JCP FEATURES: CARNATION

“Family is not always about blood, but it’s about the bond.”

May is a family month in South Korea. They celebrate “Children’s Day”, “Parent’s Day”, and “Teacher’s Day” in May. Despite that, the pandemic has changed the concept of family. It helped us to realize how important family is and what family really means. This feature might be more personal and full of emotions, but I hope you after reading this you can take care and think of your family more, no matter how hard it is.

Before I started the main point of this feature, I wanted to let you know that this is purely written by my own opinion with a help of my personal experience, watching Korean drama, and the Internet. First of all, I’ll start with my experience.

My nuclear family consisted of 4 (now there are only 3 of us). In Indonesia and Chinese culture, we also count the extended family too. Since my mom is the eldest daughter and the first child of seven, my family was obligated to take care of extended family stuff and she did it. Compared to my cousins, my brother and I are closer to my grandpa and late grandma. And here I am right now, living with my kid-like grandpa. (By the time I uploaded this blog, my grandpa has moved out from my house.)

As I’m writing this, I have an uncomfortable term with my extended family. Well, not openly. (It’s open now!) I prayed for them every day, even though I don’t really fond them as I used to be. As I grew older, I got to know “adult stuff” and it doesn’t always a good and happy one. As I’ve said before, my mom is the eldest daughter, so she used to take care of all of the family stuff and it feels like that my aunts and uncles put that responsibility to my dad and me (since my brother is out of the country). It’s not that I don’t like it, but they are should the one who took care of my old grandpa. They are his children, while I’m only a grandchild. After my mom passed away, I got to know how hard her life was and feel terrible for not being able to pay back her love fully. The saying “you never knew until you lost it” is really relatable to me as I never thought that my mom’s presence is this significant. She was the armor of our family and she’s been holding up by herself. The 3 of us didn’t realize it until we face this drama.

It sounded like a full of sentiments and anger, but it’s only the tip of my family drama. Since I don’t want to make it bigger, I just wanted to give you a picture that every family has its own drama. Whether you came from an individualistic or collectivist culture. Enough with the personal side story, I wanted to share some movies and Korean drama that helped me to understand the concept of a family.

The story of intertwined two families, Choi and Seo. The Seo’s lost one of their twin daughters due to some illness and one day on their way back, they found a girl and take that girl home. They raised the girl for 25 years and treated her as their own daughter. No one in the family knows about it other than Mr. and Mrs. Seo. It turns out that the girl Seo found is the lost daughter of the Choi family. The drama shows how a family is not always about blood. Even when both families know the truth, Choi’s long lost daughter didn’t feel like at home. Maybe it's like any other Korean family drama, but I surely enjoy every episode of the drama. Sick father, harsh youngster life, and sparks of romance are included in this drama. It’s a very relatable drama that will make your eyes puff, but you will find your heart lighten.

I first watched this movie on the airplane and I was so terribly regretted to watch in-flight. I cried my heart out because this movie is very touching. It’s about two brothers that separated for years before because the bigger brother was in jail. When he was out of jail, he found out that his brother has lost his sight. One day, he found out that he has cancer. He tried to make us of his brother to be a Paralympic sportsman, so he can secure his future. A lot of mishaps might happen to you and your family, but eventually, we need each other. We had to have someone we can rely on.

This drama succeeds to make me cry every week. I cannot explain with words how this drama gave me console. Watching this drama is like having a tap on my back. Everyone has their own way to express their feeling of loose someone. Some might feel depressed, feel lonely, or try their best to move on. But one thing for sure, we will miss the person we lost. The drama portrays the love of a mother that has to leave her daughter and husband suddenly due to an accident. For 5 years, she was a ghost that always lingers around her daughter. One day, she was given a chance to be a real human for 49 days. The drama reveals how precious is your life and the person you love means.

This is the most recent drama in which you can watch it on Netflix. The drama included a fairytale that you might have heard before, so it’s pretty easy to follow. It might be a gothic drama, but actually, most of the fairytales were used to be cruel and have a dark storyline. It’s Okay to Not Be Okay or Psycho but Okay (literal translation) is about two brothers and a girl that had ill-fated relationships that turns out they cure each other wounds. The highlight of this drama is the bigger brother has a mental disability and had a phobia of butterflies. The younger brother is exhausted and really wants his brother to overcome his phobia. Over time, the younger brother met a psychopath fairytale writer, which turns out that they were met once when they were a kid. Actually, the writer had a lot of wounds from her childhood and she didn’t want to open herself up and ended up becoming a selfish human being. The drama tells us that everyone may have their own past stories that might not good, but there will be someone that will help you to overcome it. If you feel lonely, say that you are lonely. Again, this tells you that a family is not always a blood-related. 

“If we take a family photo, we are a family” – Moon Sangtae

Disney Pixar always succeed to make me cry over an animation movie. Actually, the storyline was pretty simple, it’s about a curious Mexican young kid that ended up to the Land of the Dead. He wanted to prove that his love for music came down from someone in his family. In that Land of the Dead, he wanted to meet his idol and asked for help to convince his family that his music is good. He ended up unravel his family history. The movie includes Mexican culture that is identic with togetherness. Familia, they don’t take this word easily. “Mexican generally maintain strong links with the members of their extended family” (britannica.com). Every scene in this animation gave a clear example of a Mexican culture that I can relate pretty much. I was raised by my grandma and had a close relationship with her compared to my other cousins. This post pretty much summarizes what this movie all about. My favorite part? “Remember me.” Once you are bonded as a family, you shouldn’t forget them and you are always going to be that part of that family. Read more about the life quotes from Coco here.

This animation clearly shows that a family isn’t always about humans. You can build your own family with your pets or even your favorite toys. Even though it might be an extreme one, but the important thing is, anyone or anything can be your family. I cried my eyes out loud the most when I watched Toy Story 3. This is might a bit of a spoiler (if you haven’t watched it, please watch the movie right now), but I really cried after watching the scene where Andy says, “But the thing that makes Woody special, is he’ll never give up on you… ever. He’ll be there with you, no matter what happens.” Even when I’m writing this, my eyes were a bit teary. What Andy said really hit me hard. The quotes made me realize that I should be a person that will never leave someone out, especially a family. Andy gave his toys a new home, a new family that might take care of them better as Andy needs to carry on his life. But it doesn’t mean Andy and his toys are not a family anymore. Again, once you are a part of a family, you’ll always be one. Maybe not physically, but it will always stay in your heart.

I probably can say that this is the most sorrowful Korean movie that I've ever watch. Even though this is an old movie, but the storyline is still relatable to this day. The movie is about a mentally handicapped, single father that was sent to prison because of falsely accused. The inmates in cell number 7 helped that mentally handicapped inmate that was not able to be separated from his young daughter. No matter who you are, if you are sincere, there will be someone that will help you. Family is like that. You can see clearly that prison is not always a bad, sorrowful place. It’s a place where hopes started. The mentally handicapped inmates show to his inmates that there is a way and miracle can happen at anytime. The inmates create bonds among them and make them a family. The movie reminds you that family plays an important role in your life, no matter how hard the situation is. Even in very hard situations, you can find a new family. I really recommended you watch this movie, if you haven’t.

Again, the movie has a connection with a mentally handicapped character. I didn’t mean to choose similar characters and storyline, but every movie or drama have their distinctive concept about family. “Keys to the Heart,” tells about a long lost eldest son that finally reunited with his mother and finally meet his half-brother with down syndrome. Not enough with the harsh past, the eldest son lost his career as a boxer and had to take care of his brother since his mother has a chronic illness. I find this movie is very soothing, but also heartbreaking. I believe sometimes, people might have some ridiculous thoughts such as, why I was placed in this family? But I think it’s a very humane thought. Just, don’t dwell on it too long and find a way to reconcile with your family. The movie portrays how a situation could force you to stay with your family. Because they are the only treasure you have.

Well, the list might go on, but these movies and dramas pretty much cover-up the concept of family, which family is not always about blood (and talking about family will touch your inner heart and will make you cry A LOT). Friends or pets are the ones that we can choose as our family members. Bonds made us into a family. Talking about it, I am so glad that I have a little community that has the best bond. We respect and treat each other more than a friend or colleague, but a family. I think this community is one of the greatest gifts that God gave me. I’m thankful for them. Even now the members keep on growing. One of our members has got married and her husband is our new family member. Again, a family is not only about blood, it was beyond that.

As you can see on the list of recommendations, you might notice that most of them are Korean movies and dramas. It’s not because I like to watch Korean movies or dramas, but it’s because they portray the concept of a family the best. Korean culture stands for collectivism instead of individualism. Well, sometimes it can be burdensome since it also occurs at work too. As you might notice, in some Korean dramas or movies, they portrayed get-together-dinner a lot, which you cannot see in Western movies. This short scene shows the idea of collectivism, which “emphasizes the needs and goals of the group as a whole over the needs and desire of each individual” (verywellmind.com). One of the traits of collectivism is families and communities have the central role. But, since the world changes every second, this culture seems to be fading away. The new generation started to be more individualistic, which led to the crash between the older and new generations. I guess because of that kind of irony; they tend to bring up those kinds of storylines.

In Korea, there are two words for a family. One is ‘Gajok’ and the other one is ‘Sik-ku’. The difference can be seen if we took each character and match it to the Chinese characters (many Korean words rooted from Chinese characters). The broad meaning of ‘Gajok’ is blood-related people in the same roof (house). While ‘Sik-ku’ means people that eat together. Koreans prefer to use ‘Sik-ku’ more than ‘Gajok’ because we spent quite some time at the dining table (normally, we eat 3 times a day) and it occurs every day. So, how to get to know each other better is by eating together. While eating, you can talk and get to know each other. Whether you realize it or not, when we are compatible and feel comfortable with another person, we create bonds, which eventually we think them as part of our family member. Sometimes, even though you are blood-related, that doesn’t mean you know each other well. That’s why the word ‘Sik-ku’ is more preferable because it means friendlier than ‘Gajok’.

Well, we cannot choose our parents and which blood-line we have, but we can build our own family. People you love, people who know to treat you right. The rule of thumb is to have a happy life is to treat your precious relationships right. Well, I’m not in the position to say this since I had a bad term with my extended family now, but it taught me a lot and you might also learn something from me. No matter what, they are part of my family, so I’ll have to open my heart first. I tend to clear my mind and don't let the negativity hits me.

I accept the fact that there are many types of personalities in this world and it’s applied to your family members.

“We may have the difference, but nothing’s more important than family”

 – Miguel.

Thank you, kiddo for saying that out loud. I’ll try my best to keep this on my mind. Like other relationships, it works only if both sides open their heart and making efforts of the relationship.

I’m sorry for the delay since I’m working nowadays. It drains my energy to the fullest and got things to sort out too. Didn’t plan that these features will be this long, but I hope this helped you. I’ll see you soon in my other post!

JCP FEATURES: BOMBASTIC

“And the Oscars goes to …”

February is kind of a special month, especially this year. Despite the news of the new coronavirus from Wuhan, China is spreading, I want to highlight the winning of four Academy awards that was taken away by the ‘Parasite’ team. Let’s forget about the COVID-19 for a while and look back at this rare winning story.

A few weeks ago, I watched the awarding night of ‘The 40^th Blue Dragon Film Awards’. They were celebrating the 40^th years of the award and the 100^th years of the Korean movie industry. This year marked the tenth years I followed the Korean movie industry, which means I’ve only watched just 10% of it.

Snippets of 'The 40th Blue Dragon Film Awards'
'Parasite' Team
Courtesy of Sports Chosun via Hellokpop.com

The Roar

Dating back to 1919, ‘The Righteous Revenge’ was to be believed the first Korean movie to be released. That year, Korea (South and North Korea were one) was still under the occupation of Japan. So, it was not the era to be creative and appreciate it. Surviving the day was hard enough, how come they have time to enjoy a movie, but it turned out that it received warm attention. The first movie was in kinodrama (play with motion picture inserts) format. A few years later, the format changed. They started to have silent film, sound film, colored film, and then the film format we enjoy now.

The underlying background of the early days is mostly about the occupation of Japan or Korean folktales. The most famous folktale in Korea is called Chunhyang-jeon (which means ‘the legend of Chunhyang’). This folktale can be found in any storytelling form such as song, poem, drama, book, and many more. The most famous format is song and drama. Most of the Korean traditional performances are inspired by this folktale. Jang Geun-suk and Ha Jiwon’s were able to have a turning point in their acting career thanks to the drama ‘Chunhyang’ (this drama is one of the legendary drama, which every Hallyu fans have to watch).

Lee Mongryong (acted by Jo Seung-woo) and Chunhyang (acted by Lee Hyo-Jung)
from the movie 'Chunhyang' (2000) produced by Im Kwon-taek
Courtesy of CJ Entertainment via Dramabeans

For Koreans, the occupation of Japan was the most painful and longest memory they ever have. No wonder there were lots of visual-art forms that took the settings from this period. They were occupied for 35 years and then for 5 years later another war broke out. They were barely revived the mess that was made during the Japanese occupation. The Korean War is also an interesting underlying theme. Viewers today were curious about those days, which making the filmmakers pushed their creativity to recreate the situation.

As the world is now shifting and more people are open-minded, the storyline of a movie became more diverse and unique, especially when cultures came in.

Turning Point

Hollywood is will always be associated with the word ‘film’. There is where all actors and filmmakers in the world are dreaming to be. There were few Korean actors that have opened the way in the Hollywood scene, like Rain, Lee Byung-hun, Daniel Henney, and Bae Doona. Not only on screen but behind the screen too. I found few Korean named editors and other crews on Hollywood movies, and of them is Marvel Studios' movie. But, who would know that a Korean film will be the one who took home 4 Oscars trophy away that night? I never really care about that award before, even though I personally love watching a film. Since the winner is a Korean film, which is the first non-English film that won the award, I got curious about it. Not specifically about the award, but about the director and Korean film industry itself.

Ninja Assassin Movie Poster
Rain's first Hollywood debut movie on 2009
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures via Petelagi.com

Bong Joon-ho is a veteran in the Korean film industry and he had good relationships with other phenomenal directors around the world. His acceptance speech leaves a great impression both for the Koreans and invitees that night. It was in simple English, “Thank you. I will drink until (the) next morning, thank you”. But this snippet of his acceptance speech became a stir in the Korean society (there are some parodies of him) and he showed the true Korean culture that night. Well, he is a true Korean to the bone, anyway. His speech is witty and simple enough and brightens up the theater right away. What ‘Parasite’ team did was truly an achievement for Koreans and a gate-opener for other Asian countries. Through this event, the world knows that Asian countries are able to keep up the Western countries, which notable for their advanced technologies and ideas.

The Blue Dragon Film Awards were given before The Academy Awards and of course, ‘Parasite’ also won the heart of the local industry, as well. They won five awards and one of them is the ‘Best Film’ awards. Most of the other contenders who won the other awards, open their speech with, “I thought ‘Parasite’ team who will win this award, or I/We didn’t expect to receive this award…” this shows how strong ‘Parasite’ is.

Bong Joon-Ho's Acceptance Speech Parody
"Parodysite"
Courtesy of Yoon Seyoon's Youtube Channel (Awesome YoonSeyoonie)

Well, actually, superstar actor, Song Kang-ho's other movie called ‘Taxi Driver’ also received lots of love from the overseas movie enthusiasts, but the impact and messages ‘Parasite’ showed were relatable to all nationalities and every citizen in the world. So, it is not an understatement to say the turning point of the Korean movie industry is ‘Parasite’.

Korean Movies Values

Citing from Statista (2020), the Korean movie export value from 2013 to 2019 shows some ups and downs, but it worth more than 25 million dollars each year. The highest value is 43.89 million dollars in 2016. That year is when ‘Train to Busan’ was released. Regardless of the Oscar-winning movie, ‘Parasite’ was released last year, the export values were placed 4^th out of 6^th. I believe because of the other contender movies in 2019 were pretty strong such as The Avengers, live-action Aladdin, as well as Lion King, and many more, it became the reason for lower export value. But nevertheless, in Korea itself, last year marked the highest cinema admission according to Statista. This means that Koreans are more appreciating in the movie industry (both Korean and other countries movies as well) nowadays.

Daddy Seok-woo (acted by Gong Yoo) in Train to Busan (2016)
Courtesy of Next Entertainment World via Detik.co.id

There are 1.1 thousand Korean movies that were released in South Korea and few of the remarkable movies that were released are, ‘Extreme Jobs’, ‘Parasite’, ‘Born 1982: Kim Jiyoung’, ‘Exit’, ‘The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil’, and ‘Innocent Witness’. I haven’t got the chance to watched all the movies that were released last year, but ‘Extreme Jobs’, ‘Parasite’, ‘Born 1982: Kim Jiyoung’, and ‘Exit’ are truly remarkable movies. It was entertaining, touching, and they had the best castings too. I realized that these three elements are the things that made Korean movies attractive. Korea is known to have a diverse historical value. From the Kingdom era to Japanese occupation to the Korean war to fighting from poverty until the modern-day. Through those ups and downs, making their storyline unique and rich.

'Exit' (2019) Movie Poster
Courtesy of CJ E&M via IMDb

Notable Movies I’ve Ever Watched

Well, as far as I remember, I started to follow the Korean film industry since I watched ‘Train to Busan’. Thanks to the handsome daddy, Gong Yoo, I watched the movie. If it was not acted by him, I probably wouldn’t dare to watch it, even though so many people talked about it, even from the non-Korean-fans. Even the movie got a special studio in my neighborhood cinema.

The first Korean movie I watched is ‘The Man from Nowhere’. The film was released in 2010, which is the second year I got hooked in the Korean wave. The film was too dark for me to watch at that time, but the film itself received lots of love from the viewers, especially the Koreans. The Won Bin effect was pretty huge that time, well up until now actually. Another good Korean movie I’ve watched is ‘Miracle in Cell No. 7’. Oh, I cried a lot. Both Korean movies and dramas could make me a crybaby and are really good at delivering the same emotions. The classic ‘My Sassy Girl’ and ‘200 Pounds of Beauty’ should not be missed out from the list.

A snippet of 'My Sassy Girl' (2001)
Featuring Gianna Jun and Cha Tae-hyun
Courtesy of Cinema Service via Tumblr

One of my favorite films about the Japanese occupation is ‘The Battleship’. Indonesia and Korea had the same year of Independence, which is in 1945. This film’s setting is when Koreans were brought to China to be a slave. With the help of a “spy”, they were able to plan an escape route. When they were able to exit the slavery, the Alliance bombed Hiroshima (on the 6^th of August) and Nagasaki (on the 9^th of August), which brought down Japanese power greatly. It was an intense movie, where there are lots of scenes of poverty, blood, and cursing. The hidden patriotic of me came out when I watched the movie.

Lately, I’ve been watching some old Korean movies like, ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘A Day’, ‘The Chronicle of Blood Merchant’, ‘The Undercover Spy’, ‘Sunflower’, ‘Love Forecast’, ‘Scarlet Innocence’, ‘Luck Key’, ‘Beauty Inside’, and many more. Since it was premiered in different years, I could see it clearly that the industry was progressing. And that’s why I chose to write a post about this topic on my feature this time.

A movie is not only about telling stories and entertain the viewers, but it's about passion and hard work. A single movie is not complete without a writer, director, music director, editor, actor, and more other crews that need to hold in hand creating a wonderful story and entertain the viewer. No wonder why a movie ending screen-roll is long. It's all because so many people needed to make a movie. Let's appreciate every movie, even though you don't like the story or the actor or other things, but let's remember that it is a piece of someone's hard work.

It was pretty unfortunate, that the industry had to stop for a while this month because of the COVID-19, but I hope you can catch up to watch Korean movies in this hard situation. Wishing you to stay healthy and happy all the time. This too shall pass. I will pray for all of you wherever you are. If you are able to read this post, you are doing well and fortunate. Let’s save the world together. See you in my upcoming post.

BONUS!
I wanted to share some of my experience watching the preview or premiere of the Korean movies while I'm in Korea. I pretty often going to the cinema while I'm living in Korea because first, I got to see the actors in real life cheaper than going to a fan-meeting, second, there were lots of good movie in 2018, third, their popcorn was tasty, and lastly, it's good to spend time with friends and learn Korean in the same time. So, here it is.

Source:

https://www.koreanfilm.org/history.html 
(Very recommended site to get the insight of Korean film industry through expertise eyes)

https://www.cinemaescapist.com/2019/12/best-korean-movies-2019/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40th_Blue_Dragon_Film_Awards#Nominations_and_winners

K-DRAMA: Mid-summer Dream Man, Park Seojun Dramas & Film Recommendations!

It’s been sometime since I posted about K-drama and lately I had my eyes mostly on it, so I wanted to share it with you all. Summer is finally arrived and when I think of summer, it’s associated to refreshing yet lovey dovey dramas. Last year, I spent my first half of summer by watching “What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?” and this year I watched “Her Private Life” at the start of summer (I mentioned it on my May Life Rewind vlog, because it was that G.O.O.D!). Last two years, I watched KBS2 drama “Fight for My Way”. Can you find the connection of those dramas?

Yes, the dramas were romantic-comedy drama and it aired around summer days. Lately, I’m falling into Park Seojun (again) and he shows up often on my Instagram feed because he is promoting his new movie, “The Divine Fury”. Thanks to this promotion, he came to a VLive show, “Actor and Chatter”. Summerizing from his interview on the VLive, “I don’t believe in tarot, but when I was in my 20s, I went once, and the only thing that I remember is, I was born as a winter tree (or plant), so I need energy from summer heat to keep on living. And that’s why my projects succeed during summer time, I think”. He confirmed it himself, that his summer projects were mostly succeed and he got “daebak-nam” or “successful man” nickname. I recommend you to watch the VLive (now they don’t have the subtitle yet, so you need to wait till the subs is out), because it is really funny and interesting! Park Seojun also really good with the flow and he is really friendly!

Since, we are on the topic and Park Seojun is getting more interest lately, I’m going to include two dramas and one movie that Park Seojun starred for you to watch (or re-watch, maybe).

Definitely I shouldn’t forget this drama from the list of drama Park Seojun starred. The drama was aired on 2017 and I include this drama on my Top 10 K-dramas in 2017 video (watch it here) because it was that good! The story is about for young adults searching for the real meaning of life, love, dream, and friendship. For my age, it was a totally relatable drama that I recommend you to watch. It’s definitely something that 20s will be experiencing, confused and feel lost. This drama is a total lovey-dovey and comedy filled drama with bunch of moral lessons. 

Here’s some of the highlights of the drama: 

(may contain spoiler!)

1. Cute Acts

The infamous Dongman vs Aera cute acts is totally a mind-blowing scene ever and it makes you jiggle all day long if you remember that scene. Park Seojun himself has to recreate the scene everytime he appeared on a variety shows and even at the award ceremony.

2. Variety Cameos

From Julien Kang, Choi Woosik, Kwak Dongyeon, and many more appeared in this drama. Choi Woosik is known as Park Seojun best friend and he is almost appeared in most of Park Seojun’s project and vice versa (recently, Park Seojun appeared in Choi Woosik’s movie, Parasite. And it is a must watch movie!)

Choi Wooshik (cr: Google Images)

Julien Kang (cr: Google Images)

Kwak Dongyeon (cr: Google Images)

Hwang Bora (cr: Google Images)

In Gyojin & Jin Jihee (cr: Soompi)

3. Shirtless Seojun

Well, you cannot miss this from the drama. Summer is where you can see all those superb abs of your favorite actor. In this drama, PSJ is an ex-martial arts sportsman, but he had to give up on it because of something. Then, he finally found his way to revive his old dream and became a boxer. Usually, boxer didn’t wear shirt when they match, so you gotta see PSJ’s abs here.

4. Golden Life Quotes

There are few famous quotes that totally inspiring and maybe you could use it for your motto or Instagram captions. 
Here it is:

"It isn’t cool to act tough when you want to cry. It’s cool to cry when you want to."  

 - Go Dong Man

 "It’s not “Youth is for being in pain,” its “Youth is for making trouble."

- Choi Ae Ra

"We woke up earlier than anyone and we slept later, but we never had enough time. We lived harder than anyone, but our resumés don’t show a thing. They seem to be everything of our history. It makes me mad and upset."

- Choi Ae Ra

" You must think the world is full of women dying to ride on your white horse, but Cinderella stories aren’t popular anymore. The real world is filled with moronic women who work hard and succeed on their own. So take your glass slippers, and feed them to the dogs."

- Choi Ae Ra 

"Even if we can’t win, let’s play anyway. Living our way is winning. Who cares what others say?"

- Go Dong Man

"If grow up means your dream fade, I'll give up on growing up" 

- Go Dong Man 

"Instead of money, you should think about your dreams and heart. And give your best shot at life."

- Hwang Jang Ho 

"It’s better to live as if you don’t have a dream. If you do have a dream, you feel sorry for yourself. Must everyone have a dream, anyway? Even if I don’t have a dream, the world goes ’round just fine."

- Go Dong Man 

"Just go with the thing that makes your heart beat faster."

- Go Dong Man
(This one is my favorite)

BONUS!

I visited the drama shooting location in Busan and it was totally a delighting experience. I always like to visit my favorite drama shooting location and whenever I go there, the drama scenes showed up vividly on my mind and I can’t stop smiling. 

If you happened to visit Busan, on your trip to South Korea, definitely put this on your itinerary. Recommend you to visit this place in the evening, so you could see both day and night scenes from the Namil Bar rooftop. You also have to take a picture in front of their house & stairs. I didn’t get the chance to do that so, I’m going to go back there again just to take picture on that stairs and immersing the late-night talk on the “expensive” rooftop bar at Namil Bar.

Despites various review on the internet, I still really liked this drama and would spent my time watching it again. This drama is the best when you feel low and need some a pick-me-up. So, you better watch it!!

The most hilarious and well-made drama in 2018! My summer was hot enough last year and this drama cool me off. Watched the first two episodes in Indonesia on-time (on its premiere time) and the first two episodes gets me so hype. Park Seojun acted as a badass CEO and selfish person but he is very attractive. He has that “aura” that make you flutters. This drama best watch when you need a little fantasy in your dull daily life. While, I was writing this, the drama rewinds through my mind and it keeps me smiling. The drama is adapted from a webtoon and novel with the same title. Most Korean prefer the webtoon one, but I haven’t got the time to read the webtoon (TMI: at that time I haven’t change my appstore location yet). They print out the webtoon into comics too, but still I haven’t got the chance to read it. Even though the drama looks alike with other dramas, but since it’s an webtoon based drama, they have a refreshing storyline and relatable to nowadays. 
SPOILER: The ending of the drama was kinda disappointing, because it ended too fast :( 
Many prefer the ending at the original webtoon.

The key points why you should watch the drama:

1. Grade A++ Casts

Park Minyoung is a goddess! (despite the rumors or fact that she had plastic surgery, I still like her). Her acting improved so much and she is a pro now. The Korean netizen said she really looks like came out from the webtoon. She nailed the Secretary Kim character very well.

Her counterpart, Park Seojun is suitable with every character, even being a cool and handsome jerk Vice-president. He thinks he is perfect and I couldn’t agree more. Really grateful that he chooses to be in this drama, because I don’t know who can portray this character as good as him.

Kang Kiyoung who acts as Seojun’s best friend, was hilarious and he could portray any type of character well. Usually, he acts as a looser or third-rate characters, but in this drama he finally got to be lead-actor’s friend and played as a CEO! Even he got to get kiss scene (it was a big deal for him!). The chemistry between him and Park Seojun makes them best friend in real life too. Thanks to this drama, Kang Kiyoung gets to film CF with Park Seojun and he appeared in SBS variety show “Village Survival”. It was a big deal to be contracted as a CF star and regular member of variety shows for actors/actress. This role made his popularity soar high. 
UPDATE: he just got married recently.

The parents’ role also played by a top class actors and actresses, but Park Seojun’s parents are quite a mismatch. Their younger version and the older version is not something look-a-like, but actually they are a top class one in this industry. The parent roles were played by Kim Byung Ok (Jeong Somi’s dad in Because This is My First Life), Kim Hye Ok (mom of Shin Hyesun in My Golden Life, Jo Deokhyeon (he played in several dramas like Pinocchio, I Can Hear Your Voice, and many more).

Kim Byung Ok, Kim Hye Ok

Jo Deokhyeon

2. Awesome Chemistry

The chemistry between the casts are beyond comparable. Park Seojun and Park Minyoung, Park Seojun and Kang Kiyoung, Pyo Yejin and Hwang Chansung, and other casts inside the drama. The director of this drama is the same with “Because this is My First Life”, so Jung Somi and Lee Minki made a cameo as younger version of Park Minyoung’s parents. Not only the chemistry between casts, but the chemistry between director and casts are also great. And that’s what makes the drama comes together evenly and fun to watch.

Jung Somi and Lee Minki as cameo

3. Animations

Since it’s adopted from a webtoon, there are some special effects like heart animations, evil thought animations, etc to enhance the storyline. Those animated effects really make it fun to watch the drama. Especially when Park Seojun do some cute acts and Kang Kiyoung’s fantasy.

Evil is starting to put fire in Lee Youngjoon's mind (he couldn't sleep because of that devilish thought)

4. Smart Puns

They incorporate some puns into their lines, making it more relatable to the nowadays society. They made famous another doll, which called “Hard Working Cow”. Cow in Korean is “so” and in Korean you say “sugo-haeseo” if that person did well (informal form). The sound of “sugo-haeseo” and “so” sounds the same, so they created a cow-formed doll as a present for Kim Miso’s hard work from Lee Youngjoon. The cow doll became a hit and I went to arcade games to get that doll. There are few puns that maybe you could find if you could understand the Korean society culture, because sometimes the subtitles couldn’t really tell what’s it meant and make it doesn’t make sense and not funny.

Despites nothing new to the storyline and some said that Lee Taehwan’s character is not necessarily important, but this drama is really worth to watch if you need some laughter and entertainment. This drama will make you in a fantasyland and it’s not a good thing, but trust me it worth your time and will heal your stress. 

WARNING:It can be so addicting and you might spend your day just to binge watch all of the episode. Cause 16 hours is not enough to see Park Seojun’s hotness and those crazy rollercoaster love story.

BONUS FOR YA!

In most of projects Park Seojun participated, he always made bromance relationship. Look, in “Hwarang” he created it with Park Hyungsik and BTS’s V. In Fight for My Way, he created that bromance with his coach and life mentor, Kim Sung Oh. In “What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim”, his bromance partner is Kang Kiyoung. So, he is really good befriends with co-stars of his project. Not to mention, his long-life bromance partner is Choi Woosik. They met first time on a drama (Family, KBS, 2012) on the beginning of their careers. So, this movie is supposed to be on the list, because the bromance of this drama is super strong that I can’t stop smiling while watching the movie as well as their interviews and promotions activities. Park Seojun’s co-star in this movie is Kang Haneul (he call him Kang Sky! SO CUTEE!). Their teamwork is magical, if I could say. Both in front or behind the scenes they are the same.

When Seojun missed out from the promotion activities schedule. (cr: The Strait News)

This movie is about two police university students whose really different in personalities. Park Seojun is the brave and strong yet reckless type and Kang Haneul is a scaredy-cat but smart type. They became best friends and one day they went out to the club to find themselves a girlfriend. But, then they actually came across an illegal organ selling organization. They try to fix this problem by themselves with limited time and the action scenes were waiting on the second half of the movie. Even though this is an action movie, they keep it light and comical, so it is easy to watch.

cr: sbs.co.au

cr: modernkoreancinema.com

Reasons why I recommend you to watch this movie:

1. Kang Haneul first action movie.

Not really related to Park Seojun, but it summarized it all. This is Kang Haneul’s first action movie, so he prepared a lot for the shooting. He worked out (but still not strong enough to beat Park Seojun’s thigh wrestle) and trained a lot for this movie, he said. It was a challenging role for him and for his fans, it was an eye-candy. TMI: I even dreamt about him after watching this movie, while he enlisted to army. LOL. I became a fan of him, after his appearance in Happy Together, before he appeared in this movie.

credit as tagged

cr: IBTimes Singapore

2. Double Eye-candy

Did I ever say that I really like guys with nice-cut hairstyle? Not too short and not too long, but still cut nicely. And I really like guys in uniform. Either it’s policeman, pilot, hotelier, and so on. They are both a policeman-to-be, so they have to wear that policeman uniform (TMI: I couldn’t resist Jung Haein on “While You’re Sleeping” because he showed up with a policeman uniform!). 
They had to cut their hair short to enter the school and it was not really nice, especially Kang Haneul’s. But at the end of the movie, oh-la-la their nice-cut hairstyle is L.O.V.E! Hot guys alert!

credit as tagged

3. Life Moral Lessons

Because the story is about youngsters, so it is relatable for my ages. This movie thought more than fighting bad guys, but braveness, friendship, love, and most of all peace. Kang Haneul is an icon for peace (he got a nickname of “Pacific Ocean Heart Guy”). He really likes everything to be peaceful. I couldn’t think more who can nail that character alongside with Park Seojun other than him (I don’t think Park Bogum is good enough to fill in this role, even though he is as kind as Kang Haneul). Everything has it consequences and not all of our choice will be happened as we expected. I feel so blessed and touched after watching this movie. It was like a remedy in my hardship days (it was during my last year of uni and I’m on my thesis).

This 109 mins long movie will help you get through your days and recharge you from stress. So grab your popcorn or anything yummy and watch this movie! I took my friend (who is new to K-world) and she also enjoyed it. There was some pun intended lines, but it’s still easy to understand. Oh btw, you can see those guys in all black outfit chasing bad guys, so what are you waiting for?

How come you can't laugh watching him?

Well, I hope you guys watch the recommendations I made and tell me your thoughts on the comments down below. I really love talking about Korean dramas and movies nowadays, because it’s part of my life and it what’s make me alive. Park Seojun’s 8^thyear debut anniversary is coming up too, so I made this special edition post as a celebration gift for him. I don’t have enough money and power to support the food truck or anything, so I’m rooting for him within my abilities.

Happy 8^thyear debut anniversary, Park Seojun! 

THANK YOU FOR SHINING TILL THIS DAY. 

LOVE YOU 8000!

See you on my next posts and on my YT Channel, guys!

GO WATCH THE DRAMAS AND MOVIE NOW!

BONUS!

I'm sharing unseen photos of my meetings with Park Seojun (from afar of course). I went to two of his fan signing last year and it was a blast. He is really handsome in real life and his voice tone (will upload this later on) will make you fall in love deeper with him. He is really sweet too! Too bad I couldn't get in touch with him, but for sure, I'll make it happen someday. AMEN!

XOXO,

Jennifer