2020 Sageuk

This is a list of expected or rumored sageuks in 2020. Some may not start this year because we are in the middle of pandemic, but I tried to compile a list of every sageuk drama I know of that is scheduled for the second half of the year.

BBC South Pacific 6/6: Fragile Paradise (2009)

In this episode we did not get as many calming scenes as in the previous parts, mostly because of the fact this episode deals with how fragile the south Pacific actually is, about solutions to preserve what we are left with and dangers looming with population grow. However, we met a sea snail, called sea butterfly that uses elongated leg to well, kind of fly in the sea (it's nicknamed as: potato chips, because it's so widespread and eaten by almost everything bigger than itself), a female tiger shark nicknamed Scarface that's inquisitive but doesn't bite the spectators.

In the whole - it was a really nice, informative series. 

Beware - there be sharks.

Saturday Poetry Corner 36: A Ballad of Dreamland

Today - a poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne. Who, like some others, was nominated again and again for the Nobel Prize.

BBC South Pacific 5/6: Strange Islands (2009)

In this episode we got: a kangaroo that lives and thrives on the treetops, a white bird with deep amber-red eyes, the method of fishing involving a spider's web, a tuatara - a reptile that lives very very slowly (can take one breath per hour), a festival involving pig debt on Vanuatu (I need to read more about it, it's fascinating and I already have found the book that, I hope, can mention that: Living Kinship in the Pacific (Pacific Perspectives: Studies of the European Society for Oceanists) [Christina Toren, Simonne Pauwels]) and a penguin.

Remembering Gwangju - 18.05.1980

Picture from here.

Our story starts October 16th, 1979 in two cities - Busan and Masan, where the demonstrations against the so called "Yushin Constitution" were held (1). "Yushin" was an authoritarian constitution promulgated in 1972 that gave executive and legislative powers exclusively to the President Park Cheonghee, extended the presidential term to six years an nullified the limits on re-elections. Above all, it turned the presidency into a legal dictatorship. 

Now, this is not going to be a detailed post about everything that happened during those 9 days when Gwangju was nearly besieged, this is rather a reminder that something like that happened only 40 years ago and through majority of those it was buried deep under the false statement, cover-ups and outright lies.

BBC South Pacific 4/6: Ocean of Volcanoes (2009)

In this episode we had many many islets and atolls that were once domineering volcanoes and now they are slowly sinking under the waves. 

There was also a marvelous scene of penguins swimming just under the surface filmed from below the whole and they truly looked like a flying squadron of tiny fighters. Surreal.

TV Series Opening 46: The Suspicious Housekeeper

The opening is really something nice.

BBC South Pacific 3/6: Endless Blue (2009)

In this episode we learned about the vast region of a windy silence, the region with incredibly clear water - because it's an oceanic desert. The endless blue with virtually no life.

I also learned about the ocean layer called thermocline. 

[Review] How To Buy A Friend (2020)

This 4-episode long gem took over the slot left empty by Tale of Nokdu (which ended in November but was left open since then) and from the first second I loved absolutely everything about it - each frame, each word, the camera movement, the editing, music, the problems presented here, the actors.

The end.

Saturday Poetry Corner 35: The Panther

 

English language has something against Rilke. The translations are really awful.
But, here it is.

TV Series Opening 45: Jang Yeong-sil

A black and white opening for the taeha drama that aired some time ago, but that's worth the watch. if you have 50 hours to spare.

[First Impression] Good Casting

This is both a blessing and a curse for SBS' Monday-Tuesday drama time. It replaced Nobody Knows, so of course the expectations are high, but it's nowhere near its suffocating and dense atmosphere, but the fun and comedy here is peppered with surfacing troubles.

I, for once, am happy about that approach.

BBC South Pacific 2/6: Castaways (2009)

 

In this episode we had info about how some animals can colonize islands way way beyond their reach, the giant saltwater crocodile and the initiation rite for youngsters of one of New Guinea group (Crocodile People), a mourning gecko that does not need a man in her life and some fishies. 

Also, the soundtrack is out there, available and, my dears, it's very very nice.

[Review] Loss:Time:Life - The Last Chance (2019)

I honestly have no idea why am I doing this to myself, but here I am, after watching all installments. This episode was, at one point even a harder experience than the previous series. Why? Because the main character is only a high school kid here.

TV Series Opening 44: Batman TAS

This is the best series about our hero and one of the best series intros. Why? Because it features not even a slight hint of the name of what is this about. Plus, it solidified me into a Batman fan, it has amazing editing and music and also - I saw the frames from it with my own eyes in December of 2019 during the expo, and was again in love!
Oh, and yes, it made me wish I could draw through my life. 

BBC South Pacific 1/6: Ocean of Islands (2009)

I have started a new documentary series about the South Pacific. It is narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch and it presents not only the wildlife of the remote islands, but also the lives of human settlers on these tiny pieces of land.

[Review] KBS Drama Special 2017 Full Season

This drama season has the subtitle: "The Law of the Melo", so going into it, I expected tragedy. Let's put it that way - the only tragedy is that these are only one episodes wonders.

[First Impression] The King - Eternal Monarch

This series is an ode to a non-existing but much desired by the writer Museum of the Cotton Candy. This is why this post will not delve into specifics because there are none. And the story could be really interesting. Like really, I see the potential.

KBS Drama Special 2019: Socialization - Understanding of the Dance

The Drama Special of 2019 is really amazing and I'm sad that KBS2 doesn't seem to want to put more subtitled episodes out there for everyone to enjoy. Because among 4, so far subbed episodes, there is not a single weak one. And I watched 3 others (including Truck, which was great) but I'm hesitant to put the short musings about those as well. This is why the short info about the episodes of the year 2019 is not in airing episodes order.