Welcome to DingooDramas’ About page! Whether the winds of fortune led you here, you misclicked, or actually wanted to know more about me, this is where you’ll get answers to some of the questions you’re probably (not) asking yourselves.
Hello, Dingos
Caroline is one of my many names. When I grow up, I want to be the K3 to Ji Chang-Wook’s K2. I also want to be a published author and an artist.
In the meantime, I watch — surprise! — Asian Dramas and anime (Chinese and Japanese both), and ramble about them on the internet. Or, well. DingooDramas.
What’s DingooDramas for?
My ramblings. I watch a lot of Dramas and animes, and I need to talk about it, share my opinion. Here you’ll find my reviews of the shows I’ve watched, and hopefully some recommendations for good shows to watch. Also, music, because music is important.
How did you get into Asian Dramas?
Well… I had no interest whatsoever in that kind of thing before, to be honest. It hadn’t even crossed my mind that Asian countries would have their own TV shows, which, stupid, right? But then, my sister somehow found out about the Japanese drama Hana Yori Dango, which I absolutely loved. I remember watching it with my sisters, the three of us huddled around a tiny ipod screen, squinting to make out the subtitles.
A few months later, I think, she introduced me to You’re Beautiful. It was my first Korean Drama, but certainly not my last. It’s also one of the reasons why I hold a particular fondness for Park Shin-Hye, as I went from You’re Beautiful straight to Heartstrings, and from there to broader horizons.
What about anime?
I actually got into anime looong before I ever heard about Asian dramas. It was a long time ago so I don’t remember it all too well, but I know it all started with Vampire Knight. The series introduced me to manga, and then one day I found out there was a show. I watched it on an ancient computer with such slow connection it wasn’t even funny, but I came back for my dose of excruciating slow buffering every week without fail. From then on, I just kept digging deeper into the world of anime.
Now, almost fifteen years later, I find myself diving head first into the wonders of donghua (Chinese anime), and loving every second of it.
Favorite actors?
Korean: Ji Chang-Wook (his range of expressions was insane in Healer), Yeo Jin-Goo, and Lee Jun-Ki (although he really needs someone to help him choose his projects better), Woo Do-Hwan (Mad Dog).
Chinese: Hu Ge (three words: Nirvana in Fire), Zhu Yi Long (Guardian), Ethan Ruan (he was just too amazing in Legend of Fuyao).
Favorite actresses?
Korean: Song Yoon-Ah (mind-blowing in The K2), Moon Chae-Won, Ha Ji-Won, Park Shin-Hye, Honey Lee.
Chinese: Ju Jing Yi (although I’m not crazy about any of her projects so far), Bai Lu (Untouchable Lovers, The Legends), Ma Sichun (Oh My General), Zhang Yu Xi .
What genres do I usually watch?
Generally speaking, I like plot and action. I like badassery and heroines who won’t let people step all over them. An actor or actress may be enough to tempt me to watch something, but they won’t keep me there if the show’s no good. So, basically, I like action, martial arts, a good romantic comedy here and there, supernatural, fantasy and mecha. But, really, I’m open to anything as long as it manages to catch and keep my interest. (I do, however, tend to shy away from anything too long.)
Lately, I’ve also found myself having less and less tolerance for bad portrayal of female characters and shoddy storytelling in general, which, more often than not, leads me to drop a lot of shows… or just plain finish them out of spite, just so I’m sure nothing in my scathing review can be disproved by the second half of the show. (Yes, Legend of Yun Xi, I’m looking at you.)
I like pretty things, though. I might stay longer if the show has pretty things.
Dude, isn’t this, like, the third time you start from scratch?
Well… You’re not wrong. First time around, I never anticipated I’d get so into this as I ended up being. The blog was more about my experiences abroad, and whatever I felt like reviewing at the time.
Then I really got into it, and learned coding, and thought about making a career out of web development, so I thought: “hey, why not make my blog into a website?” So DingooDramas was born.
Then it turned out to be more trouble than it was worth, and my career led me to publishing foreign rights rather than web development, and so here I am, back to WordPress. Hello, WordPress! Please take care of me!