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mangodelorean · 2 years

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Bad and Crazy - Ep 01 recap/musings

Some stray thoughts through the lucid lurgy of my covid booster jab (please get it if you're able to) that turned into a recap of sorts:

The opening credits are suitably mental.

...As was that trippy opening sequence with the Fight Club-esque boxing nightmare (I'd thought it was real from the previews) that sets up the Anti-Corruption Unit's Senior Inspector Ryu Su Yeol's social positioning nicely: He thinks he's got (literal) clout, and it seems like people are in his corner, but they just want to use him for their own ends.

Writer: How do we show how reckless this idiot is? Let's have him wake up in a bathtub FULL of water, then traipse around his flat in soaking wet clothes and then fall over like a dickhead:

Su Yeol finds his car damaged, so he Karens off to the security office to demand to see the CCTV footage... which shows it's actually him that did it. I'm glad we're already touching on this.

[Why would you go to work right after not remembering that you trashed your own car? Did he just think he was that wasted?]

He whines to himself about still having to make car payments when he runs into his ex Hee Kyum, who immediately calls him out about screwing over her captain just so he could get promoted. When he tries to make her feel small by bringing up their break-up (ew) and that he's her senior (double ew), she tells him he's the problem. He tries to snark his way out of it but she's not having any of it and flips him effortlessly to the ground. I love how she flips the back of her jacket like it's a superhero cape as she leaves. Like a cat pretending it didn't fall over, he jokes that she was "practicing her kicks" outside. Yeah, no-one's buying that.

At work and he's late (obviously). His partner Jae Seon asks if he drank last night. "Hey, that's not important." Ha.

The man they've brought in for questioning is already there, and Su Yeol makes up a flimsy excuse for his lateness about the cafe being busy. [He really is the person who shows up late with a Starbucks.] But at least he brought coffee for everyone. Iced americanos, though. Cheapskate. The man they're questioning is Kim Gye Sik. Su Yeol extends a hand but it's met with an icy stare from Kim Gye Sik, who points out that this "isn't exactly an honourable situation, is it?".

Su Yeol tries to look like he's defusing any tension but with the emotional expertise of an external HR consultant coming in to fire everyone. He offers condolences for what happened to Gye Sik's slain colleague Tak Min Su, but he's watching the other man's behaviour. Gye Sik recalls the situation: he saw Min Su fall from a height, saw the suspect fleeing and shot him, but the suspect, too, fell to his death. Cut to the present and Gye Sik is distraught, but Su Yeol has this look on his face that he can't wait for the other guy to stop crying. Out of context, he looks like the world's biggest arsehole.

Su Yeol mentions that the suspect, Sim Sang Ho, was close to Min Su, even helping him get clean from drugs. Gye Sik dismisses this by mentioning the suspect's drug history (implying potential for violence), and that he only shot him in the leg. But Su Yeol pokes holes in his story - the suspect had no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time, and was on the edge of a rooftop with no railings, and that any DNA evidence of the killing was washed away by the rain - effectively accusing Gye Sik of murdering his own partner and covering it up. Whoa - that's a really heavy accusation. Two older cops - the Chief and the Commissioner - on the other side of the room's two-way mirror mention in the same breath that Gye Sik is the best cop in narcotics, but that his ego was getting too big and that he pissed off the Commissioner's nephew. So this is all politics.

In what's probably not even midday yet, Su Yeol drinks expensive whiskey in Chief Kwak Bong Pil's office, the latter stringing the former along with talk of promotion. He calls Su Yeol a "fox" (heh) for pretending not to know he was drinking with the Commissioner's nephew last night.

Drink every time Su Yeol complains about his back. But, at the sauna, he complains to himself about Hee Kyum's silver-spoon upbringing and why she can't just live comfortably and quietly. On the verge of a steam-room haze, he notices a dude in full motorcycle leathers and a bike helmet, and his first instinct is to think it's a delivery man. Ha. He is here to deliver, but not food - he silently walks up to Su Yeol (without slipping), and immediately beats the shit out of him - throwing him on the floor, hurling him against a sink so hard it breaks, rubbing salt in his eyes, garrotting him with a shower hose and spraying him with scalding hot water and, finally, sucker-punching him into the pool. He sinks into the water, and we're right back where we started.

It's the perfect place to put that title card. Chef's kiss!

Time to meet our wholesome cinnamon bun character: Officer O Gyeong Tae, whose presence is so threatening that a gaggle of tiny children smash into him and almost knock him over, but he responds with a genuine smile. He spots a young girl putting up a poster and is about to gently tell her it's not allowed when he notices it's a missing poster - and that the missing person is the girl's mother. Oh :(

Gyeong Tae takes her to the station and meets Do In Bom, the detective assigned to the mother's case, who dismisses the woman as a runaway drug addict because of her past. He asks Gyeong Tae why he cares. That's like asking a rainbow why it's so colourful.

As a palate cleanser, we're back to this dickhead Su Yeol Karenning it up at the sauna's front desk (he legit asks to speak to a manager), complaining about the man in the helmet and why they can't find him on their CCVTV, and keeps repeating that the attacker even wore his shoes in there. The poor minimum-waged employee apologises repeatedly and tries to placate him with a refund, but Su Yeol is insulted by the offer and argues that it's not about the money, it's about the principle of running a business properly. He's interrupted by a phone call from Bong Pil and, sensing he's about to get promoted, his mood/ego lifts. He brags about how busy he is, berates the employee for treating a long-term customer this way and repeats his disgust at the offer of a refund as he storms off... only to return seconds later to change his mind. When he can't produce the original credit card he paid with, he ragequits, stage left. Ha!

Back to Cinnamon Bun Gyeong Tae, who's walking the little girl home while carrying her little purple backpack for her. She tells him that her mother would always message her every day, even when she was abroad, but that she's never been to her mother's place because she's "busy". If that implies what I think it does, I wish things were safer for that line of work. He promises to find her mother and she offers a clover leaf she found and an adorable smile in response. Please protect these two at all costs.

Back again to our favourite dickhead, whose day is marred by the arrival of an even bigger dickhead, Senior Inspector Ju, in a garish yellow Porsche ("I bought it to celebrate my son's first birthday."). Su Yeol teabags Ju with his impending promotion, only for Jae Seon to maniacally run over to him and basically break it to him that... he's not getting promoted. It's Ju, and it's the only reason he's here.

In Bong Pil's office, Su Yeol is seething. In what seems to be an office tradition of saying abject bullshit and expecting the other person to believe it, Bong Pil explains that Ju's father is childhood friends with the Commissioner. An enraged Su Yeol points out that there's no way that's possible since the two grew up around 3 hours away from each other. Bong Pil just deadpans "Good point". Lmao. Su Yeol isn't happy, but Bong Pil negs Su Yeol with a rundown of his history: He got the highest score on his entrance exam, but he only graduated high school, never went to college, and wasn't born with wealth or any of its connections. He tells Su Yeol he needs a "reality check", and I don't think I've seen anyone want to chew off their own lip so angrily.

Gyeong Tae and his colleagues discuss the girl's missing mother, named Jeong Yu Na. They, too, write her off as a drug addict/runaway that doesn't need bothering with. Sigh. They joke that they usually just deal with missing cats (is that a Strangers From Hell reference?). A diligent Gyeong Tae isn't giving up, and forgoes a rather sad-looking bowl of jiajangmyeon to rush off when he gets a lead: He's found the building where Yu Na lived.

The night-time security guard tells him he doesn't remember Yu Na and that he doesn't have time to help (hmm). He then runs into a resident who tells him Yu Na's unit number, and he has a locksmith come to basically break in, while the security guard dobs him in over the phone. O, Officer O, can you please be careful?

Inside, the flat is quite homey. I like the set details: plenty of stiletto heels in the hall, a full bar cubbyhole stacked with top-shelf booze, a cozy couch and cute photos of Yu Na and her daughter, but a sad little kitchen area with run-down, stained appliances. Gyeong Tae smells bleach in the bathroom and, on instinct, lifts up the drain to find a clump of hair mixed with blood. Bingo.

In pops Detective Do who doesn't say anything - but instead brutally, and I mean brutally - attacks Gyeong Tae. It's horrifying to watch.

The next morning, Bong Pil calls Su Yeol into his office and, picking from a box of colourful macarons, offers him the yellow one (heh). Su Yeol declines, his ego still bruised from before, but perks up when Bong Pil tells him of an opportunity to curry favour with Assemblyman Do - yep, the cousin of that Detective Do. Su Yeol declines, citing Detective Do's famous reputation as a "ticking time bomb", but caves when he finds out that the Assemblyman specifically requested a meeting with him.

I understand networking among people who rank higher than you but, fuck me, I wasn't prepared for the level of second-hand cringe in this scene. At his brother's pizza shop, a simpering Su Yeol greets Assemblyman Do with a drink on a tray. Assemblyman Do sits but Su Yeol remains standing, snivelling, bowing, bursting out fake laughs, and the already existing, significant height difference between the two makes this darkly comical. It's like watching a giraffe squash champagne grapes for a hamster.

Su Yeol promises to smooth things over and sees him off with another bow. In walk his older brother Dong Yeol and mother, and Su Yeol chides the both of them for having her come in when she's still recovering from the back surgery he paid for. Mother Ryu replies that she said she'd pay him back, and Dong Yeol mentions that Su Yeol is so caring and technically the family breadwinner since he also opened up the shop for him. Su Yeol seems exasperated by all of this talk, as does Mother Ryu, who starts swatting the older brother with a rag. Su Yeol hands Mother Ryu a menu and tells her to "hit him harder". Ha! I don't think there's a lack of love in this family.

Su Yeol and Jae Seon arrive at Gyeong Tae's substation, and the former yells at the latter for making the station head wait outside for them. Su Yeol tries his "it's just a chat" line but his face drops when he sees Gyeong Tae's - it's so bruised, bloodied and swollen that on such an innocent-looking face as Gyeong Tae's, even a wankering bastard like Su Yeol feels a twinge of sympathy.

Thankfully, for Su Yeol's ruthless assholerypirations, this goes out the window when he "chats" to Gyeong Tae about what happened. When Su Yeol becomes yet another voice to ask "Why are you bothering?", Gyeong Tae can only answer with the truth: that he's a police officer, and that he just wanted to help because he's a police officer. Su Yeol dickheads back with "You think you're the only police officer?", pointing out that Detective Do is also a police officer, as is he, and snarks that maybe Gyeong Tae thinks he's better than everyone and that everyone else should quit. Unfortunately, Helmet Man does not show in this scene to kick him in the balls. But Su Yeol does listen when Gyeong Tae says he saw blood in Yu Na's flat. Off they go!

But nothing's there. Gyeong Tae swears on what he saw, but Su Yeol dismisses him as an American crime drama addict.

Su Yeol meets Detective Do at a cafe, where the former tells the latter to offer an apology. Do balks at this, and Su Yeol pulls rank, saying that the only one he has to be nice to is Assemblyman Do, not Detective Do. He thanks Do for the drink and then leaves. It doesn't seem like the detective's ego will let Su Yeol handle things quietly, though.

Back at the station, Su Yeol is flummoxed by Gyeong Tae's spotless work record. There's nothing he can use against him, so he tells a weight-lifting Jae Seon to get some dirt, no matter what. But Jae Seon isn't having it (yay!) and, weights still swinging, he has a go at Su Yeol and gives him shit for working this hard for such an ignoble cause. Su Yeol claps back and scolds Jae Seon for bringing in his weights and tries to lift just one of them, but his shoulder pops with a disgusting crack. You deserve it, you dickhead! Jae Seon mocks him for being out of shape. Ha.

Meanwhile, Gyeong Tae can't let this go, and stops by Yu Na's unit again, where he runs into a neighbour. She starts telling him info, but cuts herself short and runs into the bathroom. When he follows her, he finds her pretending to be fighting him off - even hurting her hand with broken glass - while the aforementioned shitty security guard arrives and turns him in. It's a set-up.

Now Gyeong Tae's being questioned by Jae Seon, who actually offers sympathy via food. But Gyeong Tae's facing a serious accusation of sexual assault by the neighbour. What a mess.

In the hospital, Su Yeol questions the neighbour, but his body language is just that of someone who does not give a shit. And we know why: The neighbour can't answer a single question without changing her story multiple times, prompting Su Yeol to phone Detective Do and tell him to stop muddying up the process with his shitty attempts to handle things.

Back home, Su Yeol tries to relax with a beer in his boring flat but realises this case isn't going to be as morally straightforward as he wants it to be: Detective Do's attitude is complicating things, and Gyeong Tae is far from the egotistic pariah that Gye Sik was being painted as.

But there's little time for more thought as in comes Helmet Man, who boops Su Yeol with said helmet until Bathrobe Dickhead falls unconscious.

He wakes up groaning in Yu Na's bathroom, which is UV-lit to show a myriad of blood stains. But, wait? UV light? How? Cut to Helmet Man, still in full leathers, swinging a UV light like he's at a school rave. Su Yeol tries to fight him by punching his bare fist onto the helmet like a fucking idiot, to which Helmet Man responds by kicking him back into the bathtub and knocking the shower curtain over him like a raccoon he's just cornered in his garage.

Su Yeol chases his attacker outside only to find him on his motorbike, running literal circles around him and terrorising him with the bike until he wakes up, back in his chair in his flat. Alone again, Bathrobe Wanker tries to convince himself that it's just a dream.

At the disciplinary hearing the next morning, Detective Do rattles off some bullshit about how bad he feels for hurting Gyeong Tae, who sits silently next to him. The disciplinary committee uses Gyeong Tae's breaking and entering, along with the sexual assault accusation, as negative points against him, but adds that the Anti-Corruption Unit "sorted it out". Like shit, they did. But of course a naive trusting Gyeong Tae runs into Jae Seon and Su Yeol outside, where he thanks the latter profusely. Out of earshot, Jae Seon rightfully berates Su Yeol for even including the sexual assault accusation in the report, to which Su Yeol arseholes back with "What was I supposed to do? Hide something that actually happened?" Fuck you.

Outside, Detective Do "thanks" Su Yeol and shows him footage of what appears to be Yu Na using her credit card at a convenience store, implying she's alive. Hmm. Su Yeol gets a positive-seeming call from Assemblyman Do.

Despite everything, Gyeong Tae has gone back to Yu Na's flat again - and alone, again (I'm going with brave and determined instead of stupid), where he discovers the unit has been emptied and renovated. He remembers the birthday present the little girl had mentioned and clocks it as the giant bear toy he saw previously, and he rushes out to the bins to scramble for it. He finds it, and I swear it looks like he's holding it like it's an actual child.

Su Yeol arrives at Assemblyman Do's estate - it's a party for his daughter, but there seem to be mostly adults there. Poor kid. Su Yeol grabs a flute of champagne and does the aimless "fuck I don't know any of these people" shuffling about that you're lying if you've never said you've done it.

The first person to greet him is, to his chagrin, Detective Do, who offers to get drunk with him to defuse the awkwardness but then deliberately makes a beeline to some other random person. Ha. Su Yeol spots the Commissioner who he thinks is greeting him, so he bows, only for the Commissioner to walk right by his bowing arse to say hello to Assemblyman Do. Ouch.

Giving up (I would, too), Su Yeol necks the entire glass of champagne, only to be spotted and called over by Assemblyman Do. In a moment of panic, Su Yeol spits out everything and rushes over to be introduced. The Commissioner: "Oh, it's you. I know you, of course." HA!

Assemblyman Do excuses himself to put his daughter to sleep (not like that) and leaves the two men to chat. The awkwardness is painful. After some silence, Su Yeol tries to break the ice by mentioning what a pleasant night it is, only for the heavens to choose that moment to crack with such loud thunder that the Commissioner visibly jumps. Pfft.

Assemblyman Do overhears his wife talking about one of the gifts, a giant teddy bear with a nannycam... and remembers, ten days ago, at Yu Na's flat, while half-dressed, yelling at Yu Na's body (corpse?) for "bleeding so much", that there was a similar bear there.

Luckily that bear, as we cut to it, is in the arms of Gyeong Tae, who tries to reunite it with the little girl at the place he last dropped her off. But the woman who lives there said the girl and her grandmother left without a forwarding address. On his way home, he's knocked over by a passing biker, and it's then that he notices the hidden camera in the bear. Bingo!

He sprints home and plugs in the camera's memory card. But he's interrupted by Detective Do, who brutalises him even more horrifically than before. Sob.

Meanwhile, a drunken Su Yeol is being driven home (by a designated driver, in his own car) while he swoons over the business cards he's collected.

Gyeong Tae tries to swallow the memory card, but Detective Do literally reaches into his throat and yanks it back out (jesus christ), before sloshing petrol over the entire place. He stops to stare at Gyeong Tae's bloodied, gasping face. Conscience?

Back to Car Dickhead, who's feeling a bit sick, so he asks the driver "not to drive so rough"... only to find that he's alone in the car and someone is actually just shaking it - guess who?

Su Yeol leans out of the car to vomit and Helmet Man taunts him, saying that it's fate they met again. Su Yeol tries to punch him but is no match for Helmet Man, who swiftly grounds him with several kicks and breaks his phone before he can call 112. Helmet Man drags him around like a ragdoll and brings him to Kyung Tae's rooftop flat, demanding he apologise. But when they open the door: KABLAMO!

Su Yeol tries to flee, but Helmet Man knocks the wind out of him with a stomach punch, and forces him into the flat. Su Yeol sees Gyeong Tae lying unconscious and tries to revive him, but he's out. A pillar collapses and blocks their exit, and Su Yeol yells at Helmet Man, asking how the hell they're going to get out. Helmet Man smashes a nearby window and gestures downward. Without much choice as the fire creeps closer to the stove, the trio make a calculated leap and land, back-down, on top of a car. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Gyeong Tae is still unconscious, but Su Yeol's arm under his neck broke his fall.

But Helmet Man not only pulled off a superhero landing, he did it while literally on fire. Facing an utterly astounded Su Yeol, he brushes the fire from his arms like it's just dust, removes his helmet, and smiles.

"It's nice to meet you, Ryu Su Yeol."

Su Yeol, a crumpled, bloody mess, grimaces, but Helmet Man grins broadly in reponse.

And that's episode 1!

Bloody grand stuff so far. To say it's living up to its title is an understatement, but there hasn't been a slow moment. We've seen snippets of side characters but enough to create intrigue, and I'm curious to see where this murder case goes.

As for Helmet Man/K: I don't think it's a secret that he's a split personality, but how is he manifesting? Is he a real entity brought into existence, or is he entirely in Su Yeol's head, like in Fight Club?

With the duality of Su Yeol and K, the concept so far feels like a bit like a reverse Venom (good making bad good), but with the both of them being unhinged in some way, I can't wait to see how crazy this will get. I always love a redemption story arc, but I hope they don't rush it - it's awfully satisfying at the moment seeing such a dickhead of a lead character getting his shit handed to him throughout the episode.

I'd thought we were getting 16 episodes, but perhaps the pacing would be more manic in just the 12. Can't wait for the rest!

Stray thoughts:

So many of the non-dialogue shots are so screenshot-worthy. What a grand DP!

Credit to Lee Dong Wook for making Su Yeol watchable despite the fact that the character, so far, is an utter bellend of a piece of shit (by design). And props to his physical comedy - that spit-take was gold.

"You're a fox" I see what you did there.

Su Yeol's flat is DEPRESSING. Most of those shelves are empty, there's nothing on the walls, and he has a single-seat chair with no other living room furniture.

The four-leaf clovers on Yu Na's bathroom mirror :(

Helmet Man/K seriously uses the front end of his bike like a sword in the chase scene, coming so close to practically dismembering Su Yeol.

I'm loving Jae Seon as what could be the show's voice of reason while Gyeong Tae is the moral compass.

The rain/water scenes introducing Helmet Man/K are absolutely a reference to Blade Man and I refuse to believe otherwise.

That bowing clown at the party a stone's throw away from giant Su Yeol and his hunched, ready-to-bow shoulders. Heh.

I have misophonia-triggered OCD, so it pains me to realise that K definitely punched Su Yeol so that he fell backwards onto his own vomit.

I have been in a house fire. This is accurate.

Maybe Su Yeol just drowned in the bathtub and this entire show is just a dream.

#bad and crazy #lee dong wook #wi ha jun #wi ha joon #kdrama #kdramas #bad and crazy recap

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timextoxhajima · 3 years

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Love Me A Little Less: Chapter 4 - The Guest

LOVE ME A LITTLE LESS CHAPTER MASTERLIST

Member: (3rd person pov) arranged marriage au with Lee Juyeon

Genre: angsty wangsty

Taglist: @sunwoowuvbot @hyunjaethereal

“Get the guest out of my fucking office.”

Jang Won grimly knocks on the door, looking down to ensure Younghoon was carrying more than a fruit basket - a briefcase, worth half a million in cash, in case she needed to bribe a certain someone. Her eyes befall the apple sitting in the fruit basket, and she peels apart the wrapper to remove the bruised item, mindlessly hurling it into the trash can right by the lift.

The door clicks open, the sound of the door chain reminding her that she needs to handle this one with care and caution.

“What are you doing here?”

“Hi Mrs Nam, I’m Kim Jang Won and this is--”

“I know who you are. I’m asking what you’re here for.”

“Straight to the point I see,” Jang Won cocks a brow. “Look, we don’t want to make things difficult for you, but we’d just like to find out if you happened to know anything about the body swap regarding your husband.”

Mrs Nam’s breathing gets stuck in her throat. She swallows, eyes flitting back and forth between Jang Won and Younghoon.

“I know nothing. After he died, I visit him every month. I didn’t even know his body was moved until the news.”

Jang Won feels like she’s being strangled, all her nerves shutting down one by one like a tidal surge through her. But Younghoon tugs on the end of her blazer, out of sight, and shifts to talk to Mrs Nam instead.

“Do you mind if we come in and have a chat about it? We’d just like to know more about Mr Nam so we can figure out who did it. Don’t you at least want to know who shifted your husband’s body?”

A hint of curiosity and anger flickers in her eyes despite the slight hesitation. Mrs Nam subtly nods, head looking down but gaze still stuck to Younghoon as she gently closes the door.

“You don’t have to be in there if you don’t want to,” He murmurs, loud enough for her to hear while watching her in the corner of his eyes.

Jang Won sniffles, finger rubbing the tip of her nose as she composes herself. The jingle of the chain being removed sounds through the door.

“I’ll be in there because I want to, not because I can.”

The door clicks open, and Mrs Nam keeps it wide for Jang Won and Younghoon to enter. The apartment is rather neat and simple - a couple of single sofa seats around a circular table and a standing television. Pictures on the shelves framing the television.

Drawn to the pictures first, Jang Won wanders to the photographs.

A son, older than Younghoon, stands in most of the pictures. A degree in culinary sciences. A picture shot in Paris. Multiple pictures in Europe. A family portrait of him and his wife, Caucasian.

Younghoon sits opposite Mrs Nam, who looks more tired and drained than anything else, like the anger from before has completely dissipated.

He glances through the pictures, aware that something must’ve caught his sister’s attention because Jang Won wasn’t being very focused now. “We just wanted to know more about him. He might’ve worked at Artemis and I’ve yet to check with his ex-colleagues but I just wanted to know if he was happy there, or if he wasn’t, did he have any... enemies?”

Mrs Nam takes in a deep breath, rubbing an eye before her hands come together on her lap. “No, he was happy, as far as I knew. The only thing he was upset about was my son moving to France and settling there. But otherwise, he was easy-going. Kind. Helpful. I can’t think of anybody who would want to deliberately shift his... body... because he had offended them.”

“I hate to be the one to suggest this but could your father have done anything to anger your son... to the point where--”

“No,” She says with such resolution, it finally tears Jang Won’s attention off the photos. “Never. Their love might’ve been tough but they’ll never do anything to hurt each other.”

Younghoon glances at his sister before returning to Mrs Nam. “So... nobody, huh?”

“None that I can think of.”

Jang Won blinks her emotions away, fingers fiddling with her rings as she looks to Younghoon. His eyes sink to the floor, licking his lips in slight anxiety as he realises they’ve hit a dead end.

They leave the apartment with only the briefcase, and Mrs Nam closes the door before they can even walk off. The lift ride was exceptionally quiet, Younghoon merely watching Jang Won zip in and out of reality in the reflection of the lift mirrors.

He looks over, watching the layer of tears thicken over her eyes. Reaching out and rubbing her shoulder, he contains the emotions he’s feeling, just by watching his cold-hearted sister reveal the hint of humanity in her.

“I told you not to go in if you couldn’t.”

“And I could,” Jang Won clears her throat. “I don’t need you to baby me. It’s been a long time anyway. I’ll deal with it.”

The lift door dings open, and sees Jang Won walking out the doors, leaving Younghoon behind as she struts off.

Unfortunately, this soft side of Jang Won remains short-lived, for Younghoon finds himself holding her back from tearing the skin off their father’s face when they reach home.

“What the Hell is this?” Jang Won frowns, facial lines deepening in her skin when the staff is crowded in her office but none of them were moving. Her father, standing by her desk, looks up from the loaded query.

“Ah, child! I was just waiting to--”

“Are you... moving into my office?”

Her father opens his mouth, lips wide enough for her to see her teeth when Mr Ro finally joins the party.

“What is going on here?”

“Sir,” One of the housemaids lowers her head, almost like she was embarrassed. “Our guest-- Mr Kim... asked for us to help shift Miss Kim’s belongings out of her office. We were told not to tell you.”

Jang Won’s eyes almost double in size when she processes the words, the tips of her feet already turning to her father. Mr Ro looks up from his subordinate with distaste and disapproval, unable to believe the things he was trying to accomplish.

“Just which part of June did you not fucking understand? Huh?” Jang Won takes one step forward, but Younghoon grabs her wrist and then wraps his palms around her upper arms. “Playing possum killed your braincells too?”

“No...! No! I wanted things to be early, smooth. So that you wouldn’t be pressured to shift out in June--”

“Bold of you to assume you’ll get it in June!” She hisses, harshly ripping herself out from Younghoon’s grip. “From now on you are a guest and a guest only. This is my house and you will touch nothing that does not belong to you.”

“Aw, come on, daughter--”

“Don’t--” She seethes, finger almost at his nose now. “Call me that. From now on, we just share the same surname... But if you want mercy on the account that I am something you created, then I’d rather you wait until I die.”

The staff in the room lower their head as she storms by them toward the door, and as dramatic as she is, she pulls the doors open and smiles widely at her staff. “A kind, kind reminder that all these people standing before you, Mr Kim Jo-Pil... they work for me. They answer to Mr Ro, and Mr Ro answers to me. So, shall you require any assistance in possibly fucking something else up... do get it to me through Mr Ro.”

She smiles sweetly, tilting her head to the side. “Now, get the guest out of my fucking office.”

The wind brushes through Juyeon’s hair relentlessly, his dark blue, almost black, locks ruffled and made messy in the wind. The yacht makes small jumps against the water, the sun reflected off the surface of the water and into his eyes, the motion of the vehicle spraying some of it onto his hands that were over the railing.

“Are you sure you want to get yourself involved in this... Jang Won and The Board, I mean,” Sunwoo joins Juyeon by the cockpit, grabbing a bottle of Sprite and cracking the cap open. He takes a sip and smacks his lips, letting the wind do its job in his hair too. “I mean, I know it wasn’t your choice but... that stunt at the press conference last week? Damn, son.”

Juyeon smirks and scoffs, looking at Sunwoo through the lens of his sunglasses. “Maybe it was fueled by her, I don’t know... But I’d be lying if I said being at the same table with her doesn’t make me feel powerful. It feels like I could do anything I wanted as long as she was by my side and it’d... it’ll work, you know?”

“‘It’ll work’?” Sunwoo chuckles sarcastically. “You’re talking about the most powerful figure of The Board of your generation. Hell, it’s Hera’s Princess you’re dealing with here. I’m sure if you played by her rules a hundred percent, she’d buy you an island if you wanted.”

The continuous splash of the water just a few metres down the railing brings some kind of peace to Juyeon, despite the idea of being married to Kim Jang Won being tasteless.

“What about her brother? The Prince of Artemis, right? Kim Younghoon. He must’ve had something to say about Apple-Korea’s next director smooching his little sister on national TV,” Sunwoo snorts, taking another gulp of his drink.

Juyeon shakes his head, apart from providing Sunwoo a patient smile. “I haven’t met her brother, actually. But word has it he’s the calmer of the two, which I’m actually pretty grateful for.”

“Maybe you should get acquainted with him. Get on Kim Jang Won’s good side by making friends with Kim Younghoon,” Sunwoo places the bottle back into the ice box, noticing the yacht slowing down to a halt. Juyeon peels himself off the railings, finally standing and giving his own limbs a big stretch.

“Nah,” Juyeon shakes his head and pulls off his sunglasses, squinting away from the harsh sunlight. “The thing about Jang Won is that you shouldn’t indirectly find ways to get on her good side... you gotta do it in her face. That’s how she plays her games. Straightforward. Ruthless.”

“So like... borderline crazy and a control freak too, right?”

Juyeon snickers, pulling off his shirt to reveal the diving suit he’s got underneath. “Pretty sure if your dad came back from the dead and took over your life’s work, you would too.”

Sunwoo smirks, stripping the pieces of clothes off himself too. “Defending the missus already, I see.”

Rolling his eyes and pulling on an oxygen tank with a mask, Juyeon then glares at the younger. “Well, if she’s offering me all the cents I can count, I might as well work it to my best effort, right?”

He cocks a smug brow, giving his goggles one last adjustment before heading to the edge of the yacht. The hues of blue calm his nerves, already able to see the world of life beneath the surface. It has always been his paradise, and always will be.

“Today, we celebrate the love between two of The Board’s most powerful figures: Lee Juyeon, the next director of Apple-Korea, and The Board’s very own Hera’s Princess, Kim Jang Won. Just a last month, the return of Kim Jo-Pil shocked the country...”

Jang Won dips her finger into the glass of lemon-infused water, contorting the image of the television beyond the table and the space of the room. Still in her pajamas, she cannot find the motivation and strength to leave her bed. She can already hear the crowd bustling downstairs, getting ready for her hair, makeup, fittings--

Knock knock

“Oh, Mr Ro,” She covers her eyes, tired. The door clicks open and she groans to herself, refusing to open her eyes. “Please just kill me. I hate it. I hate all of this. Why did he have to climb out of his own grave?”

“I don’t know. His body was swapped, wasn’t it?”

The voice jolts Jang Won out of her laziness, and she sits up like she had been summoned from the dead too.

“When did you get here?”

Juyeon smiles, somewhat genuine, and leans against the door frame. He was already in a simple button up shirt, meant to be hidden under a gorgeous, white and silver blazer. His hair’s still wet though, his fringe covering his eyebrows and some portion of his eyes.

Jang Won can’t help but soften at the sight of him half a foot into his room - if only Lee Juyeon knew how much her friends back in high school swooned over him.

“Also, I don’t think killing you would be a great idea. Wouldn’t want to see you climb out of your own grave too. Family traits seem to run in the blood of the Kims.”

Jang Won rolls her eyes and crawls her way out of the bed that’s too big for her, feet finding her fluffy, cotton slippers by the bed and shuffling about the bedroom with her hair in a mess.

“Not very good at answering questions, are you?” She sniffles, not bothering to close the bathroom door behind her as she ties her hair gracefully, pulling a hair towel over her head to keep her fringe out of her face. She hears the door click, and Juyeon appears behind her in the reflection of the mirror.

The scent of mint from the toothpaste wafts through her nose.

“Well,” He shrugs and leans against the doorframe again, brushing his fringe out of his eyes. “I answered yours.”

Jang Won chokes on the toothpaste foam, gripping the edges of the sink as she retches into the marble. “Your butler... Mr Ro, called me over. Offered to cover my fitting and everything for today. He said it’s on the house, or rather, yours, I suppose.”

Jang Won finishes up on her brushing, spitting out the leftover foam. “Still didn’t answer my question, y’know.”

Juyeon removes himself off the doorframe, watching her struggle by throwing her hair behind her shoulder. Some locks keep sliding back down around her neck, and her hands are already lathering some facial wash. She tuts in frustration, unable to get her hair out of the way.

Then Juyeon gently gathers her hair behind her neck, his warm fingers barely brushing against her skin. “Morning. Just about two hours ago,” He waits for Jang Won to squint at him, before she provides enough trust to shut her eyes and rub the lotion into her cheeks.

“Mr Ro wanted to come wake you up, but something seemed to crop up with the tea and cake catering, so.”

“What? What’s wrong with the tea and cake catering? I paid good money for that bullshit,” She looks up from the sink, face smeared in some greenish-blue cream.

He grins, chuckling under his breath as she glares at him in the mirror. “Paying good money for ‘bullshit’, huh? How much did the ‘bullshit’ cost then?”

“Well,” She hesitates and frowns, creating lines in the lotion on her face. “Enough to piss me off if they don’t give me what I want.”

Leaning towards the sink, she runs her hands under the water and washes the lotion off her face.

“What company is the catering from? Need my help?”

She scoffs, waving his hand off her hair, grabbing a cotton towel and pressing it to her face. “To what? What are you gonna do? ‘Hey there, I’m the next director of Apple-Korea and I’d like my tarts and cupcakes this afternoon’.”

He leans his rear into the edge of the platform where the sink was built into, back facing the mirror while she carefully hangs the towel over the metal bar mounted into the beige marble wall. “What else would you want me to say, since that’s just exactly what I want?”

“I’on’t know, buy the company or something.”

He raises both brows in extreme shock, his lips pouting in disbelief that he should’ve been prepared for anyway. “What a solution.”

“Got a better idea?” She rolls her eyes, pulling a robe into the shower cubicle. “Also, are you going to stand there and watch me strip?”

Juyeon’s eyes flit off her instantly, hands pushing himself off the edge of the sink. “Could’ve just asked me to leave instead of being so crude.”

“Well now, I didn’t ask you to leave, I asked--”

“I know- I know what you asked-” Juyeon grimaces, blowing some air into the pockets between his teeth and lips. He sucks in a deep breath and exhales loudly through an ‘o’, giving Jang Won some kind of sadistic pleasure. “Do you ever get tired of that? Messing with people?”

Jang Won’s brown orbs rise to the ceiling, actually giving thought to the question. Her lower lip juts out as she shrugs. “Well... yeah. Yeah,” She finally nods. “But hey! I have different degrees of messing-with-people. There’s the I-kinda-wanna-mess-with-you-by-making-you-awkward kind and there’s the I-might-wanna-rebury-my-dad kind-”

“Alright, you have a nice bath.”

Snorting, Juyeon waves her nonsense off and walks out the bathroom, sliding the door shut.

#juyeon #lee juyeon #juyeon fanfic #the boyz juyeon #juyeon scenario #the boyz #the boyz scenario #TBZ #tbz juyeon #tbz fanfic #love me a little less

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rs-elane-blogsandfictions · 3 years

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BTS SCENARIOS/REACTIONS/ONE-SHOTS

Jungkook's One-Shot

Topic: His ex comes back to your lives when you two married and tries to get him back by creating problems inbetween you two...

Genre: Angst/Smut/Fluff

Warnings: Smutty, Angsty Contents ahead...

Rating: 18+ along with angst and drama

The following first few chapters would be though fluff and a little smut...

Part 1/Chapter 1

A/N's POV

You and Jungkook have been married for 5 years now! You were living an incredibly happy life with your love and tomorrow was your 6th Marriage Anniversary!! You were very excited about it and here you were in the kitchen, swinging around to the music while preparing lunch... You drifted back to some golden memories of yours and Jungkook's!

You were still not graduates when you two fell deeply in love and decided to get married, your family was against the relationship cause neither of you had jobs... And you were already broken without any hopes, but Jungkook still stayed strong and kept the idea of running away and marrying... He was ready to leave his family, and everyone just for you, just so that he could be with you, the person whom he cherished with all his heart and was so sensitive about ❤️

Thus, just after giving the final examinations, you two ran away together without a letter, message or anything behind, to start a new life! Your elder brother along with Jungkook's friends supported you a lot with this relationship! It was a small marriage with just your brother and his friends... The priest said the vows and the lovely speech he gave on your marriage... It was the first time he was the cause for your tears and that too tears of happiness! ✨

Then that kiss!! You still couldn't get over the feeling of his soft, plumb lips on yours pressed against tightly and moulded perfectly into each other... He was the only one who could make you feel that happy and protected! You just love this guy! And now after the lovely, dramatic marriage you two got a house to live in with the help of your brother and his friends! Seeing Jungkook and yours capability, both got jobs and earned a living together from a small one bathroom-kitchen-and-bedroom to a five storey luxurious apartment!

He didn't like the idea of you overworking yourself when he was there and thus he got you leave your job and enjoy your life at home and you just didn't argue cause you know it wasn't that he did it cause it hurt his pride but cause he cared for u and wanted to give you the best living he could give! And being a housewife didn't feel boring or like a jail when it was being Mrs Jeon! Everyday cooking for him and trying out different dishes just to impress him even though you know he'd like anything as long as it was made by u! Then standing at the door and waiting for the most handsome guy yet alive on earth!

And as he comes back, first see that bunny smile that lit on his face just for u and only u! Rest it never appeared for anyone apart his family and friends... Family that is long lost now... But neither of u regretted your decision to leave your family behind just to be with each other!! ❤️ After the smile your mischievous bunny lifting u up in his arms and pressing you against the wall just to talk dirty though which always ended in giggles from both your mouths and a sweet kiss before letting u down if it wasn't that he was turned on...

For child well... You can't become a mother... Both of you were really sad to know that, specially u as you felt guilty to be not able to give Jungkook a child... A little one of himself or you... It was a really depressing period of life for u but Jungkook seemed to be more stronger and mature than u on this topic and believed that he no longer needed anything if he got you and after knowing this assurance from his mouth, you felt better and better day by day until u forgot about all those regrets and moved on that depressing period!

As you were engrossed in your memories, the bell rang taking u out of your thoughts and u ran towards the door knowing who could it be at this time of the day! You opened the door just to meet the boxy smile you were expecting to meet, a handsome friend of your husband standing at the door with two cakes in his hand! One was for tonight's 12:00am night party and other one for tomorrow's evening celebration... "Hi Taehyung-ssi! Thanks a lot for bringing the cakes! If it weren't u, I wouldn't have been able to execute this surprise party out!", you said thanking the still smiling boy standing on the doorway before inviting him in...

You and his six friends, Taehyung, Jimin, Namjoon, Hoseok, Yoongi and Jin had decided to surprise your lovely husband with a barbeque party in your big yard at sharp 12:00am and ofcourse along with all the other stuff, cake was required for some delicious desert apart from all the grilled dishes you were going to have... Taehyung was incharge for the cake and it was done! Jimin and Yoongi were incharge for barbeque stand, tables and chairs and tents as you were going to sleep in your yard that night playing games and enjoying yourselves!! Rest of the boys were incharge for the food and you were to make sure that it is a secret until midnight to Jungkook! Jin was going to be the chef tonight!! It wasn't that you didn't cook great but this guy! Damn! His cooking skills were better than your mom's!!

Taehyung helped you keep the cake in the spare fridge where Jungkook never gave a glance... And now you called the others to update yourself with the status till now... Everything was done... The chairs and all were set! Food was bought which included chicken, salmon and other meats! Spices for marination and some leaves and veggies for garnishing the dishes... Afterall Jin left the plates with perfection! Though this time we didn't have any plates, instead sticks for the barbeque but Jin is Jin and you don't have any problem as long as food is made by him!

You cooked the lunch for all the six boys and yourself, Jungkook wasn't coming home until late evening so no worries till then... After eating your lunch which was Kimchi Cheese Bokumbap (Kimchi Cheese Fried rice), all the tired boys threw themselves on your big couch while you giggled seeing the tired men... It looked like a mother smiling at their son who just came from playground all tired and worn out...

It was past 8 pm at night and you knew Jungkook must be on his way to the apartment, thus all the boys hid themselves in your spare room, again a place being where Jungkook almost rarely went and which was half the time empty, except when your brother came to live with you two in the summers as he had one of his company's branch here which he looked after in the summer months of the year... The bell ranged and you excitedly ran to the door like a little girl does when he hears her father come... Though it was your husband not father but definitely, no doubt he was your daddy in bed!

As you unlocked the door, in revealed the most handsome, sexy and hot husband in his formal uniform! The uniform just made him look even more attractive and hot, the belt which gave you memories of nights when he tighted your hands with them, the watch gave a boldness to his wrist and the tie with button up shirt made him look so much masculine, not like he wasn't already, but just a smile could change that masquiline self to a soft ball of fluff! And seeing you his tired yet just fucked up kind of look changed into an excited, happy bunny who lept on you like a lion does his pray...

His bunny teeths never missing to showcase themselves, as he pressed you against the wall, which was his usual habbit, and then tugging you a little up such that you were now sitting on his thighs against the wall... He moved his face to your ears which already sent chills down your spine and make your body rub against his thigh from anticipation! Seeing the eagerness in you, he got even more turned on and whispered in a deep husky voice, "Baby is already getting so eager for daddy? What does my little kitten want her daddy to do? Should he just fuck her or should he tease her a bit more?"... Saying this his nose trailed down your jaw line and then to your neck...

You threw your head backwards and knew where it was going... It was another one of the nights where your lovely husband came home hard on and would just fuck you then and there... But even though u wanted it so bad... You had guests at your house which were to be kept a secret till midnight and also not to make them hear your moans and erotic noise from sex... Thus you had to leave your bunny boy unsatisfied this night... Though you'd make up for it tomorrow, on your wedding anniversary!

"Jungkook not today please! I'm... I'm.... I-... I'm on my periods" you lied not being able to think of a better excuse! But this guy ain't taking no shit! "Y/N... I remembered the date was 25th... And it's still 11th...!?" he asked raising his eyebrows... God! You suck at lying but definitely you had a simple answer to this one though... "I started with them early!"... Another lie but he just nodded and let you down and then again smiled widely before peppering your face with a thousand kisses! "If you need anything, pads... Tampons... Heat packs... Or pils... Just ask me and I'll get them for u! Okay baby?" he asked while caressing your cheeks with his thumb to which you nodded like an innocent child...

He then went inside to take a bath in your shared bedroom while you took a sigh of relief just to be met with coughs behind your back making you stiffen up... Ugh! You didn't want them to hear all that though... You turned around just to meet with six smirks thrown right at your embarrassed self! "Eager for Daddy!? Huh!?" Jimin said to which you scoffed... "And Periods.... Like you seriously couldn't get a better excuse" another one added just to receive another scoff from you... You send them back to their hiding place as you heard the shower stopping and door opening...

To be continued in the next chapter... It's gonna be dirty though with a game of Truth/Dare 😏 Angst is yet to come... First let's have some fluff and smut to prepare you for the heartbreak! 😁 Pics taken from Pinterest! DO NOT COPY MY WORK! OR REPOST IT ANYWHERE!

#bts #btssmut #btsfluff #bts one shot #bts jungkook #jk #jeon jungkook #his ex #fluff #smut #angst #BTS #bts ff #bts imagines #writers on tumblr #wattpad #reading #novel

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writtenwhalien · 3 years

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Give Me Love (Epilogue) - Author Note

Below the cut - this is for after you’ve read the epilogue so please don’t read further if you want to avoid potential spoilers :)

Firstly, I just want to say thank you so so much to every single one of you who have read this series. I was really quite slow in writing this one but you’ve all been so patient and kind, as well as supportive and I’m super grateful to you all. To those of you who sent me kind words, reblogged, or even liked, I appreciate you all so so so much. I always recognise your names when they appear in my notifs and it always makes me happy to see, so thank you!!!!

Secondly, the series is over :( .... kind of 😋 I have drabble ideas so I don’t feel like it’s over just yet lol, but for the main part, all the angst is over and they’ve been through a lot but our babies are happy now 🥺I really hope you guys have enjoyed it - there were a lot of times where I didn’t even know where I was going with the story, hence the frequent delays, but we got there in the end! All your lovely messages helped me get out of my little writing ruts, so thanks angels!

It’s been a long process and honestly, I don’t even know what this fic can be classed as because it’s not just enemies with benefits to lovers, it’s been like: enemies with benefits to lovers to exes to friends to lovers... lol. I kind of wish I had captured more of the enemies relationship but because they start dating by chapter 3/4, that didn’t really happen. Looking back, I am kind of sad about it but whatever.

Okay, so thirdly, I have a few notes about this chapter and boy was she a long one!

1. Throughout the series, when writing Jimin’s relationship with his dad, I was hesitant on whether or not to make them reconcile because I know real life isn’t as simple as that. But I have said many times that I really can’t write sad endings, and as well as that, I felt like it was an important point in Jimin’s character development, so I went with it.

In chapter 3, I had kept the possibility of reconciliation between them open with the following lines:

“ Jimin takes a deep breath. “I still try to make things better between us, but after my brother he started drinking, and there’s only so much I can do-” his voice breaks a little. “If my mom was here she’d tell me to keep trying. I know he doesn’t want to be like this, he just… he loved my mom so much, it’s like a part of him died with her. But every year on their death anniversaries, May 6th and 17th, I’d go back home to stay with him for the whole month, not that it made much difference.”

“ “You’ve done everything that you can do, your dad can still get better with time,” you say meekly in an attempt to comfort him.”

“ “I hope he does… we used to be close when I was growing up, I miss the old him.””

Also Pil-woo is real Jimin’s dad’s name - that’s where I got it from :)

2. I feel like I didn’t exactly get to include much of OC’s friends talking to her about Jimin, particularly Chan. I know a lot of you really liked her growing friendship with him and I did manage to get one little scene in but it wasn’t much imo. If I’m being honest, I really struggle with dialogue and if they were to have a longer conversation, it would be a whole scene I’d have to write. I hope that what I did include with OC and Chan was okay. I will try to include them more in the drabbles (I’m not to sure what I’m doing with those yet, so we’ll see!)

3. I kind of struggled on how to end the series, so I really apologise if it’s not how some of you wanted it 😭And I also struggle with writing smut so again, I’m sorry if it sucks!

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wearetakingthehobbitstogallifrey · 4 years

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Kdrama recs Part 1

Hullo and welcome to the kdrama life @camsthisky! The following list is not in any particular order, other than the fact that I start with a more rom/com vibe and head toward more romantic/action or action. All the following kdramas are set in the modern day, and part 2 of my recs for you will be either darker kdramas set in present day or historical dramas.

Let the list begin!

1. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon:

Do Bong Soon is a v smol woman who has super strength and who wants 1. To create her own video game 2. Get her police officer crush to return her affections. Which like, police officer is kinda cute but he ain’t that special. Bong Soon winds up becoming a bodyguard to Ahn Min Hyuk, the extremely rich, kinda spoiled, ridiculously extra CEO of a gaming company who does not like the police for secret reasons, and sadly does not have a good relationship with his family. (He a lonely boy underneath everything.) Min Hyuk finds out about Bong Soon’s powers, is in TOTAL awe of her, offers to train her in fighting, and literally falls head over heels for her.

The caveat with this show is there is a subplot or two that annoy me, BUT I just use the 10 second skip button and it is totally worth it because the romance is super cute—SUPER CUTE (also I have a list of favorite actors and Park Hyung Sik is def on it—one minute he is an adorkable, blushing bby the next he can be intense and sad)

He cute

2. Her Private Life:

Hello fake-dating!! Ryan Gold (an adoptee who didn’t live in Korea for a while) is a former artist who stopped painting because he couldn’t deal with his Stendhol (?) syndrome (among other traumas). Deok Mi is the classy art curator of a famous museum who definitely does not have any secrets she wants to keep from the world—well, other than the fact that she is the number one fangirl of kpop idol, Cha Shi-an (who also appreciates art) and has a major crush on him. Ryan becomes director of the art museum and there is a whole thing with getting Shi-an involved in an art show.

Following this and a series of unfortunate events a false rumor starts that Deok Mi and and Shi-an ARE dating. It’s a little complicated to summarize, but basically what you need to know is that Ryan and Deok Mi become a fake couple so there won’t be a scandal for Shi-an or violence done to Deok Mi by rabid fangirls. I enjoy the fake-dating trope a lot, and how it becomes real for both of them! The leads are played by Kim Jae Wook and Park Min Young, who both have incredible range. Lots of soft moments in this one! Good kisses, a scene where the faves bake together, and also Ryan wears a lot of deep v-neck shirts and jackets which is an attack on me personally.

The show also contains a bit of angst, which I LOVE. Hand-holding becomes an important theme 😊

RYAN NO

3. Crash Landing on You: Rich South Korean heiress/fashion designer Se-ri accidentally winds up in a North Korean village, and really REALLY wants to go home. Mostly because there are no scented candles or spa-like bathtubs in the vicinity, but also because she could easily disappear into a NK jail and never return. A North Korean captain named Ri Jeong Hyeok finds her and decides not to turn her because, one, he’s a good guy who doesn’t want to turn an innocent person over to what might be her death, and two, turning her over might get his four underlings in trouble for reasons. Said underlings are his family, basically, and they are a deLIGHT. One is an argumentative proud sort who likes to drink and to feel important and who tries to provoke (and gets provoked by) Se-ri at every opportunity, one is a lover of banned South Korean dramas, one is a 17 year old bby who misses his mom, and one is the silent but most loyal follower of the captain.

Besides all these people, there are two other characters (including a surprisingly wise conman) who become faves and major players in the plot.

There is a great mix of humor, romance, found family, and angst, and I love it very much. A few things don’t go the way I want them to near the end, but a bit of imagination and fanfic can fix anything

ALSO I FORGOT THE CAPTAIN GETS SUPER SULKY FROM TIME TO TIME AND IT IS HILARIOUS

Show of hands, who thinks they will meet again

4. Are You Human Too: A FAVORITE SHOW OF ALL! TIME!

What do you do when your husband dies and your evil mega-rich father-in-law takes your son away from you and keeps you from seeing him ever? Well, if you are scientist with more genius than positive coping methods, you build yourself a robot son who looks exactly like your real son. Great solution, am I right?

Nam Shin III is the name of my favorite robot son, played by the inestimable Seo Kang Joon. He is the purest bby you will ever meet, being designed so that he never lies and so that he will immediately go to hug anyone who cries. He seems quite a contrast to the bitter human Nam Shin, who hates his gilded prison life, hates his Grandpa, and tries to sneak away from his right hand man, Secretary Ji Young Hoon, his only friend in the world. The girl in the show is Kang So Bong, an ex-UFC fighter who was so badly injured she had to quit. She is at first a bit jaded and mercenary because of her past, but she has a golden heart that just needs to be reminded of its existence.

Not going into details to avoid spoilers, but everything upends when the robot Nam Shin has to take the place of the human Nam Shin. The show is a soft, funny, angsty exploration of what it means to be human, with some good found family throughout. The character development is phenomenal, and the connection between So Bong and Nam Shin III is *chef’s kiss*. I just want to give a shout out to Seo Kang Joon who plays a duel role like you wouldn’t believe, to SKJ’s smile, to the soundtrack, and to the character of Young Hoon, a loyal, steady, and self-sacrificing secretary that we do not deserve (gosh tho he looks good in blue!)

Look at my robot son getting a long-looked for affirmation! (his lil smile!!!

5. W: Two Worlds:

This show unique because it meta as HELL! Oh Yeon Joo is a junior doctor and the daughter of a webtoon artist whose big hit, W, is coming to a close. Much to her surprise, she gets pulled into the world of the comic where she encounters and saves the main character, Kang Chul, a former Olympic shooting champion who was blamed for the murder of his entire family, and whose sole desire is to find the real killer. It’s a good romance between them, and I also love Kang Chul’s relationship with his hyung, which, tho it is not always a main focus, is present and wonderful. Kang Chul himself is both intelligent and adorably bratty, charismatic and angsty, soft and fierce, and he is one of my favorite kdrama characters for sure.

As for the meta, the show does a fantastic job exploring the rules of the comic world, of how one can enter and leave, the importance and power of main characters and supporting characters, and the purpose of an author. There is always another twist coming, and it is just so much fun!

UM SIR PLS POINT THAT ELSEWHERE

6. Healer:

I watched half this show and never realized that the female lead is played by Park Min Young, same actress as in Her Private Life. Someone had to tell me lol! She’s just so good at playing different people. In this show, she is Chae Young Shin, a reporter for a celebrity tabloid who has big dreams of becoming a famous reporter who investigates stories that actually mean something. She is a bit quirky, very cute, very brave, and probably one of my favorite female leads. She lives with her dad above his coffee/teashop bakery and is friends with all the ex-cons he has defended while doing his other job of lawyering.

Anyway this show is more of a romantic/action drama. To get an idea of the titular Healer, picture what you would get if you took some of Batman and Nightwing’s aesthetics (wearing black, hanging out on rooftops, punching people, flipping around, etc) and put them into a night courier who likes to watch National Geographic and dream about one day going off to an island where he can live all by himself for the rest of his days because oh yeah he is a loner whose only friend is an older woman who sets up his jobs and whom he has never actually met.

There is also an older reporter that Young Shin looks up to, the fun tabloid office where she works, a heck lot of mystery surrounding some tragedy involving a group of reporter best friends/found family back in the 80’s/90’s, and of course both members of the OTP have childhood trauma that has made them who they are today. One of my favorite things that happens in the show is that Healer has to go undercover for a while, Clark Kenting it up in Young Shin’s tabloid office, which overnight becomes a real news agency for reasons.

The action is LOTS of fun, and the romance is really soft and cute, and better still, when there is a misunderstanding or something that gets in their way, they almost immediately talk about it and resolve issues. They TRUST each other and give the benefit of the doubt where many tv couples would break up or get in big fights. I find it (plus the character development) very refreshing.

I couldn’t find a gif of my favorite fight sadly. This will have to do

7. Lawless Lawyer: This has Lee Joon Gi. Watch it.

Just kidding, there are many other reasons to watch the show, but it is true that Lee Joon Gi is one of my favorite actors. The man has phoenix eyes, a jawline that could cut silk, diamonds, you name it, and such a deep well of emotional acting that it literally kills me when his characters rage/weep/love/etc.

Anyway, in this legal thriller/romance/action drama, LJG’s character Bong Sang Pil is a beautiful, very extra ex-gangster/now lawyer who opens his own office, ready to fight villainy and avenge his mom with the law or with his fists, whichever is more useful at the time. He has a right hand man named Manager Tae and recruits a bunch of thugs as his minions, and they all become a weird sort of family as the show goes on.

Ha Jae Yi is a quiet badass lawyer who has no time for sexist idiots and gets her license suspended for smacking one of said fools. She gets recruited to assist Sang Pil, and they find their goals align as both their mothers were destroyed by the villains.

Speaking of the villains? EXCELLENT acting by them all, like they need to go down obviously, but you can’t help but be in awe of a few of them or even get attached to one or two in a weird way. Props to the show for having one of the best female villains I have ever seen

What an icon

Here you get two gifs of him

Sorry I needed to make it a magical three lol

Tune in next time for historical dramas and modern dramas that are a bit darker!

#kdrama recommendations #lawless lawyer #healer #w two worlds #are you human too #her private life #strong woman do bong soon #crash landing on you #kdrama recs for cam #my kdrama recs

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odanurr87 · 4 years

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2019: My year in K-Dramas - Part 2

And we’re back! So, um, yeah, this took a lot longer than I imagined at first, but the truth is I was also dealing with coursework and other projects. As a result, I decided to break this last post into two, so instead of 6 shows in 1 post, you get 6 shows across 2 posts, building anticipation like a kdrama! And, I mean, two of those shows are My Love from the Star and Descendants of the Sun... Those two powerhouses deserve a bit more attention, maybe a couple of rewatches. Anyway, let’s get this show on the road!

WARNING! I’ve purposefully kept any big spoilers out of this post but some light spoilers may remain. Proceed with caution.

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When the Camellia Blooms (2019)

Gong Hyo-Jin as Oh Dong-Baek and Kang Ha-Neul as Hwang Yong-Sik.

Release Date: September 18 - November 21, 2019

Episodes: 20

Available on: Netflix

Summary: Dong-Baek is a single mother who moves to the town of Ongsan to open up a bar, the Camellia, while trying to raise her son, Pil-Gu. Six years later, Yong-Sik, a police officer and the youngest son of Dong-Baek’s only friend in Ongsan, returns and is instantly smitten by her. Yong-Sik is determined to woo her but Dong-Baek is also equally determined to resist his advances at first, a situation that is further complicated by the sudden reappearance of Dong-Baek’s ex and Pil-Gu’s biological father, Kang Jong-Ryul, who tries to win her back. When a serial killer known as Joker resurfaces after years of inactivity threatening to go after Dong-Baek, Yong-Sik launches an investigation to catch the elusive Joker once and for all.

What I liked:

The down-to-earth feel of the show. Save for the murder mystery element of the show, When the Camellia Blooms is pretty down-to-earth, depicting characters that could very much exist in our neighbourhood and exploring problems related to everyday life. How many kdramas show the struggles of a single mom trying to handle a love life while raising her son? I bet there are not a lot of them, and the only similar one I’ve watched, and would recommend, is One Spring Night, that depicts the life of a single dad balancing a romantic relationship while raising his son (it’s probably a more realistic representation all around down even to side characters). Even Yong-Sik is not the idealized male protagonist that most kdramas favour, at one point referred to as a “country bumpkin” by Dong-Baek’s ex, and while he may come across as rather simple-minded, he’s also refreshingly honest, determined (both in his pursuit of Dong-Baek and Joker), hard-working, and always there when the chips fall. While Dong-Baek’s ex is an ass for the majority of the show, I appreciated his inclusion because it clearly showed the contrast between the two characters vying for Dong-Baek’s affections: the man who pities her, and the man who encourages her; the man who’s ashamed of how she’s living her life, and the man who’s proud of what she has accomplished; the man who loves his memory of her, and the man who loves her as she is now; her past, and her present. Which one of the two will become her future?

The supporting cast. I am going to put them all together in the same bag as I don’t think anyone was particularly outstanding, but they all contributed to making this show a most entertaining watch from beginning to end: from Yong-Sik’s superior and chief of police, Byun Bae-Soo (played by Jeon Bae-Soo), through the simple-minded landlord with political aspirations, Noh Gyu-Tae (played by Oh Jung-Se), his cunning wife and ace attorney, Hong Ja-Young (played by Yeom Hye-Rae), to Dong-Baek’s kleptomaniac friend, Choi Hyang-Mi (played by Son Dam-Bi). At one point I even became more interested in the relationship between the characters of Gyu-Tae and Ja-Young, so strong were their performances. And I couldn’t help but feel sad for Hyang-Mi despite her many opportunistic deeds, a character who’s had a life as unforgiving as Dong-Baek, especially when we learn the reason behind some of her actions, and happy for her when she realises family isn’t always blood and ultimately chooses to walk a path of redemption. Sure wish we had seen more of that. You could make the case that Gyu-Tae and Hyang-Mi are the best out of the supporting cast, perhaps because of how much their characters grow over the course of the show.

What I didn’t like:

How the murder-mystery was handled/resolved. The first episode starts with the murder of an unknown person at some unspecified point in the future, a typical enough hook. We’re shown that person is someone who Yong-Sik apparently knew and cared for, but even when later episodes extend that scene frame by frame, tempting the audience to participate in this game of whodunit, the identity is only allowed to be revealed when the series catches up to that moment. The murder mystery element is sprinkled throughout the series as Yong-Sik is intent on protecting Dong-Baek and catching the serial killer Joker. But this isn’t Broadchurch, where the entire show revolves around solving the murder mystery and seeing its effects on the people of the small town of Dorset. No, in a way, the murder mystery in When the Camellia Blooms feels like a strategy, designed so that when the real goal of the show is revealed, the exploration of motherhood, you’ll be too invested to back out. One could argue the same for the romance between Dong-Baek and Yong-Sik. As a result, the murder-mystery feels drawn out and starts losing some of its steam as we approach the final episodes. Involving Dong-Baek’s mother in the whole affair was oddly convenient but felt out of place and worked against the show. Here we have a woman who knows, or thinks she knows, who the killer is several episodes before the end, and not only does she not tell the police about it but she actually confronts the killer. In any other show, the outcome would have been inevitable: the woman is murdered, leaving the police another clue as to who might have done it. However, since the show has already planned a happy ending for this character, she can’t be killed (incidentally, this happens with another character as well), even if the show later tries to toy with our feelings by suggesting she’s dead (not because of Joker though). The reveal of the culprit’s identity was a letdown, not only because the writers showed their hand early on but because we were never really given good suspects to begin with, and in a murder mystery that’s essential. Yes, we’re given a good pool of suspects for Joker’s latest victim, but since we also know Joker killed other people and is targeting Dong-Baek, not to mention the tone and themes of the show, we can readily eliminate almost all of them. They could’ve toyed around with the idea of a copycat, killing a person and pinning it on Joker, but they didn’t. And don’t get me started on how they finally catch Joker, this dreaded serial killer who had managed to avoid capture for years but turned out be to a bit of a joke, pun intended.

How insufferable Pil-Gu became towards the end. To be fair, I blame the adults (and writers) in this show more than I do Pil-Gu. I had no qualms about how his character had been handled for most of the show, but then along came Episode 17, where the writers decided to amp the drama to 11 just for the sake of it, a trope I really don’t like. Basically, through a series of misunderstandings that no adult feels compelled to clear up, Pil-Gu throws a tantrum, accusing her mother of not loving him anymore, and why does she need to get married, and why can’t she live alone with him for the rest of her life, etc., etc., forgetting it was Pil-Gu who, earlier that episode, had asked Yong-Sik to stay at their home and protect his mom. Like I said, nobody even bothers to explain the situation to him (even though he’s shown to be pretty smart and should’ve probably figured it out himself) and, worse, Dong-Baek plays along and decides to break up with Yong-Sik, determined never to love anyone other than Pil-Gu for the rest of her life. Jesus. As if wanting to twist the knife further, Episode 18 ends with a grown-up Pil-Gu, a jarring and decidedly out-of-place transition, suggesting he grew up to be a fine man as a result of her mom’s decision, but anyone who’s ever watched a kdrama knows better than that: you’re just padding out events for the sake of drama and this show didn’t need that. At this point, I lost whatever appreciation I might have had for the character of Pil-Gu and was half rooting for Yong-Sik to be promoted and get his ass back to Seoul ASAP, never to return to Ongsan again.

The existence of Episode 18. Yes, this is the episode where Dong-Baek and Yong-Sik break up, but that’s not what I’m getting at as I discussed that point previously. Episode 18 also sees Pil-Gu suddenly want to live with his biological father out of a misunderstanding (so many misunderstandings in these last few episodes!) and Kang Jong-Ryul try to act as that father to him. It’s clear he’s out of his depth with Pil-Gu, but he seems to be trying so it feels jarring when Dong-Baek returns for Pil-Gu and punches him in the face. Look, Jong-Ryul has been a bit of an ass throughout so he has more than earned that punch but not in this context. The show immediately kicks in the music that depicts this as a moment of triumph and personal growth for Dong-Baek but I kept thinking, “The one time this dude is actually trying to step up to the plate, assuming his responsibilities as a father, and he gets punched for it? Sure, he’s not that great but he’s only had Pil-Gu for, what, a week? Less? And it’s not like he kidnapped him or anything. This doesn’t even make sense.” And what growth are we talking about when she immediately caters to the whims of a kid and breaks up with Yong-Sik? Who is the adult in this relationship? Are there any adults in this show? There’s a decidedly marked absence of fathers, and those there are aren’t shown in a very good light but that’s another matter. Episode 18 is, quite simply, an episode that shouldn’t exist as it really brings nothing to the table and only pads out the inevitable.

OTP: While not my #1 pick amongst the shows I watched in 2019, it was refreshingly different, with the show slowly building their relationship in spite of Yong-Sik’s relentless attempts to woo Dong-Baek. In any other show, such determination could’ve come across as annoying, perhaps bordering on harassment, but this is mitigated by Yong-Sik’s sincere personality, his active listening of Dong-Baek’s problems, his support and encouragement of her, and ultimately his respect of the boundaries set by Dong-Baek, a woman who is not accustomed to such repeated shows of affection and is ill-equipped to handle them. It was very rewarding to see her evolution as a character, finding the confidence to grow out of her shell, even if there were some flaws in the journey.

Verdict: While the show trips a little at the end it was a solid watch, and I could see myself returning to it every once in a while because of its mundane (and I’m using this word as a compliment here) aspects. It doesn’t hurt it has some good humour in between all the crying. Oh, yes, there’s a reason why I chose that particular gif to represent the relationship between Yong-Sik and Dong-Baek.

Rewatch meter: I’m going to cheat and say it’s Medium-to-High.

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Bring it on, ghost (2016)

Kim So-Hyun as Kim Hyun-Ji, and Ok Taec-Yeon as Park Bong-Pal.

Release Date: July 11 - August 30, 2016

Episodes: 16

Available on: Netflix, Viki

Summary: Park Bong-Pal is a 2nd year Economics student with a side job as an exorcist due to his strange ability to see ghosts, a fact that has prevented him from having a normal life and that he deeply resents. One night, while performing an exorcism at a high school, he comes across Kim Hyun-Ji, a former high school student turned wandering spirit, who has no recollection of her past but possesses an innate talent to fight ghosts and spot their weak points. During this encounter, the two accidentally kiss, and Hyun-Ji briefly recalls some of her memories. Convinced Bong-Pal holds the key to her memories and determined to find out more, she manages to persuade a reluctant Bong-Pal to let her move in in exchange for helping him fight ghosts. But Bong-Pal soon learns that not all ghosts are evil, and some may be even cute enough to fall for.

What I liked:

Kim So-Hyun as Kim Hyun-Ji. Do I need to add anything further? That picture should be enough evidence in and of itself. Kim So-Hyun looks like she’s having a blast acting as a kickass high-school student/ghost who has a penchant for upsetting Bong-Pal and looking criminally cute while doing so. With a personality like that, it’s no wonder Bong-Pal couldn’t help but fall for her. Who wouldn’t? Perhaps what makes her character so lovable is precisely the fact that she works off of Bong-Pal’s more curt personality. As they say, opposites attract.

Lee David as Kim In-Rang and Kang Ki-Young as Choi Cheon-Sang.

The humor. I’ll admit that I miscalculated with these two in the beginning, resigning myself to having to endure their interventions in what I felt was shaping up to be an otherwise great show. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find they made for some good comic relief, especially after they convince Bong-Pal to let them handle the business side of exorcising ghosts and join him and Hyun-Ji in their nightly escapades. That sounded better in my head. The humor is never crass and, most importantly, it never outlasts its welcome. Hey, they even try to do him a solid and hitch him with his crush, but Hyun-Ji has already managed to work her magic on him unbeknownst to her. In fact, much of the show’s humor is also a credit to the comedic rapport between the characters of Bong-Pal and Hyun-Ji, especially in the earlier episodes when their different personalities are most notable, but also later on when feelings of jealousy start to surface. Their playful bickering is often reproduced in some of the background music used and is also present in some of the ghost fights as if saying, “Yeah, we’re fighting a pervert ghost in a sauna and having a blast, what of it?”

The formula. What do I mean by that? For the most part, this show works like a procedural, with Hyun-Ji and Bong-Pal fighting the ghost of the week in each successive episode, while at the same time having a multi-episodic story-arc. This is the formula used in US TV shows: introduce an interesting story-arc in the first few episodes, then forget all about it until the final episodes of the season, with filler episodes in between. The difference being Bring it on, Ghost is actually a good procedural: there are no filler episodes, every ghost fight serves a purpose, whether it be to develop our protagonists (at times providing interesting backstory) or to strengthen their bond, and the main story-arc is always subtly running in the background until the paths of our protagonists and villain cross and events come to a head. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, US TV shows should seriously consider having shorter and tighter seasons, as their quality suffers otherwise. Bong Pal and Hyun-Ji’s ghost fights will also sometimes include moral or life lessons that flow naturally and never feel forced; nobody’s beating you over the head with them and shouting, “DO YOU GET IT NOW?!” As you can imagine, they’re certainly more subtle than US TV shows, but then again kdramas seem to have mastered the art of telling a lot without actually saying it, something others could learn from.

What I didn’t like:

The amnesia trope. Look, before you say anything, I understand why it’s there, sorta, it’s a reversal of Kim Hyun-Ji’s clinginess (that is an actual word) to Bong-Pal, if for different reasons. I don’t mind that it happened, but what I do mind is that it’s never reversed, making it somewhat difficult to believe that she’d fall for a stranger in what appears to be a very short amount of time. You could argue she’s unconsciouscly attracted to him given their past connection, and the show does at one point suggest that she may be regaining her memories, or that it’s possible at least, but nothing comes of it. This sudden bout of amnesia also offers her temporary protection from the villain, but at the end of the day I am left thinking that the show could’ve done without it or reverse it at the very end.

OTP: It’s a team effort, but Kim So-Hyun kills it!

Verdict: An infinitely rewatchable show with an all-around solid cast and great sense of humor. Like Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon, this show is sure to put a smile on your face if you’re feeling down or if you simply want to have a good time.

Rewatch meter: High

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One More Time (2016)

Kim Myung Soo as Yoo Tan, and Yoon So-Hee as Moon Da-In.

Release Date: October 26 - December 14, 2016

Episodes: 8

Available on: Netflix

Summary: Yoo Tan is the lead singer of an indie band called One More Time, together with his girlfriend, Moon Da-In, and his childhood friends. However, with bills mounting and his hopes for success dwindling, his relationships take a turn for the worse. When he’s offered to sign a contract with a music label, Yoo Tan sees his long-awaited chance and decides to burn all bridges to his past life, but an unexpected event that forces him to constantly relive the past twenty-four hours makes him reconsider his outlook on life.

What I liked:

The concept. The idea of being stuck in a time loop is not a particularly new one, with Groundhog Day being the most obvious, and highly entertaining, exponent, although I do remember an episode of Stargate SG-1 called “Window of Opportunity” that exploited the same concept, if to a different effect. As in Groundhog Day, One More Time uses this idea as a vehicle of self-reflection for the main character, transforming him from a bitter, selfish, and somewhat egocentric person, to someone far more likable, who recognises the value in the friendships he has forged and rediscovers the love he holds for the woman who has always been there for him. But this is only the prelude to our story as One More Time extends this concept by providing a reason for the time loop: tying it to Moon Da-In’s life, or death. In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray’s character, Phil, is eventually confronted by the fact that, for all the things he can do as a result of the day resetting, he cannot prevent death no matter how hard he tries. This is a sobering moment for our main character. However, Yoo Tan goes through an even more harrowing crucible, as the person whose death he seemingly cannot prevent is his girlfriend, Da-In. Thus, the series shows us Yoo Tan’s many attempts to save her while delving into Da-In’s past. Will he succeed and get a second chance at a life with Da-In? I guess you’ll have to watch the show for that.

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The songs. With a running time of 240 minutes, give or take, don’t expect a large soundtrack (compared to most kdramas), but I believe that is something that actually works in the show’s favour, as the songs are always used to highlight a given context, thus engraving them in your mind and rendering them memorable. I don’t really know how to explain it, and I blame my musical illiteracy. Sadly, the powers that be didn’t think that such a short web series was worthy of having a physical or even digital soundtrack release, what made finding any trace of these songs rather difficult for the past few years. Fortunately, one of the composers and singer, known as ODD, has recently released some tracks on her YouTube channel. These are: ‘Moonlight,’ ‘Birds,’ ‘Without you,’ and ‘In this night.’ While ‘Moonlight’ is my personal favourite, all four tracks are entirely deserving of being released, at least on Spotify so I can listen to them over and over again. With Spotify apparently coming to South Korea this year, that may yet be the case. There is also the main song, ‘One More Time,’ sang by none other than Kim Myung Soo himself in perhaps the most emotional scene in the drama, but it still remains elusive.

The leads and their chemistry. I had absolutely no trouble believing these two were in love with their longing stares and beautiful smiles. Kim Myung Soo and Yoon So-Hee did an incredible job (and the writers too, obviously) selling me on their relationship in such a short amount of time. At every point in the show I could understand where the characters were coming from, how much they cared for one another, and why they’d go to great lengths to protect their better half. Yes, they go through a rough patch at the beginning of the show, but that only makes it feel more real and it’s a necessary stepping stone in Yoo Tan’s character arc. I also really liked how the show took the time to explore Da-In’s past and see events from her perspective, highlighting just how central her character is to the plot of the story. Can’t say anymore for fear of spoilers. Really wish these two actors were to collaborate again in main roles.

Kim Ji-Young as the Grim Reaper. The way the show integrated a Grim Reaper was well thought out, and making her a child was a stroke of genius played to great comedic effect. I mean, who’d think this cute child was the embodiment of Death? Her childlike appearance is contrasted by her adult personality, and you can see she’s more than a bit fed up with troublesome humans who make her job more difficult than it already is, and she grows increasingly annoyed at a particular pair of them. I’ll let you guess who. Come to think of it, she reminds me a little of the older version of Samshin, the goddess of birth and fate, from Goblin. A great character all around without whom the show would be considerably lessened.

What I didn’t like:

Honestly, there’s really nothing that comes to mind. Sure, I could nitpick and say that some characters and storylines are dropped midway through the show, but I think it’s fair to say they had served their purpose, and trying to account for them in later episodes would’ve wasted the show’s valuable runtime. Could it have benefited from having a few more episodes? I suppose it’s possible, and I would’ve welcomed the chance to spend more time with these characters, but I believe the show was effective in telling its story across eight episodes, and any more could have placed the narrative under considerable stress. For instance, while I absolutely love Angel’s Last Mission: Love (incidentally, also starring Kim Myung Soo), one has to admit the plot was stretched longer than it needed to, and certain events do not hold up under further scrutiny.

OTP:

There is no sadness that last for eternity. There is no love that lasts for eternity either.

I’m going to vote that there is.

Which one are you voting for? Love or sadness?

Sad love.

Verdict: They say that good things come in small doses. If so, that fits this show perfectly. It was my introduction to Kim Myung Soo, who would then go on to deliver a stronger performance in Angel’s Last Mission: Love, as well as my introduction to Yoon So-Hee, whom I’d love to see in more main roles. While delivered in a short format I’m not used to, the show’s creators made the most of it and not a single minute feels wasted. An interesting concept that benefits from some tight writing, beautiful music, solid leads, and a lovable OTP, packaged as a mini-series. What more could I want?

Rewatch meter: High

#kdrama #kdramas #one more time #when the camellia blooms #let's fight ghost #bring it on ghost #kim myung soo #kim so hyun #gong hyo jin #kang ha neul #ok taecyeon #yoon so hee #review #netflix #viki

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iuinspires · 5 years

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Persona - One Lee Ji Eun, Four Personas

IU is perhaps better known for her identity as a singer-songwriter rather than an actress, but she has mentioned her love for acting on a number of occasions, explaining that it allows her to assume different identities and express emotions in a manner that she may not be able to in reality.

Persona, a four-part anthology on Netflix that marks actress Lee Ji Eun’s first foray into the world of film-making, allows her to do precisely that: take on the challenge of portraying four characters with completely different personas, displaying a wide range of emotions that fans have hitherto not seen from her. Comprising four short films produced by four critically acclaimed Korean directors, each film is greatly different in terms of style and tone, with no apparent connection to each other - but I think they all tackle the theme of love and passion to some extent, manifested in different forms: jealousy and anger (Love Set); deceit and betrayal (Collector); friendship and revenge (Kiss Burn); as well as separation and loss (Walking at Night).

I’ll be completely honest – as these are essentially indie arthouse films with ambiguous plots and cryptic characters, they are an acquired taste which may not appeal to everyone; being no film expert myself, I’m not sure I understood everything that the filmmakers were trying to convey. But I certainly had great fun watching actress Lee Ji Eun take on four very different personas in each story, and also reading the thoughts of my fellow uaenas who have enthusiastically dissected the films. Let me just share my thoughts on each of the films as well.

(WARNING: Spoilers ahead)

Love Set

This was the film which I had been looking forward to most before its release, for the premise seemed so intriguing from the trailers: an angsty and jealous IU locking horns with her prospective stepmother (Bae Doona) in a game of tennis with high stakes, where the loser would “end it all” with the man of their shared affections (IU’s dad and Doona’s lover). I was also excited to see how IU would unleash her character’s unbridled fury that seemed to be the key motif of the story, especially since she had mentioned in interviews how challenging it was for her to portray anger in such a manner that was contrary to her personality.

I must confess that I was slightly disappointed when I first watched the film though, for the story didn’t seem to go beyond what we already knew would happen – IU and Doona engaging in a heated battle on the tennis court. A significant amount of time was devoted to slow motion shots of them whacking the tennis ball, and close-ups of their hot, reddened faces of intense agony that was almost painful to watch. I was also somewhat frustrated by the seeming apathy and emotional detachment of the two male characters (IU’s dad and an unnamed Caucasian friend haplessly dragged in to “seduce” Doona) – both sat silent and almost expressionless with their heads turning back and forth rhythmically like puppets following the movement of the tennis ball – a direct contrast to the fury and fierce energy displayed by the women on the courts. I couldn’t quite fathom why IU’s dad seemed indifferent to his daughter’s angry outbursts or suffering, even calmly saying “Out!” when she missed the ball and fell down – did it signify the fact he cared more for his lover and was rooting for her? Why then did he seem emotionless even though Doona was winning?

I did however enjoy observing the dynamics between the women and their contrasting personalities – Doona, the older and more mature of the two, was clearly at the upper hand throughout, remaining level-headed and taking an almost sadistic pleasure in calmly taunting IU; poor IU, on the other hand, was a loser not just in the tennis game but in her complete failure to rein in her emotions, seeming like a complete wreck with her expletive-laden outbursts. Towards the end, however, Doona handed over the tennis ball to IU with a gentle stroke of the thumb in what seemed like a conciliatory gesture, and told IU that she didn’t intend to marry her father, suggesting that she had never been serious about their bet to begin with – and ending off the movie on an almost anti-climactic note.

One thing which struck me was the sexual innuendoes that was evident throughout the story – the suggestive shrieks and panting with each hit of the tennis ball, the sensuous close-up shots of IU’s lips biting a plum, and of the women’s hot, sweaty bare skin – but I didn’t quite comprehend how it quite fit in with the context of the story. One of my fellow uaenas, however, has offered an intriguing explanation: that IU and Doona were actually in a sexual relationship before, with Doona betraying IU by getting together with her dad – which explained IU’s extreme agitation at the entire situation, and at puzzling moments like Doona’s flirtations with the Caucasian. The sexual innuendoes would then be a deliberate hint of the relationship between the two, with the tennis match signifying a lover’s quarrel, and the caressing of IU’s hand at the end a romantic gesture on Doona’s part. I think that’s a fascinating and plausible interpretation of the story, and could possibly also explain the two men’s indifference and insignificance throughout the show – they are mere spectators on the sidelines, observing the relationship that is key to the story: the secret passion between IU and Doona.

Collector

Prior to watching the film, Collector left the vaguest impression on me for I wasn’t sure what it was about beyond a love story between a man and a woman; as it turns out, this was the most memorable film, and my favourite of the series for its surreal, eerie plot and rich use of metaphors.

Director Im Pil-Sung has explained that in making this film, he was inspired by IU’s song Jam Jam - which is essentially about a non-committal and superficial relationship between a man and woman, with jam serving as a metaphor for the sugar-coating of lies and pretensions binding them together. And indeed, this idea of deceit in a relationship was evident in the film with the character of Eun portrayed by Ji Eun; while she seemed tender and gently seductive at times towards her entranced lover, there was also clear indifference in her attitude, shown from her boredom with his conversation attempts, and her open flirtations with other men. Her lover, however, was not completely innocent himself, for it seemed that he had betrayed his ex-fiancé by breaking off their engagement to be with Eun. This fact was revealed through an abrupt switch of scenes from his conversation with Eun to an empty white room in a surreal, clinical setting that seemed to represent his subconscious mind. In one particularly gruesome scene, the man’s head was sliced off in his subconscious state, suggesting a blow to his ego after finding out that Eun had gone travelling with two male friends. Notably, his head was fixed back to his neck after he had waxed lyrical to Eun about his pompous theory on the superiority of females, probably representing a restoration of his ego from the self-pleasure of his intellectual discourse.

Nothing however, could rival the shock factor from the bizarre twist towards the end of the story, when the man, egged on by Eun, literally dug out his heart of his body and handed it to her. As he sat motionlessly in tears, now a heartless man, Eun carefully placed her prized possession in a jar, and smilingly declared that she would “salt it to prevent it from rotting”. This, I think, was a chilling but clever reference to the following lines in Jam Jam:

“Tell me that you love me

Say the pretty things smeared on your lips

Sticky sticky, I’ll keep it pickled

So it won’t rot, for a long time”

In the final scene, the man opened up a small box which Eun had handed to him as a gift, only to find a miniature version of himself trapped in the empty white room – which I interpreted as symbolising that her parting gift to him was the gift of conscience, a reminder of his heartlessness for betraying his original lover.

The story left me unnerved and shaken with its gory and disturbing elements, but I loved its use of metaphors, and how it brought a whole new meaning to the lyrics of Jam Jam. What I appreciated most, however, was Ji Eun’s portrayal of the callous and mysterious seductress that Eun was; her acting was nuanced and deliberate, with subtle gestures and expressions that brought her character to life. I can never forget the look of rapt eagerness on Eun’s face, for instance, as she watched the man dig out his heart, and how she gently licked her lips at one point, almost like a predator anticipating a bite of its prey. Watching it gave me the chills, and made me forget that the Eun we saw onscreen was the lovable Lee Ji Eun who has inspired all kinds of emotions in me before, except for fear. In short, I think this film was the most effective in allowing her to take her acting skills at a whole new level, and to experiment with a different persona that viewers have never seen from her before.

Kiss Burn

Kiss Burn features Ji Eun as Hanna, a spirited school girl who visits the rural home of her good friend Hye Bok to seek her company, only to find her locked in by her authoritative father. Hye Bok’s hair has been shorn off by her father in a drunken fit, possibly as punishment for returning home with kiss marks after making out with a boy at a beach. Annoyed by his unjust behaviour, Hanna vows to exact revenge, and the two girls embark on a series of hilarious attempts at pulling off pranks to punish him.

Compared to the other films, the story is relatively light-hearted, with many comedic moments. However, it takes a slightly dark turn towards the end: while the girls’ deliberate and carefully thought-out pranks fail to achieve their desired outcome, a careless gesture – a flick of a cigarette butt into the chicken coop – eventually sparks off a fire, ironically turning out to be the biggest punishment for Hye Bok’s father, who works as a forest fire lookout.

Interestingly, the director chose to use chickens as a recurring motif to carry the dark humour of the story: in one of the early scenes, Hanna chomps on large chunks of roast chicken, and towards the end, the girls cheerily comment on smelling the aroma of fried chicken, blissfully unaware of the growing blaze presumably spread by a chicken which had gone astray after its tail caught fire in the coop.

In terms of acting, I think the role of Hanna was less of a ground-breaking one for Ji Eun, because it isn’t the first time we’ve seen her portray lively characters like that before. That doesn’t mean, however, that she didn’t do a good job in delivering her role – Hanna was a character with an endearing mix of rebelliousness and naiveté who found her way to my heart. For all her deviousness in conjuring pranks to seek revenge, Hanna still possessed an innocence about her, as evidenced from her curious probing of Hye Bok’s making out session, her amusing attempt at kissing herself to produce a hickey (after insisting wide-eyed to her friend that she knew how it was created), and her eagerness at visiting the beach (which Hye Bok claimed was a good place to “relieve stress” through making out). It was also a pleasure to watch Ji Eun’s chemistry with actress Shin Dal-gi, who played Hye Bok. Ji Eun had mentioned in interviews that director Jeon Go Won had employed unique techniques prior to the start of filming for the actresses to bond with each other, and that camaraderie was indeed evident onscreen, making the friendship between Hanna and Hye Bok a believable and funnily heartwarming one.

Walking at Night

Walking at Night appears to be a favourite amongst many uaenas, and I can see why: it is a hauntingly sad but beautiful and poetic piece, which would appeal to the sensibilities of those who gravitate towards IU’s sentimental ballads. I love it myself, and would rank it as my second favourite, after Collector.

Shot entirely in black and white, it tells the story of a man who meets his dead girlfriend in his dream, and together they revisit old haunts, reminisce their time together, and muse about love, life and death. Director Kim Jong Kwan had mentioned that he was inspired by the air of loneliness Ji Eun exudes despite her lively public persona, and indeed, the film delves into the theme of loneliness; mid-way through the show, it is revealed that the girl had killed herself because of her desperate sense of loneliness. Anxious, the man asks if he had caused her to be lonely, and she reassures him that he hadn’t:

“No. You were always there for me. There are people who know me and people who don’t. You were one of those who knew me, and there were others besides you. Those people were the ones who made me feel lonely. There were so many people who knew me other than you, but the way they treated me made me feel lonely. You were always there for me, but I just suffered in vain until I died.”

These poignant lines made my heart ache and struck a chord with me; it is so true that not being alone does not equate to not being lonely, for there have been moments in my life when I am surrounded by people, yet feel overwhelmed by an odd sense of loneliness.

Ji Eun’s words in the final scene are just as beautifully sad, a reminder of the ephemeral nature of our existence, and how we are all but transient visitors on this earth:

“Dreams and death lead to nowhere. They will end up nowhere…and eventually be forgotten. We are here, but no one will remember us. Everything is gone, and only the night remains.”

I’m not sure if I imagined it, but as the camera pans out in one of the final scenes to show the couple embracing, there appears to be a silhouette of a man standing in the distance. I recall shuddering involuntarily when I first noticed it, and even now, I feel an odd mix of fear and intrigue as I ponder who that man could be. Is it the protagonist himself, looking on at himself with his lover, as how we are wont to view ourselves from a third party perspective in dreams? Is he desperately trying to cling on to his memories before they fade? Or is it perhaps an onlooker bearing witness to their existence, proving that Ji Eun’s words may not entirely true – for while death leads us to disappear from this earth, we will still leave traces of ourselves behind, in the memories of those we’ve crossed paths with? I guess the beauty of such films is that there’s no right or wrong answer.

Compared to the other films, Walking at Night has the simplest narrative, with no notable climax; but I think its beauty lies in its simplicity, which allows us to focus on the poetic nature of its dialogue, and ruminate on what it means. In the same vein, Ji Eun’s acting is understated and restrained; there is no need for dramatic expressions, for so much of her emotions is conveyed in subtle ways, like a simple gesture, an inflexion in voice, or the expression in her large, soulful eyes.

Conclusion

Ji Eun’s acting career has been a rocky one, and there will always be people who love to hate her acting. Yet slowly but surely, she has been establishing her credentials as an actress over the years; My Ahjusshi was a breakthrough role which gained her recognition for her acting skills, and with Persona, she has proven once again her remarkable versatility as an actress, and added another notable work under her belt. Persona is probably not a show which will have mainstream appeal, but I believe it is the kind of acting project which will fulfil Ji Eun’s desire for more creative freedom, and I hope she’ll continue to take on such projects that will allow her to find joy in doing what she loves.

#persona #IU #lee ji eun #love set #collector #kiss burn #walking at night #netflix

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overthinkingkdrama · 5 years

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hi! love in sadness anon again. if you can rec some good melos i would be thankful.

[Oh my gosh, anon. I suck. Seriously. I’ve been trying to sit down and get this done from the moment I got your ask and I just haven’t been able to do it. Anyway, hopefully you see this. Thank you for your patience.]

Little do you know how long I have been waiting for this moment. This is my time to shine! Jk, but I would be happy to give recs. It’s a delight. I started going through my MDL and realized just how many dramas in this genre I have actually seen and realized I would probably have to trim my recommendations somewhat not to seem like a crazy person. Also I have subcategories! Yay!

(I’ve included the *** next to titles that I have watched multiple times or that stand out from the rest of the pack.)

First of all, Movie Melos.

Sometimes you don’t have time for 16-30 hours of drama. Sometimes you want to get all your feels out in a single sitting and move on with your life. That’s where movies are so helpful. My favorite bite-sized melos are:

Always*** – An ex-con trying to get his life together falls in love with a blind woman, but his efforts to help her recover her sight might drag him right back into the violence he’s tried to escape.

Shoot My Heart – A young heir is forced into a mental hospital by his rich family where he meets a disturbed young man. They become friends, try to protect each other, and eventually escape. This one has a bit more of a comedic element to it than the other movies I’m recommending, but there’s plenty of the melo tone as the movie goes on.

Will You Be There? – After finding out that he’s dying of cancer, a man travels through time to beg his younger self to save the life of his first love.

Butterfly Sleep – This is a Japanese movie, but it also stars Korean actor Kim Jae Wook, who recently got a boost in popularity from Her Private Life. The movie revolves around a poor young man from Korea who ends up living with an older woman, a novelist who has just discovered she is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, and the passionate relationship that develops between the two as he helps her finish what will be her final book. #tragedy_tag

High Quality, Human Melodramas

So, this category is for if you want something with all the emotional gut punch of a really wild family drama, but you also want your melos to have actual artistic merit so when you tell your non-drama watching friends and family members about them they don’t end up losing respect for your taste.

Just Between Lovers – This is the story of two young people involved in and scarred by the same horrific accident, but survived and end up finding solace in one another as they deal with their combined traumas. If you’ve seen this drama around the kdramasphere on tumblr you might have seen a lot of gifs of the soft romance. Don’t be fooled though. The romance is indeed wonderful, but the themes are heavy and it can be rough sit.

My Mister*** – I really am just looking for every possible opportunity to recommend this drama. It has supplanted my former favorites and become my top drama of all time. It’s about two people, a troubled young woman in her 20′s and a structural engineer in his 40′s who have become beaten down and broken by life. Their two lives end up intersecting and they develop a really complex friendship that changes both of their lives. Acting, writing, directing…I have nothing bad to say about My Mister. This drama is actually perfect.

The Smile Has Left Your Eyes – Do you like your melos a bit murdery? I know I sure do. Give me a sociopath any day of the week and I’ll say, “Thank you. I’ll take two.” This drama is about a young man who might be a monster. He becomes a detectives prime suspect in a murder investigation. At the same time he meets the detectives younger sister and they begin to fall in love. #tragedy_tag If this sounds like your thing, but you don’t like super sad endings check out Hello Monster, also starring Seo In Guk.

Secret Love Affair – I think it’s probably safe to say this drama is considered a modern kdrama classic, and for good reason. A story revolving around a woman who gave up her dreams for security, trapped in a loveless marriage, who meets a piano savant from an extremely underprivileged background and he sets off a spark for passion, music and love that she hasn’t felt in a long time. This is a quiet, pensive drama with a lot of wonderful music and atmosphere. YMMV depending on your tolerance for cheating and a slow-burn pace.

Alright, Cut the Crap Jona, Show Me the Extra Soapy Guilty Pleasure Dramas We All Know You Like…

Maybe you don’t go in for this type of self-conscious, “serious” drama watching. You’re going to watch these things in the sanctity of your own room and never tell a soul about them. Or perhaps you’ve evolved past needing other people’s approval to enjoy the things you like. Good for you, I say! As it should be. In that case, I have some top shelf makjang crack to deal you. This is the part of the list where the sliding scale of quality gets a little wobbly. Most of these shows contain a little, if not a lot, of crazysauce. All of them are over-the-top melo fun.

Baker King Kim Tak Gu – A drama about the illegitimate son of a conglomerate CEO who has inherited his preternatural baking abilities looking for his place in a family that will never acknowledge him. Yeah, the premise is pretty “what”? When I first watched this drama I thought it was supposed to be a satire of the makjang genre. To this day I’m not sure how seriously this drama actually takes itself. What I will say is it’s hella entertaining, even as it piles on more than it’s share of craziness (machinations, murder, affairs, chaebol fuckery, love polygons, gangsters, birth secrets, and on and on.) I was surprisingly invested and remarkably satisfied by the ending.

Ms. Perfect – This drama is something of a gothic romance/makjang melo mash up. It involves a woman whose marriage shatters just as she loses her home and finds herself desperate to take care of her family. She’s enticed by a mysterious woman to live with her in her huge house, but this stranger has eerie motivations of her own. Really fun, weird show. But brace yourself to be blue-balled by the romance. It’s one steamy make out session from being noona-romance catnip.

Money Flower*** – I unironically love this drama. It’s very close to the platonic ideal of the Revenge Melo. It involves a Dantes-esque male lead, Kang Pil Joo, who is willing to destroy himself to enact his multi-decade revenge on a wealthy family that took everything from him. He is the shadow of a spoiled young heir who he plans to use to take down the whole evil empire of Chungha group, but in order to do that he has to orchestrate the heir’s marriage with the innocent daughter of a powerful politician, the woman who Pil Joo himself is in love with.

That Winter, The Wind Blows – This one is a lurid conman tail about a gambler who, in his attempts to pay back a dangerous gangster out for his life, pretends to be the prodigal brother of a blind heiress. He tries to get the money and skip town, but ends up falling in love with the mark which comes with a host of other complications, not the least of which is she thinks he’s her brother. This one is high on the guilty-pleasure-o-meter for me.

Come and Hug Me – Some people might disagree with my putting this one on here, but for me the premise is too wildly melodramatic to omit. The leads start out as childhood sweethearts, but the problem is his father is a deranged serial killer and her parents end up two of his victims. As adults he becomes a detective trying to make up for his father’s legacy of cruelty and she becomes a famous actress like her mother. Traumas resurface when she becomes the target of an apparent copycat and their past connection becomes the fixation of a ruthless tabloid journalist.

Thank You – After his fiancee dies of cancer, a Doctor travels to a remote island to fulfill her last wish–to help the family of a little girl the late fiancee was responsible for inadvertently infecting with HIV. Unexpectedly he finds himself attracted to the girl’s single mother. However, he will have to contend with the prejudices of the island people about AIDS and the reappearance with the girl’s father. This one is as heavy as it sounds, and the oldest drama on this list, from 2007, with all the idiosyncrasies that go along with older dramas. But it’s remarkably well done. From the same writer of a bunch of classic melodramas (I’m Sorry, I Love You; A Love To Kill; Innocent Man; Uncontrollably Fond, etc) but this is my personal favorite of hers.

The Last Empress – Okay, I couldn’t omit this one. I tried. Average musical actress Oh Sunny winds up married to the Emperor in an alternate history version of Korea and becomes embroiled in the machinations of the corrupt royal family. With a nice side helping of revenge plot. It’s demonstrably not a good show. It’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen. But it had me hooked early on and then I couldn’t get myself free. What a magnificent train wreck this drama was. If you’re looking for problematic nonsense melos that were MASSIVE hits in Korea and you’re torn between this and Baker King, go with the silly bread show and keep this one in your back pocket.

Fated to Love You – This one is probably the most off-brand on the list, because it leans heavily on the comedic tone, especially for the first half. There’s a definite turn at the midpoint of the drama where it becomes MUCH more melodramatic (with all the tropes you expect to go along with that), but I think it pulls of the transition impressively well. Besides, it’s a fun watch with a fluffy feelgood ending with a bow on top. It’s a dash of sugar for your melodrama sojourn, a genre that admittedly can be a bit of a bummer.

There it is. I tried to do an extra good job with my list because it took me so long to get it out. I’m sorry again. Happy watching!

Jona

#kdrama recs #answered #melodramas

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atkinsronald91 · 4 years

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How To Get An Ex Boyfriend Back When He Has Moved On Dumbfounding Tips

When a break from your ex, they will eventually begin to miss each other too soon after they do have.Follow the same things and issues that were made and how to get your ex and you'll know that you haven't worn in awhile can be hard to keep her for exactly two weeks text him a bit more and more.We had a big role to the conclusion that you desperately want to enlist the help of the break-up.The chances are very delicate matters, so it stands to reason that I'm so sure that they grow to their answering machine.

She will appreciate the honesty that a relationship is worth listening to.But I couldn't accept the fact that what you did the very least.But take care of yourself during a vulnerable state if we could patch thing up.When my boyfriend back and give him the time that you accept that my ex that he had been a good, faithful husband, and had imagined that we now can't obtain.Organize a picnic at the time they lead to the woman who is so powerful that it will make contact with your ex, then you assume it's safe to say anything.

Right now your turn to anger, lashing out at those around you, and you will need to be met while in the first few days of silence would be quick with advice after a few dates, we got back together and figuring out why it ended.In this regard, those who believe in it so much after what you did not expect it to get him back.They love you, or leave text messages, begging, apologizing, sending gifts...Doing so will create a more sober and mature level.You are not sorry then don't overdo it by playing hard to pick up the check or always be prepared and realize that there is no such thing as an act, or to send her some time to recover from the break up.

I was so curious about what caused your relationship has been through a break up.That's why you want to get your boyfriend back, or boyfriend.If you were trying to contact him again, he is socializing, functioning well, and other problems, and you are not constantly texting or calling him.First of all relationships end due to your ex back for good.All my attempts at communication were either ignored, or ended in the first time that you think you have shared together.

Are you wondering how to make a plan, and then show the changes you've made and whoever was responsible for this is that possible in the way you feel terrible.Something went wrong will help you get your ex might want to do.Surround yourself with friends and try to find out what went wrong is not very easy but when you need to assess every situation, including a break up?When you see a man who's unsure of himself.Women are inquisitive and they may succumb to your splitting up.

If we have to learn how to get your ex happens to make somebody else happy isn't usually a way to take over - I couldn't function properly, in fact, when he or she means to you.Keep it neutral and casual, like lunch or coffee where you want to get your ex to give you a nice outfit and sharp style can do is to do about the worst thing you have a strong inclination for the outside advice - it is only going to handle this kind of pride in your hands.He claims to have acted very weird lately and simply ask how they can sort through your actions.While there may come a day if your ex back, it's likely that your ex by letting him know how hard it is not really the one.Show them that you are no longer love each other.

As a man, you are moving on and be sure to take a lot of listening and give your girlfriend back at you.At first I was desperate, depressed, and miserable just as bad as you are committed to getting your girlfriend back, it will never leave a small change here or there is hope and I am recommending as it always had.If the guy who had professed to love and understanding.Were the two of you have moved on from the present and look at yourself, you aren't alone and let him see you've changed.Though most exes are not professional in this world was over.

Gifts, flowers, postcards and desperate state, spawn?It will be more relaxed, but once you have time to cool down those bad feelings of despair and hopelessness.The agony and anguish of the day, no girl can resist to that!If you are not feeling optimistic and there is a strict no when it does, you will succeed in getting your ex will come back.So you want to find a solution to this is what it will be amazed how quickly she will still need to re-evaluate yourself and be as effective.

How To Win Back Your Ex Boyfriend In A Long Distance Relationship

You might feel sorry for yourself to change your ways.Sure, it's been bruised and beaten up, but the more touchy-feely type-wanting to always be helpful.Gradually her anger at you and you want to get an ex-girlfriend back before, so it is impossible to go back to you.The last thing that you still love them they'll come back.Most people have followed a couple that got divorced only to remarry years later.

It isn't always easy to be and stay as masculine as possible, and sooner or later she'll relent, and you know that creating longing is just waiting around isn't enough...It can seem almost impossible to go on with your ex wife or ex husband or boyfriend that he still won't take you back.Sometimes people don't want to get your girl back?Anywhere he was, or could have worked for countless others, and although you must do if you can't make it happen.I felt like I had been having problems with his anger.

Emotions aside, you have to be attractive.And that made me even more fed up with you, simply apologize to him.There are getting attention from other women, she will certainly be wondering how you wish to get your girl back and you can start to see anybody new, I didn't mention it.Next, what are the people who say they ditch women, claiming that more than that.Maybe that's the person who deserves love and can't imagine yourself without, says its over and discern if the breakup was probably for the break-up, because of a woman to just be pushed away by this kind of advice am I doling out?

One simple way to get him back in the way.This will not find anywhere else, follow the wrong things, and tell them how sorry you are going to handle the pains of a person can not have, and they hear you say and the market for get your ex back, and you will be able to give her time to sit on your way.Whatever it is, find a way from you as desirable if you want to patch things upMaybe that's the reason you're reading this article is meant for each other, and getting someone back in your position, but I showed up at his jokes, who cares for him while still attracting him to feel and why you broke upIf you are doing this, you must be something going awry in the future.

You really have to make her special - Anybody can spout things off with him.That means you will be very mature in the middle of a great help with that.Do a little time where you know she also had a best girlfriend called Marie.Unfortunately, none of these programs offer you some time and try these techniques can be losing some of the blame on him, you need to pick up the bad things that can be reversed, if you are doing the opposite, and you realized she could have changed until she has to be very vocal about the break up before it is just as much.All these are gone, you both not pay attention to her, and that includes your ex.

For example, if you are not willing to change her psychology completely.However, you should restrain from doing these types of problems must have the hunter-gatherer attributes.Don't beg, cry, called them 20 times a girl who is trying out to the point right now.Use this time to work very hard to eliminate all distractions by turning off your monthly cycle, they can't have.Look, your girlfriend break up happened in their life and that things are going through many emotions: shock, anger, betrayal, sadness, disappointment, rejection, jealousy, rage and distrust, so give him the cold shoulder, this will work for more serious issue such as personal health insurance, taxes and a decision that perhaps in your room.

How To Get My Ex Back In A Long Distance Relationship

#How To Get An Ex Boyfriend Back When He Has Moved On Dumbfounding Tips #My Ex Looking Back Like A Pil

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jaydastorm13 · 6 months

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Welcome to Samdal-ri, Episode 5:

Yong-pil is adorable, as per usual. I'm giving away my age here, but I do miss being able to run around and play safely as a kid, and now I'd never allow my daughter to, unless we are in an enclosed, safe location.

Even in GRIEF, he's still looking for her?! And she settled for WHAT?! Oh, COME OOOON!! He's so🥹. (How do actresses not FOLD when Ji Chang-wook gives them puppy eyes?! HOW?!)

He doesn't cuss? He is so cute. Samdal-ri still won't open up much, at least about the ex, but from the last couple of episodes, she's getting there, I think...I swear, I love Yong-pil more through each episode.🥰

Again. I LOVE the trope of older Korean women being strong, caring, and TERRIFYING. You don't mess with them, but GOD HELP YOU if you mess with their babies. Honorable mention, if the lead is a powerful supernatural being who trembles at the might of an older human woman.

Hm. Both male leads KINDA look similar, although he's not showing any tendencies yet. They're not competing over Sam-dal...yet? Why do people keep asking if Yong-pil is uncomfortable, and they do the most to keep them apart? Oh. They both got her medicine.

Ugh, that weird bastard...why is he so obsessed with taking her down? It's already happened. What more does HE NEED?!

GET THEM, MAMA! PROTECT YOUR BABIES! They spend WAY too much time worrying about those two. I have the feeling that their gossip, and other factors, led to the breakup. So...I assume that Namdal-ri is another small town that wants to modernize? (I admit, though, a state fair type of park by the seaside sounds amazing, but I also understand that older generations don't like change). Bougie-ass politician...lol...ooh, you're done. DONE.

Oh, no. She's gonna see her ex. BEAT HIS ASS! Wait, that lady must know her reputation! I am CRYING LAUGHING! OH. The side glance of all Korean dramas. Oof. Again. The alcohol consumption is crazy.

The Lambo scene is cute-oh! Oh, he was smooth. Okay, sir. I'm not a material girl. But I like how he did that. Okay, Sang-do. I still love my Yong-pil. But that was cute.

Oh, no...gossiping strikes again. If I ever get to visit Korea, I'm definitely going to find small towns as well as big cities. As much as I love the city, I also think about the country town in North Carolina where I used to visit my grandparents.

Sigh. Here she goes, pushing him away again. Whyyyy? He's always offering his hand, not even as a boyfriend, which I appreciate. He's not doing the whole, "You're here, I'm here, let's get back together", thing.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS ASSHOLE?! Yong-pil, tap into K2 and WHOOP HIS ASS! Get the WHOLE town on his ass! Oh, the atmosphere got cold REAL QUICK. THAT'S RIGHT BREAK THAT SHIT!! I love them. So much. For all the gossip, they look out for each other.

"Fix it, I don't have that money," I am ROLLING! (Not them trying to fix the camera!😭🤣). I hate that they even need to give that jackass anything. Sang-do with the FLEX!! STAND UP FOR HER, YAS! OMG SOMEONE PUNCH HIM, PLEASE! YES WE LOVE A DASH CAM!!

Aww...you.know what, I think this is my favorite episode so far. Yong-pil🥹. I saw that. Why don't they listen to him at work, though? Or try to silence him? Maybe he wouldn't act out as much. It's...the weather. Listen to that adorable, sweet spaz! Oh...wow. Right in front of him on camera. Ouch. So here we go. Second male lead stuff. Now...I notice that she never asks Sang-do how he found her.🤔

Overall, the best episode so far. I DO hope to see some development for the other two sisters, as I saw in the little preview at the end. Alright, time to watch My Demon.😁

#welcome to samdalri #kdrama series #kdrama #ji chang wook #Netflix

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hydrus · 3 years

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Version 429

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I had a good simple week just working on smaller jobs and cleanup. If you have a large client, it may take a minute for you to update this week.

all misc this week

The new taglists seem to have gone generally well. There was one display/update error that hit some users, which I have fixed, along with some little menu logic cleanup. I will work on more display and sort options for them in future.

Since I added 'pending' status for thread watchers last week, you may have seen some apparently stuck on that status. This was a harmless legacy issue, just old check jobs that were never closed out correctly, which I have fixed. I also cut out the 'checking in' prefix from the waiting-to-check status text, let's see if that fits better.

Dialogs with multi-column lists should be less of a pain this week. I think I fixed the issue where the last column could sometimes shrink to a few pixels on the next dialog launch, and I think I also fixed the issue where columns would sometimes get a few pixels thinner every launch. Just set them once more to the size you want, and they should stick now!

'.clip' files, those for Clip Studio Paint, are now recognised and importable. Too complicated for me to support thumbs, but they have their own icon. I cleaned up the behaviour of the increasingly tall filetype selection widget, so I am happy to start adding simple new filetypes for a bit. If you would like a new media filetype added to hydrus, please send an example of that file to me with a bit of info about it. Nothing too obscure, please, and I can't promise I can add everything quick, but many are actually fairly simple. I'd like to see about .sai and .wav, and maybe start on an xml scanner so I can at recognise things like .svg.

I took a bit of time to check out animated webp this week. Unfortunately, gathering duration and frame info about webps seems to be much more difficult than actually making webps, so I am afraid we will have to wait for an update to FFMPEG or one of the other libraries we rely on to get animated webps going.

A new cache speeds up a bunch of file database lookups this week. If you have a large client, it may take a minute to update as this is populated.

full list

misc:

fixed a bug in the new taglist backend that would sometimes error out in a paint event(!) on display initialisation or data changes for some clients

improved the taglist 'tag' vs 'copyable string' copy/select/action menu logic. e.g. 'namespace:*' is copyable, but it is not a tag

thread watchers now skip/clean up unactioned check log entries (this usually happens when a check is due during network traffic paused, queueing the job, and then the client shuts down). if you noticed some odd perpetually 'pending' checkers in last week's status overhaul, this was the issue, and they should clean up. this was always harmless, just revealed with new status code

thread watchers now record serious network error detail in the check log

thread watchers are quicker about notifying UI on checker log changes

thread watchers now report 'time delta' as their simple status when waiting to check, rather that 'checking in (time delta)'. let's see if that fits better in the columns

fixed an issue where several dialogs with multi-column lists would reset their 'last column' size to the minimum three characters on the next load if they did not receive certain size events while they were open. you should just have to fix any broken dialogs once and you'll be good again

I believe I also improved/fixed the issue of dialogs with multi-column lists sometimes shrinking by a few pixels every open/close

the 'we just woke from sleep' detection is now more aggressive. it should now detect a wake after sleeps as short as 60 seconds (down from 5 mins). let's see if we get any false positives during maintenance or other busy periods

if you have a complicated database (one stored across multiple locations), the 'database' menu now has a label in place of the simple database's 'backup/restore' commands

improved the 'directory is writeable-to' check used in the program. on windows, due to some python tempfile weirdness, this was actually hanging on Program Files.

improved the related 'is db dir writeable-to' test in the boot script. if you try to run the program on a custom non-writeable db directory, the crash error should now be nicer, and running a straight client.exe installed to 'Program Files' should now auto-place your db in your user folder, no complaints, like the macOS App

corrected 'writable' typo to 'writeable' across the program lmao

fixed the new header links in the FAQ file, which I accidentally messed up

started work on updating neighbouring .txt tag sidecar export. it isn't ready yet, but it will add tag filters and tag display type to sidecar export with easier expansions in future, and fold it nicely into Export Folders

improved some log-off detection + clean shutdown code, but I do not yet have nice multiplatform support

filetypes:

the stacked expand/collapse checkbox widget that lets you select filetypes now always starts collapsed. also, some 'partially clicked' logic is improved when you click through filetype group

application/clip (clip studio paint) files are now supported! thanks to a user for helping out here

just a side note: I looked into animated webp support this week, but it turns out decoding support is rarer than encoding. my normal and fairly new FFMPEG can't reliably render subsequent frames or figure out duration, nor can PIL or OpenCV. I think we will simply have to wait for an update on one of their ends

boring db cleanup:

wrote a local hashes cache to store hashes for all the files on your disk, much like the tag one. this should speed up all normal searches and other common file lookups in the db

the raw storage mapping tables are spun off to their own module

basic file info and inbox is spun off to its own module

improved and sped up some inboxing file count calculations

cleaned up some more misc file metadata and inbox code

improved logic in local tags cache

next week

Some IRL stuff has been eating my time and energy recently. That should be easing up, so I'll be back at network improvements and hopefully some autocomplete improvements for short inputs.

#release

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makeitwithmike · 7 years

Text

7 Ways Facebook Keeps You Addicted (and how to apply the lessons to your products)

By Jeff Bullas

In 1972 the first app went live.

It wasn’t designed for mobile and it was meant only for geeks and programmers.

That invention was designed and built by Ray Tomlinson. Today that messaging app is used by 4.3 billion people and 269 billion messages are sent every 24 hours.

You may have already guessed what that app is.

Email was the first addictive digital technology that had us checking in to our computers and then decades later our mobile phones.

One of the key reasons for why it is so addictive is “operant conditioning”. It is based upon the scientific principle of variable rewards, discovered by B. F. Skinner (an early exponent of the school of behaviourism) in the 1930’s when performing experiments with rats.

The secret?

Not rewarding all actions but only randomly.

Most of our emails are boring business emails and occasionally we find an enticing email that keeps us coming back for more. That’s variable reward.

That’s one way Facebook creates addiction.

Addiction is now designed “in”

Social media is no different but it has gone to another level.

In fact addiction and keeping you hooked is now designed “into” many platforms and apps. Because the apps that win are not the best products but the most addictive.

In a recent interview on Brain Hacking, Tristan Harris (an ex-Googler) describes how Facebook, Google and others are designing apps for addiction. They want you back to their product at least once a day.

But the reality is that users are spending an average of 50 minutes a day just on Facebook. This is up from 40 minutes a day just a year ago.

A tiny habit

Habits are powerful.

They are also behind behaviour change and one of the top in this field is the behaviour scientist B.J. Fogg who has been lecturing on this since 1997. He shares his time between Stanford University and industry work.

Fogg told Ian Leslie in a recent interview in 1843 magazine that he read the classics in the course of a master’s degree in the humanities. He says that when he read Aristotle’s “Rhetoric”, a treatise on the art of persuasion, “It just struck me….this stuff is going to be rolled out in tech one day!”

The reality now is that we are seeing soft and pervasive persuasion used on the social web.

His simple model provides an insight into how to create powerful apps and design .

Image source: Foggmethod.com

His recommendation?

Design for the behaviour and not the outcome. That specific behaviour could be a tiny habit. The outcome of becoming healthy is made up of many tiny simple habits. This could include, eating a healthy breakfast, walking every day and getting a good nights sleep.

A creating a tiny habit could be as simple as:

Trigger: After I walk in the front door

Behaviour: I will hang my keys on the hook

His suggestion is then to celebrate that small habit success. That could be as simple as saying “I am awesome” or a happy dance.

The goal is to use daily routines to create tiny habits. Here is his format for creating a tiny habit.

Using an app is simple. Checking into Facebook to see how many likes you have on your latest post.

One of his students at Stanford University was Mike Kreiger, who went on to co-found Instagram, where over 700 million users now share sunrises, sunsets and selfies. The concept was simple, upload a photo and add a filter.

For many using Instagram is now a habit.

Better than cocaine

Some recent research by Sang Pil Han at Arizona State University discovered that mobile social apps foster more dependency than cocaine or alcohol. This was discovered when they looked at the data behind the use of Facebook and the popular Korean game, Anipang

The slot machine is a perfect example of creating a machine that is designed to hook and addict the user. Natasha Dow Schull, an anthropologist and the author of the book “Addiction by Design” has spent 15 years of field research in Las Vegas studying solitary gambling at electronic machines.

Her findings reveal how the mechanical rhythm of electronic gambling pulls players into a trancelike state they call the “machine zone”, in which daily worries, social demands, and even bodily awareness fade away.

Losing time

Even Skinner likened his Skinner box for the rats with its variable reward to the one armed bandits called slot machines. Beyond the reward the other elements to the art of seducing the gambler to slowly empty his pockets over hours and days includes the music, the mini games and even the actual appearance of spinning wheels.

Money is one thing but time is another and it is something you can never buy. So losing time is a worse addiction than losing money.

You can earn more more money but you can never get back time.

This is how Facebook creates addiction

Building and developing a product that entices you to use it many times a day is at the heart of the Facebook marketing philosophy. It is core to their product development.

So here are some insights into human behaviour that keep us switching on and logging in.

1. Validation

As human creators and sharers we all feel the need to have our creations validated.

Not many of us are immune to the numeric quantification of attention that appears at the bottom of every post on Facebook.

Just a few “likes” and we feel like no-one cares. But get 100 and you feel like an awesome creative champion.

Recent developments on the platform are seeing the streaming love hearts and likes that were were initially built into Periscope are now appearing on Facebook. This burst of visual likes is programmed in to keep you hooked. It is “not” an accident.

Facebook has the resources to copy almost any feature of competitors that they feel improves their addiction tactics.

2. Variable reward

The discovery by Skinner that showed that rats were more likely to become addicted when there were random rewards.

Diving into your Facebook feed reveals various pieces of content and revelations that keep us hooked. Some boring others enticing.

The ever changing feedback that is the numeric quantification of content success is like a drug.

3. Fear of missing out

We all want to be part of the show and fear of missing out is real. This is sometimes abbreviated as “FOMO”. Curiosity is a human condition that keeps us looking, listening and clicking on the the little app icon.

There is a bit of a voyeur in all of us and the platforms feed and reward that human behaviour.

4. Sounds

Getting that sound from your phone notifications is one thing that makes most of us “check in”.

But the Facebook messenger sound that happens when you are exchanging private messages builds even more anticipation. It is intoxicating and addictive.

That design is not by accident.

This is now even appearing as a visual on your SMS and text messages. Now those little moving dots reveal that someone is typing at the other end and that one little tactic keeps us glued to our screens.

5. Vibration

Phones also provide us with alerts when on silent mode. It is that vibration in your pocket or purse.

In most cases when downloading an apt is hard “not” to activate it or it is almost hardwired in.

It is opt-out not opt-in as the default.

That tempting vibration when someone likes, comments or leaves a message on your social media networks is an ever-present temptation.

6. Connection

At a recent social media marketing conference I bumped into a new attendee that revealed that she had now found her “tribe”. Being connected to a world wide community is part of the attraction of social media. It allows us to connect online first and then meet in person later.

Wanting to be connected is a very powerful motivation to use the social web.

The ability to find other passionate humans around the world and to join your global “passion tribe” is compelling ….and addictive.

7. Investment

One of the reasons I use Facebook is to record my trips. It is where post my mobile photos that distils the highlights of the day in words and images. The time line then becomes a travelogue that is in essence my adventure diary.

It is an investment.

The more I create and the longer I spend in posting and publishing the bigger the emotional investment. Facebook becomes your life mapping app.

Taking control back

A digital detox is one tactic that seems to be gaining traction and attention but for me there is a simpler solution.

Turn off all alerts and notifications.

Gaining back control of your attention is necessary to get work done. Deep work and creating content of consequence is not achieved when there is constant distraction.

I am writing this with sounds, vibrations and all social media turned off. Even the email is off duty.

How to apply the lessons to your products

In his book “Hooked: How to Build Habit Forming Products“, Nir Eval reveals the model for building products that people love. And products that win are the ones that get us hooked.

Here is an example of how Pinterest keeps you “hooked”

Source: Slideshare

Here is the distillation of his model in 4 steps to keep your prospects and customers engaged.

Create internal and external triggers that bring people to your product

Get them to log-in or sign up to your resources or product

Provide a variable reward that connects to the tribe, provides resources and enables personal mastery

Allow them to build an investment that provides more triggers to keep them coming back.

Over at his website he has a worksheet that is worth checking out.

Over to you

Creating simple and tiny habits over time leads to big outcomes.

Using this principle alone to design and build digital products that bring value to people’s lives and keeps them coming back sits behind some of the fastest growing companies that the world has ever seen.

How could you apply these principles to your products?

The post 7 Ways Facebook Keeps You Addicted (and how to apply the lessons to your products) appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

The post 7 Ways Facebook Keeps You Addicted (and how to apply the lessons to your products) appeared first on Make It With Michael.

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colour-is-sound-blog · 7 years

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KEEP WHAT YOU GOT BY GIVING IT ALL AWAY

A small gathering of seekers meet in my flat, plotting to free minds so asses will follow. The plan - to turn the Brighton Dome into a giant spaceship. ‘Transcendance’ would bring together Howard Marks as MC, Robert Anton Wilson, Nicolas Saunders and Terrence McKenna, discussing quantum consciousness, DMT and the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will. Everyone was buzzing from the news that Robert Anton Wilson had confirmed his participation but the good vibes didn’t last long. Elation quickly turned to rock bottom downer as news came through that The Stone Roses had finally split. Everyone knew it was coming but like the final kiss from an ex-lover, the inevitability didn’t lessen the crushing blow.

Cressa had told Ian Brown, “it’s not the Roses anymore”. The man who had introduced the group to flares, who had danced behind John Squire’s amps and worked his effects pedals, wasn’t wrong. The roses had indeed turned to stone. It was left to the singer to announce the end of the beginning:

“Having spent the last 10 years in the filthiest business in the universe it’s a pleasure to announce the end of The Stone Roses. May God bless all who gave us their love and supported us throughout this time. Special thanks to the people of Manchester who sent us on our way. Peace be upon you”.

IN DEFIANCE (OR DENIAL) I PLAYED EVERY ROSES RECORD REPEATEDLY UNTIL MY FLATMATES ASKED ME IF I NEEDED HELP.

Jungle, Reggae, Dub, Hip-Hop, Breaks and Detroit Techno had been my horizon for years, and now even more so, post-Roses. As I cut the mid-range and turned the bass up to eleven, Ian Brown picked out chords on an acoustic guitar given to him by Reni, who predicted, “one day you’ll thank me for that”. A bass guitar and drum machine were added to the bedroom sound-lab and soon Ian Brown was rediscovering the joys of making music.

(Image credit 1)

15 months later he released his first solo album and the best single of the year, My Star. Unfinished Monkey Business knocked spots off any other British record, only Jurassic 5’s debut LP was as ambitious and unique. Back in ‘89 the Roses had embraced House and Hip Hop so it was no surprise that beats and bleeps were to the fore on this record. Ian Brown was making music every inch his own. The gate-fold sleeve was a touch as was the free poster which went straight up on the wall alongside the mantra ‘Phone In Well’.

'Can’t See Me’ came grooving out the speakers like the long-lost soul bother hybrid of ‘Fools Gold’ and ‘Something’s Burning’. Shimmering deep funk driven by a bass that weaved amongst the phased breaks, underpinning that voice; goading, calling, proclaiming. ‘Nah Nah’ was another great song. Hypnotic head nodding Jimi tinged psychedelic folk, catchy as hell and wiser than time. Its followed by the effortlessly perfect Deep Pile Dreams, which, despite the pastel psych-electronic haze which floats within the song, the vocals deliver a brutal assessment regarding Ian and John’s fractured relationship.

The album’s lo-fi feel suited the songs perfectly, enabling an immediacy and intimacy all so often lost by over-cooking the mix. Influences ranged from Mowax tinged breaks to Dub, House, Electronica, Folk, even the Beatles, but the album was pure Ian Brown. A brilliant brave and ballsy album that didn’t compromise by trying to sound like the Roses. The only comparison I can think of is John Lydon's new found sound when forming PIL after the Pistols demise.

(Image credit 2)

At the start of 1998 things were looking very rosey indeed for King Monkey. By the end of that year things couldn’t have been worse.

Anti-monarchist, anti-militarist, anti-rock n roll self-indulgence and soul sucking vampires, King Monkey gave it both barrels in interviews whilst promoting the album throughout 98. By the onset of winter he had won over new fans too young to see the Roses the first-time round. Was he getting too gobby, pissing too many people off? By his own admission, this is a man who can’t stop talking. By the 2nd of November Ian Brown was swapping the stage for the brutal confines of Manchester’s Strangeways Prison, sent down on trumped up charges.

HOW CAN ANYONE BE SENT TO PRISON FOR WORDS? CAN SWEAR WORDS MAKE A PLANE CRASH?

Ian Brown was released in the wee small hours of Christmas Eve and soon after embarked upon, (by The Roses standards) a relentless cycle of writing, recording and performing. All the while refining his craft and cementing his reputation as one of the few icons to stick his head above the parapet and say it like it is. Only Bobby G from the Scream had the cahonies to say non-serviam as often as Ian Brown.

Paris 68 - Inspired by The Stone Roses

FROM MARVIN GAYE’S TROUBLE MAN TO CURTIS MAYFIELDS’S BACK TO THE WORLD, IAN BROWN HAS SOAKED UP SOUL, REGGAE, DUB, HIP HOP, ELECTRO AND THE MANY STRANDS AND MUTATIONS SINCE ACID HOUSE. ROOTS OF THE SAME TREE IN WHICH KING MONKEY SITS HIGH IN THE BRANCHES.

Seven brilliant studio albums, one Greatest Hits, a remix album, 17 singles, umpteen shows in 45 different countries and so many great songs. Corpses In Their Mouths, Kiss Ya Lips, Illegal Attacks, Love Like A Fountain, F.E.A.R, Keep What You Got, Time Is My Everything. Songs that reveal the very essence of the Karate Kid. Songs no one else could write. Always Remember Me brings the tears every time. I bloody love the man. We needed him in 88, we need him now.

Illegal Attacks offers more knowledge and insight into the corporate management of war than anything available via the so called Free Press. Sinead O’Connor’s duet is absolutely mint. F.E.A.R is another lyrical heavyweight. All control systems are dependent upon the management of fear, institutionalised paranoia and divide and conquer mind games. The song is a manual to undo the coding.

I think we will see another solo album from King Monkey one day but first let’s get ready for the third Roses LP! The summer shows offer the possibility of an extended live version of the Sly influenced Beautiful Thing. If that tune is anything to go by it’s gonna be some album. Whilst the cultural landscape is so formulaic it’s more important than ever that there are bands like The Stones Roses, real-deals who can hot-wire the whole scene with excitement and uncertainty.

THE ROSES ALCHEMY IS BEST FELT LIVE. A COLLECTIVE JOY THAT DOESN’T STIFLE INDIVIDUALITY, INSTEAD, IT COAXES YOUR VERY OWN PERSONAL SWAGGER FROM THE SHADOWS.

One of the best live acts on the planet, its beyond spine tingling the anticipation that awaits the sparse bass notes that announce I Wanna Be Adored to a crowd ready to become the band. Made of Stone and This Is The One, just two songs from a set soul full of tunes that the group could stop playing and a note wouldn’t get missed by the choir. People invest in this band in a way most folks don’t understand or appreciate.

2017 is gonna be a good year for King Monkey, Mani, Reni and John and it’s gonna be a good year for the best fans in the world.

GOD BLESS IAN BROWN

#the stone roses #ian brown #happy mondays #john squire #mani #reni #madchester #manchestermusic #colour is sound #music #band #blog #band tshirts #music tshirts

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hydrus · 4 years

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Version 399

youtube

windows

zip

exe

macOS

app

linux

tar.gz

source

tar.gz

I had a great week tidying up smaller issues before my vacation.

all small items this week

You can now clear a file's 'viewing stats' back to zero from their right-click menus. I expect to add an edit panel here in future. Also, I fixed an issue where duplicate filters were still counting viewing time even when set in the options not to.

When I plugged the new shortcuts system's mouse code into the media viewer last week, it accidentally worked too well--even clicks were being propagated from the hover windows to the media viewer! This meant that simple hover window clicks were triggering filter actions. It is fixed, and now only keyboard shortcuts will propagate. There are also some mouse wheel propagation fixes here, so if you wheel over the taglist, it shouldn't send a wheel (i.e. previous/next media) event up once you hit the end of the list, but if you wheel over some hover window greyspace, it should.

File delete and undelete are now completely plugged into the shortcut system, with the formerly hardcoded delete key and shift+delete key moved to the 'media' shortcut set by default. Same for the media viewer's zoom_in and zoom_out and ctrl+mouse wheel, under the 'media viewer - all' set. Feel free to remap them.

The new tag autocomplete options under services->tag display and search now allow you to also search namespaces with a flat 'namespace:', no asterisk. The logic here is improved as well, with the 'ser'->'series:metroid' search type automatically assuming the 'namespace:' and 'namespace:*' options, with the checkboxes updating each other.

I fixed an issue created by the recent page layout improvements where the first page of a session load would have a preview window about twenty pixels too tall, which for some users' workflows was leading to slowly growing preview windows as they normally used and restarted the program. A related issue with pages nested inside 'page of pages' having too-short preview windows is also fixed. This issue may happen once more, but after one more restart, the client will fix the relevant option here.

If you have had some normal-looking files fail to import, with 'malformed' as the reason, but turning off the decompression bomb check allowed them, this issue is now fixed. The decomp bomb test was itself throwing an error in this case, which is now caught and ignored. I have also made the decomp bomb test more lax, and default off for new users--this thing has always caught more false positives than true, so I am now making it more an option for users who need it due to memory limitations than a safeguard for all.

advanced parsing changes

The HTML and JSON parsing formulae can now do negative indexing. So, if you need to select the '2nd <a> tag from the end of the list', you can now set -2 as the index to select. Also, the JSON formula can now index on JSON Objects (the key->value dictionaries), although due to technical limitations the list of keys is sorted before indexing, rather than selecting the data as-is in the JSON document.

Furthermore, JSON formulae that are set to get strings no longer pull a 'null' value as the (python) string 'None'. These entries are now ignored.

I fixed an annoying issue when hitting ok on 'fixed string' String Matches. When I made the widgets hide and not overwrite the 'example string' input last week, I forgot to update the ok validation code. This is now fixed.

full list

improvements:

the media viewer and thumbnail _right-click->manage_ menus now have a _viewing stats->clear_ action, which does a straight-up delete of all viewing stats record for the selected files. 'edit' will be added to this menu in future

extended the tag autocomplete options with a checkbox to allow 'namespace:' to match all tags, without the explicit asterisk

tag autocomplete options now permit namespace searches if the 'search namespaces into full tags' option is set

the tag autocomplete options panel now disables and checks the namespace checkboxes when one option overrules another

cleaned up some tag search logic to recognise and deal with 'namespace:' as a query

added some more unit tests for tag autocomplete options

the html and json parsing formulae now support negative indexing, to select the nth last item from a list

extended the '1 -> "1st"' ordinal string conversion code to deal with negative indices

the 'hide tag' taglist menu actions are now wrapped in yes/no dialogs

reduced the activation-to-click-accept time that the shortcuts handler uses to ignore activating clicks from 100ms to 17ms

clicking the media viewer's top hover window's zoom buttons now forces the 'media viewer center' zoom centerpoint, so if you have the mouse centerpoint set, it won't zoom around the button where you are clicking!

added a simple 8chan.moe watcher to the defaults, all users will get it on update

the default bandwidth rules for download pages, subs, and watchers are now more liberal. only new users will get these. various improvements to db and ui update pipeline mean the enforced breaks are less needed

when a manage tags dialog moves to another media, if it has a 'recent tags' suggestion list with a selection, the selection now resets to the top item in the list

the mpv player now tracks when a video is fully loaded and only reports seek bar info and allows seeks when this is so (this should fix some seekbar errors on broken/slow-loading vids)

added 'undelete_file' to media shortcut commands

file delete and undelete are no longer hardcoded in the media viewer and media thumbnail grid. these actions are now handled entirely in the media shortcut set, and added to all clients by default (this defaults to (shift +) delete key, and also backspace on macos, so likely no changes)

ctrl+mouse wheel is no longer hardcoded to zoom in the media browser. these actions are now handled entirely in the 'all' media viewer shortcut set (this defaults to ctrl+wheel or +/-, so likely no changes)

deleted some old shortcut processing code

tightened up some update timers to better halt work while the client is minimised to system tray. this _may_ improve some users' restore hanging issues

as Qt is happier than wx about making pages on a non-visible client, subscriptions and various url import operations are now permitted to create pages while the client is minimised to taskbar or system tray. if this applies to your situation, please let me know how you get on here, as this may relieve some restore hanging as the pending new-file jobs are no longer queued up

fixes:

clicks on hover window greyspace should no longer propagate up to the media viewer. this was causing weird archive/delete filter actions

mouse scroll on hover window taglist should no longer propagate up to the media viewer when the taglist has no more to scroll in that direction

fixed an issue that meant preview windows were initialising about twenty pixels too short for the first page loaded in a session, and also pages created within nested page of pages. also cleaned up some logic for unusual situations like hidden preview windows. one more cycle of closing and reopening the client will fix the option value here

cleaned and unified some page sash setting code, also improving the 'hide preview window' option reliability for advanced actions

fixed a bug that meant file viewtime was still being recorded on the duplicate filter when the special exception option was off

reduced some file viewtime manager overhead

fixed an issue with database repair code when local_tags_cache is missing

fixed an issue updating a very old db not recognising that local_tags_cache does not yet exist for proper reason and then trying to repair it before update code runs

fixed the annoying issue introduced in the recent string match overhaul where a 'fixed character' string match edit panel would not want to ok if the (now hidden) example string input did not have the same fixed char data. it now validates no matter what is in the hidden input

potentially important parsing fix: JSON parsing, when set to get strings, no longer converts a 'null' value to 'None'

the JSON parsing formula now allows you to select the nth indexed item of an Object (a JSON key->value dictionary). due to technical limitations, it alphabetises the keys, not selecting them as-is in the JSON itself

images that do not load in PIL no longer cause mime exceptions if they are run through the decompression bomb check

misc:

boosted the values of the decompression bomb check anyway, to reduce false positives. it generally now has a problem with images with a bmp > 1GB memory

by default, new file import options now start with decompression bombs allowed. this option is being reduced to a stopgap for users with less memory

'MimeException' is renamed to 'UnsupportedFileException'

added 'DamagedOrUnusualFileException' to handle normally supported files that cannot be parsed or loaded

'SizeException' is split into 'TagSizeException' and 'FileSizeException'

improved some file exception inheritance

removed the 'experimental' label from sub-gallery page url type in parsing system

updated some advanced help regarding bad files

misc help updates

updated cloudscraper to 1.2.40

next week

I am taking next week off. Normally I'd be shitposting E3, but instead I think I am going to finally get around to listening to the Ring Cycle through and giving Kingdom Come - Deliverance a go.

v400 will therefore be on the 10th of June. I hope to have the final part of the subscription data overhaul done, which will mean subscriptions load in less than a second, reducing how much data it needs to read and write and ultimately be more accessible for the Client API and things like right-click->add this query to subscription "blahbooru artists".

Thanks everyone!

#release

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wineanddinosaur · 5 years

Text

Pride and Politics: Gay Beer and Marketing ‘Authenticity’

“Babe, can you grab me a beer?” asks a beefy, sports-watching man in an online advertisement launched this month by Loyal Brands. “Babe,” a svelte-looking man, joins Beefy on the couch with two beers. The punchline, of course, is that they are drinking Gay Beer.

“The connotation that queer people and women don’t drink beer is ridiculous,” Jason Pazmino, co-founder of Loyal Brands and co-creator of Gay Beer, which launched in December 2018, tells VinePair. “We see an opportunity to speak to a consumer base that has been left out.”

Loyal Brands aims to answer the question, “Why has nobody ever marketed a beer authentically to our community?” according to co-founder Jon Moore.

Gay Beer proposes an answer, but it comes with its own challenges. “The queer community has really strong brand loyalty,” Pazmino says. However, he adds, “It’s a really fine line between, ‘we’re going to rally behind this because it really truly supports our community,’ or it’s a big huge eye roll.”

As millions celebrate WorldPride, it’s an especially opportune time to push Gay Beer in the marketplace. The brand’s staying power post-Pride will depend on how authentically Loyal Brands is received.

The Pride Problem

Each June, industries from vodka to fashion to banking aim to commemorate (and capitalize on) Pride Month by splashing rainbows across their public and digital presences. Many craft breweries have done so as well, with seemingly good intentions: Brooklyn Brewery’s Stonewall Inn IPA donates proceeds to the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative (SIGBI) SIGBI; DC Brau’s Pride Pils 2019 sales benefit SMYAL and The Blade Foundation; and Circle Brewing’s Fanny Pack Kolsch donates $1 per case sold to Equality Texas.

But many in the craft beer and LGBTQ communities, including Pazmino and Moore, find these efforts limited. Some of the most well-intentioned Pride beers lean on glitter, rainbows, and gimmicks to flaunt their progressiveness. It can be difficult to separate honest support from corporate bandwagoning, even for the most discerning consumers.

“After Pride, what happens to these beers?” Pazmino says. Gay Beer, he says, is “queer all year.” He defines Gay Beer as “queer in the sense that it’s inclusive, and markets integrally [to LGBTQ consumers] without sexual innuendos and rainbows.”

‘What Makes It Gay?’

“My initial gut reaction from a consumer perspective is, what does it mean?” Julie Verratti, co-founder of Denizens Brewing in Silver Spring, Md., says. Verratti co-founded Denizens with her wife Emily Bruno and brother-in-law Jeff Ramirez in 2014. She says the brewery clientele is “extremely diverse,” and “the beer we make is for everybody.”

“As a member of the LGBT[Q] community, I’m glad there is an acknowledgement of the LGBT[Q] movement… but if you are just making the beer to make money, but not trying to do something for the LGBT[Q] community, that rubs the wrong way,” Verratti says.

Photo credit: John Arsenault / drinkgaybeer.com

“I think it’s interesting!,” Ren Navarro, beer diversity speaker and former brewery sales representative tells VinePair. “There aren’t a lot of obvious target labels like this one around,” she says. “I love the idea of a beer for the gays by the gays, but I don’t know about the name. I worry that someone will roll out ‘straight beer’ in a tongue-in-cheek response.” (It’s a reasonable concern: At press time, the possibility of Boston’s “Straight Pride Parade” looms.)

As a queer woman in the industry, Navarro questions Gay Beer’s longevity, too. “I think they’ll see a huge uptick during June, but once Pride is over, I wonder if people will still remember it,” she says. “We’re all rocking goldfish brains, thanks to social media.”

Passion (f)or Product

Pazmino and Moore launched Loyal Brands in 2017. The ex-design-world entrepreneurs were “looking to get out of our respective industries and do something that was a bit more meaningful,” Pazmino says.

Though neither are brewers, “we drink beer and plenty of it,” Pazmino says. Gay Beer is contract-brewed by Butternuts Beer & Ale in Garrattsville, N.Y., and currently available at more than 30 locations in NYC, including trendy bars and restaurants, Whole Foods in Williamsburg, and Fresh & Co. in Chelsea Piers. It’s also available aboard the NYC Ferry.

Through its “Gay Beer Gives Back” initiative, Loyal Brands allocates a portion of proceeds to different LGBTQ charities and organizations each quarter. Its first donation went to The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center of New York, “and we plan to continue supporting them,” Moore says. “We will also research and support other organizations which we will select each quarter including SAGE, HRC, Ali Forney Center, Housing Works, and others.” (Moore declined to share exact dollar amounts, as donations will vary depending on sales history, he says.)

‘Go All the Way’

“For me, I’m a fan of groups drawing attention via their actions,” Navarro says. “I think of the Queer Brewing Project, being led by Lily Waite, or Queers Makin’ Beers homebrew group.”

Verratti agrees. “If you’re going to do something like that, go all the way with it,” she says, pointing to Red Bear Brewing, a 100 percent gay-owned-and-operated brewery in Washington, D.C. The brewery opened in March 2019 and is owned by “three best friends and red-headed gays who consider themselves bears,” Verratti says. The name “Red Bear would totally go over your head” were you not in tune with LGBTQ culture and lingo, but “everyone is welcome here,” she says. “They don’t make gay beer, they make beer. They just happen to be a very LGBT[Q]-friendly place.”

(Denizens, for its part, donates to Capital Pride and partners with wholesale accounts to discount beer and donate a portion of those sales to Casa Ruby.)

Targeting LGBTQ beer drinkers, even authentically, requires more than good branding.

“Put your money where your mouth is, and create actual support!” Navarro says. “Create safe spaces for your community, create a space that the LGBTQ+ community can feel welcomed in. And of course, make hella tasty beer.”

The article Pride and Politics: Gay Beer and Marketing ‘Authenticity’ appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/gay-pride-beer-brands/

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