That Certain Look

Going through the blogs of my fellow bae sisters can be a source of inspiration on what I want to put here while waiting for a sign that he is ready to start filming again. We have seen his old photos being reposted in various sites while others are inspired to take it to the next level by making flash and mv's. Although I love his "killer smile" in most of his pictorials, his brooding looks catches my attention better. I remember going through Quilt's gallery to collect photos and ended up having the following pictures printed and framed.

Those same characteristics had me loving Frank Shin, Jo-won and Jun Sang amongst the characters he portrayed in his dramas.

But even Insu has that look of vulnerability around him, expressing what is going through his mind through his eyes. He is considered an under rated actor in his country and as I've mentioned in Mishio's blog, it's my wish that he be offered a film that will showcase his acting in a way that even his detractors cannot find fault.

A Filial Son Celebrating The Holiday

I'm glad to know that Yong Joon will be taking time-off from his busy schedule to spend Seollal with his family. I can almost imagine him doing his "sebae" or ceremonial bow to his parents wearing a traditional korean attire.

Then they will have "tteokguk," or steamed rice cake soup for breakfast. It's a traditional belief for koreans that you don't become a year older until you've had your bowl of tteokguk on that day. I'm sure his mother is now busy preparing food as offerings to their ancestors.

Another Evening Full of Yong Joon

North Star and I had another great evening hearing about Pinky's trip to South Korea. Nothing beats having cofee while listening to her animated story on how she was able to do a WLS tour on a full packed business trip. Good thing their host knew that she's a big fan of Yong Joon so they made the arrangments for her. She has a lot of good photos so I'm hoping she can post them at our site. Thanks to Youngsun, she was able to visit Park BOF a day before her departure and had her picture taken sitting on the car used in AS. I told her about BYJ's visit at The Loft on the 20th, as expected she felt a little sad about missing an opportunity of a lifetime. Who knows maybe next time right???


All those talk about korea made us hungry so we headed to the nearest korean restaurant and ordered doenjang-jjigae and kalbi for dinner before calling it a night.

And The Circle Continues

Last night I braved the rush hour traffic to meet a bae sister at the Festival Mall in Alabang. Thank God for small blessings like a freeway to lessen my stress and travel time by half. She is a bae fan from a province south of Manila (Legazpi, Albay) who just discovered our own website a few days ago. She expressed her frustration in not being able to access the goods that we have here in the city nor the chance to join the activities that we had during the past year. Seems she's the only one in her family that fell hard for Yong Joon. WLS is the only BYJ drama that she was able to watch since Hotelier was aired during daytime when she's at work like us. When she mentioned that she will be in the city on a business trip for two days I arranged for us to meet never mind if it means I have to be the one to go to her place since she's not used to moving around the city.

I spent my Sunday looking at my own meager collection of BYJ stuff that I can share with her. Found a spare copy of AS and Untold Scandal, some stickers given my Mariz (redwine) as well as leaflets and stationaries sent by our generous sisters from around Asia. It suddenly dawned on me that our bae sisterhood is such a wonderful gift because it taught us to share. I know our sisters abroad spends a lot in buying the items they are sending to us as gifts because it's their way of expressing their friendship and love. Same goes for the sisters here who never forgets to hoard byj stuff whenever they chance upon them at "Rue de Div" and "Elle de Tulle" (that's Divisoria and Quiapo for pinoys, the equivalent of Miyeong-dong shopping area in Seoul) and share it with all the members when we have a get-together. The joy I felt when I got those items is the same joy I'm feeling when I'm able to share them with others. As Yong Joon's popularity is expanding around the world so is our circle of friends. And the cycle of sharing continues....... thanks again to our MAN.

Sharing
by Joyce C. Lock

Share your seed and watch it grow.
Then, you'll know the joy of giving.
Share yourself and your whole life.
Then, you'll know the joy of living!

Reason Enough

Here I am in the middle of the night or technically the first hour of a new day in front of my pc. I just finished checking the sites I frequent for any news about BYJ, which made me think how much he has become a part of my daily life. Funny that a man I’ve never even met in person will figure prominently in defining what I am now.

He came into my life when I was broken from within. I needed healing and God somehow took pity of me and sent him to speak to my soul. Those times spent in front of the television every night watching Joon Sang made me realize that I’m still capable of feeling. After two years I felt alive and that’s when I started to use the internet in getting all the information about him. My journey has started……. It’s been three years and a lot have happened since then. My “crush” on the character he played in WLS has developed into respect and admiration on the MAN that is BAE YONG JOON. We opened a lot of doors for me to explore, friendships to develop, culture to learn and a whole new world to discover. He has taught me life lessons by example ~

To stand-up for my conviction even if things don’t go my way. I remember how vocal I was in expressing my outrage at the negative write-ups we was getting after the premiere of April Snow. But through it all he stayed composed, sure he felt hurt because he gave his best but he was humble enough to know that he cannot please everyone.

To give my all in everything that I do. How many times have we seen clips of him doing a scene over and over again until he feels satisfied that he has given his best. With his stature, he can easily cut some slack but he believes that he owes it to the people who kept supporting him to be the best that he can be.

He taught me patience, and boy are we all practicing that virtue everyday for the past two months. I’m sure he is aware of how much we miss him but in order to present us with another work worthy of our wait, he must undergo a lot of preparation. So I’m left with no choice but to wait, and wait……

Those are just some of the things I’ve learned and I’m sure that there is more that I will learn along the way. So being just an ordinary fan of a star that is so far away is reason enough to invest my time.

Good night dear Yong Joon and thank you for coming into my life……

Cosmo 06.02 - BYJ A Perfect Lover!

happiebb and luvjoon did a wonderful job of translating the interview granted by BYJ for Cosmopolitan Magazine (chinese edition) I've stopped subscribing to Cosmo a few years ago but I'm loving them again, hehehe. I will just pick-up bits and pieces of the translation and give my own thoughts just for fun.


Rule No. 1 of the Perfect Lover: Always Gentle, Elegant and Refined.

Since Bae Yong Joon became famous, he has always worn the label of an ‘aunty-slayer’. He himself doesn’t seem to be quite bothered, but his fans are upset with the label. Maybe it’s more appropriate to refer to them as ‘over-aged young girls’. Ouch, that's even worse! Because the real young girls are in a stage of passion and enthusiasm, and they will not know enough to be able to appreciate Bae Yong Joon’s gentle and gentlemanly ways or his warmth or his chivalry. Looking back during my teen years, I've always have an attraction to warm and gentle guys and they were brainy too! The real housewives would be so caught up with their work, their husbands and children, they probably will not have the heart nor the energy to go chase or hanker after a prince who’s so faraway. I know a lot of housewives who has the energy and the heart to go after our prince but the husband will threaten divorce if they do so. So… the women Bae Yong Joon is able to move… are actually women who have been through some life experiences, and are now better able to appreciate tranquillity, serenity, gentleness and tenderness, and yet this group of women still retain a young woman’s heart. That's more like it, I think I fit that description. That’s why these women are willing to smile for this prince who’s a tad late in coming into their lives. This admiration they have for this man because of his tenderness, this love they have for this man is at an appropriate distance too. It’s safe, it’s almost like the perfect love affair. Now another issue for debate, when is safe considered perfect. A love affair can never grow if you thread on the safe side. Mistakes and problems must be welcomed as a chance to grow more as a couple. (The love guru is preaching again ~ zipping my mouth)

COSMO: Since you daringly took up the role to bare your body, will you, too, take up the role of a gay?

BYJ: (laughed and gave a thought) I’m not too sure myself. If someone lookup to me for that role, I might take a look at the script and see how I reacted to it - - if at that moment I decided that I will take accept the role, I will give it a shot. But of course, I will still prefer the role of a man loving a woman.

Gay roles is the latest trend in Hollywood, the Golden Globe result seems to agree with it but dear Yong Joon I prefer you as a man in the fullest sense of the word. Araso?


Rule No. 2 of the Perfect Lover: Constantly providing a sense of security

“No matter what happens, honesty is still the best policy in my opinion” he felt, “one must be true to oneself, be brave enough to face the truth, it may not always be the man’s fault if a woman kept getting hurt in a relationship. If both opened their hearts to each other, understand each other, they can be able to live in peace together, right? I will treat her well, love her, and because I really love her, I'll loved her unconditionally.”

I really hope you can find the woman who will love you and understand the world that you are living right now. It's not an easy task for any woman to love a man of your stature but I'm sure that if you can let her feel secure, any woman can overcome it all.


Rule No. 3 of the Perfect Lover: Self-Control


But even though so, he still doesn’t give women a feeling that they can live together with him with ease because he is just too perfect, handsome, gentle and forever be there when you need a shoulder to cry on, and that’s just about it. Would you dare to ask him to accompany you to the supermarket and bargain over such little money and stuff, (why not? He may enjoy the experience) question him whether did he went out for dinner with any girl. (There's such a thing as woman's instinct, mine's fined tuned) And, you wouldn’t even dare to cry hard in front of him for fear that you will smudge your mascara and will no longer look pretty. (That is why you have to buy water proof mascara and trust me, guys find it irritating)

Just like Mr Big and Carrie in Sex and the City, Bae Yong Joon is just too perfect (no doubt about that), he may just only be suitable admire from a distance. Because we only see the public side of him so yes he may seem perfect but I'm sure those who know him well will say otherwise. And hey, Mr Big is not perfect, I like Aidan Shaw better.

There’s a saying, women often got infatuated by men who made them smile, but in end, they chose to be together with the man who made them cry. As for the perfect Casanova, as long as he continue choosing the safe role of being the perfect lover in drama/film, the tingly feeling of a bittersweet love will continue to linger in every woman’s heart. And I sincerely hope that he will break out of the typecasting and play other roles. He really needs to challenge himself as an actor and he can only do that if he accepts roles that is less than perfect.

Nothing on A Sunday

I spent my week-end bumming around the house except for the 3 hours I spent watching The Chronicles of Narnia last Saturday with my daughter. She told me she needs the break before her math competition next week so even off we went even if my bed looks so inviting. I just bought brewed coffee to ward off sleep while inside the movie house.

I have this secret dream of living in Korea for at least a year to immerse myself in everything korean.
Taking a stroll in the parks and temples aound the country
Enjoying the food and just mingling with the people.


Not bad since Yong Joon will be home the most of 2006 yeah? But since it's an impossible feat for me this year I contented myself by surfing the blog of foreigners who did stay in Korea. I found this site http://www.korealife.blogspot.com/ and spent the most part of my day reading his experiences. Check it out if you have a lot of free time with no idea of how to pass time.

Hallyu in the Philippines

The effects of the Korean Wave is palpable in our country but I've never really thought of writing something about it until I've read Mishio's post in her blog.

Geographically, the Philippines is a part of Asia and we as people belong to the Malay race but almost everyone thinks otherwise. We are perceived to be more Latinos, and I can't blame them because our country has been occupied by the Spaniards for centuries, then came the Americans and the Japanese ding WWII. This resulted in us having a unique culture different from our Asian brothers.

I grew up with a lot of western influences around me. The movies and tv shows that I watch are all American made except for the animes shows like Voltes V. Before the boom of asian dramas, maxican telenovelas are shown by the major television networks. Then I woke up one morning and suddenly the "asian invasion" started. The Taiwanese came first with their dramas and songs. You turn on your radio and you're bound to hear their songs being played in the airwaves. Then 2003 saw the start of the Korean Wave with the showing of Autumn in My Heart, a drama so refreshing in it's portrayal of love. Then Winter Sonata came and suddenly the Filipino's taste in viewing is never the same.

So what is influence of "hallyu" in the lives of most filipinos. Inter-personal relationships will be on the top of my list. My parents are survivors of the Japanese occupation and I've grown up hearing stories of how koreans who were part of the Japanese army acted during the war. So I never really looked into them outside my pre-conceived notion of their character. Two years into my korean adventure made me see them in a new light. They too suffered from the war and those soldiers may just be venting their own frustrations while thinking of their own families suffering back in Korea. Koreans living here tend to be reserved and its easy to assume that they are snubbish. Only to realize that Korea was once a closed country so they are not used dealing with other people other than their own. Language is also a problem since they are just beginning to learn english while we tend to speak english like the americans do. So now I usually make the first move, nothing warms a korean more than me greeting them in their own language and offering a sincere smile.

Our entertainment industry is slowly learning from their korean counter-part. People from the entertainment business are complaining on why we are supporting foreign dramas instead of locally produced one depriving our local talents from making a living thereby adding to the death of the industry. I have written a lengthy reply to one entertainment writer and given my own take (which majority of filipino viewers share) on the issue. Most dramas being shown before the advent of k-dramas have sub-plots that borders beyond the impossible which I find absurb and VERY irritating. Imagine a lead that remains alive again and again even after being killed in countless gruesome ways. Koreans have no qualms of killing their lead if the story calls for it. And networks tend to extend a series up to 2 years if it's doing good in the ratings making the writers create storylines that is veering away from their original plots while most k-dramas have fixed number of episodes. Cinematography is never taken seriously so locations are not visually appealing. Who would have thought that we can boost our tourism if we showcase it our local dramas . But now the tide is changing and our arguments are slowly being heard. It's good to see that local producers are investing more time and attention to what makes the korean dramas click and apply it in their own work. Who knows, maybe the next wave will come from us.

Watching k-dramas makes us Filipinos more appreciative of the asians in us. The values and traditions passed down by our elders which we may have been thrown to the sidelines as we become more westernized are being rekindled. Hallyu may have landed in our shores with less impact as compared to other asian countries but the influence has taken root and I don't see it fading away in the near future. Yes, Yong Joon's wish of having a more equal cultural exchange amongst asians may become a reality sooner than he expects.

A Dream Scenario

Looking at the pictures made me smile and think of my past love who always wakes-up when he feels I'm not beside him. So to make my day more exciting, I'll erase his face and swap it with Yong Joon.....

Sleeping soundly on my bed.
Then as if by instinct you will awake because I'm not beside you....
and you will look around before lovingly calling my name (hahaha, good thing dreaming is for free).

BYJ Photos from Josei Jishin

I've been away for the week-end but what a way to start my week. Thanks bb for posting it in quilt.


He's so manly even while holding a joony bear. What would I give to give him a hug too!

Winter Sonata - A Parody (Part 2

Winter Sonata - A Parody

Looking Back to 2005

The frenzy of New Year is over (thank God I'm done with the endless cooking) and finally I have some time to gather my thoughts. I have a lot to be thankful during the past year especially in my own personal life. But I would like to take this moment to acknowledge people that have touched my life in their own unique way.

My baewatch sisters - with you I have found my anchor in my personal journey as a fan. You have been a true family for me and a source of strength whenever I feel down. To redwine for being the first to reach out and being the backbone when the group was just finding it's feet. We may have our differences but I can look back and smile because I respect where you are coming from and with that comes understanding. To Judy for her generous heart in making our own site a reality and for taking the time to always call me personally to check how I'm doing. To Northstar, Tricia, Belinda & Christy for taking time from your hectic schedules to have coffee and just talk about anything and everything. To TJ, Rita, chell, genre, genlove, nelia and the rest of the original family, thanks for the sweet sms, emails and phone calls. To the new members that I've met ~ Rita B., reign, lhen, Pinky, babyjn, deodhors, dorie, and lin lee, I hope to have more bae moments with you.

Thank you Quilt Family! You've walked me through when I was just starting to know more about BYJ. You've welcomed me with open arms and introduced we to some wonderful people along the way. My special thanks to Joanne, Hyeon and Won for keeping our nest even if we finally started to build our own. To Evelyn and Helen ~ the first ones to share their BYJ collections when they found that there is nothing available here in the Philippines. Likewise to my japanese sisters mariko, tomato, masayo whose generous heart knows no bounds. My dear bb who started me on this blog (hugs and kisses to you) because you I started to awaken my love in writing. To frances, liezle and amadienne, thanks for keeping in touch. To my egyptian sister Nermine, I hope you are enjoying your own journey. I have kept all the emails I got from everyone and I read them once in a while.

Think KOB and youngsun comes to mind in an instant. We may not keep in touch as often as I would want but you will always be someone special for me. And not to forget Dellinia and theo, thanks for sharing your bae experiences.

But all of these will not be possible if not for the man himself - BAE YONG JOON! You have enriched my life in ways that you may not even think possible. You have been a great source of inspiration not just to me but to a lot of people. I pray that you continue to do what you love to do.

To everyone, thank you again for accompanying me in my second year of journey as a bae fan!