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I've always loved family-oriented/family-themed dramas. They are usually funny, heartwarming, and have more variations in terms of characters and story developments, compared to those typical romance dramas where everything focuses and revolves around the main couple. My first korean family drama was probably 'Since I Met You', and the last one I had was 'As Much As Heaven and Earth'. Honestly, I don't know if they are really categorized under Family Drama, but in my drama list, that's where they are. Recently I came across a new family drama - Sons of Sol's Pharmacy House a.k.a My Too Perfect Sons. Initially, I wasn't planning on watching this because there were no subtitles, and since it's a loooong drama, it's unlikely to get subbed by dear fansubbers. Fortunately, someone uploaded the english-subbed version aired by KBS World, so eventually I picked this drama up and put it in my to-watch list.

I recently finished the Korean drama Cain & Abel, which starred one of my favorite actors, So Ji Sub. Initially, I think it was some time last year, when this series was first announced, I wasn't interested in the story at all. The original plot was about the rivalry between a gangster and his brother who is a detective (go figure!). Well, we've heard and seen (or at least, I have) about this kind of plotlines all the time - in music videos, story books, dramas, that it sounded a little cliche. Thus, the slight disinterest. Besides, I wasn't really into the original cast list (except for So Ji Sub who was the only main cast who remained after the production was put on hold indefinitely for reasons I wasn't really interested to find out, since I wasn't interested in the series anyway). In the end, I'm glad they changed the plotline. Instead of going for detective-gangster brothers rivalry, they showcase two talented brothers as surgeons, who of course, fall...

I went streaming the SBS tv to catch a glimpse of Lee Min Ho (the F4 Gu Jun Pyo from KBS Boys before Flowers) during the 45th Baeksang Award ceremony, but I missed it. Good news travels fast though (thanks to Youtube and Lee Min Ho Soompi thread), and sure enough, as expected by fans, he won the Best Newcomer Award! Congratulations~ Apparently, he tripped on the red carpet, and joked about it during his acceptance speech. Hehe. Adorable. He was obviously nervous. And he looked so lost on stage initially, which made me go "Aaawwwwww~". He totally deserves the award. Boys before Flowers is far from perfect, but one can't deny that his performance was great, flawed drama editing and directing notwithstanding. Perhaps, it's not too much to say that Lee Min Ho's superb and seemingly effortless acting is one of the major attractions that's causing the high viewership rating for the KBS series. And the fact that he's good looking doesn't hurt. And now, ...

Gu Hye Sun as Geum Jan Di (Jandi) Lee Min Ho as Gu Jun Pyo (Junpyo) Kim Bum as So Yi Jung (Yijung) Kim Joon as Song Woo Bin (Woobin) Kim Hyun Joong as Yoon Ji Hoo (Jihoo) It was a good a start for Boys before Flowers. I’m not going to do a full episode summary or recaps because I believe they are quite a few good ones already out there so I’ll just go straight to my own ramblings.

I completely forgot about this Korean drama when it first aired in early January, despite me having anticipating it all of last year ever since the news about its production was announced. I was a huge fan of the original manga Hana Yori Dango (HYD) by Kamio Yoko, which was actually one of the first manga I’ve read when I got obsessed with Japanese comics and anime once upon a time during my college days. I remembered ordering the anime version of it on E-bay. Not a huge fan of the anime though. The cartoon was not as pretty as the drawings in the manga. No offense, but in truth, the earlier volumes of the manga also presented pretty ugly drawings, which was inconsistent with the description of flower boys a.k.a pretty boys. Thinking back, I wonder what made me pick up the comic, or even more, what made me continue reading it because usually, I read only comics with beautiful drawings. I might miss out on all the good stories out there because of the not-so-appealing art, but tha...