350. The Untamed 陈情令 (2019) Chinese

Xiao Zhan, Wang Yibo

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A+++

Oh my gosh, obsessed! I literally watched it as fast as my schedule would allow, because it is very addictive. I am a bit glad that I waited until it was over (just because I was drama lazy and in a funk in general) because I could binge it as much as I wanted, but I am also a bit sad because I was late to the game and didn't get to join the live tweeting and conversation. I also knew a bit of what was going on because I had followed it so closely on Twitter. But it is totally worth all the hype. I haven't seen such a compelling story line in a while. Also didn't hurt that it was full to the brim with extremely handsome men, the major portion of which were also decent actors (there is also that handful that are not, but whatever, it's fine).

So it is a fantasy cultivation genre, where everyone is an immortal hero in training, so if you've seen any of those types of dramas, you'll be familiar with that, but what I like is that it spins that on it's head, since the story is about the "Untamed Hero" who isn't conventional to this cultivation and it raises the question of what is true. So there is a lot of mob mentality as people fear what they do not know, and also a lot of power hungry jerks who are willing to throw people to the mobs for their own gain. Basically there is a bunch of injustice and you might cry a time or two as crap happens in abundance. But, the storytelling of it makes it worth it. I remember wishing and wondering why certain villains had stayed alive as long as they did, but the pace was nice and there were several different arcs with different villains, so no one villain stayed alive for too long. Just longer than I wanted sometimes.

288. Hwayugi 화유기 (2018) Korean

Lee Seung Gi, Cha Seung Won, Oh Yeon Seo, Lee Hong Ki

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

Why does it have to be a thing when the Hong Sisters have a really great, funny drama that you're all invested in and then when it comes to the climax it's underwhelming and then takes a nosedive to mediocre in the last few episodes? Why does that have to be a consistent thing?! It's like they paint themselves into a corner they can't get out of without a bunch of crap happening. I hated the last few episodes of Master's Sun and Big. I think I may have even mentioned this in the review for The Greatest Love (which is one of the few that doesn't fall into that trap). Hwayugi is no exception. By the last episode we were not having it, it was boring and unnecessary, and we only made it through it through cracking jokes about how boring and lame it was. No one wants a series worth of mopiness shoved into the last episode. What makes it worse is that it was so good up until the last bit, where it fell flat on its face. So good that I probably would have given it an 8, but the ending knocked it down a whole point, and I had to think hard on the rest of the show to give it a 7. It almost went as low as a 6, that is how lame the ending was.

Korean Movie Night: Hyung, aka My Annoying Brother, 형 (2016) Korean

Jo Jung Suk, Do Kyung Soo, Park Shin Hye

Movie rating: 8/10     Neck score: A

Can I just say that the genres assigned to Korean movies are all lies?  They say it's a comedy, and then you're crying by the end.  Such liars!  Well, I guess that's why this one is labelled a comedy drama, which seems like a walking contradiction, but trust me, it does it and does it well.  The situation itself is both comedic and sad, as it is about a conman (Jo Jung Suk) who uses his younger brother's sudden blindness as an excuse to get out on parole.  To make matters worse, his younger brother (Do Kyung Soo) was a judo athlete training for the Olympics when the injury happened.  Talk about depressing right there, but then there is the conman comedic element that makes it also weirdly funny.  It's just a mix of lots of emotions.  Plus you have some of my favorite actors.  I have always had nothing but praise for both of these boys, and their brotherly chemistry is the best.  Bromance between real brothers is the best.  I love seeing families coming together.  I was super impressed with Kyung Soo's ability to act blind.  I believed it.  I also loved how they look enough alike to be half brothers.   They were just great.  Park Shin Hye was... okay.  Like usual.  I liked the pace of the story, as well as the comedy.  The timing was pretty great.  Then the emotions!  Wah!  So many emotions!  All the emotions in the world!  I think I might have felt them all!  Haha, maybe an exaggeration, but hey, I am obsessed with these boys.  Jo Jung Suk makes me feel things.  It was definitely a good one that I would recommend watching, especially if you happen to love these boys as much as I do.

Just a Moment of Cuteness with Louie-ya

So maybe I just needed to make this post so I could post these gifs that I made to be more shareable for Lizabreff's birthday, but since Louie is going to be mopey soon, or at least more dramatic, I wanted to relive some of the cuteness for a bit, because Louie.

This show is so delightful, so I just wanted to show some love before it might make me change my mind.  Hopefully not.

K-Drama Cameos FTW!

I recently started watching Squad 38, and to my delight, Kim Sung Oh made a cameo appearance in episode 2.  This got me thinking of how much I love cameos.  This stems all the way back to when I was a kid and watching the Muppet Movie and the Great Muppet Caper, etc, which are full of wonderful cameos.  This probably makes me appreciate all the lovely cameos in K-dramas as well.

So I made a list of all the cameos that I especially loved, and some that even made me watch the drama just so I could see the cameo, which is pretty much the most ridiculous thing ever.

186. Bromance 愛上哥們 (2015) Taiwanese

Baron Chen, Megan Lai, Bii, Li Shao Xiang, Yuan Chen, Mandy Tao

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A+

This was not a great drama.  It wasn't even that good.  What it was was super sexy.  I mean there is super hot Baron Chen constantly making sexy eyes at Megan Lai, like from episode 1, when he is supposed to think that she was a man.  He was still pretty visibly hitting on her, which is weird, but since she wasn't a man it was like "instinctive"...?  I guess.  Well, as weird as it was it made it very, very addictive.  The chemistry between that couple was great.  Also, there was good interactions with the side characters for the most part.  Also, can I say something about Baron Chen's hair.  It's super amazing.  I like want to touch it.  Sadly, Bii's story line was pretty boring.  They didn't even kiss, which was lame because she tried to hint to him that he needed to, but he didn't still.  I wonder if it just got cut out or if they needed to keep them the "innocent" couple since the main couple was clearly gender bending and on the sexy passionate side.  That little baby doll girl was pretty annoying too.  She was just all over the place and pretty lamely written.  Oh well.  There was the lovely Bii soundtrack, which makes up for that, because Bii has an angel voice.  He even like live voiced it once and it was amazing then too.  I'm still pulling for Sean Lee (Li Shao Xiang) as a male lead.  Let's see, he went from 3rd couple dude in Love Family to 2nd couple chef dude in Love Myself or You, now he is 2nd male lead in this... can he be a male lead in 2016, please?  #SeanLeeForMaleLead2016!  He is in a show but it looks like he's the 2nd lead/2nd couple from the poster.  Anyway, ahem.  The plot was dumb.  They threw a bunch of gangster crap, cancer crap, awkward love triangle, pretty much everything, but none of it so intensely that the show was actually about it.  It was basically about them falling in love, which is good, but that meant that it was a little all over the place because everything got resolved so quickly, including the part where she lied to him about her gender... so it's not a good show, but it's addicting as candy, and about as fluffy as candy... so super enjoyable to watch.  Plus, Baron Chen's hair.  Woop.  Lizabreff was always commenting on his "bedroom eyes" which are magically sexy/sensual and adoring at the same time, which makes all of us swoon along with our lovely tomboy.  I love how she stays strong the whole time too, being super aggressive in the relationship too.  Anyway, it's enjoyable and that's about all I can give it, but hey, that's enough.

The Nicknames of The Heartless Cruel City

A while back I finally got around to watching Cruel City.  It was amazing.  My queue is filled with melodramas, dramas, and heavy thrillers that I want to watch but usually put off as I waste my time with the fluffy romcoms.  I get around to them eventually, but not as quickly as they deserve.  But I'm glad I finally got around to this one, because it was really good.

I actually really love crime noir things, which is why I try to save them for a special time, when I can really savor them, but it usually turns out that I never have time for them and end up not watching them for forever.  I'm learning to just start them and make time for them.  Because they will be that good.  One thing that is always good about crime noir is the rich assortment of characters who all deserve a great set of nicknames.  Half of them only have nicknames in the show anyway, because that is apparently how the crime world works.

174. I Am Sorry, I Love You 我的鬼基友 (2015) Taiwanese

Jasper Liu, Bryant Chang, Andrea Chen, Zhang Yan Ming, Joanne Deng

Drama Rating: 2/10     Neck Score: A

I hated this show.  Bros before hoes, man!  They ruined one of the best bromances of all time because of some stupid twisted fate crap they tried way too hard to sell.  I didn't believe the characterless girl with the nerd for one second.  NOT ONE SECOND!  In fact they wasted so much time giving us all the drippy backstory with the ghost and the girl that all we wanted was for him to be alive again so he wouldn't be hurting anymore (didn't care about her one way of the other she didn't have any character).  Well, I guess her character was "nice and pretty" and "not afraid of ghosts" and "guilt complex."  I was shipping the childhood friend and the nerd so hard I had dreams about it.  They even made her in love with him, but then dropped it so hard it made me cry.  The end made me cry too.  Half because it was like beautifully tragic... well not even half, just partly, but mostly because I was so freaking pissed off!  They didn't even get to hug!  They were never alive at the same time!  I'm so angry!  I even waited a while to write this and I'm still too angry!  Ahhhhhh!  Either don't waste time on making us invested in the past relationship or don't pull this kind of crap with me.  I didn't care about the nard and the girl's love story so much I think I skipped past most those scenes because they were too boring.  Just boring.  I didn't care much about her mothering him until it somehow it became a romance.  Nope, wasn't there.  And that red string of fate triangle... yuck.  Just barf.  I just wanted my bromace to be alive together and they ruined everything.  Hate, hate, hate.  That Aaron song still gets stuck in my head, and I loved the bromance, but the show was total crap.

Memery of 2014... 2015... It's Just Meme Time

Just for fun, I wanted to do a post of memes created mostly for shows in 2014, but maybe I didn't get around to making them until just now... haha.  I'm really lazy when it comes to getting pictures ready.

Anyways, here is some fun.