Nice lyrics

I don't listen to country music but I somehow stumbled upon this song. The song is a little sad but also inspirational in a sense. It's true, too many of us are stuck in the past, drowning in the pain of our mistakes. But eventually, regardless of who we are or what we've done, we have to move on.  Every now and then, we need a reminder.

I'm Moving On by Rascal Flatts

Secret Garden Ep 5

I still have to watch with subs to understand it fully but Joo Won's behavior reminds me of this song's chorus:



He does a nice thing, acts like he might care then is a JERK. I think this is really because at this point, the drama has a thin plot. It's fun but it's really all been: "I like you, but I shouldn't like you. I like you, but you're not good enough for me. I really like you, but I can't like you." That's what all the scenes between Joo Won and Ra Im have been about since episode 2. Except he gets jerkier and jerkier and Ra Im hasn't got enough sense to make sure he stays out of her life completely cos she "likes" him. LOL. Kdramas kill me.

But we had the body switch at the end of the episode so tomorrow's episode should be loads of fun. And then hopefully, the story can move forward. A drama often falls into this kind of rut when characters "fall in love" very quickly. If the main plot of a drama is the romance, not much to do other than go round and round in circles once love has been established. Either break up and make up all the time or just when the characters should move forward in their romance, an obstacle will be thrown in. I actually don't mind the version where they meet different obstacles because at least it's a different obstacle... although it can get rather tiring too. But the Jekyll and Hyde act can get stale quickly.

Vote for your favorite kdrama kiss

Please vote here. And check out the other articles on Couch Kimchi. ;)

So far, I'm having fun with the blog.

I love you, Kang Ji Hwan, but...

... why are you dressed like my granny's couch? *confused*

This is not sexy. Please stop it.

*Confused* This song is not by Rihanna?

The few times I've heard this song on the radio, I thought it was by Rihanna. So I was fooling around on youtube when I saw some song in the suggestions bar with over 20 million hits. I'm like, "Who da hell is Shontelle?" I click on it and it's Rihanna's song. LOL. I guess I really am out of the loop. I know Rihanna is successful, but of all people to copy vocally. *smh*

So is Secret Garden = Pride and Prejudice + Persuasion?

I know loads of people have this sneaking suspicious than Secret Garden is like a Pride & Prejudice remake. It doesn't help that Joo Won is like an especially mean Darcy and he stole Darcy's first confession. But there are other things like his mom being like Darcy's aunt. His sister kinda "bonding" with Ra Im, and a bunch of other things with the plot.

But then Seul's plot... we don't know much about her yet but she comes off as a combination of two characters from Persuasion. LOL. The Seul-Oska story is clearly more like the main love story in that book but her scheming wannabe Joo Won's lover kinda comes off as the scheming woman in that book.

I am probably way off but this drama really does seem to draw a lot from other works.

Aside for this, one thing I'll say about the drama is that I think they brought the angst on a little bit too quickly. My heart should be twisting with them as they scream at each other but it's not because I don't feel connected to them yet. Maybe it'll happen later but I think we need to know the characters a bit more before we go on an emotional journey with them. But perhaps that will come later.  Cos right now, there was no falling in love in this drama. Joo Won became a bit obsessed so perhaps when they switch bodies and really spend some time together, it will all come together.

Secret Garden week two

I wasn't planning to review this weekly for Couch Kimchi but that mofo, Joo Won, has made me want to do it. Now I just have to wait till subs are released for ep 4.

But to sum it up, my feelings are this: Joo Won is a douche's douche's douche. He needs to die in a fire. Really. His arrogance is like unbelievable and he acts like he's not the one chasing after her and he can't deal with the fact that she's not like all the other rich women who are after him. Maybe that's the problem. He feels he's a prize and is pissed as hell that she doesn't recognize it.

They are not in a relationship, but he's already begun to have expectations of her. "Why can't you dress up for me?" "Why don't you melt when I do nice things for you?" "Why don't you understand me?" And he's a mean sonofabtich because not only is he rude and condescending to his employees, he doesn't treat Oska like his hyung. Oska should kick his ass one of these days.

EDIT:
It's up now. 

Easy A

Truthfully, this trailer pretty much tells the whole story



Basically, Easy A is the story of a 17 year old girl, Olive, who's pressured into lying about losing her virginity by her best friend. Word gets out and she's branded a slut. Then being the kindhearted girl she is, she pretends to have slept with a bunch of losers and a homosexual to help "improve" their reputations at school.

As I mentioned, the trailer really gives it all away and given that, there's nothing unexpected that occurs in the film. But these days, more often than not, we don't watch teen movies, romances or comedies to see unexpected turns. Instead, we watch them to see how a familiar or predictable tale is told.

Olive, who's played by Emma Stone, is a pretty engaging character. I'm not familiar with Emma Stone's work but I'll say that she did a good job in this movie. Since Olive is not one of the "cool kids" or an outright loser, she's one of the "invisibles" in High School. But she's not the kind of girl who's depressed about it. Instead, she's the kind of sarcastic girl who finds humor in her situation. She also has some crazy parents whose main purpose in this movie is to spit out great one-liners.

In fact, this movie is filled with witty dialogue and that's what makes it interesting. We know that she would be okay with having the bad reputation till it stopped being fun and she'd have to tell the truth. We know that she'll have a love interest (played by Penn Badgley of Gossip Girl fame) and they'll end up together. But you make her a kind, smart, self deprecating character and him smart, mature and into her and it becomes an entertaining story.

And speaking of romance, I won't go as far as calling this a romantic comedy. There's some romance in it but they got away with not having to focus on it by making it a delayed romance - in other words, both characters already had feelings for each other prior to the start of the story. And they kept him in our consciousness by making them have very short conversations (like less than a minute) every now and then.

Like most teen movies that attempt to rise above the usual crap we're fed, there are themes of hypocrisy, groupthink, cliquism and eventually individualism.

All in all, I found it to be a fun, interesting movie. For those who like smart comedy and witty dialogue, Easy A is not a bad way to kill 90 minutes.

Course Hero

People make money in strange ways.

Can someone please tell me why my fic, Wrong Foot First is on Course Hero? It's bad enough that it's rated 4 out of 5 (LOL) but why should some romance story be posted on a website that's:

#1 Study Resource for College & High School students

And where kids can:

• Ask tutors anything, anytime
• Find amazing study materials:
  notes, homeworks, exams, solutions & more.

I know that once you post anything online, you run the risk of it being plagiarized or used in ways you don't approve of, however, A STUDY resource site?

It turns out that for a month-long subscription, users can either pay $30 or upload forty documents. I looked around and loads of soompi fics are on that site. So I'm guessing that an unscrupulous soompi member uploaded these documents there.

I've sent them an email requesting that it be removed but I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens from here. I hope they just take it off without incident.

The same cover artist?

Maybe it's just me but I feel it was bad enough the first time around. Whose bright idea was it to redo this theme?

In other news, I'll be reviewing Letters to Juliet in a day or two. Or maybe I should just review it now in two words: Not Good.

Secret Garden is a go

At least, based on the first two episodes. If it ends up being a bust, it won't be the first time that's happened. I wrote a review on Couch Kimchi.

I don't know if the neurotic male lead is now a trend. We had it with Coffee House and now we get it with Secret Garden. The neurotic male lead and the insane second lead. lol. Both in Coffee House and Secret Garden. And I like it. Although Joo Won's neurosis is more endearing than Jin Soo's since he's not in a constant battle with himself nor does he intentionally hurt other people. He's just very honest and has no internal censor. So he says what he feels and doesn't care what other people think. I love that about him. And I also love his insane cousin. Although I must say that I hate this his cousin has some selfish bitch that he might still be in love with. I didn't enjoy watching Oska's look of pain.

I also like the romance although if we're starting the romance this early, what's going to happen for the rest of the drama? I know that the body switch can give us a lot of plot, but for how many episodes? I hope that such a quick paced drama doesn't drag like crazy in the middle episodes.

Right now, I'm not enjoying Philip Lee's character or the gold digging female. But maybe they'll add something of value to later episodes.

As for Dr. Champ, I'm still at ep 13. It's halfway dropped in my head but I'll try to finish it. What a boring romance.

At least with autotune, you still needed a human being to perform...

... but now, a body is no longer needed?


"Her" name is Hatsune Miku.

Secret Garden

I've seen episode 1 and I must say that I quite like it. We haven't yet gotten to the body switch bits so I don't know what future episodes will be like but the drama has made a good first impression on me.

Characters:
Kim Joo Won. Rich. Arrogant. Lazy but smart. Appears to be claustrophobic. I'm not sure exactly but he's scared of elevators. Played by Hyun Bin
Gil Ra Him. Stunt Woman. Strong willed and appears to be confident everywhere but on a movie set. On set, she bows her head way too much but off set, she doesn't let anyone talk down to her. Played by Ha Ji Won.
Oska. Joo Won's cousin. Pop star. Player. Flirt. Over the top. Has a love-hate and competitive relationship with his cousin.
I'm honestly not yet sure who the second lead female is. But it might be the rich bitch from the first half of the episode who met with Joo Won on a blind date but also shares a history with Oska.
 There's also the stunt director played by Philip Lee who appears to have unrequited love for her. I've only seen one episode but his character seems to be the possessive sort - the sort I don't quite like. 

Truthfully, I'm sick of the Cinderella story of a super rich prince coming to save a poor commoner. But Ra Him doesn't need anyone to save her and she's pretty damn bad ass. I think that even before the switch, she's "manlier" than Joo Won.

Their meet-cute is the very cliche case of mistaken identity when Oska asks Joo Won to spend time with an actress for him but he mistakenly picks up her stunt woman/body double instead. A hilarious conversation follows as this leads to Joo Won mistaking her for a very frank prostitute even though she's only speaking about her work. LOL. 

Anyway, I expect Oska to fall for her as per most kdramas. My only question is, is he going to fall for her even after the switch? And does that mean that for a good chunk of the show, he's going to be chasing after his cousin trapped in a woman's body? lol. Considering how much the cousins get on each other's nerves,. I can't imagine how mortified Joo Won would feel. And also, if I were the writer of this drama, I'd include a scene where Ra Him, trapped in a man's body, cruises a gay club for men. lol. Then we'll also have Joo Won tag along doing everything in his power to "protect his body." I don't know, I find stuff like that hilarious. lol.

And yeah, the kiss in the first pics is a spoiler so it hasn't yet happened.

P.S. I tried MSOAN and checked out in the first 15 minutes. It might be good and I might try it another day but I wasn't feeling the comedy of debt and what not.  I found father and daughter annoying.

Come to mama. DAMN!

Is it just me or is he smouldering in this get up?!!? Whatever this outfit is called has never looked so good on a man. DANG!

Still hot even though he looks cross-eyed in this frame.

*faints*

LOL. Isn't this his "ajajajajajajaj" face?

Credit: Baidu.

Flipped

Aww... I just saw an adorable little movie. It's called Flipped and is adapted from a Young Adult novel of the same name.

It's just a very simple teen coming-of-age romance story told from the POVs of both characters. It's a simple boy-meets-girl story with a very common plot but told in a very sweet and endearing way. There's nothing out of the ordinary here, loads of cliches and it's quite predictable. But none of that makes it less enjoyable - it's just like a very comfortable warm blanket you use on a cold winter's night.

The story starts off when the boy, Bryce, moves into the girl's (Julie) neighborhood when they are both seven and ends when they are around thirteen. It's the typical story of one falling hard first and the other falling when the first is no longer interested. Then it also lightly delves into their families' histories and relationship with each other.

My only issue with this is that she kept talking about wanting to have her first kiss with him and in the end, they didn't show it. A little sweet kiss would have been a nice end to the movie.

Oh... and something else is that it was a bit short. It was less than an hour and a half and since we were being told the same tale from two different POVs, it made it feel even shorter because half as much plot was explored. I think it would have been better even longer. But all in all, not a bad way to kill time.

Another fic update

 I think I have my next story mostly figured out. I've actually never written a fic with the usual kdrama set up i.e. 4 leads with two love triangles. And I noticed that I never really give my male lead a best friend. LOL. So this is me trying to broaden my horizons... lol.. .even though it's still the same romantic fluff stuff. And of course, the guy will most likely fall first. I once tried to write a story where the girl was chasing after the guy but it felt so unnatural to me so I had to drop it. I guess I just love my heroines being chased... and being pig head.

So far, it's going to be a work place romance. She's 28, the creative director at a company that was recently acquired by another. He's 27 and head of sales at the parent company. He's moved in from the head office. She loves men but doesn't believe in love. His heart got broken by his long time girlfriend. She's got a best friend who's beautiful and always picks the wrong men. He's got a roommate who loves to live a stress free life. Won't say much so I won't spoil it. But my love triangles aren't ever real love triangles and I doubt this will be much different. I think I've got most of the kinks worked out so hopefully, I'll start writing this sometime soon. I hope I finish this one. :D

If I never write it, it won't be the first fic post I written that leads to nothing.

Good to see my dearies working again.

Even though my hubby, Kang Ji Hwan has been hard at work on Cafe In, he'll be in a new drama called "The Great Doctor" airing next year. Not my style of drama but I will watch for my hubby.

Then my hubby's second wife, Park Si Yeon is going to be in a movie called Happy Together which pairs her up with Ji Hyun Woo. It looks like Jay Park, who recently got kicked from his Idol group for making some comments against Korea on his myspace in 2005 will also star. The movie is set in the music industry. Si Yeon is a producer while Hyun Woo is the singer replacing the former leader of an Idol group. Jay Park will play one of the group members.

Fic update

If the world is good with me, I should be posting the final chapter of The Honeymoon today. YIPPIE! This will definitely go down as the slowest fic I've ever worked on. But I'm happy that I'm at least completing it since a year ago, it was 90% abandoned as far as I was concerned. But damn, I'm a lazy woman. I've been "meaning" to work on this since Friday but only got around to do anything yesterday. But hopefully, I'll be done with the edits today.  YES!

Having said that, I'm now debating between an original fiction or a Coffee House fanfic. I think I'll write the Original Fiction which will be a rom-com.... since that's all I seem to be able to write.

Okay, these posters look cute.

I am in the mood for a deliciously romantic and funny drama. Could Secret Garden shock the hell out of me and be the one?

As a rom-com loving gal, these posters are right up my alley (and Hyun Bin is hilarious with his OTT expressions. LMAO).

So...

Dr. Champ provided some spoiler pics and I can't say I'm excited. LOL I was beginning to wonder if I'd become dead on the inside since there were other people screaming about it while I was like, "Oh, so there they are." I already expected this turn of events this week anyway. Their romance is still boring as hell but I'm watching. Right now, I enjoy posting about it more than watching it. I will try to finish it, though. I almost didn't watch it this week. I just know that if I pile them up, then I will definitely drop this drama or skim through the rest. Which is why I try to watch two a week.

I'm like 3 episodes behind on Dae Mul but I hope to catch up soon. In the mean time, I picked up a Japanese drama called Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge.

It's one of those manga-to-drama adaptations and is about a "ghoul girl" type character moving in with four hot guys. lol. Why are so many mangas like this? Anyway, I've seen the first episode and it's cute... and I've begun to root for the couple which means that I am NOT dead on the inside. YAY! Kame used to scare me with his pencil-thin eyebrows but I guess I'm used to it now.

So basically, it's the story of a girl who thinks she's ugly (a guy she confessed to four years ago called her that) so she hides from the world and a beautiful guy (women stalk and harass him because of his looks). So it's all about inner beauty and all that since he places no stock in his looks while she places too much in hers even though she's obviously not ugly. We already had a make over in episode 1 where the lead male stared at her beauty. But she's going back to her "ghoul girl" look soon. She sleeps in a coffin and her room is covered with skulls and the like. LOL. But it seems sweet.

'caps found through google. 

"Your love" for Angie

The Hong Kong Coffee House theme song. On Mediafire.

Enjoy!

Fanfic Bollywood Style!

Two Bollywood movies where a star falls in love with his or her biggest fan.

Mast is just a fun and adorable movie. It's 100% camp and I remember being home sick and I mean really sick when I saw this movie and it cheered me right up. I'm not in the mood to write reviews so I'll be lazy and just post some vids. As I said, this one is 100% camp. It's about a regular guy in love with an actress.

Fun song



Flirty song
 



Rules: Pyaar Ka Superhit formula is about a regular girl in love with a model. It also has a bit of a camp factor in it but is entirely adorable. One of my favorite Bollywood movies and it features a real kiss! I also love all the songs in it. A girl wants to catch the eye of her object of affection and follows her grandma's guide to finding love.


Fun song. 
 


Sad and lovely with a light at the end of the tunnel.

In desperate need of a new drama to watch

WHAT'S GOING ON??

Almost every single drama I try seems to be unworthy of my time and my time isn't even that precious. What da hell? I already dropped all the Taiwanese dramas I bothered to try and also gave That Love Comes a chance.

I think I previously mentioned that I was on a borderline jdrama-only strict diet from like 2007-2009. And I say borderline because I did watch some kdramas (like The Last Scandal of My Life) and some twdramas but I was quite content watching mainly jdramas. Then something happened this year - my jdrama well began to run dry. Either I had seen all the good ones or the season really sucked. I can't say which but I ended up giving kdramas another try.

So it's been a pretty okay year - at least I can say that I actually finished some dramas this year. But what the hell is going on? Why is NOTHING appealing to me the days? To be fair, I'm not exactly faring horribly with the kdramas I've begun to watch this fall:

SKK Scandal. I don't like historical dramas at all so I can't even remember what compelled me to watch this drama. But I did and didn't find the first episode bad at all... although she's clearly not going to end up with the hot rogue I want for her. But just when I began to watch, there was some drama about the subs and I put this on hold. Now I wonder if I'll ever pick it up again.

Dae Mul. It's over the top and such a typical kdrama but it's also enjoyable despite all the political mumbo-jumbo that I don't really care about. I'm following it and if I actually see this through to the end, it'll be the longest non-daily drama that I've actually finished... lol, yeah, I know it's only 26 episodes but what can I say? I'm a lightweight. So for this one, so far, so good.

Dr. Champ. I already blogged my feelings about this one last week. I won't go as far as calling it a disappointment but where's the romance, yo? I watch kdramas for romance and this is failing so far. Please give me a romance worth watching. 

I just began watching some jdramas but I need to watch more episodes before blogging about them. But the truth is, because they are so short, I honestly prefer to wait till the series is over so I can just marathon it over a weekend.

Anyway, I did have a point with this and it's, WHAT AM I GOING TO WATCH NOW? As I mentioned, I began That Love Comes and am not even sure I'm going to finish it. There's nothing wrong with it but I really think I am sick of some storylines. It's the typical story of a rich famous prince meeting a poor, loving girl and blah blah... he has a girlfriend who's causing him pain... the second lead has unrequited love for her. Blah Bleh Bleck. Whatever.

And now, in my desperation, I'm going to give two new dramas a chance: Mary Stayed Out All Night and Secret Garden.

I am also sick of the who fake marriage-turned-love storyline. Okay?!?! There was a time I loved it but I think kdramas have killed that love for me. So I don't want it. NO NO NO. But I'm desperate so I'll give it a go even though I like none of the actors in MSOAN. LOL. Jeez.

And as for Secret Garden, the whole body switching thing just seems kind of weird, especially for a series. This is not to say that I hate all body switching stories. I liked Freaky Friday and the lesser known Wish Upon A Star but they were about family members of the same gender switching bodies. Not to say I have a problem with people of the opposite gender switching bodies and falling in love with each other or themselves(or whatever???) since I really like It's a Boy Girl Thing. And yes, I said really like it. That movie was a surprise to me. I expected it to suck but was pleasantly surprised - cute movie. But I digress.

All the aforementioned are movies of probably under two hours so I wonder how the hell I'm going to watch 20 hours of a body swapping drama. The first 6 episodes will consist primarily of gender-based jokes and talk about how these people adjust to living with different organs. Then they will fall in love with each other (or themselves) then what else? Oh well.... I don't know. I guess I'll at least give it a shot. I like both actors so I hope they deliver.

It just sucks that there's no drama that I'm actually looking forward to seeing. Everything either has the same plot or is in a genre I have no interest in. Please SBS, MBC or KBS, SAVE ME!

LOL. Kdrama spoof: GOCHU (고추)

Coffee House Cantonese(I think) style!

So it looks like it really just start airing  in Hong Kong last week and airs two days a week

The dubbing is somewhat fascinating and hilarious because it's funny watching Kang Ji Hwan speak with an entirely different voice. I somehow got lost in it and ended up watching like 20 minutes nonstop... lol..  A really funny part was when Eun Young was showing off her language skills. I think they translated the Japanese and dubbed it in Cantonese. But when Eun Young spoke English (when she was receiving the flowers), they used Park Si Yeon's voice. lol. But they did a pretty good job with her dubber. Ji Won's voice, on the other hand, is nothing like his. Jin Soo's lol. Well, Kang Ji Hwan apparently has a complex about his voice so maybe he'll prefer this one (just joking!).

You can hear all three voices at the beginning of this one
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/4aPmG0SvrOo/

Seung Yeon's voice isn't too bad. Can be heard at the beginning of this.
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/c8--delK7iE/

I tried to embed but it's not working for some reason. Oh well.

P.S. I must say I really like their theme song. I prefer it to the original.