I bought a netbook on Friday. The keyboard and whatnot are so tiny! And, I kind of find it annoying that there is no CD/DVD drive, but. . . it is a good little netbook for school or when I travel to visit friends/family. So far, I really like it - though it cost me way too much in my mind.


Plus, I think that this will be good if/when my DELL dies. (And, I think it will die within the next few months.)

I watched the first disc of Glass Slipper via Netflix - and now the rest of the first volume is unavailable. And, I don't want to watch episodes 21-40 without watching episodes 4-20.


Boo to you Netflix! I hare how they always lose the Korean dramas I want to watch/am watching.

I've decided to do a top ten list of the most underrated dramas. How did I chose? Well, I looked at several things: the ratings in the country of origin, how much people were talking about it when it aired, and how often it is recommended on boards and in forums today.


We start off with number ten, ( Love Shuffle )

I have a bit of a thing for human dramas, especially those that deal with a family or a tight group of friends. So, while looking for something to watch, I recently came across the 2002 drama Tentai Kansoku (Searchin' for My Polestar ). It honestly sounded like a rip-off of a John Hughes film. But, upon farther reading, I discovered that, in Japan, it is most often compared to the early 1990 dramas about college life – like Ai to iu Nano Moto ni (1992) and Asunaro Hakusho (1993).

The story follows seven twenty-five year olds, who were all college friends. Now, three years out of university, they discover that the world isn’t as perfect as they thought it would be. They are each dealt harsh realities when they realize that a person can’t always hold onto their dreams. Plus, it is really unquie in tme ump – we miss all four years of their clloge life (expect for the first week and the summer trip) and then we time jup three years after graduation. This makes things fascinating in that we viewers have a lot of things to fll in: how did this happen? Why does ths person feel ths way about that event? Et, etc.


( Read more... )

Title: You're Beautiful
Song: You're Beautiful by James Blunt
Disclaimer: I do not own the song or the clips used. I just edited the clips.
Details: WMV file. 24.78MB. 3:14.
Theme: A look at all three of the boys and their love for Go Mi Nyu.
WARNING: Spoilers for the whole series!
Vidder's Note: This video seriously had to be made. I did roughly 50 seconds of each possible couple (MN/Jeremy, MN/SW, and MN/TK). I started after episode 12, which is why a lot of Jeremy stuff comes from eps 1-12. I adored all the characters in this (yay for the secondary guys not going all evil!), so I enjoyed working on this. Also, I am now a little in love with the Jeremy character.




Find more videos like this on BAM Vid Vault





( links for streaming and download )

Title: Heaven's Door
Song: Angels on the Moon by Thriving Ivory
Disclaimer: I do not own the song or the clips used. I just edited the clips.
Details: WMV file. 27.12 MB
Theme: It's really just a look at our main characters and the way they feel about their upcoming deaths. It's a great film about friendship and love, so I wanted to capture the
feelings of the film.
WARNING: Spoilers for the whole film!
Vidder's Note: I totally adored that film. I love the friendship between the two characters and their journey was brilliant.



Find more videos like this on BAM Vid Vault



( link at MU here )

A day or so ago dangermousie let us know that YA Entertainment has brilliant customer service. They are literally willing to answer anything and they are willing to try and get any drama (if enough fans demand it). So, knowing that they are releasing the first volume of Boys Before Flowers this November, I decided to ask about one of my favorite dramas - Hong Gil Dong. This was my reply:




We decide which dramas to release mainly based on the number of customer requests. Of course there are some titles that the Korean studios "force" us to acquire ("if you want this great title, then you must also buy this other not-as-popular title"). But for the most part we use the total number of customer requests as our main decision factor.

I have wanted to release Hong Gil Dong for a long time. But the Korean production company insists on a very high price. We cannot afford such a high price, so we have had to pass. It's so sad.

Please feel free to send your requests anytime. We record each request, and we reference the total requests all the time.

(We are releasing Boys Over Flowers on Nov 17).

For early 2010, here are some of the titles we are working on:

Brilliant Heritage
Tamra, the Island
Oasis
Terroir
Swallow the Sun

Thanks,

Tom



I'm so looking forward to these titles! I'm going to buy Brilliant Heritage and Swallow the Sun. It's a shame about Hong Gil Dong though. :(

I've begun watching Project A a drama from 2007, which happens to be based loosely on a 1980s Jackie Chan film. The series stars Dicky Cheung, Patrick Tam, Gillian Chung, and Liu Yuan Yuan. The series takes place in Hong Kong during the early 1900s and follows Dicky Cheung (a marine policeman) and Patrick Tam (a land police officer) as they battle corrupt officers and pirates. All while wooing their respective love interests. Think of it like Men and Legends, only with pirates and more comedy. (and no evil Japanese men with tiny Hitler 'staches)


A summary from YESASIA


Dicky Cheung is Little Trumpet, a marine policeman - though he doesn't know how to swim - in early 20th century Hong Kong. Nobleman's son He (Patrick Tam) returns from England and becomes Little Trumpet's superior. After some hiccups, the two form an alliance fighting against various enemies. Project A also interweaves two romances into the action drama. Little Trumpet encounters a pirate's daughter (Liu Yuanyuan) during an operation, while He falls in love with a nice girl born to a villainous father.



( thoughts on characters )

After much work (nearly a year), much debating, and much laziness, I have finally posted the first chapter in this original series. After so long, I'd really love some feedback from my f-list.


The summary: Kitagawa Takayuki is from the third richest family in Japan. He also attends the super-exclusive high school, St. August. As the King of the school Takayuki’s word is law and everyone follows his every command. All except Seo Aki, a commoner on several scholarships. At first Takayuki is annoyed, than angry, and finally interested. Takayuki decides to ask Aki out and is shocked (as is everyone else) when she turns him down, stating that she already has a boyfriend. Determined to make Aki his, Takayuki (along with his best friend) worm their way(s) into Aki’s life and the lives of those around her. Through this, unlikely friendships and romances are formed.


The idea - to take every shojo/romance cliche and turn them around, twisting them into something new and hopefully exciting.


The link


- It's not your average love story

My throat is sore. I'm coughing and sneezing. I cannot focus. My nose is leaking a bit. I have some aches. And, I'm sleepy. Cold and flu season, is that you? At least I have tomorrow off from classes.




And tomorrow is the start of You're Beautiful. It's the Hong sisters, it has to be good.  Right?


But, IRIS - could they stop with the press releases everyday? We get it, you're going to be EPIC and Legen...Wait For It...Dary. Just premier and let us see for ourselves. Otherwise, it'll be a major let down.

Quick flyby to ask: is it just me or has megaupload gone back to the twenty-five second, one download at a time thing for free users?

I finally finished this wuxia drama last night, and I have to say that I did enjoy it. However, I think it was unbelievably slow at times and there were a lot of storylines that either bored me or that I felt were unneeded. I'm speaking about the overall show here, but I have to say that it seemed (to me) that a lot of things started happening in the final two discs that were a bit, well, not to my liking - Chu Cheng's stuff mostly. Of course, this is just my opinion and I've read plenty of reviews that list this show as a favorite.



In all honestly (and I'm sure many fans of the show will disagree) a lot of my frustration with the story came from the characters themselves. There was a lot of moments were I just wanted to shake or slap a character for being so stupid or cruel.


MAJOR Spoilers for the WHOLE SERIES follow!



( best friends talk about their women woes at the river of emo )



Finally, I just want to say that while this series had its issues, overall it was a fun watch. The action scenes were fun, the character moments were often meaningful and memorable, and the overall feel of the show was a good one. I would say that while this isn't a top ten (or even a top twenty) favorite, it is a show that I could see myself revisiting in the future. It's a good 'starter' wuxia, and as I've only seen a few wuxia series, this was one that I enjoyed.

So, Lee Joon Ki (My Girl, Time Between Dog and Wolf) has a new drama coming out called Unseen Warfare aka Strange Heroes, and I have no idea what it's about, but I seem to recall reading that it was a little super hero-y. Anyway, his leading lady has been cast, and I'm really happy with this one - it's Han Ji Min of Capital Scandal and Cain and Abel fame.



Also, I recently made a post about Park Shin Hye joining the cast of You're Beautiful, well it turns out that she will be playing twins: a girl and a boy.



I've read (sorry, can't remember where) that (as of right now - remember, plots change in Korean dramas as late as two weeks before filming) Park's characters are twins. The boy has dreams of being in an idol group, and gets the job of being in the same group as Jang Geun Suk 's backward country boy. Well, something happens and ala As You Like It Park's boy twin has to disappear for a while, so girl twin secretly takes over her bro's idol duties. Hilarity and uneasy sexual tension will surely ensue.

A few weeks ago, we learned that Jang Geun-seok (Hong Gil Dong, Baby and Me) was casted as the male lead in their new drama, playing a simple country boy who somehow finds himself as the member of an idol group. Now, his leading lady (ladies?) has been casted - Park Shin-hye (Stairway to Heaven, Tree of Heaven). According to E Daily via dramabeans, she'll be playing twins - one (or both) of whom fall for JGS's character. Mmm. . . can the Hong sisters pull it off? I hope so!




I'm actually happy with this casting news. (How do Hong Sister dramas always cast so right?) Park was awesome in her earlier dramas (I ignore Goong S for all involved.), plus we know from the Etude House campaign a few months back that these two do have chemistry.



The show starts in October, and I'm looking forward to it. Click here to view the ad these two did together.

I finished Men and Legends and I have to say it wasn't bad. I think the show had a lot of issues: choppy editing and there were times where the writing was a little 'WTF?' But, I have to say that overall I did enjoy it. I do think some of the acting was a little over done, however the two male leads did do well. 


( Read more... )


I watched the third disc of Romance of Red Dust - finally it is picking up! I think I now believe 70% of the OTP's epic love, but there are still moments were I don't believe it. I'm also loving the Princess and I'm truly interested in the stuff going on at Fu Nu's old place (with Liu Yun's character - I fell really badly for her). And, am I alone in wanting Yao Jin and Ping Yang together?

I wrote this for my college's first literature magazine last December. It was put into the magazine along with one other play. This one won the Editor's Choice Award. The basic plot is fairly simple: it's a one act play that has two terminally ill patients discussing one of their future funeral. I thought the idea of the two view points would be interesting to write. The result was this play: a discussion between Tom and Lena about Tom's funeral, when he is actually the one with the greatest chance of actually surviving longer. The gang in my Creative Writing class called it, "darkly funny" with characters who were "funny in a place where humor shouldn't exist."



The one-act play Nine to Twenty-Four Months



( read more )

I finally sat down and watched the second disc of Romance of Red Dust, which had episodes six thru ten. I know it's still fairly early in the series, yet I cannot help being slightly underwhelmed. The actors are all playing their roles well, the sets are nice enough, and I see a lot of potential in certain things. But, I can't help feel that their is something off. Maybe it's Chu Chen near Mary-Sue-ness? Or the quick pace of some storylines and the slow pace of others?



( spoiler filled thoughts )

I'm continuing on with Men and Legends, and I've finished discs 4, 5, and 6. Just one more to go. While checking to see if disc seven will be sent to me next week (it won't - short wait. But, then over half my list is 'short wait') I read some reviews. Apparently, many found it good but boring,confusing, and draggy at times. I think the main issue is that Men and Legends suffers from what many period and Mainland dramas suffer from - length and bad editing.




Men and Legends was forty episodes when broadcasted on television. On DVD, I believe it's closer to thirty-two, which makes me believe things may have been edited out for the U.S. DVD release. Now, forty episodes is no problem, but if things are edited out or too many storylines are playing at once, things can get a bit confusing and even annoying. Men and Legends is the same as many other period Mainland China dramas - it's like a big Russian novel. There are lots of characters coming in and out, some for a short while and some for longer periods of time. Story lines appear in one episode, disappear for ten, and then are picked up again. Though, this seems odd, the truth is - this is a DVD with episodes that were longer cut down into 45 minutes. So, instead of disappearing for ten episodes, maybe when it aired on television, the storylines only disappeared for three-five episodes.




The editing is an issue as well, because scenes do tend to jump from one play to the next. I'm with one set of characters and suddenly I'm with another. Whoever directed Men and Legends seemed to be a big fan of the fade-cut - you know, where two scenes sort of fade into each other. He/She was a BIG fan. I stick by my 'Things have to have been cut out when it was released on DVD'/'They must have thought each episode would be 70-80 minutes when aired/released on DVD' theory. Because seriously, some of these cuts and edits make me beyond confused. And, I'm the person that watches things so carefully I figure everything out five minutes into a mystery movie/drama.




Don't get me wrong - I'm enjoying the drama and all the twists and turns it has to offer. This is a drama about people who could have lived during the early-mid 1900s in China. They have the Japanese and looming World Wars to deal with, as well as the fact that martial arts are becoming a thing of the past in many ways. It's amazing and sometimes heartbreaking to see the main characters make decisions to safe themselves fully knowing that they are turning their backs on their ideals in order to stay alive/reach their dream.



( heavily spoilery thoughts on some character development and storylines )

. . .when things have gotten about as bad as they can reasonably get."



( Tom Stoppard had it right )





I'm getting into wuxia dramas and have been watching Young Warriors of the Yang Clan for a week or so now. I'm on episode thirty (just finished it) and so far I like it a lot. Romance of Red Dust is another story - five episodes in and I'm bored. But, I'm hanging in there as it's supposed to get good.





Also - while it's not wuxia, I am watching Men and Legends (starting disc four tomorrow). It's Peter Ho and Dylan Kuo as two young kung fu students who become friends and find that the evil Japanese are plotting things and are responsible for the death of Peter's Master. (That's not giving anything away, it's on the back of the box)



( spoilery thoughts )