Kdrama Review: So I Married The Anti-fan

 Drama: So I Married the Anti-fan

Genre: romantic comedy

Starring: Choi Sooyoung, Choi Taejoon, Chansung

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

This one sounded stupid at first, but then I saw everyone raving about it and then it sounded just the sort of fluffy and fun that I enjoy, and yep, it was! Totally fun!

The premise is we have our guy who is a top kpop star, and our girl, who is a reporter and they get in a clash when she sees something she isn't supposed to and it makes him crazy. Their conflict is captured and now it's a big news story. His people think it would make a  great publicity stunt, and so they come up with the idea to make a reality show pairing them together. They can't stand each other and this sounds painful to them, but both of them are talked into it.

And so the show (within the show) begins. And also the romance. Which is very lovely! And suddenly we see that this dude who seemed gruff and unapproachable at first, is actually really sweet and nice. Of course he is!

It was awesome. So much great banter and funny moments. And then swoony moments. 

However, I didn't enjoy the side story of his two friends... one of them who manages the other of them in the kpop business...and yet doesn't seem to be helping her debut as a kpop star at all. Anyway, that story included a lot of emotional abuse and it wasn't not fun. And the resolution of that story was just weird and unsatisfactory for me. Just weird.

And Chansung from 2PM played this part and dang but he seems to always have these obnoxious boy parts! Can't he be the sweet charming main lead some day? Here's hoping!

But despite that, I did truly enjoy it. A fun crazy romance for sure!

Here's a trailer:

And that song that Taejoon actually sings himself:

Book Review: Somewhere Only We Know by Maureen Goo

 Book: Somewhere Only We Know by Maureen Goo

Genre: YA romance

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

I wanted to read this one because I heard it was going to be a Netflix movie, and you know I'm going to be curious about this one given it's topic! 

So in this one we have a kpop star... who is the girl this time. And a dude who is suffering the summer as an intern at his dad's bank in Hong Kong. They are both Korean  American's from California, and both living these interesting lives abroad. Our girl loves being a very famous star, but she is feeling strange about it lately... and needs to figure out what's wrong. How to change things up a bit, etc. 

So one night when she sneaks out of her hotel to find a hamburger (she is starving because they never let her eat) and she is under the influence of her sleeping pills... she ends up stumbling upon our dude. Who basically rescues her because she can barely function. Of course he thinks she is drunk. 

He doesn't know where she lives so she ends up spend the night at his apartment. And when the morning comes and they can think clearly again... she knows she should go back... but he wants to make use of her. Because in the meantime,  he has found out who she is and he has aspirations to become a top "journalist" (aka. paparazzi) and this would be his big break. So somehow, he convinces her to spend the day with him. She needs the escape and he needs the story.

Well... and so then we go around Hong Kong on a grand adventure! And now I wish I could visit someday! (Ha, like travel will ever happen again, eh?)

So this ended up being a fun romp and cute romance. Lots of disses to the kpop business as usual. It's a rough business I guess and deserves the criticism, but sometimes I get tired of that, you know? But this one is good because she figures out how to buck the system a bit. So in other words... happy ending. 

Anyway, for those of us that are kpop fans, this is another fun take on that craze. And I'm really quite enjoying this author. I have another one of hers on the stack to read soon. So we'll see if the enjoyment continues. 

Book Review: They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

 Book: They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

Genre: Graphic memoir

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This was the other book we read last month for book club. (If you've been paying attention, we've been reading two books per month through the summer. It's been an interesting endeavor!)  I found it to be very interesting in learning about what happened to George Takei's family during World War II and how they ended up in the interment camps. 

It's a great look from a young boy's point of view. He didn't understand a whole lot of what was going on, but he sure did feel the pain from his parents. He makes a big deal about the fact that he really questioned his father later on... and wanted answers to why they did what they did and suffered what they did.

But as a young boy, he adapted well and the whole experience was quite an adventure actually. And it turned out they felt very safe in these camps and built up quite the life for themselves. That was one of the most interesting parts to me... that once they were freed and let out to go about their lives again... that was almost a worse adjustment than going in. And they felt very afraid of everyone. 

But yeah. It's so depressing the way we all have treated each other over the years. And so scary that this sort of thing very well could happen again. I'm glad George Takei has taken this experience and made it sort of his life's campaign.

Anyway, another great book and story that I never would  have read except for book club! I love that!