Beanie level: Fan club president

Only mildly relayed to kdramas, but Carl Reiner just passed away and I just realized he was in a real life noona romance—his wife was 8 years older than him and he pays a nice tribute to her.

Carl Reiner on why a sense of humor is important in life

Actor and comedian Carl Reiner has died at the age of 98. As part of his #BriefButSpectacular take on his life and career, he told us in 2016, "Those people who have a sense of humor get through life more comfortably than those who don't."

Posted by PBS NewsHour on Tuesday, June 30, 2020

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    @ally-le—I’m so grateful that you shared this. What a guy.

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    He’s always been so wonderful and I will miss him ❤️

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    I loved me some Carl Reiner. And he has told that story about he and his wife before and with each delivery it was always awesome.

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Aw, really loved ep. 3 of IOTNBO. Loving the psychiatrist whose just a bit nutty himself to my favorite mature actress playing another mother figure, adopting the three boys into her home, and Kwak Dong-yeon just absolutely having a ball with his character with bipolar syndrome. He gravitation to slightly unhinged characters is a treat for me to see. They were the highlights for me this episode. And some emotion from Kim Soo Hyun, whoa. Looking forward to him really coming out of his very tough shell.

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    This has to be the role where he has brought his A game so far. Don’t know about others think but I think he has done more than just serving looks in the first 4 episodes. I saw a depth of emotions and I liked how he portrayed them.

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PBG’s enlistment will be a cakewalk. He had to do a piano and singing audition to get in. Don’t know what I think about this. Should I roll my eyes or give him a hug? https://www.soompi.com/article/1408940wpp/park-bo-gums-military-enlistment-date-confirmed

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I finished the Romance of Tiger and Rose! And I think I’ll have to rewatch it knowing the end. Won’t spoil it but it was pretty clever! Now, what is clever enough for me to notice the second time?

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    So I was one of the dumb ones who actually didn’t think too much about the logistics of the ending lol, will share more when you’re ready!

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      I wrote a long reply to wapz below about the ending.

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    I was way too spoiled(what with tencent themselves releasing the last scene before the non vips could access it) so that destroyed the watching experience for me. But I think it made total sense and even if rushed, wrapped up the show nicely. Especially after seeing Avenue X’s video it was more clear how the actor Han didn’t remember a thing of the future when he was in the script.

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      I think he was trying to get out of the script/story just like she was. How else can you explain the last couple episodes when he’s totally fine with her telling him she’s from another world and how she knew everything? He doesn’t even bat an eye. He realizes that getting her out of the script effectively gets him out of it too which is why he encourages her to walk the flower path or whatever. But when he wakes up, he can’t admit that he “lived” in that dream (because that would be crazy) and at first just thinks it’s a dream and thinks she’s just there to talk about the script when she’s there to see if he really existed in that world with her. This goes along with what they’ve struggled with the entire show—one person knowing something but not telling the other—and then when he slips about the orange, you immediately know he was there. I totally jumped out of my chair and said “he knows!” But also, he probably just woke up too and still is trying to get his bearings as to where he is and what he’s doing there and if he’s really outside his dream or was it just a dream again just like she did. His little quip about modern medicine also gave us an early indication in that conversation that he was there too. So now I wonder when in his dream he really falls for her because he realizes he’s in the script she wrote too and probably thinks he’ll die if he dies in the script. How many times was he close to death or placed in jail about to be beheaded!?! I’m totally going to watch from his point of view next. It makes everything he does out of his own free will make sense because he’s trying as desperately as she does to just survive until the end. But then when he realizes that she has some permanence in his dream and sacrifices himself for her, he does it for the sake of the script as well. I think he ends up not just loving her but the script and story too, so does what he can to make it worthy of his death/sacrifice in it. He’s as much a writer of that story as she is. Such a cover way to write this. I didn’t think they would make him also live through the story like her, but it was a happy conclusion for me that they did!

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        Omgggg this does make sense, but I think it makes me too sad – I’m too bought into the idea of these characters make their own decisions and therefore the message is, ppl are more than their characteristics and we shouldn’t judge a book by their cover and people can change so we should be ready to re-evaluate our judgment too. I did find it weird that Han Shuo so easily accepted the concept of them living in her script.

        As for the ending, I took it very surface level which is that they both had the same dream, except the POV was different and while Chen Xiao Qian dreamed herself as an active participant in rewriting the script to survive, Han actor simply “watched” the plot unfold the way we as an audience did. They didn’t actually need to participate in the dream at the same time. I know this requires a stretch of the imagination, but then again so does the idea of someone getting stuck into their own script. *shrugs.

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          And of course Han actor identified with Han Shuo since that was the character he was supposed to play and the character looks like him in the dream any way.

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          I took it at surface level as well. Was still confusing, but I just let it slide tbh.

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        🤯

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June 23, 2020 at 2:44 PM
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My secretary just asked me for my Spotify Kpop Playlists. Her indoctrination is complete.
Kpop GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

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    Is that Highlight/Beast? Have they disbanded now?

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      No! Dujun just got back from the military and will be releasing an album in July. The i there’s are still in their mandatory service. One did resign from the group due to the burning sun scandal, unfortunately. He wasn’t directly involved, but he may have had incriminating messages on his phone from those that were.

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      And impressed you knew it was Highlight from this!

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    Whooaaaa! Congratulations on your success! I’m jealous, I can’t get anyone interested 🙁

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Looking forward to Kim Woo Bin’s return. An actor I only knew because of Reaper using it as his alias—lol. However, this was a good article. I love that he’s interested in botany now! https://www.soompi.com/article/1407837wpp/kim-woo-bin-talks-about-starting-next-chapter-of-life-with-a-new-mindset-returning-after-hiatus-with-1st-film-in-4-years-and-more

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    I’m really glad he’s back. It must have been a tough time treating and recovering from his cancer.
    I only watched him in The Heirs, and he and Kim Mi Kyung were the only good things on it, so I’m looking forward his coming back in dramaland.

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I guess I’m on board too. So good job everyone…this show has it all. Dark, sexy, beautiful. #itsoktonotbeok

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For @kiara and my other saguek beanies who love Disney! https://www.buzzfeed.com/cathyngo/disney-characters-in-korean-hanboks?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bffbbuzzfeed&ref=bffbbuzzfeed&

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Smiling, right? I must admit, even though he’s not my favorite actor, he makes my top 5, and mainly because he reminds of my husband and my son. The only dimples that could ever compete with theirs.
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I’m up at 0130 watching Find Yourself and I have so many issues right now!!! But can’t stop watching…@saya and @missvictrix definitely have some ‘splaining to do. (Good thing they already did!)

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    I really liked FY! It handled some real world issues really well while remaining entertaining. All the characters were also very likeable!

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      Me too!!! As the show progressed, I liked pretty much all characters. They all felt mostly real.
      Ally, which episode are you at?? hope you get your explanations from them. Haven’t read their blog yet.

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        I finished ep 7 before finally making myself go to sleep—it took every ounce of will power I had though! I’m always acutely aware of inappropriate relationships at work and struggled with the boss-insubordinate set up here. I kept watching to see how it would be handled. Apart from not liking that—and how Yuan Song basically threatened her for rape if she didn’t agree to date him (doesn’t matter if it was supposed to be a joke that’s the elephant in the room, right?), I do really like the couple here, and they are selling it, hook, line, and sinker! I keep wondering where I’ve seen this guy—does he look familiar to anyone else? Looked up his filmography and I don’t think I’ve watched anything else he’s been in. Oh!!! I just figured it out. He looks like the kpop idol on Her Private Life! That was bothering me! Glad I got it settled. Lol. So, forbidden secret relationship ups the ante for me and adds the conflict that I can’t say no to. So it’s like I’m totally against the set up, but like it anyway. Kind of like the main FL. Lol.

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          Initially it did bother many of us. The way I understand is that they have a relationship outside work (even before he joins the company). Even though they are not close, they know each other and there is a blur. And technically he doesn’t report to her. From what I remember he is part of the design team while she is administrative head. It’s up to his manager to get him to do his work and report on time.
          I completely missed the threat part. 😱. Have to rewatch. I think they both have a playful teasing side that comes out when they are together. As a couple they both were flawed and have a long way to go.
          And personally I liked the drama a lot more after mid point. (I can’t spoil it for you). You will know when you get there.
          Btw, some of us call our ML ‘Little Fox’ :))

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          I also thought he looked familiar but thought he looked like a young Jerry Yan. But now that you said the kpop idol, he does! But with better posture and while both scrawny, he looks more fit for some reason lol.

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    I have extreme mixed feelings about that show 😂 I agree re: the realistic issues and relatable characters; the dialogues were well written too and most characters are likeable, no evil SL here – just a very annoying one. But the FL took a really long time to mature, and every scene and overall conflict drag 4 more episodes than they need to. Would love to hear your thoughts after you finish! My favorite character is the psychology professor friend!

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      She was also my favorite. I loved the scene when they were eating dinner at the FL house and she was explaining her thoughts about marriage and women’s roles to the mother who has a very classical/archaic thought on the matter.

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      I’m so surprised that everyone is so charitable of the SL, to me he was evil and the fact that everyone basically thought what he was doing was appropriate was actually the biggest gripe I have with the show.

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        Haha I would agree even if my terminology is different lol he is so manipulative!!!

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        **ALLY DONT READ**

        I agree he was manipulative but don’t think he is evil. He believed he is the right choice for her and that she would eventually choose him. He was confident about his choices and actions because the society aligned with him( I think that’s what the show was highlighting). He would never hurt her and make her miserable for his own sake. You could see that he was not happy when he eventually found out they both cannot be happy.
        She was not an object that he wanted to possess. He wanted her to love him. His methods were clearly questionable but I never thought he was evil.
        Towards the end you can see how good of a friend he became to her, with his quirks et al. He made mistakes and he grew. He annoyed me but I never hated him.

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          **SPOILER**

          OK, I agree evil is not quite the right word. But he is one detestable MF of a character if I ever saw one. He isn’t any better to me than any of the archetypical 2nd leads. He undermined the main couple from the get go (he was the one who suggested a secret relationship) under the guise of being helpful. Sure, he believed himself to be the better fit for the FL and others also let him get away with his dirty tricks because they also believed that (another gripe of the show tho I think it also stemmed from the fact that FL never actually bothered explaining her own feelings so people just piled assumptions on her), but it doesn’t actually excuse his manipulative behavior and his actions indicate his fundamental belief that the FL is incapable of making the best decision for herself and he needed to save her. GOD THE MISOGYNY. Sure he realized in the end, she couldn’t be happy with him and he chose to let go, but that’s both for himself and for her and he never really apologized for his manipulation. I can’t forgive the fact that no one held him accountable for his dirty tricks. And in the end, the FL still didn’t realize she had been treated with such disrespect and still defended him as a good person. Gahhh, he makes me so mad! The level of patronizing is so unbelievable. If he wasn’t such a good uncle, I don’t know that I could have finished the series.

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            **SPOILER**

            And how do many of his actions is also a huge disrespect to the ML, like him buying the necklace for the FL to pretending to be the actual boyfriend in front of her college friends. Maybe this is something personal to my own preferences, but I HATE and cannot condone people whose treatment of others is so arbitrary. Who cares if you treat those you like nicely? Anybody is capable of that. It’s how you treat others outside of that circle that speaks volumes about your character and his character is rotten.

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            wow I guess I ff-ed too much and erased much of this from my memory haha but agree with you. His kind of scheming is not confrontational, maybe that’s why I didn’t associate him with the evil SL archetypes at first, but the consequences are the same!!

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            You definitely had a different response to the 2ML compared to me. I am with @mayhemf on this one that he was not evil but a very flawed character that grew and learned as the drama progressed. He made huge mistakes and did some very wrong things but by the end he realized his errors and matured. One of the themes of the drama was learning and maturing and that’s what I liked about the drama. All the characters were quite flawed (some more than others) but each character developed and grew and matured as the drama progressed. I loved that he gracefully bowed out at the end because he realized he couldn’t make her happy and them being friends was the best for her and himself. That alone showed how much he had matured and developed from the beginning of the series to the end.

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            @trinpie @mayhemf I admit I could be overly critical of 2nd ML, and I also do appreciate that all the characters are flawed and a huge theme of the show was growth. It is true that in the end, he bowed out because he realized he couldn’t make her happy, but is it really growth if he still doesn’t believe (or at least this was never made explicit) that he did anything wrong ? That he believes the only thing wrong with his approach was that he was barking up the wrong tree? And not how underhanded his tactics were or how misogynistic his intentions were (eg. believing the FL can’t think for herself)?

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            I think you have to decode motive – in drama and in life – before writing people off as definitely bad or even definitely good. In reality, we’re all inconsistent mixes of our good and bad qualities, and some things are very bound to personality traits, as I think is the case with LM. Apparently one of the benefits of age (lol) is that I’ve learned to accept that people are super complicated, and so my feelings about them are allowed to be, too.

            I can understand how you feel though – I initially had a really strong reaction to him as well, and I am still O_O about some of the drama’s moments, but after talking it out for a long time and being shown other sides of it, my attitude to LM has mellowed and I can appreciate that he’s a really well-drawn character, even if I was yelling at him for half the show.

            I think it’s also worth keeping in the back of your mind that these various relationships emerge from a prevailing cultural paradigm (and one that is distinctly non-western) – one the show openly sets out to challenge. I think that it’s very difficult for a drama to 100% get it right, but FY did a great job and I found it very personally relatable!

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            Oh you can definitely be critical @myriver as that’s the joy of drama watching, we all have different opinions and experiences as we watch. You just have a different opinion and there is nothing wrong with that!

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            @saya thanks for sharing your thoughts. i never said he is a bad person, i just find him detestable and manipulative and lament the fact that no one really held him accountable for his behavior. i do agree that this particular character trait is something i am especially sensitive to. is LM as a character realistic? 100%! if i knew him in real life, i would cut him out because his actions would be a deal breaker especially because he never once thought what he did was wrong (he just gave up because he realized he couldn’t make the FL happy). i guess i just wished someone on the show at least shared my view point (well, i guess technically YS and stepmom do, though it was never very explicitly stated).

            to be fair, i binged watched this show in like 2 days, so clearly other parts of the show made up for my dislike for LM’s actions towards the OTP. i understand everyone has their own perspectives of the show. tbh, i loved the brother and niece relationship and wished the drama developed their story more but i know it’s not a popular opinion lol.

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            @myriver it’s okay, we can all like what we like, and every drama pushes different buttons for different people. I acknowledge I’m an outlier with these kinds of dramas, because I relate to them from weird and obscure angles.

            I’m more shocked you did this in 2 days!!1?! I watched non-stop and it still took me 5 days!!!

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        I agree, although my husband says this is totally in line with what most men would do if they REALLY liked someone.😆 I was interested in someone else when I met him and he spent his time basically stalking who the guy was, what he did, and then seeing if he stacked up. He thought he had a chance and so asked me out, knowing this. Turns out, he did! The big difference is that he didn’t masquerade as a friend, he was honest and said he was interested from the start.

        My laugh out loud moments so far are all because of the second ML though. Like when he’s doing tai chi in the face mask certainly jealous of of the FL. I was rolling.

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    personal taste cannot be explained XD

    …even if you use 10K words

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      Folks ’round here still curse Temp of Love, yet I will defend it to my dying breath!

      (actually I won’t, because I don’t think subjective things need ‘defending’, but you know what I mean!)

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        I couldn’t continue TOL. Sorry! Lol. I loved it at first and if they didn’t shoe horn the mom’s in there, I would have been fine with it.

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          haha, exactly – taste is inexplicable and subjective!

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Absolutely charming! #romanceoftigerandrose

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    I’ve watched this a couple of times already and darn – still haven’t noticed the editing mistake bc, darn – Han Shou’s pouts and sad eyes.

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      Look behind him at the end of the scene—when he’s totally disarming yet playful—you can’t look at him! Which is hard—very hard. Now, do you see it?

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        I also can’t see it!!!

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          Think about where they were when the scene started and it looks totally different behind him now. Like a deserted road.

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        bahaha! that took me an embarrassingly long time to realize! :3

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My patient today—whose Korean given name is Young-Kwang—made me think of this lovely boy (KYK) and so I have to show him off in sunglasses and bonus HJH!

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Twitter is sometimes amazing. This made my day…

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My new favorite thing: https://m.community.com/cuH6JkowHzghaEP
#nambros

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Watched the first two episodes of The King and I can see me watching more of it. But it’s nothing, not even a minutia, of what Goblin was for me. But I love Kim Go Eun in this. That ponytail flick!

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    Same. It was ok but it’s nothing something I would miss sleep for. I love Kim Go Eun and how badass she is. 🙂

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The initial reaction to COVID19 in Korea, the absolutely seamless coordination between their health departments and the federal government made me write on a physician only group that I was totally crushing on the Korean government. When really, in truth, I just crush on anything Korean. But I can only say that here.

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Doojoon is back! #allhighlightallthetime #justintimecuzialmoststartedstanningericnam

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#6wordchallenge…Hemmingway

Hemmingway had a Havanese—me two.



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March music, day 28… Today is my sister’s birthday. We couldn’t celebrate it together, but I sent her this gorgeous rendition of Ave Maria by Korean American, David Kim, concertmaster of the Philadelphia Symphony. Symphonies can’t perform right now in much of the world, but their musicians are still making beautiful music in solidarity.

David Kim | J.S. Bach/Gounod "Ave Maria"

From Concertmaster David Kim's living room to yours, enjoy this performance of JS Bach/Gounod's Ave Maria with a special guest star on the piano! 🎻🎹

Posted by The Philadelphia Orchestra on Friday, March 20, 2020

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Hi peeps! If you all are tired of reading about COVID19, I just uploaded all my Dramabeans writings (those published and unpublished) on my wordpress blog, Freethekimchi.com! And some music… #goblin https://youtu.be/D1MwdbTWd0g

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