There is a new trend for short series which I find intriguing: each episode is its own story in an overall theme. DEATH’S GAME showed 12 different lives (with different actors) for the main character’s punishment after committing suicide. Each vignette is a self contained story with a climax resolution. It was announced this week another short series, TAROT, will follow the same footprint with 7 different episodes led by seven different actors: Jo Yeo Jeong, Park Ha Sun, Dex, Go Kyu Pil, Seo Ji Hoon, Lee Joo Bin, Kim Sung Tae, T-ara's Eunjung, and Oh Yu Jin. However, I don’t know how accessible it will be since it will be released through U+ Mobile TV.

Weather - 1st - 2024 - Mother Earth - Mother Nature -

It's cold - yes it is - storm here and there as expected - but slightly late as 3rd week is almost. Yeah Cold season is blooming a bit late. Expect it go for more than February - as short spring and big summer of 6 months from 1st week april itself.

19th day today and 45 more days left now. March cool nights should be more cool than usual.

https://www.allkpop.com/article/2024/01/a-broadcast-accident-with-kangnam-for-the-new-samsung-galaxy-s24-series-brings-laughter
I found this interested article about this recent event and I felt that there was a hilarious broadcast accident featuring TV personality Kangnam which accidentally contained the expletive word (f--- you) while translating Korean into Japanese during the skit on real-time translated audio function with S24 Ultra at the Samsung Galaxy S24 series' unpacking online video event. I am also made funny that after this broadcast accident, Kangnam now sang Korean national anthem before all of three hosts bowed out because I knew Samsung was one of the most famous and most popular Korean brands. I kept laughing after reading this.

It's Friday again! Last week I was supposed to give you more LYN's music, but got too sick to deliver on that promise, so we're doing it now instead. My first playlist two weeks ago was a little aimless – just a bunch of live performances I really liked, but that's no way to present a whole series, right? So I've decided to add a theme to it. This time it's gonna be vanilla ballads – something everyone likes (except me – I'm SUPER picky with the stuff). Ready?

Let's start with something I overlooked last time, as @kiara rightly pointed out – famous (and perfectly fitting for the topic) THE LONG BALLAD OST. No live, unfortunately – shame, if you ask me - so here's an official MV with mild spoilers you can easily avoid by switching tabs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L38pl-7f52g

Next is another famous OST from A DREAM OF SPLENDOR. Quite a tooth-rotter as well - if anyone gets diabetes by the end of this post, you're allowed to sue him me for damages all you want))) Still processing the news that ML of ADOS and NYZ are apparently relatives... Here I DID find live performance, but it lacks a verse for some reason, so I'm gonna be better than Chinese TV not that it's a hard task and give you a full version too. Live (the way you can hardly tell the difference from his vocals alone! in kpop such record-like singing is called “eating CDs” and I find the expression very amusing):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyHn48MgmRQ

And MV (spoilers!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDpqgcRsiVA

Let's add a bit of bitterness. I LOVE duo performances, esp male-female duos – I think that's what showcases singers true capabilities since it's much easier to sound great alone. Concept of this one is “doomed romance, no need even for an eye contact” - his quote, not mine lol. Note how he does not overpower his partner – he never does, actually, man knows how to tango (metaphorically speaking - he cannot dance to save his life lmao):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAzZj6FV0Pc

For once not a cover or OST but his own song – it did feature in a bunch of his projects AFTER release tho (THE TRUTH meme-ed it into the grave, I still have residual giggle reflex from it being his go-to serenade there). Title means “Ray Of Light In The Dark” and the overall meaning is just so darn sweet, awww! No idea why they got him up on that thing after he just recovered from a broken foot...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4C7F3Jd570

Another bitter pill – self-deprecating lyrics and the fact that this was him on a singing show freshly debuted just to get brutally eliminated as result. Idk how that happened btw – if it was our local program, he'd last till finale for sure and gain a legion of rabid fangirls while at it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8Y86a-sDg4

Hello!
this week 3 times i go to a break and find my boss esting ice cream in secret in the video corner. Is she doing mukbang?
sometimes people are talking on the phone very loud in the stairway and everyone can hear it. There are so many personal scandals, someones ex husband pretended to be sick but was actually having an affair with a 21 year old nurse. Sometimes colleagues cut in and they end the call, then all the people in the reading room sigh in unison with disappointment. usually theyd be upset with noise but they all love gossip. some even sit closer to the door.
what else. I spotted some of my colleagues googling me. Didn't ask. Didn't google back either.

next week is a week long teachers' streik, library open from 8am and full of kids.
nightmares. but also reading dogs are here all day and i can finally go pet them.

INAUGURAL NOTES FROM NINETAILEDVIXEN'S SABBATICAL:

1. After a gruelling few months of pre-sabbatical prep, I am FINALLY on my sabbatical. And what did this gumiho/hulijing/kitsune do? Zoning out all day while catching up with K-Dramas and travel planning.

2. Not that much luck catching up with sleep though. The insomnia is still raging on... the family dog is still singing the song of his people an hour after I finally doze off... Sigh...

3. In the latest news about the ongoing ramifications about the South Korean Confucian patriarchy: "South Korea’s bachelor time bomb is about to really go off. Following a historic 30-year-long imbalance in the male-to-female sex ratio at birth, young men far outnumber young women in the country. As a result, some 700,000 to 800,000 “extra” South Korean boys born since the mid-1980s may not be able to find South Korean girls to marry."

https://theconversation.com/south-koreas-gender-imbalance-is-bad-news-for-men-outnumbering-women-many-face-bleak-marriage-prospects-217661

Why? Because of their toxic son preference (yes, the very same factor that had led China to its horrible gender imbalance):

"In order to ensure that families would continue to have boys, many South Koreans turned to readily available techniques to identify the gender of the fetus, such as screening in the early stages of pregnancy. Abortion, which is legal and socially acceptable in South Korea, was then often used to allow families to select the sex of their child."

I'm all for women having a reproductive choices (including abortion as healthcare) but this? This is not healthcare. This is South Korean families weaponising abortion to get rid of potential daughters and get the sons they want.

Between the 4B (Lysistra South Korean style) campaign and this practice of female foeticide, South Korea is definitely going to be in the same position China is right now - too many "bare branches" with families who have sons in a desperate position to find daughters-in-law so they can have grandkids.

Frankly, I have no sympathy for South Korea's population woes at this point. The solution is staring them right in the face - respect women as people, treat girls the same as boys, don't treat women as second-class citizens tasked with looking after men, don't do that misogynist and sexist crap. But hey, double down on all that by electing an MRA/incel-championing president and doing anything but actually address the issue of their virulent misogyny, hey? It would be too much of a loss of face to give up male and patriarchal privileges, eh?

NOTE: To be honest, every time I hear about the woes of men of marriageable age (and their parents) in China with regards to finding a wife, I just laugh. Loudly. With plenty of Schadenfreude baked in. I bet many South Korean women are privately doing the same when they hear the news about the ticking demographic time bomb.

I watched a video about the most hated man in SK and it honest to god baffles me why the laws don't change when these guys exist and keep reoffending.

Hearing the story reminded me of a few projects I've seen (such as Mouse and Vigilante) or movies I've heard of and it just makes me want to watch vigilante shows/movies because it feels like that's that the only way justice gets served.

I truly do not understand why people who are accused of recreational drugs are villianized and punished more harshly than predators or the system that protects them.

I just do not for the life of me understand the drinking culture hypocrisy and bias in SK.

Is anyone getting overwhelming ads on Dramabeans when they use their phone (Iphone)? I can't use DB on my phone because the ads take up half to all of the screen and I can't seem to stop them. I don't mind watching some ads, but these don't end. I had been considering supporting DB (mostly because I want to support DB) but, I wasn't sure at which level you don't have ads. Has anyone done this? There is the 48 dollars for the year. Does that make it ad free? The ads are not as much of a nuisance on the web/blog view.

Seollal is almost here. I'm a "dragon lady," anyone else? What are your plans for celebrating the lunar new year (in 3 years)?

https://www.90daykorean.com/korean-lunar-new-year/

Dramas this year have featured lead actors that are a bit too youthful and bland for this ajumma's taste. This makes ajumma feel a little lost and worried that she is no longer the target audience. I prefer leading men with stronger flavor and seasoning. While dramas have somewhat disappointed in that regard, I have been able to count on Mom's Diary to provide weekly content of charismatic, time-tested middle-aged men. I find myself looking forward to seeing Lee Sang Min and Lee Dong Gun every week on this show. Some may find their stories depressing, but as someone who lost a father just a few years ago, I can relate to their stories of loss and it's cathartic. In the latest episode, Lee Dong Gun mentioned that his career has not gone as well as he'd hoped for the past 20 years. It just made me sad thinking of all the fine actors in their 40's who are just languishing away on the shelf. A few examples: Lee Dong Gun, Kim Ji Seok, Song Jong Ho, Seo Do Young. They always light up the screen with their charisma and handsome faces and I would love to see them in their suit-wearing, long-legged oppa glory on a more regular basis, as much as I'm seeing all these "newbies" such as Rowoon and Cha Eun Woo.

I have no idea why, but my brain starts screaming "this is the end of the world" everytime there's an earthquake. It doesn't matter the magnitude, I get so scared I could cry.

This morning we had one. It's hilarious to say "IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD", when it wasn't even a thing in the entire country, just my region.

In my defense this is the strongest earthquake I've lived (5,6) at least that I remember, and it felt long as heck, eternal. I went to sleep literally shaking, I was scared and all, but the only thing I could think while lying in bed was "wtf is wrong with my priorities".

I was sure this was the end of me, and the entire world, but I literally didn't care about that. All I could think was "my mom's right. It's important with which clothes you go to sleep... Do I get to take my hoodie or it's too late?". *Face palm*

I was feeling bad for not thinking of my family in a situation like that, so I told my mom and she laughed at me. She said "ha, I slept with the perfect clothes".
My mom always knows what to say.

Happy weekend, beanies de mi corazón. 💚 I hope you all had a good week.

Fun fact: Youtube only recommends me k-content, but apparently my obsession with The Bear has been so intense even youtube noticed it. YT decided to recommend me all their award moments (I had no idea we were on awards season). They won almost everything. I'm happy for them, I hope the attention makes it hard for FOX to cancel the show anytime soon (I need at least ten seasons). And I'm so happy for Ayo, she was my favorite in 2023. She was in not only in my favorite tv show (the Bear), but also my favorite 2023 movie (bottoms).

PS. What's wrong with people? how can you ask about an underwear commercial to someone that just won an award for their acting? All the beanies that voted on the Would you rather poll for the cringeworthy commercial... think it twice. Remember the world we live in. I say it for your own good.

I continue to stew over the whole Lee Sun-Kyun tragedy/debacle. I applaud director Bong Joon-Ho and his fellow creative artists for using their high public profile to demand an investigation into whether police misconduct contributed to the actor's suicide. But Bong and his industry colleagues should consider using their clout to attack the underlying issue: career-destroying public condemnation of artists who are found to be using drugs.

To begin with, continue to hire them. The increasing worldwide popularity of all things Hallyu would seem to make it feasible to employ artists—like Yoo Ah-In, for instance—whose reputations in Korea have been tarnished by even the rumor of drug use. There are lots of other countries where it would not be an issue.

It's bad enough that these actors aren't getting any new work; it's my understanding that there are films and dramas that have already been completed, but not released because a cast member has become tainted by scandal. It's an injustice not only to the actor in question, but to everyone who put in the work and invested the money to create the show. And it's depriving Kdrama and Korean film lovers all over the world, including those of us who live in places where drug use isn't an automatic career-ender.

The South Korean television and film industries and their international partners should show some courage. If there are laws forbidding these shows from being shown in South Korea, there's always the rest of the world. And if these "pariah" actors are allowed to remain in the international public's eye—for their brilliant performances rather than for their alleged drug use—it might begin to soften attitudes in South Korea.

So production and distribution companies—I'm looking at you, Netflix—grow a spine! You've already spent the money to produce the shows, so why not let the rest of the world see them?

I have no doubt that there are legal, contractual, and financial issues that would be a barrier to at least some of what I've suggested. It may all be wishful thinking on my part. But I'd be heartened to see any kind of attempt at effecting positive change.

Have we ever scene Song Kang wearing a gat? in a hanbok? in a historical drama? https://www.tiktok.com/@rainbowklip/video/7305088422283136262

Hello Beanies!! It's me!

DB is a big part of my usual day to day, I know that and yet I didn't really realise just how big a role it played in grounding routine until I found myself accidentally going off the grid 😭 Not only that, but without realising this had become my like 'diary' for the better part of two years and a bit, so going off grid also meant no avenue for expression and that was WILD.

But yes, I basically had two weeks left of my Christmas vacation time which was spent on going to a lot of surprise engagement parties/celebrations, baby births, saying yes to spontaneous road-trips and day trips, and then a whole week of basically living court-side at the Australian Open! It was super fun, but I don't usually go out much at all so this flurry of non stop activity meant I was basically passing out cold every night when I came home - as a result the drama watching came to a standstill and now there's a fair few drama eps I have to catch up on, as well as recap threads here 😬

Happy weekend Beanies and keep Beaning On!

I am feeling a bit uneasy after being called out by both of my therapists this week.

I wrote a draft of a future medical file and removed some information that was no longer the case. Or so I thought. My therapist added the information again and put extra emphasis on it.

I discussed my weekly schedule with the other psychologist and she noticed too many instances of me planning and living like a non-autistic person, which is very harmful for people on the spectrum. Our next session will take place mid-March and by then I must hand in some of my week plannings to go over together.

I have no problem understanding and admitting that both are right, and they both are very kind and helpful to me. However, I struggle to grant myself the same courtesy. I feel bad for not being yet at the point I thought I was, I feel ashamed to show my shortcomings in planning, and I currently lack the ideas and courage to empty my schedule and start all over again.

As January is left mostly empty, I am taking a break to indulge in K-dramas and movies until busier February at the latest. I do hope I can recharge enough to tackle the big changes afterwards.🙏

So what is service in "military band" in South Korea?

https://www.allkpop.com/article/2023/08/lee-do-hyun-enlists-in-the-air-force-military-band