PrettyCarEye

Oh that makes things a lot easier!
Let me feed ahjussi & chat a little with him then I'm all yours! :)
It's evening here now, almost 7pm. We both just got in from work.

I haven't posted it yet because I couldn't find the GE discussion thread myself. It's buried deep under all the other active threads it seems.

Anyway, I'll find it or post a new thread just for the 2 of us. I'll send you the link once it's up so you don't have to keep looking out for it.

By the way, I don't want to send it on mail because people have been asking me non-stop what I thought about the show so posting it publicly I can just refer them to the thread.

I loved him in The Servant! And he was great in Love Me Not too.
Now I might check Lovers in Prague just because of him! :)

Haha ... the 'cold' is always the most ridiculous one. I mean who catches a cold (or the flu) just because you're in love & things aren't going your way? I sure didn't & I've been pretty in love! :)

ILY,DC, for me it isn't worth it. The leads have great chemistry, but there's a lot of wasted potential in this drama. First of all, the leads spend more time apart than they do together. In fact, for the vast majority of the drama the female lead is attached to another man whom she later marries. I hate when this happens because even though her husband is a nice guy he is NOT the hero of the show so you really can't get onboard with their relationship. At least I can't. I've never suffered from second male syndrome. I root for the main protagonists of the show always. So where does that leave you?

Well, with a lot of what I call 'negative' angst (not the delicious, sexually charged 'positive' angst we experienced in Lovers). Here there's lots of bawling, pining, whining, fighting with parents to get approval bla bla ... with no real hope of the leads ever being together & staying that way for any period of time. Besides I'm really getting sick & tired of dramas where the only thing driving the plot are meddling parents who always hate their kids' significant other. In these long shows selfish, meddling parents are always be the case though & I personally have had enough. So I won't be watching any more of these bad soap opera like dramas in the future. As soon as I'm finished with this & Ugly Alert I'm washing my hands of dramas over 50 eps, give or take a few eps.

Being my own boss has its pros and cons. There are days when the cons feel heavier, but sometimes I tend to err on the side of pessimism so maybe that's why. Important thing is that I really do love what I'm trying to do for a living so it's all good! :)

Before I got sick into Asian entertainment ahjussi was often sent on assignment to Asia, China and Singapore mostly, but from time to time Japan too (he's an engineer in the oil & gas industry). On occasion he'd ask me if I want to go with him and stupid me I'd say no because I didn't really care that much for Asia at the time. Now that I'm batsh*t crazy about the place and would GLADLY accompany him, he's being assigned to everywhere else BUT Asia. Isn't that typical? #smh lol

Anyway, if you're in Beijing around the same time I'm in Korea, let's link up & stalk LSJ together! ;)

Jo, det var ho ja! Hun spilte i Aishiteru to Ikketure! Det var den drama jeg mente å nevne, ikke Orange Days. Ja likte henne i Aishiteru (iallfall den første 8 eps). Jeg har Risou no Kekkon der hun spiller mot selveste Takenouchi Yukata på lista! Yay! Jeg tror hun kan ha meget god kjemi med ham. Forhåpentligvis vil ikke romansen her være alt for halv-kokt slik som andre romantikk serier med Yukata er.

Aigoo .. the dimples! DA DIMPLES!!! I need to go jump in the lake behind my building to cool off! This guy ... honestly when I'm having one of those days all I have to do is look at my profile & my stress levels just deflate!

I did notice you went on LSJ binge! haha I did too after the show. But this guy doesn't have a huge backlist & he takes his sweet time picking new projects. In fact, I heard he was semi-retired in order to focus on running the family business! So as much as I crave to see him I haven't rushed to watch his other works. Don't want to run out of things from him to watch, you see! :)

It's 11:50 am here. I SHOULD be working ... haha, but as usual I'm dragging my ass on MDL. Damn good thing I'm my own boss, otherwise I surely would have been fired a long time ago.

Hope you get posted to Beijing!!! Girl, that would be awesome! I'm jealous! I really want to make a trip to SK happen next year, but I don't know yet. I have to bounce Stateside to visit my family first. I haven't seen them in a couple years & I'm yearning for that family connection. I miss my mommy dearly even though I'm a grown ass woman! :) Don't know if I can afford 2 big trips in one year so we'll see.

Å! Var ikke ho som spilte i Orange Days også??? Eller...? Ja, Japan har mange pene damer! Og menn! Synd de aller fleste av dem er i gjennomsnitt et hode kortere enn meg! Jeg er nesten 180 cm høy!

Å, har den? Så bra! Da setter jeg den på prioriteringslista mi.
Jeg har ikke noe imot sad endings i andre sjanger, men der det finnes romantikk i en drama jeg MÅ ha en lykkelig slutt (for romansbiten iallfall).

Jeg liker Kimura Takuya veldig godt! Jeg har kun sett han i Pride men det var nok for meg å bestemme at han liker jeg. Det er svært sjelden jeg liker en skuespiller etter jeg kun har sett de en gang. Men jeg føler at så god er han liksom.

Jeg vet ikke hvem Takako Tokiwa er. Hva er hun i?

My brain is a bit foggy with all the details, but yes you're right I do remember he had some self-loathing because of his lifestyle and he didn't want to ruin Yu-Jin's life.

One scene that I absolutely LOVED and which I felt showed the depths of his love for Mi Joo was also that fishing scene when he was explaining his feelings to Sang Tæk, he said 'I kept telling myself to go to Yu-Jina, go to Yu-Jina, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it' or something to that effect. He seemed so disillusioned. Here he was with a knocked up girlfriend (basically having ruined her) and in walks the love of his life. Too see a tough guy like KJ so vulnerable. Man, that was so beautiful - my darling LSJ nailed it with his simple, understated acting! I think that was moment I totally and completely fell for this guy, both the character AND the actor!!!

Another thing regarding her father being priest is that he wouldn't be able 'to live in sin' with Mi Joo (not that he wanted to anyway) as he had done with his ex.

Yes, I loved seeing him like a fish out of water trying to go legit at the company! But lucky him the ever cheerful & optimistic MJ had his back. OMG, I just LOOOOOVE these two. I'm going to rewatch this show ASAP!!!

And remember to check out City Hall. Not as deeply satisfying as Lovers but also features a wonderfully mature couple!

I find it rather original that you're the only mdl user (that I've come across at least) whose favourites list is fully comprised of old Japanese movies! :)

But I get it! I've seen some of them and they are indeed great. I love watching older Japanese films because they're so rich in culture & story. This one is not THAT old but have you seen The Ballads of Nayama? (I may have the title slightly off).

Ommeee, you bring back such good memories! I need to rewatch this show lickity split!

I don't remember the scene when Mi Joo told Yu Min she don't like her! lol But I love it too because I hate dramas in which shitty situations arise but everyone is all peace and love, kumbaya & what not. It's a sticky situation & of course those two women are not going to love each other!

Plus even though it may have appeared that Mi Joo 'stole' Kang Jæ away from Yu Min ... I didn't think so. His heart wasn't in the relationship from day one. I think their relationship had run its course. Factor out the pregnancy and he'd've probably married her, yes, not because he loved her still ... but because he didn't love anyone else. He was settling. Then Mi Joo came along & he fell hard. But then they find out Yu Min was pregnant and of course he wouldn't be a man if he didn't do the right thing by her in spite of his feelings for MJ.

MJ & KJ did not come together under the most ideal of circumstances, but that's why the drama is so great. Because it's real. So many relationships start out this way. It's messy & complicated but it is what it is. I didn't dislike Yu Min so I felt bad for her, but it was inevitable that someone in this love triangle was going to get hurt.

I loved that scene too when MJ tells KJ that she's ready to walk with him in his world. My hope is that after he left prison he went legit and left that life behind. For eg, Tæ-san & the others all did. Plus KJ is lucky that his dad left him a sweet inheritance. That's how I like to see him & Mi Joo living when I picture them together in my head anyway ... dealing with life's ups & downs, but still content with each other! :)

Oh shoot ... I hope you didn't see the post that occupied the space below! Wrong wall! haha

Anyway, I understand what you mean and I use the same method to pick movies. I'll watch any kind of movie as long as something about it appeals to me.

For some reason though I'm verrrry picky about dramas!

Anyway, I see Heirs isn't leaving a very good impression on you so far. From the buzz around this show I thought it was getting better in these latter episodes compared to the earlier ones. No? I'm still on the fence about watching this. On the one hand I don't usually watch these types of drama - school dramas - and I don't particularly care for Park Shin-hye, but on the other hand this is written by my favourite screenwriter in this genre & I know this lady has a pattern. Her dramas can take time to get good, but they're ALWAYS satisfying in the end. At least the 3 that I've seen so far have all panned out this way. Then there's the fact that I really want to watch LMH in a drama! :)

Oh, what decisions, decisions, decisions! :)

And last but not least! KUMASIMIDA for pushing to me watch Golden Empire! It is perhaps THE best written AND THE best acted drama (Asian or otherwise) I've ever seen in my life! I swear before I saw him in this role I only loved Go Soo for his looks, but now??? Man, I got mad respect for the brother. And the guy who played Min-jæ ... aigoo. Instant fan! INSTANT FAN!!! (Going all manic like TJ here ... hehe). The show leaves you with so many impressions, so many valuable insights on the human mind and spirit and how easily they can be corrupted and led astray by the filth of money & power, but also about believing in something and fighting for it. One of the reasons I loved TJ was because the man had true grit and a determination that could've taken him very far had he not gone batsh*t crazy (more on this on the discussion thread). AMAZING!!!

*bow*bow*bow* KUMASIMIDA! KUMASIMIDA! :p

Aigooo ... chingunessa! (I learnt that from you, ha!)
I've missed you & I wanted to write you first darn it bcuz I know I've been totally AWOL the last weeks, but you beat me to the punch! Again! Sorry, chingu! :/ I'm back now & I promise I'll respond a lot more promptly from now on.

Anyway, you're gonna live sooo long bcuz I just came on, ready to send you a msg to let you know I've now responded to your thoughts on GE.

I deliberately answered everyone else before getting back to you because I wanted to concentrate on what I was writing. You made some really GREAT points that I really had to dissect & think about. I know this is gonna be one looong conversation! :) At least I hope it is bcuz so much of your thoughts on this mind-blowingly good drama were so spot-on. Our boy Tæ-joo was a character with such nuance that we really can go at analyzing him for days, weeks ... months?! hahaha My only worry is that you've probably lost your mojo for this convo whilst I'm still fired up about the drama some 2 mths after watching it!

Anyway! My response to your comments have gone over TWO pages long which would make it a huge hassle to post on your wall so my plan was to post in the GE discussion thread in the forum! I'm just tweaking a few things here and there & correcting some spelling errors before I post. But it will be up by the end of my day (which I think will be the start of yours! Then we can have our usual morning (for me, night for you) banter! :)

I'm looking forward to it! PUGUSHPO, my dear chinguya!!! You taught me how to romanize that word correctly but I've completely forgotten, but you know what I'm saying, girl! :)

Takk for anbefalingene men har ikke de fleste av disse en ulykkelig slutt? Jeg klarer ikke se slike romantiske serier. Kun happy endings please! :)

Ok, god natt! Sov godt! Vi snakkes i morgen. :)

I couldn't have explained the merits of this show better myself! You hit the nail on the head on why this show is pure perfection! The total lack of childishness & idiocy that characterizes about 90% of kdramas, if not all dramas in general. And this is perhaps the one show in which the love triangle plot device was sensibly used! Where it was necessary & instrumental to the plot! Man ...

One example of the overall maturity of the show is the scene where Kang Jæ went to a plastic surgeon and talked him into hiring Mi Joo then got all his gangster buddies to come get procedures done. When Mi Joo found out she was so grateful & touched because you know what hell yes times are tough, jobs are hard to come by. Sometimes we need someone to pull strings for us & who better to be looking out for you than your hot, sex on legs gangster boyfriend? :)

I don't know why this scene stood out for me but it did because I've seen soooo many other dramas in which heroines act with stupid pride in the most inappropriate of situations. It's like they always choose to exert their independence when they're about to be destitute or when their kid is about to die. #smdh

Yup, det var den, ja! Den hadde så mye potensial. Takenouchi spilte veldig bra og plotten var god, men til slutt den ble veldig klisje og jeg likte ikke ho som spilte dama hans. Dessuten var romantikken nesten ikke til stede selv om man følte veldig sterkt at Takenouchis karakter var veldig glad i konen sin. Personlig mener jeg japanerne er ikke særlig god til å lage romantikk. Eller nei ... de kan være flink, men jeg tror ikke japanerne tror på kjærlighet rett og slett. Min oppfatning av landet og kulturen - gjennom sin filmatiske underholdning - er at de har en veldig pragmatisk og pessimistisk syn på kjærlighet og romanse så de gode romantiske serier og filmer er ikke til å finne like mye som andre sjanger.