Giving up and Giving in

I've pretty much given up on American TV. It's not just that I want to avoid the bad (language, violence, sexual scenes), its that there doesn't seem to be much good (acting, character development). There are a few things Craig and I will watch together online but for the most part I'm done.

I was originally relying on the Brits with Downton Abbey, Sherlock Holmes and Call the Midwife. Those shows didn't let me down and normally, that's enough. But right now, I have an adorable little boy who gets fussy in the evenings and wants to cluster feed - lying down. He protests loudly if I do not go along with his demands and there isn't a whole lot else I can do while lying in bed with the lights dimmed so watching tv is a nice time filler and I needed more time filled than BBC could fill. What's a mom to do?

If you're a friend on Facebook, you can probably guess what I'm going to say, otherwise, you never will. Because my newest obsession is - Korean dramas!

I know, random, right? But when hm over at The Common Room posted about them, I was so excited. Back high school I lived in Korea for a couple years and my mom and I watched a couple together and really enjoyed them. We called the "korean soap operas" but in reality, they are more like mini-series. They vary in length but 16 episodes seems to be a sweet spot. And they are a variety of genres too. I've contained myself to mostly rom-coms with an occasional venture into the melodramatic but I want to try something Craig might be interested in too so I'm thinking City Hunter will be my next one (and yah! It's streaming on Netflix so no more hulu commercials!). The post I linked too above has lots of info to get you started but be careful, when I said "obsession," I meant it. These things can suck you in. I've given up even trying to pretend I'm not addicted.

I could try and rationalize it by saying it's a culture experience but in reality, they are just fun. "Skinship" (PDA) boundaries are much tighter in Korea so the stories are normally sweet with the big romantic moments hinging around a hug or a "less than Kay" kiss which I happen to really like. And the characters can be great.

Not that can't be a cultural thing to. While you can watch it without really thinking to hard, you get more out of it if you try and understand some basic differences between the culture and language. And I'm a nerd and have a lot of fun analyzing that type of stuff. I had a teensy bit of a head start because I lived there but even without that, a few minutes spent with the dramabeans glossary learning about banmal and what oppa and noona are will go a long way.

I'll try and put up a post about a few of my favorites sometime but right now, my nap time is being spent watching k-dramas and not writing about them so no promises :-)