One Book Stand

Rather like the infamous one-night-stand which it draws its name from, a one book stand would be a guilty pleasure read - one you hastily flip through in the cover of night and embarassingly hide away in the light of day when everyone's looking!

Or rather the books you savour once and never pick up again forthwith.

Now that I can empathize with. Quite a few literary classics I had to struggle through just to complete - since everyone else insists that it's a must-read. Honestly books are after all a matter of taste; not everyone's going to love James Joyce or Thomas Hardy the exact same way.

For me the trouble usually lies with the protagonist. Spectacularly biased, that's me. Give me a meek, ineffectual wallflower of a heroine who finds herself jostled about by the wicked ambitions of others and I'll immediately lose interest ten pages in. Unless she gets her groove back, or has serious hopes of finding it, in a hurry. Scarlett O'Hara, Anne Shirley, Emma - those are the oddly compelling characters that I revisit again - and again. Knock them down to the ground and they'll rise again to give as good as they get.


Sam Dong *giggle* One of the dreamboats in Dream High
Fortunately Korean drama, which is well known for its fair share of pathetic, hand-wringing, woe-is-me victims, has finally conceived of a heroine that I can root for. The wildly obnoxious, insanely ambitious Go Hye-Mi of Dream High. Think of the drama as a Korean version of Fame / Glee with Hye-Mi as the aspiring underdog.

Though she never actually thinks of herself as one. Hell, she's a bitch even from the start. Sure, Hye-Mi's horribly arrogant with a crappy surly attitude but seriously nothing seems to faze this tenacious diva.

Abandoned by her ne'er-do-well bankrupt father in a house that's been foreclosed with a kid sister? Not a problem, she'll just make a deal with the notorious money lender. Hazed by her classmates and accused of being a thief? No problem, she'll just grab a loudspeaker and challenge them. Set adrift in a foreign country without funds and resources? Not a problem, she'll just sing for her supper. Country boy buddy of hers finds himself going almost deaf? Not a problem, she'll make sure he stands on stage to sing no matter what.

Ain't no challenge big enough for this girl - which is why she frequently butts in to solve problems for everyone else. Admirable in a way since I abhor wimpy whiners who give up before ever trying.


Though shockingly blunt - and almost brusque in her dealings with everyone else, Hye-Mi finds herself a bit deficient when it comes to the more tender affairs of the heart. Keeps her feelings so close to her chest that she comes off as a heartless robot in the beginning. Sentimental sweet nothings from her ertswhile boyfriends ( since there's a love triangle ) only give rise to nervous goosebumps since she finds them far too mushy.

My ISO : Sounds like you're really into this Dream High.
Paul : Loving the main character, Go Hye-Mi.
My ISO : Well that makes sense.
Paul : What makes sense?
My ISO : Fierce, bitchy, loud but emotionally stunted? From what you've told me, it sounds like you.
Paul : WTF.

OMG he's right. Damn my ISO for pointing it out.