BLOG ang MUNDO

As you all know by now, I really love watching Korean soap operas (or popularly known as K-dramas). And rarely do I really like one that I go gaga over it. Full House, Sassy Girl Chun-Hyang and My Lovely Kim Sam Soon to name a few. Lately, a friend of mine recommended a new K-drama called Princess Hours. It’s korean title is Goong, meaning Palace. Goong, like some of the later K-dramas, was based on a manghwa (Korean comic books) of the same title. The story revolves around an ordinary girl, Shin Chae-Gyeung, who found out that her grandfather and the emperor of Korea made a pact and that she would have to marry the crown Prince, Lee Shin. Her grandfather apparently saved the emperor’s life during the Japanese occupation. The Prince, Lee Shin-Goon, has a girl friend who he had proposed to. But due to his girlfriend’s high ambitions of becoming a ballet dancer and not wanting to be tied down in the Palace, turned down his proposal. His girlfriend lately realized her mistake when Prince Shin and Chae-Gyeung were married (talk about stupid) so she did everything she can to take away the Prince from Chae-Gyeung. Anyway, here’s where it gets complicated. Prince Shin was not exactly the crown prince before. After a sudden death of the Emperor, the successor became the second heir or the Emperor’s brother. According to Palace laws, only the Queen Mother, the Emperor and the Emperor’s immediate family are to live inside the palace grounds. The other members of the Royal Family are to live outside the palace grounds. The late Emperor had a wife and son (the supposed real heir to the throne) Lee Yul, who were put into exile in Britain. After learning that the current Emperor has an ailment and Prince Shin is showing some signs of rebellion, Prince Lee Yul and his mother returned to Korea hoping that he can get back what was rightfully his, namely the throne, and depending on how you’ll look at it, his supposed wife, Shin Chae-Gyeung. Well, the story of Goong is so deep. It’s not your typical love triangle k-drama. Goong also has a beautiful soundtrack which I really love. The instrumentals and the songs is perfect for the series.

You might think that there’s an exsisting monarchy in Korea. The Korean monarchy disappeared apparently during the japanese occupation. Goong is mainly a "what if" kind of story. What if there is a constitutional monarchy in Korea where the royal family is just a status symbol instead of a ruling power. They made reference to the British monarchy as a symbol for the people. Also they made reference to the British royal scandal between Prince Charles, Lady Diana and Camilla Parker Bowles. And the most funny part about the series, they made Prince William visit Korea. Well, it’s not really Prince William, but their Prince William in the series did and is a good friend of Prince Yul.

This K-drama targets the teenage population by casting young singer/actress Yoon Eun-hye for the lead role as Shin Chae-Gyeung and model/actor Joo Ji-Hoon as Prince Lee Shin. With it’s typical teenage love story, Goong attracts the younger viewers. But as the story progresses, the story becomes deeper and darker so if you’ll notice, the latter episodes turned from PG-12 to PG-15. Anyway, I hope you get a copy of Goong (Princess Hours) and I also hope that you’ll enjoy watching as much as I do.

Bounce!

My interest in Korean soap operas got the better of me. Last Holy week
(a week long holiday in the Philippines), I watched a Korean soap
titled 18 VS 29. 16 episodes in all. Never got to finish it in a day. I
started wathcing it thursday and finished it just yesterday. Thus
keeping me occupied the whole vacation. Besides the poor subtitles, the
series has a good story. Also, like every other Korean soaps that I’ve
watched, they have the most annoying and beautiful antagonists,
marriage is not a big deal to these antagonists and parents (or
guardians) are always a hinder to the protagonist’s marriage. The
difference of this soap among the others is that the guy really love
his wife. He never did have a relationship nor fell in love with
another woman.

The story is about a married couple on the brink
of a divorce. One fateful day, 29 year old Hye-chan, the wife, was on
her way to the trial court to submit the divorce papers when a truck
crashed into her car. Her husband, Sang-Young, also 29, is an actor who
is rumoured to have a relationship with his co-actor in a TV series.
Sang-young was on an interview when he heard about Hye-chan’s accident.
Hye-chan apparently survived the car crash but unfortunately, she lost
her memory. She didn’t entirely lose her memory. But all she can
remember was from up to a certain day when she was 18 years old. When
she was 18, that was when she first met her husband. Funny thing is,
she hated his guts in high school. So when she woke up, she thought
that she was still 18 and upon knowing that she married the guy who she
hated, couldn’t accept it. Her sister and husband tried to make sense
out of her. They thought that she was only faking it in defense to the
rumors surrounding his husband. The wife only thought he was having an
affair when she spotted him carrying his drunk co-star to her
apartment. Which apparently, nothing did happen. Being a loving husband
that he is, he really convinced his wife that she’s already 29, she’s
married to him and that they love each other very much. He tries to
make her forget all about the bad things that happened to their
relationship and about the divorce. But, as usual, certain factors
tried to hinder their love in the form of a jealous, obsessive co-star,
a love struck high-school student and a grumpy old grandfather.

It’s
tough enough to take care of someone who has amnesia, but this time,
having to take care of someone who has selective amnesia or retrograde
amnesia (as they call it) is far worse. Especially if you know that she
hated your guts back to that event in time that she only remembers. The
soap’s funny. It kind of reminds me of the movie 50 First Dates and 13
Going On 30.

Bounce!