Friday the First: I Hear Your Voice

It's the second time in a row that I've seriously pondered a rewatch around the time that the Kdrama in question is being featured on "Friday the First"...However, hopefully this rewatch will fare better than when I unsuccessfully attempted City Hunter's...(though I probably won't get around to it for a couple weeks :( ) (Update: or for longer :'( )

Now, this actually sort of works within the context, since I started this show because my friend recommended it to me when she came over to my house one day. I started I Hear Your Voice for Jang Yi, I stayed because of the awesomeness (and Socky Tree Monkey - a.k.a. Lee Jong Suk).

Summary (from Dramafever):

You're innocent until proven guilty, unless you're in the unlucky situation of being guilty until proven innocent. For these unfortunate souls, there's only a 1% chance of freedom, and it's up to a comically pugnacious crew of private investigators [to set them free]. Lawyer Jang Hye Sung (Lee Bo Young), along with her salty attitude, leads Cha Kwan Woo (Yoon Sang Hyun), a former-cop-turned-lawyer, and Park Soo Ha (Lee Jong Suk), a mysterious teen with the ability to read minds. Together, this unlikely team turns convictions with unconventional methods and proves that while sometimes justice is blind to a fault, she can still hear your voice.

Are there any friends you'd like to rope into Kdramas? Well, for some, I Hear Your Voice is an excellent choice. (Ha ha ha, I rhymed.) After all...

1) The female lead isn't like most of those sweetly idiotic female leads in many Kdramas.

In fact, she actually starts off as a bit of a bitch.

But her character growth is pretty satisfying.

For those who aren't Kdrama fans yet, the idiocy of some of these female leads can be somewhat of a shocker. Jang Hye Sung conveys less of that stupidity, which is nice.

2) "Hey, you like those shows with those lawyers, right?"

There's a prosecutor - the character-type who's normally
at the center of Western crime shows.

There's the determined co-worker who usually ends up
as the female lead's love interest - and usually ends up with
said female lead. Nope.

Then there's this guy, who's just there for comic relief.

And how can I forget - the creepy man from the lead's past
who is out for revenge?

The drama partially revolves around crimes that need to be atoned for and people that either need to be put away or to be saved from being put away. There are workplace antics and dramatics in a setting that is familiar to audiences used to Castle- and Law & Order-type shows.

3) I Hear Your Voice provides two male leads whom both should be with the female lead. In other words...the love triangle is more o

"Do I still look like a flower boy to you?"
How to answer that...

Yeah, I'd say you do.

However...

*conflicted* Mr. New Guy who cares about you, respects you, works with you, protects you, and is mature enough for you? Or...Mr. Socky Tree Monkey who cares about you, respects you, learned martial arts to protect you, lives with you, has loved you for ten years, and is still growing up?

Come on, that has to intrigue a person a little. *nudge*

4) The first-leads' romance is adorable, but not drama-less.

The noona romance - or as non-Kdramafied Americans might call it, a cougar romance - grows in a way that left many of us jumping up and down from the cuteness and at the edge of our seats from the suspence (even if we knew everything would be peachy-keen in the end).

5) CAN YOU SAY "NO" TO THIS FACE? O~O

I think not!

Yes, the story behind this cute face and the resulting 10-year-long motivation can be considered a tad obsessive and creepy, but the natural innocence and the...prettiness...Lee Jong Suk brings to the screen pushes those thoughts back until they resurface later on as afterthoughts.

After all, Park Soo Ha is a fictional character. In the real world, his actions early on might not be as purely intended as one would prefer, and he would be getting some quality time with the police for a different offense.

Disclaimer: Pamela is not responsible for any arguments, addictions, loss of social lives, increased understanding, or ridicule that may result from this post.

-Pamela

Wopping Wednesday: Utada Hikaru

Let's go over to Japan now for a singer who's been one of my favorites since I was five.

Yes, like a lot of Western fans, I was introduced to her through Kingdom Hearts, but I was five - how else was I supposed to hear of her? :P

Anyway, she's had a big impact on me since then. The high (-ish) notes she sings near the end of "Simple and Clean" / "Hikari" (depending on which language the version is) are part of why I taught myself to sing in a higher register, and is therefore a contribution to my role as a Soprano I in the choirs I've been in at school. She was also one of the first Asian media figures introduced to me as a kid, the others being Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and other children's cartoons. Without my love of her, it probably would have been more difficult for me to transition to K-pop and Kdrama from J-pop. (Since I was already used to listening to anime and music in Japanese as opposed to English, it didn't bother me that I couldn't understand any of the Korean language at the time.)

Hrm...I'm kind of thinking of omitting the biographical parts in "Wopping Wednesday" due to the length that some of them take up... Especially with Utada Hikaru, since she's been around for a while.

I'll try to sum her up as concisely as possible. :)

The Japanese-American singer was born in New York City on January 19, 1983 to record producer Utada Teruzane and singer Utada Junko (under the pseudonym Fuji Keiko). Utada Hikaru recorded some songs with her mother, as U3, for some time before embarking on her first solo project as Cubic U.

As a fourteen-year-old, she moved to Tokyo, where she joined the record company Toshiba EMI (now EMI Music Japan) as a singer-songwriter. Her debut album, First Love, was released in 1999. In solely Japan, sales of the album have since risen above 7 million copies, and 10 million copies overall.

Well, she's not an idol... Cool.

With her albums, she continued to find immense success throughout her career. Granted, her two English-language albums didn't sell as well as her Japanese-language ones, but her popularity has been undeniable. The release of her third album in 2002, Deep River, made Utada the first singer or group in Japan to have sold over three million units for three consecutive albums.

That same year, Square Enix released the Kingdom Hearts video game. The Japanese version of the theme song was decided to be one of Deep River's hit singles, "Hikari;" she recorded an English version of the song for the international copies of the game. (And I am very, very pleased about this! :)) For the third game in the series, Kingdom Hearts II, she recorded "Sanctuary" - and it's Japanese counterpart, "Passion" - as its theme song.

Utada's career continued to be successful in general. However, since 2011, she has been on a hiatus, although she did release a single in 2012 ("Sakura Nagashi") and began hosting her own radio show, Kuma Power Hour, in April of this year.

If I had learned Japanese by now, I'd be listening to that...

I won't say much about her romantic relationships, but I found out recently that her mother committed suicide on April 22. That's...there's not much I can really comment on with this topic, but I hope that she has been able to effectively grieve. (My personal belief that my comforting skills are in need of improvement still stand.)

Well, uh...on to the music now. (See, this is why I kind of want to stop writing this part - there's so much that I want to say about her, but there's also too much. Plus, I haven't even been able to write it very well. I'm sorry...)

(I'm going to choose to not pay attention to the picture because this is the only unedited audio I could find that wasn't removed by Youtube. I was also never aware that this song is the theme song for the first Rebuild of Evangelion movie, as the Neon Genisis Evangelion anime is one that I haven't watched yet.)

"Beautiful World" is one of my favorite songs by Utada. Its melody, combined with her voice, is pretty. The repeating piano riff also compliments the sound nicely. But I've just always thought that the song is...well..."Beautiful."

(Pamela, I thought you were done with the puns.) Nope.

I was going to put a different song from her 2010 English-language album, This Is The One - a song that had a music video - but this song is one that I've recently realized connects with the fangirls out there. *points to self*

From her second single-compilation album, "Goodbye Happiness" has a...cute video. It also is a really pretty song, for the same melodic reason as with "Beautiful World."

Honestly, in general, most of her Japanese - and some of her English - song's melodies sound nice to my ears, so such a sentence is true for whatever song I put in this post. Granted, I've been listening to her for eleven years, so that may be partially due to my bias.

I'm trying to refrain from mentioning the improper breathing technique she's implementing in this music video, but I can't ignore it. I usually enjoy listening to "Flavor of Life," but...I prefer listening to the song as opposed to watching the beginning of the music video.

By the way, this is the ballad version, but there is also a more upbeat version, which I...think...is the original. There isn't a video with the audio of it as far as I've searched on Youtube, but iTunes has it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SHyi59U2bU

(For whatever reason, I can't find this through the "upload video" option on Blogger, so here's the link...)

"This is Love" is a fun, dance-y song, and it also somewhat showcases the ability of Utada Hikaru's vocal technique. By the way, if you do choose to click on the link, this is a live performance of the song. 

Okay, let's go nostalgic for a moment...

(Ah, well, the Japanese audio keeps being removed from the Youtube videos, and I prefer the fast English version over the slow English version, so...)

"Simple and Clean" (fast English version)

This was my first introduction to her...thanks, bro! *bounces around and sings along* By the way, this is the song that convinced me to teach myself to sing high notes. So...this song is part of why I'm a soprano... :P Oh, I love this song...

...as well as this next one. (Aish, I love a lot of her songs; this is nothing new... :P)

"Sanctuary" (English version)

(And for this one, I cannot find any Japanese/English audio from this "insert a video" option that hasn't been removed. So...I just used a walkthrough video...because I'm sneaky - and desperate - like that. Skip 30 seconds in for the opening sequence, about ten-ish seconds extra if you don't want to hear Haley Joel Osment's voice...)

This song...I love it so much...I just love Kingdom Hearts...and Utada Hikaru...

Well, her voice is nice to listen to. Sure, her occasionally shaky-sounding vibrato can be a little noticeable at times, but she's not the only one with it. Plus, the skills she brings to each song she writes and performs is just amazing, in my opinion. I'm afraid to ramble on about her melodies, her songs, her career, and her voice for much longer because I know that I just have too much bias left over from my childhood to effectively discuss her without seeming like a narrow-minded idiot.

-Pamela

A Random Post About Eyelid Asymmetry :|

This post will likely make me seem somewhat superficial, but this aspect of the discussed actor's appearance doesn't boost nor hinder my perception of him; it's just a quirky little thing I noticed.

(Update: I have since discovered that there are multiple actors with this sort of occasional eyelid asymmetry, actors such as Jang Geun Suk. Also, it might seem a little rude of me to have found humor in this when I first noticed its existence, so I apologize for that...)

A little over a week ago, I was watching Five Fingers (as I currently am right now). While looking at the face of Joo Ji Hoon, who plays the male lead, I realized something about him in his role as Yoo Ji Ho. From what I can tell by looking at other pictures of him, this is not often the case outside the realm of Five Fingers, although there are a few that subtly depict the type of asymmetry discussed in this post.

In actuality, it's not that big of a deal that one eye has a "monolid" and the other a "double," but the idea just amuses me slightly for some really dumb reason.

Just before starting this post, I also realized that there was an incident that took place last year that can connect back to this.

One day in Phys. Ed class, my friend, Jang Yi, was talking to me about...something I don't quite know how we got onto such a topic. Anyway, she started saying that it bothered her sometimes how one eyelid occasionally would be a somewhat subtle "double eyelid," but she wasn't able to get the other one to be the same unless she used that eyelid-tape thing.

It really wasn't - and still isn't - a glaring feature, and I never even really pay attention when I'm around her (hence why I forgot about this incident up until ten minutes ago). However, the difference between eyelids stands out a bit more to me when it involves Joo Ji Hoon as he acts in Five Fingers.

Call me superficial, but it slightly amuses me when one eye looks larger than the other. This isn't going to impact my overall enjoyment of the drama, but it does infrequently bring a little light to the crazy, makjang darkness of the Five Fingers plot.

-Pamela

Wopping Wednesday: G-Dragon

Yay, now I can explain why this is called "Wopping Wednesday"! (Um...I'm not sure why I am excited about that...)

I find this picture amusing, if only because
it snowed in the town where I live...
yesterday.

But just imagine - if it hadn't been for my friend, Jang Yi, talking about Big Bang, and my curiosity getting the better of me, none of this would have been possible. This guy and the group he leads wouldn't have grown on me, and I never would have started all of this K-pop and Kdrama obsessing.

Granted, IU (and a tiiiiiiiny bit of T-ara and f(x)) helped, but this post is about G-Dragon, the leader of Big Bang, so it's time to talk about G-Dragon. (Despite him basically being my friend's bias, I think, I probably will never show her this post :P)

On August 18, 1988, the icon was born. He has a lot of experience in music, dating all the way back to being a member of the short-lived group called Lula Lula as a five-year-old (probably six in Korea-age terms...). When he was eight (nine...), he was scouted by SM Entertainment - I know, it's hard to believe - and he trained there for five years in dance. During that time, he was introduced to Wu-Tang Clan, an American rap group that debuted in 1992, and he became interested in rap as a result.

Thank goodness for that!

Kwon Ji Yong rapped in the album Daehanmingook Hip-Hop Flex  in 2001, becoming the youngest Korean rapper to debut. After becoming a trainee at YG Entertainment, and having to be sort of like a stereotypical company intern, he and Dong Young Bae (a.k.a. Taeyang) were intended to debut as the rap duo GDYB.

By the way, for those who don't know, his stage name is G-Dragon because "G" sounds like "Ji," the first syllable of his name, and "Yong" means "Dragon."

I wonder who the person was who came up with that name. I really do.

Anyway, instead of the two debuting as a duo, they were kept around until they debuted with the rest of the Big Bang family in 2006. The group grew increasingly successful, especially with some of the songs G-Dragon took part in the writing processes for. (He can write some catchy songs, that man.) 

In 2009, he released his first solo album, Heartbreaker. It features some good songs, but it also spawned the song that creeps me out the most amongst all of his solo songs: "Breathe". I like the song, don't get me wrong; but... *shudders* I never should have watched that music video. His cheesy smile scarred me. The album also faced controversies over plagiarism involving the singles "Heartbreaker" and "Butterfly," but those were resolved. And then, even more controversy --

Okay, this guy is a very controversial figure, by K-pop standards... Let's just agree on that. (I'm not going to bring up the marijuana thing, because I'm sure that topic was exhausted the first time around. The same goes for the concert-obscenity allegations for his Shine a Light concert.)

Then, he and fellow Big Bang bandmate T.O.P released GD & T.O.P together in 2010, before Big Bang's comeback in 2011.

G-Dragon returned to the solo music scene with another popular album, One of a Kind, in 2012, and then with Coup D'etat just a little over two months ago.

That's a very rough overview, because I could also ramble on about his fashion and his incessant need to dye his hair more than is necessary - and healthy. 

Honestly, this man's going to go bald early on in life. 

But I've bored the few people who've clicked on this post enough already. Let's just get on with the music, shall we?

Let's start off with his first single as a soloist (not counting his solo songs from the group albums...) with "Heartbreaker" from...Heartbreaker. Whether or not this song annoys me really depends on what I'm okay with hearing at the time. This is a catchy song - duh, it's G-Dragon - I'll admit that much. The chorus...it really depends on your taste. I enjoy listening to it, but for me, it's one of those "it sounds so bad that it just sounds absolutely amazing" choruses. The way he says "heartbreaker" slightly annoyed me the first few times I heard the song, but I just fool myself into thinking of the chorus as amusing. 

Plus, whenever I listen to the beginning, I just want to say it along with him, because the man has a way of saying words in a way I'd never think of saying them.

For the more visually-artistic people out there, the video for "Butterfly" is pretty interesting to watch. Even if you're not one of those people (ha ha ha, I'm not an artist.), this is a nice video. The song is also nice and calm. It's sweet...

Oh, he's so pretty... *currently watching "Butterfly"*

This song is also calm. The lyrics are sad, and so is the overall tone of the song. When I listen to the other audio, which has Sky Ferreira singing in English instead of Jennie Kim, I like the female part a tad less. Ferreira doesn't necessarily do badly, but the way she puts emotion into the song just makes her voice sound a little less appealing to me. (I think it's because of how...clenched up *shrug* her voice sounds, but she still doesn't sound that bad, I guess.) Even so, I really like the soft, subtle melancholy of "Black".

I love this song, and I really don't know why. :P (Oh, hello there again, Jennie Kim. Long time, no see.) 

...I just honestly love this song. "That XX" is one of my favorite songs from One of a Kind, even from his whole career, maybe.

Aish, I just realized that there are so many songs I want to put into this post, but I try to limit the number of songs down to about 4-6, so...yeah.

This sad, sad song...is so fun to sing. Dude, this song is just really catchy. It took me by surprise when I first listened to it, but "Crooked" has quickly broke its way down into my heart.

Anyway, I can't include every G-Dragon song, so I might as well make the last song the explanation song for why these posts are called "Wopping Wednesdays"...

But let me say this: Missy Elliot's lyrics are interesting to listen to. At first, I didn't really care for hearing her, but now I'm okay with her.

"Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, drop it like"

And there's my explanation. It's quite a letdown, isn't it?

You know, it's very strange for me to say that I'm a G-Dragon fan. Within the realm of K-pop, I never imagined that I would come to dislike rap so much less. Granted, I still hate it with a passion in Western music, as I often couldn't stand the music my brother sometimes played in his car when I rode with him to our school last year. My opinion of rap has been that it's mostly about sex, or if you're someone like Eminem, painful life experiences and some motivational stuff. Not that I'm ever going to put any effort into becoming an Eminem fan. 

Korean rap is sometimes about love, fun, pain, among other things. But the lyrics are rarely as...dirty as Westerners'. Oh, I'm aware that there's some dirty K-pop out there right now. However, the infrequency of overly sex-ified songs and music videos, plus charisma that rappers such as G-Dragon and T.O.P bring to the spoken word, makes me not as...abhorrent as I was before. Not that I'm every going to put any effort into liking Western rap. That ship sailed years ago.

-Pamela

Changed My Mind On First Rewatch...It's Been a Rough Couple Months For My Lee Min Ho Fan-ness

I was doing my rewatch of City Hunter, but I've been neglecting it... (Primarily because of Sungkyunkwan Scandal, which I finished last week, and Five Fingers...and because I've been procrastinating with Running Man.)

I really, really enjoyed during my first run, but there's really not much of a motivation to rewatch it right now. The friend who convinced me to do so - as she finally started watching it - finished City Hunter within about a week, so I can't exactly "re-experience" it with her (her words).

But either way, I wasn't all that enthusiastic about having City Hunter be my first complete rerun. With both City Hunter and Boys Over Flowers, I've only gone back through the first three or so episodes, and I only did the latter because I was bored.

This is due to the fact that, for the past month or so, I've been in the mood to watch I Hear Your Voice and Master's Sun again... So...I think I'm going to choose one of those two, and leave City Hunter for a later time.

Here's what my plan is as of right now, in order:

-finish Five Fingers (probably sometime during the first half of my Thanksgiving break)
-finish Soul (the last discussion in the Facebook group I'm watching it in is on Thanksgiving)
-start I Hear Your Voice (after finishing either FF or Soul, depending on my mood)
-start Smile, Dong Hae (after finishing either FF or Soul, depending on my mood)
-start whatever the next drama is that I'll be watching with the Facebook group

And then I think I'll go through Heirs and catch up on Pretty Man over Christmas break...

I feel bad that I'm not as crazy for Lee Min Ho as much of the Kdrama fandom seems to be...He's just not as much of an "OH MY GOD, I NEED TO WATCH THIS DRAMA NOW" kind of motivator for me anymore... Part of me thinks that it might have something to do with the boredom I felt from Personal Taste and Heirs.

-Pamela

Part of My Problem With Heirs

It's cute, but I just don't enjoy watching the show all that much. And this makes me feel guilty.

I finished episode 10 yesterday, and watched the beginning of episode 11. Episodes 13 and 14 are airing this week, and it is highly doubtful that I will watch 11 and 12 before this weekend.

This drama makes me feel conflicted in terms of motivation. I've only simulcasted two other dramas (I Hear Your Voice and Master's Sun), but they weren't as repelling. What I mean by that is that I have to force myself to sit down and watch it, as opposed to watching the numerous other Kdramas I'm currently viewing.

Heirs, in my opinion, isn't the kind of drama that's suited for simulcasting.

There's no urgent plot.

There are no "HOLY CRAP, WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! HOW AM I GOING TO LAST ANOTHER WEEK?!" cliffhangers at the end of the episodes.

I try to like it; I do. Once I get into the episodes, there are certain moments that make me glad I didn't close the tab and just focus on Five Fingers, Soul, or my - slow - rewatch of City Hunter (which is going a lot more slowly than the show deserves; but that's just due to the fact that I've watched it once, and I feel less pressured by myself to watch it).

My plan has been to finish Heirs the week it stops airing, and then reflect upon / review it the same weekend. However, I'm starting to think that such a plan isn't fair to the drama. I also know that if I stop watching now and wait until all the episodes are out, then rewatch the first ten episodes before moving on, that would probably be best for my perception of it.

Because Heirs. Is. Such. A. Slow. And. Repetitive. Show.

But I'm already halfway through it.

...I don't know what to do.

-Pamela

Friday the First: City Hunter

What a coincidence - right after starting my re-watching of City Hunter, it's its turn!

(For this post series, I've been going in order of when I started watching the drama...)

For those of whom this was not their first drama, I can assume that the reasoning for watching this (besides the premise of revenge or maybe Park Min Young or one of the other actors) was the same as mine: Lee Min Ho. I think it beat the other three main Lee Min Ho dramas that were out after Boys Over Flowers and before Heirs because of the positive reviews and the premise:

When Yoon Sung was a baby, his father was killed by the South Korean
government after successfully carrying out a covert mission against North Korea.
Raised overseas by the only surviving member of that mission, Yoon Sung is trained from
childhood to become an elite fighter and highly educated in information technology.
He returns to South Korea to work in the Blue House and exact his revenge on his father's killers.
But will falling in love with a female security officer complicate his plans?
"City Hunter" is a 2011 South Korean drama series directed by Jin Hyuk. It is based on a famous novel (It's a manga, technically speaking...) by Japanese writer Tsukasa Hojo (Hojo Tsukasa, also technically speaking...)

(summary from Viki)

I think that, if you're hoping to get a friend to watch a Korean drama, this may be one of the dramas I would consider to be more...*shrug* There's not really a good adjective to use here...

...Addiction-starting?

...Foreigner-friendly?

...Convincing? (as a first drama)

Before I embarrass myself any further with my inability to think of adjectives, I'm just going to go ahead with the reasons why City Hunter can work as the vital first Kdrama for a non-Kdrama-watching friend...

1) Action. There are plenty of smooth stunts and fights that can keep a viewer excited...

There's even some coming from our female lead!

Lee Jin Pyo, or, as he's been referred to by myself, Badass Ajussi.

I'm not sure if I invented this word as a result of this drama, or if I just started using it more: badassery. (UPDATE: Nope, I just read a review of the K-movie A Company Man, and it's used in the title, so I'm not sure how the word came up.) It's a necessary element of any action movie or TV show, and City Hunter certainly can delight the people who enjoy some of this.

2) It has a fairly compelling story line. Non-Kdrama viewers who enjoy conspiracy / government-related plots might be a little easier to convince than others.

Aish, the feels I get from this man at the end...

Whether you choose to spoil it for yourself or not, this story is still an exciting one... The revenge; the fight between good and evil; the fight between the subsets of good and evil and revenge; the hidden identities and motives; and others.

(I just realized that some of the things I just listed remind me of the Kingdom Hearts video games, at least of Riku... and a few other characters... But that's for another time.)

3) The female lead is not only pretty, but able to fight (literally) for herself. For the most part.

Despite her getting hurt,
she kicks butt in this scene.

Even though he's faking the sissy act.

She's not an idiot, nor is she constantly letting everyone get their way with her. Kim Na Na doesn't annoy people with an incessant passiveness. If a person is coming into Kdramas with or without the knowledge of the other doormat female leads, Kim Na Na gives that person hope that some leads are just plain awesome.

4) The. Soundtrack. Is. Awesome.

I personally love this drama's soundtrack so very much. Some of the songs just hit me right in the feels. I doubt that just saying "because the music's awesome" will convince someone, but even if you just have them listen to the songs, maybe there will be a desire to see the Kdrama the music was composed for!

5) Make them laugh at Running Man and tell them that Kwang Soo's in it. (This could also work for Nice Guy although his inclusion could also be used to mislead that person's perception of the show if they know nothing else, I guess.)

6) If Lee Min Ho doesn't put the cherry on top of the cake of reasons to make this someone's first Kdrama...it certainly will be by the time they've finished the first episode.

Note: he also works as a warning that the days of
normal-ish, "manly" kind of classy will be less frequent.

I was going to choose one more picture of him fully clothed, but that would have been redundant. Plus, I think this may be a good picture to leave off on, in terms of symbolism or fangirling; take your pick.

Honestly, I think that he looks his best in this drama. (Granted, I haven't seen Faith yet, but I still think City Hunter was his best in terms of how handsome he is.)

But even if Lee Min Ho doesn't instantly get anyone riled up for a viewing, the action might just change his or her mind.

Disclaimer: Pamela is not responsible for any arguments, addictions, loss of social lives, increased understanding, or ridicule that may result from this post.

-Pamela

My Kdramas: PPIF #3

Well, today's been an active day for the blog...3 posts in one day...

I also did the second installment of this just last week, but some interesting developments have drastically changed my TBW list...so I thought I would unnecessarily update.

So here we go with some more "Past, Present, and Immediate Future"! Accompanied by my motivations for watching the included Kdramas! Fun times...right?

Sora: "Okay...?" (Kingdom Hearts II)
Bentley: "That's...uh...that's strange." (Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves)

Recently Finished (Past) (Since I just posted PPIF #2 last week, there's only one here...)

-School 2013 (2013) ("Reflection" Part 1 here)

Currently Watching (Present)

-Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2010)

Initially, I wanted to just see some historical stuff. Then, I watched City Hunter this past summer and saw Park Min Young. THEN, and this is a big "then," I remembered that Song Joong Ki was in A Werewolf Boy, which I watched back in May. I had to see his cute freaking face.

-Five Fingers (2012)

Piano, piano, piano. That may be the only real reason why I wanted to watch this in the first place... Let me say this, I really like this dramatic...drama.

-Heirs (2013, ongoing)

Yes, Lee Min Ho...and also Kim Woo Bin...and a little bit of Park Shin Hye (*shrug)...but Lee Min Ho is the one who brought this Kdrama to my attention in the first place (actually, it was Suzy, but...details, details.)

-Soul (2009)

Yeah, Halloween's over, but this one Kdrama chat group I joined started watching this drama right after I joined, so...it's all good. (Plus, the female lead plays a supporting role in Heirs, and Kim Kap freaking Soo is in it, too - he's also in SKKS, so I'm watching two of this prevalent ajussi at once.)

Up Next:

-City Hunter (2011)

This is a re-watch. And honestly, this should be considered "Currently Watching," because I'm probably going to start the re-watch right after finishing this post. 

Anyway, one of my friends has finally decided to start City Hunter, after months of urging that was mostly done by our friend, Jang Yi. I just suddenly felt the urge to watch it again, because, in her words, "You should. So you can re-experience it with me."

Nice convincing skills...

-Smile, Dong Hae (2010)

So, I've been developing a powerful, fangirl love for Ji Chang Wook, who is playing one of the the "villains" in Five Fingers (see above)...Yes, Smile, Dong Hae is 159 half-hour episodes, but I want more Ji Chang Wook.

Way, to go, man. You've pushed these next two dramas, not to mention Pretty Man, down the list just for Smile, Dong Hae and, later on, Empress Ki.

-Nice Guy / Innocent Man (2012)

Sorry, Song Joong Ki; however, really, I have a little less than two years to watch this before you return from the military...so it's fine if I wait an extra month or so to watch this...I guess... I'M SORRY, SONG JOONG KI T_T *breathe*

-Ghost (2012)

I apologize to you, too, So Ji Sub... I wanted to watch this so badly just so I could see more of you...but, like Song Joong Ki, you'll have to wait a little longer. 

Hey, one of them is away in the military and another one of them is a busy actor / "rapper" - I'm sure they'll manage.

-Pamela