Is it only me, or do you also have the feeling ISW’s stylist got fired on episode 10 and now uri SeonGyeom wears “normal” clothes?

I was anticipating such a terrible ending for Awaken (well I anticipated the whole drama went downhill from the beginning, tbh) that I actually liked how it ended!

Don’t get me wrong: the drama is full of tropes (all you can imagine) and plot holes the size of the Moon, but if you are a devoted follower of NGM, you will definitely enjoy it.

I feel your pain. I feel your pain.

SG: Yesterday I watched Jerry Maguire.
MJ: Was it fun?
SG: No it wasn’t.
MJ: I see.
SG: But it made me feel warm inside.I thought about why, and it was because that’s how I felt when you described it to me.
MJ: How was the movie?
SG: The male lead couldn’t seem to stand his failures in life. He ended up hurting the only person who stayed by his side. And he realized that person’s value once it was too late. But it kind of reminded me of myself. I was scared that things might end between us the closer we got. Your affection for me gives me meaning and value. But I wasn’t sure if you had feelings for me the same way I do for you. I wonder if you also want to hold my hand, hug me, and kiss me. I wasn’t quite sure of that. Because I do. Please, don’t hate me.
MJ: You’re changing from subject to subject.
SG: Did I? I’m sorry.

I\’ve finished Six Flying Dragons!!!
I guess now I have to go with Tree with deep roots 🧐

I know that in many countries Christmas is over. Not in Spain, though. In fact, the most important day of Christmas is about to come.

Tonight it the Twelfth Night or Noche de Reyes meaning that the Three Wise Men or Reyes Magos are arriving to Bethlehem to worship the new born Jesus after following the star for weeks.

In Spain, children are brought presents by the Reyes Magos mainly and not Father Christmas (although in the past 20 years he’s gained popularity, when I was a kid I never received presents on Christmas day). The face the biggest Christmas Parades and the Magi sent their pages all over the country to collect all the letters from the special mailboxes you can find on every single Town Hall, every post office and even on the streets. And tonight every single child and adult would leave their clean shoes by the window so their favorite king (mine is Melchior) would leave your presents as you’ve been a good beanie. In exchange you leave some milk for your king and biscuits or carrots for their camels.

On Epiphany or Día de Reyes you must share with your loved ones the typical Roscón de Reyes (a sweet cake) which hides a present inside. The one who finds the present, can be the king for a day.

There is not a single day in the year I love more than Reyes. I’m already exited and nervous because they are almost here!!

¡¡Feliz Noche de Reyes!!

When locations are amortized.

Photos 1-2: Detective Kang’s house in The Good Detective .

Photos 3: Mun’s house in The Uncanny Counter

I just came across this and I think it’s so nice I wanted to share here. Happy 2021, beanies!!

Seven Rules of Life:

1- Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
2- What other think of you is none of your business.
3- Time heals almost everything, give it time.
4- Don’t compare your life with others and don’t judge them. You have no idea what their journey is about.
5- Stop thinking too much, it’s alright not to know the answers. They will come to you when you least expect them.
6- No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
7- Smile. You don’t own the problems in the world.

It’s December 31st today. Last day of this strange year. Today I will be having dinner with my dad and sisters, as restrictions have been lifted so my dad and I can travel to where she lives (my hometown is on lockdown and I can’t go outside the borders of the city, which sometimes makes me think I’m in some apocalyptic tv show…).

I want to share with you all the Spanish tradition for this day, and it is the Twelve Grapes / Doce uvas / Uvas de la suerte. What is this? This tradition consists of eating a grape with each clock bell strike at midnight of December 31 to welcome the New Year. So in every single home in Spain, by 11:55 everyone gathers before TV so we watch it together and eat the grapes. Most TV networks broadcast from Puerta del Sol in Madrid where this tradition got started.

You may wonder how this tradition began. Well it goes back to 1895 but became “officially” established in 1909. In December of that year, some vine growers popularized this custom to better sell huge numbers of grapes from an excellent harvest. Very mundane, don’t you think? Yet the tradition has survived to our days!!

And what happens if you don’t like grapes, like myself? Well, you then take 12 of other things: I’ve done olives, lacasitos (which are Spanish M&M), tiny potatoes (I know, crazy!), peanuts… Now I’m more sophisticated and I have 12 sips of champagne. Always stylish!

Is there any special tradition in your corner of the world?

#2020RoundUp

I’ve always thought, right or wrong but driven only by own personal experience, that siblings relate to each other the way their family does: when a child knows that he/she’s loved and there’s nothing wrong about showing that love to others, it will be easier to that child to create bonds in terms of love. So this year I payed special attention to dramas in which sibling’s relations were a main part of the plot, maybe because this year I wasn’t able to see my sister as much as a I wanted.

Cold winter brought me the warm Im family in I’ll find you on a beautiful day. They openly laughed, hug, respected and talked to each other. This family was fierce defending and caring for their own, siblings relation being probably the most honest one. It may look like sassy and confident Hwi was always taking advantage from stoic and shy EunSeob, but I never felt that way. One of the best moments in the drama, if not the best (as I’ve already written in this round up), takes place when EunSeob carelessly changes the saddle in Hwi’s bike, and we see her going through all possible emotions a human can have to finally burst into one of the most heartfelt confessions in dramaland: Hwi, who had already lost his brother once and is so scared of losing him again, yells “I’ve liked you since I open my eyes and saw the world because you were my brother!”. And she explains it all. That’s what maknaes feel towards their older siblings.

Winter also brought another warm family bonded by love and not blood. Love with flaws was a drama with many, many flaws, but Joo siblings, WonJae, WonSuk, SeoYeon and SeoJoon had to build a new life when they lost their parents, and difficulties made them even more united: the way they protected, sacrificed so many things, teased and cared for each other was unique. I loved how the four of them would seat around the table and talk about what was going on in their family and worked together to find a solution, and even how every one would hide whatever they knew would hurt the others, just to be the strong one that has their backs.

Yet, communication is not always easy. As I said before, just loving is not enough: the ones you love must feel they are loved.

Communication problems, were surely a thing for the Kims in My Unfamiliar Family. Summer brought us this drama, which was a perfect example of what I said before: children mirror their parents behaviour. You get what you give and give what you get. And communication was an issue in that family: no talks, secrets, hidden pain and so many emotions repressed. EunJoo wanted to escape from a suffocating house where she believed all her effort was taken for granted without even thanking her, EunHee played the playful middle sister that wouldn’t get into any problem even escaping from the pain she could have caused, and JiWon would just be the spoiled maknae that thinks his actions don’t have any consequences. They were three islands that wouldn’t build bridges to reach each other, and when they did, crossing those bridges was tough. They were adults learning to trust each other, with a very biased opinion on how (little) reliable their siblings were. Watching them learning that family is not only about sharing meals and a roof, but about trusting each other, loving and accepting being loved was the highlight of the drama.

But the Kims were not alone. When talking about communications Lees didn’t do much better. And for much longer, although maybe it was not that much in gumiho’s years. In Tale of the Nine Tailed Lee Yeon and Lee Rang spent 600 years not telling each other how they felt: being the most precious thing to each other. Their love was the real true love of the drama.

And there are different levels of (lack of) communication when one of the siblings firmly believes it’s his/her duty to protect the other one. In It’s Okay not to be Okay Moon brothers had a lovely relation that almost drained Gang Tae of all his energy, bringing the question of how much a person can give away in order to take care of someone who depends on you. When does love end and begin the burden? How selfish are you allowed to be? If you want to relieve that weight on your shoulders, are you running away? Will guilt let you live a happy life? Is that treason? It’s not only love that matters here, but trust. Gang Tae had to admit Sang Tae could learn to fly and occasionally fall down, and that by doing so he was freeing both of them. The same way SeungSoo had to let YoungSoo choose his own path in Hot Stove League, or HyunSoo had to asume HaeSoo would finally take responsibility of her actions so she could be free at last in Flower of Evil, exactly the same way MyungJYeo and MyungJoo did in I’ll find you on a beautiful day.

2020 brought us many other siblings: the donsaeng who left a void that nothing could fill, leaving the hyung behind just surviving until he found a healing love, like GongMyung did in Memorials by having the amazing SeRa and the crazy Goo family by his side; the sisters that were kept in the middle of adults war who messed in their relationship (as the selfish adults they were) parting InJae from DalMi in StartUp, making them walk a long and winding road until they find each other back for good; the supportive oppa DoChang had always been, helping his donsaeng get rid of an addiction and get her son and her life back in The Good detective.

Bothers and sisters. Oppas, Hyungs, Unnies, Noonas. Siblings. Sometimes we wished they were never there, but then when they’re not, we miss them.

Blame it on @mindy and @purplesheesh for posting about Into the Ring.
I melt with them together. It’s impossible an OTP is more adorable.
I love them to infinity and beyond.

I\’ve barely survived December the 30th in the office but I have.
The year is over. Today was quite a battle, didn\’t eat anything and I\’m exhausted.
But, this beanie is now home, has one week of holidays and is about to watch episode 5 of Run on while eating a very much deserved piece of lemon pie 😎

Now, I feel like a celebrity. I’ve been trolled by an anti-fan in the Lovestruck in the city thread. I’m half annoyed half proud of being hatable by a troll, would be prouder if comments made sense.

Did anyone else realized the parallelism between these two photos.
Not watching any of these dramas, btw.

#2020RoundUp.

I wish LGTB characters had more space in dramaland. I’m not talking about BL dramas (there have been some web dramas many beanies have praised here, but it’s not a genre I’m into), but about LGBT characters, although this 2020 gave us some interesting opportunities.

Joo Won Seuk, wonderfully portrayed by Cha In Ha in Love with flaws was a nice surprise. He was openly gay, worked in a gay bar, would never hide his affairs, and was much loved by his siblings who didn’t care about his orientation. His self confidence and his attitude came precisely from the support and love he received from his family. In a most heartbreaking flashback scene, we are shown how Won Seuk had tried to commit suicide and is recovering in the hospital. As he apologizes to his dad, he just tells his son how much he loves him with these words “I prefer if he is more talkative than you. I’m talking about the guy you will introduce to me one day”. What a sweet declaration of love from a dad to a son in despair. No matter how much you think you are wrong, you are not, and I love you and will always have your back. There was nothing to be sorry about being gay. The only thing he should be sorry about was trying to take his own life and stop being his precious son. The scene was even more heartbreaking considering Cha In Ha had left us too soon.

On the opposite side we had TaeHyeong (Kim Tae Hoon) in My Unfamiliar Family. As someone who never received support and real love from his family, his actions could never be filled with love and support. As much as I can understand his situation and what he was going through, I hated the way he treated EunJoo. If only he had been honest to her, so much suffering could have been prevented. But TaeHyeng is just the reflect of a very traditional society in which being different is not acceptable. We never saw his father but her mother was really despicable, as someone to whom only position matters, who would never care about her son’s feelings and pain, because he just had to be perfect and even when she knew he had his “flaws” the way she said he would always come back and do the right thing was so infuriating! I just wanted EunJoo to punch her in the face and then drain all her money out of her, because that’s the only thing she cared about. It was infuriating, but also a slap in the face: only if you have the full support from family and society you can be happy. Live and let live should be a motto to everyone.

And in the middle of these two situations: the total acceptance and self confidence in WonSeuk and the denialism in TaeHyeong we had Kang GunWoo in Dinner Mate. Not that we learned much about his circumstances (I wish we did), but he was also open and direct about his orientation (and about his crush on HaeKyung… who could blame him?) and anyone beanie who’s ever read my posts knows that he’s the one who delivers my favourite quote on dramaland ever so he has a special place in my heart. Also, he openly talked about his family not wanting him because he decided to act openly as the person he was, not trying to hide or to adjust to other\’s standards. His family not having his back for him was painful, but he had the fully support of his friends: from the 2N Box Staff to HaeKyung and most important of all, Son NaEun. Their relation would have been lovely and nice to see if any other actress had been casted and actually acted.

I hope 2021 can bring us some more diverse characters and I wish I could watch a lesbian relation on a kdrama, because I firmly believe that tv shows help normalize what should be normal. So far I can only recall a WL story (and it was more hinted than anything) between MaRoo and her roommate in Matrimonial Chaos.

#2020RoundUp.

Sometimes you watch a drama and feel an immediate connection to one character. It doesn’t have to be the lead, or even one of the main characters. You just feel the connection, like the sparkles you feel when you meet someone for the first time and you know you like that person (and it’s not necessarily in a romantic way).

For me this year that character would be Jang Geu-Rae in Misaeng but that is not a 2020 drama. Even so, I don’t think I would ever have such a strong reaction for a character in my life. I just wanted to protect him and fight for him in every possible way. I would fight monsters for him. Yes, that’s how I felt about him.

If I have to chose a character from a 2020 show, there would be some candidates as Thomas in Missing: The other side, Joo Won Suk and Kim Mi Kyung in Love with flaws or Kim Ji Woo in My Unfamiliar Family. I loved all these characters and enjoyed every single minute they were on screen in their dramas. But above them, the one I felt that special connection was Seo Dan in Crash landing on you. From the very first minute I saw her, I liked her, and as episodes went by, I grew to love her. She was an intelligent, sensitive and witty woman, she was never harsh, or malicious. She just thought she was in love with a man she hardly knew (who could blame her if the guy is Mr. Ri?) and realized she wasn’t and learned to embrace her more sassy side as she spend time with Seung Jung. I could only understand her and support her in every decision she made, whether it was a good one or a bad one. And at the end of the drama I wished I was the supportive friend to hold her hand to gave her some comfort, just listening or being by her side in silence, like friends do.

And I slowly keep watching Six Flying Dragons.

I’m not a Christmas person, but more a Mr. Scrooge person, you know. But I am a VERY Muppet person, so I wanted to share this with you all to send you my best wishes for this season. Whether you are Christian or not and this days have some deep meaning to some, the Winter Solstice (in this part of the world) always brings me some peace as days are finally getting longer. As the ancient romans used to say, long live Sol Invictus.

And after all whenever you find love if feels like Christmas.

And after all whenever you find love if feels like Christmas.