Just sad…

“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A friend posted this quote in Facebook, I was actually surprised reading it ’cause I wasn’t expecting that such a quote will come from him, it really was a total surprise. My perception of him is that he’s cold but reading this made me realize that maybe he’s just sad just like the men of my favorite K-dramas. Boys Over Flowers’ Gu Jun Pyo, You’re Beautiful’s Hwang Tae Kyung and Only You’s TJ Han all appears to be cold but they are actually not, they just have their own respective internal dilemmas.

Gu Jun Pyo

Born and raised as the heir of ShinHwa Group, he doesn’t know what it’s like have a real family, how to live as a normal person.

Hwang Tae Kyung

ANJell’s leader, loved and respected by his many fans but deep inside he’s longing for the love of his mother who abandoned him since childhood.

TJ Han

Born as a billionaire, the successor of Dae Young Group but he doesn’t know how it is to have a whole family, his mother left them while his father sees him as a failure.

These three are just fictitious characters but somehow it reveals to us a side of  the human behavior. A man is made up of the events that he has to go through. Each of us are unique because each of us went through unique experiences that makes up who we are.

One More Time- Boys Over Flowers Tidbits (Part9)

One More Time

One More Time!

ABS-CBN will re-run my favorite Koreanovela of all time, Boys Over Flowers as a gift to its fans for Christmas. No timeslot announcements have been made until now but it will be a part of the Primetime Bida, I’m just hoping that it will shown anytime from 8:30PM onwards, so that I may be able to watch it, but I think the likelihood is remote, so I guess BOF will retain it’s timeslot the first time it was shown. But I’m still hoping that my dear, Jun Pyo’s schedule will match mine

The Wedding- Boys Over Flowers Tidbits (Part 7)

Pretty, right? But how about this one?

Now, who’s your bride?

I just watched the recorded episode of the tagalized BOF some minutes ago, thanks to xiaoyiu for uploading. Based on the teaser at the end of the episode, today will be Jun Pyo and Jae Kyung’s wedding day or should I say the judgement day for Jun Pyo, will he end up marrying Jae Kyung, or will he do something to save himself from eternal damnation? What do you think?

Of course, most of us know what the ending will be thanks to the torrent files available for download and to the pirated DVDs that abound almost every corner of the streets. But I’m not gonna tell what will come out of this wedding.

I remember how I felt watching it the first time, it was already 12:30 AM when the episode had its cliffhanger ending. My eyes are telling me that they need to rest for they still have to wake up early the following day but the better part of me knows that sleeping will be next to impossible seeing Jun Pyo and Jan Di in a situation like this. So, why prolong the agony? I’ve got the next episode on my hand so, I continued watching until it reaches the part that made me afford to sleep. It felt like I am Jan Di, I was on the brink of losing hope, of losing sanity, seeing Jun Pyo walking down the aisle. Yes, he did walk down the aisle.

I’m so looking forward to today’s episode, unfortunately, I have to wait ’til tomorrow to watch it since my office hours ends at 6pm and my travel going home is about an hour at the fastest rate.

To the Filipino fans who still don’t know yet what’s gonna happen next (if there’s still any), Enjoy!

BOF Tagalized- Boys Over Flowers Tidbits (Part 6)

Boys Over Flowers, my favorite Korean Drama is aired here in the Philippines by ABS-CBN everyday at around 5:30 PM in its tagalized version. But since I work from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, I don’t get to watch the show. Thanks to youtube because I get to download the episodes and watch them later on. It’s easier to watch since I don’t have to read the subtitles, I can just listen to Jan Di and Jun Pyo and understand them. ABS-CBN’s dubbing is good, the voices used to dub Jan Di and Jun Pyo fits their characters. However, there are some lines which I think weren’t translated well. Right now, I think they are currently airing episode 18 but I’ve already noticed a few translations which are quite different from what I read on the english subtitles. Let me share with you the scenes which I found to have a slight difference in terms of translation.

1. When F3 met Jan Di at the bridge in Macau after talking to Jun Pyo, Jan Di told them that she already knows that he doesn’t want to talk to her. In the subtitles it reads something like “I came here to hear it from him no matter how painful it is” but in the tagalized version it was something like “‘wag na kayong masyadong magalala dahil kung ano man yun, narining ko na yun mismo kay Gu Jun Pyo”, “don’t worry, whatever it might be I already heard it from Gu Jun Pyo himself”, it’s quite different right? I prefer the one I read from the english subs, it’s more fitting to Geum Jan Di’s character and besides it’s more consistent ’cause ‘though she and Jun Pyo already saw each other there at Macau, they haven’t talked to each other yet.

2. I’m not convinced with how they translated Ji Hoo’s sentiments when he was asking Jan Di about her plans now that Jun Pyo refuses to meet up with them because of his too tight schedule. I’m not also sure if they edited the rewind part when it was shown that Jan Di went to Ji Hoo first before going to the airport to fly to Macau.

3. The part where Jan Di and Ji Hoo went to the temple after their double date with Jae Kyung and Jun Pyo, the old man told Ji Hoo “Magiging pamilya kayo”, “you’ll be a family” referring to Jan Di. In the english subs, it goes something like, “She will bring you family”. Of course, I prefer the english sub since it opens two possible events, one the old man could mean that they are meant for each other or it could also be that it will be Jan Di who will bring back Ji Hoo’s grandfather, as we all know he is the only family that Ji Hoo has.

As of now, I only noticed three to enumerate, I don’t know if there are still others that escaped my scrutiny or if there will be others to come. Hopefully, this list will end here.

But still, I love ABS-CBN, their dubbing is still better, they are also good in promoting their shows, they have a good taste in choosing what asianovelas to export and they are good in stirring up the hype.

Vote for BOF! – Boys Over Flowers Tidbits (Part 5)

Our favorite Boys Over Flowers is nominated in the Seoul International Drama Awards for Best Drama. Also, Lee Min Ho and Gu Hye Sun were nominated for the Best Actor and Best Actress category, respectively for playing as star crossed lovers Gu Jun Pyo and Geum Jan Di.

To show our support let’s vote for them. Just click or copy paste the link, below:

http://kr.news.yahoo.com/event/sda2009/en_vote_drama.html

Spread the news to your friends

My Life’s Ji Hoo – Boys Over Flowers Tidbits (Part 4)

I am obviously a Jun Pyo fan but I never hated Ji Hoo. In fact, I love the unselfishness of his heart, how good a friend he is to both Jan Di and Jun Pyo. How willing he is to sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of his friends.

I am not in distress as often as Jan Di is but upon watching Boys Over Flowers I remembered two incidents in my life when I felt like I’m so confused and messed up but there was someone who unexpectedly made his presence felt once again after a very long time and somehow saved me from whatever it is that I was going through those times.

I was hospitalized during the week of my first pre-board exam because of dengue hemorraghic fever. I was on my recovery stage from the illness but I was already studying to cover up for the time lost. I can feel all the pressure, it feels like everybody is expecting too much from me and it feels like being in bed for two weeks costed me a quarter of a year of study time. I was about to cry, I’m beginning to ask God if this is really for me. For a BS Accountancy graduate getting your diploma isn’t the end of the race it’s just a sign that you’re about to approach the final lap for many have accounting degrees but only a few are CPAs, as they say. But before my first teardrop fell, my phone rang, I received a message from a person whom I haven’t communicated with for such a long time, my life’s own version of Ji Hoo, you.

It seems like, you heard the emergency bell and immediately came to rescue me. Your words were comforting bringing back the strong faith that I had some days ago. I regained my faith, God won’t allow me to go this far only to tell me that this race is not for me when it’s about to end, He won’t take me this far just to break my heart. You were right, God really intended me to pass my precious board exam.

Some months ago, the emergency bell rang once again and surprisingly you again came on time. I know you have you’re own dilemmas and I feel bad that it seems like I can’t do anything to help you get through it, unlike Jan Di who brought back Ji Hoo’s grandfather to his life. You offered help but I refused, I ditched you, I know you felt bad ’cause you really exerted effort to help me out. Once in your life you were in the same situation so you know how it feels and now that you recovered from it, you might probably be the best person to help. Despite of me ditching you that day, I didn’t really abandon your help after all, I followed your advice in my own way as dictated by my faith and I have to thank you that right now ‘though things are still not that clear, I know that there is light to guide me.

I don’t know why you are always on time, I can’t find any explanation for that, maybe it’s destiny’s way of saying that ‘though I’ve let go of you as my first love, you’ll always be special. Yes, you are my first love, I believe, just like Jan Di towards Ji Hoo but unlike her I have yet to find my life’s version of Jun Pyo. But ‘though I haven’t find my Jun Pyo yet, I’ve let you go long time ago. I’m not sure if I am in any way even just once had a romantic place in your heart, maybe yes maybe no but I believe that once in our lives there is a special bond of love that we’re going to have and it doesn’t necessarily mean to be romantic love, it could be friendship and I’m glad that in my life it’s you, my own Ji Hoo.

* I know I shouldn’t include this in the BOF Tidbits series for it’s more of a personal matter rather than my fascination about the series, it’s just that I don’t think I’ll realize who he is in my life had I not watch BOF.

Happy Birthday!

Saengil Chukha Hamnida Lee Min Ho!
June 22, 2009

Happy Birthday Lee Min Ho!

Alone

I just got back from having a snack downstairs, in my two years and seven months of working this is the first time that I ate outside the office alone. I know that I’m not friendly neither do I have a welcoming aura, I’m known for being snobbish but since the first day I worked I always have a buddy with me except today.

I’m quite new in this office, if staying for eight months is still considered as new but I was not able to make new friends. In my former office, I’ve got three sets of friends, my friends from the other service line, my batchmates and the next batch after us, so there never was an alone time. Lunch, dinner, snacks and even breakfast was always filled with laughters and small talks. Except for some, the people here are just fine but the problem is I can’t feel any connection with them. Maybe, I’m the one to be blamed ’cause I might be the one rejecting them or it could also be because apart from working in the same company we don’t have anything in common. I find them boring or maybe they just don’t have the same interests that I have. One of my friends from my former office also transferred here with me but even her makes me feel alone. She’s kind, that was never the question despite of her antagonistic moods at times, don’t get me wrong she’s not doing the telenovela antagonist thing, but I think she’s got the habit of always going against what people has to say or maybe it’s more appropriate to say that she’s always going against what I have to say. I don’t know, she could just be bored that’s why she keeps on contradicting me just to have something to say. I’m not expecting her nor any person to always be on my side, we are all genetically wired in a different way but because of her being my antagonist everyday, I feel alone. It feels like people here are against me. I really feel so alone, the quietness also adds up to the feeling.

I was able to survive ’til today by finding endless ways to entertain me like listening to Chico and Delamar’s top ten as recorded by blueritz, reading E-books and quotes during breaks and just recently reading about Boys over Flowers especially Gu Jun Pyo (Lee Min Ho) and staring at his pictures. But can I tell Chico or Delamar that I saw my crush last night, can I share my pictures from my out of town trip to Lee Min Ho or can I open up to Jan Di that I’m having a bad day, no, right? But thanks to them for keeping me company.

I guess it’s true that you cannot be lucky on the same thing twice. I was lucky to have good friends from my former office but not now. I can’t help but still want to be with them. We’re not exactly of the same likes and dislikes but I can feel that there is a connection, our wavelengths are parallel. Maybe, because of the intensity of what we had to go through together that we’re bonded in a special way, something that I miss, something that I will forever cherish, something I’m glad happened.

Lots of Laugh – Boys over Flowers Tidbits (Part 3)

Apart from making us all swoon, Boys Over Flowers really tickled us with its humor so I’m listing down the scenes that made me laugh:

1. When Jan Di went to the hospital all worried about Jun Pyo. You can see it coming but I can’t help but laugh while she was crying for him, telling him to wake up. When Jun Pyo finally woke up after hearing that she’ll now say whatever it is that she wants to hear, I was really laughing so hard. Jun Pyo teasing Jan Di was really cute.

2. When Jun Pyo was forcing Jan Di to say “oppa, I’m sorry”, when she was apologizing giving him an apple.

3. Jun Pyo thinking that “genie” is a rival for Jan Di’s love when he prepared for a lunch by the shore at New Caledonia.

4. Jun Pyo answering Jan Di’s call, when she asked him to go on a double date. Jun Pyo overdoing his player tactics was really funny.

5. When Jun Pyo jumped into the conclusion that the reason why Jan Di was going against him and even confronted him telling him that she hadn’t even had her first kiss yet, was because she likes him.

6. Jun Pyo eating more than 20 fish cakes.

7. Jun Pyo pulling Jae Kyung instead of Jan Di. That scene wasn’t really new at all but it still made me laugh.

8. Jan Di explaining to the hotel staff in Venetian Macau in her broken english that she is looking for Gu Jun Pyo.

9. Ga Eul crying by the street while all the passersby are thinking that it was Yi Jung that made her cry.

10. Jun Pyo saying that the weather is good when in fact there’s thunder and lightning because he’s in the mood, beginning to fall in love with Jan Di.

11. Jun Pyo fidgetting waiting for Jan Di on their class trip to Europe.

12. A jealous Jun Pyo at the airport, when Ji Hoo kissed Jan Di before boarding for the next plane to follow Seo Hyun.

13. Everytime Jun Pyo is scared of bugs.

14. Jun Hee pinching Jun Pyo’s ears because he was caught intimidating the principal to get Jan Di and Ji Hoo expelled.

15. Jun Pyo amazed with the Jun Pyo shaped chocolates that Jan Di gave him on Valentine’s day.

16. Jun Pyo asking Ji Hoo to punch him after his birthday celebration, to make things even between the two of them after their Macau Airport incident.

17. When Jun Pyo announced that Jan Di is now her girlfriend.

18. Jun Pyo running away when Jan Di fooled him that there’s a snake on his feet while they were on N
19. Jan Di’s phone ringing when Jun Pyo was about to kiss her.

20. Jun Pyo sneezing when he was about to kiss Jan Di after giving her the heart-moon necklace.

21. The first time Jun Pyo ate ramen at Jan Di’s house using the lid.

22. When Jan Di became Jun Pyo’s personal maid and she was asked by Jun Pyo to cook ramen the commoner’s way.

23. When Jun Pyo and Jan Di watched the horror film.

BOF was really entertaining, Jun Pyo was the funniest of all. I really love Jun Pyo, he made me cry, fall in love and most especially, laugh. BOF was really a Korean Drama experience of a lifetime.

Illogical – Boys Over Flowers Tidbits (Part 2)

After writing about my favorite BOF scenes let me write about the negative side of the series. Come on, let’s face it, there is no such thing as perfect, no matter how much you like something it can’t be denied that it has flaws.

First, the songs used were great, in fact I downloaded it ‘though I really don’t understand the Korean language at all, thanks to SOEul love at you tube ’cause his/her uploaded videos contains english subtitles for some of the songs. The down side is, the timing on which the songs were played, the appropriateness and the over usage. There were some episodes where the song “Almost Paradise” was overused, that includes playing the song during a fight scene.

Next, the abuse of the F3 super hero thing. I know, the plot needs that ingredient but it was abused. Like when F3 came to save Jan Di and Jun Pyo from Jae He’s group.

Third, I don’t hate Jan Di but I think it could’ve been better if her character is not stupid, Meteor Garden’s Shan Cai is smart. I think that’s better.

I also can’t understand why Yi Jung keeps on saying that Ga-Eul isn’t pretty when obviously she really is.

Also, I think they missed some details like allowing Jan Di to use the same shoes with broken heels when they are about to go home. If she can’t barely walk with them the night before then how is it possible for her to use the same pair the morning after. Another thing is Jan Di’s gift which she left at Ji Hoo’s car, when you go on a birthday party you’re supposed to bring the gift with you, right? I can’t remember seeing her carrying the paper bag when she went to the party. Another one is when Jae Kyung arrived at the Macau airport and found the box of shoes that was supposed to be for Jan Di. If you can recall, according to Jae Kyung’s parents she went to Hong Kong, as we know Hong Kong is just a ferry away from Macau so why is she on the aiport? Also, at New Caledonia when Jun Pyo followed Ji Hoo in a kayak. He can’t swim right? and he threw his paddle? How was he able to go back? Also, of all the sweet gestures of Jun Pyo I find him putting all those salt scrubs and soaps on the pool the most illogical. We’ve seen him splurge over fancy things but the pool thing isn’t convincing.

As with the acting, the Geum family were a bit OA at some parts especially Daddy Geum. Also, for the first few episodes there were times when Jan Di was OA.

Last, there are certain plotlines that I don’t buy. First, Jun Pyo becoming a Managing Director for ShinHwa Group immediately after finishing high school. Of course, he’s the heir and the blood of being a businessman runs in his blood but such a thing can’t happen over night. I mean, he could’ve undergone training for the past six months that he didn’t contact Jan Di and F3 and Madam Kang remains as chairman but still to undertake a major project overseas is no joke, even a fresh latin honor graduate of a premiere business school will find a hard time and here Jun Pyo is a high schooler. Oh well, the plot needs it but it could’ve been presented in a more convincing way like handling a small subsidiary as training. Another one is the selective amnesia thing, ok the plot needs it and I think it’s also in the original HanaDan (I haven’t watched the original). While watching, I first thought that he could be faking it, it could be his way of letting go Jan Di and giving Ji Hoo a chance since he feels like he caused her too much pain, I think this could’ve been a better thing, no offense. I also don’t buy the Yumi thing, I don’t know I just hate her, it would’ve been better if it was Jae Kyung. Also, the Grandpa thing, they should’ve made it clear what’s behind the guilt of Grandpa that he left Ji Hoo alone. Also, I know how desperate they were to give Woo Bin his own subplot but the bridge scene seems like a waste of time, it was forced there is no flow of logic. I can’t see the point why Woo Bin is ashamed because aside from his Mafia connection, he is the heir of their real estate company. As with Yi Jung’s mother, they should’ve made it clear what happened to her. Jan Di’s tantrums when she was embarassed that Ji Hoo saw her in the comfort room her ’cause she forgot to lock the doors, it was overacting. The need for both Ji Hoo and Jan Di to lose their wallets just for Ji Hoo to perform, they could’ve done it better.

Oh well, no matter how imperfect BOF is, there’s a story in it’s core that touched the hearts of many and that includes me. Things like these are supposed to entertain us, so why should we be bothered by the flaws, right? Let’s just take it as it is and enjoy after all we can’t deny that it made us laugh, cry and even fall in love. The series was undeniably a success if ratings are to be used as basis. Let me borrow a quote from an anonymous author, “You cannot argue with success as there is no accounting for taste.”