[As an early Christmas present, I’m pleased to introduce a new guest blogger to you. A familiar voice on the Dramabeans Open Threads, leonardswench is an avowed kdrama addict who also happens to have a job that makes me green with envy: reviewing kdramas! Please welcome her! --thundie]
I am a sucker for cops. You might as well know now, if he is Korean and flashes a badge, it’s too late, there’s already been an ovary meltdown. I’m saying all this to preface my personal k-drama train wreck.
I’m traveling along in life, American, Texas housewife, mother, job, hobbies, happy, and blissfully unaware of Korean dramas. I didn’t want them, didn’t need them, didn’t know they existed. I was a member of a writer’s forum, and we admins had decided we needed a worldwide review section, divided by region, taking in literature, television, film, theatre, music, fashion, and pop culture. Everyone laid claim to their ‘region’ of choice, leaving two areas standing up for grabs from my girlfriend and I: Russia, and Asia. She couldn’t stand the thought of Asian anything outside of Chinese buffet restaurants and I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to watch anything Russian-made after a rather horrible earlier film experience, so … there I was, busy writing Asian reviews.
Well, not quite, BUSY, you understand, more like, wow, first, Asia has all these places with film and music and television departments. I landed at Hong Kong Cinema and mysoju.com and began to explore my way into the unchartered waters of lokorns, k-dramas, HK productions, j-pop, and so much more. I was barely treading water in unfamiliar territories with no background knowledge at all — and almost everything I saw and read left me disappointed, and feeling like I’d like Russia back, please.
Then my train wrecked. It was late at night, I had not blogged on any Asian movies or television for over a week, missing a few deadlines on my writer’s forum, and I was desperate to watch something I liked. My last drama had been a Mainland drama (Chinese, or C-drama, to me) and it had taken extreme willpower to make it through the horrible story-line, acting, production values, editing, and the finding-anything-positive-to-say-about-it review. (I will write negative reviews, but I do try to find something good in every production. Sometimes, it is just not possible.)
I was at mysoju.com, flipping through drama and movie profiles, caught the word “detective” and thought, “At least this one is about a cop, maybe I’ll find the crime stories worth watching.”
If you haven’t guessed it yet, Lovers in Prague (2005) was my personal train wreck. For starters, I liked the intro music, which is always a good beginning. I didn’t know the actors, could not read or speak Korean, had to rely on subtitles and grainy video links that loaded slowly and frequently paused, but there I was, watching my first k-drama.
Perhaps it appealed to me because it started in Prague, not Seoul, and it was funny in the first 30 seconds of dialogue. Perhaps it was the heartfelt acting of Jeon Do Yeon or Kim Joo Hyuk. Maybe it was just the cop. I clearly had not read much beyond the word “detective” since the first crime was solved in one minute and we moved straight into the relationships and crying. Welcome to k-dramas!
Regardless, at 6 a.m., I realized I had a problem. I had just watched 5 straight episodes of a television series and only the necessity of a 20-minute nap to get me through morning classes prevented me watching episode 6. I spent my lunch hour on that episode, slept in the van while my daughters were in dance classes, drove back home to spend the next eight hours watching seven more episodes. I managed 3 hours of sleep and repeated the process: one episode at lunch, 4 episodes to finish that night. I fell into bed at the conclusion, too tired to blog or process everything I had seen in that 48 hours.
Clearly, I had math problems. There were not enough hours in the day, or night, and yet, over the next 48 hours, I watched it all again, equally as hooked as the first time. My husband asked, “Are you having a breakdown?” I didn’t know what to answer. I was stunned, overwhelmed, and in shock — train wrecked!
Four-and-a-half-years later, I have not looked back. And I still feel train-wrecked. K-dramas make me excited, make me cry, laugh, confuse me, tear me up inside, beat me down, lift me up, run my emotions around for awhile before spinning them out of control, make me think about my life and my outlook on love and relationships, drive me to write daily on several blogs and forums, lead me to a secret k-drama club, and to top it all off, I am attempting to write my second k-script of the year.
And for some reason, I don’t think I am the only one who is still in the train wreck. In fact, I know I am not. So, where were you? What were you doing? How did you go from having one life, to being in the middle of a k-drama train wreck? I want to know, so that I can laugh, cry, and share with you that we are all not alone in this fabulous, wonderful, frustrating, amazing world.
I’ll be watching Lovers in Prague while I am waiting for your answers.
Congrats on 11 years, djes, I cannot wait to get there, but in the meantime, I will be addicted and watching all I can!
kdramas were the best thing that happened to me when I was unemployed last year. Kept the depression at bay. Haha! Everything happens for a reason, even unemployment! I was on HULU and happen to see a photo of a guy with an incredibly deep, deep V-neck sweater with a quirky looking girl next to him. The man cleavage got me interested, mostly because I found it so peculiar looking and refreshingly un-western, so I clicked on it and unwittingly started my first kdrama marathon. That was Personal Taste. I can’t believe I watched my first kdrama with absolutely no cultural background for context. I was fascinated by so many things. The word “oppa” (which I thought was only a Greek thing), deep V-neck sweaters for men, secretaries who follow you around everywhere, soju and all the drunkeness, and piggyback rides… and so many other things. I loved the focus on the cute and sincere…how every episode in every kdrama ends the same way with that still shot of the main characters in some prickly moment; how the promotional stills are quirky and often have nothing to do with the show itself (umm, have you seen the new stills for History of the Salaryman?!); how each drama ends and then new one’s start every 6-8 weeks (keeps the drama crack coming in doses); how there’s so much variety so you can always find what your looking for in a 16-24 episode format. And the list goes on and on. My 2nd kdrama was Coffee Prince. Also a marathon and that’s it- I was a gonner. Haven’t watched American television since except the news and some Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Now I’m contemplating taking classes to learn Korean (so I don’t have to wait for subs! and of course to better myself as a learned and cultured person…). I’m also thinking of starting a website with my sister (got her hooked on kdramas too!) to document our kdrama adventures. We love to analyze dramas. We’ve spent so much time talking about and writing about dramas that we feel like we have to do something with all that information and energy. I’ve gleefully accepted that this addiction will never end!
Welcome though! Looking forward to more reviews. Really enjoyed Lovers in Prague. So many beautiful shots of the city. It made more sense than Lovers and had a much better ending than Lovers in Paris. Also one of the few kdramas where the the girl had more status than the guy.
It is so wonderful to hear that your sister is just as hooked: it is so rare in life to find that, as so many posters have already attested to, please, enjoy it for all of those who don’t have someone in their immediate life to share the kdrama love!
I’m taking korean via learnkoreanonline.net. The first five lesson are free and there’s a forum and FB page where the instructor interacts and posts videos in response to questions.
Ok, I’m just going to say it, if not for my kdrama train wreck I would have graduated university by now. My train wreck came when I was at an important time in my life, I had just started my junior yr of college and was just blissfully enjoying my life in South Florida until that faithful night when I was hanging out with my best friend and for some reason our conversation led to her telling me about this crazy girl(crazy in my opinion) who was still friends with these two people who stranded her in China and then sold her house while she was gone. I was flabbergasted at this story, so I was determined to see it for myself, the drama was of course Full House. Its been almost two yrs since that night. Since then I’ve seen countless dramas, expanding into Taiwanese, Japanese and Mainland, I’ve even watched the Vietnamese version of Full House. I’ve experienced the good and the bad side of my train wreck, the good being I’ve become more international that the average Jamaican, and have even started learning Korean as a 2nd language, but I have endured many a ridicule from my typical Jamaican family that thinks everyone that looks Asian must be Chinese. Despite the culture differences and the shift in my life, I have to say I don’t regret it. Where would I be if I was never introduced to Micky Yoochun, Yoon Eun Hye, Lee Seung Ki, Bae Yong Jun, Jerry Yan, Van Ness Wu, Shin Min A,Yamapi, DBSK, Big Bang; if i never saw The Devil, Sungkyungkwan Scandal, Autumn Concerto, Princess Hours, Legend, Ojakgyo Brothers etc, well I would be a college graduate already but its overrated anyways lol
Here are best wishes to finishing college and keeping up the kdrama love, Que: I honestly don’t know what would have happened to me if this little train wreck had come earlier in my life!
My first kdrama was Full House. I was flipping through channels when I saw a documentary in NatGeo about Rain which mentioned the success of Full House all over the world. It got me curious so I watched it and I loved it but it didn’t really got me addicted to Kdramas as I was currently addicted to Taiwanese dramas, Jdoramas, and a lot of American chick flicks. But I remember watching a couple or so episodes of Hwang Jini and Coffee Prince on TV (which was not the best way of watching dramas because of the crazy looong commercial breaks on Philippine TV and the many cuts they make to the show). But during the end of my first year in college, I saw Dalja’s Spring airing on cable (and with minimal commercial breaks!) and fell in love with it. It made me hurry to go home as soon as my last class was finished. And when I can no longer wait for the next episode I tried watching it online. As I was a fan of historical pieces, I tried Queen Seon Deok after DS and got terribly addicted as each episode ends with a cliff hanger. I remember barely studying for my final exams because I so want to watch the next episode after finishing one (and it was 62 eps!). I felt really bad when I saw my grades and my friend whom I have a grades rivalry with got higher grades than me. I even got dropped from the honor roll. I just told myself that grades aren’t everything and just enjoyed watching as many kdramas as I want. In fact, I even shared my kdrama love to that friend and to my sister whom I always watch kdramas with now. Right now, I have one more addiction, and it’s reading kdrama-related blogs.
Welcome leonardswench and I’m eagerly awaiting your next posts!!
Thanks for the welcome, gella, I loved Dalja’s Spring, too!
My kdrama addiction must be solely blamed on that fact that I don’t have work summers. It was on a slothful July day that I scrolled through the list of shows at Hulu. For about the second time I saw a manga-like picture of an Asian school girl alongside somewhat flamboyant-looking Asian guys. And the title was even stranger. Boys Over Flowers. I read the little synopsis and thought “What the heck! It might be interesting”. Within seconds the drug was on it’s way to my dopamine receptors causing me to crave it more and more. I remember the low I felt waking up the next day after finishing my first kdrama. Hee..hee…And now BOF is near the bottom of my list! When I first started watching kdramas I noticed every Asian person in public, wished I were born Korean, ached to visit Korea, used the shows to inspire my weight-loss (those skinny girls helped me lose about 20lbs/9kg!), craved rice, noodles, and kimchi, and all I wanted to do after work was watch kdramas. Now the insanity has tapered off, but I still love them…After about 48-72 hours of abstaining I’ll feel a little off. I hope to be a life-long kdrama-watcher, but with a life
K-dramas as weight loss program, I like it! Actually, that is how I watch so many dramas — on the treadmill, mihinikki!
It was last June, I think. I was reading something about watching movies online and the article mentioned Hulu (have it), Netflix (have it), and CrunchyRoll (what’s that?) So I google and go, and I’m looking around, and I see this pretty still of people dressed in beautiful costumes…2 couples, it looks like, young, attractive, rich. I read the blurb – oh, it’s about a princess? I’m in. love a Cinderella story! Two days later I have marathoned the entire thing, cried more tears than in the past 10 years combined, and am in serious need of MORE.
Flower boy? What the hell is a Flower boy? Why would I want a boy to look like a flower? Hey…that Kim-what’s-his-face is seriously cute. Why is he so SERIOUS? Wait, Wikipedia says he’s actually a singer? Off to Youtube I go…G-D what is wrong with that mean kid’s HAIR? Are they serious with those clothes? How OLD is this thing? Why can’t I stop watching? OMG she picked the wrong guy, how could she DO that? Don’t worry Kim Hyun Joong, I won’t desert you!
Perfect student, indeed. Oh Ha Ni, get a grip. That boy is MINE. Oh wait, looks like that crazy looking kid from the Flower show gets better hair with this next one…wait, he’s gay? Oh, no, ok. Oh, so SWEET oh my God I GET it now, he’s adorable. Um, hello – where did THAT kiss come from? And now he’s going to be a what? A detective? No, a vigilante. Looks better this time, too. oh my LORD, when did he get so sexy. Well that was good – his dad was an ASS. Loved his ahjussi – isn’t that cute how they call everyone uncle, aunt, brother, sister…I wonder if I could learn some of that.
Hey wait..this guy’s HOT. Ok, I’m going to overlook the ridiculous plot contrivance of friends stealing a house because I want to watch that boy. Oh my Lord, I am in love. He’s an idiot, but I would forgive him for ANYTHING. Oh please, let them end up together. What does that website say? Is he in anything else? What the hell kind of name is Rain, anyway. Oooh…he plays a boxer who gets revenge on that cute girl from Naked Kitchen in this one…OMG I WANT TO DIE, I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO TRAUMATIZED IN ALL MY LIFE. What else is he in? I’m a what? Bunny ears? Um, ok…Actually, that was really sweet. How come I can’t find the movie where he goes back to school? Oh wait, I found it! Aww, he is so sweet and so hot, all at the same time. How is that possible? OMG I WANT TO DIE, I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO TRAUMATIZED IN ALL MY LIFE…that other movie was just a warm up for this. I am never going to recover from this sadness. I need something funny to help me recover.
What’s that? More Flower Boys? A Ramen shop? Hey, it’s the guy from the revenge drama…he sure got cuter. Ok…let’s go!
LOL Just so, Kdrama seems to bring out the ADHD or ADD in all of us!
This is my story how I got into K-Pop, K-Dramas and all things Korean. A couple of years ago, I was at work bored outta my mind when I made my daily mid-morning visit to Perezhilton.com. Perez had posted Super Junior’s “Sorry Sorry” music video. I was curious so I watched it. I thought the dancing great and the song was catchy and thought nothing else of it and continued on with my perusing. But then I went back to the video and started watching it again and again and again. The obsession had begun. Over the next few months, every waking, free moment was devoted to Super Junior and watching every variety show they have done (I highly recommend Explorations of the Human Body…Hysterical.) After my Super Junior filled summer, I branched out into other K-Pop artists and variety shows. K-Dramas did not interest me in any way. Fate would intervene. It was during my search to get more information on Korean entertainment and culture that I came across a blog called Dramabeans. I loved the writing and their humor, which is right up my ally. I was perusing their site when I saw a mention of a show called The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry. The show was highly praised and I was curious so through another google search I found dramafever.com and began watching. I liked it and thought it was fun and endearing, but I thought this was a one time thing. I would watch this and then leave k-dramaland. However, my growing crush on Kim Bum made me google him and I saw that he was in a drama called Boys Over Flowers. After months of hearing about this drama and discovering that Kim Bum was in it, I decided to watch it. And this is where it really began. BoF is by no means a good drama, but it is CRACKTASTIC. I watched all the episodes in the span of a week and began searching for other dramas to watch (BoF is also where my obsession with Kim Hyun Joong began as well but that is topic for another day.) However, while I watched k-dramas everyday, I never considered myself die-hard. Sure I had stayed up all night a time or two (or 16) to finish a drama, but I didn’t think it was that serious. I always made a habit to watch dramas once they were finished since I like watching 5 or 6 episodes at a time. It wasn’t until this past May when, in between dramas, I made the mistake of checking out a few currently airing dramas and became a crazy, sleep-deprived animal and I realized how K-Dramas, and K-Entertainment in general, had become a huge part of my life.
I have a 2 weeks off of work for Christmas and my only plans are to read, watch K-Dramas and K-Variety Shows and continue studying the Korean language.
Oh, SweetiePie54, you are talking my language when you mention those k-pop boys. I love them, and I love it when they mess around in Kdramas!
Thanks so much, everyone, you have been very welcoming to me here at Thundie’s Prattle and being Southern (as in, born and raised in the Southern United States), it is in my nature to pull up a chair, offer you a sweet iced tea, and chat right back. I’ve enjoyed getting to know many of you, but having a busy real life means that I am going to probably NOT answer any more posts on this topic.
I have really LOVED hearing how you were train wrecked by Kdramas, I have laughed and had my heart touched, and some stories were chillingly familiar. I have been a little jealous of those who have been watching Kdramas longer, and been smiling at those who have not been around as long as I have: in short, I have enjoyed it all and no one could feel more welcome.
So, thank you Thundie and everyone at the Prattle. I appreciate it, and I will be sure to read any more posts.
Wow thanks for such an interesting post which, I’m sure, relates to all of us kdrama addicts here! This is my first time commenting although I’ve been following kdrama blogs.
It was 5 years ago, and I was folding my clothes one night. I turned on the TV and this cute little child stared back at me in the most beautiful clothes I’ve ever seen. I watched that episode to the nd, intrigued
wow it’s so strange (and awesome) to read other people’s stories and realize “hey! thats exactly what happened to me!” It all happened in September of 2010….
I am a TV addict but when I moved into a new place without cable I started watching my shows online..mainly HULU, and thats where I first noticed all of a sudden they have something asian– Personal Taste. I watch everything with captions anyways so subtitles don’t bother me so I figured I would give it a try…bad, bad idea…. At first I was simply enjoying it a few episodes a day, then it finished and I thought ‘okay what now?’ and thats when ‘Boys Before Flowers’ showed up. I was hooked.. I then discovered dramafever.com which had all the lovely dramas there waiting for me and soon enough even my bathroom breaks had to be during commercial times and my sleep was reduced to 3 hour naps. Problems arose when I discovered websites without commercials….oh man how I hated sleeping and showering at those times… and so now I’ve pretty much watched every k, j, c, t, dramas and even a buncha lakorns.
I give it to kdramas for hooking me and to jdramas for keeping me in this train wreck. I really hated jdramas at first because I dont read mangas or watch anime and so I wasn’t used to their type of humor (I HATED Hana Kimi when I first watched it) but because I loved BBF sooo much and sooo many people kept saying how HYD was so much better I had to give it a try and forced myself to stick with it passed one episode and when they showed the Harry potter scene in his house I was SOLD. It took me a little longer to get used to the t/c- dramas cuz of the poor quality and the tendency to stretch out a story but now I can definitely enjoy them more. Lakorns are my evil friends.. they promise me a good story, they give me a good story but then they give me a r-scene and I drop the show. So I have learned to look for the funny lakorns that won’t have those scenes in them, but its surprising how many they STILL make…ugh…. but anyways kdramas are my crack, jdramas are my depression medicine when I run out of crack, and everything else is when I run out of money for my crack or meds to tie me down until I can get score some more of one/both.
I was in my school’s computer lab doing homework for my microeconomics 101 class. I just finished watching ISWAK and wanted something else. I go on YouTube search best Asian dramas and fell upon Coffee Prince. Finished the episodes in 3 days, obviously didn’t complete my economics homework but that didn’t stop me. I had to watch Gong Yoo dramas which led me to hello teacher, and then Goong, and then My Girl. I have been an addict for 3 years now. I stalk blogs, stalk actors online, watch shows raw regardless of the language barrier… My social life is nonexistent because I would rather watch dramas than hang out. My friends and my parents think I am crazy, but I relish in this craziness. Currently I have a 30 page paper due this Thursday, yet I am stalking kdrama blogs. Thank god for Korean dramas
Great post! I am so immersed in this train wreck that I need some serious relief. Thank God there are blogs like this and Dramabeans that remind me that I’m not alone.
I’m still in awe that I’ve only started watching dramas this summer and my list is up to 40 dramas (not even including the movies that I’ve watched). One would never know that I had a full-time job, part-time job and a kid. I blame Netflix and their stupid recommendations. I was about a half a second away from cancelling my subscription until I came upon a recommendation for Boys Over Flowers. I started on a Friday night and I’m not even sure I slept until it was finished. Since then I’ve eaten several different variations of ramen, gave the stare down to a lady in Macy’s over the last discounted rice cooker and my house hasn’t been properly cleaned in forever. I knew it was bad when I was trying to explain to a co-worker why it was so exciting that they kissed after 10 episodes!! And she’s giving me a blank stare as if to say ” That’s it?!”
I got hooked in october 2007, and I’ve regretted it many times since! I was studying my first year to be a nurse and lived in a tiny apartment with a friend. One day I was watching something else on Youtube when I suddenly stumbled upon “Romantic Princess”, a taiwanese drama. I was curious and started watching, but only the first few episodes were subbed, so I continued watching without subtitles and learned my first chinese words there. But one thing led to another and I soon found ISWAK, Corner With Love, Mars…. and the K-movie “A moment to remember”. (I think some of my first K-dramas were Bad Love and Que Sera Sera, but they came later).
It was a really difficult time for me, I should have been studying hard but I wasn’t very motivated from the beginning, so watching drama became a way to flee from my responsibilities and aching conscience. I sat up late at night, watching and watching… And I think what amazed me most was the sense of “purity”, you know? It was such a radical difference compared to the usual Hollywood-stuff we’ve grown up with, and I felt like the dramas were real; the characters didn’t live perfect lives, but they had some real fighting spirit and an attitude towards life that I hadn’t seen in people’s lives in Europe, where I live.
I went home for christmas that year and watched ISWAK and A moment to remember with my siblings, and that was fun – I liked to “share the joy” with someone… but it turned out to be the last time I watched an asian drama with my family, they liked it but didn’t completely understand my fascination for it. The first fascination and addiction was wonderful, and soon I found mysoju, crunchyroll, more and more dramas… TW-drama, J-drama, K-drama. I stopped socialising almost entirely, I stopped doing homework (which eventually led to me quitting school…), but the worst thing was the sense of not being able to share it with anyone, not even my room-mate – instead I was ashamed and felt like I was doing something I shouldn’t.
I’ve had periods when I’ve “managed” to not watch at all, but I don’t think there’s been one whole month when I haven’t watched something. Now I work and live alone, and I still watch dramas (only korean, I soon grew tired of tw and japanese), but maybe the difference is that I don’t feel so ashamed anymore, I realise that there are so many of us! and also, now I don’t watch “just anything” but only the dramas I really like… AND, like many of us I’ve realised that there are other ways to watch than on streaming sites
sorry for such a long reply, but this was a really interesting topic!
I blame Google. Three years ago my last relationship foundered (very badly). He wouldn’t move so I had to move. It was an apt that didn’t have cable, I started tv channel surfing, and found an asian language tv station that was showing Jewel in the Crown w Eng Subs. It was mid point, but cooking is a hobby, so I watched to the end. The next show was one re the struggles of a Korean pop group — “Over the Rainbow”. I’m also into pop music, so I was fascinated by the whole Kpop boy band/idol phenomena and culture. I started traveling for my job and threw myself into only work and missed the rest of OTR. Early this summer, I remembered it (but not the name) and since I was curious about the ending, I Googled “Korean tv show”. Up popped a link to Dramafever and I began searching the alpha listings, reading plot summaries. The first show I actually watched was Auction House for the “behind the scenes” of art auctions in a foreign country. I then watched Hotelier and was similarly into all the ops of a large hotel in Seoul. The “kiss” scene and the increasingly highly romantic relationship btw BHJ and SYA hooked me and I went back to the alpha listings on DF. Of course, i watched BOF! While parts of it were really annoying and stupid — other parts got me. I laughed out loud when JD drop kicked JP! I then started watching more and more often — Couple or Trouble, Last Scandal, Queen of Reversals. After getting “burned” by some others with terrible endings (Bad Guy, Lovers In Paris, Royal Family, War on Money – you know who you are!), I discovered Dramabeans and recaps. I would read the recaps and If I liked them, i would then watch the whole series — whole weekends, then after work, then I began bringing my personal lapop to work so I could watch on my lunch hours (sound familiar?). At slow points in work meetings, I read DB on my bberry! I finally admitted to myself that I was addicted when I lied to a friend and didn’t go over to her house for dinner because I wanted to finish QoR. My KDrama addiction has led me to reflect on some profound issues: Gender equality, sexism, homoeroticism, and class issues in Korean and American cultures, respectively. But also some pretty mundane ones — what’s with the piggyback rides; the open eyed kisses; sleeping in your day clothing; drowning your sorrows in soju and karoake all the time? Is the male “dandy” — hair and clothes (JP in BOF and KJH in Lie to Me) really acceptable in the Korean business world? What about fashion for Korean businesswomen? Do they really wear sequinned tops, short shorts to work (see Thorn Birds and Personal Taste)? My KD addiction has also led me to changes in my personal life. Needless to say, I’m not a workaholic anymore. I’ve also lost weight, changed my hairstyle and ditched all my “ajumma” clothing. And all this romance had led me to really notice men again (walking down the street, I mentally categorize them — “cute, not cute, hey that guy looks like Won Bin!”) and consider getting back into dating. Maybe next time, I’ll respond to the flirting from that younger guy! Thanks for the opportunity to share my addiction story with other addicts here at KDrama Addicts Anonymous.
I’ve been enjoying the replies on this post and I need to say that I love your story mlsurban. I’m sorry to hear about that dark period of your life but it’s good to know that the k-dramas have helped change your personal life, and for the better. I know I’m certainly happy (and sometimes crazily so) when I have my moments to unwind and do a marathon. Because of that, some of us end up being all panda-eyed (and looking worse for wear), but you’ve instead come out of your “ajumma” shell. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for sharing!
I love your post too! I think I’ll have to rip a few pages from your book!
Aww I really liked your post. Its cool you were able to change some aspects of your life you were unhappy with.
I have to say that I had a couple of false starts. My very first k-drama was Stairway to Heaven back in 2005 or 2006. Believe it or not, my American husband brought the DVD set home b/c one of his co-worker who is also American was an addict, found out he had a Korean wife and told him that we had to watch it. We spent the rest of the week watching until 2 – 3 am to finish the series. Then nothing until Likable or Not, a long drama that I caught surfing through the channels. Then You’re My Destiny, which I watched religiously and then all of sudden I couldn’t take it anymore and didn’t bother to finish Then nothing until this summer. I had just adopted a baby and was going through serious post-adoption/second baby blues, desperately in need of a distraction. I happen to be on Hulu and I have no idea how I even found Coffee Prince, but I did and I was hooked. All the usual addiction symptoms, staying up all night, hiding in our walk-in-closet to watch so hubby would’t know, sneaking an episode during lunch at work. I’m on my 24th drama since this summer. I never cared for K-pop but b/c of the dramas I have a whole new appreciation for Korean songs, at least the OST. I have even downloaded my favorites and listen to them at work.
I’ve read a lot of their stories here and how they become Kdrama addicts that I’m enticed to tell mine. It was on Nov. 2003 that my daughter had a right breast lumpectomy and her gynecologist advised her to rest for three days. I went to her house to take care of her, meanwhile her friend and staff lend us a vcd of Meteor Garden, Tdrama and Winter Sonata a Kdrama to pass the time. After finishing MG we started watching WS which was so good we marathoned it all night until eight in the morning because I have to feed my granddaughter which I brought with me then continued watching until we finished it. The funny thing was we thought their language is similar to chinese only that after we watched the NG’s which were not subbed and dubbed that we realized the copy was dubbed in mandarin and we loved their real voices more. From then on we’ve watched a lot of Kdramas from vcd’s where somtimes you can’t see the scenes ’cause the subtitles are all over it, then on dvd’s which were more better until we discovered mysoju and dramabeans in 2008. We used to watch Kfilms by subscribing to Tiger cinema but now we watced it on Netflix. It was a blessing when all Filipino channels were on cable DirectTV and they have Korean channels too so my daughter subscribe in those and were happy we have recent dramas that most are english subbed. My family are all Filipino-Americans except me who’s a permanent resident here in NJ for more than ten years now. My husband opted to stay in the Philippines so I visit him and the rest of my family there three months or more every year but still I was updated with my Kdrama addiction there through ARIRANG Korea’s global channel because we have it on cable. We also are Kpop addicts that all my playlist in my phone are Kpop songs and Kdrama ost and also in my daughters cars. I always tease myself that I was swept by the tide of the Korean wave. Everyday after checking my FB, I would check all these blogs devoted to anything and everything Korean except AKoala’s Playground which made us back to Tdrama again only just recently. My daughter who had that surgery went to Korea twice with her two friends from work touring Korea and Jeju island. They were able to see the Coffee shop in Coffee Prince and drink coffee there, the house and school in Winter Sonata, etc. They stayed there a week each time.
Okay so my addiction is just as profound but my journey is a little different… I spent several years in California as a child and would rush home to watch Speed Racer and Battleship Nadeshinko animes, I loved them. I continued to watch various anime over the years on TV or in theatres, then I went to college where they offered a summer course in anime, watching anime learning about the culture that created anime and manga. People in the class would talk about J-movies they had seen so I checked out Audition and then I had to see other movies my netflix account got a work out. I began working at a library and had found this crazy TV show on AZN about this pretty boy living with this cute girl in an attic apartment, that show was Attic Cat. It lead to Jewel in the Palace, I was hooked I told this lady at work about watching this crazy drama and she gave me Winter Sonata to watch. I thought I was hooked before but Winter Sonata dropped me right off the deep end and now I watch almost everything I can find in all genres pop, drama, anime, manga and movies, from three countries Japan, Korea and Taiwan. My mom kind of gets it because in the midst of Jewel in the Palace I went home for a weekend and got my mom hooked on it. So, it is several years later and I still watch but I have not experienced the degree of addiction that ruled my life while You’re Beautiful was airing. OMG that was ridiculous stalking for recaps and comments on Dramabeans (the best kdrama website), watching the episodes with and without subtitles it really brought out my OCD tendencies. I totally understand everything that you all have written about this nifty little addiction from marathoning episodes to lack of sleep to just how CRACKTASTIC many of the shows are.
I had the same thought as yours and my first crack drama was Lovers in Prague, I didn’t know what it was all I knew was i wanted more of it. I love the opening song which I still don’t know the name of . I would hum it all day long to the horror of my sister who thought I was mad. That got me into so many sleepless nights too.
I think the first drama I lost sleep over was Coffee Prince. The first drama I missed school for was Winter Sonata, I believe…DAMN YOU KDRAMA! If it weren’t for you, I would have had much better grades in High School.
My addiction actually happened quite slowly…
Let’s see I’m 22 now so about I guess Senior year of high school my best friend would keep falling a sleep in class and always had dark circles around her eyes. At first I would ask “uhm is something going on at home? why do you look sick/tired all the time.” Then after a while she would talk about how she watched these korean dramas.I didn’t really understand her fascination or urge to stay up all night to watch something when we had school and hw. Well that winter break she hosted a holiday sleepover. And that is when she FORCED us to watch this korean drama (Full House) that had the “hottest” actor (Rain) (according to her) ever. We actually marathoned the whole thing overnight and early morning. After watching that I could see why she had a liking for them but I still wasn’t interested in continuing on.
3 years later my sister tells me about this korean drama she seen at her friend’s house. It was about the backstage life of a rock band (Your Beautiful). Now I am a punk rock music lover so the story idea peaked my interest. I was bored so I go on hulu where they actually carried it. Gave the first episode a try, thought it was nothing special but the ending of the episode really peaked my interest (omg is this girl pretending to be a guy really going to throw up on one of these hot guys?) and decided to go on to the next episode. Well I marathoned that sucker all day and onto the next day. Not to mention it was love at first sight with Jang Gun Suk!
Since then I have watched over 100 dramas. My love of dramas had branched into an appreciation for kpop music. My life is consumed with all things Korean. I make a note of memorizing key words in dramas and really really want to go to Korea someday. I really want to learn the language fluently (it seems like the most difficult language to learn) just so I can one day watch raw videos and not have to wait for subs.
My friends and family treat me like I’m a freak for wanting to stay home and watch dramas all day long. They also think I’m “depressed.” I just smile at them and inside my head think “dramas make me happy, and you don’t know what your missing.” LOL. Anyways thank you guys for sharing your stories because now I dont feel weird or anything. I’m not alone in this wonderful dramaland.
I dated a Korean guy who broke up with me and introduced me to Korean music (It was 2005.) Since I was attracted to Asian men, I felt it was important that I get to watch some dramas so I can learn about the culture. The first drama I saw was Full House in 2006. I was impressed that it wasn’t anything like American dramas. It was fun and innocent, but not a favorite. Later on I learned my taste somewhat and what I like and don’t like. The dramas that I watched the fastest are Autumn in My Heart, The Devil, Truth, umm I think Sandglass and Eyes of Dawn. I’m not a big fan of watching TV thus I have yet to find a drama where I’ll marathon all day and night.
I clearly remember how my fascination with Korean culture began, it was back in 2004 when I was just starting high school. It was fourth period gym when I met the girl who would soon become one of my best friends. She was new to town and didn’t know very many people having just moved here from South Korea, I was lucky to already know a large chunk of my graduating class of 500 having lived in the same town my whole life, she happened to notice that I was into reading manga when we were packing our bags to head to 5th period one day. It was here that our bond began. We became fast friends and quicker than I could notice I was friends with a good chunk of the foreign students in our school.
Between H my Korean friend and L my chinese friend I was quickly submerged into the drama world. It started with My Girl and Meteor Garden which was followed by Hello! My Teacher and Full House. My repertoire of drama’s just kept growing, we’d spend entire weekends watching drama after drama. I was hooked, and there was no going back. I quickly became knowledgable about different sites, aznv, mysoju, dramafever, epdrama, wiki.d-addicts, Dramabeans, dramacrazy, viki and so many more. As time flew by and high school ended all of us went our separate ways heading do different universities across the country.
As time has gone on I have done my share of getting friends addicted! Just recently I attended the SMTOWN NYC concert with once such friend (who got me hooked on K-Pop and I hooked her on the k-dramas!). Looking back I have enjoyed every drama I watched though some have angered me (49 Days I am talking to you!!), some have made me cry (more than I can name!), some have made me giggle and laugh out loud (again too many to name),and some have made me smile like a mad woman, while others have made me contemplative. All in all this train ride has been enjoyable and I have no intention of getting off anytime soon!!!!
Four short months ago, my wife (Nancy aka Amusing Wench or She Who Must be Obeyed), kept going on about a “Korean Soap Opera”, Boys Before Flowers that she was watching on Hulu.
I thought, “That’s nice dear.”
She kept talking about how good it was. This surprised me, because at the library or video rental places, I was always the one gravitating towards the foreign movies. She usually cringed when I produced something dubbed. “I’ll never keep up with the sub-titles”, was a typical complaint.
We had watched some Chinese movies before , like Raise The Red Lantern. I also enjoyed Kurosawa’s work. Rashomon is one of my all time favorite films.
When Nancy mentioned that BBF was based on a Japanese manga, I thought that was “different” . She finished watching it, ( I still haven’t seen a full episode) and she wanted to watch something else.
We watched The Painter of the Wind. LIked it. (I confess that I love the “girl dressed as boy” themed shows)
Next up was Jejoongwon. Okay, I have a thing for Han Hye Jin . Still haven’t train wrecked though.
Jewel in the Palace is where I crashed and burned. Train wreck? One of cataclysmic proportions. Stick a fork in him, I was done. Best thing I’d ever seen on television. I wanted more.
Next up, Queen Seon Duk . Awesome (Another girl as a boy theme, for awhile anyways.)
Go Hyun Jung’s portrayal of Mi Shil is fantastic. A villainess that I fell in love with.
I’ve watched a mixture of older dramas as well as current ones. As a newbie, there’s so much to watch and not enough time.
I liked Unstoppable High Kick. Okay, I have a thing for Park Min Young. *Sigh* Her ” girl as boy” in SKKS . Double sigh. Okay, Park Min Young as Kang Yoo Mi being kissed by Kim Bum while she was asleep was hot.
KDramas! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…
Beautiful women, handsome men. Stories that make me laugh and cry. Not just once, but again and again.
I didn’t know what I was missing before, but I hope not to miss anything from here forward.
Wow! …feels like a support group.
I had just sprained my ankle attempting to train for a half-marathon, when I was told to stop and rest my foot for a few weeks. Yikes! What to do? …couldn’t stand for very long; just sat and watched cable t.v. for a while until it became redundant and utterly boring. So I decided to make my laptop my new BFF… & as I surfed, I decided to watch ‘t.v.’ online. I had known about HULU for some time, so I gave it a try. Little did I know that I was about to enter into a world of what seemed to be of ‘no return’.
On the site’s banner I saw what appeared to be an Asian ‘movie’ (or so I thought)… ‘Personal Taste’…read the summary and decided to give it a try (not realizing it was in another language). Before I knew it, I had watched half the episodes in less than one night! My husband was wondering why I was reading subtitles…I didn’t know what he was talking about…crazy, I know! I was so engulfed in the drama that I hadn’t realized I was reading subtitles! (I realized – later on – that I was so used to watching foreign movies as a child, that it hadn’t phased me… ‘no biggie’, I thought.) …& like many, I was hooked! Chuno, God of Study, Winter Sonata, Goong, (too many to list) or any other Saeguk, Makjang, & even MOVIES I could find, I would watch. However, I was not just hooked on the drama, but on the characters…and even more so, on the actors. My life would never be the same.
Instead of searching for more dramas, I would look for who and what the actors were doing …found that Lee Min Ho acted alongside many other actors including Kim Nam Gil…so I followed him & watched Queen Seon Duk …and discovered Yoo Seung Ho and watched everything I could possibly find -specially his movies! (Seriously…I think I’m only missing two of his acting jobs.) Each and every actor I continued to discover, I would follow. Finally, I discovered SS501 – through KHJ from BOF & so began my search on KPop and their many idol groups, fandoms, etc. (Including…’What does 4D mean?’ …had to know since KHJ is known to have a 4D personality.) Since I wanted to learn more, I decided to learn Hangul, Korean culture (food, etiquette, etc.). I even watched KPop reality t.v. (sort of) – as in Strong Heart, Running Man, We Got Married, Heroes, Family Outing, etc. Youtube, DramaFever, Viikki, HanCinema, etc. became my abode, & Soompi, AllKpop, Dramabeans, and many other KPop/Drama blogs became my ‘news sources’ …yes, I believe I’m now considered a Netizen….’citizen of the net’, or so so they say.
…& thus began my affair w/ Korean entertainment…anything and everything K!
(Now I feel as if I have lifted some weight off of my shoulders – lol. I’m sure there are many reasons why some of us have found solace or perhaps comfort in KWorld of entertainment. Nonetheless, we find ourselves pondering the unseemingly effects of it.)
I gotta say it but all the stories here are dramas of their own. Thanks for the testimonies! Maybe next time you can tell us the first K-actor “oppa” you fell in love with. I fall in love every 3 years or so – first with that GM in Hotelier, the ajhussi Kim Seung Woo. Then he got married to Kim Nam Joo, so I moved on and discovered Jeong Woo Seong in Sad Movie. But then, The Princess Man premiered and I got stuck in Park Si Hoo’s mane of glory. They keep getting younger, but what can I do? Kdramas are a veritable wealth of fine looking oppas.
I believe I had my first glimpse nto the wonderful K-drama land when I was about 10 or 11. I wasn’t intrigued by then. May be I was too young to fully appreciate the then-adorably-young Bae Young Joon in First Love. In my middle school years, I would try to catch an episode or 2 of whatever was shown on TV ( My country’s TV network used to be flooded with K-dramas) whenever I wasn’t too busy with school. It’s more like an activity for me to bond with my Mom who enjoyed watching ANY dramas. My true addiction began when I moved away from home during my last year of high school. Many nights I didn’t have a wink of sleep even though I was exhausted to death because of my part time job. The homesickness and many painful events that happened around that time kept me awake and forced me to look for an escape from reality. I began watching videos like crazy on Youtube, then a few K-pop music videos popped up. I remember DBSK was the bomb those days. Then K-pop Idol-packed variety shows, namely Xman, then finally K-dramas and movies, I started doing drama-marathon whenever I had a break from school or work. I remembered finishing My Girl in 2 days, then A Love to Kill, Heaven’s tree…basically anything that was subbed and available on Youtube. Then the subs were getting too slow for my needs, I began downloading soft subs and videos from D-addict. At some points, I was reading recaps because I just couldn’t wait 1 week for new episodes. In my last years in college, since I technically watch everything during 2005-2008 period, and due to my desire to get to a good graduate school, I stopped watching K-dramas excessively, just occasionally wondering on Dramabeans to read recaps here and there. Now being a graduate student, my leisure time is even more limited but I still managed to finish Princess’man in 3 days during my Xmas break and rewatched the few gems that I have missed out such as WHIB. Some times I still regret having walked into this rabbit hole just because my perspective in life is somewhat skewed. That also explains why I’m still single ( according to my Mom) and sitting at home to watch Moon/Sun on a Friday night. But until a Jo In Sung or Park Si Hoo-doppleganger appear and make a pull-back-abruptly-and-hug move on me, I will be religiously refreshing drama crazy/mysoju/viikii/epdrama/dramafever/youtube every Thursday and Friday.
I love reading about K-Drama fans here. I watched a lot of Korean dramas back in the day (my teen years during the mid-90′s) but I stopped when I entered college. I didn’t hang out with enough Koreans and I had no one to talk to about my drama love.
I remember the rise in K-drama love in the US a few years ago but had no real interest in watching anything until… I found some on Netflix. I figured, “Hey, I don’t want to do any work. I wonder if my Korean language skills have held up over the years.” I started with Protect the Boss 2 months ago and have not looked back.
Secret Garden, City Hunter, Shining Inheritance, My Name is Kim Sam Soon, Lie to Me, My Princess, Joseon X-Files, Friend Our Legacy, Boys Over Flowers…
Korean drama is CRACK. I throw away my usual standards of TV-watching for crack storylines and beautiful people. (Although some are actually really good and crack-y.) And I regret nothing. (I also realized that my comprehension of Korean is quite good and my parents say that my speaking has improved as well.)
I love that I don’t have to borrow video tapes from the Korean store to watch them any more. (Ahhh… those were the days.) There are so many shows to watch on-line and I love that I can come here and read the reviews and comments to pick the right one to watch. There are so many actors and shows that I really want to know more about.
Looking forward to many more months of feeding my K-drama crack addiction