Flailing in Life-Ruining Feels: An Excuse to Look at Pictures of My Bias

Ji Chang Wook has another drama coming out.

It's not confirmed, but according to two articles (one from Hancinema and one from Dramabeans), it's happening. My Life Ruiner is considering joining the cast of the drama, Mister Baek.

You now have my attention.

Those of you who read my post listing my top 5 actors know that this person is my personal Life Ruiner. Ji Chang Wook is my favorite. Ji Chang Wook is my bias. Ji Chang Wook is my own personal death. So I'm looking forward to spending another drama having my life ruined by Life Ruiner.

Mr. Baek is summarized as a drama about a 70-year-old hotel owner magically becoming a man in his thirties. Not only that, the man (played by Life Ruiner himself) is one of the lowest-leveled employees. This ironic plot premise - he's "grow[ing] young to grow up," as Dramabeans puts it - is the opposite of Flower Grandpa Investigation Unit. In the latter, the main cast of characters is aged into elderly men. In Mister Baek, an old man will become the fatal force that is Ji Chang Wook

You'd better give me those roses, Life Ruiner. How could you not tell me about this? I thought we shared a special bond...I flail and cry over your existence, and you never acknowledge mine. This calls for some relationship management, which is what our time together during the airing of Mister Baek will allow for.

The drama is likely slated to air in the slot left over by It's Alright, It's Love, which - whoa - is premiering in a little over two weeks!

First, I find out about Ji Chang Wook's cameo in KARA's reality show, Secret Love. Then, I find out about this drama. What's next, a movie?

Don't give me that look. O~O

Oh, good grief. I missed the news.

Don't try to get yourself out of this one, you little- oh...Hello...Stop being cute...I can't stay mad at that face.

Oh, look, I've been impaled.

-Pamela

(Update: Nope, I guess not...His agency clarified that he will not be participating...I will wait for you!)

(Update again!!!: He will be in Healer, a drama that will likely air following the drama Nodame Cantabile.)

Sass and Bias: Pamela's Top 6 Male Actors (First Edition)

Ten days after the anniversary of my unofficial Kdrama entrance, I bring you another favorites list. Today, I am covering my favorite male actors. I thought this list wouldn't be longer than the one containing my favorite female Kdrama actresses, but I am much more confident in the positions these actors hold within the list. Also, I realized ten hours after posting this post that there is a very important actor whom I forgot.

There are 26 completed dramas, in addition to the five I'm watching, to choose actors from, so let's begin!

6. So Ji Sub

Master's Sun (2013)

So Ji Sub suffers from the same obstacle as Gong Hyo Jin and Ha Ji Won, in terms of his placement on my favorite-actors list. I haven't watched many of his projects. I've seen Master's Sun - pardon my squeals - and I've seen A Company Man (in which I noticed him practicing his signature "Kkeojyeo" for Master's Sun).

A Company Man (2012)

While I remember enjoying So Ji Sub in these projects, it's been over half of a year since I've seen any others. In a few of the earlier posts on this blog back in October and November, I mentioned that I wanted to watch Ghost. However, I also said I wanted to watch Nice Guy, and it took me until a month ago to finally start viewing that. Maybe he'll move up the list as time goes on, but for now, he's here at number 4.

5. Song Joong Ki

Nice Guy (2012)

This man - as much as I want to call him a boy, he is 29 - is adorable. He is pretty. He is talented. I have seen him in Sungkyunkwan Scandal, and I spent every moment of his presence flailing around because of his Sungkyunkwan Scholar Sass. In my two viewings of A Werewolf Boy, he exuded so much...aww-ness. (Yes, "aww-ness" is a thing. It's my thing, and my things don't have to make sense. :P) Now, in Nice Guy, this frustrating, talented, mean performance can illicit one reaction from me (besides swooning at this smart-aleck and his anti-hero character):

"Just pretty on, man."

4. Joo Ji Hoon

Five Fingers (2012)

Five Fingers may have been possibly taken off of my favorite-dramas list (due to my fear of the bias I've developed for the three main actors, discounting the mother), but it spawned three of my favorite acting talents: Joo Ji Hoon is the second of these talents. Why have I grown to adore him? Well, there's his voice. There are also his eyebrows; he and fellow favorite actor, Life Ruiner *points to end of post*, have a similar talent in that both can do things with their eyebrows that turn me into mush. I nearly forgot about my newfound love for Joo Ji Hoon because of the incoherent boredom that was Medical Top Team, but ten hours after originally posting this post, I am half an hour into The Naked Kitchen and about to begin flailing because of that voice and that cuteness. (We can't forget the steaminess, though. Never forget.)

3. Yoo Ah In

Secret Love Affair (2014)

To be honest, I didn't consider Yoo Ah In to be anywhere near this list until recently. My friend and I saw him in Sungkyunkwan Scandal, and my opinion was that the guy was adequate. Through Secret Love Affair, I have realized that Yoo Ah In is far more than adequate. The way he seems to feel every emotion he portrays with every cell in his body is awe-inspiring. In this regard, I might say that he has a more refined acting ability than the two actors above him on this list. Well, the actor immediately above him, at least.

2. Lee Jong Suk

Doctor Stranger (2014)
*glances at Yoo Ah In* *flashes back to this picture*
Oh, look, Lee Jong Suk's lying down and being sad as well...

I'm sure you are all well-acquainted with Socky Tree Monkey. The past couple of years have been fairly successful for him, with High Kick: Revenge of the Short-Legged in 2011, his part in Secret Garden, and the dramas I've actually seen him in: School 2013, I Hear Your Voice, and the currently-airing Doctor Stranger. Socky Tree Monkey, for me, is the embodiment of sass and bias. The attitude Lee Jong Suk brings to the small screen is adorable, as well as the variety of emotions he is steadily able to portray, convey the potential he has to have continued success in show business. He's pretty. He's precious. He has potential. That's my Socky Tree Monkey in a nutshell.

1. Ji. Chang. Wook. (Warning: unmanageable bias ahead!)

Empress Ki (2013-2014)

Five Fingers (2012)

Meet Life Ruiner, if you haven't already. My ultimate bias has been in a number of successful dramas, including Smile, Dong Hae, Warrior Baek Dong Soo, and recently starred in Empress Ki. I've seen him in Smile, Dong Hae (which I'm still watching at a turtle's pace), Empress Ki, and Five Fingers. Within about five minutes of my first introduction to Life Ruiner in Five Fingers, I was in love. A biased, self-destructive love. The way he speaks. The way he sings. The way he makes facial expressions using his eyebrows. The way he exists in dramas is enough to cause a worrisome decline in my sanity. Ji Chang Wook has spent the past seven-and-a-half months ruining my life. I find nothing wrong with that.

I meant it when I titled this post, "Sass and Bias." Each of these actors either brings too much sass to the screen for me to handle (or just enough), causes my inability to function due to an unexplainable bias, or does a combination of the two. These men are both the banes and the protectors of my existence.

-Pamela

Wopping Wednesday: Five Fingers

Let me just point out that I absolutely love this drama. *sighs* That (sort of) needed to be said.

But this post isn't about Five Fingers itself; this post is about its music.

One of the best things about Five Fingers was its soundtrack - especially the orchestral songs. The drama was supposed to be about pianists-turned-composers, after all (in addition to the revenge, of course); if the music hadn't been as ear-catching from the start, it's debatable whether or not I would have loved the drama as much. *gazes glances at Ji Chang Wook* Nope, I probably would have.

The music just helped. A lot of the music is more orchestral than in other dramas I've seen, and that's perfectly fine. Before I start rambling about how the pieces tie into what I learn in music classes in school, let's just start listening! :)

 "Salieri" is one of the more high-energy, dramatic pieces in Five Fingers. (Of course it is, it's the song that plays at the end of the episodes, when those gosh-freaking cliffhangers happen.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osFZgYu2Lzk

Now, I would have just left "Ji Ho's Theme" out because it wasn't available on the video-finding app in Blogger, but the song is just too good to leave out. The piano melody and the orchestral integration are enough to make it one of my favorite pieces from the drama...Basically, it's a really pretty song.

As is "Sympathy." Out of the instrumental songs, this is the most...hum-able, in my opinion. The melody is easy to follow, and it is one of the songs that was stuck in my head often when I wasn't watching the drama.

In case you haven't noticed, there is a lot of usage of string instruments for the tracks...and the tracks are less pop-y than those on the soundtracks for some other drama's I've seen. Watching Five Fingers and listening to these pieces helped me appreciate instrumental music and music composition. 

But now we enter the pop-y section. Im Young Hee's (or Lim, depending on your preference) "날 사랑하지마 (Don't Love Me)" took me a couple listens to become accustomed to it, likely due to the instrumentals. The song is nice and sad and pretty, and I've grown to enjoy it. (By this point, you've probably realized that I enjoy nice, sad, and pretty songs.)

My musical bias for sad, minor songs, as well as the insane, fangirling bias I developed for Ji Chang Wook the moment I laid eyes on him in Five Fingers, is part of what led me to enjoy "채운다 (Fills My Heart)" so much. Before he was a television actor, Ji Chang Wook was a struggling stage actor, so he has musical experience. Why this and his track for Warrior Baek Dong Soo are the only soundtrack contributions he's made, I don't understand.

This is, of course, only a taste of the musical magic of Five Fingers. Not all of the songs are necessarily ones that stay with you, or ones that you'll even remember at all (this is especially true with the vocal songs). Still, if you watch Five Fingers for any reason at all, let that reason be the music.

...watch it for Joo Ji Hoon and Ji Chang Wook.
That's also an acceptable motivation.

Or, you know...

-Pamela

Okay, the Ship Hasn't Completely Sunk (Empress Ki)

Note: spoilers ahead.

For the past few episodes of Empress Ki (I'm currently on episode 19), I've been increasingly disliking the relationship between two of the leads: Nyang - Empress Ki/Qi - and Wang Yoo, the fictional king of Koryo.

Early on in the drama, I enjoyed them as a couple, as friends. What would it feel like right now if I still shipped them? *sigh* If it wasn't for Mr. Life Ruiner here...

Why must you exist, Ji Chang Wook...?
You're just too adorable.

...then I would have been in love with Nyang and Wang Yoo being in love.

However...then Wang Yoo found out that Seung Nyang was actually a girl named Nyang. (By the way, the beginning is probably one of my favorite gender-bender implementations so far in a drama.) After that, he seemed to treat her more like his obedient subject, even after he was deposed. He began to really act more like a ruler, like a superior figure. 

The fact that she's a girl doesn't mean you can ignore her
badassery.

For a lot of this drama so far, Nyang has remained loyal and devoted to her king, acting more like the obedient subject he seems to see her as.

Meanwhile, there's the Emperor. Although she is just his maid, and he will sometimes treat her as such, ordering her to do everything for him, he also treats her as an equal. There are even times she seems to be seen as superior to him. He relies on her to read for him so he can sleep. He asks for her advice on leadership, even though she is still just a woman and just a maid. And because he's such a baby - a fatally adorable baby - who can rarely do anything for himself, she looks down on Emperor Togon.

But then all you have to do is put Wang Yoo within earshot or within her peripheral vision, and she becomes a wide-eyed, pathetic mess.

It is because of her pathetic nature, that both parties are blindly fine with, that I have really come to dislike Wang Yoo in his romantic affairs. He's awesome, I'll admit - because the show glorifies those of Koryo descent while depicting most of the Mongols and their allies as unscrupulous mongrels - and I enjoy watching him fight for justice. However, once Nyang is by his side... *thumbs down*

This brings me to the middle of episode 19. Wang Yoo is annoyed that Nyang would even think of picking up a bow and arrow and demonstrating her strength. Granted, she's hurt, but that never stopped her before.

Then, he, Nyang, and his royal posse take a trip to the Koryo quarters of the Yuan's capital city.

Now, maybe it's because Nyang doesn't have any available feminine clothes, as she lived as a man for most of her life, and she doesn't have any dresses now that Wang Yoo took her from the Imperial Palace (and from Life Ruiner :( ), but she's still dressing as a man. It does give me some joy to see that Wang Yoo allowed her to accompany him in men's clothing, despite his restrictions on her non-femininity. He let the future empress dress in robes that were meant for the gender with which she was characterized as exhibiting more strength..

As subtle as this may be, it keeps the ship (you know...that ship) floating for at least another five minutes. Let's see if he screws it up as the episode continues, shall we?

(UPDATE, forty-two minutes into episode 20: Nope, I ship them again. I don't think anyone understands just how much Wang Yoo's theme music, as well as that freaking kiss, affect me.)

-Pamela

A Really Good Way to Start Off a Saturday :)

I've been awake for a few hours, watching Five Fingers and Sungkyunkwan Scandal, and I decided to check and see if a new post had been uploaded over at Crazy For Kdrama, one of the blogs I read.

Well, what do you know? Not only has her next K-Hottie installment been uploaded...

It was uploaded for me! :P (Today's been a good day so far...)

You see, there's this one Facebook group I joined a few weeks ago: Operation Kdrama Chat. Its function is pretty much self-explanatory... Anyway, there was one post in which I was talking about the actor who plays the younger version of Ji Chang Wook's character in Five Fingers (He looks like a monkey...an adorable monkey.). But THEN, I said that I had just found out that Ji Chang Wook is in Smile, Dong Hae.

Yes, it's a drama with 159 episodes, but the character of In Ha has put me in a very susceptible position. 

Plus, Stephanie-unni (okay, that might start to get annoying to some people, but... *shrug*) commented and said that it's a good drama, so...yeah. For the past week, I've been debating about whether or not to push Smile, Dong Hae ahead of Nice Guy and Ghost for my next Kdrama...

Anyway, imagine my surprise when I opened up her blog and saw this:

"Khottie of the Week: Ji Chang Wook"

Needless to say, but I'm going to say it anyway, this made me a very happy fangirl. Maybe a little too happy, as the prospect of this post being both about him and dedicated to me made me cry in fangirling joy.

I'm being completely serious right now. So let me say again, "Kamsahamnida, Stephanie-unni!"

Aish, the things this fandom does to me...

-Pamela