June Wrap Up - July TBR/W

june wrap up.png

This month is going to be packed. We have a lot to get through.

Also, if you haven’t read my last post about some blog updates check that out here.

+ books +

There will always be an option that I’m going to be a failure if I tell you I’m going to do something. I didn’t get to tackle the readathon that I wanted to, but I did read one book…so success? Honestly, this is what you are just going to have to expect from me if you haven’t figured that out already. For the Olympic Games I basically read one book for it, Descendant of the Crane by Joan He. For the 48 Hour Queer Blackathon I read The Deep by Rivers Solomon and The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin. Since I did a vlog for that one, go watch it for my thoughts. Technically the two books from the Blackathon can be used for the Olympic Games. But whatever.

I will be participating in two readathons this month: the Koreadathon and the Reading Rush. I did them last year, and had fun so hopefully they will go well. I will be vlogging both of those, which always helps my success rate to completing them. Check back for more information on both of those, as I will be doing separate TBR posts/videos for them closer to their dates.

+ completed dramas +

We did an episode on Lee Je Hoon for the podcast, so this is why my list is kind of crazy and skewed toward him. I took the prompt and ran with it. It was a choice, but it was fun.

  • Tomorrow With You - 내일 그대와: Really enjoyed it. Good binge, not a lot of comedy - my type of romance based drama. With a sci-fi element. This might have been a different experience had I watched it when it was airing, but being able to not have cliff hangars was great. The beauty of not always watching live.

  • I Can Speak - 아이 캔 스피크 (movie): I’ve been putting this off for over a year and used this an excuse to finally watch it and it was excellent. I highly suggest picking up this if you can. Really deserves to be watched. I’d not read much about it before watching it though. I think there is specific plot that works well as a secret, but it’s in all the promotional ads for this.

  • Signal - 시그널: Yes I know it’s weird that I’m just now getting to this. I’m aware. But I finally watched it and that’s all that matters. I of course loved it. Not going to lie, I really loved how it ended and if there’s a second season then the ending won’t be as great. That sounds cryptic, but you’d probably figure out what I’m talking about if you’ve seen it. But it’s a solid drama that I think everyone should watch. The trio were really great to watch, I think the acting was as solid as the story, and combine that with a genre I’m into this one just worked. I’m so glad I wasn’t really watching live when this came out. I would have had a hard time waiting each week.

  • Architecture 101 - 건축학개론 (movie): This was a cute little movie. Again, picked up for the podcast but I liked it. Suzy was really cute in this, and I think Lee Je Hoon did a good job trying to match her (they have quite a bit of an age gap in real life but not in the movie). Nice movie if you are in the mood for a sort of melo-romance about first loves.

  • My Paparotti - 파파로티 (movie): If you liked Mr Holland’s Opus you’ll like this. One of those over coming your past/people growing/mentor type movies.

  • Phantom Detective - 탐정 홍길동: 사라진 마을 (movie): This was such a fun movie. I’m a fan of comic book-style cinematography, so I’m kind of the market for this. But Lee Je Hoon’s character spends most of the movie with two adorable kids and it’s a lot of fun, even with how dark it is. One of those movies I liked overall with its story, acting, and production aspects.

  • Mystic Pop Up Bar - 쌍갑포차: Finally a non-Lee Je Hoon completion! I did really enjoy Mystic Pop Up Bar. I’m really glad that it was a 12 episode, because some of the parts I didn’t like about the drama would have 100% been added to fill up those four episodes and it would have hindered my enjoyment. I didn’t quite enjoy the ending because there was a natural ending, but alas. I also think the writer really failed the conclusion of Kim Won Hyung’s character. Evil characters need backstories that make sense too (especially when they gave that respect to all the other characters), and him being that evil because his dad started to not pay attention to him and showed no other signs ain’t it. Still a solid watch.

+ currently watching +

+ new dramas +

Since I will be watching a LOT of older dramas this month and, and I’m cutting back on new dramas I actually have a to be watched of sorts. I usually don’t do these, but I decided to a lot of projects that dictate what I watch (as opposed to just picking up whatever I find interesting), and here we are with the most outrageous watching month ever. Will I succeed? I…maybe? I’ll try. I do have the time, so I guess there is that.

For my 2PMathon (details can be found here):

  • The Game Towards Zero -더 게임: 0시를 향하여

  • Shall We Fall in Love - 勇往直前恋上你

  • Dream High - 드림하이

  • Confession - 자백

  • Ms. Temper & Nam Jung Gi -욱씨남정기

I also have the two readathons mentioned above. I usually try to integrate dramas into those to be on brand or whatever. For the Koreadathon, I’ll be using one of the book prompts to watch Hometown Legends. The other readathon is the Reading Rush, and last year I did watch dramas based on prompts (I didn’t replace a book, just used a prompt to pick the title). I think I will end up doing that again, but it all depends on how much of the other dramas on my list I’ve watched (I may also be secretly watching other things that will be revealed soon as well…) so it will all just have to wait till that happens towards the end of the month to see where I’m at.

There is one new drama that will be premiering this month that I’m interested in:

June 11th: Train - 트레인 // OCN

So…I’m into parallel worlds this year? Honestly, I have no clue how this happened. I guess leave me more suggestions in the comments for other dramas since it’s my knew-to-me thing and might as well keep it going till the end of the year.

+++

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