Love reading about your trip to Korea.
Thank you for sharing!

The scene at the airport is truly heartwarming. ❤
When I just landed in Seoul in 2019 and was confused where to go; there was a kind guy who helped me calling my accomodation so they could pick me up at the train station near Hongik Station. It was the first of many helps I received during my trip there. Those unforgettable moments were things I cherished the most.

So the lonely cats kdrama characters find in every corner are a real thing.

Thanks for sharing, welh. ☺️

You were not alone, Britney! A change is a scary thing, isn't it?

The base comments in reverse is no problem and often useful, the problem was that all the replys became jumbled and it was impossible to follow a conversation.

I liked it too!
But Sicarius explained me that we can reverse the comments ourselves.
I'm doing that now.

2018 - 2019 - 2020 -2021 - talked about culture - Everyone has their own food culture - individual - whatever the society does or not matters not much - 2024 should go vegan -

Some consider Eggs veg. - many others non veg. - I don't want to waste time over it so i'll go ahead with non-veg as same as all dairy products with lacto veg.

Now if u eat pastries and cakes and anything that uses eggs - not urgent but still - then Lacto-vo veg.

As said so many times before your culture is yours - I don't drink or has ever touched meat and almost always stayed away from fast food and artificial drinks - whereas social culture is completely different or can be different and mostly is differently - completely generic fastfood culture.

No one can imose or force you to dine with them or farm their fancy gourmet - egging - peer pressure - social pressure nonsense works and raped by tv media but if others have any respect for you and you are firm on your way of life then no one should and not many would force you.

I had said before i want to taste sea food - not done so far and if as things go 1 jan 2024 - vegan will be on and as i'm all dependent on dairy products i'll be in a good pinch in cold season - the real challenging months coming.

politics time - i aligned two biggest elections in 2022 itself and aimed at both in 2021 and now in 2023 things have become much much entertaining -
state elections withing few weeks in one - and general aka major election n april-may
The biggest election - in sept-oct
1st election team is quite tech-social media phenomena - very much like Philippines elections or 2016 biggest election. They used AI tools in their campaigns and AI became hit among general public later. they hav good diaspora who is wealthy and funds democrats and at home they side with right wing nutjobs. liberal for yourself and authoritative for others - use a system and benefits from it and when others try to use the same system - start to point fingers and claim u will do this n that - who is it - FEW CANDIDATES fighting for representation - aka the earlier migratory birds. two of them are in UK too.

Debates are happening and they are really entertaining ones. Does any of these candidates even deserve to be there - the current is trash and the next would be not good either - the state of politics.

Indian subcontinent diaspora is quite politically active the earlier migrants whose 2nd or 3rd gen is in politics can't be named diaspora but these are the cooks who seek the same vote by intentionally evoking and playing the diaspora card.

Surprisingly Chinese Diaspora is not as much political achiever as you expect from them.

USA Election Vs. UK election Vs. India Election.

SBS really did the actors and those of us watching THE KILLING VOTE wrong. 12 episodes. Episode one aired Thursday, August 10. Episode 12 will air (if it isn’t preempted) next Thursday, November 16.
I would love to see a spin-off so that Park Hae-jin could continue in the role of Detective Kim Moo-chan. It is like this role was written for him. He’s been great in this part.
Kim Moo-chan has been the best kdrama cop for me since Kim Nam-gil’s criminal profiler Song Ha-young in SBS’s THROUGH THE DARKNESS (2022) (Viki US). SBS can produce excellent crime dramas but the airing schedule needs more thought.

I observe the same thing. I watch TKV preemptions are annoying for a show that only has one episode a week. Thats why I plan to watch Good Day to be a Dog once its done with all episodes.

I have a wild fantasy, that all that time is used to make sure there isn't a fatal drop in quality from the middle of the season, as so often is. Instead, the writers are thinking the script through, checking that their ideas match up while they brush up and sand down the dialogue.
[Insert dreamy-eyed avatar of me.]

Same. I'm not watching the show but I share their frustration. Same for The Killing Vote fans.

At least for TKDay it was just once.

I started watching the J-drama 'Marriage with Me? Seriously?' One *24 minute* episode per week. Excruciatingly painful. Then Viki mistook the second-to-last as the last episode and you thought the series had just abruptly ended with no resolution. It wasn't til a week later that the actual finale popped up.

Feel better

Lee Kyu-hyung played a wheelbound character in Life. Went to medical school, graduated amongst the top of his class and became a HIPAA guy. His character was a prominent one.

There's also a wheelbound character in My Ahjussi - one of the MLs siblings.

Both characters were well received amongst the ton of other disabled characters in dramaland that got otherwise.

I agree it is not that easy to give opportunity to people with the ailment or handicap that is meant to be portrayed if that person is supposed to be different some of the time.
Also, if, to take an example, the character has spastic cramps at certain times in the script, I do not suppose someone actually suffering from palsy can just control when and how to look cramping.
There is also (and this part is really unjust, but ...) if there are very few roles for some certain handicap, then there will also not be so many actors and actresses that have experience - and they won't get it easily, either, because there will only be a role maybe every second or third year.
Another unjust problem is that it is easier to hire someone who can go places that are not handicap friendly. It would of course be better to raise awareness of lack of access, so that it would be easier every year to find locations that had good accessibility.
And of course it would be great if there were more supporting roles for diverse people - not in stories about being different, but just in stories where maybe the local convenience store had someone in wheelchair behind the register, or some other more or less marginalised group.

The JDrama Boku no Ita Jikan (2014) was really interesting.

The ML, played by the late Miura Haruma, learns that he has A.L.S. and must learn to live with it. It was a touching story.

If I recall correctly, Namkoong Min's brother was disabled in a wheelchair. But he was discriminated against until he was hired by the team because he was a baseball stat genius.

I believe in Korea, there are three societal pillars: health, education and wealth. Negative elements of each one is fine for a dramatic plot, but it not a part of the cultural representation of the ideal Korean person (very healthy/fit, well educated/smart and gainfully employed/rich).

Is the female lead's bestie in Just between lovers wheelchair bound throughout the series and found love at the end?

In Somebody (Kim Young-kwang), one of main female character is wheelbound and live alone, drive car, and still work as police woman. But that drama is uugh

I think it's possible, as part of the trend of making dramas about disabled people in order to break Korean prejudices. In the Korean mentality, so to speak, the "folk mentality", where is opinion of some people that if someone is ugly, disabled or poor, it means that they did something bad in their "previous life". It's something that no one would openly admit, but rather something that persists among some people. The same applies to wealth, that someone deserves it because he apparently led a previous life in accordance with the will of the god(s). There is also such a thing as the belief that pretty people are good because God favors them, and therefore they deserve more from life. That's why in Korea people strive so hard for perfection. In a sense, this is supposed to be a visible sign of blessing from the gods.

"I don't know if there's backlash or issues when able bodied people take roles of folks with handicaps & disabilities. (Yes, I know there have been deaf/hard of hearing characters onscreen played by hearing actors)"
There is no such thing. There will soon be a drama where ML is deaf and played by a hearing actor. In South Korea, I don't think there has ever been a case of this type, where there have been protests from viewers on such matters. The only thing they care about is whether the actor is pretty/slim enough for the role.

Didn't Song Hye Kyo have a doctor or hospital administrator friend in a wheelchair in Descendants of the Sun? Also the ML's brother in Stove League (what a great series). Although it's probably difficult for many reasons to use actors with the same conditions IRL as the characters they're playing, I still enjoy and appreciate the inclusion of these characters in stories.

Much to my own surprise, I've watched two very good dramas featuring female leads in wheelchairs: Jirisan and 365: Repeat the Year. Both times were unexpected, I wasn't aware that the main character would be using a wheelchair. I enjoyed Jirisan a lot, it was different from other dramas in many ways. One unique aspect was the female lead becoming injured in the course of the drama. It was so natural and understated. She was still very much herself, just in a wheelchair. Actually, the more I think about Jirisan, the more I like it. I think it's now my favorite drama by this particular screenwriter. The female lead in 365 was already in a wheelchair when the drama begins, and it's mostly seen through a negative light. You see the female lead struggling to come to terms with the accident that caused her life to dramatically change. However in Jirisan, the female lead has a similar life-changing incident, but the screenwriter doesn't show the character's inner struggles much. Instead, she shows you how her life changes, how her colleagues treat her a little differently than before. How when she could easily scale a mountain, now she has to crawl across a bridge on her hands and knees. Jirisan actually does a really good job of depicting a wheelchair bound person. Just thinking about it makes me sigh because the drama had really beautiful moments.

There was a Perfect World J-drama which I had seen on Netflix.

Doesn't the Netflix thriller "Somebody" have a character in a wheelchair too? I haven't watched it, but seem to remember the preview clip.

I only rewatched 2D1N whose episodes have BB Kim Seon-ho. This is my third rewatch already.

The 2015-2018 era was such a blessing.

I love your new hobby. I love singing!
A few days ago I pretended to be an Opera singer (just an excuse to go around screaming "sing" and try to hit the Emily's high note in the Phantom of the Opera).

I turned to J-dramas for awhile. I watched three contract marriage rom-coms in a row. Now, new K-dramas are finally starting to interest me again (the upcoming 'My Demon', which I believe might be another contract marriage storyline!)

I've been mostly surviving on the weekly episodes of My Little Old Boy, I Live Alone, and Omniscient Interfering View.

Annyeong 👋 hope you have a lovely weekend.

It's good to have you back, M! Your love of KSH is still going strong, I see. 😀 Hope all is going well with you and BB KSH.

Welcome back! 👋
It's nice that you're going at your own pace. And It's nice having you here! ^^

Hope one of the techies gets back to you soon. I just do trial and error until one is accepted.

I think there is also a size restriction on the file you can use. I think mine was a gif of about 320x180 which was less than 2mb.

That would actually made me sad.
Thinking that an artist is doing something for a gif.

That reminds me of how choreographers now while designing kpop choreos have to think of something easy that can be used for "a challenge", instead of what they really want to do.

I don't like the idea of artists putting a limit to their imagination or accommodating to other people or trend.

Thanks for the shout-out, my friend. But as you clearly also appreciate, I’d like to think that all of us who devote ourselves to the craft of creating short clips of our beloved dramas to rearrange and recontextualize for the enjoyment of others—I’d like to think we have our own distinct styles. Cecilie, Blue, loveblossom and I (just to name a few others)—we all do it a little differently and bring different points-of-view to the table.

In the main, though, to answer your central question, I’d say no…I don’t think that ”gifs” in particular have affected the production of dramas. Maybe their promotion, but not their creation…

…unless, WAIT. That’s why we have so much Ha Joon on our screens recently! It’s for the gifs. Because, man, to paraphrase an old joke, “I just finished typing and mousing and working to capture so many of his adorable expressions, and BOY are my fingers tired.” Right, @dorotka? 😉

I believe that now there are moments that are designed to be memeable. Every writer or director probably dream of producing a legendary moment. With the memes and gifs, 15 sec of glory can be reached more easily.

So pleased your health and work situations are improving. Take care and hopefully you will soon find another drama that meets your need for Happy ever after.

I'm glad you're feeling better.
And I hope you have a full recovery soon. Fighting!!

I haven't finished Doo Na yet. But I agree with you. I think the show has a really calming and chill vibe. I really like it.

Losing our voice is terrible! I'm glad you're getting it back. Eat lots of good food for your throat.

That's why it sucks to get invested in shows nowadays. Granted I haven't watched new live action shows in some time but the animated shows I liked get cancelled and it just KILLS my interest in trying anything new.

The way things are nowadays, shows aren't even given a chance to grow or the shows have potential but people aren't watching them because they have a million other options and only so much time.

I think that's part of the reason I've only been watching kdramas; they already have set end date and run time so it won't be disappointing in that way. A drama has to unbelievably bad for it to be cancelled.

Also if you spend 15 years trapped in an island I would expect you to look/act like … Gollum from Lord of the Rings , spearing fish .
She later stabs the serialkiller abuser to death with her fishing spear.

I think it is rare for any Korean variety show to last more than 10 years. But the international fan base is what drives the network to continue making it (including a really bad spin-off).

LKS left in 2021 citing health reasons but many people thought it was hurting his acting career. Since he left he has been in 3 movies and 3 dramas (two scheduled to air in 2024). But since he left RM, he has been a lead in 4 new variety shows (including higher paying Netflix ones). Maybe, he was just tired of RM and wanted to change.

When JSM joined the cast in 2017, the rest of the year she only had 3 drama cameos. Since then she has had leads in 4 drama series and 4 drama specials. She also starred in 4 movies (two to be released in 2024).

LKS career really did not change much, but it seems JSM has capitalized on RM fame to get more work and diverse roles.

'Nostalgia-bait' dramas that people fell in love with as teenagers are the worst. Goong (Princess Hours) from 2006 was so slow it was like watching paint dry. And this from someone who use to watch soap operas!

He's super sweet in Our Blues.

Uncontrollably Fond is one where he is the ML. Be warned though to have a box of tissue next to you. I watched this soon after Heirs as many young actors that appeared in Heirs are now stars in their own right.

That would be epic! I've tried to learn Hangul since 2018 on my own, and so far I still read like a kindergartener.😀

I've been studying Korean since January, when I discovered kdramas! I'm in love with the language!!

PSJ screen time is reported to be less than 3 minutes: https://www.koreaboo.com/news/park-seo-joon-marvels-screen-time/

I spotted one review that said 'You've seen this film 23 times before' (referencing all the previous MCU films to date.)

Oh, first time I've heard of this film but the title already said it all: I'm not gonna like it. I'll just wait for PSJ's next drama. LOL

Maybe you can just wait until his cameo gets on YT. I'm sure the fans will upload the clip.
But watching the whole movie for him... You could rewatch one of his dramas instead. 😉

you had me at *long silver hair*

No, I hate the split season almost as much as forcing a second season on a popular series.

Netflix did it with STRANGER THINGS (season 4) as well.

I just rolled my eyes and waited for the entire run to be out before I started bingeing.