totally late for OTF, but OTM is just as good. :)

cingdoc, i live vicariously thru ur sisters too. keep me updated as to what i'm doing next. i LOVE it!!! lol.

re: shopping and tiny girls
i couldn't find anything for myself in Thailand because all the clothes fit my right arm only. seriously. if they ripped the seams apart and made a skirt outta the pants, i MIGHT be able to fit my head in that hole.. oh who am i kidding, i wouldn't be able to fit my head in there!!! needless to say, i just kept eating and didn't buy clothes. LOL!

i'm loving WISFC too... finally, i'm on the bandwagon at the same time as everyone else, just that my wagon is a tad slower moving.

Re: WISFC

Totally agree with belleza..."not since MiSa, not since Moo Hyuk!"

Scares the crap outta me, too. :-(

@bspanda,

Umm, that DVD set wasn't available when I was (1) still nuts over Robotech, (2) had discretionary income to burn without a wife so no need to get consent, (3) had no better place to throw money around.

My DVD set is a lot different than the picture in the link you gave - my set has maybe 40-50 DVDs altogether, in set after set. Each DVD only has like 2-3 episodes and/or specials on it, and so there are many many boxsets that make up my Robotech DVD collection.

It looks like the Protoculture DVD collection is different (obviously) than previous versions, and this makes me a bit afraid that they will have cut things up and mixed it all up and changed the story. At some point, I will have to check it out and report back.

@197 belleza -

with respect to the SNSD diet thing, I think it should be pointed out that that kind of diet is literally, not figuratively, unsustainable. So, when SNSD or others say they went on a 1,200 kcal VLCD, it was certainly a temporary thing. It is likely something that they do when they need to drop the 2 kg to get back into TV weight.

The human body is a machine that requires energy to function, including organ function. If a body expends 2200-2500 kcal per day, and consumes only 1200 kcal, and these are average rates over time, then I would guess that a 90 lb woman would die within, say, three months, from malnutrition-related multiple organ failure, including liver / kidney failure, massive infection, cardiac arrest due to hyperkalemia, hyponatremia, etc.

For a typical petite size 0 SNSD girl, their basal metabolic rate (what the body requires to function normally), is probably around 1,250 kcal. That's the daily expenditure of energy required to sustain all the organs. If SNSD girls are actually living, on average, at that rate, while doing everything they need to do to train, I seriously doubt they are actually consuming as little calories that they are.

bspanda 200

voltron...another awesome cartoon of years past...yes, you got it right, although they also had one with cars forming a larger robot.

i'm currently on the market for the complete lion voltron action set. i still remember my reaction as a little kid when one of my friends got one...it was a thing of beauty. but i'll probably hold off until i'm a little more settled. trying to live the life of a minimalist for now.

i'm currently watching robotech: macross saga, which is, i think, the first in the robotech series, on youtube. so if you're debating whether or not to purchase the robotech series, you should check out a couple episodes and see how you like it:

http://www.youtube.com/show?p=6VWyXFZ6aFI&pl=2BF924DAD8584FB0

but as samsooki mentioned, these episodes might have been edited, so i don't know how faithful they are to the original. however, it's been awesome thus far for me.

Finally finished IRIS! Hope those of you who have started it will stick with it, I think it was pretty phenomenal when all was said and done. I'm so glad I wasn't spoiled...I had some hints and clues but nothing major enough to ruin the ending for me.

Think I'll go watch Hi, My Sweetheart now...my heart and brain and tear ducts need a rest. ;-)

@205 kb -

voltron…another awesome cartoon of years past…yes, you got it right, although they also had one with cars forming a larger robot.

What is interesting is that there were crossover episodes where both voltron crews existed in the same universe. i.e., the little tiny guy who piloted the green lion (pidge? midge? something like that), his cousin or something was also part of the car voltron crew (the left foot guy)? They had episodes where they hung out, although i can't remember if both voltrons were ever in the same battle.

The thing that bothered me the most about voltron was the fact that every episode ended with the same blazing sword cutting the monsters in twain. Why not just start out with the blazing sword, then you don't have to get all electrified and shocked and stuff before you come to your senses and form blazing sword. HOWEVER, that's like.... a very very minor complaint, since every guy watched Voltron, and I believe I speak for kb as well, because of the princess. The white haired, grey skinned Prince Lotor had the hots for her, and why not? She was basically Kim Haneul with blond hair.

Now, if I were a billionaire, in the years following the mega-success of Robotech: the K-drama series (The Macross Series and the Southern Cross Series), I would make a K-drama series with the Lions Voltron, and Kim Haneul would be The Princess.

Other characters:

the Lions Voltron

- Princess Alura (the blue / pink lion) - Kim Haneul, ftw (backup, LDH).

- Commander Keith (black lion) - Song Seung Hoon

- Lance (red lion) - Lee Min Ki (langdon813 is swooning again. somebody pick her up off the floor please)

- Pidge (green lion) - Yoo Seung Ho? (I'm kidding, sorta.)

- Sven (blue lion before Princess Allura / Haneul). The most tragic of the Voltron crew - it is possible that Hyun Bin has the chops to pull off this role.

- Hunk (orange lion) - that guy from Sons of Sol Pharmacy... who played Brutus (Call me Bruce) Lee... Jo Jin Woong... lol.

:D

Oh, before I forget: the bad guys:

King Zarkon - Choi Il Hwa (who played BB in City Hall?

Prince Lotor - Kim Kang Woo who played Chae Do Woo in Story of a Man.

Witch Haggar - Go Hyun Jung (Lady Meeeeeshil) or perhaps Kim Suh Hyung who played Shin Ae Ri in Temptation of Wife).....

:)

@ samsooki

You are killing me with the remake dreams (didn't you break a back or something? get some rest, m'kay?).

Your KHN cannot be both Lisa Hayes and Princess Alura, the Voltron and the Robotech universes, never shall the twain meet. Pick another.

Oh, and yeah, she was hot. I (my brother, but whatever) had all 5 lions, and I preferred them in lion form, he preferred them in Voltron form.

Hey! It is not my fault that the Japanese anime character designers made Princess Alura and Lisa Hayes the same prototypical woman.

If the robotech / voltron shoe fits, then, she should wear it. If I were a billionaire, I could make this world a better place.... one k-drama at a time.

Btw, can you imagine what would happen if you gave a budget of $100M to a single k-drama series and then got Song Seung Hoon, Lee Min Ki and Hyun Bin to be in the same drama? With Kim Kang Woo those 3 guys forming a LOVE QUADRANGLE (SSH, LMK and KKW) with Kim Haneul ftw? or Lee Da Hae?!?!???!!!

A whole generation of k-drama watchers' heads would explode. Work stoppages as Voltron, The K-Drama Series reaches 65% in television ratings. Dramabeans.com always down as massive internet outages by popular demand keep recaps from reaching fruition... mass hysteria, panic and swooning by Langdon813.....

...wow.

"It is not my fault that the Japanese anime character designers made Princess Alura and Lisa Hayes the same prototypical woman."

You're picking the easy answer, man. ;-) I'll give you a pass, cuz your casting otherwise is spot on, as always.

I see Princess Alura as a Kim Hyun-joo, mayhap. I see every heroine as played by Lee Da-hae, cuz I'm biased like that.

And yeah......we don't want to cause langdon to swoon, hyperventilate, get up, repeat process, again for 28 episodes (which is how long the Voltron drama would have to be, at a bare minimum).

Oh, and @ bspanda:

DO NOT BUY the Candy Candy anime. It's not offically licensed, AND the anime does not age well. It was made for kids, and to ew-watch as an adult is excruciatingly painful.

Read the manga instead, great English translation.

http://www.mangafox.com/manga/candy_candy

Hey, can I help it if JB gives me Lee Min-ki (MINE MINE MINE ALL MINE) and then Jang Hyuk (hubba hubba) immediately after? And on top of that, samsooki just cast LMK in what sounds like an Epic Drama...how could I NOT swoon is the question! I mean, really. And sweet samsooki, looking out for me like that. You already make our little world a better place, even without billions. Although, honestly, the billions would be better. Goal for 2010! :-D

I just had a HUGE box delivered to me from one of my sales reps and it's like a box of heaven...cupcakes, Kringles, stollen, cookies...OMG! If you guys don't hear from me the rest of the day then it probably means I've fainted for reals...from sugar overload. Whoa...there's fruitcake too. Urgh...anyone want it?

@ langdon-unni

I thought I knew what contained the most sugar per square inch in this world, until I encountered and ingested my very first Kringle.

They piggybacked me out of my office from the sugar faint (which actually happens when I eat too much sugar - running joke when I was in college, I'd always fall asleep in the 24 hour study room at Meyer Library if anyone came by and offered me candy late at night, and folks would constantly do it cuz they they'd draw all over my notes when I passed out, boo hoo).

Enjoy your bounty!

@ ockoala

I know, right? I'd have been perfectly happy with just the Kringle, because that in itself is the food of angels. But this is ridiculous! Fortunately I've got two perpetually hungry giants who are coming home in a couple of days and will be more than happy to take most of this off my hands. The question is...do I really want to share? :-D

This sets a rather bad precedent for future Kdrama viewing, though...finish a particularly harrowing drama, and then as if by magic, a box of ridiculously sweet, fattening things shows up to make it all better. Not good...not good at all!

samsooki 207

"...every guy watched Voltron, and I believe I speak for kb as well, because of the princess."

hmmm, i do not remember the princess in voltron at all, but i distinctly remember falling for minmei when she started to sing. i guess something about singing gets to me. i wasn't interested in kim yuna (figure skater) at all until i heard her sing...now, i tune in whenever she's on.

ockoala 208

i always envisioned displaying the lion voltron in 'voltron' form, but now that you mention it, i think i might have to get two sets.

I heard the warnings, but I was curious so I started to casually flip through Hwang Jini and started watching in episode 3 (stopped at the end of 4)... My sister who was curious about episode 9, watched it on YT and said, "It'll definitely affect YOU. Watch, you'll stop watching the drama." lol.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/12/21/china.race/index.html

I hope Lou Jing makes it big, becomes a huge star in China. But even if she has a billion fans, I hope that she finds peace with her father who abandoned her. Oh, and to those netizens who tell her to get out of China, I hope they develop cuts on their fingers and then develop flesh-eating bacteria infections and then have their fingers amputated so they can't write stupid crap like that.

@ simplesim-moni

More goodies for you!

@ samsooki

Thanks for that inspiring and awesome article link!

Just finished WISFC Ep6.

Am I the only one feeling like there's some flaws on Han Ji Wan's character? No, what I mean is that I don't comprehend to her thought process nor behavior patterns... More than the other main girl Lee Woo Jung. Her's is just plain annoying but rather stereo typical K drama spoiled brat type, so I can somewhat accept it. I don't know... it must be just me?

Boy, half the day' gone... Whew...

"No, what I mean is that I don’t comprehend to her thought process nor behavior patterns…"

Ji Wan is driven by a lot of guilt and self-loathing. It's possible that she feels she has to atone (i.e. graduate from medical school), before she can come home. But then again, she was really agreeable to marraige. I think the key thing is Ji Wan is struggling a lot with herself, and with creating an adult version of herself that she can be happy with.

Ji Wan never had a simple or honest relationship with Kang Jing. If you watch the childhood relationship, you'll notice that it's Kang Jing that wants Ji Wan, and Ji Wan kinda giving mixed messages back. Moreover, in the past, Ji Wan liked somebody who liked somebody else, and in a way may have viewed Kang Jing as "rebound guy." They're all doing the SAME thing as adults.

At this point in the story, my favorite couple are the parents (love how Kang Jing's mommy shows that, yes, even ajummas can still pull off the OPW FTW. OPW is forever baby!!) Well, actually they're my 2nd favorite couple. The best couple is Kang Jing and This Belleza, surely everybody agrees (and yes Kang Jing, I know WHO YOU ARE lol) . . .

Kinda wondering how Kang Jing is going to die. I'm thinking he catches H1N1 while wearing the bandage, and that somehow mutates into life-threatening eye cancer. Sigh. :(

@langdon813/bspanda,

I've watched over a 100 shows and there's only been 2 male characters (Moo Hyuk from MiSa, Kang Jing from WSIFC) that do what I feel is the Holy Grail of Romance Acting. To make you cry with their eyes.

To broach distance through the most winged, sainted look. To convey such a pure, overwhelming love through the camera that you cover your mouth and go "Oh my Gawd" and start involuntarily bawling. That which haunts you with its overwhelming tenderness for the other person that it just . . . .omo I'm tearing up lol.

(To the preteen demographic of Sarah's audience, think of the Edward Cullen stare. You know, the one that makes y'all squee and join Team Emo Pale Guy, while the rest of us falls over laughing. LOLEMOLOL)

Not sure what it is about Lee Kyung Hee dramas. I'm glad she's back though. Maybe she can pull off the same magic trick with Song Seun hahahaha I kid I kid . . .

I overheard some asian ladies in the Y locker room talking about obese caucasians eating greasy food, and immediately added losing weight to my plans to learn some Japanese before my hoped for trip to Japan.No plans to buy clothing, but on that subject would like to recommend "Kamikaze Girls" movie to anyone who has not seen it; what dedication to style! Watched it twice (plain and with the "cabbages" which indicate culture notes, but I have watched enough Jdoramas to not be surprised by anything in those notes). The surprise was looking up the familiar actor who played the owner of the "Baby ..." store, and finding that he was the brother who always wore the Kamikaze coat in AttaDan, but also the baby-faced boyfriend in "Iguana no Musume" years ago.

Hello OT Monday!
I see casting is up and running. Chuno is gearing up and Gong Yoo has graced us! Oh what a wonderful year this will be!

But first I have about 5 dramas to finish. And 1 to start. I'm still antsy to begin Will It Snow but I feel like Tree Heaven is paving the way.

Not to mention Smile and Creating Destiny were very enjoyable this weekend! Can't wait for the recap!

@kpm1111
Metro was one of the best movie that year and yet again Irfan was my fav. He and Konkona were definitely the best storyline, though Kay kay and Shiney....The movie to me had some powerhouse males. Shiney was incredible to me in Gangster.As for Irfan, I truly believe he is one of best of his gen.! Loved him in Slumdog, loved him in Metro and Aaja Nachle, never saw The Namesake but heard great things.

Hope everyone is safe, warm and healthy!

Robbers update:

So, I finally, finally finished episode 10 today! *double clap for myself* So sorry to landgon and hjkomo for keeping you two hanging in there, really, blame it on real life intruding on my blissful existence of only watching dramas and hanging out in OT.

I have to thank you langdon for hyping up episode 10, because if she hadn't, I would have stopped watching by episode 7, but instead, kept watching just so I can understand what the love was about.

Now that I have seen it.......it was a damn fine scene, the last 7 minutes of episode 10, with Jang Hyuk once again stealing the show as he commandeered the entire drama in all the episodes I have seen, with a few shining moments by Lee Da-hae.

Y'all know how much I love LDH, but her performance really was quite flat in Robbers, and I think it's half her acting to the part (and thereby not bringing anything special to the role), and the other half that her character was rather too one-dimensionally written. Even in the last scene in episode 10, when JH proposed, her blankish face and glassy smile was so......in stark contrast to JH dripping with emotion. I know LDH can pull of crying + emotion as she did it in every episode of Green Rose, so once again, not changing how I feel about her. But this was distracting in Robbers.

Jang Hyuk - OMG I am even more hyped up for Chuno, if you can believe it. Because even though LDH was pretty blah in Robbers, she had a nice understated chemistry with JH (nothing like CSW-KSA, I want to make love to you with my eyes chemistry, but it was nice nonetheless). And JH was perfect as the conman Oh-joon, I loved him.

But I didn't like his character, and her character was just a foil really, for his development and transformation, so ultimately - Robbers just isn't my baby. The story was fine, but never engaged me from episode to episode, the acting was hit or miss, the chemistry was fine but never drew me in.

Does that make any sense? I can love other people's babies, appreciate how cute it is, adore it to bits - but I have a special connection with mine own baby that is intangible because many other babies are cuter than mine, but I love mine like no other. This year, only City Hall and Tamra the Island (and the first half of Youre' Beautiful) just gripped my heart and imagination and won me over so completely. Robbers, I can understand why some may love this drama, and but Robbers and I just missed the connection for whatever reason.

I'm not planning on finishing it anytime soon - I may someday. But Dal-rae and Oh-joon's journey is not mine to accompany them on. Next up, I have about 6 more episodes of Damo to go before I even contemplate writing about it.

@ ockoala

I've only ever seen LDH in My Girl before, and interestingly enough, I feel almost exactly the same about that drama as you do about Robbers. LDH in MG just didn't work for me for some reason. I enjoyed it but I didn't fall in love with it and it was mainly due to her character. I'm sad...I wish you had loved Robbers as much as I did. Although love might not be strong enough; I'm kind of obsessed with it, actually! I'm glad you hung in there through Ep 10 though...at least you know the part I watch over and over (and over...)!

I loved LDH's character in Robbers, I really did. Dal-rae is a quiet woman living a quiet life with her child and her beloved mother-in-law and would be perfectly content to be only with them for the rest of her life. She doesn't want another man, definitely doesn't need one (at least not in her mind), and certainly not a con artist who isn't the least bit apologetic about being a total asshat. He's selfish, misogynistic, and cruel. You'd think that he'd never met anyone in his life who put others before themselves, but he has, in both his sister and his best friend. But he's not influenced by them at all; he avoids his sister because she continues to live with her abusive husband and he treats his best friend as less than dirt beneath his feet. He is a user, plain and simple. I love how the drama never tries to sugarcoat it or make us feel sorry for him. He's not misunderstood, he's just not a good person. But Dal-rae is.

In Dal-rae, Oh-joon finally meets the one person who makes him want to change for the better, someone that he comes to not only love, but to admire and respect so completely that he finally feels shame about the way he's lived his life. I love how intrigued he is by her initially (and skeptical, like, is she for real?), and how she goes from being nothing more than another easy mark to being someone he wants to protect, which is HUGE for him.

I can certainly see how Dal-rae might be considered bland, but I saw her as calm and placid; pure and feminine and...well, clean-spirited (if that makes any sense), in stark contrast to Oh-joon, who is manic in his behavior and dirty in his heart and soul. But now a man who never thought ahead more than a few days ahead wants to make plans for the rest of his life! And he knows, knows way down deep in his soul that she's too good for him, but that doesn't matter because she's his. He can do anything as long as he has her.

And I'm going to stop otherwise I'll sit here and type out the whole drama! ;-)

＠219 belleza

Ji Wan never had a simple or honest relationship with Kang Jing. If you watch the childhood relationship, you’ll notice that it’s Kang Jing that wants Ji Wan, and Ji Wan kinda giving mixed messages back. Moreover, in the past, Ji Wan liked somebody who liked somebody else, and in a way may have viewed Kang Jing as “rebound guy.” They’re all doing the SAME thing as adults.

Yeah, that's quite right... What a journey she imposed herself to take on.. It's hard to be a K drama heroine.

Meantime, I've given up on working today and just watching dramas non stop, my day off, after all, I did work the weekend... Just finished the last episodes of Jin and Tokyo dogs. Jin: the best J drama of this season! Loved it even though the ending was not what I'd expected. Tokyo dogs: it was good, feels like there could have been more to it. Now, shall I go for Iris?

@ langdon-unni

It's all about the time, place, moment....it really is the intangibles that sometimes makes you veer between love and hate, and those hard to quantify places in between.

I did not enjoy My Girl on re-rewatch recently, it was painful actually, the central conflict was beyond inane (though striving to be cliche-lite). But I remember, nay, vivdly recollect, how amazing I thought it was when I first watched it, way back in the summer of 2007. It was the time (summer!), the moment (just started k-drama watching), and OMG I thought it was the cutest, funniest, goofiest piece of art I had ever seen.

So, I've been trying hard to rack my brain for what was missing in Robbers for me - and I guess it's just the special sauce. I was missing the special sauce for this drama.

When you describe the characters above - I totally get it! I mean, every word you wrote above is poetic and 100% true. But I did not FEEL the characters connect with me, they did not come alive on screen the way they were drawn on paper, not until the later episodes when Oh-joon is slowly coming to grips with who he is, in all his black glory. But I never once felt Dal-rae as real - she was like this perfect doll, and LDH portrayed her perhaps exactly as she was written, but then, to me, her placidness felt so inanimate and blank, as opposed to quiet and still.

But eh, po-TAY-to, po-TAH-to, I "get" how you feel about Robbers, unni. I just didn't "feel" it myself. And oh god I tried so hard, it's like meeting the perfect man, and you try so d*mn hard to fall in love with him, but that spark is missing no matter how hard you try.

Good analogy? I enjoyed watching Robbers, it just didn't call to my soul the way it did yours, and boy, I love listening to you and hjkomo talk about Robbers. It's infectious!

@ ockoala

That's so true, about time and place and stars aligning when it comes to dramas. For instance, I watched the first couple of episodes of Smile, You and was not remotely interested; it didn't do a thing for me. Probably because I was still in full-on hate mode for Jung Kyung-ho because of MiSa! But I started seeing more and more OT comments raving about it and decided to give it a second look. I didn't even start up where I left off, I just caught the next scheduled episode (which was ep 12). I've been hooked ever since!

Also...it would be pretty boring around here if we all thought and felt exactly the same way, wouldn't it!

@kpm1111
Haven't seen the film...I'm limited to Marathi films w/subs and that's impossible to find. Dombivali Fast was a little bit easier to access since it's been really popular w/critics and there was a Tamil remake starring Madhavan (who I also agree is extremely under-rated...but he doesn't always make the best acting choices---though I do think he is getting better about it). I so used to have a crush on him...during Alaipayuthey (Mani Ratnam's movie that was remade into Saathiya in Hindi)

@Samsooki
Thanks for the article link. I had read about this on Chinese bbs forums awhile back but didn't know the exact details. Sometimes netizens really go too far with their comments. It must be very difficult and painful for her and she truly is inspiring.

@celestialorigin
Ah! I'm planning on finishing JIN this week, I have three more episodes to go. I've been super-impressed with it...actually the ambiguity of whether he is dreaming, has died, or is really alive is done really well. It reminded me of Pan's Labyrinth's ending. And the time lapse is actually well thought of as well as the possible consequences with changing the future. I've been meaning to continue Tokyo Dogs but haven't felt that inclined to.

Finally catching up on today's OT - was busy with Auntie duties today...
Yes, I'm certifiably insane...took 4 kids shopping at the mall....then to another one to get the boots in the right size for my niece. Hey, anything for awesome boots, eh?

Then, we had a fantastic dinner with ockoala and her adorable babies. FUN!!!

@ 200, bspanda

I bought myself the Robotech Protoculture Collection for Christmas. It should be arriving here, at my parents house any day now. Sure, there may be some edits, but it's also the remastered version and the only complete collection (except for the new Shadow Chronicles - considered ep.86, I believe).

@ bspanda, kb, Samsooki, ockoala

I only watched the lion version of Voltron. There was one with cars???
Of course, I wanted to be the princess. ;)
(love the casting, Samsooki :) )

@ 216, samsooki

I wish Lou Jing all the best & happiness in her life.
LOL at the flesh-eating bacteria. :P

@ ockoala

I felt the same about My Girl - no special sauce. I watched it and thought...eh, enjoyable, but not special enough to watch again...kinda the same as YB. ;)

And, hey, all that matters right now is Chuno-ary (thanks, bspanda!) :D

@Samsookie and hjkomo

I'm not familiar with Robotech. How would you rate it against "Battle of the Planet" which I do remember a little of since my sisters were obsessed with it and made me play princess to their Mark and Jason. I also vaguely remember Voltron with lions and the sword thing. BTW I think I've heard it all--Voltron as a kdrama. Not surprisingly I'm having a Bialystock and Bloom moment here.

@ ockoala, langdon, JB and hjkomo
I also loved "My Girl"but couldn't get into "Robbers" and I did think LDH's acting was flat in Robbers but I also thought her character was a bit annoying in MG. I haven't seen My Girl in a while and don't know how it will fare in my top 10 kdrama list but I think you just love certain dramas at a certain time and place which is why I can respect JB's love for DGCH. Likewise I am fond of Winter Sonata which I doubt I could watch now without losing both my eyes to excessive eye rolling and my lunch from the incest theme. From an acting, writing and directing point of view its not my cup of tea today but back in 2002 I thought it was the bomb.

I saw My Girl before watching DGCH, and I liked DGCH much, much more. And both of these were in my early addiction days.

But HGD will always have a special place in my heart because of the time and place in which I watched it. (And that was loooong before you kidnapped KJH, Samsooki!!!) ;)

"but Korean dramas are all about heart (over technique)"

Better yet, shower scenes over heart. :D

Hey, Sarah, was there a secret episode of YAB -- your site went offline 10-15 minutes ago?

What is DGCH? Iat least attempted to guess.. couldn't come up with anything.

@ 234 celestialorigin

*langdon rudely butts into conversation before sneaking off to bed*

"Delightful Girl Choon-hyang"

Awww, thank you. I recall my attempt to watch it, Guess after a couple of episodes, I must have dropped it...

Hi all, happy OT tuesday...

great news!!! i hope this is true...
http://sookyeong.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/a-n-jell-to-unite-again-on-sbs-gayo-daejun-with-live-performance-and-mc-appearances/
YAY!!!!!

currently my other guilty pleasure (in K-idol world) is in a trainwreck so i need some light and funny (slightly crazy) movies/dramas to bring my mood up... need to re-watch Nodame or Hana Kimi... any other suggestion??

@217 ockoala

Thanks for the goodies! Christmas came early for me too! :-) Have been busy and unwell the past few days. I was just skimming thru OT, can’t read chunks of text (still nursing a headache) but your post caught my eye. Lol

Am keeping some of the goodies for Christmas itself so I can fully enjoy it. And I hope this old pc is still alive come this special Xmas OT. :-) (so better send my wishes first)

To JB, my special OT friends and everyone here, I am truly blessed to have found y'all. Please keep well, warm and safe and continue spreading the love that is abundant in our special OT.

Blessed Christmas (to those celebrating) and Happy Holidays to you and your families. :-D

The end of the year has me going back and forth over the dramas I've seen.

It feels like I've been watching k-dramas forever, but really, it has been just over 11 months now, since I ordered MNIKSS and started down the k-drama highway. Excerpt from my emails:

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 11:56 PM
Greetings from Amazon.com.

Amazon.com items (Sold by Amazon.com, LLC):
1 My Lovely Sam-Soon

I imagine it is somewhat lucky that I started with MNIKSS, rather than something that might have turned me off (say, a scary drama, or a non-happy ending tear-jerker). Still, I think if I started with My Girl, DGCH, Coffee Prince, Dalja Spring, Goong, Two Outs In the Bottom of the Ninth, or any one of a number of really really good dramas, the result would have been the same.

Of course, this begs the question of what got me into k-dramas in the first place. Was it the chicken or the egg? Did my wife's interest in k-dramas and being a dramabeans lurker make me into a k-drama addict which then led me to open thread, or did my interest in k-dramas spontaneously occur and which then led to the dramabeans addiction?

@ samsooki

Why ask why...just count it as the most serendipitous thing to happen to you in 2009, that's what I'm planning to do!

All of the discussion about the dramas we love and why we love them makes me want to sit down and really think about my Top 10. I always say Coffee Prince is my favorite, and maybe it still is, but when I think back over the year there were certainly other dramas that affected me much more deeply than Coffee Prince did. If I'm truly honest, I think Hong Gil Dong probably snuck its way into number one while I wasn't looking. Robbers, Friend, Return of Iljimae, MiSa, Snow Queen...if the criteria for favorite is counted by the number of tears shed, then Coffee Prince might not even make it into my top 5!

New item on the to-do list, Personal Year-End Review!

@ hjkomo

I swear, even though we declined any happy juice when out at dinner last night (but I was totally happy regardless), I was way more exhausted the second I got home than if I drank a bottle of champagne in one gulp. I was all planning to OT-chat all night long, and then I crawled into bed with the baby boy to tell him a made up story about a Park Ranger named Chuck and his saving the baby bald eagle, and somewhere around the time the eagle got stuck in the cave of wonders, I must've passed out. And woke up with hubby poking me asking me why I was sleeping in there. Then I trudged back to my bed and promptly slept until the morning. Upside - totally rested, downside - missed out on exciting conversation last night here.

To all:

Excited that my Robbers discussion yielded a larger discussion on drama-watching as a factor of time and space (or moment and environs). Unlike JB's awesome blog, I don't write down my reviews about dramas, so as time progresses, if I like a drama more/less, I just recommend it more or less when someone asks me.

Some dramas I've like MORE on re-watch: Time Between Dog and Wolf (OMFG, I love this drama moar each time I've watched it, when I didn't like it much AT ALL the first time I saw it, weird!), What Happened in Bali (each watch, its a different drama, no shiz), MNIKSS, Goong.

Dramas I've liked LESS on re-watch (only less compared to my first impression of the drama, which I loved upon first why, or else why re-watch it, right?, but some I still like a lot after re-watch): My Girl, Snow Queen (why I re-watched it, I don't know, I must be masochistic), Coffee Prince, Fashion 70s, YB (I'm watching it on LA18, and boy, am getting bored/annoyed a lot, not a good sign).

And dramas I loved as much on a re-watch - Hong Gil Dong, City Hall, and Tamra the Island.

And ALL the dramas listed above in the three categories I love/like a lot - cuz I keep re-watching them!

Just wanted to give thanks to javabeans and her wonderful blog, for giving us a venue to share and connect with like souls. It's like a virtual book club for drama lovers, and for that I am eternally grateful.

Can sometime tell me how QSD ended? Or maybe just sum up the entire story in less than 140 words and tweet it?

@ belleza? Anyone? Bueller, Bueller?

Oh, and I'll have an AC update later, but the drama has been extended, so the slowed pace has definitely landed.

And, as for an Angel's Temptation update, once the crazy insane story took off, and then BSB showed up, it's been all downhill standard revenge *bitch, no you didn't!* melodrama in the last few weeks, so I've been following sporadically and can no longer recommend it even as so bad, it's good fare. It's now just middling, and that's a drama killer if ever there was such a tag.

@ hjkomo

Forgot to congrats to you for receiving the Protoculture Collection for Chirstmas, what a awesome present, the gift that keeps on giving.

And a final (I swear) comment on why Lisa Hayes was perfect for Rick Hunter - my momma always said "a man can only get so far in life, and how much further he can get, depends on the woman behind him pushing him the rest of the way" (or something along those lines). If Rick hadn't chosen Lisa, we would have Admiral Hunter leading the GDF back to Earth in the 3rd saga. If Rick has chosen Minmei - he'd be just Captain Hunter, with a hot and needy wife he needed to quickly run home to sooth her frayed nerves after she botched her comeback attempt at age 35. ;-P

Good morning! Stayed up and watched Iris! Woke up with another order from my client... I only have 2 and half more episodes to go. Have to finish them and then I'm going on K drama fast for a while to catch up with my work, sigh... Except WISFC and Chuno and DJG... Hummm, that's not helping me...

@243 ockoala

drama-watching as a factor of time and space (or moment and environs).

Makes me think about all the dramas I've watched... "City hall", yeah, that I know I can watch it over and over for now. It is one finest adult rated love story. That gotta be my #1. "Soulmate", too is up there for me. And, I second you on "Time Between Dog and Wolf". I love the first several episodes with that so perfectly adorable kid( he is the gem!) and how they meet again as adults. Fantastical sequence there...

Breakfast is calling me...

@ ockoala

AC has been extended? But I'm so ready for it to end! Not sure why exactly, I think I'm just over it. It's heading into "Meteor Garden 2 When Will It Ever End For The Love Of Humanity Please Make It Stop" territory. Might just be me though...

@ samsooki

Of course, the most serendipitous event for you in 2009 had nothing to do with Kdramas...I haven't forgotten Baby Ji Hoon!

Everything you said about Coffee Prince is true. And I'm not quite ready to boot it from Number One just yet. I just need to sit back and really give it some thought.

@ hjkomo

Yeah...I'm gonna have to borrow your Christmas present sometime next year. :-D