…because really, if you’re going for eye candy, isn’t shameless the best approach?
(Random) SONG OF THE DAY
Instant Romantic Floor - “Instant Cafe” [ zShare download ]
Interview with “Coffee Prince” writer Lee Jung Ah:
“Embarrassed over such favorable response for treatment of gay love”
Newsen reporting by Jo Eun Young
August 24, 2007
“This wasn’t a drama that I started with a specific intention to make a big statement about homosexuality. A woman playing the role of a man was an important aspect, but this drama is just a love story about a person named Eun Chan. Rather, the audience has found more favorable meaning in the homosexual relationship issue than the producers, for which I feel very thankful, and also somewhat embarrassed.”
The youthful Monday-Tuesday MBC drama starring Gong Yoo, Yoon Eun Hye, Lee Seon Kyun, and Chae Jung Ahn, “Coffee Prince Store #1,” has provoked extensive discussion by the public regarding the changing tastes and maturing of our culture. Among the discussion is the way that the dramatic device of using a woman acting as a man has depicted a romantic story unrestricted by gender and portrayed a mature human relationship, which has met with widespread favorable response.(…)
(Random) SONG OF THE DAY
W (Where the Story Ends) - “만화가의 사려 깊은 고양이” (The cartoon artist’s thoughtful cat)
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Another boring blog admin post.
I’ve banned some IPs from this site. I was looking through my apache error logs and was a bit alarmed to see persistent attempts to access unauthorized parts of my server. I hope I’m not misinterpreting the data, but from what I could tell, some people in China really, really, REALLY want my Coffee Prince songs. From my limited ability to surf Chinese sites, I think someone went and posted direct song links on a highly trafficked Chinese forum, which goes a long way to explaining server overload issues. Ever since I made changes to limit access, I’ve been getting pounded with thousands of attempts to hack in to grab the files.
Note: I am NOT restricting them to be mean. The alternative is that I take the files down completely and stop providing any music altogether. Okay, you’ve done and pissed me off. Coffee Prince songs are down. They will be down until I figure out a good way to put them back up or stop being mad, whichever comes first.
So: If I’ve inadvertently banned valid IPs, shoot me an email, although I doubt it because I only banned IPs that had attempted unauthorized access at least a hundred times. Sankyoo.
I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while but it coincides with recent topics, so here goes.
I think there’s a prevalent (mistaken) perception — particularly if kdramas are a primary source of information — that Koreans are puritanical about sex. In my opinion, they really aren’t. There are traditional elements in the culture, of course (just thinking about discussing sex with family is a horrifying concept) — but it’s like that common misconception that every generation thinks it invented sex. What’s most conservative about Korea, perhaps, is the representation of sex in the media, but I think it would be short-sighted to assume the culture as a whole is some Victorian, pearl-clutching, bless-my-heart, faint-at-any-hint-of-indecency society.
To wit, I present exhibits A, B, and C: the kdramas (because it always comes back to dramas!) Coffee Prince, Hyena, and Romance Hunter. Yes, I know dramas aren’t a complete or accurate representation of society, but I think it’s worth pointing out that there’s a spectrum here, too.
(Random) SONG OF THE DAY
Roller Coaster - “Love Virus” [ Download ]
“The Sex and the City Effect” >>
I’ve read the comments on whether Coffee Prince is or isn’t “realistic.” Here’s my take: Coffee Prince isn’t realistic, and it doesn’t tout itself as realism. From reading about writer Lee Sun Mi, I highly doubt that’s a claim she aspires to anyway. Coffee Prince isn’t even purely original. What it IS, then, is a wonderfully rendered telling of a story that has elements of the familiar — and it reworks those familiar points in a refreshing, clever, and entertaining way.
Rather than the story being (or not being) realistic, I find that the series displays flashes of realism in the little moments it captures, which I think is a quality many overwrought, emotional, and/or melodramatic series forget. Coffee Prince has those large-scale dramatic moments too (i.e., every cliffhanger episode ending), but balances those out with lovely little touches here and there, and that’s where it shines through for me. Like Yu Ju waiting for Han Sung to come home, whiling away her day in Episode 7, or how Han Gyul tries to figure out ways to get Eun Chan to return to the cafe after she quits. Or the way Han Gyul intertwines his fingers through Eun Chan’s while on the beach in Episode 9, or how he cups his hand around hers later while Eun Chan sleeps. There’s the great moment when Han Gyul shaves, and smears the shaving cream over the mirror in self-loathing, having a hard time accepting that he might be gay. Or how he pours water over his head in front of the open refrigerator in Episode 11 after finding out Eun Chan lied to him.
Coffee Prince isn’t reinventing television. Who would want to see something that claimed to do that? (If I wanted pretentious experimenting, I’d watch Soderbergh, thanks.) But rather than merely regurgitating stale cliches in well-worn genre, Coffee Prince manages to add fresh insights to the landscape. And that’s why I’m watching.
(Random) SONG OF THE DAY
재주소년 (Jeju Boy) - “새로운 세계” (”New World”)
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COFFEE PRINCE Sixteenth Cup >>
