First, I'm watching 4-5 dramas right now. That's a bit much, even for me. Second, I .... I made a spreadsheet. To track my drama watchage. Because 1) I love spreadsheets. 2) I love spreadsheets. 3) I wanted to know how many actual hours I'd spent immersed in Korean.
Don't believe me? Good. Because I wanted to give you a screenshot anyway:
Yeah. I'm up to almost 600 hours. And that's not counting the new ones, or shows that I've only watched partially, or random episode viewings (I'm sure Coffee Price would be up to 10 or so if I were counting miscellaneous episode viewings). This is also why the majority of them have pretty high scores - if it's a crap show I abandon it pretty quickly. I also stole my ranking system from www.dramabeans.com - Seems really necessary separate How-Good-I-Actually-Think-The-Show-Is from How-Much-I-Enjoyed-The-Show. They are almost always different.
SIX HUNDRED HOURS. There are only 720 hours in a month. If you take out 6 hours a night for sleep, that only leaves you with 540 hours. I like to think that I've effectively been a silent member of Korean society for over a month now. I'm also curious to see how high that number climbs before I actually go to Korea.
Did I mention I'm planning on actually going to Korea now? NEW LIFE PLAN. After I finish Grad School (still one horrendous year left) I'm planning to go teach English in South Korea! For Real! I'm pretty fucking excited. I think it will be really fun, and I've always been an advocate for Americans getting (the fuck) out of America for a while. And while I did do a little exchange program in Paris in undergrad, I always thought that was kind of paltry since it was only for 3 months. I'll teach in Korea for at least a year, and actually the real number I've got in my head is 2 years. We'll see how it goes, I suppose :D
Maybe I'll go more into that later, but for now I feel like cataloging/reviewing the new shows I've been watching: Which will mean almost nothing to most of you. Hurrah!
ROOFTOP PRINCE (Airing now!)
This shit is funny, y'all. Time travel is a silly business, and so far this show is handling it really well. I like most of the characters so far, and all the little interactions they're building up. I'm excited to see the main pair progress, and I'm really actually intrigued by the mystery stuff - I want to know whodunnit, and I want confirmation that the dead body is who we think it is.... This is the one I really anticipate/wait for each week. Also, I'm becoming more of a Micky Yoochun fan every day.
FASHION KING (Airing now!)
I'm started watching this for Yoo In Ah, and while he's awesome in it and just as manly-cute as ever, I'm definitely getting into the story. This is only of only a few dramas where I can't decide which of the male leads I like better, or which I want the main girl to end up with. The girls are who I have problems with. I'm not a huge fan of Yuri yet, although I think she's doing a decent job with the bitchy character she's been given. Shin Se Kyung is also probably a decent actress, but I can't how much of a pushover she is - I really need her to vent and bitch somebody out really soon here. But also, like, WOAH look at the drama going on in that promo picture. So. Intense.
KING 2 HEARTS (Airing now!)
I've been kind of on the fence about this one... I'm watching for the actors - how can you not love Lee Seung Ki and Ha Ji Won? But I was pretty luke-warm about the writing and the characters... Ji Won's character seems really inconsistent - being a total BAMFy one minute and disturbingly shy and reluctant the next, and she hasn't really sold me on that bipolar thing yet. And Lee Seung Gi's prince was such an asshole I had a hard time relating to him. Also I find the bad guy just really annoying. The show, and Fashion King also, is also peppered with really bad English. And really bad English acting. I have an unrealistic (given the size of my thighs) dream of going to Korea and becoming an actress who could actually act the 7 lines they need English speakers to say. Sorry that was a tangent. K2H may have finally caught my attention with the last episode, in which some completely unexpected things happened, and I think I'm finally interested in the characters and how they'll deal with there new circumstances.
CITY HALL (2009)
I just started this yesterday, as there were no updated episodes of the new shows, and I figured I couldn't go wrong with a Hong Sisters drama that starred Kim Sun Ah. And so far, I'm not wrong. It's not as zany as I was expecting (but perhaps because I've only been watching newer Hong Sisters' stuff), but it's still really well written and Kim Sun Ah is just as funny as I was hoping she'd be. Also, she's not dying of cancer, which is what was happening the last time I got to see her. I like her much better this way. (<--)
UNSTOPPABLE HIGH KICK (2006)
This is totally different for me. UHK is actually a Korean Sitcom - so only 25 minutes or so, and there are over 100 episodes. But it's pretty classic, and it (and it's sequels) jump-started a lot of careers, so it's fun to see all these people just starting out. I was mostly interested in the second and third iterations, but when I found out the first one had Jung Il Woo in it, I just couldn't resist. So far he wins my Korean Actor Emmy for being fucking incredible in absolutely everything I've seen him in. So far, it's fun. Light-hearted. It's kind of nice to watch something without all the angst inherent in all the other dramas (save City Hall, that one's pretty damn fluffy, too).
