Pinocchio Kdrama

After Heartstrings, I got to watch Pinocchio. This is the best Park Shin-hye drama for people who enjoy discourses on news and journalism. The length and breadth of the significance of news in our lives could not be explained enough in this 20-episode arc.  Pinocchio here refers to a hiccup rather than a long nose.  I love the chemistry of the leads and its leading man, Lee Jong Suk is popular amongst Hallyu fans.  When the male and female leads are on-screen together, the electricity is palpable.

The writing is good.  Fake news could ruin lives.  Journalists should be ethical but sometimes nothing is further from the truth.  But when Gi Ha Myung became Choi Dal Po, he was already fourteen, basically a grown-up when viewed from the context of my generation. Maybe fourteen is really thirteen as they add one year to every age in Korea.  At 14, he may just be beginning adolescence but his personality is developed. So he's essentially already raised and his free will should never have followed his mum blindly.  But then life (or in this case fiction)  is complicated and his choice of staying by the side of the Choi family took precedence over the quest in finding his flesh and blood relatives and informing them that he did not perish in the sea. 

There are layers to the story.  The protagonists and antagonists all reached a satisfying conclusion aside from the older brother, Gi Jae Myung, although he was fully aware of the consequences of his vengeful acts.  Aside from Hyung. all the other characters, specially Choi In-ha's (Park Shin-hye) mother are punished lightly by circumstance.  Whilst the lead couple, Choi In-ha and Gi Ha-myung are looking forward to a future of wedded bliss and making beautiful babies together.

Watching this drama reminds me of technology and modernity as well. I like the sleekness of the news studios and the vastness of the buildings and headquarters and those tv monitors, big or small are nice touches in these fast-paced world. I like how those deleted messages were retrieved from old phones, every letter is sacrosanct when it comes to technology. 

I saw this drama several times on Viki and the last time on Netflix.  There are very few differences in the dialog, quite minute and inconsequential.  I could watch this drama again and again in the years to come. That's the by-product of streams and apps, shows and dramas are just a touch away. 

Heartstrings

Heartstrings or You've Fallen for Me is the next Park Shin-hye drama I have viewed, shown two years prior to Heirs in 2011. Actually I was gearing towards Pinocchio next but Heartstrings had a pull.  I could have just clicked on  You're Beautiful or He's Handsome ( I have yet to master the intricacies of all these translations) first as Jung Yong Hwa (of CN Blue), the lead in Heartstrings is the melancholic second lead of You're Beautiful. Too right, this is to appease the fans suffering from a heartfelt second lead syndrome from You're Beautiful.  

I don't really re-watch the first seven episodes of Heartstrings as Lee Shin (Jung) is pining for the dancer professor.  Set in a creative arts university (or college?), Lee Shin and Lee Gyu Won (Park Shin-hye), look gorgeous together. His character plays the guitar and a leader and lead singer of a contemporary rock band, the campus hearthrob and she's a gayageum player and leads her own traditional music girl group. Her character also sings and is learning how to dance.  But IRL, Park Shin-hye is a kick-ass dancer who cooks well and does crafts in addition to playing the guitar and piano and cry on cue.  

Anyway, Heartstrings is lighter than light, fluffy fare. After episode seven, Lee Shin realised that his heart really belongs to Lee Gyu Won and becomes the Guy, that not even nasty made-up rumors could throttle his feelings for the Girl. Isn't that sweet?  He is so swoon worthy.  Lee Shin even sang a love song for his girl heard through the school audio system. He is such a pillar of strength for the talented heroine. 

However, the drawback are the kissing scenes, those opened-eyes, startled-reaction kisses from Lee Gyu Won.  Who invented those kind of kisses and scenes? Why would a pivotal scene become a laughing stock of a gif for years to come? Even the last kiss is so tame. It should be a good kiss or no kiss at all.  An emotional stare, heart-wrenching lines, a proper, reciprocated hug make a reel love story come to light. 

I love the PSH hairstyle here, short, curly-haired bob. Waif like. But the female lead's fashion of balloon skirts and grandma tops?  I don't know.  There are a lot of stylish garb for a summer drama.  I could see it on the dancer professor. The wardrobe BTS people just didn't think a little deeper for this leading lady. 

I hope the two leads would collaborate again, if not in acting, a duet in a CN Blue comeback album ( all the members are on mandatory enlistment) or a reunion concert for ANJELL? We have to wait a while but who knows. 

The Heirs

The Inheritors or He Who Wishes to Wear the Crown Endures Its Weight --The Heirs -- is actually not my first kdrama since 2002.  I've seen a few on Netflix Korean and Japanese dramas but none grabbed my attention as The Heirs had done.  It all started when Janice De Belen posted a scene on her instagram account and I'm not sure if it was the caption or she wouldn't keep mum about Lee Min Ho, or something else, that it lured me to open a Viki account and marathon the 20-episode series.  

The story definitely, is easy-watch.  It doesn't annoy or makes you think deep and hard.  I couldn't grasp the charisma of Lee Min Ho or Kim Woo Bin.  They're tall though and are believable as bullies.  I was more fascinated with Park Shin-Hye's character Cha Eun-Sang -- such  a brave girl to venture to Los Angeles with little money and only a few words of English in her hand carry. A maid's ( ok, housekeeper's) daughter in Seoul, a hardworking lass who works part-time jobs during school breaks and after school hours,  she wanted to embrace her older sister's world and try her luck in a western setting.  But her sister wasn't a university student as she discovered but lives a down-on-her-luck existence in the US. Once the sister grabbed the pile of cash from her luggage, we never see the sister ever again. We hear about her in episode 20, a passing reference, a good use of a plot device as one comment implies. 

The Heirs is male-centric in nature. The central theme is the torture of Lee Min Ho's character Kim Tan and his rich-boy problems, the conflicts with his half-brother, chairman father and ex-best friend.  It's inconceivable to exile a 15-year old to live on his own in a mansion in Hollywood with no adult supervision. But that's the opening sequences of the drama. Even at 18 or (was it 17?), it's still too young to loiter independently in that gorgeous, huge abode with its infinity pool and fantastic view. I don't see an aunt to nag Kim Tan about schoolwork or cleaning ladies coming or going. On my first viewing, it took me a few more episodes to realise the main characters are still in high school.  

So as the damsel that needed to be rescued in LA, poor Cha Eun-sang crossed paths with rich Kim Tan.  They bonded through California adventures and car-rides and mutual attractions were embedded in their psyche so early, you know this is it (unless you don't like both or either of the leads). But Kim Tan is already engaged to be married to a rich girl, the antagonist with a great pout (Kim Ji Won). Here, here, obstacles from the get-go.  And when everybody is back in Korea studying in the same elite school, the saga of  Kim Tan falling for his household housekeeper's daughter (coincidence?) begins. Cha Eun-sang was given a scholarship in the rich-people school as Kim Tan's father's way of reminding her, that it is not an option for a poor girl to fraternise with a rich heir of an empire as those snobby kids would point it out to her every single school day her status in the social hierarchy. 

This is no Disney's Cinderella story, I feel for Cha Eun-sang's and her tears in this drama.  She has the right to be scared.  She has the right to be tearful.  The kids in the new school are mean and bullies anyone who is poor and on scholarship.  Kim Tan, the rich conglomerate ( they also own the school) second-son might have fallen for her, but that's a no-no in the real world.  She reciprocates the feeling but she knows the repercussions are huge hence her hesitation to act on it.  We're talking of power and money, a maid's daughter could never fathom.  Then there's Choi Young-do, (Kim Woo Bin), Kim Tan's former best friend, now erstwhile enemy, only heir of a hotel magnate and the school's lead bully, also falling for Cha Eun-sang, whose idea to win a girl over is to trip her or better yet, trip her while she's holding her lunch tray. I guess despite the his example of a metaphor, pushing someone in the pool, is not cool, dude.  That's mean. I give him chops though for character development in the latter episodes.  He behaved better than Kim Tan in the second half of the drama and hopefully has set aside his obnoxious ways and despite his declaration, be a friend to Cha Eun-sang. 

The critique for the Cha Eun-sang character is the way she wallows in misery when she's in a love triangle with two heirs of empire.  What good any of the union with either of these rich boys give her, given the disapproval of the rich families and society? Maybe a lift home from school or from one of her part time jobs every now and then? 

Kim Tan, is the son of his father with his live-in partner, his mistress. But in the family register, he is listed as the son of the second wife, never divorced and the principal of the elite high school. His older brother, Kim Won (Choi Jin Hyuk), the one who exiled him to California and the president of the company, is the son of the late first wife (who was Korean-American).  Won and Tan are the heirs of the largest shareholder of a big conglomerate, there should be a power-struggle.  But at 18, all Kim Tan wants is an escape from the arranged engagement and be with Cha Eun-sang.  Could this young love lead to a royal wedding or fade into a memory?  Add to that his desire to have his real mother be recognised and walk along the streets in her pricey designer wardrobe. 

There's a happy ending for the OTP ( a given). After all the tears, the threats, the running away, the slaps, the exchange of harsh words, plane tickets to Buenos Aires, the absence from school, the shareholders voting, it was the brother, Kim Won, who was the game-changer in the Tan-Eun Sang couple.  The main Dad was all threats, no definitive action. 

The other students of the school or the actors in the poster are memorable -- they're now big names --from Kang Minhyuk (he's CN Blue drummer, although at this writing all members of CN Blue are serving in the military), Krystal,  Kang Haneul, Park Hyungsik (a big name on every popularity poll).  Although I really want to see DOTS, I couldn't, because I couldn't yet move on from the Kim Ji Won slap. 

The story might be light, full of necessary or unnecessary tears, cliche in most aspects.  But it's popular.  Lee Min Ho and Park Shin-hye were playing high-schoolers, years younger than their actual ages.  But the mark of good actors is to be able to portray characters whether older and younger.  In Heirs, it's just a longer than usual throwback.  Besides, I reckon this drama really catapults every one to stardom.  It's a reference point.  Like Lee Min-ho's and Park Shin-hye's name are forever attached on google.  Lee Min-ho is huge. He's got a few followers in my workplace who are not happy that he's doing mandatory enlistment right now.  He's got loads of followers on Drama Fever, the others are not even close.  He's top four on Viki every single month. So is Park Shin-hye, her Instagram followers might not be as many as the other kids, like the Kpop idols or those younger ladies who had a bit of tweaks here and there.  But it's not a low figure and she doesn't post a lot. I bet some web influencers could only dream of that number.  

For the love chemistry, between Kim Tan and Cha Eun-sang, all those gazing into each other eyes.  Yeah, worthy of a ship on screen and beyond.  I don't get it why she had to sleep on the couch though, when they were forced to stay the night in the motel in the third episode. Isn't it more gentlemanly for him to give her the bed? 

Culture-divide. That's one beef. No, I love you, dialogue? I still couldn't decipher if there was a lost in translation.  It might be a running gag that both Eun-sang and Tan are ranked so low in school.  But really, Cha Eun-sang should be ranked higher.  Her part-time jobs should not be an excuse for poor academic standing while Tan has no excuse at all, with his resources and privilege.  

post-op

My second general anaesthetic was harder than the first, for the significant amount of dizziness and detritus associated with huge doses of opiates. After three weeks, I'm still in pain especially after exertion and  I'm such a scar former, that the discolouration makes me dig deep for cebo de macho (where do I find cebo de macho in the Western Hemisphere?).  

I wouldn't be able to push any prams anymore. There's nothing harder than pushing prams or hoping beyond hope for childcare. Not only child care requires favours from friends here and there, it requires the bulk of time, energy and expenses. The resources are stretched beyond limits. 

I was also told I was fat.  I couldn't move hence I couldn't exercise and I love carbs. But I reckon, the young doctor was just young, he actually said healthy, nonetheless, only the gossip-laden, surface- interesting person would not get the sting behind the ubiquitous word. Let's see when we'll get better.  By better, I mean back to the heavy lifting, daily ten-thousand paces and intense-cardio. Fine, I didn't actually do intense-cardio or daily ten-thousand paces. But close.

Park Shin-hye

Since Lilet (a colleague) and Janice De Belen (no less) re-introduced me to Kdramas in February this year, it seemed I haven’t stopped using it as a filler to the highly-toxic, backstabbing environment of western-based serials.  Actually it all started on Netflix,  I started with a Japanese  (2014 Mischievous Kiss) rom-com and US romantic plots starring teenagers then Netflix (bless), kept on suggesting this and that Korean dramas and I reckoned, would I allow myself to be swallowed by this vortex yet again? It would be like going to the point of no return, once you’re trapped, you’re trapped. I began with a few web series, and now I reckon the theme was mostly about chaebols and arranged marriages.  

Then Janice posted something about The Heirs starring Le Min Ho (Janice fan girls on Lee Min Ho)  I had no idea who Park Shin-Hye was in the grand scheme of existence.   So I watched the Heirs and it was easy, comfort viewing.  The female lead of The Heirs then became my celebrity bias.    

As for the bias, I followed Judy Ann Santos career for more than two decades and her dropping the late Alfie Lorenzo as manager didn’t bode well with me.  I know that celebrities change management for a better career path  or out of whim.  But  I think of loyalty as sacrosanct in this case. So I don't fan-girl as much. 

But back to Park Shin-Hye, her detractors or what’s the millennial term, trolls or bashers think that she performed voodoo on her fans across the world for the unconditional support (based on comments at Drama Fever) There’s no such thing as voodoo in entertainment fanfare.   There’s a reason why some celebrities are more popular than others.  It’s what you call charisma.  The powers-that-be could mix and match opportunities (ex C. Sotto) but if the audience don’t like you, you would just be, for lack of depth on words, not popular.  I like Park Shin-Hye.  I have been enjoying her dramas.  She has a lone antagonist role in her career but most of the time she's the good girl with the tears on cue. 

The Hallyu fans are mostly girls so they drool over guys like Lee Min Ho, Lee Joon Gi, Lee Soo Hyuk, Kim Soo-hyun and Kpop groups such as Super Junior, Big Bang, BTS. My sympathies meanwhile are with female stars.  I had never followed a boy band in my life.  Or fall for a schleb dude. 

So let's decipher the list of Park Shin-Hye's  (PSH) Dramas, based on the order of when I've seen them:

The Heirs or He Who Wishes to Wear the Crown Endures its Weight (2013)-- is the ultimate feel-good soap. Set in rich people high school, Cha Eun Sang PSH) is the maid's daughter, pursued and driven to exile by the son of the owner of the mansion Kim Tan played by Lee Min Ho.  Kim Tan's friend turned enemy, Choi Yong Do (Kim Woo Bin), another heir to empire is also interested in her (but his  bullying in the beginning is way too scary). Cha Eun Sang being impoverished and Kim Tan being illegitimate (although not on paper) provide material for all the conflicts. 

Heartstrings or I've Fallen for You (2011) - the first six episodes I don't really re-watch but the next nine episodes is worth viewing again and again.  It's a love worth pursuing for the talented OTP (I've come to grips with all the new terms). Jung Yong-Hwa is the most good-looking of all PSH leading men, so far and what is there not to swoon with leads who both sing and play instruments? I, too wish, I could learn to play gayageum or guitar or piano.

Pinocchio  (2014-15) -- this is the best- written of all her dramas. Media could push a person's mental health to the limit.  That's the premise of life.  Now, with social media taking over the lives of the young and generation X, it's time for detox.  The leads romantic entanglement plays only second fiddle to fake news. 

Doctors (2016)--PSH plays a neuro-surgeon, Yoo Hye-Jong, I like all the brain surgery scenes and her high-kicks, martial-arts moves to prove her point.  What I don't like is a doctor being clueless on the laws of statute of limitations of her country.  But PSH being a kick-ass surgeon? That's way too cool. 

You're Beautiful (2009) -- As trainee nun, Go Mi-nyeo is masquerading as her twin brother Go Mi-nam, the newest member of a boy band. It's very much obvious that she's a girl.  But while two of the guys including the leader played by Jang Keun-Suk is aware that she's a girl, Jeremy, the drummer (vocalist of FT Island Lee Hong-gi) is oblivious. I love this drama as all members of the main cast can sing. Together and individually, they're superb performers. It's a cute love- square.  I'm such into second lead syndrome on this one (and it's not because I've seen Heartstrings first). Because, really, what's your glitch Hwang Tae-kyung (Jang Geun-suk)?

Flower Boys Next Door (2012) -- it's a study on the life of an introvert.  There are no parents in this drama.  That in itself is a breath of fresh air.  PSH plays Go Dok Mi, a highly-reclusive copy editor and she spouts words of wisdom about life, not on Twitter but through the voice-overs.  It's very profound (not a whole lot of nothing as one reviewer noted). This drama proves my point that some men like their women  quiet and conservative. 

Hayate, the Combat Butler (2013) - PSH's is dubbed in Mandarin as it is a Taiwanese production.   How do you say your lines in Hangul while the rest of the cast speak Mandarin?  She has an unflattering hairstyle but PSH has the kind of beauty that the more you stare her, the more beautiful she becomes on screen. The first few episodes are kind of annoying but the chemistry with George Hu is heartfelt. I mean, ship! 

Little Cabin in the Woods, Little House in the Forest (2018) -- it's not a drama but I always enjoy documentaries. It shows PSH and So Ji Sub cooking and doing experiments about happiness and solitude in the middle of nowhere.  I'm so impressed with PSH ability not only with cooking but doing crafts, making objects, chopping firewood -- her fruit hammock, bird's house, shoe rack, the flower-painting of the main window of the cabin are all good. 

But I guess her best drama (gut-feeling) is the one with Lee Wan, Tree of Heaven, filmed when she was 16.  I'm still too squeamish to see it in its entirety. I shouldn't be reading plots and spoilers. It's  love in its loveliest and purest form.  It's in the same league as Stairway to Heaven (they're sister dramas).  How sweet ...

back to the Hallyu cave

Probably it's a different glimpse on life, a culture so different or not so different from the customs of my generation, or it's just something different, which would fill the gaps on the lulls of a day.

During the turn of the century, a random channel surfing made me gaze at Shim Eun-ha on the telly. There I was reading subtitles to the fore. She was mesmerising, one of the most beautiful faces I have ever seen.  Ko So-young also had a pretty face in that drama where they both shared top billing. But it was Shim Eun-ha who captivated on that old telly although she retired soon after from show business prior to the Hallyu wave.  Choi Jin-sil, that's heartbreak personified, no need for explanation, I've written about her 10 years ago and the devastating stories about her family continue long after her death. But she was a lovely face, a refreshing presence and my heart still aches.

For almost two decades in Bacolod, the Korean presence seems to be the pulse of the city, you see them everywhere in airports, at Mambucal, at SM mall.  I'll probably ask my friend Jing about her English teaching.  Because we are raised trilingual in Bacolod, we could hold our own in Los Angeles, New York and definitely London.  They go to our fair city (or Iloilo, Cebu, Manila, etc) and soak up our English grammar and sense. Do they study and leave? Or study and settle? 

But since Netflix or was it Lil's? I got pushed back into the fray.  For years, the original Flordeluna herself, Janice de Belen, fan girls on Lee Min Ho and Kpop fills Philippine arenas to the rafters. Are the  millennials that well-versed with the Hangul language that they could understand all the lyrics to a Kpop song?  It's not a one-way street at all, I have viewed a vlogger attend a Korean Language school so that she could watch shows without the subtitles.

In my more than a decade and a half away, I still haven't witnessed any major cultural shifts. It's still a patriarchal society.   I have seen a drama where the female lead was demoted from her anchor job for being an unwed mother? I read the synopsis beforehand, the liberated scenes were straight out of late night British telly but the consequences were actually frowned-upon. I still see plots on arranged marriages.  I know some cultures think that's the way to complete and utter happiness. 

Just like in Philippine showbiz, I looked at before and after photos, that patrician nose surely does not conjure natural.  But  their skin care line is the best in the world.  I seldom see break-outs or pores.  

But I only ever watch Park Shin-hye dramas and she has fantastic skin. 

Viki and Drama Fever are keeping me company these days. The stars I was following then, are older now, good looks fade, you see, despite all the creams and Botox.  I still watch vloggers, Say and her OS team.  But since I only ever marathon Park Shin-hye, I'm still limited with my choices. 

the joys ....

It's easy to write and I've not been writing.  I have monumental paperworks and here I am procrastinating. Where is the discipline?  Maybe if I had discipline since birth, I would do better in life like school.  But even if I did have honors in both high school and university upon graduation, I would still be on the same fulcrum of life's stages.  Nothing would change on life after school. I would still struggle to write and there would still be blockages on acquiring fulfilment.  But there's no such thing as perfection and we just have to keep it cool.

Keeping it cool means being calm and quiet. I have a daughter who is really beautiful (mother-speak) and I have ready-made dinners (or tea, english-speak) every single night.  That's the life.  I don't watch television now. There's you tube plus net-streaming services that are so convenient.  I still pay a lot of money for cable services though, a just-in-case fixture.  Although, now that my daughter is grown, I kind of miss episode after episode of Peppa Pig and Ben and Holly.  Now, she operates her own you tube channel and is quite dedicated to viewing LOL videos.  

As for the monumental paperworks ....

rest and hibernate

It has been a good rest. I have not done this in the past. I have never skipped a month without getting into the process of writing or pouring my thoughts on paper, these millenial times, on  screen.  I was bed-bound almost the entire February due to influenza (which I thought it was) or the cruelest cold ever and it was hard, an arduous, brutal attack of a virus on my human body.  I was weak.  I was off from work. I couldn't move.  I was in tears.  

I may have recovered physically but the scars, we are all familiar with cliches, are still there.  Or I am just being lazy.  

Too bad, my work schedule is more gruelling than ever. That's what I get for having a five-year old (my sweet child is going to be six this July, oh the passage of time), compromises at work, due to child care.  I am also going to have surgery to remove one organ from my reproductive system.  I'm so much older anyway and every time I try to drop by at shops and looking at inflated prices, I'm grateful of having only one child.  University fees, be damned.  I will never have an income to sustain comfort.  Hope the surgery would not be keloid-forming physically and psychologically.  

Regarding my fix on social networking services, I have not updated my Facebook page in many years.  With the founder being grilled by Congress, the uncompromising reality of how companies handle our data has never been so frightful.  My philosophy is less is better.  That statement though would not work on my daughter, you tube is basically her life. 

Speaking of social media, I have been successful in ditching vloggers at present.  Say is sweet.  But she has choices I don't find heartwarming. So, I bailed.  Does that mean I believe in the charms of the good girl?  Good girls are sacrificial virgins who are always the protagonists, Cinderella to wicked stepmothers, Snow White to the poison-bearing Queen, you get my drift on Disney princesses.  No, I don't think pure-virginal types exist in reality.  They just pretend to be pure-virginal types but deep down, they are more manipulative than Rapunzel's fake mother. So, I'm skipping reality-tv on you tube these days. 

I am  back to watching Korean dramas, after 16 years and there have been changes to technology and the explosion of Hallyu in the world. But that's it for now, whatever eases my solitude. 

a new year, 💞💞💞

Wow, it's already 2018, another year for maturity, hopefully.  I enjoyed the London fireworks last night as expected, millions of pounds in dreamlike sequence. 

I would have to embrace minimalism to clear my mind of all the present clutter and that includes people.  In this world of Brexit and new age of division, discrimination and outmoded beliefs and practices still pervading in society, it's hard to embrace the simple virtue of patience. There is no other recourse but to maintain composure. 

It would take practice.  

But for the spirit of the season, let's chill. We're still on Holiday mode.

I didn't have the time to send cards and presents and my lovely five-year old decorated my Christmas Tree.