On recent YouTube talk show, Actress Oh Nara talked about the career gap between what she wants to do and what people want to see:

“There are things viewers want. No matter how much I want to be in a romance or take a character with a sad background, if no one wants it, they won’t watch it. Our job is over if no one is interested. Since we need to get attention, I think I will eventually get a chance if I continue working hard doing things that viewers want to see.”

Many actors are trapped in this paradox. In order to expand the public’s perception of themselves, they need to get the attention of the public, often branching out to do variety shows, plays, music, YouTube channels or social media activities.

In a MDL article, when asked if she feels pressured about receiving attention like her latest movie character, Shin Hye Sun replied, "It's burdensome to get attention, but I'm also upset when I don't get it (laughs). Of course, it's good to receive a lot of attention considering my profession, but in other aspects, it's a bit burdensome." Despite that, the actress said she feels like she is blending in well. "At first, showing myself [to people] was the most difficult thing. While appearing on variety shows for promotional purposes, I've definitely gotten used to it a lot more than before, and I'm not as nervous as I used to be." 

Regarding whether she actively engages on social media to gain good attention as an actress, she said, "I do try hard, but I don't enjoy it. I don't see it as my duty to show [people] this [or that], but rather, I post with gratitude because there are fans who like it when I do."

Shin Hye Sun, who is known to be a homebody, commented on this aspect of her personality: "Sometimes I feel embarrassed by this side of myself. I'm not young anymore, but I still feel like I'm living life without much enthusiasm. It seems like I'm just living a simple life without doing much, so nowadays, I'm trying to live more energetically by exercising more."

we are in the Eurovision Song Contest finals, yippiii!

everyone vote nr 9 & dance the veisson on saturday

I was watching old episodes of Running Man and I came across an episode that aired in 2019. I was kinda surprised to come across it because HALF the guests ended up in scandals like 2 months later! I wasn't even sure about the year until it was mentioned the guy was going to do his military service and I thought "didn't he do his military service to evade his legal issues?"

Any guesses on who I'm talking about?

Answer: Seungri (of Big Bang & The Burning Sun scandal)

I was confused and surprised to see him because I thought even murmurs of allegations of what he could've possibly been involved with would've gotten him cancelled. I don't know the timeline of events, as I said I thought he enlisted because of his legal issues (even if the plan was to go that year, I thought he went even earlier or something. Again, I don't know the timeline or specifics). Anyhoo, I think there might've been the slightest weirdness because Seungri mentioned the members didn't cheer as much for him as the previous guy when he was introduced. I could be wrong. I actually don't even remember much about him on the episode.

Same with the other 2 guests who would end up in scandals *MONTHS* later. I again don't know the timeline but I vaguely recognized the names from a Youtube video about the scandal. The issue was one girl group member accused the leader of the girl group of bullying her. Netizens sided with her and the accused bully got massive backlash and hate to the point that she retired from industry. Until it was discovered that maybe the accuser was lying or exaggerating and continued to do weird things that lost her public support as well instability with agencies.

What surprised me was that BOTH of these people, accuser and accused, were on the same episode!

Any guesses who?
Answer: Mina and Jimin of AOA

I know the episode was probably filmed November or December but I just found that crazy timing; the fact that all 3 were on the same episode and then only a couple of months later they would all be embroiled in career ruining scandals.
I'm also kinda surprised that episode was still available for the same reason. There has been times when I looked for a RM episode and it wasn't available.

Bully logic is just so bizarre to me sometimes

Like in 18 Again, the guy bullies his crush's twin brother. Why would you bully your crush's twin brother? How does that make sense to you? Is that some weird version of pulling pigtails?
Honestly, I'm not sure about the timeline, whether he was crushing on her at the same time he was bullying the brother, but still, how do you even have the audacity to like someone AND publicly confess to them after you've bullied their brother?

More bully logic that annoys me: the obsessed bullies. Honestly, one of the things I hated the most to the point of disgust in The Glory and All of Us are Dead was the bullies' obsession with ruining their victims lives. Like it's not enough to harass them at school, you have to show up at their home? It's not enough that a freaking zombie apocalypse is happening, you have to hunt the guy who bested you (after you wronged him first) until you both die together (possibly. Fairly certain they both died. I don't remember the ending haha).

It's truly something that more people who are bullied don't snap especially in dramas where that could be like vicarious revenge or something.

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!!
JOY OF LIFE 2 is now on Viki US’s “Coming Soon” list. Episode 1 (of 36) airs May 16. I hope it is available on Viki in your area.
@bebeswtz, @zindigo, @kiara, @koalatown,

Happy Friday, Beanies! Few days ago me and @kiara had a convo about LYN's English thanks to him flexing quite a bit of that in his newest OST, so I decided it would be a good weekly theme. Not gonna rate his skills myself – I'm not a native speaker and my own pronunciation still sucks because I read and write a lot, but hardly talk... you get it. Anyways, cut the boy some slack, he's doing his best – when not pretending to be really bad with a purpose to look cute lol. Does that even work btw? At our age?! *highly skeptical*

This is the OST in question for currently airing MEN IN LOVE – no idea if the show itself is any good, but song is beautiful! MV (probably spoilery):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rLRaiJFPeA

And lyrics with subs – bless the translator, she is madly productive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z47Ci8eg0UM

Next is covers galore. Gotta say his choices of tracks to sing is a bit... cheesy interesting, to say the least. He's not all that into western metal, isn't he? Or maybe just lacks proper exposure to it. I can give him a few lectures if needed, tutoring fee negotiable... Anyways, what he IS into is saccharine boysbands stuff – darling, your age shows, stop exposing our generation pls lmao!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLBLCi-NcbM

Do you think I'm joking? Not at all. Anyway, it's curious that he chose this track out of all their repertoire... or maybe I shouldn't be surprised, this is really his style lyrics-wise.
https://youtu.be/LJnCx30VLts?si=oowg80FS0hclmZkN

He's not averse to more classical stuff either, tho not without some remixing – was it Chinese version in the middle? And duo one? Or he added a completely different song for fun? *blinks in confusion*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bODsMIci2fg

Or even more classical stuff – gotta admit, this I wasn't expecting in the slightest, esp that KO with “darling, kiss me” - rude, sir, very rude! Comment section is a riot - all the Hao Du comments)))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUdShunMvX8

NOTES FROM 9TAILEDVIXEN'S 1ST WEEK BACK FROM HER TRAVELS:

1. Bits and Bobs

My twisted ankle is still a bit sore and I'm still limping. So I'm adopting a 'wait and see' approach to when I can go back to Aerial Yoga because I've noticed that every time I absolutely have to walk for a while on it (e.g. doing grocery shopping, running errands etc), it gets worse.

Jetlag's easing more slowly than expected but at least every day I'm waking up about 30 minutes earlier than the day before. This is what happens when one hasn't travelled long-haul across more than 2 times zones for years.

2. Hidden J-Drama Gem

I have just finished GANNIBAL on Disney+ and it is a most excellent J-Drama Horror mini-series revolving around a family of cannibals. It came out a couple of years ago and last year season 2 has been green-lit. Hopefully it'll be out soon since season 1 ended on a very abrupt cliffhanger.

3. This Week in Korean Women's News

(a) Korean women are fascinated by Min Hee Jin's battle against K-pop patriarchy

Min's clash with Hybe management over financial and creative control of a sub-label last week caused the music company to lose nearly $800 million in market capitalization. Young Korean women were also inspired by her criticism of her male superiors, knowing that in Korea, women make up only 6% of senior executives in the country's 100 largest companies.

Youn Hye-shin, 31, who works in the education sector in Seoul, told the Financial Times: “ What Min is going through is what many of us experience every day in our hierarchical, male-dominated corporate culture. She says out loud what we dream of saying."

https://altselection.com/en/korean-women-are-fascinated-by-min-hee-jin%27s-battle-against-k-pop-patriarchy/

(b) 20 major S. Korean conglomerates have no female inside directors

A recent report showed that women account for only 3.2 percent of all inside directors at the biggest companies in South Korea.

Reports have indicated that despite numerous attempts to have diversity in the leading roles in the business sector in South Korea, female higher-ups in companies are still exceedingly rare.

https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20240508050458

Does anyone else play "Six Degrees of Wikipedia" with K-dramas? Such as, if you're on one drama's Wikipedia page and want to get to another drama's Wikipedia page, so you click through the actors' and dramas' links to get there?

For example, if I'm on Queen of Tears and want to get to Lovely Runner: I click Moon Seong-hyun who played teen Baek Hyun-woo, then Shooting Stars where he played teen Gong Tae-sung, then Kim Young-dae - Extraordinary You - Kim Hye-yoon - Lovely Runner

Another example, Frankly Speaking to The Atypical Family: click Kang Han-na - My Roommate Is a Gumiho - Jang Ki-yong - The Atypical Family

The goal is not to get there within six clicks. There are no winners or losers. I just do it because I'm too lazy to type the title or it's too long (Chief Detective 1958) or too common (Hide).

There are multiple ways to get there (Frankly Speaking - Go Kyung-pyo - Reply 1988 - Lee Hye-ri - My Roommate Is a Gumiho - Jang Ki-yong - The Atypical Family), and the character actors or senior actors who are in every drama would find it faster, but it tests my memory on which actors have been in which dramas.

HI OT peeps! I'm just here to sing the accolades of Lovely Runner. You know how sometimes you KNOW something will be good from the very first episode of a kdrama? I had that with Goblin, and I had that with Lovely Runner. Because of this, it's catapulted itself into my top 5 dramas. I don't really care how it ends. It has exceeded every expectation I had. I'm all about time slip coming of age dramas and this one is the best I've seen. If you're not watching it, do. And if you haven't seen the crazy amazing chemistry (even behind the scenes) of the main leads, do yourself a favor and watch them. Apparently, the last scene of the last episode (the 3rd or 4th confession scene-- Sunjae keeps confessing his feelings that he's a pro now!) that has about a million gifs online (and that's not even an exaggeration). Byeon woo-seok opened a WEVERSE community and within couple hours had over 200K subscribers in it. And he started the show with about 2M followers on social media and now has 7M. I don't know any other actor that has amassed so many new fans in such a short amount of time in the span of 1 show. It must be a record of some sort.

A real life kdrama text conversation...
Background: I've been wallowing in Lovely Runner feels all week/month, and my bestie from college, my college ex-boyfriend and I all still communicate semi-regularly. We're all happily married with kids, so just talk about the "good ole days" a lot. But this week I legit swooned with something he texted in our group text. My son and my bestie's are graduating seniors this year and my son will be attending our alma mater, while hers will be closer to her in Colorado attending a very good engineering school. She was feeling nostalgic, I guess and sent us some pictures from our yearbook when I was a freshman, ex was a sophomore.
Bestie: Look what I found
(Picture of me and another girl checking our mailboxes, waiting for the commons to open)
Ex-boyfriend: That was in the yearbook, right?
Ex-boyfriend: I was a big fan of [Ally] back then.
Me: (checking texts between patients at work) " ... " *SWOON, double take, all of it because I probably didn't even know him at all my freshman year. We didn't date until his junior year?*
Bestie: Yep! Good memory. I'm not in the year books.
(Texts pics of two more head shots of us)
Ex-boyfriend: Maye the yearbook staff were all science majors.
(Ex and I were in the science department while my bestie was an architecture major)
Bestie: Right?!
Me (finally, an hour later because, really, what should I say?): Wow, that's crazy. My hair used to be so shiny. LOL! You're not fan anymore, [Ex]? LOL again.
Ex-boyfriend: I'm your supporter, of course, but trying not to be a fanatic.
Bestie: LOL emoji.
Me: Emoji of smiling person with one teardrop.

Moral of the story: Feelings are not so fleeting, and even an ex can give you butterflies after almost 30 years sometimes.
2nd Moral: Still happily married to...

I tried embedding facebook post on wordpress. It all works until I click update post and then it all disappears.
I click on embed and copy the code and paste in the text section and the post does appear when I switch to visual mode but it all goes away after clicking update.
Kindly, does anyone know of a solution to this?

 I have been watching kdramas religiously for almost eight years. About two weeks ago, I experienced a Kdrama slump . At the time, I was only watching two Korean dramas which for me is a huge low. I had a lot of free time so why didn't I want to watch more Korean dramas? Is there such a thing as kdrama fatigue?

After the underwhelming and extremely long final episode of QoT, I was definitely feeling atigued. I thought I was weighed down by the constant Korean dramas with disappointing endings and similar rom-com storylines. I felt I needed something fresh and new; a palate cleanser. So I started the Chinese drama When I fly towards you and the Thai BL Only Boo, and in the process of watching these, I think that I finally remember exactly why I started watching Korean dramas. It turns out that I didn't need something different. After all "new and special" were not the reasons Korean dramas became my first love.

It was the little heart-flattering moments. The ones that bring two people who are strangers into something much more. When I was just a little kdrama fan baby, it was that high I chased. I just needed to remember what made Korean dramas so special. Though I have not completely gotten out of my kdrama slump, I am learning to fall in love with them again.

Any thoughts? Kdrama recommendations?

Sunday is Mother's Day in the U.S., so first I would like to wish Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. But second, since this is a kdrama discussion site I would like to say one thing I continually lament is kdramas' treatment of mothers. Oh, of course there are loving mothers common in plots, but often they are so saintly as to be unrealistic. Far more impactful are mothers who are grasping, or comically foolish, or who insist on setting their daughters up for blind dates with idiots, or who favor their sons over their more worthy daughters. Even more common are the mothers who cause their sons trauma. What I call "Mom-traums" are the biggest way kdramas employ their general obsession with psychology. Either the Mother is hard-driving for material gain and verbally abusive or her son; or she is utterly neglectful and abandoned the son; or she was foolish enough to step out on the street or ride in a car and be killed by a white truck, haunting the son for the rest of his life.

An example of typical portrayal of mothers in kdramas was the recent Dr. Slump. The one Mom was portrayed as loving, but comically and often drunkenly clueless--she was the biggest source of "laughs" in this painfully unfunny rom com. Meanwhile, the ML Mom's coldness and neglect not only contributed to her son's depression, the show imputed that she caused his beloved "hyung" to try to kill him, steal the FL’s research and try to destroy them both— because she treated the hyung with contempt. Worst of all, the “hyung” was sobbingly forgiven by the ML and the show--the ML's Mother was not, and remained the ultimate villain, absent to the end.

I know this caricatured portrayal of mothers is not unique to kdramas, and is part of a general contempt for independent women and their interests around the world. In fact, even the celebration of mothers in the U.S., though its origins are credited to a woman, Anna Jarvis, received impetus from conservative male fears that the "new woman" of the turn of the twentieth century was going to abandon her proper place in the home. Of course, Mother's Day also got a boost from department stores, flower and candy merchants, who saw in this celebration a chance for greater sales, and we certainly see this in the U.S. today!

An incredible sight. Please do yourselves a favour and read this summary to see the electron microscope image!
“ A millimetre of brain in spectacular detail
Researchers have created an exquisitely detailed atlas of a tiny piece of one woman’s brain, which had been removed during surgery to treat her epilepsy. The sample was cut into thousands of nanometre-thick slices and each was imaged with electron microscopes. AI tools then classified different structures and cells, and created a 3D reconstruction of the sample. “I remember this moment, going into the map and looking at one individual synapse from this woman’s brain, and then zooming out into these other millions of pixels,” says neuroscientist and study co-author Viren Jain. “It felt sort of spiritual.”

Nature | 4 min read
Reference: Science paper”

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01387-9?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=bc37e2346b-nature-briefing-weekly-20240510&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-bc37e2346b-51095864

IT'S EUROVISION WEEK!

I was so psyched at the middle act in semi-final 2, I can't see how they can possible top this in the finals. I mean, Kääijä! I was soo angry that he didn't win last year, I didn't even like Loreen's song and was already bummed it won in Sweden. That said, Petra Mede is born to lead EVC.
There are so many good songs this year. My personal favourite is Great Britain's Olly Alexander with his song 'Dizzy', but I think Croatia will take the win. Or the Netherlands. They are songs easily remembered and sung along to with great stages. Switzerland is good too but it's not party enough. And we were cheated of the party in 2023.

I wrote this on my fanwall but got no responses so I'm hoping more people see this and respond. This is for the folks who have watched Weak Hero Class 1 (and remembers these scenes)

Why did Suho stop Bumseok from attacking the bully with the mic but he didn't stop Sieun from beating Yeong Bin with the book?

I get that Suho's whole philosophy about fighting is "don't cross the line" but what made those situations different?

I don't know if I would call them theories but I have some possible suggestions. 1. Suho actually witnessed the mounting bullying & teasing that Si Eun experienced so he felt the payback was fair and justified 2. Suho could tell Bumseok wanted to blungeon the bully (potenially killing or seriously injuring him) and Suho didn't want to be a party to that especially since it had been Suho's idea to confront them in the first place. 3. Si Eun handled his bully/bullies by himself yet Bum Seok was reliant on Suho's presence which made Suho feel responsible for the situation.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

It is unfortunate that news writers in the entertainment industry often overlook the impact their articles may have on the feelings of the partners involved when writing about former married K-drama stars who meet again. Would it not be more appropriate for journalists to exercise empathy and consider the emotions and privacy of all individuals involved to help in creating a more compassionate and understanding media culture?!! (morning reflections based on reading articles and comments over the past couple of days about former star couple Song Hye-kyo and Song Joong-ki meeting at Baeksang Arts Awards).

So for the first time *ever*, a drama induced me to go check out the featured PPL brand- in this case, the Golden Goose sneakers that featured in ep 2 of Atypical Family. And wow, are they beautiful, but gah expensive! This ole povvo ahjumma has been pondering for *months* now whether to even splash out on a pair of Onitsukas to celebrate a landmark b'day, but some of those these GGs had me almost press Buy on a sneaker-shaped hole in my retirement fund :P Luckily, sanity prevailed, and the lesser evil Onitsukas may actually get purchased soon after mouldering in my shopping cart.
Which leads me to ponder on KDrama fashion nowadays- I'm so often on the fence about it... I rarely see anyone dressed really normal-chic (acc to my taste- which runs either a bit classic preppy, or loves simple well-fitted drapes and styles, with nice shoes obvs) Either they're dressed in wildly inappropriate glamazon clothes - think the FL in Marry My Husband, or frumpy cardigans over loose skirts or baggy jeans and clunky sneakers/ Mary Janes- a la Behind Your Touch. And the men are either gussied up in 3 piece suits, or in 2x oversized clothes- loose trousers/suits and oversized shirts, which makes them look to me like bobblehead dolls, that they also may go to sleep in.

I'd love reccos for shows with good, chic fashion please and thanks :) Just for some eye candy haha.

Where are these beanie level names in our profiles comes from? 🤔 I was a “candy” a while ago then now it is written “Jang Geu-rae” !!!

What's with Jae Wook picture in this thread? 😅😅😅
Haven't got any chance to watch his recent drama The Impossible Heir (still wondering actually whether to watch it or not 🙈)...
Anyhow, got so little time to start watching kdrama back. Have to forget any ongoing drama. Stumbled upon Lovely Runner (marathon 10 eps in one sit) and I thought it is a 12 eps series 🙃. Now, have to pause and wait until end of month for finale (must keep off this page then to avoid spoilers 🤭)!

Now that Queen of Tears has finished, the men in my family asked me if I would kindly find a drama that would not turn me into a sobbing heap on the sofa at the time “Match of the Day” drops. It was their bad luck that Netflix dropped the latest episode at that time on a Saturday night They say it is hard to concentrate on cheering in a goal when I’m reaching for the box of tissues.

I looked around and couldn’t see any Kdrama that appealed, and so I turned to Cdrama and unearthed an absolute gem of a drama with the most unlikely love story you could possible, love between a Mortician and a successful career girl who lost half a leg in a tragic road accident. First of all, for an English speaker, the quality of subtitling and the command of English is better than I have ever seen in a drama. The male lead is extremely handsome, but had never struck me as a particularly good actor. Until now! The FL was unknown, but is absolutely brilliant , there is a mother, siblings and a couple of grandmothers. The setting is a town called Namping and is set around an estuary, beautiful scenery and first-class cinematography. The preparation of the departed is fascinating and profoundly moving, and the amount of dialogue concerning the handling of grief and general philosophy on the subject really does make you reflect. The subject is serious and deep, but there is a lot of humour and comedy. I have practically binged the first 19 of 21 episodes and haven’t hit the forward button once. An extraordinary, thought provoking film with a very powerful chemistry between the lovers. I’d love somebody else take a chance on watching this. Spoiler…….you may need a tissue or two……….

Oops! It’s called “Will Love in Spring”

Why is the back half of W:TwoWorlds so forgettable to me? I just saw a video and I was like "they got married?!"

I think I've seen the drama twice and I never remember what happens after he jumps (I feel like he jumped twice haha)
I remember he jumped into Han River and then I vaguely remember a scene on a roof which I think he again jumped off of for some reason (I think it was to somehow reset things).