Mr. Queen

Oh, I've so been waiting to watch this one. I wouldn't normally watch one historical (sort of) right after another (seeing as I just finally finished The Tale of Nok-du) but I've been seeing all these clips of Mr. Queen and it looks like exactly what I need in my frame of mind. Super ridiculousness.

Also, it's got Shin Hye-Sun and I really enjoy her. Anyway, let's start with the craziness that is this story...it's basically an isekai. Kinda. Or whatever you'd call that in Korean.

Jang Bong-Hwan, played by Choi Jin-Hyuk (who I also like, even though I couldn't finish Panda & Hedgehog) is a chef and has worked his way up to work at The Blue House (think White House, but Korean). He's a very self confident guy and a bit of a womaniser. He winds up fired through some kind of plot by another chef and some higher up dude (no idea why) and while sort of running from the police, he winds up falling many stories from his balcony to the pool below. He hits his head. While underwater, he sees a woman that swims up to him and gives him the "breath of life" or whatever they always do in these dramas instead of just dragging people to the surface. But when he wakes up, he finds that he's been transferred into that woman's body. And not only is he now a girl, he's also way back in the Joseon period. And she's not just any girl -- she's Kim So-Yong and about to marry the King. And he's not just any king, but King Cheoljong (played with comic deadliness by Kim Jung-Hyun--I saw him in the few episodes of Waikiki), who is supposed to be incredibly stupid AND is known as the sex maniac of the Joseon period AND is destined to die after only ruling for 14 years (probably at the hands of the same people who helped put him on the throne). At least, that's what Jang remembers from his school lessons. I have no idea if the sex addict part is historically accurate. Ahem.

Anyway, on the Joseon side, the about-to-be-queen was seen walking in the palace grounds at night for some unknown reason and then was found floating in the pond. She was unconscious for awhile and when she awakens (but with Jang inside her), she, of course, is acting a bit...off. Jang soon figures out that he's gone back in time and his soul/awareness has been transferred. He wants to get BACK. He does NOT want to be a woman. He thinks the way to do this must be to go back in the lake (other water sources don't seem to work and water is the only common factor he knows of) but the Queen Dowager has had them all drained. For safety. Yeah.

By the end of the first episode, they are married and Jang is trying really hard to figure out a way out of the marriage night shenanigans. There are hints that the original Lady Kim is still inside him too (or her memories) and also hints that the King may have had something to do with what happened to her. He certainly is playing dumb, but is he? Definitely the ministers and Queen Dowagers (there are two?) have lots of plots going on.

As I expected, there's lots of comedy and slapstick. The actors are all great. Already loving the court ladies. I'm sure it will get to a point (I've already seen clips of scenes) where it gets more serious and deadly (I mean, court intrigue) but I have high hopes for this one.

Edit: Have watched 4 episodes now and Bwahahahaha I SO love this one.

Edit: Okay, I finished it. I absolutely did love it, though I'm just the tiniest bit meh on the ending...but, at the same time, not really sure what they could have done to make it more satisfying. I would definitely recommend this one to anyone, even people (like I usually am) who aren't huge fans of historical dramas. Am I glad I watched it? Absolutely. Will I watch it again? Yeah, I likely will, though maybe just some episodes. 

I do have some thoughts on the last episode, but am going to save those for now and ruminate on it before I type them up. Also, not feeling great today, so don't want that to colour my commentary. 

My Secret Star

 I needed something with short episodes and I saw that Sung Hoon's new drama, My Secret Star had episodes that were only about 15 minutes long. So I tried two.

So...well...I mean, I like Sung Hoon. I've enjoyed watching him in things, though I have skipped some of his dramas purely based on premise (like the one where he gets kidnapped and falls in love with his captor). But...wellllll...after two episodes of this one, I don't think I'll be continuing on. I'm not sure if he's just phoning it in or if the direction given to him is that he's supposed to be over-act-y or what. But nothing about this one captured me.

Basically, he's playing Jin, a Hallyu star with a big secret. And the secret is revealed pretty quickly, as is...well...what looks like the entire plot. He was cursed by a minor deity he was in love with way back in a previous life because he married someone else, even though he loved the deity. So now, any time he is touched by a woman, he turns into a child. For how long? Not really sure. Anyway, a Vietnamese reporter who is looking for a big scoop about the star to make her career, overhears him saying he wants to retire. She worms her way to try and get closer to him and winds up discovering his secret...but also that when SHE touches him, he doesn't change. So he, of course, wants to find out all about her. For her part, she wants the scoop. 

Throw in some weird random fortune teller and flashbacks and it's easy to figure out that SHE is the reincarnation of the former goddess that cursed him. 

So, I'm sure there'll be some flailing back and forth as she tries to make her career and he tries not to be discovered, blah blah blah and then they'll fall in love and he'll get out of his curse. Between the fact that it feels like the entire plot was communicated in less than 30 minutes and the weird over-acting going on, I'm just not going to sit through this one even though I like Sung Hoon. I kinda wonder what he's doing in it. It kinda feels beneath him. It does explain why it has a rating just over 8 on Viki...maybe people are rating it relatively high just because he's in it? I dunno. I was just very underwhelmed by his co-star too. 

Pub Encounter

 There's a big lunar New Year Steam sale on right now and so I picked up Pub Encounter for less than £5. I was going to do it on mobile rather than Steam as it only works on Windows, but it appears you have to unlock each route for £3.99...so it made a heckuva lot more sense to buy the whole thing for less. I did download the mobile version to try the prologue first though. But I'll have to play it either on little dude's PC (unlikely, given how often he's on it) or on the very slow Windows laptop I have. It's seems to be very basic though (minimal graphics/CGs), so it should be okay to run on that.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to try this one was because it features old dudes. No, really. All of the Love Interests are middle-aged men. The MC seems to be younger than them (figures) but she is out in the workforce, so she's not a total baby. I'm not entirely wowed by the art as they apparently took "middle aged" to mean "lots of wrinkles around the eyes" but oh well. 

Anyway, it starts off with you stopping off at a pub you've never been to before to let off some steam after work. You've been making mistakes and are just feeling down. As soon as you step inside, all the regulars hasten to greet you. They're not used to any women in the pub. They're all fairly nice, with a few of them being flirty (but not too creepy) and welcome you with a drink and a toast. 

There seem to be the standard tropes -- the all-business dude who's probably a softie inside, the flirty one, the mysterious one, etc. I won't know more until I install it on the old laptop, but it looks at least passably intriguing. Not sure about the "Forbidden" part, though this is the same company that does The Men of Yoshiwara (about the male red light district?), so, eh, it may get a bit steamy. Hard to say. No real hint of that yet. Just so long as it isn't squelch-y like Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome. That still makes me laugh every time I think of it.

The only bad thing so far is that I can't say that any of the dudes particular stood out to me and it's not an organic thing where you fall into a route. It appears you have to immediately choose after the prologue. But, we'll see. For the sale price, it was worth a go.

Hello, is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me.

 It's been a long time since I posted here anything real...i.e. not drama or anime or manga related. I suppose it's because I'm trying not to think about anything too deeply. It's just a lot, as the song says. Not the Pink Floyd song; the one by K. Flay. 

I'm dealing well enough with mom's death. It hits me every now and then, but that will be forever. Shoot, dad's death still gets me sometimes and he's been gone since 1988. I am parentless. Can you be an orphan when you're this old? And I am feeling old. Just had another birthday. A lockdown birthday. 

The world is still on fire, though at least not literally so much anymore. Doesn't matter, though. Figuratively is still bad enough. Pandemic still ongoing. I'm not even sure what the numbers are now. I stopped following along after awhile as it wasn't doing anything but making me feel worse. At least there are some vaccines now and people are getting vaccinated. Some of my friends are getting their jabs now, though I don't expect to be able to get one until sometime in the fall. Not old enough for that or unhealthy enough, small blessing that. 

Glad the US now has Biden, but all of the horrible underbelly that exposed itself during Trump is still there. It's not like that just disappears overnight. It never goes away, honestly. It's always there. It's here too. I suppose that one thing the last couple of years have shown is that there is so much evil and awfulness and it is pervasive; a cancer eating away, going deep. It's a heavy weight nowadays. I don't feel like I have much hope left in me anymore. I always used to think that most people were at least, if not good, they were decent. Now I don't know. I've had to unfriend a veritable boatload of family over on Facebook; I couldn't take the hate anymore. 

Anyway. On a personal level, I feel like I did pretty good during that first lockdown, even though mom's decline and death were so recent then. I exercised a lot. I finished a book. I lost weight. During this one and over the holiday (are we on our third lockdown??), I've gained back a fair bit of that weight even though I am still exercising. And the thing is, I want to whittle myself away and disappear. But it seems the opposite is happening. Maybe I'm not exercising hard enough? The elliptical is out in the shed and it's freezing out there; I have to keep the heater on. It has even been snowing and we don't usually get much snow. Not a lot, honestly, not when we used to live in Chicago, but enough that things like bright and new for just a while. 

The dog hates it. He pees on the deck whenever there's fresh snow. Anything to keep from going out into it.

I've also felt like crap. Is it a bit of depression too? I don't know. It's something. I've had an off and on horrible cough (almost more like acute allergy attacks) to the point I lose my voice for a few weeks now. Even went to get a COVID test, but it was negative. So I don't know what it is. Just another mystery. It's like I suddenly fill up with phlegm. And cough until my sides ache. Nose burns. But then I'll be fine for a while. Sometimes it's after I eat. Sometimes for no reason at all. I feel like I'm falling apart. 

Work-wise...I'm having trouble writing. I need to work on the one middle grade to get it back in shape or on the YA Death book I need to finish, but I'm having trouble working up the energy to work on either one. Still waiting to hear back from my editor on book two that I turned in last summer. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing or just a thing. Never had a book come out during a pandemic before. Doing a few online workshops and what social media I can, but it feels rather useless. But I don't know if that's just general doldrums talking. 

I randomly have a cry for no reason. Just stand in the middle of the laundry room by myself, not able to hold it back anymore. 

Have been playing The Sims again, which I hadn't done in quite a while. It's mindless. Like I can live a bit through their goals and their little lives, their simple needs. Food. Sleep. Bathroom breaks.

You know, I know what some of it is. I'm lonely. There are two other people in this house -- and a dog -- but I am desperately lonely.

And that's enough of this. I'll be starting a new drama soon, probably the silliest one I can find. That'll be the next post.