Musings of the Obsessive Kind

All you guys who told me Stairway to Heaven was depressing totally lied! I mean, sure, I started crying two minutes into episode 7 and poor Hero and Heroine have enough angst for a small Siberian village (I cannot wait for Heroine to regain her memory. My wishful scenario is for her to turn Buffy, enlist Hero to her cause, and then they go stake the rest of the cast and then cut off their heads).

BUT.

You guys have NO idea the amount of sheer unadulterated joy I get from watching Psycho Bitch and Sister Luster freak and panic and run around and worry about their crimes being exposed and suffer suffer suffer. I was literally laughing out loud at Sister Luster running around like a mad person because Heroine wouldn't take his calls, being busy celebrating Hero's birthday and getting almost kissed. Ahahahahahahaha in your face! I wish I could get a videotape of Hero and Heroine getting it on and mail it to you and make you watch it, you nasty gargoyle freak! Psycho Bitch's almost cartoon panic is even better. Every time I see her lose it, I experience almost transcendent joy.

Also, if you were Heroine, who would you pick?

Hideous as sin stepbrother who basically kidnapped you, kept you away from friends, family, and boyfriend, lied to you about your true identity and past, lied to you that you are his girlfriend to get in your pants and has generally behaved in subhuman fashion? Also, he stole Farrah Fawsett's hairdo.



Or a sexy rich guy who is your best friend and boyfriend who is madly devoted, gives you presents on his birthday, is fun and intense, and probably is good in bed. Also a plus -is not evil or insane.



Ahhh, dilemmas, dilemmas.

You know my mad enjoyment of Stairway to Heaven finally made me realize something - I adore kdrama melodramas so much but only when the melodrama in question is a strongly romantic - where the story revolves around Love That Cannot Be. I mean, an average ep of StH has more romantic moments than an entire season of an American show. And all my favorite melodramas (StH, Tree of Heaven, A Love to Kill, Beautiful Days, Winter Sonata, Spring Waltz) are hyper-focused on the love story. OTOH when it's a family-oriented melodrama, I lose interest. In the melodrama context, I am only interested in romance. This is why, e.g., I don't like MiSa as much as the melodramas mentioned above - the ratio of romance to family issues is much smaller - the family stuff takes a lot more space and so I check out. I think that is why Cinderella Unni stopped interesting me after the first 4 eps (which were, significantly, more romance-centric than the subsequent eps). CU is well-written and well-acted melodrama but it's not a romantic melodrama. Any romance in it isn't over-present - the drama focuses on family dynamics. And that's something I am not as interested in at all.

ETA: ARGH ARGH HERO'S HORRIBLE AWFUL MOTHER DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE. Oh boy, StH is giving me emotions a hell of a work out.. DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE YOU UNEARTHLY BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I adore the OTP so much - with the ridiculous chemistry and old wounds and tongue-in-cheek teasing and utter desperation and everything else about them. I really want them to have a happy ending. Which...yeah.



I think by now it's official - it's the most romantic kdrama I've ever seen.

Also, amount of caps I take seems to increase exponentially.

Anyway, without much further ado, ( The awesomeness of eps 5 and 6 is behind the cut )

Here is our update for eps 3-4.



Characters I do not want to bludgeon to death: Two (Jung Suh and Song Joo).
Characters who do not have some sort of mental condition: One (Jung Suh. Though I suppose that's only because of amnesia).
The distance between the Hero and a full-blown psychotic breakdown which probably would need hospitalization: 0.03 mm.
Times Psycho Bitch plotted something evil: 19,458
Times Hero ran like a desperate lunatic after Heroine only to have his heart stomped on: 3
Times dangermousie cried: 3 (see above).
Most Pathetic Character Award Goes To: Sister Luster.
Level of involvement of Korean population in possible assault or just a crazy person off his meds: 50%
Amount of times I drooled over Kwon Sang Woo angsting in suits: Not telling.

And now, on with the show!

( Eps 3 and 4 in caps. Ahhh, his desperation is so very sexy )

You guys, I am so in love with this!

ETA: Am on ep 5 now and I really really yearn for Sexy Hero to pick up an Uzi and mow down every character in this story who isn't Jung Suh. How could they be surrounded by so many evil lunatics who need to go DIAF? They must have been mass murderers in their past life to get such lovely karma. Seriously, Sexy Hero, I am sure you can afford an illegal black-market gun. Go for it!

Here is our update for eps 3-4.



Characters I do not want to bludgeon to death: Two (Jung Suh and Song Joo).
Characters who do not have some sort of mental condition: One (Jung Suh. Though I suppose that's only because of amnesia).
The distance between the Hero and a full-blown psychotic breakdown which probably would need hospitalization: 0.03 mm.
Times Psycho Bitch plotted something evil: 19,458
Times Hero ran like a desperate lunatic after Heroine only to have his heart stomped on: 3
Times dangermousie cried: 3 (see above).
Most Pathetic Character Award Goes To: Sister Luster.
Level of involvement of Korean population in possible assault or just a crazy person off his meds: 50%
Amount of times I drooled over Kwon Sang Woo angsting in suits: Not telling.

And now, on with the show!

( Eps 3 and 4 in caps. Ahhh, his desperation is so very sexy )

You guys, I am so in love with this!

ETA: Am on ep 5 now and I really really yearn for Sexy Hero to pick up an Uzi and mow down every character in this story who isn't Jung Suh. How could they be surrounded by so many evil lunatics who need to go DIAF? They must have been mass murderers in their past life to get such lovely karma. Seriously, Sexy Hero, I am sure you can afford an illegal black-market gun. Go for it!

Where has this drama been all my life? I basically fell for it within the first two minutes.



Whoever worked on StH knew exactly what I want in me melodrama - true love of two pure-hearted protagonists who are each other's soulmates, evil stepsiblings, hints of sibcest, and blingy jewelry.

( Enter here for the first two episodes in the life of Jung Suh, surely the most unlucky heroine ever )

So, to sum up - Heroine is living with no-attention-paying father, a monstrous Stepmother, a Psycho Bitch Stepsister, and a Stepbrother who fancies to get into her pants. Oh, and her boyfriend is far away and she can't keep in touch with him.

Never fear, apparently she will look back on these as the good days.

After 3 eps of A Man Called God failed to interest me, I decided to check that madly famous uber-weepie Stairway to Heaven with Choi Ji Woo and Kwon Sang Woo. StH was a huge part of the Hallyu wave and was a ridiculously famous and successful drama. It is also about two people who surely have the worst luck in the entire universe mainly because their families are total lunatics - heroine's step-family alone makes Cinderella's look nice, she gets cancer from a car accident (no, really!), there is amnesia, eye donations, terminal illnesses, evil parents by the score, childhood love, suicide attempts and (this is what tipped the scale for me), as per lesbiassparrow, a moment with "hero lying half-in, half-out of shower while wailing the heroine's name."

Indeed.

To nobody's surprise it all does not end well.

Have a MV.



I shall enjoy this mightily.

(It is by the writer of Personal Taste which hopefully means yummy but hopefully not terminal angst is coming our way soon in PT).

After 3 eps of A Man Called God failed to interest me, I decided to check that madly famous uber-weepie Stairway to Heaven with Choi Ji Woo and Kwon Sang Woo. StH was a huge part of the Hallyu wave and was a ridiculously famous and successful drama. It is also about two people who surely have the worst luck in the entire universe mainly because their families are total lunatics - heroine's step-family alone makes Cinderella's look nice, she gets cancer from a car accident (no, really!), there is amnesia, eye donations, terminal illnesses, evil parents by the score, childhood love, suicide attempts and (this is what tipped the scale for me), as per lesbiassparrow, a moment with "hero lying half-in, half-out of shower while wailing the heroine's name."

Indeed.

To nobody's surprise it all does not end well.

Have a MV.



I shall enjoy this mightily.

(It is by the writer of Personal Taste which hopefully means yummy but hopefully not terminal angst is coming our way soon in PT).

I adore Spring Waltz - Ep 12 was adorable! SW reminds me, oddly enough, of Save the Last Dance - the plots aren't similar or anything but it has the same gorgeous, tender, feel - a traditonal story done exceptionally well.

* She kissed his hand!

* It keeps amazing me how functional the OTP is - they talk things out! When he sleeps on her shoulder!!!!

* Evil Parents, seriously - if your kid has repeatedly indicated he would rather cut off and eat his ears than get engaged to crazy Secondary Girl, perhaps throwing a big engagement party and having him come there is not the brightest idea. Not being a gutless wonder like BOF's Jun Pyo, he might actually wreck the enterprise. You have only yourselves to blame. Oh, and Secondary Girl. When the guy told you he doesn't want to date you, to keep throwing yourself at him and get pissed he isn't interested and have his parents arrange an engagement despite his express wishes is a new record of patheticness. Seriously. If you love him, shouldn't you care about what he wants at least a little? And if not, get some self-respect: you are not malformed, you can get someone who likes ya.

(I also cheated and watched the ending - am GIDDY!!!)

I also feel like watching two huge (and hugely famous) weepies after I am done.

1. Autumn in my Heart (Autumn Tale). They are stepsiblings who used to think they are real siblings. Rocks fall, everybody dies. MV:



2. Stairway to Heaven. Childhood love, amnesia, evil families, terminal illness, and another emo pianist...



I am gonna be entertained...

Oh, help me, help me doramaholics anonymous! For I am such a dorama ho!

I am already watching a dozen dramas, half of them actively, including Beautiful Love, which I have been mainlining. Yet, what do I do tonight?

Start yet another one! I need help. Heeeeeeelp. The culprit? Korean drama (which is partially set in Japan), Tree of Heaven (also known as Heaven's Tree). But how could I resist?

We have forbidden sibling love which is not really taboo enough to squick but enough to bring on the guilt (they are stepsiblings who meet high-school age). We have the cheerful, warm-hearted girl and the broken gorgeous boy who needs healing so badly. We have beautiful people running in the snow. And, this not being a light kdrama, we have a tragic ending. (I haven't seen it, so I might be wrong, but I am betting on it).

I am in love. Ten minutes in, this is added to the roster. I fall in love with dramas often, so it's very possible I'll cool off later, but for now, it's my new shiny.

Just to give a little taste, we open the drama with a snowy cemetery and a girl of about 10 playing in the snow. A voiceover (one of my favorite drama things) kicks in. Hana, the heroine, was brought up in Japan (I think she is Japanese) but her father to whom she looked up, died before she was ten. She says when she was a child, she'd run in his footsteps in the snow, feeling all enveloped, her tiny feet in his grown-up foot-steps. Ahhh, kdrama philosophy. Fast-forward some time ago. Hana is now a young, high-school age woman, whose mother has remarried. So Hana, who is an open, warm-hearted, cheerful (not to mention pretty) girl is practicing her almost-non-existent Korean, preparing to meet her new 'Dad' and her new 'brother' (his son from the previous marriage). But when she meets them at the airport, her new 'oppa' is nowhere to be seen and 'Dad' says he is outside.

So Hana goes to fetch him, discovering a figure standing by the fence, covered in snow, and not noticing the cold or the weather at all. She tries out her Korean with a smile, but he won't turn at all at first, and then when he does (after she's blurted out 'oppa, I love you'), she is startled to see three very awesome things: (1) he has tears in his eyes; (2) he is barefoot! In the snow! Holding his shoes in his hands and (3) he is BLOODY GORGEOUS!!!

And he just walks off, into the snow, still barefoot, and she follows him, because she doesn't want him to be lost in the snow like her Dad.

And I am SOLD.

Did I mention that he has some sort of mental trauma after the death of his mother? And she is going to heal him! Only for them to have a doomed, forbidden love affair! YAY!

South Korea=Knowledge of what dangermousie wants to watch.

Don't believe me?

( Youtube mv behind cut )

ETA: And after seeing the following MV, I simply must watch Stairway to Heaven. Ahhh, angsty love.

( Crying men in suits here )

Oh, help me, help me doramaholics anonymous! For I am such a dorama ho!

I am already watching a dozen dramas, half of them actively, including Beautiful Love, which I have been mainlining. Yet, what do I do tonight?

Start yet another one! I need help. Heeeeeeelp. The culprit? Korean drama (which is partially set in Japan), Tree of Heaven (also known as Heaven's Tree). But how could I resist?

We have forbidden sibling love which is not really taboo enough to squick but enough to bring on the guilt (they are stepsiblings who meet high-school age). We have the cheerful, warm-hearted girl and the broken gorgeous boy who needs healing so badly. We have beautiful people running in the snow. And, this not being a light kdrama, we have a tragic ending. (I haven't seen it, so I might be wrong, but I am betting on it).

I am in love. Ten minutes in, this is added to the roster. I fall in love with dramas often, so it's very possible I'll cool off later, but for now, it's my new shiny.

Just to give a little taste, we open the drama with a snowy cemetery and a girl of about 10 playing in the snow. A voiceover (one of my favorite drama things) kicks in. Hana, the heroine, was brought up in Japan (I think she is Japanese) but her father to whom she looked up, died before she was ten. She says when she was a child, she'd run in his footsteps in the snow, feeling all enveloped, her tiny feet in his grown-up foot-steps. Ahhh, kdrama philosophy. Fast-forward some time ago. Hana is now a young, high-school age woman, whose mother has remarried. So Hana, who is an open, warm-hearted, cheerful (not to mention pretty) girl is practicing her almost-non-existent Korean, preparing to meet her new 'Dad' and her new 'brother' (his son from the previous marriage). But when she meets them at the airport, her new 'oppa' is nowhere to be seen and 'Dad' says he is outside.

So Hana goes to fetch him, discovering a figure standing by the fence, covered in snow, and not noticing the cold or the weather at all. She tries out her Korean with a smile, but he won't turn at all at first, and then when he does (after she's blurted out 'oppa, I love you'), she is startled to see three very awesome things: (1) he has tears in his eyes; (2) he is barefoot! In the snow! Holding his shoes in his hands and (3) he is BLOODY GORGEOUS!!!

And he just walks off, into the snow, still barefoot, and she follows him, because she doesn't want him to be lost in the snow like her Dad.

And I am SOLD.

Did I mention that he has some sort of mental trauma after the death of his mother? And she is going to heal him! Only for them to have a doomed, forbidden love affair! YAY!

South Korea=Knowledge of what dangermousie wants to watch.

Don't believe me?

( Youtube mv behind cut )

ETA: And after seeing the following MV, I simply must watch Stairway to Heaven. Ahhh, angsty love.

( Crying men in suits here )