Cix Are Amazing Kpop Dancers & D-Day Episodes 4-10

 This will be quick. I've somehow gotten into the habit of writing crazy long blog posts. It's time consuming, and I don't want to do it. So... short and fast.

New Kpop

Last night, I mostly watched D-Day, but I was drinking too. So, I needed frequent music breaks. I came across Cix during, what else, dance compilation videos. They were so in sync, and the choreo was super unique.

I found three of four songs that had amazing dancing AND were really smooth music tracks too. "Numb" by Cix is the one that I watched the most times. This is such a tight practice session, the song is slick, and that blue-haired boy is killing it (he seems to kill it in every video, actually).

I know nothing about these dudes, though they don't seem to be that popular. I've not seen any of their MVs or read/watched anything about the members. But these boys dance their asses off!

D-Day (2015)

I watched way too many episodes last night and today to do a thorough review on them. There are a few sweet moments. The action is fairly consistent, which is one of the benefits of the disaster genre... something can go wrong any second.

The hospital director is a bit one-note, and it's getting old. Some of the side characters are wearing a little thin in general. There is no character development to speak of... so they're all one-note. The sexism is getting old by now too.

There have also been a slew of groan-worthy moments. Like... turning the boat key together (each with one hand on the key) just for luck or something... the firemen expending tons of energy to rescue a dog (who didn't seem even remotely sooty) and laughing it off... those type of things.

The scenes in which the lead characters endlessly (and loudly) talk in a room full of sleeping people? That's so stupid. Getting stuck in a pothole on the side of a super wide road? Also stupid. I mean, look at this!

How? Just... how? It's all for convenience. They also make a big deal about anyone moving vehicles through these destroyed streets... so where is this and how did they get through to this point if they drive so badly they got stuck on the only pothole in miles?

The motorbike jump over the sinkhole/broken road was also idiotic. Really? Not only is that the biggest cliché in the universe, but there was even a convenient ramp-like pile of rubble right at the edge? 

Despite all the convenient, cliché, and/or stupid writing, I'm still having lots of fun watching and haven't skipped parts (even the ones I'd really like to skip). Most of the reason is just... Kim Young-Kwang. He is handsome and also pretty goofy. I have a weakness for that.

This was the exact moment when I realize just how soft I am for this actor. I thought it was noteworthy since it isn't a sexy or smoldering or sweet shot. He just looked up from what he was doing. You would think it would have been something like these:

The goofy-cute... the half-naked handsome dude. But nope. It was just some random 'slice of life' type of face. Who knew? Anyway, I've graduated to a straight fan of his. I like Jung So-Min okay too actually, but I find some aspects of this character pretty annoying (the petulant, pouty, slapping/kicking child thing is old by now).

Today & Tomorrow

• Completed start to finish the Lesson 9 vocab (39 words)
• Finished Lesson 8 & reviewed earlier sections of lesson 8
• Wrote all 50 of the Lesson 8 vocab words in my journal
• 
  

Tomorrow, I intend to do the sentence/dictation practice for Lesson 8... and/or practice all the example sentences in the chapter. Plus, I'm going to review the vocab for Lesson 9 if possible.

파이팅!

D-Day (2015) Ep 1-3 & Some For Real Studying Today!

No studying yet today, but I have a solid plan. I'm going to finish Lesson 8 (which I already read a few times and understand pretty well). I'm also going to do at least half of the 39 word vocab for the next lesson.

Yesterday was the first day that I didn't check Tandem. I hope Woong isn't worried about me... he seems like a sweet and sensitive type of man. I've been too preoccupied with job hunting. I put in several more resumes today as well.

D-Day (2015)

This one has been on my list ever since I watched my first kdrama. I watched 1% of Something first, and Ha Seok-jin is in both. I thought Kim Young-Kwang was attractive just from the pictures and was hoping he had a bigger role that Ha (who is a relatively stiff actor). Super happy about that.

Strangely, Kim Hye-Eun has been in the last three kdramas I watched. Itaewon Class, Encounter, and now this. I feel like she is in everything.

I've seen Jung So-Min before. She co-starred in The Smile Has Left Your Eyes. So, it is interesting and pretty wild that I'm starting to recognize a whole bunch of cast members. Who knew that would happen so quickly?

Worth mentioning: I did try to watch this a while back. I got through maybe 2 minutes of it and couldn't do it. I was a bit drunk, and it was too fast moving. So, I watched The Smile Has Left Your Eyes instead.

Notable Scenes

This jumped the hell out of me! This is a disaster show, and I am very much familiar with the genre, all the way back to its hey day in the 70's with hits like Towering Inferno (1974) and whatnot. I'm a fan.

So I was expecting some rattling or thumping or other oddities (which eventually happened later). This scene went from the above photo to the below in about 2 seconds. I was not ready. 

Nice Shots

The oddities that I was expecting (rattling, creaking, cracks forming, etc) happened a bit later:

Starting with a rainbow and water gurgling from manhole covers... and some jittering butterfly décor. This is more what I was expecting. Tons of nice shots followed.

Here are a handful of those. I have a weakness for destruction, abandoned buildings, pretty things in the rubble... I imagine I'll have lots of shots for this drama.

Namsan tower collapsing. This was the shot that finally got me to look up this tower. Like... it's clearly a prominent part of the cityscape for Seoul. I should know by now what it is! 

I love the shot through the fish tank! Here we have the hospital head... whose fish are slowly dying at the bottom of the shattered tank (and whose hospital, filled with sick patients, just suffered an earthquake)... and he is concerned about his model boat. It's just one of those "speaks volumes" type of scenes.

Feminism: Light

The shot of Kim instinctively protecting this girl he doesn't much like is nice. It's nicely framed with the rubble as well. There is visual interest. But it's also a big hint at the romance that I'm sure will unfold.

He saved her ass multiple times in this sequence. Not wild about the man always saving the woman but whatever. Still a nice shot. 

I will say though that I'm glad there's a female firefighter. I started the first few minutes of episode 4 last night too... and one of the male firefighters tried to carry her bucket of water for her. She caught her breath, ran up from behind, and took her damn bucket back. That's right... strong is the new pretty!

The Yay & Nay of Babies

I found this shot of all of them doing lamas breathing funny. Like, it's the blind leading the blind and all that, since none of them has delivered/had a baby before. So this was sort of cute. So were all the patients cheering outside when the babies were born.

Am I the only one who saw what was happening here and was instantly revolted? Like, noooooo, man. This baby wasn't breathing, and they had no suction.

So yes, he sucked amniotic fluid out of this baby with his mouth. Slsdkghsldh! I can't get on board with that. Sick. I'd have been like, "Yo, Papa Bear! Come suck on your baby's face!"

파이팅!

Finale of Itaewon Class (2020) Episodes 12-16

 I didn't study or do anything related to the Korean language today... for the first time in a very long time. I had a good reason though. I was updating and submitting my resume all day. You know... you have to do what you have to do.

Itaewon Class (2020)

I did, however, finish the Itaewon Class last night. I will say that it lost steam a little bit after the switch to the present. But it was still one of the more consistent and entertaining kdramas I've seen as a whole. Some good scenes and moments:

This was the post-confession scene. It was a little longer than needed, but the imagery is nice. In the first, I like the silhouette in the snow. In the second, it's a pretty clear "life moving forward for everyone while my life stopped" type of moments. It's a lovely shot.

I love the interior of this building/set. The asymmetrical torn down wall is amazing. That entire area is super cool, and it gave this shot some real depth.

Amusing Scenes

This was the last real "mic drop" type of scene. Yi-Seo basically breaks it down for the self-centered first love who made endless demands. It went something like this:

Soo-Ah: He told me that he'd get rich for me and make it so I had to quit working for Janga company because it's hard for me.

Yi-Seo: And I said to myself... Rich? I'll make you rich. Janga gives you a hard time? I'll destroy them for you.

Yi-Seo made (and won) the argument for who love Saeroyi more. It was actually pretty hostile in its way.

Okay, and this one was such a great moment that I actually left the caption in it! Yi-Seo picked up a shovel, told Geun-Soo to pick up a pipe, and "on her count" attack. She counted to 3 and ran with the above line. I died laughing. The looks on those dudes faces... like, did that just happen?

To the character's credit, he did hold out and fight for a long time because she told him to... even though it was a clear betrayal. You know a character is a "bitch you love to hate" when a scene like this happens to a character you like... and you still laugh.

Final Thoughts

And that's the end. To be honest, I really enjoyed this one. The come-uppance for the old man was okay but not amazing in my view. Rather anti-climactic. The romance was okay.

The only real disappointment for me was that there was no redemption for Geun-Won, who I maintain was more of a victim than a villain. Sure, he's a bad guy... but it was solely because of his dad. I was hoping that prison had turned him into a grown up who no longer sought his father's approval. 

Really, I was hoping he would be the one to show Geun-Soo that he was on the wrong path. You know? He served his time... let him grow and become a better person? And maybe even help him half-brother along the way. But alas... we went full camp and turned him into a cartoon character just about. Meh. Otherwise, I quite enjoyed this one!

Off to start a new kdrama. Who knows what it will be? I'll get back to studying tomorrow for sure. 

파이팅!

What I Don't Know About Kpop & Itaewon Class Ep 7-11

So, I clearly need to do more research on the groups and solo acts whose songs I've stumbled across and really liked. Generally, liking one song isn't cause for me to know or care at all about a group/artist. But kpop might just be a different animal. Why?

Things I learned while drunk binging on kpop last night:

1. Jackson Wang is in Got7.

OhEmGee. I love "Okay". It was one of the first songs that caught my attention when I started listening to kpop playlists (audio only). And it is one that is going to stay. I pretty much look forward to hearing the NCT songs I've added to my playlist, and maybe 2 other tracks. This is one of them.

So, while I don't think I've heard any Got7 songs that I needed to hear again, this makes me want to check them out more thoroughly. I heard one other Jackson Wang song last night, and it was awesome too! MVs here I come! Even his Pepsi commercial was good. That's wild to me!

2. SuperM is a kpop super group.

With my favorite members of NCT, I might add. What the hell. "Tiger Inside" is one of the only other songs that I actively look forward to hearing on that play list, particularly for the beat and rap breakdown. It makes SO much sense that it was Mark and Taeyong. Like. Man. I need to start looking up these songs/groups a bit quicker.

I watched the video for "Tiger Inside" as soon as I realized. And I checked out "One (Monster & Infinity)" too, which was fire!

Itaewon Class (2020)

I mostly watched kpop videos and dance practices last night, but I did watch another episode of Itaewon Class. And I watched some more this afternoon too. 

There haven't been any other scenes that I thought were as good as the "Soup Incident" and "Kiss Denied", but there have been some nice shots and decent scenes.

    Awkwardly Comforting

There is something about a socially awkward person comforting other people that is just... so sweet. Jo Si-Yeo doesn't really deserve a whole lot of comfort in my view, but her crying because of how rough Saeroyi's life had been while he awkwardly patted her back? That's cute.

The scene with Kim Dong-Hee was better though. The character development for Geun-Soo has been just enough to make the scene really touching. His family has always treated him poorly... so the enemy of his family took him in. But really, it started the first night they met, when the kid wanted to take responsibility and received a pat on the head for the thought.

    Sympathy for the Devil

Honestly, I feel like most of the characters are pretty sympathetic. Even Jang Geun-Won is a sympathetic character, in part because of the stellar acting job by Ahn Bo-Hyun. The guy has been repugnant since his very first appearance, but if the chicken torture scene with his dad was any indication, the guy has been abused his whole life.

The visible flinching when his father gets angry... the parroting of his father's words (people are "livestock", etc)... this character is a victim as much as anyone. It's amazing that Ahn is able to play the wounded man child who is terrified of his father and desperate for approval... while still making him an arrogant, sleazy dude. Amazing.

    The Best Scene in Ep 7-11

Honestly, Park ripping off the manager name tag in response to her belittling the importance of his people... that was the best scene. He freaked. And it was well deserved, really. Particularly since I'm fond of the Geun-Soo character. 

    Some Interesting Shots

I like the shots of the new pub's rooftop. The city is very gray and hazy. The rooftop is cheery and colorful. It's like it's a happy beacon in a dreary place.

I thought this shot was nice because it definitely shows how isolated the new pub is. Again, it is colorful and glowing in the middle of a dark street. It's just nicely done.

The shots of the mountain grave were lovely. Here, Park Seo-Joon is kneeling to pour soju for Saeroyi's dead father after files were charged for his murderer. The actual shot itself was beautiful. The writing of the scene was a little cheesy compared to most of this show. "It still tastes bitter" and all. Still, Park did well with the material.

Today & Tomorrow

I went over vocab, particularly the ones that I cannot remember for the life of me! I talked to Woong a little bit on Tandem. Otherwise, I didn't do much. The whole Covid thing has been rough... I've had texts from my employees since 9am. It's understandably concerning to be quarantined. I get it. But it's exhausting.

I might study some more later. For now... I'm watching Itaewon Class and zoning out. I need to not think for a while. 

파이팅!

Itaewon Class Ep 5 and 6 & Covid Quarantine

 I've had a very long day today. On my way to work, I received a text from the government informing me that I had been in close contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19. One of my employees was being tested, but I didn't expect it to be positive. Several of my employees have been tested over the past months, and none were positive.

Unethical Bullshit

Well, I'll just say that it has been a very long day. We were forced to remain open, potentially exposing people (elderly people too) to a virus that might kill them. The company wants to pretend it's fine and make up rules that do not reflect science. It's irresponsible as fuck.

So, I'm quarantining for a week. My entire staff is. That is what the government said to do when they contacted me. The corporate office can run things without us if they're so desperate to infect people.

Itaewon Class (2020)

Needless to say, I haven't studied at all today. I did talk to some people on Tandem, so I practiced a little bit that way. But that's it.

I did, however, watch a few episodes of Itaewon Class last night, and I've got to say that it's still the best kdrama I've seen thus far. It's beautifully done. Plus, I have another favorite scene ever. The "Kiss Denied" scene is so extra that I had to watch it like 6 times.

The slow motion begins. She closes her eyes and leans forward. He closes his eyes. Close shot on her. Close shot on him. Dreamy music playing as their lips near...

...and a hand pops up across the girls face, pinches those cheeks and the above shot happens. Just... removes that bitch from Park Seo-Joon's vicinity. "Not today, hooker!" Oh my fuck, I died! It was so damn good.

Along with the "Soup Incident" mentioned in my last blog post, this is the most amazing thing I've seen in a kdrama. Man... so good! Here is the clip for those who want to check it out:

So that's it. Today was a terrible day. Maybe once I chill out, eat something, spend some time with my husband... maybe then I'll feel like studying some Korean. Until then, I'm not doing shit.

On the plus side, it looks like I'll have lots of time to study over the next week, huh?

파이팅!

Itaewon Class ep1-4 & I Don't Not Want to Negate

Quick post today! I have to work earlier on Saturdays than usual. The shorter the post, the sooner I can get back to watching my kdrama, right?

Itaewon Class (2020)

This drama was recommended to me by Woong. As mentioned before, he is my longest running (and favorite) Korean language exchange partner. He wasn't sure that I'd like it, but I was ready to give it a go.

Honestly, I love it! It's so damn good. It's only my second time seeing Park Seo-Joon. I watched What's Wrong with Secretary Kim? as my second ever kdrama. I enjoyed it but wasn't wild about Park's character. There wasn't enough character development for my taste. I eventually lost interest and quit watching before finishing the last episode.

At the rate I'm going with Itaewon Class, I don't think that will happen. First, Park is killing it. He's clueless and awkward socially... and he's still endearing. You don't cringe so hard that you become uncomfortable, so you just want to take care of the dude. That is a tough balance, but he's doing it very well.

I'm guessing there is about to be a love triangle. The social media star just decided to work for Park and realized she likes him. I am already liking the potential character development for her and hope she is the primary love interest. I'm guessing she will be, since the show opens with her.

The other part of the love triangle... not a fan of the character. It works well for the drama, but I feel like it could veer into super annoying territory any second. The actress reminds me of Shannon Doherty in 1. looks and 2. acting ability. The latter is sort of a problem.

The images above are from the first scene that had me 100% sold on this entire drama. The "soup incident", as I will call it, was epic and amusing and strangely ultraviolent without any blood or gore. Impressive. I love that we're getting character development for the good guys and bad guys and side characters. Super nicely done!

Today & Tomorrow

I reviewed some vocab today... maybe 60 words.

I did the next long section of Lesson 8.

So, now I know how to negate sentences, which is going to be super helpful for conversations on Tandem. I mean, it's hard not being able to say "I don't speak Korean well". But maybe that's obvious, huh?

Tomorrow is Saturday, which tends to be slow at work. So I hope to get some practice in on the negative sentences. And some more vocabulary is a must. I haven't reviewed Lesson 8 vocab much at all, and I haven't started Lesson 9 vocab yet at all!

파이팅!

Super Junior May Be One to Check Out!

 I'm exhausted. We were busy today and only had 2 people. Two who live together aren't coming in this week because one had Covid symptoms. So someone who opened left as soon as I got there and came back in to close, just as the other person was leaving. 

Two people, myself included. It was rough.

Kpop

Last night, I watched some NCT videos, including some solo Ten dance videos. Crazy good dancer!

It got me in the mood to check out new kpop, which I did while running around. I probably listened to an hour or two of music in total. I came away with two tracks added to my playlist:

"Sorry, Sorry" by Super Junior 

I have "B.A.D," in the playlist already. I also recognized this song. I'm not sure what from exactly... but I'm assuming it was a big hit that plays in the background of kpop videos sometimes and/or gets random played a bunch.

Super Junior might just be a group I need to check out, since I've liked more than one song that I've heard in passing.

"Hit" by Seventeen 

I've heard of Seventeen. I'm sure they have been in clips of dancing compilations and stuff. I've never had a song pique my interest. This one was okay enough to add, but I don't know if it will stay.

About Time (2019) Finale

Episodes 14-16 were super boring. I'm shocked that I made it through. I skipped huge amounts of these episodes, including the last episode where they "wrap up". 

First, the ending made so little sense that I went back like 3 times to see if I was just missing something. They could have made it a happy ending in a zillion ways that would have made more sense. Say, once their lifespans were even, the clocks short out and disappear. Or once they are even, both start going up. Or he saves her, and then her clock fritzes and matches his.

Honestly, I was kinda hoping they'd die by this point. But no... let's have miraculous, totally unscathed recoveries without so much as a montage and carry on in a dream world where his dad likes them, and her mom can cook, and all is well with the world. 

Bullshit. I kept hoping that maybe this would be their imagined life in the moments before death or... something. What a waste of time. The first half of this series was good and interesting. I'd call the second half a dumpster fire, but at least fires are nice to watch.

Oh, and I was super hoping she would just jump and stop the annoying "I'm a big bitch" <wait 5 minutes> "Oh no, I'm a fragile woman who needs a man, boohoo" thing.

Man, the only person in the cast that I really didn't want to die was the brother... and he's the only one who died. Pfft.

Today & Tomorrow

I did a little bit of vocab review today. That's it. I was too busy. Right now, I'm too tired. 

Last night, I started watching Itaewon Class but was way too tired to be starting a new series, so I stopped it 15 minutes in. I'm going to check it out tonight. It was recommended by Woong, my first really helpful language partner.

The entire plan: Eat dinner, watch a kdrama, go to sleep.

Hopefully tomorrow I can finish reviewing this lesson's vocab. It's real shaky. And maybe start the next lesson's vocab too. We will see.

파이팅!

Another Kdrama Loses Steam & All My 오빠

 I just got home, and it has been a really long day. I know that I always say this will be a quick blog post, but today, I mean it!

About Time (2018) Episodes 7-13

So, this kdrama took a turn toward the boring. She broke up with him and lied about the reason... twice. It makes sense, but it's not that entertaining. So now, they've been focusing much more on the side characters.

Problem is, I don't care about any of the side characters. I don't care about the musical they're producing. The show never made me care at all about any of that.

Sadly, this means that I've been skipping scenes. Lots of scenes. Ex-fiance goes to talk to his dad? I absolutely know what that scene is without watching. Skipped.

Bratty director has to live like a normal person? Doing dishes? Taking the bus? Don't care... skipped all of that.

Old lady friend has extended scenes talking about philosophical nonsense with Choi Mika and/or random non-characters introduced just to blather? Skipped.

I sorta feel like they didn't have enough content to make this show, and so it has been several episodes of filler. I debated turning it off, but whatever. I'm almost done now.

The cool scenes and shots have slowed to a crawl as well. I managed to take a couple:

This was one of the very few scenes with side characters that I thought was funny. I think Rowoon is endearing, but the character is a bit annoying... and lazy. Her character is also annoying and aggressive... but I can't tell if I like the actress or not.

This shot amused me though. They froze and tracked this Lawyer Park in this same position. As far as cheesy slapstick humor goes, it was cute.

Man... this scene was so sad. I really like the brother character and the actor as well. It's a shame that this was part of the plot. It didn't serve like... some awesome purpose either. But hey, it's a kdrama, and this was definitely dramatic!

This was the big realization that caused their breakup. I thought it was an interesting shot, and I like the time overlays. In this case, the kitchen is curved, so the time overlay also appears curved. I like that. I had no idea this is where the show could go downhill and get boring for episode after episode.

\

And lastly, deal breaker for me! Sorry Lee Sang Yoon, but if you can't handle a horror movie, you're no friend of mine (to steal and bastardize a song lyric). His reaction shot here cracked me up though.

Today & Tomorrow

I didn't do much actual studying today. I went over some vocab. Mostly, I was on Tandem doing language exchange with a bunch of nice 오빠.

I don't know what it's only guys who have reached out, but it is. Some younger, but most older men or right around my age and slightly older. I've had ONE girl reach out to me. Just one. And maybe 10 guys.

Anyway, I learned some new words. I got some help with several things I was having trouble with. I came up with a few really good sentences out of the blue without looking them up. And I only embarrassed myself/offended one person.

It was a good day. I can see why people find language exchange useful from the very beginning! And these men are so nice too. 

Tomorrow, I'll try to do some more vocab... and a section of the lesson I'm working on. I intended to do a section tonight, but I'm too tired. We had to run errands after work, so I'm just now (11:30pm) getting to relax.

If I'm up for it later, I'll do a section. I need some coffee first. If not, I'll just finish About Time (2018) and maybe start something new.

파이팅!

About Time (2018) Episodes 4-6 & Lots of Studying

 Last night, I talked to people on Tandem for hours and hours. I sorta feel like I didn't accomplish much, but I did get to practice some. I came to realize how bad my spelling is, that some of my vocab isn't used the way I thought, and that it's probably going to be hard to find a partner.

Through all of that, I did get a bit of my latest kdrama watched!

About Time (2018) Episodes 4-6

I didn't realize I watched that much of it yesterday, but I guess I did. I'm about 20 minutes into Episode 7, in fact.

Quite a bit happened with the characters in these episodes. Some love, a stabbing, an ex-girlfriend, and moving in together. It's fast paced, which I've come to expect of kdramas. Love that.

The stabbing was the most memorable occurrence. It was a decent scene. Also, I enjoyed his travelling brother showing up... a bit more fucked up family dynamics is a plus. I've got to say that I need this wine room in my life:

Give me that! It's like a little round room with racks. Yes, please! Love the design but also just want to drink the wine.

I love these close but far shots. In the first, that is a poem on the glass. I adore poetry, so hopefully one day, I'll be able to read Korean poetry and understand some of what it means, if not all the nuances.

The second is the first night as roommates. The wall is showing that her clock has stopped. In some ways, this is like the ultimate "I feel safe with you" vibe. He is literally keeping her from dying.

We also found out that his clock has 70 years or something on it. So potentially, she could live for a very long time. I imagine it will be a happy ending, considering the tone of the show.

On a final side note here, I finally figured out who Im Se Me reminds me of. It's 100% Phoebe Cates. It's not the way she looks, though they look slightly similar. 

It's her mannerisms. The way she moves her mouth when she smiles and talks... the weird lilt in her voice. I finally caught it. It had been driving me nuts! And the tiny bit of sass going on doesn't hurt the comparison.

Today

I studied for a good two and a half hours today. I didn't mean to spend so much time, to be honest... but it's good that I did.

• Finished lesson 8 vocab
• Refresher for older vocab
• Lesson 7 sentence practice
• Lesson 7 dictation practice
• Lesson 8 (adverbs) - First section

I might talk to some people on Tandem later too. We will see. My vocabulary is about 400 words right now, which isn't really enough for a decent conversation. 

My spelling seems to be the biggest problem... particularly at the ends of words (which affects grammar). So the words I do know, I can't spell very well. Maybe I should try speaking to someone instead soon.

On the plus side, I'm really good with the grammar!

If I can just get the spelling under control. My dictation skills aren't great either, but I feel like they're probably better than they should be, given my intro level with the language. The grasp on grammar helps a whole lot!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow it's back to work! I'll try to get some studying done. Go back over some vocab... maybe try to focus on spelling. Go over the adverb lesson though, to be honest, I understand it perfectly. Possibly move on to the next section of the lesson.

Oh, and hopefully listen to some new kpop? Maybe check out some more 2NE1, since they were pretty cool.

파이팅!

Language Partners & Cracker Kisses: About Time (2018) Ep 1-3

 I'm going to write a short blog post today because I'm busy. Good news though: I'm busy with Korean language stuff. 

Language Exchange

I sent one message in Korean the other day, but that guy never got back to me. So today, I jumped in and sent one person a message. His name is Jong Hyun, and he hasn't responded.

I chose him because he was the first I saw around my age. I thought maybe that would make things easier, since I know age is a big deal in Korean culture.

While I was sending the message though, another guy sent me a message. We've been talking off and on all evening. His name is Woong. I'll have to ask for that in Hangul. He is also my age (1 year older). He's handsome too, not that it matters. And his English is much better than my Korean, which is helpful.

I also started talking to a younger guy named David (29). He is super into music and speaks both English and French really well. Maybe I'll brush up on my French too? It has been a long time! Anyway, when I reached out to him, I told him (in Korean) "Hello! I like music too" and followed it with asking what kind of music he likes in English.

His response? "Wow. You can speak Korean?"

I was pretty thrilled that it came off with no issues. So far, the corrections have been spelling only. I feel that's a good sign.

I doubt that these guys will end up being like... my long-term language partners. But you never know. Woong seems particularly nice and helpful... and comfortable talking to me.

About Time (2018)

I started watching this last night. It hooked me within 30 minutes and has been nice so far. I love the whole concept, which is why I chose it. Sort of a dark concept. She knows when everyone will die, to the second... herself included. And she knows she has only a few months left to live.

Then she meets this rich jerk and find that the clock stops when she's with him. And when they touch, it actually reverses!

Above is her remaining time before death, and this is the first time the audience sees the seconds increasing. Very cute. I'm also curious about the meaning or symbolism behind the petal he keeps seeing in the air when he's with her:

That is a shot with the petal in focus over his head. Just... they're clearly going for something with it. I just don't know what it is yet.

There are some other lovely shots and camera work too though. The underwater scenes were lovely. They were much much darker than most scuba scenes I've seen in movies and shows. I should have taken more shots that just this one:

Anyway, this is my first Lee Sang-Yoon project, but I understand that he is a big deal actor. I can see why. Just in the first two episodes, his presence and acting skills are clear. I'm sure there is more depth, but I can already tell he has it.

It's also nice to be watching a handsome star around my age. Most have been 25-32 or so. Not creepy young but young. Lee seems like a grown up. I mean, really...

I'm not prone to creeper ab shots and stuff like that. But I mean, that is a buff 39 year old! His skin even glows.

New Favorite Kdrama Scene

This has to be my current favorite scene. It's from About Time (2018), obviously. The Choi Mika wants to touch Do-Ha's hand. He sees it inching closer to his and says, "Don't. You'll regret it." She does it any way, and his reaction is super amusing.

She grabs a cracker and puts it in her mouth. He leans in and stares until she looks at him. And he...

For real, Do-Ha leans over and eats half her cracker... right out of her mouth. It was shown from a bunch of angles just like kiss shots. And I was left immediately thinking... wtf was that?!

Her face looked as though she was thinking the exact same thing, which cracked me up. It looks like she's thinking, "Wtf was that, man? Why? What?"

And his expression is perfect. Like, "Yeah, Bitch. That just happened. What." Man, I laughed so hard. I was both confused as to why this happened but also just died at the looks on their faces.

His reason? "I warned you. Touching a man who is having thoughts in a dark theater... it's dangerous behavior." Like, yeah... okay. But on some level, I don't care why it happened. I'm just glad it did. Definitely made me smile.

Today & Tomorrow

Today, I finished the conjugations for irregular verbs and practiced some. I'm super comfortable with all of those now. I was conjugating sentences with my Korean language partners without issue too... and doing it all correctly, apparently. 

Improvements! I'm still so excited to have talked to them in Korean. We talked more in English, but if I knew the words in Korean, I responded in Korean.

Maybe they will want to talk to me more if we focus more on English anyway. For now though, just to better understand, we need more English.

Tomorrow, I'm going to talk to some more people. Maybe leave some audio messages on Tandem too. See how my pronunciation is (probably awful). 

I'll also finish the vocab for the next lesson, maybe do the dictation lesson for the last lesson... maybe start the next lesson too. We will see. I'm mostly excited to keep talking to Woong. He seems nice.

파이팅!

First Time UNB & More NCT & Korean Language Partner

 Yesterday, I did practice conjugations after relaxing for a little while. Then, I finally decided to just roll the dice on a language exchange app. I went with Tandem, despite people saying it's quite Tinder-ish.

So far, I've had one conversation in English with a nice Korean guy whose English is pretty decent. He offered to help me with my Korean, so I sent back a message saying:

"고마워요! 저는 배우고 싶어요."

Just like that... my first Korean texted to a native speaker... from memory, including spelling. Hopefully, it was perfect.

 

UNB

So... who the hell is UNB? I was watching some kpop dance compilations (what else is knew), and a tiny clip of them came up. 

I've never heard of them or seen them before. I assume they were pretty new when this came out, since they have their names on their shirts. But these guys killed this dance! The isolations are crazy. It has some really amazing moments, though sometimes the dance feels a little... random for the music?

The song is actually pretty decent too. I'm going to have to check out some more of their music. Or, at least, some more of their dances.

Latest NCT Obsession

And of course, I'm still diving into NCT, since they're awesome. I don't know who everyone is still, so I should probably get on that. I can recognize a handful of them. Ten, Tae, Logan, Mark... a few others that I recognize when I see them but whose names escape me right now.

I knew that NCT's "Fire Truck" had a really good dance because it popped up as recommended all the time... both the dance practice and reactions to the dance practice. That's a good sign.

The music itself is great. That superhero type move is so sick! It looks easy, but it was surprising and nicely executed. And they're very in sync throughout the practice. Killin' it!

Now, I cannot say that these dudes can "do no wrong" by any means. There have been boring songs for sure in their catalogue. But man... they have so many fun songs and dance routines! Love them!

The Encounter (2018) / Boyfriend

So, I didn't quit the show, but I did end up skipping some slow stuff here and there just to get to the end without losing my mind. I regret nothing. I have one episode left and will finish it tonight.

The only surprise for me was Park Bo-Gum's acting, which is better than expected. He sobbed his eyes out and was incredibly convincing. Who knew such a goofy type of dude had it in him, hmmm?

This is the only picture that I took this time. I thought it was a beautiful breakup shot... him reaching out slightly, her already out the door. I was tempted to take several shots of Jang Seung-Jo just for being attractive, but I resisted.

This might just serve as my final notes on the series because it's clear how it will end. First, I still think her ex-husband is a better fit. He is a victim of the way he was raised... just like her. He did his best for her.

Second, there was FAR too much product placement in this kdrama! And it was super awkwardly done too. The Subway scenes were so cheesy... the coffee/tea powder was grafted in for no reason. The bottled beverages with the labels to camera? Come on, man... that's so stupid and obvious.

Today & Tomorrow

I did a bunch of vocab, testing myself with words in English to see if I remembered the Korean. If I see the Korean word, it's much easier to come up with the English meaning.

Otherwise, I just looked through language partners. I might practice writing a bit more tonight. We will see. I have two days off though, so I won't stress it. I'll definitely get some studying in tomorrow and the next day, since I'll have time.

파이팅!

2NE1 & Maybe Quitting My First Drama?

 I decided to look through my YouTube kpop playlist. I pretty much just throw stuff in there when I'm drinking and catch a song that seems cool... to check it out later. The only time I've ever caught a song so hard that I listened to it a bunch of times was NCT U "Boss". All the others just end up in there.

I hadn't really looked at it. Today, I figured, why not? And I saw that I had a whole slew of songs by 2NE1.

2NE1

I had no recollection of who/what 2NE1 was. Like, none at all. So I played the first one on the list:

I didn't remember "Come Back Home" at all when it started. The video seemed vaguely familiar, and the girl can sing. But it didn't seem special or interesting musically. I was surprised that I bothered to add it clear through what I thought was the chorus.

Then, it launched into "Come baby baby, come come baby baby" with the electro vibes, and I was like... woah, okay. This must be why I added it, right?

Then, the rapper chick started, and she's decent. More startling was the shift in music to a mellow Latin type of vibe. Interesting. I can see now why I added it. I'll have to check out the other songs on the list too. Apparently, these ladies have something cool going on.

The Encounter (2018)

So, this is really starting to bore me a little bit. I sorta want her to end up with her ex-husband instead... I'm itching for more drama in this "drama". I contemplated stopping it and starting something else even. But the imagery is still cool. Some more beautiful shots:

We will see if I stick with it or just bail and start something else. I'm about to start Episode 12. It better hook me in a hurry, or I'll just consider this one a cutie that was "fine" but got tiresome or something.

Today

I want to study some more before I eat, but I'm too hungry to concentrate. I've been up for about 12 hours and haven't eaten anything. If I feel better after, I'll practice some conjugations and do more vocab. So far today, I've done a bunch of vocab and that's it. I'll see what I can do! I feel like a definite slacker.

파이팅!