Booktube : What is It? And My Personal Recommendations

Booktube : What is It? And My Personal Recommendations

I love books. I have always loved books and I probably always will. I remember my childhood very fondly because my mom introduced me to great children book authors like Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, and the creepiness of Goosebumps (I discovered Harry Potterfor myself at age 10 because of an article in a children’s magazine I read about the book, and then I begged my mom to buy it for me). I am…

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None of it Matters

You could feel anything you want to feel about someone. You could feel that they are your soulmate. You could feel that there's no one else you'd rather be with than that person. You could be so in love . But ultimately none of that matters. What matters is whether they feel the same way you feel. If they no longer felt the same way, then none of that matters. Because being in love is both miserable and happy. It takes two to be happy. When you love alone, all you get is miserable. When you love alone, then none of that matters anymore.

One day, these sinking feelings in my stomach will be gone. Everything will be just as it always was, a fuzzy happy memory, like a dream. A very good dream. But everyone must wake up from their dreams sooner or later. 

Writing Fictions

What's good about writing fictions is that you can change every story. You can give them different endings. There's these characters that I've been writing since like forever. I know how it ends. But right now, I'm giving both of them a different story. I'm giving both of them a happy ending. And hopefully this time I can actually finish the manuscript.

I love that they're just literally sleeping together while holding hands. Swoon. I love this drama.

"We are really only going to hold hands and sleep. You can’t think of other things. I trust you."

Aaaaaak! Perfect kiss. I love kdrama kisses where the guy just held the girl's face and just kiss her without thinking. Can't wait to watch the episode. Just seeing this already makes my heart flutter like crazy.

Review : The Master's Sun (2013) + a Look at Hong Sister's Past Works

I have fallen completely in love with this new drama. I am an avid movie watchers, and I consider writers and directors as the most important thing in a movie or series. Kdramas are the same. I don't know that much about individual directors and writers in a kdrama, but I almost always check their past work to see whether a drama is worth watching or not.

One writer that I love consistently is the Hong Sisters. They're a pair of sisters who wrote Sassy Girl Chun Hyang, My Girl, Fantasy Couple, Hong Gil Dong, You're Beautiful, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, The Greatest Love, Big, and now this, The Master's Sun. I have watched all but three of them. I will watch Fantasy Couple as soon as I have time, Hong Gil Dong doesn't have a happy ending and that scares me a bit, and Big have such lousy reviews that I'm scared that watching it would cause my love for Hong Sisters to lessen.

Sassy Girl Chun Hyang (2005) is actually the first drama that I love completely. It's a retelling of the historical story of Chun-Hyang and Mong-Ryong (sort of like Korea's Romeo and Juliet). Hong sisters dramas are always funny, full of pop culture references and satires, and also have two leads with amazing sizzling chemistry. It's very apparent here. Next I watched My Girl (2005) without knowing that it's written by the same people and fell in love again. My Girl is about a girl hired by a guy to play the part of a missing grandchild of his grandfather who's searching for his long-lost granddaughter. It's equally lovely, and have equally awesome chemistry.

For the next couple of years I didn't get the chance to watch both Fantasy Couple (2006) and Hong Gil Dong (2008) because at the time I have already gotten bored at kdramas. Fantasy Couple is actually a remake of the Hollywood movie Overboard, with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. I enjoyed the movie, and I like the male lead on the drama, Oh Ji Ho (SO HANDSOME), so I'll be watching this as soon as I have time. Hong Gil Dong is apparently a historical Korean figure, sort of like Korea's Robin Hood. I'll probably watch it when I have nothing better to do. The next time I watched a Hong Sisters drama, it's My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (2010). The drama manages to be in my Top 5 most favorite kdrama of all time. The story's basically what it says on the title, a gumiho (some kind of man-eating fox), played by the gorgeous Shin Min-Ah, fell in love with a noisy guy, played by Lee Seung-Gi. This drama is all kinds of awesome. It's very funny, very adorable (I can barely contain my grin the whole time something cute happens), and I love the chemistry. I fell in love with both leads immediately. 

I finally noticed that all my favorite dramas are written by the same writers by the time I watched You're Beautiful (2009). I actually avoided that drama initially because of how little I care about k-pop, and this drama is basically about a girl pretending to be a boy to cover for her twin brother who's in a kpop boyband. I started watching it when I became interested in k-pop in 2010 unexpectedly. I enjoy the drama very much as it's very funny and full of pop culture references as the norm with Hong Sisters. Since then on, I look forward to other Hong Sisters drama eagerly.

The next drama by Hong Sisters that I watched is The Greatest Love (2011), about a former girl idol and a famous A-list movie star that got into a scandal together. Maybe it's because of my prior over-expectation of Hong Sisters, I didn't fall head over heels in love with this drama. I like it and enjoy it immensely, and I enjoy the usual sizzling chemistry and satires, but it's not something that I would want to watch again. After that comes Big (2012), a Freaky Friday premise of a grown man switching bodies with a teenage boy because of an accident. I didn't have that much time to watch dramas back then, so I put it off again and again despite the great premise and I only manage to watch the first episode. By the time the drama's over, lots and lots of angry reviews comes pouring in, disappointed about the ending and the character developments. So although it's a shame with that many great stars in the drama (Gong Yoo, Lee Min Jung, Suzy from Miss A), I decided to skip it until I feel like watching it.

Finally now comes the time to talk about The Master's Sun (2013). It's a drama about a girl, Tae Gong Sil (played by Gong Hyo-Jin, the second time she collaborates with Hong Sisters after The Greatest Love) who can see ghosts and how she meets a guy, Joo Jong Won, a CEO for a mall called Kingdom (played by Seo Ji Sub, the typical cold rich guy, but nonetheless made me fall completely in love with him) that can make ghosts disappear as soon as she touches him. I love this drama. Their chemistry is the best, and my heart actually skipped a beat every time something sweet is happening on screen. The second lead actor is the very gorgeous Seo In Guk (from one of my other top five most favorite kdrama, Reply 1997) playing as a security guard at Kingdom Mall. It's basically a ghost-of-the-week type of episodes, and some ghosts are better than the other, but that's not why I watch this. I watch it because of the romance. Their banters are very cute, and I love how they're so honest with each other, not like other kdramas. The satires are very good too. Hong Sisters try to make fun of themselves by bringing clichés, like the make-over scene, or the romantic-event-by-the-hero scene, and the evil-rich-mother-trying-to-separate-them scene, and turn them all around. It's very refreshing. I am looking forward for the remaining six episodes eagerly.

All in all, The Master's Sun is the drama that solidifies my love for Hong Sisters dramas, and also for kdramas in general. For a kdrama, you have to wait for ten episodes to see a kiss, and every meaningless little gestures are important. As with all things, especially romance, the waiting, wondering, and the phase of getting to know each other is the best. It's different with US TV shows, because for most of them kisses are not as important. Therefore, US TV series never made my heart flutter like kdramas. When just the sight of the hero holding the heroine's fingers lightly can make your heart flutter, you know that they've done something right. 

I hate people touching my body. So even if you’re about to trip and fall, try to avoid touching me.

Funny

It's funny how I'm the most selfish girl there is. I have sympathy and empathy, but most of the time I think mostly of myself. It's funny how I even pray to God mostly for me and my parents' benefits. But the funniest thing is these days most of the time I forgot to pray for myself and I prayed for you instead. For you to get the scholarship. Huh. It's funny that for the first time in my life, I found someone more important for me than myself.

All the Firsts

There is something about all the firsts in relationships. In the beginning, it was always exciting. First meetings. It can be new, like the first time you saw them walking through the corridors, noticing how attracted you are to them, wondering will he ever feel the same way. Or it can be a re-discovery, like when you've been around them for years and never noticed them, when suddenly one morning you saw them and wondering how the hell didn't you notice how good they're looking.

And then comes the pre-date. All the late night texts and chats. Talking about nothing and everything at the same time. Those late night chats are exciting. They made your heart flutter. Discovering that they like the same thing you like. Heart beating caused by all the light flirting. Innocent flirting is exciting. It makes you wonder. Did they like you or not?

After that comes the first date, and all the subsequent dates after it. The first date is nerve-wrecking. Finding out all these crazy details about their lives. Talk and talk and talk until you realize you're the only one left in the restaurant. With every new date, you find out more about them. You gave them signs to let them know that you like them, meanwhile trying to notice whether they're also giving you signs.

First date in relationships are different every time. Most of the time you'll just nodding along to be polite. Sometimes you'll even be dreading to yourself on why you agree to do it. But once in a blue moon, you'll find someone interesting. You want to know more about them. You feel happy when you're talking to them. They're interesting and they made you comfortable and happy. That's a good firsts. But even rarer than that, maybe even just once in your lifetime, you'll enter a magical time and space warp. Nothing exists except you and them. Everything you talked about clicked, and when you looked into his eyes on that first date, you realized that you have fallen completely for this person.

Firsts in relationships are exciting. That's the heart-beating phase. First time they said they like you. First time you held hands. First time you hugged. First time they said they love you. Everything is exciting. Everything is new.

I am not that young anymore. Some of my friends have stopped looking for all the firsts, and instead are building their future and looking forward to their lasts. I am also looking forward to all my lasts. Before that though, I can still enjoy all the firsts. Every relationships are different. Sometimes they're intense, sometimes they're fun, sometimes they're a bore. But every first is always fun. It's the phase when everything's a mystery and every discovery is like finding a buried treasure. Your worries are fun and you don't have any big problems. I know I don't have all my lasts planned out just yet, but I'm still eagerly waiting for my new firsts. Because before you can find the person whom you will share your lasts with, you'll have to go through a couple of firsts before it. And I personally can't wait.

On Missing Roger Ebert

There are few writers who can write to convince us. One of the sign of a great writer is that we are convinced that what they wrote is true. J.K. Rowling made me believe that Hogwarts exist. And at the same time, Roger Ebert did it in every single review he ever wrote. From silent movies from the 20's, to Oscar winners, to movies that I have no interest at all to watch (Western, War, old movies with outdated special effects). Every word in his writings compel us to believe what he believes, to trust what he trusts. It's rare to find a highly quotable and beautifully written movie review, but he manage it every single time. And his reviews are very accessible and personal because he incorporate his real life experience to the review. He's unique. No wonder he's the only movie critic to ever won a Pulitzer Prize.

I miss your writings Roger Ebert. See you at the movies.

Movies, Books, Childhood, and the Future

One of the things that I look forward to the most of my eventual married life and having kids is showing them the wonders of movies, of Disney, E.T., Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Harry Potter.

I remember my childhood very fondly because my mom introduced me to great children book authors like Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, and the creepiness of Goosebumps (I discovered Harry Potter for myself at age 10 because of an article in a children's magazine I read about the book, and then I begged my mom to buy it for me). I am entranced by Laura Ingalls Wilder books about life in 19th Century America. I have been reading from the age of 4. Every week since the age of 2 my mom bought me a fairy tale book and every night without fail, she reads it for me. She took me to princesses, of emperor without clothes, to three little pigs, to castles in the sky. Every night she reads it for me, that eventually I begged her to teach me to read because one book a day is not enough.

Since I was a baby, she introduced me to the world of Disney. I fell in love with every single movie. My favorite movie when I was a child though, is My Name is Totoro from Studio Ghibli. I watched it from a rented Laserdisk when I was in kindergarten. I loved it. I watched it over and over again. My dad introduced me to Indiana Jones, to Back to the Future, to all the exciting adventures a movie can take you. My dad introduced me to A Galaxy Far Far Away, and of a little alien lost on Earth. My mother and I sang along to The Sound of Music, and Mary Poppins. I watched one movie every day until I'm in junior high, in which point I have a lot more things to do that I forgot that magic of movies.

My dad is a science geek. When I was a kid, he always wanted to buy me a telescope and a microscope because he had it as a kid and enjoyed it so much. He talked to me about space, about the possibilities of alien life. He quoted Stephen Hawking's books to me. He gave me video games, but not ordinary video games. He gave me adventure games, from Lucasarts, with lots and lots of dialogues in it. I didn't understand it initially, but I eventually do. He made me curious about other languages, and made me eager to learn English, to get what the people in the games are saying. People always say video games can harm you, but I disagree. Video games made me smarter. I may not always get what he's saying, and I may not be as smart as he is, but he is one of the reasons I have big ambitions for my future. He gave me an example of never stopping to achieve your ambitions.

My mother is also the best teacher and tutor I have. She quizzes me on everything I learned for the day. She compiled and typed questions for every single classes I have at the school. She compiled over 1000 questions for me, and we went back and forth with questions and answers. She never gets bored. She is the reason that I did so well in school. She is a housewife, and my grandma, who is a businesswoman, often mocks her for doing chores that is useless. My grandma says cooking can be done by servants and tutoring her children can be done by paid teacher. But I would have not done very well if that's the case, The combination of her guidance for me, her patience, and her love made me do well in school. Not as well as I would have liked, and atrociously bad on some parts, but she teaches me the joy of studying and learning.

My mother is also the reason I am such a romantic and crave love in my life. She loves watching romantic movies. She introduced me to You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, While You Were Sleeping, and other classic romantic movies. Between Disney and all the romantic movies that she showed me, no wonder I crave romance.

My mother often talked to me of her regrets of missing the chance to be a working mom. She wants to have something to do everyday. But maybe that's the point. She sacrificed her life for me, so that I can be better than her, to have a better life. And I could never repay that.

One of the things I look forward to the most when I eventually marry and then have kids is to teach them all this. To introduce them to the joys of movies, and the joys of reading. Introducing them to castles in the sky, of princesses, of magic school. Of true love and science. Teaching them the joy of studying. Of seeing their face while watching Indiana Jones for the first time. I want that.

I am what I am now because of my mom and dad, and what they teaches me to do. That, in turn, is God giving me these specific places, to be here in this town, to have these sets of mom and dad.  Who I am now is not a coincidence. I am still the same person from 23 years ago. I am still the same baby being born 23 years ago.

I believe that who we are and what our personalities are can't be changed from birth. We become better, but our personalities remain the same since birth. Our personalities, likes, and dislikes are the combinations of our mom and dad's personalities, likes, and dislikes. Their personalities is in turn a combinations of their mom and dad's, and of their ancestors before it. Fate for me, is that. There are no coincidences. People sometimes confuse fate as having no choice. Fate is God giving you these things, like a brain, and a mom, a dad, a place in the world. Fate is God giving you these sets of personalities. What we do with it is up to us. Fate is God giving you a beginning and an end. What we do in the middle is up to us. The journey is up to us.

I’ll only be a story in your head, but that’s okay, because we’re all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh? Because it was, you know. It was the best.

Doctor Who, the Doctor to little Amy Pond

On rewatching my favorite TV series ever, Gilmore Girls

My choice of favorite TV series is probably not a really popular one. But it's fascinating that on my rewatching of the series, it's still very very good. The show is essentially about the lives of a mother and daughter in a small town. Lorelai is the mother, and she got pregnant with Rory, the daughter, at sixteen. She refused to marry the father of her baby, and instead ran away from her rich parents to stand on her own two feet. Rory is the daughter, and she's very very smart. She likes to study and learn. The TV series revolves around their lives in the small town and also Rory's school and Lorelai's workplace as a manager in a hotel and also the lives of all their friends and families.

As TV series goes, it's pretty simple. But the beauty and the awesomeness of it is how smart the TV series is. Every fast-paced dialogues is delivered with wit, charm, and intellect. It's very enjoyable to watch their banter. It's rare to find a TV series that somehow makes me smarter, but this is one of it. My obsession with going into a good college, and my almost impossible dream of getting into an ivy league school originated from this TV series. Rory is a brilliant girl, with big dreams and admirable ambitions. She makes mistakes, but she's also very endearing. She got accepted into Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, because she is just that awesome. Compare that to The Vampire Diaries or Gossip Girl or How I Met Your Mother, and I just felt like Rory is the most bad-ass heroine around. I always felt an affection to brilliant and smart protagonist with big dreams, who worked for what she wants. And I also have an affection and obsession for awesome schools and people with the ambition to get into the greatest school possible.

All in all, this is a charming and smart drama, but probably not for everyone. People who likes fast-paced action instead of fast-paced dialogue won't like it, and maybe people who like their comedy to be more in-your-face like Friends or How I Met Your Mother (but in retrospect, I love Friends and like HIMYM so I guess there's a big chance their fans will probably like Gilmore Girls too). Every subsequent viewing is great, and for me, Gilmore Girls is a classic.

NB : How great is the tagline of the poster above? Life's short. Talk fast. The people in this show talks reaaaally fast indeed, and it's part of what I love about it. Sadly, Bunheads, the TV series from the creator of Gilmore Girls, with the same heart and wit and fast-paced talk, is cancelled too soon.

Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they'll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back.

John Green, Abundance of Katherines.