Fun Things About Us, Courtesy of the Liebster Award

Another awesome Kdrama blog, Outside Seoul, nominated us for a fun award that recognizes new blogs, called the Liebster Award.  It's a great way for new bloggers to get to know each other better.

The rules for receiving this award:
1. List 11 random facts about yourself.
2. Answer the questions designated by the blogger (s) who nominated you.
3. Place YOUR nominations for the Liebster Award! Nominate five (or more) other bloggers that have less than 200 followers. Make sure to notify them via comment/email, etc.
4.Make up a set of questions for those nominated bloggers to answer.
5. Display the Liebster award badge on your blog!

That's a lot for one post, so brace yourselves:



11 Random Facts about Us

1. How We Met: Coco and Vivi met their freshman year of college 10 years ago when they ended up living on the same floor in the dorms and were in the same freshman orientation group. Coco saw the blonde, tan, Finnish bombshell that is Vivi and was intimidated. Vivi was wearing sunglasses and looked too cool for school. Vivi (wearing sunglasses to hide her awkward face when she tries to make small talk) saw Coco tossing her wavy blonde locks around and laughing like she was in a shampoo commercial filled with witty, beautiful people.  She sat at the other side of the orientation group and thought, "I will never, ever be able to be friends with people like that."  Luckily they realized that they were both actually nerdy, insecure girls who needed a new best friend! Kdramas have just been one more nerdy thing that they have bonded over through the years.

2. Coco's Favorite Memory of Vivi: Vivi is totally nerdy about costumes. She goes all out at Halloween time, and now that she is married she goes double all out with couple's costumes (which I think would be big in Korea since they always wear couple's jumpsuits and pajamas). I also love costumes but I am not as skilled as Vivi so I often enlist her help. For the last Harry Potter movie I wanted to dress up with my 6 foot 7 inches tall brother as Hagrid and myself as Fang for the midnight premiers. We found an awesome costume for Hagrid at Goodwill, but couldn't find a beard, so I brought an afro wig over and Vivi groomed it into a beautiful, perfect specimen.

Pre-trim Hagrid.  He was having a hard time breathing.

Post-trim Hagrid--still fluffy, but not suffocating.
Vivi also sewed Fang's ears.

Vivi came to the premiere as a very convincing Luna Lovegood. For some reason that memory sticks out to me. Maybe it's because it reveals just how we have always bonded over nerdy fangirl stuff.


3. Vivi's Favorite Memory of Coco:  One thing to know about Coco is that she is the nicest person you will ever meet UNTIL she gets hungry, and then she turns into a grumpy (but hilarious) she-hulk. About two summers ago, Coco and I (and some other friends) traveled to Boston and then NYC to a friend's wedding.  For some reason, food was just not working in Coco's favor on the trip.  People kept getting her orders wrong, the food turned out gross, or we just couldn't find food when she wanted it.  Well, we were sitting on a beautiful beach eating delicious cupcakes and Coco realized that she got the WRONG CUPCAKE (HULK SMASH!).  My husband joked that she must have done something bad in a past life to anger the food gods, and she said, "Yeah, like pillage a village and steal their food." JUST as the words came out of her mouth, a giant seagull swooped next to her face and stole the cupcake right out of her hand!  The best part was that Coco got so mad that she threw the leftover cupcake at the seagull in pouty revenge. Then she covered it in sand out of spite so that none of the swarming seagulls could enjoy their plunder.  I died.

4. Coco and Vivi both love cats. A lot. Maybe too much. Last year, Vivi decided she would make a ridiculous cat calendar for her husband's birthday starring their two cats (she now has three--it's getting out of control), so she enlisted Coco's photography and photoshop skills. This is just a sample of the outcome:

What do you think? Should we make a kitty calendar with her cats as Kdrama OTP's? We even have a Pinterest board dedicated to Kdrama Kitties. It's a thing, ok?

5. Coco has never lived in one place, or held the same job, for more than a year since graduating high school. Vivi has thrown her at least 3 going away parties, but Coco always comes back. She kind of lives a gypsy, vagabond life, floating wherever the wind takes her.

6.  Vivi met her husband when he was dating one of her roommates (NOT Coco), who he stole from one of HIS roommates.  Vivi finds this story hilarious because it sounds like the premise to some scandalous k-drama love square.  In fact, it was all just about as non-scandalous as you can get.  The roommate had broken up with him quite a while before the relationship started, and they're all still great friends.

7. Coco's biggest fear is dolls. It always has been and it probably always will be. When she was a little girl, her older sister told her that if she did not kiss all of her dolls goodnight then they would come and get her. She never got over that.

8.  Vivi loves Batman more than almost anything in the world.  She has loved Batman since she watched the cartoons as a young child. She loves Batman so much that she wrote her Master's thesis on Batman (and they gave her a degree!).  She really, really loves Batman.

9. Coco hates the feel of cotton balls and chalk between her fingers. It's just gross. Coco loves the feeling she gets when she walks on those moving sidewalks in the airport. The sensation of suddenly going much faster and further with no more effort makes her feel on top of the world.

10.  Vivi doesn't mind snakes or spiders or most other creepy-crawly things, but her biggest fear is rodents.  There is something about those little claws and those little teeth and those little tails...(Shudder).  This may have something to do with the fact that her pet hamster committed suicide when she was 10 years old.  She never got over it.

11.  Coco was the one who got Vivi addicted to k-dramas.  In fact, she tried to force her to watch Coffee Prince several times, and it never worked.  Once Vivi caved, though, there was no hope for either of them!

Questions

1. What�s your motivation for blogging?

Coco: We have a master plan that is the end goal of our blogging, but that won't be revealed for at least another year (wahahah). Also, I like making memes and making people laugh.

Vivi: It's nice to have a creative outlet outside of work. I often find myself having imaginary conversations in my mind as I'm watching dramas, so I just put those conversations here!

2. Do you post under your real name? Why or why not? And if you don�t, how did you choose your blogging identity?

Coco: I wish this were my real name! I kind of just like the idea of having an alias. Coco is what they called me in South Africa when I studied there and it's kind of fun. I don't mind at all if people know who I am or that I have this blog. In fact, I tell people all the time like a good Kdrama missionary, to Vivi's chagrin.

Vivi: Coco chose her alias first, and then I picked one that matched.  I actually prefer to use an alias because I have a really unusual name.  So unusual, in fact, that if you Google my real name, I will be the only result that pops up.  In the entire world. I keep my name secret because I don't want any random serial killers on the internet to find me through this blog and then discover my real identity too easily and then find me and kill me.  Because I believe that serial killers should have to put in at least some minimum effort first.  I also work in academia, and I figure that having a Google search pull up my Korean drama obsession right next to my teaching profile might not be the best idea.

3. What�s your favorite blog post that you�ve written so far?

Coco: The one Vivi and I co-wrote for Viki about Kdrama love squares. Those memes just kill me.

Vivi: The post about Kdrama Hollywood Lookalikes. It was one of the first posts I wrote, and when I figured out who Kim Jeong-hoon reminded me of, I laughed like a maniac.

4. What has been your biggest blogging challenge (e.g. getting people to comment, making headers, placing pictures side by side, etc)?

Coco: Juggling all of our accounts for the blog. We have like 10 what with the Facebook, and Twitter, and Pinterest, etc. Also blogging, yet still working full time, and having a social life, and actually watching Kdramas.

Vivi: Trying to change ANYTHING in the Blogger layout.  One time I tried to move the text in our banner closer together, and it took me a solid three hours of Googling HTML code.

5. What are your favorite and least favorite drama cliches?

Coco: I love wrist grabs. Sorry, not sorry. I know that should be wrong, but why does it feel so right? I hate brooding shower scenes. JK! LOL! I love them.

Vivi: I was actually going to say that the wrist grabs are my LEAST favorite.  Seriously, if you're going to drag someone around with you, why don't you just stop being so lazy and reach three inches lower for their actual hand?????   My favorite cliche?  Maybe the piggyback rides.  The first time it happened, I was like, "Okay, that's kind of weird, but whatever." And then it happened in the next three dramas I watched, and I thought, "Wait, what, is this a real thing?"  I love it for how manufactured and cheesy it is.

Our Nominations

Honesty time: I tried to write a list of nominations and ended up a total mental mess with about 25 tabs open on my browser. We read a lot of clever and funny and insightful reviews every time we finish a new drama, so there are a lot of blogs that we love (and a lot that have already done this award).  We decided to nominate some bloggers we found through this blog who we would love to learn more about.  Anyone else is also welcome to answer these questions and link to their blogs in the comments!:

My Myooz
Looney Express
niKai Cafe
Read Watch Relax
Voicing My Thoughts

1. Which kdrama character is most similar to your personality?  Why?

2. If you could punch one person from one kdrama in the face, who would it be?

3. If you could go out to lunch with one kdrama heroine or female best friend, who would you choose?

4. What is the most kdrama episodes you have watched in one sitting?  Which drama was it?

5. This one isn't about kdramas, but it's still important: What is your favorite kind of dinosaur?

Happy blogging!

Getting to Know Korean Ramen: Taking the Soompi Taste Test Challenge!

The fun Korean media news site, Soompi, recently asked Do You Know Your Korean Ramen? I shamefully had to respond that despite all the Korean ramen I have viewed being eaten on Kdramas, no, I actually did not know. The closest I had ever come to it was the infamous, cheap, Top Ramen that you usually eat when you are in college and can only spend $.25 on a meal, or when you are just too lazy to make real food (which happens more than I'd like to admit), or when you're watching a Kdrama and see them eating it and want some even though you're not actually hungry but think you can get away with eating it anyway because all the Kdrama female leads eat ridiculous amounts of food and are still thin.

But guess what? I am lucky enough to live near Ktown in NYC, so I have no excuse to be Korean ramen ignorant any longer! This weekend I decided to take the Soompi ramen challenge by sampling 5 ramens from their list. There are 10 on the list, but I just couldn't do it, ok? You try eating more than 5 ramens over a three day weekend! In order to conduct a ramen taste test you need:


1. An Assortment of Korean Ramen
Down in Ktown they have this awesome little Asian market, Hanahreum, that has an entire aisle of instant ramen. It was a ramen aficionado's dream!

These are the 5 ramen contenders I chose for the challenge.

Korean ramen does not look that different than regular old Top Ramen, but I did notice some differences. The biggest difference is that Korean Ramen includes a separate package for dried vegetables to add. Here is an example of what Korean Ramen looks like uncooked.

2.  A Ramen Pot

You know you've seen these beauties on kdramas and wanted one! I managed to pick one up.  The best part was that right after I made my first ramen package I sat down to watch Answer Me 1997, and look what she was making!

I just had to eat my ramen off the lid since Kdrama characters are always claiming who gets it. It really did taste better that way.

3.  Korean Chop Sticks

I mentioned in my last blog post about visiting Ktown that I am terrible at eating with chopsticks, particulary Korean ones because they are metal. Luckily I found some for this taste test and now I start practicing with them at home!

With all the necessary supplies ready, I began the task of determining which instant Korean ramen was the best.

1. Paldo Namja Ramen

                    

I thought this was really good Korean ramen. That being said, I have a pretty high spice tolerance. I am originally from Arizona so I grew up eating a lot of Mexican food. I would say that my spice threshold is more than the average white American, but less than the average Asian. I would give this ramen a spice rating of 4 out of 5. It made my nose run and gave me a mild lip burn, but I wasn't running around trying to find something to drink. The noodles were perfect with a good roundness and softness, and did not taste overly processed. The overall flavor was mostly just spicy, but it had a nice beefy broth. My roommate and I both went back to the ramen pot for more, only to discover that we already ate it all.

2. Jin Ramen

              

This was my last favorite ramen. It just seemed pretty bland. The overall flavor was just salty. The noodles were also kind of gummy and overly processed tasting. I would give it a 2.5 out of 5 on the spicy scale. It would still be considered spicy for a lot of white Americans. My roommate and I didn't even have the urge to finish the pot. 

3. Shin Ramyun Black

            

This ramen was pretty tasty. The overall flavor was mushroomy and beefy. I would give it a 3 out of 5 on the spice scale. My nose did run a little but there was no lip burn. The noodles were nice and soft without being gummy. The little packet of dried vegetables that came with it added a nice texture. Only eat this ramen if you really love mushrooms. 

4. Samyang Spicy Beef

          

This ramen had a nice beefy flavor with a good amount of spice. I would give it a 3.5 out of 5 on the spice scale. I wanted to go back for more as I ate it. One strange downside to this ramen is that it is very orangey, so much so that it tinted my teeth orange. Gross. 

5. Kokomen Clean Spicy Chicken

This was my favorite ramen overall. As I leaned over the pot to cook it, I whispered out loud, "Oh my gosh, that smells really good." The funny thing is that on the package the flavor is labeled as "clean" and "spicy". I was really curious to find out what "clean" tasted like, but I actually think this is a really good description for this ramen. It just looked light and fresh, and not greasy or overly processed. The noodles were nice and soft and round. It had a delightful chicken and green onion flavor. The dried vegetables you add in were very prominent, especially the green onions, but I liked that. I would give it a 3.5 out of 5 on the spice scale, which I think is perfect because spicy doesn't become the main flavor, but still plays a big part. I think this is a great choice for a kdrama fan to sample.

Hopefully this has inspired you to conduct your own Korean ramen taste test. You should try the other five on Soompi's list and let us know what you think. Have you ever tried Korean instant ramen? What are your favorites? Comment below.

Also, I found a few other gems at the Korean market, which means stayed tuned for more posts about my forays into Korean food and culture in Ktown, New York City!

Guest Post at Viki: More Kdrama Texts to a Bestie

The team over at Viki has kindly asked us to write another guest post for them.  In case you missed our first guest post, check it out! This time, we decided to do a second installment of one of our popular posts in the past: Kdrama Texts to a Bestie: We sometimes wonder how we would react to the female leads if they were our best friends in real life. Can you just picture the text conversations we would have? In Part 1 of Texts to a Bestie, we imagined texting Jan Di, Eun Chan, Gong Ah Jung and Park Ha. Here are more imaginary texts with some of our favorite Kdrama heroines:

 1. Flower Boy Ramyun Shop

2.  You're Beautiful

3. Full House

3. Flower Boys Next Door

5. Personal Taste

Which other kdrama heroines would you like to text with?

Fashion Face-Off Friday: Kdrama Battle of the Guyliner

It's been a while since we had a Fashion Face-off around here, so let's start by announcing the last results.  I have to admit that I was really, really surprised by this one.  In our "Hotties in Suits" competition, Cha Ji-heon from Protect the Boss won a decisive victory over the more formal suit-wearers.  Was it the Batman t-shirt?  Because if it was, I can totally get behind that.

For this week's Fashion Face-off, I'm going to go with men wearing eyeliner--also known as "guyliner." The male characters in kdramas often wear noticeable makeup (the OBVIOUS lipliner in a few dramas being the worst example), and guyliner has become something of an immediate indicator that a character is extra broody. As someone who mostly wears makeup for weddings and Halloween, I have to admit that seeing men outdoing my efforts in the makeup category is sometimes unnerving, but I've gotten to a point where I can handle it.

There were a lot of options in the guyliner category.  I tried to choose characters who consistently rock it as an integral part of their persona.  So, in the battle of the guyliner, who wore it best?  Or, if you don't love the guyliner, who pulls it off the most convincingly?

Contender 1: Joo Byung-hee from Shut Up Flower Boy Band

There is plenty of guyliner in this series, but we have to single out Joo Byung-hee because the guyliner is part of his soul.  Just read the subtitle in the screencap below:

That's right: the man basically has a guyliner manifesto.
That's gotta be worth some credit, right?

Contender 2: Min Tae-yeon in Vampire Prosecutor

As noted in my review of this series, the vampire elements aren't always at the forefront of the show.  That being said, the amount of guyliner on everyone's favorite blood-sucking prosecutor seems to be directly proportional to how vampire-ish he is being that day.  Does this mean that when he goes home to sulk in his fancy apartment, he stops to apply eyeliner first?

Sitting in a gigantic leather chair is just about the most vampire-ish thing you can possibly do.
 That would explain the smokey eye.

Contender #3: Hwang Tae-kyung in You're Beautiful

We get it.  You're emotionally constipated because you have a mean mom.  You're also in a band.  All of this naturally leads to a guyliner addiction.  We would do the same.

We don't know what you're doing either, but it seems to be working.

Contender #4: Vick in Iris

Sometimes we have to recognize that the villains are just as stylish as the good guys.  Just because T.O.P.'s character likes to kill people shouldn't invalidate his use of guyliner, okay?  In fact, maybe it makes it more justifiable.

Maybe if those eyes are the ones shooting you, it wouldn't be so bad?
On second thought, getting shot always sucks, regardless of makeup application.
Image Source

So who wore it best?  Vote in the poll below!

                                             

Kdrama Battle of the Guyliner
	Joo Byung-hee in Shut Up Flower Boy Band
	Min Tae-yeong in Vampire Prosecutor
	Hwang Tae-kyung in You're Beautiful
	Vick in Iris
pollcode.com free polls

How to Stop Watching Kdramas: Self Help for Korean Drama Addicts

As Vivi mentioned in her post, Lee Min Ho Baby, sometimes we like to reverse stalk our readers to see what search terms bring them to us. One of the funniest search terms I've seen was "how to stop watching kdramas". Some poor kdrama addict finally reached the breaking point and needed an intervention! Several kdrama blogs have talked about the stages of getting addicted to a Korean drama, or the signs of being addicted to kdramas, but they offered no advice on how to break this terrible cycle. I'd venture to guess that most of our readers have no desire to change their ways, but this post is for those searching to get a semblance of their pre-kdrama lives back.

Here is the process you must go through to overcome you kdrama addiction for good:

1. Admitting that you have a problem

2. Recognizing a higher power that can give you strength

3. Seeking the help of experienced kdrama recoverers

4. Making amends with the ones your kdrama addiction has hurt

5. Learning to live a new life with a new code of kdrama behavior

Have you ever been so addicted to kdrama that it interfered with your life? What are some things you do to keep your addiction to kdrama in check? Comment below.

Cute Kitty Lotion, Fried Chicken, and Kim Hyun Joong: Ktown NYC!

Besides the fact that living in New York City ups the chances of my life becoming like a kdrama, another awesome part about living in NYC is that I have access to Ktown via a short subway ride. This Ktown is actually quite small, but that doesn't mean it isn't packed full of fun and interesting Korean experiences. Last weekend I convinced my Korean friend to take me on a field trip for some awesome food and fantastic shopping. So here is Part 1 of a little travelog of my adventures in Ktown. I didn't have time to try it all, so look forward to a posts about Korean karaoke and a Korean spa.

First, I took a little walk down the main street and found myself an adorable Korean cosmetics store called The Face Shop. Guess who I ran into! If it wasn�t Kim Hyun Joong, himself. It�s so funny to actually see Korean stars I recognize advertise products here in America. Aren�t we cute together? It�s just too bad that he was stuck to the window and had that logo across his face because I really wanted to pose next to him if he had been a cardboard cutout.

Once in the store, I was greeted by a Korean guy who asked if I needed help. I told him that I write a blog about Korean dramas and he was pretty excited saying, �Oh, you watch those sometimes!� I asked him where the cute stuff was, since that�s mainly what I�m a sucker for when it comes to Asian products, and he showed me these.

So cute! I had to get myself a kitty lotion because I can�t resist cute kitty stuff. It smells distinctly Asian, which I�m not sure why I think this, but it�s this light floral scent that I�ve found a lot of Asian products smell like. Also, it made my skin very soft, which is surprising from something packaged so cutely. Usually you sacrifice quality for cute packaging, but it seems Korean have mastered both. I browsed the facial products and found a lip mask. I�d never seen a lips mask before so I decided to give it a try, mainly because I thought it was cute too. I tried it, and it was kind of difficult to keep on my lips for the recommended 20 minutes, so I ended up getting impatient and wearing it for more like 3 minutes, but I woke up in the morning and my lips were definitely softer. I even asked the 5 year I nanny and she agreed that they were very soft. I�ve always heard that Korean skin products were the best, and now I believe it.

Then I went next door to a Korean shop named Koryo Bookstore. This place was Korean crazy magic! It had everything you could want in terms of kdrama/kpop idol gear. Just look at the mugs, posters, and even kdrama dvd rentals!

I really wanted the Lee Min Ho mug but when I saw these Lee Min Ho postcards I knew they were the better choice. I really feel like I need to share the Lee Min Ho love, so the first 3 people to message us with your address on Facebook, which there is a link to in the top right corner, will receive a special Lee Min Ho postcard and maybe even some stickers! Don�t worry, I promise not to sell your info, or send you other ridiculous solicitations, or drop in and expect you to feed me dinner (although I wouldn�t say no to an invitation). This is purely for amusement purposes only.

Luckily my friend came to meet me and I had to leave the shop before I impulsively bought anything else. I really wanted to get some Korean magazines, but didn�t have time. Next, we headed over to Mad for Chicken, an amazing Korean fried chicken place that he recommended. I took more photos along the way, trying not to embarrass him too much by looking like a crazy tourist. I saw Red Mango, a Korean frozen yogurt place, and they were playing this spinning game outside to win food. It struck me as especially Korean since they always have contests like this in kdramas. I didn�t stop to play, which I now regret.

When we arrived at the Mad for Chicken, there was strangely Louis Armstrong music playing and pictures of Harlem artists on the walls. My friend was surprised at how different and Americanized it was since the last time he visited. That was kind of sad to me, but once we got the food, it didn�t seem to matter. The chicken was the best fried chicken I�ve ever had! We got soy flavored and spicy flavored and they were both awesome. They were perfectly crispy and meaty, and the flavors were distinctly Korean. We got a little carried away with the chicken, so I ended up taking it home and eating it the next day cold, which turned out to be even tastier.

We also got a seafood pancake that was delicious. I tried my best to eat it with chopsticks, but despite my friend�s best efforts to show me on multiple occasions the proper way to use them, I was a failure. It doesn't help that Korean chopsticks are made of metal so they are even more slippery than wooden ones. He gave me permission to use my fingers, and I did, with only a little shame.

Last, we went to a really swanky Korean lounge. The atmosphere reminded me of somewhere a rich chaebol womanizer would meet girls. The mood was really chill and relaxing. The waitresses were very beautiful, and I think they could give some of the kdrama actresses a run for their money, and the bartenders were pretty hot.

By the time we were done at the lounge, the shops were all closing so I didn�t have anymore time to go and buy things I shouldn�t be buying. I didn�t even have time to go to a Korean grocery store to buy some crazy snacks to try. I bought my mom an assortment for Christmas, which included a lot of interesting flavors, such as spicy squid, but didn�t try them myself. I�ll be heading back to Ktown soon and will write about Korean snacks later.

Hopefully this post has inspired you to seek out your own nearest Korean shops, or make a visit to NYC�s Ktown. If you ever come, let me know, and I will definitely go back to that chicken place with you! Also, are there any Korean snacks you�ve tried that you recommend? Comment below.