Once mentioned how do i love to eat right off the stove hot hot food - things had to change - everything changes and so had no no warm food for 36+ months -

If you believed you had to everything, Everything works out for you - you need some real challenge - have to show patiance, bid time, survive and seek opportunity, be humble and much more -

for someone it's foolishess, high of idiocy for someone like us it's challenge - ofcourse the sheer antics and stupidity does create range of _ve feelings but you do feel a lot +ve too.

Somehow i've raised white flag and somehow i'm feeling pretty cool and confident right now - both good and +ve feelings.

Time to move on with new year - new things - hope for less antics.
Watch, see and experience can way more different. I've gone through such good experience which wouldn't have possible without entering the battlefield for no challenge. You do feel lively all because of it. In someone's view it is so frustrating suffering and in someone other's eyes it can be fun and entertainment - Well, i was and still am at the receiving side but am smiling and eyes are shining with aim and hunger.

World - pretty typical stuff happening all around. cold season demands some heat and that comes from body and circles through blood into every part - street red you see. Very easy to see - that's what data does for you.

XI was in pinch because of inflated ego and fake pride which still is... but that itself created trouble which i though will reduce his power to 65% but he was able to get it 85% -
As said several months back - no matter what's the hunger of stomach aka money aka temptations that decide how much you can score. Changing the economy or economy shift and with such a big region not easy - you have to bleed, someone has to pay extra price. From 2017-2018 it was pretty visible. 2020 scored a homerun and now everyone is feeling the pinch.
That's why i said inflation is cute - Inflation can change course pretty fast and push you into a corner and it's taste got to XI this week with all the lockdown protests. not big but surely embarrassing for XI in party. Most double down and that's what he will do that for sure. Well, he's clearly living for himself now - he and he alone - CCP can pay price for his ambition but overall quite entertaining match is being played.

I think it was very smart of him to strike the moment all public eyes were on the agency and their finances being investigated. He now has the whole nation as his witnesses.

It would have probably been no use to go against them before because they would have created more and more scandals for him and he would have no proof.

It’s a wake up call to all of us: no matter who you are, you can be used/ deceived. Be logical and reasonable and smart about ..well everything.

Lee Seung gi’s agency always seemed super lazy about promotions but I never expected them to be the level of awful they have turned out to be (CEO in particular, but it’s not like she could have done in a vacuum). I hope he can get disentangled from them cleanly.

The whole story makes a lot of things LSG has said in variety shows much more depressing than they already were (for instance at the end of New Journey to the West, just before he went into the army, he talked about being a product - https://www.dramabeans.com/2015/10/new-journey-to-the-west-episodes-20-23-final/)

@welh: Thank you for breaking this down. Without wanting to generalise too much, I wonder whether the deeply embedded hierarchical nature of the Korean society has also facilitated such abuses as deference and wielding unreasonable authority are not widely questioned and condemned. Abuses of power and corruption are hard to eradicate as they are almost always systemic and unless they are fundamentally tackled, very little will change.

Two things about this: 1. There are very few historical dramas that aren't in some way anachronistic. You can easily match the clothing, setting and refer to historically known events/actions of the past, but everything else is interpretative conjecture, and is written to be meaningful and entertaining to the present.

2. We do know that crossdressing and transgender people have existed throughout history in all cultures. So how would anybody know whether a mother said "someday this will be okay" or not? We don't! In fact, for all we know the mother could have said "some day this story might be beamed across the universe and watched by the thousands who complain about the story, using the strange phrase "virtue-signaling!"

UTQU is writer Park Ba-ra’s only credit that I can find and have no idea what the writer’s actual intentions are but the writer wrote a powerful ending to episode 3.
One thing I picked up in the Queen’s soliloquy like talk to her son Prince Gyesseong at the end of that episode was something like a Joseon blast of advice back to us in this age of tell all/reveal all. She said:
“One may have very different wishes from those of others. However, one should not reveal everything in their heart”.
I personally agree with those words. Not everyone is entitled to know what is in the deepest recesses of another’s heart.

I listen to both of those every day.

The socks are the hidden ones mainly and I for one am glad that trousers are full length again so you can’t see whether they are wearing socks or not. I hated it when they were flapping above the ankle. The best example the person earned the name ‘Jackson’ and was sported by the female lead in She was pretty trousers worn with white socks.

In the first sageuk I watched, I really noticed the hats for about the first half of the show. I was learning a ton about how the Joseon court worked, about how different people were ranked, and found the hats really helpful as obvious markers of status. Then when I had all of that comfortably figured out (enough for watching the show anyway), I honestly stopped noticing them much at all. The Joseon top knot and accompanying headgear has become such a neutral to me, that I'm often relieved to watch a sageuk as it means most if not all of the male characters will have their hair out of their eyes (short of mysterious swordsmen, who have to signal their mystery by blocking at least one eye) unlike half of the modern male characters. Plus, I rather like the rest of the male hanbok.

I find your question of the origins of the black cap interesting, but have not been lurking around dramaland for nearly enough time to have anything meaningful to contribute. Black for bad guys works thematically, but an unmarked black cap for celebrities is probably just the most neutral kind, no? If it was from a luxury brand it would be too obvious that they were someone of status. Kind of the opposite of the Joseon hats, then?

And I'll second @reply1988 that the dress shoes definitely have socks in them, just very low ones. Very occasionally you can see the character step inside someone's home, and then you can see their no-show socks. I think the first drama I noticed it in was It's Okay to Not Be Okay - the publisher guy wears them pretty much all the time.

Generally, except for costume dramas, it is the actor's responsibility through their personal stylist (or agency) to acquire clothes for their scenes. Many actors use brand endorsements to get clothes or some brands will loan clothes for the PR value. However, some directors like to use English word shirts to convey the emotion (hidden or direct) of the actor in a scene.

😂 Thank you for your insightful observations re clothing and costume in Kdramas.

I’m not sure how they do in a cold country like SK, but men here seem to wear low socks. The weather here is normally hot and humid, so it makes some sense why they do this. Plus, the fabric used to make such socks is pretty thing. So thats why I assumed they only do this in SK, a cold country, because ‘Fashion demands it’.

having to look at male Joseon attire is the main reason I avoid sageuks

I wish to assure observers that hacja and I are not actually the same person, but we are as one on this point. I just cannot deal with gats or wingnut hats. Even topknots are distracting. I can tolerate a few flashback scenes where our pre-reincarnation (or 400-year-old immortal) ML sports one while exposing his tragic past, but not a sageuk. I know this is my own personal shortcoming and I'd be more motivated to overcome it if it weren't for all the palace politics and evil royal counselors that lie beyond the horsehair brim. If Junho in hanbok couldn't get me past this block, I fear nothing will.

My favorite collegiate style (feminine division) of the last several years remains the short shorts with crop top and tall, furry Ugg boots, worn even in the heat of a Riverside summer.

I've never seen a shirt with Korean phrases - only English. Why?

🙏 you feel better soon. At least you now know that even when things are really bad you can and will get through it and live to tell the tale.

When I watched season 2 back in 2020 I read an article mentioning 2022 as a possible air date for s3, but well, clearly that didn't happen, so...I personally feel like a new season is unlikely, but I'll always be ready for it though, if stars align!! xD