Bad taste in my mouth.

Today I went to Chipotle to get myself a big fat burrito. It's been awhile since I last ate one and I was looking forward to it since I was starving. Usually, I order a regular steak burrito with black beans, white rice, mild hot sauce, cheese, and sour cream. About half way through eating the burrito, there was one bite that was SALTY. Just imagine eating a mouthful of salt, it was that bad. I figured that it was just that one bite. So, I tried my best to finish--after 3-4 bites, I couldn't handle it anymore. There was something seriously wrong with the rest of that burrito. Sadly enough, I had to waste half of a burrito and dump it. I didn't want to make a big scene out of it by complaining--but let's just say I won't be going back to Chipotle for awhile.

Now... on to some other sad news. It looks like Dating Now Episodes 5+ will be delayed for the time being. After some serious discussion with Thunder and the other members of the Hotelier forum, we've decided that our Korean Translators will edit the remaining of the scripts for consistency and accuracy. Meanwhile, I'll still be timing the episodes like mad crazy to bring out fast releases when the first batch of editing is done. So, don't cry!

Recently, a thread about "Dream Jobs" surfaced on D-addicts. Which reminds me that I came pretty close on getting an interview for my dream job. We all know that fansubbing is a hobby and fansubbers do it just for the enjoyment of spreading doramas, but wouldn't it be nice to get paid for something that you really and truly love doing? During my days of unemployment in June/July 2005, I contacted Tom Larsen from Yesasia.com seeking employment. Amazingly, he replied and we corresponded through several emails. Tom is head of overseeing all the Korean dramas that get licensed by Yesasia. His team also edits some scripts and write up synopises of licensed Korean dramas for the Yesasia site and for the DVD boxes. A job related to dramas?! This was like a dream come true. Well, in the end, Tom wanted someone who was semi-fluent in Korean, so the interview fell through. Hopefully in the future, more US companies will license Korean dramas and possibly even Japanese doramas, so more opportunities will be available for fansubbers like myself.

Currently working on: Dating Now Episode 6-8 [Timing]
Read my actual blog post up there for other Dating Now news.

How the obsession began.

We all started our obsessions somewhere. For myself, it started back in 1993-1994 when I was still a freshman in High School. A funny little anime movie titled, "Project A-ko" sparked my interest in Japanese. It was quirky, funny and cute, and I wondered if other things Japanese were like this.

Lucky for me, our city had the I channel [International Channel-now called AZN TV, and is not available in my hometown anymore ]. By chance, I caught some episodes of a Japanese dorama which till this day I can't find the name to. A synopsis: A mother and daughter live together under the same roof. They bicker, they make up, but in the end they love each other very much without any of them realizing it. The daughter is a struggling 漫画家 manga-ka (Japanese comic artist), while the mother works odd jobs to get by. This is all I remember! But thanks to this quaint little dorama I was exposed to the Japanese culture.

Without any other means of acquiring Japanese dorama, I had to rely on the I channel. [Note: The rest of the doramas aren't listed in any particular order] Next dorama after the untitled one was いつかまた逢える Itsuka mata aeru. "Itsuka" was a very simple dorama that involved an old group of high school buddies, who somehow start hanging out with each other again. Eventually, a love square forms and then the square becomes a triangle, etc. Sakurai Sachiko and Fukuyama Masaharu stars.

ビュア Pure was the next dorama that I watched. This was a remarkable tale of a handicapped lady [Wakui Emi] who had an amazing talent for creating abstract art sculptures. A journalist who interviews her, eventually falls in love with her purity.

The next dorama that aired after that was 見にくいあひるの子　Minikui ahiru no ko (The ugly duckling). This dorama was about a teacher who taught a pack of ugly-looking? (politically incorrect, I know) children. The only other thing that I can remember... the teacher's love interest was 常盤貴子 Tokiwa Takako.

Finally, "Long Vacation" tops off this list. I don't think Long Vacation needs much of a synopsis, since it should be on everyone's check-list of must-see doramas. My favorite character from this dorama was "Momoko."

How did you get your start in doramas? I'm interested in hearing from you guys. Please feel free to comment, you don't need to sign up!

Currently working on: Dating Now Episode 5 [Editing]
I finally finished one round of editing through the whole script. Currently, I'm on the second round at the 28 minute mark.

Random picture I took of my dog, Miki.

Feeling antsy while editing.

I was feeling a little bit antsy while editing Dating Now Episode 5 [since there's some major grammatical errors], so I was messing around with my roomie's camera and took some pictures. I also photoshopped all of the pics to match the theme in the blog.
I've always been a fan of art and photography. So, I'll post some nice photos of 2 of my favorite actresses.

A picture of the elegant beauty, Zhang Ziyi in her role as Sayuki in "Memoirs of a Geisha."	A stunning picture of Angelina Jolie showing off those lucious lips of hers.
This is my Panasonic DVD-Recorder that I've had for about 3-4 years. This is where all the recording of Yoshitsune happens!	A random picture of a can of the Korean soft drink "Milkis." Don't you just love the engRish on the can?!
A piece of candy that my roomie gave me. The wrapper was so cute, that I had to take a pic of it.	These are my 2 lazy ass chihuahuas. They love to sleep all day! Bambi [in the back] and Miki [smaller cow-colored one].

Well, back to editing... or else it'll never get done. I'm currently at the 47 minute mark, so there's roughly 10-20 minutes left of editing to go. Hopefully, it'll get easier!
Please add comments! You do not need an account to comment.

Currently working on: Dating Now Episode 5 DVD [QC, Editing, SFX]
Timing is 90% complete [timed by tumn tumn].

w00t! かわいいなブログをゲット!

I've always been lazy to create and maintain blogs, so this will be my second personal attempt in blogging. Awhile ago I signed up for a Xanga account, but American blogs are so plain and ugly. That account is probably dead by now, since I signed up about 4-5 years ago. My second attempt was not done for personal reasons, but job-related. I still try to maintain that work blog, but it seems that it's all about popularity and who has the most friends. My work blog is here. It's a game industry-based website, so I always feel the need to blog about gaming there.

But my real passion is 日本 and 韓国 のドラマ [Japanese and Korean dramas]. Just so that you get an idea of how obsessed I am, I run a dorama fansubbing site and I moderate the forum over at D-addicts and at my own fansubbing site.
For those that do not know what fansubbing is, let me try to explain it. Here in America and almost every part of the world, Japanese and Korean doramas [tv series] are rarely subtitled. Unbeknownst to the Japanese and Koreans [who just concentrate their efforts in their respective homelands], an underground wave of foreign fans take their own time out to translate, time, edit, add effects these previously un-subbed [or RAW] doramas with English subtitles.

Before such groups and individuals existed, foreigners relied on English subtitled Japanese/Korean doramas from the only source available... television. With the help of fansubbers, doramas have reached more audiences across the globe. Dorama fans can only hope for more U.S. companies to license Japanese and Korean doramas. Currently, Japanese dorama licensing doesn't exist, while the Korean dorama scene is booming outside of Korea itself. Will Japan catch on? Or do they not even care what's going on outside of Japan?

Currently working on: Dating Now Episode 5 DVD [QC, Editing, SFX]
I've had to shift the timings around, since it was timed by someone else. I also needed to edit some lines heavily.
Currently released: Taiyou no Kisetsu Episode 11 FINAL DVD

Finally, this dorama is complete! After several months [the first episode was released back in March of this year by Okumasama], Junkboy77 and I managed to finish this dorama for those poor forgotten Taiyou fans that have been waiting.
Junkboy77 is in a super translating mood these days, so he's managed to translate Episodes 1-5 of Taiyou. Both of us felt as if the first version was a bit rushed, so we are trying our best to give the rightful attention needed to the Taiyou project. Earlier episodes will most likely be released in batches.

Well, stay tuned for more crazy dorama blogging!
Aren't Japanese blogs so cute! ^_^