Dishonorable Mention – IHYV not Including Secret Garden Reference

Note: What follows is nothing but nonsense, but can be considered a precursor to the next Top 5- Best instances of dramas including a reference to the massively popular 2010 hit.  Hopefully, that should be released before the weekends out, but in the meantime, enjoy… whatever this is.

Seriously what gives? as its been shown previously, have SG cast member, will often produce SG callback. So have two SG cast members (possibly 4 with guest roles), who were always in scenes together which also featured an unrequited love – crickets.  UGH.  It could have been as simple as a glance of recognition, or upon meeting having one of them remark about having deja vu, remarking on his sexiness and/or musical ability, I mean come on! Soooo what follows is an excerpt of a conversation I  had with myself while watching an episode of I Hear Your Voice.

Me: Oye! Another scene with both of them [Sang-Hyun and Jong Suk], emotions running high, tempers flaring, obvious jealousy but not a single twinkle of some Secret Garden recognition, it’s like they are hiding the truth!

Myself: Calm down geeze, Sometimes I can’t believe we come from the same genetic material. Check what network IHYV played on, bet it’s different than SG.

Me: Googling..Googling…and both are SBS affiliated. Got anymore ideas Einstein?

Myself: You really need to work on your clichéd putdowns… Well, and I know this hurts, but perhaps the writers didn’t want to draw attention to other dramas because it takes you away from this one.  This is a fully immersive story and universe, with detailed attention to its characters.  So even if a couple of actors happen to have worked together previously, the fact is these are different fully drawn characters that don’t need to rely on silly references to appease a small section of viewers like some pop-culture parody laden Shrek movie.  This is like Pixar Y’all – all world building, no filler.

Me: Wow your out of your chair and everything, which is strange considering we’re the same person..  Well fine then, you [Myself] make some decent points.  But I still feel they are missing the easy lay-up to referential humorville. Population: me. Oh well tis not to be I reckon…Hey whose that guy on-screen meeting Oska?

Myself: Le sigh, you mean Yoon Sang-Hyun? His name in this drama is Kwan-Woo just ya know FYI..  But I haven’t a clue, appears to be a cameo of some sort.  Let me check.  … … …

Me: Hey, who is the ajusshi? Been in anything worth watching?

Myself: Definitely not.

Me: Okay, whose acting weird now. What’s he been in?!?

Myself: erm hes fromgentlemansdignity.

Me: You just quickly whispered Gentleman’s Dignity didn’t you? Which is preposterous as whywould a drama as refined as this not only refer to another drama, but refer to one whose creator/writer created Secret Garden before writing this Gentleman’s smignity nonsense.

Myself: I never said I was right, it was just a theory.

Me: Hm, well you were so full of it you were practically on top of that Greek Trojan thing, declaring the drama of having such dramatic purity that IHYV would never stoop so low.  Well here’s a thought – This drama is really just platform in which copious amounts of products can be shilled out to the masses.  I mean Lee Bo-Young would go into caffeinated shock with how much the character uses her special tea filters and coffee shop lattes.  Plus this cameo is the character from Gentleman’s Dignity meaning that show takes place in IHYV’s universe.  Thus taints your idealized IHYV world, that one where serial killers get the job done decades at a time, almost dying gives you sucky magical powers, and where the law was created by toddlers.

Myself: 1st off, was that a thinly veiled reference to “get off your high horse”? Not your worst I guess. Secondly, this hypocritical nonsense coming from the fan of said drama where switching bodies is caused by precipitation. And lastly, you done venting yet?

Me: Never! In fact this is why my snark needs to be let free, as taking everything so seriously watching these dramas will drive me nuts! So, since Me wins this round I will say that the slight mockery snarkfest will not be reined in!  At least not until the day comes when YSH and LJS are in yet a third drama together where the only other possibility remains.  They become the OTP of all OTP’s and ride off into the sunset.

Myself: And that my friend, is why we are the same person. I concur vehemently. Let it commence!

Video Variety – Hard Hitting Journalism Edition: Yeo Chi (Jung Ryeo-Won) Interviews Britney Spears

Thank God for the internet as this one is quite the magnificent mess. This “interview” featuring what I will guess as a pre-fame (aka MLSS) Jung Ryeo-Won (sporting a delightful Aussie accent btw) and a pre-shaved head/umbrella fighting champion Spears. (little context was given but I’d figure it was around 2003?).
I mean where to begin??? For starters I still haven’t managed to watch in its entirety due to embarrassment. Mostly on my end but this whole thing is just so gloriously awkward, much in the way that cringe comedies dare you to look away from the screen.

Queen In Hyun’s Man: A Not So Serious Review

Jumping Jehoshaphat’s! Muenchabench finished and I do declare that like Iker Castillas (go ahead look him up, I’ll wait), this ones a keeper.  But what took me so bloody long to watch this, especially after loving Nine which was by the same creative team?  Well, mostly I heard ruminations of a lame-ass ending, and since I have seen many a time travel scenario before, didn’t know what else their was too offer.  Boy o boy I’m so glad I gave this a shot because it was so complex, thought provoking, and romantic. So much so I almost thought about making this a serious review (gasp), but cooler heads prevailed meaning were off to see the Wizard of Oz instead.

.

Oh So Cinematic Volume 2: Go Go! Late Host

Hurry! these customers need their free chips and salsa!

It’s movie review time again, and this batch was conspicuously engaging and entertaining.  This has me worried, where are my patented bad movie Monday’s that I can hate watch and rant about?  Even that My girlfriend is a 7th grade Super Spy was innocuous enough to not make fun of (especially with double doses of nerdy and suit wearing Kwan Ji Hwan).  Guess complaining about films being too competent are why I can’t have nice things.  Oh well let’s Go-go!

Top 5 – K-Dramas American TV (or anyone else) Should Adapt

The Much Too Long Intro

When I collected data from blogs large and small for my drama ratings, the one constant became the consensus of Answer Me 1997.  I didn’t find a single negative review, and of the 30+ dramas I’ve seen it had the highest averaged rating with 9.3 (out of 10).  So it comes as no surprise that a drama that was so universally loved from the international community would be adapted for other audiences, yet I remain conflicted with the prospect.  According to deadline, Fox is very interested in bringing the Answer Me franchise stateside, honing in on the year 1999 and all that NSync/Brittany Spears/Backstreet Boys craziness that occurred.  On one hand, I’ve literally had the exact same thought when watching  AM 97′.   The BB VS N’Sync wars were raging during my elementary school years (of which I was always a N’Sync and JC girl), and so eerily paralleled the H.O.T.-Sechs Kies battles that occurred I even wondered if American music producers saw the Korean b-boy shenanigans and produced such fan wars here (cause I’m nothing if not a conspiracy theorist).

Yet as much as I would love to have that rush of nostalgia bring me back to my old CD collection, bus-ride debates, and pop culture references I would understand in full.  I remain traumatized by the prospect.  Answer Me was a show that nailed its casting, from its stars (Seo in Guk  and Jung Eun-Ji being one my favorite drama couples ever) to the teenage ensemble, to the parents (ditto for Song Dong Il and Lee Il Hwa), in ways I’ve only seen one other show replicate (NBC’s Friday Night Lights).  But really the tone was the most important.  Not that it can’t be done (Freaks and Geeks, FNL, and Skins come to mind, though perhaps more serious), but when the people adapting AM are most well known for creating the 3rd Step-Up movie, its hard to tell if this is gonna become more about  fad-ish pop music instead of its fully-rendered characters.  All this is a precursor and inspiration for this weeks Top 5, because if a global audience can fall in love with a drama steeped in 15 year old Korean pop-culture, then adapting it for American audiences should prove resonant at least for those Americans aged 20-30??  But because I’ve already talked about AM at length , it will not be included in this list.  Mostly I will speak to American television as that’s what I know, but most of these choices seem universal for any TV market.  Also, it seems historical dramas and standard rom-coms wouldn’t really work due to the lack of Joseon eras and over-abundance of multiple season shows.  What’s more interesting (and provides more options) are shows Korean television should adapt, a future top 5 I shall be working on shortly.  But without further delay, here is number 5!

SNL East vs West Part Two: Here’s What the Fox Said

So this seems pretty much inevitable no? I mean how can the topical sketch comedy show not have its own take on last years winner for the quirky MV that enticed the world for 4 minutes. (past recipients: 2012’s “Gangnam Style”, and 2011’s Rebecca Black “Friday”) Who said Ylvis is dead, he’s alive in the form of Norwegian comedy songsters who sing about animal sounds. If you don’t know about the noise the fox makes, I would suggest watching the original before both of these takes on the song.

Much like today’s news cycle, the shelf-life of such viral phenomenon is getting shorter and shorter, which is why it should come as no surprise that SNL original recipe and SNL extra Korean debuted their respective videos on the exact same day.

Just like part one of SNL (US vs KOR) series I’ll show each digital short before saying my opinions and crowning an eventual winner on who did it best. So let’s bring on some fox noises!

The Power of Friends: Political and Cultural Currency

Like every other Game of Thrones viewer, I somewhat shamefully use a friend’s HBO GO password (equivalent to using someones Viki account) So along with getting my weekly dosage of swords, fantastical political hypocrisy, and the occasional dragon, I am also privy all of HBO’s content, which is their original programming plus movie library. Though I’m not really interested in watching last summer’s explody hollywood hits (sorry eleventy billion superhero films, apocalypse zombie flicks, and gigantic version of rock em sock robots, I’m just not that into you) I am a fan of political discourse in the form of rick rolling laughter and biting satire all of which shows real life political hypocrisy. Which is why I am such a huge fan of VEEP and John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight.

In short, Veep is an account of a fictional Vice President and her quest for power. Through the creative cursing and mile a minute dialogue, it basically tells the story of why American politicians and its Government can’t seem to get anything done and have lost all sense of integrity. A true testament to the show is when I watched with a couple friends, all of us dying from laughter, and in agreement with the shows take on the political machine. And yet, all us had differing political ideologies. So that’s my quick plug for that show, though if you do watch, have Dove soap* at the ready, because you will feel the need to put those bars in everyone’s mouths.

*Yeah I’m totally pimping out Dove like a drama does PPL for coffee shop XYZ. If only they would pay me. (wink wink) Plus, wouldn’t that be an awesome ad campaign – Dove, washing sailor mouths since 1925.

Speaking of friends and the not so friendly, the non-fictional comedic news program Last Week Tonight did a segment on the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests and how the Chinese govt. is flexing their censorship muscle. And boy are they putting alotta muscle on it, like literally trying to scrub the day from history. Anyways watch as host John Oliver has an interesting method to get the message across for China’s youth. (Hint. it involves 90’s NYC sit-coms)