I’m rather caught off guard with my inexplicable affection for keeping track of Gu Family Book. Perhaps it’s because the drama is four episodes away from finishing and there is some satisfaction to seeing how it all ends. Maybe the doubling-up of two of my beloved young actors in Lee Seung Gi and Suzy also doubles down on my goodwill … Continue reading →
Kyaaa! Both sets of bromances brewing in Monstar are soooo engaging, I can’t decide which one is more fascinating at the moment. It’s easy to give the edge to Seol Chan-Sun Woo, since they are gorgeous individually and even moreso together, plus as the two male leads their story gets more airtime. But its a testament to the great nuanced … Continue reading →
We’re two weeks away from the premiere of the next SBS weekend drama called Goddess of Marriage, to follow the almost finished Birth Secret with Sung Yuri. This one will be visually a surprise for me, PD Oh Jin Seok has only directed the daily Miss Ahjumma two years ago, though he was the assistant PD for a bunch of … Continue reading →
Filming has started for the kids section of the upcoming sageuk Goddess of Fire but the adults are gathering soon for poster shooting. That means Kim Bum will finally be joining the rest of the cast including Moon Geun Young, Lee Sang Yoon, Han Go Eun, and Kwang Soo. The cast has held a script writing already but Kim Bum … Continue reading →
If plucky and poor Jin Da Hua from the TW-drama King Flower (Chinese title Jin Da Hua’s Extravagant Adventure) had plastic surgery to transform into a ladylike sylph to masquerade as Du Liang Yen, then neither incarnation is anywhere close to the real personality and style of leading lady Nikki Hsieh. Nikki did a few small roles in dramas before … Continue reading →
I’m not gonna get my hopes up, but I can at least express pure unbridled delight when I watched the just released 4-minute trailer for the upcoming TW-drama Just You (Chinese title Just Want to Make You Love Me). This isn’t rocket science and clearly every single rom-com cliche is getting thrown into a blender, but hot diggity this ensuing … Continue reading →
Now that I’m all caught on up Cruel City (Heartless City), it’s neat to work backwards like Memento on its trail of drama goodies. I did keep this drama on my radar when I knew Jung Kyung Ho was cast as the lead in his first post-military service comeback drama. But the inclusion of Nam Gyu Ri totally turned me … Continue reading →
When one’s beloved novel is getting a live-action adaptation, there is always the fervent hope that it doesn’t get butchered tempered by the dream of seeing it finally come to life outside of the words on the page and the images in one’s own imagination. I’ve been through the process so many times whether its English novels, Japanese manga, or … Continue reading →
I continue to love Monstar with a steady affection of the type reserved for my trusty pup. It’s so sweet and earnest, so effortless and straight forward. We’ve got the requisite eclectic group of high school students comprising all the major stereotypes, smushed together by a common goal, and chipping away at their scars and barriers through the bonding experience … Continue reading →
Watching a live drama has its benefits and drawbacks, and this week I worried Monstar would hit that major wall for me whereby the wait is simply too long between episodes when the actual material is darling but just not that gripping. This is a high school coming-of-age story through music, about friendships past and future, about moving past failures … Continue reading →
There must be so much behind the scenes going-ons that I wish I were a fly on the wall in production companies. Sonia Sui, who reportedly turned down SETTV’s King Flower to focus on her movie career, is headed back to the small screen to make GTV’s upcoming The Pursuit of Happiness. Her co-star is none other than SETTV main … Continue reading →
Have you guys ever played “One of these things is not like the others”? It’s an awesome teaching tool because visually children pick up differences quicker than by being told something is different. When I saw the latest stills for the upcoming sageuk Sword and Flower (English romance novel-y title The Blade and Petal), I burst out laughing and that … Continue reading →
I can sum up the entirety of this post in eight words – This. Is. The. Best. Drama. Airing. Right. Now. Three months ago I wrote that the first quarter of 2013 was by and large a disappointment. I wondered then if the new dramas premiering in the Spring would end the quality drought and herald a return to addicting and … Continue reading →