FAITH
I’ve started watching more foreign streaming videos instead of Hollywood shows, because, really, their politics & indoctrination is so annoying. Grrr. The problem is I have no one to discuss it with here! So I’m gonna fix that by occasionally reviewing some favorites and hoping that gets a bunch of you all hooked *evil laugh*.
I’m liking a lot of kdramas (South Korean dramas). Kdramas are typically serialized novels that run twice weekly and have a beginning, middle, end all plotted in advance. You can watch them for free legally – all you need is the internet and a willingness to read subtitles. I’m going review one I just marathoned through and really enjoyed. I think it’s probably a good first drama for Westerners for reasons I’ll explain in a bit.
Faith
Faith is a historical time-travel fantasy set in 1351, during the Goryeo period, when Korea was a vassal state of the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty. The main characters in the drama are all real historical figures: King Gongmin, Queen Noguk, General Choi Young are names that Korean kids learn about in school. The twist is that mortal need makes King Gongmin order Choi Young into a legendary heaven’s portal to bring back Heaven’s Doctor to save his Queen’s life. The portal is actually a time portal, and he enters 2012 Seoul (which he thinks is Heaven) and kidnaps a plastic surgeon from a medical conference to take back with him.
This drama has some of my favorite elements – historical fantasy, time travel, swords, characters who act true to their period, court intrigues, political and literal backstabbing, humor, over-the-top villains who are still sympathetic, and people who are facing inner conflicts that mirror their external struggles. I’m actually not a big romance watcher, but I ended up totally buying the love story that slowly unfolds between the captain & the doctor. I won’t lie, I was reaching for the tissues by the end.
One of the reasons I picked Faith to be your gateway drug to kdrama is that the time-travel set-up means that Goryeo is just as alien to the surgeon as it is to us, Americans, and we discover it through her 21st century eyes. Another reason is that the story could be seen as a variation of one of my favorite books, Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. Maybe the biggest reason I picked Faith is because it has wonderfully strong women characters. Damsels can be a failing in kdramas and I so love that Faith beats this stereotype.
I watched Faith for free on DramaFever. DramaFever has a huge collection of subtitled Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Spanish/Latino shows, including ones currently airing in their countries of origin. So if Faith is not your cup of tea, there are hundreds of others to try.
I actually watched via the DramaFever android app (they also have iOS, Google, and Roku apps, and I think you can get them via Hulu.) The app worked well once I figured out that there is a menu button and that keeping my finger down brings up a pop-up list of actions. I signed up for a free account; supposedly they are ad-supported but I haven’t really seen any ads yet. I think it might be that newbies get the first week ad-free or something like that.)
So, thanks for reading my review. Talk about what shows, foreign or Hollywood, books, anything.
Open Thread.
The Crawdad Hole 
Shoot – I was trying to schedule this for tonight but the frickin thing published itself instead. Grr.
I like it VM 🙂
tnx!
On topic I guess 🙂
I’m yelling at Pat Toomey on twitter. Dumb RINO.
Pingback: Escape Hollywood by Reading Subtitles | votermom
I’m totally intrigued, so thanks for the write up. I have lots of grading to do, but hope I can start this series this weekend. Have DramaForever bookmarked. WTG, VM!
Aw thanks! Good luck with the grading.
Netflix also has some older popular kdramas – I don’t think they have Faith yet.
I also love the Outlander series because of Claire of course but I can’t decide which of her male characters I like best, Jamie, Ian, young Ian. Lord John, or Roger. I will keep “Faith” in mind for the next time I have time for binge viewing. Thanks for the recommendation!
I don’t understand why Outlander hasn’t been turned into a movie or mini-series yet! It would be so epic. Lord John should have his own tv mystery series.
I so agree. And with Lord John being a gay guy you would think the time is right for a TV show but a series of movies made in the UK would be better. I wish BBC would do Outlander and Lord John books as I would almost be afraid to look at a Hollywood made production.
@dramafever retweeted my link to this! Yes! 😉
You have a natural talent for reviews, your book reviews are excellent as well. Faith sounds like a don’t miss.
And thanks for the DramaFever tip. Just last night I was looking for movies on the web.
Aw! Thanks!
Did you find a good movie to watch? There’s so much stuff on the net that it’s hard to pick, isn;t it?
Red Dawn 2012. I was multi-tasking and needed a light plot line…lol
But it was amazing how much stuff was out there and all the new places to view it. It has exploded in the short time I stepped away from watching movies online.
I totally agree. VM, you should check to see if your city has an Indie paper and submit a review to them, see if they will buy it.
Hm… good idea.
What a great idea for a post! Believe it or not, none of my children watch regular TV, not even the teenagers. My 30 yr old had no idea what msnbc or fox news even was. I never stopped them from watching TV, they just prefer to stream things or watch DVDs. They have absolutely no patience for commercials or “waiting” for a show to come on. It’s the instant gratification generation, I tell ya! Everything on demand or they can’t be bothered. They all watch a lot of foreign movies and anime, Hulu, you tube, netflix.
I can’t blame them, I mean one of the best things on regular TV right now is Duck Dynasty! Sometimes I enjoy that show, but geesh, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at it’s popularity.
My teen is always watching animes on youtube, and they both watch netflix or dvr what they want. The rare times we do watch something live, the commercials get muted. LOL
Do they ever make you watch their shows with them?
My kids (teen & pre-teen) will still sometimes ask me to sit with them while they watch their show. Heh.
Lady Dweet and I have been selective BBCA drama, (but not series), fans for almost two decades. Were also original Downton followers, and anything Masterpiece-y. We Tivo everything and never watch commercials. So sue us.
Used to watch every detective series going but most have become so bad (or to be charitable, stupid) that watching them proves out the unpublished laws of nature by destroying viewers’ perfectly good brain cells and giving them the sudden urge to make a donation to Barbara Boxer’s next campaign fund. Shudder.
😆
Watching TV is like aversion therapy against turning on the TV. I watch some things on PBS and I love Ancient Aliens and Vikings and very occasionally news. We still get the cable because my husband will watch any show with a basketball, football or baseball in it. There is nothing on TV or cable which I would pay to see.
Love Vikings. Awesome history.
I like that new British Sherlock Holmes series. It has a modern twist and it’s kind of funny. Instead of smoking a pipe, Sherlock puts on half a dozen nicotine patches.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/09/epa-acknowledges-giving-out-personal-info-in-request-that-included-data-on/?test=latestnews#ixzz2Q3hc3nqw
one reason American citizens need protection FROM THE EPA
http://weaselzippers.us/2013/04/10/payback-in-exchange-for-toomeys-part-in-gun-control-bill-bloomberg-pulls-attack-ads-in-pennsylvania/
sold himself pretty cheap didn’t he?
So Nanny Bloomberg is bullying PA. What an @zz.
Toomey is a wimp.
ace comments on this
http://minx.cc/?post=339018
What a dick Toomey is. That provision about doctors is BS. I go to a large medical facility…..major name place. You usually end up seeing some wet behind the ears doctor and then a veteran doctor comes in to do a quick follow up. The last time I was there the doctor I had was a complete little bitch. She would be the perfect candidate to run the death panels. I could see her putting me on that list just because she’s a bitch.
I’ve been putting it off, but it’s time to join the NRA for the next five years.
http://freebeacon.com/obama-budget-proposes-big-tricare-fee-hikes/
backtrack screwing the vets as usual
Love this idea VM! Keep on keeping on. I watch HGTV, I Love Lucy, Fraiser and BBT for mental bubblegum and a political high colonic brain cleanse 😉
My favorite “streams” are vintage rom/com movies, classic rock and Broadway show clips on youtube. Many have found their way here 😀
Rom com’s are very popular in Korea, though I haven’t seen a lot.
We watched this one on on Netflix, it was funny & cute:
My girlfriend is an Agent
Also on my queue is Marrying the Mafia
I saw a sweet and funny rom-com on Netflix. It’s French and called “Romantics Anonymous”. I wouldn’t have seen it, except it was on their “suggestions” based on something I had already seen.
Also, saw a movie called “We Have a Pope” – Italian, I think. A cute movie that I saw last winter (long before Francis was a mere hint).
Since this morning I have been alternately napping, working in the yard and watching the Giants wallop the Rockies.
The neighbors are really impressed with my front yard. I was asked again if the house is going up for sale or something.
I did something to my left elbow. It hurts to lift a beer.
Arnica might help
After you install the keg in fridge and tap on the outside of the fridge door, duh, then install the beer glass lifter robot arm, attached to the lazy boy.
Keg, tap, hose, mouth.
No dishes to wash and I only have to get up to pee.
Another hose and you can skip the getting up to pee bit too.
Best Movie Scene without subtitles Ever:
Classic!
Yeah, I try to keep up 😀
It’s always about them:
Sheesh, in a city with extreme gun control and high gun violence…she pushes for the President’s gun control legislation? I wonder if she realizes that those gang bangers doing all the shooting, really don’t care about purchasing legal weapons and subjecting themselves to a background check? In fact, I’ll go out on a limb here and mention that the number of gang bangers shooting people with legally owned handguns in Chicago is probably around 0%
^^^THIS^^^
I heard on the news that the man arrested for shooting the sheriff in a Texas town, was an ex-convict, not permitted to purchase a gun. So he bought the gun on the black market. I’m shocked. /sarc
You mean he broke multiple laws??? No way I didn’t think that was possible. I thought for damn sure gun laws would be one too many laws to break for a murderer/sarc
By now I’m off-topic but I wanted to mention one of the best movies I’d seen this year. Its actually a 2010 movie from China called “Aftershock”. Its about an earthquake and its aftermath on a family. So well done. Its on Netflix.
I was thinking of putting that on my queue.
We all really need to write our Senators and Congresscritters about this Toomey gun law. My husband and I just did.
We do NOT need more lists in this country. The government can’t manage the lists they have. Do you have any idea how easy it is for some bureaucrat to put your name on a watch list??? There are a lot of innocent people on those lists because they have common names or similar names to a bad guy and they are guilty with no chance to prove their innocence. Now we’re going to let doctors add people to another flipping list?
You all know my husband is an air traffic controller and has been for 30 years. He has a common name and found out the hard way he’s on some kind of watch list…….not him just somebody by the same name. It doesn’t matter that it’s not actually him, he goes through hell anytime he flies. There is no recourse, except a 10 digit number you give to some half-wit with TSA. You think that stops the extra securtiy measures?? Nope we’ll get “special treatment” for the rest of our lives when we fly. I include myself because those traveling with him get “special” attention too.
Do you have any idea how insane that is??? Like if he wanted to cause trouble he has to fucking board an airplane. ***Just to be clear he takes his job seriously and has no desire to do anything other than keep the flying public safe***
Nope we don’t need another list in this country, no more!
I’m on the “no-fly” list since the incident with that stewardess. It’s no big deal. As long as I no fly, no problem.
My husband didn’t do anything, honest…..well there might be one thing, but it was innocent.
He happens to have the exact same legal name as a big time W donor, one of those Ranger guys that did big fundraising. This guy lives in the same town, but in a posh place on the beach.
Well all of the sudden we’re getting lots of thank yous, pictures of W and family, The Cheney’s, lapel pins, all kinds of swag, you name it……everything came with a thank you note. Well you know W was hubby’s boss, we thought maybe he was really into his employees or something, LOL!
Then a beautiful invitation came for dinner at the WH. Again how were we to know that W didn’t pick random peons from within the federal workforce to dine with??? I repeat this invitation came to our address and was addressed to my husband in his exact legal name. So we filled out the RSVP, because hey…..who doesn’t want to have dinner at the WH with the President???
That probably wasn’t the smartest idea, but in the end we didn’t do anything wrong they were the dumbasses that didn’t know the correct address of their “good friend” that raised all that money for them.
Some people have no sense of humor!
Now we don’t know if that was what did it, but that’s honestly the only thing we could think of. My huband is squeaky clean. He has a security clearance and with that comes routine FBI checks in order to maintain his clearance. The gubmint knows all our business at least for another couple of months! So it was either the dinner invitation or it really was a case of some bad guy having the exact same name. They won’t tell you why you’re on the stupid list.
BTW we didn’t crash a WH event, it never got that far. We never left our state, they did follow ups on all the RSVP’s for security and that’s when they figured it out……….snobby bastards, as if we don’t look like we have millions, LOL! Way to be judgemental, so now you know the R’s are small minded and judgemental……maybe we prefer to hide our wealth!!
If you were invited, even by mistake, it wouldn’t have been gate crashing. LOLing at the thought – would have been funny 🙂
http://weaselzippers.us/2013/04/10/msnbc-race-hustler-toure-outraged-ll-cool-j-wants-to-forget-the-slavery-mentality-put-racism-behind-us/
toure is jumping up and down again. poor baby going through life so mad must get old
Dat Touré! He jus’ be doin’ da Massa’s biddin’.
Just noticed my all time favorite modern western, “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada” is on an obscure cable channel in an hour. Barely enough time to record it again.