kfangurl’s 2012 Drama Awards [Repost]

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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Newly Charmed By: Hong Jong Hyun

YOU GUYS.

You know how sometimes the most unexpected things happen? Like how you think, Y’know what, I just don’t get the appeal of this actor, and I probably am unlikely to ever get it? And then, one day, something happens when you least expect it, and then you go, “OHHH.”

Heh. The last time something like that happened to me, I found myself falling – so, so hard – for Woob (full story here).

Ok, before you get too excited, let me just say that Woob is still very much holding court in my fangirl heart, so no takeovers or upsets of any kind there.

But I hafta confess that I am so, SO blown away by just how much I’m suddenly charmed by Hong Jong Hyun. Seriously. He’s been giving me a serious case of the goofy grins over the last two days, and I just have to tell y’all all about it.

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Review: What’s Up?

WU2

THE SHORT VERDICT:

This drama had a somewhat raw, rough-around-the-edges sort of feel to it, which gave it a sense of realism.

Several plot-lines felt under-developed, which made the show feel a bit off-kilter, but some great characters and a couple of meaningful plot-lines which did get nicely fleshed out made this unassuming little show one that I enjoyed quite a lot more than I thought I would.

The characters snuck up on me and made me start to care about them, which is always a plus in my books.

A character piece with songs.

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

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: Wild Romance

WR1

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Lee Dong Wook is cute and Lee Si Young is natural and likable, and we get some nice bickering romance between them. One of the sub-plots (popularly known as the Robot Couple) is also pretty adorable.

BUT. The writing is weak – sometimes spectacularly so – and that shows up more and more as the show progresses.

A few bright spots, but rather disappointing overall.
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