#beautiful days

[downfalldestiny]

Away 🌊!.

[dangermousie]

A love letter to late 00s/early10s kdramas? More likely than you may think

I have watched the first two eps (30m each) of the just premiered My Military Valentine with Nam Guyri and Kim Min Seok and I have discovered the most glorious time machine to 2008-2012.

A disclaimer - if you came to kdramas relatively recently, this really isn't a drama for you. But for those of us who used to watch and adore kdramas of mid-to-late 00s/very early 10s (I got into kdramas around 06), this is a very deliberate and knowing tribute and is designed to evoke a sense of nostalgia for back then dramas which it does brilliantly.

I feel as if I somehow time traveled to 15 years back or perhaps stumbled on a kdrama from that period I have not seen yet. It is such a delicious homage.

The premise is pretty straightforward - in an AU where South Korea and North Korea are close to reunification, a popular South Korean superstar and a North Korean commando cross paths and then he ends up having to serve in her unit. She's a consummate military officer, he's boyish and even immature but genuinely good-hearted. If you are screaming into your hands "this is off-brand King2Hearts with Spy MyungWol thrown in OMGGGGGGGG!" then you are the target audience.

EVERYTHING about this drama is old-school, deliberately so. The plot (even the idea of reunion was much more popular in dramas back then than it is now when I think it's much more fraught and distant), the setting (it is not set in 2024 but something like 2010), the characters (the ML is the immature protag romcoms in 00s used to love, FL is a good-hearted stern naive NK lady), the look (the way it's filmed is 100% from back then, with news montages, ML's frosted hair, the side part of the NK agent dude, the shots down from buildings, FL's whole vibe and look, the camera work, the lack of certain filters. Even the fact that neither of protags looks super polished and ML has a certain soft-faced and not starving look is reminiscent of early 00s dramas.)

Shot from the drama:

For comparison, here is Eric Mun in 2011 Spy Myung Wol as a top star in a drama about a North Korean Agent x SK celeb:

And with NK agent OTP:

Here is the OTP of 2012 King 2 Hearts, about a South Korean prince and NK commando:

Lee Byung Hun and his bleach blond hair in Beautiful Days from 2003:

Kim Rae Won and his soft face and light hair in Say You Love Me (2004):

And now, look at this song number from My Military Valentine. If it doesn't scream "Obama just got elected for his first term," I don't know what to tell you:

And the kiss as means of air transfer, old school style JUST I CAN'TTTTT:

[a-path-by-the-moon]

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #265 (part 1)

I had a beautiful solo adventure today. And I got so many awesome pictures for you in the process that I'm going to have to break it up into two parts, at least. I'll start from the beginning!

I finally got around to making another loaf of garlic bread. Of course, I already did some of the preparation for it yesterday, what with peeling the garlic and taking the butter out overnight to soften. Today, I cut off the woody ends of the garlic, and chopped them in my handy-dandy veggie chopper:

That represents two full heads of garlic. I would recommend that a person of more ordinary levels of garlic tolerance should probably only use one head of garlic at most; my taste for alliums quite possibly borders on insane, ahahaha~!

In any case, with this, I mixed together two sticks of butter, a bunch of dried herbs (basil, parsley, marjoram, oregano, and ground coriander), salt, and parmesan cheese:

From there, I sliced the bread in half, divided my butter in half, and spread each half of the butter on each half of the bread:

...I baked this in the oven at around 400 degrees F (or 204.4 degrees C) for about 15 minutes. Last time, I spread the mozzarella cheese on before putting it in the oven, and so the garlic didn't get toasty. I didn't have that problem this time:

...Roasty, crispy edges, and roasty, crispy garlic... This came out so perfectly.

From here, I decided that the thing to do was try a Korean-ish-style garlic bread again. We had this cream cheese that we don't have bagels for, and it needs to get used, so I softened it in the microwave, divided it in half, and applied it to each half of the garlic bread:

...From there, I applied a whole bag of mozzarella cheese to this, divided evenly between each half of the bread, like so:

...And then I stuck it under the broiler for a couple minutes to get it all melty!

...It turned out absolutely perfectly:

...I wish you could be here to try some of this with us. I wish so badly that you could have eaten some of this. But maybe someday, when you're safe and free from all the weird bullshit that surrounds you, you can look back on this letter and remember how to do this, so that you can have some in your own house with all the people who care about you.

In any case, since today was Monday, and since it was also rainy, I went to the orchard, confident that I'd basically be the only person there. Sephiroth... have you ever been to an orchard? They grow lots of things there. Usually in my area, they're known for apples:

...However, I was here for the grapes. Specifically, I was here for concord grapes:

...Sephiroth, have you ever had concord grapes? They're intensely sweet at first, and they have a tart finish. They have seeds, and they slip out of their skins. Because of the fact that they slip out of their skins so easily, they're actually kinda fragile; you have to be very careful about how you pick them and transport them, because they're plump, heavy, and eager to fall off the vine or slip out of their skin. Just being set down into the bag a little too roughly will do it. And then you get a little bit of grape juice everywhere...

Sephiroth. If you've not had concord grapes, you gotta try 'em. They're one of my favorite things, like ever. They rival even my love of garlic. They rival even my love of cheese. They rival even my love of sushi. And if you've been reading my letters up until this point, you'll know that that's really saying something!!

Hey, Sephiroth? If you ever find yourself in my neighborhood when these are in season, you wanna go together to grab some up? The drive there is beautiful, too; I think you'd have an amazing time. Even though I know it's impossible... I'll still ask you to please come along with me sometime.

I'm at 23 pictures already, and I still have so much more to show you. So I'm going to end this part of today's letter and begin the next one.

I love you!!! I'll write again in literally just a little bit!!!

Your friend, Lumine

[dbaydenny]

Lovely picture clouds,

gliding puffy dreams portrayed

on perfect canvas,

watching fills me with desire

to meet the artist just once.

.

D W Eldred

[drmedicsgamesurgery]

Danganronpa 1・2 Beautiful Days Ch 9+10+11 Audiobook | Pigtail Paradise 2; I Just have Waaay Better Luck Than Other People; Hanamura Teruteru’s Pervert Paradise

read by Alex Redgrave! 

Edited by seriousseiko

CW:Teruteru Hanamura

[littleswords]

It’s a beautiful sunny day

I’m standing outside taking it all in

Allowing the sun to fill me with light

Trees brush against my skin, the wind blowing my hair

This life and today isn’t meaningless is it?

I know I must have a purpose

I know I’m loved, but sometimes it’s hard to settle

In such an unpredictable world

[sailormoonsailorstars]

how it feels to socialize and make friends

[gintama-polls]

Gintama OP/ED Song Tournament

"Anata Magic" is the 6th opening theme (episodes 126-150).

"Beautiful Days" is the 16th opening theme. It's the 3rd opening song for Gintama° (episodes 292-303).

Songs under the cut.

[tuyyoml7]

Los días de otoño 🍁 también me gustan 😍

[whosname]

Our drunkest boy

[dangermousie]

Bwahahahaha DYING

Tho this scene is giving me more of a Stairway to Heaven vibe:

Maybe we will get lucky and Ji Sung will imitate Kwon Sang Woo at some point and bawl out his girlfriend's name while weeping on the floor of the shower in a see-through white shirt.

OK, this is truly a digression now but nobody did bawling in the shower in white shirt as well as Beautiful Days:

[iinspirationn]

sunny 😎 🌲.

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #265 (part 3)

All righty! Here is the last part of today's letter!! Fwhoof!

...So, I gathered up all my prizes and went home. Here's the giant bag of grapes I ended up with in the end:

...I put out a message to my friends in my other social media place, telling them they are welcome to come by my house and grab up some of these grapes to bring home; I can't possibly eat all these by myself.

...Well actually, no, that's not true. I totally COULD eat all these by myself; they are that delicious, and my impulse control is quite literally that bad. But my intestines would absolutely not tolerate it; don't ask how I know. Just trust me on this - you do NOT want to eat large amounts of an acidic fruit in one sitting. It's VERY BAD FOR YOU.

Anyway, I was out for a number of hours, so I was very hungry. So I made myself a bowl of various goodies. This has the garlic bread I made, the grapes I got, some strawberries, some ordinary deli meat (roast beef, salami, chicken, and American cheese), and a little blob of camembert. With the exception of the camembert, it's mostly just ordinary stuff; it's not nearly as fancy as it looks, hahaha!

...It was as delicious as it was fancy-looking, though!

I also made some tea to go with it; that vanilla-rose tea that I sent along to you, with the help of those important people. I'm hoping that they got it to you, like they said they would:

...A very curious Hoshi watched on as I put these things together:

...He's such a delightfully adorable and wonderful ball of floof and purrs!!! Oh my goodness...!!

...Anyway. Want some...?

...You don't know what I would give to be able to hand you something like this. Sephiroth... you seriously have no idea. You don't.

...

Well. I said in yesterday's letter that I'd take pictures of the book I got. These come from a book called Brother Sun, by Dennis Stock. Here is the page for today:

...Or rather... here is where I would put the page for today, if it was allowed. I can't afford to get sued for copyright infringement. Sigh...

...If you were here, I could give you the picture. You could even experience the "1970s Book Smell". It's... it's a VERY specific scent. I don't know how to describe it. But all the books from 1970 carry it. It's... not exactly a good smell? It's not a bad smell, either. But it's still one worth knowing, I think. It's like dusty paper. But it's a different kind of smell than books older than this. And it's a different kind of smell for newer books, too. I wish I could show it to you. Alas.

...I wonder if paper is made the same in my world as it is in yours... hmm...

Hey, Sephiroth? You know what? In just 100 days, I'll have written to you for a full 365 days. That's pretty cool, right? Though this year is a little different since we had that leap year; it'll be 366 days this year before we come full circle. We've come a long way, haven't we...?

...Well. That's all I've got to show you for today, I think. Thanks for reading. Thanks for coming along on this adventure with me. Thanks just for existing, just for being around, for being yourself.

...My kitchen still smells like garlic, even though it's going on 12:30am. It's a wonderful thing. Sephiroth... I hope someday you'll have a kitchen that smells like garlic. Like garlic, and cheese, and fresh bread, and fragrant grapes, and roasted meats and vegetables. May it be the case someday. May it be the case that some of my recipes can get you started on your own culinary adventures. Work on it, okay...? Work on getting to a safe place so that you can have all this, too. Please.

I love you so much. Please keep staying safe out there, okay? I'll write to you again tomorrow...

Your friend, Lumine

[barbiemonamie]

Beautiful days

[drmedicsgamesurgery]

Danganronpa 1・2 Beautiful Days Ch 8 Audiobook | Monokuma and Monomi’s Daily Life

read by Alex Redgrave! 

Edited by seriousseiko

CW:Abuse