6. Random Musings – Welcome to Dramaworld

Every K-drama fan can attest to the importance of OST’s and their magical effect on us. Like in any other field of the film industry, music plays a big roll in the overall wonderful experience that is a K-drama. By the way, “OST” stands for ‘Original Soundtrack’ and refers to the soundtrack of Korean dramas.

Music is endless magic and undoubtedly the international language of love. Time and again, music has proven to be powerful, and capable of evoking a wide range of emotions.

Consequently, the sound of music can make us feel peaceful, happy or excited. It makes our hearts beat faster in anticipation or suspense, and can also have a calming effect.

Have you ever muted a show or movie at a particular part? I do this all the time with scary scenes. It’s amazing how all of a sudden the scene only has about half the suspense/scary effect on me. Likewise, the effect of background music also applies to any moving scene that pulls on our heartstrings.

Not surprisingly, this is no accident. Because music for every film project is carefully chosen to enhance scenes emotionally.

I feel like Korean drama soundtracks take this to a whole other level yet. Having songs written and recorded specifically for each drama makes every OST unique. The lyrics often depict the situations our characters are facing, as well as the emotional turmoil they are going through.

Usually by episode 1 or 2 of any drama, we have therefore associated its music with certain scenes or characters without even realizing it. These images will stay in our memory, subsequently to be replayed repeatedly by simply listening to the OST or snippets of a song from it.

Above all, music pulls us in and makes us feel like we are part of the story. For example, we may even imagine ourselves going to a ‘Noraebang’ (Korean Karaoke room) and belt out our favourite songs. Just like many of our most beloved K-drama characters. Knowing that we would sound just as out of tune as many of them do, will not deter us in the least bit.

Furthermore, how and by who the song is interpreted, can also make all the difference in giving the song the right feel. Baek Ji Young, Gummy, Ali, Monday Kidz, 4Men, 2AM, Davichi, K.Will, Junsu, 2BiC, Heize, Yoon Mi Rae, Hyorin, are just a few of my favourite singers/groups when it comes to OST interpretations.

In conclusion, this is the beauty and magic of music. To make us dream and feel. To take us places, even if it’s just in our imagination. And last but not least, to give us strength, encouragement and comfort in everyday situations.

Cue the music,

Cee

Today I would like to introduce my fellow K-drama addict R to all of you. After years of sharing our favourite K-dramas and K-pop songs, she agreed to officially join this blog in early 2019.

Since than she has been chiefly responsible for the media portion of our posts and I am so excited to finally officially introduce her to all of you.

Well, actually, I’ll let her introduce herself. Take it away R.

**********

Hello everyone, this is R trying to write a decent introduction. Just know that writing isn’t my forte, so bear with me here.

This introduction is to let you know how I was first introduced to the world of K-Dramas and K-Pop. I was but a young lass when I first learned about the existence of these magical series.

It was through a Skype chat with my older Sister. She had stumbled upon some nice series, watched them herself and proceeded to tell me to check them out.

Her first recommendation was for me to watch a Korean movie called ‘He was cool’. Being raised to always listen to my elders, 😉 I quickly obliged. Needless to say, I loved the movie and I wanted more.

At the next chat with my Sister she shared with me a site that I could visit and it would show me all of these series with a little summary of what it was about. I was then to click on a series that spiked my interest and be able to watch it.

We did not, however, take into account that I lived in an unpopular country and that said country was restricted to access the videos. I was able to read the summaries though which helped me choose my first Korean Drama.

The Girl who still chose K-Dramas

‘Personal Taste’ aka ‘Personal Preference’ was the first drama I chose. Now all I had to do, was to find a site to watch it at. With the help of my sister I found one quickly and thus the joy began.

The internet speed back than was another obstacle all on its own. But I had a purpose; a destiny to fulfill – so to speak -and I was not about to be stopped by slow internet.

Growing up watching Telenovelas (Spanish Soap Operas) and the unending episodes of drama that come with that, I was pleasantly surprised about how short this drama was. I loved how it didn’t linger on one problem too long and how it tugged at the heartstrings just enough to keep you falling for all the characters.

Traced image of Personal Preference by R. joheun.geurim

If my memory serves me right, I watched ‘Boys before Flowers’ afterwards. I wasn´t as thrilled with the drama as many of my co K-drama fans. What got me through it was the So-Eul Couple. I´m watching fan videos of them to this day.

So it should come as no surprise that my next drama would include Kim Bum. I picked ‘The woman who still wants to marry’. After that it was just pretty much one drama after the other.

So beautiful my K-Pop

My K-pop addiction was another thing. I started out listening to the OST of ‘You´re Beautiful’ after having watched the drama. Little old moa back then thought that was it. “That is as far as I´m going down this rabbit hole.”

Good thing for me back then, I still had no idea of the existence of this fore mentioned rabbit hole. So, I went in full speed and just slid down deeper and deeper.

Starting with Ft.Island (or should I say Lee Hong Gi), Lee Seung Gi and then the first Boy group I stanned. (Mind you, stan was more of a name back then and not the term used to describe you rooting for someone, but we gotta go with the times here.) Ahem… B2ST or Beast if you´d like was the group of my choosing. I came in right at the ‘Fiction’ era. What a time to be alive!

As all good K-pop stanners do, I started forcing all my Korean playlists into my friend’s ears. I didn´t get any of them to become as immersed into the genre as I am. (Blame me for my overflowing excitement that probably scared them away.)

I did succeed on some level though. All of my close friends have at least one folder among their playlists named ‘Korean songs’. It’s the little victories that count. 🙂

Do you know Annyeonghaseyo?

Another thing that soon spiked my interest was the Korean language itself. I have always been fascinated with languages.

After looking into the Korean alphabet one afternoon, I was surprised how straightforward it was. With a little practice, I was soon able to read sentences and even scribble some of my own.

Sadly, to this day, I still can’t understand everything. I blame myself, since I haven’t taken the necessary steps to learn more. But I am hopeful to one day being able to hold a full conversation in Korean.

That was it from me, for now.

-R

This marks my first attempt at sharing how I got lost in Korean Dramaworld. I do enjoy watching movies/dramas from other Asian countries, but K-dramas remain by far my personal favourite.

If you’re reading this, you are well on your way to joining myself on a journey through sped-up lane changes, piggyback rides, back hugs and all things K-drama.

You mentally check off a list of ‘must have scenes’ whenever you watch a new K-drama.

Watching something with subtitles has become the norm. Sometimes, you catch yourself searching a video or movie with subtitles that’s already in your own language. [No? Just me? Ok.]

However, if the above makes you scratch your head in confusion, consider it a crash introduction to the Korean Dramaworld. [You’re welcome.]

Also, don’t despair. New members may join us at any time. With dedication and perseverance (aka endless hours of watching Korean dramas), you too can become a drama ~~addict~~ lover.

How it all began:

It was a day like any other in early 2009. While looking for some good songs online, I stumbled across a fan-made music video containing snippets of what seemed to be an interesting story.

After watching several similar videos and reading through the comments, I was able to find out two very important facts. One, these were scenes from a Korean drama and two, the English translation of the drama name was – drum roll please – ‘Boys before flowers’.

So I got to searching for a subtitled version of the drama that still had decent quality. This was before K-dramas enjoyed the widespread fame they have today. Websites streaming these dramas with subtitles were few and far in between. But I was on a mission and not to be stopped until I finally succeeded.

‘Boys before Flowers’ is based on a popular manga/manhwa by the same name. Through a special scholarship, spunky Geum Jan-Di is accepted into a prestigious high school. The school is ruled by a group consisting of the four richest and most popular students. They are known as F4, or flower boys because of their good looks.

The story unfolds in a serious of events caused by the interactions of its protagonists and the changes these bring to the lives of everyone involved.

Thus began my love for Korean dramas which soon expanded to the Korean Language and culture and last but not least, Korean pop music. One of the main actors of this drama is also part of a Korean boy band known as SS501. Thus, while watching the drama, I started listening to Korean pop music aka K-pop. And as the famous saying goes, the rest is history.

Always & forever 😉

-Cee

How R joined me in Korean Dramaworld

I LOVE puzzles. Next to Korean dramas, they are one of my favourite ways to decompress and just let my mind rest. [Move over, adult colouring books!]

They are also a perfect pastime during our long cold winter months, when I avoid leaving the house as much as possible.

Once a puzzle is completed, I glue it together, frame it and turn it into wall art. Tada!!

While on the hunt for something completely unrelated, I recently came across two sets of puzzles in our basement storage closet. Although clearly not new, they were neatly packaged in plastic bags inside what at this point I could merely assume was their original box.

During our most recent house move several years ago, the box was likely put there and had since obviously been forgotten. It’s been so long that I don’t even remember purchasing it.

As is the norm for puzzles, the box contained images showing me the finished results I were to expect upon completion. It also declared in bold letters that each puzzle consisted of 1000 pieces.

In addition to the above mentioned was another vital piece of information: The recommended age.

After having confirmed that by general standards I was indeed old enough to take on this challenge, I forged ahead.

As earlier mentioned, the puzzles were clearly not new. Which is no surprise. I usually get puzzles second hand. This adds some suspense to the whole experience because you can never be 100% certain that certain pieces won’t be missing. Yes I know, I’m a serious risk taker. Living on the edge and all that.

But we digress…

So there I was eager to get started. I completed the first puzzle without any major incident and the result was indeed one of the images depicted on the outside of my box. Success!!

Having come this far, I was determined to turn this 1 out of 2 into a 2 out of 2 and puzzle number two was up.

As the image was coming together piece by piece, I grew increasingly confident to have another winner on my hands.

But then…as I got to the last few pieces, it became apparent that something did not add up. My empty space to leftover puzzle piece ratio was off by exactly 1 piece.

At this point I was far from entering panic mode. After all, it had likely just fallen off the table or was hiding underneath something nearby.

With this thought in mind, I proceeded to inspect my immediate surroundings. But even after lifting this and moving over that, there was no sign of the missing piece.

Deciding that maybe it was time to take a step back from the whole situation, I concluded to wait a few days before doing an even more in depth search around the area.

A few days passed and although I moved on to other things, the issue was by far forgotten. The unfinished puzzle, with its one gaping hole just sitting there in my basement, was a daily reminder of a task not completed.

It was during this time but in another completely unrelated turn of events that I decided to do some reorganizing in our upstairs office.

While doing so, I inevitably came across this little plastic container with small drawers that sits on my desk. The drawers contain small office supplies as well as odds and ends that seem to collect in them and never make it to their proper place. #lifeofachaoticperson

As I looked through one of the drawers, *drumroll please* there is my missing puzzle piece! Just chilling among several misplaced safety pins, some paperclips and other random items.

Although this was most certainly a very pleasant surprise, it prompted much questioning.

Out of 1000 pieces, how did a single puzzle piece randomly end up in a completely different part of the house? Did we maybe have a rebel on our hands that escaped the confines of the plastic bag?

Regardless the amount of head scratching that has gone into this, I have yet to find an answer.

And so, while the little potential escapee has since joined its fellow puzzle pieces, the mystery remains of how it got separated from them in the first place.

Until our next mystery,

~Cee

So it was Mother’s Day this weekend and once again **sigh** I waited too long to prepare and send out an actual gift to my Mom.

This has been a repeat story over the past years since I moved an entire continent away from my parents to start my own life adventure.

Continue reading Thoughts about Mother’s Day

New to the wonderful world of Korean dramas? No problem. We are here to help with our Korean Drama Introduction.

‘What is the first drama I should watch?’

‘Which dramas do you recommend to start off with?’

We get asked different variations of this question all the time by people who have only recently become interested in Korean dramas.

Our general answer would be that it is completely up to you and what you like to watch.

We recommend you go to one of the websites that upload both old and current dramas (our personal favourite is Viki.com), and simply explore their list of dramas available.

When we first started out, we found ourselves looking up previous dramas by actors/actresses that we enjoyed watching. Everyone kind of finds their niche depending on what genre or celebrity they like.

To see our ever growing list of favourite K-dramas, check out the link below:

Our favourite Korean Dramas

We have also compiled a list of all the dramas we watched since becoming K-drama addicts more than a decade ago:

ALL Korean dramas we watched

Both lists contain links to dramas we have “reviewed”, should you want to know more about them.

Welcome to Dramaworld,

R. and Cee

Category: 6. Random Musings

OST’s and the magic of music (Korean Drama Soundtrack)