Boys Over Flowers/꽃보다 男子

The classic Asian drama story of a poor girl,

who falls in love with a rich boy

...or two....or three...

Genre: Romance/Drama
Language: Korean

Geum Jan Di ends up attending an expensive, upper-class school, after saving a boy from committing suicide. While there she meets the F4 (flower 4) a.k.a the leaders of the school. They are known for giving anyone they don't like a "red card" which spells out ostracization and bullying from the rest of the school. She revolts against the strange system, and in doing so she stands again Gu Joon Pyo, the prince of princes. Oddly it causes him to fall in love with her, but her heart is unsure.,..

Will they be able to overcome their problems such as his evil mother?

Or will they be separated forever?

And who does her heart truly belong to?

Review:
Note: This will not be a comparison between the Japanese and Korean versions. They are too different, and it would take up too much space....and I haven't yet seen the Taiwanese version.

The cast as a whole did well. To be honest, in the beginning I wasn't very impressed, with Kim Hyun Joong *though I've loved him since "We Got Married"* but he improved significantly. As his character evolved, so did he, and became my favorite character.
His looks improved too, wait for the hair-cut, it's worth it.....
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I though Goo Hye Sun really portrayed her character well, although I found her character a little...바보-ish...but not her fault, the scripts.
I remember commenting,
"I could be the actress for Geum JanDi, I'd just flop over and close my eyes"
...she faints/collapses/is drugged/drunk(ed?)/...etc for half the show :P.
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Lee Min Ho pulled off the character of arrogant/stupid/loveable prince perfectly. Enough said.
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The rest supported well enough. I found Lee Min Jeong a little annoying, but that was her character... I wasn't sold on the whole Kim Bum/Kim So Eun love story....
I also wasn't very impressed with Kim Bum, nor Kim Joon. One part in particular was when Kim Bum plays the Saxophone...knowing the basics of a reed instruments means you have to fold your bottom lip under... seems easy enough, but when he played it was like he had a sucker in his mouth....
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..I have to say this, "I hate the amnesia story-line!"
I didn't like it in the Japanese version, nor this one. *sigh* I guess they were just trying to follow the manga....

Drama, drama and drama again. What girl couldn't like this drama? 3 good-looking guys(won't mention the 4th of the F4...) and a story every girl wishes she was a part of. Of course I was sucked in, it's nature. However I'm not going to lie, it's repetitive, and it gets to be a bit much. But I digress, it's a good watch,
Chickflicky? Over-the-top? Maybe...Love Triangles/Squares? Happy Endings? Evil Friends? Romantic? Of course!

This is a favorite and a classic.

Traditional Music + Kpop = ?

Sorea is an awesome group that does renditions of Kpop with tradition Korean instruments (and some modern ones too). From the BigBang/2NE1 synthpop "Lollipop" to the girly pop of SNSD's "Gee".

This is their latest, of SNSD's newest single "Genie/Tell Me Your Wish".
Not only do they sound great, they look like they're having a blast ^-^.You can find them at www.soreagroup.com and on youtube under, you guessed it, Soreagroup.



You can watch the original SNSD MV here.

As a bonus, here is a medly of Super Junior's "It's You" & "Sorry, Sorry" (which I featured on here before)
Two of my favorite songs, of late.

1%의 어떤 것/ 1% of Anything

(I know I'm a day late...pretend this is from last week please -_-;)

Genre: Romance/Comedy

Language: Korean

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Kim Da Hyun is a sweet, and upright teacher. Lee Jae In is a hard-working business man, but has a short temper. After Da Hyun kindly assists Jae-in's grandfather, it starts the wheels turning. For Jae In to receive his grandfather's vast inheritance he must marry Da Hyun. As the story progresses you watch their interesting romance. Along with the romance of Jae In's cousin, and Da Hyun's sister. Then near the end there is one more couple to come, with Jae In's sister, and his best friend!

How will these couples survive, with opposition from all sides.

Is it possible, for people with such different backgrounds, and personalities really find happiness together?

Review:

I had read mixed reviews on this drama. Some people loved it, others found it too drawn out. I admit I think that this drama did not need the whole 26 episodes it presents. Perhaps I'm just too used to short Japanese dramas. Nevertheless I found it was draggy, and each new couples didn't hold much of my interest. I could put up with Tae-ya, Jae-in's cousin, and his girl. (Although I admit Tae-ya is pretty boring...) However when they added the third couple, only like 3 episodes from the end...I admit thinking, "enough is enough!". All 3 couples had the same problems, just with less and less character development per couple. If this had just stuck to Jae-in and Da Hyun, and ended a bit sooner it would have been better.

My final word is, if you're looking for a long drama, this is a pretty good one. Sure it gets draggy, but the middle isn't too bad. The main actors/couple do well though.

풀하우스/Full House

Genre: Romance/Drama
Language: Korean*
(*will start putting this here, since I will be reviewing both Japanese and Korean shows)

Han Ji-eun lives byherself, in "Full House", a home her parents built. One day her two closest friends, give her a ticket for a dream vacation! Though slightly suspicious she finally agrees to go. Only to find out shes been swindled; not just the vacation, but her house was sold while she was gone as well! Long story short she calls out to Lee Young-jae, a movie star she met on her trip. They set up a contract, where she will agree to marry him for 6 months, after that they will divorce and she can keep the house.
All seems like it will go according to plan, but what about Lee Young-jaes feelings for Kang Hye-Won, his childhood friend since the age of 9. As well, will Han Ji-eun accept Yoo Min-Hyuk feelings for her, despite the marriage contract? It becomes quite the love square!

Review:
Finished this one last night. Such a good drama. It has an okay ending, and is strong all the way through. The characters are lovable and believable. I got rather sucked in, mainly by the two leads: Bi(Rain) and Song Hye-kyo.

The original idea of a marriage by contract is pretty crazy, but it shows how two people can fall in love, even with many differences. By being able to see all sides of a person, it allows you to become closer right? Like family I guess. Anyways this is a good watch. Korean dramas are known for their slow-pace, but this one isn't bad, at 16 episodes it is definitely watchable.

New Camera

Well when my exchange student left, I sent my camera to be fixed. As as soon as I would put batteries in it, I would only get maybe 5-10 photos before it shut off, saying I needed to change the batteries. This was not the first time I had sent it away either, not long after buying it my focus stopped working properly, so I had to get a new part for it.

Anyways this time it was "uneconomical" to fix it, therefore I was free to get a new one! Yay! I love warranties! The only thing being, was that my ol' Canon A540 was a good two years old, and my replacement was half the price! Ah with new cheaper technology my old $300 camera became worth only $150. Therefore I decided I may as well fork out some bucks to upgrade.

Still being too cheap to go up to an SLR, I went for a megazoom. Although the pickings were rather slim. As I am anti-sony, and pro-Canon. With only one Canon model present, I bought it, and the return lady gave me a bargain (i.e. she gave me my camera free....being $300 approx. the same price as my old one. So I only had to pay for my new warranty and my case.)


So I am officially the new owner of a S5 IS Canon PowerShot. Nothing too spectacular, but I'm pleased with it so far. Although the lensecap is a tad annoying, as it constantly falls off....

Oh and update on Korean lessons, I am now getting Korean lessons, in exchange for teaching Japanese. Fighting! Starts Sunday, will do my best :P.

Doramas...Koramas?

So I watch Japanese television. Who doesn't right? I've watched around 30 series from start to finish...with 12 episodes each (approx.) an hour long...that equals out to....around 360 hours.
I realize it's not that impressive compared to others, but I only started last summer.

Recently I decided I would just, "try" watching a Korean show called, "We Got Married".
To be honest my hopes weren't too high.
I had watched two Korean movies so far, and one was slower then I would of liked, and the other was plain...ungood/dumb.
(am I going to get flamed by Kdrama lovers for saying this? Haha like anyone reads this anyways)
Anyways I am now officially hooked, and currently on episode 10. I started watching them...yesterday if I remember correctly. Even wilder, I watch them with my mom. She thinks the show is hilarious (I think she's become way too attached, she even cried when Alex left....) Love you mom...<3.

So now I am into Korea, south anyways ahaha, and I really want to learn Korean.
It's not as shallow as just because I watched a show though.
I have read a few travel and educational books about Korea, and found it really interesting.
Now watching the show I find myself really liking their culture,
and the language sounds great too.
I'm doing the best I can do on the computer.
Sadly it's not a school course; like I could get it at my school anyways....
So I am stuck trying to either con a Korean person into teaching me, or trying to teach myself.
I don't think I have the dedication for either...

Other then that, nothing new or exciting. Other than that I finally have purchased a Japanese-English dictionary. Canon Wordtank V300, in pink, should be here in a week. ^_^ I'm excited.