I am currently watching Alone in Love -- an addict highly recommended it to me :)

FH drama used to be "bed-time story" and my morning wake-up call; I was so obsessed and bought many friends a set of FH for christmas present. The ost is so mermerizing...

@ 146 mzpakipot

My problem with KSS (actually I don't dislike the drama, it just wasn't a favorite) was Hyun Bin trying to win back Sun Ah while he was dating the other girl (I'm almost positive he was dating the other girl at the same time). And Sun Ah KNEW that he was dating the other girl. Now my memory is a little fuzzy because again, it's been a year since I've watched this drama, but I'm pretty sure that was my problem with it.

Eh, MNIKSS doesn't get a violent reaction out of me, just a 'meh' one. I leave the violent reactions to ISWAK which gets me into all my feminist rantings.

@ 147 javabeans

Thanks for the heads up! I'll check out the website this weekend.

@ 148 langdon813 - Jul 24, 2009 at 1:25 pm

Oh wow, just googled Takeshi Kaneshiro and what a gorgeous man! (And I say MAN not BOY-MAN, which is how the J-drama actors usually look like).

YES. Continue watching Nodame! It starts off slow but it's worth it.

Also, I leave work in 25 minutes. That means 25 more minutes of Open Thread before I say goodbye.

Has anyone been watching "Strike Love" ? Can you give me some comments on it?

@samsooki

RE: FULL HOUSE

i have seen this series long time ago and if i remember right, this series was full of :
in-house scenes (almost all scenes are inside the huge, bare house)
*yelling
*fighting
*cleaning
*eating

(repeat this(*) for the nth time...) ^-^

but then this was one of the popular kdramas....

#153 Mishane

Are you sure you can get off in a few minutes time... won't your boss detent you since you have been mingling at open thread since this morning???
Wish you luck :)

@ 115 - ah, you are a total sadomasochist!!!! I love it cuz I am too! When I want to torture myself, I watch "I'm sorry. I Love you." - the scene where Ji Sub asks his mother to cook him ramen noodles (after he finds out that she was told he was dead) and he cries while eating them....gets me every time. And when he told Eun Chae that he would give up his hate if she stayed by him...sigh....

I'm trying to watch Sang Doo, Let's go to School with Rain, but I haven't even finished episode 1.

Ruler of Your Own World - has so many nice, subtle moments, I don't even care that the main leads aren't "hot" or "sexy"

As for the ones I hated:

ISWAK - OMG, I wanted to tear my hair out!!!! The character that Ariel played was stupid!!!

Autumn Tale - incestuous siblings before they find out they're not related, yuck!!!! And then the rest of the story, horrible!

Winter Sonata - people may love this story, but it was so convoluted that I lost track of who was who and why.

East of Eden - just because the younger brother finds out he's the bio son of the evil mastermind, he loses faith in his brother who put him through college?? WTH?!?

Heart of 19 - pissed me off because it was so freakin long!!!!

Cinderella Man - cuz the guy is too freakin old for his two main leading ladies

Lovers - can't exactly pinpoint why, but I do

On the dislike side - more 'eh' instead of 'wow' or 'eck'
Coffee Prince - maybe watching YEH in back to back shows (Goong) killed this for me, but I swear I was watching the same character in both movies

On Fine Day - I abhor violence against women and felt that this show glossed over the adopted son's terrorism and assault over Sung Yuri's character. That pissed me off. The revenge plot was a bit contrived and came late to the show, but I thought it was a cute story. Very weak, but cute.

All In - it took waaaayyyy too long to get the story up and running. But I loved the first half and the ending!

@ 156 Janie

Hehe, I'm kind of my own boss, so it's nice. And Friday is THE SLOWEST POSSIBLE DAY EVER. I swear, they should just give me Fridays off because nothing ever happens.

@ mishane - Well, Hwal basically admitted to Haeyoon that he likes Haru, but he hasn't said anything to her about it. I guess that counts as something. *strangely apathetic now*

Also, KANESHIRO TAKESHI. OMG, gorgeous man. Go watch House of Flying Daggers. You'll want to molest him. *Q*

Y'know what's an underrated show? Romance Zero. I think I've seen it about 3 times now, because it's just so unmelodramatic and there are so many cute moments.. I tend to watch it whenever I need background noise for another task like baking or cross-stitching or sewing. The soundtrack is pretty cute, too (although I quickly grew sick of the "you are my laaaaaaaady" song), and I loved pretty much all of the characters. Also, Jay (from The TRAX) is HILARIOUS in drag. So funny. (Episode 11, I think.) It's not something that'll have a life-altering impact on me, but it's been lots of fun to watch, and I can't bring myself to burn it off my hard drive yet.

I've seen almost 100 dramas in my drama-watching lifetime (going on 5 years now), and Kdramas continue to be my favourite. I've seen some really good Jdramas recently, but I can't bring myself to go back to that culture entirely, and I've never been impressed with Taiwnese dramas despite the cuteness of shows like ISWAK, DBY, and ToGetHer. Kdramas know how to do angst and romance better than any of the others, I think.

Although I REALLY want to get into lakorns (Thai dramas). I saw Oom Rug when it first came out several years ago, and I completely fell in love with it. The Thai restaurant in my town has a TV where they play lakorns all the time, but they're never subbed so I have no idea what's going on. :( (There was one with spies that looked really cool, but I don't know what it's called.) I wish they were more accessible to us English-speaking Westerners. Boo.

@ everyone, on my god, how do I respond to each and every amazing post swinging by at warp speed, must learn to type with toes, and obtain second computer and keyboard to multitask.

T-dramas:

Watched only t-dramas growing up, the new crop in 2003 onward is different than the old school (which still lingers in my memory more out of nostalgia), and while some have been amusing/entertaining, I've only re-watched Prince Turns into Frog. Re-watchability/desire to own a DVD box set is my standard for how much I love thee, oh drama! So, t-dramas, my sister owns the squee fan love on these.

Worst actor in all t-drama male leads goes to....hands down.....Mr. Wu Zun, please accept your crown, thank you!

j-dramas:

Loved the mid-late nineties on these babies, watched quite a few but this was during the VHS days and hard to own, but have forgotten names of fave actors and dramas, I think I liked Long Vacation, sigh, different flavor and style, but a delicious cup of coffee (always a little smooth and bittersweet, those j-dramas).

k-dramas:

I have been watching since I got handed the box set for Seodongyo (very under-rated Sageuk - but having two beautiful leads in Jo Hyun Jae and Lee Bo Young neither help nor hurt it - love story was sweet).

Autumn in my Heart - sue me, I liked it, melodrama, cancer, forbidden love, ever curl up with a naughty romance novel - this is it baby, so wrong yet feels so right. Terrible drama, but I liked it, sigh, such a connundrum, as I can NEVER recommend it to anyone.

Winter Sonta - understand the fuss, was alright, Bae Yong Joon is the least masculine lead ever. Choi Ji Woo - only like her now after Star's Lover.

Summer Scent/Spring Waltz - ugh, pretty colors, look at the pretty colors and scenery - oops, is Song Son Heung emoting over there, is Han Hyo Joo reacting to someone over there, does Daniel Henney know how to speak over here? Please give me back my precious time.

Staircase to Heaven/Bad Love - those of you who have seen these, must understand why I lumped them together. Are you freaking kidding me with this shizzz! Never wanted so badly to have a tsumani (come on over Haeundae) wipe away every single character in these two dramas. Oops, except for Kim Seung Soo (that hot oppa remains untainted in my eyes despite his involvement in Bad Love)

My Love Patzi - oh Samsooki, being in the (very very) minority on this drama is not bad (see, my position on Autumn in my Heart). I adore your writing and taste, but goodness, your love for Jang Na Ra (I second Sung Yu Ri love) is, for me, completely confounding and what tha???? She's damn lucky she gets the Kim Wons loves, but never in the history of drama has a more annoying heroine gotten 2 so absolutely delicious, adorable, charming (insert more appealing adjectives) male characters to want her. Again, what tha?????? Drama itself was forgettable.

One Fine Day/Millionaire's First Love - Sung Yu Ri cuteness only, story beyond bad, nice introduction to Gong Yoo.

What Happened in Bali - .............. speechless........... still speechless.......(if there is ever a slow open thread friday, maybe I will write my feelings and takeaway from this drama).

Hong Gil Dong - sigh, love, swoon, adore (both drama and Javabeans recaps).

Boys Before Flowers/Goong - oooh, teenagers in love with pretty clothes, me like - opps, what's that, oh yes, the necessity of a credible plot, acting ability and character development all missing - Oh, who cares, more love all around cuz I'm a lemming like that. Okay, sarcasm aside, enjoyed watching both of these cotton candy shows.

MINKSS/Snow Queen - really, really liked it.

Coffee Prince - Liked it.

And lastly, this is to answer someone's thought about watching Queen of the Game for the revenge plot: uhm, I would watch it for the hotness that is Joo Jin Mo, and not for some of the most ridiculous and random "revenge" out there, who thought up the "revenge", some 9 year old watching Princess Bride (you killed my father, prepare to die, oops, prepare to be ruined, yada yada yada....). Some of the most unintentional comedy I have ever watched in a drama.

@153, mishane

I could post for hours on how lovely Takeshi Kaneshiro is and tell you all about my future plans to stalk him and force him into marriage (or at the very least, cohabitation in the country of his choice), but I'm afraid JB would kick me out of here. So I'll try to restrain myself, but...I love him soooo much. (Picture Ducky lying on Andie's bed in Pretty in Pink, singing into the hairbrush. That's me at this moment). God, I'm old. Does anyone here even get a Pretty in Pink reference anymore?? ;-)

I had a Triple question WAY back @63...I'm afraid it will get lost in the shuffle so I'm begging anyone who is watching this show (and speaks Korean) to please tell me what was said in a particular conversation in Ep 12. Pretty please?

@ 157 B020

OH MAN. My favorite scene in I'm Sorry I Love you was the one where Im Su Jung was standing outside the gate and she finds out about So Ji Sub and she's just in shock and the oranges fall to the ground (I seem to love that part in dramas where the truth comes out).

And then the part where they spend the day together in the hotel room? And she takes pictures of him while he's sleeping and then he deletes them??? And he makes her leave him? jkldfjkjkjafldjfsjfsdjsk;ljslfd GAH. OH MAN.

I really have to be in the mood for angst though. Like REALLY REALLY.

@ 159 Kender

YAY. Admission!!

I've found that with Triple, I don't really like anyone in the drama. Well, except for Haru maybe. But I have issues with all of the males in the drama as well as with Sang Hee and Soo In. So it's strange that I'm so invested in how the drama ends.

I wish more Thai and Chinese/Mainland dramas were subbed because I'd love to watch them. But it seems the most accessible ones are Korean/Japanese/Taiwanese.

oh my sis-langdon813

TK and Ekin Cheng were my very very first loves ever!!!! i *borrowed* the movie Angel from my sister in law's little sister because i needed a fix and never returned it! LOL! superb actor!!! love his facial structure. has such a nice jaw line. again, my shallowness is showing thru

@ mishane

i think i'll still pass. if i'm gonna get annoyed at an extended storyline, i might as well just ignore it altogether.

Alone in love, that's Son Yejin and Gam Jung woo, right? there were a TON of dramas that i wanted off the sale list... needs some serious overtime to pay for this addiction.

@ 161 ockoala

I find drama trends fascinating!

Im more familiar with Korean drama trends so I didn't even know about TW-drama ones. Were tw-dramas ALWAYS idol dramas? What are the 'old-school' tw-dramas considered?

I find that j-dramas are more story based/family based than romantic based but I have seen clips of older dramas where they definitely go a little more risque than they do now. As in there's actually making out in an old j-drama compared to the fish kisses we get (ONE kiss in a WHOLE DRAMA) these days. I really don't understand why that is, but I don't want to seem like a romance freak who HAS to get a kiss in my drama.

HEH. I like your tastes in dramas.

daaaaaaamn i'm gone for less than an hour and this thread practically doubled in comments haha. geezus. :)

@148 langdong & @153 mishane - omg yes takeshi is hot. i dono when i first saw him, but i adored him in House of Flying Daggers... the man is sex on legs haha. :) and the fact that he's fluent in both Chinese and Japanese makes him THAT much hotter :)

and @141 mishane - toooootally agree!! i want the girl to be hot and rich and popular and perfect and the guy have to 'measure up' for once!

as for Mars... i wonder, do you have to be a Vic fan in order to love it? Cuz friends of mine who aren't Vic fans hate it, but people who love Vic love Mars.. I have always been ehh about Vic and ehh about Barbie... tho after Black & White Vic has risen and I actually liked Barbie in Corner with Love.

lunch is over..do i really have to go back to work? o wait who am i kidding.. i've barely done crap all day haha.

@ 162 langdon813

I get Pretty In Pink references!! Although I will have to be cliche'd and say my favorite Molly Ringwald film is Sixteen Candles. Jake Ryan was just so ~dreamy~, lol. And solidified my dreams to one day snag a man with TWO first names!

And I wish I could help you with the Triple scene in question.

Oh well. It's 5:02 everyone. I'm leaving work early today.

Have a good Open Thread!! If I'm not hungover tomorrow, I'll check back in to see what everyone else said. Although I'll probably have massive amounts of soju (served in a watermelon bowl!!!) so hee!! Tonight is truly going to be a 'Korean' night, going for Korean BBQ, soju and then karoake on St. Marks. I love NY! (Also, this is early but is anyone gonna go to the Dramafever launch party on August 6 at Circle Nightclub in NYC? I'm most likely going).

See you guys next week!

@169 mishane - "Jake Ryan was just so ~dreamy~, lol. And solidified my dreams to one day snag a man with TWO first names!"

OMG I KNOW. XD Sixteen Candles is definitely my favourite too, even though I was actually a little late for the 80s. (The 90s are my era, yo. Freddie Prinze Jr, what?)

@Kender & Mishane,

i LOVE thai lakorns (dramas). My favorite of all time is Leurd Kattiya... tho i have yet to find the whole drama subbed... some subbers have done half of it, then dropped it.. it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! Oum Rak was cute, and i watched it for Anne Thongprasom, fell in love w/ Ken Teeradeth, but i liked their pairing a lot better in Sawan Bieng (Paradise Diversion). for subs, check out wishboniko's channel on youtube. she's pretty good. or anonymousblue2001 has decent subbed lakorns too.

@171 lb_tmi - ..I think I love you now. <3333 I'll have to check them out later. Thanks a bunch! Maybe I'll have to start learning Thai now, haha.

holay at this warp speed thread.

@162 langdon813 - LOVED pretty in pink!! :P john hughes and his brat pack movies were the best! they just don't make 'em like that anymore huh.

@mishane and kender - jake ryan... man he WAS super dreamy wasn't he?! :) i wonder whatever happened to him??

@mishane - have fun tonight! St. Mark's is awesome.. maybe you'll be able to find the Dessert Truck around too. One of the guys who owns it is a cutie pie..but I'm thinking maybe he doesn't work the truck anymore like he used to.

@166 Samsooki

Why would I be riled up by the truth, I am totally jealous that Jang Na Ra's character gets Kim Won loves. Nothing to be ashamed about. Just still befuddled that a girl that annoying could be the recipient of such love, but that why it's a drama, right? And an aside, I am still pondering which Kim Won I would pick.

As for being in "a punchy mood because work has REALLY sucked today and I am getting yelled at by a partner of mine who should be boiled in the worst smelling oil that I can find", I have only one suggestion: go in-house. My husband (not so secretly, I can sense the glee) he gets as a GC calling the shots and tormenting our former colleagues at a Big Law firm it-which-cannot-be-named here. Power, Samsooki, is when you are the client. Hope this partner falls into the vat of oil on his way down the dangerous NYC streets.

@148 langdong & @153 mishane

I can still remember when Takeshi Kaneshiro first entered the entertainment world, in 1991, I was a total teenybopper lass spending the summer in Taiwan and here comes another male idol who couldn't sing (and Takeshi could barely speak mandarin, he spoke Taiwanese and Japanese - courtesy of his mom and dad). Who woulda thunk he'd end up here and not in the trash cans of T-idols over the years. He's totally hotter with age. Still have his first album in cassette tape somewhere at my mom's house.

As for MNIKSS - my big beef with this show is what makes City Hall heads above this breakthrough drama for Kim Suh Na (and is the same beef Mishane has) - why is it that Hyun Bin is seen as a great catch despite all his shortcomings and KSS has to fight for him with skinny ex-GF. KSS is awesome, and the dude who keeps wanting to date her is proof positive, he sees her attractiveness, instead of fighting it like Hyun Bin does. Which is why I am passionately in love with Jo Gook and City Hall - because both the character and the drama CH understand, value, cherish and appreciate the singular phenomenon that is Kim Su Na's character Shin Mi Rae. And that is fulfilling to my drama-loving soul. Each tender gaze from JG is worth a 1000% Hyun Bin hot kisses to KSA (it shouldn't be so hard to accept attraction like he did in MNIKSS).

Just wondering if anyone ever use or seen K-drama kisses challenge at weddings...

been to a few weddings this summer and few more to go...
Here's some fun and hilarious Kissing challenges people did for the newly wed...
using Hollywood film kisses.. clip shown... married couple came up and demonstrate the kiss scene then newly wed would take up the challenge and see who's the real winner

eg. would be the ever popular upside down kiss from Superman movie ;p

another wedding...

using a few popular Disney animal characters such as the Lion king etc to show intimate and kissing moment...

another one... groom an art teacher and basketball player
-- kissing challenges-- couple has to do "rebound" action in their kissing
-- using Michael Angelo's art piece "Creation of Adam" from Sistine Chapel -

maybe someone will use some of K-drama kissing scene for wedding kissing challenge -- would it be exciting or boring ;p

@167 mishane

"Im more familiar with Korean drama trends so I didn’t even know about TW-drama ones. Were tw-dramas ALWAYS idol dramas? What are the ‘old-school’ tw-dramas considered?"

It's hard to find old school stuff, and pretty hard to watch it again nowadays, but what I am referring to is dramas from the entire eighties into the late nineties (which saw a very dramatic transition which spanned the 2 decades). A lot were based on romance novels from the writer Chyung Yao, some were what k-dramas would call Sagueks, t-drama called Wu Xia, early t-dramas were very family-issues plot driven, less the pretty romance we see in idol dramas now. I also watched a lot of genuine taiwanese drama, which had stories set in rural Taiwan, everyone spoke Taiwanese, and it was all family, hardship, heartache, loyalty, all in 60 episodes that made me feel like I just watched my grandparents and their lives unfurl on screen. Hope this helps!

SPOILER below- CH recap readers who don't want to be spoiled, please skip now(Samsooki, please pat on head for following directions).

@ 175 Janie:

I know which k-drama kiss I would project on screen for the bride and groom to emulate (City Hall, episode 14 - oh what the heck - EVERY kiss between Jo Gook and Shin Mi Rae - I already knew Kim Suh Na was a great kisser on screen, but man, that Cha Seung Won *knows* *how* *to* *kiss* - makes me breathless just to watch too much like a voyeur).

Also, the kiss between Sam Soon and Sam Shik is not bad.

Oh, and anytime Mr. So Ji Sup tenderly cradles that lucky lady and kisses her, swoon.

But I have never seen this done at any weddings I've attended before, cute concept. Parental generation may not be fond of it though.

@175
i have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. kissing challenges at weddings? my mind is not registering any of that...

@176 Happy birthday!!! have fun @ the picnic!

@mishane: i eat everything with a fork and a spoon, pizza, chicken, burgers etc.. hahaha... i'm sort of weird like that.. but, there is one exception when i actually do use my hands to eat, that's only when i'm eating buffalo wings... hahaha

of course we were talking about hyunG tae from 9 end 2 outs and not hyun tae from triple... i love the actor that plays hyun tae, i loved him in his earlier dramas like who are you and my sister in law is 19... but in triple, man... i can't bear to watch him at all...

@lovenyc52: oh man.. the namsan tower scene totally killed me... hahaha i think i might re-watch 9 end 2 outs again this weekend... just so i can drool all over my laptop whenever lee jung jin (hyung tae) comes on screen... hehehe

@ 179 Samsooki

"Bitchy partner", huh? I know of quite a few when I was in private practice. So hang in there, I know how tight the legal market is right now, but I'm sure with your superb writing abilities, the right in house or other legal job will materialize when you least expect it. It did for me, there I was, watching k-dramas on the tube, when bam!, I get lured back into the fray. I think hubby worked hard to become GC so he can exact revenge on those "partners" we speak of so 'fondly." This might be a potential k-drama plot......

Oh, and almost forgot to respond to @94 lb_tmi, good luck on acquiring the additional degree, I know how hard it must be for you to leave the kids, I feel the same way every morning! Which is why, k-drama addiction aside, I manufactured every excuse not to resume working until I literally couldn't stand being home all day for another day anymore. Now, it's the perfect balance.

@180 dalisay - i just may do the same.... inbetween waiting for the wonderful viikii subbers to sub the last 2 eps of Shining Inheritance *tear*, I will occupy myself with some Hyung Tae lovin. I think i also loved this drama so much cuz there was no 'evil' person persay... Yoona was annoying as all hell and the ex-gf got in the way... but there was no real evil plotting you know? just the slow realization that the best friends were meant to be! man. now i'm all hyped up to go home and start a rewatch of this hehe.

Ephemera sounds a lot like Emiliana Torrini

@Samsooki; ohhhh...i can't wait to read your defense on behalf of Binnie... I am Sun-Bin shipper too, as in I really want them to hook up in real life. But I prefer KSA's chemistry with CSW more.

lb_tmi and mzpakipot,

just out of curiosity, what about won bin did you like in autumn fairy tale besides his appearance?

he seemed to me like a spoiled brat, but i watched this without subtitles, so i may be off base here.

@kb, the way he talks, his manly voice, and the way he stares. I think maybe because he had to portray someone who has more charisma than the other male lead. I guess i'm more drawn to (let me quote Mi-rae from CH) param-dongi (for filipino terms=mayabang, english=conceited). LOL i hope i got those terms right.

@173 lovenyc52
I'm pretty sure he is a carpenter in Pennsylvania (I know, random trivia....) He was soooo dreamy, also in that movie Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken or something (about the blind diving girl and horse? maybe?)

I don't listen to regular radio stations for a longest time, but I usually go to UK TOP 40s website to check what's out and they have some decent songs. What's a good song right now that's playing in US airwaves?

I pretty much listen to everything, not so much for Rap music.
I'm currently listening to When Love Takes Over-Kelly Rowland on repeat.

@#186
on WB
and the way he smiles too... he is a brat there and i love him to bits

@178 ib_tmi

oh the kissing challenges... for the newly wed... if you read #177@ockoala, you'll get the gist ;p

Anyway kissing challenges is strictly done in wedding banquet and not during the sacred ceremony... ^ ^

off to a bbq bash & watch other dudes... Alberto Contador... Lance Armstrong... at Tour De France

@ javabeans #86

I watched the Mandarin-dub of Goong S and I guess the voice actors did a great job because I couldn't tell the "acting" was bad.

So at the very least at least the characters are good physical actors, heehee :)

@ Samsooki #143

RE: Kim Won sandwich.

kekeke :) OK, I'll admit it. That part did make me jealous.

@ mishane #141

Full House was my 2nd k-drama (the first was Autumn Tale) and at the time the ideas in the drama were very new to me.

The contract marriage, the constant fighting, etc. So I really loved it when I first watched it.

But as I started to watch more k-dramas I realized that other series did them better.

So even though Full House has a special place in my heart, I know I wouldn't be able to watch it again...at least not without fast forwarding a lot of it.

Also, when I first saw Kim Sung Soo I literally gasped.

I'm so sad that he's not more famous.

@ lb_tmi #165

My most vivid memory of Ekin Cheng was in that TVB drama where he was about to propose to his girlfriend but someone set the apartment on fire and when he went to the hospital he tried to put the ring on her but couldn't because she was burnt all over and her hands were all wrapped :(

I cried so much during that scene and each time I see him I feel sad all over again.

@ everyone talking about Takeshi Kaneshiro

*gasp*

I've been stalking him since the 90s :) Glad to know I have company.

#160@ Samsooki
Sorry, but we all have a lot on our plates right now. But not to worry! Episode 9 recap is coming shortly, as are the other recaps in due course!

hehee.. no hurry... it's a gift so it cannot be demanded ;p Thanks for the labor :)

I just pray and hope that you & your ladies won't run ahead of Ms Alodia and her subbing team.... 'cos I heavily and heavenly depend on BON sub in syn with your recap epi by epi

Yeah..., BON City Hall epi 14 sub is out.. thank you alodia and squad :)

Lol Im just watching House of flying daggers right now, poor Andy Lau never had a chance.

Talking of Taiwanese dramas, my god how can you watch them and not constantly roll your eyes? Nearly all Taiwanese drama I've watched I've dropped because I couldn't stand the whole tacky nonesense, bad acting and worse dialogue. Every ep something silly would happen, where either a evil side character did something to the main girl or something went bad the main girl was framed, same thing repeated ep after ep.

Frog Prince suffered from this, started out well but the by the end the plot was ridiculous, the acting got worse as the show went on aswell, Ming Dao and Chen Qiao En's chemistry just barely saved that show. Fated to love you was good and showed that Taiwanese drama's were finally growing up, however I thought in the end where the show could have tackled a serious issue of a wife not being able to have children but that was completely ignored and some hideous explanantion was brought in that she was fooled by everyone and I lost all respect for that drama.

As for Full House and Goong, both dramas have a minimal plot, mediocre acting but still fun to watch, I thought Goong wasn't bad as everyone said it was tho I don't think I would have the paitence to watch it all again. The Manwha on the other hand is quite good. And hell no was YEH's character in Goong the same one in CP, i think your bias blinded you, the girl might not be a great actress but she understood Go Eun chan character pretty good for such a rookie actress. She has charisma and well I love her

Full House is a basic drama with zero plot, but its still fun to watch them argue.

@ 141 mishane

I second your thoughts on Full House, I still have not finished the drama, I haven't even made it past the half-way mark, just gave up and returned the DVD to sis, along with her Delghtful Girl Chung Hyung DVD, also cannot finish.

Neither dramas had leads which sparked any chemistry with each other, and there was always either a misunderstanding (talk to each other, why don't you people just TALK, that's what mouths are for - and kissing, also, good use of mouth) - or a ridiculous complication. Either way, it was tedious for me to watch. Loved the OST for both though.

On the flip side, My Girl I loved (it did the funny, the complications, the misunderstandings in a way that made sense, plus Lee Da Hae really carried the drama), even though I didn't realize in that drama how freakin' beautiful a creature Lee Jun Ki was, had to go "wha.......tha heck, where this hottie come from" when I watched Time between Dog and Wolf.

As always, drama love/indifference/hate is subjective, and most often than not, watching should be an enjoyable process, and if I find myself tired/bored/pained by the drama, I stop. End of story for ockoala.

Thanks for the folks who took time to explain the lure of Black & White for me, and the Nodame drama/manga comparison. I'll start B&W after I finish Shining Inheritance this weekend. Would give an arm and a leg if Eun Sung ends up with Jun Se (break free off the cliches and pre-arranged relationships, oh ye powerful scripwriters, she has a lot more chemistry with him anyways). I know it's not gonna happen, sigh, a girl can wish.

@190 mems,

You are so funny! And what you say is true but I think we have to take into account that maybe the korean audience relies on those cues to quickly pick up plot points.

Not that the korean audience is less sophisticated, but they care more about other aspects of the drama than, say, what we might note and care about.

:)

This thread is going superfast...I can barely keep up!

@mishane, langdon813, and other Takeshi Kaneshiro fans
His jdramas are a lot of fun but you should definitely check out his Chinese movies. My first ever TK introduction was Turn Left, Turn Right (it was super cute!) And I would highly recommend Chungking Express, not only because I love the director (Wong Kar-wai) and it has TK, but also because it has my favorite actor hands down: Tony Leung.

On the topic of Mars---I liked it because it was so different from the regular twdramas (much darker) and because it kept almost true to the manga. I thought Vic improved compared to his role in MG (which I disliked passionately by the way, I just couldn't get into). And he was even better in Silence (though I never finished it b/c it was pretty boring). But after Black & White I have much greater respect for him as an actor, though he still not my favorite Twdrama actor.

Like mentioned earlier, the female roles in Twdrama usually get on my nerves. B&W was probably the only drama where they didn't, though I never understood the fact that every male protagonist had a crush on her....

Wooah! 184 posts already on first clicked of this Open thread! Holy cow - did everyone have 6000 cups of coffee AND 2000 Supersize slurpees today? Now that I read the comments, clicked refresh and it past 190!

better get this post in quick....

Ok not going to quote everyone whose post I am responding to - sorry that would involve scrolling..and in todays pace that might mean it instead of a post in the in early 200s it would be post 300+)
(BTW is this thread the longest? It's just day 1! what is the record?)
Here goes.....

Re: CITY HALL
Firstly a HUGE shout out to epyc from the last open thread. Thank you for the link to bimibibap.com! You gave me the best link for the translated summaries!! You saved my sanity - really was dreading having my enjoyment ruined by the sub quality of the subs! Suprisingly so far not too bad, but what great back ups - the summaries and the recaps here! Woohoo

If anyone reading this is from bimibibap.com - thank you thank you! *waves hugz and kisses* Got so happy I have printed them out, bound them (yes am a bit freakish, but hey got binder why not put it to good use!) and reading them on my commute to work!!! So thank you to epyc and those who wrote the summaries at bimibibap.com! You are totally awesome.

City Hallers need yr advice....
OMG had the DVD going the other night watching Ep 9 (or was it 10?) and cause I was so exhausted I nodded off. That was very bad of me. When I got up, TV was playing latter half of epsiode 14. What a way to wake up! So good.....then that last scene! @-@ I fully woke up then! Crap thing was had to go to work. Damn!!

Now am majorly conflicted - should I skip the eps i dozed off on and just got to the much mentioned Ep 15?
(I now also have the advantage of having the summaries as well. Also lets not forget the recaps as they come out from Samsooki and co!)

What do you think?

Re: Pretty In Pink reference
OMG one my all time favs (but yes it has dated somewhat). Hard to believe that 'Ducky' is now more famous (ie regular employment) that Andrew McCarthy! As much as I loved Ducky in PIP, seriously how did that happen? If someone had told me that at the time I would have called the looney bin.

Andrew McCarthy - not the best of actors but there is always a soft spot in my heart for him. Watched most of his 80s stuff.

And James Spader - so hated him for so long for mistreating Andie (ie Molly's character) (even if he was secretly in love with her - so kdrama eh?). Then came Boston Legal (via the Practise). All is forgiven.

Gee am I feeling old for referencing, and remembering, my love for the classic Brat Pack stuff!!! Never mind some of those movies are classics. The best. 'Bueller anyone?' LOL

On the topic of things from the past...

Re: Ekin Cheng
Use to be a fan when he was at TVB. So much so I was into his music (as my shameful collection of Ekin CDs can attest to). Never got into the 'Young and Dangerous' movies but caught his later rom-coms. Not such a fan now (and yes as a Maggie fan thought the whole dumping her for Gigi made him a total a-s in my eyes, which not helped by his crap movies)

@ Jessica the TVB series you referred to is called 'Instinct' - one of my all time favs, which yes I weeped buckets when Nnadia Chan died. *sobs* Still looking for the DVD now. It also starred my favourite (and still is) Leo Ku! (who really can sing)

Re: Takeshi Kaneshiro
Seriously he is like fine wine - gets better with age. There is something mysterious and deep about the man. And yes MAN not a boy. Still remember watching him in 'Lost and Found' in the cinemas (back in the day when there was Chinese cinemas around) and weeping buckets. He was good then. He is great now. Loved how he never goes for just the safe options.

Re: TW dramas

Why Why Love - Anyone else think that the 2nd lead Kingone Wang is more charismatic, and much better looking? (Although he first name makes me think of King Kong, but then KK now has CH reference to it for me now, so it not all bad hehehe) He was also in another series I watched (can't remember what..the series sponsored by the TW tourism board, yep the series was that memorable :P ) and I thought 'why does he always play 2nd tier characters when he is better than that?'

Since people have been raving about Black and White - want to share where one can get a copy with Eng subs (aside from vikki?)
(As I went to google his name, just noticed on Wiki that Kingone is in that too! waaahhhh)

All right - let's see what # comment this becomes!