Drama of the Tropes: My Mii Reenactments of Kdrama Stereotypes

Recently, my friends got me addicted to Miitomo.  It's a hilarious social media type app where your Mii avatars can make friends with your real life friend's Mii avatars, ask each other questions, change clothes, play games to win more clothes, and then you can take pictures of your Mii.  Yeah, you can take pictures of your Mii doing all sorts of things.

Couples Outfits

It started with me making a Mii boyfriend, Kwang Soo, to be in my pictures with me, and then I started recreating famous drama stereotypes with my Mii.

More K-Dreamland Adventures with Marlubs and Lizabreff: Hello 2016 Dreams!

So far 2016 has been good to us in the K-dream department.  So many good dreams featuring our favorite K-pop and K-drama stars.  Apparently there is nothing more validating and helpful than a superstar K-pop group telling us we are awesome and amazing, or having a K-superstar saving us from gangsters.

Hurray for the best kinds of dreams.

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.

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.

175. Bubblegum 풍선껌 (2015) Korean

Lee Dong Wook, Jung Ryeo Won, Lee Jong Hyuk, Park Hee Bon, Bae Jong Ok

Drama Rating: 6.5/10     Neck Score: A

tvN needs to stop advertising shows as fluffy RomComs when they are emotional cry fests.  I had a feeling this one would be a cry fest, but I didn't expect it to be 75% crying.  All of the drama was literally family and disease related and the love triangles were not even existent.  You just felt sorry for the other peeps because they didn't really ever have a chance.  Like ever.  That's what you get when the lifelong BFFs finally realize that they should just date.  So, the mom drama was frustrating.  But that actress did a fairly good job with the Alzheimer's believability.  She was the nicest more innocent Alzheimer's patient, but whatever.  I was just glad that she wasn't putting a torn in the romance.  While I'm not like a huge fan of Lee Dong Wook, I do think he's a great actor.  I'm just not in love him with like Lizabreff and her mom are.  But, he and Jung Ryeo Won (who I am a big fan of) were literally one of the cutest couples ever.  They did the BFF/practically siblings turned lovers perfectly.  You knew how much they loved each other and how comfortable they felt with each other.  It was perfect.  However, them being torn apart for that many episodes was way too much crying.  Gosh, that needed to stop.  Then when it did, and it was all cute, suddenly it was over.  So it was a little draggy and anti-climatic?  I don't know.  It seemed like their break up was over nothing, because it was.  Whatever, I guess they learned from it and grew up a little.  Sweet and cry fest about sums it up.

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.

The Summer of Action Dramas: or My Beautiful Bad-A Boys

I feel like the only shows this summer were action thriller types.  Well, the only good ones anyways.  Just kidding, I did watch some romcoms and melodramas, like Warm and Cozy and High Society, but I avoided most of those boring melodramatic looking ones (even if everyone else seemed to like them ok, because no).  But even if there were lots of genres represented, the bulk of the good ones really were action/thriller/psychological/mystery.  And I wasn't disappointed either.  But I do have to admit that I am hankering for a good romcom now... or even a not good one, but I refuse to watch that one starring Ugly Man (aka Virtual Bride with Ryu Soo Young).  I just like mixing up my genres at once.  However, it still seems like the action thriller trend is going strong, probably because they're good.

It makes sense though, because what else will draw you to dramas in the middle of summer... either super cheesy fluff or hard core action.  I like that they went the action route because that meant lots and lots of beautiful bad-a boys.  Rawr.

KDrama Moments that Unintentionally Made Me Laugh

I finally finished the craziness that was Mask, and it had a lot of scream worthy moments.  The Bad guy was way too powerful and smart, and the way that everything was finally resolved was super lame.  However, until the lame preachy ending, it was as addicting as crack and had many moments that had me rolling.  As much as I hated the villain, I also loved him.  Mostly because he made faces like these:

How did no one spot that constant smirk that literally tells everyone he's the villain?  And he really knew how to play up the drama.  Especially when opening doors, peering through windows, or being a general creeper.  His door opening skills are literally my favorite part of that whole drama... unless you want to count like the OTP and all that stuff... haha.  But this situation is not alone in it's kind, I frequently find funny moments that make me laugh super hard when they really aren't supposed to be funny.  They just are!  And I just might have those spots cued up so I can watch them if I ever need a pick me up quick laugh.

The Adventures of Marlubs and Lizabreff in KDreamland: Episode 1

Lizabreff and I have a very special relationship where we have to tell each other everything (we're besties in real life and Kdrama world).  So every time we have a weird/cool/fun/bad dream, the first thing we do when we wake up is text the other person what happened in said dream.

A lot of the times these dreams are based on Kdramas, Kpop or other K-things.  Those ones are usually wonderful.


These are verbatim what was written in the texts (unless there was awful spelling mistakes- which happens in the early morning when texting- and I couldn't bear to leave them) so you get the full experience of our conversation.  So without further ado, here is episode 1, a dream I had several months ago, which is still arguably one of the best dreams ever.

Second Male Leads That Make Me Want to Punch Them in the Face

Second male leads are the necessity of all dramas it seems.  Even if there is no second female lead (which occasionally happens) there is rarely never a second male lead.  More often than not, these second male leads are adorable and give us the syndrome of loving them (almost) more than the male lead and being heartbroken for them that they never had any chance at all with the female lead.  However, at least a third of the time these second male leads come straight from the devil.  They are so freaking annoying that you just wish they didn't exist.

With the end of Soon Jung and My Unfortunate Boyfriend, it becomes necessary to compile a list in honor of these second males leads that we hate so much we want to punch them in the face every time they are on the screen.  EVERY SINGLE TIME.  Ugh.  So here are some of the worst I have seen.

152. Falling in Love With Soon Jung 순정에 반하다 (2015) Korean

Jung Kyung Ho, Kim So Yeon, Yoon Hyun Min

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A

The only thing that made this drama work was Jung Kyung Ho.  Seriously.  He made a total jerk cute and likable, and then his sudden transformation believable, and then totally cute.  Wow.  The plot was... yeah... not my favorite.  The whole return to me heart transplant crap... not cool.  However, it is sad to announce that this was probably the least lame part of this show.  I hated Fish Bangs (Yoon Hyun Min) so much, and the ridiculous dramatic crap of the show's other plot was just lame.  Murder investigation, potentially cool.  How they handled it, not cool at all.  It was basically just 10 episodes (at least) of Fish Bangs being super smart and one step ahead of everything, and being a smug jerk and then them miraculously getting the evidence they need at the very last minute.  Also, they never explained how the happy ending was quite possible.  They just sort of wrapped everything up in a bow.  However, despite all the crappiness, which basically equals a stagnant drawn out corporate makjang fest, the characters were fun (except for Fish Bangs who was one of the worst villains ever).  Well Soon Jung wasn't a very dynamic character, but not the worst I've seen.  She was never annoying and at least started out at a good place, even if she never really grew at all.  I really just fell in love with Kang Min Ho (Jung Kyung Ho), except I really miss his hair from the beginning.  Hair style change for the NOT win.  How could they mess with his luscious locks?  That swoop back of sexiness?  Sad day.  So basically I loved all the parts with Kang Min Ho in them, tolerated the ones with everyone else in them, and was yelling in anger and frustration at all the parts with Fish Bangs.  The problem was that Fish Bangs was in way too many scenes.  Oh well.  Whatever.

A Day in the Life of K-Drama Besties

Sometimes, it's the best thing in the world to have a best friend who is also a K-Drama addict.  K-Dramas are just part of our everyday life, and they work their way into our everyday conversation.  Such as when we are trying to figure out how to make our phones cooler (because of course we have couple phones).

Or when we are insulting each other in other languages, but using hangul to spell it out.  (시누 내구 or Shinu naegu = sinu nägu, which is "your face" in Estonian.  Which then lead to German and English "your faces," etc.)  Basically, we're just crazy and we love it.

Murphy's Law of Love: Sexy Stares and Skinship From Episode One

Taiwanese dramas are great.  But they are also even more tropey and formulaic than Korean dramas.  They tend to lean towards the fatey things way more.  They are super fluffy too, mostly.  But that is exactly their charm.  They are quick to the chemistry stuffs, giving us feels and awkward humor from episode one.

When discussing this, Lizabreff and I summarized that while Kdramas withhold to build the tension for the moment they get together (only to be broken up only moments later), Tdramas give you lots of moments with chemistry, sexual tension, and romantic humor, they drag the drama out with lots of ups and down.  They also have the one trick I absolutely hate.  The mid-series bitca.  I hate having the bitca show up right as things are going great.  Either have her there the whole time, or never there.

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.

A Perfect Couple of Episodes, Until it Suddenly Undergoes a Genre Change

So we start watching a Romantic Comedy Korean Drama, and we all know now that after episode 12ish that all the sudden the crap will hit the fan and no matter how funny the drama started out, it will suddenly be a melodrama (just think how Emergency Couple was supposed to be a RomCom, but the whole second half was complete melodrama... which was actually so much better than the comedy was).  I don't know if this is a case of the dramas being "Anthony'd" (King of Dramas reference) or if the basic plot has to do that to complete itself, but seriously.  When I start a RomCom, I'm looking for comedy and romance, not melodrama.  Not sad stuff.  Funny.  With kissing and couple cuteness.  Fluffiness.

I don't know what it is about Chinese/Taiwanese Dramas, but they seem to take the genre changing even more extreme than is typical for Korean Dramas. It's not even funny how all romantic comedies start out cute and funny and by the second half of the show they are suddenly melodramatic.  I've come to just accept that fact, but recently, there has been too many over the top genre changes for my taste.

23. Pasta 파스타 (2010) Korean

Gong Hyo Jin, Lee Sun Kyun, Lee Ha Nee, Alex Chu

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A

I hated her little bangs. They bothered me the whole show.  Her hair was ok when it was pulled back with her little hat, but when she had it down... ew.  I'm not a super big fan of Lee Sun Kyun, I think he has weird teeth, but he does have a sexy voice.  His character was annoying in this one though.  The plot was a bit draggy too.  But the food looked really good.  Also, there was plenty of eye candy in the chefs department, including No Min Woo and Choi Jin Hyuk.  If those are reasons to watch it, then do it.  It's just not the best drama in the world.  But it does have several good looking men (just not the lead) and will leave you craving Italian food.

20. Lie to Me 내게 거짓말을 해봐 (2010) Korean

Yoon Eun Hye, Kang Ji Hwan, Sung Joon

Drama Rating: 4/10     Neck Score: B

Well.  This show has a lot of good kissing in it.  That's about it.  Seriously, very badly written.  I have no idea what this show was going for, and it's probably the worst case of "Spazcakes" (my nickname for Yoon Eun Hye) ever.  She's like spazzing out the entire show, and for what?  I dunno.  Her character is just a spaz.  And the dude (as hot as he is, his neck is not my favorite) is so inconsistent.  I swear his character changed every episode.  The other chick was an annoying whiner who really got screwed over in the plot department, poor girl.  So the main couple makes out a bunch of times, he changes characters completely as soon as he falls in love, and then consistently keeps changing characters, and it is a cheesy kissy show.  It's supposed to be a plot based off of a lie, which forces them together and to act as a married couple, but that gets resolved too soon for the whole 16 episode thing, so then it just gets draggy until it finally ends.

19. Secret Garden 시크릿 가든 (2010) Korean

Hyun Bin, Ha Ji Won, Yoon Sang Hyun, Kim Sa Rang

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A

I know I probably had heard about the body switching plot before I watched it, but that was so long before I watched it that I totes forgot and so when they finally switched bodies (like episode 5 or 6) I was like: What?  But it's so good.  I've seriously watched this one so many times and each time it just keeps getting better.  I don't bother skipping anything when I rewatch it, which is how I usually rewatch shows unless I am showing them to people.  Even though it has almost every plot device ever, from evil moms to butt headed chaebols becoming sweet loves to amnesia/coma type deals, they make it work so well.  It's well written, well balanced, full of characters we love despite the flaws, and one of the best OSTs ever.  I might own that.  I'm only sad I didn't watch this sooner, I could have rewatched it a couple more times already.
Also, after you have watched this fully, you need to watch the Big Bang Parody of it... Smell!

18. Can Love Become Money? 사랑도 돈이 되나요 (2012) Korean

Yeon Jeong Hun,  Uhm Ji Won, Wang Bit Na, Jo Yeon Woo

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

I watched this because from the promo poster I thought the lead looked a bit like Junsu (JYJ/DBSK), which just makes me laugh now, but since I liked this one, I'm not sorry for my silly mistake.  There is some bet or will stipulation that needed him to get married before the year was out, so his uncle hires this girl (who is super in debt because of a conman boyfriend) to seduce him.  Pretty classy plot.  I love Yeon Jeong Hun.  He was really what made this silly show work for me.  He has some seriously good acting skills, and is super hot when he doesn't smile, which is usually opposite for me.  He's cute when he does smile, but after this show and Vampire Prosecutor it weirds me out to see him smile.  It has some serious weird plot twists, with birth secrets and hidden siblings/cousins/family and an other dude who can't decide if he's a bad dude or not, but the main couples relationship developed so beautifully that I endured the sillier parts just to see them interact.  I mean, him having her dress as a grandma when he notices that he's attracted to her is just classic.

16. Playful Kiss 장난스런 키스 (2010) Korean

Kim Hyun Joong, Jung So Min, Lee Tae Sung

Drama Rating: 3/10      Neck Score: A

I actually started watching this earlier, got 2 minutes into it, and stopped because it was so bad.  Then one holiday weekend, when I was feeling very low and needed something so bad, I just finished it.  It really was bad.  So cheesy, bad acting, silly plot.  (I've since read the manga and watched the Japanese and Taiwanese versions).  This is probably the worst version of this story, mostly because of the bad acting and weird writing choices, such as combining two characters to make one bad other chick.  The character I liked most was "Tae Moo" which is the character's name the actor played in Rooftop Prince, aka Bong Joon Gu (Lee Tae Sung).  He had hot hair and then later when he cut it, hotter hair.  Also a hot neck.  Kim Hyun Joong has a pretty face and hot neck, but he really can't act.  He looked blank the whole time, unless he was angry at her, and then he looked like he hated her.  Even after they were married I didn't believed one bit that he loved her.  She was just annoying.  Out of all the girls, she was the most annoying.  Just... no.  So hot men, but not worth the time.  If you must watch a show of this manga then I recommend the newest Japanese version first (Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo) and then the Taiwanese version (It Started with a Kiss).