Friday, September 10, 2010

Playful Kiss / Mischievous Kiss episode 5 preview

Kyaaaaaaa! Is it the college entrance exam already?!?!?! *happy dance* ..it's moving at a good pace right now. Please, please, please proceed until the "We Got Married" story arc and don't skip it like the japanese version.. please, please!!!

*happy dance again*

[Engsub] 100827 Official video: JangKiss main leads interview

Playful Kiss team.. FIGHTING!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Playful Kiss / Mischievous Kiss 3rd episode rating is still at 3.5%

(link)

AAARRRRRRRRGGGHH!

When is Baker King ending?? I'm beginning to develop an aversion to that drama. No offense, Baker King team. Maybe I'm just being an irrational, over-loyal, stubborn fangirl but this rating war is giving hyung a bad name and I don't like it at all. Someone commented about PK being the 'humiliation of Kim Hyun Joong'. Needless to say, I was pissed. How can something he and everyone in the PK team have been working hard on be the humiliation of anyone?? Explain!

Ok, I read dangermousie's sentiment and surfed around to find the update to that dispute. Seems MBC has 'finally settled' it with the union on Sept 6. I'm not sure how much was PK rating affected by this issue but if it was indeed badly affected, the rating next week will tell.

Lemme just say I hate the whining tone of this report:

"In the situation whereby Wed-Thurs dramas are turning duller day by day, even Jangki is now implicated with low ratings, I seriously felt it to be a pity. There is a need to develop a measurement plan to guard by this tough battle; it's kinda worrying"

Pull up your pants (if you wear one) and do something about it, why don't you? Playful Kiss was pit against something big like Baker King in a time slot that has already been viewed as disastrous to previous MBC dramas. It has its own audience, and that audience is not in the middle of school holiday right now. Why are you guys acting so surprised that it's not doing well? How much rating do you expect it's gonna get for its first 5 episodes? 20%? If PK is doing better online than on TV, think of some ways to gain profit from that! Someone up there in MBClympus needs to get transferred to another department, or sacked.

I've also been thinking about this 'inappropriate' controversy and the comments on it. I came to a conclusion. This is like kicking a sick dog around, isn't it? Fine, that's my own made-up idiom.. but I couldn't find a more suitable one to suit the occasion. People are bashing PK despite having other badass dramas more harmful to their children abound on air because it's already down with a poor rating. If the rating for PK is high, all these 'inappropriate for kids' comments won't even make a peep. Cowards.

The fangirl in me wanted to rant some more, but the reasonable adult side asked.. what's the point? It's not as if my rants are gonna raise the rating to the respectable level that I think it should earn by its 4th - 7th episode (at least 9 - 11%). The very low percentage makes some sense when you look at the real-time rating (link pasted here). Still, I'm really sad. If the insignificant fan, i.e. moi, is this sad.. how sad is our hardworking hyung-nim and the rest of the PK team at this inexplicable turnout?

I hope leader and the rest of the cast and production team will continue to work hard regardless of the the rating and regardless of whether the drama will be cut short by MBC. I will watch every episode as if it were the last episode to be aired. There's always that spin-off to look forward to. Spin-off via Youtube? I think that's a new concept, right? I've read about free movies that are available in online streaming sites, but never a drama spin-off. Sounds cool.

Playful Kiss FIGHTING!

Update Sept 8th from Haru Haru Subs:

#haru2subs Our Playful Kiss team is working really really hard to accomplish the subs for the show *kita harus lebih sabar nes*

Puzzling over Playful Kiss

Is this drama a favourite for bashers and antis? Maybe sociologists should carry out a study on antis. I can provide them with a title for their dissertation - "An Integrative Approach to Profiling Anti-fans for a More Effective Understanding of Pop Culture Phenomena and Fandom"

... how's that for a good title? I think it has a nice ring to it.

I've surfed around quite a lot by virtue of being in several fandoms. I'm more of a serial fandogamist.. I frequent one fandom at one time before I go the the next one I fancy. How can you describe the psychological make-up of people who claim they hate a drama/movie/artist/whatever-it-is-with-a-connection-to-the-drama/movie/artist and yet spend so much time writing post after post explaining in detail on why they absolutely abhor the drama/movie/artist/whatever-it-is-with-a-connection-to-the-drama/movie/artist?

Just a plain 'I have nothing else to do' explanation simply doesn't cut it anymore. If that's the case, why don't they.. I dunno.. go out with friends or do cross-stitch or completing Sudoku or some other activities that build character? If nothing in life satisfies them anymore.. they can go camping! Even sleeping is a more worthwhile activity than online-bashing. It's not like you get paid to bash the drama/movie/artist/whatever-it-is-with-a-connection-to-the-drama/movie/artist, so why do something you claim you don't enjoy with such relish? Sounds psychotic to me.

Anyway, after reading so many long-winded descriptions of the one-sided love-hate relationship they're having with Kim Hyun Joong-Baek Seung Jo and Playful Kiss.. I felt exhausted. I hope this drama becomes a nationwide hit in the end and Hyun Joong-hyung becomes even more popular, well-paid and awesome. What do you get for being so spiteful towards this cute, hardworking guy? If you hate him or his acting so much, go find another idol you can shower your affection on. Why do you torture yourselves over and over again with his presence? Urgh, I don't get this masochistic behaviour.

Where was I? Oh.. this 'inappropriate' controversy. I was wondering what the scriptwriters were thinking when they wrote the 'drunk scene' as well but since I know nothing about Korea, I thought it's some sort of culture there to give your children weak alcohol during celebrations.. just like westerners give their children watered wine. Some kids can handle the drink, some can't. So reading about this is an eye-opener for me. And yeah, Baek Seung Jo will spout all kinds of harassment on Oh Hani.. spanning all kinds of discrimination, including the one on gender. So save your children from getting an earful of it by banning this drama altogether in your household! See how popular it's gonna get with your kids after that. Teenagers love banned stuff, esp. if the ban comes from their parents.. meh.

I also found a real-time rating on episode 3. You can see how so many viewers jumped ship completely nearing the end from both dramas to Baker King. I wonder how the rating is gonna be once the magnanimous Baker King ends and Fugitive (Rain's drama) starts. Something interesting for me to look forward to..

 Hyung-nim is puzzled too...

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Mischievous Kiss / Playful Kiss download site

Been searching around for the direct downloads. My friend told me that it's gonna take a looooong time for our favourite site, JDramas Livejournal, to upload the episodes. But I want to try anyway. And I found this!


What is this site?? So interesting yet I've never been to it before? None of my friends recommended it to me. Hmm, maybe I've been away from j-dorama/k-drama/c-drama for too long. Really, if it weren't for hyung.. I would not have cared about this drama at all.

The link to Playful Kiss is here. The subtitles are still not uploaded, but I think Haru Haru Subs will up it soon.

Mischievous Kiss / Playful Kiss Episode 4 Long Preview



Watching episode 4 preview, I'm now more convinced than ever that they're following the pace of the anime. Thank God. I thought, since ISWAK was supposedly very popular, they'd be following the Taiwanese version. Which I dislike immensely. I still couldn't bring myself to watch it past episode 1. I like TKA better.. mmmm, mostly coz of the numerous snogging scenes.. Joe Cheng always looked like he was gonna eat Ariel's face off.. 0_0"

Anyway, I like the pace of the anime more than the manga. I hope Oh Hani becomes a nurse. I like that story arc better. TKA combines both teacher and nurse, and so many other additional unimportant messy side stories that just got the fast forward button on my remote on overdrive.. grrr. I wonder who's gonna be Keita. Hope it's someone gorgeous so I can enjoy Seung Jo's jealousy much better. And who are they gonna rope to play Christine?? I hope it's a girl as cute as the one in TKA. I like her a lot.. hehe. Despite wanting to hit Naoki Irie with a brick in some episodes, the storyline still makes me want to download the next anime episode.

You can watch the anime version here:



I find that I enjoy it better when I can anticipate the next scene. Of course you're in for major spoilers, but I'm the kind of reader who'll flip to the end of a book to see whether the character I like will die or not before I can finish the book, so I'm okay with spoilers. If you don't like spoilers, I suggest that you don't touch the anime episodes with a 10-foot pole.. coz up to episode 4, Mischievous Kiss / Playfull Kiss is following that version quite closely.

Are you curious as to whether Seung Jo's gonna kiss her after he wrestles her to his bed? Watch episode 4 next week to find out!!
http://www.emocutez.com

Kim Hyun Joong - I'm David compilation

(I'm David is the China sub-line of Basic House)
[Engsub] 100906 I'm David 2010 FW Interview - Kim Hyun Joong


2010 Fall Making Film


2010 Summer making


[Eng Sub] SS501 Kim Hyun Joong I'm David Interview + Making Film

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Kim Hyun Joong-hyung's doppelganger


I have no idea why, despite being the reason I fell in love with Hyun Joong-hyung, I find myself unable to even look at Yoon Ji-Hoo's pictures now. It's like.. the moment the end credit rolled for Boys Over Flowers.. the loving feelings I have for the Korean-version of Hanazawa Rui turned into that of dislike. Maybe it's because of reading comments and watching shows where so many people compared hyung to Yoon Ji-Hoo when he's not much like that guy, if at all. Maybe because Yoon Ji-Hoo has become a role hyung has to always always run away from as he goes forward into his career. Reading the Playful Kiss reviews, I have an image of hyung being heatedly chased by a grinning Yoon Ji-Hoo while hyung is screaming, "LEAVE ME ALONE!!". I feel like telling the 'ghost' of Yoon Ji-Hoo to let go of Hyun Joong-hyung now as he has many other 'ghosts' he's looking forward to 'wrestle' in the future and that being the first 'ghost' to claim hyung doesn't mean anything special. It just means he's the first, that's all.

Do you know that there's a living, breathing Yoon Ji-Hoo existing in the Korean entertainment industry.. and as an actor, no less? I just found out about this, so for people who are currently rolling their eyes at my slowness, sorry for boring you with my meaningless discovery. Here he is.

The girl who uploaded this called it 'very Raphael'

I could almost see the white feathers...

Gallery opening

Because hyung is too good looking, there're so many pictures I want to archive in this blog. I also think that this is a good opportunity for me to archive pictures of his other harem members, i.e. "All the On-Screen Men I'm Smitten With".. LOL.

So, the dilema is.. how to manage the posts? Then I realized that the easiest and best way for me to sort all the pictures is by pretending that no one cares to browse through them. Which means, I'll tag them any way I want them.. ha! (how is that good gallery management, Ami??)

Being annoyingly chatty in all my posts, I guess the gallery can't escape this feature as well. So if you hate that kinda talk peppering the photos of your favourite idoru, just imagine them as some alien gibberish, ok. Or cross your eyes a bit when they look over the words and let the letters blur.


Is that thing alive??

Do geese or bird of the duck variety drink milk? *went to find it in Google*

Feeding the Kim Hyun Joong addiction

For those who've stumbled onto this blog, if you scroll down far enough.. you'll know that this blog is not dedicated to our awesome Leader but rather to a variety of stuff that strike my fancy at any particular time. That's why I've never intended to update on hyung's every move here.

So, being empathetic to my fellow hyung/KHJ/Hyun Joong/Leader addicts, I'm listing down the blogs that update regularly on him. Usually they also post updates on the other members of SS501 too (which I don't do here, sorry). They're very fast with his news and some come with in-house translations (by the blog mistresses or their friends). Have fun!

SS501 사랑해요

PERFECT

MoLeQ ObSeSSioN 김현중

allkpop - search Kim Hyun Joong

Hancinema - Kim Hyun Joong

501 Naughty Kisses

SS501UFO

➄Ⓞ➀ 순간에는 ☆★☆★ 내머리가 기뻐서

Musings of the Obsessive Kind

My Cozy Li'l Corner

♥ Kim Hyun Joong/김현중 ♥ BOF's Yoon Ji Hoo, SS501's Leader, WGM's Shillang - 2nd thread, 3rd thread

Absolutely 501 Day


I'll update with more blog links when I find them, kay..  ^o^

Mischievous Kiss / Playful Kiss OST: Kim Hyun Joong song - One More Time (full song in youtube)

There's a download link in the youtube page. Even if you download the song, please buy the original CD when it's released later! :)

I love hyung's voice. I also like the fact that he can sing pop, rock, rap, and ballad in different voices that suit the song. I wish he'd sing rock and be the guitarist for at least one song in his solo album. Can't wait for that project to commence. Hyun Joong-hyung.. aishiteru!! <3

Monday, September 6, 2010

‘Mischievous Kiss’ 2nd episode re-run rating at 6.6%

Okay.. I cracked. I surfed around for the rating.. hehe. Well, this pretty much agrees with my prediction.. about 7%, which is what I think it should earn for its first 3 episodes instead of the lousy 3.5-ish.

(link)
The re-runs of the two episodes were broadcast on the 4th, and according to AGB Nielsen Media Research, it received ratings of 4.2% and 6.6%, higher than the original broadcast ratings of 3.5% and 3.7%.

...and it seems the strike has played a role in the low rating as well, somehow.

I also found a re-cap of both episodes. It always amuses me how viewers who claim to dislike the shows (dramas/movies/etc.) I like turned out to be the ones who wrote longass posts about them. I also like it when they confess that they're now liking what they've been kicking about like a can earlier. Love the positive comments too.

I dunno why they're so determined to see hyung fail at this from the start. A guy who everyone praises as a good dancer now, he used to be a rocker dude who was into guitar and knew nothing about dancing. Hyung can excel in anything if he puts his mind to it.. even academics. He's a workaholic. If he's determined to be a good actor, he'll work hard at it until he gets the recognition he wants. But along with hard work, he has that 'extra' something that can make even someone like me, who usually takes a looooong time to like an idoru, falls in love at first sight.

I leave you with a long preview of Episode 3. Is poking someone in the butt something that's regularly done by mascots in Korea? I'll have to be careful in theme parks if I ever get to visit there then.. :P

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Mischievous Kiss / Playful Kiss Preview Episode 3

I love this drama..



...I think even if I were not hyung's fan, I would have been attracted to this drama. It's the type I like. So I've decided to ignore any future update on the drama rating. I dunno how drama ratings work in Korea and I don't care.

I hope the production team can work harder to make this drama more accepted with the general audience in Korea, i.e. viewers who don't care about the original manga/anime work or ISWAK/TKA or the Itazura na Kiss dorama and viewers who are not fans of Kim Hyun Joong or any of the other actors in the drama.

I don't want the low rating to influence MBC to take it off the air mid-story. I want to watch hyung as the genius doctor who spouts all those incomprehensible medical terms to his colleagues and his wife. I think they're gonna change his hair style and his clothing style a few times in this drama to suit the change from high school student to college student to a working adult. I want to see all that!

Therefore.. please let the rating increase! To avoid from becoming obsessed with this rating issue, I'm not gonna mention it again in this blog (will try very hard to restrain my fingers from searching and typing about it). I'll wait until Jdramas Livejournal upload the episodes, watch them and decide for myself of its worth. Ijo!

Kim Hyun Joong & Yun Eun Hye - Basic House compilation

Basic House clips are everywhere in youtube right now, so I thought I'd collect them in one post..

(Basic House)
Interview on MBC Section TV [08.01.2010] - English subbed


100317 New Video Promote for 2010 Basic House Spring


Summer Making Film 2010


Spring Making Film 2010 (Eng subbed)


Fall Making Film 2010


100312 Message in Basic House _UNICEF Never Alone_ CF


Basic House UCC Never Alone CF TV Making Film

Kim Hyun Joong & Park Shin Hye cf making film 김현중 박신혜 cf 촬영현장 [ShowBiz Extra]

Thought this English-narrated cf making is interesting and want to paste it here..

Thursday, September 2, 2010

SS501 Kim Hyun Joong official website making film

Lift our spirit out of the gloom of the low Mischievous Kiss rating news by observing the pretty. Hyung-kun, you're beautiful..

‘Mischievous Kiss’ 2nd episode is still low at 3.7%

Lemme recap some of the comments in other blogs I surfed on why rating is important for the benefit of people like me who don't care about rating much when we choose which drama to watch:
  • Hyung (KHJ) may well face a hard time ahead as an actor to get lead roles.. which is bad news for him as he is in Keyeast more to be an actor than a singer. Even in SS501, he has never been the strongest singer.. that would be Young Saeng, of course
  • Advertisements will be affected, which means the production quality will be affected too (no money, no frills)
  • CF opportunities for cast members will suffer
  • MBC likes to cancel shows prematurely if it’s not performing well (e.g. Strike Love and Tamra)
Of all the above, the last one chills me the most. I can't imagine how hyung and the rest of the production staff will feel if that happens. I wish I can send him some hugs, but he'd probably push me away screaming.. "I don't need your sympathy, I need good ratings!" LOL

Hyung is a tough guy, so I don't worry much about him. He'll bounce back, as usual. But it's his first effort as a lead actor and the low rating simply sucks. That said, I did wonder why he chose this role in the first place. He should choose a vigorous role that takes the viewers' mind away from comparing it to Boys Over Flowers.

Anyway, what's done is done. My loyalty is with hyung-kun, without a doubt. So there's no use worrying over things that may or may not happen. They're on to the races in the 2nd ep already? Does that mean they'll follow the pace of the anime? So hyung will be swinging a 5-ish year old girl hand-in-hand with Jung So Min by the end of the drama? (assuming MBC will let it continue to the end)

Another thing, please stop saying that once Baker King is over, the drama will pick up better rating. There'll be a drama with Rain next. Rain.. as in the international megastar Rain, ok. How is hyung gonna beat that one?? kim hyun joong vs lee seung gi vs rain. I'm in despair.

...and there's the strike issue as well. Hmm, life is difficult.

If  the drama content continues at this slowass pace (as so many people kept harping on in blog comments), it will have this suckily low rating forever. Mischievous Kiss no minna-san.. please work harder!

‘Mischievous Kiss’ 1st episode received a very low 3.5% rating

I'm probably facing a major failure in my study for the first time and it feels surreal. But at least I'm a nobody and my failure, however major it is to me and mine, is not the subject of a worldwide broadcast. Villagewide, maybe.. if my relatives have their way.

Reading about such a low rating for the 1st ep of Mischievous Kiss and the harsh comments on hyung's acting made me sad. But you know, as Shah Rukh always likes to quip.. failure is never fatal. Hard work may not ensure success, but it's the only way you can live with yourself after everything is said and done.. so keep fighting, Hyun Joong-hyung! Most of the time, I think his fame is a double-edged sword: when they like him, he's Mr. Perfection himself.. but when they hate him, the heat he receives is just irrational.

I wish I could say.. it's just the 1st ep, it's gonna get much better later on!.. but after I've finished watching the anime and am now watching They Kiss Again, I have to honestly say that I hate Irie Naoki's type. (in the anime) How can he let his heavily pregnant wife go home by herself because he's busy finishing his dissertation?? I wanted to kill him after that ep. Even after he becomes a cute dad, I still can't forgive that image of him as a mean, tsumetai otoko.

Christine is right, Kotoko/Xianqing does have a bad taste in men. I'm now actually worried that if hyung plays this role very well, I'm gonna end up disliking him quite a bit by the end of the drama. But if he doesn't play his role very well, I'll end up disliking him too. Is that like.. a stupid dilema? I think so too. Doushiyo?!?!? ..what a conundrum.

A few stuff to load off my chest:
  • Naoki Irie/Jiang Zhishu doesn't talk much at any point of the story until the end, kay. So please brace yourself for the disappointment of not having Kim Hyun Joong speak many lines as Baek Seung Jo. 
  • Kotoko/Oh Hani IS the main character of the story, so having her carry the whole drama until the end is a natural course for the director to take, isn't it?
  • Mischievous Kiss is NOT the 'Boys Over Flowers the Second' just coz it starts off in a high school setting. After the 6th ep, the kids will be graduating and going to college. By the end of ISWAK, they're getting married. By the end of Itazura na Kiss anime, they have a cute 5-ish year old child. This is not a spoiler if you bother to check out the original manga, anime, and the previous drama versions. So please modify your expectations to better suit the actual setting.
  • Please don't compare the rating of a nearly ending drama (Baker King) to Mischievous Kiss. It smacks of pettiness. However, I do think it should have done better. At least a 7%-ish? Anyway...
  • Don't be disappointed with the contrast between the great hype and the miserably low rating. Hyping a movie/drama is a marketing effort. The audience, and not the hype, will decide its true worth.
Having said all that, ratings have never affected my liking for a movie/drama/anime/etc. Twilight was such a highly-rated movie (in terms of audience approval) and I spent half the time being bored outta my skull watching it. I do have a great dislike for female characters obsessed with the male characters that their entire lives revolve around those guys.

Especially someone as cold as Irie Naoki. I can't like the guy, I just can't like him. Despite Joe Cheng looking absolutely yummy in short hair, I felt like whacking him every time Zhishu treats Xianqing as if she's not worthy of him. Unfeeling robot! *whack whack* ..and I ended up liking Jin and Qitai. Am I the only one who thinks Qitai looks like a cuter and younger version of Kimura Takuya?? Who is this guy? I have to surf the net a bit and find out.

Anyway, tonight is the 2nd episode of Mischievous Kiss. Happy watching! For us the unfortunate ones who have to wait until the subbed downloads are available.. I leave you with hyung's sweet voice singing the OST..