Athena: Progress Update

Oi vey! I’ve finished 5 episodes of Athena, which is about 1/4 of the drama, and I’m going to postpone further watching of it indefinitely or scratch it off my to-watch/finish list altogether because in short, Athena… is not a good show, and that’s putting mildly. Originally, I was thinking of writing a post on Athena, categorizing my thoughts into “The Good, The Bad, and The WTH?!” to pay homage to Jung Woo Sung’s movie. Although I haven’t seen The Good, The Bad, and The Weird, I’ve heard nothing but good things about it but when Athena was going downhill for me, I quickly canned that idea because I didn’t want to associate the movie’s good name with this crappy drama. Now, you might say, “Well, you’ve only seen 5 episodes. Isn’t that too soon to judge a drama’s quality?” And I might agree with you and be optimist, thinking, “Who knows, it might get better later on…” However, based on what I’ve watched thus far and read about later episodes, sadly, it doesn’t look promising.

Buki + Speedo

Where do I sign up? Where?! ahahahaahah

*gets drool bucket ready*

Ever since I posted that droolicious picture of Tsumabuki Satoshi about a month ago, I’ve been missing him and wanting to watch him either in a Jmovie or Jdorama. The thing is, Buki’s filmography and dramography are miles long so I didn’t know where to start. And why I didn’t think to check out his classic movie, Waterboys, until now is beyond me. But! Like they say, better late than never.

Bonus: In addition to Buki, we also get Hiroshi Tamaki (also affectionately known as Chiaki senpai) parading around in a swim trunk. *cuteness overload*

I’m watching the movie right now and am posting this while the video loads. I’m about 20 minutes into the movie and have been laughing non-stop. The hilarity, it is endless. *big grin*

P.S. Special thanks to jicks for coining the “Buki” nickname for Tsumabuki Satoshi. It’s so fitting and cute. A kawaii endearment for a totally kawaii actor!

Son Ye Jin Fanmeeting 2011

My no. 1 favorite actress Son Ye Jin held a fanmeeting/birthday party with fans earlier this year and after watching a recording of the event, I just love this girl even more. Apparently, Son Ye Jin holds this event at the beginning of every year to celebrate her birthday with fans. She recently turned 30 this year, according to the Korean calculation. Her birthdate is on January 11, 1982.

I’ve been a fan of hers ever since I saw her excellent performance in Alone in Love and would always anticipate her new work with excitement. But would you believe it? I haven’t seen any in-depth interview with her so I only know her onscreen persona through watching her dramas but wasn’t familiar with what she’s like off screen. And what a joy it is to see that she’s such a lovely and delightful person. Now, obviously I don’t know her in real life so I’m open to the possibility that it might all be an act but the feeling that I get from watching the fanmeeting is that she seems to genuinely appreciate her fans’ support. And she’s utterly adorable and articulate! Seeing her looking so happy made me smile too.

Things that came to mind as I watched the video:

– I love the way her hair is styled. Simple elegance.

– Also love it whenever she takes off those ugly brown gloves. Not a fan of leather gloves, especially ones with fuzzies around the wrist area.

– I don’t exactly know why, but when I heard Lee Min Ho addresses SYJ as “Ye Jin noona”, I squeed. It’s just too cute.

– Also, I didn’t know that Moon Chae Won and Son Ye Jin are close friends and that both MCW and Lee Min Jung see SYJ as their role model. That’s cool. SYJ is an awesome choice for up-and-coming actresses.

– Out of all the gifts that were giving to fans, I was drooling over the DVDs package with her autograph on it. (I’m assuming that the DVDs are all of SYJ’s movies and dramas.) Oh yeah, a polaroid picture with SYJ would be awesome as well. But I’d probably pass on the let’s-have-SYJ-tie-my-scarf-for-me thing because with my social ineptness, it’d be too awkward.

– One minor grumble that I have about the fanmeeting, though, is how the MC of the event keeps plugging in Secret Garden references. I know that SYJ did a cameo for the show just recently, but still. It’s mildly annoying. Good on Moon Chae Won for choosing to sing Sweet Sorrow’s “I Am Still”, the love theme from Alone in Love instead of going with the MC’s song suggestion.

If you’re interested, you can watch it here.
(Special thanks to viki.com for uploading the video and providing English subtitles.)

Secret Garden: Likes and Dislikes

I started to watch Secret Garden when it was airing in 2010, saw 2 episodes, and although there were bits and pieces that I liked, overall, I was unimpressed. So, I put off following the show indefinitely. But then, as new episodes came out, the blogosphere was either abuzz with heaps of praises or heaps of criticism for Secret Garden, which certainly piqued my curiosity. Coupled that with news of Hyun Bin’s upcoming military service date and Son Ye Jin’s cameo in Episode 20, I decided to bump it up on my to-watch list.

Anyway, I finished Secret Garden a few weeks ago, and was disappointed with the way the show turned out, to say the least. While there were things that I did like about the show, it isn’t one of my favorite dramas ever. And while there were aspects that annoyed and frustrated me, I don’t hate it with a fiery passion. So, I think I’d fall somewhere in the middle of the SG’s love/hate spectrum. Thus, I’m going to sum up my overall opinion of SG in a like/dislike list.

Disclaimer: I am aware that there are quite a few ardent fans of SG and although I’m not about to go on a full-on tirade of SG, I know how it feels to read unfavorable opinions of shows that you love. So this is just a heads up, in case you happen to stumble upon this post. To give you a brief taste of the general tone of the coming list, SG will be better known to me as Oska’s Garden, Maintained by Secretary Kim.