The Problematic of the Unproblematic

Today's post is going to be about the food found in KDramas when a scene is staged in a restaurant or pojangmacha.  Warning: drool can be hazardous to your keyboard. Restaurants in Korean Dramas are as ubiquitous as the evil Mother-in-law. From humble to elegant, they can set the stage for either cute moments or disastrous scenes.  Here they are, in no particular order. JOKBAL -  Braised Pig's Feet (or Pig Trotters) A link to the Visit Korea Tourism site calls jokbal "Chewy Memories of The Past".   Well, I'm not sure how far in the past you should go, but they were Ji-an's favorite pregnancy food in I Do I Do (2012) , and So-young's love of the meat in Baby-faced Beauty (2005) made Jin-wook happy.  And anything that makes Daniel Choi happy, makes me happy too! Jokbal is made by boiling pig's feet or the shank portion of the front legs over several hours in a mixture of soy sauce, rice wine, garlic, cinnamon sticks, green onions, g...

I'm sure you've seen it all before. The KDramas that we all love are laden with these clichés. But have you ever wondered whether there are some logical explanation behind all of these clichés? No? Never? Not even once? Ok, maybe just me, then.. But now that you have clicked on this post* you have no option than to keep reading otherwise it will self-destruct in the next 30 seconds**... Piggyback scenes Ok! Let's see if kakashi's blogger tip will do the trick by putting Lee Min Ho picture first.. Oh! and his hair looks good here! [ okay, LMH and hair.. covered! *sly smirks*] The logic? Given South Korea's conservative culture and the lack of PDA, piggyback ride is viewed as an excuse for skinship without looking too "inappropriate" in public. It also gives warm allusion to the piggyback rides that dads often gave to their little girls, and in turns heighten the male image as someone safe and reliable just like... a dad. And I know fo...

Another one has ended. And we wipe some tears as we sing ....  (don't ask me who this Helene Fischer woman is) King of Dramas . What a great drama you've been! See, we're all in love with you, because you showed us the behind the scenes of our beloved KDramas in such a witty, smart way. And your cast! To die for. Kim Myung-min has become everywoman's favorite ahjussi. Jung Ryu-won? I want to marry her. Siwon is the funniest idol turned actor I've ever seen and I'm so going to make gifs out of the funniest Hyun-min moments when I have the time. Oh Ji-eun is so pretty I could stare at her all day. Good eye make-up. Etc. Etc. Etc... Not a single character out of the extended cast was underused or badly written. You could have been a A++++ drama, really. If the irony of your existence had not turned you into a victim of the world you were so skillfully portraying. You were much, much loved by drama-watching foreigners like me. But you were far less lucky...

I am currently rewatching old Cheongdamdong Alice episodes to get over the long wait for the new ones. And when I rewatch things, I tend to pay more attention to details. In this case, the Product Placement (PPL). Not a new topic at all: I wrote about it a while ago , and so have others. Not a new topic at all, but still one worth writing about again and again! I'm a relative newbie to the KDrama-craze (it's been 2 and a half years only), so I would be interested to hear from the veterans (like latteholic , who has years and years and years of experience): has it become worse? Or just more blatant? Right, I remember that some laws were changed a while ago, which may have opened the PPL floodgates - but there also seems to be a change in how normal rather lengthy sequences of flat-out advertisements have become.   Nice Guy was the last drama whose PPL severely irked people ... but now, Cheongdamdong Alice is quickly becoming the new boo drama. But then again, something b...

I thought I'd surprise Kakashi by doing an interview with one of our favorite actors as of late, the amazing Kang Hyun Min. Let's begin. Thank you for taking this time out of your busy schedule to talk with me. Kang Hyun Min, I understand you are quite a popular idol and actor.  To what do you attribute your popularity? Well, yes, your good looks and amazing personality are obvious.  But why do you think you were picked for this particular role? Please, try and focus. And forget about calculating how much money you're going to be making for this interview.  I'm just a guest blogger, for heaven's sake.  Can you tell me a little bit about your relationship with the other people you're working with to make Morning of Kyunsung, in particular your leading lady?  What do you mean what others?  You know, Sun Min ah, who is making her comeback, along with Anthony Kim, and that new writer, Lee Go-Eun. Well, a drama can't always be ...

Time is of the essence in The King of Drama. Anthony Kim, defender of this title, looks at his watch fairly often. He may be down and out, but the man has quite the watch collection! To my regret, they stopped showing close-ups of watches after Episode 1. Was the watch manufacturer just a sponsor for Episode 1? Most likely.  Well, if I can't hunt for watch-pictures, I'll just hunt for suit-pictures . I am not entirely sure, though, whether you, dear reader, understand how difficult suit-picture-taking is. First of all, to be able to fully appreciate the beauty of Anthony's outfits, a full-body picture is (or would be) necessary. They are a rare species. And if we see him from head to toe in the Drama, he is usually moving fast. Most often he is strutting hotly. That's a tricky thing for good screen-shots (and that's why it's often Paparazzi quality at best). And even if I manage to catch one of these rare moments - the beauty still cannot be fully r...