Fannish Update :)
Feb. 15th, 2010 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieNot even the awesomeness of Hong Kong (OMG the BEST New Year fireworks ever!!!!) is going to stop fangirling.
1. Apparently no new eps of Pick the Stars this week. I don't mind as wouldn't be able to watch my pretty funny squishy precious anyway, but I feel bad for flisties who love it! Stole this pic from dramabeans (I was looking for spoilers and found this news instead :(). So adorable!
2. We flew Cathay Pacific to HK and they had a huge movie selection. I watched:
Resurrection of the Dragon - about some famous General from one Kingdom fighting armies of the other Kingdom blah blah. So deadly dull! It really had no character development and interactions and not much of plot either other than 'he fights this battle and then he fights that battle, and then he fights this one.' Dull dull dull.
It had to be you Two restaurant coworkers fight, bond over their unfaithful significant others, then fall in love. So-so. Ekin Cheng is always hot, Kareena Lam was pretty, and I liked little whimsical touches but ultimately I couldn't really get behind the heroine - she knows she is 'the other woman' for the guy she is in love with and even when he breaks up with his gf he starts dating others and not her. Yet she chases him for majority of the movie and tries to encourage her new best friend to go chasing after a girlfriend who constantly cheats on him. WTF? It doesn't help that the significant others, while good-looking, have no charm, complexity or anything else - they are selfish, awful people. And the leads are lovely people with great chemistry so you wonder why on earth the heroine is so blind to it for most of the film.
Sophie's Revenge - I really liked this cute off-beat romcom. Sophie (Zhang Ziyi) is a young woman ditched by her doctor fiance Jim (So Ji Sub) almost right at the altar for a sexy movie star Joanna (Fan Bing Bing). Sophie contrives an elaborate revenge plan to win Jim back so she can then tell him to bug off when he asks her back. In order to succeed she asks the help of Gordon (Peter Ho), a Taiwanese photographer she meets at a party and who she hears is Joanna's ex and thus might be game for a little revenge himself. It's charming - of course it's predictable (anyone who doesn't think Gordon and Sophie will fall in love has seen no movies in their life. Of course they will, though there is a twist or two on the way). But Zhang Ziyi is luminous - she makes a character that could have come across as shrill or wacky and makes her irresistable. When Gordon confesses his love to her, you totally get it. Fan Bing Bing is a huge favorite and her Joanna is a total delight to watch - over-the-top diva who is never quite a villain. This is the first time I've ever liked Peter Ho (his looks are still not my thing but Gordon = mmmmmmmm) and So Ji Sub is shirtless a lot in a pretty small but fun role as a man not quite good enough for either of his women. It also has amazingly creative, almost fantasy-like scenes throughout.
Good Morning President - my favorite of the bunch, this Korean tale of three successifve presidents is a total delight - funny, and understated, and touching and so pitch-perfect. GMP is three inter-connected vignettes - the first involving an elderly President near the end of his term who wins a lottery with hilarious results. The second involves a young President in the middle of his term, dealing with dual crises - a political one with North Korea and a more personal one with a bizarre young man who causes a security and publicity incident demanding he donate a kidney to the man's dying father. I have to say, this was my favorite because it finally introduced me to Jang Dong Gun (I saw him in The Promise years ago but I don't remember it well). And oooooh boy! In his crisp suits, severe hair, and with an air of a slightly detached, reserved intellectual, he's good enough to eat! Plus, I really liked the love story between him and Han Chae Young woven throughout the movie. I kept getting antsy whether they were going to hook up! (There is one scene where he first sees her again for the first time in years and she walks by and there is no talking or anything but his his face and guuuuh). The third story involves JDG's successor, the first female president and her not-ready-for-pr husband. It was my least fave because the husband annoyed me and also I was antsy for more glimpses of the past two Presidents (which I got, yay!) but it was well-done.
3. I also watched What's Up Fox on the plane. Ugh boring awful. Clearly a 30+ something career ladies dramas hooking up with younger men are not for me. The only character I liked was Chun Jung Myung. The rest I either disliked or was indifferent to. The leading couple had NO chemistry, the humor was stupid, and while I rarely hate a kdrama heroine, I really disliked this one - immature, selfish and bitchy. Go away. (I think my dislike was set in stone when she led CJM on that she was pregnant as some sort of a joke. Who the HELL does that?) I was actually rooting for the couple not to end up together. Secondary OTP was the creepiest thing in the Universe - a young model and a way older, controlling, freak of a guy who glommed onto her because she looked like his wife.
That is it :)
Oh, we have Abu Dhabi TV her. It has been entertaining :)
1. Apparently no new eps of Pick the Stars this week. I don't mind as wouldn't be able to watch my pretty funny squishy precious anyway, but I feel bad for flisties who love it! Stole this pic from dramabeans (I was looking for spoilers and found this news instead :(). So adorable!
2. We flew Cathay Pacific to HK and they had a huge movie selection. I watched:
Resurrection of the Dragon - about some famous General from one Kingdom fighting armies of the other Kingdom blah blah. So deadly dull! It really had no character development and interactions and not much of plot either other than 'he fights this battle and then he fights that battle, and then he fights this one.' Dull dull dull.
It had to be you Two restaurant coworkers fight, bond over their unfaithful significant others, then fall in love. So-so. Ekin Cheng is always hot, Kareena Lam was pretty, and I liked little whimsical touches but ultimately I couldn't really get behind the heroine - she knows she is 'the other woman' for the guy she is in love with and even when he breaks up with his gf he starts dating others and not her. Yet she chases him for majority of the movie and tries to encourage her new best friend to go chasing after a girlfriend who constantly cheats on him. WTF? It doesn't help that the significant others, while good-looking, have no charm, complexity or anything else - they are selfish, awful people. And the leads are lovely people with great chemistry so you wonder why on earth the heroine is so blind to it for most of the film.
Sophie's Revenge - I really liked this cute off-beat romcom. Sophie (Zhang Ziyi) is a young woman ditched by her doctor fiance Jim (So Ji Sub) almost right at the altar for a sexy movie star Joanna (Fan Bing Bing). Sophie contrives an elaborate revenge plan to win Jim back so she can then tell him to bug off when he asks her back. In order to succeed she asks the help of Gordon (Peter Ho), a Taiwanese photographer she meets at a party and who she hears is Joanna's ex and thus might be game for a little revenge himself. It's charming - of course it's predictable (anyone who doesn't think Gordon and Sophie will fall in love has seen no movies in their life. Of course they will, though there is a twist or two on the way). But Zhang Ziyi is luminous - she makes a character that could have come across as shrill or wacky and makes her irresistable. When Gordon confesses his love to her, you totally get it. Fan Bing Bing is a huge favorite and her Joanna is a total delight to watch - over-the-top diva who is never quite a villain. This is the first time I've ever liked Peter Ho (his looks are still not my thing but Gordon = mmmmmmmm) and So Ji Sub is shirtless a lot in a pretty small but fun role as a man not quite good enough for either of his women. It also has amazingly creative, almost fantasy-like scenes throughout.
Good Morning President - my favorite of the bunch, this Korean tale of three successifve presidents is a total delight - funny, and understated, and touching and so pitch-perfect. GMP is three inter-connected vignettes - the first involving an elderly President near the end of his term who wins a lottery with hilarious results. The second involves a young President in the middle of his term, dealing with dual crises - a political one with North Korea and a more personal one with a bizarre young man who causes a security and publicity incident demanding he donate a kidney to the man's dying father. I have to say, this was my favorite because it finally introduced me to Jang Dong Gun (I saw him in The Promise years ago but I don't remember it well). And oooooh boy! In his crisp suits, severe hair, and with an air of a slightly detached, reserved intellectual, he's good enough to eat! Plus, I really liked the love story between him and Han Chae Young woven throughout the movie. I kept getting antsy whether they were going to hook up! (There is one scene where he first sees her again for the first time in years and she walks by and there is no talking or anything but his his face and guuuuh). The third story involves JDG's successor, the first female president and her not-ready-for-pr husband. It was my least fave because the husband annoyed me and also I was antsy for more glimpses of the past two Presidents (which I got, yay!) but it was well-done.
3. I also watched What's Up Fox on the plane. Ugh boring awful. Clearly a 30+ something career ladies dramas hooking up with younger men are not for me. The only character I liked was Chun Jung Myung. The rest I either disliked or was indifferent to. The leading couple had NO chemistry, the humor was stupid, and while I rarely hate a kdrama heroine, I really disliked this one - immature, selfish and bitchy. Go away. (I think my dislike was set in stone when she led CJM on that she was pregnant as some sort of a joke. Who the HELL does that?) I was actually rooting for the couple not to end up together. Secondary OTP was the creepiest thing in the Universe - a young model and a way older, controlling, freak of a guy who glommed onto her because she looked like his wife.
That is it :)
Oh, we have Abu Dhabi TV her. It has been entertaining :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-02-15 04:16 pm (UTC)Anyway, awwww you didn't like What's up Fox? I liked it. Although I must admit that it's mostly because CJM was endearingly cute there! I didn't hate GHJ's character there. But, I thought her sister and that DOM (dirty-old-man)was really creepy. And what's the deal with his butt? I just can't get over that!
Enjoy HK!
hagrid :)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 02:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-15 04:44 pm (UTC)I also remember trying out What's Up Fox and being bored by it.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 02:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-15 08:13 pm (UTC)I finished timing Tamra Ep 16 and I'll send it to you once you're back home.
I hope you'll enjoy the rest of your stay in HK!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 02:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-15 09:12 pm (UTC)I haven't seen an Ekin Cheng in a long time... so it's good to hear that he's still hot. ♥
no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 02:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-15 10:49 pm (UTC)I didn't like "What's up fox" neither. Whilst I can see the point of it being so different and cheeky it wasn't my personal cup of tea precisely for the reason you mentioned - both OTPs were quite creepy (and I usually like age difference drama). But no - that felt weird.
I think we are slowly returning onto the same wave with Kdrama, I am getting quite charmed by "Pick the Star"'s couple (just finished ep. 12).
no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 02:36 am (UTC)Re: Star. Yay! Aren't they so adorable now! I am quite impatient for more.
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Date: 2010-02-16 05:14 pm (UTC)I still haven't watched the last episode of What's Up Fox and I really don't need to. I liked it at the very beginning but it totally fizzled and I got REALLY REALLY mad at the CM's sister. SO stupid, you're against the relationship of your best friend and your brother? Wouldn't you want them to be happy? I just hated that plot point.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 02:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-16 08:05 pm (UTC)Where did you see Sophie's Revenge , The 1st romatic Comedy that Zhang Ziyi did, it looks really good!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 02:34 am (UTC)And yay on kdramas!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-17 01:05 pm (UTC)That was a bit of an intro. to say that I saw an opportunity to recommend "Goodbye_Solo" to you and so I am now taking it. So few probably know about this little drama and so wanted to share.
Here is what I thought about it back when I finished it last year...... (taken from my post on dramabeans.com: http://www.dramabeans.com/2009/03/open-thread-74/)
"61 clowninpathos - Mar 13, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Hey there, Javabeans! (｡◕‿◕｡)
I’m one of those silent readers that don’t ever really comment.But never really had anything to say until now and so is the reason I decided to write this long entry.
I thought that you would be interested in a recommendation and maybe some others who read your blog. My mom has Dish Network and we get KBS World. And did you ever watch / ever heard of 2006 “Goodbye Solo” (굿바이솔로)? It just finished yesterday. Have to say… ended with total satisfaction. I was afraid that it wasn’t going to be… been burned a couple of times on that.
(More info here → wiki.d-addicts.com/Goodbye_Solo )
and I thought you would appreciate this show as much as I did. Since I know how much you like “Flowers For My Life” and the like.. e.i. thought provoking dramas and not the OTT / clichéd / melodramatic ones, trendy Kdramas are known for.
Since I know you don’t like spoilers. I’ll try to keep it general and not delve into the story much, but these are the reasons on why I think you would be interested in watching “Goodbye Solo”………..
1st off I must give some MAJOR props to the writer Noh Hee Kyung. The story always went beyond my expectations with good resolutions to Every / most story.
(been preprogramming to expect some things from Kdramas… the inevitable drag of the story and the downward spiral into prolonged and unnecessary arcs… for the drAh-ma and Aaaangst… questionable reason for villainy and character characterization and development, etc.)
It always proved my predictions wrong.. I think their going one way & be lame or be another clichéd or contrived storyline… leaving me a bit iffy .. writer’s devices and all… and yet… nope, they never went the easy route (as in the lazy one, like what I expect all Kdramas to be, honestly).
“Oh! Here we go”… then next ep… wait it’s over? Resolved (°º?) “….Huh?”
Every time I thought it was going to disappoint me in some way, it Aaaalways inevitably redeemed itself.
I was really surprised on how non-clichéd and ADULT this show was / is. Either this is rare or I’ve been watching the wrong kinds of Kdramas.
All side characters have their own well-developed stories with subsequent mystery to unfold, holding your interest. Nice pacing.
Very well rounded character development. Deep and multidimensional that didn’t just lay __flat__ on the ground. d(＾`＾)b *two thumbs up*
I understood their every action, well explained on why they did what they did and why they were like they were, cuz in life, people like that actually exist. It wasn’t melodramatic and drawn out. They made sense and were explain… never (or rarely) leaving you wondering why they did this or that."
no subject
Date: 2010-02-17 01:12 pm (UTC)"Thought that I would hate a certain (annoying) couple, but then they are written so realistically that you can’t blame them. Understood why they were together and (the story) gave me reason to… unlike some others (¬_¬)… after the initially fluffy high, I think back on some dramas and for the life of me I just can’t understand Why?… the (OTP) couple REALLY liked each other. Some dramas do a poor job of making me believe and understand.
Awesome written friendships too… (=^.^=)
Cool! (^^)v these people actually TALK out their problems and there aren’t these annoying misunderstanding that drag on for like eh-veEer…
There were flaws, but nothing so glaring that it would leave me frustrated or mad at the drama, like… again some others have. It did so many things perfectly that I forgave it's smaller contrived flaws. So glad KBS aired this so that I was able to see this.
2nd(ly) the direction was well appreciated. Nicely shot. Good transitions, very innovated at times, and great use of reflections and mirrors. Clearly showing you, that the director thought about the shot and it’s framing.
and lastly, 3rd the actors were all pretty good. I usually cringe on some of the acting in AZN & Kdramas. (My Girl. yu rin. I’m looking at you. The cutesy act was just . . . awkward.)
Minho’s character is SO adorkable with granny aka Na Mun Hui. ( ^▽^ *)
I’ve seen her in other roles and did not know that she could SO pull off this character. Just.. simply… adorable.
Overall the acting was on point. The shouting from Minho was so weird though. EoE-esque I bet, never seen the show but I think it’s the same… instead of a progression, it’s just right off the bat. SCREAMING. I.AM.MAD. and my SHOUTING shows it.
Hey!… dude, ever heard of nuanced? Oh.. actually… Yes, you have…. the silent heartbroken looks he gave are ACE. Like a wounded puppy. He does subtle and hurt soooo much better then angry and pissed off.
So Javabeans… I thought you might just want to give “Goodbye Solo” a try.
sO-oooh much better than a … (¬_¬) *cough*… certain… ( ¬ ¬ ) *clears throat*…other program… *shifty-eyed*……currently airing at the moment.
[ m(_ _;)m "gomen," for the looong post...but you don’t mind right? you can relate. When you get on a “I’m going to say something about this tangent” it’s kind of hard to stop... no?]"
no subject
Date: 2010-02-17 02:01 pm (UTC)And unlike Javabeans, I know you don't mind spoilers. I would like to say that the ending for the main OTP triangle was a bit WTF? on how they resolved it, but in the end, the ride of watching Goodbye_Solo was engaging enough that I could over look it.
I mainly wanted to tell you about Goodbye_Solo bcuz of Chun Jung Myung. HE WAS ADORABLE in it, it was the 1st thing that I ever saw him in and was smitten with his face. Awwww was all I kept saying. He was so hurt throughout the whole series and he made me feel how hurt he was.
It's why I also tried "What's Up Fox," but agreed, the plot and story line was not enough for me to watch all of "What's Up Fox," So I skipped around a lot watching it on dramafever just to see Chun Jung Myung's face.
If you want to see more of CJM, I think Goodbye_Solo is a better drama to see him in.
I also think you'll really like the Young-Suk character, since she was portrayed as a pretty strong female, and mostly bcuz she's not meek nor buys into what society wants from her, Although she does go off and has an "I'm going crazy" story line, it's resolved well.
You might also not like the Mi-ri character, but in the end her actions are so understandable that I never ending up being annoyed nor hated her.
A lot of the character development was writing so well that it's what SO made this drama watchable for me.
Well, I know how many dramas you already are planning to watch and probably don't need another one to add, but just thought to bring it up.
(Also I realize how creepy or stalkerish? some of my comments might come off on how much info. I know about you, but it's just that I have a very good memory and have been reading your blog for a while now. You are pretty entertaining and always have interesting commentary, love your picspams, I also like how often you post, helps with life's daily boredom's.)
I'd be interested to see your take on this drama. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 02:33 am (UTC)And guess what - I already have DVDs of Goodbye Solo waiting for me when I get home and I plan to get to them asap - I love the cast and the writer and what you wrote makes them sound even more excellent. Plus, CJM!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 12:23 pm (UTC)Hey! That's good to hear, That means you can marathon it! The story tends to use a lot of mystery and make you wait to find out a lot of things.
And some spoilers just in case you have the urge to stop watching Goodbye Solo too soon. In the cast, Kim Nam Gil from Queen Seon Duk is playing the 2nd guy, which you might hate him for some of his actions, bcuz a couple of times I was going WTF 2nd guy (aka Ji-ahn)? But all the better I guess, since that meant CJM happily got the girl with little guilt attached, since she was Ji-ahn's 1st. And the motivations for some of his actions are giving reasons on why he did such F$#! up things at times, he had pretty bad family circumstances growing up giving him a lot of shame and reasons to lie.
If you do get to Goodbye Solo, you'll understand more on what I just stated above.
And CJM seriously! his FACE, you just have to watch his face. Awwwww ;)