Monday, September 30, 2013

Halftime Report: Can We Get Married?

Synopsis:

It’s a story about a couple who’s been together for three years and now, they have thought of marriage as the next chapter of their relationship. However, there are a lot of preparations that couples have to go through which is why the title leaves you with a question mark in the end. Those hardships include the stress of introducing your family to each other in order to get used with life of being part of each other’s family. In this case, Hye Yeon and Jong Hoon is just a normal couple who went through a lot of ups and downs in their relationship that served as a test to their love. Now, since we know that we have to consider a lot of things before the day of the wedding, can we expect a happy ending for them? Most especially that in the story, their family has the key influence in their lives and most especially, in their marriage.

Reaction:

I am starting to really appreciate Cable dramas more than ever. Nope. Scratch that, ever since I saw Reply Me 1997, I thought that it was the beginning of things changing in favor of cable dramas in the context of producing and directing quality series.

Yeah, like what has been said, Cable dramas are painfully awesome that I come to a point wherein I have no interest or faith in dramas broadcasted by the three big TV stations in Korea like I used to, unless otherwise recommended by many and is approved by the general public through high ratings. But then, yes, I still have a long list of must-watch from them which I think are 3-5  years old as we speak. With regards to the current trend, cable dramas are damn amazing.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Models-turned-Actors



Kim Woo Bin - Seen him in A Gentleman's Dignity, School 2013 and currently crossing my fingers for The Heirs. He's tall, has an amazing appeal, very charismatic though he doesn't have the best face for a celebrity in my opinion. But I think that his best feature is not his appearance but his talent and passion for acting which are evident in his career.

Lee Soo Hyuk - He's more popular to me as G-Dragon's fashion inclined friend and I have not seen his dramas yet. But I heard he co-acted with Woo Bin and Hong Jong Hyun in Vampire Idol before and was casted along with Woo Bin again and Bang Sung Joon in White Christmas. Yep, I guess I need to check out his skills in acting in the near future (though I'm half doubtful about it).






Lee Jong Suk - I've seen him in Secret Garden, School 2013 and I Hear Your Voice. The first time I've seen him, I was already impressed but not to the point of worshiping him. After 3 years, things changed. I guess, I've finally developed feelings for him now that I've seen him closer as an actor and because I'm really into serious type of guys and I think Jong Suk fits rather well in that category. Oh btw, he has his cute side too. And the most important thing about him which I truly love is his smile. I take it as a ray of sunshine.





Bang Sung Joon - I've seen him in Shut Up Flower Boyband, Gu Family Book and Can We Get Married? Like Lee Jong Suk, I was impressed as well to him in Shut Up too but I wasn't really drawn to his charm, in other words it wasn't enough for me to even look back with his character. But now that I've seen him closer in Can We Get Married which is a drama I'm busy watching these days, I guess that it has built my interest to him more. I think that he's truly a dork in real life too with a really weird personality. I love the way he speaks when he's angry, he sounds truly pissed. Anyway, please do anticipate my review for Can We Get Married, it's really an interesting drama to watch.




Hong Jong Hyun - I've seen him in Dating Agency Cyrano and I wish to see more of his projects soon. He's that someone I thought would fit more to be Soo Young's love interest in the drama and I thought that though his acting was commendable, I needed a truly remarkable character of his that could pull me in to his fandom.





Kim Young Kwang - So far, I've seen him in Can We Get Married only. I really liked him as an actor but not his character which is difficult to read. I don't think I'd ever know how he truly feels any further than his cold personality. Anyway, I think that in the future I will see more of him because I learned that he's been casted in Good Doctor - that Joo Won and Moon Chae Won's drama that's currently airing in Korea. I'm just waiting for the right moment to watch it by the way. 




Thursday, September 19, 2013

Review: Waiting for Love

Rating: 
Story: Average
Cuteness: Excellent
Acting: A+

Synopsis:
It’s a story that is inspired by the desire of the characters to find love through the course of a perfect dating process.

Yeon Ae (BoA) believes in fairy tale romance which should set off perfectly. She’s someone whom will always love the other person more even though the feeling wasn’t mutual or serious for the guy. Hence, she had always set high expectations in dating; that is faithfulness at all cost. Until one day, she caught the guy cheating right before her eyes. She felt a failure in womanhood because she can't hold a grip of the guy she's interested with so she decided to start attending a dating class wherein at one session, her ridiculous video of putting off a scene as the 'octopus girl' in front of everyone was uploaded in the internet which garnered a lot of attention. Even though her face was not revealed in the video, she felt frightened by the thought of everyone finding out her identity. And so, she has developed social anxiety manifestations when she’s riding the train. 

Significantly, she received help from a dating guru whom she only connects with through text, Cha Ki-Dae (DanielChoi). However, he only knew her as the octopus girl who ridiculed herself but never as her real identity. The same thing for Yeon Ae, he’s someone who’ll only exist in her phone inbox. In order to start working for love, she has to find a target for her lessons to undertake.

Coincidental to her lesson, she found a partner whom she will work on the advises she got from Cha Ki Dae. He is Jung Jin-Kook (Im Siwan), a nerdy type of guy who’d prefer to be traditional in dating. Anyhow, he can be really romantic and faithful given that he really likes the girl. For this case, he could be that person whom Yeon Ae could fall in love with.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Review: Thank You

Watch Online!

Rating: Highly Recommended

Synopsis and Character Introduction: 

Lee Young Shin (Gong Hyo Jin) is a mother who single-handedly raises her 8 year old child, who unfortunately was infected by the HIV virus, Lee Bom (So Shin Ae). The child acquired the disease in the hospital after she received treatment that needed blood transfusion. However, negligence was committed by one of the medical staff who did the procedure. The said medical personnel was a doctor, who repented on her mistake by making her service available in a clinic of a far flung place in the countryside. She is Cha Ji Min (Choi Kang Hee) who had her own share of suffering after being diagnosed of pancreatic cancer that caused her death. Before she passed away, her last wish was to apologize personally to Lee Bom and her family and to admit that it was her fault for not making sure that the blood was safe to be transfused. Unfortunately, she didn’t manage to express her feelings to them because it was time for her to go. But then, she was able to give Lee Bom the special teddy bear she personally bought before going in the island. The place is called Blue Island that is far from civilization.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Review: Sirius

Rating: Average

Synopsis: 

It’s a story between twins who were separated at birth. Shin Woo was left in an orphanage by her mother who can’t afford to raise the two kids together while she brought Eun Chang with her as a single parent. Five years later, they fetched Shin Woo at the orphanage to live with them in an effort to bring the two kids together as a family.

The siblings grew up with different personalities; Eun Chang is more outgoing and the tougher side of the twins while Shin Woo is reserved and an introvert. This has determined their roles in school as well. Shin Woo is someone who gets bullied while Eun Chang is always the one who comes in rescue of him. However, Shin Woo had perceived the concern of his brother, Eun Chang to him. He thought that he's being pushed aside within the family. 

One day, Eun Chang went to school wearing Shin Woo’s uniform to avenge his brother’s dignity from someone who has bullied him. However, things went ugly when he was brought at the rooftop where he was confronted. Accidentally, Eun Chang pushed the bad guy from there and he fell on the ground. The student eventually died and Eun Chang was sent to jail. But their mother asked Shin Woo to enter instead in exchange of his brother who only wanted to protect him. Little to her realization, it has hurt Shin Woo’s feelings as a son and that he has never forgot that moment in his life.

Years later, Shin Woo became a successful high rank police officer while Eun Chang was finally granted of freedom. However, their mother died by that time. Eun Chang asked Shin Woo why he didn’t notify him beforehand and asked what were the last words of hers. Frustratingly, he answered that she’s always mumbling his name until her last breath.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Character Introduction: Stars Falling from the Sky


Synopsis: Jin Pal Gang is the eldest child among the other adopted children in the family. Unfortunately, their parents met a car accident that led to the family's loss. Because of that, she was left with the responsibility to take care of her siblings. Part of that responsibility is forgetting her identity as a woman to become a mother for her children.

Before everything had happened, she was smitten with a co-worker in the company, Atty. Won Kang Ha. However, for the past five years that she has looked at him, he never looked back at her in return. Until one day, the siblings had nowhere to go because their house was demolished and they were only left with nothing but debts. Because of this, Pal Gang pleaded to Won Kang Ha’s brother, Won Joon Ha to hire her as their in-house maid. Even though she first volunteered as their keeper with an intention to serve the Attorney whom she loved, she let go of that thought in order to support her siblings and to find shelter for her family. Eventually, she was employed through Joon Ha’s help but without the knowledge of her bringing her siblings with her. This started the sitcom like hide and seek course of the kids so that they wouldn’t be found out to be at the turf of the Won family.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

KPOP: The Voulez-vous Story Book by ZE:A Five

This is the second item that I bought from ZE:A collectibles and I must say that I was really pleased by this photo album. It's an 80 page of Hyung Shik, Dong Joon, Kevin, Siwan and Minwoo gracing the pages. I can't think of anything to ask further other than  their album which I missed to buy. Anyway, the only disappointing aspect of this book was that the music video should be inclusive to the DVD though it contained the behind the scenes. 

I loved the concept of their music video for 'The Day We Broke Up', their lead single. It was a very refreshing treat because unlike most of the kpop music videos nowadays, they shot it outdoors.

They look so young, fresh, innocent and pretty. *_*

Even though they were only still shots from the music video, it was still awesome.

One of their concepts were camping, which I loved.

KPOP: Illusion by ZE:A

This is pretty random post though I love being random, I don't even know where to start because no one totally knew the background of this event other than myself. So, I'm a newly converted fan of ZE:A. It's safe to say that I've been catching up on them for the last three weeks that I have fangirl-ed. It has a long history for me to explain but it all started with Hyung Shik first. Remember that drama, Nine Times Time Travel that I've been obsessing with, he was the younger self of Lee Jin Wook's (Park Sun Woo) character. I was thinking that maybe I should make a feature about them beforehand as an introduction but I guess my schedule has been very busy with real life so I was very afraid to start because I might not give justice to my feels towards them. Anyway, yes I bought their latest album. I can't believe it, I bought a kpop album from an idol group other than tvxq/jyj.

To be honest, at first I really wasn't sure myself if I really like to buy this album but in the end, I gave in  to the temptation because of all the 'feels' they've given me for the month of August. I guess that I found it as a really genuine piece of emotion and I was moved by that, forcing myself to loosen up my wallet. It's a mini album, I was thinking it could have been better if it was a full length album because I really liked the songs. They got the momentum for this recent one, and as I was comparing this to their previous releases, this is their best yet so far as a whole. I love the previous releases though such as: Watch Out, Here I Am, Spectacular, Special Day and Heart For 2. By the way, I liked the songs released by their sub unit ZE:A Five too. Hope you'll check them out. To sum it all up, currently they one of the things that I consider as my sources of happiness.

The album came together with an 80 page photo booklet.

The CD with 6 tracks and the DVD composing the music video and behind the scenes.

KPOP: Incredible by Xia Junsu

Track list: Previous Post

Okaaay, so first of all, I'm a huge fan of Junsu whoever he is, from a singer, a gamer, a musical artist, or a soccer player to a person, his total being. But what I really like about him is his voice so it isn't a surprise that I bought this album. Besides, it was really worth it. I illegally downloaded the songs though when it came out but I promised to save money to buy the album and now, here it is. Yay, it arrived yesterday together with my first ZE:A collectible CDs. I was really excited when I opened my mail box. So, if you're a fan of his, support his album. It actually exceeded my expectation of the packaging in real life. I hated the pictures too when I saw them online but when I got them in my hands, I really liked them. They painted a ridiculous amount of colors to the album though, all the way to Junsu's eyes, I kind of lol-ed but it was catchy regardless. I bet he tried to fit in with current trend of the younger kpop idols nowadays. I know Junsu, this kid thinks simply yet grand. He's a genius, he's very innocent and cute. Thus,  he adapted well to this concept. XD

The album came together with a photo booklet.

Look at the ridiculous make-up of his, so colorful and weird yet very amusing. Lol.

Friday, September 6, 2013

First Impression: Heartless City Episode 3

Start. The beautiful view of the city yet full of dark elements around it. The theme of this drama is highlighted through the expressive contrast between black and orange that is evidently used in the cinematography. I see it as a good thing, I learned how to appreciate the tone of the mood that it wants to project. Usually, I am not a fan of sensible action dramas and such but this one is an exception.  Good job!

Who is Doctor's Son and why is he so heartless? Is this everything that is within his sense of being? Definitely not, I knew that I would be extracting more of him in the next episodes but why does he speak like that? It feels as if he's going to dominate this world as the King of all drug-lords. He speaks so highly, confident, fearless, and furthermore, heartless. I feel the need to know more of him, and find the reasons why he's doing this. Who is he exactly and what is his major drive for doing this?

Gyung Mi made this for Soo Min's hearty breakfast. I love the heart shaped egg she put on top of the kimchi fried rice which definitely looked tasty and made me crave for some Korean food. Why do k-dramas do this to me?

A letter that Gyung Mi wrote to Soo Min saying she's sorry for misunderstanding her - that is she's working as a hostes. Read Reference - Episode 1

Freestyle Post: I keep on thinking of TVXQ before I go to sleep. I can't sleep.


Hi, I've been lying awake here for the past hour. I wanted to try sleeping early and take advantage of my mood but then I have committed one of the habits that I should quit before trying. That is to check twitter. As I didn't realize it beforehand, unfortunately I did. I'm regretting it now because it triggered a lot of emotions from me. 

I decided to give myself a chance and tweet my feelings so I could finally call it a day. But little to my expectations, my sleepiness faded together with my desire to sleep early. Now, I don't feel any sign of sleepiness, only a bit. That's why I was led here. I thought that if I write it down, I could leave my thoughts behind and sleep.

So what exactly is the reason? I don't know, it's weird but the root cause of it is my endless and overflowing love for TVXQ. Even though it sounded immature, I would accept it because I am rich of emotion when it comes to them. A spectrum of happiness to sadness and endearment to hatred. I don't know where exactly do I put my current emotion towards them but I'm sure that it's nothing pleasant for this hour. It's okay to me but not in my time of sleep, thank you.

I'm weird but it makes it even weirder that I'm making an entry about it. I don't even care how this is being constructed right now or if I am making sense because I'm really frustrated. I know that everything boils down to missing them though. Yes, maybe I'm just feeling their absence. Like I said in my previous tweets about JYJ that I miss them appearing on TV programs because apparently, a strike has been upon their career by the broadcast stations. To give it a picture, the whole music industry is  ganging up against them which I find unfair, rude, and inhumane. What do you think?

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

First Impression: Heartless City Episode 2

Heartless City Episode 1 - Character Introduction

When this drama introduced the names of our gangsters: Doctor's Son, Safari, Pusan, Meth Kim, etc, I was really amused with their creativity to make up names. Where in the world did those come from? That's one of the reasons why I loved the series even more. 

In the field of drugs, there's also a competition that happens among the druggies. Hmm, it's getting interesting now. Even though we have an evident star, I wonder how far could this coup goes among them.

Cinematography wise, the series is amazing. Maybe, I was too amazed because it exceeded my expectations, actually.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Review: I Hear Your Voice

Watch It Online!

Synopsis: 

Park Soo Ha (Lee Jong Suk) is a high school student with an extraordinary ability to read the thoughts of people, that are running through their mind. The ability was acquired after the traumatic accident that happened to him 11 years ago which caused the death of his father. At first, it was speculated that the accident was a simple hit and run case but in the long run, it was found out to be deliberate. The suspect insisted otherwise; however there was a witness who could prove his guilt and that lies in the evidence of a picture that she captured at the scene. That witness was Jang Hye Sung (Lee Bo Young) who bravely showed herself in the court. Eleven years later, she became a public defense attorney. Meanwhile the suspect, Min Jong Guk, was bailed out of his charges. Everything was normal and peaceful until Min Jong Guk appeared to seek retaliation.

First Impression:

I had high expectations for this series and so, I was really excited to watch the first episode. I knew that Park Soo Ha is nowhere an ordinary child, but that ability of his is really cool. I would want to have that special skill to be mine. But then, it was quite irrational most especially with the kind of setting that they have – school and the trial court. I found it hard for me to accept that kind of set up. So, I was curious about so many things which included: on how they would rationalize the fantasy element and on what exactly is its essence to the story. Well, that ability which is to ‘hear your voice’ and that can be translated to ‘read your mind’ speaks loudly about the title but I needed further extraction of details to it. I was doubtful about the whole thing but then I knew that those doubts were beneficial to the series because I developed my curiosity towards it. However, it’s one of the series that I quickly wanted to put an end into because the cinematography wasn't that impressive. Yes, the story caught my attention, Lee Jong Suk was getting my interest already but it was only until episode 2 that I appreciated him. The cinematography was only a bit underwhelming as compared with its immense popularity among viewers.