What a walk down the memory with this last writing from JB! Thanks @cozybooks – just wondering if you’d like to share this JB piece with the wider community via Open Threads or the weekly what are you watching?
Also, to kick things off, here’s a longer answer for me: I first found dramabeans back when I relied on recaps more heavily to decide whether or not to watch something. So the first thing that dramabeans meant to me was a source for spoilers and insightful opinions on a show.
It took me several years to actually decide to post a comment. I was a very shy youth and grew up in a not-so-technology savvy home (or at least, one more reserved when it came to online communities). Still, something drove me to branch out of my comfort zone. A quick search to my oldest comment page tells me it was finals, driving me mad. And so, at the end of December in 2015, cozybooks was born.
After that Dramabeans was a land of experimentation, a place where I could try out being funny and squealing over dramas. It feels fitting that right after I made my first comment I was swept up in the beauty of Signal and spent a lot of comments giving thoughts and letting other beanies know that yes, the hype was worth it.
The more I expressed myself, the more confident I got. So much so that I now feel comfortable sharing things about myself (although I try not to give anything actually identifying away, cus internet safety). So Dramabeans became a place not only to share my love of dramas, but also other things about who I am – cooking and Lee Jong Suk and webtoons and life.
In the end, to borrow @seeker ‘s idea and a nod to the recent DB post about “comfort characters” ( https://www.dramabeans.com/2024/02/drama-chat-comfort-characters/ ) I think DB has really become a comfort place for me – one that I can always come back to and enjoy easily, even if I take long stretches away at times. Happy Seollal beanies, I’m glad you all exist!
thanks! It’s been super fun to really find a place I feel like I’ve got online friends haha- my husband has even commented about it before just that it’s fun. He’s into video games so he has a few acquaintances on certain games, but nothing as in depth as some of the conversations I get into on DB 🙂
I know what you mean. Reply 1988 hoped my brother might jump on, but he isn’t inclined to do so in the least. He does like it when I share some db commends on dramas we’re watching, though . And for the record, we started Crash Landing on You following finishing up Flowers in the Sand. It’s a rewatch for me, but I don’t mind.
That’s so fun! Haha you never know.. 3 or 5 years down the road he could be here right alongside us. These things take time^^ my husband loved Flower of Evil and enjoys the occasional kdrama ocassionally, but he’s more into western TV at the moment. We binge cooking shows together hehe (Secret Chef, anyone?)
I was both!
I was so happy about where I imagined that drama could go and didn’t. I simped over pretty what’shisname, but also, in the end I almost just giffed him beacuse everything else was so horrible. Like, okay, Si-oh was the evil one, but our cute hero was a cop, who attacked a man to arrest him (fair enough) pushed him to the ground (not so hard considering the man’s leg was hurt, probably broken already) and the proceeded to stomp hard and determined on that man’s broken leg!
OOohhh, how cute! And one of his great romantic lines in the end was about how he could teach their superstrong offspring to use her powers for good! Stomping on broken legs, I presume.
Nam-soon is only halfway a good example, because everybody else stopped watching it. But at least I would find people here who like Byeon Woo-seok and also don’t love the mindless copaganda.
But you see, in my house I have someone who is of an analytic mind and loves long TV-shows, but who gets offended if I even mention K-dramas, because they are on a background of so little wokeness that Friends almost seems like one of those new shows, you know, Atypical, Sex Education, Heartbreak High, Heartstopper, The Sexual Lives of College Girls, Dear White People and She-ra.
I am, as I have said before, interested in the glimpses of other stories that seep through the cracks of commerciality and conformity – the whole concept of seeped truths is, to me, something to be excited about – but another reason for me to look for those stories was in a hope to get into a conversation about it here in my home. But … that ain’t happening, I guess.
So I am glad I can come to you guys and say those things.
Because of this site, I also ended up on Viki Rakuten. I sometimes really miss the commenting possibility when I am on Netflix, because something on the screen makes me want to say “That thing right there: Here’s my opinion (in a few words)”.
But also, the comments on Viki has made me see people who actually think that Honey Lee should mourn her (un-)dead fiancé that she has never met, and that it would be virtuous for her to commit suicide. People who will use that comment possibility to talk at length about how old and ugly she is. People who are big time slut-shaming, or where those over-virtuous representations of sexual harassment – I mean, where the drama has made it clear in one, two, many ways that the heroine cannot be blamed for it – and they really need all those arguments to accept her innocence. You know, the type where being attracted to someone and smiling at them is as good as throwing yourself naked in a bed with open arms and spread … spreadsheets. (Spreadsheets – that’s when the bed is made, right? THe sheets have been spread).
So I encounter those reactionary misogynists that make it necessary to just let the less conventional parts of reality seep through little cracks in the story about perfect leads who suffer all kinds of abuse rather than just saying “I would do the dishes, but I have already prepared the food, washed two machines and ironed the clothes that needed ironing, and now I need to hurry to do that thing that is important to me personally” or worse, saying: “I will not forgive you for calling me worthless sh*t and beating me unconscious, grandpa”.
Here on Dramabeans, I meet people who are woke and curious and also like to just swoon.
Of course Beans like to swoon just as hard as any hot blooded person (male, female or alien) but that we also appreciate the said and unsaid words, gestures, color pallette of the drama.
I’m not on any social media but I can’t even imagine posting pictures of Rowoon in flower suit in any other site and having such fun conversations.
Cecile your sheer determination and strength of will to continue with Nam-soon to the bitter end was applaude worthy. It was just an example of your wish to see the good in all and your willingness to go to any lengths for it.
This is what I appreciate most about you. ❤ 😊
As you have said it is eye-opening to see how other people see and react to the dramas that we are watching and at times having such diverse reactions.
I love that DB makes every Bean felt “heard“. While we would ALL love to be able to talk about things that we love (i.e. K-dramas) to our loved ones I think it is not always possible and if possible not to the depths we here at DB plummet to. But like all K-drama MLs these days we have a fellow Bean who swims down and stretches out their hands to save us.
People who want to judge Honey Lee vis-a-vis her age or looks need to look at the mirror themselves. 😜 While “the internet” is rife with such drivel, I would like to believe us Beans are more discerning and respectful. That is what makes me love and want to protect this community.
Honey Lee is straight up FIRE I love her haha. I can tell that she’s older than the ML, but that’s really a bit of a non-issue for me considering 1) that’s actually what the drama is going for with the “widow of 15 years thing 2) I tend to have a highish tolerance for age gaps in kdrama relationships and 3) oh my gosh their CHEMISTRY. I die. I live. I die.
Extra PS:
I have periods of time where I am intensely interested in this or that creative thing, and since I had my gif skills updated (thank you, especially @attiton and @healer ) it has mostly been gifs filling up my time, (except e.g. this last couple of weeks where I have spent a growing amount of time producing a costume for my youngest).
Apart from sheer drooling material, and what in the old Daily Shows would be called “moments of Zen”, I am always hoping that the gifs will have others agreeing, disagreeing, or even better, agreeing but with a different shade of view point.
So I am really happy for everyone who are kind enough to enjoys those gifs.
^^ Cecilie you want to thank @claire2009 for your giff-ing!! 😅
Healer is a Candy with 5 comments who last posted in 2017. If they decide to log in they would be amazed by the sheer amount of notifications (including a few on mine) they would be inundated with.
Sorry, @claire2009 Healer’s … not the first time I mixed that up.
Just imagine you are being appreciated and thanked by a lot of people who get your tag wrong, like me.
We only made the tulle skirt, and it looks very homemade. But the dress needed to be found at a reasonable prize used and then treated in the way the Weird Barbie’s dress obviously has been treated.
Which was a challenge, but obviously easier than sewing a dress with puffed sleeves and all.
@CecilieK Don’t be sorry. Tbh, I don’t always remember my tag name, I usually thought it was claire09, leaving out the “20”. It was the year my first son was born. @Seeker That beanie healer joined DB before I did, and when I wanted to choose “healer” for my account name, it was already taken, that’s why I could only use it for my display name. I really wish to see healer active on DB again and to talk to them, they must have loved Healer as much as we did, so at least that’s in common. And I’m sure they’d understand, even be amused by, all the wrong tags 😄 Sometimes I’d like to think they are still active here but under a different account, because of all the forgotten passwords.
@cozybooks As I said, we only sewed the tulle skirt – the dress was bought secondhands and distressed, abandoned-doll-style with paint and an old tyre. Because of its non-K-drama-relatedness, I just put it on this link: https://imgur.com/a/hgoav8E
Thank you!
I am unseamly (ha) proud of those costumes every year. I hope my kids will continue for some years yet attending costume parties, and asking for help, because it is such a fun way to be creative. Thank God their kindergarten as well as their school was full of people who went all in.
Oh, and PS: As much as I like those seeped stories, the stories-in-the-cracks, I am so much NOT a fan of the spelled out philosophic morals that are almost unavoidable in K-dramas. The one most often represented as a soft voice-over of someone saying truisms that are not even necessarily true, I mean , there’s the “As we get older, we learn to appreciate time while it slips between our fingers” – yes, that is true, but you don’t have to say that, just someone saying that “It must be great to be young”-thing they say tells me that, and also, Bonnie Raitt, and the “Mother’s know instinctively …” STOP RIGHT THERE! No, we don’t. Sometimes we know our family enough that things are obvious to us that others don’t see – and I could tell some funny stories there – but we effing don’t know this and that instinctively, or no child would ever suffer from eating disorders, for a start, or be bullied at school for years, or some of the many other things that parents don’t know about and get miserable about and sometimes defensive (because we feel we should have had prevented it) when we find out.
Mothers, plural, not mother’s, genitive. Though it could be fun pondering what that would be. Mother’s what? Brain? Boyfriend? Her cat? Mother’s Best Friend?
Moralizing was an intrinsic part of K-dramas, what you see now is a watered-down down version. It was never endearing but almost a trope. Now with “globalization” of K-dramas this aspect is tempered down quite a bit.
when would you say the shift began? I feel like there are some that still do, but I like them way better than the hit you over the head stuff. Case in point I think Forest of Secrets 2 had a lot to say about corruption. But it was still rather subtle about it (although less so than the first in the philosophical messaging imo)
Cozy, the shift in tone is somewhat recent say 5-6 years. Its not all gone considering “moral lessons” are such an intrinsic part of K-dramas but yes it is somewhat less “hit over the head” and more by the way “insert moral sermonizing”.
because he was the only character that came with an in-built personality. The rest of them were two-dimensional idiots from start to finish. I’d have saved Si-oh (the evil one) 100 times over Nam-soon. Actually I’d have sacrificed Nam-soon for Si-oh. Not because he’s cute (Nam-soon was cute too at first) but because he has survived so long by himself and still had it in him to have faith in friendship.
If I were to romanticise his character, I’d say there is a much more beautiful soul in there that believed in friendship when life has been just darkness than in Nam-fucking-soon, who has been surrounded by unconditional love from start to finish and still choose to lie to, hurt, and destroy Si-oh like the little brainless parasite she was written to be. I hate using a word like soul, it’s full of fluffiness but it means nothing at all. But I can’t find a better word for now.
The frustrating thing was that the premise of the drama, the character, especially the “bad” guy had so much potential. While not a classic it could have been a perfectly memorable drama. 🤷♀️
NO
I just wrote a really long explanation about my feelings and hopes for this drama and ended with links for my giffing of that drama, and the whole thing was thrown off!
Oh, my life is misery and misfortune! 😭😭😭
But in short, less eloquent terms:
The drama started out in such a mixture of charming innocent fantasy and (as opposed to Bong-soon) absurd take on very serious, realistic issues; like homelessness, date-rape, everyday sexual harassment and class privilege…
I was beginning to expect some kind of absurd avantgarde fantasy take on these matters, thinking of the stage and Berlin between the two wars, comedy made by revolutionaries who were at the same time strictly anti-conventional, sometimes arguing their case by letting every character adhere strictly logical according to society rules, but in a way that made it overly clear how absurd that was (for example).
The insertion of a girl with an unusual clear, determined, naïve mind and at the same time superpowers could have resulted in something like that, but with a fantasy happy ending.
Instead, nothing was finished in a meaningful way – nothing! It was more like Andy Kaufman, who left his audience nervously giggling, never quite sure were the joke was, or if it was a joke – the guy who insisted his TV performance should be interrupted by a pretty long interference of “technical difficulties”, long enough to have people get up from their chairs to change the channel, and then … ha ha … it wasn’t technical difficulties at all, it was sent that way from the studio.
At best, that was what Nam-soon was. At worst, it was just really poorly written with no idea of any point to be made whatsoever.
In between these two is the “seeping through the cracks” idea, where all these things were brought up for people to think for themselves, but never finished because a show whose morale was “Eat the Rich” would not be able to obtain and uphold funding.
The insertion of a naïve but superpowered character like Nam-soon could, for example, have made for child-like straight questions about unreasonable conventions.
Si-oh could have … oh my God, so much potential! All his plans that he obviously had, and that were not about being egoistic – nothing came of them.
ANd Nam-soon was written to even deny the smallest bit of wonder or pity at the glimpses of his sorrow and his hopes that she had got once in a while. So she was written to become a bad person in something like no time … why?
Maybe the writer just hate K-drama fans.
And the first time I heard a voice being critical while also loving a drama same as me was either Seon-ha @attiton or @reply1988 I believe late summer last year. Thank you, it made me very happy.
I will award you both the Beanies’ Swoon’N’Brood prize.
And Cera, to you, I hand the Beanies’ Listen’N’Speak prize. Which is better understood as the antonym to Simon’N’Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence”. Those lines:
“People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening”
You know very well! Sometimes you are the one who stands between a Beanie and the big empty Sound of Silence. So the opposite of people hearing without listening, is what I’m trying to say.
Usually a prize is presented with some emojis. So.
To Cera:
The big Beanie Sprout 🫘👂🏻👂🏽👂🏾💞 Listen’N’Speak 🗣️👄🏆🌱 Award
It comes with the right of inserting that in your title, if you want, or presenting yourself as receiver of said Award.
It also comes with the right to cake, if you buy it yourself.
@darkcc you are a girl after my own heart ❤ and apparently stomach too!! 🫰I’ve already given you a ring. So do we have our color uncoordinated ajhumma outfits for the Valentine party set?
That is friendship right there! To be able to love something and get frustrated over it together and still know we both love it (not the specific drama itself necessarily but just the experience and getting to be frustrated at it together)
..I watched Blue Beetle with my husband, brother and sister-in-law over the Christmas break. There was much frustration to be had, and it was so funny.
I find all the cultural and literary references in K-dramas particularly delightful. And trust @Kurama to come up with the most perfect dramas for these. 😊💃
I’m sharing part of another comment, describing my enthralment engagement with DB.
I have found Fanwall posts to be creatively satisfying and chatting with Beans on Fanwall emotionally satisfying. Recaps are a different kind of fun and require a different engagement. All in all the engagement in DB is great to de-stress and rave and rant all at once.
I’ve made myself a cup of coffee and now preparing my answer, updating a comment of mine on my fanwall some months ago in a conversation with emsel.
My first Kdramas were in the late 1990s (You and I, Did we really love), so I have watched Kdramas for a longgg time. But I didn’t pay much attention to details like the subject matters, or the acting skills… back then. The little girl that was me back then was simply mesmerised by the actors’ good look and gorgeous outfits. Now I still watch Kdramas for entertainment, but I have learnt to appreciate both major and minor details of a show, and thus my watching experience feels very different; in other words, the emotional reward from watching a Kdrama is much greater now.
But I also became picky over time. I don’t like melo, makjang, romcom anymore. From around 2010 to 2020, I didn’t watch any new Kdramas. All Kdrama watching then was rewatching, if any. Thanks to Crash landing on you, my love for Kdramas was awakened and I had a good dramathon during the last 4 years. I started to feel that I must join some community that is dedicated to Kdrama discussions, that’s when I joined DB. I think it was around the time I watched Pretty Noona. Jung Hae In was the first actor that made me think “what it would feel to be spending some time with this guy?” I joined DB to like comments under Pretty Noona recaps and to give my two cents. But actually, I had been to DB site several times before that, when I googled something Kdrama-related, but I wasn’t aware about how rich the contents here were back then, I simply thought it was a recapping site. I didn’t know it’s a whole community here with its own traditions and etiquette, and all the more amazingly when all that is based on utter anonymity. And since then, from a mere lurker, I have participated much more in discussions with my less than proficient English. I keep a note of drama-related new words I learned from beanies, which is very long now.
There were times when I was busy with real life and didn’t have time for Kdramas, and I felt like a part of me was missing. To me, Kdramas is not a means to kill time but make part of who I am. They, albeit being fiction, help me contemplate life and human relationships. Just like the post graduate journey helped me identify myself some years ago, watching Kdramas is another meaningful (lifelong) journey. Going to DB is such an indispensible part of my Kdrama-watching experience. You guys are so insightful, I’m in awe most of the time I’m here.
(to be cont.)
(cont.)
I stumbled upon javabeans’ farewell post some months ago, and got so emotional reading her heartfelt words. But I’ve read it only once. Although I may have pasted the link to that post here and there, I won’t be reading it again any time soon, because it just feels sad. I just hope I would always be able to find you guys somewhere on the internet, even when DB site may not be here anymore. Am I selfish? Because even I can’t give you my words that I will always be there for you to find, because life happens, and we are not sure about the future. But I mean to say what happens on DB has enriched my life in a way so unexpected, and I am so very grateful for that. Because after all, it’s real people talking about life using fiction as a medium.
Because after all, it’s real people talking about life using fiction as a medium.
Claire, that’s just everything, isn’t it?? I’m 100% with you. Sometimes you need something/someone else to show you what you want to see about yourself. And sometimes, you are the model that helps others in that same way.
This! It is just so heartfelt, and when I re-read it yesterday there were parts that gave me such hope JB and GF still come and lurk occasionally, or that they have plans for another grand adventure somewhere.. DB will always be DB though, and I’m grateful they built the place they did.
I just hope that wherever they are, they’re doing well and feeling fulfilled with where their lives have taken them.
Thank you for sharing!! I absolutely loved reading this. I just think it’s so cool that you’ve watched dramas for so long, even if you did take a decade break.
Did you ever go back and watch shows from the 20teens then? I feel like 2017 was a great year for dramas for me (at least, I either LOVED them or didn’t) and would love to know your thoughts and if you have any favorites from that era now.
I love 2017 dramas . I watched loads of them and couldn’t believe all the ones I really enjoyed for that feel good boost were from that year. I wish I had known about K-dramas then and DB it sounds like there was a lot of fun in the comments and great material to be talking about.
Yes, after CLOY, I went back and watch as many as I could. I missed all Hallyu 20teens’ hits (such as You from the stars, Reply 1988, Healer, Pretty Noona…) during their live airing, and then consumed them during covid. I didn’t keep tracks of shows I watched but I remember my K-crushes along the way, so basically I’ve watched many if not all shows of a favourite actor. 2020 was my year of Jung Hae In, Lee Sang Yoon, Lee Jong Suk, Ji Chang Wook. 2021 was when I discovered Junho, 2022 Woo Do Hwan, 2023 Seo Kang Joon and Lee Je Hoon. During the last 4 years, I watched a lot, but also rewatched a lot. So I think as a beanie, the number of shows I have watched is still less than average.
My most favourite shows that I watched after their live airing:
Misaeng 2014
Reply1988 2015
Healer 2015
Signal 2016
Weightlifting fairy Kim Bok Joo 2016-2017
Forest of Secrets 2017 and 2020
Mad dog 2017
Wok of love 2018
Life 2018
Are you human too? 2018
Confession 2019
Watcher 2019
Move to heaven 2021
Taxi driver 2021 and 2023
Looking at this, I think 2017 was indeed a great year for Kdramas for me too. If I’m not mistaken, Chicago typewriter is also a 2017 show. I didn’t love it as much as shows mentioned above, but it is a show I enjoyed a lot.
Oh my gosh that actually sounds like the best quarantine experience ever. To get to watch MLFAS, Healer, possible Signal and Forest of Secrets ALL for the first time one on top of the other?! How did you come down off the high??!
It was indeed a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I fell down the Kdrama rabbit hole and indulged myself to no limit because I knew it wouldn’t happen twice. It was hard coming down off the high, and some drama slumps have hit me but luckily none lasted too long. It’s always great to come here to vent and rant with other beanies, and to pick on a show recommended by other beanies, some of which turned out to be hidden gems. I’ll borrow Casablanca’s line “Oh a show is still a show in Kdrama land, but a show is not a show without you guys (i.e. beanies)” 😉
Also that is so cool to me that you keep a list of new words you learn for Beanies and get to use the site for language learning too.
I saw your use of the word “proficient” describing your English because that word in an of itself just says to me “dang, they’re at a level I can only aspire to with my Korean” 🙂 Kudos!
Dramabeans has always been a part of my kdrama experience. I started with Crash Landing on you and I was obsessed, like, obsessed with that show (still am, honestly). And I didn’t really have anyone to talk about it with and I just needed to interact with it more somehow. So I started searching around online and found DB pretty quickly. So I would read each recap after I watched each episode just so I could relive the moments and see more pictures of all the characters. As I continued with dramas, I kept reading recaps, and would use Year End Review posts and WWW posts to choose new dramas to watch. Eventually I started keeping up with the news posts and the drama chats, and eventually (I think it was the one about which scenes made us ugly cry) I felt the need to join in. It’s been so great! I love this community and love chatting about dramas and actors and random stuff with all of you. Y’all understand my love of dramas way more than most people in my offline life, and it is so nice to feel seen by you. 🫰
Also, I have literally no idea why the bean next to my name is the size of the sun in that comment. I actually clicked to reply to your new comment on that thread and it was gigantic there too! So I got scared and left 😅
I wasn’t even a supporter at the time, so I have no idea what weird glitch is causing that!
I am so glad you said that, as when the site is really glitchy the graphics get really enlarged for me too. I have not heard anyone else mention that so I assumed it was just a me thing.
^^ Emojis always get magnified as the page gets refreshed even in other sites. So I totally assumed it was a “internet” thing and not just a “DB” thing.
There was one time when I came to DB to find all profile pics and cover photos gone. I was about to mention it in an OT, but that glitch lasted only for a short time, so I’m not sure if anyone else noticed it too.
@claire2009 I notice blank tiles / spaces in the Beanies page all the time. They may change places or disappear when refreshed, just like the names of Beanies which are randomly distributed after each refresh.
Oh my goodness that’s actually the truly hilarious thing.. you weren’t even a supporter then? I wonder how it backdated AND backdated with the glitch then haha
You’re not alone though – several other beans on that page were also quite large.
I don’t really have people in my entourage who watches dramas in general.
I could talk about US shows with people around me, Japanese animes on IRC so dramabeans was the place for Kdramas. On the different platforms, it’s hard to find different detailled opinions. I often have the feelings, people who comments are fan of one actor and it’s all. There are no discussion.
This! There’s plenty of actor love here on DB, too, but I really do feel like the focus here is on the dramas and the show itself, not only tuning in for the actor (again, no hate on that – I’ve done it myself. I just love that we also get more here)
I won’t hide that actors are one of the reasons I try or not a drama. But even if I like the actor, I try to be objective about the rest and don’t forget that a drama is the result of the work of a writer, PD, etc. and not just one actor.
Beanies bring so many informations, it’s very interesting too!
I entered the Kdrama universe all alone and empty but filled with excitement after completing my gateway drama. I searched online for enthusiastic fans who articulated their ideas eloquently (I have yet to discover a people in real life who even knows what a Kdrama is!) about the Kdrama universe. Then, I found DB and was fulfilled! So many fans, so many dramas, so many ideas…omo! I stood on the DB threshold so to speak, reading, admiring and reveling in all that the DBs had to offer. Hesitantly, I dipped my toe in, making a comment here and there. Now, as clumsy and inexperienced and inarticulate as I am, I make my place satisfy my Kdrama addiction. I’m no longer in the K-universe alone; DB provides me with “K-Dramaraderie” !
In a nutshell, with DB I’m no longer watching dramas alone, even if I really do have the couch all to myself.. I’m not really in any other online forums — and I’ve heard it can get rough out there — so I count myself blessed to have found this one, which has so many articulate, kind, funny, insightful and just good hearted members who share my love for dramas.
Thank you for asking this question! It has been so fun to read through other Beanies’ comments and see all the different ways we all ended up in one place. 🙂
For me, Dramabeans originally started as a culture-translation website.
I started watching k dramas mostly by accident in the summer of 2016. I first stumbled across a Netflix j drama (Good Morning Call) and was confused about how a show could be so objectively not-great while being so engaging. I was looking for recommendations of better Asian content and stumbled across the a fan page for Coffee Prince. That was the first k drama I ever loved, and I’ve been addicted ever since.
At the beginning, though, there were so many references in k dramas that I just didn’t get. I’m white and American, and I had so little exposure to other cultures that I struggled to understand k dramas. According to my Google history, the first dramabeans page I ever clicked on was about Secret Garden — which tracks. There was so much cultural knowledge built into the drama that I had a hard time understanding it. With the dramabeans recaps, I could learn about the culture a little more and fill in the gaps of my understanding. Thus started my days of lurking.
From 2016-December 2022, I have only one comment on the site, despite having it up nearly every time I watched a k drama. Somewhat embarrassingly, the one comment I made was a reply to my own unregistered comment tallying the Dramabeans Staff Top 10s from 2017. Looking back, this seems an auspicious beginning, considering it is creating the Dramabeans Top 10 spreadsheet that really kicked me into activity on the site.
Starting December of 2022, I start occasionally posting, mostly in response to the end-of-year polls. Then, in the summer of 2023, I posted a spreadsheet of all Dramabeans Top 10 polls, knowing that very few people would likely see it since it was so late. @reply1988 saw it (of course), and reached out to me with lovely praise and feedback for the spreadsheet. At one point in the conversation, she alluded to the fact that the Dramabeans community was made better when people commented and participated.
Weirdly enough, I’d never even considered that before. Until this point, Dramabeans was all about the Staff posts. I read recaps, but I rarely read the comment section — something that now feels so alien. I enjoyed the comments in the end-of-year polls, but even then, I didn’t post my own Bean Count until December of 2022. After talking to Mother Bean, though, I decided that I wanted to be a bit more active.
And that’s where we are now. I’m still somewhat new to interacting as a Beanie, and I frequently feel like I’m doing it wrong, but I’ve loved the community I’ve been finding here. Here’s to more to come!
Thank you for sharing your journey with us and it’s so impressive that you came in quietly offering such a special gift for the beanie community. I hope you continue to have fun interacting at the level that works for you. I don’t think there is a wrong way to interact if you are a beanie as I have observed that beanies read the room, manage our emotions re dramas, use our social skills when interacting and remember K-drama and K-entertainment are not real life.
Mother Bean is so right. There is no “wrong” way to interact. Your contribution and community service to Beaniedom is at another level. What you do no one else can do or has done before. 👏 👏 👏
Some people write diaries. I have tried to be one of those people and now, I have a number of journals all describing max. three days. Dramabeans is probably the closest thing to the archive of how my values, English skills and character develops. I remember writing angry rants about evil kdrama parents, because my parents had an exhausting divorce; criticizing female leads too harshly because I thought rich oppa deserved someone better (me); criticizing rich main leads too harshly because I thought loving, kind person deserved someone better (SML). I was doing a lot of projection and addressing my feelings in a somewhat healthy manner, in environment in which people responded nicely and did not ridicule my overt passion.
At a certain point, my personal agenda took a back seat and I came to the conclusion that I always come back, because above it all, I love discussing the shows and reading the others’ thoughts. Art is not all that subjective; there is always a reason for liking something. I am not particularly good with words, thus, I come here for eloquent explanations and nod along when I see comments that resonate with me.
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 12:01 AM
Ok friends, question of the week: what does DB mean to you?
My short answer: it’s the place I learned to express my love of kdramas to strangers with confidence.
@sicarius @seeker @reply1988
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 12:05 AM
As a reference, the inspiration for this little questionnaire (thank you Reply1988!) Is Javabean’s 2019 post
https://www.dramabeans.com/2019/06/community-what-dramabeans-means-to-me/
PYC
February 9, 2024 at 7:25 AM
What a walk down the memory with this last writing from JB! Thanks @cozybooks – just wondering if you’d like to share this JB piece with the wider community via Open Threads or the weekly what are you watching?
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 8:27 AM
I actually just had that thought myself when I saw the OT – I think I may go post it if it hasn’t been already 🙂
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 12:22 AM
Also, to kick things off, here’s a longer answer for me: I first found dramabeans back when I relied on recaps more heavily to decide whether or not to watch something. So the first thing that dramabeans meant to me was a source for spoilers and insightful opinions on a show.
It took me several years to actually decide to post a comment. I was a very shy youth and grew up in a not-so-technology savvy home (or at least, one more reserved when it came to online communities). Still, something drove me to branch out of my comfort zone. A quick search to my oldest comment page tells me it was finals, driving me mad. And so, at the end of December in 2015, cozybooks was born.
After that Dramabeans was a land of experimentation, a place where I could try out being funny and squealing over dramas. It feels fitting that right after I made my first comment I was swept up in the beauty of Signal and spent a lot of comments giving thoughts and letting other beanies know that yes, the hype was worth it.
The more I expressed myself, the more confident I got. So much so that I now feel comfortable sharing things about myself (although I try not to give anything actually identifying away, cus internet safety). So Dramabeans became a place not only to share my love of dramas, but also other things about who I am – cooking and Lee Jong Suk and webtoons and life.
In the end, to borrow @seeker ‘s idea and a nod to the recent DB post about “comfort characters” ( https://www.dramabeans.com/2024/02/drama-chat-comfort-characters/ ) I think DB has really become a comfort place for me – one that I can always come back to and enjoy easily, even if I take long stretches away at times. Happy Seollal beanies, I’m glad you all exist!
owl 🦉 🫰
February 9, 2024 at 4:16 AM
Loving your sentiments about db community!
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 8:38 AM
thanks! It’s been super fun to really find a place I feel like I’ve got online friends haha- my husband has even commented about it before just that it’s fun. He’s into video games so he has a few acquaintances on certain games, but nothing as in depth as some of the conversations I get into on DB 🙂
owl 🦉 🫰
February 9, 2024 at 8:54 AM
I know what you mean. Reply 1988 hoped my brother might jump on, but he isn’t inclined to do so in the least. He does like it when I share some db commends on dramas we’re watching, though . And for the record, we started Crash Landing on You following finishing up Flowers in the Sand. It’s a rewatch for me, but I don’t mind.
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 10:33 AM
That’s so fun! Haha you never know.. 3 or 5 years down the road he could be here right alongside us. These things take time^^ my husband loved Flower of Evil and enjoys the occasional kdrama ocassionally, but he’s more into western TV at the moment. We binge cooking shows together hehe (Secret Chef, anyone?)
owl 🦉 🫰
February 9, 2024 at 6:08 PM
Nation of Broth and Nation og Banchan are good foodie shows, 3-4 eps each.
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 1:44 AM
It was a place where I could finally be frustrated about K-dramas and find someone who agreed and still wanted to watch them.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 2:44 AM
❤ 🤣 I didn’t find you being frustrated about Nam-soon … you were totally simping over the evil one. 😜
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 3:42 AM
I was both!
I was so happy about where I imagined that drama could go and didn’t. I simped over pretty what’shisname, but also, in the end I almost just giffed him beacuse everything else was so horrible. Like, okay, Si-oh was the evil one, but our cute hero was a cop, who attacked a man to arrest him (fair enough) pushed him to the ground (not so hard considering the man’s leg was hurt, probably broken already) and the proceeded to stomp hard and determined on that man’s broken leg!
OOohhh, how cute! And one of his great romantic lines in the end was about how he could teach their superstrong offspring to use her powers for good! Stomping on broken legs, I presume.
Nam-soon is only halfway a good example, because everybody else stopped watching it. But at least I would find people here who like Byeon Woo-seok and also don’t love the mindless copaganda.
But you see, in my house I have someone who is of an analytic mind and loves long TV-shows, but who gets offended if I even mention K-dramas, because they are on a background of so little wokeness that Friends almost seems like one of those new shows, you know, Atypical, Sex Education, Heartbreak High, Heartstopper, The Sexual Lives of College Girls, Dear White People and She-ra.
I am, as I have said before, interested in the glimpses of other stories that seep through the cracks of commerciality and conformity – the whole concept of seeped truths is, to me, something to be excited about – but another reason for me to look for those stories was in a hope to get into a conversation about it here in my home. But … that ain’t happening, I guess.
So I am glad I can come to you guys and say those things.
Because of this site, I also ended up on Viki Rakuten. I sometimes really miss the commenting possibility when I am on Netflix, because something on the screen makes me want to say “That thing right there: Here’s my opinion (in a few words)”.
But also, the comments on Viki has made me see people who actually think that Honey Lee should mourn her (un-)dead fiancé that she has never met, and that it would be virtuous for her to commit suicide. People who will use that comment possibility to talk at length about how old and ugly she is. People who are big time slut-shaming, or where those over-virtuous representations of sexual harassment – I mean, where the drama has made it clear in one, two, many ways that the heroine cannot be blamed for it – and they really need all those arguments to accept her innocence. You know, the type where being attracted to someone and smiling at them is as good as throwing yourself naked in a bed with open arms and spread … spreadsheets. (Spreadsheets – that’s when the bed is made, right? THe sheets have been spread).
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 3:46 AM
So I encounter those reactionary misogynists that make it necessary to just let the less conventional parts of reality seep through little cracks in the story about perfect leads who suffer all kinds of abuse rather than just saying “I would do the dishes, but I have already prepared the food, washed two machines and ironed the clothes that needed ironing, and now I need to hurry to do that thing that is important to me personally” or worse, saying: “I will not forgive you for calling me worthless sh*t and beating me unconscious, grandpa”.
Here on Dramabeans, I meet people who are woke and curious and also like to just swoon.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 5:15 AM
Of course Beans like to swoon just as hard as any hot blooded person (male, female or alien) but that we also appreciate the said and unsaid words, gestures, color pallette of the drama.
I’m not on any social media but I can’t even imagine posting pictures of Rowoon in flower suit in any other site and having such fun conversations.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 5:05 AM
Cecile your sheer determination and strength of will to continue with Nam-soon to the bitter end was applaude worthy. It was just an example of your wish to see the good in all and your willingness to go to any lengths for it.
This is what I appreciate most about you. ❤ 😊
As you have said it is eye-opening to see how other people see and react to the dramas that we are watching and at times having such diverse reactions.
I love that DB makes every Bean felt “heard“. While we would ALL love to be able to talk about things that we love (i.e. K-dramas) to our loved ones I think it is not always possible and if possible not to the depths we here at DB plummet to. But like all K-drama MLs these days we have a fellow Bean who swims down and stretches out their hands to save us.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 5:11 AM
People who want to judge Honey Lee vis-a-vis her age or looks need to look at the mirror themselves. 😜 While “the internet” is rife with such drivel, I would like to believe us Beans are more discerning and respectful. That is what makes me love and want to protect this community.
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 10:13 AM
Honey Lee is straight up FIRE I love her haha. I can tell that she’s older than the ML, but that’s really a bit of a non-issue for me considering 1) that’s actually what the drama is going for with the “widow of 15 years thing 2) I tend to have a highish tolerance for age gaps in kdrama relationships and 3) oh my gosh their CHEMISTRY. I die. I live. I die.
owl 🦉 🫰
February 10, 2024 at 11:28 AM
And she was fun in Modern Farmer. And Pasta~
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 5:28 AM
Extra PS:
I have periods of time where I am intensely interested in this or that creative thing, and since I had my gif skills updated (thank you, especially @attiton and @healer ) it has mostly been gifs filling up my time, (except e.g. this last couple of weeks where I have spent a growing amount of time producing a costume for my youngest).
Apart from sheer drooling material, and what in the old Daily Shows would be called “moments of Zen”, I am always hoping that the gifs will have others agreeing, disagreeing, or even better, agreeing but with a different shade of view point.
So I am really happy for everyone who are kind enough to enjoys those gifs.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 5:42 AM
^^ Cecilie you want to thank @claire2009 for your giff-ing!! 😅
Healer is a Candy with 5 comments who last posted in 2017. If they decide to log in they would be amazed by the sheer amount of notifications (including a few on mine) they would be inundated with.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 5:44 AM
We love Love LOVE your gifs – thanks to Seon-ha and Claire ALL our Fanwalls are alit and aglow!!
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 5:45 AM
I’m impressed by your dress making skillz!!
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 6:35 AM
Sorry, @claire2009 Healer’s … not the first time I mixed that up.
Just imagine you are being appreciated and thanked by a lot of people who get your tag wrong, like me.
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 6:45 AM
We only made the tulle skirt, and it looks very homemade. But the dress needed to be found at a reasonable prize used and then treated in the way the Weird Barbie’s dress obviously has been treated.
Which was a challenge, but obviously easier than sewing a dress with puffed sleeves and all.
Healer’s
February 9, 2024 at 7:13 AM
@CecilieK Don’t be sorry. Tbh, I don’t always remember my tag name, I usually thought it was claire09, leaving out the “20”. It was the year my first son was born.
@Seeker That beanie healer joined DB before I did, and when I wanted to choose “healer” for my account name, it was already taken, that’s why I could only use it for my display name. I really wish to see healer active on DB again and to talk to them, they must have loved Healer as much as we did, so at least that’s in common. And I’m sure they’d understand, even be amused by, all the wrong tags 😄 Sometimes I’d like to think they are still active here but under a different account, because of all the forgotten passwords.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 7:54 AM
@claire2009 I would love for Healer to be active. I’ll be sure to follow them around and tag them. 😊🥳
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 10:16 AM
Oooh I’d love a picture of the final creation when you finish the dress!
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 11:14 AM
@cozybooks As I said, we only sewed the tulle skirt – the dress was bought secondhands and distressed, abandoned-doll-style with paint and an old tyre. Because of its non-K-drama-relatedness, I just put it on this link:
https://imgur.com/a/hgoav8E
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 11:31 AM
This is beyond awesome!! 😍
You are as good a seamstress as a gif-maker!!
Thank you for sharing.
**Whispers** – Cozy thank you for asking Cecilie to show us this beauty. ❤
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 10, 2024 at 4:49 AM
Thank you!
I am unseamly (ha) proud of those costumes every year. I hope my kids will continue for some years yet attending costume parties, and asking for help, because it is such a fun way to be creative. Thank God their kindergarten as well as their school was full of people who went all in.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 10, 2024 at 6:03 AM
😍 You should be proud. I so wish I could attend such a party too. 🥳
I hope your girls have lots of fun and make many good memories.
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 4:03 AM
Oh, and PS: As much as I like those seeped stories, the stories-in-the-cracks, I am so much NOT a fan of the spelled out philosophic morals that are almost unavoidable in K-dramas. The one most often represented as a soft voice-over of someone saying truisms that are not even necessarily true, I mean , there’s the “As we get older, we learn to appreciate time while it slips between our fingers” – yes, that is true, but you don’t have to say that, just someone saying that “It must be great to be young”-thing they say tells me that, and also, Bonnie Raitt, and the “Mother’s know instinctively …” STOP RIGHT THERE! No, we don’t. Sometimes we know our family enough that things are obvious to us that others don’t see – and I could tell some funny stories there – but we effing don’t know this and that instinctively, or no child would ever suffer from eating disorders, for a start, or be bullied at school for years, or some of the many other things that parents don’t know about and get miserable about and sometimes defensive (because we feel we should have had prevented it) when we find out.
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 4:06 AM
Mothers, plural, not mother’s, genitive. Though it could be fun pondering what that would be. Mother’s what? Brain? Boyfriend? Her cat? Mother’s Best Friend?
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 5:27 AM
Moralizing was an intrinsic part of K-dramas, what you see now is a watered-down down version. It was never endearing but almost a trope. Now with “globalization” of K-dramas this aspect is tempered down quite a bit.
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 10:19 AM
when would you say the shift began? I feel like there are some that still do, but I like them way better than the hit you over the head stuff. Case in point I think Forest of Secrets 2 had a lot to say about corruption. But it was still rather subtle about it (although less so than the first in the philosophical messaging imo)
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 11:07 AM
Cozy, the shift in tone is somewhat recent say 5-6 years. Its not all gone considering “moral lessons” are such an intrinsic part of K-dramas but yes it is somewhat less “hit over the head” and more by the way “insert moral sermonizing”.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 9, 2024 at 8:23 AM
because he was the only character that came with an in-built personality. The rest of them were two-dimensional idiots from start to finish. I’d have saved Si-oh (the evil one) 100 times over Nam-soon. Actually I’d have sacrificed Nam-soon for Si-oh. Not because he’s cute (Nam-soon was cute too at first) but because he has survived so long by himself and still had it in him to have faith in friendship.
If I were to romanticise his character, I’d say there is a much more beautiful soul in there that believed in friendship when life has been just darkness than in Nam-fucking-soon, who has been surrounded by unconditional love from start to finish and still choose to lie to, hurt, and destroy Si-oh like the little brainless parasite she was written to be. I hate using a word like soul, it’s full of fluffiness but it means nothing at all. But I can’t find a better word for now.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 8:28 AM
The frustrating thing was that the premise of the drama, the character, especially the “bad” guy had so much potential. While not a classic it could have been a perfectly memorable drama. 🤷♀️
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 12:05 PM
It could have been unique, groundbreaking. It could have been so much.
It could also have been, like, okay.
But it went for “horrible”.
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 10:21 AM
It’s so funny to read these comments not having seen the drama and just be nodding my head like “oooh so that’s where that drama ended up” hahaha
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 11:40 AM
NO
I just wrote a really long explanation about my feelings and hopes for this drama and ended with links for my giffing of that drama, and the whole thing was thrown off!
Oh, my life is misery and misfortune! 😭😭😭
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 11:49 AM
Don’t tell me you typed that directly on DB. 🤦♀️
I had posted and then pasted the same comment five times but each time the page refreshed automatically and my comment was lost. Sigh. Woe me.
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 11:59 AM
But in short, less eloquent terms:
The drama started out in such a mixture of charming innocent fantasy and (as opposed to Bong-soon) absurd take on very serious, realistic issues; like homelessness, date-rape, everyday sexual harassment and class privilege…
I was beginning to expect some kind of absurd avantgarde fantasy take on these matters, thinking of the stage and Berlin between the two wars, comedy made by revolutionaries who were at the same time strictly anti-conventional, sometimes arguing their case by letting every character adhere strictly logical according to society rules, but in a way that made it overly clear how absurd that was (for example).
The insertion of a girl with an unusual clear, determined, naïve mind and at the same time superpowers could have resulted in something like that, but with a fantasy happy ending.
Instead, nothing was finished in a meaningful way – nothing! It was more like Andy Kaufman, who left his audience nervously giggling, never quite sure were the joke was, or if it was a joke – the guy who insisted his TV performance should be interrupted by a pretty long interference of “technical difficulties”, long enough to have people get up from their chairs to change the channel, and then … ha ha … it wasn’t technical difficulties at all, it was sent that way from the studio.
At best, that was what Nam-soon was. At worst, it was just really poorly written with no idea of any point to be made whatsoever.
In between these two is the “seeping through the cracks” idea, where all these things were brought up for people to think for themselves, but never finished because a show whose morale was “Eat the Rich” would not be able to obtain and uphold funding.
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 11:59 AM
Strong Girl Nam-soon
Week 1
https://www.dramabeans.com/members/CecilieDK/activity/1466000/
Week 2
https://www.dramabeans.com/members/CecilieDK/activity/1470692/
Week 3
https://www.dramabeans.com/members/CecilieDK/activity/1474042/
Week 4
https://www.dramabeans.com/members/CecilieDK/activity/1477041/
Week 5
?
Week 6
https://www.dramabeans.com/members/CecilieDK/activity/1485186/
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 12:00 PM
Week 7
https://www.dramabeans.com/members/CecilieDK/activity/1489015/
Week 8
https://www.dramabeans.com/members/CecilieDK/activity/1492401/ ep
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 12:00 PM
15
https://www.dramabeans.com/members/CecilieDK/activity/1492867/ ep 16
Imagined Grease solution week 3½ https://www.dramabeans.com/activity/p/1475462/
Wings https://www.dramabeans.com/members/CecilieDK/activity/1472736/
Bong-soon https://www.dramabeans.com/activity/p/1461083/ og https://www.dramabeans.com/activity/p/1451996/ (E.T.-ing)
https://www.dramabeans.com/activity/p/1473480/
Long post about Mr. Oh (the halfways crossdressing gay co-worker (like, Jeans, a blouse, and pearls) played by Kim Won-hae in Bong-soon) and representation of LGBT:
https://www.dramabeans.com/activity/p/1500226/
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 12:12 PM
The insertion of a naïve but superpowered character like Nam-soon could, for example, have made for child-like straight questions about unreasonable conventions.
Si-oh could have … oh my God, so much potential! All his plans that he obviously had, and that were not about being egoistic – nothing came of them.
ANd Nam-soon was written to even deny the smallest bit of wonder or pity at the glimpses of his sorrow and his hopes that she had got once in a while. So she was written to become a bad person in something like no time … why?
Maybe the writer just hate K-drama fans.
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 4:22 AM
And the first time I heard a voice being critical while also loving a drama same as me was either Seon-ha @attiton or @reply1988 I believe late summer last year. Thank you, it made me very happy.
I will award you both the Beanies’ Swoon’N’Brood prize.
And Cera, to you, I hand the Beanies’ Listen’N’Speak prize. Which is better understood as the antonym to Simon’N’Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence”. Those lines:
“People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening”
You are the good part of those constellations.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 5:34 AM
Thank you I gratefully accept any and all awards especially if they involve cake or gold so that Ibcan buy more cake also chips. ❤ 🥳
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 5:35 AM
TBH I don’t know what this prize means 😅 but I think it means something nice. 🤞
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 6:22 AM
You know very well! Sometimes you are the one who stands between a Beanie and the big empty Sound of Silence. So the opposite of people hearing without listening, is what I’m trying to say.
Usually a prize is presented with some emojis. So.
To Cera:
The big Beanie Sprout 🫘👂🏻👂🏽👂🏾💞 Listen’N’Speak 🗣️👄🏆🌱 Award
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 6:34 AM
🙇♀️ Thank you Cecilie. You have a lot of very awesome, great and wonderful things to say and I LOVE to hear you. 😘
**whispers pitifully** Is there cake.
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 10:24 AM
Hear hear! Cera is amazing at this 🙂
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 6:28 AM
It comes with the right of inserting that in your title, if you want, or presenting yourself as receiver of said Award.
It also comes with the right to cake, if you buy it yourself.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 6:38 AM
Yay!! And chips too!!
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 7:10 AM
And if you come by Copenhagen, … I will provide you with cake.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 9, 2024 at 8:26 AM
@seeker – are you having cake and chips? Sounds barbaric. I’m in!
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 8:33 AM
@darkcc you are a girl after my own heart ❤ and apparently stomach too!! 🫰I’ve already given you a ring. So do we have our color uncoordinated ajhumma outfits for the Valentine party set?
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 9, 2024 at 6:27 AM
To @attiton and @reply1988
the Bean Sprout Great 🌱😊🤓🥳😘🥰Swoon’N’Brood 🤔🙎🏻♀️🧐😡🫘 Award.
Seon-ha
February 9, 2024 at 6:41 AM
Thanks, Cecilie. I am always honored by the bestowal of a 🫘Beansprout🌱!!
I’m also honored to hear that you felt connected to my comments and that they encouraged you to speak.
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
February 9, 2024 at 11:20 AM
Thank you so much for this award🥰
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 8:40 AM
That is friendship right there! To be able to love something and get frustrated over it together and still know we both love it (not the specific drama itself necessarily but just the experience and getting to be frustrated at it together)
..I watched Blue Beetle with my husband, brother and sister-in-law over the Christmas break. There was much frustration to be had, and it was so funny.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 1:45 AM
Thank you for posting such wonderful topic and sharing your journey. I love both your TL;DR and long answer.
My love of DB and K-dramas are inextricably linked. I love you Beans!!
An expression of my love is here. 👇
https://www.dramabeans.com/members/Seeker/activity/1449689/
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 8:42 AM
That is so sweet!! Haha I smiled at the “dropping awesome literary references like our kdrama leads” because they do do that, don’t they. 🙂
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 8:53 AM
I find all the cultural and literary references in K-dramas particularly delightful. And trust @Kurama to come up with the most perfect dramas for these. 😊💃
https://www.dramabeans.com/members/Seeker/activity/1460671/#acomment-1460928
Kurama
February 9, 2024 at 9:13 AM
Thank you 😊
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 9:29 AM
I’m sharing part of another comment, describing my
enthralmentengagement with DB.I have found Fanwall posts to be creatively satisfying and chatting with Beans on Fanwall emotionally satisfying. Recaps are a different kind of fun and require a different engagement. All in all the engagement in DB is great to de-stress and rave and rant all at once.
Healer’s
February 9, 2024 at 4:04 AM
I’ve made myself a cup of coffee and now preparing my answer, updating a comment of mine on my fanwall some months ago in a conversation with emsel.
My first Kdramas were in the late 1990s (You and I, Did we really love), so I have watched Kdramas for a longgg time. But I didn’t pay much attention to details like the subject matters, or the acting skills… back then. The little girl that was me back then was simply mesmerised by the actors’ good look and gorgeous outfits. Now I still watch Kdramas for entertainment, but I have learnt to appreciate both major and minor details of a show, and thus my watching experience feels very different; in other words, the emotional reward from watching a Kdrama is much greater now.
But I also became picky over time. I don’t like melo, makjang, romcom anymore. From around 2010 to 2020, I didn’t watch any new Kdramas. All Kdrama watching then was rewatching, if any. Thanks to Crash landing on you, my love for Kdramas was awakened and I had a good dramathon during the last 4 years. I started to feel that I must join some community that is dedicated to Kdrama discussions, that’s when I joined DB. I think it was around the time I watched Pretty Noona. Jung Hae In was the first actor that made me think “what it would feel to be spending some time with this guy?” I joined DB to like comments under Pretty Noona recaps and to give my two cents. But actually, I had been to DB site several times before that, when I googled something Kdrama-related, but I wasn’t aware about how rich the contents here were back then, I simply thought it was a recapping site. I didn’t know it’s a whole community here with its own traditions and etiquette, and all the more amazingly when all that is based on utter anonymity. And since then, from a mere lurker, I have participated much more in discussions with my less than proficient English. I keep a note of drama-related new words I learned from beanies, which is very long now.
There were times when I was busy with real life and didn’t have time for Kdramas, and I felt like a part of me was missing. To me, Kdramas is not a means to kill time but make part of who I am. They, albeit being fiction, help me contemplate life and human relationships. Just like the post graduate journey helped me identify myself some years ago, watching Kdramas is another meaningful (lifelong) journey. Going to DB is such an indispensible part of my Kdrama-watching experience. You guys are so insightful, I’m in awe most of the time I’m here.
(to be cont.)
Healer’s
February 9, 2024 at 4:05 AM
(cont.)
I stumbled upon javabeans’ farewell post some months ago, and got so emotional reading her heartfelt words. But I’ve read it only once. Although I may have pasted the link to that post here and there, I won’t be reading it again any time soon, because it just feels sad. I just hope I would always be able to find you guys somewhere on the internet, even when DB site may not be here anymore. Am I selfish? Because even I can’t give you my words that I will always be there for you to find, because life happens, and we are not sure about the future. But I mean to say what happens on DB has enriched my life in a way so unexpected, and I am so very grateful for that. Because after all, it’s real people talking about life using fiction as a medium.
❤️❤️❤️
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 4:45 AM
I guess this thread is going to make me cry buckets. ❤ 😊
Thank you Claire for describing your DB journey so beautifully.
Your sentences resonate with the emotional heft of so many Beans.
“the emotional reward from watching a Kdrama is much greater now”
“it’s real people talking about life using fiction as a medium“
Seon-ha
February 9, 2024 at 7:35 AM
Seconding @seeker:
Claire, that’s just everything, isn’t it?? I’m 100% with you. Sometimes you need something/someone else to show you what you want to see about yourself. And sometimes, you are the model that helps others in that same way.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 8:29 AM
❤
Healer’s
February 9, 2024 at 4:40 PM
💖
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 8:57 AM
This! It is just so heartfelt, and when I re-read it yesterday there were parts that gave me such hope JB and GF still come and lurk occasionally, or that they have plans for another grand adventure somewhere.. DB will always be DB though, and I’m grateful they built the place they did.
I just hope that wherever they are, they’re doing well and feeling fulfilled with where their lives have taken them.
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 8:47 AM
Thank you for sharing!! I absolutely loved reading this. I just think it’s so cool that you’ve watched dramas for so long, even if you did take a decade break.
Did you ever go back and watch shows from the 20teens then? I feel like 2017 was a great year for dramas for me (at least, I either LOVED them or didn’t) and would love to know your thoughts and if you have any favorites from that era now.
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
February 9, 2024 at 11:48 AM
I love 2017 dramas . I watched loads of them and couldn’t believe all the ones I really enjoyed for that feel good boost were from that year. I wish I had known about K-dramas then and DB it sounds like there was a lot of fun in the comments and great material to be talking about.
Healer’s
February 9, 2024 at 5:19 PM
Yes, after CLOY, I went back and watch as many as I could. I missed all Hallyu 20teens’ hits (such as You from the stars, Reply 1988, Healer, Pretty Noona…) during their live airing, and then consumed them during covid. I didn’t keep tracks of shows I watched but I remember my K-crushes along the way, so basically I’ve watched many if not all shows of a favourite actor. 2020 was my year of Jung Hae In, Lee Sang Yoon, Lee Jong Suk, Ji Chang Wook. 2021 was when I discovered Junho, 2022 Woo Do Hwan, 2023 Seo Kang Joon and Lee Je Hoon. During the last 4 years, I watched a lot, but also rewatched a lot. So I think as a beanie, the number of shows I have watched is still less than average.
My most favourite shows that I watched after their live airing:
Misaeng 2014
Reply1988 2015
Healer 2015
Signal 2016
Weightlifting fairy Kim Bok Joo 2016-2017
Forest of Secrets 2017 and 2020
Mad dog 2017
Wok of love 2018
Life 2018
Are you human too? 2018
Confession 2019
Watcher 2019
Move to heaven 2021
Taxi driver 2021 and 2023
Looking at this, I think 2017 was indeed a great year for Kdramas for me too. If I’m not mistaken, Chicago typewriter is also a 2017 show. I didn’t love it as much as shows mentioned above, but it is a show I enjoyed a lot.
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 7:05 PM
Oh my gosh that actually sounds like the best quarantine experience ever. To get to watch MLFAS, Healer, possible Signal and Forest of Secrets ALL for the first time one on top of the other?! How did you come down off the high??!
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 7:49 PM
❤ Cozy, that’s such an awesome way to describe it!
To quote @Sicarius‘ perfect life philosophy – “why watch shitty shows when Healer exists”!!
https://www.dramabeans.com/members/sicarius/activity/924296/
Healer’s
February 9, 2024 at 8:23 PM
It was indeed a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I fell down the Kdrama rabbit hole and indulged myself to no limit because I knew it wouldn’t happen twice. It was hard coming down off the high, and some drama slumps have hit me but luckily none lasted too long. It’s always great to come here to vent and rant with other beanies, and to pick on a show recommended by other beanies, some of which turned out to be hidden gems. I’ll borrow Casablanca’s line “Oh a show is still a show in Kdrama land, but a show is not a show without you guys (i.e. beanies)” 😉
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 8:49 AM
Also that is so cool to me that you keep a list of new words you learn for Beanies and get to use the site for language learning too.
I saw your use of the word “proficient” describing your English because that word in an of itself just says to me “dang, they’re at a level I can only aspire to with my Korean” 🙂 Kudos!
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
February 9, 2024 at 11:49 AM
This was so beautiful and heartfelt, thank you so much for sharing.
Unaspirated
February 9, 2024 at 5:41 AM
Dramabeans has always been a part of my kdrama experience. I started with Crash Landing on you and I was obsessed, like, obsessed with that show (still am, honestly). And I didn’t really have anyone to talk about it with and I just needed to interact with it more somehow. So I started searching around online and found DB pretty quickly. So I would read each recap after I watched each episode just so I could relive the moments and see more pictures of all the characters. As I continued with dramas, I kept reading recaps, and would use Year End Review posts and WWW posts to choose new dramas to watch. Eventually I started keeping up with the news posts and the drama chats, and eventually (I think it was the one about which scenes made us ugly cry) I felt the need to join in. It’s been so great! I love this community and love chatting about dramas and actors and random stuff with all of you. Y’all understand my love of dramas way more than most people in my offline life, and it is so nice to feel seen by you. 🫰
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 5:48 AM
❤
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 9:03 AM
hehe and CLOY strikes again! It was really just such a fun drama. So much fun 🙂
I hope you don’t mind, I totally just lurked the last page of your comments wall since I wanted to see what dramas made you ugly cry haha
To online drama friends!
Unaspirated
February 9, 2024 at 10:25 AM
I don’t mind at all! I just went back myself to relive some early comments. I stand by them 😁
I hadn’t watched that many dramas at that point, so now the list of ones that made me ugly cry is a good bit longer!
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 10:40 AM
Right? I wanna go back and look through my own comment wall now ahahaha
And I just went through the ugly cry post and was able to update on some comments with “I’ve seen that now, what a show. What a cry.”
Unaspirated
February 9, 2024 at 10:30 AM
Also, I have literally no idea why the bean next to my name is the size of the sun in that comment. I actually clicked to reply to your new comment on that thread and it was gigantic there too! So I got scared and left 😅
I wasn’t even a supporter at the time, so I have no idea what weird glitch is causing that!
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
February 9, 2024 at 11:52 AM
I am so glad you said that, as when the site is really glitchy the graphics get really enlarged for me too. I have not heard anyone else mention that so I assumed it was just a me thing.
Unaspirated
February 9, 2024 at 1:21 PM
This is the first time I’ve seen it!
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 9:23 PM
^^ Emojis always get magnified as the page gets refreshed even in other sites. So I totally assumed it was a “internet” thing and not just a “DB” thing.
Healer’s
February 9, 2024 at 11:35 PM
There was one time when I came to DB to find all profile pics and cover photos gone. I was about to mention it in an OT, but that glitch lasted only for a short time, so I’m not sure if anyone else noticed it too.
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
February 9, 2024 at 11:42 PM
@seeker see Healer’s response in this thread, do you think it explains the blank spaces on the Beanie page?
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 10, 2024 at 5:20 AM
@claire2009 I notice blank tiles / spaces in the Beanies page all the time. They may change places or disappear when refreshed, just like the names of Beanies which are randomly distributed after each refresh.
Healer’s
February 13, 2024 at 7:01 PM
@Seeker that happened to me that only one time.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 13, 2024 at 7:12 PM
I don’t know what that glitch is @claire2009 it happens ever so often when I go to the Beanies tag.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 13, 2024 at 7:13 PM
**
tagpagecozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 7:11 PM
Oh my goodness that’s actually the truly hilarious thing.. you weren’t even a supporter then? I wonder how it backdated AND backdated with the glitch then haha
You’re not alone though – several other beans on that page were also quite large.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 10, 2024 at 3:30 AM
Hahaha… looks like your Bean timeslipped just like me!! 😂
Or a mundane explanation could be that it just automatically reflects on previous comments too.
Kurama
February 9, 2024 at 9:17 AM
I don’t really have people in my entourage who watches dramas in general.
I could talk about US shows with people around me, Japanese animes on IRC so dramabeans was the place for Kdramas. On the different platforms, it’s hard to find different detailled opinions. I often have the feelings, people who comments are fan of one actor and it’s all. There are no discussion.
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 10:43 AM
This! There’s plenty of actor love here on DB, too, but I really do feel like the focus here is on the dramas and the show itself, not only tuning in for the actor (again, no hate on that – I’ve done it myself. I just love that we also get more here)
Kurama
February 9, 2024 at 1:13 PM
I won’t hide that actors are one of the reasons I try or not a drama. But even if I like the actor, I try to be objective about the rest and don’t forget that a drama is the result of the work of a writer, PD, etc. and not just one actor.
Beanies bring so many informations, it’s very interesting too!
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 9:25 PM
This is so true … yes we all love actors 🥰 and watch dramas for them but on DB the Beans actually discuss dramas while fangirling. 😄
Qingdao: likes scented candles
February 9, 2024 at 10:57 AM
I entered the Kdrama universe all alone and empty but filled with excitement after completing my gateway drama. I searched online for enthusiastic fans who articulated their ideas eloquently (I have yet to discover a people in real life who even knows what a Kdrama is!) about the Kdrama universe. Then, I found DB and was fulfilled! So many fans, so many dramas, so many ideas…omo! I stood on the DB threshold so to speak, reading, admiring and reveling in all that the DBs had to offer. Hesitantly, I dipped my toe in, making a comment here and there. Now, as clumsy and inexperienced and inarticulate as I am, I make my place satisfy my Kdrama addiction. I’m no longer in the K-universe alone; DB provides me with “K-Dramaraderie” !
💜🍍☠ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia ☠🍍💜
February 9, 2024 at 12:46 PM
I… I don’t think I can answer this right now.
cozybooks
February 9, 2024 at 7:08 PM
No worries! Take your time- weeks, months- just tag me if/when you reply! I’d love to hear your answer 🙂
♡Peach_Mochi♡
February 9, 2024 at 12:47 PM
In a nutshell, with DB I’m no longer watching dramas alone, even if I really do have the couch all to myself.. I’m not really in any other online forums — and I’ve heard it can get rough out there — so I count myself blessed to have found this one, which has so many articulate, kind, funny, insightful and just good hearted members who share my love for dramas.
TheOutsideJoke (@kmromrell)
February 9, 2024 at 4:30 PM
Thank you for asking this question! It has been so fun to read through other Beanies’ comments and see all the different ways we all ended up in one place. 🙂
For me, Dramabeans originally started as a culture-translation website.
I started watching k dramas mostly by accident in the summer of 2016. I first stumbled across a Netflix j drama (Good Morning Call) and was confused about how a show could be so objectively not-great while being so engaging. I was looking for recommendations of better Asian content and stumbled across the a fan page for Coffee Prince. That was the first k drama I ever loved, and I’ve been addicted ever since.
At the beginning, though, there were so many references in k dramas that I just didn’t get. I’m white and American, and I had so little exposure to other cultures that I struggled to understand k dramas. According to my Google history, the first dramabeans page I ever clicked on was about Secret Garden — which tracks. There was so much cultural knowledge built into the drama that I had a hard time understanding it. With the dramabeans recaps, I could learn about the culture a little more and fill in the gaps of my understanding. Thus started my days of lurking.
From 2016-December 2022, I have only one comment on the site, despite having it up nearly every time I watched a k drama. Somewhat embarrassingly, the one comment I made was a reply to my own unregistered comment tallying the Dramabeans Staff Top 10s from 2017. Looking back, this seems an auspicious beginning, considering it is creating the Dramabeans Top 10 spreadsheet that really kicked me into activity on the site.
Starting December of 2022, I start occasionally posting, mostly in response to the end-of-year polls. Then, in the summer of 2023, I posted a spreadsheet of all Dramabeans Top 10 polls, knowing that very few people would likely see it since it was so late. @reply1988 saw it (of course), and reached out to me with lovely praise and feedback for the spreadsheet. At one point in the conversation, she alluded to the fact that the Dramabeans community was made better when people commented and participated.
Weirdly enough, I’d never even considered that before. Until this point, Dramabeans was all about the Staff posts. I read recaps, but I rarely read the comment section — something that now feels so alien. I enjoyed the comments in the end-of-year polls, but even then, I didn’t post my own Bean Count until December of 2022. After talking to Mother Bean, though, I decided that I wanted to be a bit more active.
And that’s where we are now. I’m still somewhat new to interacting as a Beanie, and I frequently feel like I’m doing it wrong, but I’ve loved the community I’ve been finding here. Here’s to more to come!
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
February 9, 2024 at 7:55 PM
Thank you for sharing your journey with us and it’s so impressive that you came in quietly offering such a special gift for the beanie community. I hope you continue to have fun interacting at the level that works for you. I don’t think there is a wrong way to interact if you are a beanie as I have observed that beanies read the room, manage our emotions re dramas, use our social skills when interacting and remember K-drama and K-entertainment are not real life.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 9, 2024 at 9:30 PM
Mother Bean is so right. There is no “wrong” way to interact. Your contribution and community service to Beaniedom is at another level. What you do no one else can do or has done before. 👏 👏 👏
nerdy
February 10, 2024 at 1:03 PM
I sorta talked about that on my Fanwall (https://www.dramabeans.com/members/nerdy/activity/1531477/?nid=4802016&nidwpc=1533119#acomment-1533119), but would still like to add on here.
Some people write diaries. I have tried to be one of those people and now, I have a number of journals all describing max. three days. Dramabeans is probably the closest thing to the archive of how my values, English skills and character develops. I remember writing angry rants about evil kdrama parents, because my parents had an exhausting divorce; criticizing female leads too harshly because I thought rich oppa deserved someone better (me); criticizing rich main leads too harshly because I thought loving, kind person deserved someone better (SML). I was doing a lot of projection and addressing my feelings in a somewhat healthy manner, in environment in which people responded nicely and did not ridicule my overt passion.
At a certain point, my personal agenda took a back seat and I came to the conclusion that I always come back, because above it all, I love discussing the shows and reading the others’ thoughts. Art is not all that subjective; there is always a reason for liking something. I am not particularly good with words, thus, I come here for eloquent explanations and nod along when I see comments that resonate with me.
Healer’s
February 13, 2024 at 7:06 PM
“ I come here for eloquent explanations and nod along when I see comments that resonate with me.” <<< this is me too!!
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
February 13, 2024 at 9:24 PM
Yes, I feel some beanies are truly gifted with their use of words.
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
February 13, 2024 at 9:23 PM
I love this reflection on your journey with dramas and how they affect us in different ways at different points in time. Thank you for sharing ❤️