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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| Oct. 25th, 2009 @ 10:37 pm Dangermousie's kdrama rankings post, part 4. With summaries, reasons, pics and vids | |||
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This is yet another in my series of "Dangermousie ranks all the kdramas she has ever seen" posts. (I have seen over 70 kdramas and, being addicted to ranking, have decided to rank them all). For previous posts go here. Below the cut are dramas ranked 40-30: these range from dramas I like a lot to dramas I love. All of them have flaws that keep them from higher rankings but all of them are dramas I would have no hesitation in recommending. Once again, I have either finished these dramas entirely or finished enough to make up my own mind. content( Best friends, warrior princesses, single mothers, and nuns: if you do not like their stories, the heroines of these dramas will cut off your heads and then pray over the bodies ) Until next time :) | |||
| Sep. 28th, 2009 @ 05:35 pm Such gooey sweetness... | |||
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(I know replies are piling up - I promise to reply asap). Finished Robbers and ep 16 just about made me melt in my seat. So good. This drama is going onto my faves list, not the least because that scene at the end of 14/beginning of 15 - when she finds out the truth and comes looking for him and he walks away, leaving her crying, but then you see him come back and they hold on for dear life, i going on my all-time fave romantic scenes list. This was SO GOOD. And such a lovely, kind ending too. With the shopping, and the three of them being a little family, and kissing, and "see you tomorrow" and other adorableness. And it wasn't a grand explosive thing, how they finally got together, either - it's just he loves her so much, he couldn't deny himself forever and she loves him so much, she can convince him she will be happier if he came home with her. (I did love that nothing got straightened out with his noona - past a certain point, he HAS to give up - he's tried to get her away from her abusive husband about 6 billion times (which is why he ended up in this mess to start with), but if she always keeps going back to him, there is nothing he can do). I am back to my earlier opinion btw - if Jang Hyuk and Lee Da Hae aren't the OTP of Chuno, I'll burn something or similar - their characters in Robbers became one of my hugest OTPs and I refuse to see the chemistry wasted by not appearing again. | |||
| Sep. 28th, 2009 @ 12:05 am Robbers through ep 13 | |||
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Yup, am through ep 13 - quite a marathon. So good. It's not an earth-shaking drama by any means but what it does, it does so well. It's pretty darn depressing now, I must add, and if it wasn't for selective fastforwarding, I wouldn't have been able to deal with the misery but as it is, it works really well. Also, the chemistry between Jang Hyuk and Lee Da Hae (who has the most perfect skin I've ever seen btw) continues incredible. I do admit that poor Oh Joon is about the most nightmare matrimonial prospect out there - no family except for a sister married to an abuser; poor as a church mouse, no real job skills (he can run a gym but that doesn't pay super well), a former reformed gigolo swindler (!!!), and and did I mention the whole potentially dying from a fatal disease bit? Good Lord. If I were Dal Rae's real-life friend, I'd stage an intervention! But as I am not, I really want them together so badly - he really really needs her and her adorable little family and she is so loving and fun around him. | |||
| Sep. 27th, 2009 @ 11:51 am I need a Robbers icon | |||
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I was craving an intensely romantic kdrama and I definitely got it and more. Episodes 9 and 10 of Robbers were some of the most perfect stuff out there. Seriously, he intensity was INSANE. Especially in the scene in the beginning of ep 9 where they confront each other once she found out the truth about his former profession - I was so taken in by their faces and by the raw emotion that I literally forgot to glance down at the subtitles and had to rewind to watch it again to see what they were saying. But the scene at the end of episode 10 with her proposing to him, in jail? That was almost as good. My God - I don't think I've seen such an extreme hothouse of emotion for a while. Watching this really does make me think I don't care whether Jang Hyuk and Lee Da Hae are the otp in Chuno or not - either way, even if they are in the same scene, the chemistry will be insane (I have rarely seen such chemistry as they have in Robbers) and I feel so grateful I got to see them as the otp in Robbers, I really can't complain whatever else happens. Plus, nobody is as good at pining after a pure woman who gives your tattered life its sole meaning and is your one hope of redemption as Jang Hyuk. MMMMMM. I have to say, I am so impressed by Da Hae's character for taking Jang Hyuk's character back. Not because of a former swindle but because it would be incredibly hard to be with someone for whom you are the sole source of happiness and connection to normalcy. That's just so enormous and needy - I couldn't deal with it. | |||
| Sep. 27th, 2009 @ 12:22 am Dostoyevsky would find this story depressing! | |||
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OMG, Dal Rae has just found out. (((Hugs her))) And Oh Joon comes to confess his sins to her but of course she already knows. This is going to be a TRAINWRECK. For once, I can't glee in the angst at all because these two people are so beaten down by life already, I just want them to find some peace and happiness (btw - Oh Joon seems to spend half his time literally beaten down - guy doesn't need a girlfriend but a hospital). Oh, and am I insane or is Mandu, Oh Joon's friend, secretly in love with him? That's got to be the first time I've seen a gay character in a contemporary drama. Anyway, Robbers is SO GOOD. But maybe I am biased because I melt into my seat at the way Oh Joon looks at Dal Rae. My God. | |||
| Sep. 26th, 2009 @ 06:47 pm *insert witty title here* | |||
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I haven't watched Dollouse yet. Boo. Will hulu it. Isn't Jamie Bamber supposed to be on it? YAY! In other news, I am sure you've seen my drama slump lately. I am, however, out of it - no airing drama rescued me but I restarted my interrupted watch of Lee Da Hae and Jang Hyuk's Robbers yesterday after it having been nowhere near my laptop or dvd player for months (I liked what I saw earlier but got sidetracked). I am now through ep 8 and I love it to bits. While the story itself is well-done, that is not what really makes me rabid - LDH as an unworldly, sweet widow with a small child and Jang Hyuk as a gigolo-conman who desperately wants to be a new person are the real obsession grounds for me. They both act very well but also - their chemistry is ridiculous. The scene where he was whispering into her ear in ep 7 (??I think it was 7) - I thought I was going to combust. And then the kiss he pulls her into. AHHHOMG. When is Chuno coming out argh now want it now. Though even if Jang Hyuk and LDH won't end together in Chuno, I won't carp because I still can't believe Robbers gave us a happy(ish) ending. And Da Hae's drama daughter is so adorable! Speaking of Chuno, a poster for it is out:  ( Larger and without text ) I cannot wait. In having its protagonists be people at the margins of society, it's making me think of Damo and even Hong Gil Dong - and I loved Damo and HGD with ridiculous love. | |||
| May. 17th, 2009 @ 06:26 pm Talk about a boyfriend with an undesirable career... | |||
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In-between doing things like reading a book on Mughal Empire, going for a walk with Mr. and Baby Mousie etc etc, I watched a couple more episodes of kdrama Robbers, 2006's drama with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} dangermousie favorites Jung Hyuk and Lee Da Hae. Robbers is a drama I enjoy but watch very slowly, because the protagonists do have rather miserable lives and it can be gritty and desperate and sordid kind of miserable as opposed to prettily-lit. Oh Joon (Jang Hyuk) is a gigolo conman who seduces his marks and then tricks them out of their money. His latest target is eccentric, fragile Dal Rae (Lee Da Hae), a widow with a five-year-old daughter. He needs the money to repay loan sharks who are after him and Dal Rae just happens to have the sum that he needs saved up... Normally what would happen next is a destitute woman, a court case, and a nice jail sentence for the guy in question. However seeing that Oh Joon is played by Jang Hyuk, who specializes in playing bastards with a (rather hidden) heart and Dal Rae is played by Lee Da Hae, surely one of the most adorable kdrama actresses, you can tell the story is going to go rather differently. The reason I really like this drama, even if it does seem like quite an angstfest? The protagonists are grown-ups. Dal Rae acts like a woman with a child, not some sort of an overgrown teenager. She is somewhat sheltered and unworldly but quite strong and adult in her approach to emotions. And the drama never minces its approach that Oh Joon is a bastard who knows he is one. He might be salvageable, he might be pushed into his path by a bad situation but the fact remains he is almost unredeemable. Oh, and I adore Dal Rae's little daughter - she is not a sweet idealized child, but a real five-year-old who can be bratty or throw tantrums... Plus, happy ending! Cute MV | |||
| Jun. 19th, 2008 @ 09:46 am Morning smoochies... | |||
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Hoo boy, Robbers sure has a lot of kissing. There was kissing in ep 4 and now here we are in ep 5 and get this: calm   That's more than in five jdramas put together :P | |||
| Jun. 15th, 2008 @ 11:28 am Lobbyist: even I am feeling 'enough with torturing Harry already' | |||
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Clearly, nobody wants to talk about Robbers. Too bad :) Once I get back, I plan to marathon it, so brace yourself. contentBut for now, I am continuing with Lobbyist and have just finished ep 13. OK, first: this has to be the first drama to max out even my capacity and like of h/c! Seriously. This makes Time between Dog and Wolf seem like nothing. Even I have gotten to the 'this is just making me want to look through my fingers' stage. I mean! It also makes me wonder whether the TPTB who made it have some worrying issues. So far, I have seen 13 eps and there hasn't been a single ep without Harry being mistreated (often, more than once per ep). And by mistreated, I don't mean something mild like 'punched in the face a few times.' In ep 13, the bad guys caught him and Maria again and hung him upside down and whipped him, and then dunked him in a tank of water, and then hit him with the butts of their rifles, with Maria screaming for them to stop as an accompaniment. I mean... I know Song Il-Gook is unbearably gorgeous but you don't have to punish him for it :P The drama continues to be awesome, and I like that we see Maria slide more and more into hardness and cynicism. Not 'like' as it makes her a good person, but it's an interesting story and one they don't often give to the heroines. But of course it makes sense. After that bit in Tortureherostan, she believes Harry is dead, and he was the last person who connected her not just to her past, but to her softer emotions, to her feelings. She loved him, true, but more importantly, he was the one person she allowed herself to be vulnerable with. And after that, the shell is closed completely. She joined arms dealing to get power to avenge her sister, but somehow, the process became all...and now she loves the power and the danger and manipulation and the games. I really think that Harry is by far the more grounded of the two, despite the fact that his life was way worse (hello, abusive foster parents!) because he always had his little sister Su Ji to take care of, and to ground him. I think being a protector of his little sis and a caretaker, too, didn't just ground him, but also led him to become a caretaker for Maria...in a way, that is a mode he falls into automatically. Also, did I mention hugging on horseback? Yum. I hate all the powerful/influential people in this one: Secondary Guy's family/prospective in-laws, Maria's boss, Harry's ex-boss (mob lady). I do love Harry and like Maria. I love Su Ji and her dorky, sweet, adorable boyfriend (how Mob Lady produced someone so nice and well-adjusted is a mistery) and want them to have a happy ending. I also like Secondary Guy who sort-of-kind-of likes Maria, mainly because she reminds him of Eva, her dead older sister (and Maria manipulates it, unsurprisingly). And I love tertiary characters, like Harry's goofy friend or the hotel bellboy etc. So yes, fun. | |||
| Jun. 14th, 2008 @ 09:31 am Of gigolos and single mothers... | |||
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 I adore Robbers. I got halfway through ep 4 and had to run, but OMG, so good. ( Meta and caps for ep 4 ) And then I had to run. Why oh why do I not have this on disc? | |||
| Jun. 13th, 2008 @ 07:28 pm Robbers: a little picspam | |||
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 So yeah, I restarted Robbers and finished ep 3. I really love how the vibrant and joyful and clean spaces of Dal Rae's apartment are, the purely feminine space (grandmother, mother, and daughter) is contrasted with the cluttery, mucky places Oh Joon is in, unless he is in a scene with her. Her evironment has a certain kind of purity and peace in it, doesn't it? ( Caps from second half of ep 3 ) | |||
| Jun. 12th, 2008 @ 11:18 pm This has got to be the most awesome MV in history of ever | |||
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I have just found this and I am breathless: cheerfulIt's a fan-made MV (wow!) for recently ended drama Robbers, starring Jang Hyuk and Lee Da Hae. It makes me want to restart watching this yesterday. I loved the first few eps I've seen but then I stopped, the way I stopped when Time Between Dog and Wolf was airing, despite my love, because I was too terrified it was going to end badly. She is a widow with a small daughter, sweet, eccentric and a little unworldly. He is a damaged man who became a gigolo-swindler in order to pay off his debts and now marks her as his next target but, of course, ends up loving her. Oh, and we find out he can potentially be terminally ill. You see how I thought it would end badly? But it doesn't! Oh. EEEEE! Once I finish Lobbyist, it's this. I adore both Lee Da Hae and Jang Hyuk. | |||
| Jun. 3rd, 2008 @ 03:09 pm Dangermousie’s Top Dozen Most Surprising Drama Happy Endings | |||
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Since Powerful Opponents made me think about drama endings. Now, we all know about those infamous ‘last minute unhappy endings’ which seem to be tacked on to inflict utmost misery (Glass Slippers’ infamous ending, I am looking at you) or those dramas which would pretty clearly end happily as are giggle-fest or unhappily, as they involve hot people with terminal illnesses.  coldBut how about that rare yet delightful category of dramas: surprising happy endings. Not ones that could have gone either way (Smile Again, QSS) but ones you did not expect at all. Behind the cut are Dangermousie’s Top Dozen Most Surprising Happy Endings. ( My Dozen Here ) | |||
| Jun. 3rd, 2008 @ 12:30 pm A bit of a rant | |||
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Ok, so Powerful Opponents ended.  pissed offYou know what else ended? My brief attempts to watch dramas as they air. I dislike it and it always comes back to mess me up. PO would be only the third drama I have ever watched as it aired all the way through. The other two were Hana Yori Dango 2 and Hong Gil Dong. This experiment has officially failed because I get RAGEFUL at endings 66.7% of the time. I love Iljimae but I will wait until completion. ( Ramblings on real-time watching, unpopular endings, and open endings. Spoilers for a whole bunch of dramas but very very vague spoilers ) | |||
| Feb. 28th, 2008 @ 10:44 am Japan and Korea bring on the awesome, yet again | |||
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1. Two and a half eps into Hotaru No Hikari and I continue to adore it as much as ever. I adore Hotaru, who is sooooo funny. Here’s a hint, girl. When you, a twenty-something woman, have to get relationship advice from a thirty-something divorced man (whose wife walked out on him!) and he is still better at it than you are, you need an intervention :) contentI do love that both Hotaru and Takano need to grow and change. FN’s character wasn’t some pure-hearted innocent with an evil, cheating wife. He was a workaholic who neglected spending time with her and I think her walking out is what made him ‘wake up’, and I love that he does realize the need for change. But basically, he is a very nice guy (the scene with the red folder? EEEEE!) and I sort of adore him in his spiffy suits and dorky raincoat. And his interactions with Hotaru make me LOL. I also really like the sweet-natured lady who likes Makoto (the ‘Other Guy’) and Takano’s friend who crushes on her. He is so awesome. He is going to try to help her get Makoto because he wants her to be happy. EEEE! Since I know how the pairings will eventually turn out, I wonder if HnH saying that the best guy for you is your friend, which is actually an awesome observation and good for long-term relationships (my husband is, after all, my best friend). 2. Robbers is ending today. I am going to read spoilers and that would determine whether I watch it or not (I saw first three eps and stopped). It’s simple. If Oh Joon dies, I am gone: I pick my ‘terminal illness’ dramas very sparingly and they have to be extra-special, and this would not be it. I adore Jang Hyuk and Lee Da Hae, but I have plenty of other dramas with them to watch. I wonder if a lot of people feel the same way, because apparently the ratings for ep 15 were under 5%, which is insanely low for a kdrama, and apparently is the lowest rated ep in 2008 (I am sure there will come a drama to beat it). I mean, watching a poor mistreated guy who just has found self-respect and love with a young widow with a cute child, a young widow that already had to lose her husband tragically, succumb to tragedy and terminal illness? Not most people’s cup of soju. ETA: Found out the ending. ( spoilers ) 3. I am excited about an upcoming drama, which will start at end of March: Three Dads And One Mom.  It stars Eugene, Jo Hyun Jae, Jae Hee, Shin Sung-Rok. The only problem I have with this is that I adore Jae Hee with mad pash but have never seen JHJ in anything and I just know Jae Hee will end up being ‘the other guy,’ the Lee Junki character in My Girl, the playboy who falls for the heroine and gets his heart broken and I do not approve of broken-hearted Jae Hee on principle. Plot: Eugene plays a new mother and widow. Her husband has just keeled over. Not only that, but since he was sterile, the baby was created artificially, through a ‘donation’ by his three friends. Thus, according to release at soompi, the three ‘dads’ are: “Jo Hyun Jae who is returning to the TV screen two years after "Ballad of Seodong" will play a comic role as a successful fund manager. Shin Sung Rok plays the role of an innocent detective who cannot even speak well in front of women while Jae Hee is a 'pretty boy' comic artist who likes girls but doesn't know true love.” ( Pics of gentlemen and lady involved ) 4. I really need a Fujiki Naohito icon. I crave it like a drug. | |||
| Feb. 10th, 2008 @ 01:08 am Legend, Hong Gil Dong, Hyang Dan and Robbers. Oh Korea, why are you so good to me? | |||
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I am showing The Legend to  chipperfilmi_girl (we are up to ep 9) and it's even better the second time around. It is definitely my favorite drama and one of my favorite fictional things, period. And I love that despite all their differences of character and personality, DD and Sujini have one huge thing in common: they are uncomplicated when it comes to protecting/caring for people they consider 'theirs.' It's just the thing you do, no thinking, the end. Sujini goes after DD no matter what, and DD offered to die to save the lives of the Black Team. Yup. Mmmmm. Oh, and I hate King Daddy much more this time around. The first time, I mildly disliked but this time? He is the worst possible ruler and father. Ugh. It's all his fault, the mess the kingdom is in.But anyway, the post is not about this, but about ep 10 of Hong Gil Dong. Namely I bring you caps behind the cut.  ( Caps for ep 10 of HGD ) I have also continued my watch of Legend of Hyang Dan, which continues to be cute but not earth-shaking. But it's quite pretty.  ( Hyang Dan pics ) And because I have them, random caps from ep 3 of Robbers. ( Caps here ) | |||
| Feb. 7th, 2008 @ 03:30 pm Books and dramas... | |||
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I am reading Eva Ibbotson’s Countess Below Stairs and it’s delightful: a cross between an early Woodhouse, if he wrote romantic instead of purely funny, and Georgette Heyer if she wasn’t a snob. It’s a novel about Anna, an aristocratic Russian emigree after the Revolution, who ends up in England in 1920, and becomes a housemaid in a rural aristocratic house with a bit too much enthusiasm. It’s very very funny, and rather sweet, and has some awesome characters in addition to Anna: such as a hero named Rupert (how could you not like a hero named Rupert?) who is a WWI veteran, the Dowager of the estate who communes with spirts who only tell her most mundane things, a butler with an elderly mother who likes to throw cups out of the window, Anna’s mother who wants to economize by selling vast quantities of milk, and horrid Muriel, believer in eugenics, among others. It’s a lovely book which would have made an awesome 1940s movie or maybe a cute Korean movie of today :P I didn’t even mind her being a Russian aristocrat, which is a big deal for me :P coldIn news that are less delightful, I read spoilers for ep 11 of Robbers and surprise surprise ( Cut for that plot development and a couple of cute pics ) | |||
| Feb. 1st, 2008 @ 05:15 pm Yup, still dramaing | |||
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Oh, Beautiful Days, you are such a dangermousie-pleaser, aren't you? People, they reconcile amidst cherry blossoms. In the rain. And later go to karaoke where she gets Mr. Icicle to sing. 'I love you' singing. See why I thought she was destined to die? I mean, a few eps ago they gave us running on the beach! These things are never supposed to end well in kdrama, so I remain shocked at the happy ending here ;) I suppose they thought giving Hero a dead mother, a disturbed sister, an Evil Father, a martyr stepmom and quasi-brother from hell, plus making him lose his inheritance at one point, is enough to give the guy a romantic break. Hmmm. cheerful( Beautiful Days randomness through ep 13 ) I think the thing I like most about BD is that it does something not often done in drama: it gets the couple together very early (and 'together together' not one of those arranged marriage type stories where they have to learn to care for each other) and the bulk of their interaction and the story is really about them learning to deal with each other and their love and working on it. I mean, their love isn't in doubt: there is never some 'other woman' for Hero (one he likes first, or who chases after him or whatever). And while Ugly Brother would love to get it on with the Heroine, she is never in doubt she likes Hero and never leads Ugly Brother on, and even the Hero is not really in doubt about her lack of feelings for UB, not really. Basically, what they have to deal with is to maintain their relationship in the face of external factors (his psycho family, her eventual illness) and, even more interestingly IMO, internal factors, such as the fact that he is a workaholic, and someone who finds it hard to open up and trust, or express himself, someone who is unsure how to act in love or someone who needs to deal with his own insecurity. Or the fact that she is a little too quiet, and finds it hard to express what she really wants to others (as opposed to with him, where she will push back). I find this sort of thing much more interesting than 'will they ever discover their love' type stuff. Cute BD mv, even if you have to endure Ugly Brother. In other news, I adore Robbers but am trying to hold off until I make sure Hero of it isn't going to drop dead. Nosebleeds in dramaland are a total sign of doom and I WILL NOT BE PLEASED if he dies here. He needs to redeem himself and find happiness with Lee Da Hae. YES. He'd better. I am OK with a little jailtime though (which one of the stages is bargaining, anyway?) Oh, and I am working on a huge meta for Coffee Prince and a list of Top 10 twdramas and jdramas. Let's see how this goes. | |||
| Jan. 30th, 2008 @ 11:18 pm Robbers is charming and Hyang-Dan is pretty... | |||
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cheerful Take One Spunky Widow. Add One Desperate Conman. Toss in some cool secondary characters, and neat art designs. Stir. What do you get? Robber. A couple of eps in, and I find this drama quite awesome for a variety of reasons: Robber has a very very cool heroine. Lee Da Hae's heroine, Dal Rae is a widow who is neither beaten-down, weepy, nor childishly cute. She is charming yet not demure, but is someone who is outspoken and someone who knows her own mind and is quite happy with her life the way it is now: living with her five-year-old daughter and her mother-in-law. She is actually a rare heroine I could see happy without a man. I also find myself very interested in Oh Joon (the titular character, played by Jang Hyuk, who seems to be carving out a small niche playing men who fall in love with women with moppets). He is not an admirable person in the least, seeing that he is a man who seduces women out of their money. But not only is he rather fun to watch regardless, there is something more to him. In part, it's his sheer desperation (he owes money to some pretty nasty people who will off him if he doesn't pay off), but it's something else too, maybe the fact that he is a bit dorky. In fact, I can pinpoint the exact moment Robber went from 'enjoyable' to 'oooh, must see more' for me: when it is hinted that the reason for his choice of job and running after money was to take care of his Noona (which means older sister, but I am not sure if in this case it's a courtesy title and they are not blood related). I suppose it's like Rain in Sang-Do. Just as in a Bollywood movie, no heroine is allowed to be a whore unless she has a sick mother to support, in a kdrama, no male lead can be a gigolo unless he has some pressing, altruistic reason for such an activity. Heh. I also like all the secondaries, and all relationships between characters, especially one between Dal Rae and her mother-in-law. Most importantly, I can smell potential for angst the way shark can smell blood in the water, and I can tell this is going to pay off, big time. But then, it makes sense. No matter how light it started, a drama whose protagonist is a male prostitute who scams his victims, is unlikely to be Sweet-18-light. Bring it on, say I. ( Picspam of first two eps ) And because I had them, some shots from the beginning of Hyang Dan ( screencaps here ) | |||
| Jan. 30th, 2008 @ 04:01 pm Reading and Watching | |||
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Current Mood:
In a little vacuum after Legend (and before it took over, as well), in-between watching the airbrushed angst of Beautiful Days (seriously, Hero. Just ditch the family and move to Canada, Australia, or Brazil. You’ll be much happier), I have also tried watching/reading various things that I haven’t posted about before, with various degrees of success. contentWATCHING 1. Angel the Series: I did start AtS and watched the Pilot. While a little clunky, it was nonetheless quite fun, whether because David Boreanaz looked quite good, I was amused by Doyle, or because of coat-billowing scenes. I like Cordelia much better than I did when I was younger (she is amusing on my screen) but I’d still sic a pit bull on her if I had to deal with her in RL. 2. I have watched Tricky Master, a made in 2000 Stephen Chow movie. The plot made no sense and was there just for very very lowbrow gags. Regrettably for my claims to taste, I LOLed throughout. 3. Me and Romeo x Juliet anime just don’t gel. It’s beautifully animated, has a cool concept and nice enough characters, but I find it a struggle to get through more than one ep at a time. I think I’ll be waving it buh-bye. 4. I have tried Legend of Hyang Dan, a two-part ‘special’ (i.e. short) drama, which is yet another reinterpretation of the famous classic Chunhyang story (you know: she is virtuous courtesan, he high official/righter of wrongs, star-crossed love blah blah). In this two-parter, the take on the story is comic and light-hearted, and largely similar to the classic tale but also with a twist. Our hero, Mong-Ryong, is a useless upperclass lamo by day but a daring Robin Hood by night. Or something. One day, running away from the law, he crosses paths not with Chun-Hyang, but her practical, sweet servant Hyang Dan. And that is who he falls in love with, not Chun-Hyang. Ergo the twist. It appears cute enough, but trying it after the Legend is about the worst timing for it. It’s like having chips after a fancy French meal. I like chips a lot, but you have to admit, this would really not work. It also suffers in comparison both with the amazing arthousy movie Chunhyang, that came out a few years back (and was a serious, classic treatment of the story) and the adorable and sharp Delightful Girl Chun-Hyang drama from two or so years back, with its modern twist on the story. Of course, comparing an enjoyable if unearthshaking special with an arthouse film and two of the best kdramas out there is a bit unfair. It does appear a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours and I will be finishing it soon. Still, when a character made a Hong Gil Dong reference, I caught myself checking for more subs of HGD instead :) 5. By far the best of the bunch of ‘new’ things checked out is the currently airing Robbers. Robbers is a drama which involves a character played by Jang Hyuk (mmm, quite hot!), a handsome, unscrupulous conman who makes his living by preying on women and getting their money, and his interaction with a clear-headed, adorable single mother, played by my kdrama favorite, Lee Da Hae. Something tells me he will fall for her instead. I am only 15 or so minutes into it, but I loved it. LDH is, as usual, irresistible. Unlike in her previous drama Hello Miss, she also doesn’t have to play a high-strung character, which helps. Jang Hyuk is handsome and unrepentant and while his character is not nice by any stretch of the imagination, he is incredibly fun to watch. I can’t wait to see sparks fly. Plus, the colors are pretty and other characters appear cool too. First five eps have been subbed so I foresee a pleasant catching-up. I have also fallen behind on 1 Pound No Fukuin (and need to catch up) and can’t wait for more Hong Gil Dong. READING 1. Heyday by Kurt Andersen. Set in 1840s USA, it’s a good read, a sort of novel Dickens might have written if he was a contemporary author. The author is a bit too fond of ‘oddity’ but it’s a good book overall. There is a love story, adventure, and a murder or three. 2. A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage. A fun and poppy (if too Eurocentric for my liking) read about the influence on human civilization of beer, wine, liquor, tea, coffee, and soda. 3. Cygnet by Patricia McKillip. Based on a post by queenofthorns. It’s a collection of two different fantasy novels. It seems good so far but I haven’t read enough to be sure. | |||