I'm blogging so much this week! Don't worry, I'll get bored... eventually. I can't help myself. I feel like showing you guys all this random stuff; such as this clip from episode 6 of Shut Up! I quite like the song. It's called "Jaywalking". It's not the whole thing though because at around the 2:30 mark, shit happens. You should watch it in HD. No really, you should.
Anyway enjoy the song... and if not, there's always the eye candy. (Seriously, this drama has an excess of beautiful people. Why so perfect everyone? WHY?)
Original link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNozNoKEp_s
Well now that I'm in one of my crazy, obsessed drama phases, y'all better watch out for all my future posts. I tend to go a bit.... overboard in expressing my love for things. Especially when those things are tall, sexy and Korean.
You have been warned.
I will not watch dramas I will not watch dramas I will not watch dramas I will not watch dramas I will not watch dramas I will not watch dramas I will not watch dramas I will not watch dramas I will not watch dramas I will not watch dramas I will not watch dramas I will not watch dramas I will not watch dramas..... Ahhh shit, too late.
Welcome to my new obsession:
Well.... that resolution flew out the window pretty fast. To be fair though, I did last a term without watching anything Korean. At first I consoled myself with the fact that after week of grueling exams, I at least deserved this. But now, the guilt's starting to creep up on me. WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?! I can feel the drama crack kickin' in already. Ugh. Addiction. Such a hard thing to break.
Oh well, I should at least enjoy the eye candy while I can. This is a really interesting one. It's called Shut Up! Flower Boy Band. Hahahaha. Yeah, unfortunately they had to stick the "flower boy" in there because it's a brand thing. Apart from that though, it's not actually a very "flowery" type drama. It's got that really gritty, indie feel to it which I like. Not many Korean dramas do that. And so far, none of the characters have made me want to punch something.... True, the main girl kind of gets on my nerves a little - but that's only because she resembles one of my least-liked cousins. What can I say? I can be rather petty at times :)
boys over flowers, city hunter, dramas, dream high, hana kimi, my girlfriend is gumiho, personal taste, sunkyunkwan scandal, you're beautiful
Cynthia's Top 9 Asian Dramas of All Time
If you saw the above title and immediately decided that you would rather jump off the Sydney Harbour Bridge than read this post, then I will not stop you. I totally understand. After all, I've got friends who, at the slightest mention of the word "Japanese" or "Korean", would take off and sprint in the opposite directon in case you infected them with your asian-ness. I absolutely would not begrudge you this. Personally, I watch anything and everything, be it Doctor Who, Bollywood films, Hollywood films, American dramas, anime, British soaps or the odd Australian indie film. I'm aware that not everyone else does this so I won't attempt to force feed you something you don't want. Anyway, enough explaining, ONWARDS WE GO!
*******
I've wanted to do this for such a long time now. Sometimes I feel like its a waste that after spending 16-20 odd hours watching a fantastic series, I just file it away in the dusty old corners of my mind, never to revisit it or gush about it to a friend. I've always had an innate fear or forgetting the stuff I watch. What if in 10 years time, I decide that I want to relive those moments where I've been transported to a different world but find that I've totally forgotten the names of my most loved dramas? That would be horrible. So I'll file them here and perhaps in a few years time, I'll dig them out again and see what I thought.
(Play for background music - I haven't figured out how to embed music properly yet)
Warning: Figuring out what order I should rank these dramas in was so hard. I've been watching them over a span of about 4-5 years now and dramas are so diverse in genre that trying to rank them by enjoyment value is actually really difficult. I guess I'll just have to make do trying to relive the level of excitement/anticipation that accompied each series.
9. DEVIL BESIDE YOU
Ah yes, the good ol' Taiwanese dramas. Before I discovered the blindingly superior quality of that thing called the "Korean drama", I watched Taiwanese dramas. This one dates back to..... 2007? 2008? I'm not really quite sure but man, it was such a long time ago. I reckon if I tried to watch a Taiwanese drama today, I wouldn't even get through the first 5 minutes. Once you go Korean, there's not going back. Plus, being Chinese, I just hate hearing the language. Anyway, basically, the plot is something along the lines of "gangster bad boy meets hardworking good girl". Cliched, I know but this drama featured one of the best pairings/on-screen chemistry that I have ever seen in an Asian drama, ever.
Plus, Mike He was hot.
8. PERSONAL TASTE
Lee Min Ho. Pretending to be gay. In order to live in the same house with some woman. What's not to like? Okay, I know this drama flew under just about everybody's radar when it aired but I really, really enjoyed it. I loved all those little comedic moments, the chainsaw humour and the whole "I thought you were gay but you're actually not and dammit why didn't you tell me, I've been walking around the whole house with only my towel wrapped around myself" moments. Maybe I enjoyed it so much because it aired about a year after that whole Boys Over Flowers fad and I was STILL suffering from Lee Min Ho withdrawal. I might've subconsciously dug my claws into it because of this. Who knows. *SPOILER ALERT*SPOILER ALERT*SPOILERALERT* - Oh and it was one of the few Korean dramas I've ever seen that actually had da sex in it, lol. Not that that adds to its value or anything, it was just great to see Koreans not being so... conservative.
7. MY GIRLFRIEND IS A GUMIHO
Have you ever heard of a Gumiho? No? It's basically a creature from Korean/Japanese folklore - a fox with nine tails that appears mostly in the form of a woman. Oh and she feeds on men's organs. So after reading the title of this drama again, you see how having a gumiho as a girlfriend can be problematic? As a Hong sisters drama, this carries their trademark comedic flair and beautiful writing. I absolutely absolutely absolutely loved the main actress in this drama. If I was lesbian, I'm pretty sure I would've dated her, ha. The drama made great use of an old Korean legend and all those funny moments with the gumiho trying to fit into a 21st century world were priceless. *cough*the toilet bowl scene*cough*
6. DREAM HIGH
~DE-NUH DREAM HIGHHHHH DE NA NA NA NA.....oh right, intelligent input. This was basically the Korean version of Glee, but oh, so much better and much more satisfying. It follows a bunch of misfits as they get accepted into a prestigious Performing Arts School and struggle to find success in the fields the love. Obviously, all those issues necessary for a high school drama such as love, rivalry and betrayal are present but the overarching theme is one of competitiveness and of trying to establish yourself as a successful dancer/singer despite some significant problems (e.g. deafness in Sam Dong's case). I think one of its strongest points was casting real idols in the roles of the characters - there were so many great songs that came out of this drama. The best singer was obviously IU but the characters of Hye Mi and Sam Dong also deserve some honourable mentions.
5. SUNGKYUNKWAN SCANDAL
My first reaction to this drama was "Ewwwwwwwwwwwww, historical looking stuff, yuck!" I have never ever watched an Asian historical drama before in my life (those cheesy Chinese ones my mum watches don't count). I really didn't think I would end up trying this but after hearing javabeans rave about it over at http://www.dramabeans.com/, I gave it a try. And it was one of the best decisions of my life. I have to clarify first, this isn't a hardcore historical one, it's actually what you'd call a "fusion sageuk", aka the rules get bent a bit and it becomes rather trendy. It takes place at a famous Korean university called Sungkyunkwan traditionally for males. Our heroine, due to some complicated circumstances ends up attending the school disguised as a male and hence, the fun and games begin. The plot then becomes convoluted with all these king assassination plottings, age old secrets, etc etc but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Oh and Sungkyunkwan also features like, the best bromance ever. Definitely my crack drama of 2010.
4. CITY HUNTER
I FUCKING LOVE THIS DRAMA SO MUCH AAARRRGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
No seriously, if you haven't read any of my fangasms this year about City Hunter, then you were either taking a very very long vacation from blogspot or too busy trying to dig your way to China or something.
3. HANA KIMI (JAPANESE VERSION)
Ngaww, if I had a heart, this drama would be occupying that soft spot right there. Again, this is another of my early ones, right when I was drifting obliviously through The Golden Age of Dramas back in either 2007 or 2008. Originally a manga, this one tells of a girl who disguises herself as a guy in order to attend a boy's school for some reason that I can't really recall right now. Yes, if you can't tell, I really love my crossdressing dramas. But out of all those, this one made the most out of the comedic potential of the scenario. There was the memorable, "Homo jenai" moment, the disastrous school festival, the tight-knit friendships and so much more. Oh, and Ikuta Toma as Nakatsu. And the gorgeous soundtrack. Gahhhh, so much love for this drama. I have so many feelings but I'm having trouble expressing them....
2. YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL
So good, I watched it twice. Definitely the best Hong Sisters one out there (in my opinion). The plot tells on a girl who disguises herself as a boy (yes, me and my crossdressing) in order to pose as her twin brother in the idol band, A.N.Jell. *SPOILER ALERT* Eventually the three other band members find out her real identity but all three do their best to protect her identity. It's just so sweet and beautiful and I grew so attached to the characters, to the extent that it was probably really unhealthy for me.
1. BOYS OVER FLOWERS (Korean Version)
Oh god this drama... where do I start? If you'd taken all my favourite things in the world, mixed them together in a large mixing bowl, added 10 litres of chocolate and a generous amount of magic and rainbows, it would be nowhere as near as addicting as Boys Over Flowers. It literally created a ginormous Korean wave throughout the whole world, airing in countries such as the United States, Japan, Puerto Rico, Canada, Romania and many more. It was also the drama that shot Lee Min Ho to super stardom literally overnight. He was virtually unknown before that.
The drama basically tells of poor girl Geum Jan Di who gets transferred to the richest school in Korea. A series of events causes her to become known to the school's 4 richest guys (known collectively as the F4) and then shit happens and ITS SO FUCKING ADDICTIVE. Looking back at this drama, there were quite a few issues (aka "Almost Paaaaaaaradiseeee"), but these were effectively overshadowed by the how mind-numbingly satisfying the whole thing was. If heroin was turned into a drama, I'm pretty sure it would be this one. I just.... I don't even know how to describe how it affected me. I lived my life in a daze, waiting for episodes to come out every week. If you haven't seen it yet, then I suggest you watch it right now during these holidays.
Honourable mentions:
Hana Kimi (Taiwanese Version) - aka my first asian drama ever
Hana Yori Dango, Season 1 and 2 (Japanese Version of Boys Over Flowers)
Coffee Prince
49 Days
Playful Kiss
I wasn't going to blog today. But then after reading some other people's blogs, I changed my mind.
Exams are over but I feel neither a sense of extreme happiness or relief. To be honest, the past two weeks have actually been quite fun/relaxing. No I'm not crazy, it's just the truth. I think it comes from staying home so much and also having less tutor homework. It also helps that the teachers from my year 12 subjects decided to take it easy on me and didn't overload me with essays and whatnot (like what they have been doing fortnightly for the past year). I have been studying like everyone else. But I haven't had to make notes for history extension or write extended responses for modern. I feel so liberated. But now that its over, apart from feeling a little bit relieved I also feel sad - knowing that all the work is going to start piling up again. And after next week's camp, I really have to get started on studying for the HSC subjects cause I am WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY behind.
I really want to watch a TV series again. Yeah, bad timing but I really do want to. I was debating whether to pick up the vampire diaries again but then tossed that idea because I can't remember which episode I'm up to. I've been thinking for a while now.... I really want to watch Doctor Who. Ever since markreads started doing recaps of Doctor Who, I've started thinking seriously of watching it. Does anyone know which season I should start from? Cause obviously I'm not gonna start from Season 1 lol.
I really like Protect the Boss. It makes me laugh. And its such a breath of fresh air in the K-drama world. Sure, it's got its stereotypes and typical k-drama tropes but it also manages to take some well-known drama conventions and turn them on their head. E.g. What happens when you start working at a company and soon enough, find out that the two rich, hot, director chaebols are fighting over you? YOU FUCKING PUNCH THEM BOTH IN THE FACE, THAT'S WHAT. And what do you do when the male lead tries to wrist-grab you and lead you somewhere? YOU GRAB HIS OWN WRIST AND TWIST IT TILL HE CRUMBLES TO THE FLOOR IN PAIN. And when you expect the two male leads to start punching each other up over the girl? Well, you can just laugh while watching them bitch slap each other. Hehe so funny =3
This drama also probably holds the record for "most hilariously dysfunctional lift scenes" ever known to man. I cracked up every time the CEO started beating up his son in the lift while the two secretaries had to somehow cover up the CCTV camera in order to preserve their reputation.
And that's all I have to say.
P.S. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!! HAIRSPRAY TOMORROW!!!!!!!!
This is me during episode 18 of "49 Days":
This is me at the end of episode 19:
Halfway through the last episode, I was like this:
And this is me at the end of episode 20:
If you're wondering, 49 days is a drama I was watching. Basically the protagonist dies in the first episode. And she spends the next 18 episodes or so trying to come back to life. To do this, she "borrows" the body of someone else and tries to collect three pure tears from her loved ones as proof that she deserves another chance at life.
In episode 18, she does the impossible and manages to collect the three tears. And everything is all rainbows, and happiness and unicorns and stuff because she comes back to life and her family and friends rejoice, etc, etc.
But in episode 20, the writers of the drama decided to shock the audience. So they kill her off anyway, hence my reaction up there. You're telling me I spent 18 hours of my life yelling at the computer screen and rooting for the protagonist, just to end up having her killed off? Booo!!!
WARNING: This post contains spoilers about the last episode of City Hunter. Don't read if you don't want stuff spoilt :)
First off, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. No more Shitty Hunter :'( I am very sad. Like all things I love, I tend to get too absorbed into the story so when City Hunter finished, I felt like I'd just lost a big part of myself. Oh GOD, it's like Harry Potter all over again.
It was a pretty good finale though. I guess it wrapped up everything nicely - the necessary people died and our hero got his heroine (actually that is kind of ambiguous but I will explain more later). But it wasn't epic. Although I've got to admit, City Hunter did start to lose some of its steam ever since the 15th episode. I feel like a lot of characters got sidelined due to the main conflict. Kim Na Na for example, she had so much potential to be a kickass heroine but they kind of... forgot about her. She became a source of angst for Lee Min Ho but apart from that, didn't have much of a role.
Anyways, I'll do what I did last time and compose a list of Unnecessary Questions which ran through my mind while watching the last episode of City Hunter:
- Lee Min Ho, why you so sexy?
- Is it just me or do all of Lee Min Ho's singlets get lower and lower and lower with every passing episode? More importantly, how many singlets does he have? Not that I'm complaining about the singlets though...
- How can a person survive a bullet shot through the chest? Why do the heroes never die, despite getting injured somewhere fatal?
- Why do people just stand there pointing guns at each other but don't actually pull the trigger? Why do you need to give a long, drawn-out dramatic monologue? You know you could just shoot him and be done with it.
- Why is it so easy to eavesdrop on the President's conversations? Why is it so easy to sneak into the President's villa? Like what-the-freak, even I would make a better bodyguard.
- How does Lee Min Ho manage to look unbelievably gorgeous even while crying? How come Park Min Young's face doesn't go all blotchy and red when she weeps? HOW COME MY FACE TURNS TOMATO RED AND RASH-LIKE WHENEVER I CRY??
- Why are the Presiden't bodyguards so useless? I'm talking to you Kim Na Na. What kind of bodyguard doesn't notice when there's a stranger in her house? To be fair, she does kick ass sometimes.
- LEE MIN HO AND PARK MIN YOUNG, WHY U NO KISS?????? Are you saying that I spent 20 hours of my life waiting for you guys to make out and all I got was a moment of intense staring in an airport?! Well actually, there was a kiss, but come on, that was only one! What happened to, "When it'll all over, I'll come find you"? Like DUDE, give us some fanservice here. Lee Min Ho and Park Ming Young were supposed to get married, they were supposed to have cute lil city hunter babies, AHJUSSI WAS GONNA COOK THEM DINNER EVERY NIGHT!
- And last but not least, CAN I HAVE A SEASON TWO??
Who wouldn't be smiling like that if they got to manhandle Lee Min Ho?
I was debating whether to watch City Hunter or blog about City Hunter. Since I have been marathoning City Hunter for the past few days, I shall take a break... and blog about it :D
CITY HUNTER IS DA BOMB!!
I had to get that out of my system. But seriously, it's a pretty awesome drama. It's got story, comedy and action but it's not cheesy, like a lot of other korean dramas. I know a lot of people tend to dismiss korean dramas as stupid and lacking depth and I can see where they're coming from. HAHA, I used to do that too. I think part of it comes from a superiority complex that people exposed to Western tv shows often adopt. But honestly, just cause kdramas don't have as much sex and drugs doesn't necessarily mean that they're boring. They're just different. It's like comparing apples and oranges. Or like comparing Bollywood movies to Hollywood movies.
Oh and I never thought I'd say this but Revenge Dramas are boss yo. I thought I was a RomCom type of girl but apparently not. It's not that City Hunter doesn't have romance, it's got plenty of that but the romance kind of takes a back seat to all the epic action. Well so far it does, but that will probably change.
For those who are confused, I will give a very very basic outline/summary that will not do the show justice:
City Hunter revolves around a guy (Lee Min Ho) who is out for revenge for VERY COMPLICATED REASONS which I will not go into. Something like, you killed my dad so now I will hunt you down and make you suffer (but way more complicated than that). But he works behind the scenes. Like Batman, y'know? He catches the baddies at night but by day he acts like a spoilt playboy rich kid.
Then there's the girl (Park Min Young) who works as a bodyguard guarding various people, like the President's daughter. She is awesome and kickass-y. Not like those stupid cutesy cutesy stereotypical korean drama girls who go around squealing "oppa!!". Hooray for female empowerment!! HUZZAH.
Then there's the hot prosecutor guy lol. He's like that cop guy in Batman, the one who abides strictly by the law but will probably end up working with Batman.
All these characters somehow get involved with each other and it becomes a hotpot of awesomeness. Okay, I told you this summary sucked. Give me a break.
P.S. Did I mention Lee Min Ho was hot? He is so kickass lol. But there was one scene where he beat a guy up with a spoon and I was just like... wtf?
P.P.S. Someone please tell the koreans that City Hunter is pronouned Ci-ty Hun-ter. Not Shit-ty Hun-ter.
"There are no secrets to success. Success is doing the things you know you
should do."
What if the things I think I should be doing don't exactly put me on the path to success. Say, to me, I like to spend my holidays catching up on dramas. Does that benefit me somehow?
Speaking of dramas, I just finished watching My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (Nine-tailed Fox). I really liked it; I mean it didn't have the kind of crazy, drug-like addiction feeling behind it, like "You're Beautiful" but I still really enjoyed it. Maybe that's because I didn't watch it all it one go. I tend to lose interest in things I don't do all at once, it that makes sense. The same goes for reading books and manga. If I stop, I lose interest. That also applies to Maplestory. A long time ago when I used to play it, I would be fully dedicated LOL. But then I didn't go on for like a week and I lost interest.
... Or maybe that's because I got stranded in some tower thing and couldn't get back up. I don't know, I sucked at Maplestory.
But anyway, I'm still going to miss this drama. Especially Shin Min Ah. SHE'S SO CUTE XD.
I will also miss Mr Emo Hair. Even though he didn't do much besides serving as eye candy, staring at an hourglass and just... looking emo.
I love the Hong sisters. They make everything funny. And they always have these cute spoof moments in their dramas (see below). What other drama has the main guy character running away with his nemesis and leaving the main girl character at the alter?
Ngahahaha, look at Dong Joo's moony look. Priceless.
I will really really really really really miss this drama.
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