Yesterday was a special day for this blog because… (*drum roll*) the number of total hits crossed 500,000. That’s half a million!
To commemorate this milestone, Thundie’s Prattle is giving away two English-subtitled DVD sets of Story of a Man. This drama was many people’s choice for Best Drama of 2009 and I’m not surprised, having recently watched nine episodes (out of twenty) and finding myself thoroughly gripped by the writing and acting. Although the premise of the story is revenge against a psychopathic antagonist (played brilliantly by Kim Kang-woo), the drama is imbued with a familial tenderness that I find touching and affecting. A man (Park Yong-ha in his last drama before his untimely passing this year) vows to avenge the death of his brother (Ahn Nae-sang) but must descend, figuratively, into the pits of hell before he is able to map out a foolproof revenge plan. His opponent, meanwhile, is fighting his own inner demons, even as he presents a seemingly impenetrable and invincible front to the world. Caught between them is a woman (Park Shi-yeon) who loves both men.
Are you piqued? Would you like to win one of the two sets? Here’s how.
Take any male character from any kdrama and tell us his story, in one line or ten, in verse or prose, whichever way you like, however long you like. You decide the form and the length.
To win, you must be able to move my two guest judges. Move them to tears or peals of laughter, move them to silence or shrieks of disbelief, move them to run out and grab the kdrama that you’re writing about… It’s all about the moving, dear readers.
Your entry should have the following title:
Story of a Man – name of male character (name of kdrama)
Example: Story of a Man – Lee Sun-joon (Sungkyunkwan Scandal)
The contest will close on October 11, 2010. Happy writing! And thank you for supporting this little blog!
Psst… please do not reveal major spoilers in your story. Especially do not reveal the ending spoiler of Story of a Man which I plan to finish soon!
Like this:
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Story of a Man – Park Kyu (Tamna)
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Chamber pots and pig stys
One man’s treasure is another’s piss pot
Turbulent rolls of water upending my yangban ways
All through the night & day
The rhythm of sea calls me to this speck of land
The southern isle where the sea and sky greets, the corner where exiles & foreigners meets
——–
A lonely man walks along a hill
Tall, thin spectral white with black hat still
Hands folded neatly behind him
Neither wind, nor pigs should ever ruffle or crease
Nary a hair or grease his pristine white dopo limb
The collective call of the sea sirens sing: come all, come all
To Tamna, an exiler’s home
A far-off Island
Lit up by the waning Jejudo moon
The Sang min of the isle who I have come to know & trust
One in particular I have dared come to admire
Even though the law of the land say a love between us must never, never transpire
But O bestill my heart
For she speaks!
Tears roll down my cheeks
But naught tears of joy, but pain
For have you heard my lady speak?!
That voice! That god awful voice!
A dying, screeching cat kind of a voice
What does a young man have as a choice?
But to cover her lips, quick as lightening
By sealing it with a kiss, that is a lil enlightening
Since it revealed a love so rare, that nothing else could ever compare
A longing that I’ve never known, that even time apart makes grown
That I will risk my very life & limb to protect her & her beloved home
The collective call of the sea sirens sing: come all, come all
To Tamna, a place I now call home
A far-off Island
Lit up by the bright Jejudo Sun
So rather than seek further glory in Han Yang
I chose instead to stay & fetch water in Sang bang
Now to my readers I bid you adieu, as with many shakespear’s endings I think this will end with an “I do”
I will love her the rest of my days in as many ways, even a million
As long as she never utters, the word that still makes me shudder
The two syllable word “Will–iam”
——
So ends the happy tale of yangban Park Kyu
And unhappy will he be, if this noble only knew
that his rarefied name in fact rhymes with F__ Y__!
(so shhhh!)
OMG….I needed that @nycgrl…thank you…Perfect ending for today…
so who is the winner?? my vote goes to Nano.. very Hwang Tae Kyung.. had me laughing all around.
Great job to all!! very entertaining
who is the winner? my vote goes to Nano, very Hwang Tae Kyung, it had me laughing all around.
OK NYCgirl2010 also got my vote. a fusion of modern and shakespearean-esque poem.
I have some good competition! Kudos to lei for the interview format. Had me laughing out loud.
“How do you sleep at night?”
“With my eyes closed.”
haha! beautiful response! If I ever get asked that at a terrfying interview, that is how I’ll answer.
“Staples, you are known for turning millions of people into drama addicts. Their eyes glued constantly to the screen. How do you sleep at night?”
“With my eyes closed.”
Though, of course, the correct answer would be “Sleep? Darling, I’m watching the second season of Hotaru no Hikari right now. Sleep is the last thing on my list.”
Thundie, when/how are you planning on announcing the winner?
“How do you sleep at night?”
“With my eyes closed.”
haha. best response ever! It’s right up there with the quote “Kidnapping is such a strong word. I prefer to say ‘surprise adoption.’ ”
Anyway, if I’m ever in an interview and the person says “Staples, you are known for turning the world into drama-watching zombies. Unable to sleep in their desire to watch The Next Episode. How do you sleep at night?”
“With my eyes closed.”
Though, of course, the correct response would be, “Sleep? Honey, I’m watching the second season of Hotaru no Hikari. Sleep is the last thing on my list.”
Thundie, when/how are you planning on announcing the winner?
Hi staples
My two guest judges are reviewing the entries. I’ll announce the results when they are done. Thanks for waiting and good luck!
thank you, diorama and staples. i’m glad you liked my little sun joon story. i am hopeless with poems… how do you guys find words that rhyme? make that words that rhyme, and makes sense when put together
diorama, you reminded me that i have to resume watching coffee house. work piled up and i had to take a break from kdramas then. when i finally had time, MGIAG and SKKS came up. but i did enjoy the few CH episodes i’ve seen. it’s one quirky drama.
staples — i’d like to adopt go soo, gong yoo, kang ji hwan, song joong ki and micky yoo chun by surprise
@lei: how about joint surprise custody? lol
sorry for the double commenting btw, guys. I had commented once, it didn’t show up and I thought my computer had messed up, so I tried to re-write my comment…
Love all the entries, and I missed getting mine in, written last week but not edited and on Monday I had a sick baby and van/car trouble, so I offer my late offering simply because …. you know, I wrote it and it’s now just a mute point.
Tamna Island — Park Kyu
For Viola, and others, as promised, sorry, Thundie, for missing your contest with this (although it was not needed!).
Burn
You bump my ribs with juicy-dripped lips upturned
My condescension glared on you, commoner, but inside I burned
A brush of hands to grab my bag which lay in the dirt
Disgusted at this base encounter, still, did some part in my chest spurt?
You grab for me when rug-rats knock you about
I knock your hand aside and send you sprawling out
Day One, rushed and chaotic, we’ve collided
An annoyance in this rustic place, I’ve decided.
You demand your jin sang pe and grab my bag to learn
if it has landed there, but we tug-of-war and get upturned
Zap! inside my hands now lays this small soft face
Cradled from a knock, the dirt, what I cannot place
Our bodies so twisted and now connected
I was being a nobleman and a girl protected
Or is this rushing noise in my body aware, clear
That every nerve is ignoring your low-ness, now near?
Day Two finds you pushing off my chest
to untangle our limbs from this wrestled mess
Day Three finds me and my troublesome bag
Rooming in your stores and your tongue does wag
“what if my jin sang pe is here?” and rushing to find out
I push you back, you shove my bag and my lips spout
“Someone as lowly as you should not touch this body”
But inside I’m getting used to it, though it’s twisted and knotty
“Goldfish!” “Thief!” “Commoner!” “Exile”
Still, with back turned, I smirk and I smile
Suddenly this secret assignment and faux banishment
Has shifted from annoyance to a true punishment
You fall in love and I watch you live for another man
I can brush off any feelings, at least, that is my plan
And so it goes as life on the island slowly turns
Your touchless touches touch me in places that make me burn.
Emotions for a commoner, those I spurn
I, Park Kyu, knows how the world should turn
For sweet-lipped innocence I will not yearn
I will uphold the law and to Seoul adjourn
Untouched, untouchable, I have not earned
your love, yet, but inside, I’ve burned.
*****
So, it could have been improved if I’d spent more than a few minutes on it, but it was just something that came to mind about unspoken physical responses to all that contact early in Tamna Island and the chain of reactions it set off in Park Kyu.!!! I went off and wrote it in about 20 minutes and meant to get back to edit it and put it up on Thundie’s competition. Oh, well!
And don’t you just love how so many can write about the same character and give such a different take on it? LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
I really like all the entries, thanks ladies for making me smile and enjoy!!!
(apologies to any men, I didn’t see any names that I though were males!)
@staples — i’m ok with joint surprise custody. we can share
a lot of love for park kyu here. i should put tamna island on my drama watch list
I love all the entries, the poetic form, the reporter’s commentary form and the prose form too. If I were a judge, it’d be very difficult to choose a winner as all entries are so good in their own way. But I’m glad Coffee Prince’s protagonist and Tamra Island’s Park Kyu have been chosen by more than one competitor. These two characters are also my favourites. Too bad none chose Jung Joon Ho from “Last Scandal”. I discoverd this blog only today but I’ve been enjoying reading all the comments and the recaps.