I just wrapped up another Korean Drama: Personal Taste.
Personal Taste is its official English title, but renamed Perfect Match here in the Philippines. I loved this drama in 2010 that's why I watched it again. The finale of City Hunter which also starred Lee Min Ho triggered my interest in Perfect Match once more. Bilang mahilig sa paulit-ulit, inulit ko nga. Hehe. Na-endure ko naman ang 16 hours in about 4 days. Grabe.
Ang gwapo ni Lee Min Ho! At naaliw ako to see how Korean dramas and Pinoy Teleseryes are like Venus and Mars - they're entirely different planets! The cultural difference is so striking with the fast paced-ness of the story, the characterizations, the script. I could go on and on but that's another topic. I'm here for entertainment but I can't help but go past the entertainment side of it. That's my CommRes side speaking. Haha! Basag-trip!
Next up: City Hunter. I only watch it on TV whenever I'm able to catch it. But I really stood by the last 3 days, where all the secrets were revealed. I want to know all about it so I'm going back to first episode. It has 20 episodes = 20 hours.
I really need to practice self-control. These dramas can be really so addicting causing me to stay up until sunrise!
A documentation of sporadic whims. A repository of random memories. A keeper of fleeting thoughts. As Jessie Wallace puts it, "we are the sum of all moments of our lives."
Monday, April 16, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
In pursuit of autumn
Napadesisyunan kong i-celebrate ang birthday ko sa South Korea this October. Well, September ang birthday ko pero October 18-27 nalang, just in time for autumn. September to November ang autumn, pero ang peak kung saan nagpapalit na ng kulay ang mga dahon ay mid-October.
Solo flight 'to. :)
Since naisip ko to, lagi nalang akong distracted dahil gusto ko nang maayos ang mga papeles ko sa opisina (ITR, SEC registration) para mas madaling makakuha ng Visa. Based sa mga nabasa kong requirements, malaki ang chance kong ma-approve. Ang maganda sa lahat, libre ang visa application!
Nagche-check rin ako ng mga flights, sights at accomodation. Gusto ko sulitin kaya plano ko at least 8 nights. So far, here are the figures:
Airfare: Apx. P13,700 via Cebu Pacific of Cathay
Hotel: Dormitory type at 700/night x 8 is P5,600
Airport taxes: P4,000 (2 way)
Basic food and transpo: P1,200 x 9 = 10,800 (an average meal cost about 5,000 KRW or P186)
Extra: P6,000
TOTAL: P40,000
*I can stretch the budget to 50,000 but of course, it's better if I can keep everything within a shoestring
Pupunta ako sa Coffee Prince Coffee Shop! Ang ganda ng nakita kong mapa papunta dun. Syempre, yung 3 major palaces (Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Deoksugung), parks and streets kung saan mae-experience ko ang traditional Korean culture.
This blog makes a good reference: http://grrrltraveler.com/2010/06/finding-seoul-2/.
See you soon, Seoul!
| Seoul has selected three walkways — Seoul Grand Park’s Ginkgo Tree Road, Cheonggyecheon’s Fountain Grass Road, and Manguri Park’s Four Color Road — that are apparently nice for autumn strolls. Source: http://www.rjkoehler.com/2009/10/16/best-autumn-walks-in-seoul/ |
Solo flight 'to. :)
Since naisip ko to, lagi nalang akong distracted dahil gusto ko nang maayos ang mga papeles ko sa opisina (ITR, SEC registration) para mas madaling makakuha ng Visa. Based sa mga nabasa kong requirements, malaki ang chance kong ma-approve. Ang maganda sa lahat, libre ang visa application!
Nagche-check rin ako ng mga flights, sights at accomodation. Gusto ko sulitin kaya plano ko at least 8 nights. So far, here are the figures:
Airfare: Apx. P13,700 via Cebu Pacific of Cathay
Hotel: Dormitory type at 700/night x 8 is P5,600
Airport taxes: P4,000 (2 way)
Basic food and transpo: P1,200 x 9 = 10,800 (an average meal cost about 5,000 KRW or P186)
Extra: P6,000
TOTAL: P40,000
*I can stretch the budget to 50,000 but of course, it's better if I can keep everything within a shoestring
This blog makes a good reference: http://grrrltraveler.com/2010/06/finding-seoul-2/.
See you soon, Seoul!
Living alone
Reposting from a friend:
"Research shows that it's the quality, not the quantity, of social interactions that best predicts loneliness.. Living alone helps us pursue sacred modern values - individual freedom, personal control and self-realization. This means that living alone can help us discover who we are as well as what gives us meaning and purpose. Paradoxically, living alone might be exactly what we need to reconnect."
"Research shows that it's the quality, not the quantity, of social interactions that best predicts loneliness.. Living alone helps us pursue sacred modern values - individual freedom, personal control and self-realization. This means that living alone can help us discover who we are as well as what gives us meaning and purpose. Paradoxically, living alone might be exactly what we need to reconnect."
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Recollections
He's now officially a dad. His son was born April 3. Things are definitely going to turn around for him. it had been so ever since he learned he was going to be a dad. It all happened at the most inopportune time. He barely knew the girl. He just started "redeeming" himself and turning away from the black-sheep-of-the-family image. He just started to earn his own living, which in my book is quite late (27 years old).
It is as inopportune for me as it is for him. On my part, I have just discovered that he is a delight to talk to. This was even before he knew of the pregnancy. More so, this was even before everyone knew he had a girlfriend. This includes myself.
We met March of 2007 during an event of common friends. We were barely introduced and we barely passed a glance at each other. We were in a smaller group a year later when his group of friends and a group of mine joined to watch a movie together. Again, the meeting was insignificant and forgettable. Another 2 years later and he started working for our company. Early on, I sensed that he has potential and has no mean bone. Thus, I even assigned him as the team's leader. We approached each other professionally. To a certain extent, I was uncomfortable primarily because of the unfamiliarity. Naturally, as time went by, the walls started to break and I began noticing how nice his skin is, how tall he is and I liked how he speaks. I am not particularly buying the "rocker" vibe. But he's not scary. All in all, it was the height advantage that got me. The height advantage.
It was not until the summer of 2011 that I took full notice of him. By that time, I've already known him for 4 years and he was already working for us for a year and a half. I wanted so much to know what this guy's all about. But I did not know him too well so I did not know where to begin should I come up to him. Then an opportunity came. The whole office will go on a videoke night out. I told myself that I wouldn't pass at this chance to talk to him.
On that day, I was scheduled to attend to a whole-day work event at the PICC. The plan was to meet everyone else at the videoke place in the evening. Everything's all set.
I arrived at the PICC. Lo and behold. He was there. I was totally unprepared. The situation merited an immediate change of plans. I had to talk to him earlier than planned. I was waiting for the right timing, and the right topic. Surprisingly, the tables turned. He came up to me and asked about my new laptop.
The moment he struck up a conversation with me at an event in PICC last June, I knew he was something. It went on until the whole group from work went on a night out that same day. Right in the middle of the rowdiness and the pandemonium that is videoke, we were in our own bubble talking about life - how he was in college, his relationship with his closest friends, etc. I realized that from my initial plan of striking the first conversation, it went the other way around. He made my job easier for I suck at small talks. What happened was beyond expectations. I was happy and I did not even conjure illusions of romance.
The next days, I would intentionally drop by his work area just to talk. And boy we did talk. For hours. About absolutely anything: family, work, friends, interests, traits, music, religion, dreams in future (him owning a fish pond and me owning a farm). We'd spend hours and hours talking about anything under the sun. The longest conversation was a full 8 hours. We started at 5 pm and ended at 1 am. No bathroom breaks. No dinner break. Not even water breaks. When we got home, we were still exchanging texts, obviously overwhelmed with the unexpectedly lengthy conversation both of us have not had in years. When I got home, I thought that was what "connection" was all about. It was nothing short of cosmic!
We continued to talk in the coming weeks. Face-to-face, SMS, chat. It did not matter if it were for a few minutes or for hours. We will just talk whenever we can.
The last time I did was with my ex-boyfriend 6 years ago, and especially when we were starting to be friends 9 years ago. Medieval ages pa yun! That is where all the excitement is coming from - the fact that it is only now that I have met someone with whom I can be really be comfortable with - surprisingly the same (if not higher) level of ease with my ex, and which never manifested with any of the men I had "something' with.
But what I truly appreciate in these conversations we've had is that they were genuine. We were not at all flirting. We were not out to impress the other. We can put our feet up, curse to our hearts' content, gossip, belly laugh the hardest, yawn. I love that we can be so unglamorous around each other!
Close friends and family know I don't talk to strangers. Er. I suck at small talk and self-disclosure. Absolutely not a social butterfly. I warm up to people longer than the average human being. So what happened with him was really one of a kind.
I was so at ease that I even managed to tell him how amazed I am at how much I'm able to effortlessly disclose details about myself. Immediately after I said that, he returned by saying the same thing. He told me details that he has told only to his closest friends (there are 2 of them he considers as his brothers who know him inside-out).
Likewise, the more he disclosed details about him, the more I am starting to think that we are a lot like each other. At some point during one of our conversations, we talked about our ideal partners. Whether we deny it or not, by sheer coincidence or otherwise, we ended up describing exactly each other.
Picking up from this realization, I thought "we" had something.
Some 5 weeks of great conversations, he confessed something that unexpectedly broke my heart. During one of our chat sessions online in the wee hours, he told me that the girl he is dating is actually his girlfriend. I knew from the get-go he was dating this girl from the office. But I never knew they were already a couple. In fact, nobody knew because of certain issues in the workplace about them being together (age gap - girl is 6 years his senior, position in the office - girl is manager while he is a junior/entry-level employee). In fact, I was the first outside of his family and closest friends to know this information.
My heart broke even before it could beat for him.
I held the secret for him. And in our conversations thereafter, she's already a usual topic. Like how difficult it is to be in a relationship in secret, how uncomfortable he is with her friends at work when he joined them for lunch, how he felt demoralized each time she would pay for dinner. But he loves her. I know that because he's not the type who goes around breaking girls' hearts. He did have many relationships before, though. The longest lasted for only a year. Like my ex, I think he gets smitten early on hence the many ex-girlfriends. But unlike my ex, I think he's got more patience in the sense that he had courted a girl for a year but to no avail and he has stayed single for some two years. Then he dated someone for a year, and dated this girl 4 months after that year-long relationship ended.
Nonetheless, I couldn't help it but I cannot sense that he is madly in love with the girl. I was confiding to a close friend the whole time and she said that a guy wouldn't spend that much time with someone he's not interested in. Even my sister said the same thing. But "interest" is relative. It doesn't have to be romantic. But I must admit that I like him. I like talking to someone like him. It excites me that he's outside of my usual circle. The anonymity of our relationship thrilled me. We are like each others' secret friends. None in the office knew we've built this kind of friendship.
A month after, I can say I was already better. I did not actively entertain the idea of us any longer. At the same time, I did not entirely gave up on the idea of us. I was at a whatever-goes stage, not wanting to stress myself over these things - a typical case of me being a control freak of my own emotions.
But another bomb dropped yet again. She's pregnant with his child. It was so unexpected, and the confession did not come from him. While I knew all along that they've been together for a while, the girl's 4-month old belly could no longer hide their relationship. This time, our conversations comprised much about his fear about being a father, how unprepared he is, and how he looks at life ahead. We talked about how this has affected his relationship with his family, especially that they have decided to live together. Having a taste of the married life, he also started to reassess his relationship with her. He often asks himself is she's really the right partner in life and for life.
I was more than happy on my position as the confidante. As the cool friend. We were still around each other. We worked together on projects and we still continued to talk. There were instances when he would randomly tell me (via SMS) about interesting youtube videos which he thought I might like.
During our Christmas party, he asked me to accompany him smoke outside our hotel room. There he ranted about his situation, and we just talked away from everybody. The guy obviously needed a breather. One time, we also talked over the cell phone for four straight hours. And during an office lunch out, we were seated in front of each other and ended up talking as if 8 other people weren't there. One of them even remarked that it's as if we are on a date. Haha!
Now that he's a dad, I wonder how he is doing, what he feels and what his plans are. He has always been concerned about losing his freedom, his youth. One time, he even mentioned that if only he can have it his way, he'll move out and just provide monthly child support. But things can change, now that he's in love with his son.
I know we will never be together. But the friendship is not at all wasted. For what it's worth, he did have a purpose. I once told my friend that just when I forgot about the feeling of being strangely connected with someone, I met him.
It is as inopportune for me as it is for him. On my part, I have just discovered that he is a delight to talk to. This was even before he knew of the pregnancy. More so, this was even before everyone knew he had a girlfriend. This includes myself.
We met March of 2007 during an event of common friends. We were barely introduced and we barely passed a glance at each other. We were in a smaller group a year later when his group of friends and a group of mine joined to watch a movie together. Again, the meeting was insignificant and forgettable. Another 2 years later and he started working for our company. Early on, I sensed that he has potential and has no mean bone. Thus, I even assigned him as the team's leader. We approached each other professionally. To a certain extent, I was uncomfortable primarily because of the unfamiliarity. Naturally, as time went by, the walls started to break and I began noticing how nice his skin is, how tall he is and I liked how he speaks. I am not particularly buying the "rocker" vibe. But he's not scary. All in all, it was the height advantage that got me. The height advantage.
It was not until the summer of 2011 that I took full notice of him. By that time, I've already known him for 4 years and he was already working for us for a year and a half. I wanted so much to know what this guy's all about. But I did not know him too well so I did not know where to begin should I come up to him. Then an opportunity came. The whole office will go on a videoke night out. I told myself that I wouldn't pass at this chance to talk to him.
On that day, I was scheduled to attend to a whole-day work event at the PICC. The plan was to meet everyone else at the videoke place in the evening. Everything's all set.
I arrived at the PICC. Lo and behold. He was there. I was totally unprepared. The situation merited an immediate change of plans. I had to talk to him earlier than planned. I was waiting for the right timing, and the right topic. Surprisingly, the tables turned. He came up to me and asked about my new laptop.
The moment he struck up a conversation with me at an event in PICC last June, I knew he was something. It went on until the whole group from work went on a night out that same day. Right in the middle of the rowdiness and the pandemonium that is videoke, we were in our own bubble talking about life - how he was in college, his relationship with his closest friends, etc. I realized that from my initial plan of striking the first conversation, it went the other way around. He made my job easier for I suck at small talks. What happened was beyond expectations. I was happy and I did not even conjure illusions of romance.
The next days, I would intentionally drop by his work area just to talk. And boy we did talk. For hours. About absolutely anything: family, work, friends, interests, traits, music, religion, dreams in future (him owning a fish pond and me owning a farm). We'd spend hours and hours talking about anything under the sun. The longest conversation was a full 8 hours. We started at 5 pm and ended at 1 am. No bathroom breaks. No dinner break. Not even water breaks. When we got home, we were still exchanging texts, obviously overwhelmed with the unexpectedly lengthy conversation both of us have not had in years. When I got home, I thought that was what "connection" was all about. It was nothing short of cosmic!
We continued to talk in the coming weeks. Face-to-face, SMS, chat. It did not matter if it were for a few minutes or for hours. We will just talk whenever we can.
The last time I did was with my ex-boyfriend 6 years ago, and especially when we were starting to be friends 9 years ago. Medieval ages pa yun! That is where all the excitement is coming from - the fact that it is only now that I have met someone with whom I can be really be comfortable with - surprisingly the same (if not higher) level of ease with my ex, and which never manifested with any of the men I had "something' with.
But what I truly appreciate in these conversations we've had is that they were genuine. We were not at all flirting. We were not out to impress the other. We can put our feet up, curse to our hearts' content, gossip, belly laugh the hardest, yawn. I love that we can be so unglamorous around each other!
Close friends and family know I don't talk to strangers. Er. I suck at small talk and self-disclosure. Absolutely not a social butterfly. I warm up to people longer than the average human being. So what happened with him was really one of a kind.
I was so at ease that I even managed to tell him how amazed I am at how much I'm able to effortlessly disclose details about myself. Immediately after I said that, he returned by saying the same thing. He told me details that he has told only to his closest friends (there are 2 of them he considers as his brothers who know him inside-out).
Likewise, the more he disclosed details about him, the more I am starting to think that we are a lot like each other. At some point during one of our conversations, we talked about our ideal partners. Whether we deny it or not, by sheer coincidence or otherwise, we ended up describing exactly each other.
Picking up from this realization, I thought "we" had something.
Some 5 weeks of great conversations, he confessed something that unexpectedly broke my heart. During one of our chat sessions online in the wee hours, he told me that the girl he is dating is actually his girlfriend. I knew from the get-go he was dating this girl from the office. But I never knew they were already a couple. In fact, nobody knew because of certain issues in the workplace about them being together (age gap - girl is 6 years his senior, position in the office - girl is manager while he is a junior/entry-level employee). In fact, I was the first outside of his family and closest friends to know this information.
My heart broke even before it could beat for him.
I held the secret for him. And in our conversations thereafter, she's already a usual topic. Like how difficult it is to be in a relationship in secret, how uncomfortable he is with her friends at work when he joined them for lunch, how he felt demoralized each time she would pay for dinner. But he loves her. I know that because he's not the type who goes around breaking girls' hearts. He did have many relationships before, though. The longest lasted for only a year. Like my ex, I think he gets smitten early on hence the many ex-girlfriends. But unlike my ex, I think he's got more patience in the sense that he had courted a girl for a year but to no avail and he has stayed single for some two years. Then he dated someone for a year, and dated this girl 4 months after that year-long relationship ended.
Nonetheless, I couldn't help it but I cannot sense that he is madly in love with the girl. I was confiding to a close friend the whole time and she said that a guy wouldn't spend that much time with someone he's not interested in. Even my sister said the same thing. But "interest" is relative. It doesn't have to be romantic. But I must admit that I like him. I like talking to someone like him. It excites me that he's outside of my usual circle. The anonymity of our relationship thrilled me. We are like each others' secret friends. None in the office knew we've built this kind of friendship.
A month after, I can say I was already better. I did not actively entertain the idea of us any longer. At the same time, I did not entirely gave up on the idea of us. I was at a whatever-goes stage, not wanting to stress myself over these things - a typical case of me being a control freak of my own emotions.
But another bomb dropped yet again. She's pregnant with his child. It was so unexpected, and the confession did not come from him. While I knew all along that they've been together for a while, the girl's 4-month old belly could no longer hide their relationship. This time, our conversations comprised much about his fear about being a father, how unprepared he is, and how he looks at life ahead. We talked about how this has affected his relationship with his family, especially that they have decided to live together. Having a taste of the married life, he also started to reassess his relationship with her. He often asks himself is she's really the right partner in life and for life.
I was more than happy on my position as the confidante. As the cool friend. We were still around each other. We worked together on projects and we still continued to talk. There were instances when he would randomly tell me (via SMS) about interesting youtube videos which he thought I might like.
During our Christmas party, he asked me to accompany him smoke outside our hotel room. There he ranted about his situation, and we just talked away from everybody. The guy obviously needed a breather. One time, we also talked over the cell phone for four straight hours. And during an office lunch out, we were seated in front of each other and ended up talking as if 8 other people weren't there. One of them even remarked that it's as if we are on a date. Haha!
Now that he's a dad, I wonder how he is doing, what he feels and what his plans are. He has always been concerned about losing his freedom, his youth. One time, he even mentioned that if only he can have it his way, he'll move out and just provide monthly child support. But things can change, now that he's in love with his son.
I know we will never be together. But the friendship is not at all wasted. For what it's worth, he did have a purpose. I once told my friend that just when I forgot about the feeling of being strangely connected with someone, I met him.
Province boy
Flashback 2010 (an unfinished blog I just found out today)
I heard that an old fling of mine is getting married on November 20. Who is he?
So far, he holds the most romantic story of my otherwise romantic life. I met him in 2001 in a faraway barangay in a region somewhere in Northern Mindanao. He was my uncle's student. We did not really hit it off. From what I heard he liked another girl from our group. But I noticed that he is actually good looking! When I returned to Manila, I received a text message from him. Then he became a regular texter. For months and months, we would swap stories over SMS until one time, he asks if I could be his girlfriend. I am more than appalled at his behavior, even offended. For one, I hate the idea of a "text mate". Had I not met him once, he could very well qualify as just a text mate. Second, how could I be asked just like that, over SMS? Obviously, I refused and resented the idea. Lastly, the supposedly last line of defense of this situation is if I like him enough. The feeling of like or love bend all rules, right? Unfortunately, I did not like him, let alone love him. But I thought of him as a good person still.
We saw each other the year after when I returned in their province for the Integrated Summer Study Program of our school. We talked a bit. I ended up the one directing the conversation. The problem is that he is too silent. Maybe it's just his personality or maybe he's just like that when he's around me and all he could think of is I'm from Manila and he's just a farmer's son. The problem is we are not comfortable with each other. He obviously is not comfortable with me and that makes me feel uncomfortable. I have a very vague idea of what we talked about in the brief encounter.
***
Today is 2012 and I can't believe I haven't gotten back to this draft since then. Anyway, that guy, he's obviously married now with a baby girl. He even invited me to his wedding! Not that I'm feeling like a diva. But you know how it works in the province. His family knows who I was in his life. They knew we went together on a trip to Davao. They knew we talked constantly for a year. Plus I don't want any remark saying what's this girl from Manila doing here. I wouldn't want to steal the show from the bride.
We don't talk anymore. But our last exchange was nothing but pleasantries. He even invited me to come over to CDO. I know that he's really happy. After all, he always told me that he wanted a family. Only I didn't want it then. That's why we didn't work out. Nobody wants to go to lengths for the other. But all's well. He's a good man. He's living the dream and I'm happy for him. :)
I heard that an old fling of mine is getting married on November 20. Who is he?
So far, he holds the most romantic story of my otherwise romantic life. I met him in 2001 in a faraway barangay in a region somewhere in Northern Mindanao. He was my uncle's student. We did not really hit it off. From what I heard he liked another girl from our group. But I noticed that he is actually good looking! When I returned to Manila, I received a text message from him. Then he became a regular texter. For months and months, we would swap stories over SMS until one time, he asks if I could be his girlfriend. I am more than appalled at his behavior, even offended. For one, I hate the idea of a "text mate". Had I not met him once, he could very well qualify as just a text mate. Second, how could I be asked just like that, over SMS? Obviously, I refused and resented the idea. Lastly, the supposedly last line of defense of this situation is if I like him enough. The feeling of like or love bend all rules, right? Unfortunately, I did not like him, let alone love him. But I thought of him as a good person still.
We saw each other the year after when I returned in their province for the Integrated Summer Study Program of our school. We talked a bit. I ended up the one directing the conversation. The problem is that he is too silent. Maybe it's just his personality or maybe he's just like that when he's around me and all he could think of is I'm from Manila and he's just a farmer's son. The problem is we are not comfortable with each other. He obviously is not comfortable with me and that makes me feel uncomfortable. I have a very vague idea of what we talked about in the brief encounter.
***
Today is 2012 and I can't believe I haven't gotten back to this draft since then. Anyway, that guy, he's obviously married now with a baby girl. He even invited me to his wedding! Not that I'm feeling like a diva. But you know how it works in the province. His family knows who I was in his life. They knew we went together on a trip to Davao. They knew we talked constantly for a year. Plus I don't want any remark saying what's this girl from Manila doing here. I wouldn't want to steal the show from the bride.
We don't talk anymore. But our last exchange was nothing but pleasantries. He even invited me to come over to CDO. I know that he's really happy. After all, he always told me that he wanted a family. Only I didn't want it then. That's why we didn't work out. Nobody wants to go to lengths for the other. But all's well. He's a good man. He's living the dream and I'm happy for him. :)
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
K Drama
This is funny. I did not realize that the last topic I blogged about was Three Dads with One Mommy. Now, I'm going to blog about Princess Hours (Goong, 2006). I finished all of the 24 episodes in 2 days! The last time I did was during the 2008 holy week break. (Next week is Holy Week 2012!) Only this time, I fast tracked it and watched it only on youtube. Meaning, I forwarded some of the scenes and skipped some episodes which I have scene last week when, for unknown reasons, my interest in that Korean drama sparked once more.
There are so many things to love about Princess Hours. The characters are very endearing. Great story. Right pacing, right amount of cheesiness, angst and subplots. Lots of interesting Korean royalty rituals, cinematography. It is nicely done, really. According to new articles, it is the most expensive Korean drama ever produced. It is one of the highest rating shows, too!
One of the things that I look forward to after each episode are the teddy bears! They used teddy bears to depict key scenes from the preceding episode like this:
Finally, the best thing about this has got to be the soundtrack. MBC produced original music for Princess Hours. The music has the traditional Korean music element but made contemporary. The result is beautiful music worthy of goosebumps. It also made the emotions in the scenes where it played stronger. I must admit though that it bears a stark similarity with traditional Irish music because of the prominence of fiddle and tin whistle. According to my research, the Korean group (described as an ethnic fusion band) Second Moon did all the instrumentals. In the Philippines, their counterpart could be Makiling Ensemble.
These 3 are my favorites (though I love all the instrumentals!).
***
I remember back in 2008, I watched all episodes one after the other on borrowed DVD with only brief bathroom and meal breaks. I think I did not even sleep. One episode took an hour, multiplied by 24, so that makes it 24 hours.
Surprisingly, it still has that feel-good appeal. They are the cutest couple, and I'm giggling like a high school girl. I smiled like it was my first time seeing those scenes. Now, I'm having another Princess Hours hangover!
So what happened to the lead stars since they did Princess Hours?
Ju Ji Hoon (Shin/Prince Gian) - did drugs in 2008; just got discharged from Military service in November 2011 and now making a comeback via the musical, Dr. Zhivago. (sosyal!)
Eun Yoon Hye (Chaegyong/Janelle) - did K dramas thereafter though I was never able to follow through; she was an award presenter at the 2012 Asian Film Awards where Filipina actress Eugene Domingo won as peoples' choice award best actress, she also posed for Dazed & Confused magazine where she showed off her very skinny figure!
***
It is not very timely that I took so many hours to watch this series. I am actually feeling bad that I literally did not do anything for 2 days except watch! Aaah...nostalgia is really killing me! Maybe I'll do so again after about 4 years.
Okay, back to work. So much for escapism!
On second thought, anyareee? Anech itey? Tribute for Goong? Wahaha!!!!
There are so many things to love about Princess Hours. The characters are very endearing. Great story. Right pacing, right amount of cheesiness, angst and subplots. Lots of interesting Korean royalty rituals, cinematography. It is nicely done, really. According to new articles, it is the most expensive Korean drama ever produced. It is one of the highest rating shows, too!
The Royal family in the early 1990s
The Royal family in 2006
One of the things that I look forward to after each episode are the teddy bears! They used teddy bears to depict key scenes from the preceding episode like this:
Shin (center) assaults Yul (left) in front of a shocked Chaegyong (right)
Shin went with Chaegyong to pick lettuce in the garden
The Royal family as teddy bears
Finally, the best thing about this has got to be the soundtrack. MBC produced original music for Princess Hours. The music has the traditional Korean music element but made contemporary. The result is beautiful music worthy of goosebumps. It also made the emotions in the scenes where it played stronger. I must admit though that it bears a stark similarity with traditional Irish music because of the prominence of fiddle and tin whistle. According to my research, the Korean group (described as an ethnic fusion band) Second Moon did all the instrumentals. In the Philippines, their counterpart could be Makiling Ensemble.
These 3 are my favorites (though I love all the instrumentals!).
Second Moon (Feel-good; nakakapagpa-ngiti.)
Ice Pond (Grabe, nakakadurog 'to ng puso!)
Flower Petals Fall (Mabigat din sa puso, pero may halong saya. Ito ang paborito ko sa lahat.)
***
I remember back in 2008, I watched all episodes one after the other on borrowed DVD with only brief bathroom and meal breaks. I think I did not even sleep. One episode took an hour, multiplied by 24, so that makes it 24 hours.
Surprisingly, it still has that feel-good appeal. They are the cutest couple, and I'm giggling like a high school girl. I smiled like it was my first time seeing those scenes. Now, I'm having another Princess Hours hangover!
So what happened to the lead stars since they did Princess Hours?
Ju Ji Hoon (Shin/Prince Gian) - did drugs in 2008; just got discharged from Military service in November 2011 and now making a comeback via the musical, Dr. Zhivago. (sosyal!)
Eun Yoon Hye (Chaegyong/Janelle) - did K dramas thereafter though I was never able to follow through; she was an award presenter at the 2012 Asian Film Awards where Filipina actress Eugene Domingo won as peoples' choice award best actress, she also posed for Dazed & Confused magazine where she showed off her very skinny figure!
***
It is not very timely that I took so many hours to watch this series. I am actually feeling bad that I literally did not do anything for 2 days except watch! Aaah...nostalgia is really killing me! Maybe I'll do so again after about 4 years.
Okay, back to work. So much for escapism!
On second thought, anyareee? Anech itey? Tribute for Goong? Wahaha!!!!
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