Favourites of 2013

I’m sorry to inflict yet another best-of list on you but I figured it would be good for my swiss cheese memory to jot these down for posterity.

It’s been a year of many firsts: my first year of K-drama watching, of blogging, of tumblr-ing (is that a word?), and of meeting a lovely community of fellow drama obsessives (that means you!) which has been totally awesome.

I wish everyone lots of love, happiness and many more good dramas in 2014!

Favourites

These worked for me in all the ways that matter–heart, story, substance and execution–and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend every one of them. In no particular order:

Introducing: Weekly OCDrama Digest, 22-28 October

You may have noticed that I’m neither particularly prolific nor lengthy on this blog. Sometimes, I can barely squeeze out enough brain fart to reply coherently to a comment, let alone a long insightful post. Which is why I’ve been collecting half-written reviews of long-finished dramas like no tomorrow. And I often enjoy reading much more than writing, which is a squeezing-water-from-stone situation these days. And I seem to spend way more time reading instead of writing. Words don’t come easy to me.

Which leads me to this new feature which is as much an exercise to get out of my slump as trying to introduce some regularity to the blog. It’s what the professionals do, I’m told.  So here’s a roundup of drama-related (and maybe not-so-related) reads–be it news, think-pieces, commentary–from around the net that I’ve liked this week which I’ll be posting every weekend. If I come across something that’s particularly noteworthy and a keeper, I’ll move it to my Readings section on my Useful Stuff page.

Weekly OCDrama Digest

1. An American remake is in the works for Boys Over Flowers. Hurrah..? Personally, I’m neutral about adaptations or remakes of any kind as I often believe that everyone deserves a fair shot at creating something, but it seems that a great many people believe differently. Kdramafighting had a great take on the some of the debates surrounding this.  And speaking of US remakes, apparently Nine is getting one too. Now that, I’d be interested to see.

Review: Nine (2013, tvN)

The premise: Time-travelling incense sticks land in an intrepid reporter’s hands, allowing him to try to alter his family’s tragic history. Does he succeed?

In a word, no. Or yes? It depends? Gosh, I’m not sure, because what seemed at the outset like a thrilling ride left me thoroughly confused.

Is it a revenge thriller? A crime mystery? Fantasy romance drama? It’s all of the above, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But by having to juggle all these different balls in the air  the show gets bogged down by convoluted plot turns.