Liebster Award Nomination! (and thank you so much junny!!!)

Okay, so I just learned what a Liebster award is thanks to the fantastic junny. Thank you so much! ❤ I’ve been blogging for less than a year, so this honestly feels amazing! Make sure to go on over to her blog at https://usagitoneko.wordpress.com/ and get to know an absolutely fantastic Japanese actor, Tamaki Hiroshi, and watch some of his dramas! (Nodame Cantabile!)

So here are the rules!
1. Thank and link back your nominator
2. Answer 11 questions given by the nominator
3. Nominate 11 other bloggers with less than 200 followers
4. Create 11 new questions to ask your nominees
5. Let them know that they’ve been nominated!

Here are my nominees. There should undoubtedly be more people on this list, that I’ve yet to meet so hopefully this chain of nominations gets to every corner of the Internet!

kfangurl
tweenoz
dramamochi
Su loves Drama
the dramacorner
littlerabbitears
Midnight Express
Mookie
Hamsapsukebe
Scattered Jooni
Carrotblossompatch

And here are my questions!

How did you come into K-dramas/J-doramas/Taiwanese dramas?
What other aspects of Korean/Japanese/Taiwanese culture are you interested in?
Would you ever want to live in Korea/Japan/Taiwan?
What made you start blogging? Has that reason changed over time?
How rewarding would you say the experience has been so far?
What are three dramas that you’d say really affected you?
Favourite actors/actresses?
What are three pairings you really want to see in K-dramaland/J-doramaland/T-dramaland?
What is it about Asian dramas that hooks you? Do you ever see yourself moving away from them?
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Onto junny’s questions!
1. What do you look for in (drama) blogs to read/follow?
I mostly look for Korean entertainment news on actors and actresses (I’ve long since given up on keeping up with idols groups, save my faves: Super Junior and Shinhwa), their pictorials and projects as well as drama recaps/reviews. I follow fansites of my favourite actors and shows as well, which was honestly what led me to junny’s site in the first place!

2. Do you have a favourite OTP and why?
YES. In the K-drama world, it’s definitely the Ji Sung-Jungeum couple who deserve all the accolades they’ve gotten for the fantastic performance in Secret, and no doubt all the accolades they’ll be receving (that Daesang has your name on it, Ji Sung-sshi) for Kill Me Heal Me. Rarely do you see actors so dedicated to their craft, and they poured an incredible amount of love and thought into their characters, such that even they went through withdrawal after the drama was over (poor Ji Sung cried with Hwang Jungeum once filming was over and again upon going home). KMHM was incredibly real and moving thanks to them, and is definitely the reason behind why I’m still having such a hard time letting go of it (and Shin Segi the Magnificent *sobs*). I’m not as well versed in J-doramas as with their Korean counterpart, but my OTP in this sphere is definitely Tamaki Hirosh-Ueno Juri. Those two breathed life into Nodame and Chiaki and Tamaki-san’s dedication to his role and to conducting is legendary (I can’t even imagine listening to that Brahms piece over 1000 times) and Ueno Juri’s portayal of Nodame and her growth over the years was nothing sort of brilliant. In real life though, my favourite couple has to be JiSung-LeeBoyoung who are honestly too perfect for words. Here’s hoping that little BoBae is born safely and healthily and that their family has many, many, many, wonderful blessed days together.

3. Have you developed any particular style of writing/recapping/reviewing over time?
I actually don’t post quite often as regular readers will have noticed (sorry!) but when it comes to writing the reviews, I tend to watch the episode on the day it airs and begin typing away as soon as I finish it, so as to capture all those feels in words before they become impossible to pin down. I type the blurb on Word and leave little notes to myself like [Insert pictures here] . Then I copy it into the editor here, and upload the gazillion screencaps I’ve taken along with it, and then insert them at the appropriate point. The more I love the drama, the longer the reviews get as I pick each episode apart more. I also tend to ramble more, from analyzing the characters to the plot, to the actors’ previous works and/or how much I love them. The review for KMHM’s finale was over 3300 words long! The amazing thing about writing about something you love is how a feat like that feels like nothing whereas writing a 1200 word paper for my courses feels like being shut inside the Iron Maiden.

4. How do you keep the blogging momentum going?
I honestly don’t have an answer to that question seeing as I blog quite sporadically. Once I find a drama I love (which is actually quite rare though you wouldn’t believe it, looking at this blog) I post regularly each week, reviewing each episode because the feels refuse to be contained.

5. Do you drink? If so, what is your favourite drink?
No-op. It’s not due to a lack of interest, seeing as I am legal and definitely curious. But being a social caterpillar doesn’t really afford you much opportunity to do so, so I remain quite untutored in the art of beer-guzzling. As for my favourite drink, it’s a toss-up between Tim Horton’s now-discontinued white hot chocolate (whhhhy would you do this to meeee???) taro bubble tea and orange juice.
I either have really simple tastes, or really low standards

6. If you could ask your favourite actor/actress a question, what would it be?
This is actually a great questions. Seeing as I often hit slumps in writing and in life, I’d probably ask them this:
Could you name three major slumps you when through and what pulled you through them?

7. Which country’s dramas do you prefer and why?

Korea for sure. Japanese dramas are hit or miss with me. Their police procedurals are better researched than Korea ones but their romcoms shows drive me insane with the over-the-top cutesyness or the rather anemic acting. They’ve a great repertoire of humour and really original scripts though (Legal High, etc) whereas Korean dramas are bit more formulaic what with their fixation on chaebols (I get that it’s for good reason,but it does feel a bit much at times. Taiwanese rom-comes are often even more sugary than their Japanese counterparts, which can either be infuriating or adorable, depending on the actors being paired and the quality of the script. As a whole, Taiwanese dramas have much much more cringe-worthy moments than Korean dramas. Take Puff Guo and Jasper Liu in Pleasantly Surprised for an instant. I really enjoyed that show despite its dragginess. Meanwhile Fall in Love With Me with Aaron Yan and Tia li was supposed to be awesome on so many accounts, but degenerated into insanity. There’s a great deal of variety with K-dramas and pretty fun scripts, now that they’ve an international audience to account for as well as a Korean one.

8. Do you have a go-to book or music?
Nowadays, I tend to take inspiration from OSTs. Not the songs played endlessly throughout the drama (“You aaare my destinyyy”) but the background music, the little quirky bits of fun and emotion that pop up and enhance a scene. As the drama progress, we soon come to associate a particular emotion with each bit of music, so pulling it out whenever I want to feel a certain way always works. Some of my favourites are the ‘I am Woodalchi’ theme from Faith, the opening to the King’s Face, Healer’s main theme, Bungee Jumping,The Boy Riding A Bicycle, and the Way to You from Angel Eyes, Calm and Passion from Pinocchio, Stopped Watch or 멈춰진 시계 from Secret, Meteor Shower from Records of a Nightwatchman, Merry Men from the 2010 Robin Hood film, everything from Kill Me Heal Me, I Hear Your Voice and Liar Game and the Lord of the Rings films.

9. Do you have a favourite live-action series?
Yes and no. Favourite? Yes. A Favourite? Nope. As of now the ranking is as follows and I’m not sure if I want to it change or not (change would mean I’ve made the acquaintance of more awesome dramas, but also that I’m super fickle and flitting from one show to the next)
First place: Kill Me Heal Me and Liar Game
Second place: Nodame Cantabile and I Hear Your Voice
Third Place: Faith and Healer
Fourth Place: Secret and Angel Eyes pre-ep 14

10. On average, how long does it take you to write up a post?
With reviews, depending on the length of the blurb, 1-3 hours for writing and another 1 hour to sort through screencaps and add them at the right point.

11. Where do you see your blog in five years’ time?
Hmm…perhaps as a more consistent and more followed kdrama review site? I can’t even begin to imagine it now seeing how much it’s transformed in less than a year (this was original formed as a blog where I’d response to prompts over the summer to hone my writing skills) but I’d love for it to be a go-to blog for fans of a particular ongoing drama and such! 😀