Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Am I back? Or is this born out of boredom?

 How does one go about with restarting a love/a hobby/a passion?

I used to LOVE coming here with a jumble of excited ideas and thought-trains all clashing into one another, impatient to just get out and get typed out.

Somewhere along the way, when I moved out of my hometown, I started losing the habit. 

It kept dying with every other week and month.

But eventually it was my PhD that killed it for sure.

Academic writing dulled my wit and humor and overall love of composing notes and blogging.

Every two years I had resolve that yes, I'm going to write. I'm not going to surrender my joys and interests for my academic degree. Unfortunately that was about it. I'd made a comeback post resolving with renewed determination and grit, and then I had be back to square one. 

The obsession with social media meant I wasted every free moment looking at content instead of creating my own stories or poems or anything/

I came to the sad conclusion that I would only be able to regain my own life once my PhD was over. And now it is over and I'm confused and getting cold feet. I couldnt help wondering -

- What if I've probably lost my own style of writing after so many years of disuse? What if I'm no longer good at writing. What if even if i do manage to write one good post, I'd still be undisciplined and not write frequently enough to keep the passion alive? What do I write about? 

and on and on and on my head goes.


Anyway, if you like stream of consciousness, anxiety-infused irregular blog posts, maybe stay?

I'll share all about the niche things/situations I love, and you could read and tell me how I can dust off my dormant writing skills and get better.

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Look what my mad love for K dramas/tv made me do

I have been making more comebacks to blogging than kpop bands do. Been a long, long, while since I did any blogging now though. 3 years gap? Longest so far. This Ph.D. has been sucking out all my joys and hobbies slowly but surely. None of my old blogger circle seems active anymore either. So this blogging exercise is mostly a testament to my love for blogging, South Korean entertainment scene, and was actually supposed to be just a lengthy note to my Internet bebe/daughter Rashmi.

So here goes,

Dearest Rashmi,
Thank you for being the reason I've reopened this dusty ol' blog of mine. True, I'm embarrassed by most of my old posts now, but I love this blog all the same. xoxoxo

If anyone is looking for an intro into K dramas, I'll always recommend the series installments Reply Me 1997/ 1994/1988. My personal favorite from these is the 1988 series which had the most perfect depictions of good ol friendships amongst neighbors. The first installment went immensely popular in South Korea and made nostalgia and retro trendy. But mostly all these three shows became popular for bringing back the good old times where people talked more and were less distracted by internet. At the root of all these shows were human stories. The characters won your heart and then went ahead and broke your hearts with every other moment. The writer-director duo behind the shows are Lee Woo Jung and Shin Won Ho.
After these three shows and their success, they created Prison Playbook and Hospital Playlist (both also must-watch K dramas). As with the Reply Me shows, these stories were also heavy on human nature and how even the person you least expected was actually driven with goodness at their core.
Some have compared the Shin-Lee team to the Mike Schur and Dan Goor shows. But that would be taking away all the uniqueness and beauty that these too give us through their series. However, I agree that the heart warming and the feel-goodness is common among the two teams. But as K dramas are always shorter and end in a season (mostly 16 episodes), the feelings they cause last longer, and ache sweeter.

BUT!~
This post was mainly to talk about the writer and director behind these amazing shows.They both had their starting with a Korean reality show called "One Night Two Days". And boyoyoyoyoyyyyyy that used to be one epic programme. The two worked under Na Young Suk PD for the show. (Still running, but it got diluted after Na PD left, most of the main cast left, and the show hasnt been the same since).

One Night Two Days is unique and I haven't found anything similar to this show in American or Indian entertainment. Here's a summary on the show:
6 celebrities travel to a remote area of South Korea, show the unique and beautiful landscape, play games to win food/money/lodging/more comforts
Why it is unique:
1) The celebrities are not flops as is normally seen in reguarly reality shows, and included heavy hitting A-grade singers, and some veteran pop stars, and comedians.
2) The Director (Na PD) and the crew makes them complete races/tasks/games and if they lose, they either have to sleep outside, or do something embarrassing in public, or go without dinner/eat without sides/etc.
3) I cannot imagine stars in our country going through the embarrassments and ridicules these guys have been through for the show. And the crew includes the equivalents of whoever's the most adored guy in your country who is known for his sweetness? The most popular guy of them all? See what I mean?
Could you see the most famous celebs in any other reality show having to hitchhike penniless across miles (can you imagine the screams from the travellers who happened to be kind enough to pick up the dude when they realize who it is?)
4) An epic episode was where the cast got pissed that the crew got to enjoy great food while they had to starve after working so much (on the tasks) and challenged them to a game of vollyball (? can't remember for sure). And the cast wonnn!!! Which meant the 70+ crew were then annoyed with Na PD for accepting the bet. The losers had to sleep outside and boy it started raining on top of that. One of the assistant lightmen had reached late at night for his duty and was totally gobsmacked to see his colleagues and bosses all huddled in sleeping bags🤣
5) Or the episode where the director was toootally chill and told the crew to just drive to the destination on their own. That this trip would be zero crew and they just had to make sure to get footage on their own with the cameras provided. All the cameras at the destination home were already set up. That was bizarre and unheard of, but also led to a lot of silly moments.
6) I could go on, but I'm too close to this show, and too in love to be coherent.
And i'm trying to finish this post in one go.
All in all, this show used to be the most watched show with the highest TRPs in South Korea. Unlike egotistic celebrities who wouldn't let an atom of mud touched their holy selves, these guys cooked for themselves, slept under the stars in crappy tents, and instead of being shamed, they won everyone's hearts and became immensely popular.

Na PD is famous for being unpredictable and overall an evil genius. He has the Midas touch and every reality show he created after he left One nIght and Two days have also been mad successes. I wish I could drag everyone I know into watching this show. And also watch all the consequent shows he made.

For example!
The next show he made was Grandpas Over FLowers, then it became successful, he created the spin-offs Sisters Over FLowers, Youth Over Flowers couple of seasons each. The concept for these shows were, he came up with elaborate lies, basically tricked them all and got them to travel to a foreign country and fend for themselves through different tasks and games. They usually got a younger "porter", another celebritiy who also got hoodwinked into the whole shindig and who has to help the older gang.

So Rashmi! (If you haven't left already =P)
Na PD created a Youth Over Flowers show with the cast of Reply Me 1988 and they were basically kidnapped after the show wrap-up party they had in Phuket. The first episode of the show had the setup. Na PD meets with the director of Reply Me 1988/his former colleague and discusses how he has this idea. He then gets the managers of the guys to clear their schedule for two weeks post the Phuket-party (which was also basically a ploy i think) without the actors knowing! Then this evil boi walks up to them in Phuket and says all casual, "Let's go to Africa". I have skipped a lot of hilarious details here, but basically he actually kidnaps his cast for every show. It just gets more and more elaborate with each next season because just the sight of Na PD raises suspicion at this point for most celebrities in S.Korea now.

I wish we had such interesting directors and shows here..

But I'm truly, honestly, deeply grateful for Na PD and his One Night Two Days show on which my sister and I have had a million laughs and rewatch even now.

The saddest part is not having subbed episodes to all his shows at the ready to watch. So if any of you have randomly, accidentally, unexpectedly reached this post- and you are internet savvy plus got mad love for k-dramas and k-variety (both entirely different beasts)- and you have found sources- LET A GIRL LIIIIVE! aside the dramatics, please do share! <3

PS- Here's the list of all Na PD director/producer works worth watching (even though i haven't watched the entirety of his works, i can vouch for them with my favorite pocket-dress at stake).

But honestly, WATCH everything he or his team works on. They are all pure talent and love.

ok byeeeeeeeeee! (sorry for the high-on-teenage-energy sign off, but super excited about blogging after so long =D )















Friday, July 22, 2016

This time, starting over.



This time, I hope it sticks.
This time, I want it to stick.
This time, I'm here to stay.
This time, I want to keep at it and not stray.

This blog,
All the words,
Every emotion and anecdote and thought
Scribbled or jotted in
Under my alter ego's name:
Raphael.

This time, I'm back.
And I don't want to ever leave.
This time, it's for real.
I hope my blog forgives me.

This random, lazy poem;
Is only so I can warm into the act.
This is only the launch pad;
Stepping stone;
Before I start to scream, and yell, and tell stories,
Like before.

This time, I'm writing for myself
Hello to any of the old followers who still remember.
Hello to anyone new who might have accidentally tripped over here.

This time,
I want to start with thank you.
Gratitude.
To my beautiful, my own, my own, my own, blog.
To those who read and sent encouraging, cheerful thoughts.
To all the amazing friendships I made because of the blog,
Thank you because all of this has endured.
Love. Joy. Words. Pain. Life in General.
The words seem cliche in the line above.
It doesn't matter.

It matters that I've shared, and it has been a joy to share here.
This time, I'm back in this welcome space,
And I do not intend to leave.





Friday, March 29, 2013

Let's get the Liebster rolling!

I don't usually believe in anything like signs etcetera.

What I'm trying to say is that now I sorta do i guess. Cos an awesome sign just happened to me! I'm actually blogging today and here's why it's incredible:

1.I'm a super-lazy, sporadic blogger nowamonths, and I have checked neither mine nor anyone else's blog in MONTHS.
2.I haven't blogged AT ALL after my last post, which was three or more months back.
3.I have friends (darling ones) who are bugging me to get back to blogging. But that didn't inspire me to actually blog.
and now I'm blogging.
So guess who's the one who's made me actually take the step? Pretty, pretty Garima. After eons (I'm running out of cool long-time phrases, seriously) of not checking my dash, today I check in on a whim, and there's this darling comment from Garima on my dash about nominating me for the *drumrolls please* Liebster Awarddddddd!!!!!!


Wheeeeeeeeee!!


First off,
Dear garima, thank you with all of me for unintentionally getting me back to blogging. and a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig thanks for taking the time to read my wack posts and feeling that I deserved a prize. I will love you forever (in a platonic, non-creepy, non-obsessive way).
So, 11 things about me. 
I've done this plenty times on my blog, and if anyone ever actually read all my tag posts, they know pretty much more than enough about me. sigh. So I'll think extra hard and put in newer revelations. Aye mate?
  1. I'm a tumblr person now. I had been a devotee since last year, but now I am Tumblr. =P And if you're on Tumblr, do follow me!I want more blogger buddies to follow there =D I'm ergo-i-blog.tumblr =D
  2. I have these super-vivid daydreams and sometimes I can't help but physically react to them. Like, I see myself in Hogwarts about to be hit by a hex, and in real life, I'm ducking. get what I mean?
  3. I think Community is the best tv show of all time. ALL TIME. It ranks higher than F.R.I.E.N.D.S even, for me.
  4. In case you didn't know earlier- I'm a leftie.
  5. I can cook up a mean curry. If I'm the mood.
  6. There's nothing more moving and emotional than kdramas.
  7. There's nothing more real, meta and awesomely hilarious than 1n2d, THE Korean reality travel/bromance show to beat out all bromances ever. EVER.
  8. I'm married to the above mentioned two, and Tumblr.
  9. Love books. Buy me books or even take me to book stores, and I'll be signed-sealed-delivered-yours (whether you want that to happen or not =P )
  10. I tend to make every person I love, listen/watch/check out things that I'm in love with. Be it music, shows. books, places. It can be annoying I guess if you're the leave-me-alone type, but it's worked on my friends!
  11. Impulsive shopper. Picky shopper. 
  12. And here's a bonus I just remembered! After a really good phone call with a favorite person- I like to text them on it. =)
  13. AND I can be awfully self-conscious and aware.

Now to answer Garima's questions:
  • Define Love
    Love is about caring enough for the other person to not limit them/ control them. Respecting them.
  • The unforgettable moment of your life
    Er.. plenty? College provided infinite unforgettable moments, so did my alternate life online.
  • Favorite sport
    Badminton.
  • Three songs you love to hear
    On top of my mind right now- "Rest"/Standing Egg, "Dancing on my own"/Robyn, "I'll follow you into the dark"/DCFC.
    Mind you, only three were asked of me, and this is NOT a definite list. I love lots of music
  • One thing that you would like to change about yourself
    Definitely change my tolerance level. I'm impatient and can get angry for the smallest thing sometimes. Just returning after upsetting my mom, so I know for sure that I need to become more patient. =(
  • Three words to describe me
    Imaginative, Friendly, Studious/hard working-but can be lazy when there's nothing to motivate me.
  • If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
    South Korea (fastest internet, where all of my favorite actors are), or somewhere quaint and calm like Scotland or New Zealand =D)
  • Your weakness
    I'm too self-aware and my self-esteem can sink at any given moment.
  • Health, wealth or fame. why?
    Definitely health. How am I to enjoy being rich if I'm not healthy enough? And not interested in fame, UNLESS it's tumblr fame, or blog fame- in which case my priorities would need rearrangement.
  • Do you believe in fate or destiny?
    Sure
  • If you were granted three wishes, what would it be?
    This is my favourite kind of question!!
    One- Fastest internet speeds,
    Two- Make time an illusion and relative so that I get to watch all seasons of Doctor Who without wasting any time
    Three- Make genie give me a 10 more wishes. =P


Now to explain rules of Liebster and nominate bloggers who deserve the award:
Liebster is a German word for sweet, nice, dearest, beloved, lovely, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome, that my blog is ;)
The award was started to bring recognition to new bloggers (or those with fewer than 200-300 followers) and serves as motivation for those nominated to keep blogging.
There are few rules for receiving and passing on this nomination further.
Kindly thank the person who nominated you and acknowledge him/her by mentioning their blog link for the same.
Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
Answer the Questions that the nominator sets for you + create 11 Questions for the people you have nominated.
Choose 11 deserving bloggers and link them in your post.
Go to their blog and inform them about this by commenting on one of their posts.
Don't tag back the person who mentioned you.

Here are the bloggers I want to commend for their wonderful posts:
9.Neha


And the 11 questions I want to ask them:
  1. {I'm pretty self-concerned at the moment, so here goes:} What do you think of my blog and why do you think it's a mess? {hehe}
  2. Are you on Tumblr?
  3. Your favourite celeb crush =D
  4. The book you're currently reading (What do you mean you don't read?}
  5. Your go-to movie. The one you can watch million times, every time you are depressed or feeling down, and which you'll never get bored of
  6. Are you a leftie?
  7. What's your dream job? Have you ever tried to actually make it a reality?
  8. Your favourite tv show!
  9. And your favorite tv character!!
  10. Road trips or stay-in-front-of-my-computer?
  11. Make up a question you WANT to answer =)
Hehe, I know i know. Too many what's your favorite questions. But that's how we gauge and understand more about friends! Plus, how much fun is that last question eh? Hope at least one of you will actually answer to this post of mine. =(

Love y'all!
And God, I sure have missed this blogging thing! =DDDDD



















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