Marlubs and Lizabreff (and Dongsaeng)'s Adventures: We MADE it to Vegas and saw BIGBANG!

Here it is, more than two weeks after that glorious weekend, and I am finally writing about it.  It all makes sense when I tell you how much work I had to put into being able to leave in the first place (like bribing coworkers) and how much catch up I did when I got back.  That is what grad school plus work will do to you.  Especially when I still wanted to play with my sister before she left.

But this was really a dream trip for us all.  Lizabreff and I went to the 2012 Alive Galaxy Tour in LA, so this was like part 2 of our BIGBANG adventures, but this was my Donsaeng's first Kpop concert, so it was like my first time all over again watching her be super excited and taking her fan girling to the next level.  Also, it was perfect because we all have our biases that we are obsessed with, so that gives me a good coverage of the concert from at least 3 bias views: G-Dragon, T.O.P and Daesung.

And yes, we went to ridiculous lengths to protect... our identities?  I guess that's what we're doing... Lizabreff wanted to (blame everything on her for the ridiculous stickers and photoshop that I didn't try to make look good at all... haha).  And these bias expressions are pretty much the same as our actual expressions anyway.

171. Noble, My Love 고결한 그대 (2015) Korean

Sung Hoon, Kim Jae Kyung, Park Eun Suk, Kim Dong Suk

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

Pure fan service.  It was basically the Sung Hoon is a sexy, sexy man show.  It was a fluffy little love/hate love story, and since it was a web drama, with twenty 15 min long episodes, it gets right to the tension and chemistry, with plenty of shirtlessness to oogle at. Sung Hoon's voice is super sexy.  Their chemistry is good.  She is a good kind of plucky, and she stays plucky the whole time.  Everyone else is a bit annoying at times, but never in it for long, so no biggie.  That other dude though.  He was lame.  Just a plot device to make sexy voiced Sung Hoon get jealous, which of course is hilarious.  Basically it's super predictable, fluffy fan service and we love it.  My little sister, who watched it with me, was all "he's a jerk" at the beginning, and by the end she was super fan girling.  Nothing like a little brother to suddenly arrive and make our couple suddenly skinshippy and completely together.  She liked it when they were together and being cute.  Then, all past jerkiness was almost forgotten.  I thought it was hilarious how he was basically just the worst at trying to win a girl.  He loves her, so he throws money at her and gives her a hard time.  Yeah, that works every time.  Yes, he did get the girl in the end, but only after she finally figured out he wasn't really a jerk.  So hilarious, predictable, and fluffy show completely about a sexy, sexy man with a sexy voice and body.  Um, yes, please.

170. Thank You 고맙습니다 (2007) Korean

Jang Hyuk, Gong Hyo Jin, Seo Shin Ae, Shin Sung Rok, Shin Goo

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A+

How did this show make me like it so much?  It's about cancer, AIDS, dementia, single parenthood, and death.  Basically it's a feely sob story.  And I really liked it.  It was pretty well written and it had amazing actors.  I knew when I found out that it had not only Jang Hyuk but Gong Hyo Jin, Seo Sin Ae, and Shin Sung Rok in it that I would have to watch it.  They are all amazing.  I love Seo Shin Ae.  She's one of those child actresses who can actually act.  She was just perfect.  It was a heartwarming drama that was actually good (I don't tend to like those kinds) and heartwarming.  It left you feeling fuzzy and warm instead of like eye rolling and barfing.  That's a pretty good sign, I would say.  And it never made me feel burdened by its agenda, even when it clearly had one.  Anyway, it was pretty good.  It kept me watching even when Mr. Lee (Shin Goo) was making me cry.  He was awesome.  Mr. Lee!

167. Misaeng- Incomplete Life 미생 - 아직 살아 있지 못한 자 (2014) Korean

Im Siwan, Lee Sung Min, Kang So Ra, Kang Ha Neul, Byun Yo Han

Drama Rating: 9/10     Neck Score: A

Painful, hilarious, relatable, and amazing.  It's just about office workers, but it had me on the edge of my seat at times.  That PPT test, boy was that intense.  Whew.  It was painful because it was so relatable.  I kept cry saying "I know how you feel [Geu Rae, Pyeontae, Baek Gi, Yeong Yi]!"  It was just office work, but it was life or death to us watching it.  No one was completely evil, not even the bitca of an executive director... well, Department Head Ma might have been the worst... that sexist pig.  But I did like how it followed the stories of all four interns, and they each had their own relatable strugs.  It made it hard to watch, and also addicting.  So glad I finally got around to watching it.  It was so good.  So many good characters, so many funny facial expressions, so many crying times, so many lol moments.  Just a good, well rounded drama.

165. Mrs. Cop 미세스 캅 (2015) Korean

Kim Hee Ae, Kim Min Jong, Lee Da Hee, Son Ho Jun

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A

Well, the basic concept of this drama was good.  I liked that it was about strong female characters who kicked-a.  I also liked how the title character was an ahjumma who couldn't really run or fight anymore but she still kicked-a in awesomeness.  The cases they worked on were good at first.  Then it all went campy.  The writing was always bad.  The dialog was just awful.  It made the lead male come off as a pervert at first.  I was all "wut?  I started this show for this?"  But it was just incredibly bad writing.  I mean, it took 18 episodes for the younger couple to kiss, and I don't even know how the older couple suddenly managed to be together.  It was like random and not supported when she finally started taking him seriously.  I don't think it was doing Korean police any favors either, because it made them all come off as violent and hot tempered.  So much police brutality, tsk tsk.  The bad dude was also just way over the top.  If he can do something bat-shiz crazy, you can count on him to actually do it.  From smashing statues full of gold bars to ordering hits on cops, to laughing insanely as he fakes his own death by lighting a car on fire.  Yeah, the concept was good.  I was hoping for something as good as Angry Mom.  Instead, I got campy cheese that had some attractive men in it and some awesome bad-a women.  Yep, the women ran the show in this and the men looked pretty.  At least there was that role reversal aspect.  Everything else... meh.

"Please, please, please help me out! Sub for me Oct 2nd!!!!!" or What I Do For BIGBANG

I am super excited about the BIGBANG concert in Las Vegas, so much closer to me than the one in LA that I went to three years ago.  I am extra excited because my little sister is coming with Lizabreff and I this time, and it's her very first concert in general, as well as her very first Kpop concert.  I got her obsessed with Kpop and BIGBANG years ago.  She is in love with Daesung.  She's been writing statuses about coming all week, with stuff like: "I shall be leaving within the week to travel to [where my unni lives] and from there to Las Vegas for the BIGBANG concert!!!  I'm so excited!!!"  She used multiple exclamation points, it must be true.

But the biggest problem was that I just started a new job that requires me to work nights, and of course no one actually wants to sub that night, so I was a bit worried when I received no response to my initial request.  With the concert only two weeks away, I brought out the big guns.  The pleading sob story letter...  And yes, this is the letter I actually sent to my coworkers, with only minor edits to protect the innocent...

Adventures in Japanese Candyland: September

I know I planned to only eat one of these a day to stretch out my Japan Candyland Adventure for a full week (plus a day, since there are only 8 things this month), but Lizabreff went and sprained her ankle this morning, so to cheer her up, we had a Japan Crate binge party instead.  Lesson learned: running is evil.  So are sidewalks and grass pot holes.  Haha.  Also, savoring candy for a week is fun.  Binge eating it with an invalid friend is fun too.

This month they must have run out of regular boxes, because I def totes don't have premium. It looked so empty too, with only the regular stuffs in it.  It was all rattling around in the box, haha.  Just so you all know, if you didn't already, when you get premium they give you three to four more items every month, and they always sound so good that you wish that you were paying for them so you could eat them, but you aren't, so you're sad.  I'm not paying for any of this, so it doesn't mean much to me... until my gift subscription runs out next month.  Sad day.