprisingly swift, the secrets are revealed without much ado and the characters are intriguing. It is really better than I expected. I thought the drama will seek to shock the viewers with some immoral conduct of the characters, but it doesn't work like that yet. It can be sad, upsetting, but without being cheap, sentimental or unbelievable.
Anyway, I look forward to each new episode.
(BTW the funniest moment was when a mother of one character, a notorious cheater, said that he was blessed with many women in his life. Is there a more beautiful way to express it? I almost cried with laughter and decided to remember this phrase of future use. You never know)
other dramas:
Trot Lovers Shin Sung Rok was underutilized. I need more of him ASAP
It's OK It's Love - it's ok it's Noh Hee Kyung writing. I am enjoying it a lot.
Have a nice weekend,...
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Chandler
August 15, 2014 at 1:16 PM
OMG. About Glorious Day. I was seriously waiting and waiting and WAITING for the moment when In-woo finally got his love interest. Like, I was seriously so freakin' excited because I adore him and he has the potential to have such an enjoyable love-line if only he had a good partner. But then they got that girl. Honestly, I actually just takes a lot of excitement away from the show :/
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kopytko
August 15, 2014 at 1:30 PM
It is frustrating. For one, because In Woo is such an interesting type himself, but also I sincerely hate the trope "I love him so he MUST love me too, even if he doesn't care". Perseverance is good, but that...
Thank goodness we can focus on Seo Woo & Da Jung as well as Hotel CEO Ajussi's advances towards Mom :)
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Tara
August 15, 2014 at 9:00 PM
Why do some people ever think that they'll be actually loved back in return, if they set out to trap that person in a loveless marriage? What's the freakin' point of marriage if it's one-sided obsession, guilt-tripping the other for not reciprocating the "affection" (you're absolutely right, it's obsession, NOT love).
I honestly don't get why writers insert those types of characters, because they are there to infuriate the viewers. What "fun" is it to watch a character who just has to "have" the object of their obsession, with absolutely no regards to that person's actual thoughts and feelings?
Maybe it's just me being sick and tired of seeing these sorts of characters. Maybe it's because I throw things at the screen or cuss them out when they're onscreen...ugh.
I've been watching Feel Good Day on and off, mainly because I can't stand the bitchy mother. I actually think it's kinda cute how "uncle" is pursuing Da-jung's mom.
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Waiting
August 15, 2014 at 1:52 PM
Agree. I dislike In Woo's manipulative and oh lordy so whiny brat of a love interest. I fast forward past her parts - whining is not cute, people! She is the mirror of his mother which, well, I hope he chooses better because his mother is annoying as all heck.
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kopytko
August 15, 2014 at 2:17 PM
The thing is, he is being manipulated to feel guilty for not reciprocating her advances. And he does feel guilty. WHYYYY drama, WHYYYYYYYY?
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Waiting
August 15, 2014 at 4:38 PM
It is unfortunate that the growth and maturity he gained being exposed to a person like Da Jung is playing a part in his guilt and being manipulated. The old In Woo would have cast her off likely. I really hope she either does a 180 degree turn, matures or better yet, we cast her off and a Da Jung-like rival comes into the picture. Maybe there will be a nice nutritionist colleague at Da Jung's new school...if she ever manages to get to her new job.
windsun33
August 15, 2014 at 1:39 PM
I am watching "Mama", and strangely I actually recommend it - something I seldom do for a weekend drama.
For a couple of reasons - it seems to depict very well the "wives club" (or perhaps "coven" would be a better word) obsession that is common in Korea and Japan.
The 2nd is that for the first time ever that I can recall in a K-drama, there is a heroine that truly does not give a flying rats butt about what others - especially the coven wives - think of her. And I think that she is gradually educating her pick for "caretaker" to give up her obsession with appearances.
And a note about Mama - it is just about the only k-drama ever where all the people that supposedly speak English actually DO speak English, and not just English but near-native speaker quality.
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kopytko
August 15, 2014 at 2:12 PM
As a non-native speaker myself, I would be glad if we got "just English" on a regular basis ;)
The "wives club" is a scary institution. The appearances, the pressure, the urge to conform... ugh. For once I am relieved to live in a society of notorious individualists. And where most women go to work and don't have time for such activities.
Actually, it's the first time I've seen this phenomenon tackled in a drama with so much attention and even if it bothers me, I'd like to learn more about it.
I am still waiting for a character in a drama to be so confident and independent as Seung Hee, but without the background of living abroad for a long time.
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windsun33
August 15, 2014 at 2:35 PM
I used to think that those enclaves of wives and/or parents were mostly a myth, but did some searching a while back for articles in K and J newspaper sites, and in some places it is a very real thing. One Japanese newspaper even reported that a woman had committed suicide because she was excluded from one.
I doubt very much that what is portrayed in the drama happens in all cases, but apparently it is not all that rare either.
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korazylady
August 15, 2014 at 5:15 PM
Actually, your reasons make it sound appealing. And I am one who cringes at bad English in dramas, so would appreciate appropriate good English! May have to check it out.
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30 redfox
August 15, 2014 at 12:13 PM
oh who is watching the European Championships in Zurich?
just now I nearly fainted when our very own Rasmus Mägi won silver in 400 m hurdles. he would have won gold if he were on 4th track himself. the swiss guy had luck.
but I have never been so near fainting watching sports. too. much. exitement.
silver is good.
we never ever had such a fast guy. goodness.
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kopytko
August 15, 2014 at 12:24 PM
Congratulations! It feels nice to have a champion athlete at last, doesn't it?
I watched some races and competitions yesterday with my mom. We liked the javelin ladies. It was quite an exciting competition. Men's triple jump too. Light Athletics feels much nicer than football to me because the athletes are still athletes and not ridiculously overpaid celebrities. Even if they do become celebrities, it's fine, because they must be really, really good.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 12:28 PM
I watched some high jump and thanks to dramas I am always reminded of Hana Kimi, hah
there was a ukrainian guy whose legs were so long he could have worn one as a scarf around his neck
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kopytko
August 15, 2014 at 12:34 PM
Hana Kimi is one of the dramas I haven't seen and probably never will. I think watching some real championships will suit my taste more.
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redfox
August 15, 2014 at 12:40 PM
I only watched like maybe 6 episodes. I got tired of it. it was way way back.
still, so proud that we have such a great runner. hope he stays healthy and doesnt celebrate too wildly...
our high jump girls are also both in the final competition btw
Poland got double victory in something? dont remember, saw a title online
kopytko
August 15, 2014 at 12:47 PM
Really? Must go online to read...
Today is a national holiday, so I went to my grandparents and haven't seen anything on tv or heard on the radio for the whole day.
Yup! We got gold and silver in 800m. Poor journalists who need to say the winner's name Kszczot...
Thanks for the head up!
redfox
August 15, 2014 at 1:31 PM
the "o" must feel so lonely as the only vowel...
31 Cocoboo
August 15, 2014 at 12:28 PM
Hi all. ^^
I finished watching Heartless City last week. I enjoyed it. It was one heck of a ride. Lots of action and it was an entertaining story overall. I wish they hadn’t left out an ending scene out of the official episode, but I luckily learned of it so I’m still satisfied with the ending.
I also finally watched these Korean movies : Man From Nowhere, A Werewolf Boy, and randomly tried The Client. They were all good and interesting, but if I had to choose one out of these 3, I’d pick Man From Nowhere as the top story, best overall. It had great action and camera angles. The story moved at a fast pace and it made sense overall. It wasn’t that predictable to me.
A Werewolf Boy was so touching and tragic. Song Joong Ki was perfect in this role. His innocent boyish looks contrasted well with his wild wolf traits.
I liked the investigative scenes in The Client and I was wary about the courtroom scenes being boring, but they were compelling. However, if some of the moves were something you’ve seen before, then they might not have the same effect on you like they did for me. The ending seemed too quick and neat though.
Fated To Love You has so much heart and emotion. And the close family element in the show is wonderful to see like between Gun & Mi Young’s mom. So precious.
Joseon Gunman: I’m still enjoying this drama, but I would like to get more thrills from it. Where the hero is headed is good, but the story is gradually moving along. I like what Soo In did for the Queen, but I want to see her even more active. Dreading the moment when she learns about her father. I wonder how she will react.
I’m excited to watch My Secret Hotel next week, but I’m thinking about marathoning an older kdrama or a movie too.
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kopytko
August 15, 2014 at 12:35 PM
I am looking to My Secret Hotel too :)
What kind of older drama do you feel like watching?
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Cocoboo
August 15, 2014 at 5:54 PM
Actually not that old... A Witch's Romance. Have you seen it?
I also want to see The Return of Iljimae and Warrior Baek Dong-soo sometime soon.
Is there a good kdrama you would recommend? ^^
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kopytko
August 15, 2014 at 10:35 PM
A Witch's Romance was nice. Funny, with likabe characters, not too heavy on cliches. It does have it worse moments, but they pass and don't make the whole unwatchable.
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32 Tara
August 15, 2014 at 1:17 PM
Hey everybody...happy OT!
I am loving the weather in my neck of the woods (MD) - early autumn temps, beautiful blue skies - too bad I'm stuck inside ;P I've been busy prepping all week, getting ready for grad school (honestly, I still can't believe that I got in! ;P haha).
Fated to Love You: The funny cute antics are back, after the sobfest that was last week. I couldn't stop laughing because of Geon, which made me super happy :) There were so many gems of cuteness - when Geon rapped "Mother" to Park Joon-hyung's cameo (seriously, the man doesn't age), Geon's bumbling and super cute stalking (<-- words that would normally SO not go together, except for Geonnie) of Mi-young, and Geon's petty jealousy over Daniel's closeness to MY. I could honestly just watch him being petty the whole time, he's just so freakin' endearing!! But that being said, my heart cried for Geon this week :(
Daniel is like the ever persistent, so nice that you can't say no, Daddy Longlegs kind of guy. So I get why there's so much hate for him on the comment boards...but honestly, I don't find him as a threat to our OTP at all. He's forever friend-zoned, no matter if he proposed. I just don't see MY accepting - even if Daniel was there for her in her darkest times, supported her and got her to begin her artist career. That's about it. She seemingly flinches whenever he makes contact, still treating him like the neighborhood oppa from pre-loss of Keddongie.
So for there to be such an uproar about him making the moves to (try) and sweep MY off of her feet? I don't think it'll work. It hasn't worked in the three years they were in Paris together...ain't gonna change now. Despite her harsh words to Geon to stay away and never meet her again, she shows her sensitive side later, trying to convince herself she did the right thing. And Geon trying to deflect his interest in her? A bit of a foot in the mouth sort of deal, but I so freakin' wish Mi-young would open her eyes and see how absolutely enamored he is of her (can't she see his moony gaga eyes for her??), despite saying that he isn't.
I do wish Yong (didn't know it meant dragon, I lol-ed at the freeze/fire blowing scene) and/or Manager Tak would spill the beans about Geon's condition and blow that misunderstanding out of the water. Even if it was done intentionally for Geon to be the noble idiot and "spare" her the pain. Although it is a bit concerning that she seemed moved with his proposal...I do think she will let him down gently, because Geon is the only one in her heart!
And I've read comments about how clichéd it all is, but I'm actually enjoying this for those reasons - strangely. Usually I'd be turned off, but I think it's definitely attributed to the amazing job the writer is doing...because yes, the typical kdrama tropes are used and there are clichés galore, but it's written pretty well.
Total randomness...I saw Oh Ji-ho's interview last week and...
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Tara
August 15, 2014 at 1:24 PM
he mentioned that Jang Hyuk used diapers when they filmed Chuno - because his butt was not used to riding horseback! ;P Way to poke fun at your former castmate when he's uber popular with a current drama! lol...at least he was comfortable! ;P
Jang Bori is Coming: So Bori finally knows...jeez, about time! Having jumped in about halfway, I figured that would be revealed weeks ago. Sadly, because of the devil's spawn that is Min-jung, it's been delayed 'til now. I relished Bori's bio dad bitchslapping MJ so hard...although I think she'd need to get 1 mil of that to make it halfway even, after all the crap she's pulled (I think I'm a little sadistic when it comes to villains getting their due, haha). I'm eagerly awaiting for Bori to return to her rightful place and marry Jae-hwa, MJ's hub to realize what a fraud he married, and I want Moonie to get his revenge and be happy. Too much to ask? ;P
On the docket to watch as soon as I have the time: Yoona's Street.
Kinda dropped for the time being: It's Ok It's Love, Joseon Gunman (I'm so behind), Night Watchman.
Might try out: Three Musketeers, What's with This Family (replacement of Wonderful Season).
Have a great weekend, yall! :)
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korazylady
August 15, 2014 at 5:24 PM
I haven't watched the original FTLY, but I can't help but think somehow, some way Mi Young is Daniel's sister (altho the ballerina has the scar on her shoulder so it must be her.) Then I guess he'd feel creepy, but at least that would take care of him in the least hurtful way possible and he could still watch over her. I just love Choi Jin-Hyuk so can't hate Daniel too much!
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Tara
August 15, 2014 at 8:08 PM
I haven't seen the original drama either, so I have no idea how this story goes (even despite some hints here and there from the comments).
I suppose I don't hate Daniel that much either because I'm a fan of Choi Jin-hyuk too...even before his stint on Gu Family Book. He was on the KBS weekend drama My Precious Child from years ago under a stage name, but I remember he was pining for a girl named Bo-ri (second lead) who only had eyes for a dentist (played by Ji Hyun-woo). I guess then he was third lead? haha. It's funny thinking about it now because those characters are similar, the oppa who got friend-zoned and never had a chance with the girl.
But I guess you're right...he wouldn't be hurt or creepy if he really ended up being the long-lost oppa to Mi-young. There haven't really been any hints that questions Mi-young's paternity, unless that's gonna pop up later down the road...so I don't think it's plausible, for now.
I think, though, that the writer is hinting at Se-ra as his lost sister...which is unfortunate, because I don't want her to have Daniel as her oppa. It would take her out of the picture for Geon, so maybe that's a good thing...? I don't want Daniel to get hurt (and possibly become a raging second lead), but at the same time...I love Geon and Mi-young together too much! :)
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owl
August 15, 2014 at 2:17 PM
Kwon Ji-yong -> G-dragon, so I thought of him when yong/dragon was mentioned ~
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Tara
August 15, 2014 at 2:44 PM
Oh wow...that's pretty cool!! I had no idea, even though I am a fan of Big Bang (obviously not a diehard fan, since I didn't know that fact). I've always forgotten what dragon is in Korean, so I've always referred to "fire breathing creature," haha.
That's a nice way of remembering that from now on...thanks! :)
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owl
August 15, 2014 at 4:44 PM
Cool name, G-Dragon, that's fer sure. I have 4 or 5 drawings of him in my kpop and kdrama galery and plan on several more since he has so many looks! i even snuck in one of the big boss Yang Hyun Suk jsut because. One of these days I'll have to do TOP as well. (click on my name and it'll take you there.) \ /
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33 thesandwitch04
August 15, 2014 at 3:14 PM
Is anyone watching Hi! School Love On at all?
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owl
August 15, 2014 at 4:15 PM
I adore the actress (loved her in Queen's classroom) and the 2 Infinite idols are holding their own. I almost forget about it every week until it pops up - I'm not sued to only 1 episode/week (although Jdramas are that way) so the story doesn't linger as with 2 episode dramas. Anyway, it's a sweet story, not so interested in the HS story tangents, bu I am looking forward to how/if she returns.
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Waiting
August 15, 2014 at 5:30 PM
Watching here, too! I love her as well from Queen's Classroom then watched Man From No Where and she was fantastic.
Off to watch it on Viki!
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34 korazylady
August 15, 2014 at 5:28 PM
Can I just say that next to seeing Sunday night's concert, the Dramabeans/Viki panel at Kcon was the highlight of the whole two days? I loved meeting Javabeans and Girlfriday, not to mention Sean Richard, who is quite adorable in person. I wish I could have attended Sunday's panel, but I was waiting in line to see Lee Seungi (which turned out to be a complete bust.)
Well done girls! I wish I had remembered the name of that lipstick!
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35 Trina
August 15, 2014 at 6:08 PM
Hello, How is everyone tonight. I am looking forward today episode of Marriage Not Dating. Other that, we did not go to beach instead drop off boys to my mother in law house and run errands. I might take the boys to the beach either this Sunday or maybe next Friday. They have no school on next Friday. I hope everyone have a wonderful week-end.
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36 ahjummabunny
August 15, 2014 at 7:06 PM
Hello Dramabeans Kids!
I'm so frustrated with my drama viewing these days, I just can't seem to find one that touches all the right spots.
My weekend drama ended last week and I'm not sure what to watch.
All the shows I enjoyed a little are done and I'm not ready to live watch anything yet.
I have watched a lot of k-movies recently Miss Granny was very enjoyable. I think I like Shim Eun Kyung and envy her at the same time.
On a funny note here are my top 2 weird ways to determine paternity according to Korean Dramas.
11Hypnotherapy to recover lost childhood memories
2.Cellphone background photo with relative
Happy Drama-ing!
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37 Lc
August 15, 2014 at 8:38 PM
Hi everyone, I just got back from a work trip to Suzhou, China. Compared to 1 year ago when I was last there, the drama landscape in China still haven't changed much. There are at least 3 wartime dramas airing at the same time, so viewers will have plenty of chance to see how their forefathers persevered in their fights and struggles against the nefarious Japanese, because the indomitable Chinese spirit cannot be beaten.
It's as if history has ended at 1945 in the books of the Chinese Communist Party, and took a big leap over the 1960s -1990s to present day China. But oh wait, there's currently a drama showing that is an exception to that - the story of former CCP leader Deng Xiaoping, produced to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth.
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38 Kristy
August 15, 2014 at 10:08 PM
Hey Beanies!!!
The drama love seemed a bit less this week as every single drama that I watches took a backseat.....But do hope that they will be back with a bang.
Fated to Love You:Is still my favorite drama of the time.This was bond to happen as now we have to have a situation to see our OTP together.But still I am glad that they are still going good with the comedy and the emotional scenes.Just loved how Gun talked to the baby.And is it just me or is the special effects that they use in random timings really hilarious.Was laughing out loud when Young spited fire for Gun's ice-freeze...
It's Okay,It's Love:am really sorry that this drama totally disappointed me with this weeks episodes.Now am afraid that I wont be able to get back in the ride.The characters are too weird and i have to really take a huge effort to like them,especially Hae-soo.I don't think that I can get to like her after all that annoying acts from the last episode.Just hope that they will prove me wrong.
Joseon Gunman:Just am not in the mood for the politics so I just fast forward through them.It is going strong and I so wish that the heroine has something better to do than just be with the hero and worry about him.
Marriage,not Dating:Seriously Show,will please let the OTP unite already?It has been dragging a hell lot.and I am getting bored. Just hope that something will happen this week.
Watched The Flu,just another disaster movie,but loved it.Just catching up with a lot of Jang Hyuk,last year it was So J-sub and this year Jang Hyuk,just a bit sad that this guy hasnt got any great dramas,I really want to watch Chuno but its too long and Midas has Han Ye-seul who I really cant stand to watch.
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Sajen
August 15, 2014 at 10:39 PM
For Jang Hyuk have you seen Thank You one of my all time favorite K-dramas or Tree With Deep Roots?
I think you're confusing Midas with Tazza Han Ye-seul is in Tazza not Midas.
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spazmo
August 16, 2014 at 1:04 AM
chuno is a MUST SEE for jang hyuk! he's fabulous in it... rugged, brawny (all three of the men), sexy, endearing, bad assed fighter... oh ji ho is great, also. you will suffer trying to decide who to root for...
the music will haunt you and break your heart at the same time...
*sniff*
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Cocoboo
August 16, 2014 at 6:01 AM
I totally recommend Tree with Deep Roots! At first, I had wanted to check it out for Jang Hyuk, but the story was also excellent along with the great performances from other actors like Han Seok Kyu & Song Joong Ki. The greater, worldy goal was great.
Jang Hyuk and his brotherly bond with Han Jung Soo & Kim Ji Suk was the BEST part of Chuno for me. Seeing Jang Hyuk all rugged and manly. <3 But I barely remember the story... I watched it years ago. :/
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39 Sajen
August 15, 2014 at 10:29 PM
I think this might be too late for anyone to see but oh well. For those watching Surplus Princess does anyone know what song that is playing after Hyun-myung fails his interview and is walking along the bridge?
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40 Wag_a_Muffin
August 17, 2014 at 2:10 PM
Just watched South Korea Little League beat Puerto Rico. Whoo HOO! (And let me say, there is NO way that first Puerto Rican pitcher is 13 years old.) When the relief Korean pitcher hit him with a pitch we were all, "way to go!" (I must admit. Usually I'm a strict, "let's have good sportsmanship, please" type person. But he deserved to get beaned.
Cool game. Watch the next one if it's on TV where you live. (Korea will either be playing Japan or Mexico--whoever wins.)
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