Well hello. Just wanted to say hi and that I am finally one of the first people to post. It seems as if your blog now easily garners over 200 comments on a typical BOF post. :D Congrats!

I plan on going on a Fashion show here in Toronto. (L'oreal Fashion Week) So it'll be exciting. :)

Fashion show in Toronto? Aw! That'll be fun! In my lack of having new American Project Runway, I've been watching the Canadian version (which is fabulous for deciding David Bowie's wife should host).

Whoo~Friday before finals week. And yet, I still have a paper and two exams today. Urf. I guess it I'll be happy next week when I'm done, and my friends are not :)

Well since this is an open thread, i am posting a question, i hope someone can answer me. Koreans alphabet have the same carachter for differents letters, that i understand, but i dont get why some words like: Buin = wife, can be said Puin or Buin... Even if they share the same letter P/B i believed that only one pronunciation was going to be used. I noticed if they say just Buin, its with a B, if the name is called also, example : Hwang puing, then its with a P the pronunciation. The same goes for a lot of their words.

Thanks in advance!!

Do you have or know the song that played at the night club where Yi Jung took Ga Eul out on a date in the latest episode of Boys Over Flowers (Episode 19, I think)? It sounds wild but lots of fun.

@ Tuttie - Letters like ㅂ (p/b) , ㄱ (k/g), and ㄹ (r/l) have more fluid sounds than English-speakers would usually think. A lot of the difference just comes down to where the sound comes in a series of sounds (it might sound different coming at the beginning of a sentence than if it came in the middle or the end, for example), as well as individual preference (and perhaps regional dialects? I would think so, but I'm still not sure).

At least that's what I've noticed. But don't take my word for it--I'm still learning. :P

Ahahah, spring break begins today~~~! Except I'm going to be trapped in the dorm all week, because I have papers to write and didn't feel like flying home. :( Booooo~ Maybe I'll use this opportunity to catch up on all of my dramas, too.

Is anyone else on spring break right now or was last week? What are/were your plans?

Also, I love your song uploads, Javabeans. Way to expand my music collection with random things. ^^

my head hurts really bad, combination of several coffee mugs and extra panadol while studying 8 hours straight is NOT good for your health...

now i understand how people feel when they're drunk, everything feels blurry and dizzy

my head hurts really bad, combination of several coffee mugs and extra panadol while studying 8 hours straight is NOT good for your health...

now i understand how people feel when they're drunk, everything feels blurry and dizzy

damn the double posts.. i can't seem to delete the other one
oh well.

cant wait for bof!

i was wondering where can i watch antique bakery!!HAHA i've looked high and low for the movie!!does anyone know?

@dramaaddict - I have MU links for it!

CD 1: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GLDRVFUU
CD 2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1416YLJE

Hardsubbed in English. I haven't watched it yet [waiting for a friend], so I don't know how it is, but I've heard it's good. :D

Tuttie-

I'll give you a pretty technical version of what's going on, so I hope it makes sense...

Unlike English, which makes distinction between voiced and voiceless consonant pairs (k/g, p/b, t/d), Korean does not make a distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants/stops. It's kind of the same as how the "p" sound is aspirated (like with 피읖) when you say "pie," but English speakers do not notice the aspiration.

The voiceless stops (k, p, t) are voiceless normally and become voiced (g, b, d) when they are between voiced sounds (vowels, m, n, l, ɾ, ŋ)... However, this is the exact opposite your thoughts on the nature of 비읍.

A similar thing goes on with 리을 where the l becomes ɾ (a "flap" r, like in Spanish and Japanese) either before or in between vowels. There are additional things going on in the language like nasalization and liquidation and resyllabification... but... the voicing issues are the most important ones to figure out, IMHO :)

Finally, my phonology class has a useful application, kinda >_<

I'm a total addict to your site! Every morning when I turn on my laptop, your site is the first thing I check for any new posts! You have a such a natural way of writing. Flawless! Anyways I am curious to know more about you...Why do you blog? Do you work in the journalism field? Who is javabeans actually? ^ _ ^ Keep up the great work!!
Also I enjoy Iljimae Returns but why have the ratings plummeted when it premiered with such good results?

to BBF fans: =]

i just wanna share this MV with you guys(i didn't make it btw). it was wonderfully edited & made that it actually brought me to tears(i never even cried while watching BBF so far, but this vid got me)..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPpYMKbi4zk

Yay! It's friday and the start of my 1 week holiday!
@ McJayjay (7) - talking about being drunk... Seems like one wouldn't even remember what one did when one was drunk.
I know someone whose forte was partying (he said so). So one fine day he got badly drunk. His friend dumped him in a taxi and sent him home. The next day, he found out that he was robbed of his valuables and that he was at home... He didn't even know HOW he got home!

This shows how getting drunk is bad.

hi! it's my first time posting ~ thank you so much for your recaps and song links. i've been following your blog since Coffee Prince.

Since this is an Open Thread, I hope it's okay if I request a song. Does anyone have a link to Super Junior's new song "Sorry, Sorry"?

@ Pomato: huh? What? I beg your pardon? I lost you at voiced and voiceless...

Hi all, check out this fanmade video from youtube. It's about "bended" love triangle between Jihoo-jandi-junpyo..ha ha ha... ! I think it's an amazing vid which captures great emotion from actors. Have fun! ...

@Dramaddict - you can also watch Antique Bakery from the below sites:
1-uploaded on Youtube with eng sub now user chanarilove
0r
2-http://www.dailymotion.com/user/yongwonhi/video/x8l2la_antique1_music

The real "gem" is Terroir. I don't know why you are not covering this show. It's soo good!

Augh... it is really unfortunate that the ratings for ROI keep on dropping. It's confusing to me because there is a lot more going on at the moment than there was in earlier episodes. Oh well, if I enjoy it in addition to a small group of people who really appreciate it that's enough... I think. One of the benefits of the Korean-style of television is that quality shows with low ratings still get a chance to finish their run/stories without being canceled, so at least I don't have to worry about that type of thing when I watch dramas.

Peeps!``-

p becomes b when it's in between any combination of: vowel(s), m, n, l, ɾ (r like in Spanish or Japanese), or ŋ (the "ng" in sing)

yay for friday!! even if it is the 2nd Friday the 13th we've had in a row :o)

sigh... just realized it's mid-march already and taxes are due in a month!!

BOF is going to be over soon...and then what will i watch?!?! any interesting upcoming suggestions javabeans?

Oooh... I get it. Thanks!
I completely agree with you about the TROI part too. Haiz...

SuJu new songs can be heard on http://www.allkpop.com
Its Friday and thus my spring breaks begins! Midterms are over and now its laziness until then. South Beach Miami here I come!

Okay I am planning to have a great weekend - after a week with two girls who have the dreaded "stomach flu", this mom deserves a break. So I am planning to curl up in bed with my laptop (yes I had it downloaded and ready to watch) and catching up on all the Boys Over/Before Flowers - OMG, I was dying because I could not watch ep. 18 and 19.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and give the one you love a big hug.

Hello!
First I have a questions and second I have something I just realized.
1) Does anyone out there know how to post a letter to Korea? I have something that I need to send, but have no idea how to do it. The guy that I need to send the letter to gave me a lot of inforamtion, but I'm not sure how to write it in.
Thanks.

2) This is totally something that I just realized yesterday. Boys Before Flowers is the 3rd remake of this particular manga.
OMG!
I think the first was Meteor Garden (Taiwan). The second Hana Yori Dango (Japan) and now BBF.
I was thinking back to when I spoke to one of my friends in high school, and she was totally in love with MG. We were all going to get together to see the series, but we were all to busy with trying to graduat to see it.
Let me tell you, so far, the Korean version is th best. Japans BBF was not to my liking and seemed very blah.
I guess I have to see MG to compare to BBF.
Thanks for listening.
Bye.

I just started watching Return of Iljimae on an online streaming website after reading your recaps and I love it!!

One of the things that I don't quite like about kdramas is the melodrama and overdone emotions. ROI seems to be an exception in that it seems to be done right. The angst and sorrow is still there but is very much understated and subtle and much more lifelike. The comedy is also there but again not overdone. The narrative style of the show also makes each episode almost self contained while contributing the the overarching story so I can watch the drama at my leisure while waiting for the english subs and still enjoy it thoroughly.

Open thread it is!

Since I just got back home from a one-day-retreat...here's what i have to say:

"You can serve without loving; but you can not Love without serving"

The End

kender; my spring break's starting in a week! :D can't wait. am going to a themepark on saturday to celebrate haha simply because sitting on rollercoasters screaming your lungs out is the best way.

and i'm taking the links for antique bakery, thanks! am quite excited about it. has anyone watched my school's ET? i think it looks really good from the bits i've seen on youtube - kim sooro is such a clown :)

well, since it's open thread let me just share what happened to me today,,,

I only had 3 hours of sleep because of my biology exam then I took my exam just an hour ago and I think I did ok on that exam,,, I don't want to be confident because the last time I was confident with my exam, I made a C because I did not write the whole sentence on my exam so my professor counted at least 4 points on my grade (read the instructions carefully, a lesson I learned that took my points away from me :( )

well, yeah then I'm going home today because it's our spring break next week!
My group members from my club wants me to go with them for a spiritual camp... I want to go but I already planned out everything ahead of time,,, and they're going to Corpus Christi :(

Help in finding where to buy Korean dramas

Hi everyone!

TGIF!

Does anyone know where I can purchase the following Korean dramas?

1. Dal Ja's Spring
2. Bad Family
3. (not a drama, but the Good, the Bad and the Weird - limited edition - Region 1 DVD (not Region 3))

The two main places I have been looking online are DVDAsian and YesAsia, but I have not had success in finding these DVDs there. I also been looking on ebay and other sites like Amazon.com (which has a very surprising number (over a hundred) korean dramas for sale. I started by buying from Amazon, then moved onto DVDAsian and YesAsia, but still I am having trouble finding non-bootleg, non-official versions of these dramas.

I can always go to K-town and purchase bootleg copies with cheesy plastic covers and inserts, but the quality is poor, the english subtitles are hilariously wrong, and I don't feel good about purchasing pirated stuff.

Thanks so much in advance!

P.S. In case you guys didn't know, Kim Sunah > Lee Da Hae > Song Hye Gyo, but those are my three fav drama actresses so far.

@kender
thanks for the links~ some parts of the movie is so charlie and the chocolate factory/trippy. it's quite a funny movie for me and so much eye candy to boot~~

There's a serious lack of wine in my fridge.
If it doesn't come pre-packaged I can't cook it but I've found this great korean cooking website that has video blogs I might give some of them a go.

Can I rant about the impending amnesia arc or would that be classed as spoilers?

can anyone explain to me why some characters would alternate touching their nose and tongue with their finger three times?

@Tuttie: I'm a learner too, but you know what, watch korean things with eng subs endlessly and it becomes natural all by itself. When it comes to trying to get the spelling right for words by myself though, it's KILLER. ><"

@Samsooki: I'm not sure how good it is but sensasian.com sells kdramas that I'm pretty sure are legit. I haven't bought one in a while, after getting a load of duds, but the prices on the site are expensive enough, at least, they'd better be legit. ^^

I was too behind to comment on the ep19 thread, but BBF... It's gone batshit insane. I don't even realise when I change my opinion from loving it to being pissed, I think I'm in a constantly fluctuating state of both. Our protagonists have had every inch of their original personalities stripped away, and I just realised after 19, they're messed up Jun Pyo's character too, now, to the extent that even Lee Minho can't save it. And yet - I'm still addicted. What IS this WTF-ery? Also, Hyunjoong's awkward acting fits right in to all the crazy. If it was the last mania kdrama, Coppee Prince, an actor like him, much as I love Hyunjoong, would've been such a sore. Instead... we have crazy fitting in with oddities, all dancing to the tune of Almost Paradise. Can we start a petition to bring back Almost Paradise? Anyone?

To end my ramble - Java, how old are you? ^^ Feel free to thwack - I just seem to think of you as this ageless overlord of drama.

Go Open Thread Friday right now. 'Cause I'm so using this to continue tooting my horn for what happened today lol. I had to email parts of my application Grad School X lost *again* and what do I find in my inbox? An email. I just got my first acceptence to Califonia College of the Arts for Grad school! *does a dance*

POMATO:

Thanks a lot!! But, i speak spanish, and the R becomes doble r (rr) ONLY between vowels. Example: CARRO (car), and thar never changes. i guess is up to preferences or how the sentence is constructEd. In the summer i guess i"ll find out, since a Corean teacher is coming to my country.

But anyway, thanks to everyonewho helped me.

JAVABEANS, i love your Blog since Witch Amusement, i laughed twice, when i watched the drama and when i read yours recaps....

I rewatched Antique Bakery today XD It's SO good! Did any of you watch it yet?

The other day I The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and it was such a great movie, but so tragic~ >____<

The next movie I'm eyeing is Watchmen and it seems to have gotten some good ratings on imdb :P Heh, I dunno what's up with me these days. Usually don't watch much movies at all! But well I've been bored on the drama front~

Anyway, glad that it's friday! Finally can get lots of sleep!

xiahkixiri -

I visited sensasian.com - it looks to be a malaysian company based out of kuala lumpur.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find anything worth buying. For instance, they had three versions of Dal Ja's Spring. One was a VCD bootleg, and two were Region 3 DVD sets that looked a little bit sketchy.

Thanks anyway.

im re-watching Que Sera Sera right now because its so slow at work...lol

but I still cant understand why so many people didnt like this drama..im watching it and im falling in love with it all over again...so sad that it didnt do so well when everything about it is GREAT

Does anyone know where I can download, Speed Scandal?

As far as, Return of Iljimae, i think that most people, especially oversea aren't watching it or it's not as popular because no one was subbing it before, but now that Harusubs is subbing it, it should get a little more attention now, I, for one, checking their site every few hrs to check on the status, haha. thanks so much guys for subbing it! and another reason is probably a lot of people think that it's the same as the other version so they don't feel the need to watch it. And there are so many shows right now that is taking up all the ratings, ie boys before flowers, etc.

in school right now, reading dramabeans's blog... hahah..
yea. i'm a slacker high schooler -____-;

Anyways, Happy Friday everybody!
I'm planning on starting a New Heart marathon.
[for those who haven't watched it, it's really interesting; but if you don't like watching surgeries.... umm.. yea, not the best drama to watch....]

Keep up the good work Dramabeans~ :]

-hyein

Hi! Just read your Twitter. What is "mucho kamsa"?
I miss my mom so i envy you even if you say its weird...

After reading 7in1shot's comment I feel that your "mucho kamsa" line deserves to be on http://www.mymomisafob.com. Check it out! Hilarious collection of random "fob" like sayings from moms and dads.

Hi,
weekend time: A friend of mine from out of town comes visiting this means sightseeing and no drama for three days. But the weather promises to be very nice: Sunshine galore! This way boating trips, parks, shopping, etc. should be quite nice.

@ 37 Congratulations!

@ 21 Don't remind me of doing my tax declaration... I should really take care of it!

Nice weekend to you all!

Hi Javabeans.

Are you a full time blogger? Or do you just dabble for fun? If so, what do you do for a living? If these questions are too personal, you don't have to answer.
I am just curious if you're a full timer like Perez and Lainey Gossip.
The reason I ask is because the quality of your blogs are outstanding. You have a real gift with words. Your time and effort really show through the quality of your work. Keep up the good work

@ missty: you've just made my day! I wanted to see Return of Iljimae so bad but I had already gave up on it...I didn't know Haru Subs had picked it up. Woohooo *dances around happily* Can't wait, can't wait!

@ 43 :Ha ha..... same thing here. I suppose to study for a test. However, as you, I am a college slacker. Read Javabeans blog and listen to Korean music. By the way, does anybody have any good Korean restaurants in OC and good Korean food, beside bibimpap (that is my favorite)?

Thanks for giving a look

Have a good Friday.
PS: Is anybody going to the VICTORY concert next week?

@Samsooki: If the regions are the problem, its pretty easy to reset dvd players to all regions so they'll play. There were a bunch of decent-looking boxsets there... Alternatively, you could download the dramas and burn them for private use or something. ^^

~ On a whim, started trying to learn html... Got stuck on FTP clients. Downloaded 2, both kinda weird. I should stop with the picking up of random hobbies; stress for no reason, and less time for legal essays. Meh.