We're having our Holiday party today at the office - so everyone is in a seasonal mood of goodwill. Having said that, I wanted to say that I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon your thread this past year and subsequently stumbled upon a dialogue with you via email.
I refer to you often and mention your hard work ethic - your humor - your compassion - and of course your incredible knowledge of languages and cultures.
The world is filled with lonely people
- isolated,
- lost
- and sad - for various reasons that we know not.
But you have created a place for dialogue and exchange which means that you are part of the solution - not part of the problem.
Thank you.
from the bottom of my heart,
Thank you.

Yay, open thread! ROFL with those Youtubes, javabeans. Hmmm, where's everyone?
Hey guys. Need your help. I'm a new recipient of a Blockbuster gift card. Ain't Xmas great? Life has its priorities, so i didn't get a chance to see a lot of movies this year. (Plus, i spent a lot of time watching those crazy K-dramas). Soooo, i thought this would be a great opportunity to catch up. Stay away from the madness of Xmas shopping and stay in for a movie nite. And who is better to ask advice from than these drama buffs.
So, what do you think? Help me out. Give me couple of suggestions on what to rent? Your favorites? Hidden gems? Anything British (Bean or Death at a Funeral)? Comedy? Indie? Here's a list of the handful of movies/DVDs that i've managed to watch this year: Juno, Children of Men, Ratatouille, Once ( i think that's all..). I know, it's an odd collection. But i like them. Thanks in advance.

One of the most hysterical/poignant british movies i've ever seen - Peter's Friends. It's old and may be hard to find but definitely worth it. Has Kenneth Branaugh and Emma Thompson before Helena Bonham Carter got in the way.

tealeaf - sorry about that. meant to write TO you rather than AS you...

It's raaaaiiininnnngg...
It's pooourinnng...
My love liiiiffeee..
Is boooorrriinnnnnnng.....

It's gray, it's rainy I WANNA GO HOME AND DRINK HOT CHOCOLATE AND READ A BOOK.. T_T Still have one more hour of work. *Sigh*

Man Stroke Woman is hysterical. Thank goodness for the internet! Another great British show is Life On Mars. It's a smart, wacky with a hint of sci-fi cop drama. I love it.

love the clips--too hilarious!!!

btw, have you checked out the new drama that features alex from clazziquai? it might be something to fill the emptiness a little after mixed-up invest. agency. i've only seen the first two epi's but it's promising.

I totally agree with javabeans on Hot Fuzz! What a hysterically wonderful movie!
Some other movies I would suggest...
1. Big Fish
2. A Long Engagement (I think that's the title...it's a French movie)
3. Mostly Martha (a German movie that's really awesome!)
4. Love Actually

The movies above aren't really comedy-oriented...more like tear-jerker, chill...I don't know really what else to say. But Love Actually is definitely not a tear-jerker. It's got to be one of the best holiday movies I've ever seen!

Holiday Spirit Movie: Holiday Inn (Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire together = out-of-this-world)

so what was the final verdict on insoon is pretty? i can't decide if i should watch it yet...

when i saw hot fuzz i thought it was a joke (not really having been exposed to british stuff) but it was alright for a comedy type thing.

so are they going to kill chuck or something? can't they find more use out of him? :(

LOL! "Brilliant" - gotta love British comedy.
@addicted - I'm looking forward to the new season of Life on Mars on Tuesday, too. Whoa, I just saw that there's going to be an American remake. Hmm...wonder how that'll turn out 'cuz we Americans sure do know how to do remakes, right? ;P Well, David E. Kelley's attached, and there's an Irish actor playing the lead, so you never know... One question, though. If here in the states, a show has multiple "seasons" & the entire run is called a "series" - but in the UK each season is called a "series," what is the entire run called? And I've always been curious about professional levels of the police force. There's Det. Constable, Det. Sergeant, DI, DCI, and Det. Superintendant, etc. Can anyone fill this BBC American in on the terminology? Gramps?

I second the recommendation for Peter's Friends - don't forget Hugh Laurie, Imelda Staunton, and Stephen Fry. Haven't really watched movies this year. What's gotten into me? Oh, yeah - kdramas! I would like to see Atonement. Speaking of James McAvoy, watch Rory O'Shea Was Here and Bright Young Things.

Does anyone watch The Tudors on Showtime? Is it worth adding to my TV watching repertoire? (The list is too long already!)
Has anyone started watching Bad/Wretched Love, yet?

@hjk
Wow! Someone else who's seen Peter's Friends! That makes 2 of us now! It's been so long I forgot the rest of the great cast. I have to watch that again.

The Tudors seems good but I thought it wasn't out until next year? Am I behind?

the first thing i thought when i saw the ads for the Tudors was "its like english saeguk!"

you guys recommend any korean (or japanese) movies to watch? i normally try to watch one every weekend. the last one was a japanese movie called Linda Linda Linda that had the korean actress from The Host. it was really good, too.

giddygirl108, I love Mostly Martha and Love Actually. Love Actually really lifts your spirits if you're watching it when you're down. I highly recommend Love Actually.

Does anyone here watch A Bit of Fry and Laurie? Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are fantastic. Their sketches are so hilarious, I love Stephen Fry's really wordy sketches.

haezi: alex's is in a drama? really?! O_O
kotatsulove: Hmm... I really liked S Diary. It's a Korean movie with Kim Sun Ah as the main character... Gong Yoo's in it, too. =]

I'd recommend Love Actually, too. It's hilarious. =D

I really want to watch August Rush just because Tablo's supposedly in it for thirty seconds. XD ahaha...

Anybody seen Golden Compass?

Gosh I'm so lost. Can't believe I'm living in the UK and I don't even know the shows you guys are talking about...guess that's the bad thing about not having a TV aiksss....

To hjk..
I'm watching Bad Love..if you meant the Bad Love starring KSW and LYW.
It's not so bad..but nothing great about it either. Pace is too fast and ppl are complaining (me too). If you wana start watching (or have you?), dun expect too much...

Lisa,
I would recommend at least watching one episode of In-Soon is Pretty to see if it's your cup of tea. I have been following it and have really enjoyed it so far.

hehehe...always been a creeper on this blog. but i do love ur entries javabeans! they're always witty and i love ur taste in music and shows! often i don't know what's good, and with all the trite stuff going around now, it's hard to sift thru them all to find the real gold. so thanx for al ur advice!

Tiki: tablo was in August Rush?? i didn't notice him O___O do u know where he is supposed to appear for the brief 30 seconds??

#13 LISA,
I'm watching and enjoying INSOON IS PRETTY.
Ep. 10 just aired - but WITHS2 has released subs through ep. 7 and
8 and 9 are right behind them.
The Soompi Thread is not so busy, which means there are a very few of us that are writing back and forth almost like emails.
Dramaok and Shirley are the ever faithfuls giving us the translation previews.
Ep. 10 had one of the best quarrel scenes i've ever seen between two romantic leads. followed up later by a heartwrenching love confession -
the series has been worth it - just for those TWO scenes -
You feel like someone has kicked the wind out you.
Give it a try - it begins to gel more at about ep. 5 -
and the little boy in there is the cutest EVER!! EVER!!
did i mention he is the cutest little boy EVER!

Exams, exams, exams!!!! going crazy...

aww the babies were tooo awwdorable...i think its one of the best campaigns out there... everybody needs a place to call home...and no child on earth should ever go to bed crying their little lungs away because they don't have someone holding them...

i browsed through the first epide of in soon, and it didn't speak to me...it seemed a little melodramatic to me, and sorry...i'm saving all my tears for my examss...so maybe durint the holidays...

Enjoying Dal Ja's Spring ssooooooo much... Its perfect...(though lee min ki needs to improve his acting...too ugh...don't have words for it...but i lovvvve his character though...) Oh Dal Ja is my hero!!! she and all the crazy people surrounding her should just move in with me...lol at Oh Mal Ja....

Is anybody else in the midst of Finals? I have 2 down, 2 to go. Writing a 2 hour exam on applying Marxism and Feminism to the book and character Dracula is no fun. I would however love to write a paper on "The Appeal of the effeminate man in Kdramas" What can I say except my imagination gets the best of me, lol.

Sarah, with the amount of comments that your blog clocks up, do you actually manage to read all the comments? It seems a little difficult to keep track of since you have so many posts and people commenting of so many of them.

I agreed with canyayasis. I've stumble on this site during the Coffee Prince days and life has never been the same. TQ Javabean for your input and great comments. You have shared many things otherwise that I'll be totally ignorant to. I love the music you posted and the flare and fluidity of your words. Thank you my dear. You are a Gem. Keep up the good work that you love so much.

@aneh 1028, you're right, the second season of The Tudors hasn't started yet, but my Comcast On Demand has the first season available. I normally love anything "English sageuk" but hadn't really heard much about this one.

Love Actually is really sweet, funny/uplifting and touching/tearjerking at the same time. It's perfect for the holidays, and the boy who plays the drums is too cute!

@breezy, I would give Insoon Is Pretty at least 4 episodes before counting it out. The first two episodes just lay the foundation for the series, like the score playing through opening credits of a movie. What, more subs are out? This is what I get for spending a day away from the computer.

I agree with canyayasis, djes, and PixieJewel. What keeps me coming back to this site is you, javabeans, and your insightful writing and the other mature, intelligent readers who have come here to share in this experience. Thanks everyone!

Thanks for the tips everyone. Hmmm, must make more time for British television. Peter's Friends? pre-stubbled Hugh Laurie i suppose and an all-star cast. Will see if i can get my hand on that.

Love Actually = great, though i think that Hugh Grant is at his cranky best in About a Boy. Also enjoyed A Very Long Engagement, a different animal than its predecessor-the whimsical Amelie. Will save Hot Fuzz when there's plenty of company around since it sounds like something that the boys would appreciate.

@hjk, fellow Dear Frankie fan: thanks for the reminder about Atonement. It's out already? A must-see for me. Joe Wright's work definitely should be seen on the big screen.

My personal favorite is a small less well known Canadian Quebec movie - 2004 Seducing Dr. Lewis. It's heart-warming, funny and totally not like the typical French movie. It has an ending that you can actually understand.

Guess I should watch BBC sometimes instead of just KBS and Arirang, good thing I can get away with watching at work. But what I really want is info on the band Sprinkler, I've seen them described as a rock project group, but no listing of the members. The singers voice is familiar but I can't place it. I've ordered the cd but I'm impatient. Thanks

Thank you. Saw an interview posted on tagstory but I didn't quite get the explanation for the mask, I really need to properly learn Korean.

Time to rant, so not only did KBS America change all the show times without updating the guide on Dish Network, making my dvr record the wrong shows, Golden age of Daughter in laws jumped from episode 12 to 29.

iceey_blu: sorry for the late reply! and omg, I MISSED HIM, TOO! and I knew he was going to be in there. -_- He's in the part where they're showing August/Evan the place where all those musicians that Robin Williams' keeps are... The first time you see him he's lying down on a coach playing an instrument... The second time is when Robin Williams throws his knife down on the table and picks it back up. I was focusing on the knife, so I didn't see Tablo in the background... -_- *sigh*

gregorsamsa66: omg I KNOW! I tried to record Music Bank.. and it recorded something else instead! O_O Do you know if the schedule's back on track? And if not, do you know where I could get the real schedule?

Tiki,

The schedule posted at KBS-America.com is correct. Music Bank was good, Wonder Girls can't sing but Insooni was incredible. Tablo? I heard Koo Hye Sun was in August Rush, haven't seen it yet.

Thanks so much! And yeah... Tablo's in it for all of three seconds.. but those three seconds are worth it! The expression on his face is PRICELESS! =P

Hi! I'm Crystal. I am almost 17. :)
I guess http://www.dramabeans.com - wonderful name for this site! ;)
It is so interestingly here, especially in this category.
I was surfed about 2 hours before found this site. I think i'll be here for a long time! :-*