Night Scholar OST Part 2 - Sad Wind by Eun Ga Eun

Part 2 of the Scholar Who Walks The Night OST was released a few days ago with the airing of episode 5! It's so beautiful I've been listening to it on repeat ever since. I also know that I'm not the only one who's fallen for it, since heaps of fans have been searching for this song since it played at the beginning of episode 4, when Mr Vampire Sung Yeol saw Myung Hee/Hye Ryeong for the first time in 120 years :')

The OST is called Sad Wind by Eun Ga Eun. Interestingly before the official OST was released, fans noted that the OST was very similar to Spring Will Probably Come by Byul, except the lyrics had been changed. I hadn't heard Byul's version, but a quick search showed that it was part of a music project produced by Oh Joon Sung. Oh Joon Sung ... could this be the same Oh Joon Sung who composed all the instrumentals in City Hunter The Score? It seems likely ... his name's all over the OST scene!

I'm curious as to why they used another version of the song as the OST. Is it because using an existing song is undesirable? Or do the lyrics not fit well with the drama? I tried searching up the lyrics to Sad Wind but since it just got released I can't find any English translations. Let me know what you guys think! :)

Here's Eun Ga Eun's Sad Wind. Even though I can't pinpoint exactly why, it reminds me of Kim Yoo Kyung's Starlight Tears from the Boys Over Flowers OST.

Oh, and I love the album cover. It gives me butterflies kekeke.

Here's Byul's Spring Will Probably Come.

Review: Rooftop Prince (2012)

Okay … first review! I haven’t even written anything and I can feel that this post is going to take me much longer than I first expected. I’m not exactly sure if I should call this a review or not … it’s more like an aggregate of post-drama thoughts. The first time I saw Yoochun act was in The Girl Who Can See Smells … which is still airing and I literally started and finished Rooftop Prince in the time between episodes 8 and 9 >< I usually try not to watch dramas with the same lead actors simultaneously though, cause inevitably I begin mixing up the characters. I think the most extreme case was watching YWCFTS while Trot Lovers was airing … literally could not unsee the creepy side of Shin Sung Rok. Let's get back to this review …

Synopsis

The younger of two sisters is selected to be the future Crown Princess. The older sister accidentally-on-purpose burns her sister’s face, and becomes the Crown Princess instead. Many years later the Crown Princess drowns, and the Crown Prince is convinced she was murdered. He recruits three men and while investigating her death, the four get transported 300 years into the future to present day Seoul. Here they meet the reincarnations of personalities such as the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince himself, and continue to solve the mystery of the Crown Princess’ murder which they believe is the key to returning back to their time period.

Verdict

I really enjoyed this drama and would definitely recommend it - category 1! It was actually a borderline 1 or 2 most of the way through … but following the revelations in episode 20 it shot up :’) It’s got all the elements of a romcom but can be a little darker at times which stops the drama from being too fluffy. I really liked how they paralleled events with the past, it was really clever at times.

Spoilers throughout the rest of the post!

The bittersweet ending breaks my heart but it’s what made this love line so much more beautiful compared to others.

Other Thoughts/Observations

We know from the very beginning what a horrible person the Crown Princess is, having burnt her sister’s face to get to her position. But to me that didn’t invalidate the Crown Prince’s love for her … I’ll have to admit I shed a tear or two witnessing Lee Gak’s heart break as he learns of her death :’( Yoochun managed to make this scene so touching even though we’d known the characters for less than an episode.

It was only a day after finishing the drama that I realised the significance of Se Na wearing Park Ha’s clothes in the modern day reservoir scene! I’d originally dismissed it as just part of the ploy to lure Lee Gak, but later connected the dots and realised the parallel with what happened before Boo Young’s death.

Things which confused me at some point:

The History Book

OMG the history book!!! I still haven’t figured out what the significance of this scene was. And by the looks of it most fans still haven’t figured it out. So at some point quite early on in the drama Park Ha consults a history book, presumably to look up Lee Gak and verify his story. But she closes the book teary eyed, and no explanation is made as to why her reaction was like that. They never mentioned that scene again. What did she read???

I trawled through some fansites and found two hypotheses popular amongst fans.

1. Park Ha found out that Lee Gak will lead a short life. Apparently there are some uncanny similarities between Lee Gak and King Gyeongjong, a real Joseon King. King Gyeongjong’s first Crown Princess died before he ascended the throne, and it is rumoured that his death had something to do with him eating crab sauce and persimmons, two foods which play important roles in Rooftop Prince.
    
2. Park Ha found out that Lee Gak will die by being shot in the chest by an arrow. Before his departure Park Ha gifted Lee Gak a necklace, and told him to ‘always wear it near your heart’. After returning to their time period he does get shot in the chest by an arrow, but it hits the necklace square on which saves his life. Some fans argue that if this really was the case then Park Ha really should’ve gifted him a full on chest guard instead of a measly $2 coin sized necklace to protect him … and I’m not even going to go into the if-she-did-save-him-then-it-wouldn’t-have-shown-up-in-the-history-book argument.

I guess we’ll never know for sure what she read :(

Arsenic and Persimmons

So in the final episode one of the revelations is that Boo Young died after eating the poisoned persimmons in place of the King. However early on in their investigations, before their time travelling adventures, they already found out that the persimmons were poisoned with arsenic! Wouldn’t Lee Gak then have wondered what happened to Boo Young, who actually ate the persimmons??? I guess they must’ve assumed the persimmons got poisoned after Boo Young ate them or something …

The Final Scene

I know heaps of people were confused with the ending scene … was it Lee Gak standing there with Park Ha? Or was it his reincarnation, Tae Yong? Or was it some mixture of both?

Yoochun mentioned in at least two interviews that he was acting as 100% Tae Yong in that ending scene. He said that the audience would obviously be dissatisfied if it was purely Tae Yong and Park Ha, so Lee Gak was shown as a tribute to their transcending love, and as a reminder that Tae Yong is the closest you can get to Lee Gak.

What makes me really sad however, is what happens to Lee Gak! Park Ha gets Tae Yong but who does Lee Gak get??? Boo Young is dead and Park Ha doesn’t exist in his world apart from in his heart and memories *sob* *wipes tear*. The scene where Lee Gak gets teary-eyed while eating omurice really gets at me :’(

I guess the ending makes sense though … the time travelling was to give Lee Gak and Boo Young another chance in their next lives, and not to correct the wrong of their Joseon lives. If Lee Gak hadn’t travelled to the future, Tae Yong would never have met Park Ha (assuming the butterfly was also part of this time travelling force). Without Lee Gak’s intervention Tae Yong would have died in the hands of Tae Mu. Park Ha wouldn’t necessarily love Tae Yong. Lee Gak and Boo Young were destined to be ill-fated, and they were compensated with the chance to love again as Tae Yong and Park Ha.

Here's my favourite Rooftop Prince OST to wrap off this super long blog post :)

Message from Me

Hello everyone!

I thought I should write something before we reach the 2 month anniversary of my last post. Yes 2 months ... I'm really sorry for being so inactive :(

When I started this blog I intended all my posts to be relatively well planned out, so that I don't end up word vomiting (happens a lot to people who talk a lot like me). But I guess it isn't working out cause I ended up not making any posts. So I plan to write more spontaneously, for example random thoughts after watching a drama episode. Don't worry, I'll always make sure there aren't any spoilers on the home page haha!

I've also added a little 'Upcoming Posts' section to the blog description ... I just use it to remind myself of posts that I intend to write soon. Be warned that posts might just disappear from that list if I realise I can't remember what happened well enough to write a post or if I decide to divert my attention to something else ...

Thanks for reading this entire post! Here's to a new beginning on this blog :D

Let's Have A Moment - Hyun Bin's Elevator Scenes

Hyun Bin and elevators ... what comes to mind? Perhaps the claustrophobic Kim Joo Won in Secret Garden? I was reminded of Secret Garden too at some point in Hyun Bin's latest drama Hyde, Jekyll and Me. I'm only going to mention a scene from episode 16 of Secret Garden and episode 1 of Hyde, Jekyll and Me ... word of warning to avoid spoiling it for anyone :P

Sometime last year I finally got around to watching Secret Garden after a friend who doesn't usually like dramas recommended it to me. It was good ... I think I marathoned it in 2 or 3 days! One of my favourite parts of the drama is when Kim Joo Won (Hyun Bin) finds himself trapped in an elevator. I can't even count the number of times I've rewatched that part. You can watch it here, it's just a couple of minutes at the beginning of episode 16 :)

Secret Garden Episode 16

 

Wasn't that intense?! I loved it. Maybe it's cause I've noticed an affinity for situations where the male/female lead gets saved from danger by the other lead ... I hope this isn't a sadistic side coming out of me! Nonetheless Hyun Bin's superb acting definitely brought this scene to life. Look at his face turning red, eyes popping out of his head and veins bulging out of his neck! Wow it looked so realistic.

I'd basically forgotten about that scene until I saw Hyun Bin gasping for air in an elevator yet again ... this time in 2015. It starts soon after the 49:00 mark.

Hyde, Jekyll and Me Episode 1



Despite his discomfort being less pronounced this time around, Hyun Bin has aced the elevator scene yet again! I felt a strong sense of deja vu when I came across this HJM scene for the first time, and it was only a while later that I realised it was because of the Secret Garden connection.

I always wondered how tiring it would be to film this type of scene, since it seems like they're forcing their body to actually go through what their character is experiencing. Today, in an effort to relieve my Hyde, Jekyll and Me cravings, I was watching BTS videos and came across Hyun Bin struggling while filming the elevator scene :'( The exact bit I'm referring to is not long after the 1:10 mark.

Hyde, Jekyll and Me BTS

Watching that BTS really made me appreciate how much effort actors and actresses put into creating the best drama they can for us ... so much of what happens doesn't get aired!!

Anyway I hope this post hasn't been too pointless ... I just had two scenes I liked and there was something in common between them ... I guess this turned out to be a tribute to Hyun Bin's ill fate with elevators! Hahahaha :P

Top 10 K-Drama OSTs (as of Feb 2015)

Helloooo! Welcome to my first post :D Hopefully I'll be able to think through what I'm going to say carefully and avoid making this a pile of word vomit :L

After quite some time agonising over my iPod I've finally managed to pick my top 10 Korean drama OSTs as of now! The first 6 or 7 are quite straightforward - everyone has their favourite OSTs - but then you get to the latter 3 or 4 and you realise that you've got about 20 songs sitting at the same like-level. Uh oh. Anyway this is my top 10 ... if I spend any more time thinking about this I'll find another song which belongs here more than one of these. I'll try to write a little description under each song.

10. A'ST1 ft. T-Max - Something Happened To My Heart (Boys Over Flowers)

Pretty sure every K-drama fan has heard of Boys Over Flowers! A lot of people don't seem to like it because it's overrated or overly cliché, but I remember enjoying it when I watched it :D I've watched the Taiwanese, Japanese and Chinese versions as well (the Taiwanese twice actually! the first time when I was too young to remember *sigh*). The Taiwanese and Korean versions stand to be my favourite :)

9. Suzy - Don't Forget Me (Gu Family Book)

Gu Family Book is one of the only historical Korean dramas I've watched. It's also one of my favourite Korean dramas! And it probably houses my favourite OST album overall - you'll see quite a few Gu Family Book OSTs popping up here.

I recognised Suzy's voice during the drama since I find it quite distinct. I think Suzy's a good singer, although her voice is a little ... unstable? I'm not qualified to give an expert opinion ... apart from the fact that this song is really hard to sing!!! Every single time I try to (whether it be in the shower or on my imaginary stage *ahem* my room *ahem*) I end up screeching like a strangled car tyre.

8. Hyorin - Hello, Goodbye (You Who Came From The Stars)

You Who Came From The Stars! Another drama home to quite a few good OSTs. Not much more to say about this other than it's a good song :)

7. Choa - Words I Couldn't Say Yet (Bride Of The Century)

Bride of the Century revolves around a rumour circulating about a prestigious family, that states that the eldest son's first wife will die the day after their wedding as a sacrifice to a ghost protecting the family. Lee Hong Ki from F.T. Island plays the male lead ... lo and behold he's the eldest son of that family. There's more to the storyline but I don't know where to start without spoiling it so I'll stop there :P

This is the female version of this OST; Lee Hong Ki sings the male version. I prefer the female version since it was the really nice voice of the female singer which brought this song to my attention. Ha 'nice' ... that's the extent of my vocabulary sorry. It was because this song highlighted how good Choa's singing was that I first paid some attention to AOA!

6. The One - Best Wishes To You (Gu Family Book)

Choi Jin Hyuk (an actor in the drama) sings an acoustic version of this song. When I first listened to both versions I didn't notice major differences ... but having listened to them many times I prefer The One's version :D Choi Jin Hyuk did a really good job though since he's an actor taking on a song sung by a super experienced singer like The One!

5. Jiyoung - Rainbow Rose (Rainbow Rose)

I struggled quite a bit deciding whether this song would make it into my top 10 ... I decided that it would, and surprisingly when I was ordering the 10 this landed at 5! It's just a really catchy song you'd bob along to ... okay okay, me liking Jiyoung might have played a teeny role. But it's still a bright and cute song that puts a smile on your face :)

4. Eunji & Seo In Guk - All For You (Reply 1997)

Yessss how can anyone not like this song??? The way Eunji always makes singing look so easy amazes me! Their voices blend together really well ... and what can give more feeeeeels other than the much loved female and male leads singing a song together? And doing a really good job at it too?

3. Jang Jae In ft. NaShow - Auditory Hallucination (Kill Me Heal Me)

This is the only OST in this list that comes from a drama I haven't finished watching. Because it's still airing. I know I'm not the only one who loves this OST because the moment it played during the very first episode the comments section was filled with people asking about this song. It was a mix of the song itself sounding beautiful and it being used really well in the drama.

Kill Me Heal Me is a drama about Cha Do Hyun (Ji Sung) who suffers from DID and has 7 different personalities. These include the violent Segi, bomb expert Perry Park, the teenage girl Yona, suicidal Yoseob, young child Nana, Mysterious X (yet to appear) and himself. While the other personalities take advantage of whatever time they're given, Segi is set on eliminating Cha Do Hyun and taking all of his time for himself.

I don't usually check up the English translation of song lyrics (I know, how did I even compile this list without considering the lyrics) but I did for this one when I heard a lot of praise about the lyrics going really well with the drama. And they do. Which is why I gave that drama summary up there. I mean hearing "There are so many things hidden inside of me ... It put me to sleep, tied my hands and feet and trapped me in a dark room" just makes me want to give Do Hyun a big hug :'( And you can basically feel the male lead's frustration in "the memories of love that I threw away, they have been deleted and thrown away".

Since this is quite a new OST it's my latest jam ^^

2. Yisabel - My Eden (Gu Family Book)

Woohoo Gu Family Book strikes again! The male and female leads of this drama basically don't appear in the first two episodes, which instead looks at what happens in the leads' parents' generation. This OST goes with male lead Kang Chi's (Lee Seung Gi) parents' love story, and I think it's perfect for it. As well as sounding really delicate, beautiful (the amount of times I've used this word ...) and almost magical (fittingly for a historical fantasy drama), there's an underlying tone of sadness which forebodes the tragedy that unfolds. I get all them feels again listening to this song :'(

... oh and the song's in English, which is a plus :D there's a Korean version but I don't think I've heard that one yet (oops).

1. Chen - Best Luck (It's Okay, It's Love)

I actually had a hard time deciding between 1st, 2nd and 3rd but in the end EXO Chen's Best Luck got the top spot! A bit of a happy change from the other two.

This song seems to hold a "sing along really loudly" command for my brain (maybe cause I actually can for once) and the whole song just makes you feel really good and empowered (for loss of a better word)! My favourite bit is the looooong note during the last part of the bridge and the chorus following it, cause I can imagine myself belting that bit out on the top of a mountain eheheheheee ... talk about empowered!!

And that's it!! Seriously this post has taken me way longer to write than I thought it would. Hope you guys like my top 10! Let me know your opinions and what other OSTs you think should be on this list :D Catch you next time ~~~