Showing posts with label kdrama fighting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kdrama fighting. Show all posts
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Anyone who's been watching Kdramas for very long knows just how educational they can be. We learn so much about what life must really be like in Korea, right? Right? Ok, maybe not really, but the fantasy aspect is what makes them so great! I already shared 12 Things We learned about Korea from watching Kdramas, so if you missed it be sure to go get educated. Here are 12 MORE!
Any other fun things you learned about Korea from watching Kdramas? Comment below!
The first Kdrama I ever watched was Lie To Me, and the main reason I began watching it was because I didn't know anything about modern Korea and wanted to learn. And boy did I ever! I've even been teaching all the fans over on DramaFever's Facebook page. Here are 12 things I've learned about Korea from watching Kdramas.
What other fun, exaggerated things have you learned about Korea from watching Kdramas? What about American dramas? Comment below!
One of the reasons we wrote some of our recommendationsposts is that it can be really difficult to sift through all of the dramas out there to find one you really love. While I usually rely on reviews from bloggers who seem to match my tastes to help direct me to new dramas, I have to admit that I'm also really heavily swayed by advertising. A great drama poster can push a show to the front of the line, while a ridiculous one can sometimes prevent me from starting something I might otherwise really enjoy. Sometimes, the posters are so random or poorly planned that I have to wonder what advertising executive signed off on it in the first place.
With that in mind, here are some of my favorite random kdrama posters:
What it should be about: A man with some sort of brain injury is very sad, so a nice lady lets him drool on her breasts for comfort. Then she is also sad. They are both very, very sad.
I have seen this picture popping up all over Pinterest, but I just can't get past this poster to give it a real chance.
What it's actually about: (from Wikipedia): "Han Yi-soo (Kim Nam-gil) narrowly escapes death and loses his father because of the owners of Gaya Hotel Group, the family of Jo Hae-woo (Son Ye-jin), his first love... 12 years later he returns to Korea with a new identity and carefully plots to avenge his family."
So at least I was right about the sad part. Good job, advertisers!
What it should be about:With the help of a gigantic book/magic carpet, Cupid helps a sassy Korean girl discover the wonderful world of reading!
According to the movie poster, this show should be something like Wishbone, just more Korean. And maybe with a love story. Now that I mention it, that sounds like an awesome premise for a show! And probably better than the actual premise, which I quit after one episode. What it's actually about: (from Dramawiki): "Na Miru, a twenty-nine old woman, starts a dating column and dates twelve men for each astrological sign in the calendar."
What it should be about: A cross-dressing Golden Girlsimpersonator is torn between his split personalities: a nice college student named "Danny" and a rich, permed playboy named "Alfonso."
Whatit's actually about: (from Drama wiki) "This series pivots around a hapkido teacher Jang Man-ok (Hwang Jung Eum) becoming a stylist of top idol group TAKE ONE, composed of the perfectionist Lee Tae Ik (No Min Woo) and a free yet kind guy named Won Kang Hwi (Park Ki Woong) and getting into a romantic relationship with them."
Sooooooooo, that lady in the middle gets to be the stylist? Somehow, that doesn't sell me on the show.
What it should be about: A Korean businessman almost dies and wakes up as Mary Poppins. He falls in love with his "charge," and they use his new powers to fly to Bavaria!
What it's actually about: (from Wikipedia) "The drama tells the story of love story between Gil Ra-im (Ha Ji-won) and Kim Joo-won (Hyun Bin). Gil Ra-im is a poor but proud stunt woman who has supported herself since her father's death. Joo-won is an arrogant and eccentric CEO who maintains the image of seeming perfection. . . . A strange sequence of events results in them swapping bodies."
What it should be about: A ragtag gang of angels kidnap a grumpy man. They teach him all kinds of useful things, like how to shoot lasers out of his hands and that he shouldn't wear tunics over suits. He returns to earth a better man.
What it's actually about: (from Wikipedia) "Go Mi Nyu (Park Shin-hye) is a sister-in-training. Her twin brother, Go Mi Nam successfully auditions for the musical band A.N.JELL but is forced to leave for the United States to correct a botched plastic surgery. Mi Nyu is approached by Mi Nam's manager to pose as Mi Nam while he recovers. . . . Mi Nyu enters the group A.N.JELL and meets its members: Hwang Tae Kyung (Jang Keun-suk), Kang Shin Woo (Jung Yong-hwa) and Jeremy (Lee Hongki)."
This is another case of a series that would have been better off just following the poster instead.
Which K-drama advertisements have left you scratching your head?
As summer heats up and Kdrama fans make plans to visit Korea (we wish!), we thought it would be helpful for us to share some Korean phrases that you will need to know for when you run into those rich chaebols and heiresses. We all know, from watching Kdramas on Viki, that when you meet your love interest there is a progression of emotions that you will feel. Here are 5 essential Korean phrases for each phase of your relationship.
1. Phase 1: Hey, do you want to die?
According to Kdramas, most romantic relationships don't start off well. Usually the male and female have a bad run-in with each other that results in mutual hatred. Sometimes this takes the form of violence and/or threats, as in Boys Over Flowers and Protect the Boss. In case this is how your relationship begins with your love interest, we recommend that you learn the Korean phrase for "Hey, do you want to die?".
2. Phase 2: Stop appearing before my face!
Oftentimes, the hatred between two characters evolves into a milder feeling of mutual annoyance. This usually occurs after the main couple has had several awkward encounters, such as in Lie to Me. In case this happens to you, we also recommend that you learn the Korean phase for "Stop Appearing before my face!". Don't worry though; most likely you will enter into some sort of agreement to fake a relationship that is mutually beneficial for you, and which gradually ramps up your romantic interest in the other person.
3. Phase 3: Now do you see me as a man/woman?
Once you and your new Korean love interest have been tolerating each other for a while, it's time to take the next step by willfully invading the other person's space and asking awkward questions. See A Gentleman's Dignity as your guide to this move. Even though the obvious answer here is "Am I blind? What kind of person could NOT see you as a man?" it is actually in your best interest to slide away coyly and feign disinterest--for now.
4. Phase 4: I don't have the confidence.
All great Korean romances have absurd obstacles thrown in the way. Without them, it just wouldn't be true love! At this point, the most advanced lovers think, "I know! The best way to deal with this problem is to totally cut off communication and give up on our relationship!" If you have seen anything with Park Shin-hye in it (You're Beautiful or Flower Boy Next Door, for example), you know exactly what to do. Work those puppy eyes!
5. Phase 5: I love you.
If phase 4 makes you sad, don't fret! It's only a temporary ploy until you get to the final phase: complete and total bliss with the one you love! Just pray that you get a goodkiss instead of one of those frozen ones. You've earned it!
In order to explain my feelings about Flower Boy Next Door, allow me to make an analogy. Flower Boy Next Door is like exercise; I had a very hard time getting motivated to actually start each episode, but then once I got started it felt good, and I remembered that I actually did enjoy it. This in contrast to things like childbirth and puppies, which people think are a good idea until they do it and remember how terrible it actually is (I've never actually given childbirth or raised a puppy; they just seem like terrible ideas that people have.) Unfortunately, Flower Boy Next Door was one of those Korean Dramas that I just couldn't quite get into and struggled to finish. However, it had a lot of really great moments for me that made it mostly worth it. I typically give up on kdramas that don't make me battle with my inner 5 year old self to go to sleep over, but this drama had such a strong beginning that I felt compelled to see it through.
(Vivi's note: I also watched most of this series recently, but since I never actually managed to finish the last two episodes, I'll let Coco take this one! I liked the series, but I got distracted with other things. I'll add some of my observations here and there.)
Main Plot Summary:
Flower Boy Next Door stars the "Queen of Romantic Comedies", Park Shin-hye, as as Go Dok-mi, a young woman who becomes a recluse after a devastating event in high school makes her a social outcast. One of the only ways she connects to the outside world is by spying on her attractive neighbor across the way. She is caught in the act of peering through binoculars one day by the neighbor's cousin, Enrique Geum, a whimsical video game developer played by Yoon Shi-yoon. He decides to help her rejoin the world and open herself up to love and friendship, along with the help of three other attractive neighbors.
Reasons why FBND is worth the 16 hour investment.
1. The Poetic Themes
The female lead, Go Dok-mi, is an aspiring writer so we are able to listen in on her inner monologue as she writes about her experiences with coming to open her heart back up to love and being loved. She makes some beautiful observations about human relationships that make the show very touching. My favorite example of this is when she realizes that the reason that Enrique appears to be able to read her mind is because, "To that man, love is seeing with both people's eyes and feeling with both hearts, seeing the world more deeply." Once she realizes that this is what love is really all about, she can then read his thoughts as well. This moment really pulled the whole show together for me on an emotional level.
(Vivi's note: I would also like to give a shout-out to Go Dok-mi's POETIC HAIR. Holy freaking cow. That is the best tousled hair I have ever seen in my life. It almost made me want to become a recluse who doesn't shower. Almost.)
Although I was not a big fan of the male lead, and was totally on the second male lead's side, he did have the gift of physical comedy going for him. There were some moments, particularly at the beginning, that made me literally LOL, and I don't use LOL loosely. I hate when people just throw out LOL's when you know that there's no way they actually laughed out loud. This drama was able to remain appealing to me because it played funny moments really well, especially thanks to the fact that several of the characters also star in Saturday Night Live Korea and other comedy shows.
(Vivi's note: The panda hat makes me super uncomfortable for some reason.)
How cute were they? So cute! The webtoon artists next door were adorable and just really good guys, not to mention totally hot. I'm not really sure why the Japanese guy existed since he kind of appeared out of nowhere, did not push the plot forward at all, and then made an odd exit, but at least he was cute and added to the number of flower boys next door. The editor of the webtoon, played by Kim Seul-gie, who also stars on SNL Korea, was super funny and I really hope I see more of her. I feel like she's the Korean Emma Stone, and I freakin love Emma Stone. And the second female lead had the best facial expressions and over the top acting that actually made her character really great. All in all I approve of the casting choices and character development of the side characters.
(Vivi: Can we petition to have Kim Seul-gie star in her own drama? I would love to see some of that sass and physical humor in a kdrama lead!)
Reasons why FBND is not worth the 16 hour investment:
1.The 10 long, repetitive, and uninteresting episodes in the middle
Thinking back on these, I honestly can't even remember what happened. I think it was an awful lot of, "You should leave me to go live your dream." "No, I will never leave you, you are my dream." "Fine I'll pretend not to love you so you will go." "No, I won't go, jk, I will go, jk, I won't go, jk, I actually did go." With me going, "What? Did he go or not? Just go already!"
All in all, Flower Boy Next Door had a lot to offer but just had too much time to do it in. This drama could have been a great 2 hour movie instead of a whole series. If they had cut out the unnecessary plot points and overdone scenes and just focused on the beautiful themes and character development, then it truly could have been a great drama.
I'm not a huge fan of Yoon Shi-yoon. Sometimes his man-child goofiness came off as endearing, but more often than not it came off as irritating and unattractive. I actually thought he was much hotter when he had a on serious expression than when he smiled. I need my male leads to be a bit more suave and manly. This was one of the first kdramas where I experienced no jealousy of the female lead for getting to kiss the male lead. I just really loved the second male lead so much and felt like he was a better match. I know that this drama wanted to play up the whole "opposites attract" thing, but let me just say that I once took a social psychology class, and that theory is pretty untrue. Humans actually love being with people like themselves. Hence the reason why we get so excited to run into other kdrama fans! The second male lead just seemed like a much better fit for the female lead, even though I know that the point was that he would have let her keep living the way she was living and never would have pushed her back into the world the way Enrique did.
(Vivi's note: But don't you remember how they beat the audience over the head with that nature metaphor? Something about trees? Or wind? And that was supposed to make us understand why Enrique was her true match? I actually let the show convince me that Enrique was better for her, but that doesn't mean that he was better for me. I'm sorry, but I will choose the outwardly sarcastic but inwardly thoughtful comic book designer over the hyperactive chipmunk who wears knee socks any day.)
The whole premise for the cause of her becoming an extreme recluse seemed over the top to me. Maybe I'm just not as sensitive as other people (although I'm sure Vivi would tell you differently) but it just seemed unlikely that her experience of being shunned and made fun of in high school would make an otherwise normal person become completely shut off from the world. Maybe they could have done a better job of explaining how severe her experience was to make it more believable. Mostly I just became irritated with how sullen and depressed she looked all the time for 14/16 episodes. I was like, "Get over it! You have 4 freaking hot guys being your friends/lovers. I could get over anything if that was me!" Also, the whole video-game-designer-crazy-sabotaging-fan-thing was a little weird and over the top too. Maybe it's just because I'm not a gamer, but I didn't really get it.
(Vivi's note: Her diary made the sullenness bearable for me. Sure she was terrified of everyone, but at least she had some personality inside her own head! That's more than I can say for a lot of sad kdrama ladies.)
In conclusion, I loved Flower Boy Next Door for what it could have been. It started out so strongly and I couldn't stop watching for about the first three episodes. Then something happened and it became very tedious to watch until the last few episodes, which were funny and endearing, in which it redeemed itself.
What was your opinion of Flower Boy Next Door? Also, are there any other kdramas that were like exercise to you? Comment below.
Sometimes when I'm in a reverse-stalkery mood, I like to look at the Google search terms that bring people to our little blog here (Hi! Welcome!). Most of the searches are normal k-drama things, but I saw one that stood out to me: "Lee Min Ho baby." Since apparently multiple people are searching for Lee Min Ho baby, I immediately started to imagine what that search term could possibly mean. So, dear Googlers, I'm going to do my very best to satisfy your search and bring you every possible meaning for "Lee Min Ho baby." Your search is over!
Search Meaning #1: Lee Min Ho as a Baby
The internet was basically made for adorable babies. I mean, my facebook feed probably has at least seven adorable kitten videos on it at one time (mostly posted by Coco). Sure, adult cats are awesome, but if you make them small and baby-ish, it just adds a whole new level of emotional investment. It should be a logical assumption, then, that if you love Lee Min Ho as a big person, you would love him extra if you got to see him as a small person. Now, I don't personally have any photos of Lee Min Ho as a baby, but I was able to find this website that had a disturbingly detailed account of Lee Min Ho's childhood, complete with pictures. Where did these pictures come from? I don't even want to know.
Search Meaning #2: Lee Min Ho Holding Babies
The same principle holds here as with search term #1. If you prefer adult Lee Min Ho because looking at his baby photos steps over your creepy boundaries, you can just add a different baby to the mix, and suddenly it's wonderful, nurturing magic! As far as I know, Lee Min Ho doesn't have a baby of his own (YET--see search term #3), but fortunately for all of you, he did an ad campaign for domestic adoptions that featured him holding adorable tiny people! Successssssssss!
"What if I suddenly went to Korea and Lee Min Ho and I met accidentally on the street (like Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts in Notting Hill) and fell madly in love at first sight and got married and made babies? What would our babies even look like?" That's how I'm imagining this search term starting. Well, thanks to www.makemebabies.com, you never have to wonder about this again! Since Coco's single (and totally available to make babies with Lee Min Ho), I decided to use her face as a sample. This was the amazing result:
Apparently, Coco and Lee Min Ho's baby comes out of the womb dressing like a '90s hip hop artist. Awwwww!
Search Term #4: Lee Min Ho's Muppet Babies
I know that I'm probably the only person who thought of this, but when I read "Lee Min Ho baby," my first thought went straight to Muppet Babies, that late '80s television show where they took Jim Henson's Muppets and basically kept everything about their personalities but made them into babies. If this wasn't an integral part of your childhood (and it should have been), the theme song will help you understand the concept:
Now, stick with me here, but what if they took F4 from Boys over Flowers and had an entire series about them with their exact same personalities, but just made them into babies? It would be an entire show like those flashback scenes in BoF (You know--where the babies are wearing absurd three-piece suits). BOOM. Guaranteed money for all.
I will never forgive baby Jun Pyo for breaking baby Ji Hoo's robot. NEVER.
The only downside to this concept is that from what I can tell, the toddler F4 were pretty much tiny little tyrants. Unless they somehow built in a baby Jan Di character, I'm not sure how much I could handle.
Okay, Lee Minho baby Googlers, did I satisfy your curiosity?
Note: Our poll froze and we had to replace it, so if you already voted and it isn't showing, you can vote again!
The winner of our last Fashion Face-off Friday: Terrible Kdrama Date Outfits is Park Gae In from Personal Preference! She barely beat out our equally strong contender, Jan Di from Boys Over Flowers. Let's hear it for the ladies for being good sports about poor wardrobe choices and for the men who love them anyway!
I realize it is not Friday, but who cares? Let's do another fashion poll anyway! Okay, so I know our last few Fashion Face-off Fridays have focused on some of the strange and less desirable fashion trends in Korean dramas, so today let's take a look at something a lot of kdramas do well: hotties in suits. I am totally a sucker for a man in a suit, and luckily there are plenty to choose from. Which kdrama man wears his suit the best?
Contender 1: Hyun Ki-joon from Lie To Me
Possibly one of the hottest kdrama males in kdrama history in all the suits he wears in this drama. Am I right, or am I right? Dang boy!
Contender 2: All Four Men from Gentleman's Dignity
I know it's not really fair to put all four men from A Gentleman's Dignity into one category, but I couldn't help myself. They all just look so good standing there in those suits. Whoo!
I admit that it was difficult for me to tear myself away from the shirtless images to find this one of him in a suit, but luckily he is just as hot fully clothed. Hold me back!
Contender 4: Cha Ji-heon from Protect the Boss
For those of you who are actually not that turned on by men in suits (is that possible?), I present as the final contender, Cha Ji-heon from Protect the Boss. He totally rocks the "As a chaebol I am obligated to wear a suit, but as a spoiled, lazy brat I will wear it half-assed over a t-shirt" look.
but let's stick with Cha Ji-heon for the sake of variety.
So, which kdrama hottie wears a suit the best? Let your voices be heard by voting in the box below. If you are not satisfied with the options, write in your vote in the comments.
