Hello!  :)

Thanks for visiting my page!

WARNING: CONTROVERSIAL OPINIONS AHEAD. NOT SUITABLE FOR THE EASILY OFFENDED SNOWFLAKES. 

I'm a millennial, so yes, I'm self-authorized to use the term "snowflakes" without being offensive.

 NOTE: I AM OPEN TO BEING WRONG, HAVING A CHANGE OF HEART,  AND AWARE FORCES AND CHANGES ARE ALWAYS IN MOTION.

.

.

.

How Did I Come to Watching Dramas?

Let this 28 yr/o self-proclaimed, wise elder tell you about a time when subtitles wasn't even heard of! Ohoho. Are you in for an unnecessarily-long-winded story, or are you in for an unnecessarily-long-winded story! ! !

I grew up watching only Cantonese dramas. I believe that "A Kindred Spirit" was the first thing that I watched (drama-wise ofc). 

My eyes glued to the TV set, intently staring, listening, and waffing dinner down my throat was my childhood. After a couple of years, did I finally start to see an appearance of non-TVB formatted dramas. Dramas like Princess Pearl (dubbed), followed by Jewel in the Palace (also dubbed),  and a glimpse of Meteor Garden (the 2001 one w/ Barbie and the actual F4 guys).  These were chosen by Fairchild TV stn (at the time only Cantonese channel on basic cable) to air on its platform. Choosing what dramas to watch??? Only but a dream. Unfortunately, I didn't have access to the internet at home until the 6th grade. And even then, it took a while before I realized that dramas like Meteor Garden could be watched online, and actually UNDERSTOOD. 

Just let that just sink in for a moment. There's a period in time where I would actually  sit in front of a television watching this drama that'd come on at 4pm, understanding ZERO,  because dammiT, I needed to know WHY Barbie and Vic seemed to like each other, but couldn't bE! ! ! Honestly, at the time I'm pretty sure I hypothesized that someone was dying, Cause someone was always dying in these things (death was literally all the rage with respect to plot, especially if its genre was the tragedy sort).

Doors started to open for me by the time I was in the 7th grade. I remember it vividly. I was recommended by a friend at the time, ISWAK (It Started with a Kiss). And so the obsession begins. I began conquering all of the Taiwanese Rom-Coms of the time. I finally got to find Meteor Garden to understand exactly what I ended up watching. It was PURE satisfaction. My eyes and mind were wide open. It was not long until Boys Over Flowers became the biggest thing since sliced bread.. Next thing you know, the drama-world wanted so badly to replicate its success. SoO much so, drama-world then had a billion remakes going on of the one, tried-and-true story of Hana Yori Dango. It was fun at first... Until it wasn't. And that is why— at least for me—I tend to stay away from remakes, unless it seems theres going to be a different rendition, and/or a beloved actress/actor  is starring in it.  Although, sidnote, F4 Thailand kind of wow-ed me by doing their own thing, whilst paying a little homage to previous renditions of the story. It wasn't a bad time, and was fairly enjoyable to watch (both as a remake and even just as a drama).

Sometimes, I tend to watch dramas in "genre batches". When I'm at my lowest for example, I'll probably watch romantic comedies, or family dramas. When I'm a little more bored, and I'm mentally well-rested, I'll kick back with a psychological, thriller.  And I'd run that genre until the whim of the next "batch". Though more often than not, it's just whatever the moods are serving me.

Though with mystery, psychological or thrillers, these genres... I've become more pickier. I've got to say as time goes on, you become acquainted with many shows, dramas... You pick up patterns. And I feel that certain dramas are more predictable (plot-wise) than others. Which imo, is fine with the Romantic genre. BuT, becomes more intolerable  for drama genres say... mystery, psychological or thrillers. Quite self-defeating. There's a bit of formulaic tendencies, which I guess is fine, I could still appreciate what's to offer... It's just harder to see a great genre push further past boundaries, faster. Which is always something everyone can agree on. No matter what genre is preferred. We're always looking for something we love, but with a fresh new perspective.

IMO. Don't Come for me. 

However, these days— perhaps it's the romantic in me—I don't know. But these days I long for romantic dramas. Doesn't necessarily have to be a comedy— although I am a sucker for romance that can span lifetimes—I'm down for most anything romance related. I think what can be more explored is the different types of romances that comes about. Off the top of my head, take "how to love somebody". It is such an interesting and extensive topic, that I don't think anybody could ever run out of another take on.

Hard pass (at the moment) on medical, law, military (especially Cdramas, the nationalistic propaganda is just toO much here), sports, food related dramas. 

Drama Genres/Niches I'm Interested in Most (No Order):

Romance

Thriller**

Horror*

Mystery

Psychological

Comedy

Political

Forbidden Love

Costume / Period/ Historical

Wuxia & Xianxia

*Dependent on if it's tied to being psychological, or is whodunnit, haunted house,  exorcism-related, aaand most importantly! Does not utilize jump scares as a crutch for scariness/creepiness.

** It has to be reallY good. 

My gawd I'm still so scarred from watching Save Me (you can check it out yourself despite what I've to say abt it).

Continue to read my rant  

.

.

.
Pls don't read this paragraph if you feel strongly abt this drama. Srsly, it could have been sO good... But it was needlessly long for no good reason imo.  For sure could have been 10 episodes and make a better impact. But length is the offense that I could  swallow.  Now, what was offensive, was the ending. Didn't feel like it tied up loose ends, and left me high and drY. Even forgetting that for a moment, it still felt like there wasn't much to takeaway. And then irritation sets in. To think that we had to sit through so much nothing, for this?! Inexcusable! The cherry on top is the rating. Ho- HOW does this drama have an 8.6 rating?! sO overrated, and I already tend to overrate dramas on the regular (in comparison to the MDL ratings for dramas overall).  Now, I gave it a 8 because I've still admit, there were in fact moments of entertainment value from this drama. However— and this is a big howeveR, I neither enjoyed nor was
 satisfied by the ending. And by "satisfy" I don't mean it needed to live up to an envisioned ideal ending, or a "perfect" happy ending, or even that there needed to be a lesson learned. But, at the very least, give us some closure. Why oh why bring us all  the way up a mountain and not let us see the view? All in all, the ending imo, was very sadistic. 

Just WHY?! Why get us to watch all the we've watched to give us nothinG?! Okay I'll stop.

Bravo for reaching the end of a long winded rant. Here's a symbolic gold star sticker :D

*sticks it on your shirt, and pats you on the back*

Drama Genres/Niches That I'll Be Less Inclined to Watch (No Order):

Medical

Law

Cuisine/Food related (Depends on premise)

Political Harem

Marital Revenge  / Marital Affair

Military

Terminal Illness

Competitive Sports 

E-Sports/ Competitive Gaming 

School Life / High School Life / Youth

Idol/Band/Music

Competitive Ultra-Rich Life

Time Travel (genre literally became such a dumping ground for so much lazy writing.. I can't)

Soul Switching

Remakes (of stories with already existing OG dramas)

Note: I have definitely tried and/or have gotten tired of these genres. Perhaps new ground breaking dramas trend/patterns will change my mind... Until then, unless they've become notable on Mydramalist score-wise, have great OST, notable actor/actress, redeemable worthy premise, greaT reviews... It's a N-O.

My Drama/Movie "Grading System"

( 10 )  A definite biased review. Don't come for me.

( 9> ) Near perfection if not perfection, rewatch-able.

(8-8.5) A great time, still could have been better for whatever reason.

(7-7.5) It's not bad, worth a shot.

(5-6.5) It's not that great... but there some redeemable qualities.

(<5) Not good, not worth your time. In essence, varying degrees of horrible. 

Again, Don't come for me.

Other Things I Watch?

Before the 7th grade (when all the watching really started to become an obsession), I did enjoy anime and manga, and I still do occasionally—Manga, and only if it's complete. It would be very unlikely to catch me watching anime now.  There's something about... not being able to see the true, raw, subtle facial movements of a character that not just only makes it less captivating/authentic/immersive, but also takes away from truer expressions. I'm sure there are truly amazing artists out there that could create amazing true-to -life expressions. And I have seen with my own eyeballs some really great works. However the reality is that it would take a lot of time, defeats the purpose of the craft to go to the extreme,  and just on a whole again a lot of resources. Just not worth it for many to go to that extreme. And so, on the whole, anime just isn't my medium of entertainment. 

Again, IMO. Don't Come for me.  You've already been warned at least thrice by this point =_="

I still occasionally pick up manga because it's still a medium I can better appreciate receiving a story from . The medium relies more on the audiences imagination to fill in the gaps of "movement". With anime, it's inflexible with how a characters expression is expressed because the expression has since already been expressed. With manga, it will always be left up to the audience's interpretation. Now that's flexibility. So, if you've one shot to express an expression, decent actors/actresses are just more effective.

IMO. Pls, Don't Come for me.

I also really enjoy watching western shows, and sitcoms. Imo, western shows and eastern dramas have different strengths, and it's really nice to see over time the transitions, leaps and bounds the industries across have made.

Besides that, I love love looooOve Youtube. So many new niche channels always popping up to fulfill your every interest and passions. (I'll come back to edit/add on to this)

I definitely want to find a time to do the same thing that I've done for asian dramas, with the western shows/movies I've watched. I tend to have moments where I suddenly crave to rewatch things. However, my memory now is quite craP.  I'll forget titles and names of celebrities, so rewatching certain niche titles can be a reaL struggle bus ride. Hopefully there will exist a place for that one day.

.

.

Idols/ Idol Groups (Ordered from oldest to recent obsessions):

Se7en

FT Island

SHINee

Big Bang

Super Junior

Day6

Stray Kids

.

.

All in all, growing up...
Having a passion for watching dramas was very shamed upon, by not only what felt like society, but also from family as well. It was definitely not easy. Having something that you're passionate about, and want to share with others... It was hard, and still pretty hard now because it was how I was brought up. 

IRL, honestly, I'm more quiet than I would like to be about this hobby of mine. But that's okay too for now. Sometimes it's fun to have secrets with yourself.

It'll just be our little secret ;)

Shhh.

Nevertheless, it's all in the past. The world is vastly a more accepting place than it used to be.
We live in a much more fortunate time.

I'm immensely very grateful. 

.

.

So many dramas to watch so little time to watch them all...

Slowly, but surely.

My eyes are peeleD

.

.

.