337. I Hate You, Juliet 너 미워! 줄리엣 (2019) Korean

Lee Hong Ki, Jung Hye Sung, Choi Woong

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A-

This was a ho hum drama. It didn't really do much and didn't have a lot to say for itself. It was shorter, 18 episodes that were only about 20 minutes long, so not a lot was bound to happen and of course what little did happen would be resolved super fast. But it had good ideas that just never went anywhere. If it weren't for the fact that I love Hong Ki and Hye Sung, I probably wouldn't have started it and definitely wouldn't have finished it. As it was I forgot I was watching it all the time and only when I was bored flipping through shows and it happened to be there did I remember it existed. So, it's not like I hated it or anything, it was just very forgettable.

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.

When Following Peeps on Instagram Makes You Like Them Less

Following my biases and other Korean and Taiwanese stars on Instagram and Twitter is generally a delight.  Countless hours have been wasted browsing their goofy, cute, and fun posts.  But then there is always the problem of a little TMI.  You get less impressed with them because of what they post.  This has happened to me one too many times to not write about.


It just so happens that the monotony or the stupidity of their posts just annoy us enough to where we end up thinking less of them to even not being able to take them seriously any more.

Still More Men Who Make Me Watch Dramas Against My Will: Sultry Voice Edition

Do I watch dramas just for the sultry voice of one of the male leads?  Why yes, yes I do.  Some men just have buttery, husky, velvety, and/or soothing voices that just make me what to listen to them while I watch whatever bad drama they are in.  Seriously, they need to stop seducing us (and by that I mean mostly me) with their sexy voices.  Dude.

Sometimes it's only their voice I find attractive *cough cough Lee Sun Gyun cough cough* but really isn't that enough.  I mean... that sexy voice.

Drama Picking Bias Syndrome

I've been called out on this before, and I probably won't stop doing it ever.  As much as I love Kpop, and I do at that, I have problems finding new bands or getting into their music, until I have a bias for that band.  I don't pick a bias until I have a reason to like them, and that reason usually comes from seeing them in a drama first.  I think it's possibly because I tend to just appreciate them as a collective until I know one of them enough to love him individually.

A prime example of this is my history of liking Super Junior.

122. Modern Farmer 모던파머 (2014) Korean

Lee Hong Ki, Park Min Woo, Lee Si Un, Kwak Dong Yeon, Lee Ha Nui

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: B

I just need to forget the last 15 min, because they tried to be funny and it failed, which is weird because it was only time they've ever failed at being funny, in my opinion.  It was like they didn't know how to end it, especially in the romance department, so they tried to make it cyclical.  Whatever, it was a super lame that bumped this show from a 8 to an 7.  I think it didn't help that I had to wait a whole week for the final episode due to a scheduling thing, which heightened the anticipation for nothing.  But this show was still amazing.  I have not laughed so much at something in a very long time, everyone was awesome, and the running jokes were hilarious.  This show was truly delightful, but had a hard time wrapping up, so we'll just pretend that never happened and love the rest of the show for it's hilarious and perfect comedy.

82. Bride of the Century 백년의 신부 (2014) Korean

Lee Hong Ki, Yang Jin Sung, Sung Hyuk, Jang Ah Young

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A+

Lee Hong Ki totally made this drama!  Unfortunately it suffered from some bad writing at the end, probably because they wanted it to be 20 episodes and it ended up 16.  Ouch, that's a badly rushed ending.  But the show itself was great.  Hong Ki being the jerk chaebol was awesome.  About time he played the leading man.  Rawr.  He was honestly so adorable.  So it's one of those doppelganger shows where the girl looks exactly like this other girl so she has to pretend to be her.  There is this curse on the family that the first wife of the  first son always dies on the wedding night, so the family of the fiancee has to get this doppelganger girl to take their daughter/sister's place as she ran away from the threat of death.  The two girls look exactly alike, and Hong Ki didn't even like/know his fiancee enough to notice them being switch, unless you count the fact that all the sudden he finds himself attracted to his fiancee when he never liked her before.  Their falling in love parts are so cute.  He's got some nice character development as you discover why he has locked his heart away at first, and why he falls in love with her.  There is the ghost of the curse element which makes it super interesting (until they have to rush the end to explain that part, oh well).  Also, I loved the way they handled the part where he finds out he's been lied to and that he's in love with the doppelganger and not his actual fiancee, that was refreshingly awesome.  Really, this show is great, and the ending isn't so bad, it was just so rushed that it was weird, because the very last episode is super draggy too.  Just the last two episodes are lame, and not so much that this show is bad.  It's actually still very good and Lee Hong Ki.  I love Lee Hong Ki.

21. Muscle Girl! マッスルガール! (2011) Japanese

Ichikawa Yui, Lee Hong Ki

Drama Rating: 3/10     Neck Score: B-

Lee Hong Ki is like the only man in it.  There are just a bunch of women wrestlers so Hong Ki's neck = A the lack of other necks brings the score down.  I watched it because I wanted to see a drama where Hong Ki was the lead, since he was my favorite from You're Beautiful, but this was just silliness.  It's about Girl's Pro Wrestling in Japan, and there is like zero romance type deal in it.  I seriously don't get why they felt the need to even put Lee Hong Ki in it.  He was a runaway Kpop star who was looking for his mom the whole time.  He was so obsessed with that, that he didn't notice that the lead girl had the hots for him, so that never happened.  Also, the drama surrounding the wrestling school was super lame.  It was only 10 episodes, but none of the drama was very compelling, except maybe wanting Hong Ki to find is mom, but even that was not so huge.  Oh well.  Hong Ki made some cute faces, as he was squashed while being a ref for the girls.

3. You Are Beautiful 미남이시네요 (2009) Korean

Park Shin Hye, Jang Geun Suk, Lee Hong Ki, Jang Yong Hwa

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

Hong Sisters save drama for me!  This one is delightful, ridiculous, but really fun to watch.  It also has lots of attractive boys in it, so it was just what I needed after the last drama I watched.  Nun dresses as her twin brother to join a kpop boy band?  Yes, please.  As girls dressed as guys go, this one is probably one of the funnier.  Also, super props go to both Jang Geun Suk and Lee Hong Ki for playing their parts so delightfully well.  This one is fluffy, but a good kinda fluffy.