#i think they did this with the trailer and the webtoon and the side stories and now the paperback copies

[junonreactor]

sclasses is so funny with making all their official announcements "btw [content] is coming out" oh when is it coming "right now :) here it is"

[kpoptimeout]

My Top 10 K-Dramas of 2018 - What’s Yours?

2018 is ending soon and K-Dramaland has once again brought us so many goodies this year. As per our blog’s tradition [For 2017 faves click here], below are my Top 10 favs of the year (my faves in alphabetical order so it might not be yours so please don’t judge)

My only specific criteria this year is that the show must have had started in 2018 to be considered a 2018 series (Hence, Hwayugi and I’m Not A Robot were in last year’s list and honourable mentions)

Lawless Lawyer (tvN)

Every year we have a few stellar Korean legal dramas and Lawless Lawyer is one of them. Starring veterans Lee Joongi and Son Yeji, the drama details a gangster turned lawyer who used unorthodox techniques to win cases and a lawyer-childhood friend-love interest who got into trouble for attacking a judge. After his return from the military, Lee Joongi has acted in many internationally well-received dramas but “Lawless Lawyer” is the first since his return to gain massive commercial success within South Korea and becoming one of the highest viewed dramas on Korean cable channel history. Son Yeji was also able to show her acting chops and shed her pretty girl image through this drama. It is understandable why this drama did well - it was action-packed, had a well-plotted storyline and also the right laughs at the right moments. If you love an amazing legal drama, go watch Lawless Lawyer already!

Memories Of The Alhambra (tvN/Netflix)

You know it’s nearing the year’s end when tvN drops another high budget and experimental drama with a star-studded cast to steal you and the critics’ hearts. This year it is Memories Of The Alhambra, which is an ambitious project jointly produced by tvN and Netflix. Following the success of jointly produced Mr. Sunshine which also made the list, the two studios teamed up for an even crazier project - instead of the guaranteed tear-jerking historical drama they went for a sci-fi/fantasy thriller exploring virtual and augmented reality and business in the digital age. You know they are taking this project seriously when they got the writer for “W” (the Lee Jongsuk and Han Hyojoo hit about the collapse of a comic book world into reality) Song Jaejung to write this screenplay. The show with top cast featuring Hallyu stars and veterans Hyun Bin, Park Shin Hye, and EXO’s Chanyeol with exhilarating graphics and filming in Grenada has been topping online and domestic Korean viewership since its broadcast on December 1st. If you enjoy creative sci-fi adventures with Asian leads, this is the drama for you!

Mr. Sunshine (tvN/Netflix)

One of the first tvN and Netflix collaborations, Mr. Sunshine was an unsurprising hit starring world-famous Korean actor Lee Byung Hoon and South Korea’s favourite young actress Kim Taeri. Other main cast include skilled and popular actors like Yoo Yeonseok, Byung Yohan and Kim Minjung. Throw in the historical Joseon setting and the imminent colonisation by foreign powers, you have a recipe for an awards-sweeper and crowd-pleaser! Besides a plot that easily draws in audiences, the set designs, colour grading, music, and costumes are all phenomenal and is a feast for the senses. My only knit-picking critique is it seems unrealistic that a Korean man can rise to as high a rank as Lee Byung Hoon’s Eugene Choi character in the racist 1800s United States no matter how brilliant Eugene Choi was. But besides that, if you love a historical epic with romance and war, this is the drama you would enjoy!

Ms. Hammurabi (JTBC)

This drama sees Go Ara and Song Dong Il reuniting in their father-daughter/mentor-mentee like dynamic following hit dramas Reply 1994 and Hwarang, with Go Ara being an idealistic former music student who dropped out and self-studied to become a judge, and Song Dong Il being the old geezer and life mentor who only managed to become a judge later in life. They are joined by INFINITE’s L being a by the books judge who likes Go Ara’s wholesome character. The drama is exceptionally touching, not only for its realistic depiction of life as judges in civilian law countries but also as a reflection of people chasing their dreams in different stages of their life. The drama also expertly deals with real-world issues like gender discrimination in the workplace, prejudice to marginalised groups and the issues that come with an inflexible hierarchical structure in South Korea. While there is romance between the leads, this is shown subtly and naturally, without it becoming a distraction to the engaging storyline. If you enjoy a thoughtful drama about society with great acting, this is a drama you would enjoy.

My ID is Gangnam Beauty (JTBC)

Maybe I am slightly biased because I loved the webtoon but I think My ID is Gangnam Beauty is one of the best Korean rom-coms of the year. First I thought the casting was spot-on - ASTRO’s Cha Eunwoo perfectly encapsulated the cold and awkward Do Kyungseok and Im Soohyang was able to display the insecurities of Kang Mirae even after plastic surgery well. The drama does a good job of touching on Korean society’s toxic beauty visual standards - it still makes the female lead insecure even after she gets plastic surgery and she gets ridiculed before and after plastic surgery. Meanwhile second female lead Hyun Soo Ah, played by Jo Woori, also struggles as a natural beauty due to fears of people no longer liking her should she ever fall below their expectations in any way. This is a thoughtful drama that does not just demonise characters for the sake of drama but gives us lots of food for thought about why people act the way they do regarding appearances. If you like a drama that is fun and cute but also has a good message, you should check out this drama!

My Mister (tvN)

There are dramas where you skip some scenes because you want to get to the main point. There are some dramas where you want every second of it. My Mister was one of those dramas you watch every second of. It was that good. While many Kdramas still having idealistic female leads who slowly get jaded and turn badass only near the end/are always protected by men and never turn badass, My Mister finally does the move of making the female poor but super resourceful, brilliant and cynical, and already super jaded to begin with. Played by top singer and actress IU, the female lead Lee Jian reverses the usual female lead tropes by slowly learning to see some good in the world and learn to dream following a life of extreme poverty and hardship. The other highlight of the drama is the male lead played by talented actor Lee Sunkyun, whose relationship with his brothers and mother, as well as his crumbling marriage with his wife provide a lot of food for thought on the meaning of family and life. By acting as a mentor of IU’s character while also being saved by IU from lots of drama unknowingly, we see two broken souls learn from each other to be better people. The drama also showcased how romance is not the only meaningful love that exists between communities. If you love an insightful slice-of-life drama with realistic intrigues, betrayals, and character development, you would love My Mister.

Radio Romance (KBS2)

Honestly at this point HIGHLIGHT’s Dojoon is just nation’s drama boyfriend and he continues to pick the good scripts as we can see in Radio Romance. The drama is simple - the assistant writer played by Kim Sohyun’s radio show might get cancelled and she manages to somehow get the top radio star played by Dojoon to host her show. Shenanigans happen and romance blossoms. It is stereotypical but done well, with the right amount of twists and just knowing when it should bounce back from the laughs and side stories. If dramas are all dishes, Radio Romance is like that cheesecake that tastes sweet and light, not so filling that it will you sick. It is the dessert you would always go for to feel good. If you like to watch something that makes you feel warm inside, this is the drama for you!

Something in the Rain (JTBC)

I am usually not super into “the younger dongsaeng has a romance with noona who he knows growing up all of a sudden” stories but there was something special about Something in the Rain. When I first began watching this drama, it did not feel like watching a regular Kdrama at all and more like an indie film from the West. There is a feeling of emptiness at the beginning, possibly to signify the resident noona and veteran actress Son Yejin’s unsuccessful love life. There was a lot of dialogue and cuts and it felt like watching a documentary about the lives of the characters. But it was this formatting of Something in the Rain that makes it feel so genuine. The pace of the leads building up their romance was steady and natural. Hence, it made issues they faced feel all the more real too. If you enjoy a realistic slice-of-life portrayal of romance, you would love this drama!

The Guest (OCN)

When I saw the trailer I already knew this was some scary shit. Following its many successful thrillers last year, OCN decided to dive in the more horror side of a thriller in The Guest. To fit this aesthetic, the drama was broadcasted only at 11pm instead of primetime but still had massive success and rightly so. The acting by the three leads Kim Dong Wook (man who can see ghosts and the future), Kim Jaewook (the cold, exorcist priest), and Jung Eunchae (a detective who does not believe in the supernatural) is phenomenal, making their team up to catch criminal possessed by ghosts all the more exhilarating. The actors who play the possessed are also amazing, making for most of the scares in this drama. If you enjoy a mystery and the horror genre, this is the Kdrama for you!

What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim? (tvN)

Being the most searched Kdrama on Google in South Korea this year, it would not make sense for What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim? not to make this list. The drama revolves around the successful but extremely narcissistic company vice chairman played by Park Seojoon and his capable no-nonsense secretary played by Park Minyoung, with the latter quitting after paying off family debts and not being in the mood to work for her annoying boss anymore. The whole process where Park Seojoon tries to retain his secretary of course blossoms into romance etc. etc. One of the reasons this drama did so well was that not only did it have a strong and capable female lead but Park Seojoon defied expectations in his role. As another Kdrama based on a webtoon, original webtoon readers felt like he was not similar to the male lead and were not sure how he would handle the role. But Park Seojoon did a fantastic job, to the point I wanted to bang my head on the table or slap his character whenever he did narcissistic shit. If you want a high-quality rom-com with some unorthodox twists, this is the drama to watch!

Honourable Mentions:

100 Days My Prince (tvN): The fourth highest-rated Korean drama in cable television history starring EXO’s D.O and Nam Jihyun, the drama details the marriage between a noblewoman on the run and a crown prince who lost his memory during a failed assassination attempt.

Are You Human? (KBS2): With the actual development of AI in recent years, more Kdramas have embraced the topic of robot-human romances. Seo Kang Joon and Gong Seungyeon star in this story involving a bodyguard and the AI of a chaebol masquerading as the real chaebol who is in a coma.

Still 17 (SBS): A drama involving a 30-year-old man who doesn’t want to grow up due to trauma (Yang Sejong) and a woman who wakes up after a 13-year coma so acts like a 17-year-old even though she is 30 (Shin Hyesun).

Welcome to Waikiki (JTBC): A comedy-drama starring rising actors Kim Junghyun, Lee Yikyung, and Son Seungwon who run a failing guesthouse called Waikiki. Oh, and there’s a single mother and a baby in this crazy mix!

What’s your Top 10 K-Dramas of the Year? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and may the drama sharing begin (and the road to more excuse for holiday procrastination!)

Also, if you want to check out underrated K-Pop songs of 2018, here are the lists for idol songs, artist songs, and OSTs!

[rose-sisson]

I've hesitated for weeks to post this image. I honestly didn't want it to get stolen, hence the signature near King David. But I decided that it's something that God gave me, so it should be shared. Just to clarify, you are free to repost this and share it. At any rate, I figured that this would be a good day to retell the story of David, and where the idea for this image came from. If you're new to FireTime, the first thing you need to know about me is that I am a huge veggietales fan. I have all the classics, majority on VHS. My first word was 'veg-tales'. To this day I watch veggietales. One of my favorite veggietales shows, was Dave and the Giant Pickle. Which if you couldn't tell by the name, is the story of David and Goliath. In this show there's a song called 'Big Things Too' (go listen, it's not only funny if you get the jokes but it ties in with this message https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4DzO2ySgiM). But before we get to this song, let's get into the scripture that aligns with what's going on in the song. 1 Samuel 17:31-40, "The things David said were picked up and reported to Saul. Saul sent for him. 'Master,' said David, 'don't give up hope. I'm ready to go fight this Philistine.' Saul answered David, 'You can't go fight this Philistine. You're too young and inexperienced -- and he's been at this fighting business since before you were born.' David said, 'I've been a shepherd, tending sheep for my father. Whenever a lion or bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I'd go after it, knock it down, and rescue the lamb. If it turned on me, I'd grab it by the throat, wring its neck, and kill it. Lion or bear, it made no different -- I killed it. And I'll do the same to this Philistine pig who is taunting the troops of God-Alive. God, who delivered me from the teeth of the lion and the claws of the bear, will help deliver me from this Philistine.' Saul said, 'Go. And God helps you.' Then Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armor. He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on him over the armor. David tried to walk but he could hardly budge. David told Saul, 'I can't even move with all this stuff on me. I'm not used to this.' And he took it all off. Then David took his shepherd's staff, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pocket of his shepherd's pack, and with his sling in his hand approached Goliath." In the song, 'Big Things Too', Phil Vischer put this scene to song. David, a kid no older than fourteen, goes to King Saul and volunteers to fight the giant Philistine Goliath. Not only does David volunteer, but he argues his ability to do so. In the song, there was a lyric that stuck out to me, 'With His help I know I can do big things'. Through this conversation between Saul and David, David is trying to let Saul know, 'It's okay, with his help I can do it'. And I find it particularly interesting how David went through to explain it. To start, David uses a testimony of how he killed bears and lions to protect his father's sheep. He talks, goes into details about how he would wring the necks of the lion or bear, and kill it. I don't know about you, but I can just see David using these instances as a parallel for defeating Goliath. You've heard God's people being called sheep time to time, and I'm pretty sure that Goliath was being compared to a lion and bear. When I first read it, I thought that David was bragging. But if you continue through David's conversation, David says that God was the one who delivered him. So what exactly is David doing? Is he bragging about him killing a lion and a bear, or is he bragging about God protecting him? I'd like to suggest that it's both. It's strange to think that you can brag about something you do and that God does at the same time. Normally when Christians brag about what they do, people get a little skeptical, don't they? Do you have one of those friends who posts every time they pay for someone's meal at a drive thru? Honestly, when I see that, I get aggravated because it seems like they're bragging about their charity and are looking for praise. But David isn't looking for praise in these verses. Psalm 23:1-6 is a famous Psalm that David wrote. "God, my shepherd! I don't need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I'm not afraid when you walk by my side. Your trusty shepherd's crook makes me feel secure. You serve me a six-course dinner right in front of my enemies. You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing. Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I'm back home in the house of God for the rest of my life." From David's conversation with Saul and the Psalm he wrote later in life, I can tell what he is doing. David isn't just bragging about his strength, or about how God protects him. David is using both to validate his confidence in God. If you read the beginning of the story of David and Goliath, you'll read about how the army of the Israelites and the army of the Philistines were about to go to war. But Goliath, a ten-foot Philistine with 126 pounds of armor on and a spear that weighed more than 15 pounds, steps up and challenges the Israelites to a one on one battle between each sides' champion. But nobody stepped up to fight Goliath. The Israelites cowered in fear of Goliath for forty days, as Goliath each day taunted the Israelites. God's chosen people, who literally had a God on their side, were not confident in his ability to protect them from Goliath. My question is, what went wrong? Why did the Israelites lose confidence in God's ability to protect them? There could be many reasons for each individual in the army. Perhaps they didn't believe the stories they heard from when they were younger. Perhaps they believed but didn't believe that God could do the same in their life. Perhaps they believed that they would have to rely on their own strength, instead of God's. Whatever the reason, David proved them all wrong. David goes to Saul to say that he is confident enough that he can defeat Goliath and that God will deliver him. I don't know about you, but David's testimony is astounding. Often when we hear the story of David and Goliath, we think about how cool it was for a little kid to take down a giant. We love this story, we tell it to kids in youth services. But why do we love this story so much? It's because the faith of a little boy saved a whole nation from slavery. David stood in the gap for the cowering nation of Israelites and gave God the ability to protect them. Now you may be thinking, 'Couldn't God do it anyway?' Sure he could, but the Israelites wouldn't learn a thing. If God just took care of them all the time without them doing anything, they'd be like that forty-year-old man still living in his mother's basement. They would believe that everything was due to their power, and they would lose respect for God. If they lost respect for God, nobody would learn that the God of Israel is the one true God. But because David stood up, God was able to prove not only to the Philistines but to the cowering Israelites that he was the one true God. David was able to restore the confidence of the Israelites, by proving his own. Through David's confidence in God, he was able to do amazing things: he won more wars, became King of Israel, he had children, he repented of his sins, he wrote multiple Psalms, he ran away from God and had confidence that he could return. Through David, came Solomon who wrote many of the Proverbs. Through David, came the Savior Jesus Christ. Through all of David's ups and downs, I feel like his ongoing testimony is simply 'Don't worry, God's got this.' This life is hard to live. Anytime you read or watch the news, there's always a bad report. In our own lives, we have struggles. Not too long ago, there was a fire at my old trailer (which is next door to our current house). My mom and I were hauling buckets of water, trying to contain the fire til the fire department made it. The fire took out an acre of land, an old chicken house, and half of the underpanning of the trailer. Unexpected things happen every day that throws your plans in the gutter. But through David, we learn that it's okay and that we can have confidence in God.   So the fruit of this short and simple message is simple: Have confidence in God. Don't just know that God can do miracles, believe that he can do them for you too. If you don't believe, remember what God has done in the Bible, and believe that he values you just as much as he did David. We live in a broken world that needs to know that the Lord is God. Maybe you have someone in your life who's a Christian like you but doesn't believe that God can do amazing things in their life. David stood in the gap for his ken, and so can you. Don't worry, God's got this. With his help, even you can do big things. If you liked this post please give me a thumbs up and if you have a question or a comment please email me at fire.time.rsmith@gmail.com. If you didn't see it yet, be sure to check out the latest episode of Church of Valatie on LINE Webtoon, or on Deviantart. God bless, and keep your fire for God, blazing!