dangermousie | Jan. 14th, 2011

Jan. 14th, 2011

My Gloria love cemented what I was earlier suspecting with dramas like Giant and Baker King - I really dig long kdramas and go for family ones in a big way.

So my next binge is likely to be Golden Bride - I saw and liked the first ep ages ago but was scared by the length and put it away. Well, the length doesn't bother me any more, so here we come.

I couldn't find any main otp mvs, so have a secondary otp one:

I also want to continue with Family Honor, where I was also scared off by the length before - but seeing how I loved the writer's Gloria and Pick the Stars, that it stars darling scene-stealer Park Shi Hoo, and that it's actually shorter than Gloria, here I come! I hear dramafever has it (dls don't have great visual quality because they are tv rips so I'd rather stream).

This is one of the promo stills for the upcoming Paradise Ranch a.k.a. Mousie's unwitting target:

"My eyes! My eyes!" seems to be the most appropriate exclamation. Between the get-ups, the smirks (except for Changmin who's doing his best take on pouty sexyface), the gun 'symbolism', the 'not an inch of space left between them' proximity, I am left to wonder if this is, in actuality, an ad for some sort of fetishy Western-themed pr0n, and a second later the clothes will come off and a foursome swinger orgy will commence for our delectation.

I am a little puzzled as to which time period encapsulates both leather miniskirts and regency dresses, whether the bulging pants of JSW and the direction Changmin's gun is pointing are deliberate, why poor Yoo Hana is the only one who doesn't get a hat, not to mention what dressing like an extra from The Virginian has to do with Korea or Koreans in any way, but thinking about all these just hurts my head.

At least nobody is wearing assless chaps and riding someone like a pony. That's something.

Ah, drama, you entertain me immensely and you are not even out yet.

This is one of the promo stills for the upcoming Paradise Ranch a.k.a. Mousie's unwitting target:

I was rather worried about the withdrawal I was going to go into when the fantabulous Secret Garden was going to end this week (Gloria ends only two weeks after) but I have been saved! By the funny, fast-paced, adorable My Princess.

A romcom about a pennypinching student who discovers she's a long lost princess of Korea, it's everything I want in a drama - funny, oddball, shippy. I enjoyed the first episode but I did not get rabid until the second. The reason? MP's putative OTP - Lee Seul played by Kim Tae Hee and Haeyoung, a diplomat who found her, played by Song Seung Heon.

There are no words for how much I adore this OTP already, after having watched only two eps. Their chemistry sparkles almost as much as their interactions (it's flirty and delicious, not 'intense rip-your-clothes-off' one of Secret Garden but it fits here) - I love their banter and back-and-forth and the fact that they are alredy comfortable with each other and somehow friends - giving love advice and stuffing popcorn and just being wackjobs. Most drama OTPs fall into either 'worship at your feet' or 'bicker and hate until love' and it's nice to see something like this - friendship with undertones.

Plus, did I mention this drama is hilarious?

I am barely an ep into Rock Rock Rock, a 4-episode special drama about Kim Tae Won, the guitarist of famous Korean rock band Buhwal, and I am obsessed!

So freaking good! It probably helps that I much prefer a 'proper' band like a rock one to the manufactured idol ones and you don't really see much of the former in kdramas (even when they try to have an 'indie' musician like Mugyul in MSOAN, it's not really indie - it sounds poppy just the same). Plus, I am always a sucker for the 'rise of a troubled musician' stories.

Also, the music - I really love. I am off to find Buhwal performances on youtube.

I didn't find many vids of the drama on youtube, but here is a scene from a later ep:

I have no idea if it's Kim Tae Won's vocals and No Min Woo is lypsynching to them, or it's NMW singing himself, but whoever's voice that is - I want to roll around in it.

No Min Woo, who plays the lead, apparently got picked by the Kim Tae Won himself because he knows how to play the guitar properly (NMW is a relative newbie to acting but he was a long-time member of Trax, a rock band created as a result of SM Entertainment's desire to branch out beyond idol groups - so sort of a rock band? Only manufactured? And with hot people? Hmmmm. Semi-rock then :P). I've previously seen NMW in My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, where I spent what little of the drama I've seen (4 eps), wishing his cool character was the hero instead. I didn't notice much about him there though other than major hotness, because MGIAG didn't give much to him to do. Well, RRR does give him plenty of things to do and he is really really good in the role. Really good. When you combine his potential with those looks and the cool vibe, plus good choice in projects (I am really looking forward to seeing him in Midas), he is probably the drama newcomer I am interested in most.

In case you aren't sure whether No Min Woo is your cup of tea, here he is playing drums shirtless from some performance or another:

I am barely an ep into Rock Rock Rock, a 4-episode special drama about Kim Tae Won, the guitarist of famous Korean rock band Buhwal, and I am obsessed!

I am enjoying Rock Rock Rock immensely, but I have to say, it's bringing back all sorts of horrible hairstyle memories best forgotten. I am not going to post a picture of the mullet because barfing all over the keyboard is an expensive proposition, but how about this:

And this is only marginally better:

For whatever reason though, I like this:

Too bad The Mullet comes shortly after.

Also, did Korean school uniforms never change? The ones the kids were wearing in Friend Our Legend, in the 1980s, and the ones here, in the 1970s, look identical and, I might be hallucinating, but I've seen similar ones in some of the dramas set today.

Also, I've skimmed eps 2-4 to see they dled correctly, and all I can say is his wife must be a saint. Especially since the real-life version is not as gorgeous as No Min Woo. Even with No Min Woo looks thrown in, I'd be all for a one-night stand, but forget dating and certainly forget marrying. But then I never went in for broken boys myself.