The latter half of last week was so toxic here in my corner of the world that it seemed like a page out of Satanâs playbook: How to Torment Packmule3 in 4 Easy Steps.
My nightly antidote was to trawl through the drama sites for a show wouldnât tax my already exhausted brain but would still entertain, amuse and, most importantly, recharge me. I desperately needed a light-hearted romcom that I was willing to consider Lee Dongwook and Yoo Innaâs upcoming kdrama, âTouch Your Heart.â
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. NO.
Success came in the form of Japanese mystery series on Viki (Criminologist Himura and the Mystery Writer Arisugawa) and a popular Chinese romcom series from Netflix (Love O2O, which apparently means Love Online to Offline). Has anybody seen these shows? Are they worth finishing?
My mini-reviews will be coming soon. I also another “Memories of the Alhambra” post in the pipelineâŠif people arenât bored with that yet.
In happier news â
Congratulations, Patriots! #Superbowl #LIII
My hands-down favorite commercial of the night is the one from Microsoft. When technology is done right, it changes lives.
To me, it’s a good reminder of our greatest blessing: life. These lovely, lovely children were once babies. Thank goodness their moms and dads love them wholly and unconditionally. “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my motherâs womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works!”
My Runner-ups
1. I’ve been there, done that. Looking back now that my boys have “grown and flown,” I occasionally miss these moments when they drove me batty with their endless questions, spilled drinks and carsickness, and stinky sweaty smell after sports.
Her threats were funny but familiar.
Option 1: Do I have to break you guys apart? (lol, I highly recommend getting Captain’s Chairs instead of bench seats.)
Option 2: (turning Wicked Witch of the East) Okay, that’s it. If you donât stop, I will eat all of you alive right now.
Especially the second one. It reminded me of âWâ and Goyaâs âSaturn Devouring His Son.â BTW, Iâll have a review of “W – Two Worlds” Episode 1 too.
2. Bubly is pronounced bubbly, not Michael BublĂ©. And I love the squeekĂ©… errr… squeeky sound of his sharpĂ©…err… sharpie at the end. This was a witty ad.
O Bubbles!! King of Swing. I missed your posts PM3. I was a bit worried at first wondering if you were taken out by some mystery bug which hitched a ride on you post holiday. Looks like the bugs (haha MOA pun đ) have been more work related from your post. Nothing that a good dose of KDrama won’t cure. You just have to pick the right one. I am in a slump post travels too. I finished off Sky Castle and still have Crowned Clown to catch up with but I haven’t felt much like starting anything else. In fact I am also on the fence with CC too…I have lost momentum and have not felt inspired to catch up as yet. Welcome back.
The Japanese one looks kinda cute but I hesitate to add yet another Asian drama to my already too full Chinese and Korean drama list. Love O2O I tried but only because the cute-as-a-bug Zheng Yecheng is a support character. I just finished binging An Oriental Odyssey – Zheng Yecheng is the main guy. He’s hecka adorable in the first half and wowza in the 2nd half as a prince. The drama is light because it doesn’t take itself to seriously, (til the end), the chemistry is great, and I loved the plot that has a time travel element to it that shows these two were always fated to be together – the first half of the dramas as it turns out takes place after episode 44. There are clues but I didn’t see them at first. I thought it was quite clever and fun. I have no idea how you would analyze it though Melody on YouTube has fantastic reviews!
Hey, @Packmule!
I have to admit that I am in a KDrama slump at the moment and have been watching Chinese dramas lately. I haven’t seen the J Drama you mentioned, but I have watched Love O2O up to Ep. 20. What I watched was OK. My current drama addiction is Chinese rom-com “About Is Love”, which is being subbed over at Productive Procrastination website. It’s a light, breezy watch. The characters are cute and I like that each of the 3 roommates gets her own love story, so we have 3 couples.
For feel good K Drama rom coms, well my favorites are Marriage, Not Dating followed by Bride of the Century. Have you seen either of those?
Wait for my review of Love o2o. I was going to finish tonight but came home late bec of the SOTU. đ
Marriage, not dating. I think I saw an episode. Canât remember. Wasnât he a doctor with a friend who had girl trouble? He stepped in to save friend and the weirdo girl latched on to him instead? đ€Ș
Bride of the Century. Is that with Lee Hongki? đ Was Lee Hongki the lead actor?!
Did Sky Castle end already? They had a good run, didnât they? Maybe I can watch it now that itâs over.
My sonâs girlfriend is Korean-American. She studies hard (sheâs still in med school), has excellent work habits, not needy, not a drama queen either, really lovely girl both inside and out. I donât know if her parents pressured her to enter med school but she has the aptitude, patience and stamina for it. My only gripe is that she doesnât watch kdramas at all. đ€Ș
For Marriage, Not Dating the male lead is a plastic surgeon whose mother is after him to get married (he doesn’t want to). Yes, in the first episode his friend wants to break up with the female lead (who wants to get married), and he does try to help the friend with his break up. Female lead doesn’t really latch on to the male lead, but through circumstances he ends up asking female lead to pretend to be his fake fiancee in order to get his family to stop matchmaking. This is the only rom com I’ve ever seen where it never forgets the COM part from first episode to last episode.
Yes, Bride of the Century stars Lee Hong Ki as the lead actor, and Yang Jin Sung is the female lead. She is in a dual role for the drama, playing both the snooty heiress and the lookalike poor girl. It’s just a pure ball of fluff. The silliness is too cute.
I’ll be interested to read your review of Love O2O. To be honest, real life intervened and I had to stop watching at Ep. 20, and then I just never went back to finish it.
“Did Sky Castle end already? They had a good run, didnât they? Maybe I can watch it now that itâs over.”
Yes and yes (finished on 23% ratings) – tipped Goblin off the top rated cable channel pedestal. Even if you aren’t fully in tune with the education system in Korea, it is a good watch. Music, clever camera angles, riddled with metaphors, black comedy, superb cast. But I wouldn’t call it easy end of day fluffy viewing though so it may not suit your current state of mind đ.