Wednesday, January 27, 2016

179. Reply 1988 응답하라 1988 (2015) Korean

Lee Hyeri, Ryu Jun Yeol, Go Kyung Po, Park Bo Gum, Lee Dong Hwi

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

Well that was a perfectly wonderful drama that fell flat on its face in the end.  Everything was wonderful until they finally did a time jump.  Then all the sudden they tried too hard to wraps things up too suddenly.  You know, the things they'd been neglecting while they spent more time on the gloriously awesome other things.  I mean neglecting all the romance in favor of family and community matters.  Don't get me wrong, I loved the family and community matters.  This show was one big neighborhood romance as opposed to a romance or love triangle.  Well that's what I thought it was until they forced it back into a love triangle husband hunt in the last few episodes.  Narratively, the romance didn't make sense.  I have no idea why they wrote it that way.  Why would they make us care about one person so much that they completely neglected building up the person who was actually going to end up married to her?  Mmmm, no.  Not okay with it.  I cared about every single character in this drama.  I was absolutely in love with Jung Bong, and Samcheonpo (Kim Sung Kyun), and Cheetah Ahjumma, and Jin Joo.  All five of the kids.  Literally everyone was compelling.  Their stories together, the little mundane things.  All of it was so good.  The only thing that wasn't good was the way they handled the romance.  It was like the battle of the 2nd male leads.  They made us care about Jung Hwan by showing us his feelings from episode 1, and then they made both him and Taek do nothing... for the rest of the series.  We never knew what Deok Sun was thinking.  She ended up being an impressionable girl who married the only guy who ever actually did something, after 6 years of doing nothing because the writers are lame, and we never knew what she was feeling the whole time.  I might have given this show a 9 or a 10 if the ending hadn't been so lame, but that really leaves the last impression, doesn't it?  I was actually so angry at the way they played so mercilessly with my emotions that I didn't even want to finish episode 19, and if it wasn't for Jung Bong's scenes being next I probably wouldn't have.  They literally spent so much time making me hurt for Jung Hwan that I literally didn't care about anything else.  That's just messed up.  Literally the only good thing that happened after the time jump to 94 was Sseuregi Oppa.  The end.  They needed to balance the romance with the neighborhood love so we actually have time to care about the couple.  We needed to see the couple grow, not have their love force fed to us in the last two episodes.  Like, they literally rammed it down our throats in such a way that even if I was team Taek I wouldn't have been satisfied.  Like seriously no.  Very badly done.  Narratively, it was a huge slap to the face to all characters involved.  I mean, Cheetah Ahjumma going through menopause was more compelling than the love story, and that is a fact.  So the ending gets a 1 or a 2.  The rest of the series gets a 9 or a 10 (because they made me love them) so that evens out to a 7 or 8.  Since I want to be generous and try to not let the bad aftertaste taint how fun the rest of the show was, I will make it an 8, but that is being very generous on my part.  (She's not even sitting next to him in this poster!)

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

192. Falling For Challenge 도전에 반하다 (2015) Korean

Kim So Eun, Xiumin, Jang Hui Ryoung, Jang Yoo Sang

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A-

This was another cute, short web drama.  I like Kim So Eun, so I thought I might as well watch it since, with 6 nine minute episodes, it is only an hour long.  That always makes things rushed, especially in the romance department.  But this was about working together and growing together.  It's about a struggling club that's purpose is to take on challenges.  It only has two members, both girls, but magically it gets two boys to join (hmm, two boys and two girls?).  One of them is Xiumin, who is a mime, or Pierrot as they call it, in training.  Anyway, I spent the whole show being weirded out by all the people that Xiumin reminds me of.  Basically I would describe it as this: If G-Dragon and Baek Jin Hee were to have a love child... and if Yoon Doo Joon was somehow also related, or at least around to train him in facial expressions, then that about sums him up.  At least I know why he is one of my friend's Exo bias (especially when she also loves G-Dragon) because he's cute and has a great smile.  But he also looks like he's twelve, so I only want to pat him on the head and tell him he's cute, that is all.  It was a good little web drama.  I liked the documentary style.  It made it a bit different, so that was nice.

Friday, January 22, 2016

My Secret K-Biases, Ridiculous Dislikes, and People I Can't Take Seriously

I don't know why I am not completely honest with my feelings, even down to the celebrity crush level.  I guess I am just a compulsive emotional liar, especially to myself, haha.  You know when you secretly like someone but it's so secret that you don't even tell yourself?  It's not just me, right? ... Ahem.  Well, I do this all the time, and then when I finally realize it and admit it, I'm suddenly like "why did I never...?" or "I can't believe I didn't just admit this..." or "what was I thinking?"


I also have unreasonable dislikes for people.  Sometimes they are based on an impression from a drama that remains long after they are no longer playing that character, but I still can't separate them from that character, and sometimes it is because I think their face looks creepy.  I tell you, they are unreasonable and also a total joke (because I actually don't hate them as people or anything, I just like to hate on them).  I also have people that I just can't take seriously and will lovingly laugh every time I see them do anything... anything at all.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Aladdin and the Three Amigos: Chuno is Full of Nicknames

We are the three aAAAAAAAAmigos!  And amigos forever we'll be.... EEEEEEEEEEE!


That was literally the first thing that popped into all of our heads as we started the first episode of Chuno.  And with these three amigos being shirtless hotties, we were excited to watch... at first.  Oh Chuno, so good, yet so draggy.  Once I hit episode 11, it was awesome, but getting to that point was frustrating.  It was frustrating after that too.  But the thing that was consistently good, despite the near misses and frustrating no talk just fight and die mentality, was how good the characters were.  We had names for all of them, like usual.  And even the ones I hated most of the time made me cry by the end.  Nice development.

Friday, January 15, 2016

Curdy and MarlubsGD's Weird Dreamland Adventures

This one deserved its own post because it was kind of long and kind of ridiculous.


I mean, you can't get much crazier than Curdy's dream here...

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

187. My Girl 마이 걸 (2005) Korean

Lee Dong Wook, Lee Da Hae, Lee Joon Ki, Park Si Yeon

Drama Rating: 5/10 Neck Score: A-

I started this because I have a goal to watch all the Hong Sister's dramas eventually, but also because I needed more fluffy, trope romcoms in my life. You know the kind with forced living situations and ridiculous relationship deals, etc. I've been watching too many melodramas of late. Well, for the first half this really fit the bill, besides being highly laughable while looking at the early 2000s clothing styles and bad hair. I thought Lee Da Hee was Song Hye Kyo from Full House at first because their character styles are literally the same.  Awful.  The curly pigtails and mismatched quirky homespun look.  Shudder.  I'm glad she stopped the pigtails.  They turned a normally sexy woman into a nauseating aegyo fest.  I seriously thought Joon Ki was a girl at one point when I wasn't paying attention closely, because his hair was so bad. Ugh, the mullets. Yuck. That put a minus on the general A score of their necks.  It was fun at first, but super draggy to get to the main point, with them actually falling in love and wanting to get together, and then after they finally did (it took like 12 episodes) they were immediately ripped apart and the rest of the show became a mopey, draggy, mess of boring and overly dramatic. I was so bored trying to finish it.  And the 2nd leads hung on for way too long.  No, stop making my Joon Ki pathetic!  I only want happy Joon Ki and no drunk sad Joon Ki!  Boo.  I do have to say that minus the awful hair Lee Don Wook looks better in this one... tan and not overly pasty like recent dramas he's been in.  Why is he so white these days?  Well, it was fun in spots, but this drama was definitely meh at best.

Friday, January 8, 2016

182. Love Me, If You Dare 他来了请闭眼 (2015) Chinese

Wallace Huo, Ma Sichun, Edward Zhang, Wang Kai, Andrew Yin

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A++

I'm impressed.  This actually managed to creep me out a little at one spot.  Like I got little chills and thought "maybe I shouldn't be watching this alone at night" like I was.  But the fact that this was go good in spite of the horrific English speaking actors that had overly large parts in this is impressive too.  The second half of the show takes place in the U.S. so it is chalked full of actors speaking English who are supposed to be American.  There was that Susan FBI Profiler who was better than most English speaking actors in an Asian drama in the fact that she at least tried to sound American, but she also sounded like she was trying to sound cool and sexy all the time.  Then there was the dude from internal affairs who was clearly Russian and struggled with pronouncing his lines.  He acted a bit better than most.  There were a few others who just made me laugh every time they were on screen, like Dr. Barnes and that old dude... hahaha.  But a show can be better than its English speaking actors, which is a relief.  This show was full of hot Chinese men, such as Wallace Huo, who I started the show for.  He was a good pick for this egotistical criminal profiler with a potential dark side, since he plays creepy, egotistical, and cute all really well.  His creepy side is even sexy, which is true but weird to say out loud.  Then of course there is Wang Kai, who has a blessed jawline.  But the neck I fell for the most was Andrew Yin (Yin Zhen) also known as Cute Neck or the Baby GD Best Friend.  I thought he was just cute at first, and then I saw him in a polo and was a goner... happy sigh... Ahem, back to the important part.  The show itself.  There were lots of nice plot twists and darkness.  It certainly didn't hold back in the gruesome crimes department.  They were all pretty bad, which was good for a crime drama, and then when it started getting really psychological in the plot twists, I liked it even more.  There were several times when I thought everyone was going to die it was so good.  Like everyone.  But then there were also really confusing moments with... alternate endings?  I'm not really sure what was going on there.  Like what could have happened and then what really did?  Still confused about that.  Oh well. Also, some of the solutions seemed a bit fantastical.  Well... I guess it goes both ways when it comes to predicting what the hero or villain will do.  I could predict some things, but other things were not necessarily surprising, but not typical, which is generally good.  Basically it was a good, dark, psychological crime romance with good plot twists, plenty of blood, and a bunch of English speaking actors that just have to be tolerated because the rest of the show is good.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

181. Oh My Venus 오 마이 비너스 (2015) Korean

So Ji Sub, Shin Min Ah, Yoo In Young, Jung Gyu Woon, Henry Lau, Sung Hoon

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

This was way better than I thought it was going to be.  I mean, shows about weight loss and having to change your image to find love and happiness are blech to me in typically.  But I love So Ji Sub and Shin Min Ah, and them together was sure to be worth something even if the plot was meh.  But it surprised me.  It wasn't about getting a makeover and getting a man.  It was about being healthy and healing, but it was more about total healing, like attitude, heart, emotional, etc.  The OTP was better than expected too.  What genuine people.  They were both people who weren't going to put up with crap, we honest about how they felt and especially about each other.  He fell in love with her way before she lost weight and suddenly became beautiful, so when he saw her dimples for the first time, that was cute.  They were overly cute and not in a bad way.  In fact there was really no one to hate in this show, unless it be that step-uncle, the grandma, PD Ex, and naturally the stalker pervert.  But even they were only mild hates.  They generally made everyone redeemable.  I actually was just as invested in the second leads romance as I was in the main leads.  I love Yoo In Young, so much that I looked to her for inspiration in my latest hair style.  So I liked that her character was not just bitca in this one, but that she had the issues she was dealing with (however badly she was) and we were more anxious about her bad decisions than about hating her.  And Wiener Thinker was surprisingly a nice guy and not the d-bag ex we expected him to be.  I loved them together and was more frustrated about them at the end, and whether they would get together or not, than anything else.  You know you have a good set of couples when every one of them makes you say "those two! Oh!" when they are doing something cute.  Then of course Henry and Sung Hoon were adorable and sexy.  Basically there was a decent set of characters which made up for any plot holes (why did there have to be a car accident and a year recovery gap?  Huh?) and silliness.  There was only one episode that was insufferable and made us tweet to get through it, and even that one wasn't that bad.  So basically if you want good chemistry and a couple that isn't afraid to express themselves, this is probably a good option.  I mean, how many other dramas have the girl seducing the guy?  Repeatedly?  So even if it had a few cheesy parts and a few head scratching moments, it was better than most romcoms I've seen.  Good job.

More of MarlubsGD's K-Dreamland Adventures

I know I said I was going to have Lizabreff's dreamland adventure next, but she honestly doesn't have them as often, and certainly doesn't write them down as much, so instead I will share a bunch of dreams I had over the last little bit.


There is less interaction because of how busy and how ridiculously different our schedules are these days.  Sigh.  It makes drama watching together extremely difficult.  Sad day.  Well, at least I can dream.

184. Never Die 그녀는 200살 (2015) Korean

Nam Ji Hyun, Ji Eun Sung, Kim Yoon Bae, Yoon Jin Yeong

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

Well this was a cute little drama.  Emphasis on little.  It is super short and very faced pace.  It was so short that I forgot I watched it and am only writing the review for it now, when I watched a couple weeks ago.  The plot is really short too.  Basically, baby faced dude falls in love with a girl who died saving him, only she didn't die because she's immortal.  She falls for him, but is worried that she'll just get attached and feel sad when he leaves her.  There is also a best friend who gives him advice and a weird magician who made her immortal until she can find true love or something.  The resolution happens really fast too.  I mean, it's only like 5 episodes long, so of course it's fast.  Still it's cute and funny, so worth the short amount of time you would invest in it.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

150. Chuno 추노 (2010) Korean

Jang Hyuk, Oh Ji Ho, Lee Da Hae, Gong Hyung Jin, Lee Jong Hyuk

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

I started out watching this with Curdy and Lizabreff, because Curdy loves Jang Hyuk and Lizabreff and I had been planning on watching it eventually anyway.  Well, that lasted about 8 episodes.  Then, after a long break, I had to continue on alone until the end.  Because the first eight episodes are basically the same thing over and over, with a lot of action and way too many near misses.  There are so many near misses that it is ridiculous.  I wanted to get violent with an ice pick, as tweeted by me: "The sheer # of near misses in #Chuno is making me want to stab things with an ice pick. You know, like ice and stuff."  But we literally stopped right as it got really good, instead of just actiony good.  Even though there were still so many more near misses and people drove me crazy with their stubborn nobility and pride (yeah, I'm talking about you, Arms).  And while they did kill like everyone off, they didn't kill off all my favorites, like I thought they did.  They literally make you think everyone will die, but it's not a completely sad ending... well... it kind of is, but it leaves you with hope and stuff.  It raises a lot of questions about equality and humanity, and also about life and death.  I have to admit that I never really paid attention during the politics talks by all the bad dudes, so I'm not 100% sure of the motivation behind some of the dastardly plots.  I really don't know why they did some of the lousy things they did.  I just know the outcomes and stuff.  I might need to read some recaps of some episodes, haha.  This is a bad habit of mine while watching sageuks.  I don't do those boring court and politics scenes well.  I do have to say that everyone did an amazing job acting and all the characters were good enough to deserve nicknames, so that is a mark of a good drama character-wise.  They made most of the main characters sympathetic at some point.  Even Basket Head (Lee Jong Hyuk), although that wasn't always the case.  I hated him a lot in certain scenes (leave Monkey and Secretary Ko alone!).  It was a good, but long and very involved show.  Very emotional in spots and very, very actiony in others.  Kind of a dude show like 95% of the time.  So... good overall, just a bit draggy about certain plots, and pretty predictable too, even though it is not stereotypical.  It is 24 episodes long.






Friday, January 1, 2016

What the Heck Did I Just Watch? Kpop MVs of 2015 That Left Us Feeling Weirded Out

It's the end of 2015, and there were a lot of what the heck Kpop MVs this year.  The kind that makes you wonder as you watch them "What the heck am I watching" and at the end you are still left with that blank expression of WTF.


What in the freak are they?  Well, here are some of 2015's that fit that bill.