Dream High 2

Review: Romance Is A Bonus Book

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A noona romance that isn’t actually all about the romance, and yet, it works, and so well too.

While I don’t think that this would sit as well with a younger audience, I do feel like this would resonate well with a slightly older audience, particularly if said audience is female.

Show takes the premise of a divorcee’s struggle to re-enter the workforce, and makes it come alive with poignance and heart, while managing to slip a charming noona romance in there, to sweeten the whole experience.

A capable cast and a lovely OST round out this drama’s strengths, and I also wanted to say, Lee Na Young is extra incandescent to my eyes, as our female protagonist.

Not a show that would work for everyone, but if it works for you, it works so well. <3

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kfangurl’s 2012 Drama Awards [Repost]

| kfangurl

So this might be the mother of all throwback posts on this blog. (Wait, this might be the only throwback post on the blog, actually!)

Basically, this post had first appeared on Stephanie’s blog Crazy for Kdrama, when she’d invited me to guest on her 2012-in-review series.

I’d been super excited, and Stephanie’s invitation basically was the catalyst that inspired me to even start this blog (you can find the blog’s origin story here).

Long story short, Crazy for Kdrama suffered from a takedown a while ago, thanks to DMCA bots, which sucked. 🙁 But, Steph’s since dusted herself off and has started over at Kchat Jjigae.

This post, though, was lost with the original blog. That’s been niggling me for a while, since this post has a special place in this blog’s history.

That, and the more OCD parts of my brain felt uncomfortable that the link to my 2012 year-in-review on the Full List page basically led to nowhere.

Happily, those same OCD parts of my brain had thought to save my original draft somewhere, so it wasn’t all that hard to reproduce the post here.

So now, for old times’ sake, and for the sake of having my 2012-in-review post available somewhere, I present to you one of the earliest blog posts I ever wrote, in its pure, original state.

I’ve simply added links to reviews where available. Hope you guys enjoy the walk down memory lane with me! 🙂

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Flash Review: Goong S [Prince Hours]

| kfangurl

Funny story, you guys. I actually never intended to watch Goong S, let alone finish it.

It all started a while ago, when I did my rewatch and review of Goong, and discovered to my delight that not only was there new squee to be had, given my better grasp of the Korean language, but even the palace politics were more interesting, given my sageuk exposure since first watching it years ago.

On Twitter, several friends wondered about whether there’d be a similar effect with Goong S, and sort of fun-challenged me to turn my now-better-informed eyes on this show, to see if any of that better insight was to be had with Goong’s spin-off.

I didn’t take the challenge seriously, especially since, during the height of my Goong obsession, I’d dipped my toes in for a bit, and, jarred by this show’s differences and similarities to Goong, had dropped it like a hot potato.

To think that now, 8 years later, I’ve not only gone back to give this a try, but have actually finished it! Past Me would be shocked, I tell ya. 😉

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Happy New Year! Giveaway Winners! ..And Other Stuff

| kfangurl
Oopsie. Do our fingers not read “2 0 1 5”??

kfangurl: Happy brand new 2015, everyone!! Wow, can you believe it’s already officially 2015?

Lady G: It feels a bit weird, but it’s really not. I hope this year is better for every one. 🙂

But now I must ask – Where’s my Hoverboard? I’ve been waiting for it since 1989! My self-drying jacket and automatic-lacing Nikes? Flying cars? I know… Back to the Future II lied to us!

kfangurl: It totally did! I mean, never mind the Hoverboard, I’d love a time-traveling car – y’know, to watch more drama with. And also, maybe stalk Woob’s fanmeets and other appearances, heh. Yes, I have a total one-track mind. Priorities, y’know? 😉

Lady G: I never even would’ve thought of using time travel to fuel our kdrama obesssions. I love the way you think! We’ll take those trips together. Who knows? We may change the future and wind up married to our biases. hehehe! Or would that be way too much of a butterfly effect?

kfangurl: Butterfly-schmutterfly. Whatever it takes to get hitched to the Woob, I say!

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Review: Cunning Single Lady [Sly and Single Again]

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A divorced-to-reunited rom-com that has flaws aplenty but manages to get the most important thing right: its heart.

If you wanted to count ’em, you’d easily find a whole bunch of flaws and imperfections in Cunning Single Lady. But if you’re willing to look past all of that, you’ll find a good dose of cute, an endearing spot of sweet, and a heartfelt rekindling of a sincere love that never did go away.

Lee Min Jung and Joo Sang Wook turn in quality performances as our lead couple, and are the key reasons to tune in to this unassuming little show that turned out to be quite a bit more heartwarming than I expected.

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Discovering: Park Seo Joon

| kfangurl

Everyone was right.

So many of you predicted that once I started watching Witch’s Romance, that I would start swooning over Park Seo Joon just like everyone else. Heh. Y’all are so right.

To be honest, before I started watching the show, when I saw all the photo spreads and stills of Park Seo Joon that came out along with Witch’s Romance, I had my doubts.

In the stills, he looked rather.. well, ordinary to me. Nothing about those photos made me sit up and take serious notice, really.

Ha. Watch me eat my words now. Coz I’ve been lapping up Witch’s Romance, while happily nursing a brand new fangirl crush on Park Seo Joon (melt~).

Better late than never, right?

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Liebster Shower [Round 2!]

| kfangurl

So a funny thing happened. Liebster season snuck up on me when I wasn’t even looking.

When the first signs popped up, hinting that Liebster season was upon us again, I hardly took notice. I was all like, Well, I had a good go at that last year, and it was a heap of fun.

Surely after 9 whole Liebsters, though, no one’s going to want to ask me more questions about myself. Right?

Wrong.

When I wasn’t looking, those Liebsters seemed to multiply in a little room all by their sneaky little selves. Almost like they had a will all their own. And now, I have a serious heap of questions to answer *starts sweating bullets*

I plead hectic Real Life schedules as the reason that I delegated the job of answering the Liebster questions to Future Me (hey, after watching so many time-travel dramas, you gotta learn something, right?)

So here I am, Future Me (er, now Present Me?) to the rescue! Let’s see if you guys can stick with me all the way to the very end, eh? I promise to make this as pain-free as possible 😉

And, thanks to all you sweethearts who nominated me – I feel like I’ve been rained on by showers of lurve ❤

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Kfangirl’s 2012 Drama Awards + Origin Story of This Blog

| kfangurl

Kfangirl 2012 Drama Awards I

Celebrate with me! This is a double first for me: my first Year-In-Review, AND, my first guest post too! 😀

This guest post is especially close to my heart because how it came about is actually the origin story of this blog.

THE ORIGIN STORY

Up to about 2 months ago, I had been a persistent lurker in the kdrama-verse.

For most of my six kdrama-watching years, I visited lots of blogs regularly and kept up with the k-entertainment news and lapped up other people’s views and reviews, but I almost never commented on anything.

Once in a long while, I would leave a comment somewhere, but mostly only if I had something that I was just burning to say.

I’m an introvert at heart, though most people who know me in real life wouldn’t guess it, and this was my inner introvert acting out.

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Review: Dream High 2

| kfangurl

DH2.1

THE SHORT VERDICT:

This was bad. As much as Dream High was DA BOMB, this was simply, A BOMB.

Dream High 2 was comprised of a lackluster script, poorly drawn characters, a cast who could manage only very, very average acting, and random musical numbers which went on.. & on.. & on..

The only bright(ish) spot was Jung Jin Woon, who ironically delivered a better performance than the only actor-actor of the bunch, Kang So Ra.

A very strong contender for worst drama I have ever seen. And I have seen a LOT of dramas.

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