Friday, October 26, 2012 / 9:56 AM
Crazy outtakes! I dunno how I ended up being the make-up artist for everyone lol (maybe because I had the eyeshadows and creams), but the shoot (for our magazine madshack) was successful! Lasted for more than five hours and of course, every photoshoot ends with Greenoz pizza and Coke.
Then I was agitated afterward during a brief meeting for the fellowship. I wanted to say so much but it won't do any good anyway, so better shut up for now.
I'm done cropping all the photos btw. Lighting was good and makeup was good, so just one set of curves was enough. Yay!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 / 7:08 AM
They're not the trendiest item right now, but stamps still have that delicate, romantic, human feel to them. A stamp on a stationery or letter is almost like sealing it with candle wax, or jotting down a signature, something that gives it a personal touch -- especially when that stamp is a personalized one, which you rarely get these days.
That's where
Dana & Maya comes in. A boutique that creates personalized rubber stamp sets, Dana & Maya has had great success in Israel and is now expanding to the rest of the world. Besides a 6" tall wooden stamp, a stamp set also comes with a ceramic ink pad full with ink, a ceramic stamp rest, designed packing, and personal text plate. A maximum of 60 characters is offered and a list of fonts is available, and what's even better is that you can use your very own design for your stamp set.
Dana & Maya works with the finest material and offers no compromise in creating your personal stamp set. :)
Labels: Rubber stamps
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 / 8:00 AM
One thing I can and will never, never bring myself to do is to sit through and finish an entire episode of a local television drama. Ten minutes I can manage, but then the story usually reaches that unavoidable point where there's a whole lot of bitchy glares or all-out crying on the floor with tousled hair and bared teeth. Save me the terrible overacting experience. Everything is then made worse with the two things that can potentially make or break a drama, in my book at least: cinematography and music. Most local dramas fail epic-ly at these, and I'm sorry that I had to say that.
SHOTS.
Most local dramas pay incredibly little to their cinematography. Sometimes I think it's the number of episodes that they have to shoot in advance that pressures them and forces them to settle for less, but really, how difficult is it to find a good angle? Or include establishing shots? Many scenes cut to another and the actors speak right away, without preamble, that you get taken aback by how sudden the story jumped from one conversation to another conversation in another setting.
The visually unpleasant final confrontation scene in Mara Clara (2011)* could have been saved a little had they given more effort than simply framing the actors in the screen. A lot of fantasy or epic series have also been done and shot in breathtaking locations, but it's such a waste that the director or cinematographers sometimes don't even take full advantage of this. (Although I've seen a bit of GMA's Amaya, and, well, it is rather pretty to look at.)
* Gina Pareño and Jhong Hilario are the only good things in this 2010 remake; the latter surprised me, since he's not even a serious actor, but a dancer. The lead actors bored me and had no impact whatsoever; I didn't even bother learning their names. These days just a handful of actors have the strong screen presence that most of the older generation always had, and those two don't. Bleh.
MUSIC.
Number one on my TV drama pet peeves list. Music, when applied properly, can emphasize the characters' emotions and bring out the beauty of a scene. There are cases though that the absence of background music even fleshes out what the characters feel even more. But in local dramas? Local dramas hire music/sound editors sooo diligent enough that they insert music -- songs, instrumental, orchestra versions -- in just every singel scene there is in the episode. It's like people might avert their eyes the moment they only hear the characters' breaths, gulps, the raw crying and sobbing, etc. And it doesn't help that the musical scores sound no different from drama to drama. I can go on and on about this pet peeve #1, but digress, I shall.
So it's generally upsetting, because some local dramas have actually really good plots, with good and capable actors. I like the recently airing show 100 Days to Heaven, which revolves around this dead, sinful middle-aged woman who was not permitted entry to heaven, and thereby forced to return to earth as a small girl to redeem herself. Or Magkaribal: about two rival women in the fashion industry (I love the drama's logo) who turn out to be blood sisters. The action-romance premise of Guns and Roses sounds interesting too, but it's still to early to say anything (lovely title for a local drama; not-so-lovely Word Art-esque logo). However, until the local drama production crews find some buckets of good inspiration and experiment a little bit more with the quality and visuals of their dramas and not only care solely about the rating and money, I'm giving up. I'd stick to Korean and Japanese dramas (the good ones, of course), thank you very much.
Friday, June 10, 2011 / 8:00 AM
I have only started watching dramas
continuously since 2009, when I realized that not all stories revolve around the cliched rich-guy-poor-girl plot, and so my list is still relatively limited. Can't help it anyway. This post includes dramas (and some movies) that I have watched from start to end -- Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, Thai, whatever. I also decided to rate a drama according to how I enjoyed or loved it, instead of how good, objectively, I think it is. Recently watched dramas go last.
DRAMAS I WATCHED:
Meteor Garden I & II (2001).
Super hype, good chemistry, but draggy-paced especially in the second season. 5/10
Hana Yori Dango (2005).
Gorgeous shots, great acting and super chemistry! Alas, jdoramas are really short. 9/10
Hana Yori Dango Returns (2007).
I. Love. This. 10/10
Gokusen (2002).
Really enjoyable, but not amazing. The cast really looks like the anime characters! 6/10
Kimi Wa Petto (2003).
I think it ended too quickly with several unresolved issues. Koyuki and Matsujun stood out here. 7/10
Boys Over Flowers (2009).
One hell of a trainwreck. One moment it's good, the next it's utterly unwatchable. Goo Hye-sun is horrible, and this drama did little justice to Lee Min-ho's acting prowess. Enjoyed the massive hype, though. 7/10
You're Beautiful (2009).
Chock-full of laughs and crazy antics from the Hong sisters. A definite must-watch! 9/10
My Girl (2005).
Super chemistry, adorable leads, and --omg-- snow, snow, snow! Lol. Despite my indifference to Park Si-yeon and Lee Jun-ki's characters, this remains as my most favorite Hong sisters drama ever. 10/10
The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (2007).
What more can I say? It's wonderful. 10/10
Shining Inheritance/Brilliant Legacy (2009).
Such a painful, painful pace. I'm never gonna watch Lee Seung-gi in a drama again unless he's paired with somebody I desperately admire. 7/10
Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (2009).
Poor writing and poor directing, and messy intro. Disappointed. 3/10
Devil Beside You (2005).
Funny, at times roll-my-eyes cheesy. 7/10
1 Litre of Tears (2005).
You'll cry a liter of tears yourself. 10/10
Personal Taste (2009).
Had it been properly directed and written, this drama could've been a big hit. Sadly it wasted Lee Min-ho and Sohn Ye-jin's talents. 7/10
Goong/Princess Hours/Palace (2006).
Puzzling ending, slow-paced, lovely costumes, and rather wooden performance from Joo Ji-hoon. 7/10
Delightful Girl Choon-hyang (2005).
Jae Hee, Jae Hee, Jae Hee. Y u so handsome? I advise you to watch this BEFORE watching
My Girl. 10/10
The World That They Live In (2008).
Rather than calling it dull, I'd describe it as realistic and calm. Not your typical, formulaic kdrama. The characters' biggest hindrance to their relationship is not a fuming ex-girlfriend or a scheming grandma but their own pride and attitude. My favorite kdrama, hands down. 10/10
Secret Garden (2010).
This is the only drama that drove me incredibly nuts, right at the eve of my exams. It stands out with its witty dialogue, fantastic cinematography, wonderful characters, and just plain great performances from the cast. Hyun Bin kills this drama. 10/10
Bottom of the 9th with 2 Outs/9 Ends 2 Outs (2007).
As
girlfriday had put it, "Two lifelong best friends turn 30 and take steps toward becoming adults…by shacking up together and denying their growing attraction. Yeah, good luck with that." 9/10
49 Days (2010).
The story is pretty much unique in kdrama standards and although the ending was initially hard for me to accept, I love this drama. Such a beautiful message and storyline. Fell in love with Jung Il-woo. 10/10
DRAMAS I DROPPED COMPLETELY:
Mary Stayed Out All Night (2010). A classic example where not even the remarkable cast can save the terrible script. Skip this and watch
You're Beautiful or
Antique Bakery instead.
Playful Kiss (2010). Nope. Not watching anything that has Kim Hyun-joong etched on it ever again. So much for my anticipation.
DRAMAS I WILL WATCH:
Best Love/The Greatest Love (2011)
. Hey, it's the Hong Sisters! I'm not missing out on this one yet.
Return of Iljimae (2009)
. I only read the recaps and I'm already drawn in. Jung Il-woo makes a far better Iljimae, appearance and performance-wise, than Lee Jun-ki did. And that's just looking at the screencaps.
My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox (2010)
. I couldn't get over how Lee Seung-gi still looks like his
Brilliant Legacy character that it distracted me so much. Heard good comments on the drama though so I'll pick up on this one soon.
Devil/Mawang (2008)
. Uhm Tae-woong, Shin Min-ah, and Joo Ji-hoon in one detective drama. I HAVE to watch this or I'll never forgive myself. Lol, drama.
MOVIES I WATCHED:
Hana Yori Dango Final (2008). Crooked plot, but the cast makes up for everything else. Inoue Mao is still gorgeous. I'd rather you skip it and watch the series again instead, though. 6/10
I Love My Younger Sister (2007). INCEST! It bored me to tears more than the anime version did. 4/10
Doremifasolatido (2008). This movie was going all right, until that big twist in the ending and then poof, it all gets tied with a pretty pink bow and glitter. My first glimpse of baby-faced Jang Geun-suk. 5/10
200 Pounds of Beauty (2006). Well-executed and I enjoyed everything, but some viewers may take the message a bit too seriously. 7/10
Baby and Me (2008). Despite the cute and the fluff -- yawn. 5/10
A Millionaire's First Love (2006). Been-there-done-that, but still tear-jerking and endearing. 8/10
Antique Bakery (2008). Kim Jae-wook. Joo Ji-hoon. Bromance. Cakes. Yum. 8/10
Paju (2009). A young girl harbors feelings for her deceased older sister's husband. Dark, emotional, a bit of sexual content. Fell in love with Lee Seon-kyun and Seo Woo. 8/10
3-Iron/Empty House (2004). A little creepy, but fantastic. Proves that silence can be indeed beautiful, especially when coupled with good music and good cast, and that love may not always need words. 10/10
A Crazy Little Thing Called Love (2010). High school fluff, relate-able, and cute. BUT, I can't buy their love story, or even the movie being dubbed as "Everyone's love story". How can two people who have barely even talked much beneath the surface level still cling on to the love more than, what, 5 years later? And confess their love on a TV show? I don't even.... 7/10
Hello Stranger (2010). Two Thai young adults meet in South Korea, and never even knew each other's names. If I were you, skip Crazy Little Thing and watch this. Sure, the guy's no Mario Maurer, but let's remind ourselves that actors have to act; they don't just look pretty for the camera. Fun, cute, and tugs you in the right moments. 10/10
Labels: Drama bucket
Saturday, June 4, 2011 / 11:42 PM
Can I just say how much I like the intriguing and dark concept of this promotional poster?
Labels: Miss Ripley, Posters
Thursday, May 26, 2011 / 6:39 PM
Okay, let's get to the point: A live-action drama adaptation of the anime
OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB is in the works for July! The one and only Ouran, that starred Maaya Sakamoto and Mamoru Miyano (a.k.a. Light Yagami) as the voice actors of Haruhi Fujioka and Tamaki Suoh. How. Cool. Is. That.
L-R: Morinozuka Takashi, Hani-sempai, Ohtori Kyouya, Fujioka Haruhi (sitting), Suoh Tamaki, and the Hitaachin twins
I assume this is official since the news was released through a recent magazine and I visited anime forums all over the web to confirm it. The much-anticipated cast was also revealed:
HARUNA KAWAGUCHI (
Nagareboshi) plays our heroine, Haruhi Fujioka. She has a pretty, androgynous face but whoa, she's only sixteen.
Yusuke Yamamoto, Haruna Kawaguchi
Tamaki Suoh will be played by
YUSUKE YAMAMOTO (
Kamen Rider Kabuto, My Fair Boy). I saw pictures of his smiling face thru Google, and let's just say that while I'm not very -- uh --
fond of it, I'd cut him some slack if he plays the part well and gets the proper hairstyle. And at least he's tall enough, at 180cm.
DAITO SHUNSUKE (
Rescue) will be the club's vice president, Kyouya Ohtori, and the Hitaachin twins are going to be played by
TAKAGI SHINPEI and
TAKAGI MANPEI.
MASAYA NAKAMURA (
Tenshi no Wakemae) plays the man of few words, Morinozuka Takashi. He'll tower over everyone else at 192cm. Now I'm officially a dwarf.
Masaya Nakamura, Daito Shunsuke
CHIBA YUDAI (
Tensou Sentai Goseiger) plays Haninozuka Mitsukuni, aka Hani-sempai. Isn't he the cutest thing ever? The actor stands at 173cm and is 25cm taller than the character but I can already imagine him being all cutesy and lolishota-ish and cake-loving.
Chiba Yudai, Takagi twins
RYUSEI RYO (
Hammer Session) will play Umehito Nakazawa, the man who dislikes light and owns a cat-like puppet. Wow, I almost forgot about this character.
Ryusei Ryo
So there goes the main cast, and nope, I have not seen or heard of any one of them before. I only fancy Chiba Yudai but somehow I feel they'll fit into their roles just fine. They have that Ouran
aura, y'know? I just hope everybody has nice teeth (I can't stop cringing when I watched
1 Litre of Tears (the series) or even
Goong/Princess Hours).
Although there's still no news about whether they're adapting the anime storyline or not, I think the producers are sticking to the real manga. I dunno how much focus they'll bring to the relationship between Tamaki and Haruhi given that the drama is under the genre "School comedy". What, it's not a school-
rom-com? Err. Okay. Whatever. Titles are titles. I'm still looking forward to this drama.
Labels: Japanese dorama, Ouran High School Host Club
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 / 7:06 PM
Aaaah! Another great drama ends.
49 Days was the drama that I was most anticipated about after the broadcast of the phenomenon that was Secret Garden, because its premise was very compelling and I'm just a big softie for second chances and the afterlife. I almost
didn't end up watching this drama just because most of the cast were actors I've never seen in anything before, minus Biker Granny and Bae Soo-bin, who were in Brilliant Legacy. But thankfully Dramabeans wrote recaps for it and my curiosity was instantly perked up again.
In the drama,
Shin Ji-hyun (played by Nam Gyuri), a woman who practically has everything: background, friends, and a good fiance, suddenly dies from a car accident just days before her wedding. The problem is, she wasn't "scheduled" to die yet, so a hot reaper boy called the
Scheduler (Jung Il-woo) appears and gives her a deal: she'll be able to live again if she can find three people besides her family who would cry genuine tears for her in 49 days. Those tears would be proof that her life was worth living.
To do that, she'll have to borrow the body of another woman,
Song Yi-kyung (Lee Yo-won), who has been living an almost-zombie life and finding little to live for. Ji-hyun learns that her fiance,
Kang Min-ho (Bae Soo-bin), and her best friend,
Shin In-jung (Seo Ji-hye), have been deceiving her and working to bring down her father's company, and that her old friend,
Han Kang (Jo Hyun-jae), has been in love with her all this time despite his cold, aloof behavior towards her. She also finds out some
interesting tidbits about the Scheduler's old life, which by the way is my ultimate, favorite subplot/storyline in kdramasphere.
Things I love about the drama:
1. Everyone turned in a great performance in this drama but really,
LEE YO-WON kills it. That woman is ageless! She makes the transition from being the soulless, walking zombie Song Yi-kyung to the smiling, bubbly Shin Ji-hyun look so effortless and natural that it's hard to get confused about who is who. You see the change not only in her eyes but in her stance and the way she speaks. Not many actors can pull off the double role and Lee Yo-won deserves all the praise she got.
2. It's a little rare to find a love storyline in the kdramasphere as heartbreaking and sweeping as the Yi-Soo/Yi-kyung subplot. What's nice about their story is that they're not romantics who believe in fate bringing them together even in death. The issue wasn't how to unite the couple again or find a loophole to bring Yi-Soo back again, but how to help Yi-kyung let go of Yi-soo's memory so both of them can move on -- she with her life, he with the afterlife.
And lemme just say that I totally swooned over
JUNG IL-WOO in this -- perm, raps, and all.
3. A follow-up to No. 2 -- the Scheduler has a very prominent sense of fashion here. Reapers collecting souls with style, HA.
4. Thankfully I felt zero chemistry between the Scheduler and Shin Ji-hyun. I know some viewers "shipped" them and even predicted a tear from the reaper boy, but their interactions were of the bickering-sibling type, which I still find adorable nonetheless.
5. I dunno about you but I loved
SEO JI-HYE's character, despite the flaws and the twisted view of the world she shares with her partner in crime, Kang Min-ho (played by Mr. Forever-Second-Lead
BAE SOO-BIN). All this time she clearly knows she loves Ji-hyun despite deceiving her, but she greatly overshadows that feeling with the inferiority issues she has with her best friend that lead her to plot against the company. Shin In-jung is not a very complex character; she was, simply, jealous. And that's pretty realistic, especially since she grew up with almost nothing and had to live with someone so affluent, so kind, so generous.
6. The soundtrack is simply lovely and the suspenseful instrumental at the end of episode 19 was spot-on. Despite being reminiscent of local,
makjang dramas here, the music is zippy and sweeping at the same time. Why can't our local dramas have instrumentals like that?
7. Did anybody expect the Granny from Brilliant Legacy to be Madame Reaper Biker here?
6. Initially, I had major issues about the ending. Initially meaning, when I read the transcap and the comments at Soompi, and before I watched the episode itself. On one angle, it was disappointing, since, well, after rooting for the main character's success for eighteen episodes how can anyone not be disappointed to know that her success was incredibly short-lived? All that two-month suffering for nothing?
I'd like to see the 49 days as a blessing than a curse. I'd go as far as even saying she was lucky to have
died two months earlier than her fated death date, because she gained a chance to have a broader sense of life and the world around her, to bring everything back in order, to receive Han Kang's love, and, albeit indirectly and unknowingly, lead a long-lost relative back. Like Ji-hyun said, she "might have lived a fake life" had she not been given the 49 days deal.
Things I didn't love about the drama:
1. Every important conversation or back-hugging scene in this drama has an audience in the form of our resident stalkers Kang Min-ho and Shin In-jung. And no one ever sees them. NO ONE.
2. The lack of Ji-hyun-in-her-real-body and Han Kang interactions drove me
slightly nuts. The most they got together was a picnic date, if you don't count the oops-I-tripped-and-landed-uncomfortably-on-top-of-you flashback scenes. But it's not a big deal. Anyway, if you look at it in an
actor-status (?) perspective, you don't really expect
JO HYUN-JAE, the top-billed male lead, be paired up happily with a relatively new actress like
NAM GYURI, do you? At the same time you can't expect him to be with his female lead counterpart, Lee Yo-won, because her character already has Song Yi-soo, even if he's dead. Lots of major mindfuck in this drama, I know.
3.The drama would have been perfectly fine without the sibling concept revealed and concluded in the course of barely fifteen minutes in the last episode. It is satisfying though to see Song Yi-kyung happy and smiling, as much as Ji-hyun-in-Yi-kyung's-body did. Ugh, I'm still grieving over her tragic, what-could-have-been love story with Song Yi-soo. :(
4. I only found out halfway into the series that 49 Days was never billed as a rom-com from the start, which explained the limited humorous antics in the show. One Scheduler was enough comedy though. Swoon.
In spite of the flaws and the bittersweet ending, 49 Days had pretty strong writing to back up its life-and-death-plus-soul-possession theme. I was swept off my feet and fell in love with the characters, who were very flawed and very human (minus the stalking trait). Overall, I'd give this drama an 8/10, and have it in my top 5 favorites, right next to
The World That They Live In.
Note: Please excuse my fondness and bias over Jung Il-woo. XD
Labels: 49 Days, Bae Soo-bin, Jo Hyun-jae, Jung Il-woo, Lee Yo-won, Nam Gyuri, Seo Ji-hye
Friday, October 26, 2012 / 9:56 AM
Crazy outtakes! I dunno how I ended up being the make-up artist for everyone lol (maybe because I had the eyeshadows and creams), but the shoot (for our magazine madshack) was successful! Lasted for more than five hours and of course, every photoshoot ends with Greenoz pizza and Coke.
Then I was agitated afterward during a brief meeting for the fellowship. I wanted to say so much but it won't do any good anyway, so better shut up for now.
I'm done cropping all the photos btw. Lighting was good and makeup was good, so just one set of curves was enough. Yay!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 / 7:08 AM
They're not the trendiest item right now, but stamps still have that delicate, romantic, human feel to them. A stamp on a stationery or letter is almost like sealing it with candle wax, or jotting down a signature, something that gives it a personal touch -- especially when that stamp is a personalized one, which you rarely get these days.
That's where
Dana & Maya comes in. A boutique that creates personalized rubber stamp sets, Dana & Maya has had great success in Israel and is now expanding to the rest of the world. Besides a 6" tall wooden stamp, a stamp set also comes with a ceramic ink pad full with ink, a ceramic stamp rest, designed packing, and personal text plate. A maximum of 60 characters is offered and a list of fonts is available, and what's even better is that you can use your very own design for your stamp set.
Dana & Maya works with the finest material and offers no compromise in creating your personal stamp set. :)
Labels: Rubber stamps
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 / 8:00 AM
One thing I can and will never, never bring myself to do is to sit through and finish an entire episode of a local television drama. Ten minutes I can manage, but then the story usually reaches that unavoidable point where there's a whole lot of bitchy glares or all-out crying on the floor with tousled hair and bared teeth. Save me the terrible overacting experience. Everything is then made worse with the two things that can potentially make or break a drama, in my book at least: cinematography and music. Most local dramas fail epic-ly at these, and I'm sorry that I had to say that.
SHOTS.
Most local dramas pay incredibly little to their cinematography. Sometimes I think it's the number of episodes that they have to shoot in advance that pressures them and forces them to settle for less, but really, how difficult is it to find a good angle? Or include establishing shots? Many scenes cut to another and the actors speak right away, without preamble, that you get taken aback by how sudden the story jumped from one conversation to another conversation in another setting.
The visually unpleasant final confrontation scene in Mara Clara (2011)* could have been saved a little had they given more effort than simply framing the actors in the screen. A lot of fantasy or epic series have also been done and shot in breathtaking locations, but it's such a waste that the director or cinematographers sometimes don't even take full advantage of this. (Although I've seen a bit of GMA's Amaya, and, well, it is rather pretty to look at.)
* Gina Pareño and Jhong Hilario are the only good things in this 2010 remake; the latter surprised me, since he's not even a serious actor, but a dancer. The lead actors bored me and had no impact whatsoever; I didn't even bother learning their names. These days just a handful of actors have the strong screen presence that most of the older generation always had, and those two don't. Bleh.
MUSIC.
Number one on my TV drama pet peeves list. Music, when applied properly, can emphasize the characters' emotions and bring out the beauty of a scene. There are cases though that the absence of background music even fleshes out what the characters feel even more. But in local dramas? Local dramas hire music/sound editors sooo diligent enough that they insert music -- songs, instrumental, orchestra versions -- in just every singel scene there is in the episode. It's like people might avert their eyes the moment they only hear the characters' breaths, gulps, the raw crying and sobbing, etc. And it doesn't help that the musical scores sound no different from drama to drama. I can go on and on about this pet peeve #1, but digress, I shall.
So it's generally upsetting, because some local dramas have actually really good plots, with good and capable actors. I like the recently airing show 100 Days to Heaven, which revolves around this dead, sinful middle-aged woman who was not permitted entry to heaven, and thereby forced to return to earth as a small girl to redeem herself. Or Magkaribal: about two rival women in the fashion industry (I love the drama's logo) who turn out to be blood sisters. The action-romance premise of Guns and Roses sounds interesting too, but it's still to early to say anything (lovely title for a local drama; not-so-lovely Word Art-esque logo). However, until the local drama production crews find some buckets of good inspiration and experiment a little bit more with the quality and visuals of their dramas and not only care solely about the rating and money, I'm giving up. I'd stick to Korean and Japanese dramas (the good ones, of course), thank you very much.
Friday, June 10, 2011 / 8:00 AM
I have only started watching dramas
continuously since 2009, when I realized that not all stories revolve around the cliched rich-guy-poor-girl plot, and so my list is still relatively limited. Can't help it anyway. This post includes dramas (and some movies) that I have watched from start to end -- Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, Thai, whatever. I also decided to rate a drama according to how I enjoyed or loved it, instead of how good, objectively, I think it is. Recently watched dramas go last.
DRAMAS I WATCHED:
Meteor Garden I & II (2001).
Super hype, good chemistry, but draggy-paced especially in the second season. 5/10
Hana Yori Dango (2005).
Gorgeous shots, great acting and super chemistry! Alas, jdoramas are really short. 9/10
Hana Yori Dango Returns (2007).
I. Love. This. 10/10
Gokusen (2002).
Really enjoyable, but not amazing. The cast really looks like the anime characters! 6/10
Kimi Wa Petto (2003).
I think it ended too quickly with several unresolved issues. Koyuki and Matsujun stood out here. 7/10
Boys Over Flowers (2009).
One hell of a trainwreck. One moment it's good, the next it's utterly unwatchable. Goo Hye-sun is horrible, and this drama did little justice to Lee Min-ho's acting prowess. Enjoyed the massive hype, though. 7/10
You're Beautiful (2009).
Chock-full of laughs and crazy antics from the Hong sisters. A definite must-watch! 9/10
My Girl (2005).
Super chemistry, adorable leads, and --omg-- snow, snow, snow! Lol. Despite my indifference to Park Si-yeon and Lee Jun-ki's characters, this remains as my most favorite Hong sisters drama ever. 10/10
The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (2007).
What more can I say? It's wonderful. 10/10
Shining Inheritance/Brilliant Legacy (2009).
Such a painful, painful pace. I'm never gonna watch Lee Seung-gi in a drama again unless he's paired with somebody I desperately admire. 7/10
Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (2009).
Poor writing and poor directing, and messy intro. Disappointed. 3/10
Devil Beside You (2005).
Funny, at times roll-my-eyes cheesy. 7/10
1 Litre of Tears (2005).
You'll cry a liter of tears yourself. 10/10
Personal Taste (2009).
Had it been properly directed and written, this drama could've been a big hit. Sadly it wasted Lee Min-ho and Sohn Ye-jin's talents. 7/10
Goong/Princess Hours/Palace (2006).
Puzzling ending, slow-paced, lovely costumes, and rather wooden performance from Joo Ji-hoon. 7/10
Delightful Girl Choon-hyang (2005).
Jae Hee, Jae Hee, Jae Hee. Y u so handsome? I advise you to watch this BEFORE watching
My Girl. 10/10
The World That They Live In (2008).
Rather than calling it dull, I'd describe it as realistic and calm. Not your typical, formulaic kdrama. The characters' biggest hindrance to their relationship is not a fuming ex-girlfriend or a scheming grandma but their own pride and attitude. My favorite kdrama, hands down. 10/10
Secret Garden (2010).
This is the only drama that drove me incredibly nuts, right at the eve of my exams. It stands out with its witty dialogue, fantastic cinematography, wonderful characters, and just plain great performances from the cast. Hyun Bin kills this drama. 10/10
Bottom of the 9th with 2 Outs/9 Ends 2 Outs (2007).
As
girlfriday had put it, "Two lifelong best friends turn 30 and take steps toward becoming adults…by shacking up together and denying their growing attraction. Yeah, good luck with that." 9/10
49 Days (2010).
The story is pretty much unique in kdrama standards and although the ending was initially hard for me to accept, I love this drama. Such a beautiful message and storyline. Fell in love with Jung Il-woo. 10/10
DRAMAS I DROPPED COMPLETELY:
Mary Stayed Out All Night (2010). A classic example where not even the remarkable cast can save the terrible script. Skip this and watch
You're Beautiful or
Antique Bakery instead.
Playful Kiss (2010). Nope. Not watching anything that has Kim Hyun-joong etched on it ever again. So much for my anticipation.
DRAMAS I WILL WATCH:
Best Love/The Greatest Love (2011)
. Hey, it's the Hong Sisters! I'm not missing out on this one yet.
Return of Iljimae (2009)
. I only read the recaps and I'm already drawn in. Jung Il-woo makes a far better Iljimae, appearance and performance-wise, than Lee Jun-ki did. And that's just looking at the screencaps.
My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox (2010)
. I couldn't get over how Lee Seung-gi still looks like his
Brilliant Legacy character that it distracted me so much. Heard good comments on the drama though so I'll pick up on this one soon.
Devil/Mawang (2008)
. Uhm Tae-woong, Shin Min-ah, and Joo Ji-hoon in one detective drama. I HAVE to watch this or I'll never forgive myself. Lol, drama.
MOVIES I WATCHED:
Hana Yori Dango Final (2008). Crooked plot, but the cast makes up for everything else. Inoue Mao is still gorgeous. I'd rather you skip it and watch the series again instead, though. 6/10
I Love My Younger Sister (2007). INCEST! It bored me to tears more than the anime version did. 4/10
Doremifasolatido (2008). This movie was going all right, until that big twist in the ending and then poof, it all gets tied with a pretty pink bow and glitter. My first glimpse of baby-faced Jang Geun-suk. 5/10
200 Pounds of Beauty (2006). Well-executed and I enjoyed everything, but some viewers may take the message a bit too seriously. 7/10
Baby and Me (2008). Despite the cute and the fluff -- yawn. 5/10
A Millionaire's First Love (2006). Been-there-done-that, but still tear-jerking and endearing. 8/10
Antique Bakery (2008). Kim Jae-wook. Joo Ji-hoon. Bromance. Cakes. Yum. 8/10
Paju (2009). A young girl harbors feelings for her deceased older sister's husband. Dark, emotional, a bit of sexual content. Fell in love with Lee Seon-kyun and Seo Woo. 8/10
3-Iron/Empty House (2004). A little creepy, but fantastic. Proves that silence can be indeed beautiful, especially when coupled with good music and good cast, and that love may not always need words. 10/10
A Crazy Little Thing Called Love (2010). High school fluff, relate-able, and cute. BUT, I can't buy their love story, or even the movie being dubbed as "Everyone's love story". How can two people who have barely even talked much beneath the surface level still cling on to the love more than, what, 5 years later? And confess their love on a TV show? I don't even.... 7/10
Hello Stranger (2010). Two Thai young adults meet in South Korea, and never even knew each other's names. If I were you, skip Crazy Little Thing and watch this. Sure, the guy's no Mario Maurer, but let's remind ourselves that actors have to act; they don't just look pretty for the camera. Fun, cute, and tugs you in the right moments. 10/10
Labels: Drama bucket
Saturday, June 4, 2011 / 11:42 PM
Can I just say how much I like the intriguing and dark concept of this promotional poster?
Labels: Miss Ripley, Posters
Thursday, May 26, 2011 / 6:39 PM
Okay, let's get to the point: A live-action drama adaptation of the anime
OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB is in the works for July! The one and only Ouran, that starred Maaya Sakamoto and Mamoru Miyano (a.k.a. Light Yagami) as the voice actors of Haruhi Fujioka and Tamaki Suoh. How. Cool. Is. That.
L-R: Morinozuka Takashi, Hani-sempai, Ohtori Kyouya, Fujioka Haruhi (sitting), Suoh Tamaki, and the Hitaachin twins
I assume this is official since the news was released through a recent magazine and I visited anime forums all over the web to confirm it. The much-anticipated cast was also revealed:
HARUNA KAWAGUCHI (
Nagareboshi) plays our heroine, Haruhi Fujioka. She has a pretty, androgynous face but whoa, she's only sixteen.
Yusuke Yamamoto, Haruna Kawaguchi
Tamaki Suoh will be played by
YUSUKE YAMAMOTO (
Kamen Rider Kabuto, My Fair Boy). I saw pictures of his smiling face thru Google, and let's just say that while I'm not very -- uh --
fond of it, I'd cut him some slack if he plays the part well and gets the proper hairstyle. And at least he's tall enough, at 180cm.
DAITO SHUNSUKE (
Rescue) will be the club's vice president, Kyouya Ohtori, and the Hitaachin twins are going to be played by
TAKAGI SHINPEI and
TAKAGI MANPEI.
MASAYA NAKAMURA (
Tenshi no Wakemae) plays the man of few words, Morinozuka Takashi. He'll tower over everyone else at 192cm. Now I'm officially a dwarf.
Masaya Nakamura, Daito Shunsuke
CHIBA YUDAI (
Tensou Sentai Goseiger) plays Haninozuka Mitsukuni, aka Hani-sempai. Isn't he the cutest thing ever? The actor stands at 173cm and is 25cm taller than the character but I can already imagine him being all cutesy and lolishota-ish and cake-loving.
Chiba Yudai, Takagi twins
RYUSEI RYO (
Hammer Session) will play Umehito Nakazawa, the man who dislikes light and owns a cat-like puppet. Wow, I almost forgot about this character.
Ryusei Ryo
So there goes the main cast, and nope, I have not seen or heard of any one of them before. I only fancy Chiba Yudai but somehow I feel they'll fit into their roles just fine. They have that Ouran
aura, y'know? I just hope everybody has nice teeth (I can't stop cringing when I watched
1 Litre of Tears (the series) or even
Goong/Princess Hours).
Although there's still no news about whether they're adapting the anime storyline or not, I think the producers are sticking to the real manga. I dunno how much focus they'll bring to the relationship between Tamaki and Haruhi given that the drama is under the genre "School comedy". What, it's not a school-
rom-com? Err. Okay. Whatever. Titles are titles. I'm still looking forward to this drama.
Labels: Japanese dorama, Ouran High School Host Club
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 / 7:06 PM
Aaaah! Another great drama ends.
49 Days was the drama that I was most anticipated about after the broadcast of the phenomenon that was Secret Garden, because its premise was very compelling and I'm just a big softie for second chances and the afterlife. I almost
didn't end up watching this drama just because most of the cast were actors I've never seen in anything before, minus Biker Granny and Bae Soo-bin, who were in Brilliant Legacy. But thankfully Dramabeans wrote recaps for it and my curiosity was instantly perked up again.
In the drama,
Shin Ji-hyun (played by Nam Gyuri), a woman who practically has everything: background, friends, and a good fiance, suddenly dies from a car accident just days before her wedding. The problem is, she wasn't "scheduled" to die yet, so a hot reaper boy called the
Scheduler (Jung Il-woo) appears and gives her a deal: she'll be able to live again if she can find three people besides her family who would cry genuine tears for her in 49 days. Those tears would be proof that her life was worth living.
To do that, she'll have to borrow the body of another woman,
Song Yi-kyung (Lee Yo-won), who has been living an almost-zombie life and finding little to live for. Ji-hyun learns that her fiance,
Kang Min-ho (Bae Soo-bin), and her best friend,
Shin In-jung (Seo Ji-hye), have been deceiving her and working to bring down her father's company, and that her old friend,
Han Kang (Jo Hyun-jae), has been in love with her all this time despite his cold, aloof behavior towards her. She also finds out some
interesting tidbits about the Scheduler's old life, which by the way is my ultimate, favorite subplot/storyline in kdramasphere.
Things I love about the drama:
1. Everyone turned in a great performance in this drama but really,
LEE YO-WON kills it. That woman is ageless! She makes the transition from being the soulless, walking zombie Song Yi-kyung to the smiling, bubbly Shin Ji-hyun look so effortless and natural that it's hard to get confused about who is who. You see the change not only in her eyes but in her stance and the way she speaks. Not many actors can pull off the double role and Lee Yo-won deserves all the praise she got.
2. It's a little rare to find a love storyline in the kdramasphere as heartbreaking and sweeping as the Yi-Soo/Yi-kyung subplot. What's nice about their story is that they're not romantics who believe in fate bringing them together even in death. The issue wasn't how to unite the couple again or find a loophole to bring Yi-Soo back again, but how to help Yi-kyung let go of Yi-soo's memory so both of them can move on -- she with her life, he with the afterlife.
And lemme just say that I totally swooned over
JUNG IL-WOO in this -- perm, raps, and all.
3. A follow-up to No. 2 -- the Scheduler has a very prominent sense of fashion here. Reapers collecting souls with style, HA.
4. Thankfully I felt zero chemistry between the Scheduler and Shin Ji-hyun. I know some viewers "shipped" them and even predicted a tear from the reaper boy, but their interactions were of the bickering-sibling type, which I still find adorable nonetheless.
5. I dunno about you but I loved
SEO JI-HYE's character, despite the flaws and the twisted view of the world she shares with her partner in crime, Kang Min-ho (played by Mr. Forever-Second-Lead
BAE SOO-BIN). All this time she clearly knows she loves Ji-hyun despite deceiving her, but she greatly overshadows that feeling with the inferiority issues she has with her best friend that lead her to plot against the company. Shin In-jung is not a very complex character; she was, simply, jealous. And that's pretty realistic, especially since she grew up with almost nothing and had to live with someone so affluent, so kind, so generous.
6. The soundtrack is simply lovely and the suspenseful instrumental at the end of episode 19 was spot-on. Despite being reminiscent of local,
makjang dramas here, the music is zippy and sweeping at the same time. Why can't our local dramas have instrumentals like that?
7. Did anybody expect the Granny from Brilliant Legacy to be Madame Reaper Biker here?
6. Initially, I had major issues about the ending. Initially meaning, when I read the transcap and the comments at Soompi, and before I watched the episode itself. On one angle, it was disappointing, since, well, after rooting for the main character's success for eighteen episodes how can anyone not be disappointed to know that her success was incredibly short-lived? All that two-month suffering for nothing?
I'd like to see the 49 days as a blessing than a curse. I'd go as far as even saying she was lucky to have
died two months earlier than her fated death date, because she gained a chance to have a broader sense of life and the world around her, to bring everything back in order, to receive Han Kang's love, and, albeit indirectly and unknowingly, lead a long-lost relative back. Like Ji-hyun said, she "might have lived a fake life" had she not been given the 49 days deal.
Things I didn't love about the drama:
1. Every important conversation or back-hugging scene in this drama has an audience in the form of our resident stalkers Kang Min-ho and Shin In-jung. And no one ever sees them. NO ONE.
2. The lack of Ji-hyun-in-her-real-body and Han Kang interactions drove me
slightly nuts. The most they got together was a picnic date, if you don't count the oops-I-tripped-and-landed-uncomfortably-on-top-of-you flashback scenes. But it's not a big deal. Anyway, if you look at it in an
actor-status (?) perspective, you don't really expect
JO HYUN-JAE, the top-billed male lead, be paired up happily with a relatively new actress like
NAM GYURI, do you? At the same time you can't expect him to be with his female lead counterpart, Lee Yo-won, because her character already has Song Yi-soo, even if he's dead. Lots of major mindfuck in this drama, I know.
3.The drama would have been perfectly fine without the sibling concept revealed and concluded in the course of barely fifteen minutes in the last episode. It is satisfying though to see Song Yi-kyung happy and smiling, as much as Ji-hyun-in-Yi-kyung's-body did. Ugh, I'm still grieving over her tragic, what-could-have-been love story with Song Yi-soo. :(
4. I only found out halfway into the series that 49 Days was never billed as a rom-com from the start, which explained the limited humorous antics in the show. One Scheduler was enough comedy though. Swoon.
In spite of the flaws and the bittersweet ending, 49 Days had pretty strong writing to back up its life-and-death-plus-soul-possession theme. I was swept off my feet and fell in love with the characters, who were very flawed and very human (minus the stalking trait). Overall, I'd give this drama an 8/10, and have it in my top 5 favorites, right next to
The World That They Live In.
Note: Please excuse my fondness and bias over Jung Il-woo. XD
Labels: 49 Days, Bae Soo-bin, Jo Hyun-jae, Jung Il-woo, Lee Yo-won, Nam Gyuri, Seo Ji-hye