The first ever 'Blue Dragon Series Awards'  was created exclusively for Korean dramas and variety shows that are available on television and OTT in South Korea. Awards in 12 categories for Korean dramas and variety shows.

For the drama category, there are awards for Best Drama, Best Actor & Actress, Best Supporting Actor & Actress, and Best New Actor & Actress. Meanwhile, for the entertainment category, there are the Best Entertainment Program, Best Male and Female Entertainer, and Best New Male and Female New Entertainer.

A counterpart to the prestigious annual 'Blue Dragon Film Awards', the upcoming 'Blue Dragon Series Awards' will recognize series including dramas, variety programs, and more produced in South Korea and aired via platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, Seezn, Apple TV+, Watcha, Wavve, Kakao TV, Coupang Play, andTVING. 

Best Drama: D.P., Through The Darkness, Squid Game, Yumi’s Cells, Political Fever
Best Actor: Jung Hae In – “D.P.”, Lee Je Hoon – “Move to Heaven”, Kim Nam Gil – “Through The Darkness”, Lee Jung Jae – “Squid Game”, Yim Siwan – “Tracer”
Best Actress: Kim Hye Soo – “Juvenile Justice”, Kim Go Eun – “Yumi’s Cells”, Oh Yeon Seo – “Mad for Each Other”, Kim Sung Ryung – “Political Fever”, Han Hyo Joo – “Happiness”,
Best New Actor: Koo Kyo Hwan – “D.P.”, Kang Daniel – “Rookie Cops”, Chang Ryul – “My Name”, Park Seo Ham – “Semantic Error”, Park Jae Chan – “Semantic Error”, Lee Do Hyun – “Youth of May”
Best New Actress: Han So Hee – “My Name”, Won Ji An – “Hope or Dope”, Jung Ho Yeon – “Squid Game”, Park Ji Hoo – “All of Us Are Dead”, Cho Yi Hyun – “All of Us Are Dead”,
Best Entertainment Program: SNL Korea – “Coupang Play”,   Seoul Check-in – “TVING”, Girl High School Mystery Club – “TVING”, PLAYou – “Kakao TV”, Transit Love – “TVING”

The first ever 'Blue Dragon Series Awards' will be hosted by Jun Hyun Moo and Girls' Generation's YoonA, and will take place at Paradise City in Seoul on July 19.

The last few weeks I have been watching a lot of the older rom coms and have been really enjoying the experience. At the start of my K drama adventure they were my bread and butter alongside weekend dramas because they were free on KBS World’s YouTube channel.

What makes the older ones more enjoyable is, as pointed out by other Beanies, the tendency to minimise mixing of genres and if they do add anything it is slice of life rather than the current trend of adding thriller elements. It has been a much appreciated diversion as I am struggling to finish romance/slice of life dramas that I was enjoying until the thriller element was introduced. It’s hard to fast forward through these scenes as they are short scenes mixed in with the rest of the story.

It feels like eating fish and coming across a bone which means I am now on bone alert instead of enjoying the meal. In these situations there are multiple options:
stop eating and search for bones remove in one go reheat the food and then enjoy
stop eating and thus miss out on otherwise great food
accept that bones may turn up but treat each mouthful as something that can be enjoyed once inspected for bones.

I used to go for the third approach because I was not missing out on fried fish 🤣 but often the fear of missing a bone and feeling pain or chocking meant it was not as joyful an experience as I would have liked. I have learnt to accept missing fried fish now that I am vegan. My mission is to find the equivalent approach to watching dramas. I really don’t want to miss out on the good because of some minor scenes and tension evoking music.

My current strategies is to watch other dramas alongside. My recent watch alongside list were so good that they led to a pause from watching the original drama. I loved 20th century boy and girl, the film My love, my bride and currently I am enjoying Matrimonial chaos.

Thank you Beanies for sharing these gems and please send more recommendations like these.

CNN: Brad Pitt says he suffers from facial blindness

Birth secret? Long-lost chaebol heir?

I recently discovered fan translations of Chinese novels. Or rather, I'd noticed links to them in the comments at MDL for a while, but only recently tried reading one. It reminded me of when I would get sucked into the fanfic world of whatever anime/manga/TV show I was into at the time (Inuyasha!!!)

The website I'm using seems to have mostly Chinese novels, but it does have some Japanese and Korean novels as well. But I'm mainly looking for the novels that dramas are based on, and I'm not finding many of those. Or if I do, the translation has been dropped. Anyone know of where I can find completely translated Korean novels?

I don't have enough time to keep up with all the shows I'm watching right now, but I can't stop thinking about movies.

In three months I've only watched 7 movies (I used to watch 20+ movies per month), but I know that if I start watching movies properly again, I'm going to forget about my kdramas for a while and I don't want that, I'm loving everything I'm watching rn. Or worse, I'm going to watch one movie and feel bad for not watching more (yeah, I'm like that. My "watcher" cell is a dramaqueen).

I also want to start drawing and writing poems again, but I have zero inspiration... But nothing of that actually matters because I should be focusing on studying and working, tbh. LOL

Anyway, today is friday so what's really important is to find out if Yu Mi's writer-nim is trolling us and Ba Bi has a real purpose or if his character is just... sad.

Asianwiki lists only one prior credit for the writer of one certain show, from 2019. The PD has lots of credits, most recently 2020. So if the writer spent 3 whole years getting the script exactly right, or the PD spent 2 years nailing down the perfect cast I'd call that time well spent 🐋🐋🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳

I'm the type of person that if I get a weird vibe from a Kdrama actor/actress, then I won't watch their show. Or If they are paired up with someone I enjoy then I painfully watch through ittl. I'm not sure if that's going to make me miss out on some good dramas... I tend to avoid amy show Lee Min-ho is in, even though it's been killing me not to watch legend of the blue sea but for the FL but I can't get myself mentally prepared for it. He's the only actor where I can't just seem to watch his stuff and i've heard his shows are good but I just can't... The next person is Lee Joon-gi, I didnt have a problem with him in moon lovers, that was the only thing i've seen him in. Then i've watched some of the behind the scene clips with him and he gave off a weird vibe to me. So I tried to watch again my life but dropped it and his other shows seem interesting but I can't watch it because of the weird vibes I get.... And theres other people on my list that give off bad vibes but I tolerate them more..

Happy Friday beanies! I’ve been meaning to comment on how much I love actress Jung so-Min as Mu-deok in Alcheny of Souls. She carries the rhythm of the story, perhaps not single-handedly, but her presence keeps me watching. I think she is a heavyweight actress (My Father Is Strange, Because This is my first Time) and look forward to her in more lead roles.

My brother, who occasionally watches K-dramas with me, moments that I’ve turned Korean shows into my sole form of entertainment. It’s true, with the occasional exception of a PBS series. I countered, though, that he almost solely watches sports and if those hours were added up, they would parallel the time I spend on my K-drama viewing . With some quick math, he agreed. Hmmm. Doesn’t much mater, but that’s how that conversation went. Brings me to this thought: what is it that makes K-dramas appealing to me? Why are you drawn to them, beanies?

Well, that's 2 dramas in a row that ended up ranked near the bottom of my watched list. Really did not enjoy Designated Survivor, and couldn't believe the nosedive that You Are My Spring took after Young Do went to the hospital. So disappointing, I had to force myself to finish them both, and not sure/apprehensive about next try.
Any suggestions for someone who really appreciated My Ajusshi, Reply1988, My Liberation Notes, Misaeng, It's Okay to Not Be Okay, Stranger, One Spring Night, The King's Affection, Touch Your Heart (Reach of Sincerity), Crash Landing on You, Romance is a Bonus Book...?

Interesting week.

Recovered from COVID. Had a busy work week but it was very satisfactory.

And I needed something relaxing and good to watch to recover, so started watching "Beyond Evil". I tried to watch rom-coms for relaxation but it turned out that I can handle serial murders better than second hand embarrassment on behalf of Female Leads.

On the note of "Beyond Evil", (I am on 9th episode) and the kind of chemistry both the male leads have is crazy! Is it just me or the tension they have is off the charts?

At the advice of many Beanies I joined the Heyer Club. However, my enjoyment was greatly increased when I downloaded the audio version of Georgette Heyer's Regency World by Jennifer Kloester. It is a non-fic guide to all the rich detail of the Regency period, meticulously researched and extrremely entertaining. Frankly, the mores and behaviors of the "tonne" contain the plot of every drama ever. What a rich resource for Austen fans as well.

4 episodes in on Extraordinary Attorney Woo and I’m completely invested…solid 10 for me so far. If you’re not watching this show you’re missing out on something really special.

I’m still generally enjoying Why Her? but really wish they had either excluded the romance altogether or set it up with a more realistic partner like Yoon Se Pil from SP Partners. I am a huge fan of noona romances but the FL and ML are just incompatible…it makes no sense why she would fall for the ML. Additionally, there is exactly zero chemistry between the leads.

Happy weekend Beanies and keep Beaning On!

I am going mattress shopping tomorrow!🥳 Once upon a time some relatives threw away their double bed with two single mattresses and single me was quick to intercept.😁Unfortunately, I would go asleep on one of the single mattresses and always wake up nestled in between both mattresses. Because, of course, that is where the middle is located.🤭 Good sleep and healthy limbs are important, so I am hunting for a double mattress tomorrow!💪

All 18 episodes of MBC’sTRACER with Siwan and Ko Ah-sung are now available on Kocowa (where it should have been in the first place!).
It is divided into two seasons of eight episodes each. Is there a chance TRACER may also be released now to Viki? Who knows.

I wonder if we can expect the same dance with MBC’s upcoming BIG MOUTH with Lee Jong-suk and Im Yoon-ah which was taken by Disney plus. Will BIG MOUTH eventually be released on Kocowa?