PrettyCarEye

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Omo, so you liked The World that They Live In, huh? Me too! I also liked Padam Padam, my first Asian drama. It's a sad one, but I'd still recommend it. I have Winter that Blows lined up to watch. If I end up liking that one I'll add the screenwriter to my 'preferred' list. For the moment my favourite screenwriter is Kim Eun Sook. She did two of my favourite dramas Lovers & City Hall. I also liked A Gentleman's Dignity though to a lesser extent than the aforementioned two.

It comes as no surprise to me that none of my favs made the list! Of course that's because I tend to like older actors well into their 30s & 40s.

Over 30s ... I've seen Jun Ji Hyun only once & Ha Ji Won many times. There's no doubt in my mind JJH is the better actress. HJW is completely overrated.

I'm on good terms with all of the guys (except KNG because I haven't seen him in much). I'm not completely taken by any of them based on their acting. Looks wise, however, Junki & Binnie take the cake! And I like SJS's tats.

Under 30s ... I like Kim Soo Hyun & Yoon Eun Hye (hey how about a drama with those two?). PSH is on my blacklist! I don't think she can be compared with YEH at all! That girl ... #smh
I'm not familiar with the other girls, and while LMH is nice to look at just like HJW I think he's way overrated.

Nice work, Aya!

Ah you're right ... Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Grandmaster (I quite liked her here), Dangerous Liaisons, Til Death Do Us Part. I'll watch the latter two tonight.
Oh god please spare me from Knight & his fanboying over noonas who are too much woman for him. Amen! :D

Dude, how many wives do you have? I always knew you were a player even though you like to act all innocent like! xP Moreover, where would I have seen her? I can't recall her name from anywhere ... except the time you came spazzing to me like a crazy fanboy about her!

Nice profile! I'm a happy ender too! While I can tolerate sad endings if I'm forced to, I prefer happy ones. I also loved NINE. OMG, Lee Jin Wook in that drama <3!!!
But, I haven't watched the final episode. I stopped at ep 19 & can't bring myself to continue because I fear the worse. Would you say it has a happy ending?

Omo, ms. AmandaMarta, apologies for the late reply. The last couple of months I've gotten so bad at responding to wall posts in a timely fashion. I just don't have the time or energy these days, too much to do ... but I'm trying to do better as I love hearing from people.

What have you been watching lately? Hope life is good with the new man. I'm always curious when friends make comments like these:

'I see that you've updated your profile page and obviously, I read through your changes. I'm always learning something new from you.'

What was that 'something' you learned?

Hehe your dropped list had me chuckling because a lot of hyped up dramas are on there & deservedly so I might say because the dramas with the highest ratings on this site are mostly crap. On the other hand there are also a few on there that I liked: Gentleman's Dignity (9), Rich Man Poor Woman (8), Padam Padam (9), You Who Came from the Stars (7). I watched AGD & PP very early on in my career (PP was my first drama actually) so my ratings are perhaps a bit generous where they're concerned.

By the way I can't STAND the female lead in Giant. I've seen her once before in Can You Hear My Heart & that show alone was enough to make me blacklist her. She's actually the main reason why I've been hesitant to start Giant, but I will watch it ... eventually.

Yeah, the length is serious. That doesn't deter me though if the show is good. So tell me what attracts you about it? And what about the other shows I mentioned, have you seen any of them ... or plan to?

By the way Ghettoe why on earth don't you update your lists? I know you've seen more than what's on there.

Have you watched Golden Empire? I'd be curious to know your opinions on that show. LOVERS as well. Lovers & City Hall are written by the same screenwriter and dare I say the best of her repertoire (in my opinion). I really enjoyed City Hall! It's rom-com whilst Lovers is romance/crime/drama, but I THINK perhaps maybe you'll enjoy some aspects of the show. Not 100% sure since I actually don't have a good grasp of your preferences yet.

And I see you have Giant on hold. That has been getting great buzz from my friends. A 9 from you so far is quite indicative of a show that's a notch above the rest! What is it that you like about it?

Ah hell nah ...! That's 50 episodes! Even if you pay me I wouldn't want to spend 5 hrs with Ha Ji Won on screen much less 50. I like Joo Jin Mo, but not that much! :)

The comments on the Brain drama page are overwhelmingly positive.

LOL, tell me more about Empress Ki. Why does it suck? A lot of my friends RAVE about it, but if they were beside me in real life I'd give them the side eye. I don't know about you but I think Ha Ji Won is a horrible actress, yet she's so overrated. I think because she always plays these tough girl roles (mostly cartoon characters, no substance) that many female audiences like they attribute that to 'good' acting. Like your pet peeve with Park Shi Hoo, I have the same reaction to Ha. Her facial expressions & mannerisms annoy me to the point of not wanting to watch her shows if I absolutely don't have to.

I've heard mostly good things about PM. I've never seen either of the leads in action so I have no prior opinions about them. I think I'll give it a go & see what all the fuss is about.

Aniyo, not yet. I'm waiting for a few more eps to come out. I can't deal with the anxiety of airing dramas. I feel like I want to pull my hair out when I want to watch the next episode & it's not immediately available. So I'll wait.

Plus while I'm looking forward to seeing LSJ, I'm actually not that psyched about this drama. I don't like the writer. She's known for writing these over the top (makjang), tragic dramas that I usually hate ... but for LSJ, I'll watch it! I want to shake him though for choosing this type of project. Just what was he thinking? Sigh ... :)

I love your new avi of CSW. Guy is sooo cute!

LOL! Don't worry a lot of people appreciate TWDR. One of my best friends on here loves it & that's usually a pretty good indication that I'll likely love it too since our tastes tend to be in sync. Of course for reasons explained in my previous post to you I would have liked there to be a bit of romance, but it's not a requirement if the plot manages to stay engaging throughout.

Haven't seen Brain & wasn't planning to given that I don't like medical dramas, but I might reconsider since it gets your approval. The reviews seem to lean toward positive too ... though I take the reviews on this site with a HUGE grain of salt.

What are you watching now? If you've seen The Princess' Man, what did you make of it?

Well, I don't want to oversell, but it's a good drama. To me. :)

Lovers is the 3rd installment of the 'Lovers' trilogy (Lovers in Paris is the 1st, Lovers in Prague the 2nd) & the first of the 3 dramas I watched. I then saw Lovers in Prague, thinking it would be just as enjoyable as Lovers. It wasn't. A huge disappointment. Whilst it did have many Kim Eun Sook's signatures (mature cast & story) the plot played out like a bad teenage drama. I didn't like it at all. And that gave me no motivation to try Lovers in Paris - the reviews for which range from so-so to downright poor.

It's good to note that the trilogy was written very early in KES's career. I felt her inexperience showed quite a bit in Lovers in Prague because the writing was so bad, however in Lovers she really came into her own.

The dramas are not connected so you don't have to watch them in order. If I were you I'd just skip LiParis & LiPrague and go straight to Lovers (when you're ready for it). Even though I haven't seen Lovers in Paris in its entirety Lovers is by far the best of the lot. It's better written, better produced & the story is far more engaging, imo.

Rather than Lovers in Paris, I'd say go for The World that They Live In. Keep in mind though that it's not a romcom. It's more of a romantic drama. So if you're looking for something less emotionally taxing after PM City Hall would be a good choice! :)

As for how I pick my drama: 80% mood, 20% reviews/recs from friends.

That's exactly the reason WHY I wanted to watch this show. The premise of a divorced couple who is still in love with each other is so rich with good drama. Throw in a pair of hopelessly attractive leads with sick chemistry & you SHOULD be in for a fun ride, but they of course just had to ruin it. I knew they couldn't handle a story like this, at least not in a way that appeals to me. I wish Kim Eun Sook - the writer of LOVERS - had had a go at this. I'm not saying she's THAT much better than her colleagues but at least she tends to treat her audience like adults rather than moronic teenagers.

My friend, no. We're not in the minority. Actually this isn't even a minority/majority issue. It's about not treating viewers like total boneheads who'll just accept whatever nonsense you feed them. Factor out western audiences & I'd still bet money that viewers in SK have far more cognitive ability than most drama writers give them credit for. In fact even if you're as dumb as stump if you see something out of place you're gonna wonder why the heck it's there.

There is no evidence to suggest that ratings would drop drastically if writers tried new angles of telling a story instead of the same recycled BS. In fact, on the contrary. There is evidence to suggest viewers DO want a variety. You can still have the basic structure of boy meets girl blah blah blah ... but the actual trajectory of the story need not be the SAME drama after drama. Yes as you create new formulas you might lose some old fans but you're also likely to gain new ones in equal numbers or more. Remember SK doesn't have the 'season' system like in US so there's a lot less risk involved in their productions. They have more leeway to experiment since their shows can't get cancelled. Once a show starts to air it does so until the end even with poor ratings. Maybe they'll cut it 1 or 2 eps short but the show goes on. So they have no excuse really. No excuse.

Look, given that I write as well (albeit for film & not TV) I understand the appeal to write to formula; it sure makes your job a lot easier & more structured if you can tick off all those boxes that ensure you have all bases covered. However, the formula works only for so long until it becomes tired & cliche. Then it's time to develop a new formula! As artists - if we aspire to be anything more than sub-par - that's what we do. We innovate!

I completely agree & that's what I've been saying, the content is always the same formulaic nonsense, but Koreans have a wider variety of genres whilst the Japanese stick mostly to the 3 I mentioned.

As for romance, I'm not sure I agree with you there. The desire for human connection is quite indelible to the human condition. Romance can & do pop up in the most bizarre of scenarios so while some dramas perhaps don't need a romance, if it is there it isn't a big deal. Not for me, at least. In fact, sometimes a romance will help me empathize more with characters because in the face of one's lover all the masks come off & you see the characters at their most vulnerable.

From what I've observed you only ever get a 'true' romance in specifically romance or family related dramas, though. Usually when romance is incorporated with other genres it is hardly ever satisfying. There's lots of hints at the potential of a romance, the characters may have bucket loads of chemistry but it never develops much beyond that. In such cases I'd prefer they leave out all signs of romance rather than tease us with the possibility yet never deliver on it. A good example? Golden Empire.

The interesting thing about me & romance is that it's my fall back genre. While I enjoy watching a variety of genres a romance keeps me invested when everything else goes south. I finished a lot of otherwise mediocre dramas all for the sake of the 2 characters in love. I usually want to see them get their happy ending (yes, I'm a romantic :). Case in point: Time between Dog & Wolf. A rather unconvincing crime drama in most aspects, but I was invested in the relationships so I kept watching even while I rolled my eyes at some of the most incompetent gangsters I've ever seen!

No reason other than a desire for variety! :)

PrettyCarEye was my original nick until I became so besotted with Lee Seo Jin that I started to bear his name. But I thought it's about time I reclaimed my identity.

Omo, I've heard soooo much about Princess' Man that I've decided to make it my next drama! :) I hope it'll have the same impact on me.

I haven't seen Kingdom of the Winds but I'll look into it. Thx for the rec.

As for Lovers, hopefully you'll give it a chance soon. I don't know your tastes but based on the type of hero you say you like I can not see how you won't end up falling for Kang Jæ. Anyway, I hope whenever you do get around to watching it'll be good! :p