I've recently gotten back on the drama train agaim - first by checking out The Light In Your Eyes (for Nam Joo Hyuk's face obviously) and then catching up on Reach of Sincerity (Scent of a Woman-era Lee Dong Wook is my dramaland forever crush). Then to fill the gaps while waiting for new episodes, I've been slooowly watching Life.

I've been loving all of them! Light is a bit of a downer though especially since all the plots don't really seem to be moving forward - and the initial sweetness between the couple is absent for plot reasons.

Life is really interesting though! I like what one recap said about how it makes sense if you watch it like a modern day political sageuk. And Lee Dong Wook in this is just great :)

Happy weekend Beanies!

All misery and no K-dramas makes this beanie very displeased.

My poor newborn godson was taken to the hospital for a few days while I had to prepare for and participate in state exams that I ended up failing.

On top of that the job search department falsely accused me of neglecting to attend an obligatory counselling session, which are only obligatory if you receive financial aid from them. If they had bothered to check my file, they would have noticed right away that I am exempted from their useless sessions because I do not receive their financial aid.

However, I would like to thank @growingbeautifully for the recruiter’s perspective last week. Right now I am also dealing with a recruiter who is still keeping me in the dark but doesn’t stop searching for perfect candidates in the meantime. I understand now that it might be better to leave them alone for a bit to deal with their job and look elsewhere.

Fortunately my godson was allowed to leave the hospital and all the stress vanished from my body when he did. I also am attending a local Asian convention with my best friend tomorrow and I am determined to return home with an abundance of snacks and merchandise. Prefarably GOT7, since they officially made me an IGOT7 :P My friend and I also picked up our Duo Sejong 4 Korean lessons last week and made K-drama’s part of the listening exercises. We are currently on episode 3 of Modern Farmer :P

As for Yoon-Sung, I posted his ode on my fan wall and I am ready to move on to my next K-drama, but whether I do and which one remains yet to be seen. ;)

Is "marathoning" fatigue sign of old age? I can't stop myself if happens on compelling drama (hello "The Good Wife") but in the end I'm drained of energy and will to watch anything at all. Live watching all the way.

Hi Everyone and Happy OT!
I'm watching only 2.3 kdramas. Why the odd fraction or decimal point?

Well I think I'm watching odd percentages of Trap, maybe bits of Dazzling/Radiant/Light in Your Eyes and sort of started Big Issue. But with these I'm not sure I want to watch every minute or continue with them. The only show I watch assiduously is RIBB.

Big Issue I started out of curiosity. A friend recommended the actor, Joo Jin Mo but the show I saw him in was (to me) a soppy romance (My Love Eun Dong) which I just could not complete. I did not really notice if he was that great an actor, but in these 2 first episodes of Big Issue, he's not bad at all. As for the show itself, well, it's thrilling and hard to watch in parts (I'm a jelly when it comes to pain and suffering). The plot is only so-so, and I'm not too sold on the characters, meaning, I've not gotten to like them much or at all yet. Joo Jin Mo's character is more sympathetic than Han Ye Seul's, since he has a reason for what he does that I can understand. Still it may be compelling to find out what they will be able to accomplish together if they ever choose to walk on the straight and narrow. I'm not even sure if show is going to go there. But I hope it will!

What I'm getting a great kick out of, when I want to take short breaks from RL, are the old but ever amusing Brit shows on YouTube. An odd Agatha Christie, lots of Jeeves and Wooster and mighty sprinklings of Rowan Atkinson. Just the stuff to dust off my work woes with and add to my happy breaks.

Hope you folks are having fun too!

Happy OT Beanies!

Read elsewhere some not so great comments on The Light In Your Eyes. I think some viewers and maybe it's the younger ones who find it slow and the plot going nowhere. @mary wrote an excellent piece on this issue in WWW last week and I agree. But I quite enjoy the slow pace, don't mind the meandering. Mostly because I can relate to Hye Ja. It took me 25 years to reach 50 but it feels like overnight.

When I was a child, I wanted to be a teenager. When I was a teenager, I couldn't wait to be an adult and free! When I was in my twenties, I wanted to have a successful career, marriage and kids. When I was in my thirties, I wanted my babies to feed themselves, not cry in the night, grow up fast. I wanted to earn more money as commitments grew. I wanted more sleep. In my forties, I wanted to retire, I wanted my children to stay cute forever, I wanted to get stop gravity. So what do I want now? For a start, take it slower and appreciate more every moment of my life as they pass in a blink of an eye.

Hi Everyone! ..... I hope you are all doing well today.

It's been seemingly nonstop rain around here with sunshine making an appearance now and then. On the bright side, I'm guessing our drought issues will be promptly resolved.

Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul-ho 2 - I don't know anymore how we got from Jo Deul-ho initially looking into So-mi's father's death to some strange woman stabbing herself, setting him up for the incident and then he ends up in jail.

Romance Is A Bonus Book - I wonder what the conversation would look like if Ji-yul's mom and Hae-rin's parents got together to discuss "suitable marriage partners." *shaking head*

Trap - Compared to episodes 5 and 6, the final episode was almost underwhelming ..... but it was still good. Lee Seo-jin was just fantastic in this show. ..... I had to chuckle when Dong-kook appeared wearing his sweatshirt with the word "Trap" on it.

That's all for now. Everyone take care and and have a great Friday!

Hi everyone :)

Lately I’ve been watching mainly C-dramas. I didn’t like MoA’s ending and since everybody was talking about “Love O2O”; I started it and absolutely LOVED it ;) I binged it then when it was done I lurked on Db and found some people (don’t remember who) talking about “A love so beautiful”... I then proceeded to binge “Love me if you dare” & I’m halfway “When a snail falls in love” I’ll probably finish it tomorrow

I had never watched a Chinese drama and I only watched a few Taiwanese dramas years ago. My first drama ever was actually “It started with a kiss” ❤️ And then I watched “Why why love” & “Devil beside you”, cried in front of “Autumn Concerto”...
Then I somehow discovered K-dramas and somehow never looked back. For some reason I thought the dramas would be really soapy but they’re actually amazing & I love the short length of episodes.

I’ve been in an intense binging marathon instead of studying for my exams...

The only K-drama I’ve been really watching lately is “Forest of Secrets”. I watched the first episode months ago & didn’t particularly like it but since everyone told me some munch good things about it I gave it another go & OMG 😮. It is so well written! I love it! It is amazing! I haven’t finished I’m currently taking a break after *spoiler* YES’s death. I didn’t even like her character but I’m mourning. I didn’t see it coming. The writer is so amazing.
Definitely watch it!

I got back to the drama world after a long hiatus... Maybe that's why I feel weird about them now. I don't get that feeling when the two leads kiss anymore whereas I used to squeal from my entire body before... Maybe I have experienced too much of the real world to enjoy drama now... I'm sad though... I used to enjoy them so much.

Happy Friday, dear beanies! I haven't been able to watch as many dramas or post as much on the site lately, because we're busy packing and so forth, but I'm thankful this site will still be here when I log in from Texas in a couple weeks <3 In the midst of a lot of change, however welcome and exciting, it's nice to have a few familiar things --- and your familiar "faces" ;) dramas! beanies! ramyun for life! <3

Hello fellow K-drama fans!

I'm running a survey as part of my graduate project on the global appeal of Korean Dramas. I'd be really grateful for a little help!

Take this quick survey and answer a few questions on how you watch and how you pick new shows. All responses are completely anonymous.

https://link.medium.com/TPVZTKubQU

Reach out if you have any questions!

I'm thinking of @sukstan today because it's the day her oppa enlists, so goodbye to Lee Jong Suk for two years! Stay strong, sukkie!

And, as reminded by @redfox, it's also International Women's Day, so happy day of accomplishment all you females and friends of females! Celebrate yourselves 💐

Good morning fellow Beanies! I've got a 3 day weekend which I'm excited for. Planning to see Captain Marvel tomorrow (yay for girl power!) then the rest of the 3 days will be spent binge watching Ashes of Love with my mom and little brother.

An Empress's Dignity 7.5/10 This drama was definitely entertaining but it was like a derailed train. Ending was badly done, especially with how they handled one of the main characters by literally just writing him out of the drama. It was almost like the drama forgot he was one of the main characters. The way the Dowager Empress and Seo Kang-Hee got caught was all down to them having a shouting match infront of the media who were hidden in the other room (mighty convenient). Seems like all these random plot points never really went anywhere and when I really think of the drama (I suggest you don't) I realize the drama in general never went anywhere. SO MANY ISSUES with the drama, mostly around the writing, but it was still morbidly entertaining to watch.

The Crowned Clown 9.5/10 This drama is SO GOOD. I have been following Yeo Jin-Goo's career since he played a young character in Moon Embraces the Sun, but he is absolutely blowing me away in this drama. I just finished ep. 8 and I had to rewatch that ending scene (if anyone watched it you know which one) because it was so well done. I had to keep reminding myself that the king and the clown were played by the same actor because Yeo Jin-Goo is doing such an astounding job of portraying both characters. The cinematography, the writing and the acting are all excellent. This drama is nearly perfect. The only thing that has not made it perfect so far is how they treated his younger sister. I HATE when shows or movies have to use the rape or murder of a woman to create manpain. It put a huge damper on me that the drama had to go there to give Ha Sun a reason to become a king, especially since the writing has been so topnotch everywhere else. I actually stopped watching it for a few because I was so disappointed (and still am).

I just got a Samsung Galaxy S10 so I've done my product placement duties for the next year and then some. XD

Serious question should we plan some kind of event to celebrate Ji Chang Wook's return from the army on April the 27th? That's 7 Fridays including today and then he's back on the next day a Saturday. I think it's maybe too late to start a Healer rewatch but maybe we could plan a group watch of a couple episodes on the 26th or something like that. If nothing else we could get on someone's fan wall and have a gif party on discharge day. Maybe we could have a contest-slash-poll of 1 episode of Healer or another show he was a lead in to re-watch (the K2 was not great but there was that sauna fight scene....) What are your thoughts?

TGIF! Hope everyone had good week. On the dramaland we had some more shock- ITEM reveal! and what's with Light in your eyes?
Well, at least we have one less show to care about- I can't deny Huge writing problem with The Crowned clown (Does the means justify the ends? Failed big time to convince viewers that good guys are good) but the show was still engaging -actually everything was good except the plot (and maybe costume?). I treated it as just fantasy. I wasn't happy with the finale ep., but I got what I wanted- happy ending for the clown and double digit ratings. (So does it make TCC 10-11th highest ratings cable drama?)

Still casts were great and Jang Young-nam who played the empress dowager was one of them. I looked up her interviews and she had a few last year especially after the film "My promise with a spring day"(?) was released. But first a little intro. from wiki (and the like).
Jang Young-nam(46)- the reason she has a boy name "Young-nam" is because her grandfather hoped for a grandson when she had only older sisters - he went ahead giving her a boy's name to ease his disappointment. She was shy and never thought about acting, but one day when she was on the bus when she was in junior high, she happened to see Kyewon art high school's orange color school bus. "The mood of my bus and that bus felt so different, so I chose to study Theater in Kyewon art high school."

After graduating college Jang started stage acting in theater troupe Mokhwa Repertory Company. First project she did was Romeo and Juliet in 1995 and actually received criticism on acting at first (she lost the role but got it back in 2001). She did various plays and some of them made to film/drama like "Welcome to Dongmakgol" and "Kyungsook, kyungsook's father". Jang was once called as "DaeHakro Lee Young-ae" for her beauty known in the play industry. Since her last play 2011's "Forest Fire" Jang has worked on mostly film and dramas. Her first film role was 1997's Push! Push!. Since then she appeared in many films including most recent What a Man Wants, The Negotiation, Miss Baek, My promise with spring day(2018), Innocent Witness(2019) and Transformation (currently filming with Sung Dong-il and Bae Sung-woo- awwww Live!). Her first drama was 2003's MBC "Leaving Pippi Longstocking" and appeared in many dramas starting with Dalja's spring (2007), and most recently My Sassy Girl, The King loves(2017), Lovely Horribly, The Smile Has Left Your Eyes(2018), TCC(2019). She will also be in "My Country" (another saguek! with Yang Se-jong and Woo Do-hwan)

Jang appeared in plays directed by Jung Jin and did his SNL Korea(2012) as one of show's original members. She mostly played a middle class character in projects and people called her "Master of Commoner Acting". Jang is also known for her accurate pronunciation and clear voice. As side story, she is an actress with specialty in dying role- There were many occasions her character...

There were a couple of more interviews from the casts of The Last Empress. I was waiting for one of Sin Sung-rok who received much love, but The latest interview I find is the one done when Man Who Dies to Live(2017) ended. Maybe later.
Meanwhile here are two interviews. First is the one of Lee Soo-ryon(38) who played Empress Dowager's chief secretary Choi. I mentioned about her before because of her unique background (presidential security guard, 2004-2013).

First a little intro.[wikitree, 2017.06.15] Lee explained how she became the first female security guard in the Blue house on the variety Taxi. "I didn't plan to become one. I am a type who follows what is fun. Even though I look quiet and faminine, I had different kind of school life. When I was in elementary school, my mother told me to learn dance or ballet, and I said I wanted to learn Taekwondo." She is Taekwondo five-degree black belt(five dan). "I learned Taekwondo and beat the boys up a lot when I was young. I liked sports and took the Taekwondo lessons but I majored in English in the college. I also joined the broadcasting club in the college. As I was wondering what career I should choose, I studied for the exam thinking I might become a reporter or PD. But I saw a notice looking for woman for the first time in the presidential security service (2004). I thought that would be very fun. My heart pounded. My major in English became a big help. In their jobs English is very important. Since security guards stay by VIP closely to the end in an emergency situation, they have to be able to communicate in English fluently." When asked "So the reason you became presidential security guard was only because it looked fun?", Lee said "Yes. I wanted to do something making my heart fluttered."

Lee also mentioned how she stepped into the acting industry.[etnews, 2017.03.22] While she was working in VIP's security detail team starting from late prsident No Moo-hyun for 10 years, she also did some reporter works and commercial. Lee resigned her job because she couldn't give up the dream of acting, and after doing over 150 auditions, she finally had her debut. She played a crucial side character in "Best Couple". Actually she had the audition for some short character, but the company offered another role who was the BF of Lee Dae-hye. It is said Lee told "As a person who was sticking to the president, I don't feel intimidated by anyone." and her bold remark landed her the role. She appeared in many dramas starting with Gapdong and Pinocchio (2014), and recent Risky Romance and Where Stars Land(2018).

[OSEN, 2019.03.03] In the Last Empress Lee Soo-ryun played the loyal chief secretary Choi of Empress Dowager Kang. Because of her role staying beside ED Kang, Lee appeared with Shin Eun-kyung in all episodes. When asked how the chemistry with Shin was like, Lee said they were lover relationship. "I stayed with her from the beginning to end. When there was a scene she...

Here is another interview from a cast of The Last Empress- Ha Do-kwon(real name: Kim Yong-gu, 42) who played security chief Choo working for the Emperor (Sin Sung-rok), who was replaced by Na Wang-sik later in the show. Ha debuted only in 2016 appearing in "Gogh, The Starry Night" (2016), and did dramas like Saimdang(2017), Thirty But Seventeen(2018), but he actually lived as musical actor Kim Yong-gu for 20 years. [OSEN, 2019.03.03] In the show, his character captain Choo was loyal to the emperor Lee Hyuk(Sun Sung-rok), but replayed by Chon Woo-bin/Na Wang-sik(Choi Jin-hyuk) and eventually was ordered to kill himself. So people believed he was leaving the show that way- Only until he revealed himself in front of Min Yoo-ra character.

Ha also thought his character died. But as he came alive again, he also gained his name Choo Gi-jung (ep. 16). "I thought he died and that was the end. I said goodbye to other actors and staff members before I left. All even clapped for me. But they contacted me to show up again as I reappeared in ep 16 scripts. Since then I gained the name Choo Gi-jung. So I said "Hello, I am Choo Gi-jung. Nice to meet you." But he met his death again with the betrayal of Min Yoo-ra." Captain Choo died twice in the show, but actor Ha Do-kwon came alive. He called "Opportunity" at the situation. "I was so happy. I was happy with the fact that I could appear again. As you know it is not easy to present various characters in one project. If I showed previous captain Choo who had dandy and official image, I thought I could show another image. I thought a lot about how I can make me and the project more engaging." The result of that thought was shaving. PD Joo Dong-min's suggestion "if there is preposterous change, the scene will come alive more" helped on the decision. "I thought I might shave. I wanted to express rough feel. I couldn't lose weight in short time I had. So I decided to shave my head. I shaved it with captain Choo's deeply chagrined feeling. With ajussi mind."

Ha also expressed gratitude to Sin Sung-rok who worried with him about Ha's re-appearing scene. Actually two actors were close even before the show, thanks to musicals they did together. "We became close doing musical performances together. We speak the same language. Mostly we talk about acting. I majored in vocal music, and Sung-rok likes vocal music a lot. And both of us like work-out so we do checks each other when we work out together." But this was the first time they did the broadcast project together. About Sin Sung-rok, Ha said "I got very professional and artist feel on the set. Then I thought he was actor Sin Sung-rok, not my friend, my dongseang Sing Sung-rok." Ha graduated majoring in vocal music from Seoul univ. and had spent 20 years on the stage. He even worked as a member in a well-known Japan drama house. But He decided to do acting and changed his name to Ha Do-kwon with sincere determination. "As I did opera, I...

About Choi Jin-hyuk (Na Wang-sik/Chun Woo-bin) of The Last Empress: (I didn't have time to watch this but) the SBS variety "We Will Channel You" had a new corner "Powerful Gym" meeting people in the gym. Choi Jin-hyuk appeared as the first guest and talked about various things. Here are some of what he mentioned.-Soompi also had a post with some translation. [OSEN, 2019.03.07] The reason he appeared in the program? Choi said, "I want to strengthen face muscle. I am awkward at expressing my emotion and it shows on face clearly, and I'd like to hide it." He picked his eye smile as his weakness. "I heard I was flirting a lot. And I didn't like because my character looked weak. But when I tried not to do it, some people misunderstood I was mad."

Choi said he decided to star in the Last Empress because he liked Na Wang-sik character. He also explained how two actors played the same character Na Wang-sik (with actor Tae Hang-ho). Actually he was supposed to have special makeup, but there was danger of falling into the water on the scene, so they decided to have two actors play the same character. He also mentioned the scene Tae Hang-ho changed to Choi Jin-hyuk while cutting his hair didn't have any composite or editing but used just filming technique.

Choi also explained his 15 year friendly relationship with Jang Na-ra (who is 4 years old than Choi). "I was close to Park Kyung-rym noona before I debuted. She took me around introducing me to people. One time I had a chance to have a dinner with Jang Na-ra noona. After the meal Jang Na-ra noona suggested to come to her house and play Go-stop. I went and there were her whole family - her parents and brother. We(her father and noonas) played Go-stop until dawn. I contacted her afterwards." He added, "I felt awkward doing melo with Jang Na-ra noona (in The Last Empress). Noona treated me like a child. Because I knew her since I was 20."
When asked "You wanted to be seen as a man to her?" Choi said "I had such mind a little. Because she treated me like a kid too much. So I even told her directly- I said "Ye-ya" is the word grandmother uses to call her grandson.(heh I can picture Choi saying that in frustration!) What's amazing is that noona thinks she is almost like of grandma age."

Choi is from Mokpo, Julla namdo. He said he didn't keep in touch with his friends to fix his satoori. "When I did the drama, my satoori came out. So I determined to fix it even though I wasn't going to at first for love for my home." Choi also mentioned his original dream was to become a singer. "One time when I sang at the school festival when I was in high school, I got goosebumps. So I told my parents I wanted to become a singer, and got good beating. But they found me a room in Seoul. That was when I was 19-20 years old." Choi continued, "I didn't know anyone. I am sorry to say this (didn't mean people in model profession), but all I had was looks and height, so I studied...

Hey all:

Hope everyone is doing well.

Am watching:

Romance is a bonus book -- very lovely, but now i suspect the angst is also upon us.

Touch your heart -- So sweet and realistic! I'm so glad we don't have the typical overdone tropes. I realized that this, along with LIFE, is the second LDW drama i've seen where our hero is dragged out of a kind of isolation/broken personality to find love.

Radiant -- it's slow going sometimes because that angst is laid on thick but it really does touch the soul. So in this case, the angst works.

Legal High -- Very good and funny. I laugh out loud at this one.

Spring Turns to Spring -- I also laugh out loud at this one. I love greed coupled with stupidity.

One of my fave Chinese dramas is: The Golden Eyes. It's got a business jdrama vibe and is educational and suspenseful. Who knew gems could be so exciting? I had to give up Haolan because it was just plain exhausting to watch. Never a let up for our victimized heroine. Am waiting for All is Well to be subbed.

Jdramas:
A sharply graceful girl was sweet, and ultra minimalist. I think it stopped before it even started but it was sweet while it lasted.

Perfect Crime: Erotic and vengeful. What could be better? I still like the villain but i suspect i won't when i get to know him. Think of it as a kind of fifty shades of gray. Awaiting the rest of the subs.

Happy weekend, all!

My new best friend is FF button so I enjoy kdramas again. An episode will be shorter by 10-15 minutes. Haha. I've decided to watch the popular dramas in this fast forwarding manner. My first one is DOTS.

From now on my new motto is that don't regard life with expectations just like the way you go to a restaurant without a menu card. I want to make my life simple. Actually, I'm that type of person whose personal preferences are really only made certain when I discover that I dislike a thing or a person. I never know that I like something or someone until I give it a try or get to know them. I will be a sort of Yes Man, just within reason.

Mini-OT week 108. Work then a final four b-ball game (kids’ school, 4 th quarter) and all tied up!)) then a 2 hour road trip to see the nieces and nephews. So, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I’m just watching TYH (love) and RIABB (barely like).

Convo:

Son: My best friend (male) and I made a pact not to ever marry anyone.

Me: *except each other?*

Son: (like he heard my thoughts) And not each other either!

Me: Wow, honey, I wasn’t thinking that! (I totally was.) But I’d totally love your best friend as a son. *He’s a math genius too.*

Moral of the story: My son and the math genius?

2nd Moral: Not a basketball fan until my daughter’s friend’s brother is the MVP (so far scoring 30 of the team’s 48 points)!

3rd moral: Have a wonderful International Women’s Day!

What is this month's the most compelling drama in Korea? It has to be Seungri's BURNING SUN scandal which has more plot twists, revelations, bad actors, sleazy events and alleged corruption than any k-drama.

As International Women's Day has just passed in Australia, I would like to make a comment about two women in my life. The first is my sister-in-law who at 71 is fighting a very rare cancer which is debilitating and causing a lot of distressing issues for her as well as not reacting to the treatment. This week Jean booked her third holiday for the year because in her words "I am not dying from cancer I'm bloody well going to live large with it as long as I can." The second wonderful woman is my daughter-in-law who is battling the dreadful and insidious melanoma which has spread to her lungs and brain. Belinda is 42, mother of a 17 year old son and 14 year old daughter and has always been extremely active in sport, while going through her treatment and the resulting side effect such as hair loss, nausea and massive puffiness from so many steroids she has continued to work when she can as deputy head of her daughter's college and recently took up aqua aerobics and walking netball because she felt the need to exercise. I can't tell you how much I admire these two women and wish I had half their fortitude and strength, while they urge each other on through their treatments neither will give in and plan to live life how they choose.