The Problematic of the Unproblematic

Allow me to do some basic and stupid fangirling from time to time. All these analytic blog entries are giving me a headache. I came across new post-Arang-and-the-Magistrate media pics of Lee Jun-ki today. He just has the prettiest eyes ever. Well, probably not ever, but they are very, very special. But why does he look so young?! Jun-ki, I hope you get an exciting new drama project soon! One with lots of fight scenes, because I like you in fight scenes best. Sure, if you want to do a RomCom ... fine with me, too. But no movies, hear me? It's been bad enough waiting for Park Shi-hoo's return to dramaland, can't have that with you. And: don't forget to eat well and have some fun from time to time. Lee Jun-ki, hwaiting!

Faith , now that you are over, a new era starts ... a faithless one, obviously, but also one that is less stressful, I hope. This summer was truly drama-crazy, and it is taking its toll on me: I am so far behind on all the KDramas I'm watching, it's not funny. Or, put differently, real life is constantly interfering with my drama-watching, which is even less funny. To be frank, Faith was a mediocre drama at best. The directing, that is well established and acknowledged by quasi everybody now (even by vicious die-hard Lee Min-ho fans), was bordering on criminal, the editing was often choppy and felt rushed, the story was going in circles or even backwards more than forwards, and many of the characters were just plain redundant. And, would you believe it, this show has done it again : simply removed one of the central characters in the most anticlimactic way possible, this time major bad-add-for-some-episodes Deok-heung . So he just went to Yuan in episode 22 and that'...

Nooooooo! Faith !!!!! Why! Why did you ice-die Dol-bae tonight! I had such high hopes for this one ... and he had such wonderful abs! But his love and loyalty for his Daejang was bigger than his love for life ... *sobbing uncontrollably*   Drama, I actually don't care all that much what happens to Choi Young and Eun-so, but please don't kill any more Woodalchis! Just be over and let my favorite boys live a happy life after the whole kerfuffle.

Yes, I'm very jealous. For weeks, no, months! the blogosphere has been abuzz with excitement about the upcoming Big Bang concerts in the US. I, myself, have never even listened to a single Big Bang song. Yeah, sure, I know of TOP (because I saw him in IRIS) and of G-Dragon (because everybody knows him). So I'm obviously not jealous of, you know, people going to their concerts to listen to their music. But...   Many of my blogo-friends are actually going to meet each other . And I don't mean online. No, in meatspace, real-life, corporeality. There's feasts and noraebang outings set up, and shopping sprees, and ahjumma film nights, whipped cream and soju drinking and ... I feel so left out . Americans already have Dramabeans and Hulu and access to Viki ETC., while we Europeans constantly need to fight for our daily KDrama fix. And now, the Americans also have Big Bang and will meet other KDrama-addicts - that they have previously known online - in person. Wh...

Inspired by the currently falling snow hereabouts (why, why, why??), I've decided to pick five memorable snow scenes from KDramaland. I made this myself today. A true beauty! This time round, the "Top 5" also include horribly sad scenes, so it's not Top 5 wonderful Snow Scenes, but just 5 Snow Scenes that I can remember. If there happens to be KDrama-snow-experts among you, my choices may seem odd, because some of the obvious snow dramas are not represented (like Winter Sonata or Will it Snow for Xmas ). Yeah, that's because I haven't seen those... Also, at least two out of the five are snow scenes filmed in Japan. Does Japan have the nicer snow than Korea? 1: Love Rain Let me admit right away that I haven't fully watched Love Rain . In fact, I skipped through about half of it and that's it (despite of Jang Keun-suk). The Diamond Snow scene in Episode 5, however, was truly beautiful. If this is how director Yoon Suk-ho and screenwriter Oh S...

Sidekicks play crucial roles as the companions of heroes, being their support in difficult times or serving the purpose of comical relief. Some very famous sidekicks are Robin (from Batman), Doctor Watson (from Sherlock Holmes), Sam (from Lord of the Rings) or Sancho Panza (from Don Quixote). As different as they are, they have one thing in common: sidekicks are always less talented than the hero (thus, they are often called the 'idiot friend') and they are never truly equal - though there might be (and often is) friendship between sidekick and hero. KDramas are full of sidekicks - I doubt there is a single one without one or even two (one to the male lead and one to the female lead) or several (yes, they come in hordes, see in i.e. Rooftop Prince ). Well, I'm not sure that also goes for all sageuks, though. However, most often, sidekicks are there for comical relief, and they are often stereotypical goofy best friend characters. Frequently, they take the form of secretar...

I have recently noticed that there is not enough Lee Jun-ki-(pretty)ness on this blog. Just because Arang is over doesn't mean it (and thereby, he) shouldn't receive equal treatment. Meaning: if Lee Min-ho gets to show off his clothes in Faith on here, then Lee Jun-ki must get the same chance for his drama .   * I am sorry, but I really can't do a Jun-ki hair thread ... if there is one thing (and it's the only thing) I don't like about Jun-ki, then it's his hair in most of his dramas and movies.   Arang and the Magistrate was visually beautiful also or probably even mostly because of the colorful Hanbok that they used for costumes. As this is one of the best planned and most tightly written shows I've seen in a long time, I'm pretty sure some or even a lot of thought also went into the colors of the costumes. Let me try and second-guess the costume designers. And because this show cannot be reduced to Lee Jun-ki, I will look at the Hanbok worn ...