Beanie level: Water maid

I just came to a chilling realisation, the first kdrama i watched is now 22 years old. Its now a full grown adult! i have been watching kdramas almost half my life. Lol. How old is your first kdrama

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    My first one is from the late-90s— 1997 iirc LOL

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    The first k-drama I watched (although only one episode, because I didn’t watch the whole drama until 2022) is 6 years old: Memories of Alhambra (2018).

    The first k-drama I fully watched is just a baby (2 years old): Squid Game. I watched it when it was released on Netflix.

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    My first K-drama is 20 years old.

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    I started watching in 2004 with Hotelier(2001) and the oldest drama I watched is Sandglass(1995). Today I see that I’ve been watching so long that the star of one of my first dramas, Bae Doona (Country Princess(2003), also my first oppa!) has gone from teenager roles to Mom 😲
    Omg, I’m so old.

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    My first drama was “you are beautiful_2009” but I watched it in 2012 so this is actually 12 years that I watched kdramas and now I am in my 30s! 😅

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      I freaking wanted a pig-rabbit of my own. Hahaha. Almost in 40s and still squealing over dramas

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        Me tooooo! I actually found one in a shop but I didn’t buy it I don’t remember the reason 😅

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    I think there are two threads here those who were live watching K-dramas 20+ years ago and those who have watched dramas from back in the day.

    I am a newbie who has watched older dramas some stood the test of time and some were clearly ‘you had to be there to understand’ dramas. Full house is the oldest one I have seen.

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    From 2013, so 11 years old, though I actually watched it 8 years ago..still a child xD

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    My first drama is from 2012. The oldest drama I have watched is from 1999.

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    I remember catching bits of a show involving a broody, body-guard type and a cute female lead on t.v on certain evenings long, long ago. At the time, I didn’t know the air schedule; I didn’t know the actors. I didn’t watch it consistently, only when I happened to catch it. Turns out that that show was “A Love to Kill,” starring Rain and Shin Min-ha. I never watched the show in its entirety, but does that count? LOL

    I believe that the first kdrama I watched in its entirety was “Princess Hours.”

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the last time i logged in here was in 2020. time flies, and i don’t watch kdramas as much i used too, but i do visit the beanies from time to time to see what everyone else is watching. it’s amazing to see how much the website has grown. but can i confess that sometimes i do wonder how javabeans and girlfriday are doing, that i a stranger in real life living in a whole ass different continent, miss them.. wishing them all the success whatever they’re doing.

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    I wonder whether they’ve been working for Netflix…. due to the Netflix swoon series they put together??

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I used to be able to know if a drama was good by reading comments in the last recap + the stars given.. now i cant tell anymore. Comments say otherwise but stars are high..Is hi bye mama any good?

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    Oh the stars have never mattered though. I remember when first this feature was introduced people were confused if it’s for the recaps or the episode. So i don’t think anyone looks at the stars or even votes over an episode. Hi bye mama was great in the beginning but then it started to slow down. My main issue with the show was how it didn’t resolve many things which should’ve been resolved in the first few episodes. It isn’t a bad watch per say but I wasn’t that satisfied with it so it’s forgettable for me.

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    Hi Bye, Mama has a heart, the concept is fun, everyone is good, and it is fun at times, Kim Mi-kyung as Mom is amazing, but my main problem is the pacing (it could’ve been great if the show had 12 episodes). I enjoyed it with some help from the ff button. Regardless, you should check the show out for the amazing performance of the cast.

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      I’m with you.
      It would have benefitted from a couple of episodes less, but I would recommend it.
      All characters were good and kind, and love is all around. Yet the last six episodes should have been two.

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Went down memory lane by watching a Bollywood movie – kabhi kushi kabhi gham, here they dont sub the lyrics to the songs so i used to just dream up whatever they were singing..

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    Found subs that translated the songs this time around & 100% loved it. I think being introduced to bollywood, chinese dramas from an early age made me more accepting of jdoramas n in turn kdramas. And it trained me with the ability of ‘suspension of disbelief/belief’. Yes – Rahul/SRK just falls in love with Anjali/Kajol just like that. Of course Rohan just needs to ‘google’ and bamm he gets his long lost bros address. Lols.

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    Oh man, that movie takes me back – I used to watch it in uni whenever I missed family. I still get a kick out of the ridiculousness of Kareena Kapoor’s Pooja. And Kajol is perfection, love her so much.

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      Kajol is perfection indeed.

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      Kajol is my favorite forever and ever.

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      Poooooo~~~

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        When I first showed the movie to my friends in uni, we all died laughing at her reintroduction. And at Hrithik Roshan’s vinyl outfit. There is nothing not ridiculous about that entire sequence.

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    i love this conversation so much cause its Bollywood beanies are gushing over.. esp its my fav movie which i watches in theatre only to be mesmerised by how beautiful it was. And Kajol was every indian cricket fan in there was so me hyped abt Sachin’s century…
    keep it going i am loving it….

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The current events have got me thinking very deeply and I have a lot of thoughts about the past, current and future, and I need to get it out of me. (I think there will be a few long posts from me) The past:
While I watched I can speak (and other movies based on comfort women) one thought that reverberated in my mind was this could have happened to my grandmother. My maternal grandmother only told me this story once: when the war began, my great grandfather immediately pulled her out of school to stay at home, she hated it because had been looking forward to school. When the Japanese came to their village, she and her female cousins were sneaked out and made to live in the simple hut in the orchard (back then it was like a jungle – really tall fruit trees), they couldn’t cook (no fires) but ate whatever food that could be sneaked to them. She told me at that time it felt like an adventure as she smiled – however I know how scary it would have been for her and how thankful she was and how different her life could have been if she had been taken.
It’s strange to think how the war, something that feels so long ago has shaped me seen and unseen ways – I can see it when I look at myself or when I look at my kids. My ethnicity is Malay, however all my life I’ve been asked if I wasn’t, I was never really bothered about it cause I never really did care. I only found out in my late teens by my MOTHER that my PATERNAL grandmother is of Chinese descent. She was adopted by my grandfather’s family and eventually married to him. During those turbulent times, Chinese families gave their daughters up to malay families to protect them – the Japanese oppressed the Chinese, and when the Brits came back they were against the Pro-Communist Chinese. Even on my mother’s side, my grandfather’s sister was also adopted from a Chinese family. I had never realized it because I always thought that’s how they looked for as long as I had known them and never questioned it. Imagine having to give up your child as a way to save them.
Back then such horrible things were done to men, children and women. Oh how easy it is for men people to become monsters.

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    Your grandma, her parents, her adoptive parents and all others were amazing, amazing people. How easy it is indeed for men to become monsters.

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      Thank you! Its a great reminder of how we can and will survive through anything.. And that there is still goodness even in the worst of times.

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      it’s also infinitely more heartwarming when regular people band together and help each other during times when they’re faced with the biggest monsters

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why is Yang Se Jong so cute in thirty but seventeen? I didn’t realize that I’ve seen him act in Romantic Teacher Doctor Kim because honestly i don’t remember him there at all (dropped it about halfway through though).

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Beanie reviews have never stirred me wrong, watched Live Up to Your Name, Mother, Rescue Me, Liar and His Lover, and Live. All different, and all fantastic dramas. Next up is 30 but 17, I remember the fan wall awash with pictures and gifs while this was showing. I need something light after Live. And then maybe after that Miss Hammurabi.

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I’m almost done with Mother, i’m in the penultimate episode i’m thinking of what to watch next.. Is Hwayugi worth the watch?

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    Yes, if you like bromance and fantasy-comedy…..

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    I enjoyed parts of Hwayugi, but it sort of fell apart midway through. Lee Seunggi and Cha Seung Won are great as is the supporting cast, but the drama itself is meh

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Didnt watch the drama but i see it strayed from the ‘One Sided Love’ category – the manhwa writer even said that it would be pitiful for the main lead to fall in love with him.

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    Wasnt the loops for him to learn to be nice without expectin anythin in return. Just to learn to be anice person? I guess the netizens really didnt like the manhwa ending i gues..

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      It is the standard troupe, men are only horrible because they don’t have a woman to love and pacify them.

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    Argh, I’ll pretend it ended at ep 15, where he had his monologue that even unrequited love is still love. I rolled my eyes at ep 16 when he brought the FL and 2nd ML together akin to what teenagers do to “prove” they had moved on. Lol 😒😂

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watching the first episode of Boyfriend/Encounter – “oh my god, her Dior handbag!” Ahh, to be a chaebol & to be so done with the world that u dont even yell when thieves steal your expensive things

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    LOL, I’m glad I’m not the only one who freaked out when her Dior Lady bag was stolen 😀

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Prison Playbook is ❤❤❤❤❤

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Now i’m in a drama slump after completing Lingerie Girls Generation, when i started i didn’t realise how much i would like this little drama. The kids were such genuine & earnest characters, but the dad should have been struck by lightning though.

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Recently completed Just Between Lovers – i enjoyed it and it’s the only drama of Lee Jun Ho that i didn’t drop (the others were: Wok of Love & Chief Kim). i enjoyed his potrayal of this character immensely.

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    Just Between Lovers was one of my favorites this year and the beginning of my tears since I bawled openly with it and have since at other dramas. Gangdo-ah is definitely a memorable character!

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    God knows how much I love this drama 😄
    I couldn’t watch anything for two months after it finished. It’s only until very recently I can enjoy a drama as much as I did with Just Between Lovers. No joke.

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    Such a good drama. Glad that you enjoyed it!

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With the horror kdramas coming out, i’m curious to know what beanies believe in? Do you believe in ghosts & ghouly things? I dont think ghosts exists but i do think there are spirits around us..

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    Maybe its because i’m asian and its part of the stories we listen to as we grow up.. When goin jungle trekking to respect the jungle or you may be spirited away / lost..

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    I believe in this stuff thanks to my upbringing & general views on “spirituality” – that there are different states of being, and different worlds, higher and lower. Essentially, “ghosts” if any, would be beings made of particles that viberate at a different frequency.

    One of the many techniques of meditation tells you how to identify your own frequency i.e. the frequency of this world. And with that you’ll open a door to other frequencies as well – and be able to make your way to highest world. Another technique says this is not important, focus on the “third eye” to master this world/universe and open the gateway to the next world/universe.

    In these spiritual beliefs, “ghosts” aren’t evil or friendly beings. They’re just beings. Interaction between the two worlds is impossible without applying the techniques of meditation. If it does happen at all by some freak of karma then it can be good or bad or neutral – depends on the karma.

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      vibrate*
      hehe this is just an idea. I dunno whether to believe it or not since I’m not meditating like I should be – just for my own peace of mind if nothing else. I should really start XD

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    When my sister got into North American shamanism I started to understand some things more. She explained me that wandering souls, energies, lost ones and killed ones can be a cause to lots of pain, inexplicable repetitive events in families or the course of the place. Curses and enviousness are very powerful as well – it’s a bad energy influencing future. A shaman she knows everything well was doing healings but she stopped and she’s doing it when only when asked sincerely. She had some cases of wandering souls, some curses, removed from families, health problems medically inexplicable sorted and some killed people to find their way to forgiveness, etc. To forgive yourself is the hardest I think but sometimes we don’t let death people go, because we keep them with us unintentionally.

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The week of horror is over! Everybody got sick with the virus the toddler got. Thankfully everyone is recovering well. Managed to finish INAR which was lovely

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Just need to rant somewhere: toddler has vomitting & does not want to eat. We decided to get him mashed potatoes from the fastfood joint. Hubs went & i stayed home. He came back w/o mashed potatoes.

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    I hope he gets well soon. Give him electral water so that he’ll be active.

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      Thanks so much! Thankfully the vomitting has stopped & he’s slowly accepting food

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    🤦‍♀️ Hubs!

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    I hope your baby feels better soon. I hate when they are sick 😞

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      Thanks so much! Yes, i wished that it was me who’s sick instead of my toddler😢😢

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        At least tummy bugs usually go fast! Most of the time my boys are better in about 12-24 hours.

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    Oh my gosh. Did he forget? What did he get then?

    Hope your kid feels better soon.

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      Haha. Hubs never bothered to check the food when he received it- so didnt realise that the order was wrong instead of mash it was fries. came back with chicken + fries fr the rest of the family.

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        Oh ok, so it’s mostly the restaurant’s fault. 😄

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    ggrrrrr Hubs!
    poor baby… 🙁 … get well soon, Rawrling’s baby!

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    I do hope your toddler gets better soon.

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caught along with the gods: the two worlds (part 1) this weekend without realising it that there was a sequel coming out this month – spent quite bit of the movie with tears in my eyes. missed a bit of the middle (had to chase the toddler around the house) but still enjoyed it nonetheless. another movie i caught was a live action adaption of a manga My Love Story!! I loved the manga it was such a pure love story and had great bromance – Muscular/ugly/older looking/terrible people call him gorilla-like guy but has the sweetest kindest heart and is best friends with the coolest hotest guy in school, saves a cute girl from a lecher and immediately thinks she likes his friend (as it usually goes) without realising he is the one she likes. the movie just covers how they get together, which in the manga happens in 2 chapters.

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Just finished Avenger Social Club – cute + fun ride while it lasted. Not sure what to watch now..

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Chicago typewriter ❤❤❤❤❤. Loved the way Han Se Yul face beams of happiness whenever he saw Seol.

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Speaking of dropped dramas – i would like to confess to dropping Because this is our first life after 4 episodes. I just cant root for the both of them..

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    I’m with you, I got annoyed with both of them I think I even watched like 10+ episodes so I definitely gave them a chance

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    You should try watching “We Married As A Job”

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    Me too, I just couldn’t ship them because I supported main leads dream/life plan too much

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    Even I dropped the drama. Read the recaps and was fine

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