This Siti Never Sleeps At Night

Up all night so you know what to watch, read, and hear

Tag Archives: WideAwake


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📖 Book Review: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

The Premise: It’s the second prequel to The Hunger Games series. This time, we are following Haymitch Abernathy, the victor of the Quarter Quell, where the number of tributes were twice the usual. We knew he won, but at what price?

The “Sleepy Scale” Verdict: ☕ (Wide Awake)

  • Why it fits: This could have been ⚡(Electric) but I did slow down in the middle. I didn’t know the backstory but I knew the outcome. So, that could be the reason why I put it aside for weeks. But when I picked it up again, I did not want to put it down. I had to pace myself though. Since I’m also watching TV Series.
  • The Pace: If you have read The Hunger Games series, the pace is similar here. The moment we get into The Arena, it’s just fast-paced from that scene onwards. Prior to that, Suzanne Collins was building up the story – family in The Seam, relationships, friendships, etc. Something you may be familiar with in The Hunger Games with Katniss.

✨ What Kept Me Awake:

  • The Covey: If you read (or watch) The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, you know the story of Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray, the victor of the 10th Hunger Games. Lucy Gray was of the Covey family so we knew of them already. This book has more story of the Covey but now, years had passed since then and things changed a lot for them after Lucy Gray’s disappearance.
  • Haymitch Abernathy: We knew of him as that drunkard mentor, whom got lucky that Katniss (and Peeta) were both strong-willed and hard-headed. But what made him that way? He was a compelling character even in The Hunger Games series so having a book just for him made complete sense.
  • The Rebel: I’m revealing a bit here but if you think that the rebel started from Katniss, you can remove that thought with this book. The fire had been kindling, the districts had been in unrest. It just took a girl on fire to build that.

🌙 The “Deep Dive” (Spoilers!)

  • Inside The Arena: What we knew of the Quarter Quell was from the POV of Katniss and Peeta when they were watching it. There was more than meets the eye. The number of things we didn’t know, such as Haymitch being part of The Rebel. They had a plan to blow it all up. And how Plutarch, Beetee, Mags and Wiress were all there from the start.
  • The Ending: I was trying not to cry while finishing the book in a cafe. I can understand why Haymitch was the way he was. I would have broke too. He wasn’t able to live with himself for decades and decades. He wanted to off himself every single day. Until Katniss gave that hope that what he promised his loved one would eventually come true. And that’s when he was able to live with himself. Now that I finished it, I can see why Haymitch understood Peeta and what Peeta went through. It was similar.

Stay awake with me,
Siti


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📺 TV Review: Wind Up (2026) – ☕🦋

Season/Episodes Covered: Season 1, Episodes 1-50

Quick Spark: A promising high school baseball player struggled with yips, putting his sports career in jeopardy. A mysterious transfer student appeared to help.

The Hook: It’s an almost 2-min duration for each episode. There are 50 episodes, which makes the whole drama to be 100 mins. Not even 2 hours. Very easy to consume with it’s TikTok/YouTube Shorts/Instagram Story format. The only problem? You have to pay to watch all 50 episodes or you will wait. Fortunately, for those who are reading this, yours truly paid to watch all 50 episodes. That’s the hook. If you set your settings to the default, the next episode will just play automatically. This format works for me. Though, I wish it’s longer. The director is the same one for Move To Heaven. That might clue you in on what to expect for this bromantic drama. I will not spoil it.

Character Chemistry: Both Jeno and Jaemin are members from the K-pop group, NCT or the sub-unit, NCT Dream. And they have both been known by fans as best friends and even twins. So, there is no doubt about their chemistry. But how’s their acting as their characters? They are not Jeno and Jaemin here. But Woo Jin and Tae Hee. It’s Jeno’s first time as an actor. On the other hand, it’s not Jaemin’s first foray in the acting world. For Jaemin, he’s also been known as the doppelganger of Nam Goong Min. And he does prove that he should be getting more acting offers. Jeno, for a first-timer, does quite well portraying his character. As fans would know, this man does not have an angry bone in his body. But Woo Jin is almost always angry. For good reasons. He does well in acting with his eyes. On stage, he has been known to be quite expressive. And he does the same here. And both of them together? Heartbreakingly sweet. This is supposed to be a bromance drama. Honestly speaking, as a BL watcher, this is toeing the line between bromance and BL. It’s a very thin line.

Pacing Check: It’s 2 mins each episode for 50 episodes. It’s not slow and it’s definitely very quick. I really wish it’s longer. If it’s a full-fledged drama – 12 or 16 episodes – I think the director would be able to flesh out each character more. Delve a little deeper with their back-story. But even with this short drama, the director did manage to touch a little bit of it without it being awkward. Each one makes sense. The flow is actually quite okay as well. I hope that if it does really well in Kitz app, the director would consider doing a full-fledged drama of it. It is a good coming-of-age youth sports drama that is worth to be shown outside of the Kitz app.

Final Sleepy Rating: ☕🦋 Wide Awake and Heart-Flutter (It’s a bittersweet drama that’s good for a late-night binge)

Status: Completed

Notable mention: The director mentioned that this work comes full circle for him working with SM Entertainment. He was the director for EXO’s music video, For Life. And worked with D.O. from EXO for Bad Prosecutor. Wind Up is his third work with SM’s artistes.

Stay awake with me,
Siti


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📺 TV Review: Pro Bono (2025) – ☕

Season/Episodes Covered: Season 1, Episodes 1-12

Quick Spark: A beloved judge was framed and demoted to work with a pro bono team, fighting for the voiceless.

The Hook: At the very beginning, it is kinda slow. But once it hits Episode 2, it gets interesting. Kang Da Wit was at the top as a beloved judge. Now, he has to lead a team of pro bono attorneys. Pro bono, if you don’t know, is voluntary and free. So, essentially, he was doing free work after earning a lot possibly as a judge. Each case the team takes on is intriguing. Initially, the cases seem simple. But the moment Da Wit digs deep into each case, simple is not it. And most times, they are fighting against the powerful people in the society. From having a stray dog as a client, to a child that’s trying to fight against God. From a pretty foreign wife who wants a divorce to a K-pop idol. Each case looks silly on paper and not worth Da Wit’s time. But once he and his team get into each case, it’s more complex than it looks. And with all of that, he is also trying to figure out who frames him. So, you just want to keep clicking on that “Next episode”.

Character Chemistry: I love the growth of each character. Each member of the team has a presumption of Da Wit being an attention seeker. But once they work with and learn from him, he’s not what he is made out to be. And what they learn from him is what helps him in the end. Despite their presumption, they use what they learn from him to help him dig the truth. Which is honestly cute. At the same time, working with them, Da Wit remembers the reason why he wants to be an attorney – to help with the less powerful and the voiceless. The part of society he was from. You can clearly see the teamwork and how Da Wit brings out the best from each of them. What I’m actually really glad of is that there’s no romance. There are some moments between Da Wit and Jung In but that was due to their past relationship. I’m also glad they didn’t make Da Wit and Gi Ppeum into a romantic couple and just keep it as a team leader and the smart right hand woman.

Pacing Check: Was it slow in the beginning? Yes. Did it pick up after Episode 1? Yes. So, you just have to endure one episode before things get interesting to watch. There are only 12 episodes and each case, aside from Da Wit’s own, takes about two episodes max. So, each case does get enough time for you to get into it emotionally. The one about the child who was suing God was quite heartbreaking. I was sobbing.

Final Sleepy Rating: ☕ Wide Awake (Just makes you click that “Next episode”)

Status: Completed

Notable mention: Someone said this somewhere and I agree. Jung Kyung Ho does not have your typical leading man looks but he sure can carry off male lead roles well.

Stay awake with me,
Siti


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📺 Variety Review: Chef & My Fridge – ☕

The Premise: Chef & My Fridge (also known as Please Take Care of my Refrigerator) is a South Korean variety show that invites 8 well-known chefs and 2 celebrity guests. In each episode, a pair of chefs will compete against each other to cook ingredients that come from the fridges of the guests within 15 minutes, in accordance to their orders (and tastebuds). Every episode, chaos usually ensues in the kitchen with the help of the equally chaotic hosts. It’s a long-running cooking variety show since 2014. It stopped in 2019 but rebooted on both JTBC and Netflix.

The Sleepy Scale Verdict: ☕I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard for every single episode. In fact, I used this show as my comfort show in between watching TV series, documentaries or movies. You would usually think Michelin-starred chefs are uppity. But no, these chefs are super hilarious. It truly increases their likeability. Chefs who participated in Culinary Class Wars even find this show to be more difficult. I can understand. Who would think you can cook some fine-dining food in 15 minutes? Not them either. The hilarity usually comes from that time limit and the name of the dish that the chefs come up with – like Su-Su-Su-Su-Super Udon with the Supernova dance from aespa.

The Standout Episode: I think the Su-su-su-su-Super Udon episode is Episode 7 on Netflix. Chef Hoyoung is usually the one coming up with these hilarious names for dishes and dancing to it. So, any episode that he’s in is entertaining. Anytime Chef Kim Poong comes on, just know that it’s going to be wild. And if you want some eye-candy, Chef Son Jong Won will provide you just that. So, it really depends on your mood for the day.

Watchability: You can just watch any episode. You don’t actually have to start from the very first season. If you like a certain celebrity like J-Hope, then you can just skip to those specific episodes.

Stay awake with me,
Siti


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Awake & Rebranding: Why I’m Back to Late-Night Reviewing

Okay, I’m just going to come up and say I was lazy, alright? Maybe lazy is not the right word. Work got to me and I forgot what I truly love to do – writing. Life of a Certified Corporate Girlie 😔

But I’m back now. It’s not because I’m unemployed. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen soon. Reality check: Retrenchment is starting to be common in this part of the world. So, anxiety is there. I just missed writing. I missed yapping to whoever who reads my blog – whether one agrees with my reviews or not. I was craving for some good yearning dramas or movies and Japanese BL came up tops in this category. I need some place to share them. Then I remembered: This blog (lol)

I wanted something that’s a little more “me” rather than the usual template that this site offers. Thus, the aesthetic shift. I will also write casually. I mean, I have been doing so. But rather than the “professional, writing-for-a-news-outlet” style, I will be leaning towards “chatting-with-friends-over-a-bucket-of-popcorn” style.

No one pointed this out. I noticed myself lol. I find that the past “design” (if you can even say that lol) and structure was a little messy. So, I decided that it’s time to organize this. Make everything flow and in theme. And with that, let me introduce to you: The Sleepy Scale!

I will be rating my reviews using the below icons

  • ⚡ Electric
  • ☕ Wide Awake
  • 🦋 Heart-Flutter
  • ☁️ Cozy / Daydreaming
  • 🥱 Drowsy
  • 😴 Snooze
  • 🕯️ The Midnight Oil

I explained it in detail here. Aside from being in theme, it hopefully answers the ultimate question: Is it worth staying up for?

I will still be reviewing movies, TV shows, books and music. That is still the same. You will see some other icons like trigger warning and such just so you know what you’re in for. And with that, I will also be reviewing more BL movies and shows. I have got to admit this: I’ve been watching BL movies and shows but not writing about them. But, let’s be honest, some of the BL movies and shows out there are quite good. Some of the actors branch out further into non-BL movies and shows. One won an award recently as well – Choo Young Woo from You Make Me Dance. But if you are a little sensitive about this part of content, I will be putting a rainbow icon.

I have also added a little touch on the sidebar – Siti’s Midnight List! This is a list that I’m currently watching, reading or listening. I also added those that are in my radar.

If you have any recommendations, feel free to comment and I’ll add to the list.

If you like what you see and you can’t wait to see what’s in store in this humble blog of mine, please subscribe!

Stay awake with me,
Siti

P.S.: I’m a slow and steady reviewer! I focus on finishing a story completely before giving it a final Sleepy Scale rating so you can always expect an honest, full-picture review here