Friday, January 27, 2012

History of the Salaryman: Post-Episode 8 Thoughts

Salaryman is misnamed, imo. It's more "Troubles of the Salaryman" or "Adventures" than "History." (Unless it's trying to make a reference to History of the Salesman, which isn't entirely fitting, but does hold some parallels.) In fact, I came in expecting to see something literally dealing with the history of a bunch of salaried workers, not this fusion comedy-action-revenge-spy drama. Which I'm completely happy with. Despite the episodes getting gradually more serious, there's still plenty of the funny to keep me amused, and some great character growth with it.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Mad Men: Seasons 1-4 Thoughts

This isn't my typical drama post, but lately I've been finding myself taking much-needed breaks from the angst and formulaic structure of K-dramas to enjoy various American shows. Mad Men just has so much discussion fodder that I couldn't resist doing a post after recently finishing season 4.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

The Housemaid

Bemused is the only term that I can match to what I felt after watching this. It's a strange movie, and quite different from what I was expecting in plot and content. Not as much of the crazy or indecent, but instead more of a low-key thriller vibe with a relatively predictable plot. (Spoilers ahead)

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Prosecutor Princess

Drama ratings and reviews are often led more by the heart than the mind, a fact that I'm well-aware of, considering my many rants and raves here. While rants tend to be more satisfying, sometimes it's just magical to find a drama that makes you go do exactly the opposite - to post because it's SO GOOD rather than because it pissed you off. Prosecutor Princess is that drama for me.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Boku to Star no 99 Nichi: Episodes 4-7

In a fit of boredom, I decided to marathon this low-stress, low-commitment drama. I have to give it some kudos, for the love story just zipped right along. One moment they were bickering, the next already on the path to dating. I guess Japanese dramas don't have the luxury of time that K or T ones do, and I actually really appreciate that. Thanks to this, they don't waste story space paddling around with filler material or side characters. Instead, the focus is maintained on our lead pair, who receive continual screentime and relationship development.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

History of the Salaryman: Episodes 1-2


Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Why I won't finish these dramas

A number of new-ish shows came into my interest radar lately, from rave reviews and/or pretty packaging. But alas, I find myself unable to complete many of them, which makes me rather disappointed. Lately it seems that not only has my internal (and sadly unstoppable) nitpicking of drama plots and characters worsened, my incentive to finish those that I'm not 100% satisfied with has completely vanished. Certain stories only give me high blood pressure and a sense of disgust from either awful characters, insipid plots, or visual lack of appeal. Rather than increase my stress unnecessarily by sitting through them, I call it quits early now.