@ JB

I just got a new header and it's driving me bonkers, because it's either a picture of a young Jung Woo Sung, or a picture of Go Soo. And I cannot for the life of me figure out which guy it is. It's a 70s looking picture, btw, with a tan-olive background.

I know, I am to be flayed alive and buried underground for this inability to identify my I Lub You! I even opened up my wordpress account where doozy made me a JWS header to do a side by side comparison, but to no avail. I am either blind or should be ex-communicated from the We <3 JWS For Life Fanclub.

If it was a full body shot I could identify since JWS is leaner and taller. Help, please? Thank you! :-)

@ockoala - I think I know which header that is. It's JWS. #406 by tae, on JB's Headers page.

Oh Snikki, thank you!! @JB, please ignore me now, I shall slink away in shame. [I knew it was JWS but somehow just wasn't positive cuz it looks like he was in his twenties with his face being much leaner].

@ nycgrl - HnH1 sounds like a virus, yes indeed, and if you get infected, you might find yourself lazing around the house after work, wearing track pants, hair pulled into a mussed knot, drinking beer, and becoming what is known as a "himono onna" or a "dried up woman."

Went to the gym today!

I've decided not to finish Personal Taste. I can't take it knowing Dobin won't get his happy ending. =(

Can't wait for My Girlfriend is a Gumiho!

Oh my crappers. I completely forgot about Hotaru no Hikari season 2. I hate myself. This is a sign that soccer has completely taken over my life because I haven't watched dramas in god knows when and the only things I have been watching are either a) world cup games, or b) YouTube videos of my favorite players, basically the silly, hilarious, and cute ads that feature my favorite soccer players.

I'm gonna be so sad when the World Cup is over. Why are there so many Oranje fans here?! GO ESPANA!! I never really was a huge fan of the Oranje to begin with, but I'm pretty sure them beating out BRASIL sort of tipped me over the edge, and besides, I am a huge Spain fan, ever since the Euro Cup 2008, so... Yeah. Spanish it is. Really sad that my German boys had to lose, but overall I feel like they really did lose that game, out of a lack of confidence... not even sure why. It's okay, though. The German team is so young, they will definitely touch the trophy, although it is so heartbreaking to see the trophy get snatched from them time and again. Still mourning about Brazil, though... I hate Felipe Melo. Hate that kid.

Have you guys heard about the psychic octopus, Paul? Who has been predicting all the German games, but making an exception for the Finals and predicting the Spain v. Netherlands final? What a pro. LOL.

Not going to lie, even though I am a hardcore Spain fan, I am pretty sure the Spanish have this game down. They can make it and create more history. So proud of them!!

I want Spain to win....it's all down to that octopus!

Cheers for the ideas. Also Ji Jin Hee rules - my love for him has solidified with his role as Sujonh Heh.

I also want to watch "Assorted Gems" but I've noticed that English subs are only up to Ep39. I've heard it's meant to be good so for the last 11 ep, I guess I will have to read the soft subs alongside watching the raw episodes.

I just watched the mini-drama Running, Gu this past week. The whole story revolves around a young man and his two childhood friends. They put a lot of emphasis on the complicated relationships between the three, and I found their friendship-interactions to be quite interesting. This got me thinking about how friendships are portrayed in other K-Dramas. I'm not talking about the Best-Friend-Of-Main-Character-Who's-Main-Role-Is-Comic-Relief, kinda friendship. I'm talking about the friend who's actually... sorta a main character. Who has interactions *other* than filler/sub-plot.

From my memory....
Best Female Friendship - Still, Marry Me. I wasn't a huge fan of the drama, but the interactions and lovely scenes of the three best friends were hilarious but sweet.

Best Male/Female Friendship - No argument here, it's 9 Ends 2 Outs. Is a justification really needed? *swoons*

Best Bromance (Best Male Friendship) - okay, *THIS* is where my memory is failing me. I cannot think of one single male friendship which actually didn't result in one backstabbing the other (or them suddenly becoming enemies) because of a silly love triangle. I am tempted to say that Triple would fit except... I never actually got through the first two episodes, since I was scared away by the mediocre reviews that it received.

*sighs* So everyone... anyone... any suggestions for any Kdramas with bromance? Actual realistic male-friendships? Without the love-rivalry and the angst ("He's my best friendddddddddd! How can I fall in love with his girlfriend? [insert emo-torture here]") please!

Actually, looks like I can't watch it either - it's been removed from Viikii. Ah well.

This place is used to be my favorite site to find latest news about K-Entertainment but not anymore. It seems like the owners only want to post news about their favorite stars. Too much articles on romantic comedy dramas which are not always my taste.

@58 Bashful82

Viikii-Softsubs are available for all 50 episodes of Assorted Gems. And if you live in US/Canada, you can stream it at Dramafever.

has anyone watched The Great Gye Choon-bin with Jung Yumi and Jung Kyung Ho? does anyone know where i can watch it? i usually don't post questions about links but this drama has such a nice cast that I'm kinda desperate haha. heard it was an "odd" sort of drama and the two leads are awesome so if anyone has an idea where to watch this, i'd be really appreciative....

Where can I watch CH with subs not using Viikii? I only got to watch up to ep 8. Viikii plugins messed up my laptop 5 times already so I can't afford to dl it again.

@kc @pohonphee HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! :D

I'm looking for a light fluffy romantic comedy to watch. Not in the mood for a melodrama today.

Sunny California is overcast and cold this morning. Looking more like October than July.

Up up to my eyeballs in fruit. I have peach, apricot , plum and nectarine trees in my back yard. I've been eating fruit nonstop for the last few days, but loving every second of it :D I've given tons to my friends. I will be cooking some jam today.

Went to COSTCO yesterday with my daughter Alina. The only reason she agreed to go with me, was to get her supply of kimchee noodles. Looked at the usual spot, and they were missing. Needless to say Alina yells Anyoo and clutches her heart.and says how could COSTCO be so cruel to me, bring back my Kimchee noodles! The aisle is jam packed with Asians. Every one of them turn around to stare at us. Some of them are Korean. We have tons of Koreans in the Bay Area. I could hear a few chuckles too. I'm pretending, she's not with me. That's pretty hard to do when you are the only Pakistani's in the isle. :P

She was so bummed about the noodles, so I promised her that I would attempt to make some kimchee. I got the supplies. Wish me luck!

Will be watching the soccer finals. My husbands a big fan. I keep him company while he watches. It's the supportive, wifely thing to do. It has nothing to do with the gorgeous guys who are playing (clears throat) ke ke

I'm good at killing two birds with one stone. Got him to watch Korean Dramas with me too. LOL :D

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!! :D

@ Javabeans I love your site!! You don't need to change a thing :D
I love your witty comments and look forward to your articles every day! :D
I would be lost without Dramabeans :D
Aja Aja Fighting!!!!!

JB,

I was so sad when I saw BG recap last night .... (Yes, my CH bias is talking ^^;; )
I dont want to pressure you either, but just want to let's you know that I have been waiting to read your thoughts on CH 12. I thought I wouldnt like it after seeing the preview, but it was a sweet episode after all...
But what 's up with the YB / BOF "mature version" at the end? I couldnt stop laughing. lolz. He's still hot thought

Thank you so much
Have a great weekend OTer and JBer!!!

@ javabeans

Sending a BIG HUG your way! All your hard work is appreciated!
Thanks for all that you do, and you do it with such flair!!!! :D

just enjoy coming to DB and she's right in saying she writes what she needs to write after all this is her blog!
anyway, can't wait for my fave Kim ji hoon to be in another drama again....i know he's got one upcoming on TVn but i'm not sure if that wld be uploaded online sigh sigh! helppppppppppppp! :)

hv a grt w/end ev.one!

Oh no, I love your site!!!
Ignore those people,JB!!!!

And PLEASE TAKE YOU TIME!!!!
I 'll be patient. You should know sometimes it's hard to comtrol the wild- fangirl in us lolz. But you should do what you need to do first.

Thank you again for all the hard work,
Your works is appreciated!!! <3
Great weekend, JB!!!

@ bashful82

try Fated to Love You for tw-drama. it's so freaken cute!!! and kinda forced marriage stuff..

@ JB

i was all ready to make a comment about how this was YOUR site YOUR blog about YOUR interests and YOUR recaps at YOUR pace.. but then i saw YOUR post and i'm like "girl's got it covered." i say, you weren't snippy at all.. heck, you should have chewed, spit out, run over, and then some. you're much more classy than me.. and i LOVE it here!!! don't change a thing, change everything.. as long as i'm still welcomed to stop in, it's all good to me :)

@ JB

Someone "demanded" a recap? Oh boy, *whistles* that's some cojones, and a whole lotta of rudeness. Netiquette lessons, anyone?

As a casual observer of this Coffee House craze (sorry, I can't write CH - which denotes City Hall for me, and yes, I'm biased, but since CH came first Coffee House will have to remain Coffee House in my heart) - I'm baffled by the boatloads of OT comments (and even on random threads) mentioning how sad one is when JB posts a non-Coffee House recap, or they really really really can't wait to read the next recap, and derivations of these wheedling and passive-aggressive comments.

I totally get why it would annoy JB, heck it annoys me and I'm not writing the recap! It's like my kids bugging me when we're going to arrive at a destination, and I'm already driving! Yes, kids can't wait to get to destination. I get that, enthusiasm is good. But the constant needling is BAD. It annoys the driver. I once stopped the frippen car and refused to drive because they wouldn't stop asking me when we'd get there.

Does that sound like fun for the driver, to be constantly reminded how you can't wait to get there, and OMO if they could please driver faster, and lordy wouldn't it be great if they closed their eyes (refreshed the page) and then open them and voila magically get there (get that dagnabbit Coffee House recap!). I say: drive yourself, buddy (write that recap yourself, chingus).

I'm not trying to be patronizing, just sharing some useful perceptions. You guys are coming off as annoying, not enthusiastic.You probably don't mean to. I think JB knows how you can't wait for the next recap, it's pointless to belabor the point. And it apparently ruins her writing mood, which is counterproductive to your entreaties, no?

I have friends who love Coffee House and I'm waiting to marathon it. But lay off poor JB, please? I love her absolute professionalism, and it's hard as a writer to be prodded, however sweetly.

Wow @ women who are into Korean dramas AND soccer (football), you ladies have good (and very diverse) taste.

Will be supporting Holland to win the world cup final since I used to live there as a kid, but I'm not a huge fan of their current team. I hate to see the WC come to an end though, as I'll have no more excuses to dodge doing the dishes!!

@ momosan, and everyone

My children have taught me a saying all the kids in pre-school say to each other, as taught by their illustrious and sage teachers (it apparently sprung from a mishap involving popsicles and not getting a certain one):

"You get what you get and you don't throw a fit."

Truer words may never have been spoken. :-D It saves me endlessly, cuz mine say it to each other for me when a temper tantrum is about to erupt. Priceless.

Wow, I am so sorry JB you are getting crap from people. First, people getting angry at you for having an opinion on people (Oh the horror! Javabeans actually has a brain and she actually thinks and has opinions that she's not afraid to voice to countless blind fangirls!!). And now people nagging her to write recaps? I thought it was rule, at least among subbing teams, that you don't complain about people getting the subs out because if you do, they won't post it. Or, like, a single complaint means they'll delay coming out with the subs for one day. I think that's a good strategy.

Like, people, grow up. JB has a life. She doesn't write her blog to serve you guys' tastes and preferences. She's doing this out of personal choice and enjoyment. You have no right to infringe on that. I say, GTFO otherwise.

@A.

Oh the horror! Javabeans actually has a brain and she actually thinks and has opinions that she’s not afraid to voice to countless blind fangirls!!

I LOL'ed when I read that. :D You are absolutely right when you say she shouldn't have to write to suit people's tastes. It's not like we're paying her or she's being comissioned to, like WTH people? Grow up. It's good to voice opinions and everything but it's another thing to tell someone how to run their OWN blog. It's like telling J.K. Rowling she should have had Voldemort rule the world at the end because that's what would have suited you.

Anyway, on a happier note; happy friday, all! I haven't been too caught up in the World Cup, though I was sad when Germany was out of the running. (No...I haven't always supported Germany. xD *cough*Klose*cough*) But go Netherlands!!

Need another drama to watch. I've been considering Soulmate, since I heard it is only 12 episodes and that reallyyy appeals to me. Any other rom-com suggestions? I've been considering Story of a Man, also, in honour of PYH, I suppose. If anyone has any other suggestions it's greatly welcome. Has to be very addicting, though!!

Have a great weekend!

ooh...javabeans you have twitter!!!

can i follow you? **goes and stalks on twitter**

My heart is completely with Spain; they have played the most beautiful football I have ever seen.
I am in a betting pool with 31 people (everyone I know from Japan to France, Mexico to Canada) - not for money just for good old-fashioned bragging rights - and we all agree on only one thing: Iker Casillas is the best goalie right now.

As for Netherlands winning; I sincerely hope not.
Apartheid only ended in 1994.
Having lost their home team, it would be a heartbreak for many South Africans to have the Cup go to the Dutch in South Africa of all places.

it's July 10 in my place now.
so, it's a birthday of my GONG YOO oppa.
생일 축하합니다 공유 오빠...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY....!!!
wish you all very the best.

i'm torn btw Spain and Holland. i hope whoever play better on the night will win. for some reason i nt really into the WC this time like i thought i would. maybe because my fave team Italy won last time so there is no chance they gonna will this time heheh. i cry over them so many time in the past. my poor Roberto Baggio !. any way not all women watch and like football only for the good looking ones.
went to see Eclipse last Sun. love it . read all the book again.

Many women, and men, have been known to watch foorball for the interesting games, the tension, the drama, the tactics, the spectacular moves and by pure LUST.

I watch both k-dramas and football for the same reasons. Entertainment.

On a pervy note; the World Cup is a sublime male slashness fest.

@Acalle

By all means feel free to create your own blog with your own money and time that suits YOUR taste and not those silly little rom-coms you aren't always in the mood for. We will all wait with bated breaths.

Omo... People are so rude. It baffled my mind how someone can demand you not post and talk about what you want on your own BLOG. Apparently, they need a refresher in the definition of a blog.

In other news, I am one of those CH lovers, but I haven't asked yet. Mostly because of my experience in the manga scanlation world. We always got really frustrated when people asked for the next chapter, especially when it takes them five minutes to read and us maybe TWO WEEKS (for high quality scans) of hard work. So what we did is, for every complainer, we pushed the release back a day. Kekeke. That shut them up. Withs2 has a one hr policy, I think? You should implement a temporary one, javabeans - just so people get the message.

A great calming tactic is watching/rewatching a drama javabeans has already recapped. I'm rewatching dal jas spring (love it to pieces) and am following her recap as I go... Or you can, you know, just watch old dramas.

Bromance.... Would Boys Over Flowers count? Never finished the Kdrama so I can't be sure the extent of the bromance, but I DEFINITELY recommend the original jdrama Hana Yori Dango. Bromance between domyouji and rui galore... Sooo cute! I had a tear in my eye during the apple/farewell at airport scene. It's also just a great drama (check out javabeans original review and you'll see what I mean), romantic, funny, wellacted, and gorgeously shot.

"It’s not like I have it ready and I’m withholding just to be mean!

I would. Entitled drama readers need to be punished by the drama gods with thunderbolts and lightening (very very frightening) and no Coffee House recaps.

@ 73 ockoala

That was a fantastic post. Everything was epic. But seriously, watch some nutter come out and beg/ask/request/demand Coffee House again anyway.

@ Javabeans

What you should start doing is start collecting the usernames and e-mail addresses of those who are writing the passive-aggressive comments asking for Coffee House, the posts wishing for Coffee House, and the crazy e-mails demanding Coffee House (seriously, what the eff?). And then at the beginning of your next recap, post their usernames and e-mail addresses on a Wall of Shame, and then we shall all e-mail them to death. The really talented among us could make like K-netizens and reverse-engineer their locations by hacking their IP addresses, and then hunt them down with, like, pitchforks 'n' shxt. Just for shxts and giggles. Girlfriday could lead us. ;)

The good thing is that they would never dare to repeat that crap. On the other hand, I'm thinking that nobody would ever -- EVER -- post a comment your blog ever again. 8-D

@javabeans

Ode to Dramabeans

Tis a blog and a wondrous one at that.
I find it fun and boisterous not flat.
Posts go up, my heart gives a thump.
what news! what recaps! never a slump

So Happy to write, so happy to share
a volunteer with opinions under her hair.
A name like java obviously true
Caffeine for dramas most likely like you.

She sleeps I haven't the foggiest when
Thankfully Girlfriday is a great friend
With love and support I hope that you stay
Be strong, have courage, giggling all the way

Yeah the poem has no rhythm only rhyme
But dag nabit I only had a bit of time
It is your world and I am happy to see
an intelligent place for Kdrama just right to me.
_________________________________

@57 meh

bromance... there are lots of them that have the male lead with a loyal sidekick, but not many that I can recall that have bromance either. I just saw My sister-in-law is 19. The brothers never go against each other. In fact there are several extremely slashable sequences in the show that sort of got me questioning the writer and directors motives for shooting them. Shower scenes and workout scenes together tended to get a bit personal. Granted Kim Jae Won half naked is good, always good. The drama however was more drama and not a lot of comedy.

@ JB

haha i love when you respond to the rude posters.

@ sarangf

I'm not as into the World Cup this year, too, but I'm still indulging all my fangirl needs. I think this World Cup was characterized by a lot of sloppy playing by the good teams which meant they ended up losing to not so great teams. It wasn't even like exciting/good upsets where the good team was playing at their absolute best and were still beat out by the underdogs. There was just A LOT of bad playing going on. Not to mention not-so-great officiating (of course, nothing beats the Portugal v. Netherlands game in 2006 where there were like, what, 16 yellow cards and like 4 red cards or something?).

I think the Spanish deserve to win the World Cup this year. They've been shaky, but their game against the Germans finally proved they deserve to be where they are. The Dutch... I have a problem with von Bommel. Robben, too. These two are notoriously playing dirty and play-acting for cards. It's frustrating to watch. Especially von Bommel: how has he gotten away with so many fouls?! Yeesh.

@ Lahlita

I like this idea of wall of shame. LOL. But you're right. Probably wouldn't be great for the blog overall. But, really, whiny little kids need to STFU. They really need to learn this lesson in patience. I bet most of them don't even realize how much effort/time it takes to write recaps (Okay, I don't really know how much it takes, but I can tell that JB puts a lot of effort into her recaps. However, I have done subbing, and that is a totally time-consuming job).

The best bromance drama I have ever watched in any genre or any Asian country is:

Black & White (TW). I have not seen Tokyo Dogs so I can't compare. The best in a K-drama is TBDAW - TIme Between Dog and Wolf.

I just noticed a huge glaring theme - all of the dramas are cop procedural/spy thrillers. Which makes sense: bromance as a genre grew out of the cop movie. Only when there is danger and "i've got your back, you've got mine" (not to be confused with "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine") situations can bromance truly be meaningful.

As one of my fave drama watchers Water_OB says about Black & White: "A friend who hates you but is still willing to die for you is a friend indeed."

Don't worry, both B&W and TBDAW have love, romance, pathos, angst - melo-fiends, your itch will be scratched. B&W also has....wait for it.......wait........alright its ready for its grand entrance.....Fauxcest!! And you all remember my post on fauxcest, right. TW dramas love it, too! But not as much as K- and J-dramas.

TGIF :)

I'm a bigger football fan than kdrama.

VIVA ESPANA!!!! I heart my Iker.

Nth I hate more than diving and Robben is so following Klinsmann's career path.

Paul the Octopus is picking Spain, Mani the Parakeet is a Dutch pet. So takoyaki vs crispy pigeon

@ 90 diadda

that's AWESOMESAUCE girlfriend! :)

Hahaha. Sometimes RUDE-os don't know that they're just snark fodder for us.

I think the KHJ fangirls broke JB. It's okay. I'll go beat em up. If they're as skinny as their idol, I can snap them like twigs.

@ 90 diadda: that poem is awesomesauce. thanks for the cheers!

I used to volunteer at the soup kitchen for 5 years when I first moved to NYC and I remember this older guy coming up to me and saying in a loud complaining voice, "I'm so sick of soup, bread and fruit. Its always chicken soup, meatball soup or beef soup. Can't we get some fried chicken, mashed potatoes and donuts?" and I told him. "no, get back in line". We were feeding hundreds of people a night & making fried chicken was not an option.

Its not like everyone was like this guy. Most people were nice in there own way if not a bit insane but the few dozen guys who would complain about not getting sweets or the bread being too hard or the lines being too long or making racial comments about me being chinese and how the chinese are taking over the world really started to grate on me. I mean the food was tasty and healthy and most importantly its FREE.

I wound up quitting because the constant complaining about the free food was making me cranky as all hell.

Happy Friday everyone! It's already Saturday where I am and I should be asleep but I'm wide awake after catching up with all the latest news on the World Cup and KDrama.

I was really sad when Germany lost to Spain, but I have to admit Spain played a better game that day. Oh well, the German team is still young and there's still years ahead to support them. Mueller has been nominated for the best young player award *woot* It's not much of a surprise; it would have been an outrage if he wasn't nominated :D but it's nice that he's officially nominated now. Paul the psychic octopus (a wanted mollusk which the Spanish government wants to protect *LOL*) has made his prediction for the final and it's the team I'm rooting for since Germany is out - Spain!! I have an intense dislike for Robben and the Spaniards play a much cleaner game, so it's a no-brainer for me. Not to mention the eye-candy in the Spanish team is a bonus...

In KDrama universe, my eyes became blurry from reading the 400+ comments to Kim Hyun Joong being cast as the lead in Playful Kiss. I'm one of the frogs in the well who hasn't watched a single episode of BOF so I can't comment on his acting. I'm a long-time fan of the Hana Yori Dango series; I have all the manga volumes and anime episodes, and collected countless manga/anime related merchandise. I created a now-defunct fan site about the manga/anime series before there was even a whiff of news about Meteor Garden, so I was invested emotionally when all the drama adaptations started coming in. Meteor Garden disappointed but HYD was pretty good, if not fantastic because I just couldn't shake off the feeling that the actors playing Soijirou and Akira were wrongly cast. My drama watching habit is to have marathons after all the episodes are available, so by the time BOF ended, I had read countless comments about how much the acting/music/plot sucked. I couldn't bear to watch one of my favourite mangas' live adaptation being butchered so I have stayed away from BOF ever since. Perhaps I'll gather the courage to watch it soon to see if KHJ's performance was really *that* bad.

On second thoughts, I'm a Rui supporter so... maybe not. I'd rather have Oguri Shun's portrayal lasting in my memories!

I haven't dropped by the Open Thread for a long time and I'm glad I did today for ockoala's mention of Hotaru no Hikari Season 2. I have not watched Doramas for hmm... 2 years? I've completely lost touch with Doramas all thanks to KDramas, but the mention of HnH has sparked my interest in catching up with Doramas. Any recommendations for RomCom/Renzoku Doramas aired within the last 2-3 years? I liked the weepies 1 Litre of Tears and Crying Out Love in the Center of the World, Byakuyakou, HnH Season 1 (yes, Ayase Haruka is one of my favourite actresses!), Slow Dance, Gokusen Season 1 and Nodame, even though I found Tamaki Hiroshi's acting OTT quite often.