@paula253 sure! we can meet you over there! hehe He said that it gives him a headache reading subtitles..lol

thanks for the clip of JiSub's kisses!

I'm a bit sad, those kisses were okay, while watching those kisses I have CH kiss in the back of head...

@189 That's a MAJOR spoiler right there. You should warn others before writing something that could ruin the drama for them.

Indeed that drama was emotionally draining. It sucks the life out of you, only because it was amazingly executed...well, for me at least. Top-notch production, well-written script, and solid acting from the cast... i'm not just speaking of veterans, but even the younger cast, Aibu Saki and Narimiya Hiroki. It's KimuTaku's best piece yet.. I always thought his characters are always the same... but Karei Naru Ichizoku changed my perception of him, from an entertainer/idol to a real actor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEJRboUQXIw

I like Arashi a lot.. not big on fandom though (that's why I can't get accepted in Stormy's LJ)... But I'm getting sick of seeing JE in every drama.. there are some actors I really like. Nino is an example and after seeing a few episodes of Smile (since the fansubbers went underground), I was impressed with Jun's acting. I can't count HYD since I'm just too biased for loving it. Ryo surprised me with his performance in Last Friends, even if I didn't like the drama though. Orthros no inu, geh... I used to like Tackey.. but I'm not feeling his character. I can imagine Yamada Takayuki and Narimiya pulling it off way better.. especially Oguri Shun.. maybe Eita or Tamaki?

I agree with the poster on Arifureta Kiseki. It's extremely slow, which actually makes the drama kind of refreshing. The acting is quite solid.. The story is far from being outrageous or mind-blowing.. but somehow it's very special.

Those who haven't watched Ryuusei no Kizuna and Love Shuffle, I highly recommend y'all give it another try.

have a great weekend everyone!

@202 luthien

Indeed, I'm with you. Ryuusei no Kizuna and Love Shuffle, they were both pretty good to watch with cute boys and good/goofy storytelling. Highly recommended for having your time well well spent

It's almost 4pm in Hawaii and I have been spending the last hour or more reading OT in between answering e-mails....it's a good thing I'm kinda the boss or else I would be fired.

Dele...I'm jealous that you'll get to watch My Fair Lady live! I am so waiting for it.

I haven't really picked up any K-drama since Brilliant Legacy ended. But I don't think I'm in a rut with K-drama either. Sometimes, I just watch Japanse, Taiwanese, HK and Chinese dramas for a variety and lately, I've been really into 1N2D - those guys are hilarious. I adore them all for putting up with all the ridiculous challenges - which celebrity would really put up with it for 2 years or more?? And of course Lee Seung Gi and Eun Ji Won are cute. Anyways, I think the variety is what keeps me coming back for K-dramas.

As for kissing scenes, though I like the drama, I thought the kissing scene in Brilliant Legacy was lame. LSG looked like it was painful kissing HHJ and she just wanted it to end. I agree the Goong kiss with tongue was awkward. And though the kiss in CP was quite passionate, I still thought it was awkward. I think it's YEH - she tried to be natural but comes across as not in both dramas.

I have to watch CH - been stuck watching episodes after episodes of 1N2D. I can't wait to check out the incredible storyline and kissing scenes everyone's been talking about. Will have to check out 9E2O too now.

Well, bz weekend this week - will have to work both days. Have a great weekend everyone.

javabeans:
catchy tune. i like it.

#148 langdon813:
that is hilarious! i used to be a huge "one life to live" fan when i was in grade school. watched it religiously during summer breaks for a couple years.

#188 Dele:
i'm jealous. i tried to get a teaching gig in korea after college, but i could only commit for 6 months. unfortunately, i couldn't find a position as most of the schools wanted a one year commitment. anyway, good luck. i will be following your blog.

@ Lemoncat

Thanks, for allowing me to avoid Modern Housewives like the plague. Sounds terrible, the ending.

@ mems, lovenyc52 (oh what the heck, and all the Hallers out there, lurking and active):

Thanks for responding to my CH-ending love. I wanted to end my rant on terrible drama endings on an uplifting note, lest folks think I'm terribly bitter and all endings suck. Of course it doesn't, that's why I keep watching, for the next special drama to come along. I have watched quite a few good endings, and happily, a few have even been great, but one only has been perfect for me (City Hall).

@ mzpakipot - love the history of the GuMi moniker evolution. I think AeGuk doesn't quite roll off the tongue in English, GuMi is preferable. I must've missed the great Soompi name debate, but then, 270 pages (which is when I started my CH watching experience) is quite a lot to backread. Thank god I started then, my eyes almost died, and now there are over 320 pages on the thread, pity the new CH addict who comes along.

A check of my current CH condition - I am in the rest and recuperation phase, where one can occasionally watch new dramas and avidly enjoy them (Black & White for me, and Nodame was good, too), patiently wait for the next CH recap from Samsooki (uhm, still very patiently waiting here), and talk about other dramas (but somehow still mention CH in ways that hopefully fit into the conversation).

During the height of my fever, I would blurt out CH love like a kid with tourette's syndrome (example - Me: hey, you know that scene in Brilliant Legacy when....I LOVE CITY HALL!....Hwan kissed Eun Sung on the bridge, it was sweet, but they looked very uncomfortable, like a pair of siblings kissing).

@ Paula253

You are just spoiling us, aren't you? So Ji Sub, master kisser extraordinaire, when his hands cup that lady's face, she better buckle on for the ride. My quip on SJB is that rarely does the lucky lady really know the right way to kiss him back, for shame. Thanks for the vid! @ CrimemasterGogo, I think that SJB kissing vid has scenes for a Thousand Year's Love, cuz he's kissing Sung Yuri and they are in sageuk costumes.

@mzpakipot

that'd be fun if it's ok with you. here's my email...
paulashields0711 at gmail dot com

gomawayo!

Hmm... Kissing ? ...... krama !!!!

comes to my mind Lee Byung Hun and Lee Wan.

@djes

I like 2NE1 too! But don't tell my friends...hehehe. They tease me about that. So I tell them **mimicking Bom** "Don't touch my iPod..." <-- only 2NE1 fans will get this.

Oh and how funny was this subtitle: "Don't touch my teletubbies.", when she actually said, "Don't touch my territory." lol! Remember that? :D

*grinning and laughing*

hehehey.....read all the "kissing" comments! LOL!!! the lastest sizzling hot kiss i have to agree is the one between CSW and KSA!

thanks all, for the lists of kdramas.... ^-^

@210snikki

i like 2ne1 too!...Been secretly listening to it(sshhh..am too old for this teen pop!)...lol...right now am addicted to their song "i dont care"

Oh and how funny was this subtitle: "Don't touch my teletubbies.", when she actually said, "Don't touch my territory." lol! Remember that? :D

LMAO!!!! ^-^ I havent seen it...but very funny!!!

@164 ockoala. Hilarious post!!! you got down right down to it!

@CrimemasterGogo. I had watched the first few episodes of Thousand Years of Love and it was draggy and a bit angsty. And Sung YuRi's acting was really painful. She was just really wooden- like she was some sort of doll (but a very GORGEOUS doll. She makes the most beautiful princess ever!) The whole time I was upset that a lead role could have been given to such a bad actress. And So Ji Sub's character didn't seem all that nice either. He was your typical male-lead-jerk.

And a question I'm hoping some of you maybe be able to help answer...so I had watched Don't Ask Me About the Past this week on viikii (the show aired in May/June 2008)...during the commercials, there would be a preview for a drama or movie that takes place around the 1930s. It was on the korean channel, OCN. I was just wondering what the korean drama or movie was.

Wow, ok, so I'm tired after work now and only skimmed what was said on here while I was gone. I will say a few things, and then I'm off to drama land then dream land.

First of all, Vanilla Coke is still on the shelves at my grocery store, but not as much as it used to be.

Second of all, @ 123 mishane: Where is that petition? I WILL sign it! *lol* I have a friend (my Kdrama mama, actually) whose brother in law works for Frito Lay. She has promised to harass him about the 3D Doritos!

Third of all, @ 127 lb_tme: Agreed about the honey bbq Fritos. They are the best! Also agree about the dark chocolate Ferrero Rocher. Ferrero Rocher is one of my favorite chocolate brands.

Fourth of all, I don't recommend having a venti caramel frappaccino when you have to go to work and actually concentrate on something! *lol* Especially when all you want to concentrate on is Lee Jun-ki...work kind of gets lost in the brain wiring! *lol*

@ 181 ockoala
Kim Suh Na has kissed THE hottest men in k-drama, and the BEST kissers as a group in k-entertainment. Don’t believe me, here’s the list: Cha Seung Won, Lee Dong Gun, Hyun Bin, Gong Yoo, and So Ji Sub.

-omo! when did ksa kiss ji sub? was it in the old morning drama joa joa? i think i missed it... >.< or i'm just not paying much attention while watching it unsubbed.

Wow this OT is sprinting along today. It's Saturday, noon time for me. Got to get me some nice hot smooches tonight. LOL!

Hey langdon813 and ockoala,
Thanks for the heads up on Swallow the Sun. I will wipe that one out of my memory for good. Just can't understand why it hit the #1 spot twice. These ratings are stupid anyhow. I much rather trust both your taste and judgment.

I'm in my drama doldrums. I think it's a combination of things. Time, mood, maturity, drama overload and that one drama that took away much but gave a lot more....*drum roll*....City Hall. The one drama that I had zero expectations of turns out to be the best so far. And hence, I have gotten to be pretty picky and selective on my "2009 to watch" list.

Watched :
Story of a Man - good, intense, original
QoH - light and funny, but got a lil draggy when they extended
That Fool - meh except for HJM's acting
City Hall - the most re-watchable (consecutively) drama in my history of drama watching despite knowing its storyline, plots, twists and the epic ending. In total agreement with ockoala on this. THE.BEST.ENDING.EVER!

Watching :
Triple (Ep12)- watching with DB's recap...kinda dreading the ending
Partner (Ep 6)- fairly entertaining, but the courtroom cases annoy me..FF mode half the time
Black & While (Ep 4) - best Tdrama I have seen in my lifetime and enjoying it.
Man Who Can't Marry (Ep 6) - light and funny but not super romantic yet?

To watch :
Friend, Our Legend - just to see a different HB, so disappointed with WW.
Swallow the Sun - just deleted
My Fair Lady

@ 181 ockoala

>>Kim Suh Na has kissed THE hottest men in k-drama, and the BEST kissers as a group in k-entertainment. Don’t believe me, here’s the list: Cha Seung Won, Lee Dong Gun, Hyun Bin, Gong Yoo, and So Ji Sub. Sheez, lady, you are so damn lucky.<<

I've a different take on this. Kim Suna gave them the kiss of life and they became soooo hot!

@ 216 omo

There you are! I was waiting for you, cuz you left a comment on the last OT and I didn't even notice until much much later today, and then realized that I inadvertantly answered your Swallow the Sun inquiry earlier! In response to langdon813, who was responding to you! Too cute, we avid drama watchers.

Anyways, it does seem like our taste in dramas coincide, feels nice to share likes and dislikes with dramabeans friends. I guarantee that you will LOVE and LOVE some more Black & White. It gets better and better, and this is truly the breakout drama of the year so far for me (don't worry, I gave City Hall another award - Best drama of my lifetime!). And it was all filmed in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, which is the second largest city in Taiwan, and the southern port city on the island. And the cinematography was groundbreaking and showed the city in such stark, sleek, spare light, it was gorgeous to see my homeland (sniff, sniff, my Jo Guk) rendered so beautifully.

Swallow the Sun - I really really want to like it, that's all I ask of it, everything sounded so promising, which made the subsequent disappointment so sad to bear. I'll wait for Ji Sung and Sung Yu Ri's next work.

I agree wholeheatedly with your review of Queen of Housewives, but since it introduced me to Yoon Sang-hyun (who is about to make YEH his in 2 months time), all was worth it.

@ omo and cingdoc

re-watching CIty Hall, I've actually stopped completely. It's time to move on for me, but like the most perfect book you've ever read, that favorite of yours, you can pick it up anytime, years later, still be riveted, spend many hours with it, and say after you finish, "that was the best [blank] I ever watched/read." Also, I don't want to not enjoy it as much cuz I've re-watched it too much, you know? Welcome to the OT, it's never to late to gab with friends.

cingdoc - love your review of WIAN, it's was worth the painful plot just to enjoy Kim Suh Na with Lee Dong Gun for me. But still, I wonder if the scriptwriter went schizo mid-way through ahd handed the scriptwriting to her psycho twin. I know appreciate even more sophisticated, complete, meaningful scriptwriting after City Hall

ugh!! so mad!! and the only place i could think of to do a rant was here on OT... just flew from orange county to san jose (short 45 min commuter flight) on a half-full southwest airlines flight... AND THEY LOST MY BAG. it's a direct flight. there were probably max 50 people on it and probably only half even checked their bags. really?? really?!?!? anyway they say MAYBE it's still in orange county and if so it'll come in on the first flight in the morning. but who knows, it could be on it's way to texas. luckily i am at my parent's house for the weekend so any essentials i need i have access to (and thank god i always carry my laptop with me). cuz if something ever happened to my laptop you'd better believe i'd throw a sh*tfit they've never seen before. gahh!!! *rant over*

@cingdoc - i'm sorry i don't know what IRIS stands for, but i'm assuming it's an acronym for whatever secret organization they belong to? i am, however, very interested to watch this :) lee byung hun is yum yum yum!!

@ 2NE1 fans - me too! me too! *waves* i like them too! :) they are just fresh and funky and fun. looking forward to what they have to offer. it's interesting that they have a pretty broad age range from minzy at 15 to bom at 25. but i like how they each have their own personality and style.

ok well hope stupid southwest gets me my luggage tomorrow morning so i dont have to buy new stuff..cuz if i do, u can betcha ass im gonna bill them for it!

@cingdoc

I'm alive! Haha I actually have an exam next week! on a Saturday again! So I have to miss out on OT community! But also couldn't participate in OT because I've had the worst case screwed up internet connection for the past week! Literally everyone i know had extra slow/broken internet (circa dial-up connection times hello!)

and with that i'd like to ask if its true what people are saying that the internet connection of asia was down cause of an earthquake in Japan? That it broke some cables under the sea?

Anyhoo! i love the Kissing Analogy topic! And just had to mention BOF as the epitome of the worst kiss ever. and CH kisses even the little kisses on her forehead makes me go crazy! I just finished CH and i immediately went to dramabeans so i could just share the love of CH. Hands down best Kdrama for me!!!! I love it so much im going to wrap this up and watch my favorite scenes again aka ALL OF IT!!!

this OT is just the best! There's the kissing topic, the kdrama rut topic, the frustration of kdrama plots and the best topic of them all FOOD!

@ 217 ockoala

Yes, here I am.

Ok, so now I can place your roots. Yes, I have been to Kaohsiung twice on biz trips. Funny how I can't remember a thing about the biz part but I CAN remember I had the most unusual seafood dinner there. The first time I've eaten that many unusual sea creatures at one go...I can't even name them, so that's how unusual they are. Very nice scenery and lots of fresh air. I swear that if I were to have an x-ray after each trip to Taipei, all they could see would be a dense, black mess. Yes, I know I will love B&W to bits. Tdramas from ages past till now have given melodrama a whole new meaning....and 1000+ episodes of the same old thing..argh!

I, too, have stopped rewatching City Hall. But when a new recap episode comes out by Samsooki & co., I'll need to rewatch that episode so that I don't give out spoilers unwittingly when posting a comment. That's the only rewatch I would allow myself. It's also because of CH that I'm now rating good dramas based on re-watchability. While watching CH, I have managed to wear out my fast backward (FB) button. Yep, that could be another way to rate a drama...no. of times on the FF/FB button.

As for WIAN, while the series was not un-watchable, it was painful to watch after Ep 6/7. The storyline got flushed down the potty hole after that. Months after watching the drama, I read that KSA was injured while filming. Those scenes where she had her arm in the cast were for real. I'm just wondering if they had to rewrite the script to accommodate her injury. Even then, they should have given us a great ending instead of that fizzly (borrowed term) one, to compensate the viewers for that awful 2nd half.

I can't wait to see Yoon Sang-hyun in his first (assumption) lead role. From recent experience, I'm going in with zero expectations for MFL. Haha! It's just my cushioning strategy.

@ Jo

exactly.. i have no idea what plot belonged to My Girl, cuz it's meshed in w/ the others i've watched. which actually isn't saying much, cuz i've not watched *too* many dramas.

@ 1000 years love

i agree, Sung Yuri was wooden, but i thought that's how she was supposed to be, kinda expressionless besides the "wth" look since she's from 1000 yrs prior? and she was SSSSOOOOO beautiful in the wardrobe.. So Ji Sub as a protector, in the past, HOT, in the present NOT. but i watched all of it... not the best, but not the worst i've seen either. would i recommend it? not unless you're a die-hard fan of anyone in the cast. but i LOOOOVVVVEEEEE the story-line. that's what kept me watching to see how they would play out..

@ 2NE1 fans,

i'm only starting to introduce myself to them... i heard "i don't care" on the radio and i wanted to know a little more about them. and they must be pretty talented if my 2PM boys like 'em...

@lovenyc52

hope you get your bag back!!! and enjoy your weekend... bill the bastards later if you don't! :)

Yay 4 more fridays to go and javabean's open thread's gana hit it's 100th Frday...yey!!! kinna excited ...i wonder what song yer gana post=)

Regarding Thousand Years of Love:
The only good thing, IMHO, was SJS in the first episode in sageuk gear....like someone mentioned---he was hot and his character was interesting (oh and a note to Kdrama PDs---please please cast SJS in a sageuk in the future. I would be all over that in less than a second! SJS + sageuk = would equal HOT and he would be totally awesome in it, IMHO) But anyways, the plot in general was unique but I was frustrated with Sung Yuri and the second male lead. The pacing was haphazard and the writing had too many plotholes and/or weird situations (I swear I was like WTF in every single episode).

Even my love for SJS (and he's like in my top three) couldn't save the drama for me. But some people have liked....I might say I would like the hours I spent on it back, but that would mean missing out on SJS in the first episode and as ridiculous as it sounds---it was worth it.

If you don't like SJS or Sung Yuri that much or if you don't like dramas where there's a lot of misunderstandings and the couple gets together and then separates multiple times...I would say stay FAR away.

@lovenyc52: How in the h*ll does an airline lose a bag when there are only 50 people on the flight? I would be SO PISSED!!!! In fact, I'm pissed for you! You definitely have to let us know what becomes of this. I'm sure everyone here will help you kick some airline @$$!

And back to the topic of food: I'm making these egg free molasses chocolate chip cookies (secret recipe from my Kdrama mama), and I have to say, the raw dough is yummy! In about five minutes, I'll let you all know how the finished product is!

These cookies are as yummy to eat as my Kdrama man-harem is to look at! *lol*

{My man-harem: Kim Bum, Lee Jun-ki, Kim Joon, Kim Jeong Hoon, Kim Jae Wook}

@meh: These cookies would be a good stress relief snack! Sugar, chocolate, yum! What more could you ask for! *lol* And NO eggs, so totally vegetarian!

@219

The cause of the slow internet is not the earthquake in Japan, but the typhoon in Taiwan, it damaged the undersea cable due to the undersea landslide. But its back to normal now.

to all 2NE1 fans
I hope you have heard their songs IN THE CLUB and LET'S GO PARTY. Its in the same mini-album with I DONT CARE, but they are only promoting IDC. IMO IN THE CLUB AND LET'S GO PARTYis way better that IDC. Of course their first single FIRE is also very very good.

More food randomness: I saw an ad for "reduced sugar Frosted Flakes". Wouldn't that be an oxymoron? Or at the very least, pointless?

@ Andromytta

another Kim Jeong Hoon fan.. oh, i LOVE LOVE LOVE him!!! i've dl'ed everything possible on that guy!!! i will so miss him these next two years. now it's twice as hard as KRW just left too.. alas, i have all the UN and solo albums to keep my ears occupied.. and all the pix to satisfy my eyes.. voice of an angel. i LOVED the UN days.. even if that was prior to my obsession... as i didn't get introduced to him until after Goong.

Thanks to suggestions from previous OT's, I'm finding relief from my kdrama slump with BBC dramas. Especially love the period dramas, North and South, Bleak House and Little Dorrit. Might try Cranford or Hercule Poirot next.

Or maybe I should read a book, any suggestions? Something really really interesting. It takes a lot to hold my attention. Thanks in advance.

@lb_tmi: I didn't get introduced to him until Goong, either! And I'm a VERY new kdrama fan (BoF was my introduction to the genre and Goong was my third kdrama), BUT I managed to score a lot of mp3s of his solo songs as well as two UN albums! My Sony Walkman is FULL of his stuff! Poor me, by the time I knew who he was, he was already in the army! But his army pictures, they break my heart! He looks about twelve! Although, of my "harem" he's the oldest one! *lol* But yeah, I just LOVE him! He has a really great neck. And everytime I watch Goong (which I will soon have on DVD. Yay!) I keep wanting Chae Kyung to dump Shin and be with Yul, for like, the first 22 episodes!

samsooki,

this is a question related to your post on another thread about foreigners showing up on korean tv. it's off topic so i'm posting here. you mentioned how you are having difficulty with spoken korean. i was wondering how often you speak korean in a typical week. for instance, do you speak korean with your wife, your parents, at church etc. what hang-ups are you having with speaking korean? is it just the accent or something more?

i'm just curious because i know your korean is way better than mine, and i found your post somewhat discouraging. i try to study korean when i have time here and there, but if you're having problems becoming fluent in korean, then i have a long road ahead of me in terms of getting this language down.

@lb_tmi and @cingdoc - yap i got my luggage back yesterday afternoon and i'm flying back down to orange county tonite haha. i really don't want to check my luggage again but i don't really have a choice. when i went to pick it up yesterday i asked them where it had gone and they said it was just 'failure to load'.. meaning it was in OC the whole time! why it didn't go on the first flight outta OC is beyond me. sigh. oh well at least southwest got their head outta their a$$ and got me my stuff before i headed back down. and cingdoc - EXACTLY...clothes are easily replaced but to reacquire all my videos and songs and my pictures (ok those can't be replaced) is a pain in the a$$ if even possible...

Just saw The Time Travelers Wife, did anyone else venture away from the Kdrama world this weekend? I thought it was pretty good; obviously not as good as the book, but the changes they made didn't make me crazy so I didn't hate it. I was very happy with the casting when I saw the trailer a few months ago and am happy to say that I still feel this way after seeing the movie. I really wanted to see District 9 this weekend as well but didn't get a chance.

I finished Snow Queen Friday night; definitely one of the best dramas I've seen to date. I wanted to give it some time to sink in because it's one that stays with you a long time after it's over. Hyun Bin's character Han Tae-woong leaves such a lasting impression; I just wanted to think about him for a little while longer before starting anything new. One of the best depictions of a truly kind person, and I mean genuinely selfless, that I've ever seen. Not a doormat or a wimp, just a man who believes that true happiness is meant for other people, not for someone as "undeserving" as him. **sob**

When my movie date fell through yesterday, I found myself at loose ends but couldn't think of anything that wouldn't mess with my SQ "hangover". So I came up with two options; Tamra the Island or Hon. So I started watching Hon. It's really good, so much better than I thought it would be and so much MORE than I thought it would be. It was the perfect way to spend an afternoon, since I'm not sure I could have watched it at night. That is some creeeeepy stuff right there! But along with the (admittedly) scary supernatural element, there are also issues of doctor/patient morality, legality versus justice, school bullying, teen suicide...I could go on but I'm afraid I'd give too much away!

Took a break from typing the above to watch Yang Yong-eun DEFEAT Tiger Woods to win the PGA Championship!!! How awesome is that!

@andromytta

i have all of KJH's solo and UN albums, along w/ the japanese albums. i prefer the UN stuff over his solo music. i loved the way their voices contrasted.. it just made me anticipate KJH more, and appreciate whenever he sang. tho i do enjoy Choi Jung Won's voice immensely also. if you would like, i can upload and email you the links. just send me an email:
lovebird_tmi(at)yahoo(dot)com

I kept watching Goong just for the slight possibilty that Yul and Chaeyoung would end up together.. even tho it was inevitable they wouldn't.. but it didn't hurt to watch KJH on screen either... even if his expressions were quite limited.. he has such a nice face to look at. :)

i was once upon a time a member of the CRAZYFORYOU forums until it went down... those were a great bunch of girls. i was like motherhen to them youngens.

@lovenyc52

w/ the cost of checking in luggage, did you have to pay? just wondering how that works since they "failed" to load.

@lb_tmi: That would be awesome AND amazing! I will email you, thank you!

Awww...I'm sad I missed the forum! I do understand the "motherhen" thing. Despite the fact that I let my inner 16 year old fan girl roam free on here, I kind of have the mother hen thing going on with my teenage girls and boys at work! *lol*

I'll be getting Goong on DVD soon...I can' t wait to see KJH on my 52 inch tv screen! I will "squee" like a kid! *lol*

@ langdon813

I took a break also from Kdrama this weekend after finishing City Hall! It also helped that while reading the OT and i think it occured at the beginning or middle part where people were talking about the problems and the lack of any substantial plot and development with Kdramas. and BOOM! That shattered the glass for me (if you watch How I Met Your Mother imagine the "glass-shattering" episode, so insert glass breaking sound here) and I finally saw the light with Kdramas: the good, the bad and the ugly. I'm not gonna delve into that because it was all expressed in the previous posts. So with my next Kdrama im gonna make sure and look at everyone's recommendations and I have an inkling my next one is going to be 9 End 2 Outs!

So with that I wanted to take a break from Kdrama also because i didn't want to ruin the remnants of City Hall and the wonderful acting of CSW and KSW and its beautiful ending. I loved the character development and how they portrayed it with even subtle hints such as costume changes which is evident in KSW's character. It wasn't enough that she from dressing in very casual clothes from the beginning there were different transitions from when she became mayor and when she actually had the confidence and backbone to be mayor.

With my break i started watching Season 2 of True Blood! Are there any fans out here? Cause i'm waiting for episode 9 and so much people are already talking about it on twitter and facebook that i cant control myself and i might just about read some spoilers!

@cingdoc & @lb_tmi - lol i wish i could pull a 'failure to pay' and get away with it.. unfortunately no, but they did give me a $50 travel voucher for their 'baggage inconsistency'. i love how they word things to make it sound nicer. at least i got my stuff back and at least i wasn't actually on a vacation trip. things could have been a lot worse *and i'm sure a lot of people on this OT have had worse baggage issues than me so i shouldn't really be complaining about it that much haha* but thanks for your concern!

@langdon813 - there are a ton of movies out that i want to watch right now, and the time traveler's wife is definately one of them. i adore rachel mcadams and eric bana :) i've also heard amazing things about district 9 and can't wait to see that as well.

@gotanexamlater - yes yes yes!! 9 Ends 2 Outs is terrific!! :) i'm in the middle of a rewatch and loving it all over again! So you're a True Blood fan huh? A couple of my friends are in love with that show but i don't have HBO so i don't know how else i would watch it but by buying the DVDs. do you watch it streaming somewhere? it's sad that i have no idea how to access American TV if i don't have the channel, but have almost no problem finding Asian dramas that i don't understand lol :) good luck on your exam next saturday! :)

anybody seen Sophie's Revenge which So ji Sub has a role in it?

Hi I am now watching City Hall. I am not really into politic drama, prefer
romantic comedy. But I must say good acting really make a lot of difference.
This year, I get to love three dramas mostly bcos of their main actors;
Star Lover,Accidental Couple and City Hall.You know after you watching
actors of this calibre.. and then you go and watch the like of lee Jia in
"Style".Sigh! every time she appear on screen.. they should flash out..
"I AM ACTING ,ACTING,ACTINg Is just too much. Is such a pity I kind of like the way she looks"Another actress I cant appreciate is Im Yoon Ah in You are my Destiny.Anyway, go for improvement . I guess they are still young,
I think story line is most important in a drama, But if the casting is totally wrong, it may just spoil everything. Like Style.Sigh.You just cannot bear with it,

@ lovenyc52 - here are a couple of sites where you can stream American TV
http://www.hulu.com/
http://www.free-tv-video-online.info/internet/

@ cingdoc and omo

When It's At Night - I wouldn't go so far as to ask for my money back (I have a few dramas I've reserved for that special designation), but this was a drama that as I watched, I kept saying, why is this drama plot and acting getting worse and worse right before my eyes! I didn't know KSA was injured during filming, but her character went from all-action to no-action after her injury scene, and subsequently they turned her into a mopey useless wallflower. And Lee Dong Gun looked more and more bored. Utter waste of the sizzling pairing of KSA-LDG. If they didn't have 2 nice kisses, I would have dumped this into my trash bin.

@ lb_tmi and Taohua

Thousand Year's of Love (henceforth known as "TYL") - okay, after CrimemasterGogo mentioned this, and some discussion arose, I was curious, and I watched the first 3 episodes over the weekend. I should have consumed copious amounts of alcohol beforehand, because it was hella hilarious. Okay, this is an old drama - 2003 I believe, but some old dramas like Autumn in my Heart, Winter Sonata, Hotelier, etc. are somewhat watchable today, though it still feels dated.

TYL - this drama has the magical combination of (1) bad plot (princess from Baekje witnesses the destruction of her kingdom and death of lover/bodyguard played by So Ji Sub, falls down a cliff to escape the enemy general that is lusting after her played by the other dude, and falls 1600 years into the future and meets up with the descendants of SJS and that other dude), (2) most unintentionally bad acting by EVERY SINGLE PERSON involved (Sung Yuri has one expression no matter what she is experiencing, SJS looks alternatively bored and bug eyed, and the other dude looked constipated all the time), and (3) the lowest budgeted drama I have ever watched (it looked like they filmed in a village next to the movie studio for the saguek scenes, and then filmed in whatever random place they could find for the modern scenes).

I highly recommend watching this when drunk, because it was the funniest drama I have watched in recent memory, and thank you, but 3 episodes was enough for me.

@ langdon813

I finished 9E2Os this weekend, only thing other than TYL I managed to watch (it was a busy non-TV weekend).

My review of 9E2Os - a refreshing, honest, straightforward drama that manages to capture what a relationship (whether friendship or dating) in the real life is like. It doesn't feel like a writer wrote a plot, it feels like people living their lives. The acting was natural all around, and the relationships come off organic and meaningful. Watching 9E2O is like switching to a anti-residue cleansing shampoo from the usual salon stuff, it's a breathe of fresh air for your hair.

But, of course there is a but, I didn't LOVE this drama. I really really liked it. This is why drama watching is an intensely unique experience, people even with the same tastes may just miss the thin line between love/like of a drama for some reason that we just can't quite put a finger on. For me, 9E2O just didn't "touch" my heart, made me feel that heart-constricting feeling of anticipation, excitement, etc., when watching. 9E2O is like a Love Marriage without some of the jokey/silliness of LM, and I liked LM a tiny bit more, but both are great sweet rom-coms that offer a realistic portrayal of love in the real world.
End of short review.

(So far, the 2009 dramas that touched my heart, made me feel when watching it: City Hall and Black & White).

@ gotoexamlater

Welcome to OT, glad you enjoyed CH! Good luck on the next exam.

@ ockoala-dongsaeng, hope your busy non-TV weekend was great!

WIAN - That's why I love YouTube; you can watch the good parts of a drama (i.e. kissing scenes, usually set to nice music too, bonus points) without committing to the whole thing. Especially those with a high level of suck.

9E2O - I'm so glad you liked it! And now I want to watch Love Marriage. I don't think I know anything about that one.

TYL - You've inspired me to knock back a few glasses of red wine and watch ONLY the first 3 eps of this tonight. Sounds like a lot more fun than doing laundry and packing! :-) I'm looking forward to my trip but already suffering from drama withdrawal and I don't even leave until Thursday. Not to mention having to miss OT Friday...sigh.

Work is DEAD today so I've been watching Tamra the Island this afternoon. Very cute! And the young doctor guy from Snow Queen is in it too. Something about him reminds me a little bit of Joe Cheng. Not a bad thing!

@ Hi langdon813-unnie

yes, youtube is indeed one of my (our) best friends, all the juicy tidbits, none of the fast-forwarding to get there required. WIAN's high level of suckage is only mitigated by the truly outstanding quality of the cast and a few, very few, scenes worth checking out.

Love Marriage was a totally a random pick up for me, in my early drama viewing days, I was watching regular TV and happened to surf to the local K-tv station and it was showing LM, probably a mid-way episode, and I watched for a few minutes, and I liked the lead characters. So I bought the DVD, watched it, and then read javabeans recaps, and the rest is history.

I had never seen any of the lead actors/actresses before. But, since you've watched CH, a certain Ms. Go Go Hae is the secondary female lead in Love Marriage! Don't worry, she's fine in LM, I liked all the characters in that drama. It was a sweet, cute drama that doesn't try too hard to say too much about anything serious, but still managed to capture the right tone and attitude for a rom-com, so definitely watchable and recommendable.

As for TYL, you might need something stronger than wine - I suggest soju/vodka shots, and each time your mouth drops open at the sheer ridiculousness/WTF moment happening on screen, knock back a stiff one. I guarantee even before the end of episode 1, you'll have passed out! Good luck packing for Denver, and can't wait to hear what fun things you did. I'm not leaving for my summer trip for another 2 weeks. But I'll be on the open ocean, so no drama, no internet, no nothing for 1 week! I'm gonna die.....

@ samsookie

do you think in Korean? cuz i find the most times i have trouble speaking another language is when i am thinking in english and have to translate in my head to speak the other language.. yet, when i'm thinking in the other language, my speaking ability flows better.. i haven't figured out how to turn the switch on and off yet.. it just happens when it happens.. i don't know if this even makes any sense to anyone other than myself.. it sounds rite in my head.