I’VE BEEN LIEBSTERED: I Feel The Love

I’m such a noob when it comes to this wonderful world of blogging that up until a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea a Liebster Award even existed and then WHAM! Out of nowhere I was hit by not one but two Liebster Awards in a row! (Once I looked up with the whole Liebster Award was…) I was overwhelmed by a rush of warm-fuzzies as I realized I wasn’t alone in my obsession for all things Hallyu and an entire world of like-minded bloggers was out there, inviting me to join them, with arms wide open. After spending years feeling isolated and alone in my Hallyu obsession, I decided to rush into those warm, welcoming arms and embrace my fellow bloggers with an equally warm smile and a bear hug. Thank you my friends, for so welcoming this lonely, wandering zombie, into your world; you’ve become the bright center to what was once a cold and miserably lonely universe. Saranghae!

And now to the fun stuff…

 

My first Liebster Award came from @dewaanifordrama of Samsoon Down the Rabbit Hole and these are the questions she asked… (I actually answered these in the comments of her post but I decided to put them here as well, just for the fun of it.)

 

Where did I get the name for my blog?

The idea for Zombie Mamma came to me one very late night as I sat rocking my newborn baby back to sleep. Exhausted beyond words, my mind began to wander down strange paths and somehow arrived at the conclusion that life as a mom is much like living in a post-apocalyptic world and children are surprisingly similar to zombies (they’re relentless, incessant, voracious and at the end of the day you feel like they’ve devoured most of your brain). Not long after, I decided that, as a mom of four, I had enough experience with life in this post-apocalyptic world called motherhood to have some nuggets of wisdom I could share with the world. Thus, ZombieMamma was born and (no big surprise) failed to thrive, as I quickly learned that there were so many mommy blogs out there, mine just got lost in the vastness of the mommy bloggersphere. As my website lay dying, I decided that rather than waste my time and money on something that didn’t matter to anyone, I’d start writing about something that I found infinitely more interesting than life as a mom…K-Dramas and K-Pop. I never really gave a thought as to whether anyone out there would be interested in what I had to say about all things Hallyu, I just wanted to start writing about the one thing that made life in my own post-apocalyptic world a little more bearable. I suppose as a K-drama/K-pop blogger I should change the name of my blog but I kind of like being a zombie so I’ve decided to just go with it.

 

If you were to visit me in Chicago, IL USA, where would we go and what would we do?

Chicago has so much to see and do, what we did would totally depend on what you liked to do most. There are museums, the Shedd Aquarium, the planetarium, Navy Pier… We could go to the top of the Sears Tower or take pictures in front of the giant bean (which is actually named “Cloud Gate” but since it looks like a giant bean, that’s what it’s known as at my house). Buckingham Fountain and the walk along Lake Michigan is always nice (but only if you visit during spring/summer/fall as the lakefront in winter is absolutely freezing) If amusement parks are your thing, there’s Six Flags Great America not far out of city and if shopping is more your thing, there’s no lack of places I could take you. Then there’s all the food a big city has to offer… If you’re craving it, we can find it! Of course, if we timed your visit right, we’d have to catch a K-pop concert! Boyfriend’s coming in March, wanna go?

 

What is my favorite K-drama trope?

That would have to be the hate-relationship that turns to love. I absolutely love watching the interaction between a OTP as their feelings transform from utter loathing to love. It’s so much fun and I will never get tired of it!

 

What is my favorite Korean food?

Ddeokbokki!!! I have to make trips to the Korean market on a regular basis, just to fulfill my cravings for ddeokbokki!

My K-drama or movie recommendations…

There are so many good dramas and movies out there but since I don’t want to ramble on forever, I’ll limit myself to one each. My favorite K-drama of 2013 was, hands-down, The Master’s Sun. I absolutely loved it (so much so I had to throw a theme party around it) and I tell everyone who shows even the slightest interest in K-dramas that they have to watch it. So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin had amazing chemistry throughout the entire drama and I found the story so original (despite Who Are You airing at the same time) that I couldn’t get enough of it. Waiting for new episodes each week was brutal!

As for a Korean movie, my favorite at the moment is Woochi the Demon Slayer. I know it’s older (2009) but I only just discovered it and it’s so good! Then again, I’m such a nerd, I love anything fantasy-ish and this one fits the bill perfectly! It’s truly fantastic!

 

 

 

My second Liebster Award (and the one who inspired me to actually write this post) came to me from my friend Nelly (@missienelly) from My Myooz and these are the questions she asked…

 

1. Do you kpop/cpop/twpop/jpop? If yes, share with me few of your favorite singers and/or groups.

Absolutely!!! I am completely addicted to music… I have been for as long as I can remember. Seriously, I used to drive my parents crazy, going everywhere with my Walkman (yes, I’m that old) singing at the top of my lungs to my favorite Beach Boys tape… Some things never change… Though now it’s my iPod and Beats that I can’t do without and it’s K-Pop and/or J-Rock that I’m groovin’ to. One Ok Rock and My First Story are two of my favorite J-Rock bands and as for K-Pop… Well, that’s a never-ending list but if I had to narrow it down… BIG BANG will forever be at the top of that list, as will G-Dragon who is followed closely by CNBLUE and VIXX. I’m completely addicted to B.A.P’s album, First Sensibility at the moment as well as BTS’s “Boy in Love.” I also love Kang Seung Yoon and Trouble Maker, B1A4, U-KISS, Taeyang, T.O.P, Yong Jun Hyung, TVXQ… As you can see, the list goes on and on. Asking me to pick my favorite K-Pop singer/group is like asking me to pick which of my kids is my favorite… In a word, it’s IMPOSSIBLE! I love them all equally!

 

 

2. What is your current krack drama at the moment?

I think that, at the moment, that would have to be My Love From Another Star. I seriously cannot get enough of that show and I’m so sad it’s ending this week! I don’t know what I’m going to do without my weekly super-powered alien fix!

 

3. If you can spend a day shopping or grocery shopping with your favorite star, who would it be?

That would definitely have to be G-Dragon! I’ve always thought it would be so much fun to spend a day hanging out with GD, just chillin’. I think shopping would fit that nicely though I think we’d have to hit an arcade while we were out because I’d love to challenge him to a DDR dance-off or play “Time Crisis” or “House of the Dead” with him. I wonder how good he’d be at pod-racing…

 

 

 

4. If you’re given a chance to spend time in a drama set, which drama would it be and why?

That’s a tough question but I think ultimately, I’d have to say You’re Beautiful. Having the chance to hang out with Jung Yong Hwa, Lee Hong Ki and Jang Geun Suk would be just about the most perfect day ever.

5. Which 3 drama OST’s did you love? Did you love the drama itself or you just love the OST?

I’m really loving the OST for I Need Romance 3 at the moment, it’s just about perfect and the drama isn’t bad either! 😉 The You’re Beautiful OST was also a good one and it’s no secret I loved that drama! I also really liked the OST for The Master’s Sun, which was my favorite drama of 2013. I think part of what makes a drama good is a killer OST so if a drama has one, I’m probably going to like it.

 

6. Who are the most annoying actors and actresses in dramaland?

Park Jun Keum is without a doubt the most annoying actress in DramaLand… HANDS DOWN!!! Every time I see her in a drama, I want to scream and poke my eyes out! I cannot stand her! EVER! I have no idea what she’s like in real-life but as a character in DramaLand, I have hated every single one of her roles. From Secret Garden to Emergency Couple, this woman irritates me to no end and I wouldn’t be sad if she disappeared from DramaLand FOR.EV.ER!

 

7. Who is the most fashionable k-star/c-star/tw-star/j-star?

Without a doubt, G-Dragon is the best in this department. He’s absolutely the best when it comes to anything fashion related because he’s not afraid to wear anything. I love that! He’s become my fashion role-model, though I’m sure he looks infinitely better in his blue hair and fuzzy black hat than I do in mine…

 

 

 

8. Name your favorite bromance/sistermance from dramaland.

The bromance between Do Min Joon and Cheon Yoon Jae in My Love From Another Star has quickly become my new favorite. The pure and innocent admiration Yoon Jae has for Min Joon is adorable enough in and of itself but now that he knows Min Joon is an alien, that love has gone to a whole new level of adorable hilarity and I love it!

 

9. Name one drama you love to rewatch again and again and again.

There are so many good dramas out there, it’s hard to bring myself to go back and re-watch one when I could be watching something new. That being said, I have watched You’re Beautiful, My Princess and The Master’s Sun more than once. I’ll probably re-watch My Love From Another Star with my husband at some point but I have precious little time to watch dramas as it is so I try to make the most of it by watching as many new dramas as I can. (Gotta keep up on the dramas so I have something to blog about, ya know?)

 

10. If you can marry your bias, who would it be?

Being happily married for almost thirteen years now, I can’t say that I would marry any of my biases. That being said, I would love to befriend them all and not just so I could boast to the world that they were my friends; in fact, if I were to befriend an idol, I would probably never tell a soul. In my eyes, idols and actors are placed on such a high pedestal, they’re bound to feel out-of-touch with the world beneath them. I can only imagine the amount of stress they have to deal with on a daily basis, forced to meet an unrealistically high level of expectations, just to please their fans. Living that kind of life has to be difficult and lonely at times and I would love nothing more than to become the noona they could come crying to when life is hard and they need a comforting word, a smile, a hug and a good home-cooked meal. I would rather be the big-sister to all of my biases than married to one. I know that’s not the fantasy world answer you were probably looking for but it’s the most honest answer I can give.

 

To prove that what goes around really does go around, I’ve been Liebestered again, this time by the lovely Jamie (@DramaNoona) Drama Noona, who wants to know…

 

1) Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging because I wanted to share my wealthy of mommy wisdom (ha!) with the world. When I realized every other mother in the world had a mommy blog where they did the same, I decided to focus my attention on an infinitely more interesting topic… THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF HALLYU! While I may still possess a fountain of motherly wisdom (psshht) I’ve come to realize that spending my time reviewing dramas and fangirling over the latest K-Pop release is a so much more fun than droning on and on about mom life.

 

 

2) How did you come up with the name of your blog?

(I actually answered this same question at the top of this post but I’ll put my answer here too, just so you don’t have to scroll back and forth…)

The idea for Zombie Mamma came to me one very late night as I sat rocking my newborn baby back to sleep. Exhausted beyond words, my mind began to wander down strange paths and somehow arrived at the conclusion that life as a mom is much like living in a post-apocalyptic world and children are surprisingly similar to zombies (they’re relentless, incessant, voracious and at the end of the day you feel like they’ve devoured most of your brain). Not long after, I decided that, as a mom of four, I had enough experience with life in this post-apocalyptic world called motherhood to have some nuggets of wisdom I could share with the world. Thus, ZombieMamma was born and (no big surprise) failed to thrive, as I quickly learned that there were so many mommy blogs out there, mine just got lost in the vastness of the mommy bloggersphere. As my website lay dying, I decided that rather than waste my time and money on something that didn’t matter to anyone, I’d start writing about something that I found infinitely more interesting than life as a mom…K-Dramas and K-Pop. I never really gave a thought as to whether anyone out there would be interested in what I had to say about all things Hallyu, I just wanted to start writing about the one thing that made life in my own post-apocalyptic world a little more bearable. I suppose as a K-drama/K-pop blogger I should change the name of my blog but I kind of like being a zombie so I’ve decided to just go with it.

 

3) Who is your favorite author?

Being an avid reader since childhood, asking me to pick just one favorite author is a bit cruel… There are so many authors I love but there is only one whose stories and characters I love so much, I had to name my kids after (in one way or another) and that author is none other than Jane Austen. She’s my literary hero!

 

 

 

4) What type of show/movie is your guilty pleasure?

That would have to be anything pertaining to vampires. I’m such a vampire junkie (and I don’t mean the kinds that sparkle)! I’m a huge fan of the super-cheesy and campy, tries to be serious but I can never take them as such, vampire movies. Underworld, Queen of the Damned, Blade, Priest, Blood: The Last Vampire, The Vampire Diaries, Being Human… You can see where I’m going with this… Yeah, they’re my guilty pleasure.

 

5) Do you have someone to watch dramas with?

 

There are times when my husband will watch a drama with me but they are few and far between. He works nights a lot, I’m home with a house full of sleeping kids… It’s the perfect time to catch up on all my dramas and enjoy those a few precious moments of “me” time.

 

6) What is your favorite drama genre?

That would have to be romantic comedies. I don’t care how many I watch, I always find myself coming back for more. They’re kind of like my drama crack… I can’t go long without one…

 

7) Do you watch dramas from multiple countries?

 

Absolutely! K-dramas, T-dramas, J-dramas… You tell me it’s good, I’ll watch it! I’m not picky!

 

 

 

8) If you could meet any actor, from any country, who would you meet?

Jung Yong Hwa… kekeke

 

9) Who is your current drama crush?

I think my crush changes with every drama I watch so this one is a bit tricky to answer… I just finished watching My Love From Another Star and the feelings are still fresh so I’ll say Do Min Joon (Kim Soo Hyun) though I’ve also just started watching Bride of the Century and that stars Lee Hong Ki so it’s probably safe to say his character, Choi Kang Ju, will quickly take Min Joon’s place…

 

10) Have you ever been nominated for a blogging award before? 

 

As you can see, this is my third Liebster Award so, yes… Yes, I have. 🙂

 

 

 

So there you have it… My answers to my first, second and third Liebster Awards. I hope you enjoyed reading my answers as I had writing me. Thank you again, my friends, for welcoming me into your world!

 

And now it’s time for me to share the Liebster love by nominating the following for a Liebster Award of their own…

 

1. Tanya of HallyuKnow?

 

2. Karen of Wehaiyo!

 

3. Deeno of Mad Dino Asylum

 

4. Laquita of K-Drama Central

 

5. JacJac of hkoreandramaisland

 

6. Sarah of DramaAdrenaline

 

7. Jaime of The Drama Noona

 

8. Zhaoul of kdramadreamer

 

9. misscupcakees of A Fairytale World

 

10. Martina of martina blogged

 

Just so everyone knows, here are the Official Rules for the Liebster Award…

1. Each nominee link back the person who nominated them.

 

2. Answer 10 questions which are given to you by the nominator.

 

3. Nominate 10 other bloggers for this award who have less than 200 followers.

 

4. Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer.

 

5. Let the nominees know that they have been nominated by going to their blog and notifying them.

 

Finally, here are my questions for those I’ve nominated…

 

1. What was your favorite drama of 2013?

 

2. If K-Pop is your thing, which artist/group is your all-time favorite? Which song and/or album of his/hers/theirs is your

favorite?

 

3. If you were to star in your very own noona romance drama, who would  be the younger man to steal your heart and how would

he do it?

 

4. Who is your all-time favorite K-Drama/K-Pop star/group? Why?

 

5. If you could spend a day hanging out with your ultimate bias, who would it be and what would you do?

 

6. If you could visit South Korea, would you be more interested in exploring the country as a whole or would you rather visit all of your favorite drama locations? Why?

 

7. Which do you enjoy more: Watching all the newest dramas, even if it means waiting a week to find out what happens next or waiting until a drama has finished airing so you can marathon the entire drama in one go?

 

8. In your opinion, which K-drama has the best kiss scene and which has the worst?

 

9. What is the most played song on your iPod (or equivalent) right now?

 

10. If you could interview any Hallyu star, who would it be and what would you ask?

 

I can’t wait to hear from those of you I’ve nominated. I hope you’re as thrilled to receive this award as I was. Happy Blogging!