@Sere,
Good points! I really enjoyed seeing your perspective. I still feel that because Shinzo is the only character to convey pithy statements about family life and how to maintain or create solid relationships in a family -- that is, it is his motto about family that is the central driving force to the plot -- I find it problematic that his family is such a mess. His treatment of his sons is very much a central reason for his sons' bad behavior. He adopted them to be his heirs, and dropped them when he felt that they couldn't live up to his expectations. This caused his sons to compete against each other or feel inferior and made them not communicate with each other. That is a pretty huge mess up, in my opinion. The very man who talks so much about the sanctity of family should never have set his children up to be this way. It is especially sad because it is obvious that the kids are very good people, very caring, and they also deeply care about each other. They have stepped up to help each other -- and I don't think they even knew they cared this much for each other, and I am pretty sure that the father didn't see this side to his sons either, otherwise he wouldn't have needed to bring in a "mother" to achieve this. So I think the writers may have been uneven with this -- if the father had tried and failed to bring his family together then I would have been more persuaded. As it is, considering how sweet the boys are, I think Shinzo did fail his sons.

About your second point: I agree that most J, K, and hell, many dramas are propelled by lack of communication. And I don't think you're being sexist at all -- men do have a harder time expressing themselves, and for some reason fictional men are more reticent than real ones. Also, Japanese dramas tend to depict both men and women as reticent. And to go by my brief stays in Japan a couple of times, I would say that culturally the Japanese appear to be particularly uncommunicative. They seem very proper, and I can see Shinzo just not being able to chat with his sons directly and to tell them how much he believes in them.

I am glad that you're enjoying the show!

So I watched My Name is Kim Sam Soon (MNIKSS) last night, watching late into the nighttime hours on my laptop. A little surprisingly, I have some new thoughts that I didn't have before, since re-watching it AFTER watching a lot of the other dramas has given me a slightly wider perspective. Not that I like it any less (still my favorite), but there are a few points where I now change my mind. Well, not change my mind exactly, but maybe I feel a little bit differently or maybe I am thinking of whether I am going to change my mind.

For those who haven't seen it yet, there are spoilers ahead. SPOILERS ahead.

1. What is the difference between Min Hyun Woo (Samsoon's ex-bf, who cheated on her while being her bf) and Hyun Jin Heon (Samsoon's current love)?

We say that Hyun-Woo is a bad guy because he didn't tell the truth and because he cheated on Samsoon, because he lies, because he can't keep loyalty to whoever he is with. But, what if he is just confused by what he feels, and doesn't understand or really know what he is doing.

Doesn't that make him similar to Hyun Jin Heon? Didn't Jinheon do pretty much exactly the same thing? What's the difference? Jinheon says, "Don't compare me to that guy!" but let's make the comparison anyway. Why are we willing to forgive Jin Heon for his "cheating" and his lies, and his not understanding his feelings for Samsoon, but not wiling to forgive Hyun Woo? Is it because Jinheon, at the very end, confesses his feelings for Samsoon to Jung Ryo Won's character? Well, didn't Hyun Woo do the same thing at the end too? And after coming clean with Chae-Ri, didn't Hyun Woo tell Samsoon at the end, "I love you" and then give a random and rather inappropriate Oscar Wilde quote?

I'm not saying that Samsoon should be with Hyun-woo, who is a tool, but if we hold the standards to both guys, Jinheon doesn't come out smelling like roses. The big difference is that Jinheon comes clean in a more dignified way perhaps, but who is to say that Hyunwoo presumably didn't do the same at the end with Chae-Ri?

In the end, it is just about who you choose, and who you choose to forgive, and who you want to be with. Lesson for us all - nobody is perfect, and so we shouldn't be too quick to dismiss people if they have the basic decency as human beings and the potential to be what you need and desire in your life.

2. For Sere - yes, Gong Yoo is pretty good looking, especially in the "not only he is hot, but I bet he smells like milk and choco-peanut butter cookies and has a nice warm touch when he hugs me" kind of way. And HB doesn't have the milk-cookies or the warmth of Gong Yoo, and is sort of one-note-ish, but much is forgiven when you are like 10x better looking and cooler than 99.9% of Korean guys. My wife stills gets a kick out of certain scenes and makes me replay them when I am watching (the scene when Samsoon is shouting at the top of the mountain, and HB is there, and the scene when HB has that fire in his eyes and says, "don't look at other guys and listen to only me" at the hotel.) There IS something pretty cool about HB.

3. How do you guys feel about Samsoon's older sister (whatever happened to the oldest sister? How come we never see her?), the one who protects Samsoon and beats up HB and so on (how cool of an older sister is that).

Doesn't she like the chef from Bon Appetite? I know that she says that she is just using the chef for exercise or for fun or whatever, but I don't really understand this view point. She is comforted and protected by her own family (her mom, her sister), and so she is able to go out and have fun with the chef and then return back to her family's cocoon and safety net, but.... I dunno... I feel like maybe that is something she would have "gotten out of her system" at an earlier age....

** Continued MNIKSS spoiler alert.**

Oh, another few points too.

4. At the end, when he confesses his feelings about Samsoon, HB tells Jung Ryo Won's character that during their time apart, he changed too.

Does that mean that if Jung Ryo Won never left, that she and HB would still be a couple (maybe he wouldn't have changed)? OR, maybe HB would have changed regardless, and then, wouldn't HB STILL have feelings for Samsoon, even if he decided against acting on them? Then, even if HB and Jung Ryo Won got married, wouldn't that mean that once HB met with Samsoon, that HB would then divorce Jung Ryo Won?

I'm not saying that this drama is saying that we should break up with whomever we are with, to be with someone new, but what does this drama say about the transience of "love" and how people can fall into and out of, love?

Why are only the women - Samsoon, Jung Ryo Won's character, and even Chae-Ri, the good guys? I am leaving out Daniel Henney's character because I refuse to acknowledge his existence. The "She has cancer! And I'm her doctor!" line just killed his character. I mourn his demise. *mourn* Okay, /mourn. How come the guys are the bad guys and the women are the good guys? Oh, WAIT, there IS a guy who is a good guy... that brings me to point #5:

5. That mystery guy, the guy who shows up 3 separate times and meets up with Samsoon on blind dates....

How come he gets shafted every single time? Why doesn't Samsoon go out with him, and then Jinheon go back to Jung Ryo Won, and then Chae-ri gets Hyun Woo, and we are all set in the world?

Wouldn't that make everybody happy?

How come the ONE good guy in this drama, that mystery guy, gets completely shafted???

anyone watch the last two episodes of prison break?

i did...what do you think of it...the last bit was really sad! but i think it was a good ending!

I'm watching story of a man and city hall....loving both of them!

so different but both are really good!

#99 belleza --sounds like it was a blast. How long was the concert? I want to know what to expect since its been a while since I have attended a standing room only concert.

#103 Samsooki--I would say the guys are the so called bad guys because the writer is a women, writing things from her perspective to a mainly female audience. Also unlike say a Shakespeare play, I liked the lack of relationship symmetry which is like real life. I kinda of hate it when things are so tidily wrapped up.

@nycgirl,

"How long was the concert? I want to know what to expect since its been a while since I have attended a standing room only concert."

That's a good question, because I think the SF concert ended a little bit earlier than ours (which could be due to the BART hours as well as the venue rules.)

The LA show started late (8:40pm), and it ran from 8:40 to 12:00am. Epik High came on at about 10:30, I think. (The Kero-One set is pretty long, but again the actual music is really good.) Their set list was split into 2 parts plus encore (MYK delivered a short G-Love Special Sauce-style acoustirap set in the middle to split the parts.) The 1st part emphasized the Map the Soul cuts. The 2nd part was Epik High "Singalong to our Greatest Hits" Time. (Actually I think "One" was the first song in the 2nd set. Tablo did a short introduction, about how the song was dedicated to people they lost during the years. I think personally, "One" was the emotional highlight of the night for me, because like the audience was really, really singing the chorus.) The encore went 3-4 tracks (ending with #1 Fan), which I understand was a reaction to the SF audience. During the SF gig, I think they were planning to do one song per encore, but the audience was so crazy that they kept on going "okay, one more" and "just one more."

Another thing consistent between the SF and LA gigs. Truth be told, a lot of us had problems hearing the raps. The sound mix was fine, but the crowd was SO LOUD that it was sometimes hard to make out what they were saying. And, in fact, apparently during the SF gig, Tablo told the audience that this was the first time he couldn't actually hear his own band's music during the performance, and that for all their years doing gigs, they've never had a crowd like this. To be fair, there's a sizable cultural difference between Asian and American audiences, and one is not necessarily better than the other. Plus, Epik High's music tends to do the main choruses of their most popular songs are English, and so it just plays into the crowd beautifully.

Oh and I forgot about my favorite ironic moment. During the song "Cypher", Tablo serenaded us along to the "[errrr!!!] the President" and uhh the whole crowd was chanting that. Of course, a lot of us were kinda confused too (i.e. "but we love Obama!!"), and uhh after the song, he reminded us that the song was written for our previous president. Heh. Love Tablo's irony. ;)

I also forgot to mention that, you do get a very strong sense that this isn't so much a K-pop crossover situation, but kinda of Epik High and MYK asserting the "Map the Soul" brand as an Asian American experience. And that kinda keys into Epik High's role. They're the headliners, but their business ambition (with MYK, who I think is the actual leader of the operation) is to create a kind of multinational mini-festival umbrella thing where they promote not only Asian American artists under the label, but local affiliates as well. (For example, MC Dumbfounded, whom I don't believe, is currently signed to the label.)

"I want to know what to expect since its been a while since I have attended a standing room only concert. "

Yeah, usually in standing room gigs, I try to creep toward the front, but that definitely wasn't happening today. (Which is worth it; Epik High likes to throw their clothes into the audience as well as splash them with water. :D ) ) There were people there that waited since noon (Tablo mentioned this) to get in.

At the back, there were selling a lot of Map the Soul affiliated T-shirts (including Far East Movement, Kero-1, etc) as well as the book+CD (about $30) They weren't taking credit cards, so I didn't get my Epik High tour shirt. And, because this is a Verizon affiliated performance, they were also selling cell phones with the promise of one person meeting Epik High backstage. Heh.

And. finally, at the New York gig, if you get there earlier, see if you can find press crew. I think AllKpop is going to be there.

Ugh that earthquake wasn't cool. I live like 5 miles from Inglewood, and I felt all of that one. My phone's out, but my DSL line is good?!?

Thanks for all the details Belleza. Being a bit of a control freak I like to know what I'm in for. I don't like water thrown at me especially if they do the spit blast thing so I will steer clear of the front.

also I know I'm starting to sound like a diva but I am so not into the suffering thing (which is why I wanted to find out how long I had to stand at the concert) so I will not be going and waiting at 12 noon or even at 5pm. I have never understood people who wait days in advance for a star wars opening or wait behind the velvet rope to get into the most exclusive clubs. I am so not down with that.

BTW I hope your ok. How do people live in CA with all the earthquakes? Dumb question so I'll answer myself. I guess its like people who ask me "Aren't you afraid of the rats in the subway?" or when they say "Aren't you afraid someone will bomb your city again". You live with the fear.

@nycgirl,

I think with earthquakes, the Cali attitude is "do I get out of my seat for this one?" And usually the answer is no. :D

"also I know I’m starting to sound like a diva but I am so not into the suffering thing (which is why I wanted to find out how long I had to stand at the concert)"

Yeah, the truth is, I actually got at around 8:20pm, but the gig was already running way late. I asked around, and the lines were already packing at around 5-6pm. That may be different in your situation, though. If you just want to watch and observe the madness (and not all the red glow sticks and cams), the 2nd floor balcony was where the drinking adults preferred.

"have never understood people who wait days in advance for a star wars opening or wait behind the velvet rope to get into the most exclusive clubs. I am so not down with that."

And I think, if Epik High does make regular appearances, it probably won't be this way anymore. I could realistically see a situation where they might tour after every album release, which is practically every year. And next time, they may be doing European dates too. Apparently MYK (who's from Mountain View) loves Amsterdam . . .

"Being a bit of a control freak I like to know what I’m in for. I don’t like water thrown at me especially if they do the spit blast thing so I will steer clear of the front."

Tablo really knows how to throw bottles. I was around the middle and still got splashed. And he chucked a CD a shirt our direction, which led to a riot. :D

I was viewing the SF clips, and I realized that our venue (being standing room only) was much smaller and more intimate. Now, I'm sure the SF audience will disagree, but I do believe we the LA crowd have claim to be the most greatest crowd in the history of Epik High. :D Here's a clip from the LA show, doing "One." (wow, didn't realize Ave Maria was in there. huh.) The audience was much, much louder than this, and the microphone was canceling out all the singing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGuO34Yed40&feature=related&fmt=18

I should mention -- if you don't like losing your hearing, you may want to get some earplugs. :D

So I kept postponing posting this cos I wanted to reply to Samsooki as well, but his post totally derailed me and it'll take a while before I can reply to that comment. S, if you wanted to make me rack my brain, you totally did it right.

@Belleza
Thank for the recap! I'm pretty pretty sure I'll never see any k-band where I live and I consider myself lucky I can "be there" through your recap.

@101 Nom Kitteh

"— if the father had tried and failed to bring his family together then I would have been more persuaded. As it is, considering how sweet the boys are, I think Shinzo did fail his sons."

I think we have to agree to disagree on Shinzo. Lol. As I said before, I think he came across like he was looking for an heir rather than a son, but maybe that wasn't his intention at all. Maybe his attitude made him look like *that* was his intention and maybe that's why his kids didn't think much of him or connect with him. Maybe he just didn't know how to deal with, be with and talk with his sons. That doesn't mean he messed up imho. For one thing, he did have other plans in case his approach failed and it did fail, spectacularly at that. For another, I think the drama's aim was to portray how Shinzo, a (fictional) person, or anyone can make mistakes and try to fix them. Then again, it's not like we know a lot about Shinzo. Something tells me we're going to find out more bout him and his intentions little by little. Also? This was never going to be *his* drama, but Maki/Chisato's so everything is bound to revolve around her and her role of reluctant mom. ^_^

I know I sound like a lunatic. I said Shinzo failed spectacularly and yet, a few lines before that, I stated I didn't think he failed his sons. I don't really know if that makes sense to you or if I expressed myself clearly enough. Let's face it: the drama *is* going to end with the boys feeling part of a family, being a family, and yes, Chisato, her sensitivity and her actions are exactly what is what is going to bring the family together. But if Shinzo hadn't left her clues on how to DO that, if he hadn't brought her home in the first place, if he hadn't guided her through *his* actions (he did, after all, sort of prepped her for the task), there was just no way she would have succeeded. That's why I think he -ultimately- hasn't failed his sons (of course, if the drama ends the way I assume it's going to end ^_^).

@belleza
Epik High concert sounds AWESOME! Not likely i'll ever get the chance to experience one! Thanks for the re-cap.

javabeans, have noticed some of the new (or maybe not so new) Story of a Man headers. Their fantastic!

Finished "Successful story of a Bright girl", i thought it was ok but not sure if i love it. The main character/actor, stumbling around, lots of angry shouting and attitude rally didn't work for me, kinda disappointing as i liked him in Volcano High. Am currently on the last two episodes of "Last scandal of my Life" - LOVE IT!!!!!!! OMG!! The characters are sooooo great!!!!! and the relationship dynamics are awesome! So many funny moments and great "awwwww shucks sooo sweetttttt" moments! Have been reading your re-caps as i go. Brilliant as usual.
Thanks a million!

@ belleza "I was viewing the SF clips, and I realized that our venue (being standing room only) was much smaller and more intimate."
Yeah, the Masonic is a venue better suited towards likes of Dave Bruebeck or Diana Krall. HOB has more of the Fillmore/Warfield vibe.

"I should mention — if you don’t like losing your hearing, you may want to get some earplugs. "

@nycgrl, definitely take some earplugs. It's more the screaming girls, than the music, that will do some serious damage to your eardrums. ;)

@hjkomo,

"Yeah, the Masonic is a venue better suited towards likes of Dave Bruebeck or Diana Krall. HOB has more of the Fillmore/Warfield vibe."

When I lived in the Bay Area (*sniff* remember those days when you can put on your resume "Skills? Well I'm double-jointed!" and get a job? Those were the days . . . damn you George W!!! >_< ), I actually worked a block away from the Warfield. And during that time, I'd go to the Warfield after work to see a band. But, really, half of the time, I went there to catch up on sleep. My date wanted to see the Wallflowers, and I couldn't keep awake through it.

BTW, I heard Tablo crowdsurfed at the SF performance. SO adorkable! :D Actually, my impression of Tablo is really changing lately. (Not sure why though, he's mostly definitely a Leo AND a Stanfurd snot. :) .) I think if you crossed Eminem and Ferris Buehler, you might get Tablo.

"It’s more the screaming girls, than the music, that will do some serious damage to your eardrums"

YES. It was just like being in a slumber party-turned-slasher movie. But pleasurable.

Another earthquake in this area. :(

You know, I really don't want the Big One to happen under my house. :(

@hjkomo and belleza

I bought the ear plugs.

Thanks for all the info guys. I'll let you know how the NYC concert goes.