As you know, for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been on the prowl for a good show to watch. I’ve sampled a bunch of series, but so far, none has really stuck. The ones I’ve found interesting have been on the mild end of the excitement spectrum, but nothing’s really gripped me.

Maybe it’s because I haven’t been very into any of the series I’ve been trying that I’m finding myself more critical of little things. For instance: scenes or beats that aren’t merely reminiscent of earlier dramas, but downright lifted from them and transplanted into the new one. It’s one thing to wear an influence on one’s sleeve (for instance, the striking musical similarities in Hello! Miss’s score to Dal Ja’s Spring were really obvious to me, but never got in the way); it’s another thing to pilfer directly.

(Random) SONG OF THE DAY

Vintage Blue - “Your Song” [ zShare download ]

Read on for random series and scene comparisons >>

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Keke. Totally just for kicks and giggles…

Today’s useless but amusing toy of the day comes via Pop Candy, which, if you’re unaware, is a fantastic blog on American/Western pop culture. Not the Perez Hilton-y, slagging-on-poptarts (or as they say, “celebutard”) kind of pop culture, but a witty, smart, ironic kind that skews a little Gen X and geek-chic, but is infinitely more readable and satisfying. If you’re into that kind of thing, that is.

Anyway. Wonder what you’d look like as an anime character? Try running a photo through the Face Transformer tool here. I tried it on myself, and the anime/manga setting is by far the most flattering. The “mucha” option yields decent results, but inevitably the Modigliani option brings out the chinkiness in all of us using the “East Asian” setting, and the Botticelli tends to make you look like a desiccated mummy (redundant?). Or third-degree burn victim.

Since I’m not about to post pics of myself up on the internet, and I’m feeling a bit of Coffee Prince withdrawal, I figured, why not kill two birds with one procrastinatory stone?

 
(Random) SONG OF THE DAY

The Melody - “Everything N’Nothing.” Someone asked for more of The Melody, so here’s my favorite song from their first album. [ zShare download ]

 
What’s funny is that Yoon Eun Hye, and by extension, Eun Chan, totally already looks like an anime character.

You know what’s funnier? If you select the option to “feminize” Gong Yoo’s face, it comes out looking almost exactly the same! No joke. I tried it on several different pictures (because it took a while to get a result that I thought was remotely interesting looking).

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(Someone should Photoshop Gong Yoo’s head into this pic. PS challenge anyone? )

 
I don’t have that much to say about the Coffee Prince special — first because a lot of it is merely recaps of the series, and is better enjoyed by watching the special oneself rather than reading me recapping someone else’s recap. I figure redundancy is best avoided when possible. And it is possible here, because WITH S2 is subbing this special, and I’ll be providing some of the translation, so you’ll be able to catch it soon enough. (Note: Special episodes are a lot of work — there’s a ton more talking than in a normal episode, so the sheer volume of lines to be translated and timed is pretty hefty. Just a fair warning.)

Anyway, so I’ve just noted some interesting points. (This is by no means a comprehensive summary.)

(Random) SONG OF THE DAY

Cloud Cuckoo Land - “나의 이름을 불러줘” (Call my name) [ zShare download ]

 
COFFEE PRINCE Special >>

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And, finally. Here we are: the final episode!

 
(Random) SONG OF THE DAY

The Hi-Lights - “울트라 캡숑 히든 보너스” (ultra awesome hidden bonus) [ zShare download ]

 
COFFEE PRINCE Seventeenth Cup (Final) >>

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When I first started watching cable drama Romance Hunter, it was mainly out of curiosity, since I hadn’t heard anything about it. (I was surfing clubboxes for something else, and the title caught my eye, so I downloaded it. I stumble across lots of things serendipitously like that, and it’s always a nice feeling when one sticks.) The first episode was mildly amusing — as I noted in a previous post, it was a little too similar to Sex and the City for me to find it completely engaging, but shallowly, I was intrigued by the actor who I guessed would become the main love interest. His character is all the stuff young women’s daydreams are made of (handsome, competent, gentle but not unmasculine, sensitive but not overly, with a hint of mystery), so it was enough to keep me going. (Caveat: Romance Hunter is probably a show that appeals directly to women, even more so than the typical romance dramas on broadcast TV. I won’t say men won’t like it, but it seems very heavily female-skewed, and intentionally so.)

But it was in Episode 5 that everything clicked into place, and hooked me. (Unfortunately, as Murphy’s Law dictates, I’d only had the first five episodes downloaded, so I was forced to stop and wait just when I was most interested in continuing.) The reason was, although the first four episodes were entertaining, the fifth was when the show seemed to shake off the SATC mantle and come into its own.

(Random) SONG OF THE DAY

Beautiful Romance - “아직도 난” (I still…) [ zShare download ]

 
ROMANCE HUNTER, through Episode 5 >>

Filed under: Romance Hunter, K-Drama by javabeans - 31 Comments →