K-Drama: 'God's Gift - 14 Days' episode 11 & 12 (Review) [SPOILERS!]

'God's Gift - 14 Days' is so frustrating right now.

So I'm watching God's Gift - 14 Days at the moment and it's so frustrating. The only reason why Saetbyul keeps getting kidnapped and getting into trouble is because Soohyun keeps gallivanting around with or without her daughter "trying to protect her".
There's one thing I must agree upon with her adulterous husband: if she just stayed put with Saetbyul in sight then nothing would happen to her! It's like on the day of Saetbyul's kidnapping; Soohyun acknowledged that it was the day that Saetbyul was going to be kidnapped, still she went out side of Seoul to a unfamiliar place with Saetbyul (she could have easily run off like she always does). And when they were back in Seoul, she left Saetbyul in the care of people she didn't really know so she could go out and "protect Saetbyul" smh. And then Saetbyul ended up running off to that Snake concert, driven to Te-oh's house and got into a lot of trouble. She could have been killed! This is what I'm talking about. If I was Soohyun, on the day of Saetbyul's kidnapping, I would have stayed put indoors with Saetbyul by my side at Ki Dong Chan's house all day. Why didn't she do that? I guess they wouldn't have a drama otherwise because loads of unnecessary stuff has to keep happening in every episode.
It's gotten to the point where I don't even care about these characters anymore. The only one who I feel anything for is Ki Dong Chan. I don't feel bad for Kim Soohyun who keeps running around and effectively putting her daughter in danger. I don't even care about Saetbyul anymore. I'm sorry but the way I see it is that she's just disobedient and keeps running off all the time, talking and trusting random 아저씨's she meets like there is no evil in the world. Her character is supposed to be 10 Korean-age right, so she's 8/9 international age. I'm absolutely certain that when I was that age I was not as naïve and ignorant as Saetbyul (sorry Saetbyul but it's true). Literally if a dodgy man drove up to Saetbyul while she was wandering about by herself in the street and said, "Hey kid! Get in my car." Saetbyul would be like, "OK 아저씨. Where are we off to?" I'm telling you now, even when I was a few years older than Saetbyul if a man called me into his car I would not have said a word and would have run for my life. I'm serious. And that actually did happen once. My grandmother always used to tell me not to go into a man's car if he calls me so I knew better than to waste any time even conversing with any random men on the street.
The thing is, it's hard to believe that Saetbyul was brought up to believe that there are no murderers or rapists in the world and that every person she sees on the street or invading her own home is going to be all helpful and innocent, as her parents' occupations both involve fighting for justice against those kind of people so why does she run around like that's the case. And I really should have known she was gonna be like this when Ki Dong Chan and his crew broke into her home and then she partied with them. What the heck Saetbyul-ah!
I really have nothing more to say on this subject right now.
However, I still think this drama is awesome. At the same time it's really 짜증나. Watch and get annoyed at it with me.

Miss Korea vs Topokki

If you’re a looking for a restaurant in Birmingham, UK to eat some nice authentic Korean food well… there are only two restaurants LOL. Good news is that they are both awesome, cosy and the food and atmosphere is really nice. If you like kpop even better because they both play kpop (at times).

The two restaurants are Miss Korea and Topokki. Both are in close proximity to each other in the Chinese quarter of Birmingham.

Here’s the back story. Miss Korea showed up just a few years ago and I’ve been there 5 times, with different amounts of people, mostly at lunch time but I’ve been there in the evening as well. Topokki came on to the scene just about 2 years ago and I recently went there for lunch. Since the two restaurants are so close to each other and are the only Korean restaurants in Birmingham (to my knowledge), I’ve always wondered if they had any kind of rival-ship at all. Miss Korea was the place I first had Korean food ever, so it holds a special place in my heart, although Topokki has received a lot more positive reviews, well… even if there is no rival-ship between them, I will be putting them against each other in this post.

Muahaha!

>_<

Atmosphere:

I keep hearing on review websites about how small Topokki is, well lol because Miss Korea is tiny. But Miss Korea is cosy as well because of that and it's not all compact together like Mount Fuji (sorry Mount Fuji).

Now a big part of the atmosphere is what music is played. I will never forget the very first time I went to Miss Korea with a good friend of mine who was not a kpop fan. For the two hours we were in the restaurant they played just kpop songs with only two or three tops J-pop songs. It. Was. Awesome. I could not stop dancing! Really, I embarrassed myself in front of my friend that day lol. It was fun. But since then, when I went there, they started to play more American pop (bleurgh!), but I still always hear a few kpop songs while I’m there. Topokki, however, did not play one single kpop song! What the heck Topokki, this was it’s main down fall, I swear. My happiest moment is eating Korean food while dancing in my chair to EXO. Is that too much to ask for? All the time we were there they played some Michael Buble and then they had a youtube playlist of American pop songs like Miley Cyrus (barf!!) LOL We were going to ask if they could play at least one kpop song but haha, we didn’t in the end. It’s funny because I have heard they play Korean music sometimes, maybe we just went on the wrong day or the wrong time. I bet just as we left the restaurant we would have heard an ‘Awooooo…’

As Duizhang Kris used to say: Maybe next time.

The Menu:

Miss Korea’s menu is a lot more impressive than Topokki’s. Sorry Topokki. It is basically a large book with black rubber cover and there are pages and pages of delicious food to choose from with really good photography. You have lots of starters, main dishes, soups, side dishes and beverages. It’s all very affordable as well. Just to tell you what you can expect on the menu, you’ll see the classics like ddukbokki, bibimbap, japchae, kimchi jjigae, barbecued skewers, lots and lots more. If it’s your birthday, the chef will treat you to a special free dish Korean people apparently eat on their birthday which is basically a big bowl of delicious soup with my favourite kind of noodles – Udon noodles!

You are also given a tiny bowl of lettuce with vinegar before your meal, it makes you hungry. I think they give you this because it does take quite a long time for you meal to come out. I’ve never timed it like an a--hole but I’m guessing it’s around 10-15 minutes before you see your actual starter.

Topokki’s menu is smaller but I was so very impressed by the massive selection of types of bibimbap. There must have been ten or more. I didn’t even know there could be that many types of bibimbap. Miss Korea only gives you four. I’ve had the sea food one, very nice. I definitely need to try another kind of bibimbap next time I go there.

One awesome thing about Topokki is that you are going to get your food quick. Well at least that’s what happened to us, we got out food within 5 minutes I swear. It was amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such fast service. You’ll probably have to wait longer in the drive-thru at McDonalds lol.

Topokki menu still has quite a variety of choices including your classics, despite it being smaller than Miss Korea’s. I found it hard to choose even though I planned to get me some Japchae before I even entered the restaurant. What you’ll see in the Topokki menu is basically the main dishes, followed by side dishes, and beverages, they do have two choices of deserts as well (ice cream lol). Soon patbingsu will be added to the menu – which I find that strange because patbingsu is generally eaten in the summer and… it’s winter now… oh well.

So lots of nice choices on both menus and great presentation. Here's my meal, I had Japchae and kimchi, but you can't see the kimchi :) 

Very Important Factor: The Kimchi:

I had to compare the kimchi because it’s Korea’s most important signature food. They eat kimchi with everything. Two years ago when my Korean teacher went to Miss Korea, she told us that the food was awesome but the kimchi was too salty. Seeing how Maangchi on youtube used a shockingly generous amount of salt, I was surprised that my Korean teacher thought the kimchi was too salty but when I went there for myself I thought it was OK. However, in comparison to Topokki, their kimchi is sooo much more fresh tasting and a lot less salty. It actually tastes like I’m eating something healthy but also delicious. I’ve heard that Miss Korea buys their kimchi instead of making it fresh themselves which may just be true with what I’ve tasted but uh… I’m not going to spread any rumours.

Topokki’s kimchi is better than Miss Korea’s. Sorry.

Customer Service:

If you are Chinese, or speak Chinese, you will get to feel comfortable speaking to the waitress in this language at Miss Korea as 4 out of 5 times I’ve been there, the waitress was Chinese. One time, I heard her speak to one of the customers in Chinese. The other time I went there the waitress was European 0.o but all the waitresses (there are never any waiters) are friendly, helpful. They greet you when you’re coming in and when you’re leaving, thanking you for eating there. In Topokki, as we were leaving, it was like no one even noticed or cared that we were walking out. I never experienced that before and it wasn’t like the place was full, because it was lunch time! I don’t know. Anyways, the waitress and waiter we had were both attentive to us in Topokki whilst we were there. Our waiter was actually really happy and chipper. I liked him lol. He gave us a 10% discount which I thought was reeeally nice. Thanks so much waiter, if you’re reading this hahaha.

Prices:

All the times I went to Miss Korea, my friends and I would all end up paying around £15 each every time with ordering a starter, a main meal and a drink (the Korean tea has an unlimited refill) and sometimes they would offer you a free bowl of rice if it went well with your meal. When I went to Topokki, the two of us had just a main meal each and a £1.50 small side dish of kimchi. With our 10% discount , the overall price came to £16something overall. This is just over half of what we would have paid if we ate at Miss Korea that day.

The Miss Korea menu is set out so that you would always naturally want to order a starter and a main meal. Topokki's menu just shows the main meals and then a few side dishes near the end of the menu, followed by the beverages.

Because of this, you're going to naturally spend more money at Miss Korea because you'll be ordering a starter and a main meal (of course you can choose not to) but in Topokki you'll only be paying for the main meal. I don't know if this was Miss Korea being clever or it's just how things turned out but for the customer Topokki is better in this aspect. In terms of business, Miss Korea has the upper hand here, they're obviously making more money by tricking customers into ordering a starter lol. Hmm... clever.

Overall Rating:

I'm going to be giving Topokki a 5/5 rating based on the fact that the price was surprising low with the portions being nicely generous. The waiter we had was really chipper (lol) and nice. We felt really welcome at the restaurant.

The only thing that would have been better is if the menu was as impressively long as Miss Korea's, but that kind of feels like nitpicking so I shouldn't even really include this point especially with Topokki's two page spread of about 10 different kinds of Bibimbap. Daebak!

And also the food came out within 5 minutes and it was hot and the kimchi was fresh, big difference to Miss Korea.

Oh, yeah, it would've been nice if they played some k-pop while we were there but I've heard they have played it at times.

Miss Korea's rating is a 4/5. I'm sorry. I love the restaurant and I will definitely go there again, but the wait for our food is a lot longer and the kimchi is not fresh. You're always going to spend more money at Miss Korea because of their tricks with the menu, lol, it's true. Also the food coma at the end if absolutely unbearable sometimes. It's nice that their giving us lots of food but gaaad; my stomach is not that big. However, I love love looove that you are always guaranteed to hear some kpop while you're there no matter what time of the day it is.

Topokki: 5/5
Miss Korea: 4/5

Reccomendation: Go to both!!

K-Drama: 'Secret Garden' review [Almost No Spoilers]

I wrote this review this summer after watching the drama, and I'm putting it up to be read now :) lol
I hope you enjoy!

Starring:
Ha Ji Won
Hyun Bin
Yoon Sang Hyun
Kim Sa Rang
Phillip Lee
Lee Jong Suk
Yoo In Na
(Quite a star-studded cast)

Synopsis:
The drama tells the story of Kim Joo Won (Hyun Bin), an arrogant and eccentric CEO who maintains the image of seeming perfection, and Gil Ra Im (Ha Ji Won), a poor and humble stuntwoman whose beauty and body are the object of envy amongst top actresses. Their accidental meeting, when Joo Won mistakes Ra Im for actress Park Chae Rin, marks the beginning of a tense, bickering relationship, through which Joo Won tries to hide a growing attraction to Ra Im that both confuses and disturbs him. To complicate matters further, a strange sequence of events results in them swapping bodies.

Review:

I first planned to watch Secret Garden because I watched Big Bang’s parody of it for their big 2011 comeback which really took the funniest parts of Secret Garden and made it seem like a really light-hearted drama and after seeing Big Bang portray these characters from the drama I totally had to see the original. Another reason why I planned to watch Secret Garden is that it was such a huge success when it was broadcasting in South Korea. I remember that Se7en as well as other Korean celebrities were watching it at the time and were really addicted to it, so I thought it must be good. Another reason was, of course because there was a certain someone I wanted to see act in it; Lee Jongsuk that is. After watching School 2013 early on this year, I became totally obsessed with him (lol) as I’m sure a lot of girls did after watching that drama, so I began to watch Secret Garden.

Now, Secret Garden certainly isn’t what I expected it to be at all. For one, Big Bang definitely played up the whole “Freaky Friday” kind of theme a lot more than it actually featured in the 20-episode drama. However, the biggest difference from what I expected and what I actually saw from watching the drama was the depth this drama went to and the dramatic storyline. I was expecting a light hearted funny drama but instead I found a much deeper storyline. That was no relief after watching such a tear-jerking drama as School 2013 but it was amazingly clever and I can definitely say it was unlike any Korean drama I’ve ever watched.

Secret Garden starts off very slow. The first four episodes just seems to drag on and while watching those I doubted why the drama had been so successful and was so famous, but I soon came to realise that even though those few episodes were slow, they were necessary to build up the back story, because this story does not just start as the drama starts, the characters story cleverly starts many years before the time the drama begins. By episode 5, that’s when the body swap happens and things hype up a lot. This is of course consequently followed by many hilarious moments and encounters like the time when Gil Ra Im (Joo Won’s body) and Oska go to the jimjilbang – I’ll leave that to your imagination. It’s that kind of humour that Secret Garden is filled with but it’s not too much so that it takes away from the seriousness of the drama. For example, Secretary Kim’s character I find absolutely hilarious. The way he’s so OTT sometimes, his affection towards Gil Ra Im’s best friend Ah Young and the way he gets jealous of his boss Joo Won in that one episode and his little temper tantrums are the cutest thing.

There are two things that make this drama really stand out from the others, firstly it’s supernatural element of the body swap – although I still do not understand how or why that happened – I guess Gil Ra Im and Kim Joo Won could not have gotten so emotionally close without it being forced by something so extreme as a body swap. In the normal world, someone like Ra Im (a stunt woman) would not have so easily crossed paths and began a relationship with Joo Won (a department store CEO). This point is heavily enforced throughout the drama. The fact that they are not supposed to be together as it is so unusual and therefore unacceptable. As a writer who loves to write about forbidden and unusual love, I find this storyline comes very close to heart.

That brings me on to the next point that makes this drama stand out, the entire amazingly written storyline of a man and woman that came to know each other under such tragic and unusual circumstances. Unusual because of their different levels of in social class; tragic because… you’ll see when you watch the drama (but this is what I mean of how their storylines go back many years before the drama begins.

It is like Joo Won and Ra Im are star-crossed lovers, like it was meant to be that they would stir up something different in each other’s hearts. Deep, I know. But this is why this drama is so different. It’s not a cute high school romance; Secret Garden deals with death, loss, heartbreak, unrequited love and inevitability like I’ve never seen in any other drama I’ve watched (and I’ve watched quite a good amount; those for younger audiences like Dream High and Heartstrings and those for older audiences like Iris and Coffee Prince). These two characters love each other so much and do not want to let each other go despite the consequences and I’ve never seen a love more intense and inspiring in any other Korean drama I’ve watched.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5

cr: asianwiki.com, dramawiki.com

K-Drama: 'White Christmas' review [No Spoilers]

I watched White Christmas in July this year (quite a funny time to watch a drama set around Christmas but it didn't affect the mood). I wrote a little review of it afterwards with zero amount of spoilers. It's basically my feelings on the drama with a rating out of 5 at the end.
Anyway, I forgot all about this rating until I was surfing through my files today so I'm uploading it now.
You may already be interested in this drama is you like model/actors like Kim Woobin, Lee Soohyuk, Hong Jonghyun, Bang Sungjoon, Kim Young Kwang. They're all in this.

Enjoy! :)

Starring:
Kim Sang Kyung
Baek Sung Hyun
Kim Young Kwang
Lee Soo Hyuk
Kwak Jung Wook
Hong Jong Hyun
Esom
Kim Woobin
Sung Joon
Jung Suk Won
Lee El

Sypnosis:

In the mountains of Gangwando, there is a prestigious private high school named Soo-Sin. The school is located in an isolated area and all the students and staff stay in dormitories. The students at Soo-Sin comprise of the top 0.1% of all the students in South Korea.
In order to get into Soo-Sin, students must prepare from elementary school. It is even harder to get into than Seoul National University. Because of this, students at Soo-Sin must compete fiercely and study even on weekends. Their only vacation days are the 8 days from Christmas Eve to the first day of the new year. During this time, the students and faculty leave the school. The school becomes empty.
On December 24, 2010, a bus full of students leaves the school. Diligent honor student Park Moo-Yul (Baek Sung-Hyun) stays behind because of a letter a received a couple of days ago. The letter is full of hate and states they will die, but leave a curse on Park Moo-Yul. At the school, only 7 students stay behind...

Review:

Let me warn you now, you heart will ache and your mind will tire from watching this drama. This is the first drama that has honestly made me want to watch episode after episode even though it wasn't doing me any good. Despite there only being eight episodes, each character held a special place in my heart in the blink of an eye because the story is so fast paced and each character has their own individuality that makes you want to protect them and the most heartbreaking thing is that anyone one of them could die at any moment, and later on in the drama any one of them could die by any one of them because the list potential murderers expands.

I barely sat on the edge of my seat and I bit my nails until there was nothing left of them. I squealed and gasped and covered my eyes too many times. I paused the drama in a high intensity moment screaming that I would not watch any more of it. I don’t know if everyone who has watched this has had the same experience as me as watching it but I don’t see how anyone could not. It got too much at times but I kept watching. I don’t even know how. It was heartbreaking in one moment but elating in the next. How could the writer have messed so much with the audience like that?

I must say, White Christmas was absolutely amazing. I have never seen any other Korean drama like it and I don’t think I ever will. The way it was written was genius; there was a lot of thought put into the characters and the way the storyline all came together. It makes you think. It makes you think about how someone could be so obsessive; how a normal person could become a monster; what it takes; how much can one endure. The high school students were all very strong and smart in my opinion. I can’t imagine myself being in their shoes.

Overall rating: 5 out of 5


cr: asianwiki.com

Let's Talk: 'The Heirs' episode 1 & 2 *spoiler alert*

So let's talk about the long awaited drama full of pretty faces with genuine acting talent, 'The Heirs'.

Yes, I'd been looking forward to this drama to come for a long time, actually anticipating gloomy month of
October (which I never do) because that's when The Heirs would be beginning. But I just have to say I am quite disappointed in this drama so far. I didn't like episode 1 at all, episode 2 was a little better but...
I don't like the fact that Kim Tan and Eun Sang are in California because there a lot of opportunities to stereotype because of this. I'm talking about the whole stereotype of white American males. Also what's with all the white people; it reinforces the fact that Koreans think America is full of white people and that being American is actually an ethinicity. No it's not. I mean, we all know that L.A. stands for Lots of Asians*.
I really don't like the way white males are depicted in this drama and I'm not even a white male, neither am I white. But I can't believe no one else has picked this up. I am very open minded of how different races of people are stereotyped in the media and this drama is just reaking in nasty stereotypes.
Take for example, Eun Sang's sister's ex-boyfriend just happens to be a down and out mess whose moved on to another girl just as Stella moved out. I was quite surprised at this because I thought they would show perfect successful rich people instead of what was in this drama (sort of like Julien's character of Daniel in 'To The Beautiful You').

And all the sleazy guys that were hitting on Stella left right and center. Where do they get the information that American guys are like this and the rest of the Korean guys in the drama were walking around in their suits being all professional. The "American" guys were just:

running away from a young girl for a bag of "drugs". smh.

I surprised there wasn't a gang of ghetto-looking African Americans chasing Eun Sang for no reason than just to cause trouble and promote a thug-stereotype.

I have to say those fat guys running after Tan and Eun Sang in the second episode were funny though. "I'm gonna kill you." lol. Stella's ex has some funny friends.

Moving away from the depictations and on to the cringeful English. Aigoo... that's what I hate about Kim Eun Sook's dramas. They always contain way too much English and the thing is, it doesn't have to be that way. I can tell the way they're attempting the English is by writing it out for actors in hangul; bear in mind that the hangul alphabet does not have all the components for English pronounciation. There is no f, no v, no z. Lee Minho's English ends up unfortunetly sounding terrible. It was the same with Gil Ra Im and Kim Joo Won in Secret Garden.
There are coaches that can train the actors to pronounce the English in the correct or coherent way but still with a natural accent. Think Memoirs of a Geisha because that is exactly what I'm talking about. Some of those actresses/actors could not speak a word of English in real life yet on screen their English flowed effortlessly. It's not because they wrote it out in their alphabet and learnt it that way. It's because they worked closely with a coach that taught them the correct way to pronounce things. I just wish Kim Eun Sook's drama production would employ a coach like this. Please.
One of the things I just cannot stand in the world is the cringey English like what is in these dramas. Korean people don't sound like that when they speak English. Please, someone, fix this.

No Tan, it's really not. -__-

What I hope is that by the next episode Tan and Eun Sang will somehow find themselves returning to Korea so we can return to the comfortable normality of a korean drama.

Another thing, how the heck is Kim Woo Bin supposed to playing an 18-year-old, he already looks older than he is at 24, does anyone really thinks he can pull off the whole school boy thing anymore especially as he's gained more muscle after School 2013 and the characters are not wearing uniforms yet. Ji Won's character Rachael definitely looks like she should be attending University rather than high school.
I'm really watching this drama for Kim Jiwon and Krystal after woob broke my heart. I was a bit disappointed that Jiwon turned out to be the villain like in To The Beautiful You. I prefer her playing roles like in High Kick 3.
Krystal's character Bo Na, I love. She has a funny character again and I totally ship her with Young Do after the second episode.

Positively, I'm looking forward to seeing how things will go forward with Eun Sang and Chan Young (Minhyuk) as Bo Na (Krystal) is jealous of Eun Sang and Tan is jealous of Chan Young.

Well, we'll see...



credit: stills taken from gooddrama.net