Beanie level: Rooftop room dweller

NPR (National Public Radio)
COVID-19 Hampered South Korea’s Chuseok Holiday — But Daughters-In-Law Got A Break
Oct. 6, 2020

Interesting look at how COVID-19 altered this year’s Chuseok traditions—to the relief of many women. Some families dropped travel all together or greatly simplified the celebration.

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    See? BTLIOF had the right idea.

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    The women in the kitchen cleaning and cooking while the men watch TV sounds a lot like some western holidays. Along with it also seeming like the women, especially mothers, doing a lot of emotional work to make sure everyone has a good holiday.

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      I remember Christmas at my grandma’s was like that for the longest time growing up, just 10-15 years ago. When I became a teenager and realized I started badgering my brothers and cousins to at least clean up afterwards if they weren’t gonna help with the cooking.

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      We lived with my in-laws few years ago, I remember getting a carpal tunnel because of food preparations and cooking for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Holidays were not enjoyable for me back then 🤦🏻‍♀️

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        That sounds horrible. That must of been a feast. Hopefully they are a lot more enjoyable now.

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          Yes, we don’t live with my in-laws anymore so I get to enjoy holidays now 😊

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      I won’t be surprised if this is the norm worldwide. In my region, I don’t expect things to get better in a few years either.

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    lol

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Hoping Minari will be available online. It stars Steven Yeun(Burning, The Walking Dead), Han Ye-ri (My Unfamiliar Family, and Youn Yuh-jung (everything.)

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Inspired by Japanese theme parks, Wall Street Journal reporter Alejandro Lazo has captured the horror of #2020 (or post Nov. 4, 2016) in a captivating motto. Check out the Twitter thread for responses.

“Please scream inside your heart” just might be my first cross-stitch project.

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He’s 83, She’s 84, and They Model Other People’s Forgotten Laundry
The owners of a laundry shop in central Taiwan have become Instagram stars for posing in garments left behind.

This lovely couple is styled by their 31-year-old grandson who wanted to do something to brighten his grandparents’ lives after the laundromat business slowed down.

Source: New York Times

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The NYTimes had a nice piece on the whole “it’s cake” meme. Article included this 2016 video from the Japanese gameshow Candy or Not Candy. My favorite is the man cautiously biting the door knob (0:40).

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Dinner Mate | Ep. 16 This Instagram montage is possibly my favorite kdrama time-skip of ALL time. My face hurts a little from smiling so widely.

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The final episode of Dinner Mate was nearly flawless. Thankfully, uri OTP has a LOT of screen time to be their dorky, lovable selves. Show wasn’t perfect but this couple became one of my faves.

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    Loved loved loved when they both asked the dinner question. Agree, this OTP is one for the books for me.

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      Somewhere on Twitter I saw BTS showing it was Seo Ji-hye’s idea to have them both say the same line together.😍

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    i hv yet to watch 15 n 16 episode.. but i am so glad this OTP is going to be memorable one for me. rarest of time when we have 2 equals as OTP no one is submissive or dominating…

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      Excellent point about their equality (although at one point, HK does sheepishly admit to Do-hee’s mother that DH is “the one who has more power.” (Ep. 16 40:48). Fundamentally, they are mutually respectful and equal in their emotional investment. Quite refreshing.

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    The last two episodes saved this show for me. As the sun set on that last adorable scene, I was sad to say goodbye to them (despite banging my head against the comments wall for a good chunk of this show). I loved the OTP, I am so thrilled to have seen SJH in a role that showcases her goofiness, warmth, charm and good humor (and her laugh – I really love her laugh), A-young was a great sidekick, and there were truly many elements that were intriguing and fun to watch (No-eul most def not one of them). I don’t know if I’ll ever re-watch this in its entirety, but I may find myself reliving the first – and last – few episodes someday!

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Dinner Mate | Ep. 15: Okay. This is the kind of cliffhanger I can support. Say yes to breakfast!!!

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What am I going to do after this week without my weekly dose of BTS Dinner Mate shenanigans from Song Seung Heon and Seo Ji Hye?

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    This after that headlock in the kitchen BTS? Is he looking for reasons for skinships? ><

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Thanks to @dinner_couple’s translations, it turns out Song Seung Heon improvised the touch to Seo Ji Hye’s face. They are too cute. #dinnermate #shippingthemsohard #ihavetogetbacktowork

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    I love whenever actors do adlibs and I appreciate the fact that they actually drank their drinks. Characters always meet up at coffee shops or restaurants but never drink their drinks.

    ….also HOW ARE HIS EYELASHES EVEN REAL! I haven’t had such a crush on an actor in a long time. I can’t stop staring at him. help

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    🤣😂 i love their interaction here. SSH’s ad lib is spot on and more effective in getting DH’s attention.

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What the hell am I doing? I’m supposed to be working and yet I can’t stop looking at BTS stuff related to Dinner Mate. Song Seung Heon and Seo Ji Hye are killing me.

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Dinner Mates/Will You Have Dinner With Me | Ep. 14 Do-hee and Hae-kyung had a couple simmering interludes that just about had me biting my hand off.

Regrettably, DH’s mother rates very high on the #corkblorking* meter–even over the phone.

Aigoo, these two have me inches away from writing a French Lieutenant’s style fan fiction with a drama within a drama set up.

**cork blork—A genius-level minced oath from The Good Place.

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    This scene in the hallway brought to mind the
    still marvelous telephone scene     from It’s A Wonderful Life. Flummoxed by Mary’s impertinent, “He’s making violent love to me, Mother!” George Bailey flees the house only to have his heart immediately pull him back into Mary’s arms.

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    Whew! Imagine being that close to The Song Seung Heon’s face… How come there’s not a single wrinkle on it!!! My gosh.

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    That darn phone call. Couldn’t she wait for her daughter to get home. 😂🤣

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    I don’t think I’ve been as annoyed as I was here about an interrupting phone call! Lol!

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    Omg, there’s a vid cut, oh noes, now I have to watch and replay… and replay… and replay…
    Just about died at that “Do you want to stay?”…

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Nah. For me, the brain, kindness, a shared sense of humor and EQ seal the deal but … *cough* biceps and whatnot don’t hurt.

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My God, I’m such a dork. At first glance of this fashion shot of Seo Ji-hye, my brain asked, “Huh? Is that a pistol?!” Of course not, you silly American. *sigh*

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Dinner Mates/Will You Have Dinner With Me cast having fun. I think I’d just about die if Song Seung-heon and Seo Ji-hye did a (shexy, moody) fashion pictorial together.

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A lovely Dinner Mates/Will You Have Dinner With Me tweet.

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Mystic Pop Up Bar | Ep. 11: Just watched the penultimate episode. I guffawed, squeeed, shivered, teared up, and gasped.

—Are you crying?
—No! You\’re crying!

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New Yorker cartoon: Maybe we could get the K-pop stans to work on a vaccine?” (click to see full caption)

I don’t know if kpop fans and “tiktok teens” really reduced the number of attendees to Trump’s rally in Tulsa (New York Times), but the idea of it is so, so delicious. This crusty Gen-Xer salutes you.

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    OMG, a New Yorker cartoon is a huge thing (to us old people)!

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Open question for Beanies watching Will You Have Dinner with Me/Dinner Mates: How do you feel about Do-hee\’s drinking or the portrayal of alcohol in kdramas in general? Tagging @eazal, @marylou (@lately), and @ashes2ashes who have recently raised this point.

My own comments follow below.

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    I’ve noticed a lot of comments in English-language spaces about Do-hee’s drinking. Even though her alcohol consumption absolutely normal for a South Korean, I admit to a niggling desire for her to ease off the drink. As an American woman, I can’t shake my deep-seated anxiety about sexual violence related to alcohol. I also live in a state with a 24% rate of binge drinking (the U.S. national rate is 16%). (Amongst my own extended in-laws, their abilities run from near teetotalers to full-on alcoholics). Personally, I have a super low tolerance for alcohol and my own extended Chinese family drinks very little.

    When I started watching dramas in 2017, my first drama featured doctors and there were zero drunk scenes. Black and Jugglers introduced the concept of team dinners but I was beyond puzzled because I was completely ignorant of South Korea’s drinking culture,

    The Monsoon Project article @windsun33 recently shared sheds light on alcoholism and the lubricating role of booze in South Korea. In 2017, my own first glimmers of understanding Korean drinking culture came from the Blackout Korea blog (now retired) managed by an expat English teacher working in South Korea. Explore Instagram’s #blackoutkorea tag for similar commentary. I hate the snarky comments but the photos are illuminating. This American teacher’s IG post about the ubiquity of soju is one of the better balanced and journalistic observations.

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    I am Spanish, and in Spain we are used to drinking. It’s social. In fact, we have more bars and pubs than people, if you allow me.
    So I’m quite tolerant to the idea of drinking, even to getting drunk while partying. And, hey, I’ve been there. In my country there’s an expression and the literal translation would be: “you drink even the water in the vases”… I’m sure you get the idea.
    But even so, I find the way consuming alcohol in dramas to be excessive. I’m not only talking about the vulnerability of the people abusing alcohol that are left alone in the streets (one rule I’ve learned from the very time I got drunk is you never let your friend alone), I’m also talking about how alcohol is shown as a way to deal with problems:
    – you’re dumped by your boyfriend/girlfriend, you drink.
    – your boss in an as**ole, your drink.
    – you’re fired, you drink.
    – you’re promoted, you drink.
    – you’re in the mood, you drink.
    – you’re sad, you drink.
    You drink in your house, you drink in the street, you drink in a bar. And you drink until you pass, and then the next day you take a hangover drink and go to work as if nothing happened.
    It just shocks me. I can’t understand it.
    People drink instead of talking.
    People drink instead of doing therapy.
    People drink with their bosses, and some may think you’re being impolite if your don’t drink like a fish.
    We’ve seen dramas in which people is forced to drink. And that’s harassment.
    As I said before, I’m totally used to bars, and people having a beer after work. Or two. But not being drunk every single day of the week.
    I consider that a serious problem, and I really don’t like the way it’s normalized by dramas, so many times as comic relief. There’s very little comedy in alcoholism.

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    I am used to the way dramas depict the South Korean drinking culture now – team dinners, 8-10 bottles of soju between two friends at a convenience store at night, a fridge full of beer cans. Do Hee’s case just rubbed me the wrong way the past episodes – I can tolerate having her getting black out drunk once, but night after night? And in the morning she goes back to work. There my suspension of disbelief ends. Because that is the only way I can enjoy a drama, trying to block out my realistic knowledge about alcohol and its effects (be it addiction or damages to the body, the vicious circle as a “coping mechanism” to deal with depression, on relations and families, etc). I know I can’t expect dramaland to follow my standards and be more aware of its influence on the viewers and I would imagine Soju and Beer companies are the biggest sponsors after all…

    I was reminded of “My Ahjussi” on this matter. The drinking culture in all its (un-)glory by having the three brothers meeting in the bar frequently, drinking to forget their problems but at the same time just deepening and repeating their sorrows and regrets. While at least I felt that this was a more realistic approach, the show (in my recollection) stopped at showing the problem, not giving a better answer.

    Drinking and culture are deeply intertwined in a lot of parts in the world. Last year I went to Bavaria on a family matter and remember arriving to breakfast at 9 am and seeing two young locals, all dressed up in their Lederhosen and hats, sitting at the bar, still drinking big pints of beer since last night, one of them falling asleep while talking to his friend and just lying there. No one really took notice, or it was an amusing matter for the locals. Obviously that is a part of the culture and just happens frequently, but it made me sad and concerned.

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If you\’re loving Song Seung-heon in Dinner Mate/Will You Have Dinner with Me, you might already know how good he is with food. In 2017’s Black Ep. 14, our handsome Black is stunned when Ha-ram kisses away some ice-cream off his lips. His response? More ice-cream.

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    I’m gonna need ice cream to calm down after Ep. 3-4. Who do those exes they think they are? Ugh.

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    Oh, Black… *thinking endearing thoughts and then remember the end* Yaagh!
    Instead of ice cream, let’s find some rocket to torch those exes!

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      I was still relatively new to kdrama when I watched Black. I’ll fondly remember it for two things: SSH’s exquisite black suits and that clustercuss ending. It was my first WTF kdrama ending! 😂😂😂

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        Ahahah, omg, I don’t know whether to commiserate or congratulate you. On one hand, it can scar you, but on the other hand, at least it sets the bar high for any other WTF ending? ><

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    OMG LOL this gif is so funny

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