A Touch of K-Pop: November '13

Thanksgiving month is passed. And so with it, I realize how fast time flies! Looking just at the span of Kpop world events, wow! I started these Kpop posts back in March of this year, back when I barely concerned myself with Infinite, Teen Top was a baby obsession, and Winner hadn't even happened yet! 

To only have heard him sing...

Regrets so far: That I didn't get to see Infinite on their U.S. tour, that I didn't win autograph sessions with Teen Top at KCON, and that I watched Win: Who Is Next in the first place. The heartache.. and now the pains of a new fandom. I had a nightmare this week where Winner never became big, where one member died, and the group disintegrated into anonymity. Wtf.. I'm appalled at the level of torture my brain conceives up in my sleep.

Read on for what I occupy myself with when I'm not asleep, what I do when groups don't promote, ship wars, ships, Kpop awards, and more.

Cdrama Review: Bu Bu Jing Xin (2011)

Bu Bu Jing Xin
步步惊心
10/10 ♥♥♥♥

Twdramas have been failing me recently – so I took a trip to the mainland instead. Bu Bu Jing Xin, or Startling at Each Step, will be my first mainland Chinese drama. It came highly recommended, and is talked about in some circles with almost cult-like fanaticism. Recipe for something good, yes? Yes!

The Premise

Our modern day heroine has a car accident and her soul travels back in time 300 years into an old incarnation of herself: Maertai Ruoxi (Cecelia Liu). It’s the Qing dynasty and Emperor Kangxi reigns; spoiler alert: he’s got over a dozen handsome sons. Stuck in the past Ruoxi is forced to live the life of a court lady, maneuvering herself through a web of princely politics, succession battles, and of course love.

So which prince will she end up with? 

Don’t be fooled. BBJX is not another elaborate time travel drama. Based on a novel, it’s merely an excuse to throw a lady of the modern world into a stunning and gorgeous period setting, and let history take over. Ruoxi ‘arrives’ years before the next exchange of power will take place. She therefore comes with the foreknowledge of which prince becomes emperor, and which princes will fail at the attempt. They only unknown is how exactly she should live, walking the careful path of survival.

And what her role is, no one knows.

Why is this drama is a cut above anything else with a vaguely similar plot?

• Because, Ruoxi is an intelligent woman who more or less knows how to survive; she adapts to her surroundings, plans her life as best as she can, and never loses her humanity, or her love of forging and maintaining relationships. 
• Because, BBJX isn’t just about the love entanglements of the main actors. It’s about everyone’s relationships: brothers, sisters, servants, lovers, and most importantly, friends. Their ties to each other are deep-rooted, and highly explored within the course of the drama. They might lead to sacrifice or death, or be the sole reason a person wants to be alive. 
•  Because, there are some killer love stories. Choose the right OTP and you’re almost rewarded, but I can count at least 9 different ships, four of which I hung out my sails for. Romantic or non-, these ships could break your heart.   

Warning - Super feels will be had by all.

Is it funny or serious? Both. Bu Bu Jing Xin walks a fine line between the genres of youthful comedy, and more melodramatic settings of life and death in the Forbidden City. So stop everything you’re doing and WATCH IT

And if you have already, read on for a short series of essays on Bu Bu Jing Xin. :) 

WARNING: Major Spoilers - Stop reading now unless you've finished the drama and are majorly obsessed with it. Like me.

TwDrama Review: Devil Beside You (2005)

Devil Beside You
惡魔在身邊
3/10

Another "classic" lets me down. Lured on the promise of extra lovey-doveyness and that always sought after 'chemistry' between leads, I got to cracking on this 20 episode monster.

Verdict: It's 18 episodes too long.

Now, before I'm murdered in my blogger-sleep, I could try to explain some of my reasoning. It might even be as simple as, I was never in the mood for what this story was trying to tell. Or, the old drama bad quality meant nothing ever looked good on screen. However, after dropping it several times, and then redetermining to finish, nearly 4 months passed between when I started and when I stopped. And I was never in the mood for it. 

Here's the Story in a Nutshell

Qi Yue (Rainie Yang) loves Yuan Yi. He kind of likes her back. But devil boy Jiang Meng (Mike He) takes an interest in her as well. They fall in love. However, their parents have already fallen in love. They're about to become step-siblings. Kissing happens.

ewwwwww!

Before I start in on spoilers, and my disgust of the leads' romance, let me disect a few other plot points. I realize that Devil Beside You has a wide cast that is supposed to leave viewers loving all the connections and friendships/frenemies/family trials/etc. but to me side plots were nauseatingly boring, mostly for their lack of subtlety. Our show here is adapted from a manga, and I've already discussed some reasons why these plots usually don't entice me. Creepy clingy girls and totally stalkerish perverts (most of whom are completely redeemed by the end) do not make for a good story of human emotion. They're plot devices, through and through. So they make the leads grow and learn. Good for them.

Drama, if you want to get my attention - you need something better than caricatures. I'll take the devil concept any day. It's hot, and it usually works in a lead drama male. I don't even mind him teasing the girl in devilish fashion. I also have a relatively high tolerance to whiny spineless females. Bbbut...

Read on if you dare. I look at what's wrong with the lead couple, why I usually love this kind of concept, and confess at least one thing I thought was good. After all, I did finish it..

Kdrama Review: Damo (2003)

Damo
조선 여형사 다모
6/10

You know when you start watching some epic drama, and it's taking too long to get to all the good parts, and you just want something vaguely similar, with more action and romance? That's me while watching Shin Don, and that's why I decided to Damo. The first is all political and totally without ornamentation (aka, no fluff). The second is all fluff and more love. And action sequences: the, scaling-rooftops, flying-through-trees, blades-all-a-blur-and-quite-bloody type of action scenes. Yeah, it was just what I was craving. I refuse to say it was a great drama, but at 14 episodes it was more than right for a spur of the moment marathon, and quite enjoyable.

The Plot

Our story is quite modern, despite it's sageuk feel - In fact, Damo is hailed as one of the first fusion sageuks out there. Ha Ji Won is Chae Ok, a slave girl attached to a Joseon era police department. Her social position is as a damo, literally "tea servant," but whose job is more indicative of a female detective. Thanks to a cruel past - born to a noble family until her father was accused of treason - she's since followed around a brother/lover type figure from the family she was sold to. Commander Yoon (Lee Seo Jin) is her employer, friend, family, and reason for living now. Until the police uncover a crippling conspiracy, and moral ethics demand they investigate. But what lies underneath the relatively innocuous counterfeiting ring comes a whole new dragon, in the form of rebel leader Jang Sung Baek (Kim Min Joon). And then some...

No bromance, unfortunately -- Just a lot of testosterone. 

Uhm, what else should I say? It's a sageuk detective drama. It's also very much a Kdrama, and the story is built with almost exactly similar tropes: love triangle, secrets, suspense, a love triangle, conspiracies, evil old sageuk dudes, noble heroes fighting for some very vague cause.. did I mention there's something weird about that love triangle...? *ahem*

Read on for my short non-spoilery account of  the Highs and Lows of Damo.