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Dramabeans wins graphic design competition

girlfriday — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:43:56 +0000

Just wanted to share some awesome off-topic bloggy news: Dramabeans was entered in the Graphic Design USA American Graphic Design Awards Competition 2011, and our site was selected as a winner! Well technically, the lovely, awesome, talented designers at JPD Studio won the award. Because they did all the hard work. (Details, psh.) But we feel like we have bragging rights by association. You guys do too, since this is your home as much as ours, so champagne for everyone!

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A Gathering of Writers to Say Thank You

samsooki — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:08:33 +0000

Introduction

Unbeknownst to Javabeans or Girlfriday, many of the magical creatures in k-dramaland gathered together in a secluded glen within the kingdom of Dramabeans, long after the fey mistresses of the kingdom had gone to bed. They had known for some time that Dramabeans was nearing its 5,000th post (!!), and they racked their brains to come up with a suitable way to say thank you to celebrate the occasion.

For certain, were it not for Javabeans and Girlfriday, many of these creatures would be hanging out on tough street corners, or getting into dramas that no self-respecting elf or gnome should watch. How to thank the lifegivers of Dramabeans for providing so much entertainment, knowledge, heart, community and love? With that in mind, may I present the well-wishes and appreciation from the new and the old: a panoply of heartfelt congratulations for Post no. 5,000!

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Welcome, Dramabeans editor Girlfriday

javabeans — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:12:03 +0000

I’m sure you’ve noticed girlfriday‘s presence on this blog, what with her witty recaps and zippy commentary. I know you can’t see her stylin’ fashion sense, but trust me, she’s got that too. I decided it was about time I ~~exploited her talents~~ offered her an expanded role in the site; from henceforth, she’ll be taking on the mantle of Dramabeans editor (as well as continual purveyor of snappy asides).

Some of y’all have noted that our writing styles have a certain compatibility. I wouldn’t exactly call it similarity, since I think we’ve both got distinct styles — she yells at the Show, while I prefer to direct my ire to those cursed Drama Gods. She’s happy to let me claim my Kang Ji-hwan, just so’s she can keep Gong Yoo for herself. We know a successful partnership’s always about the smart compromises. We also know a good thing when we see it. For me, that means another drama-watching, plot-dissecting, character-analyzing viewer with whom to discuss shows and vent (and snark). For you, it’s another point of view and another recapping voice.

I hope you’ll join me in welcoming girlfriday onboard! Well, she’s already been onboard for a while now, but now it’s, like, totally official. It’s got a badge and everything. This doesn’t mean huge shakeups to the site, but she’ll be contributing more and generally hanging around. We’ve updated the handy-dandy Drama Ratings list with her contributions, and even added a FAQ!

So without further ado, I turn it over to girlfriday. JB, signing off!

(image source: exploding dog)

Girlfriday sez:

I’m so excited and honored to make Dramabeans my home. Many of you have asked if I have a blog of my own. Turns out maintaining your own site is hard, and I’m lazy. Thankfully, javabeans has this awesome place with all of you guys, and I don’t have to do any of the hard stuff! Score!

I will assure you that there was a thorough vetting process. I survived all twelve rounds of hazing to be inducted as an official editor. Round 7 was especially grueling, what with all the leg squats. But I will have you know that I totally rocked Round 10, where I named all the hot k-drama actors, in backwards alphabetical order. In Korean.

Thanks to JB for creating a place where I can combine my life’s work and my life’s obsessions, and feel productive about it. I feel lucky to be part of such a vibrant community.

And of course, thanks to all of you, who have given the most love, encouragement, support, and virtual hugs/high fives/cheers a girl could ask for.

I wrote up a little blurb about me here, and if you still find yourself brimming with curiosity, please do ask away. We’ll add to the FAQs, or address them in the next podcast. You can also email me directly. Just mind the monkeys.

So there! I’m all yours! You’re stuck with me now. Heaven help you.

Regarding guest blogging

javabeans — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:12:21 +0000

You’ve probably noticed that there have been a number of guest posts cropping up, from the year-end review series to the recaps of dramas like City Hall, IRIS, and Smile. The latest to join me is waterleaf, who wrote the post below and has graciously volunteered to keep writing from time to time. I’ve been getting more questions about guest blogging, so I thought I’d address it here.

I love featuring a range of opinions, especially when they’re different from my own, which is why I find guest posts so valuable. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have passionate and articulate people not only reading this site but also feeling motivated enough to contribute their time writing for it. I know how much work it takes and I’m humbled by people like Samsooki, thunderbolt, Dahee Fanel, hjkomo, dw4p, soyjoy, kaedejun and smallfish putting so much effort into reviews and recaps.

On the other hand, I remain committed to writing most of the content on this site myself. When the site started growing, I had to make a decision whether I wanted to expand or stay small. The idea of being a comprehensive drama hub has its appeal, but I chose to keep things small but manageable, rather than spreading things thin for the sake of covering more. But guest blogging allows for a happy medium where additional shows can be highlighted, and that makes me happy.

If you’re interested in guest reviewing, hit me up and we’ll talk. A few prerequisites: (1) I don’t care about quantity or speed; I care about the quality of the writing and ability to take a drama and discuss it in an entertaining way. (2) Please be passionate and motivated; if I assign recaps, you will burn out. Hence, I don’t assign. (3) Please be fairly certain you can complete the drama. I promise I will never nag you for recaps and if you must drop it, there will be no hard feelings or guilt-tripping. (It should be fun, not a burden!) But when I make a decision to recap, I also want to be reasonably certain I will finish, as a courtesy.

What do you think?

Drama recap status update

javabeans — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:28:39 +0000

I’ve been reading a lot of comments wondering about recaps lately, so I thought I’d put up a post to let you know where things stand.

You’re Beautiful: Ongoing.
Smile: I hope to keep this going. If things get very busy, I may not be able to keep up in a timely manner, but I hope I will be able to.
Sons of Sol Pharmacy: Ongoing. Main recapper smallfish and I will be switching off for the next few recaps, but this drama will get done.
City Hall: Ongoing. The recapper is about to have his first child (congratulations!) and therefore you can imagine that recapping takes lesser priority! But I am confident this drama will be finished.
Triple: Will be completed. I only have two episodes to go and I will get there, I promise, but it does take lesser priority to dramas that excite me, like You’re Beautiful.
Iris, Hero, Chuno, and any drama that has not yet aired: When a drama hasn’t begun yet, my answer is always “I don’t know.” I won’t commit to something without watching it first, so it all depends on how I like it. Just FYI, I’m more interested in Iris than Hero. I’m keeping an eye out for Angel’s Temptation. I’m intrigued by Chuno, a little less so by Jejoongwon.

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Question: To post or not to post

javabeans — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:25:52 +0000

With the recent death of actress Jang Ja-yeon, we can expect to see a flood of paparazzi photos of celebrities paying their respects to the deceased. Every time a celebrity suicide occurs, I feel conflicted about (1) the press’s intrusion and the media spectacle this inevitably presents, and (2) posting about it.

I’m betting it’ll be particularly frenzied this time, as the cast of Boys Before Flowers attend her wake; I’m already seeing photos. So, I’ll leave it to you: Do you want me to post those pics, or not?

Scripts uploaded; a closer look at Boys Before Flowers

javabeans — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:02:24 +0000

I’ve uploaded a few more scripts on the kdrama scripts page, which is also where you can find instructions on how to read them if you’re new to the whole deal.

Here are the newly added files:

As always, these are in Korean and no, there are no English translations available. I was eager to take a look at the Boys Before Flowers files because, as you know, I’ve found the drama promising but flawed, and I was curious to see how things read on the page.

(The Boys Before Flowers scripts are pretty close to the broadcast version, except they don’t end the episodes at the same points. Also, the fourth script goes long and includes a chunk of what was eventually shown in Episode 5.)

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 59 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bloggy, Boys Before Flowers, scripts

Site maintenance complete…?

javabeans — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:52:19 +0000

Re: site upgrades/migrations/maintenance: I was hoping for the best but got pretty much what I expected, which was a lot of headaches and calls to tech support.

The site dropped a bunch of comments made today and the latter part of yesterday, but I’ll take that in exchange for a working site. I never want to have ANYTHING to do with Linux, SSH, Apache, MySQL, or server migration AGAIN. Ever. By the way, if any of those words sound familiar and enjoyable to you? I WILL PAY YOU to make my problems go away. (In the future, that is. I’m crossing fingers that there are no more today.)

Btw, WordPress-ers out there, didja know there’s a plugin that effs with the 2.7 upgrade to DROP VOWELS FROM ALL POSTS? Yeah, that was a fun two hours.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

It may be their world, but I’m no longer with it

javabeans — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:15:04 +0000

All right: After the third time trying to get through Episode 6, I think The World We Live In recaps are toast. Sorry, folks! I really thought I’d be able to stick it out, but a combination of not feeling the series, mixed with a general ennui, has convinced me that any recaps forthwith would be half-assed, and if there’s something I loathe, it’s half-assery.

It’s too bad, because I really, really enjoyed the first two episodes. I liked 3 & 4 a little less, but enough to continue. Alas, I liked 5 & 6 even less, and I don’t see this series picking up in a way that would re-engage me at this point. Some scenes are very well-written, but they come interspersed with some real snoozers.

If someone is interested in picking up the rest of the series, I’d be happy to post the recaps. But first, is that something you’d care for in the first place? (Multiple selections are enabled.)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 80 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bloggy, The World They Live In

A note about downloadables (yum!)

javabeans — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:19:26 +0000

Allllllrighty.

I’ve received some emails and concerns about zShare basically turning into a big ol’ bitch and not letting anyone download. What a punk. It makes me glad I decided to switch to mediafire not long ago.

However, since a whole mess of stuff I’ve uploaded is hosted by zShare, this leaves a lot of my old links pointing nowhere. (Or, to be more accurate, back at itself. Which, let’s face it, is pointless and a little bit narcissistic.)

What I’ve done is reuploaded all the kdrama scripts to mediafire links, and added a few new scripts in the mix. Also reupped is the humongo motherlode of Coffee Prince stuff, since it seems to be a popular destination.

HOWEVER, as you may imagine, uploading craploads of media is time-consuming and tedious, especially when you’ve done it once before. Boo. As much as I would like to go back and reupload everything on this site, that idea does not sound like a fun way to spend hours and hours. So what I’d like to do is open this up to REQUESTS. (I can’t pcomise I’ll get everything, but I’ll try.)

Drop a comment, or email me (use the contact form, link at top right), if there’s a particular song with a dead link you’re just dying to get. If you’ve emailed me already, I swear I’ll get to it. And please don’t request every song I’ve got ’cause that doesn’t help me prioritize where to start. Thanks!