Wednesday Write Up: {{ I show you my Krazy }}

So for this week's WWU I have had on my mind several different things all at once actually...just curious of my fellow AddiKts about a few things that I have experienced, since I started K Dramas & want to see if any of you might have too...

Up first, those moments when you are so caught up in the story that you find yourself screaming at the TV in anger & frustration, laughing like a maniac, cringing at the the stupid thing your character is about to do; that will lead to their own humiliation &/or trouble.  Many a night I have woken up CA with my, I'm sincerely  trying to stifle, albeit unsuccessfully reaction, to what is happening on the screen.  Not to mention the many times my kids have just stared at me as though I'm insane for the same reason.  And it isn't always dramas that have this effect on me.  Barefoot Friends, Running Man, 1N2D, Strong Heart have all left me in stitches because I couldn't stop laughing like a lunatic.  Just recently while watching Incarnation of Money's 2nd to last episode I was so grateful he wasn't at home, that I was alone as I went all crazy ahjumma screaming at my laptop & practically bouncing up & down in my manic breakdown.  I was a complete nut job.  Had a hard time falling asleep after that episode too.  Awake for hours!   Yeah, coffee is nothing, if you need to stay awake, compared to what an intense cliffhanger ending of a single K Drama episode can do to you, especially you already know that the answer to the cliffhanger will air the next day.

Up next, a good portion of us that love K Dramas, especially here in the US, do not even speak Korean & therefore rely, quite heavily, on those awesome wonderful subbers, who enable our K Drama fetish so nicely, by translating them for us.  But there are a few things I have found myself doing, my moments of 'lost in translation' madness, if you will.  In the beginning of this new found passion, I always noticed the subs.  But I had watched a ton of foreign films, so I was also used to them.  Now when I am watching K Dramas I don't even realize that they are there.  The first time I realized this was happening to me, about 3 months into this addiKtion, for just a split second I could swear I spoke perfect Korean.  Yes, I did for a split second I thought, 'Wow I am really beginning to understand this language!' & then I realized I was reading the screen & immediately thought, 'I am so glad I didn't say that out loud to anyone!'

I am a TRIED & TRUE K Drama Fan!

Then a few days, weeks, who knows how long later, my kids were home while I was watching & they were being excessively loud & I couldn't hear the K Drama and I yelled, I actually yelled at them, in exasperation no less,  "HEY!!  GUYS!!  Can you please hold it down or take it outside I can't hear what they're saying!!"   They all stopped & stared at me, looked at the computer screen & then back at me & it was my daughter who, at the time, was 7 years old, was the 'voice of reason' when she said, , "Mommy you can't understand what they're saying, you're reading the screen, why do we have to be so quiet for you to read?"    O.O    "Well....   ummm....   just...   just go outside & play!  Geesh!"  She had me right then, it wasn't until later that I finally had a come back, she was in bed though, so it did me no good.  But the next day I told her, "Mommy likes to hear the music & the way the characters say their lines so I can get a better understanding of what the feeling is in the scene."  I thought I was so clever, Oh yeah!  I bested my 7 year old, but apparently she had already moved on, at least that was my interpretation of her simple shrug & eye rolling as she walked away from me to get ready for school.  

My next example is one we're all too familiar with, at least I hope others are as familiar with it as I am...that desperate need to see the next episode, of an already finished airing in Korea drama.  We tell ourselves, "I'll be responsible I'll just watch one more episode & then I'l..."  But 5 hours later & we're still glued to the screen of our computer.  It could be Lord of the Flies in our houses but we've been sucked into episode after episode after episode.  What the crap?!?  How do they do that???  I have finally learned when to walk away from a K Drama.  The perfect time to turn off a K Drama is in the middle of an episode, after the problem of the last episode has been solved & before the next one begins, the happy/boring setting up the next plot device part.  It could be 10 minutes in, 20 min or even only 10 min left in the whole show...that is when you turn it off & either get sleep, feed yourself or take care of those around us or our myriad other responsibilities we've ignored while we were staring like a band of slack jawed, decaying zombies, at the screen.  But in the beginning & every once in a while when it's a really great drama, yes I'm talking to you Sungkyunkwan Scandal, that I can't stop myself from loading ep after ep on my iPad or laptop or Hulu on my TV or .... you get the idea, I won't go on.

And last but not least, that desperate need to look up the actors in the Dramas you're watching, particularly the ones you are just seeing for the first time.  You become obsessed with their past dramas, movies, & forget about it if they are also KPop stars then you have to hear their music & watch their MVs.  I won't make any reference here ...  {{*cough*cough*Dongsaeng & her *cough*cough* obsession cough* cough* with Jaejoong after she watched Protect the Boss*cough*cough*}}  Was that subtle enough? You don't think she'll notice my coughing fit do you? o.O  Oh no!  I won't mention names mostly because I am guilty of it too.  The first time was Kim Hyun Joong after watching Boys Over Flowers which led to Playful Kiss & SS501 & then him as a solo artist, then it was Hyun Bin in Secret Garden, which led to Sam Soon & The World Within & then it was Jung Yong Hwa in You're Beautiful which led me to have to watch Heartstrings.  It's what led me to KPop to begin with.  With each new drama & new drama star (even the girls) if it was a good drama or if I liked the chemistry, acting or whatever magical thing it was, I have to see what else they've been in & see if they were as good in that.

Don't tell my husband!!  O.O Gasp!!

How do perfectly sane, normal people like you & I {{Watch it, all you smart alecs!  I am so sane!  My mother had me tested.  BTW: Did anybody get that reference there?  Here's a hint: you have to love brainiacs & nerds in order to get the reference.}} What is it?  What is the power behind the K Drama ability to make me act like I am a woman possessed?  How do they do it?  I see the subtle & not so subtle differences between US TV & Korean, I've already dished on that so I won't be going into it again.  I think it boils down to K Dramas have magical abilities.  That's it.  They're are using supernatural powers to make me their zombie slave.  And the funny thing is, I don't actually mind.  Not even a little bit.  Keep up the great job K Dramas, K Actors, K Actresses.  Just keep me entertained.  That's all I ask.  

I hope everyone had fun reading about how Krazy I actually am & I hope to hear soon some of the insane things K Dramas have gotten you to do since you started being hypnotized by their magical power.  Don't be shy guys.  I showed my Krazy, you show me yours.  Fair is fair after all.  

Saranghamnida,

P.S. And in case you didn't know Drama Fever announced the winners for the 2012 Drama Fever Awards there are even some really sweet acceptance speeches.

Enjoy AddiKts