As a student summer vacationing in the third world (philippines), 3-day holidays aren't as festive as they used to be. LOL.

Last week was another excuse to drunk er drink. Tonight I decided to take a break. Instead of taking advantage of the parents being gone, I'll be a good son and stay in my room, turn on the AC, and spend my night flip flopping between Dal Ja's Spring and my sweet seoul while the rest of my underrage peers are killing useful brain-cells. Oh well, mini-depression's getting to me lately. Maybe that's why these 30 something woes are appealing . lol.

Hi! this is my first time writing here.

I´m from Argentina and i really love all dramas, specially kdramas.
I came here every day just to read your post and notices.

thankyou very much

Vanesa

i wish every weekend was a 3-day weekend... newport had awesome weather for 4th of july and my friend has a house right on the beach, so i got to enjoy that :o)

too bad the only fireworks we got to see looked like they were coming from huntington... and then it took us 2 hours to get out of newport and into irvine. traffic sucks... but at least we got to enjoy an entire day of fun in the sun!

looking forward to yet another weekend in an alcohol-induced haze haha.

there have been threatening BS about the legality of downloading dramas on the local KBS channel...even from paid sites. all i wanna do is call bullshit. kthx.

Whoa, Binnie has been cast in the drama remake of JDG's Friend. I'm uhhhh not sure about that one . . .

Just finished 9 Ends 2 Outs. This drama was definitely written for me, and yet I didn't emotionally connect with it. Maybe it's because I can completely relate, and in that way, I was emotionally resisting the material even while I was getting "yep been there, said that, OMG I did that too . . " with the lines and situations. I didn't feel them, even if it mostly rang true. Show also made me remember how much I loved Choi Han Sung/Han Yoo Joo in Coffee Prince, who were my favorite couple last year. In that show, I *felt* them.

*continuation from Open Thread #37 *

@mookie,

Wonder how Tomorrow will do against Code Blue. Yutaka (good playing against character in Rondo) and Miho is one photogenic couple. Plus, you got the writer of Kurosagi and one of TBS's top directors.

I agree with many people who say Kimura Takuya benefitted a lot from being given A-list projects tailored for him, and surrounded by strong actors (and especially strong female leads who could act and bring out emotional gravity.) Strictly in terms of emotional range, I think half of SMAP (I don't think Takuya could have projected the same beatific sadness that Shingo did in Bara) are still much better.

That said, Takuya is compulsively mesmerizing to me, because he builds all of his characters out of tics and mannerisms. Grimaces, winks, half smiles, clearing the throat, twinkling the nose, looking from afar when talking straight at you, clenching the fist at a certain angle, well timed pauses, etc . . . For example, the way Takuya always came out on the ice in Pride (almost like a soldier marching); NO hockey player actually does that, and yet it felt completely "on" because it was such a unique, strong gesture. Takuya's body language is so alive when he acts. It's also interesting to see him tear up, because you can tell how much he struggles with that. The actor Eun Hye most reminds me of really is Takuya. She has the same talent for physical acting and the same challenges with emotional gravity.

Pi is really at his best when he's led in a scene by the other actors. He acts reactively to a fault; he's only able to create a personality by reacting "angry", "sad", "happy" against the very last thing that happened in a scene. If he has other leads that can pace him (hello Yuko Takeuchi!), that's enough. But I don't see how it's possible with Code Blue when your other leads need a lot of direction too.

Wow, I just realized that the lead singer of sadcore duo Bluedawn was also the lead singer of not-very-sadcore "The The." Whoa. I feel like Neo.

i don't recall the exact names of the sites. they're most likely in all-korean and require a national id number. see, i don't mind signing up for those paid sites if i was THAT fluent in korean AND had a national ID number. In fact, I signed up for one just to download Shindon, only to realize that i needed a korean id number. ugh.

wtf kinda name is "The The"?

I'm having a 3 day weekend also this week...I'm still planning what to do though but one of my plans is to catch up on Spotlight and La Dolce Vita, which I still missed some episodes of, and to watch the movie Get Smart

my friends wanna have gom tang for dinner...when it's hitting 100+ everyday AND I went along with it. We're very very strange ppl.

@belleza,

I'm with you. Very true about Pi too. But what Pi is doing at his best is not acting, we should say 'reacting' more precisely?

*sigh* my undying love for Yutaka...and me being a med drama wh0re, I do hope at least Tmr will fare decent. CB squeaks highsch drama club production of the prettiest boys and girls. nth wrong if u r into pretty things running around uttering sth in costumes. I'm not completely excited about ep 1 of Tmr, nth faulty I can point fingers at too... it's decent and I'm crossing my fingers and toesit'll get terrifically better.

Kimura is oozing charisma, I can never take my eyes off him even if I'm not really a fan of his 'acting', and yes usu his mannerisms r enough to distract and occupy me away f analyzing his acting, but his Asakura maybe the first hint on things falling apart. I'm still grieving the dethroning of Federer, and I hate to see another tried and true gratifying fixture breaks. He's a shrewd calculated actor who is soo brilliant in maxing his strengths and hidin his weaknesses in everything he does. Change is a terrific drama that required a more solid actor instead of the most charismatic illusionist in dorama aka Kimura.

Maybe I'm a very straight girl, so I really cant equate YEH charmisa and screen presence with Kimura's. Not yet.

speaking of Kimura, have you guys seen this cute short he did with Choi ji woo?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GI5GC4GEROg

Yup, and this one is even more crazy. Choi Ji Woo and Shingo pretending to be Yonsama. . .

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9WQ3tMr_HL4

Ahhh Bae Yong Jong . .. Smoke 10 bags of Humboldt and still nobody could smile like you! *sigh!*

Could you upload the song of the day at either Box.net or Mediafire.com? thanks

Could someone tell me who is the girl on the banner for this website (girl second from the right). I viewed this website on July 12. Don't know if you change the banner often or not.

belleza, yup- i've seen that. hilarious.
you should download the smap smap bistro with nicolas cage. the weirdo covered his mouth with every bite of food. ugh. (dl from d-addicts)

i'm in usa for a month so i had to participate in this fireworks thing. the kids certainly had fun.

I saw the movie Wanted last night. Loved it. Gleefully over-the-top, defying logic and gravity, one hot chick (Jolie is sizzling *fans self*) and lots of James McEvoy doing funny faces with his twinkly blue eyes....ahh, just what a great summer flick ought to be!

@belleza

"Federer was like the Kimura Takuya to Nadal’s Tomoyo Nagase. Nah, not at all, but I just wanted to put the words “Nagase” and “Takuya” in the same sentence."

Hahaha....It'd be fun to see them together in the same movie. It's possible as Nagase's style is distinct enough from Kimura's... One is the King of Fools, the other King of Cool. :) Nagase is no copy-cat or wannabe of Kimura, both just as charismatic in his own way. Unlike Yamapi, who's like Kimura-lite or new Coca-cola - brand new packaging but much less satisfaction. I'd take my original Coca-cola...I mean, Takuya Kimura any day. ;-P

Yeah, Japan was besotted with Nanako Matsushima (but word is out that Nanako is no longer the Queen of ad money these days - something about her being past her expiry date. Ittai!) and now they love their Yankumi best, Nakama Yukie. I don't mind her at all, she's got the classy beauty and fair skin that will make Nippon sigh. LoL. Masami Nagasawa is so bland. Meh. She's like a pretty decoration, and nothing much more. I prefer my bad girl Erika Sawajiri....lol, this lil woman is fierce, yo!

So many summer dramas to catch...Code Blue, Tomorrow, Maou and Yasuko to Kenji (Mabo is

Eep, comment got cut!

So many summer dramas to catch...Code Blue, Tomorrow, Maou and Yasuko to Kenji (Mabo is l-u-r-v-e!). Ohno plays JJH's counterpart in Maou, and I like him better than JJH already. The producers brought in his OTP for a cameo, so they can push each other against the wall. haha! Toma is struggling to find his footing in Uhm Tae Wong's role but the boy sure is energetic.

I've watched about half of Women in the Sun, and this may be my favorite KBS drama so far this year. The basic story fits into the template of a Korean revenge melodrama, but the dialogue is unusual in that various intimate characters rip apart the heroine early on in the show. They're not so much characters as their favorite stand-ins for the Furies (one of them being her mother), voicing what she already knows. Kim Ji Soo's performance is really good here, really nails claustrophobia and how her character's unresolved guilt has created this duality within her being. She's too scared right now to be sympathetic, and that's a good thing, because what she's done is truly terrible. The way her main character is slowly descending into Hell reminds me of Mawang a lot. The story doesn't weight heavily on the morality of her actions, just the fear of losing everything makes you lose every little thing. And you can tell this early that Lee Ha Na's character (seriously, Lee Ha Na is the freshest actress in K-drama since forever . . . not since Na Young has somebody so inherently weird been allowed in) will flip from good to evil. You sense it coming, and you dread it. There also seems to be good word of mouth with the show, which has doubled its ratings, rare nowadays.

@Felicity,

Yeah, here's my distinction betwene two of Johnny's very finest. Kimura is sexy. Nagase IS sex. He's like the Japanese version of Anthony Kiedis, a silly manchild . . . of sex. And he'll be playing yakuza until the day he dies by God!

I think right now, it's Code, Tomorrow, and Maou. Is it just me or is this summer's J-dramas list much stronger (and more adult) than last year?

Sawajiri is awesome; she has the best teeth since Lil Wayne! I'd love to see the Sawajiri-Kai throw ish down with the cast from High School Musical. Too bad she's too busy dating 45-year old men. Wonder Girls/Girl Generation, take note.

In my heart, I've always thought Sawajiri could have been truly great. Her ability to relax in her scenes, and be in the moment with your environment, is something that takes most actors years of practice to believably pass off on camera. But I don't think she likes acting or has an especially high opinion of it. As if her roles are too easy for her.

@ belleza

I intend to catch up with Women of the Sun, among the other new kdrama offerings. It stars Kim Ji Soo (she was great in This Charming Girl) and my favorite kdrama actress lately, Lee Hana, so it's a no brainer choice. :) Does Han Jae Suk play a likable character here? Looks like he's gonna play the guy torn between two sisters again (in Glass Slippers, I wanted him to fall in love with the elder sister, drats)....I was hoping Javabeans would recap this drama. Oh well.

"Kimura is sexy. Nagase IS sex"

Ding! Ding! Ding! And we have a winner here! :)

Only Nagase can get away with pulling down his trousers to reveal the briefs he was endorsing on national tv, making the female emcees giggle nonstop and turning a deep shade of crimson. lol. An endearing crazy, sexy dork he is! There's one recent videoclip floating around on youtube of HardGay interviewing Tokio and Nagase interrupting HardGay to say matter of factly, "No. *I'm* the king of hot pants", when HardGay was parading in front of them. Nagase used to wear those tight leather pants in those earlier years of Tokio. Hubba hubba.

For sure, Sawascary-sama would beat down the cast of High school Musical singlehandedly. And Sousuke would be cowering in fear from her, lest she bites him with her saber-tooth!

Yeah, for all the bad rep she's taken, Erika Sawajiri had the whole package - looks, talent and youth. The world was her oyster but she blew it with her arrogance. I guess she didn't expect the media backlash to be this severe. Well it's not too late for her to eat humble pie and make a comeback...people do have short memories. If they can forgive Edison Chen's indiscretions and foolishness, why not Sawajiri.

"If they can forgive Edison Chen’s indiscretions and foolishness, why not Sawajiri."

Oh I feel bad for Edison. Because even if media forgave him (though it was never really his fault to begin with), the Triads sure haven't. Eek . . .

"And Sousuke would be cowering in fear from her, lest she bites him with her saber-tooth!"

Funny that -- after 1 Litre finished, Sawajiri was often seen hanging out with the boys of NEWS. And she would have the older (and notoriously moody) Ryo address her as Erika-SAMA. Oh snap!! :D Pi and Sawajiri should do a drama together; it would be very uncomfortable for both of them. :D

I suppose it's kinda similar to Yamada Takayuki. He's perhaps the best actor of his generation, but he's also a notorious party animal. There's in fact really funny picture of a very unshaven him and Han Hyo Joo sloshed out of their minds at a party. . . Thanks to our lord and master Yonsama, Korean-Japanese relations have reached new heights!

"It stars Kim Ji Soo (she was great in This Charming Girl) and my favorite kdrama actress lately, Lee Hana, so it’s a no brainer choice."

Oh I think Women in the Sun (or at least up through Episode 8), it's close to brilliant. The story takes the familiar revenge melodrama formula, and then tweaks it into a story about fear, isolation, human duality, familial bonds, etc. How not necessarily evil people can do the most evil things. Grows more claustrophobic and Ji Soo's character grows more isolated and even starts to have nightmares/visions. When it's good, it's like the Devil Wears Prada version of Mawang. :D Both actresses do wonderful work here, and this show has absolutely earned its strong word of mouth.

"Does Han Jae Suk play a likable character here? Looks like he’s gonna play the guy torn between two sisters again (in Glass Slippers, I wanted him to fall in love with the elder sister, drats)…."

What's interesting about the story is that both male characters develop meaningful, complex relationships with both women. So, on one hand, I really like Jae Suk with Ha Na. But I also like Ji Soo with Gyu Woon. Jae Suk is maybe the less involving character so far, but the story is set up so that he becomes very important when the ish hits the fan.