Kdrama Comparisions: Who did it Better? Mr. Baek vs. The Best Hit by Rebekah Walton

Both of the dramas tried to carry out a very similar concept or story line. Which one succeeded in my opinion? Mr. Baek succeeded where The Best Hit did not.

Mr. Baek:
 A grumpy old guy who almost dies and then becomes young and poses as a half-brother to his estranged son. His son basically figures out the guy is his father and they make up as father and son. Eventually, the old man right now young falls in love and gets together with the girl his son liked. After a certain number of days pass, the man disappears and a year later shows up still young looking with no memory of the past. His son claims him as his half-brother and the man falls in love with the girl again, the end.

The Best Hit:
A young singer time travels to the future and meets his future son who is currently the same age as him. He becomes friends with his son and falls in love with his son's love interest. The girl likes the father instead of the son and they get together.  The son does realize that this is his father, but he never truly accepts him as his father, since his father left the family before he was born, and he is mad at him. Then the father realizes he must go back to past so that his son can be born. With this in mind he goes back but it is a year later and he finds a version of himself in that year, who already became the father of his child. That version of himself is dying from a disease. The young singer father travels back to the future and gets together with the girl.

Both shows about a father and his son being around the same age and getting to know each other as friends or co workers. Both shows have the son become a second lead to the girl he likes because his father likes the same girl, and both shows the son gives up for the sake of his father.


What Mr. Baek did better:
This drama is fueled by bromance and was the real reason why I continued to watch. The father-son moments are cute and adorable and the Father's redemption and friendship with his son is one of the things which this drama focused on and I love it a lot. They are able to understand why their audience is watching and keep that coming in the drama.The father and son needed to grow their relationship and learn how to best understand each other. In this drama, they learned how get along and the son grew up.



What was the problem with The Best Hit:

The real problem with this drama is how they wanted to make the cake and also eat it. Yeah, his father was from the past, but he was also not his father because he had not gotten together with the mother in the past yet. His mother may have loved his father at some point but then 20 years down the road when this story took place she has moved on to a different guy, and no one knows that the father died, instead they just think he abandoned them. Which is of course why his son and other people are mad at the father for years for nothing. His father who went to the future never had to get together with the mother because himself from different year did that, and so he got together with the childhood friend of his son. By creating two fathers in the past, one from 1993 and the other from 1994 they essentially made them two different people and thus got to do whatever they wanted with either of them. It would have been better for him to have to go and fall for the mother in the past and have his son. But, instead they created this father story but also created a romance and did not mess up the original story line. It was a big let down. They thought people were watching for the romance instead of the bromance and thus, their focus was wrong. They had boring subplots and I did not care about the characters as I did in Mr. Baek. Mr. Baek made me care, the Best Hit did not.




Rating of Mr. Baek: 8.5
Rating of The Best Hit: 6.5

So, if you wish to see a drama be about a father and son who were estranged or very distant become friends, Mr. Baek is the best choice out of the two.

As a side note:
Lee Joon from My Father is Strange is in Mr. Baek.

My Father is Strange:Lee Joon Review by Rebekah Walton

Warning: only this part will be spoiler free.

Spoiler-Free:

This drama is about a family most of the time rather than the father it labels in the title. It is a really fun comedy drama with romance for everyone involved. One of my favorite current running dramas and one of the best if not the best drama of the year.

Also, it is the first 50 ( well, it's now 52 episodes, it got extended.) kdrama that I will have ever finished. Also, I am not tired of this drama yet, I feel like this drama could go on for a 100 episodes and I would not be upset at all. Right now, I rank this drama with my 9's or 10's. I will of course not know my final rating until 6 more weeks and the drama is over, but, it's going to be pretty high.

If you guys have problems with SLS (Second Lead Syndrome), this is a good drama to watch since there is not really any second leads, or they appear for only a short time. The other good thing about this drama is the acting. Oh, man the acting is awesome! Alright, now go start the drama!


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Warning the next parts may include mild spoilers:


This drama has me hooked. From the moment that Lee Joon shows up on screen till end of the hour, I am completely engrossed. Give this man more  dramas. I came into this drama thinking I would only end up watching a few episodes for his sake, but, I was totally blown out of the water. I enjoy every character to a certain degree and I am so happy I decided to start this show because of him.

I have not always in the past finished or even liked the dramas Lee Joon starred in, such as Heard it through the Grapevine. I did mildly enjoy Vampire Detective and I really liked Mr. Back but, this drama is on a whole another level.

During the episode, I can't help staring at Lee Joon, whether he is crying over his father, or smiling at Mi young who he is totally in love with but doesn't realize for quite some time. I often discuss this drama with my siblings although they are not watching it at all. I refer to him as our puppy dog because that is exactly what he is to me in this show.

He is a puppy that often looks like he has been kicked by his owners. It is so sad!

Other times, he just looks really hot!

 

Isn't his smile perfect?



Like that time he was speaking English on the phone. He is really good at English by the way, you can really believe his character grew up in America.


Couple Videos for Joong Hee and Byun Miyoung:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GNG_3e8Bgo&index=17&list=PLGqGVPSIudwza_Q0DkJfj1monk9351N5q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTAUWv_5tz8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59J-88kNwS4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D--gPN-h2UY


Or the playlist for My father is strange couples:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGqGVPSIudwza_Q0DkJfj1monk9351N5q


I don't know what else to say but watch the drama, and show you some pictures of Joong Hee and Miyoung my favorite adorable couple. I hope they are going to have some really happy times real soon. I will give a full review of other characters later. I just thought I needed to gush over Lee Joon first!

Ukiss' Eli and His Wife by Rebekah Walton

I knew someone was going to do this. Eli from Ukiss was married for a year and had not told the fans. He also kept it from his company and his members.

Before his marriage was announced, I said this was going to happen. In fact, if I were in this industry in Korea this is exactly what I would have done. There are just too many fans that would have hated on my husband because we got married or were dating, so I would keep it a secret until our first child, or possible second if I could keep it that long.

The interesting thing about them is the 11 year age gap, and his wife is older. But, frankly, I have seen many kdramas with large age gaps and I shipped those couples so I have no issues with age gaps as long as the couples look good together and they do, so I don't care.

Eli might be the first Ukiss member to get married but we have an ex-Ukiss memeber Dongho who got married recently.

Pictures of that couple: Shin Dongho and Kim Seehee
and their son, Shin Ah-sel. (Dongho is no longer in the entertainment business and is living a pretty normal life with his wife and son.) Asher Shin (I believe this is his English name).

Eli even added in a cute thank you for his wife and mentioned his child in their Ukiss album Stalker.

It reads,''And also I  want to thank my wife for always standing by me when times are tough and always having my back when no one does. And after 10 months of pain thank you so much for bringing our angel into the world! ^^I love you! Michael I love you too!''

Recently, Eli was on a show called Mr. House Husband. We got to see a little into the life he know lives as a married man and father.

Here is the link to the show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIvVQ_9dO8I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-PFhDxBa5U

I just want to Thank Eli for Finally telling us so that we can congratulate him and see how cute his family really is. Some fans might be upset that he kept from Kissmes for so long, but, my respect for this man grew when I found out. He was trying to not hurt his fans and not have his family bashed publicly by fans. Kpop Fans are not that tolerant of their stars getting married and so what else should the Kpop stars do?

I think that keeping this information from us was the only real option I see.  In fact, I feel bad for him he spends hardly any time with his family because Ukiss is more popular in Japan than in Korea and so he basically lives in Japan. I hope he gets on a constant show such as Superman Returns so he can spend more time with his wife and child.

Pictures of the young couple: Ellison Kyoung-jae Kim and Ji Yeon-soo (she is a model)
and their son Michael Min-soo Kim.

Full house American version (My Best friend’s ex-girlfriend) movie by Daniel and Rebekah Walton

This is a summary of the movie which my brother and I decided to name:

My Bestfriend's Ex-Girlfriend. Please tell us if you like the idea, I think it fits very well with the essence of Full House.

Characters:

Main Girl: Allison 

Main guy: Andrew

Sister: Chloe

Sister's boyfriend/Husband: Josh 

Best Friend: Mark

Ex-Girlfriend/stylist:Kira

Allison Quinn is a scriptwriter with no other job. Her dead father gave her a house. She has brown hair, and is extremely nice and caring. Half-sister(Chloe) with her boyfriend(Josh) trick her into going to Italy, saying that they won a trip and cannot go, she can go. 

Chloe sells Allison's house, because Chloe is pregnant and needs money. Josh is an idiot. Chloe has job but, he does not. Allison signed a contract to give them a loan because she knows her sister and boyfriend need money. 

Allison signs it at the bank, she rushes in late and she wasn’t there for the meeting, then she leaves to Italty.

 Her purse is stolen while she is in Italy. Her half sister did not book the hotel for enough days, and she does not have money anymore because her wallet was stolen. She is drunk on the plane, and she sits in his seat, and Andrew Holt ( actor main guy) does not care and lets her have the window seat. She is wandering around in Italy and she meets his best friend. 

She goes to see a particular spot in Italy from a movie. The bestfriend(Mark Woods) is at the pasta place, and pizza she eats at. They stand in a line and she causly talks to him in line and he knows the movie scene the place is from. They bond over this and talk about other movies, they exchange phone numbers. He is a ceo of a film company and she is a scriptwriter. We should not know till she arrives, that her house is sold. She spends the night, and after the next day sight seeing, then they ask when she is going to check out.

 She is confused and calls her sister. Her sister does not answer, and her purse was stolen so she can’t pay for  the hotel. She sees Andrew at the hotel. It’s the weekend, so, the bank is closed. She claims that she was staying with his best friend Mark and Mark broke up with her here and her stuff was stolen and she did not have a way to get money and she can’t leave till a few days later.

 Andrew lets her stay in his hotel suite. Then they go home, after she gets a new passport and cancels her credit and debit cards. She goes home and finds the sold sign at her house. She goes inside and all her stuff is packed up.

 She calls her sister and she can’t get a hold of her. She contacts the bank, and they say you signed the papers, so the house was sold. Someone bought the place and she has to move out. Andrew is there moving into her house because he bought the place.

She tells him because he is moving in. Andrew offers her a job as a maid in the house. She has prior experience and she lives as maid in his house. He goes to a party and she comes because she is a scriptwriter and wants to get one made into a movie.  Backbiting first girlfriend who use to be his stylist(Kira) comes to the party and she states he is still in love with her and so he kisses Allison to prove he is over Kira. 

Kira did confess offhand to Mark because she thinks she is so hot. The cameras of course get all this and then they use Kira to find out information on Allison. Media claims they are engaged to be married. So, Allison starts getting job offers, Allison decides to go with Mark Wood's company.   Andrew is making another movie and Allison is the scriptwriter. Allison is the main scriptwriter. Andrew still thinks they(Mark and Allison) are exs and he finds it weird they are not awkward around each other. Chloe never does show up again.

So they proceed with their pretend engagement. Allison goes to meet his estranged family. They have a funny awkward kiss scence with the family to prove they are engaged (classic).The family is boring and awkward and she gets up and she breaks into random singing. The father starts to laugh and the ice is broken. Allison helps the estranged family grow closer.

Mark as ceo of the film company  pays for their (pretend) honeymoon. So, they get married and go on the honeymoon. Afterwards, Andrew tries to get a divorce assuming that Allison is still in love with Mark , and hands her divorce papers and tries to fly away. Allison runs to the plane flight Andrew is going to get on and they make up. Allison then tells Andrew she was never Mark's ex girlfriend.

 So, this is my first collab of many with my brother Daniel. I will be working on my novel called:When Tails go Wrong

So, this maybe all the collabs I do till the end of November. But, I will work on more in December.

Why I never would want to be a main lead in a kdrama by Rebekah Walton

There are so many reasons why I would not want to be the main lead in a Kdrama. For one, I am obligated to have huge issues that greatly affect my life and livelyhood. Yes, I get two or more guys crushing on me, but, then I have to also deal with making one of the two really sad and depressed. Being a main lead in a kdrama is not all fun and romance.

 As we watch kdramas horrible things happen to the main lead, and I am almost certain to lose the wonderful parents I have. Most kdrama leads go through great tradegy, have to work several jobs, and lets not even get into how many of them have wonder what they are even doing in the next few years.

Several of them lose all that they have, including their romance and it is hard to sometimes keep up with who is evil around them. Little hint, almost everyone is, sometimes even your bestfriend. With these struggles why would anyone want to be the main lead in a kdrama. If they thought rationally no one in fact would. It is hard to deal with every day struggles in real life let alone the ones that occur to the main leads in kdramaland. (It's like wishing to be Clark Kent in Smallville, too much drama.)

 But, that does not mean I would not want to go into a kdrama. Being in kdramaland would be fun and enjoyable. But, I would rather be part of the side couple then the main lead. For one, they usually have less problems in life, their romance ends in marriage sooner than most main leads, and they usually have their family intact. I mean, look at these cute side couples from kdramaland, that in the end were more adorable than the main and made us want to watch the show just for them.

I mean honestly, with these kind of side couples who watches for the main leads anymore!

I need a Man....by Rebekah Walton

I know I said I will start to work on those posts about the American version of those dramas. I haven't forgotten I will start working on it, but, I need to talk with my brother about it and so, I will need a day he is free. Probably Friday, since I will be with him most of the day I will start those posts as well, as finish my first Bible series post on my other site. But, for now, the election is coming up and I have been listening to Ben Shapiro more and more. I just really wish I could vote for him. Anyway, enough about politics, on to something that has been on and off bugging me.


People say things like I don't need a man, and are conviced that the rest of the girls in the world should be this way too. Because you shouldn't need a man and girls are independent and such....blah, blah...blah. And that's fine for them...what I have a problem with is that they try to go out of their way to push this agenda on everyone else.

Now, let me clarify before I give an example. I am not saying you should as a girl or a man determine your selfworth because of a human, far from it....that's not healthy for anyone.... But, what I am saying is it is stupid to tell girls they don't need a man. Frankly, I need a man and I believe this because I have a deep desire to get married and have children. Also, I love to be led, I hate having to make the tough descisions in life. So, that is why I believe I need a husband. I fully believe because God gave me this passion to be a wife and a mother that He will allow me to become one. Anyway, so, in that way in order to fill the God given passion, He gave me I need a man. Now, some of us do not care to get married, that's fine you don't need a man then. Why would you? You have no passion to be a wife or a mother. So, you have no reason to need a man. On the other hand, your whole life should not revolve around your husband that is making an idol out of your husband, so that is bad, you could do the same things with your kids or your job it would still be bad. But, that does not mean you cannot do things to be helpful to your husband (which you should do since that is your role as a wife), or you can't choose a job that would allow you to be around your husband.. This is reasonable, and my ultimate dream is to be a wife and a mother, God gave me this dream, so, why would you call it stupid or otherwise by telling me I don't need a man.


Now, for those of you still reading this post you are probably wondering why I put this rant here and not on my other blog, well, my example has a lot to do with this blog in general.

Here is my example:

When I was watching Itazura Na Kiss and all the remakes several people said they hated the main girl, first off, why were they still watching this story and the remakes then? But, the reason most did not like her is because she loved her husband before and after she became married and she wanted to help him and therefore became a nurse because he was a doctor. They felt that she carried too much about a guy who was mean to her...no, objections there, but, this is kind of the whole story line right? Why were they still watching this?


They felt she should have picked a job not in the medical field because she was only doing it because he was in the medical field. Why can't she do that? Her dream was not to be a nurse so much as a wife to him and help him with whatever he decided to do. So, why can;t she do this? I understand if you are saying that her whole life revolved around him, and really this could have been bad, but, she really did truely love him as shown by her actions and she did admit he was being not that nice to her.

So, I get the objection if it was this, but, most times I feel like they are just complaining about how she is stupid (that's her whole character, she loves him and she is not school smart, if you do not like her then why are you watching the remakes? I love the story and it reminds me of Anne of Green Gables in certain  ways and this is why I keep watching it.)  and she is just doing the job that helps out him. But, come on, stop ruining it for the rest of us.

American Versions of Korean Dramas? by Rebekah Walton

Instead of talking about the ones that have been previously made.....Boys over Flowers I am looking at you....I decided to list a few I think would be interesting as American Tv shows. (Yes, I know Boys over Flowers kdrama is a remake.) Anyway, I will list a few and then be writing a series of posts on each kdrama as an American remake. What I think they would change and why? I will be asking for help for these posts and I will ask for advice from my siblings and others. These will also include kdramas which are already remakes of other Asian dramas.


So here is the short list for now: (I will increase this later)

1. W-Two Worlds
2. Full House
3. Playful Kiss (Itazura Na Kiss   )
4. To the Beautiful You (Hana Kimi)
5. Bring it on, Ghost
6. You're all Surrounded
7. High School-Love on
8.The Heirs( I could imagine definitely an American remake from this)
9.Bride of the Century
10. Heartstrings
11.My Girlfriend is Gumiho (propably sort of like Teen Wolf)


So, that's the list so far.