#jung sang ha

[convenientalias]

I've been watching more Park Sung-woong movies lately. This weekend's pick was For the Emperor, featuring loan shark boss!PSW and Lee Min-ki as his shady-as-hell, possibly-even-more-morally-gray-than-you subordinate/protege.

There were vibes ;D

[teashh]

I am so glad the new kdramas are bringing back the specific brand of loser men. You know which brand I'm talking about. The Ahn "min min" Minhyuk brand of loser men and I'm loving it. The "I worship this goddess and I'm so in love with her and I can't believe I get to love her. Oh my gods I love her so much" brand of loser men. And we're being fed so well with lovely runner, love next door, no gain no love, my demon, Cinderella at 2am, Hierarchy, Midnight Romance in Hagwon, doctor slump, Queen of tears, welcome to samdal-ri and even good partner (yes it's one sided but the dedication and yuri's couple too).

We need more fictional loser men who worship women to satiate our eldest independent daughter desires.

[kdram-chjh]

Kdrama: The Judge from Hell (2024)

When Demons live with humans 😅 | Drama: The Judge from Hell | kdrama edit #shorts #funny

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wWRg44OSsaU

[stuff-diary]

The Frog

TV Shows/Dramas watched in 2024

The Frog (2024, South Korea)

Director: Mo Wan Il

Writer: Son Ho Young

Mini-review:

Wow, I didn't think I would enjoy The Frog so much. I guess I was in the mood for a dark, propulsive thriller. I've seen some people say it's 'slow', but like... where? This kept me glued to the screen from the very first episode, and it got more and more intense throughout the next ones. It even ventures into psychological horror territory from time to time, which made it even more fun to me. The writing isn't perfect (some of the characters aren't as well developed as they should), but the directing and the acting more than make up for it. Go Min Si turns in a particularly strong performance, and it's clear she gave it her all. I'm not gonna say this is the best thriller k-drama I've seen, but it was definitely enjoyable as hell.

[imsailorpluto]

So I've finally finished Bloodhounds (+ ahjussi collection)

...and I have no idea where to start and what to say and how to feel.

No, wait, please hear me out.

It was b l o o d y and at parts a very difficult watch, as it has lots of explicit fighting scenes, which look extremely realistic and cruel. So cruel that I had to close my eyes and not watch, I even skipped many & i'm not sorry. However, there are also parts so heartwarming that it makes you forget about all the crimes and gore for a moment. So, it's up to you to decide if it's worth the struggle. Since the violence could be a bit too much for many, let's just say I do and don't recommend this one at the same time. Personally, one of things I greatly enjoyed is the subtle comic tone of Gun-woo's and Woo-jin's interactions with each other and their characters which represent people doing sports professionally so well, the purity of their hearts and lack of malice in everything they do, since they truly do live for the sports. Then there are two absolutely powerful and skillful young women, Hyeong-ju and Da-min, playing such important roles in the entire series, each of them individually contributing so much to the entire plan of bringing the bad guys down and saving what could still be saved. And also, one of the most enjoyable parts were definitely the bonds that came out of these newly formed friendships. Younger acting crew did an amazing job. In comparison to the older and experienced ahjussi crew (I'll get to them in a bit), they've got some serious talent. It must have been a huge undertake for both Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi to live up to the expectations of the entire team behind this drama. And they did it. They absolutelly slayed.

If you still haven't watched this drama, trust me when I say these two cinnamon rolls will instantly win your heart right at the beginning of the first episode. They're like the most perfect two besties you'd want to be besties with too. And yeah, you'll suffer thru all the horrors just to see them win the biggest battle of their lives. Gosh, every time I tried typing something coherent about them it just ended up being lots of crying shaking throwing up. They're the best, ok? And this is best I can do. ╥﹏╥

And while our marine boys scratched so many itches around this platform, I have to mention the absolute gentlemen that starred in this series and swept me off my feet *deepest sigh ever*

So many great actors took part in Bloodhounds, it's hard to believe my own eyes at times. Whoever was in charge of the casting did a killer job. I couldn't even take the bad guys seriously because they're freakishly handsome. Well, at least not until Kim Myung-gil brutally ended my favourite ahjussi trio damn you ep 6

What started as an obsession over two young marine guys and their bromance ended up as a hole in my heart over downfall of three middle aged criminals men and a will to trade all the money and gold bars for their lives. And more importantly, a huge appreciation for Korean actors over the age of 40.

No, let's be real. They're handsome and talented and great at their job and deserve all the love and support. With that in mind... here's a tiny screenshot dump because it would be a shame not to post it:

And I want to be normal about them and move on in peace but *internal screams* I've already mentioned Lee Hae-young in one of my earlier posts, addressing my obsession with the character he portrays, the sushi restaurant owner Hwang Yang-jung. And I know many people are obsessed with him too. But no one is speaking up. Which is silly. And tbh I really thought there would be more gifs of him and other men but...there's close to none? Can we talk about how fine this man is? How fine this whole ahjussi crew is? Can we... can we just acknowledge they sliced us all in tiniest pieces possible and burned us all till we turned into charcoal? Can we make a mess of kdrama side of tumblr by excessively posting about them? Pretty please?

It's true, I came for the boys, but stayed for these men. I'm not even joking when I say kdrama has me in a chokehold again, but this time for a whole new reason. Dropping everything just to watch series and movies these guys took part in sounds like the best idea at the moment. I even forgot about the new releases I started watching, which makes me laugh at myself, but... it is what it is. At some point, a girl just has to obsess over her favourite ahjussi, and that's okay.

[somanykdramas]

DESIGNATED SURVIVOR: 60 DAYS

GENRES: Drama, Political Procedural

SUMMARY: A temporary acting President has to deal with keeping a country afloat amid a crisis, internal espionage, and new suits.

THIS SHOW HAS EVERYTHING: Dust particles, botched press conferences, testy teens, VIPs, bombings, assassinations, military intrigue, national abandonment, hacking, camping, and eyeglasses.

HOT TAKE: I have not yet seen the American version of this show, but damn, this was a democratic rollercoaster of an experience. Everyone is out to win something whether it's an improved South Korea, dirty revenge, or just maintaining some semblance of governmental sanity.

This show has a real 'let's use the same 3 hallway sets over and over again' problem, but the familiar environments just made me care that much more about the acting masterclasses happening between their walls.

[anemoiawithatouchofobsession]

▪︎ 멀 ▪︎ 어 ▪︎ 져 ▪︎ 갔 ▪︎ 네

• 님 • 은 • 먼 • 곳 • 에

~ You went far away. My love, far away

~ Korean female celebrities in b&w, 50s-70s

[sweethome-thoughts]

Jae-Heon : No more making fun of me when I misuse dated cultural references ok ? Are we cowabunga on this ?

Ji-Su : Fine, we're cowabunga on this.

[cptrs]

[fewwordsmanyriddles]

[passionforfiction]

Alchemy of Souls (Part 1 & 2)

This is definite another favorite of mine; right next to Scarlet Heart Ryeo. Alchemy of Souls & Alchemy of Soul: Light and Shadow tell the story a young group of mage who have to fight against the greed of soul shifters and the sorcerous that conjure the spell. The story has a perfect balance of humor, action, romance, and suspense in a beautifully threaded plot.

The story begins with Naksu, a powerful female assassin, who wants to avenge the murder of her father as she follows her master's orders. And Jang Ok trying to unlock the power within him in his quest to becoming the mage everyone is trying to prevent him to become because of the truth of his birth. These two meet when Jang Ok has left his last master and she has shifted to the body of a blind girl in order to escape death. But she is no longer the powerful mage she had been, now that she is trapped in this body and in order to regain her power, she accepts becoming Jang Ok's master disguised as servant.

These two lives are entwined in a tangle of intrigue, misunderstanding and friendships that are strengthened and forged as Naksu as Mu Deok and Jang Ok walk the challenging terrain to make Jang Ok reach the highest level of a mage.

I fell in love with the characters, their personalities, their struggles and feelings. The end of the first part broke my heart.

The second part starts 3 years after Mu Deok's death and Jang Ok's returning from the afterlife with the ice stone. Jang Ok who is surrounded by shadows, and the pain of losing the love of his life, has become the most powerful mage and carries the responsibility of destroying soul shifters. Meanwhile, the two souls that had co-existed in Mu Deok's body are now enclosed in Naksu's body. But this time, both souls have lost their memories and powers and are imprisoned in the Jinyowon household. It is through Jin Bu Yeon's interaction with Jang Ok and the others that she slowly regains her powers and memories. In this last part, the youth come together to defeat the greed and selfishness of the king, queen, and everyone who sought to gain power through the alchemy of souls and the ice stone.

This series was definitely worth the wait! I recommend it to everyone. I will be thinking about this story for a long time. I know I will be watching this one multiple times.

[kdram-chjh]

Kdrama: Secret Garden (2010-2011)

[#shorts ] Para mi, ella es toda una estrella | Secret Garden | KOCOWA+ ESPAÑOL

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrQ_ijJvT5M

[stuff-diary]

Bloodhounds

TV Shows/Dramas watched in 2023

Bloodhounds (2023, South Korea)

Director & Writer: Kim Joo Hwan (based on the webtoon by Jeong Chan)

Mini-review:

I'm gonna be honest: I'm not usually a big fan of these type of movies/shows and I only started this one because of the wonderful Woo Do Hwan. However, color me surprised, cause I ended up loving Bloodhounds. Sure, this story has been told a million times before, but the bromance, the incredibly lovable characters (and incredibly hateful villains!) and the showstopping action scenes take this show to the next level. I'm telling you, it's a really enjoyable experience.

On top of that, the cast absolutely delivers. The show is filled with knockout (pun intended) performances, there's not a single weak link. You can tell just how hard these actors worked to prepare for all the fights and action sequences. Oh, and I can't leave out Kim Joo Hwan's propulsive directing, which left me breathless in several episodes. I do think the final scene cut off way too suddenly, and the sort-of-time-jump in episode 7 is also rather awkward, but I guess it's understandable, considering all the trouble the show went through during post-production. Anyway, Bloodhounds took me by surprise, and I think most people who like action movies/shows focused on hand-to-hand combat will love this.

[unnieshimkoongkdramas]

Family KDramas - Is it Worth the 50 Episode Commitment?

There is a genre of Kdramas that I can only classify as family kdramas. I’m not sure what else to call them and I’m sure there is a proper name for them. I’ll ask my mom one day. They’re multi-generational stories. These stories contain the following: Most have a theme of a HUGE secret that everyone eventually finds out about. This is usually what hooks the viewer. The pain and frustration of…

[lemon-inferno]

Encyclopedia of Useless Facts on Unbelievable Human Beings

Episode 2 – Loving Oneself ✔️

I think what I’ll stick to when talking about this show is discussing the cast, their thoughts and behavior. I would really like to get more into the topics they talk about too, but they are so broad and there’s so much said in a single episode that I can’t keep up unless I spend 4 hours just taking notes and writing what I want to add. This show is quickly going to become an obsession for me and I wish so badly that I could take part in their conversations.

Speaking of episodes, I suppose the official run time will really remain an hour and forty minutes. I’m okay with that. I really needed something like this to keep giving me brain food and things to think and obsess over.

I have a lot of other things to say, but they do all tie down to one individual on the show and I have mixed feelings about him. Before I get into those, I’ll just note down a couple of other things, to get them out of the way.

Namjoon seemed a lot more comfortable in this this episode and he spoke more too. I’m always impressed with his knowledge on art. Not the same as surprised. You can really tell he has passion for art and an obsessive mind when it comes to his passion. His contribution to this episode was significantly more than the first one and from now on I think we’ll only be seeing him being more and more involved. It makes me really happy that he’s truly enjoying this show and its format. I think it’s great for hungry minds like his and this is a great opportunity for him.

By the end of the episode my respect for astronomer Shim Chae Kyung skyrocketed. Not that I didn’t respect her before, but she really made me inspired with her words and I think she’s quickly conquered a place in my heart. Her words were reassuring, inspiring and motivating. Thinking about it, most of my role models resemble her. Her confidence in herself and her love for herself. I think she nailed the topic for this episode and I want to see her more. Although I’m not sure if the guests will be replacing one of the cast members we have now, or they’ll be just joining without any changed to our current cast. I really hope Shim Chae Kyung stays on the show.

Speaking of guests, next week’s guest is going to be screenwriter Jung Seo Gyeong. She wrote the Korean drama adaptation for “Little Women” and is one of the scriptwriters for the movie “The Handmaiden”. (I’ll admit those are the only two things I’ve seen that she’s worked on, but if you’re interested there’s a bunch more you can check out.

Okay now let’s move on to the part I dread the most, because I’m so conflicted about it. Or him. I made some unpleasant observations about novelist Kim Young Ha in the first episode, but I held back on commenting about him, because I didn’t want to judge him that quickly (as a person), based on just a couple of screen hours. However, in this episode I gradually got more and more irritated by some of the behavior he displayed. One is interrupting people. Now, granted as this is a conversation there will be some interruptions to be made. What I noticed is that when all other cast members interrupted, it was to either a) ask a question or b) make a genuine contribution to the conversation with a different point of view/opinion, something in relation to the topic. With author Kim Young Ha, when he interrupted it was to either a) keep telling the story instead of its original storyteller or b) to repeat something someone had just said, but in different words. It’s like this man doesn’t know how not to get the last word. I feel like at times he has this patronizing or condescending attitude towards the rest. A know-it-all, if you will. It keeps getting on my nerves. Luckily, the other cast members seem to handle him well. I personally don’t know I’d be able to.

On a more positive note, he did come up with the storyline of the show, which I enjoyed a lot. I think that redeems him a little in my eyes. I find the fictional concept of the show cool and I really liked the intro animations of this episode. I hope they keep it for the duration of the show. I think it’s a really nice touch that contributes to the viewers’ immersion in the show. Since the episodes are long, it could be a fun thought to keep in the back of your mind, that you’re stuck on a spaceship with these people for the next few years and they pass their time having endless conversations about various things.

And this pretty much wraps up my review of the second episode. Enjoying it greatly and I recommend it to those who are okay with long episodes and have wildly varying interests.

[wonderland-lostintheecho]

I bring this back for pride month

The REAL ✨bi panic✨