#but wook is also a choice w a lot of potential

[ennuijpg]

yongsoo and wookjin filming bump up business!!

[katierosefun]

I so agree w/ you on Korean movies and the theme of revenge. I LOVE this aspect – I guess it somehow resonates with me (I’ve long known I’m vindictive and bloodthirsty but wasn’t fully aware of the extent until recently lol Like I said, if/when I become a vengeful ghost, it’ll prob be a very vicious one) Also, a wild uneducated guess: I wonder if the “kill your father figure” trope is some sort of a reaction against Confucianism (the idea of filial piety, etc.)?..

(Cont’d) Also, here’s a few potential additions to your list: No Tears for the Dead; The Man from Nowhere; A Bittersweet Life; I Saw the Devil; The Deal; Broken. Maybe more, if you apply the term “revenge” more loosely. (E.g. there’s an element of it even in The Good, the Bad, the Weird – Kim Jee Woon also seems to be fond of this theme. Or another example from Park Chan Wook: Cut, from Three Extremes) (2/2)

ooh, thanks for the recs anon! and also, i also really love korean films and dramas about revenge as well, in that i love how they can capture so many of the emotions that comes with revenge (the triumph, the emptiness, the guilt, the absolute anger and etc).

and the "kill your father figure" trope, i think, definitely has a lot with something against ideas of filial piety. while i'm sure it's not as extreme as it once was, korea still is a heavily patriarchal/misogynist country, and i think a lot of that bleeds into not just the revenge genre, but in a lot of different genres of korean media in general. (the parent is always seen as either a figure of guidance and love or, and i think more commonly, or maybe that's just the shows/movies i personally love, a figure that reinforces traditional norms or someone who wrecks havoc on the protagonist's life. think of the super rich mother who looks down on her son's choice of girlfriend in all the older romance kdramas, the father who rules over the household with an iron fist, etc.)

[gateau-chocolat]

Mystic Pop-up Bar ep 5 + Strangers From Hell ep 1-4 (what a combo lmao)

Mystic Pop-up Bar: I feel like I basically say this every week so far, but this is just a very good show?? The funny stuff is really funny and the fantasy stuff is cool and the dark/emotional stuff goes pretty hard (how about that really long quiet shot of the guy from this episode eating his dumplings?) and somehow it all gels together well? 

I don’t think I’ve seen the main actors in anything in particular before, but I’m liking all of them.  I enjoy all of Weol-ju’s weird gestures like the way she kicked as she agreed to take on the case at the beginning of the episode lol.

Strangers From Hell: This show! Hmmm!

So, the dramas that I’m currently watching are either ongoing shows that I’m all up to date with (Pop-up Bar, Oh My Baby) or something that I need to watch a little at a time (Hi Bye 😭), but I was kind of in the mood to finish something quickly, and Strangers From Hell caught my eye bc a) I like some horror from time to time! b) it’s only 10 episodes and c) it seemed like.....not SO good that it would be too emotionally draining or something that I would want to savor as slowly as possible.  (I considered starting Extracurricular as well, but it seemed too good lol.)

The first episode was decently interesting, and 4 episodes in I’m kinda....maybe still interested?  But not quite as much lol.  I feel like a big chunk of show is just asking “What if very creepy-looking/unpleasant/non-neurotypical-coded people.....were also EXTREME SERIAL KILLERS??? :O” and like....Is that a very interesting question? I don’t really think so lol??

Some positives:

-I always like a good Creepy House in movies or tv, and I think that Eden is a very good Creepy House!

-I think that a lot of the filming and editing choices are kind of interesting! (the cut from the tteokbokki to the tooth being removed made me yell lol 😣)

-As of episode 4, the work stuff (for both Jong-u and Ji-eun) is actually the plotline I’m most interested in?  I think that in general, the overall feeling of “everything about my place in society is stacked against me and I can’t win no matter what I do” is claustrophobic and bleak in a way that’s very compelling, and has very good horror potential, and this show really nails that on occasion?  Think of Parasite or maybe (though not horror) Burning, though both of those things are like.....in a COMPLETELY different league from Strangers From Hell lmao.

-There’s definitely kind of a novelty to seeing Lee Dong-wook in this kind of role lol.  Also it’s nice to see Lee Jung-eun again. 

Negatives:

-Like I sort of said already, so far a big part of the show seems to just be like....showing you a creepy thing and then being like “PRETTY CREEPY, HUH??” and after a while it’s just....not super interesting?

-I think revealing that everyone in the house is extremely weird and violent right off the bat makes for an impactful first episode, but then it’s like....where do you go from there lol?  They can’t escalate things much more, and in episodes 2-4 it feels like there’s not a ton of different things happening, and the dramatic stakes for what is happening aren’t as high as they could be (since we already know who the killers are, and we also know that probably no one major will die yet since it’s early in the series)

-Also there’s just....not a ton of character development or complexity for the killers so far?  They seem like they’re basically just creepy people who like to kill lol. 🤷‍♀️ Moon-jo and Bok-soon are more interesting just bc they aren’t waving signs that say HEY LOOK AT ME I LOVE MURDER (or like.....they still are, but they aren’t literally holding knives and talking about killing right off the bat lmao) but at the end of the day there still doesn’t seem to be a ton there so far. =/

-I guess now that I think about it, I think a lot of these issues could be fixed if it was a lot shorter (like, just a normal movie) or if it was W A A A A A A A A A Y more subtle and slow about revealing the full extent of all the murder stuff. 

-This is a smaller thing but: The thing where it looks like Jong-u reacts to something violently, and then you see that it was actually just something he’s imagining doing was effective at first, but they’re doing it too often and it’s getting predictable now. 

...Anyway, the show still kinda has my interest, and I do only have 6 episodes left, so I’ll probably finish it?  But I’m not totally sure. =/

[overthinkingkdrama]

Exit Review: Extraordinary You

Synopsis

Eun Dan Oh is a happy-go-lucky high school girl with a heart condition and a one-sided crush on her childhood friend. That's it. That's her set up. But she carries it well, with verve and energy. She feels certain this world is made for her and things are going to work out. Imagine her horror and surprise when she discovers that she's a character in a romance manhwa with a plot thinner than tissue paper. Not only that, she's not even the main character. She's an extra who exists only to facilitate the romance between the leads. Everything will certainly not be okay.

Now Dan Oh will do whatever it takes to shift the plot in her favor and take control of her fate.

Review

Story: This is one of those rare dramas that immediately sets fire to the Kdramasphere with the electric buzz that comes with a unique high concept and all the promising potential that goes along with it. Everyone is waiting with baited breath to see if the writing and direction can live up to that potential and whether that concept has the legs to get us through 16 hour long episodes and--wonder of wonders--stick the landing.

Not unlike another drama with a similar premise, W: Two Worlds, I started this drama and immediately fell in love with the concept and the characters. It seemed so full of promise, and I knew I was going to be in it for the long haul. Though I do think it managed a rather more cohesive and focused telling than W, I still don't think Extraordinary You had the necessary stamina and ambition to fulfill all the hopes I had for it.

As other people on this site have pointed out more eloquently, there is a lot of innate existential horror that goes along with the idea that you are merely a character in an imperfect story written by an indifferent writer. There is so much that can be done with that, especially once you establish antagonism between creator and creation. It's possible, since I am unfamiliar with the source material and I would imagine the web comic has a little more freedom to play with the parameters of this world, that this comes down to a problem with adaptation. But still, I found that the last third of the drama sagged significantly and the conclusion felt more like a cop out than a real resolution, never addressing the inherent horror of the characters' situation, but only changing the setting and circumstances.

Acting: Kim Hye Yoon is the single best thing about this drama, and I mean that up to and including the really strong concept and the built in meta levels this show has. After finishing Extraordinary You I also went and watched SKY Castle which is a drama that has been on my list for a while, and she's good there too. I think she's going to be a big star. She handles the huge emotional switches Dan Oh's character calls for very well. She's funny and bubbly and brings energy to every scene she's in, but she's also exceptionally good in the quiet and sad moments. I think if we give it a few more years she'll be swimming in the same kind of drama waters as Park Min Young. She's clearly got the chops for it.

As for the rest of the cast, I thought Lee Nan Eun and Jung Gun Joo (Joo Da and Do Hwa respectively) were the stand outs. I thought they imbued their characters with a lot of charm and appeal, even though the writing kind of did them dirty at the end.

As for everyone else, I thought they were serviceable. I'm definitely in the minority here, but I thought Lee Jae Wook was totally wasted as the perpetually dyspeptic Kyung. From what I understand he's a lot better written in the web comic. Here he was flat and frustrating. Here's hoping I'll Come to You When the Weather is Nice is a better role for him.

This being my first brush with Rowoon, I don't know if his performance was more a result of the constraints of the character or his own inexperience as an actor, but I thought he was fine as Haru. At least he's at the upper end of passable idol actors. Functional enough not to be embarrassing or distracting. He's well cast in the sense that his face looks too perfectly formed and symmetrical to exist in nature, so the explanation that he was just drawn that way makes sense. (Oh god, how rabid is the SF9 fanbase? Please don't flame me.)

Production: The production choices seem like they're exactly what they need to be for the setting. The school and the uniforms look like they were lifted right out of a shoujo manga and there are a lot of fun effects--like the sunbeam that follows around the heroine, or the blurred aura that indicates a characters internal thoughts are differing from their stage actions--and sound design choices--like the page turn noise indicating we've moved to the next scene. The whole thing is very pretty. It has that sheen of the idol drama, and that's not a bad thing. I would have loved it if they had leaned more into the existential horror of it all. There's a part later on (mild spoilers btw) where a region of the story is literally shutting down and the lights start going off around the characters and all I could think was "wow, I wish they had done more of this kind of thing."

Feels: Although Extraordinary You couldn't live up to all my expectations and hopes for it, there is still a lot to enjoy about this drama, especially in the first half, and I hope that a lot of younger viewers coming into dramas for the first time get the chance to check this one out. It seems like it has great potential as a gateway drama. It's certainly a better option for the uninitiated than Boys Over Flowers, which was my gateway, and sets the bar considerably higher.

Would I recommend Extraordinary You? Probably, especially for shoujo fans, people who like stories with meta story levels, or new drama fans.

7.5/10

[castlehead]

:a Not which one is right but which one is more like you Let's start now // this is a few makeshifts on the deity,

dint realize y i was gettin poor marks in college till i realized comic sans wasnt mla format for essays, but i kept on with it bc im anti establishment and my dope ass literary insights should speak for themselves.

my 'experimentation' as one nonplussed professor put it, with the font, progressively got crazier, and in the end i was doin all caps zapf wingdings mized wih herculanum

needless to say, i got my degree.. IN BEIN A BOSS.

na but yeah i got kicked out of that school. still bummin on campus actually, and probably psychotic from this ecstasy i keep taking. this guy in f comp makes his own, has a pill press nd everything.

the shoes i original got as a college present from my parents got stolen, or in any case i woke up in a snow drift next to the commons dumpster without them on, so i just wear slippers. my toes are purple. ther always feels like there is something in my teeth or throat i cannot dislodge. i am the campus transient, avoiding th. RAs and ignoring the eviction notices. like raping the willing, one cannot be evicted if one is homeless. with the help of a few friends i sold drugs to when my rents still gave me money and i was still enrolled, i alternate between various dormitory hovels, hiding out from the campus police like some ghastly dysfunctional version of anne frank.

i havent taken my pills and smell. i emaciate my already rejected body, rejected by the establishment goons, with cocaine, and remind myself of the leftover chicken carcass and neatly lined bones whose tomb was a disgusting box of dominos buffalo wings i ordred and consumed my first semester here and that remained in the same place until i abandoned that radioactive dormroom to die slowly and painfully, and metaphorically, since living quarters do not possess life. i am starting tho to wonder if i myself possess that as well or if i did once and now am but a structure, a part of the collegiate landscape, sniffed at by diligent students and attempted to get thru to by intellectual slackers, decadent addicts themselves on their way to where i am, and wooks who need someone to smoke with on a sunday 4 am and know i always keep track of what festis are goin on on campus; i receive the next round of empathy from a new stranger who maybe heard of me or has seen me around and wondered what i was still doing here.

empathy, empathy, curiosity as to the quirky insane dude fried by mdma and a shitload of adderall for no purpose bc i have no practical skills. a monotony of empathy ripping off and using for the metaphorical shit on my metaphorical ass, like swquares of toilet paper who fancy me a hobo poet in need of on top of text books i never opened, on a desk i used as a trash receptacle. and speaking of wings, i think i might be literally going into a dissociative state because all the leaves on the trees look like zapf wingdings. my clavicle is not only visible but sticks out of my body further than my chest does.

watch out for hell day today, for something godlier than god. i deliver it.

The effect I wish to give, as it always has been, is that of a truth clearly viewed, in utter horror. Gods factotum, shuffling thru abandoned files that sometime held a secret forgotten, tho no less true now, and the horror perhaps, that we forgot something so crucially, fundamentally true, and so long ago.

​this work is twisted, sad, manic, strange, fluid, stilted, inappropriate, foolish, magnificent.

if god doesnt exist, neither does the version of myself with dreadlocks

. .  .   .    .     .      .

one has no choice in the end but to resign oneself, and drop their head. and yet, where do they look, if one in shrinking away for the purpose of humbling hisself afore the god of anxiety, and receiving his respite, knows nothing more than but to resign? where is the clarity here? there is no clarity 'here'. it is there, and come upon in moments of fear and trembling at the dread chaos, the doubt in a heart and split in a mind.

it is there, for one is staring at the ground, awaiting an end to the necessary aversion from the sight of a higher morsel of GOD.

. .  .   .    .     .      .

atheism should not be an opinion it is not the result of not believing in god it is simply living life without a thought as to a religious god. we are not reacting to religion we are IN reality just as the catholic is IN reality. saying "I don't believe in god" is like equating nothingness to a lack of everything. there is no reactive state to atheism at its purest. it is not an acknowledgment, in other words, of no god, but an acknowledgment of what is before one's eyes, this vast neutral space I defy you to say is different from the religious folks' apprehension of objects and desires, all before them, swimming in ghostly revelry or not, only figurations anyway. o this insanely divided world.

i have a secular conception of god based on my teleological hypotheses re the nature of a causa prima, causa sui. it's the definitions that need defining, not the thing with a name on it that needs explaining. physics already does that.

remove intent for the case of nihilism, and you will have what i am saying here. no case at all. no 'response' so to speak. atheism can be evangelical

im not an evangelical atheist because what i believe changes based on the day but is always just as real haha. belief is tenuous. i go by that

it's the definitions that need defining, not the thing that needs explaining.

my conception of god is that it is the only thing that does not exist. so in a way, yes, i am an atheist.

'God' as defined in its easiest terms, is an ultimate uniquity. like, an outstanding substance. anyway, idk. at the end of the day idk haha

Kant's own a priori notional form of perception comes to mind. in front of our eyes is what is real. the observer initiates the ocular nerve, and the thing or situation burns into the receiving blankness of the mind.

like, have we reaped all the possible benefits of fire by now? surely the wails of prometheus fall not on deaf ears!

. .  .   .    .     .      .

twisted, sad, manic, strange, fluid, stilted, inappropriate, foolish, magnificent.

. .  .   .    .     .      .

green tortilla chips my ass. he said with no attempt at disguising incredulity, wiping the tears from his brow.

. .  .   .    .     .      .

whereas god is all, i am only myself, knowledgeable of only myself; therefore, unless god is simultaneously aware of being myself alone along with being everything, and of that everything knowledgeable of each and every thing as if god were only that thing, i am then let in on an experience of individuality that god is unaware of.

this is a question of how to be the most purely omniscient, omnipotent, etc. that is the question that our conception of god is asking.

corollary: if in the case of being simultaneously the experience i have of myself, and being all, then it is quite logical to say that our experience in life is in fact a godly experience, since i, too, would be unaware of being all, as goes the route of any human perception of things.

when i say i am only aware of myself i mean it in ontological terms, fyi -and also in, i will admit, somewhat absolutist terms. of course as people, psychologically, we can put ourselves in another's shoes, step outside of our comfort zone, change an opinion [or five] and every person is an environmental sponge -we can adopt varying personality traits from the culture we is born into etc. -this argument presupposes an absolute view, kinda,- in that, IF this were how it went, it wld go such nd such -this statement of mine does not examine a phenomenological or spiritual connection between people but examines the relativity and possible logical gaps in -the idea, or notion if you prefer- of omniscience.- there is only theory haha <#

we create our gods but they exist as much as we do

. .  .   .    .     .      .

turn your back, find yourself faceless, at least, to someone.

. .  .   .    .     .      .

wondering if I got a problm w. th prostate bc sometimes when I feel a shit coming I piss n it goes away. Don't change much re bathroom routine tho since I already sit down wen I pee in the first place, and according to my second ex wife this means I am a lazy fat whore

interested in the concept of the devout as being the truest sceptics.

. .  .   .    .     .      .

Thought has the coherence of being but is not being, i.e. beginning and ending in our living heads as something not itself alive, but a mere transfer of connection willed consciously to create that inert unbreathing grand called the magnificent bullshit, the idea.

the quiet horror of the mundane dailyness.

. .  .   .    .     .      .

i think something elitist and say within, Well that was elitist wasnt it, dan. then pat myself on the back at my ability to check my arrogance, specifically when i see the thought thru the lens of something a cousin of mine with generally liberal views and empathy who fishes in alaska for money and lives off the grid would remark to himself. then, i get slightly nauseated after mentally leafing thru all the times i have been proud of mentally criticizing myself for something in the first place outwardly bad. and there goes on the circular drudge of ugliness, not evaded outright, but felt the pangs of guilt in the says within, that say me again and again in my inertial brood, of void i would hope, of searching for clarity i wish, but that is probably more like a moralizing, limited gauge, like feeling better about something ugly that is yr fault by feeling bad about it for a little so you can get that part over with without the possibility of another harder wave of guilt for not feeling bad at all about the ugly thing, and therewith reacting with doubts to doubtful reactions, until yr whole value system is a wilderness of mirrors.

. .  .   .    .     .      .

im a perfectionist when it comes to sensation. the beautiful feeling must be experienced in the proper setting that would maximize its potential. i think this is y i used to do lots of drugs, which by nature are the commodification of sensations. probably also y i was super miserable doing them and kept doing them despite that. there is a certain ring of the hoarder or magpie in this perfectionism that wants to connect physicality with ego that i see as well in the idea of paying money to literally feel specific sensations; equally, the result of this on the psyche is as tenuous here as with the futile idea of thinking the perfect setting for doing drugs is always at hand, which it rarely is, or at the least there is something to mar the perfect dream, that dragon, that pursuit of happiness, life, and liberty via thinking on how best situate the chains to, in essence, 'maximize' your mobility, but nathless remaining held in doom. the drug world, uh, is itself volatile; perfectionism and volatility dont jive so well, usually. and so on. hm. hegh.

heh.

. .  .   .    .     .      .

I only like Eminem rap and that one NWA song like hell naw the rest is garbage now let me go back to my trailer in the woods where I live in harmony with the Elves who have seemed to appear more frequently now that I have that bathtub meth dungeon set up in my basement where skynerd plays ceaselessly from an unlocatable place. My hero is Ed Gein. But I don't do the lampshade thing. I do however have a human skull I bought from my buddy who owns a war relics and parephernalia shop, he had to go in the back to get it and lock the store so nobodys would come snoop. Turns out some folks comed snoop to see if he figured any more available and he got mad at me for blabbing, an I said, Giles, ya know I ain't blabbing, but he dint believe it, an now we just kinder avoid each other at the local NA meetin. People tryn cop there and some do and theys go behind the water tower tagitit, I int do that part tho, a tad fucked up I mean, these people try n getting clean an all, why make it harder n it eyis? But if y'all wanit I get it tiya, come by and share a chaw almighty God. Gib ye a gude price too. *PATOOEY* I. Uh am sober myself. 20 yrs. but damn ye ye make a buck more n working garbage detail selling home cooked meth I reckon ye. Don't touch the stuff I don't anymore after I heard this queer fella from out a town got his arm chopped off when he mainlined eyit. Tryn I guess do some sex stuff and a days travel from the city. City folk don't know it's diffeRent strength down here's doe. I reckon. *MEDITATIVE PATOOEY* yes sirn. Huhm.

. .  .   .    .     .      .

The thing abt the Sex Pistols is, tho they engineered the punk genre immeasurably, they seem to no longer be in the cultural conversation, except within factions of grey haired aficionados. Even the more radio friendly The Clash seems notably absent in this regard. Has punk developed beyond its early stages, or is punk, being the genre that it is, dependent on whatever the moments youth zeitgeist is? punk is visceral because it is held in time this way. first gen punk, cbgbs headliners of ago and ago, do not exert these days the same walbreaking feel, bc I think there's so much virtuosic music being made today that the path of what will develop is harder to determine. Musicians in throes break down walls without batting an eye. Any musical iconoclasm expressed in the music of the past, then, especially to the contemporary ear, is bound to seem bathetic. Like microaggressions as expressions of racism, our society's opening of mind leads to a closed mind, as one can justify not being racist by simply saying they do not think they are better than marginalized peoples, have never done anything racist, think we are all equal, are not clansmen lol. what ruffles feathers is less obvious, in turn, bc expressions of the ersatz new and the real new are harder and harder to determine. The surplus of media, ideas, and opinions, I think, will lead us to a place where "cultural norm" becomes an oxymoron, hopefully. But then, what else will be left to invigorate, if so much is already so much done out, already? Does there exist a perspective, artistic or no, that is not liable to become passé? Or even some thought never thought before? I know there is, I for one know there is, because as a poet I see much to fix, and much that I work to do bc I see it nowhere else; and this most crucially is not an impression of mine based on today's lit but every days lit there has ever been, throughout history. Just I can literally not even yo, yo

. .  .   .    .     .      .

Mathsmatics can transcend thru the grandeur of its implications but not thru the means towards said implications; philo can do the same, but it's better penchant is for transcending thru means to electrify a mundane conclusion or give a system of reason to a general thought-trope such as, "reality is an illusion" or whichever flat idea u prefer to follow. Since it is pure logos, philo differs from math in being more readily universal; tho the applications of math are more readilly useful than the positives that come with mental clarity at the understanding an achieved unified system. Poetry is all means, so then must dazzle, and needs no evidence, conclusion, or even subject, but need only sway with beauty. Therein is the problem with the existential issue of selfhood. Reductive analysis of self becomes psych, and the only pure philo to be had in selfhoods exegesis is not to be found in anything like a system of proofs or syllogisms, etc. selfhood, as Kierkegaard recognized, is poetic bc it exacerbates reality, exhausts all of it. it is individual, and so copious a thing has no one forged path to what it is, or even any path at all, to what it is, since like Pascals God the self is a circle whose point is everywhere and circumference nowhere. Figuring out a reality via a teleology or thru logic is nicer to attempts at systems. But individual self is too mucky for any proof to say it exists; the murkiness shines, as it always does, when the means are prevalent, since the means, being held moment to moment, rely on nothing but expose a variety of paths to more variety. Philo then is better at least than Math for finding out something obfuscated, but nothing but poetry can so deeply probe the self, as its humility is lain in the respect for a complete dissembling of systems.

. .  .   .    .     .      .

the iconic ny jewish deli sandwich is in essence a robust mountain of roast beef held feebly between two unnecessary pieces of sad, chickenshit marble rye

the roast beef, of course, wld be kosher.

I create; I waste. Yet nothing is perfect, nothing, nothing. Not even dignity.

[fiasmind]

My top 10 of 2016

Hello!

I’ve had as a tradition for quite a few years now to make my ‘lists of the year’ and 2016 is not going to be an exception from this. As I was mostly into Korean stuff in 2016 I will have similar categories to the ones I had in 2015 - however, with a few tweaks. My reasoning for my choices are mostly about ‘who/what do I remember now when 2016 is over’. Therefore, there is a chance that things released in the later half of the year will get more attention. I tried to counteract this by going through everything I reblogged here on tumble (on my other blog) to see who/what made the most appearances etc. Further, the songs I picked are mostly based on the amount of plays they have in my iTunes library. However, a big note should be made about the fact that these are MY picks - you do not have to agree with any of them. You can even send me your lists, if you so please and I will be happy to post them as well. Without further ado;

Here are the categories of the year:

Top 10 Males of 2016 Top 10 Females of 2016 Top 10 Groups of 2016 (male and female) Top 10 Actors of 2016 Top 10 Actresses of 2016 Top 10 Dramas of 2016 Top 10 kpop songs of 2016

Top 10 Men of 2016

Jisoo (EVERYTHING he has done in 2016)

Nam Joo Hyuk (Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo)

Jung Jinyoung (B1A4)

Jackson (GOT7)

V (BTS)

Lee Jong Suk (W)

Ji Chang Wook (The K2)

Leo

Mingyu (Seventeen)

Sandeul (B1A4)

Top 10 Females of 2016

Jung Eunji (A-Pink)

Yuju (GFriend)

Nana (After School/Orange Caramel)

Lee Sung Kyung (Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo) (She was also in Doctors but there I didn’t really like her character...)

Solar (Mamamoo)

Amber (f(x))

Tzuyu (Twice)

Hani (EXID)

Joy (Red Velvet)

Song Ji Hyo

Top 10 Groups of 2016

BTS

B1A4

Gfriend

Mamamoo

KNK

Twice

EXO

VIXX

Lunafly (They have barely done anything so.. ㅠㅠ)

f(x)

Top 10 Dramas of 2016 (Dramas who aired the majority of their episodes in 2016 is considered for this list, meaning that if a 20 episode drama aired 10 episodes in 2016 it can be added)

The Flower in Prison

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

W

Doctors

The Legend of the Blue Sea

Goblin

Moonlight Drawn by Clouds

Shopping King Louis

The K2

Marriage Contract

Now, Let’s mentions some positive things about dramas this year: Many nice (looking) actors played major roles this year. And, overall, there are quite a few really good dramas that were out this year. However, there were definitely times this year when I felt like I had nothing interesting to watch (although, since The Flower in Prison is a 51-episode drama that managed to keep me satisfied for most parts of the year). A drama I watch surprisingly a lot of is Five Children (I have finished 48 out of 52 episodes). But, this drama suffered from the same thing most of these long~ dramas - way too many different plot-lines! I was interested in the blooming romance between Sung Hoon’s and Shin Hye Sun’s characters but they were only side-line characters and therefore I fast-forwarded through a lot of this drama. I tried to start Descendants of the Sun two times but both times I only got to about episode 5 so..

The worst drama which aired in 2016 is, without a doubt, Beautiful Secret.This is a Chinese drama which I tried to watch for f(x) Victoria's sake since she played the main lead but the drama characters and plot was just so STUPID. Further, I completed Uncontrollably Fond out of sheer force because I just couldn’t leave it unfinished, but that drama was also really bad. Another drama which I haven’t managed to finish was Mirror of The Witch (although I still have it on my ‘On-Hold’ list. This drama just.. confused me and if I want to get through I am going to have to start from the beginning and I do not know If I am going to have the will to do that). A drama that had such potential and that I was so invested in, in the beginning, was Moon Lovers; Scarlet heart Ryeo. But, the horrible way the plot went, and I just could not make sense of much of it, caused me to stop keeping up and I am, to this day, still only on episode 13.

Top 10 Actors of 2016

Nam Joo Hyuk (The Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo/Moon Lover’s; Scarlet Heart Ryeo)

Lee Jong Suk (W)

Park Bo Gum  (Moonlight Drawn by Clouds)

Song Joong Ki (Descendants of the Sun) [even though I haven’t finished the drama... he’s just too dreamy to leave out]

Lee Dong Wook (Goblin)

Ji Chang Wook (The K2)

Go Soo (The Flower in Prison)

Sung Hoon (Five Children)

Seo Ha Joon (The Flower in Prison)

Lee Min Ho (The Legend of the Blue Sea)

Honorable mentions;

Gong Yoo (Goblin)

Yoon Sang Hyun (Shopping King Louis)

Seo In Guk (Shopping King Louis)

Kwak Dong Yeon (Moonlight Drawn by Clouds)

Yoon Gyun Sang (Doctors)

Lee Tae Hwan (W)

Kim Woo Bin (Uncontrollably Fond)

Top 10 Actresses of 2016

Jin Se Yeon (The Flower in Prison)

Han Hyo Joo (W)

Lee Sung Kyung (Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo/Doctors)

Park Shin Hye (Doctors)

Kim Joo Yong (Moonlight Drawn by Clouds)

Jeon Ji Hyeon (The Legend of the Blue Sea)

Shin Hye Sun (Five Children/Legend of the Blue Seas)

Nam Ji Hyun (Shopping King Louis)

Song Yoon Ah (The K2)

Chae Soo Bin (Moonlight Drawn by Clouds)

Top 10 Kpop songs of 2016

NCT U - Without You

K.Will - 말해! 뭐해? (Descendants of the Sun OST)

BTS - Save Me

HyunA - Do It!

Cross Gene - Noona, You

SHINee - Tell Me What To Do (SHINee)

Seventeen - 아주 nice

Gfriend - Navillera/Rough

Brave Girls - Deepened

SS301 - Pain

Honorable mentions;

BLACKPINK - Boombayah

Jung Eunji - Hopeful Sky

NCT 127 - Taste The Feeling 

Taemin - Press your number

Red Velvet - Russian Roulette

B.A.P - Feel So Good/That’s My Jam

Punch and Chanyeol - Stay With Me (Goblin OST)

BTS - 21세기 소녀

B.I.G - Hey Girl (Moorim School OST)

AKMU - How People Move

KNK - Knock