Happy New Year!!
Pardon my humongous hat. This is the only time of the year when happy bitches are allowed to wear dog-awful looking hats.
What are your new year’s resolutions?
1. I will reveal my drama obsession to one close friend by the end of 2020.
Kdrama has long been my dirty little secret. I’ve been blogging about dramas for two years now. But *if* I summon up the courage to share this blog to a colleague, she will undoubtedly have her mind blown.
2. I will show more appreciation for the “techie” aspect of the drama.
I always focus on the dialogues because I love scripts, and I relish the power of the RIGHT words to punch me in the guts (or “feels” as kids say nowadays).
But it’s time that I pay equal attention to the drama as a visual art and be more aware of the psychological effects of the “subjective lens.” It’s not the screenwriter’s story alone. In truth, it’s the director’s interpretation that gives life to the written words. And his use of lighting, colors, movements, blocking, and so on, that gives breadth and depth to the writer’s original works.
For instance, in “Crash Landing on You” there’s this scene at the end of Episode 4 when Seri found herself alone in a crowded marketplace. In a flashback, she was transported back in time, to an empty beach, where a young girl was solely counting, probably until someone came in search for her. Seri started to count, too, but suddenly, from the opposite end of the street, she saw a candle being held up high. It was Jung Hyuk.
Note to myself: I have to explain in my review why this whole shot was brilliant. We were NOT seeing Jung Hyuk. We were actually seeing him in the way that Seri was seeing him. Or to be more precise, we were seeing him through her perception of him at that very moment. We were FEELING Seri’s thoughts about Jung Hyuk. He wasn’t merely her knight in shining armor. Knights are a dime a dozen, especially when she was surrounded by five, six loyal soldiers who were willing to save her. But Jung Hyuk alone was her light in the darkness.
@agdr03, I think that’s the reason you felt connected to this scene. The way the director shot the scenes made you feel Seri’s fear of being alone in the dark
then her astonishment to see a light from the distance slowly going up, like a star in horizon,
She stood transfixed at first, then her feet began to move tentatively.
Note: her outfit and her hairstyle. Her sweater is cotton-candy pink. It’s the color that we often associate with young girls. And her hair is in pig’s tail. The subliminal message here? She’s transformed into that defenseless girl she once was.
She could barely see him.
BUT we, the viewers, were seeing what she was seeing. That’s why the shot is from her back. She was seeing a world in shadows and there was somebody holding up the light. Like a miracle.
And she saw it was him.
By the time, Seri stood in front of him with his *scented* candle, we the viewers felt her overwhelming relief that she’s been found.
🙂
And this was all the director’s choice of shots that tugged our heartstrings and made us empathize with her.
3. I’m joining a marathon, and it ain’t the Marine Corps Marathon.
Last year, my sons and their girlfriends joined the Marine corps marathon. Their taunt when they cross the finish line was “Why was I missing in action?”
This year, the event will be held on October 25th. While they’re out huffing and puffing, I’m going to cheer them on by going on my own version of marathon from the comfort of my bed and binge-watch a Kdrama of my choice.
I’m going to whittle down my Must Watch list. I’ll definitely finish watching “W” and “What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim.” lol.
4. Learn Hanggul.
Does it make sense that I’m still dependent on subbers and translators after all the hours I’ve spent immersed in kdramas? I’m going to download an app that can teach me Hanggul so I’ll never have to break down again for delayed episodes.
5. Last but not the least: adopt and customize the Korean special days for this blog.
Do you know that every 14th day of the month in South Korea is a special romantic day? Let’s adapt these days and have fun with them in a saucy, bitchy way. I’m open to suggestions.
January 14, Diary Day
It’s a day when couples exchange schedules so I’ll share with you my list of dramas I’m anticipating for the year.
February 14, Valentine’s Day
Women give their special someone chocolate. Let’s do a review of assertive, gutsy, spunky female heroines in kdramas.
March 14, White Day
It’s payback time with interest. On this day, the men give their love of their lives candy and, preferably something more from a jewelry store. Let’s review the over-the-top events staged by men in kdramas and their effects on romantic expectation of couples.
On a sidenote: My family (including the girlfriends) watched “My Fair Lady” and we laughed at that classic song “On the Street Where You Live.” Given our modern sensibilities, the song makes Freddy Eynsford-Hill appear like a stalker.
April 14, Black Day
For single people who didn’t get anything for Valentines Day and White Day. It’s the Korean version of “Single Awareness Day” and single people can treat themselves out to anything black like jajangmyun (it’s black noodle), Starbucks espresso, dark chocolate, Tahitian pearl necklace and squid ink pasta.
For this blog, we’ll whine about our second-male lead syndromes. Warning: I’m still bitter over Jang DongYoon from “A Poem a Day.”
May 14, Rose Day
Or yellow day. Couples are supposed to exchange roses or wear something yellow today. I think I’m going to celebrate this day by discussing the cringiest couple outfits worn on kdramas. Please offer your suggestions, too.
June 14, Kiss Day
Heck no, I’m not going to dispense free kisses!
But rather than compile a list of heart-melting kisses, maybe I’ll list my most-disliked kisses and why I need to bleach them out of my memory.
Park Shin Hye fans, I’m giving you a six-month grace period to toughen up your fragile hearts.
July 14, Silver Day
Couples supposedly exchange something silver as a token of their love. I think we could designate this day to exploring Kdrama or Cdrama heroes that have untarnished characters. I’m not a psych or a lit major but it’s always fun to discuss what makes us fall in love with certain attributes of sterling masculinity.
August 14, Green Day/Music Day
I’ll do a taste test of different soju (hey, it comes in a green bottle) and report back to you.
No, seriously, we’ll compile our favorite OSTs. Or maybe we can do a game. For instance, I can compile all the famous OSTs and you’re supposed to identify the music. The problem with these however is that most YT videos give away the kdramas.
September 14, Photo Day
Let’s discuss cinematography.
October 14, Wine Day
Or Packmule3’s day. Maybe I’ll blog about the uses of wine in a kdrama.
November 14, Movie Day/Cookie Day
Let’s list the favorite movie dates (or first dates) in a kdrama.
December 14, Hug Day
Self-explanatory. We’ll list our favorite hugs in a kdrama.
So there you go. My five new year’s resolution. What’s yours?
May I tell you how much I love your resolution #5, packmule3?🤩 I had no idea about the significance of 14th of every month of the year for South Koreans! I’m all in for this celebration of SK dramaland🥳🥳
However busy I am, I’ll try my best to remember to visit this blog on the 14th!
Yaaay to all the fun fourteenths we bitches will have this year😎🥂💃
Happy new year!
Happy new year, too, @flying_tool. 🙂
What have you been watching?
looks like I’ll be looking forward to the 14th day of every month :))
Happy New Year to you too and to all the rest of the ladies here
Thank You and Happy New Year to you too 🙂
Happy New Year 🥳
“ For this blog, we’ll whine about our second-male lead syndromes. Warning: I’m still bitter over Jang DongYoon from “A Poem a Day.”
😂 He scrubbed up well for Awards Night. He suffered burns on his right hand/arm (not sure how…cooking accident maybe?) and the white bandage were very apparent under the sleeve of his black tux.
Btw Taecyeon’s drama is coming out soon, with the very ominous title Game Towards Zero…like some sort of countdown… 😳 I keep seeing teasers. I will tune in to watch. He’s a lovely man and I will always give good men my support (at least for the initial 4 episodes anyway 😂).
https://twitter.com/kdrama_news/status/1212411363630501888?s=21
Happy New Year! 🥳
Oh you’re so organised girlfriend! 🙌🏻😍 I love it!
1 – Besides my Boss, everyone knows I love kdramas. I taught my 3 year old niece that song, Never Enough. She learned it after listening twice. It was all about the chorus. 😂
2 – I didn’t comment on that candle scene but I did love it. You’re right, Jeong Hyuk is not realistic in real life but he’s my dream guy?! 😂 I’m excited for your review.
3 – I’ll marathon My Private Life. 😄
4 – Please tell me the app that your going to use. I’m very interested in learning Hangul too. 😉
5 – Exciting! It’s like Valentines every 14th of the month here except it will be your/our own interpretations/ideas. Bring it on! 🙌🏻
I’m practicing TenguGo right now.
I downloaded it from my iPhone app and so far, I’ve learned to recognize six vowels and 5 consonants. 😂 There’s a quiz component which I liked — You can do the quiz over and over again like a drill.
There was a quote at the very beginning of the lesson:
” A wise man can acquaint himself with them before the morning is over; a stupid man can learn them in the space of ten days”
I thought it threw down the gauntlet and challenged me. I’m now determined to learn the Korean alphabet in less than 10 days. 😂
Will keep you updated….
The app is free — so far. I haven’t checked out all the lessons. Hangul has 19 vowels and 21 consonants so there’s still much for me to learn. I’m sure I’ll be asked to buy more lessons later on for a nominal fee.
I also have the Rosetta Stone but I don’t like memorizing conversational phrases. I prefer to visualize the words than just hearing them.
Oh which one of the TenguGo? There’s Hangul one, Korean Vocabulary or Korean 1? Hangul? I’ll download it today. ☺️
I’ll be on the ten days area 😂
Thank you! About to go walking with the boys. Time to loose the kilos gained during the holidays. 😁
Hangul.
I’m working on more vowels and the y + vowels like Yo, Yu, Ya, Ye, 🤪🤪
The first lessons are free. But don’t download it until I figure out how much it actually costs. 😂 I don’t want you wasting money because of me.
I use DuoLingo for Korean learning. It’s free. I got stuck with the sentence structure and grammar. I convinced daughter dear to take it up as a subject in Uni 😂. So I might steal her notes. She’s learning it so much faster than I am just by listening to Kpop and watching Korean varieties. But then again she’s always had a knack for languages – she learns by sound.
😄 Don’t worry, if it becomes expensive I’ll switch to DuoLingo per @nrllee 😁
Can it be taken up as a subject just by itself @nrllee ? 😊
Done!
I finished learning the Korean alphabet! 😂
I can read simple words like “pabo” (stupid) and “maek ju” (beer) and “soju” (Lol. I’ve my priorities straight).
I’ve got to practice however so more syllables can become “sight-reading” words.
Thanks! I see that DuoLingo is also an iPhone app. Maybe I’ll download it for my iPad. It’s tempting because it’s free. 😂
One of my sons plans to learn Korean to surprise his GF but funnily enough, the GF doesn’t speak it fluently. She understands it but she said she wouldn’t have aced the AP Korean test given to high school students.
I know, right? With the amount of time your daughter spends on Kpop, she might as well learn the language properly, in an academic setting, and get credit for it.
@agdr03 She started off the year(2019) doing Exercise Physiology which I thought didn’t suit her at all – purely because she didn’t know what else to pick and she liked to gym 🤔. I warned her about anatomy but she told me confidently that she knew her “lats” and “abs”. 3/4 of the year in, she’s freaking out about how much detail she needed to know and decided to switch to Arts/Social Sciences for 2020 which I thought was where she should’ve landed. I told her to try Linguistics (major) and pick up Korean Studies as a minor. So that’s what she’s trying to swap into now. Her Kpop mania would then be “research” and our trip to Korea would be a “cultural exchange”. 😂
Happy New Decade Everyone! Wishing everybody health, wealth and happiness in 2020! May this new decade bring even better things to all. I’ll look forward to the 14th of each month. My new year’s resolutions: 1) make changes for more healthy eating habits 2) Be better about keeping in touch with friends and try to write letters at least once a month to everyone
Good to see you back here at this blog, @Phoenix! I was wondering where you were.
@Table122000: Thank you💕 It’s good to be back!!!😊
It was a maddening last 3 months of 2019 at work with a scramble to wrap up everything by year end. Hence I was forced to not even think about kdramas and wasn’teven checking my mail updates regularly.
Now that it’s finally over, I think I can be back to enjoying the discussions on this blog again. I missed you all and @packmule’s trademark humor!
Managed to see 4 episodes of Crash Landing recently, and could relate to @packmule3’s post on it.
What a coincidence that learning languages are being discussed here 🙂 Since last year, my NY resolution has been to pick up at least one new language (basic conversations and script). Last year it was Japanese, because I visited Japan. This year, it’s going to be Spanish, ahead of my Spain trip. Wonder why I never thought about learning Korean though, given the number of kdramas I watch! Maybe I’ll target it bext year.
My other resolution this year is to learn to play a musical instrument, preferably the piano. And of course, there’s the constant resolution that I pick every year – to exercise more 😛
Happy New Year again! I took a few classes in Korean once when I was thinking of teaching ESL there. I was the only non Korean-Canadian in the whole class of 25 and at the end of the first class they gave me a standing ovation because the teacher picked on me the whole way through but I ended the class knowing the alphabet and sounds. I had real trouble with the variety of sounds they have for ‘u’. The ovation was both a pity clap and a Rocky clap!
I ended up not going to S. Korea but to Turkey for a year so I could indulge my love of archeology. I want to go to S America next so Spanish is next in line. Here’s hoping both my modern French and old Latin for medical terminology give me a better boost than kdramas gave me for Korean.
What, by the way, is everybody watching? Any good c or thai dramas, Table? I’m kind of having fun with The Romance of Hua Rong despite the rather infantile female lead. At least she’s got spirit, and who wouldn’t want to be kidnapped by a gorgeous pirate. Halfway through, it’s still idiotically fun, and I ff to the last five mins of the whole series (only 24 eps) and there is indeed a happy ending. So for fluff and good romantic tension, I can recommend!
I’ve faltered on Joy of Life and Crash Landing but will likely pick up. I enjoyed Yanxi Palace, all 70 eps of it, so will likely watch the 6 ep sequel about their bitchy daughter on Netflix.
Recommendations welcome!
I just hopped on board Stove League. I didn’t think I would like it because I know nothing about baseball. But seeing the ratings sky rocket with each episode I had to tune in to see what the hype was… I really like it so far. Interesting characters. The drama is more about people and politics than it is about the game. Giving me a lot of Life (the KDrama) vibes…and I really enjoyed that.
Howdy! ☺️
Great job on the Korean alphabet! 👏🏻 I haven’t done anything as I got busy with my niece staying with us a couple of nights after the New Year. 😍
I was only able to rest today and watch R1988. I’m on episode 16 now and I’m loving it.
@nrllee , I’m sure you’re daughter would blitz through learning Korean especially with your trip next month. 😉👍🏻
You know, I wasn’t going to watch it because Imostly watch kdrama for rom coms or fusion sageuks but you’ve mentioned Life so positively so many times, nrllee, that I will have to check it out. Also Stove League because I love baseball!
@Barbrey You will love Hot Stove League if you love baseball. All the stats and jargon just fly over my head but the characters are interesting and the story is too. Acting is great and I like all the characters. It doesn’t feel forced at all. There’s social commentary woven in so it’s a plus for me. 🙂
Do you want me to open a thread here for you and @barbrey to discuss Hot Stove League?
I don’t mind.
“ Do you want me to open a thread here for you and @barbrey to discuss Hot Stove League?
I don’t mind.”
I have been posting in the Soompi thread so @barbrey can join there if she likes the drama. It’s not romcom or fusion Sageuk so she may not like it. 😂. There’s little if any romance. More like slice of life in a baseball setting. It’s a real eye opener for me into the intricacies that is baseball. A massive enterprise fuelled by diehard fans. I always assumed it was just the one coach for the team… only to find out that you have a pitching coach, a batting coach, a bench coach and then an overseeing manager in the dugout too. Then there’s a scouting division, an operations division, marketing… I never realized how intricate the machinations of a pro baseball club was. 😯
Don’t know about pro-baseball but my two sons played baseball from T-ball all the way to high school. Lots of travel until we opted out.
And yes, there are so many coaches involved even at a young age. By 12 ~ 13, my kids saw coaches specific for their needs. My southpaw trained with a batting coach AND a pitching coach. But my other son just met with a batting coach. 🙂
There’s even a first base coach and a third base coach.
And let’s not forget the team scorekeeper. Of all sports, baseball is the game of stats.
Yes the stats just totally went over my head. And you’re right, there’s a division for that too in the club 😯. It’s no wonder egos get in the way. Too many cooks. It’s a nightmare to manage it all.
@Barbrey- Great minds think alike! I am also watching The Romance of Hua Rong and enjoying it. I don’t understand all of the hate on some of the forums for the female lead. I like her because she has spirit and she is also pretty smart. Yes, she can be childish at times but so is the male lead. It’s that type of silly rom com. I just finished Ep. 14, which I actually thought was the final episode for the drama until someone else told me that this drama is 24 eps. Not sure where they can go for another 10 episodes, but I guess if things go badly, I can always just consider the drama finished at Ep. 14. I do like the main couple- they have a sweet chemistry onscreen and offscreen too. I saw the male lead actor in I Hear You and I thought his performance there was not bad so nice to see him again this time in a lead role. Apparently he also had a supporting role in Love & Destiny. FL actress is also a newbie, and I think she is doing OK as well.
I haven’t seen any Thai dramas since Hua Jai Sila, which I found an addictive watch. It’s a revenge drama lakorn, and I can see why it was one of the most talked about lakorn for 2019. I can’t remember if I mentioned it here at this blog or not. I also watched In Family We Trust over at Netflix and, wow. It kept my interest with the mystery. There were some things that didn’t make sense to me but, hey, this is lakornland so no surprise there. I will say if you want to see why misogny and favoritism are bad ideas, as well as an indictment of patriarchy wrapped in a easy to watch family mystery, then this lakorn is worth your time.
For Chinese language dramas, I liked Taiwan dramas Hello Again! and My Lucky Star. I’m thinking about starting Historical Romance drama Devastating Beauty once I finish with Hua Rong as it is now being subbed in English over at Tencent YT channel. Comments say the plot reminds them of Empress Ki, so it sounds intriguing. Huge plus is that it is a short drama with 36 1/2 hour episodes, so approximately 18 hours of content.
I also have my eye on Please Love Me which is available at Mango TV Drama Youtube. ML is the guy from Le Coup De Foudre and FL is from About Is Love. It’s a contract marriage plot, and it looks cute in the trailer. Unfortunately, Mango TV is extremely slow with the subs for this drama so I am waiting until more episodes are available with subs.
Sorry for being a latecomer to your Post. Happy New Year!!! =D
Hey! Hi!
Meilleurs voeux, Happy New Year too.
And thank you for your wishes, although an old man like me hardly fits the description of “bitche”, according to what my automatic translator tells me about that word.
However, “bitches” are my favourite characters in dramas. :-D.
And the best one so far is the one of “Roofftop prince”.
I too am devastated at the idea of spending my time listening to Korean without understanding it. So much time wasted deep down!
So I started to learn hangul (motivated by the drama “tree with deep root”). I learnt the alphabet, grammar rules, etc. Alas I gave up for lack of time. And the pronunciation rules, apparently simple because they are based on this very logical alphabet, turned out to be more complicated than that, with lots of variations.
I don’t have many resolutions.
Look at the priority dramas I use for the screenshot of the W season 2 photo-drama.
That’s why I saw “what’s wrong secretary kim”, because I needed pictures of the actor Lee Tae Wan.
A nice drama although full of clichés. However, I gave up halfway through, I could feel the boredom appearing.
So I saw the drama “Remember, war of the son”, because I needed screenshot of Lee Si Un (I can never get enough shots of this actor). The drama turned out to be very good.
Or “moon lovers scarlet heart” because of the actor Lee Sun Ki. Good drama too, especially the last 5 episodes, a real storm of twists and turns and emotions.
The dramas with Kim Tae Hee are done. (yes, I’ve seen all her dramas!).
Kim So Hyun, I’m going to put “I miss you” at the top of my list.
On your side, of course, finish W! (it’s not done yet?!?! :-D). Such a masterpiece is to be seen, although it’s a bit out of the frame of Korean dramas. This kind of complex SF scenario is more broadly universal.
The drama lovers liked the drama side of W, but not necessarily the full depth of the work nor the cerebral side. On the other hand, those who like this kind of fiction don’t watch Korean dramas.
W is doomed to remain in a black hole, misunderstood.
Today, I am no longer focused on the original drama (I haven’t seen it for a while).
I’m completely immersed in season 2.
I wrote the sequel because I didn’t have much choice, I had too many ideas to do nothing with it.
I hoped that it would also please the drama fans, but in the end, I had no feedback on it.
I spent a lot of energy to make the script presentable (writing two synopses, translating the first 34 episodes). Just as much energy to find contacts in South Korea to transmit the script but I couldn’t get any contact! Nothing! I couldn’t even send the script to anyone, to at least get a negative response. As for screenwriter Song Jae-Jung, I couldn’t find a way to contact her.
It broke my morale. As a result, I took over the production of the photo-drama.
I’d like to learn how to do photo montage better, but I’m not very good at it.
And it destroys my nerves because it’s so long and complicated to make.
I’ve gotten better anyway, as proof: http://w4worlds.fr/images/Ep07/IMG_07_RenBoExit.jpg
With a bit of motivation, I’m going to rework some images from the first episodes.
I’d like to turn an episode into a photo-drama every two weeks, but that’s probably too optimistic.
I have the impression that it doesn’t interest many people anyway.
It’s a bit depressing, but at least it takes the pressure off. 🙂
My main motivation is the love of a job well done : When I finish an episode and it really looks like a drama, with the characters’ expressions that are as true as if we saw them on TV, during the dialogues.