It's good to see actors from that generation settling down. Maybe Hand Towel (Song Seung-heon) will follow the Henney. This makes me think of JB and GF, who gave them the nickname. 😂

I have watched him in Hot Problematic Men. He is one smart cookie and has the nicest personality to go with it. I saw the first episode of The Devil's Plan and I am happy to hear that he won it all!

Good news for both Ha Seok Jin and Daniel Henney! Congratulations to their respective milestones!

Back in the day, I made my elderly aunt watch Kim Samsoon and every time Daniel Henney came onscreen she would sigh, “oh, Henry 🥰 (his character’s name). I’m happy for him, who started out a cute boy from Michigan! 👏🏽👏🏽

So excited to read about the marriage of Daniel Henney!

Thanks, @welh640. Really appreciate these "on the ground" observations!

As expected as always say - cold season - action season - protest season aka defense companies milk around season.

Trivial stuff all around - nothing much surprising. Not enough for popcorn time.

ELECTIONS - this dude can't go more - u r responsible for ur vote - then we hv another dude who isn't well either - so better select representative not at top but look at them when they are changing seats.

The boys - the macho boys reveling in machismo need an enemy - u find enemy - if not u create the enemy - distraction and fear always work out for you.
Simplest of strategies n tactics.

Every hero is hero because there is a credible villain. Villain's job is to create fear, despair, misery and hero's job is too catch all the hopes and pretend to fulfill them - ofcourse at great risk but rewards also great. Unless u put ur life on line u can't achieve much.

The most entertaining gamble is gamble of life.

AI - It was used in 2020 elections too but this time around it will be so big that all other advertisers won't stand a chance.

2024 - battles of AI - the one who invests more - wins d game.

CRYPTOS increased GPU prices so much and now AI and chip fight between few leading to major increase once more. Most is taken by political parties themselves to build their own social platform. Without money there is no election.

As said few weeks back - keep eye on Housing - Rents r high - house prices aren't as much - Inflation up or down is just matter of which newspaper u read.

China has its own housing bubble - Europe has its own supply n demand issue with monopoly and fast mode intentional rising to gain as much as u can like there is no tomorrow.

Elections so talk about america - same - Top 1% is everywhere the same - suply n demand - inflation n wages leading to new highs but no stable buyers. Elections bring more volatility and money in market so sharp jump n fall is expected. The one who is attentive gonna get the best deal.

Best deal which itself is inflated by 20-35% - enjoy this ride.

This is why i said - need more inflation - unless this happen - general public won't be on streets. Streets all around the world.

Another fave tied to drugs. 😔

I don't know what type of drugs he took but the thing that irked me is how people mentioned his wife and kids. I think someone was like he has teen kids and their lives are now ruined!

Dramatic much?

But seriously, I am so sensitive to the "crimes of the parents = kids should be shamed and ostracized forever" thing.

Also they'll blame the spouses too. Like is no one in SK responsible for their own actions? Everything is almost some shared blame. Idol wears offensive clothes or does offensive things? It's the stylist and mangager's fault. Husband embezzles? The wife should've known/she had to have known. Kids are bullies? (Well, that one is a bit more complicated cause alot of people tend to enable bullying) but still, adults being bullies in official environments? Stressful homelife or professional pressures.

Oh I hope he comes out of this ok. He's such a fine actor and has a family to consider how it would affect them, not to mention his career.

When I first read this, I was shocked because this guy has it all from fame, wealth and family, including a successful wife. As a third person, we really will never really know the circumstances or mental health he was suffering from to make that decision. It could also be influence from someone close to him, but it makes me wonder how many other celebs are not getting the help they need and are internalizing their pain in silence.

Oh no... with how kmedia works this can get messy for him and his family if not handled properly by him and his agency

I recall a couple years ago when someone asked Lee Sun-kyun's little child what an 'actor' does for a living the child replied they come home late every night drunk.

This is just sad. I don't even know what to say. Sad for all the hard work he's put into his career. More sad for the kids who have to face their peers at school. I'm more worried for his family than him. He should have enough savings after decades in the industry to get through. Maybe they should move abroad and start afresh for the kids' sake. Or maybe that's not necessary. I don't know. It's strange how lenient we are in the US towards actors like Brad Pitt for drug use and Ben Affleck for alcoholism. Or Tom Cruise for belonging to a sect. They're still lauded and very much employed.

Hahahaha why?

I loved King the Land but honestly I will probably not watch a second season. The story is told, the characters are happy (or at least certainly in better places and happier), what on earth is left? They should leave a good thing alone.

What a weird idea... It was already difficult to watch the 16 episodes till the end.

Even 16 eps is a stretch and they will make season 2? 😑 Btw I didn't finish season 1. From the ep when they spent 5 minutes fixing tablecloth, I gave up watching.

These kinds of posts go up all the time about popular dramas and they then fizzle out. Hospital Playlist 3 was a prime example and eventually it was confirmed that it is a completely different cast and the only similarity is that it’s at a sister hospital.

No ... why? I even dropped KTL at episode 14. Now I even know what it is called - finale freeze.

Lol what will be the storyline? Their wedded bliss? S1 was enough though I dropped it first half.

The cool thing about a show getting a lot of hype and fame was that it became an opportunity for the cast and production to open their wings.
People would get exited about their oppas/unnies next project. Same for the screenwriter and the director of the show.

Actors will get more offers. Maybe they'll try to do something new or bold to challenge themselves (or maybe they'll get typecasted?), and the PD and the writer will get more support for their next projects.

And the audience gets a drama that becomes a classic or a cultural reset or just some disaster that will make us cringe even ten years later and make us think "how can anyone like this?".

But now you're telling me that they'll use this opportunity for a season 2? Of a romcom? A ROMCOM? 😂😂
They can literally use this opportunity to do something better or worse, but at least DIFFERENT.

I didn't watch Romantic Dr. 2 or 3 but at least that's a show about doctors, with a new cast, new medical cases, new traumas, and the "romantic" professor with more life lessons.

But what more can you get from a show about a rich kid that falls in love with his pretty employee with a pretty smile? I would say "I didn't watch the show so maybe I'm wrong", but even the beanies that watched it and loved are saying that there's nothing more to see here, so... Why??

After watching Shopping Wang Louie, I watched Terius Behind Me, not Shopping Wang Louie 2. And after TBM I watch the disaster DDSSLLSol. And I'm ready to watch the writer's next drama. But there's no way I'm watching DDSSLLS 2.

Are kdramaland romcoms going to end up like those endless Hallmark christmas movies? I could watch the Vanessa Hudgens switch once, but not twice. 😆

Wow, that’s so sweet!!

That is the sweetes thing ever! I agree with every word!

I feel like the weekender Hangouts get more attention--I mean, as evidence for my claim, the powers-that-be have made short weekly posts for Live Your Own Ha Joon Life because of the popularity of the Hangout for the previous (roundly panned, even) weekender.

...but I, myself, put a lot of this success (if it can be called that?) on the attention and charisma of @oldlawyer who is a contributor that the Beanatariat all trust to have his eyes on those posts and we know that he will always be there with a comment and an explanation (if one is requested!!). So, it's like "someone's home."

In the main, I've noticed that if folks don't think that any one person--or any small-ish group of Beanies--is actually paying attention to the Hangout (or even to the weecaps, like recently with Miraculous Brothers) then it's far, FAR less likely to have a commentary community.

And I get it--no one wants to shout into the void here. We're here for conversation, not grandstanding! That's one of the most amazing parts of the Dramabeans community...

Apart from hangout pages not being easily accessible, I think one important reason is that the www threads are the surest place to be seen because they have lots of traffic over 2 days, and your post is a lot more likely to be read amd answered by beanies who have liked it. And I guess many people prefer to have their "drama hangout" weekly in one place instead of having to navigate around the site for individual ones.

From my own point of view, as a beanie who only binge watches after the shows end, www threads are far more reliable than recaps/hangouts/fanwalls, or anywhere that people can post immediately, or in the heat of many contrary or likeminded comments.
In www threads beanies emotions have either calmed down over the week, or they are trying to keep things short because they have many shows they want to write about. Those cooled week-by-week reviews are incredibly useful to me, a lot more than passionate comments anywhere else, or drama reviews trying to avoid spoilers and give a general opinion on 16 hours in one paragraph.

First, I think one point of saying something on DB is that we expect it would result in interactions with other beanies. So if there’s a recap each week, the recapper initiates the discussion for us and we know we can expect it each week until the show ends; whereas the hangout thread is kind of just floating there, where what we say may not be heard, let alone reciprocated, which discourages users from using it.

I have no idea how shows are picked to be recapped on DB. Maybe it’s purely by the recappers’ preferences, or by some prediction about beanies’ engagement in the shows (basing on the genre, main actors, …), and whatever the criteria are, I think it’s fair. So if a show I like is not being recapped, then “good luck” to myself next time.

Some shows are not lucky enough to have recap threads but are still lucky enough to attract a lot of discussions and I think several factors contribute to that, such as the timing, subject matter, actors… Confession (2019) didn’t have recaps from ep2, but ep1 recap (then used as its hangout place) had nearly 900 comments. I don’t know what the situation was then, but right now, I think there’re too many shows ongoing and it’s very easy for a viewer to lose interest in following a show until the end.

Taxi driver (both seasons) were very popular elsewhere, but not here on DB (to my knowledge). I loved both seasons, I watched each season 3 times (Ok, mainly because I was obsessed with LJH, not that I couldn’t see the shows’ problems) and had to go to reddit for the discussions. Reddit discussions were interesting, but I couldn’t help thinking what it could have been if it had been more popular on DB.

I’m not a live-watcher so most of the time, apart from feeling thankful to my fellow beanies’ inputs, I usually feel a little guilty that I don’t have much to contribute ☺️

As one who don't like to write www 😄 I use drama hangout for single drop Netflix dramas if I have things to say, and I use weekly recaps for once a week dramas. If the dramas don't get space here, I just use my Twitter to record the dramas I watch.

You can try "MyDramaList", but you need to scroll past lots of repetitive comments like the SFL/SML is annoying, the OTP is pretty etc., to come across meaningful discussion on the drama.

Sorry, what are the www threads?

My go-to is the Episode Recap. I normally do not live watch, or at least I start late. A lot of times I'm a few months or even years late. Like I'm just on My Dearest 1. The episode recaps continue to feel current to me and I still feel like I'm still watching with the beanies.

Also, considering how slow this website (not even talking about the frequent crashing), it's so much easier to find the recaps via Google than searching within Dramabeans. It's harder to find the hangouts and fan wall.

For me, Netflix originals hangouts are a no go. As all the episodes are released, everyone is on a different schedule, some might of watched all the episodes already while others haven’t. So not to be spoiled I usually stay away. Now I don’t mind spoilers that much when it’s airing the usual two episodes weekly. As it doesn’t spoil the whole show only the current week’s episodes. I happily spoiled myself for the ending of HEARTBEAT and I’m grateful that I escaped the feeling of frustration and confusion about the finale.

Reviews and opinions hit harder too when it’s for Netflix originals. My assumption is that most have finished the drama, so reading beanies thoughts hold more gravity as it’s about the show as a whole rather the first couple of episodes. For example I still haven’t watched DP season 2 because of this.

I vastly prefer WWW as most will either bold or capitalise the title of the show and some will include the episodes their referring to as well. This helps me quickly glance and choose whether to skip or read a beanie’s comment about a particular drama

🫘Beansprout🌱 for using the Open Thread to generate some interesting discussions.

I think I'm similar. At the end of the day, it's just a job and they're regular people like anyone else.

Even if I hear or read about some "scandal" like saying or doing something inappropriate I don't usually care. They just make mistakes and have flaws like anyone else. They just need to learn from it.

I just care when I hear a really horrible news, something that for me crosses the line. Then I start ignoring them and their careers for my own mental peace.

I remember someone once commented that Park Min-young doesn't so much 'act' as she plays a gracious hostess in her roles. She puts up a pleasant false facade that hides what's going on inside. You see the same facade and same expression no matter what role she's playing ('Healer' excepted).

Gosh, thanks, @bbstl but I think we miiiiight should probably leave it to @missvictrix to decide how helpful I actually was ;)

It was a rough time, indeed...a very different kind of rough from that day that the site went down altogether. Like everything was possibly in reach? Only not?

Running websites can be thankless. I know that for sure. But we do appreciate you folks back there, even those beyond the names we see all the time, whoever you might be!

Dramabeans is the best corner of the internet of all all all.

Thanks for sending this out as it was stealth attack across several recent posts they added a picture too to try to make it seem more realistic.
They did the copy and paste from the post above and only a small section of the post so it was harder to spot. The best way to check them out is to click on their name and look at all their comments or fan wall posts then you could see all 7 posts some just with the ads and that it was spread across multiple posts so it was easy to spot the issue but the copy and paste on it’s own could have easily gone under the radar if you only saw it as an isolated post on the beanie tab.

We had a second attack yesterday, again it was 7 comments scattered across different recent posts. Unfortunately, I couldn’t support the shut down as the site was freezing on me. However, I became aware because they are hiding in threads so the notification came to me. So please check out your replies from unknown names just in case it’s one of them.

I will also say that the movie "Love at First Sight" on Netflix was as short and sweet as other beanies who had recommended it. I also recommend this.

Oh, I’ll check it out…! Watching “Lessons in Chemistry” on Apple TV and enjoying it. (Yes, in our household, we compromise to no kdramas. Can’t say I haven’t tried, lol)

For years now its been predicted that exposure to K-drama formula would change the nature of American dramas. I wonder if its finally starting to happen.

Yay that you had a good time! I'm glad you got to experience that

I’ve never heard of the water bomb thing but there’s a mud festival in Boryeong:
https://mudfestival.or.kr/en/festival/main.html

It may have its roots in American bar wet t-shirt contests, which filmmaker Dick Barrymore claimed to have hosted the first wet T-shirt contest as part of a 1971 promotional event for K2 skis.

Korean waterbomb is a water guns and k-pop music festival in one. In between intervals of big artist coming to the stage, you also get music's from famous DJs and water blasts to the audience! Also during intervals, everyone goes to the water refill station to fill up their water gun tanks. Also female performers often get wet on stage as many critics call the event sexist.

I'm not sure, but there's a water splashing festival in Thailand and China in April.

I hope you're writing these down for a future memoir or drama! I know someone who works at at a supermarket and has the funniest and touching stories.