Spill the Beans: Bombed tests and threats at knifepoint
by javabeans
We’ve got another entertaining batch of drama addiction stories for you this week! Turns out, there is no shortage of crazy-absurd stories to share — such is the potency of the crack that is K-drama. If you’ve got a story to beat these, we wanna hear them!
Aw, K-drama Addict’s Daughter, glad to hear your dad’s doing well! See, dramas are healing!
A few years ago, my workaholic dad fell ill and was told, in no uncertain terms, that he had to quit his job because the stress was going to kill him in a year. He opted for early retirement and sank into a depression because he didn’t know what to do other than work. Then, one day, he sat down on the sofa with my mum and watched Boys Over Flowers with her.
I know there’s a lot of love for Boys Over Flowers but I could never sit through an episode without screaming and tearing my hair out. I absolutely hate that drama.
But my dad loved it. My serious, corporate-minded, problem-solving father adored the horrible writing, the over-the-top plot line, the bad acting, everything. He loved it and looked forward to it every week. And for that reason, I forgive Boys Over Flowers everything.
When I moved home to spend time with him, we watched a lot of dramas together. Some were so bad, their names have been erased from my mind. The ones I do remember him enjoying are Baker King Kim Tak-gu, You Are Beautiful, and Lie To Me. He also loved IRIS and Spy Myung-wol, though the latter puzzled him when Myung-wol went missing half-way.
His health is all right now and he has started work again. But every night, he will stop whatever he is doing to switch on the TV and catch up on his K-dramas.
I knew chi-maek was a thing, but would you get sick for it? Here’s TeeGee’s encounter with the phenomenon…
Chicken and Beer was the start of my K-drama obsession. I was in my final months of undergrad and really stressed about graduating, etc. My roommate (who’s Chinese) suggested that we take a break and make some food. We decided to make chicken wings and after while preparing the food, our conversation turned towards a rumor that she had heard back home in China about women being sent to hospital for having too much chicken and beer. This was weirdly fascinating and I asked why (in hindsight this was the beginning of the end).
According to her, it turned out that people had become so obsessed with this Korean drama called You From Another Star and the Chicken-Beer phenomenon that they were basically sustaining themselves on it and ending up in the hospital! We laughed it off because it was a ridiculous urban rumor, but out of curiosity I went and googled the drama just to see what the fuss was about. My roommate at this point already gone down the rabbit hole having “googled” this already. I have to say that she did warn me against this.
One thing led to another and 24 straight hours of binge-watching You From Another Star and puffy eyes later, I was completely addicted to K-dramas. The Heirs and Secret Garden binges followed shortly after and the rest is history. My introduction to K-dramas has been fairly recent and yet it’s all I watch now. I’m now a law student and my roommate is a PhD student and our main source of entertainment and salvation from our mundane lives of constant studying are still K-dramas! Thanks Chicken and Beer!
And how many tests do you think went sacrificed in the name of dramas? Put Israh on that list.
I was a little bit of a late bloomer when it came to watching K-dramas. This happened in 2010…
I used to be obsessed with J-dramas, and would talk about it with everyone I knew, even though I knew no one cared. But, I had this one friend who would always tell me to watch K-dramas. I couldn’t believe that K-dramas could ever be better than J-dramas. But, a few years later, I decided to give it a try. In the winter of 2010, I was studying for my university physics exam, when I decided to take a short break. I thought why not try a K-drama, and decided to watch the first episode of You’re Beautiful. I watched the first episode, and immediately fell in love with Jang Geun-seok! I saw that I still had many hours until my exam, and that it wouldn’t hurt to watch another episode, and so I did. But then, I just kept watching episode after episode until it was 5:30am!
It was time for me to go write my exam, and I actually went! When I was given my exam paper, I looked at it, and my brain went totally blank! I put my head down on the desk until the exam was over, and handed in an empty exam aper. Of course, the end game was that I totally flunked the exam, and had to take the course all over again.
We can add Edelyne too, who warns us all, “Don’t try this.”
I’m a newbie when it comes to dramas and because of where I live, Ghana, I don’t really get to watch dramas because its not yet a thing here yet so I just want to say thanks to the Dramabeans team because I really count on your recaps.
Anyway, one time I had my French midterm exams and I hadn’t learnt a thing but I also had just bought Heirs, and I really wanted to watch. So I said I would watch just 2 episodes and then learn something. I ended up watching 15 episodes of the drama and sleeping at 4:30 am. I had to wake up an hour later to prepare for school, and this is where the crazy starts.
Because I hadn’t learnt anything I just had Korean words in my mind and the French words had all disappeared! I ended up writing a French-Korean essay for my exams and I had red marks all over my sheet. Of course I failed my exams, but because my sister joined me in watching I had a new addict in the family, so it was a win-win right? ?
I’m sure there are a lot of you who can relate to Premellusion’s attempts to watch dramas in the face of disapproving parents and school obligations.
During the start of my freshman year in high school it was very gloomy as I was a bit anti-social and found it hard to make friends. When we had breaks in gym I would be the one cooped up in a corner on my phone or sleeping. Well that was until I found the light. Well, my sister found it and she swore that I would get addicted to it soon but I was like, nope. In the end I was always wrong.
It was on a Monday, and I was bored at home. I had just finished my homework and studying and don’t know what to do until my most amazing idea to date came into my head: maybe I would just take a little peek at K-dramas that I swore I wouldn’t like. My first start was Bachelor’s Vegetable Store. Sure it was okay but it was way better than tons of other American shows so I continued. Soon I got addicted and it was not just because of Ji-Chang-wook’s face… okay… maybe.
My obsession was reaching a new height, soon my grades and sleep started going from As to Ds, and 8 hours to 4 hours. My mom started banning me from watching K-dramas for the supposed consideration of my “health” but that never stopped me. I would sneak out of my room in the middle of the night, steal my iPad, and sneak down to the only place I knew where they wouldn’t go, the attic. Sure there were cobwebs and dust but there were also K-dramas.
I got so obsessed with this one drama that I decided I had to order a DVD cut, but how to sneak it in? My mom didn’t know I still watch them cause I swore I would I quit so I came up with a plan. My mom usually woke up really early but our postman was earlier so I grabbed a coat and a flashlight and snuck out waiting a few hours in the dark for the mailman to come. He probably thought I was loco standing there I almost gave him a heart attack but by that time I was just desperate for a CD so I almost started begging until he gave it to me. It was worth it even though I was sleepwalking like a zombie in the morning.
Glad to know friendship (particularly of the drama-induced variety!) reigns supreme, as Kryzer discovered.
This was a couple of years ago and a friend of mine (now ex-girlfriend, still friends) of 2 years and I were just becoming close. She’d mentioned K-dramas a couple of times but I’d always just waved them off as not my kind of thing. Anyhow, I liked where the relationship was going and when she suggested we watch a K-drama together, I agreed. It was more time with her and in my mind they couldn’t be that bad, right?
She started us off with King 2 Hearts. We watched one episode a night for 3 nights. The fourth night, she was busy with work so we couldn’t hang out. The fifth night, she wanted to watch Ep. 4… except I had already seen it. And the 15 episodes that followed it. What had started as I’ll-just-watch-ep-4-so-she-doesn’t-have-to-rewatch-all-the-episodes turned into my first true all-nighter in university.
In the 3 weeks that followed, I saw Tree With Deep Roots, Jewel in the Palace (Dae Jang Geum), and City Hunter (which is still my favorite drama ever). I also dropped a university course and nearly failed a bird course. Two years later, I’ve graduated and am a full functioning adult — with the exception being when misinformed people try to sacrifice themselves to vampires but what can you do about that, right? I’ve also seen 155 more dramas since then (yes, I actually have a list). And now my ex-girlfriend and I are those weird friends who dated but are still weirdly close so people don’t really know what to do with us. But that’s okay, I’m pretty sure we’ll forever be K-drama friends.
Amazing how for Sandrine, K-dramas were instrumental in learning, of all things, English. Who would’ve guessed?
Ah my encounter with K-dramas will forever be a history in the making. My family and I moved to the United States in 2008 where I knew not one bit of English. I lived in Europe but nonetheless the only thing I learned to say was “fish and chips.”
Anyways, we lived at my aunt’s for the first year and she had really crappy TV. All I would watch would be Jerry Springer, Mowry, and Gossip Girl. Which was really hard to understand and also I hated the fact that the captions were oh so late. Nothing made sense and especially the fact that I was watching really nasty shows.
One day my father wanted to go get some DVDs at the local library. And my Asian father loovesss Hong Kong movies so we went to the Asian section. I was getting on my dad’s nerves telling him how I wanted to read French comic books and that I could go on my own. He yelled at me to pick something here and to be content with it. And so guess what I picked? It was the full series of My Girl with Lee Dong-wook and Lee Da-hae.
I came home and started watching it and was so amazed at how much freaking English I’m learning instead of stupid CW that I was stuck with. I learned the word “rascal” and “commoner,” ironic no? So basically, I learned English through Korean dramas because I was so sick of reading English books that made no sense, TV that I couldn’t understand and was too nasty for my liking (mind me I was in middle school).
I started becoming obsessed. Extremely. Everyday after school I would run home and go through the DVD discs like crazy. The tears that I shed after finishing the series was unbelievable. The withdrawals were really bad and painful. I know this is like really bad but I had white friends and since I am Asian, I would tell them my middle name was “Yoo-rin” LOL, Lee Da-hae’s character name. Ah so embarrassing. One of her lines was that she never knew when her birthday was but whenever it would snow she considered it to be her birthday. And I lived in fucking California where it does not snow. I kept telling my friends that when it snows it makes me feel like my birthday. (Which really isn’t a lie because I was born in October and I lived in France where it does snow but whatever.)
And yes. That is how I started becoming addicted to K-dramas and especially Lee Jun-ki, Lee Dong-wook and the Hong sisters. They will forever be in my heart because thanks to them, I am literate. My addiction of K-dramas lives on and I will forever thank my dad who yelled at me for not wanting to learn English and now I know Korean and English.
GUESS WHOSE MINOR IN UNIVERSITY IS LINGUISTICS??? This girl.
No worries, vkj3, “research” is important. “Research” should always be a part of a student’s life. We fully endorse “research.”
Long time reader, first time commenting — this is probably a fairly standard story but it’s my first time admitting it in full, so here goes! I first came across K-anything 10 months ago after doing a case study on Hallyu and soft power in grad school and got so hooked on SuJu (my gateway drug to K-pop) that I ended up proposing thesis research around Running Man and Infinity Challenge. And started reading many blogs and watch many other variety shows all in the name of research, of course.
Anyhow, there were so many references to popular dramas (Boys Over Flowers/Winter Sonata/You From Another Star/etc.) and I promised myself I would never, ever watch any of them since they were guaranteed to be beyond cheesy and I wasn’t one of those K-fans… until Producers. I liked the concept and the four leads from their variety appearances and while I didn’t end up loving the show, I did fall in love with Gong Hyo-jin. So naturally I had to watch everything she was ever in, aka I fell deeeep into the K-drama hole. It’s Okay, It’s Love (still one of my favorites) and Pasta before hopping on the Jo In-sung train (That Winter, the Wind Blows).
I finally caved and watched Boys Over Flowers and Heirs to find out what the fuss was about, though I couldn’t get through either of them. And I still can’t bring myself to watch Winter Sonata or its ilk. I also can’t seem to get into sageuks, I’ve tried Sungkyunkwan Scandal and a few others but they just don’t stick. Oh, and along the way I’ve picked up enough Korean to use at the local H-mart, hah! I just finished Oh My Ghostess and am all into Jo Jung-seok so now I’m off to watch King 2 Hearts, and then I will finally start on the Answer Me series — all for “research” of course!
Ah, drivebyknitting joins the many ranks of drama fans sucked in by the magical draw of Coffee Prince…
Three years ago, I received a promotion and moved to a new department and an new office building. My coworkers were great and two kept singing the praises of a Roku. Both enjoyed the free channels. One liked the free movies available and the other liked all the anime available.
After a short time, I decided I had to have one. I was going to watch ALL THE ANIME! One of the channels I added was CrunchyRoll which has a mix of anime, movies, and dramas. I was already a fan of Asian cinema, but mostly horror and Park Chan-wook films.
The dramas seemed interesting so I was browsing through and laughing at the titles and ridiculous synopses. I did something while I wasn’t paying attention and hit “OK” enough times for something to start playing. I didn’t know what I’d hit or what show I was about to watch.
A delivery boy on a moped came on the screen. He was riding around and delivered food to a women’s bath house. The women were freaking out and I was laughing. Then he tells them he’s a girl! What the hell am I watching?? I paused the show and checked the title — Coffee Prince. I searched for the title and when I read the plot about a rich guy thinking the girl was a guy and hiring “him” to be his fake lover, I had to give it a chance.
Suddenly there’s a gorgeous guy walking around in a towel and I decided at that moment, this was the best show ever. The hour passed quickly and right away I started episode 2. In no time, I was hooked on this show. I laughed with the characters and cried with them.
Eun-chan resonated with me as I had always been treated like one of the buys even though I didn’t look like one. I felt Han-gyul’s struggle and didn’t hate him even when he was purposely hurtful. I lived and breathed Coffee Prince while I watched. I would wonder about the next episode or reflect on the events of the last one as I worked.
Soon it was over. I had a whole in my heart and I needed another drama to replace it. I searched for show recommendations and tried different ones. I was a complete addict.
Rebecca is another Coffee Prince convert:
About four or five months ago, I started watching K-dramas after stumbling upon a YouTube video about the genre. I started with Coffee Prince and quickly fell in love with these shows and fell into what some might consider an addition/obsession (thanks, Dad). I marathoned the entire series in one night and ended up not going to bed at all since, by the time I’d finished the series, my husband was getting up for the day. While this might not be a big deal for some, I have never, ever, not even when I was a teenager stayed up all night and not gone to bed (because sleeping is the best). But I rode the K-drama high all day and didn’t feel tired at all. I think that’s when my husband started to get worried about my watching the shows. He became even more concerned about me when I told him about The Spreadsheet a few weeks later.
I am a project manager at a very well-known and respected university. I use the top-notch skills I’ve learned on the job and through various educational courses paid for by my employer to effectively project manage my K-drama watching/hobby/addiction. If I find a drama that sounds interesting to watch (let’s be honest that’s basically each one I find), into the spreadsheet it goes! Complete with ratings, viewing order, links to actor pages, status, and comments. As I watch the dramas, they are moved to different stages of the work plan, and I keep track of the ones I really, really liked. I do my best to have useful, grown-up type comments, even if the main reason I loved a show was because the actor made me swoon.
Some days I’ll look at my spreadsheet and wonder if I’m crazy. Then I go to Dramabeans (as I do most days), find out there are four new amazing shows in the works, enter them into my spreadsheet, and realize that I’m not crazy… I’m a genius. How else would I stay on top of things! If project management has taught me anything, it’s that the only way to be successful with your work (aka watching all the dramas) is to have a plan.
Also to be successful, you have to do some heavy lifting and research on your subject matter to ensure that you have the right resources to complete your project. Sometimes this requires hours of internet searching about actors (daily… possibly when I’m technically working) and fan-made video watching to make sure that Yoo Ah-in really does need to be on the “Favorite Actor” spreadsheet. FYI: duh, of course he does — but I might need to watch that one fan-made video of him and Song Joong-ki from Sungkyunkwan Scandal again to be sure.
And chanelboy has perhaps one of our most dramatic drama stories! It’s like something out of a drama itself.
I planned to write mine since 1st announcement, but was busy watching Hwajung and Kill Me, Heal Me, so. yeah. Haha.
Way back wednesday, I always fan of Taiwan/Japan/a bit Korean dramas. But never crazy. I watched one show and liked it around 3-6 months. In a year I only watched 2-3 dramas at max.
It was fated in 2011. My life was only spinning in fashion and art, but K-dramas ruined them all lol. I majored in art design. During that time my fashion show and art showcase was coming, and I was so stressed to deal with it, I threw myself home at watch Mary Stayed Out All Night. It was a bliss. I finished my project neatly, but it started from there.
After joining designing team in the working field, I slept at max 24 hours in A WEEK juggling myself to work and dramas. City Hunter, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, and dramas I can’t recall made me a zombie. I can be missing in a week, don’t feel like picking up my boyfriend’s call just because he will ask to meet up and cut my time for dramas (since I don’t have much time due my fashion project all time).
I recall last year when back in my hometown in December, there was this TV sales man who gave me a dramas-downloader-whisperer-man’s address. He said this guy got ton-load of K-dramas. I was desperado, decided to give a try. My boyfriend tagged along since the man’s place is in the hood area.
The drama-whisperer was true, he copied a lot dramas in my hard disk. But when we want to pay, he threaten us with pocket knife, asked for money. Turns out the whisperer is just a setup con. My boyfriend and I didn’t bring wallet that’s for sure (we only brought enough notes to pay), but he won’t let us go empty handed.
In this scariest moment, I look down and see I wear my H*rmes’s H-sandals. I can’t comprehend whether this guy think this is a joke or mock, I said outloud “TAKE MY H*RMES SANDALS” it’s worth more since this shade is limited! I can feel my heart racing so fast. In that moment of shock between the 3 of us, me and my boyfriend ran for our life out from that place try to reach our car, leaving my poor comfy fancy expensive sandals there, staring at the bitch con whisperer who still can’t understand what’s just happened.Until today, neither my boyfriend or I can’t believe what I’ve sacrificed for dramas. (We reported to police but somehow he left and nothing can bring back my sandals.)
If we go for DVD hunting, he will jokingly put the DVD in my designer bags without the plastic bag, hence he said: You won’t mind making your bag shapeless for dramas right? You even throw your sandals for them!
But the most blissful thing I still can be thankful about the drama-whisperer is, he did copy lots dramas and I managed to save my hard disk that day. Those dramas are still in my hard disk, so much memory. lol. On them is Gentlemen’s Dignity and Healer Ep 1.
Thanks to everyone who sent in stories! To submit, email us your stories, and we’ll keep sharing them as long as you guys keep sending them in.
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Tags: Spill the Beans
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1 stringofpurls
September 29, 2015 at 12:33 PM
Eek! My story was featured! Yay!
I don't regret a moment of becoming a drama fan even though everyone I know thinks they are so weird.
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Chanelboy loves Jang Ki Young Argh
September 29, 2015 at 9:08 PM
Me either! I was surprised it gets featured. Thanks JB!
We never tell anyone about this accident besides the polices (our friends n family will blame me for sure) and beanies should keep our secret =)
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nomad
September 30, 2015 at 4:17 PM
of course we will...it's a secret pact for fellow addicts :P
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2 mary
September 29, 2015 at 12:43 PM
Sandrine's story is awesome. :) drivebyknitting had me cackling starting at the "moped, bathhouse" part. And chanelboy's I imagined set in Bad Guys universe. Hahaha
My work sunbae has an action-packed story about hidden DVD stores, a police raid, and being led out a secret exit by the shopkeepers. But she swears she'll never break her lurker status at dramabeans. So her story remains unsent. :(((
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nomad
September 30, 2015 at 4:18 PM
Can't you tell the story for her? I wanna knowwwww
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3 Arhazivory
September 29, 2015 at 1:30 PM
Those stories...wow. I really feel like a casual watcher. lol.
I'm glad the last one ended safely. Now it's the era of downloading so no need to find a shady guy to get dramas from.
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growingbeautifully
September 29, 2015 at 4:30 PM
Ditto ditto! LOL. I thought I was bad but now I think I'm just a casual watcher too!! :D
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mindy
September 29, 2015 at 5:06 PM
Right?? I never really watch more than a few episodes at a time, even if I really like a drama! And none have caused me to fail exams or anything like that, haha. I've definitely never pulled an all-nighter just to watch a drama!
I feel left out, to be honest!
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pancchi
September 29, 2015 at 7:29 PM
Exactly!! Now i am tempted to Sacrifice something lol.
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nomad
September 30, 2015 at 4:19 PM
puahahaha! I thought everyone became zombies the first few months of their addiction, no? I thought it was one of the "symptoms" :D
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robin
October 2, 2015 at 4:48 PM
yep i certainly went through it
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4 Lilliputt
September 29, 2015 at 1:56 PM
I would love to see that spreadsheet!
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bbstl 🧹
September 29, 2015 at 6:04 PM
Attn:Rebecca!
I think there is an opportunity for you here! We NEED you to make your spreadsheet into an app, please! You will have many supporters for future subscribers and for crowdsourcing development ?! please do eet.
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Rachel
September 29, 2015 at 7:53 PM
Yes Rebecca, I love your story so much! Putting those hard-earned Excel skills to very good use!
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robin
October 2, 2015 at 4:54 PM
i second third fourth and fifth this. do share the spreadsheet if you don't mind Rebecca... it would be an invaluable reference!
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5 Rossi
September 29, 2015 at 2:50 PM
Yesssss! To that spreadsheet request!
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stringofpurls
September 29, 2015 at 6:20 PM
Have you tried MyDramaList.com? That's where I track my dramas.
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Rachel
September 29, 2015 at 7:57 PM
I use that but MyDramaList is a pretty rudimentary tool. With my basic Excel knowledge I'm sure that spreadsheet is much more powerful and probably allows you to churn out some interesting and disturbing statistics about your K-drama watching habits.
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stringofpurls
September 30, 2015 at 3:17 AM
Great point! They need an export function to export to excel. Then calculations, pivot tables, and other analysis can be done. Can you tell that I'm a data nerd??
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6 Sanchita Suman
September 29, 2015 at 3:04 PM
Isn't this amazing that everyone out here has a story to tell?!
I have got mine too but have seen others writing the same stuff so many times that it mind sound cliché Ha!!
I actually took high speed broadband at home to satiate my kdrama hunger pangs!!
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7 kanz
September 29, 2015 at 4:20 PM
Premellusion and I are alike!
We got to know Ji Chang Wook thanks to Bachelor's Vegetable Store.. *high five*
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8 TJ
September 29, 2015 at 4:45 PM
My story would make for better rom-com than makjang. I just used kdrama to drop out of American politics for awhile. It was killing me by raising my blood pressure, seriously. I worked for a union for a decade and the struggle is real. Kdrama needs to be good this year because the US is in an election cycle and I need somewhere to escape occasionally. It's my placebo in place of blood pressure meds.
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9 DBChen
September 29, 2015 at 5:05 PM
Yes, Gong Yoo is the most handsome man.
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stringofpurls
September 29, 2015 at 5:11 PM
Oh he had me swooning so hard.
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10 Melbeanie
September 29, 2015 at 5:15 PM
Wow, salute to the one with the spreadsheet, LOL!!! I wish I was that organised!
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11 earthna
September 29, 2015 at 5:46 PM
Now, how much for the spreadsheet...
@K-drama Addict’s Daughter, yay! Glad that your dad's better now^^
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12 cindersarah
September 29, 2015 at 5:47 PM
Just some things that need to be added/fixed to Kryzer's story (ex-girlfriend, fellow K-drama addict creator here - let me add, wha ha ha).
What he didn't know at the time, is that he's not the first K-dramas addict I have helped create. He wasn't Frankenstein's monster that was created on one fateful storm evening, oh no, I've done this before. There is always a full on strategy and an evil, mad scientist grin that occurs whenever I feel someone is on the cusp of transforming into one of us.
For example, if I remember correctly, the one episode a night was intentional. I knew at this point that he was a fellow marathoner like myself (we had already marathoned Firefly by this point in our dating relationship), so I knew that part I didn't have to do anything about. It was about the intrigue, the wanting to continue, the WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. Ahem.
So I picked a show I had already seen, one I knew was good, and that was good on suspense, and one I thought he'd enjoy. King 2 Hearts (not to mention one of the few shows that has a white foreigner in it that does good acting in it, and has good English too). And then purposefully only did one episode a night. One. Episode. A. Night. Even with having already seen the show the pace nearly killed me. But, I didn't want to overshoot how much he can take in one sitting. So I did one episode a night, and waited. I knew from experience that it takes about three episodes to get into a K-drama (even for an experienced addict like myself). And I was right. My cruel tactic worked, he was hooked.
One other thing he failed to mention, is that he became full on addict around the time of Jewel of the Palace... he bought premium for the site we were watching on... just so that he didn't have to sit through the commercials, he needed to find out what happened to the main villain (something I was being cruel yet again about and not sharing any spoilers). So I got to cash in on the premium as well, the shameless K-drama addict that I am. After we stopped dating, I ended up getting my own premium.
Also one last add on/edit: He actually watched IRIS before City Hunter.
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bbstl 🧹
September 29, 2015 at 6:15 PM
This is so fun to get the other side of the story! Is this the first time Kryzer is hearing the whole truth? LOLOL you are one smooth operator?
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cindersarah
September 29, 2015 at 6:28 PM
Ha, no, when I saw this post I recognized that it was him so we started talking about it.. he was the one who thought I should make some amendments to his story (he was the one who recalled that he watched IRIS before City Hunter... he mentioned that in an attempt to convince me it actually wasn't him who wrote it. :P). He thinks I need to write a book about how to get other people addicted to K-dramas, since I'm a lot better at it than he is.
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Arhazivory
September 29, 2015 at 6:43 PM
lol. You did well girl~
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missjanalt
September 30, 2015 at 5:50 PM
I'm almost afraid to admit it, but I've created a monster! After all, it was becauose of my recommendation that cindersarah started to watch Hana Yori Dango, the show that started it all. I was only just beginning to appreciate the uniqueness of Asian Dramas when I introduced one of my favourite sleepover buddies to this new thing I'd discovered. It never occurred to me that I might be opening the door to all kinds of craziness... all I wanted was to share my excitement about this new world I'd stumbled upon. Even though we may not be in contact for months at a time, one of the first things we ask each other when we get a chance to get together is, "What are you watching these days?" ^_^
kryzer
September 29, 2015 at 6:42 PM
Haha, this is definitely the first time I'm seeing it all articulated like this (like the fact that the one drama a night was on purpose) but I did find out a while back that I was one of her many converts. Also props to cindersarah for holding out on spoilers for 54 FREAKING HOURS through Jewel in the Palace. I hate you so much. But then K-dramas, so you're forgiven :P
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merry
September 30, 2015 at 12:43 AM
hah, you kryzer and cindersarah are good exs. all the dramawatching must be contributing to this. there's always a drama line you can pick to make a good ride of the bumps in life.
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dramamad
September 29, 2015 at 9:54 PM
so great! My mum did something similar with my brother when she was at her wits end because he refused to read (which is a big deal in our family of readers) and insisted on video games the entire time. She forced him to sit for 15-20 min every night and started reading the first harry potter to him. Then the min they got to diagon alley she shut the book with a mean look in her eye and said, if you want to find out the rest, read it for yourself.
As a result, my brother in his whole life has read only 7 books i.e the harry potter series!!
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cindersarah
September 30, 2015 at 7:29 AM
Ha, that's a great way to get people interested in reading! But of course, you have to make sure there are two copies of the book - or at least when they're not reading they put it somewhere that the original reader can finish reading it themselves!
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Rachel
September 30, 2015 at 5:01 AM
So cool to see this exchange happening on this thread! Glad to hear you guys are friendly.
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fab
September 30, 2015 at 6:10 AM
Wow that story got so much richer! You're amazing and a true pro addict, please teach me your ways. :D
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cindersarah
September 30, 2015 at 7:35 AM
Ha, no, not a true pro... I've just got an addictive personality and know how things get me hooked.
But I guess rule #1 would be - don't let your prey know that k-dramas are addicting... make it seem like a take-it-or-leave-it scenario... if they don't know it takes over their lives and leaves very little time for sleep and a social life - they'll be more likely to want to have that first "oh hell, why not" taste.
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13 Gisaengstyle
September 29, 2015 at 5:58 PM
Add me to the list of those who want to see that spreadsheet!
It's comforting to know there are a lot of other drama crazy people out there… :-)
My boss thinks I'm insane watching things with subtitles (not during working hours--I'm on my feet all day and it's not possible! :-) ), but like for TJ, it's a wonderful relief from real world insanity (I lived in Washington, DC, for 10 years, and boy, was I glad to escape into kdramaland for the first time--via BOF--three years ago).
I LOVE Dramabeans, having (shockingly) only just discovered it in the last month...and yet, I've become as guilty of binge reading synopses (such good writing) as I have been of binge watching, so I feel like an old hand at this point!
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nomad
September 30, 2015 at 4:25 PM
I think my laptop currently only has two functions: go to a drama watching site, and to check on drama beans....
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14 dramaqueenb
September 29, 2015 at 6:48 PM
I have a funny story that also featured Boys Over Flowers.
I was on my honeymoon in Cayo Coco, Cuba last year with my husband. We befriended our bartender and he took us out around town and had us over for dinner.
We communicated with him in broken English as he gave us a tour of his hospitable city. After a long day we went to his house for dinner. His wife spoke zero English but seeing as how I was the first Asian she's ever met she got really excited and started gesturing at the computer.
She turns it on to and I am met with BOF wall paper and she opens this secret folder full of pictures of, you guessed it, BOF. I asked her husband how they got this seeing as how they had no internet and he said that they smuggled it in from a relative! It was her prized possession and she had watched it many times over!
So, after dinner, while the men watched their soccer game, we huddled in front of her tiny computer and rewatched BOF. We bonded over a show neither of us understood in a different language and gushed at all the handsome. We giggled and laughed the whole night much to our husbands annoyance. Haha!!
I still send her pictures of all the cast to this day.
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mary
September 30, 2015 at 4:34 AM
Awwwww :))))
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fab
September 30, 2015 at 6:29 AM
So sweet. Gah I feel so bad that she doesn't have access to the internet! Heartbreaking.
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15 mox
September 29, 2015 at 7:09 PM
Adding in my chime for that spreadsheet!
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16 pancchi
September 29, 2015 at 7:33 PM
All the stories posted here are Ji chang-wook-smile cute.. So heart-warming
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17 azkaa
September 29, 2015 at 7:45 PM
Here i thought i am quite an addict but reading this story shows me i'm actually casual haha. Enjoy all of the stories^^
@K-drama Addict Daughter's Glad ur father is okay now :)
Weird thing, my father too is a fan of Boys Before Flower while i never manage to watch more than 2 eps. He bought the dvd himself, what a surprise when i got home. Even until today he still remembers its line and inserts it in our daily conversation whenever possible. What kind of sorcery is it? :p
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18 dramamad
September 29, 2015 at 9:49 PM
i really want to get my hands on rebecca's spreadsheet!!!
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19 jat
September 30, 2015 at 1:59 AM
glad to know that there are many crazy drama fans out there coz my brothers never understand why I do drama marathon.
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20 Flin
September 30, 2015 at 8:16 AM
@Rebecca,
Spreadsheet pleaaaaassseee..?????
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21 mashimomo
September 30, 2015 at 5:29 PM
I thought staying up all night was bad enough, but these stories are almost drama-worthy plots in itself! I would say that would be the most fanatic thing that I did for kdrama.
Well, I guess a good but non exciting story for me was going to Seoul for a quick 4-day layover before we went back to the US. I was barely introduced to kdramas back then around 3 years ago but obsessed with MNIKSS and Coffee Prince. Not knowing where to go, and not admitting to my husband that I'm slowly getting addicted to kdramas at the time, decided to check out places that I knew solely from watching these 2 dramas: Namsan Tower, Gyeongbokgung palace and COEX aquarium. ALMOST went to the Coffee Prince shop in Hongdae dragging my then 2-year old and husband, but it rained on our last full day in Seoul so decided to stay in our hotel in Myeongdong. Now my husband watches some kdramas with me, and perhaps we can plan things better when we decide to go back and visit!
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22 Rosalia N. Thantaviriya
February 19, 2016 at 2:17 AM
I can't help but smile to the stories on how one can get addicted to k-dramas.
I admit I was a skeptic before when I saw my cousins watching Jewel In The Palace dubbed in our native language, Filipino. Since it was aired at 10:30 pm, I could not understand why they had to stay late just to watch the episodes. Until one day, when I had nothing to do, I decided to buy a DVD copy of Winter Sonata. I immediately fell in love with Bae Yong Joon; cried my heart out to all the makjang scenes; and ended up watching the drama almost non-stop.
Till then, I have compiled quite a collection of DVDs (more than 200 at the latest count). To this day, Winter Sonata is still my favorite, You From Another Star a close second, and the rest, my way of de-stressing from my job.
I consider myself more than a k-drama addict compared
to my cousins who have outgrown BOF, and have moved on to COCs.
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