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Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

Ahhh. How I love this drama. Weightlifting Fairy is the Mary Poppins of kdramas: Practically Perfect in Every Way.

If you have not watched this gem of a drama (ahem, my fellow admins, I am looking at you) you should. Afterwards if you want to immediately rewatch it…well, I wouldn’t blame you.

Weightlifting Fairy stars Lee Sung Kyung as Kim Bok Joo, a weightlifting college student with a bright personality. Nam Joo Hyuk (who is quickly becoming one of my favorite younger actors) plays Jung Joon Hyung a collegiate swimmer who is very good, but has some issues with false starts in competitions. They meet and soon realize that they went to elementary school together. A friendship begins…

What do I like about Weightlifting Fairy?

Friendships: Kim Bok Joo is one third of a trio of weightlifting besties. They are SWAG. Jung Joon Hyung is BFFs with his roommate and fellow swimmer. I love that Bok Joo and Joon Hyung consistently make their friendships a priority.

Humor: In the same vein that the Reply series has the goat sound effect, Weightlifting Fairy has the “WHAT?!” sound effect. I have found myself waiting for it in other dramas (most recently, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon.)

Chemistry: Lee Sung Kyung and Nam Joo Hyuk (who were both also in Cheese In The Trap) have wonderful onscreen chemistry. They have moved into one of the top spots for my favorite kdrama couples. But it’s not just them. The entire cast is great.

Plot: It doesn’t drag. It doesn’t frustrate you for multiple episodes over an easily solved miscommunication. It doesn’t go off on rabbit trails. It’s well written, cute, and honestly pretty true to life in the way the relationships progress.

Normally, I’d have a section on things I didn’t like or what I felt could be better. But I don’t really have anything negative to say about Weightlifting Fairy………….nope. I got nuthin.

Weightlifting Fairy is a story of family, friendship, and first love. And futures. It is heartwarming and adorable and a host of other good adjectives. You will not regret watching Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo. And bonus, it’s complete, so you can marathon it!

-Admin @gongyoolove

deokmis

quirkstine

Hyung-shik is really working those sekshi pheromones. *fans self*

The official Instagram accounts of my favorite k-child actors.

From top, L-R:

YEO JIN-GOO • born August 13, 1997 (18)

KIM YOO-JUNG • born September 22, 1999 (16)

KIM SO-HYUN • born June 4, 1999 (16)

KIM SAE-RON • born July 32, 2000 (15)

#instagram #celeb instagrams #yeo jin goo #kim yoo jung #kim so hyun #kim sae ron

kdramafangirlsclub

Popdramatic’s 30-Day Asian Drama Challenge Part 1

I’ve been doing this on my Twitter for a while now and I thought it would be perfect for my return-to-tumblr post. This is also to add and expound on previous answers.

For more on the Asian Drama Challenge, check out popdramatic’s blog.

(Prepare yourselves. This post is long, rant-y and mildly spoilery.)

Day 1: Drama plotline that made you (or nearly made you) ragequit.

On Twitter I said: I’ve never quit a drama bec. of plot. It’s due to boredom, loss of interest/time for me.

However, I may have to amend my answer to Mirror of the Witch. I watched episode 13 just yesterday and I spent a majority of the hour ranting on Twitter about the frustrating plots and characters. Obviously, it took me far longer than an hour to even finish the episode because I had to frequently pause and rant and pause again to lower my blood pressure.

Don’t get me wrong. Mirror is still one of the best fantasy sageuk dramas ever produced. The premise (about a cursed princess and her fight against the evil witch) is fantastic and I love that it’s driven by female agency. The characters, for the most part, are complex and well-written. They feel like real people with real strengths, flaws, and motivations. Color palette and cinematography is light and verdant in scenes of levity, and lusciously dark and actually eerie when it needs to be. CGI ranges from decent to good–a feat considering they’re pretty much in live-shoot mode. The show’s best and strongest feature (and also saving grace) however is it’s wonderful cast of strong, dramatic actors. Mirror would not be as good and compelling without them. Also, Heo Jun (YOON SHI-YOON) and Yeon-hee (KIM SAE-RON), a.k.a. My Babies™ , are so adorable and cute together. I don’t quite buy their romantic chemistry but I don’t really care at this point. Their characters are perfect for each other.

I will sink with this ship. But it won’t or else we will have words, Show!

But the writing! Holy frakking crackerjacks the writing! The plot holes have holes and the pacing needs serious tightening. The political machinations, scheming, and counter-scheming are almost insultingly simplistic.

Me while watching the show. (Gif grabbed from pop-buzz dot com via google.)

The good guys are very reactionary and they leave a lot to chance. Whenever they do decide to act first, they do a lot of stupid things or take stupid risks. Even the “smart” characters are guilty of this. Worst of all, they seem to never learn from their mistakes.

Exhibit A: Monk Yo-gwang (LEE YI-KYUNG). Good guy but dim. He’s also very pretty.

My biggest pet peeve though is the villain shamaness Hong-joo, played by the charismatic YEOM JUNG-AH. Or more accurately, my pet peeves center around her character. She’s not that devious really but she somehow mindfucks everyone, and I do mean every single character of importance, that she comes into contact with.

Hong-joo sucks katerhoden (don’t ask). I attribute her dark appeal entirely to Yeom Jung-ah’s nuanced performance.

Hong-joo can be crafty but she’s far from infallible so I find her power inexplicable. She’s just a shaman, a low-born woman albeit with strong magical powers, and yet she (easily) manages to mess with the royal family. Sometimes she’s outright rude and mouthy and even makes not-so-veiled threats against her social superiors. This is Joseon for Pete’s sake! When royals and noblemen could kill a low-born for something as absurd as breathing loudly. Whatever happened to the strict social hierarchy and etiquette and the consequences of not abiding by them?!

I keep yelling at the screen: Just kill her already geddemit. They can’t kill her of course because of reasons; but there are other ways to effectively hinder a villain. A Twitter friend (hello, Jo!) offered good suggestions. Alas, I don’t have Mirror’s Writer-nim on speed dial.

TLDR: This show frustrates me to high heavens but I haven’t decided yet whether to keep watching or stop and just read the recaps. Either way, I won’t abandon my babies.

- Admin Quirkstine

P.S. Shout out to my other favorites on the show: Pretty Boy Orabeoni and Wisemouth Gambler/Thief

Poong-yeon (KWAK SHI-YANG)

Soon-deuk (MIN DO-HEE)

#Popdramatic’s 30-Day Asian Drama Challenge #mirror of the witch

"To love another is something like prayer and can't be planned, you just fall into its arms because your belief undoes your disbelief." -----> This line slays me.

ms-mandy-m

Adele photographed by Mert & Marcus for Vogue US, March 2012.

quirkstine

Adele looks like Sleeping Beauty in the second pic.

#fashion commentary #adele #vogue

introvertunites

If you’re an introvert, follow @introvertunites.

quirkstine

Yep.

lesstalkmoreillustration

Gemma Capdevila

quirkstine

Surfing on the back of what looks like a whale -- very cool.

kdramafangirlsclub

Mars: Tada Kimi wo Aishiteru

I’ve been debating with myself whether I wanna talk about this drama just yet or not, but in the end, I *REALLY* wanna talk about this drama. It’s only 7 or 8 episodes in and only 2 of those are subbed in English, so this is EXTREMELY frustrating to me, but I’m in it to win it and I will end up watching it sub-less if I have to. So let’s get into this, shall we?

Let me start this by saying OH MY EFFING GOD I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR YEARSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

For those of you poor souls who are wondering, “What the eff is she going on about?” I shall educate you.

Mars is a manga by Fuyumi Soryo that came out in 1996 and spans 14 volumes (plus one prequel volume). It is absolutely amazing. It’s more than your typical romance. It deals with abuse, depression, anxiety, art, motorcycles, friendships, family issues, love, heartbreak, and above all, perseverance and being able to overcome. In the usual manga fashion, the guy is kind of a player and definitely a huge flirt. The girl is VERY shy and introverted. It’s the story of how they get to know each other, rely on one another, and help themselves and each other through life. I’m not gonna give away any of the plot, because, really, it’s such an in depth story, if I start talking about it like I want to, we’d be here all week.

In 2004, 戰神MARS came out, staring Vic Zhou and Barbie Hsu. It is glorious. You can watch it online here. They didn’t make any extreme changes to the story, either, which makes me incredibly happy. The only thing they really changed was instead of this being a high school drama like it was in the manga, the Taiwanese version used a college setting. But really, isn’t Vic effing beautiful? I could look at that face ALLLLLL DAYYYYYYY… ::swoon::

So now, we have the Japanese version…

This guy is the VERY lovely Taisuke Fujigaya. Look at all that delicious skin. So far, he is making Rei a very lovable and fun character, and hopefully when things start getting a bit more serious, he will add that depth to the character too. Not to mention, he looks even hotter (Lord Shisus, I didn’t even think that was possible, TBH) on a motorcycle.

This charming little ball of wonderful is Marie Iitoyo, and she plays Kira. I’m loving her character so far. She *looks* like an art student and she plays the part exceedingly well.

Their chemistry thus far is OFF THE FRIGGIN’ CHARTS. LOOK AT THIS. I get chills.

KILL ME NOW, I NEED MORE SUBS.

^ This is me, beating my keyboard, searching for more subs that don’t exist.

I will literally kiss the subber when she ads more .srt files for my raw videos… ::impatiently waiting::

The cute is killing me.

For anyone that wants to watch (read: bask in the exquisite torture that is Mars) with me, here is a link to the subs that are up and the episodes that are out. Mars airs on Sundays, so keep an eye on the links since the raws are updated regularly. If you absolutely HAVE to know what goes on in the story, which I wholeheartedly recommend you do anyway, you can read all of the volumes right here.

I’ll just be waiting here, reading the manga over and over, re-watching the Taiwanese drama and fainting all over myself until the rest of the Japanese MARS is done and subbed… ::taps foot impatiently::

-Admin Noona ( @hakyeonssassface )

quirkstine

I watched MARS, the TW drama, around 2008 (!!!) and read the manga later. I still vaguely remember the story and it's good stuff. Also, Vic was my very first TW bias. So handsome, that man!

P.S. You may or may not cry while watching/reading. Have tissues nearby is all I'm saying.

kdramafangirlsclub

Signal(A voice in the void.)

Wow, it has been a seriously long time since I did one of my reviews of kdramas. In my defense, I’ve been super busy writing other things (novels, fan fiction) and I haven’t been watching a ton of live dramas. I found myself with a distinct lack of spare time last year, so if I started watching a drama, it had to be really good for me to continue with it. When you’ve got a scant hour or 2 per week, you find yourself being really picky.

I tried a lot of dramas with zero success: Reply 1988, Oh My Venus, Orange Marmalade, Warm and Cozy, Mask, Birth of a Beauty… I think you get the picture. There were a few shining stars in there: Angry Mom, Sassy Go Go, Oh My Ghost. But really nothing that made me want to take to the Tumblr and review for you all. But I am happy to report I now have another addition: Signal.

Signal is the story of a young cop, Park Hae Young (played by Lee Je Hoon) who happens upon and old defunct radio that is somehow spitting out a voice. And even more strangely, the voice belongs to someone living in the past.

(look at that beautiful face. he was honestly my inspiration to watch in the first place, and I’m NOT sorry.)

Our detective from the past is the indomitable Lee Jae Han (played by Cho Jin Woong) and this man is like the little engine that could. Nothing keeps him down and when he puts his mind to something, he will go to extreme lengths to accomplish it.

(this detective is downright amazing)

And finally, we have the thread that ties both timelines together, the detective who has both heart and fire, Cha Soo Hyun (played by the talented Kim Hye Soo).

This drama is so much more than just a simple back and forth perspective between detectives. It is so much more than a time travel story. It’s a complex examination of corruption, crime, justice, mercy, and our ability to influence the world around us.

I can’t say too much about it without giving away plot details, but needless to say, every single episode kept me on the edge of my seat and had me both laughing, raging and outright sobbing at the lives featured.

I found out later that the writer and director of the drama spent 3 mths mapping out the entire thing, and worked with a criminal profiler to get all the professional aspects of the story correct. Let me tell you, dear readers, IT SHOWS. This drama blew me away.

What I loved:

-the quick moving plot that always seemed to take a new twist or turn.

-how carefully worked out every tiny detail of the story was

-how beautifully the past and present timelines flowed together

-there was some criticism of Lee Je Hoon’s acting, that it was dramatic and over the top, but I thought it was perfect, because he was younger than the other detectives and his high emotion offset the more stoic faces of the other detectives.

What I would have changed:

-well, I would have added some smooches, for heaven’s sakes. I get that this wasn’t a romcom, but there is always room for a smooch (or two) in a drama

-the ending was one of those open endings with like a bunch of possibilities. Yeah, the main storyline was resolved, but this really felt like fishing for Season 2 to me.

Overall, I give this drama an A+: complex, thoughtful, and full of all the feels(as the youngsters call them). Be warned though, this drama can be quite the punch to the gut at times!

cesraeborgia

My real self, the self I have always been from a child, is a loner and nerd, slightly overweight, with a very heavy fringe. That is who I was as a kid. I don’t think I will ever be anything other than that.

quirkstine

Witty, talented, beautiful. My Woman Crush and role model.

#Hayley Atwell