Ahhhh my drama plate has thinned out a bit again, which makes me feel bittersweet because I know the ones I’m currently watching don’t have long to go 😭 Nothing says ’time is fleeting’ quite like watching the icon of your fave show in the Dramabeans ‘currently recapping’ footer slowly get pushed down towards the back of the line as new shows start.

In some good news though, my area has a largely asian demographic so we’ve always been blessed to have a lot of different asian cuisine near us - including quite a few Korean restaurants - and the latest addition to the shopping/eating precinct is a Korean style convenience store and I’m so stoked. It’s got everything: the ramen station, the hot food section, the DIY iced drinks, a whole host of Korean snacks and other misc. products. It’s basically almost the same as a GS25 or CU, except things aren’t quite as cheap as they are in SK 😅But the best bit is that it’s open till quite late and is only a 10 minute walk from my house!! Knowing my lazy self though, I doubt I’ll be making the short trek down at night when I’m craving certain foods but it is cool to know that there’s a place nearby where I can exude main character energy in K-drama style if I want to.

Also sending all you lovely Beanies my bestest New Years wishes! ✨I hope 2024 brings you good health, prosperity, the best vibes and of course some lovely dramas to enjoy. I’ll be part of the Aus/NZ Beanie squad ushering in the new year first, so will make sure to throw all my love and best wishes in the air so that you all get it not soon after 💕 💕 💕

Mother Earth - 2023 - with its so few +ve and so many -ve

Recording making summer and autumn and to some part even the intial cold season. 2024 can all these record gonna last barely for few months or 2024 summer and autumn ACHIEVE MORE.

oh ho - trouble times ahead - i side with Mother EARTH.

Rain - fast - furious - recording making - This the not new now - All upcoming future for it. more or less rain - unseasonal rain - instant floods or daily routine floods of ever powerful storm season.

Spring and Autumn - losing their weeks to summer and cold season. 2 season weather where bth spring and autumn broadcast they are initial summer and cold season.

You get what you deserve - your decisions - yours acts - face the consequences too.

I'm enjoying my time having some popcorn.

The DB discussion started in the news section, but Lee Sun kyun’s passing has become a huge international story with potential far reaching ramifications. Lee was caught up in a Gangnam VIP club drug bust when he was implicated by the female bar manager, who had SIX prior drug arrests on her record. Lee denied the charges and later claimed that he was being blackmailed by the manager (in fact paying her hundreds of thousands of dollars). Normally, at the preliminary investigation stage, a potential suspect’s name is not reported to the public. But Korea’s current conservative President ran on a platform of zero tolerance, war on drugs. There was a political agenda to get high profile cases. (Ironically, Yoon’s own wife is about to be indicated for a large stock manipulation scheme.)

The club manager also implicated seven other people, including singer G-Dragon, in order to get favorable treatment for her own crimes and sentencing. The difference was that GD assembled his own team, including the top criminal defense attorney and former Supreme Court Justice, to handle the investigation. His team pushed back at the police demands for interrogations, got ahead of the public relations fallout, and submitted their client to several drug tests. Like Lee, all those drug tests came back negative. GD’s team convinced the police that they had no objective evidence of GD’s involvement in drugs, or whether he was even at the club -- to push the case file be closed. However, Lee’s case continued for three long interrogations, including a 19 hour session just before his extreme decision (police are only allowed to interrogate a witness for 6 hours; no competent counsel would allow such a lengthy interrogation to take place.) It appears that Lee may have been at the VIP club, knew the manager so the police were desperate to make a case against him.

Lee’s investigation went beyond the norm with the tabloid press to national media outlets publishing leaked information and speculation about the case, including recorded phone messages and texts from the club manager. Clearly, the police and manager had been leaking information to the press to put Lee in a bad light and not in context to facts in the case. It was reported that Lee claimed that he snorted white powder at the club thinking it was a sleeping pill. Adding to his woes were unverified netizen claims of infidelity by the actor. He was being vilified by the court of public opinion and not a court of law. He was never formally charged with a crime, but the narrative about him was out of control.

Then, on December 27, Koreans were shocked by Lee’s extreme choice. Dispatch published a scathing article about the police conduct in Lee’s case. (Ironically, in a few days Dispatch will ruin the career of a young female idol for dating an older actor - - to feed the parasocial, gossipy Korean couple culture.) Several local journalists also berated their colleagues for publishing unverified and private...

I don't know if anyone here is watching Singles Inferno season 3. I am watching it and I have also watched the previous 2 seasons. As people who are in our early middle age, my friends and I call it our 'guilty pleasure' show. I liked the previous 2 seasons well enough, which is why I am watching season 3. However, I find someone in season 3 extremely problematic.

There is one person who shows narcissistic and psychopathic vibes. I have quite a few problems with this,

1) While some of the commentators called out his behavior, most of the others tried to justify it or laugh it off. I truly wish they didn’t sugarcoat what he was doing. Most of the audience is young for these kinds of shows. Not calling out the red flags in his behavior sets false expectations I feel.

2) I don’t know how posts regarding this show started popping up on my Twitter (X) feed, I think it is one person posting and re sharing tweets, I don’t know. But I have been seeing several posts about how they are fans of this particular guy and how they’re ‘shipping’ a particular girl in the show with that guy. I truly can’t understand how and why anyone would be a fan of this person and how they can’t see his obvious red flags.

3) There are also so many comments now attacking a girl in the show who called out his behavior (in the show). Again, I truly don’t understand what’s going on in these young ones’ minds and how they’re all OK with this kind of toxicity. The girl who called out his behavior has her own issues, but I was so glad that someone told him that straight to his face. He needed to hear it.

I know I probably come across as very judgmental, I don’t mind it. I am really confused that there are people out there in this world who try and justify rude and narcissistic behavior from a guy on international television. I am posting here looking for your opinions on this I think. I don’t mind if they’re different from mine, in fact I would love to know what I am missing.

This has been bothering me very much, especially after the news about Lee Sun Kyun’s death and how the public prosecuted him before all the facts were out. I feel like I am losing faith in humanity if the internet and people there are so powerful that they can justify any behavior or crucify anyone as long as they have enough voices.

I've been trying to process my feelings for the last two days which have been a mixture of everything regarding LSK's demise. Until now, when I chanced upon his funeral video and finally broke down. Seeing the very distraught Jeon hye jin, his small kids and his industry peers tearing up for an unfair loss of a young life. Say what you may on what happened and why, at the end of the day it was all in his private life with people affected again in his private life but he suffered publically for the interest of various people. This loss is going to be hard to overcome. Rest in peace Ajusshi.

Hi

not much Library jokes bc long holidays and was only at work yesterday.
printer eats paper though

during christmas my parents and my aunt caught covid, dad in Tallinn and mom in Viljandi and I was nursing everyone. from the stress I got spasms yesterday and went to ER for a checkup. Of course, the wirst thing I see walking in there is a guy who had cut off his finger and it was with him in a bottle of ice.
then we resuscitated an elderly lady while the doctors arrived with a stretcher she had been given a number but she started slipping off from the chair and had a heart attack

my family is ok, mom just had dripping nose. My cramps were from irritable bowel so now I cant eat anything except eggs, buckwheat, banana, and tofu for a week. Nothing raw, no fruit, no cabbage, mushrooms or beans, no milk products Im ok with that I like those.

but my aunt wont take medicine since she´d have to lift her hands from the keyboard. we are feeding her in the friggin mouth cause the b*** be lazy

oh, there is one thing from library. I was organizing files on my external disks and accidentally dropped around 10 000 garden photos in Common Files on our server and everyone was like "why are we getting flowers today?" and then in jammed but I cleaned it up

the winter in small town was gorgeous, check eddiesmoments Instagram, I have some pictures there

didnt manage to watch much because my phone had no charger and I saved battery only just now I watched My Demon but the good side is I dont have to be tormented waiting, it is Friday

Taemin solo concert restream on sunday night.
4am on Weverse

I’m building up the courage to click play on My Mister one more time.
One of my all time favorites. A masterpiece.
This time it’s going to hit so different.

There is no way to justify what happened recently in South Korea. This is not a drama, and yet people there seemed and seem to be unable to distinguish reality from dramas. They hounded an ordinary guy who happened to be a talented actor who was renown globally like they had no better things to do in life except making judgments on how other public figures, in this case how he should live and should be punished, and invading the person’s personal life and space without a single once of compassion.

The world has seen through SK what it is really like. For whatever and whoever that played a part in the happening of this situation, I’m disgusted.

Last OT of 2023, how the time flies! Need to check whether I've already marked one year on DB or there's still a few days left... anyway, I believe I did well *pats herself on head* Thanks to everyone for putting up with me and my excessive wording for so long. Let us all have a better 2024)))

In other news, what a terrible morning we had here... Wonder if the next year will be different and my biggest New Year's wish finally comes true. Winter and upcoming festivities always put me in a somber, self-reflective mood, especially lately. To distract myself from that decided to give my cats their regular meds. I suppose only losing a moderate amount of time and blood in process can be counted as a win...

This story is shocking and dreadfully sad.

I do wonder what part the contract penalties and being dropped from current and future projects had played a part. How much support did he get from his agency? It should be their role to protect the actors, not just milk as much revenue out of them as possible.

I noticed that with other 'scandals' before, the actor is dropped before any truth is established. A stark case was the Ji-soo scandal. All his parts in his last drama were re-filmed with another actor very quickly and he parted with his agency. It turned out months later that the most serious accusation was made up by somebody who did not even know Ji-soo in person, but by then he was already finished. That for me is the real scandal.

I really hope that there is no actor who wants to step in to replace him in the TV series No Way Out he was fired from so swiftly.

I am also uncomfortable with the hypocrisy regarding drugs when I see how dramas celebrate drinking alcohol. Almost every recent drama is showing alcohol abuse and the ability to drink as much alcohol as possible as strength. Double standards?

The news of Lee Sun-kyun's death hit very hard on Wednesday morning when I logged in on DB. It fueled me with anger at the law and the people, and the executioners and interpreters of this laws.

One of the reason we have law is not only for justice for the victims; we have the law so that those who stand accused do not undercompensate or overcompensate for their wrongs. In a case where the person standing accused is on an offense against oneself and not against humanity, the latter is of the utmost essence. The law failed Lee Sun-kyun in this regard. They failed to protect him. Leaking investigative information or letting lies circulate is a surefire way to kill someone even before the person stands before the court of law. They sacrificed this man, and it hurt.

I really don't know what to say anymore nor do I want to say much either. But dang! I freaking hate the court of public opinion. The way the citizens turn their heads and spew venoms and vitriol on their actors makes one question all the fan service they've been showering on the said actors.

And to those who cried and moped about how they are so sad they saw his films and want to under everything...how they feel so dirty and can't bring themselves to watch anything he's in anymore...I guess they won't actually in reality - moving forward, - have to watch him in anything anymore. They most certainly made sure of that.

I know he isn't the first nor will he be the last. But I hope this culture against their celebrities can come to an end or at least get minimal.

The fact that he was hounded in this manner on drug allegations that are unfounded leaves me befuddled.

I'm surely not a fan of suicide. Some actors and politicians have survived scandals of this manner in the past and risen back. I wished he had sat this one out. But for him to think about suicide as his way out... I can only imagine what unfair conditions he has been made to live in the past few months. The system failed this man. The citizens nailed him to death. And the system failed to protect him from the citizens for whatever agenda or front they wanted to give off.

Something that's interesting to me is people's annoyance with kids/teens acting/not acting their age in media.

With Welcome To Sam Dal-Ri, people are irked by how mature the kid seems to be and yet given her environment, it's fitting. I think she's grown up in the city and she's around grown women who are drinking and talking about life and their problems in front and around her. She's also a product of the social media era so she's exposed to more things.

Meanwhile when Twinkling Watermelon was airing, people complained that the teens were too immature, selfish, impulsive, fall in love too quickly, etc. Even if they were 18/19, they were still teens in high school who were trying to enjoy themselves before being thrust into adult responsibilities. On the other side was Eun Gyeol who was forced to be more mature as soon as he was able to communicate with people because of how he but particularly his parents would be treated if he wasn't the perfect model student or son. One of the things I remember seeing most was "he should've just communicated with his parents". Even adults have issues communicating with each other so why do people feel it would be so easy for a kid, who spent his entire life trying to be as unproblsmatic as possible, to share his feelings of being burdened or overwhelmed? Again, from what I understand, kids/teens often keep things to themselves vs talking to their parents.

In the U.S., there's a show called ICarly and it features a kid (I have no idea how old she is) but people got annoyed at her acting like a kid. I guess maybe her interests were considered immature or maybe the way she engaged with the adults like short answers or being easily embarrassed and annoyed. I don't know exactly cause I didn't watch it, I just saw something about it.

In the same vein, there was an entertainer named JoJo Siwa and I think she became famous when she was a kid and again, people criticized her for being too childish with her style, interests, and way of communicating.

And then on the flip side, people treat kids as adults or as if they are supposed to be mature and/or responsible as soon as they learn those words.

There are a lot of takeaways from the tragedy this week. One is to remember to extend support and grace to those going through a hard time - even if they caused the trouble themselves. There's not a lot of information about LSK's family background. But clearly he was going through something that propelled him into clubs and affairs and drugs despite having a wife and kids and a great career. We see his blessings, but not his inner turmoil. I naively thought that someone who had the balls to play with fire would have the balls to deal with the fallout. But it may have been his quiet desperation and a silent cry for help which drove him to take such immense risks. Maybe he was having an epic midlife crisis. If you've been watching My Little Old Boy, a lot of the news this week would remind you of the real life events that the characters on the show have gone through. The decade long PTSD that the actor who lost his baby brother is now seeing a counselor for. The debt in millions that a former music producer is finally paying off this year. They both have experienced untimely passing of a family member. The former, a beloved sibling. And for the latter, a father who abandoned his family and then passed away too early. We all worry about LSK's surviving sons who have to live with this heavy, unbearable burden for the rest of their lives. They may also struggle with suicidal thoughts, as well. Why a healthy man with a family is now dead is a tragedy that will haunt all of us in some form. It's not just losing a father, but also the feeling of being abandoned by friends, family, and acquaintances at a critical time. That will hurt as well. When the news of his drug use first came out, I was highly critical and judgemental of him. I thought he was being extremely two-faced by cultivating a family-friendly good guy image and then doing shady things in clubs at night. But then it ended up in this tragic situation and I have to ask myself how we could have prevented this from happening. And the sad truth is that it was preventable. Even LSK himself, I believe that somewhere he may be regretting it. Maybe some personalities are better at handling stress and criticism than others, that is true. But at the end of the day, even if we find blame with his actions, our main concern should be with his children and it should have guided our words and actions better as the general public. We could have saved their appa. We could have saved an entire universe if we knew.

Does anyone know why Hulu/Disney+ don't have all their Korean dramas available in every region? Is it licensing? I would love to watch Love All Play.

Beanies de mi corazón, annyeong!

I just wanted to say thank you for letting me share another year in kdramaland with all of you.

Thank you for making dramabeans one of my safe places. Thank you for always being so wonderful. Thank you for being my found family.

I hope your year in dramabeans helped make 2023 a little better for you. Because all of you made 2023 a little better for me. And I hope I didn't make anyone uncomfortable with my dumb comments. I hope I made some of you smile this year.

Let's have a great 2024, beanies. 💚
I send you a million hugs.

With love, tabong.

I just saw Anyone But You (the American film) and it hit me that Darren Barnet is the quintessential second male lead. He always seems to be in a love triangle and always loses out. I wonder what's keeping him in these roles?

Also, I started watching Flower of Evil and it's fun as a psychologist to try to figure out what's going on with the male lead. I'm pretty sure that if he came to my office I would suspect that PTSD better accounts for his symptoms and behaviors than anti-social personality disorder. I think it's going to be like that Netflix show The End of the ****ing World where he's just really emotionally shut down and numb because of unresolved trauma. Also, I started watching this because people keep comparing a webcomic I love to it, but I actually think the two are quite different so far. Although it is interesting that two Korean people independently came up with this story idea (woman finds out that the husband she loves is hiding a huge secret that involves murders and a father who was likely a serial killer.)

I have two episodes of Like Flowers In Sand and two of My Man Is Cupid teed up, and I think I'm going to watch all four in a row but alternating between shows so I can see Jang Dong-yoon body-swapping with himself. Sylph vs. ssireum can't be any more confusing than the 'plot' of Cupid already is.

NOTES FROM 9TAILEDVIXEN'S BOTCHED HOLIDAY SEASON:

1. Ended up having to work for the 3 days in between Boxing Day and this weekend... half of one of those days was taken up by taking the furball to the vet where we spent half a day waiting for our turn followed by me chasing him around the house attempting to give him meds. *Sigh*

And of course, he took revenge by waking insomniac me up at 6am after I'd finally fallen asleep at 3am.

2. My K-Beauty skincare routine has hit couple of bumps:

a) Turns out that I can no longer use my long-time favourite Olay Whipped 7-in-1 Moisturiser with anything else in my skincare arsenal now - layering it on top of my toner, essence, snail mucin, and serum make my skin tingle and smart a little. GAWDDAMMIT! So no more Olay Whipped Moisturiser for me (the night-time version works fine though) and I'm on the hunt for an alternative day moisturiser that will play well with everything else in my routine.

b) Koelf Bulgarian Rose Hydrogel Eye Masks is now a huge no-no for me too. I put it on and it BURNS followed by tiny bumps which I then have to fix with barrier repair stuff. Gonna give it to a friend to try out - it might work better with her skin type.

Speaking of barrier repair - SOME BY MI is having major year-end sales now so I'm trying their Beta-Panthenol skin barrier repair toner. Oh my frickin' gawd - it doesn't leave my skin feeling tight and dry unlike the COSRX Propolis toner... and it has started closing my pores! Another win from SOME BY MI!

3. I have been trying to catch up with all the K-Dramas but alas - interruptions of the furball kind and work kind have intruded.

I have consoled myself by eating artisanal ice cream that one of my friends dropped off as a holiday treat while watching whatever I can that doesn't tax my brain too much (Ms. Wireless Charger and Mr Pokemon do the job nicely!). I think I'm just tired due to work so my attention span is shot. I'll catch up with some more over this long holiday weekend.

4. I have officially been called a Black Rose by my friends.

I guess I am since I have been sharing their music videos and captioning them with "WOOSUNG OPPA!" *Face Turns Red*

And this video isn't helping hahahahahahhaha:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3QP1irhxG4

5. On a related note - how on earth does Woosung and JungKook have a speaking voice that's nothing special but the moment they open their mouths to sing it's magic?

9TAILEDVIXEM COMMENT #2 FROM THE HOLIDAY TRENCHES:

I wanted to post a list of feminist K-Dramas that I watched this year which I really loved (or at least thought was interesting) on my fan wall but sadly, I was only allowed 200 characters for any fan wall post so I am sharing my list here (@db-staff - I'm new to Dramabeans and have seen other Beanies post lengthy fan wall posts so am I correct that newbies don't get to post long posts until they've reached a certain level?)

Here's my list so far - I'll be adding to it in the coming year as I continue to watch K-Dramas:

1. Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung>/b>

2. Extraordinary Attorney Woo

I know there have been debates regarding the representation of autism and autistic people in this series but it gets a thumbs-up from me with regards to its lovely portrayal of supportive female friendships, supportive female colleagues in the workplace, and the powerful portrayal of a woman who is marginalised in at least two ways (by her gender and her neurodivergence). The court cases in the drama also touched on various issues the affect women (including domestic violence) adroitly.

Also - it's great seeing her romance with Joon-Ho blossom and to watch them navigate social censure (Korea, like many Asian countries, is not kind to neurodivergent people) and finding ways to make their relationship comfortable for both of them.

3. Tomorrow

I absolutely LOVED this criminally-underrated drama because it unapologetically tackled issues related to violence against women.
These include:

a) Rape, rape culture, victim-blaming, and slut shaming both in the present day and in history.
b) The atrocity of World War II Comfort Women
c) Sexism and misogyny
d) The ripple effects of violence against women on the families, friends, and communities around the victims.

And they have done it with equal parts fiery justice against the men who abuse and the women and girls who aid and abet them... and more importantly, with compassion for the victims and survivors.

I also...