#shim eun-ha

[splinteredsoul]

Tell Me Something (1999)

dir. Chang Yoon-hyun

[certified-ajumma]

이렇게 하면 다 의미가 있어 보여

ART MUSEUM BY THE ZOO (1998) — dir. Lee Jeong-hyang

[k-star-holic]

Shim Eun-ha Come back 1.5 billion frauds ⁇ Kim Sae-ron super fast Come back .. 2023 'pole and pole' comeback

[stuff-diary]

Squid Game (Season 2)

TV Shows/Dramas watched in 2024

Squid Game (Season 2, 2024, South Korea)

Director & Writer: Hwang Dong Hyuk

Mini-review:

I didn't quite see the need for more Squid Game; despite the somewhat open ending, the first season was a thoroughly satisfying watch. And now, after seeing the new one, my opinion hasn't really changed. The first half is basically a rehash of the concept and themes, with a slowed-down pace to drag the story out into two seasons. On top of that, more than a few of the new characters are ridiculously annoying (and it doesn't help that half of the cast is made up of awful people). That being said, the games remain thrilling and entertaining, easily the best part of this installment. I'm still curious to see how the story ends, and most of my favorite characters managed to survive, so I will be tuning into the final season next year.

[anemoiawithatouchofobsession]

Matching 90s talents and singers to tumblr aesthetics part 1

Because why not. Also this is part one of a long af series. Stay tuned.

- - - Shim Eun Ha - clean girl/old money aesthetic - - -

- - - Kang Susie - shoujo/city pop aesthetic - - -

- - - Ha Soo Bin : cottagecore - - -

- - - Lee Seung Yeon - soft grunge - - -

[bioskoop]

[alare-chan]

Lee Jung Jae - Shim Eun Ha | Interview (2000)

[teafiend]

Let me make a detour from my usual KDrama rare pairs to fangirl scream about this pairing. This show has tropes galore to make a shipper like me go squeeing to high heavens. Love this for me and the show, truly❣️

While not wholly a rare pair as this pairing from the drama itself has a number of high quality FMVs to fangirl over - and the overwhelmingly more popular ship with viewers - and there exists a tiny amount of fics in Korean, on Ao3, the fics (in English) for this pairing is basically nonexistent. A sad state of affairs, certainly, but the main female character is generally beloved, and the number of FMVs enough to tide me over for a time, so all in all, this is a very wonderful ship for me to have fun with.

Compared to some of my other rare pairs, this ship is unironically a major, major comfort! There is extremely little frustration to be had although fan content is not in abundance either. A lovely, sexy and peaceful ship 🥰🥹

[angoor]

Christmas in August, 1998

Dir. Hur Jin-ho

[anemoiawithatouchofobsession]

90s Korea was FLY as hell and so were the female celebs!

South Korea, 1990

[mizldrizl]

Funny moments from the Beyond Evil BTSs 1/7

Yeo Jin Goo - Han Joo Won

Choi Dae Hoon - Park Jung Je

Shim Na Yeon - Director

Shin Ha Kyun - Lee Dong Sik

Choi Sung Eun - Yoo Jae Yi

Kim Shin Rok - Oh Ji Hwa

Yeo Jin Goo: I've never been to a police substation before.

Yeo Jin Goo: Because I've been a good citizen 🙂

Yeo Jin Goo (to Choi Dae Hoon): Don't you think spending too much time here--

Yeo Jin Goo: --has led you make those weird drawings?

Yeo Jin Goo: Go out and take a walk time to time.

Shim Na Yeon: What a ruined man you are.

Choi Dae Hoon: This place feels like a sewer.

Choi Dae Hoon: One day I'm going to escape to the outer world...

Choi Dae Hoon: During the filming yesterday, Councilwoman Do--

Choi Dae Hoon: --was supposed to say "a city of zero crime, Munju," but--

Shim Na Yeon: --she accidentally said "a city of zero corpse, Munju" 😂

Caption: Joo Won went in too late and encountered Dong Sik face to face.

Staff: That could've ended our show with only three episodes 🤣

Caption: Thank you for watching, apparently this is the last Beyond Evil BTS 😭

Caption: Big heart for you, Assistant Inspector Lee ❤️

Shin Ha Kyun: Shhh!

Shin Ha Kyun: Are we really friends?

Choi Dae Hoon: Dong Sik only says to Jung Je things like "Leave the room" or--

Choi Dae Hoon: --"Shhh!"

Shin Ha Kyun: This is something I do to my dog all the time.

Shin Ha Kyun: Shhh! Stay!

Choi Dae Hoon: Woof! 🐶

Choi Sung Eun: Have you ever been egged?

Yeo Jin Goo: Egged??

Yeo Jin Goo: In my life?

Yeo Jin Goo: No, never...

Kim Shin Rok: Let me try.

Caption: (Something's off...)

Shin Ha Kyun: You've never cuffed someone, have you?

Caption: Dong Sik teaches her how to cuff step by step.

[kdramaqween]

To finish off the year, here's my TOP 23 Ships from dramas I watched in 2023

1. Kim Doo Shik ♥ Lee Mi Hyun

Moving

2. Cha Jin Woo ♥ Jung Mo Eun

Tell Me That You Love Me

3. Seo Do Guk ♥ Han Yi Joo

Perfect Marriage Revenge

4. Xin Qi ♥ Min Hui

The Love You Give Me (C-Drama)

5. Choi Kang Ho ♥ Lee Mi Joo

The Good Bad Mother

6. Dongfang Qincang ♥ Xiao Lanhua

Love Between Fairy and Devil (C-Drama)

7. Jung Ki Ho ♥ Seo Mok Ha

Castaway Diva

8. Moon Jang Yeol ♥ Bong Ye Bun

Behind Your Touch

9. Gu Won ♥ Cheon Sa Rang

King the Land

10. Cho Yong Pil ♥ Cho Sam Dal

Welcome to Samdalri

11. Yoo So Joon ♥ Song Ma Rin

Tomorrow With You

12. Kang Hee Shik ♥ Kang Nam Soon

Strong Girl Namsoon

13. Dong Go Yun ♥ Jung Da Eun

Daily Dose of Sunshine

14. Gong Tae Gyeong ♥ Oh Yeon Doo

The Real Has Come

15. Jang Seon Gyeol ♥ Gil Oh Sol

Clean With Passion for Now

16. Cha Min ♥ Cho Se Yeon

Abyss

17. Heo Joon Jae ♥ Shim Cheong

Legend of the Blue Sea

18. Kim Tae Hee ♥ Baek Dong Joo

May I Help You

19. Jung Gu Won ♥ Do Do Hee

My Demon

20. Nam Si Heon ♥ Han Jun Hee

A Time Called You

21. Jang Tae Sang ♥ Yoon Chae Ok

Gyeongseong Creature

22. Lee Kang ♥ Moon Cha Young

Chocolate

23. Cha Eun Ho ♥ Kang Dan Hee

Romance is a Bonus Book

[k-star-holic]

Shim Eun-ha Cha In-pyo Choi Ji-woo When he made his debut,

[stuff-diary]

Love Next Door

TV Shows/Dramas watched in 2024

Love Next Door (2024, South Korea)

Director: Yoo Je Won

Writer: Shin Ha Eun

Mini-review:

As a fan of both Jung Hae In and Jung So Min, I knew I couldn't miss this for anything in the world. And fortunately, it was a fun and endearing ride from beginning to end. There were so many times where I felt like this drama had perfected the 'childhood friends to lovers' trope, which I've always been very fond of. That's not to say it's perfect, though; while the last two episodes are very good, overall I enjoyed the first half a lot more than the second one. I love my romcoms with a considerable splash of angst, but a lot of the dramatic storylines on here felt a tad too silly, at least in the way they were handled. Still, the cast pulls through any and all flaws with their spot-on acting and chemistry. Jung Hae In turns in a particularly incredibly performance, showcasing his diverse and nuanced range like never before (which is saying a lot, since I already considered him a supremely skilled actor). To sum up, Love Next Door has its issues, but it's more than lovely enough to get past them.

[anemoiawithatouchofobsession]

'99 Actress Troika

- Jeon Do Yeon, Go So Young, Shim Eun Ha

[stuffnonsenseandotherthings]

Love in the Big City Part 3 - Notes from a Reader (2)

Note 2: Enter Kylie

In part 3 of Love in the Big City Young finally introduces us to a character who, up until this point, we weren't aware had been present since the very first sentence: Kylie.

Kylie has been with Young since his military service, Kylie was with Young throughout his university years with Jae Hee, throughout his mothers 2 bouts of illness, throughout his relationship with Hyung, for five full years of his life.

And yet it is only now, in Part 3, that Young speaks her name.

And my question is why now?

Note 2.25: Perceptions of HIV in Korean Society

I touched briefly on the stigma and misinformation surrounding HIV in Korean society in this post here but I cannot stress enough how deep rooted those beliefs are:

"According to the 2015 national survey conducted by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) regarding HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs, the words most frequently associated with AIDS include “incurable disease” and “death” (25.3%), followed by “fear,” “horror,” and “danger” (11.5%)."

("Factors Influencing Young Korean Men’s Knowledge and Stigmatizing Attitudes about HIV Infection", Shim and Kim)

People living with HIV in Korean society face being tested for HIV without their consent (most Korean companies require their employees undergo annual health screenings), their medical information being shared without their knowledge (the illegality of the data breach is not always a barrier), medical professionals refusing to perform procedures, losing their jobs or being denied job opportunities, and being cut off from their family and friends should they choose to disclose their diagnosis due to poor understanding of what HIV is and how it is transmitted.

In addition to the social stigma, it's also important to understand that many people living with HIV in Korea struggle with poor self-perception and internalised stigma. A study conducted in 2017 found that:

"75% of all respondents felt self-blame due to their HIV status at least once in the past 12 months. 64.4% stated having feelings of guilt, and 59.6% reported having low self-esteem. 26.9 % also agreed with the statement “I had the feeling I should be punished”. [...] Only 13.5% stated that they experienced no negative feelings in connection with their HIV status in the past 12 months."

("Unknown Lives: Initial Findings from the People Living with HIV Stigma Index in South Korea 2016-2017")

Surrounded by so much stigma and misinformation as they are, it is unsurprising that disclosure rates amongst Koreans are lower than in many other countries ("Predictors Associated With HIV Status Non-Disclosure in Korea", Kim and Woo) and that many chose not to share their diagnosis with any one but especially those closest to them (and especially ).

Note 2.5: Young and Kylie

Young's experience with Kylie closely maps on to the experiences of Korean PLHIV (People Living with HIV) discussed above.

Firstly, he is diagnosed with Kylie after being tested for it without his consent (p. 135) and lives with the fear of a repeat scenario, especially in relation to how such an infringement on his person would affect his ability to get a job (pp. 163-164 and again p. 176). In addition to this, he is exposed first hand (and quite possibly partook in prior to his own diagnosis) the social stigma that accompanies a known HIV diagnosis:

"When I drank with them, some guy rumoured to be poz passed by, our resident clown Eun-Jung would say, 'Everyone cover your glasses,' and we'd all burst out laughing." (p. 157)

(On a side note, in a study I can frustratingly no longer find it was observed that HIV stigma was not much lower amongst the queer community in Korea than it was in any other cross section of society and this passage feels like a nod to how the lack of easily accessible information and long held misinformation has effectively barred queer Koreans with HIV from finding support amongst their own community.)

Finally, as blasé and as care-free as Young tries to sound about his diagnosis, there are definitely signs that he, like so many others, suffers with feelings of guilt, self-blame, and the belief that "[he] should be punished". Kylie is the reason he expects Gyu-Ho to walk away from him as soon as he discloses his diagnosis, Kylie is the reason he tells Gyu-Ho to sleep around in Japan and subsequently accepts things when he believes Gyu-Ho is continuing to do so once back in Korea, "Kylie is [his] burden to bare and [his] alone" (p. 166) even when Gyu-Ho is the one who willingly "potion[s] out [his] pills and water every morning" (p. 178) and obviously has no qualms about helping Young manage his illness.

Kylie is the reason Young lets Gyu-Ho go:

"Kylie.

I had wanted too much. I'd already been given so much in the past three years. When you try to have too much, you're bound to stumble at some point." (p. 176).

Note 2.75: Why Now?

Young's experience with Kylie is the mirror of many Korean PLHIV and this includes his reluctance to disclose his diagnosis to anyone. He doesn't tell his mother, he doesn't tell Hyung, he doesn't tell the T-aras, and he doesn't tell Jae Hee.

It's only natural that he wouldn't tell us, the reader, either.

It's none of our business.

This is his most closely guarded secret, his most vulnerable point, the spectre that looms over his life and threatens to take everything away if he puts a foot wrong or lets slip to the wrong person.

The only person in the story he shares Kylie's existence with (beyond his doctors) is Gyu-Ho and it is because Gyu-Ho knew and stayed and embraced him that we know.

So why now?

Because up until Gyu-Ho, Young probably didn't feel able to talk about Kylie to anyone, in anyway. Gyu-Ho's acceptance of his diagnosis and his refusal to let it scare him away changed that; it created a space in which Kylie could be talked about, not without fear (certainly not) but with the knowledge that he wouldn't be abandoned or judged or rejected, that he would be sympathised with and loved and supported.

"Because whatever it was or wasn't, you were you."