Here we are! The last of the year-end review series.

This post is something new, but I thought it would be an interesting experiment. Although each of us reviewers has our personal favorites, which we outlined in our personal reviews, it’s a different thing to move past preference and try to be objective in a sort of Dramabeans Awards — hence, these Editors’ Picks.

We voted in rounds, first nominating all potential candidates, then narrowing them down to a small pool of finalists, then culling that to one or two picks. As a result, not all of us got picks that we may have personally felt were most fitting, but we all respected the process and the opinions that led us to these selections.

SONG OF THE DAY

Queen Seon-deok OST – “아라로” (Araro) by I.U. [ Download ]

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Read the rest of 2009 Editors’ Picks [Year In Review, Part 6] (4,806 words)

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Post tags: Accidental Couple, Again My Love, Assorted Gems, awards, Boys Before Flowers, Brilliant Legacy, City Hall, Friend Our Legend, IRIS, Kyung Sook Kyung Sook's Father, Queen Seon-deok, Return of Iljimae, Smile, Story of a Man, year in review, You're Beautiful

After a pretty meh 2008, I was ready for the drama landscape to fire back up with 2009. And while there were a number of misses and disappointments — isn’t there always? — I was pretty satisfied with the dramas I watched in 2009. I still don’t think there were as many top offerings as, say, 2007, but I found a number of series to entertain me and satisfy my drama craving. There were a few selections early on that got me pumped for the year and things lagged during and after the summer months, but all told, I had an entertaining year.

(Okay, this is LONG. I tried to contain myself, really.)

SONG OF THE DAY

IRIS – “Empty” by Juni [ Download ]

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Read the rest of All Told, A Pretty Fun Year [Year In Review, Part 4] (7,596 words)

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Post tags: Boys Before Flowers, Cinderella Man, Dream, Heading to the Ground, Hero, Hon, IRIS, Kyung Sook Kyung Sook's Father, My Fair Lady, Partner, Queen Seon-deok, Return of Iljimae, Smile, Sons of Sol Pharmacy House, Story of a Man, Style, Swallow the Sun, Tamra the Island, Triple, Will It Snow For Christmas, year in review, You're Beautiful

And to think that I headed into 2009 feeling so hopeful, too.

2008 was an awful year for K-dramas. That year ended with me feeling like I’d just swum through an ocean of excrement, and I figured that I’d need to soak myself in some good dramas for at least another year before I’d manage to wash the stink off of me.

Alas, that was not to be the case.

Thinking back on which dramas I saw in 2009, it occurred to me that, goddammit, I’m a lot more resilient than I’d thought. It awed me that I’d managed to watch crap like Cain and Abel and Everybody Cha Cha Cha all the way through, without even any fastforwarding! A year ago, this would not have been possible. A year ago, my stomach would have protested three seconds in, and I’d have had to be rushed to the doctor’s, only to be told (again) by dear old Dr. C that my condition is a complete mystery to him.

But this year, I discovered the secret to watching bad dramas without ending up gagging over a toilet. That secret has been spread so thick over my digestive organs that no amount of stress or disgust can penetrate it. We’ll get to what that secret is later, but the point of all this rambling is, I’ve discovered other reasons for watching dramas besides their innate quality. Call it a survival instinct. Reasons for drama-watching are a lot more complicated than I’d once thought.

So for this year’s write-up, I’m dividing the categories into the various reasons I watched the dramas in the first place. It’s going to be kinda embarrassing, but honest. I’ve found that honesty is always best in the end, whether people like it or not. As my mom likes to say: “If I find out you’re lying to me, I’ll turn your legs black and blue.”

SONG OF THE DAY

Broccoli, You Too? – “2009년의 우리들” (Us in 2009) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Duds and Delights of 2009 [Year In Review, Part 1] (6,376 words)

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Post tags: Accidental Couple, Boys Before Flowers, Cain and Abel, Everybody Cha Cha Cha, Friend Our Legend, guest bloggers, Kyung Sook Kyung Sook's Father, Queen Seon-deok, Smile, Style, The Man Who Can't Get Married, Will It Snow For Christmas, year in review, You're Beautiful

With the year coming to an end, that means it’s time to take stock of the past twelve months (well, eleven really) in kdramas. The broadcast stations will be holding their awards ceremonies at the end of the month, and I’m working on my wrap-up of 2009’s offerings — as are some very talented (and prolific!) drama-watching fans — which I’ll post up closer to the end of the year.

But this is your turn to weigh in on what you liked or didn’t. I didn’t do a year-end poll last year (after putting one up in 2007) and people seemed to really want one, so it’s back.

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Read the rest of How was 2009 for you? (1,304 words)

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Post tags: A Star's Lover, Accidental Couple, Angel's Temptation, Boys Before Flowers, Brilliant Legacy, Cain and Abel, Cinderella Man, City Hall, Dream, Friend, Heading to the Ground, Hero, Hon, IRIS, Ja Myung Go, Job Well Done, Loving You a Thousand Times, My Fair Lady, Partner, Queen of Housewives, Queen Seon-deok, Return of Iljimae, Smile, Sons of Sol Pharmacy House, Story of a Man, Strike Love, Style, Tamra the Island, Triple, year in review

(These are short mp3 clips that you can download onto your phone IF your phone is capable of mp3 ringtones. I know some phones have size limits for mp3s — mine is 500kb — and most of these clips are under 30 seconds and in the 200kb-400kb range. Download link at bottom.)

For example:

YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL

I’m sure most of you are familiar with this soundtrack so I don’t need to post clips, but I’ll put them up just in case:

Jang Geun-seok – “말도 없이” (Without Words)

Jang Geun-seok – “Good Bye”

A.N.JELL – “Promise” verse

A.N.JELL – “Promise” chorus

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Read the rest of Drama theme-song ringtones (721 words)

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Post tags: Boys Before Flowers, Coffee Prince, Goong, Goong S, My Fair Lady, My Name Is Kim Samsoon, Return of Iljimae, Story of a Man, Strongest Chil Woo, The World They Live In, You're Beautiful

I received an email from someone at YA Entertainment, which, as you may know, is the company that licenses Korean dramas for sale with English subtitles. I’m passing it along for all of you with accounts at Netflix to help get more Korean dramas available at the online rental service:

Hi,

I need your help. In an effort to continue to reach out to the mainstream with our K-dramas on DVD with English subtitles we have signed on with Netflix. According to their reports there are not enough people adding our titles into their queues and we are at risk of not being able to share this very important and popular genre with the millions of people that Netflix has access too.

If you didn’t already know, K-dramas are enjoyed throughout the world by millions of people already either dubbed or subtitled in several other languages. For some reason it has yet to catch on in the US and Canada outside of mostly other Asians and other ethnic groups.

We will be releasing the wildly popular K-drama Boys Over Flowers this November 17 and Netflix currently has it available on their site but I just got an email this morning saying they will hold the order until they see the numbers prove that there is a demand for this title and our other titles.

Clearly there is a demand for it but, unfortunately, the majority of people who currently watch our DVD’s are collectors and tend to purchase rather than rent. Although we have reached the tip of the mainstream by having our DVD’s available at Barnes and Noble, Costco, Borders, FYE’s and several independent retailers, we are still stunted due to the fact that even they don’t believe that there is a demand yet, so we are given very limited shelf access and a very small number of stores carry our products. Over 90% of our end consumers are not Korean, which means that we KNOW that this is entertainment for ALL and that if given a chance then most people will enjoy the dramas.

Please help me and the K-drama industry a chance to share what we have to offer by asking all your friends and family who have Netflix accounts to add one of our titles into their queues and give it a chance.

The following titles are available at Netflix to rent and there are still so many more to add but we will not be able to unless they start seeing that it’s in demand!

You can start by adding Boys Over Flowers V. 1.

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Boys_Over_Flowers_Vol._1/70127182?lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=2014803991_1_0&strackid=1426dfc813c6962_1_srl

Please send this out to everyone you know!

Thank you very much for your time!

-Alyx

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Read the rest of Help out Boys Over Flowers on Netflix (1,284 words)

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Post tags: Boys Before Flowers

As announced, Mnet has (finally!) released the last two parts of the four-part F4 “After Story” music drama, featuring Ji-hoo’s (Kim Hyun-joong) and Jun-pyo’s (Lee Min-ho) segments.

Although the songs were pretty nice to listen to, the first two parts with Kim Bum and Kim Joon were rather disappointing, imo. Like those parts, the last two also featured mostly old footage cobbled together into a new video. I thought Ji-hoo’s was pretty lame (there have been better fanvideos), but at least Jun-pyo’s had a little bit of new footage.

SONG OF THE DAY

Lee Min-ho – “My Everything.” His pronunciation could be better (everyTING? ah, well, just pretend he’s going for a rasta accent) but I love how husky his voice is. I had no hopes for his singing voice (after his CF/digital single for Cass beer was so annoyingly overproduced with barely audible vocals), so this is a nice surprise. [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Boys Before Flowers: F4 Special Edition (Parts 3 & 4) (391 words)

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Post tags: Boys Before Flowers, Gu Hye-sun, Kim Bum, Kim Hyun-joong, Kim Joon, Lee Min-ho, music videos