Musings of the Obsessive Kind
She's a mite whimsical in the brainpan.
Musings of the Obsessive KindShe's a mite whimsical in the brainpan. |
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| Aug. 15th, 2008 @ 01:21 am Yup, still on a wuxia kick... | |||
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Current Mood:
 chipper EEEE! Got my hands on the English-subbed version of Da Ren Wu (Big Shot or Hero, I have seen it translated both ways), last year's wuxia drama starring Nicholas Tse and Angelica Lee. It's based on a novel I've never read and the plot sounds so delicious: Naïve, young Tian Si Si (Angelica), the apple of her father’s eye and the sole heir to her family’s riches, believes that she is in love with the great romantic hero, Qin Ge of the Meteor Clan. She dreams of traveling the martial arts world, actually meeting Qin Ge and having adventures just like many of the stories that she has read and heard. From childhood, she has been betrothed to the younger son of General Yang, Yang Fan (Nic), whom she despises. Handsome, melancholy, talented Yang Fan has been on a mission for his father to secretly investigate the Meteor Clan whose upright reputation and strength has been rising in the martial arts world to rival that of Shaolin and Wudang. He comes back injured and somewhat changed, troubled with memory loss after an investigation. He marries Tian Si Si as his father ordered, but Tian Si Si has other plans for her life and runs away at the first opportunity. She quickly becomes entangled in plots and counter plots as she discovers the real world. Both Yang Fan and Qin Ge are ordered to go after her. All is not what it seems as the Meteor Clan and its members, rivals and government agents are at work behind the scenes. Seriously, how many ways do I love the premise? * Couple falling in love after marriage? Check. Though seeing your arranged match is Nicholas Tse it's not really a hardship * Cooky heroine * Angst and funniness * Love triangle * Nic Tse as the lead (if Handsome Siblings was all about him, it would be such a huge fave). I mean, he doesn't even need to act, he can just stand there and I'll ogle him. Look at the cute MV for the OTP (with hints of a triangle): I think I fell for it about the time he let her (she is possessed) stab him through the shoulder. I am so predictable! I have also got Men and Legends (Dylan Kuo and Peter Ho, does it really need a plot?) and Fairy from Wonderland (finally. I want to see Hu Ge write on the walls in blood). But all this shall not sate me! I need Legend of Condor Heroes and I can't find any subs except for Vietnamese yet. I need! Please!!! I mean, look. I want this now:  OK, will distract self with another favorite wuxia OTP (Flower/Orchid from Handsome Siblings. Angsty assassins and common-sense fighter girls ftw). | |||
| Aug. 13th, 2008 @ 12:22 pm Yup...angsty sexy assassins in love. Still. | |||
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Current Mood:
 content Newest Tip for the “Crazy Secondary Girl Stalker Handbook:” Be satisfied if you are the Emperor’s favorite concubine. Going after a guy who never indicated any interest in you, is in mourning for his beloved dead wife (which you know about), and deciding that the best way to win him over is to dress like her, come into his room in the middle of the night and tell him you can be her? Will likely not work out. I’ve restarted watching Handsome Siblings, the wuxia drama with Nicholas Tse, Dicky Cheung and Fan Bing Bing, that I have been watching on and off for months. I can’t watch it in a binge: not only is it too long, but it’s incredibly uneven: some parts of the story I love to bits (anything involving Flower and/or Orchid) and some I couldn’t care less about (all the palace intrigue, not too mention waaaaay too much of Little Fish and his antics). It would not replace Return of the Condor Heroes (which might have an equally gigantic cast of supportings but firmly focuses on the OTP and their angsty, forbidden, sword-wielding love) as my fave wuxia, but it’s definitely super awesome in places. I am beginning to think it’s some sort of a wuxia trope to have one half of an OTP jump off a cliff at the place his true love died, in order to reunited with her in death, only to discover her alive at the bottom. When that happened in Return of the Condor Heroes, I just thought it was unique to that story, but here we are in Handsome Siblings and here we are again! We have Flower, the hot angsty former assassin, jump off the cliff where his wife, Orchid, jumped off to her death a few months earlier in order to save his life (long story. For details click on tag, short version is: Flower’s masters are evil psychos). But then he fails to die (due to his super-awesome martial arts skills I am sure) and is all bleeding and injured and then he staggers into this house at the bottom and he finds Orchid’s scarf. Clearly, somebody has been doing demographic surveys, because I can imagine few things more appealing to this particular viewer than a wounded, bleeding hottie, burying his face in his wife’s scarf and whispering her name. And then we see a bowl fall and Orchid comes in, and there is clutching (mutual) and weeping (his) and her bandaging his arm which necessitates taking half his shirt off (yes, thank you) and explanations and conversations about the baby kicking. All things I highly approve of. Ah, if this drama centered only around Flower and Orchid, it would definitely go into my Top 10. Did I mention that while the protagonists of ROCH are my fave wuxia OTP, I think Orchid is my fave female wuxia character? She is just so competent, pragmatic, and full of common sense. Which balances Flower out perfectly, what with him being super-reserved, super-emo, and only slowly getting the hang of this whole ‘emotion and interaction’ thing. I think part of the reason he is so madly in love with Orchid, to the level of not being able to function without her, is because she is the first normal person he has. (Well, there is Little Fish but it would be twincest). You know, I do like Little Fish. He is capable and compassionate and certainly way better adjusted than Flower. I would have loved him to bit if he was supporting. But not when it becomes all about him. I mean, when Flower lost his wife, he wandered out in the desert to die (and then had an interlude of supreme hotness when he was rescued and returned the favor to the Princess who did it and wore a mask :P) and then when his obligations were discharged, jumped off a cliff. Fish lost his wife and wept a bit and got over it and is now onto his next OTP. That is probably healthy, but way unappealing. | |||
| Apr. 23rd, 2008 @ 12:44 am Ahhhh, my crazy wuxia OTP | |||
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Current Mood:
Because my earlier post reminded me of them, here is a MV of one of my favorite drama couples, Nicholas Tse and Fan Bing Bing from Handsome Siblings coldI mean, how could you not love them? He is someone trained from infancy to be an assassin by two crazy evil ladies who live in a cave, and who ends up emerging into the world as a rather understandably reserved and not-knowing-how-to-interact guy. Who fights with a fan. YES. With a fan. She, OTOH, is a spunky and awesome fighter lady, who is also remarkably well-adjusted (she has to be. Someone in that OTP has to be) and capable and who he ends up falling in love with. And from then on it's evil families, blindness, self-sacrifice, cages (YES), almost-deaths, poisonings, and other stuff that is so incredibly full of the AWESOME. I mean, what more can I say after I mention that the awesome fact that the Evil Ladies injected him with a poison that gives him hideous pain if he falls in love, and the more he falls the worse it gets, is only the beginning. Oh yes. AWESOME. | |||
| Feb. 22nd, 2008 @ 03:53 pm Submissive Asian girl stereotypes? Think again... | |||
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Current Mood:
I was going to do a post on cool drama guys with swords but then I thought...ehhhh, everybody's done one of those. I want to do a cool post on kickass drama GIRLS with swords or guns. And why they are awesome. calmSo here goes: ( Like your girls elegant but kickass? Enter here ) | |||
| Nov. 27th, 2007 @ 09:48 am Handsome Siblings makes with the angst... | |||
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Current Mood:
Poor Flawless Flower. He is now wondering in the desert, parched with thirst, and then looks at his water flask (which has some water in it) and lies down and pours it out, whispering 'Orchid, wait for me.' coldOMG. And then he is rescued by a passing desert tribesleader lady and wakes up and the first words out of his mouth are 'Orchid?' GUH. I've forgotten what crack Handsome Brothers are when they focus on Flower. Did I mention that yes, Flawless Flower is his given name? And he is a former assassin? And Orchid is his wife, who killed herself at the behest of his horrendous family to save him? YEAH. Never change, wuxia. Here is an awesome Flower/Orchid OTP vid: Btw, the name for this drama is all wrong. It should be 'Handsome brother and mediocre looking brother.' Because Little Fish? Nothing to write home about, to put it mildly. | |||
| Jun. 20th, 2007 @ 03:36 pm Largely about Handsome Siblings... | |||
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Current Mood:
First off, volume 12 of Wallflower is out. EEEE! contentI am halfway through ep 22 of Handsome Siblings. Since I ff past all the non Flower/Orchid stuff, it’s amazing how fast it goes. Though I confess that Little Fish and Angel resolution made me sniffle like mad. ( spoiler ) But with the exception of stuff like that, Orchid/Flower is where it’s at for me. ( OTP mad squee ) | |||
| Jun. 19th, 2007 @ 11:39 am I die of Handsome Siblings glee | |||
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I had to stop ep 8 in order to return to real life which is just as well, as prolonged hyperventilation is bad for you. chipperBut. BUT. OMG. ( Mad OTP squee behind cut ) | |||
| Jun. 19th, 2007 @ 09:34 am Handsome Siblings | |||
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Current Mood:
I take time out of my episode 8 watching because I am screaming. High-pitched. bouncyLiterally. OMG. OMG. Flower/Orchid stuff in this ep is the most awesome perfect angst-melodrama kink ever. It hits everything. Also? Princess Moon, the scary psycho ruler of the Floral Palace that is doing all the evil stuff? OMG. Scary. Also, she is really getting a kick out of manipulation and torture. Yikes. HATE. Lady, it isn't a level playing field when he's a young kid who's never been out in the world, whom you've brought up, and who you are now toying with like a cat with a mouse, enjoying every bit as he is suffering trying to protect his OTP. You should seriously DIE. ETA: I must admit Orchid's reaction to the crazy situation is made of awesome. She is all 'My OTP's 'family' is a bunch of abusive psychos and they have kidnpapped me and put him in a cage. Right. Must fix.' She doesn't cower at all. You go! | |||
| Jun. 19th, 2007 @ 12:43 am Handsome Siblings: one incredibly hot sibling and one mediocre one would be a fairer assessment | |||
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Finished episode 7 of Handsome Siblings. content![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} meganbmoore, you are right, this is a very fast watch.In part it's because I am fast-forwarding past all the non Flawless Flower (Nicholas Tse) or Iron Orchid (Fan Bing Bing) parts. They are OK, but they are not why I am watching this. Basically, I couldn't care less about Little Fish (the eps with his upbringing flashback? The fastest watch ever, on 8x), and am not too interested in the palace intrigue. But OMG OMG. The fights are all spectacular (they are less 'fantastical' then ROCH's and I love that. I am especially in love with the one in the dyer's house, with all the colored cloths. And OMG, every time Nicholas Tse fights. *swoon*). And, most important of all, Flower/Orchid OTP makes it all worthwhile. Little Fish? Blah. Infighting? Blah. The OTP? Remedies it all and more. ( Spoilers through ep 7 ) | |||
| Jun. 18th, 2007 @ 11:04 am Largely about awesomeness of Handsome Siblings OTP | |||
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Current Mood:
Saw Ocean’s Thirteen which was totally fluffy, but complete fun. I am in the tiny minority who liked 12 the most out of the movies (I am a sucker for self-referential humor) but this was quite fun. Except ( spoiler ) calmI am in the middle of ep two of Handsome Siblings and OMG. I have fallen SUPER HARD for the OTP of Flawless Flower and Iron Orchid. They might sound like some sort of botany club but they are almost anime in their interactions, characters and roles. The thing is, he is a very reserved (even icy) young man who is awesome at martial arts. He is also rather unworldly as he was brought up in a cave by a bunch of nutters (order of ladies who keep all men around, except for him, in cages). I don’t think he is super sure about proper emotions, actually. I actually don’t think that until this mission (win the championship in order for his order to become head of martial artists) he’s ever been in the world much at all. Iron Orchid, meanwhile, is the daughter of the old leader of that martial artists society, who is no mean fighter herself, and who has also come to seek the championship. Iron Orchid seems strong, pretty, and incredibly well-adjusted, which I think she is going to need, as Flower probably has enough issues for two. After all, I read a very few spoilers (though please don’t spoil me further), and he is, unknowingly, being groomed to be the bad guy assassin. I was a goner from the first meeting actually. Iron Orchid is walking in the woods with Little Fish (the other main character who I find rather irritating. He is supposed to be funny but I guess humor just doesn’t translate) and as the two of them just left a meeting where they pissed off a lot of important people, they end up in a trap, with wooden stakes coming straight at them and about to die, when Flower appears and demolishes the trap and then, as the back-up assassins spring out, takes out about twenty highly skilled killers, all by himself. Without getting his clothes dirty. I love the look on Orchid’s face as she sees him stand there, at the end :P And then, the super awesome bit follows. Repeating their earlier coversation and staring at Flower, Orchid asks Fish ‘What do you think of love at first sight?’ and he repeats his earlier comment ‘I like it but don’t believe in it.’ And then she grins and goes ‘I do.’ Heeeeeeee. And then they come up to Flower who is still standing there and Fish (who’s met Flower before) is talking to him but Flower ignores him and addresses Orchid, abruptly: ‘Why are you staring at me?’ LOL LOL LOL. Have you looked in a mirror, boy? Did I mention that before he left the cave, the evil head lady injected him with something to deter his falling in love as now every time he likes/loves a woman, he is going to be in severe pain? (Hon, he is in his early twenties. You’d have to amputate things for him not to think about girls, btw). I see awesome potential for angst. And boundless capability for crazy in-laws. Oh MAN. It doesn’t hurt that Nicholas Tse, who plays Flower, is drop dead gorgeous, especially since the makers agree with me and the first few times he appears, there is a shoujo-like storm of petals around him. Did I mention that he has long black hair, is dressed in immaculate white, and is equally proficient with sword and fan? Another thing that I think is really awesome? Fan Bing Bing who plays Orchid is an attractive woman, but she is not drop dead beautiful like (e.g.) Crystal Liu. But she does look strong-willed and intelligent. | |||
| Jun. 18th, 2007 @ 12:28 am (no subject) | |||
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Current Mood:
Afer ep 9 of Taiyou No Kisetsu I decided I needed a break. I was hating Tatsuya. I love and feel very sorry for Shinji though, the object of Tatsuya's wrath. After Tatsuya ruined him and Shinji's friend tried to stab Tatsuya but Shinji wouldn't let him and got accidentally stabbed instead, but then, instead of railing, as all his friends watch in shock, he kneels to Tatsuya, bleeding, and begs him to give Yuki (Shinji's fiancee that he's loved since childhood that Tatsuya seduced) back? Yeah. I think in a lot of other dramas, he'd be the protagonist instead. Nice guy who befriends the 'villain' who seeks to ruin his life for something Shinji's family did, not him. contentBasically, I loathe the protagonist about now, when you add in the fact that he treated Eiko (the heroine) abominably. Ugh. So I decided I wanted some period fun, ergo I finally started Handsome Siblings, Chinese period drama with Nicholas Tse (I posted about it before). I am only at the opening credits but let me say that NT fighting blindfolded in the rain is the hottest thing ever. | |||
| May. 19th, 2007 @ 01:56 am Wherein I ruminate on my perfect entertainment ideas... | |||
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Current Mood:
I confess. After swearing I won't watch stuff on the tinyscreenland of youtube or crunchyroll, unless it wasn't available elsewhere, I betrayed my principles :D In this case, the DVDs will be here next week, but I can't wait and so I started despite my efforts to hold out :)  cheerfulCause of my downfall? Handsome Siblings. Handsome Siblings is a Chinese drama that is based on a simple premise: One hottie with sharp implements is good, true. But you know what’s better? Two hotties with sharp implements. Also, if you throw in some women fighters to the mix, that’s the best. And you know what? I am totally on board with that idea. In fact, I think it’s sheer genius and writers past, present and future should be mandated to utilize it. Come on, you know that a romcom would be better with swords. You can feel that the dating reality show should be settled with battle axes instead of cattiness and coy answers. Right? Right? Anyway. HS has a protagonist for every taste. If you like your guys laid-back, funny, and prankerish, there is sibling number 1, Little Fish as played by Dicky Cheung. He is cute enough and I like him well enough, but I admit that my heart belongs to… Sibling number 2. If you are like me and you like your heroes angsty, intense, reserved and with an impossibly doomed OTP, then Nicholas Tse’s character is your man. In RL, Dicky Cheung is a much better choice, as he is...easy-going, well-adjusted. In fiction? Heck no. That's why it's fiction. In fiction I drool over angsty woobies, especially when portrayed by Nicholas Tse. His character's name? Flawless Flower. Yeah. Not really a great name for a swordsman. I bet at least some of his angst stems from the name (which smacks of ‘but I always wanted a girl, and already came up with a name, too!’ naming). What kind of a psycho would name a kid thus, you may well ask. Weeee-eeee-eell. The lady who brought him up is a somewhat overracting woman who would easily kill the kid’s parents because the father dared to fall in love with mother instead of her. (I bet the mother was most likely less nutty). And then take the kid in to raise him as a little automaton, to train him to kill his brother. Oh, and did I mention that Ms. Psycho, head of a pretty bizarro group, kept all the men around who weren’t FF in cages? Understandably, FF has a whole bunch of intimacy with ladies issues. Nothing a good dose of therapy wouldn’t cure but therapy hasn’t been invented back then, so he has to content himself with fighting things (YAY) and falling madly in love with Orchid, an awesome awesome female fighter played by the gorgeous Fan Bing Bing (DOUBLE YAY). I gotta say if they beat the odds and end up living together happily, those family fights would really be pretty destructive as they can each probably dismantle a house with their weapons :D And herein lies my favorite (and meganbmoore’s favorite) part of the story. Because his evil masters want him in love as much as they would welcome advent of pacifism, so a lot of angst and impossible love and angst and angst follows. I mean, how could you not love a story where (according to my spoiler guru meganbmoore, as I haven't gotten there yet) they put him in a cage and mandate him to kill her and when he refuses they inject her with a poison that would slowly kill her. And that is only the beginning of the angst, small fry relatively, in the first dozen eps! Heh. Rock on, Handsome Siblings (well, to be honest it should be entitled 'One nice looking and one bloody gorgeous sibling' but accuracy in advertising has never been a drama strong point). Soon, we shall take over the world. Oh, and Mr. Mousie and I watched Shrek the Third tonight. I had a great time, it was very funny. It was also quite forgettable. Which basically sums up my opinion on the first two as well. | |||
| May. 16th, 2007 @ 10:09 pm Because am giddy... | |||
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Current Mood:
 complacentmeganbmoore posted some awesome icons and vids of Handsome Siblings here.Go, check it out! Inducement? How about that it has Nicholas Tse angstily fighting blindfolded in the rain? This must be one of the hottest things ever. | |||
| May. 14th, 2007 @ 09:38 am Handsome Siblings....aaaaaaahhhhh, I am so predicatable. Just give me an angsty guy with sword | |||
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Current Mood:
In case you wondered about my recent interest in Chinese period drama Handsome Siblings (this will be the first mainland Chinese drama I watch), I present the below music vid (yup, chippermeganbmoore already posted it on her LJ). Very briefly summarized, HS (also known as Proud Twins and Xiao Yu Er Yu Hua Wu Que) is the story of two brothers separated at birth who both grow up to be fearsome fighters and coincidentally meet when grown up. Little Fish (Dicky Cheung) is laid back and mouthy. Flawless Flower (Nicholas Tse. Preach it, sisters, with that name! Heh :)) is as serious and reserved as Little Fish is not. I confess to mainly being interested because of Nicholas Tse's storyline. His character falls in love with the girl he meets in a battle tournament, and there is angsty, forbidden, OTP-squeeful love. Shall I enumerate the reasons? 1. Nicholas Tse 2. Nicholas Tse with long hair and sword 3. Nicholas Tse angsting with long hair and sword 4. Nicholas Tse angsting over his OTP with long hair and sword 5. Nicholas Tse having an angsty star-crossed OTP (he meets her in combat tournament, YES). With a cool girl and hugging and kissing and crying. 6. Did I mention that when not with a sword, he fights with steel tipped fans. And still defeats people. Now that is pretty freaking awesome. 7. Nicholas Tse was the only guy brought up by women fighters group who punish men who in their estimation wrong women. Except for him, they kept every guy around in cages. And from what I can see, they eventually put Nicholas Tse in a cage. 8. Both the heroines (the heroes' OTPs) are cool and not wimpy. 9. The other brother also appears OK though I admit to a markedly smaller degree of interest in him. But he fights people which always earns points. 10. Did I mention Nicholas Tse? In white. Anyway, vid: | |||
| May. 11th, 2007 @ 08:23 pm Where I ramble largely on feminism in Delightful Girl Chun Hyang (+ a few comments on other dramas) | |||
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Current Mood:
I think Delightful Girl Chun-Hyang is one of the most positively feminist dramas I've seen, and Chun-Hyang one of the most feminist heroines out there. Dramas are often populated by boy obsessed, cheerful scatterbrains. There is nothing wrong with that, as they can be adorable. But it's so nice to see a clever, strong heroine that isn't any less charming than the most fairy-tale princess in need in rescuing, and who is appreciated for what she is. chipper( Very long and rambly thoughts ) Oh, and I bring you this awesome MV from DGCH (there are a lot on youtube it seems). ( MV behind the cut ) In other news, I got my shiny DVD set of Karei-naru Ichizoku with yummy, angsty, be-suited Kimura looking at me. Yay. Also, I just found a new drama I must watch (blame meganbmoore). It's Chinese Handsome Siblings. 40 episodes of Nicholas Tse with long hair, sword and angst? Thank you, Drama TPTB!!! | |||