my ajumma notes

So proud of SSO and its successful Australia tour! Looks like it was a wonderful trip. All photos from the YouTube channel of Jon Paul Dante , Principal Trumpet. Thank you, Dante, for your videos! His third Australia trip video : I really need to be there in the concert hall sometime...

A newscaster’s life is messed up when he loses his ability to lie but everything gets back on track when he regains that ability.  Hmmm... He and reality show writer vacillate between surfacing and burying truths.   Acting The acting is generally fine, in that it lived up to what was written for each character.   It was refreshing to see Kang Han-na (playing On Woo-ju) in a more light-hearted role.  Some people referred to her as “delightful”.  This is only my second time seeing her and I will just say that now I know she can do comedy.  She also has lovely knit tops! (a significant 'minor' role for Patricia Yiombi !) I would use “delightful” for Go Kyung-pyo (playing Song Ki-baek).  First time seeing him and he is great for rom-coms!  One of my top scenes is when he reads the horrible poem with all the animal sounds so diligently.   His family members come across as the people they are supposed t...

What fun to come across these interviews.  I'm not sure why but although Im Siwan is one of my favourite actors, I hardly knew anything about him.  I never knew he was from a rural area of Busan, that he went off to Seoul to "escape" from studies or was a latecomer to idol life!  Thanks to Eric Nam's Daebak Show , I've learnt some basic info about him. Wonderful to hear him speak so much English and okay, he has been very focused on learning the language well so that possibly, he can pursue work in the US.  Agh... we need him in Korean shows!!!  Oh well, the man and his dreams -- if he is meant for the bigger stage, so be it, and all the best to him!! Entertaining interview by Carol Cheng -- who would have thought she watched Misaeng (and who would have thought also that it is called  未生) and is a gushy fan!!  There's her speaking in English too, with both of them sounding very cute conversing in English.  Overall, I loved how they interacted w...

I’ve been off medical drama in any language and form since watching wonderful Bong Dal-hee but I knew Uhm Jung-hwa would make a show worth watching.  What I didn’t know was Kim Byung-chul (playing husband Seo In-ho) would make it doubly entertaining.  I also didn’t know that Jung-hwa survived thyroid cancer.  Wonderful to see her back at work and I hope she’s ok! Of course, we have the juxtaposition of life and death, courage and fear, desperation and hope, and Dr Cha smilingly evokes an overriding sense of positivity, even through her tears.  She is such an inspiring character – always looking forward, looking out for others and looking fantastic!  Jung-hwa more than ably played her role. Did I hate In-ho and his mum (played by Park Joon-geum) at the start.  So reliant on Jeong-suk and yet, so horrid and unreasonable.  I hated him for trying to control everyone’s lives, bossing his wife around and having that brainl...

Time for yet another Peter Mayle French adventure!   After  Vintage , this one becomes slightly predictable, in the sense that you know Sam Levitt and friends will outwit the villains by twisting the plot, and the baddies will be murderous yet bumbling.  Vronsky is also formulaic as the evil, rich Russian, while it feels unbelievable that his paid men, the Oblomovs, are so easily made fools of.     Nevertheless, it is signature Mayle with its views of the French landscape, delicious meals and quick-witted hatching of plans, though I would have liked a longer tour of Corsica.  Scenic, gastronomic, comic and also, quick reading!     The Corsican Caper Peter Mayle (Vintage Books, 2015)