[Personal Review] Sungkyungkwan Scandal

Before I start taking about this drama, let me talk about how I saw this twice. I have KBS World and when this aired, I watched itusually they like to re-run dramas so I accidentally watched it againI don't know howor whyso moving on.



Cast; Park Yoochun, Yoo Ah In, Song Joongki and Park Min Young. Before anything happens, let's first talk about the men in this drama, the line up of good-looking men.. Song Joongki, the flower boy (as titled by his Running Man family) I first saw him when he was hosting Music Bank and at that moment I just felt like I was called by the heavens. His character is this ladies man who is the best friend of this wild horse as they call it, his character calls for this handsome man who knows how to treat ladies and that's exactly what he is.

KDrama OST!

I promised that I would blog about my favorite OST Songs/Tracks and this might be a massive post since there a lot of songs in my list. This is a mixture of old and new OSTs that I got over the years [I know... but I've been watching Kdramas forever so... yeah] This isn't in any order, I just write on what comes to my mind lol, so moving on



Joo's Korean Drama OST Faves : **the ones in BOLD are the ones I got addicted to

The Heirs

Read my review , a guest post at .



Lee Min Ho had been my favorite Korean star since forever, and Park Shin Hye had made her way into my heart little by little through 'Heartstrings', 'Flower Boy Next Door', and 'You are beautiful'. And, the joy of watching them together on screen for the first time! Priceless!! They look best as a couple. Loved 'Heirs'.

Education by Entertainment

I'm not sure why I still watch a lot of anime and read a lot of manga that I do.I got into this stuff when I was in my teens- and back then, it was all revolutionary, because on average, there were a lot more adult themes to anime/manga that you couldn't find in American comics of the same era.French comics were way ahead of American comics in this respect: they often dealt with taboo content such as sex, violence, and real depravity of the human psyche that American comics dealt with superficially, but I hadn't yet discovered these at the time so I'll make the comparison to manga/anime exclusively for now.



Maybe I'm outgrowing it.There are few animes now that I think are trying to do anything intellectual.The last interesting ones that bothered my brain a bit were Psycho-Pass, a story about the struggles of law enforcers in a Minority Report-esque legal system that crosses a bit with Gattica themes of social determinism; and Guilty Crown, to a lesser extent, a story about a young teenager's rise to power in an Animal Farm setting because he arbitrarily come upon a power superior to those around him (hence, the "guilty crown").I found those interesting because of the general themes to the animes- in executation however, looking too closely at any bits of it in isolation from the theme revealed how disintegrated animes and managas really are.I think there's a big difference between the way that an anime is executed and the way a live action series is executed. I think it has something to do with the serialised nature of the typical television anime- it's episodal, and there are usually shitloads of characters.However, at the end of the day, anime characters are all scripted by the same person, and art direction is done by usually one person whose job is to keep things in sync.The big difference between anime and live-action is that with live action, the director inevitably creates the screen production by linking together a handful of actors' interpretations of script- and if you have good actors, you have a lot more space for some really interesting stuff with all of their acting- their acting is a mess of vector quantities trying to push different interpretations of the whole theme in different directions simulatensouly.In animes, the tug is limited to voice.I'll give you an example.One of my favourite characters of all time is Louis Litt from Suits.Sure, he gets some great dialouge- but I'm certain that a lot of my image of this character whenever I close my eyes is due to everything the individual actor (Rick Hoffman) put on top of the written idea. The character has a particular posture, a particular smile, a particular rhythm of speakingand body language that I do not think could be planned on paper.

soompi

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 12:10 AM PST



LEE MIN HO recently won the male high excellence award for his performance in "THE HEIRS" at the "2013 SBS DRAMA AWARDS" hosted by LEE BO YOUNG, LEE HWI JAE, and KIM WOO BIN.

Welcome to 2014!

Hoorah to the new year! I was going to post at midnight, but you guys might know of the multiple social networks one can have and such..



I've had an amazing 2013 even though there were such downs and ups, but that's usual, and I hope 2014 will be SO MUCH BETTER.

Memories of 2013 part 12: What is fun is good!!

I had a little trouble this year determining what would take the final spot on this list. Usually, there's an unforgettable series or show, or an important development in the community that everyone talks about. But there was none of that this year, at least for me - that's probably one of the reasons that four of my memories this year are from non-Japanese live action series! And I even found myself skimming some of the fun-but-OTT COVERT AFFAIRS, even though I haven't followed the 4th season because I was a little put off by some of it's opening episodes. But as I kept waiting for that one series that would sweep me away with its Oomph! factor, I realised that one had already crept into my heart. So, whilst I always knew that UCHOUTEN KAZOKU (aka The Eccentric Family) would make it onto the list, it is with some surprise that I present it as the most subliminal experience of this year.



It's WAR!!

For Culture's Sake in 2013

The beginning of a new year is often a time for summing up the past year. So I'll do so. This post will be related to the blog itself. Some musings and statistics.



But first, I'd like to thank all the readers for being with me, for reading and commenting and for inspiring me. Writing this blog I was able to find a lot of new friends. I hope to keep in touch with you in this new 2014 year and later on. THANK YOU! I wish you all the best during this year.

A Girls and Panzer New Years...

One of the joys of being an anime fan in Japan is visiting the real places seen in your favorite anime series, which is known asseichi meguri in Japanese, lit. "making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land." My first visit to a real place in anime was in Shinjuku, standing in front of the hallowed then exploring the station to find the City Hunter "xyz" blackboard. (Yes, I rock my anime old school.) These days most every anime are set in real locations for added realism, and if you should want to eat in front of the train station from Kanon, walk up the sakura tree-lined road from or enjoy a pleasant afternoon of boating on the lake from and the final scenes from , it's possible to do so. One of the most popular places for otakus to ring in the new year this year was Oarai, Ibaragi Prefecture, the setting for the popular moe tank anime , and many fans traveled there to see the first sunrise of the new year.

Many Gal-Pan wishboards were hung at the temple in Oarai.
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Memories of 2013 part 11: Marital spat

The first K-Drama I watched this year, and the one that got me hooked onto them again (it was sooooo good!) was CITY HUNTER. The show draws its name and basic inspiration from Hojo Tsukasa's manga of the same name, though the story is mostly it's own - a tale of family, love and revenge that was really hard to put down. But whilst it was generally a serious show, I also want to remember it for some of its light hearted moments: and this was definitely the best one.



Hah! And I do especially love that look on Nana's face! (and Yoon Sung dying of embarrassment at that!)

2013: My Year in Film

Hey, I don't solely watch asian cinema that's based on anime and/or manga properties! Sometimes I watch other movies. These are the best older movies I watched all year.



DISCOVERIES

Overdue K-drama reviewish things

I'm so behind in my semi-reviews of k-dramas so I'll try and make these brief. But brevity isn't really my thing so...



MI-RAE'S CHOICE/MARRY HIM IF YOU DARE - 1.5 STARS

Lee Min Ho Plans to Lose Weight and Get Buff for Movie Role

Super star LEE MIN HO has no time for rest as he has recently announced, "I think I am going to crazily work out my body. I think I will lose even more weight."



This was one of Lee Min Ho's resolutions for 2014. After a wildly successful run with "THE HEIRS," Lee Min Ho has confirmed his next project to be the film, "GANGNAM BLUES," which is an action noir film.

Drama Review: Bridal Mask (2012)

GRADE: B-

CATEGORYAction-flavored fusion sageuk

WHAT IT'S ABOUTThe struggles and triumphs of a masked vigilante who stands up for the Korean people during Japan's occupation of Korea in early twentieth century.

Drama Review: Heirs (2013)

GRADE: B-

CATEGORYLight melodrama of the high school persuasion

WHAT IT'S ABOUTThanks to her mother's position as a live-in maid, hardworking Cha Eun Sang is exposed to a world of privilege she never imaged. But when her mom's employer gets her a spot at a posh high school intended for Korea's one percent, Eun Sang quickly comes to realize that life with money isn't always perfect. At Empire High, you're either bullied or a bully. And when two of the most dangerous boys at school show an interest in Eun Sang, things really spiral out of control.

My Top Favorite Manga

Without I realize, my blog had gotten more than 50.000 views. Banzai! To commemorate this, as usual, I intend to write something personal. And this time I want to write about my favorite manga of all time. As you know, I'm an avid reader of manga and I've collected several series which crowded about 4 of my bookshelves. I would not include manga that still on-going on this list, so you would not see One Piece or Skip Beat. I will only include manga that had already ended. Okay, here we go:



small part of my bookshelves

Even MORE anime songs added to Wii Karaoke U!

Do you remember a while ago when I wrote about about Nintendo's Wii Karaoke U service adding Japanese songs to its already extensive portfolio of tracks? Well, today the European branch of the Kyoto-based company revealed that this library is ever growing, with 11 new songs added today - with nine of them having previously been used in anime, with the most notable from this batch being Shonen Jump franchises Naruto Shippuden and Bleach. Here is a full listing of available anime songs, with the new additions being in italics:



A CERTAIN SCIENTIFIC RAILGUN:

The Heirs

Shuk:We are three-quarters of the way through this thing, and we finally see some battle lines drawn. Okay, if you are doing a drinking game based on how many staring scenes are in this episode, your liver will still be in pain.But we get some baby steps forward, and maybe a steely-jaw moment or two from our lead.But for the record, I don't like Young-do with his fangs pulled because of love! [sob]

EPISODE 15

SHUKNOTE: Since Kim Tan has become a possessive fool who just makes everyone's situations worse, and Young-do has actually joined the ranks of humanity, however flawed, I will no longer call either by their monikers "Good" or "Bad".I'm still working on replacements, though. Bear with me.

Help

I can't seem to focus on studying idk why. Today has been a day of revelation like I finally realized something. And idk if I still feel the same anymore cause tbh it has been a really really long time since and so far nothing has happened yet. Like idk I don't like it when ppl do things and expect something in return and when they expect you to do something that they don't. It just doesn't make sense. And I'm just really upset and shocked that even after knowing me for so long and knowing how horrible of an emotion expresser I am, I still get blamed for something that I didn't even do. I mean like its natural for ppl to wanna feel appreciated but what do you expect me to do seriously I've said my thanks and was happy the entire day and texted about how thankful and happy I was alr what else do you want me to do? I didn't even ask for this thing yet you use it against me EVERY SINGLE TIME we quarrel whether it's related or not. Saying stuff like 'you're damn ungrateful' in a harsh way and whatnot when you know I suck at showing or saying how I really feel and when I've alr shown my appreciation in any way I can. I didn't ask for this and neither do I deserve the after treatment. If I knew that it was gonna be this way I would have rather celebrated my 18th alone. Why are you even blaming me for the choices you make seriously



Anyway unhappy stuff aside I'm kinda addicted to Korean dramas recently. Actually it's just dramas that lee min ho acts in HAHA but c'mon la after watching the heirs who wouldn't wanna see more of him right I'm sure I'm not the only one trololol~ I've been suppressing the urge to watch city hunter for a week now and I think it's super applaudable cause he looks damn hot in that show??? Like omg it's out of this world sia. Maybe it's just the kind of hair that I like but still it's an action series and you know with all the fighting and shit it just makes ppl look wayyyyyyy hotter and cooler. And I plan to watch personal taste and faith too HAHA one of (or maybe the only) reason why I'm looking forward to the hols!! Don't ask me why I only know about those dramas now cause I was never ever a fan of such shows and have been devoted to anime my entire life but I guess it's time for a change now hehehehOh and if I forgot to mention ep 19 and 20 of the heirs will be out on 11 and 12 dec HAHA do you see how my addiction is getting in the way of getting straight A's nowwww I mean like wtf of all days why must it be the day when I HAVE TO study for hpi?? But thn again judging from how long I've resisted city hunter I think I can hold it off for a few more days (I hope).

Lie To Me

DraMarathon. Are there such terms? Haha.

I've spent much sleepless nights and days on the couch potato. The only difference is:I was lying on the bed hehe. And thank god for such an invention called smartphones (with data), life is always entertaining for DramaAddicts like me.

For example: I was out with my family to Orchard last weekend, getting Christmas gifts. And while we were waiting to dine, I took out my phone. That distracted me from dying of starvation. When my mom was trying on clothes, I was watching City Hunters (I missed the whole series on TV + it was only available on the app now!) Anyway I wasn't a LeeMinHo-er so that didn't bother me at all. The drama just killed my boredom.