The (Belated) Sunshine Award

First, I owe all these lovelies who nominated me for this award a huge apology for taking so long to respond. I went into hibernation for a lot longer than anticipated.

Second, to anyone still reading this blog, I’m sorry too for taking a leave of absence not fully planned or accounted for.

Life gets in the way, yunno? Or more accurately, feeling like I wasn’t in the right headspace to blog. Or rather, not feeling like anything I had to say was worth writing about. And then the side of me that’s full of self-loathing emerged with her devil horns and said to me, “No one reads this blog anyway. So go ahead, just keep on being lazy.” Silly me, I listened to her.

Also, my drama watching had slowed to a trickle and then came to a screeching halt, so that compounded the rut.

And then I became obsessed with Rurouni Kenshin (aka Samurai X)–the films, the manga, the anime, the EVERYTHING–which sort of took over my life. I even thought of turning this entire blog into a shrine to Kenshin. But that’s another story.

But I recently picked up watching a couple of shows again. So here I am.

TL; DR I’m sorry, I’m back, and here are my answers to your questions:

From the lovely Jac at hkoreandramaisland

1. What is your favorite pet? 

I don’t have a pet at the moment. But I grew up with dogs (and for a short while, two cats), love them, and I promised myself instead of children, I will have a dog. Maybe two. I will name them Kenshin and Kaoru.

2. Who’s your favorite singer?

Ooh too many to list. And each time I’m asked this I name different people. Right now, since I just dug out my Purple Rain CD yesterday, it’s Prince.

3. If you could live in another planet, which one would it be?

I’d live on the forest moon of Endor with the Ewoks.

4. What is your favorite Asian movie?

Ooh dear, too many! In the Mood For Love by Wong Kar Wai, incomparably gorgeous and swoony and sad. Drunken Master II! Jackie Chan, Anita Mui–CLASSIC. And if you haven’t seen Graveyard of the Fireflies, please do. It’s life-changing. And there’s a Rurouni Kenshin anime miniseries called Trust & Betrayal that’s so beautiful it brought me to my knees. It’s a masterpiece.

5. Writing or drawing?

I can’t draw to save my life. Jury’s out on the writing.

6. Concert or movie theater?

Ooooh both! Movies are cheaper, more accessible. Concerts are rare treat, and physically exhilarating.

7. Tea or Coffee

COFFEE. BLACK. With sugar.

8. What’s your favorite part of blogging?

YOU GUYS!

9. Fill in the blank Pop_________! 

Er…I dunno. Sorry!

10. Winter or Summer?

Since I was born and raised in the tropics, summer. I don’t fare well in the cold.

From Yami Hyunnie of Asian Reviewer Maniac

1. What is your lucky number?

I have no idea! Seven?

2. What is one food that you could never get sick of eating?

Noodles! All shapes and sizes, colours and textures.

3. Pick one: The ability to mind control or the ability to phase out of anything solid (intangibility)

Mind control. Definitely mind control. What a deliciously evil power.

4. What is one memory in your childhood that you could never forget?

I was five and I saw my first dinosaur at a natural history museum. Scary but exciting! It was massive. That’s all I remember.

5. If you had only one chance in this life to meet your destined lover, but at the same time you also had the only chance to ever meet your top 3 most favourite celebrities, which chance would you pick and why?

Since I already met my destined lover, can I pick my top 3 celebs? Of course I can. And I shall. In my dreams.

6. If you were given a chance to live the life of another seen from a movie/tv series, who would it be and why?

I’d live the life of Go Eun Chan because she gets to make coffee every day (yum!) and more importantly, gets to go home to this:

7. Do you wanna build a snowman??

No. I don’t like the cold. But I did enjoy Frozen :).

8. Tea or coffee?

Coffee!

9. What is your top most replayed song on your iPod/music device?

My Ipod died, but I listen to my youtube playlist a lot on shuffle. That has a lot of J- & K- artists on it.

10. If you could gain the ability to talk to one type of animal, which would it be?

Dragons. I’d love to talk to dragons. But only nice ones like the one in How to Train Your Dragon, not like, Smaug.

From sweetie pie Snow of The Drama Corner

1. What is your favourite thing to do when you are not watching dramas.

I like to cook and watch youtube cooking-related shows.  I made this today off of one of my fave cooking channels. Turned out pretty well too.

2. Which is your all time favourite movie in the following categories: [1] Thriller [2] Romance [3] Comedy.

Oohh toughie. Is Blade Runner a thriller? What about Memories of Murder? Romance–In The Mood For Love (shut up, it’s totally a romance.) Comedy–Drunken Master II! Groundhog Day is hysterical and I love love love 3 Idiots.

3. Your favourite book.

Rurouni Kenshin! An epic tale of redemption and about holding on to your humanity when the world has given you no reason to. So compassionate and so moving. LOVE IT TO DEATH.

4. Your go-to drama.

Coffee Prince. Like the Highlander, there can only be one.

5. In your opinion, the best drama couple is………..

Go Eun Chan and Choi Han Kyul. Like, forever. And ever.

6. What is the best smell in the world?

The smell of my freshly showered husband.

7. Your dream pairing for a drama.

Lordy. I’m terrible at this. All I’ll say is Gong Yoo needs to be in a moody, sexy melodrama on jtbc with an older woman like me Kim Hee Ae while Kim Woo Bin needs to play an awkward nerd who falls for a rockstar played by me Shin Min Ah.

8. Your favourite character from Friends (if you haven’t seen it, then from any other American T.V. show)

Can I pick two? Joey and Phoebe! They cracked me up and I loved that they were besties.

From the dynamic NeeNee who blogs at Asian Addicts Annoymous

(By the way, NeeNee I love your blog’s new look! It’s gorgeous and streamlined. TEACH ME)

1. When you need to brighten the mood, what’s your go to song?

I love to wallow so when I’m in those moods I pick music that greases the wallowing wheels and I’m like a happy hippo in the mud. But lately I’ve been listening to Epik High’s Shoebox which makes me happy :).

2. On a rainy day this is what’s playing on my music player of choice: _____.

Any song by Nick Drake and Elliot Smith.

3. Sunrise, sunset, or neither?

Sunset. I’m never up in time for sunrise. Willingly at least.

4. If you could meet any Korean actor/actress and spend the day with them, who would it be and what would you do?

Does it have to be an actor? Can I pick the Kim Sam Soon, Me Too Flower, Valid Love etc writer Kim Do Woo? I’d just interrogate her all day long and ask her how she does what she does, and whether she thinks all her heroines are basically iterations of herself. Coz they gotta be, right?

From Indigo of Between Worlds

1. Kim Woo Bin without his trademark eyebrows or Kim Woo Bin without his deep voice – which version of him would you choose?

Neither. Without his eyebrows or his voice he wouldn’t be the same man we all love.

2. Choose a K-pop song to describe how you feel about your favourite K-drama actor/K-pop bias. (Feel free to include a line or two from the lyrics to further explain your choice.)

Um… “Sorry sorry na na na na naaanana/Shawty shawty shawty nananana nana” (I have no idea what the Korean lyrics are so that’s what it sounds like to me) from “Sorry Sorry” by Super Junior.

Because I feel so SORRY that all these boys are so much younger than me and I feel AWFUL perving at them.

3. Pick two drama titles and mash them into one. Briefly explain the premise of this mash-up drama. (e.g. The Heirs From The Stars)

Oh god. Coffee Princess? A girl barista who lives on a rooftop with her four buddies gets transported back to the Joseon period? And gets mistaken for a prince? And has to keep up with the ruse because of reasons? I suck at this, sorry!

4. You’re going to noraebang (karaoke) with your Korean friends. It’s your turn to sing, what song will you pick? (It has to be a Korean song)

“Sorry Sorry” by Super Junior. I’d do the dance too to distract from the fact that I can’t sing.

5. Pick three Korean male celebrities of your choice….Okay, ready? Now highlight the hidden text in the following brackets: (Let’s play a round of Kiss, Marry, Kill. Out of these three celebrities, who will you kiss, who will you marry and who will you kill? Let the games begin, muahahahahahaa XD)

Good lord, I can’t kill Kang Ha Neul! I luff him! As for the other two, take a wild guess. I’ve talked about them earlier.

6. Which drama do you think would be more interesting to watch if all the leading female characters were male and vice versa?

Bad Guys would be pretty awesome with an all-women cast right? It would be called…Gizibe. Whoa. Somebody make this happen!

7. Who do you think was a better boyfriend: Gu Jun Pyo from Boys Over Flowers or Kim Tan from The Heirs? Or rather, who was worse?

I didn’t finish BOF so I can’t say for sure, but surely it can’t get worse than Kim Tan, right?

8. Finish this sentence: A K-drama is not a K-drama without…

someone getting pissed drunk on soju.

From cutie pie Blacksesame88 of The Black Sesame

1. If you could chose to play any character in a Korean drama, who would it be and why?

It always comes back to Go Eun Chan. Sorry, it’s boring but it’s true. Because A) coffee and B) Choi Han Kyul.

2. List your TOP 3 dramas of all time and briefly explain why you love them.

Let me direct you to my favourites page, though it probably needs an update. But if you’re too lazy to click: 1) Coffee Prince, 2) Kim Sam Soon and 3) A Wife’s Credentials. As for why, click the link and you’ll find out :D.

3. Let’s say there’s going to be drama or film made based on your life, which actor would you want to play YOU in the drama/film?

Lordy. Who’s the best actress in the world? Helen Mirren? She’s a kick ass dame. Except she’s white, much older and looks nothing like me. But if anyone can make it work, she can.

4. Describe the perfect date with your ultimate K-drama actor/K-pop bias (or any celebrity you prefer).

Good god! It’ll be filled with spectacular food. He’d cook (he’s a terrific cook because he went to culinary school in between shoots) and we’d feed each other. Then we’d drive along the coast like that scene in Heirs where Kim Tan drives Eun Sang in his Maserati with the top down, all sunshine-y and shit. 

Then we’d play for each other all our favourite tunes on the car stereo and approve of each other’s great taste in music. Then we’d fall asleep on the beach like in Coffee Prince, except you know, happier.

5. You’re the script writer and casting director for a new upcoming drama, who would you cast in your drama (OTP, secondary/supporting actors, etc.) and give a brief synopsis of the what the drama will be about.

It’s present day Seoul. We open during the month of the Hungry Ghost. One ghost has come back to earth to complete his life’s mission: to reclaim his family’s honour. But he has only one month to do it before the gates of hell close. He meets a sullen, underachieving young girl who comes from a family of fortune tellers. Only she doesn’t have the gift and is embarrassed by her nutty family. Until she meets Casper and discovers she’s the only one who can see him. He needs her help or else all is lost. She has to convince herself that her powers are for real, and then has to enlist her dysfunctional family to help (coz they each have different powers, see). Together the motley crew set off on a grand adventure. At heart, it’s a coming-of-age story. Squeeze in some family bonding, magic, comedy, romance and FUN.

That’s all I got. Somebody else can fill in the blanks!

As for casting, I’m not picky! But we need a younger version of someone like Han Groo for our heroine.

6. How has watching Korean dramas and/or listening to K-pop changed your life?

Immeasurably. I now blog (sporadically), I got on twitter and tumblr (yikes!), I interact with people from all over the world, and I’ve rediscovered my love for a damn good story. And boybands. All of which I never imagined doing/loving in a million years.

7. Have you ever had second lead syndrome? Who’s your favorite second lead and why? If you could create a spinoff drama based on his character, who would you cast as his leading lady?

My first experience with SLS was Kim Ji Hoon in Flower Boy Next Door, coz Kim Ji Hoon makes slacker pining oh so sexy and before I got know Enrique better I felt sympathy for Dok Mi having to put up with his perkiness.

In a spinoff drama, he’d play opposite Han Chae Ah who’d force him to get real and shake him up a bit. She’s his editor, the colleague of Kim Seul Gi who’d play a supporting role together with her beau Dong Hoon. They’d double date!

8. I have a giant sweet tooth. If you could be any dessert what would it be and why?

Me too! I’d be a jalebi. A delicious, deep fried jalebi! Crunchy, sweet with a gooey centre 🙂

I’m not passing this on since this is passe by now, and I’m out of the loop as far as new blogs are concerned. But thanks so much again for all the nods!

• Coffee Prince
• Epik High
• Gong Yoo
• Kim Woo Bin
• Sunshine Award