stroppyse

Hope you all got to catch the VMA's. BTS won in all 4 of their categories, including Best Pop! Plus, their debut performance of Dynamite! In case you haven't caught, and even if you have, but want to watch again.

Well expressed. Hearing him talk about in the previous episode and then seeing how he was treated by his superior in ep 6 made my heart ache for him which I'm surprised at because he's a character that I had found distasteful previously. And, while there may have been redemption, a person doesn't change that much and we saw him up to some of his tricks again. However, placing those machinations in context rather than having it be just a raw power grab was an effective way to cultivate sympathy for his character. The rest of this line of thought in the spoiler.

SEO DONG JAE!!!! Episode 6. Ugh. I was going to write my thoughts from episode 5 and 6, but the episode 6 cliffhanger has just wiped almost everything else out of my mind. I felt real compassion for Prosecutor Seo in his scenes in episode 6 as we get a glimpse of what life has been like for him, being disdained by his colleagues, since he was transferred out of Seoul, and why he so wants to go back. And, then as I said, that cliffhanger. Totally unexpected. I find the scenes between SM and YJ beautiful actually. And, the scene in episode 6 where it is finally them, but all the things that are said and not said between them. When SM asks YJ if she isn't drawing any more. Oof. They're both struggling right now, caught between their superiors and the possible shadiness that they might be in. They're both so isolated within their respective national office teams. I felt like crying for both of them. Though, I'm hoping that these meetings between them will continue and grow since SM has seeked out YJ to talk over at least some of what is going on. There is also a scene in episode 5 where SM goes to the Western District Head Prosecutor Kang Won Chul about the warrant that Jang Gun's team had so wanted, and then comes to realize that he himself (SM) had gone to the person who he thought might have influence to make his request for the warrant. It gives him some new insight into why people might break the law about not hiring people from public office, but not think that they are breaking the law. It's almost as if a certain light went off inside SM's head, giving him even more to think about. Anyway, it looks as if SM's superior Woo Tae Ha is dirty after all, though he cares enough to try to make it seem impartial. But, anyway, all that I can think about right now is Prosecutor Seo, and all I have to say is that he had better be all right!

That's true. I can see IJ thinking that he will succeed in marriage and that love may come after they were married. I think his wife was unhappy before the temporary transfer to Germany though. IJ mentioned that he had offered to go with her, but she had demurred saying that she wanted WJ to be raised in Korea. That sounds like an excuse to me, especially since WJ is so young. The fact that she left behind both IJ and WJ tells me that she needed some time to herself, possibly to sort out how she felt about things. I really, really hope that IkSong isn't dragged out to a S3, though, that's my fear if they announce a S3. If there is a S3, then I can see GomGom being resolved in S2, as both the Dove Couple and the Wintergarden Couple work through the issues of actually being together. The Dove Couple have to work through their long distance relationship, and the Wintergarden Couple actually need to figure out how to be a couple.

This has been in my head and on my lips since it dropped. Cause I'm in the stars tonight Watch me bring the fire and set the night alight Shining through the city with a little funk and soul So, I'ma light it up like dynamite! Dynanananana-ay. Light it up. Dynamite!

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Stardust

Oh yeah, it's Sunday! And, that means it's the MTV VMA's! BTS is nominated in 4 categories this year: Best Group Best Pop - "ON" Best K-Pop Best Choreography - "ON" Plus, they're going to be debuting their first performance of "Dynamite"! In 2019, BTS won in Best Group and Best K-Pop, so here is looking to them improving their award stash this year. Their choreo is so fierce, I can't imagine them not taking that. Though, I'm looking forward to their performance of "Dynamite" the most. The song is so infectious, I find myself frequently humming it now, replacing the "Stay Gold" earworm. So, hope you all will watch as well! And, as Jimin has been saying constantly during this pandemic, please stay safe wherever you are.

Thank you! I posted in the thread with the staff bios.

Some impressive work by @Chocolate who put the following JH Staff Chart together after the Guess the Staff Quiz Event! The "New Name" is the name we are known by here on JangHaven, and "Formerly" are the names we were known by on the previous site that we knew each other from. Thanks @Chocolate!

Hi @MMM8P, glad to see you here! It wasn't the same without your cheerful pratter! I think I'm one of the few who haven't changed names or DP's, so I guess that makes it easy to guess who I am. Wow, that is impressive work! Nice one! We may have to cross post that to the staff section, for members who don't make it to this dabang, if you don't mind.

Me, too! I totally think SM sent him the package of underwear and stuff. It's the kind of practical thing that he would do.

Oh my gosh! I'm so excited now! I loved Confidential Assignment! I spazzed about it on the movie thread on soompi, and even wrote up a review, even though movies got little love on the kdramas&movies section there. Hyun Bin and Yoo Hae Jin were hilarious together, and even though HB was supposed to be the super intense man-with-a-mission straight man to YHJ's jaded, funny cop, HB got a few good ones in, demonstrating that he does have a sense of comedic timing. @abs-oluteM, I can totally understand that HB and YHJ were the original BinJin! That is totally a ship that I can get on board with. And, I love Daniel Henney as well. He's good looking with an easy smile and decent acting talents, especially hard when he was the only non-Korean speaking actor in Korean productions. And, he's so good as Matt Simmons on Criminal Minds!

Well, there is also the Dilbert Principle in larger companies which is when you keep promoting someone to get him out of your department. They're happy because they're being promoted, but really you're just trying to put him somewhere where they can't do much damage because you can't really fire them. The name "Dilbert Principle" was named after the Dilbert comic strip by Scott Adams, and it a bit tongue in cheek, but unfortunately, that doesn't mean it's not true. :) Just finished watching episode 5. I think I want to wait to write anything substantial until I see episode 6 as well. However, there is one scene that made me go oof. There is a scene where SM and YJ are face to face standing next to their superiors. You'll know it when you come to it. Anyway, I feel as if things are slowly ratcheting up in terms of both tension and understanding for SM and YJ, and we're finding things out as they are. Also, we see Yoon Se Won (Lee Kyu Hyung) again! Not sure if this was just a cameo of whether he's going to play a part again, but it was good to see him.

Yes, but surely such capable fellows like you and @Soju are more than capable of covering five simple parts? I think your fans would be ecstatic that you did.

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66 Easter candy

Pretty much an example of the Peter Principle, where people are promoted for their current competence to a level a incompetence because they might not have the skills or the temperament to do the job that they were promoted to. It seems that for the prosecutors, it is just a dog and pony show that they were forced into by Choi Bit's media ploy. Aside from SM, the other prosecutors don't want anything to change and are looking for a way to force the police into accepting status quo rather than risk embarrassment or worse with the case of the dead policeman. The police who are the ones to be able to get warrants directly from judges rather than wait for prosecutors to intercede for them are probably acting in good faith somewhat in that there is something that they need. However, if it had been the other way around, there is no doubt that the police would have been the ones stonewalling and walking out of the meetings, so I assign no particular virtue to them either. As for YJ and JG, they are sincere since they are the ones in the field waiting for the warrant and sometimes helplessly watching criminal suspects get away, but it feels as if what they want could easily be pushed aside if the higher ups wanted it that way. I think the key to this process may be with SM's comment which is basically a paraphrase of who will watch the watchers. Regardless of whether the warrants come through the prosecutors or through the police, if it can be corrupted by either channel, then what is the point of any change any way. Well, I suppose, it potentially enriches a different set of crooked public servants? I trust SM, YJ, and JG to figure out the cases that come up before them and somehow get their superiors in positions where they have to compromise.

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Toy Story

Personal Taste 개인의 취향 [2010] aka Personal Preference Director: Son Hyung Suk, Noh Jong Chan Writer: Kim Hee Ju Based on the novel Personal Taste by Lee Se In Cast: Son Ye Jin, Lee Min Ho, Kim Ji Seok, Wang Ji Hye Genre: Romantic Comedy Some background: Lee Min Ho was coming off an impressive leading man turn in the coming of age drama Boys Over Flowers when he chose this rom-com Son Ye Jin. In BoF, LMH had made the man-child character of Gun Jun Pyo the most riveting element of that series alongside a cast of other newbie actors. In Personal Taste, LMH had to act alongside an actress who was already an established and beloved star who was also 5 years older than himself, where he turned in a credible, though not stellar performance. Son Ye Jin already had done a number of film and drama roles which were more melodramatic and intense. She went from playing a sweet, innocent ingenue which earned her the nickname of Korea’s First Love to roles in weightier works playing strong, ambitious, morally ambiguous women. She wanted to have a fun, light-hearted role and so chose Personal Taste. The title Personal Taste is a play on the FL’s name Gae In which is also a word that means “personal” or “individual”, so this drama really is about Gae In’s choices and preferences. The set up and review: Personal Taste is a romantic comedy where both the romance and the comedy result primarily from the cohabitation of the ML and the FL when they are both very different personalities and how they become friends and ultimately fall in love. Park Gae In (Son Ye Jin) is the daughter of a famous architect, living in a traditional Korean home (named SangGoJae) that he had designed and built for his family to live in. Her mother has died in a tragic accident in that house for which GI blames herself, while her father has moved to live and work in England after the accident. GI herself is an independent designer of furniture trying to establish herself with mixed success with a long time boyfriend who she’s hoping to marry. Jeon Jin Woo (Lee Min Ho) is a young, ambitious architect who has launched his own firm, and is hoping to make a name for his fledgling firm by winning a contest to build the new DAAM Art Center. He hears that the head of the selection committee is a particular admirer of GI’s father and SangGoJae, and thus tries to gain entrance to SangGoJae though GI does not allow anyone into her private home. GI’s long-term boyfriend Han Jang Ryul (Kim Ji Seok) is not very supportive of GI, and breaks up with her in a pretty mean fashion. His main quibble seems to be that GI is too receptive and too willing to be with him and do things for him. However, it turns out that the real reason JR breaks up with GI is that he’s been having an affair with GI’s best friend and roommate Kim In Hee (Wang Ji Hye) behind GI’s back and is about to marry her. GI finds out because she attends her friend’s wedding, even though she has not been invited to it, and causes a ruckus upon finding out that IH and JR are about to get married. This disrupts the wedding, causing the wedding couple to have a falling out and the wedding itself to be cancelled. JW happens to be at the wedding as a guest since he is in competition with JR’s father who owns a well established architectural and construction firm which used to be owned by JW’s father. Confused and amused yet? All of these troubles cause IH to reject JR after all, and ultimately decide that she’s really interested in JW instead. Btw, IH is the personal executive assistant of the man who is in charge of deciding on the architect for the DAAM Art Center Project. JR, after being rejected by IH, finally realize how supportive, loving and forgiving GI has always been, and decide that he wants to get GI back. Not to mention, JR’s father upon finding out that GI is the daughter of the celebrated architect who is revered by the DAAM Project reviewers demands that JR make up with GI. In the midst of all this though, JW has managed to rent IH’s old room from GI who agrees based on a previous misunderstanding that JW is gay, and thus not violating any prohibitions born of modesty and propriety. And, thus the cohabitation starts as does the main love square. It’s actually a love mess as there are subplots with a girl who is living in JW’s house with his mother calling herself his fiancee who is in turn being chased by one of JW’s staff, as well as the gay senior executive (a significant cameo by movie star Ryu Seung Ryong) associated with the DAAM Project (IH’s boss) who is also attracted to JW. And, this leads to my first and possibly biggest issue with this drama. The base plot is very thin, so they’ve made the relationships stretch and twist beyond all boundaries of coincidence and reason, even by kdrama standards. Not to mention, they’ve written the second leads without a shred of conscience or morals but in a very matter of fact way, at least until nearly the end. For instance, the second female lead tries to move back into SangGoJae with GI after her marriage attempt flops. The second male lead thinks he has a right to GI despite having betrayed her with her best friend even to the point of marrying the friend, but doesn't understand why GI won't fall back into his arms. There is another friend of GI’s who points out how appalling and shameless their actions are, but GI, being the warm-hearted saint that she is, harbors no real ill will towards either of the SL’s. It means some serious suspension of belief through the various plots and counterplots that feels exhausting rather than giving much sense of emotional engagement or payoff. The characters themselves feel expediently written rather than with any internal consistency. So, the characters do things in order to progress the plot as it is or to get the laugh rather than because there is any sense that the characters would actually act the way they do because its inherent to their nature. The directing is just okay, not intrusive but also not memorable, and with a few weird angles on shots that just served to confuse me. That is also true of the production in general. Perhaps we’ve become used to much better directing, editing and cinematography now, whereas this feels like standard tv fare of its time. Unfortunately, that leads to this drama looking and feeling outdated as well. SangGoJae is a beautiful house, although the tragic flaw in its design that is at the heart of the reason GI loses her mother feels more like a materials flaw than an actual design flaw which seems simplistic given the status of the architect and builder. As written, the dialogue is also on the simplistic side which leads to awkward interactions which made me think that perhaps I would have enjoyed this drama better if I did not understand Korean since I found myself giggling at a number of the serious mood scenes. SYJ as a veteran at least tried to do more with her line deliveries and emoting. LMH, as the newer, younger actor was not so fortunate. Leading to such not-so-classic exchanges as this scene where GI has somehow gotten an ill JW out of a car and into a bed by herself and is now nursing him with a cloth to his head): GI:Jin Woo-sshi, are you back to your senses? JW: Gae In-sshi GI: How could a person be so foolish until your body becomes like this? JW: Don’t worry about a guy like me. GI: Who’s worrying? JW: I’m okay, so please go now. GI: How can you say that you’re okay when you’re in this state? JW: Your father will be worried. So, go. GI: Did anyone say that I was going to live here? Turn over now, so that I can change your wet cloth (that she had placed on his forehead to try to break his fever). JW: Go. JW: I said go. GI: Fine, I understand. Since your fever seems to have been reduced anyway. (she gets up, only for JW to grab her arm) JW: Don’t go. GI: Let go. JW: Don’t go. Meant to be dramatic and romantic, this scene just made me laugh. LMH feels outmatched in this drama by the veteran actors Son Ye Jin and Ryu Seung Ryong in his scenes with them. His character JW is presented as a rather taciturn man, private, tidy, orderly, and keeping his own counsel. So, he generally has fewer lines than his co-stars. This was both a blessing and a curse since it took a lot of burden off him when he was in most scenes of this drama, but at the same time meant that he needed to be able to emote more without over-acting, a feat that he couldn’t quite pull off here. With his striking good looks, and his character of being a forward thinking architect, the costume department also dress him up in some questionable fashions which did not necessarily do him any favors. As might be expected by my remarks in the previous paragraph, the mismatch of acting experience and delivery also led to some questionable chemistry between the two leads. GI does her best to be winsome and sweet and feisty, and makes it extremely unbelievable that any man wouldn’t find her adorable even in her “frumpy” phase. JW is tall, good looking, principled, talented, as well as being a good housekeeper and cook. While GI shows us how she’s falling in love with JW, we’re given some scenes of JW brooding and are meant to accept that is because he finds himself thinking about GI which then becomes love. That’s probably a bit harsh since there are some couple-y montages where the OTP are doing friend things and being comfortable together. It just feels too much like we’re being told rather than because I was falling in love as they were falling in love. I found myself rooting for the OTP anyway, mostly because GI was so in love with him rather than because I actually felt that the couple were so meant to be together. Of the two second leads, they feel wasted in a lot of ways in this drama. Both of the second leads are rather petty and childish in their determination to go after what they want through most of this drama. Having said that, neither of the second leads are completely evil and have their moments of redemption at the end after being frustrated in their attempts time after time. In general, I think this drama is good to watch if LMH is your oppa, and you feel the need to watch every one of his projects. He does a much better job with another tall, good looking, talented man with few words character in City Hunter. SYJ has done better work both before and after this project. Having said that it’s also just a mostly light bit of fluff with some really gorgeous people, so probably good to watch on a bored, rainy day. Plot/story 4 Cast/acting 7 Production value 5 Re-watch value 5

Nougat 54 Hi @katakwasabi!

ice cream 50 Not sure if I'm counting right or not. I think based on first page that I am a dessert and adding 2?