PrettyCarEye

Without spoiling, are you satisfied with the ending of Cruel City?

I know that feeling of emptiness after finishing a great drama. I felt the same way after watching Lovers & MARS recently. It's a feeling of wanting to watch something just as great, but not knowing what. Anyway, take a break & see how you feel later.

In the meantime if you want to recommend me something, I'm gamed. I'm in the process of watching Smile, You & it's not a bad drama, but cute, rom-com, family drama isn't really what I want to watch now. I'm in the mood for something grittier, more mature. Hopefully, CC will fulfill that need but I'm open to other suggestions! :)

Ah, bettyboo! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I had a feeling you would after you told me you like melodramas. This is by far one of the better ones I've seen. And I agree with you I loved Kang Chil, such a wonderful, tragic character. Jung Woo-sung is in a class of his own! :)

What are you planning to watch next?

As for Hollywood, omo, don't I know the feeling. I still haven't quite managed to convert the mister. I still have to entice, bully or beat his ass if I want him to watch something with me! LOL He thinks I'm going thru a phase, but I'm not. I can feel that my interest in Asian cultures & entertainment are here to stay. On the odd occasion I'll watch a Hollywood production, but in general it's been difficult summoning the interest to watch anything Western since Oct 2012.

Acting is a mobile profession though & producers can entice actors with good scripts, good pay or both to work anywhere. So if HK really wants to step up its game, a lack of good, professional actors shouldn't be such a huge challenge, given that they have access to the largest pool of human resource on the planet. Anyway, HK dramas with only old dudes & always only a smattering of romance have already lost me as an audience member. I mean these aren't necessarily deal breakers, but I like variety so over time I'd get bored to pieces watching the same thing over and over again. I'll take your advice and not watch them since there are so many other shows that demand my attention.

I understand your feelings about MARS. I rated it 8, but even while writing the review I wasn't sure if I should give it an 8 or a 9. What I do know is that I'll be rewatching this from time to time. The romance was amazing & Zhou Vic as Ling was like WOW! :-)

Glad you enjoyed Nameless Gangster! I 1st watched it at a film festival last year & I just had to learn more about Ha Jeong Woo after seeing it so I went online to look him up. That's how I discovered Gooddrama.net & the world of drama! :)

As for Cruel City, yes! Shall we watch together? I've already seen the 1st 2 eps but I'm going to watch them again bcuz there's so much going on, it's easy to lose track of the plot.

Kim Sam Soon was rec'ed to me before but it doesn't really appeal to me. I may reconsider, tho. How is LSJ in Damo? Is he just as sexy as in Lovers? And is there any romance? I'm so shallow ... LOL! :)

Interesting! Did not know that about HK dramas (not that I've seen any). Might be a bit naive or dumb to ask, but can't they source actors from the mainland? I know there's a large variation in the Chinese language ... whatever it is, Cantonese, Mandarin and the various dialects etc. But I'm thinking you'd still be able to understand each other ... or are HK & mainland China worlds apart? Forgive my ignorance. I don't know so much about China, HK or Taiwan.
Anyway, I guess I won't be watching HK dramas any time soon then. Even though I'm slightly more inclined to dislike large age gaps when the woman is older, I don't like it either if a man is older by more than 10 yrs. And even that's pushing the envelope. This is as a result of my environment, I guess. All my friends back home in NY date younger guys & I'm not very impressed.

"...this trend is kinda going longer than it's supposed to..."

I agree.
Talk about beating a dead horse. :)

This is the way I feel too. IRL I've seen very few cases where the ow/ym combo has worked out to the benefit of the woman, not that I'm saying this is true for EVERY couple. May/Dec couples aren't anything new to our society & ow/ym have been around for centuries just as much as the opposite.

Long before it became mainstream & 'cool', however, my mom - some yrs ago when I was in HS - dated a man 12 yrs her jr. I remember when she first met him they were quite in love & everything was great until the honeymoon phase wore off. After that it was like having another kid in the house when what she needed was a partner. Same goes for a # of other friends & acquaintances. Sadly, it always turns out that the guy is an immature schmuck who my older, more mature lady friends end up having to mother & (financially) support. So this has kinda made me gun shy to accept (huge) age gaps in dramas.

Hi Raincat! How's it going?
I'll get back to you soon with my feedback! :)
In the meantime, watching anything interesting? How about Cruel City?

Interesting perspective!
Have Gumiho on the PTW list, but have recently decided not to watch it (not bcuz of an age gap -- I didn't even know there was one! --bcuz of Hung sisters. I ha...erm ...dislike Hung sisters). The others I either haven't heard of or am not interested in watching.

I have a few hang ups when it comes to age.
I'm OK with age differences if I'm unaware of it or if it isn't extremely noticeable. Ideally, I prefer when actors play against other actors who are closer to them in age, give or take 3 yrs. I don't like HUGE age gaps (anywhere 5 yrs & above), esp in ow/ym scenarios. When it comes to guys, if he's over 10 yrs older than the female, it gets to be a bit much for me. Having said this, I have been known to watch & enjoy age gap dramas, for eg A Gentleman's Dignity so I guess at the end of it if the chemistry's right, age really is just a #! :)

Yes, I had a look at it yesterday, but it's still relatively unfamiliar to me. Since dramacrazy is no more, I'm happy for new opportunities to watch dramas and movies. Gooddrama is great, but having an alternative is important since there's a lot they don't have. I'll be watching this site along with you. Hope it's legit!

By the way, would still love to hear why you dropped Secret Garden & rated it with only 1. I'm interested because this seem to be a massive fav of many people, even those who I really trust their tastes. I also noticed you dropped Queen In-Hyun's man as well, a drama I also dropped. I'm interested to know why you dropped it as this was also a drama everyone swore by.

haha, I LOL'ed when I read your warning for Ojakgyo Brothers. I'm surprised you didn't mention Tæ Bum, his dreadful wife Soo Young and her mother. LOL Or maybe, 13 eps in you probably didn't get to the point where they got married? Probably for the better because if the other characters are pissing you off this much now ... you might just have a coronary as Tæ Bum & Soo Young's relationship develops. I swear to God I hated Soo Young & her godawful mother more than anyone else in the show. Soo Young was a whiny bitch. And eventually I hated Tæ Bum too for putting up with her BS & her family from hell! LOL

Anyway, I agree with Chocobana below, things do get better. I ended up giving it an 8 over all. The other brothers' story were interesting, esp Tæ Sik & Tæ Hee (once he & Jæ Eun fell in love). You should give it another chance. :)

The first 10 eps focus a lot on the fantasy side of the drama, so if that's not your thing then that bit may drag a little for you. After ep 10 though the romance and melodrama kick in & things really pick up. It becomes awesome and heartbreaking all at once.

I think you & I use the same strategy for choosing dramas. For me it works well for the most part, although there have been a few misses. Just trial & error, I guess.

In that case you're way more generous than me! :-)
Even though I liked the male lead a lot, I couldn't rate the drama more than 4 overall. Actually I wanted to give it a 3, but I changed it to 4 just for the sake of the characters I really liked. At the end of the day, though, I just wish I could get back the 55hrs I spent watching this crap! LOL

I've become much more careful in my choice of dramas to watch. I've learnt not to fall for the hype on MDL. In fact many of the dramas I love the most are extremely underrated whilst others that thoroughly underwhelmed me are grossly overrated, eg Queen In-Hyun's Man.

I think that had I not fallen for the hype surrounding this drama, I would've liked it a lot better than I do. How do you avoid picking disappointing dramas? Do you have a strategy?

I see that you've watched a few eps of Padam Padam. What do you think of it so far?

By the way, re Loving You A Thousand Times. I saw it on your dropped list & was planning to ask you your thoughts on it. I really really hated that show! LOL I gave it a rather scathing review. One of the dumbest dramas I've ever seen. I liked some of the supporting cast, but I couldn't stand the female lead. Nothing she did ever made sense & I don't know why in the world the hero was soooo in love with her. Ugh, dreadful!

Then you should LOOOVE Padam Padam. It has so many touching moments that will move your heart. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Although I would've prefered less emotional upheaval, Padam Padam was a great introduction to quality Korean TV. It's a show with true meaning. I'm glad this was my 1st drama than say 1 of those silly, teenage dramas like Boys over Flower or Full House.

When it comes to genres I'm the opposite of you. From time to time I can tolerate, even appreciate, sadness in what I watch, but it's not an emotion I want to experience too much in my entertainment so I tend to avoid shows that are emotionally draining. Stirring up all these (what I call negative) emotions is not therapeutic for me, it's debilitating, depressing. They can be poignant & thought provoking shows that touch my heart, but I want to be able to shake them off & move on afterwards.

I really hope you like it.
Do let me know how it's coming along for you! :-)
When I first watched Padam Padam I was new to the whole Asian drama world so I didn't even know who Kim Bum was. I must say I didn't really care for his character or him as an actor in the drama. It's not because he performed poorly. I just found him to be a little too effeminate for my tastes. I like manly men! :-)
I shall look forward to experiencing how I react to him in That Winter, The Wind Blows!

What are you favourite genres? I tend to like most genres, but one thing they all (preferably) must have as a common denominator is romance.

Based on comments here this sounds like just the type of drama I hate! Strikes off list ...

Oh I can't wait to start Cruel City! Although I'm a serious romance addict I really loved the characters & fight scenes that I saw in the first 2 eps so I'm planning to pick this up again right after it airs.

Ok so I checked your list & I'd recommend you watch Padam Padam next. It's a cross between family drama, action, fantasy & romance. Quite an original story with some really excellent performances. If you're a Kim Bum fan, he plays an angel in the drama.

This was my very 1st K-drama so it holds a special place in my heart. I watched it because I love Jung Woo-sung (the guy who played in A Moment to Remember) & he was amazing in it. It's a little sad, but heartwarming & romantic as well. You should give a go! Also if you want to read my review of it you can check it out here:

http://mydramalist.com/profile/PrettyCarEye/reviews/recent/page-5