Drama Reviews - The Good Wife (2016)

Whew. It's been a crazy 4.5 months semester, and we've finally gotten our FIRST break. Only 2 weeks, but better than nothing.
I started watching The Good Wife in August and finished ep 8, but I had to stop because I simply didn't have time to dedicate full hours to watching a drama. So I just finished it. Still loved it.

The Good Wife is an adaptation of a US series of the same name. In the korean version, Kim Hye Kyung (Jeon Do Yeon) goes back to work as a lawyer after 15 years of being a stay home mum after her prosecutor husband, Lee Tae Joon (Yoo Ji Tae) gets arrested for receiving sexual favours and bribes. She ends up working in MJ law firm, run by Seo Joong Won (Yoon Kye Sang), Hye Kyung's law school friend, and his sister, Seo Myung Hee (Kim Seo Hyung). She is assisted on her cases by super talented examiner Kim Dan (Nana), while she has to compete with Lee Joon Ho (Lee Won Geun) for a permanent spot in the firm. The show is rather episodic with each episode featuring a different case for Hye Kyung & MJ firm to tackle, but the overaching theme of Hye Kyung's growth as a woman and lawyer ties the threads together.

August 2016 - Hong Kong

My 3rd trip to Hong Kong! I went there first in Dec 2002, then in Jan 2012 where I also went to Macau, both with family. This time it was with friends so it was a bit different. And the weather....the previous 2 times was winter so it was cool. It was rainy and humid and hot this time. The best thing was...just a day before we flew, there was a typhoon alert!! Much excitement. But because of that, one person decided not to go and I ended up having the whole room to myself as I was travelling with 3 other guys who shared the other room.
And our flight got delayed too! We got a $10 voucher or something by Changi Airport that we could use to get food! We flew SQ because it was fairly cheap, only around $250 per person. And after taking budget airlines, I much better appreciate SQ service and professionalism.

July 2016 - Australia - Cairns (Part 2)

Long time no see! Finally going to complete my recap of my trip to Aussie this past July. I've been super duper busy with since I started 3rd year of med school. The time I spend in the hospital is longer than working hours, and I still need to study after I come home. I still spend time keeping up with kpop, but that's all.

July 2016 - Australia - Sydney (Part 1)

Hello, I just came back from my 1st trip in almost a year! (And I'll be flying off again in 5 days.) So I went to Australia (again), making it my 4th visit there, but I visited different cities. This time, I went with a friend to explore Sydney & Cairns! We spent about 3.5 days in each city which was just right imo.

We started booking in May, so prices were still okay. We planned to do a lot of exciting and expensive activities so we were on a budget for our flights and lodgings. For the flights, we booked Scoot for Singapore to Sydney return and Jetstar for Sydney to Cairns return, making it a total of slightly more than $1000 per person. For accommodations, we booked Travelodge Sydney for Sydney and Sunshine Towers for Cairns, both costing about $100 per night.

Drama Reviews - Signal (2016)

Signal is about a present day rookie cop, Park Hae Young (Lee Jehoon) who obtains a radio that is able to send and receive transmission with Lee Jae Han (Jo Jin Woong), a detective from the past. The 2 of them, together with Cha Soo Hyun (Kim Hye Soo), who was a rookie while Jae Han was a detective and is the team leader of Hae Young's team in the present day, come together to solve the cold cases of Korea and also uncover the greater mystery of why Jae Han disappeared for 15 years.
What can I say about this drama other than it was amazing and one of the best korean dramas I've ever watched. Heart thumping and emotionally wrenching.

This review will be full of spoilers!! 

Drama Reviews - Oh Hae Young Again (2016)

Been ages since I marathoned a drama! Oh Hae Young Again wasn't initially on my drama watching radar, but I started because there were good reviews and Nayoung from IOI mentioned that she was watching it. I'm glad I did because I loved it, more during the beginning and middle than the ending, but still loved it.

Oh Hae Young Again is about Park Do Kyung (Eric), whose fiancee Oh Hae Young (Jeon Hye Bin) ran off the day before their wedding. He proceeds to ruin her wedding with another man, only that the Oh Hae Young's wedding he ruined is another woman with the same name, referred to as 'Just' Oh Hae Young (Seo Hyun Jin) in the drama. One day, Do Kyung starts having visions of our leading lady, 'Just' Hae Young, and they eventually fall in love but what happens when she realises he was the one who ruined her wedding? Not a super unique premise, but the writing, acting and directing came together to make a good quality and enjoyable show.

Drama Reviews - Angry Mom (2015)

This is the first drama I've watched in ages and I'm glad it was this show because it was super satisfying. Angry Mom is about a youthful looking mum, Kang Ja (Kim Hee Sun) who pretends to be a high school student in order to find out why her daughter, Ah Ran (Kim Yoo Jung) is being beaten at school.

Reality: Produce 101

Over the past few months, I have watched only a couple of episodes of drama (it was of Angry Mom which...I will eventually finish.) Instead, I've been spending my free time watching Produce 101 and following I.O.I, the girl group that was created from the show! This recap/review will contain spoilers so beware! And this is gonna be really long....

After I watched that mess of a show called Unpretty Rapstar 2 (for Wonder Girls' Yubin), I told myself never to watch an Mnet reality show again. And when the teasers and first performance of Pick Me aired, I was still balking. Until they announced that Kahi was going to be on the show as a dance trainer. So I ended up watching it, not knowing how sucked into the show I would eventually become.

Korean Music Recommendations - Non-idols (Part 2)

Been 8 months since my last music recommendations post! I keep wanting to do an idol version but I'm just so busy (and lazy) all the time.

I'm on a 1 week break now, after which it'll be 3.5 months before my finals. Sounds like a long time but it's actually really near.
I haven't been watching much dramas either because I had an OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) test in January, and then Chinese New Year celebrations in February and an Anatomy Spot Test just recently. It's been a very busy couple of weeks. And I've been hooked on Produce 101 lol! Started watching for Kahi, but it's really quite entertaining and addictive. Will do a post on it when it ends in April.

Variety: Chicken Surfers/Shut Up and Surf

Chicken Surfers is about 6 Korean "celebrities" who go to Bali for surfing, but the caveat is that they are only given 100 chickens, which they must use to exchange for whatever they need (mainly food and surfboard rentals) in those 7 days.
The Korean name is dalk chi go surfing (닭치고 서핑), where dalk chi go = shut up but dalk = chicken.

The 6 people are - Park Joon-hyung from legendary boy group g.o.d, Kahi the ex-leader of After School, Lee Su-geun the comedian, Hyun Woo the actor, Maeng Ki-yong the chef and Ye Jung-hwa who is a.... fitness instructor (?) who joined in episode 3. I have no idea who she is hence I put the celebrities in inverted commas.

Looking back on After School

Several hours ago, it was announced that Jung Ah, the last remaining original member of After School, will be graduating. This post is dedicated to my all time favourite group and will be about my journey as a fan. But Kahi's solos will be on a separate post :)

A long time ago in 2010, I was starting to really get into k-pop after watching Adam Couple on We Got Married and was listening to various songs I found on youtube. I remember watching the Bang MV and constantly replaying it because of that glorious bridge (+ hip shaking). But I wasn't a fan yet.
One of the best Bang performances. 

Drama Reviews - Oh My Ghostess (2015)

Oh My Ghostess is about Na Bong Sun (Park Bo Young), a super timid and shy dishwasher at the Sun Restaurant, getting possessed by Shin Soon Ae (Kim Seul Gi), a ghost who believes she needs to resolve her grudge of being a virgin before she can leave the earth. It so happens that Chef Kang Sun Woo (Jo Jung Suk) is the crush of Bong Sun and also a man of vitality who can withstand Soon Ae's ghostly presence, thus Soon Ae (in Bong Sun's body) tries to bed Sun Woo while Sun Woo falls in love with Bong Sun/Soon Ae.

Drama Reviews - The Time I Loved You (2015)

Over the holidays, I marathoned The Time I Loved You, because love for Ha Jiwon supersedes everything else. I went in with really really low expectations since everyone hated it so much but I was surprisingly kept pretty entertained.

Drama Reviews - Heard It Through The Grapevine (2015)

A story about a rich man falling in love with a poor lady is one of the most common tropes in kdramaland, but this show is one of the most unique kdramas ever. To start with, the premise is that a Seo Bom (Go Ah Sung) is a teenage mum who got impregnated by an equally young dad, Han In Sang (Lee Joon). This is not a commonly covered topic in kdramas. But in addition to that, the tone and directing are very different from usual kdramas. Throughout the show, dark humour is used to great effect, and seemingly serious moments became absolutely hilarious. The director is Ahn Pan Seok, who did A Wife's Credentials and Secret Love Affair, 2 brilliant dramas (better than Grapevine imo). His style is pretty distinct, and the imaginative angles and how well thought out each shot is really elevates the show.

Ha Ji Won's Go Go With Unnie - Ep 8

Sorry that this recap took so long! University has started again for me, and I also delayed this due to the very sad news regarding HJW's father.

Ep 8

We begin the episode with Jiwon at the press conference for the show. "The one that I became the closest with, a bit like a love relationship. It's a donkey whose name is Zoe." LOL. Of course.
She's embarrassed haha. 

Ha Ji Won's Go Go With Unnie - Ep 7

Happy 2016 everyone!!!

Ep 7

We begin with Jiwon getting ready to sleep after the barbecue party.
Jiwon: Today, I became a lot a lot closer with unnie. Drinking wine and singing with unnie....it's the first time.
Jiwon: I really like unnie.
Awwwwww.

We skip to another night. She's filming herself.
Jiwon: There's a lot to do tomorrow. We have to prepare for the party, so we have to clean up and set the house, prepare presents for the guests.