Lazy Saturday

I love days like this. It's cold and yucky outside and we really have nothing big planned today, so I think it's just going to be a nice day to stay inside, turn on the fireplace and relax. Shawn has to work until noon, but he'll be home in a few hours and then we'll find something fun to do around here. The boys are playing so nicely together today that I think maybe me and Shawn can start the Korean drama that we want to watch. Korean dramas are my latest discovery. They're kind of a cross between American soap operas, regular American TV dramas, and just a really long movie shown in segments. They have one specific plot line and as far as I can tell they don't really go on for a long time. The one that we're wanting to watch today only has 20 episodes. (not that we're going to watch the whole thing today!) It's almost like a long movie, in that there is a specific plot and when they've resolved it, it's over.

The one we want to watch is called Winter Sonata, and then there's another one called Summer Scent that we want to watch, because it has our favorite Korean actress in it.

I can't believe that I never discovered Korean movies and dramas until now! We think that all the best movies and TV shows come from Hollywood, but we're wrong! Koreans know how to tell a story, and in fact it's interesting to find out how many American movies are actually remakes of Korean movies, only the American versions seem to be missing the feel that Korean movies have. The American versions aren't as deep or as good.

Koreans love sad movies and they love really intense dramas. The storylines are always really complicated, there always seems to be a twist at the end, and the romance in Korean movies is a million times better than American romance movies. Korean movies are very deep and poetic. There's always an unrequited love or love triangle or a deep secret or there is some other complicated problem. There's always some awesome surprise twist at the end and it's always beautiful and romantic. American men in movies are too tough and cool to be romantic, but Korean men in movies are always doing things like writing poetic love letters. They're more openly emotional. I guess maybe that wouldn't fly in American movies.

I think we're more cynical here. For instance, Summer Scent is about a guy and a girl who are in love and then the girl dies and her heart is transplanted into another girl who had heart problems. Eventually the girl with the new heart meets the guy who lost his girlfriend and everytime the girl sees him her heart starts beating faster and she doesn't know why. Neither of them know that she's got his old girlfriends heart, but they start to fall in love. There are a whole bunch of complications and a twist at the end, and it's all very beautiful and sweet. Maybe in America everyone would roll their eyes and say how silly and implausible it all is. And it totally is, but still, so SWEET! Plus it stars Son Ye Jin who is my favorite Korean actress, so I give it extra points for that.

Anyway the more I learn about Korea the more I think I was born in the wrong country! I love Korean culture, I love everything about it. I love the language, I love Korean music, I love Korean movies, I even like Korean commercials (which I watch on Youtube, because I'm weird like that.). Maybe Clarissa doesn't need to move here, maybe we just all need to move there. :) I'm kidding, we're totally not going to, but I think I really could. I never wanted to live outside the US before, but the more I learn about Korea the more I love it. Their culture matches my personality.

I don't know how I got off on that tangent, but I guess that's what you get when I have nothing else to blog about! I'm sure I'll come up with something equally as mesmerizing to talk about tomorrow. :)