All Feng Shao Feng, all the time. Well, sort of.

[dangermousie]

1. Have some angsty Playboy from Four Women Conflict.



I have a thing for tear wiping:



Playboy declaring he killed Lanyan's husband.




In jail, telling her he won't live without her.






Pretty pretty pretty:




OTP!




He's been made to believe she died (she needs to pretend to be dead to catch whoever is trying to kill her - i.e. puppy killer). Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh.



He sort of is going photogenically insane and telling her he will marry her even though she's a corpse and that he's now just a body without a soul etc. These pics seem very relevant to the "crying men - hot, wussy, or lickable" poll question. Your verdict?





At her tomb. Puppy Killer is all "but whyyyyy don't you love me? She's dead." Seriously, someone buy this lady a clue.






2. ockoala just informed me that FSF and Yang Mi are going to play the OTP of contemporary cdrama Destiny's Concerto. Normally, modern-day cdramas are rarely my thing but I am going to give it a try just for them. Together with JPLH, its movie sequel and Legend of Tiger Amulet, that's four times they have been paired in one year (!!!!). I've seen some griping on spcnet about it (why?) but I am doing an ecstatic jig because they sort of my became my favorite drama pairing and I am so very happy to see them together again.

3. I wasn't particularly interested in Schemes of Beauty before but it's made by the same guy who made FWC and JPLH, it has FSF and Yang Mi (not as an OTP, but that is even more fun. Yang Mi's OTP in this is Four, a.k.a. Mikey He, and FSF's otp is Myolie Wu). Must check this out now - I believe viki has it. Have these two MVs for the two OTPs

Yang Mi/Mikey (thanks for finding it, hanjae:

FSF/Myolie:

4. And speaking of Yang Mi/Mikey He - I am on ep 16 of JPLH and I do believe Four might be developing feelings for our intrepid heroine. How do I know? Well, he hesitates to slit her throat while she's lying there unconscious after having taken a sword stab to save his life. He decides not to kill her (on the off chance she's somehow implicated in something against him - hello, paranoia!) despite being really tempted.





Now we know that with Four this is as good as shouting from the rooftops that it's LOVE!

5. Thanks for the heads-up, hanjae. Trailer for FSF/Yang Mi Warring States awesomesauce collab Legend of Tiger Amulet is out:

I want!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comments

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

They liked her best in CP3? Which drama version did they watch and can I get my hands on it?

CP3 is in general silly and OTT and makes the YZ stuff people criticize look like Antonioni. The only way I am still keeping up with it is because I like the secondary OTP (Wallace Huo and Tang Yan) and their story - it's pretty cheesy but at least in an angsty, entertaining, delicious way.

Yang Mi and Hu Ge, the two main characters, are unbearable. Their characters are immature and OTT and so that's all you get. Either role requires no acting, let alone subtle acting. It is a sign of their immense likeability and on-screen presence that I just don't care for them/am mildly annoyed by them because if anyone else was in those roles, I'd loathe them for life.

So very very bad.

[(Anonymous)]

I think why CP3 was very immature is b/c the target audience and the source material is very different. The characterizations in CP3 originate from the game series, which work there b/c the game is sort of cartoonish (the characters were mainly in cute chibi mode) and make belief. However, once you move them to a drama, these characterizations suddenly become out of place. I still like Tang Ren productions much better than a lot of the current dramas coming out, but I agree that CP3 is one of their brainfart moments. (so excited for BBJX! solid solid casting and production! ^_^)

I recommend CP1 though. Fresh, cute, and sometimes childish (have to suspend all logic and sense of reality in a few places), but very good production and excellent OST.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I tried CP1 back when I first was getting into cdramas and, sorry, couldn't stand it, despite liking the cast. Had to bail halfway through - for me, it had the same problem CP3 did with OTT and immaturity but the effects/production values weren't as good as it was older and Hu Ge couldn't act as well yet as it was his first starring role (not that either CP1 or CP3 required much acting).

I am a rabid Hu Ge fangirl (he's my favorite cdrama actor) but not even once I run out of subbed Hu Ge stuff, am I going back to CP1. Sorry. The OST really was gorgeous though.

Wash LOCH2008 TangRen? Because if so, with that and Young Warriors, that's at least two excellent dramas they made.

Re: BBJX. I just can't get excited for it. On paper, it sounds very much like my thing, but I watch the trailers and MVs and am left cold. Some of it is casting issues (I don't think Qing style flatters LSS and Nicky Wu doesn't work for me at all. He is literally the least appealing leading drama man I've ever seen except Ryu Shiwon circa 2002) but a lot of it is it hits a few pretty idiosyncratic personal peeves of mine in the story (hint - if the ending was different (not happier, just different from what it is in some specific ways), I'd tolerate it better).

But I am going to give it a chance anyway.

[(Anonymous)]

hahaha. Maybe it's because I was a fan of the game series (played all 5), but I adored CP1, especially the Eddie Peng (mainly ignored the girl in his OTP. she literally defined the term OTT). I did FF through a lot, since I knew the plots already. But the Hu Ge and Ady pairing owned my heart for quite a while. I understand though how it can very unappealing to someone who's more mature in taste and has no previous attachments to the game series.

I didn't watch LOCH2008 (was LOCHed out during that time. still like the book the best, though have heard some good things about this adaptation. Demigods 2002 remain the best Louis Cha adaptation for me) or Young Warriors, though it looks solid from your recaps and some mvs I've watched. I've watched some of their Liao Zhai series (period fantasy miniseries), Tian Ya Zhi Nv (Weavers of the Land?), and some Guai Xia Yi Zhi Mei.

IMO, Tang Ren always do a good job of humanizing characters, writing cuteness and sweetness into a lot of heavy storylines, and always backs their dramas up with an awesome OST. They've got that period idol drama niche down and has been ever improving.

I feel like BBJX will be one of their more serious dramas, and that's why I'm excited, b/c I can see the growth of Tang Ren as a production company in this. I'm actually the most excited for Nicky Wu since he's done such a good job in portraying Four (as characterized by the novel) in the trailer so far. Not very flattering in figure or even in looks, but that becomes negligible for me as his acting and screen presence dominates.

BBJX is much more subdued and tragic when compared to Gong, and the plots and characterizations are completely different even though the concept is similar. The reason why I like it is b/c the author manages to weave actual history so well with the plot, adding her own interpretations to cryptic historical events. Chinese literature has also been used very creatively and aptly throughout the series (one of Mao's famous poems has been used by the main character to flatter the emperor Kang Xi). In that sense, it feels more like a historical drama than a period idol drama (which is what Gong is to me). Never been a fan of tragedy, but BBJX has somehow appealed to me. I'm looking forward to the lightness that Tang Ren will add to the story (the novel has been mostly tragic in tone). They do that so well.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am too wuss for Liao Zhai (isn't it horror) but do mean to check out both Yi Zhi Mei (once subs are out) and the Weavers one.

Not very flattering in figure or even in looks, but that becomes negligible for me as his acting and screen presence dominates.

My problem with Nicky is that I agree with the former part of your sentence but not the latter (at least in trailers, he may be different in the drama). I don't need an actor to be young and/or handsome to love him in the role - my favorite, by far, character in 3 Kingdoms 2010 is Cao Cao and the actor playing him is neither - but I don't see Nicky have that kind of on-screen charisma and chops. But maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

And the novel ending really really bugs me, the same way the ending of de Stael's Corinne bugs me. I loathed that type of ending since then. Repeat after me, gals "he's not worth it!".

[(Anonymous)]

what kind of ending are you referring to? (I haven't read anything by de Stael's Corinne) I don't think her (spoiler!) death was a sacrifice in any means for Four if that's what you're referring to.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I used Corinne because it was probably the earliest novel example of this (it was written in 18th century).

Madame de Stael's novel is about an Italian woman, Corinne, who has an affair with an English aristocrat, who eventually marries someone else as more suitable. Eventually, Corinne sort of wastes and dies because she was miserable she couldn't have him. It was viewed as very romantic.

That sort of set-up drives me nuts and it seems BBJX has it.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think that's the plot line of BBJX precisely. Of course, you can interpret it a lot of ways. I think the main character passed away due to a combination of years of hard labor, physical deterioration (she had to kneel in the hard rain for like 2-3 days straight), and a broken heart (not just over Four). The way the novel portrayed it was that she tried to disassociate herself from history throughout the novel, but only discovered at the end that she was an integral part of it, even as the catalyst for many of the tragic events that followed. She was heart broken over her own role in the downfall of her loved ones (that includes Four, Eight, Thirteen, and Fourteen). There was no way that the main characters could be together (Four and main girl) even if she didn't marry Fourteen. It's just the way history played out, and too many rifts were created between them without the complication of marriage (he sorted of ordered the cruel death of her sworn sister, who's also a [spoiler!] spy). The marriage was a sort of excuse for her to leave the palace (a place of heartbreaks and sorrow) and to save Four from the unfilial act of forbidding the marriage (it was decreed by his father, the late Emperor KangXi).

I hope that clears it up a bit. ^_^

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the explanation. I don't know, it's not that I find it unrealistic (I don't) but I find it not appealing to me.

I am pretty shallow so if, perhaps, they cast someone I find more appealing as Four, I would have still checked it out and been more excited for it despite my story misgiving but as it is, it's not a draw so...

Who knows, I may love it anyway.

Do they ever explain how she time-traveled? Because it seems odd if not - i.e. what happened to the person in the past she displaced? I can't help but think she hallucinated the whole thing in a coma or something.

[(Anonymous)]

There are two versions of the novel. The first, she fell down the ladder while changing light bulbs, and the second, she was hit by a car. In both cases, it's only her spirit that traveled through time. The author made no indications on the whereabouts of the original owner of her body. Maybe she died. Maybe she exchanged bodies with the main character (now that would be a fun fanfic story to read), time-traveling to the present.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

But yes, I don't really like the plot setup that you're referring to either. I feel like it existed in Wuthering Heights, where I couldn't stand Catherine. Ruo Xi in BBJX in much more different. She's a bit indecisive about her love interests at the beginning, but once she makes a decision, she sticks to it until the end. She's also much more strong-willed and intelligent.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Well, I never did get the WH is romantic thing people have going. Good novel yes. But full of nasty people who are better off dead.

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I've never tried CP3 then; the people who liked her character there must've been either huge Yang Mi fans or very, very tolerant.

You know, that reminds me, I've never watched a complete Wallace Huo drama. That should be rectified; I just put Guai Xia Yi Zhi Mei and upcoming Qing Shi Huang Fei onto my list. Too bad this is apparently what Wallace looks like for Qing Shi Huang Fei:



Re: BBJX below, I heard the author Tong Hua gets very much involved in the casting for drama adaptations of her books. She was insisting on Du Chun as the lead of Song in the Clouds, another upcoming YZ project, which may be okay if he wasn't supposed to be playing a 21-year-old guy, LOL. I wonder whether she was also responsible for Nicky Wu's casting?

[(Anonymous)]

Wallace in CP3 was very lovable in the moments I've attempted the drama. He has redeemed the character of Chang Jing for me (hated him in the games).

That's what I've heard about Tong Hua too...although I've never really been a big fan of Du Chun (except in his very early work in Da Han Tian Zi as the young emperor). At least the age is right for Nicky as Four. I think he was in the early 30's in the beginning and around 46 when the novel ends.

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

I've heard people say that Du Chun would be adequate portraying the lead in Song in the Clouds, character-wise. I'm not sure since I haven't read the novel, but perhaps they could fix the problem by lifting the ages of the entire cast? That way Du Chun won't look like Nicky Wu does in comparison to the rest of BBJX. I think the problem with poor Nicky is that although he fits the age range, the rest of the princes look so much younger than him that he looks more like their uncle - it's painfully obvious in the full cast photos when he's standing near Kevin Cheng and Yuan Hong. And then paired with 23-year-old Liu Shi Shi who looks young for her age...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I think the problem with poor Nicky is that although he fits the age range, the rest of the princes look so much younger than him that he looks more like their uncle - it's painfully obvious in the full cast photos when he's standing near Kevin Cheng and Yuan Hong. And then paired with 23-year-old Liu Shi Shi who looks young for her age...

LOLOLOLOL. Sometimes one needs to sacrifice historical accuracy, IMO. I would totally buy a gorgeous 23-yr-old and a dumpy 41-yr-old as a couple when the latter is prince/emperor - much more beautiful women and much more unappealing men became couples before in those circs. The problem is that this is supposed to be a love story and then I sort of bail.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Well, Wallace's character is the only one in CP3 I didn't want to drown so...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It must be the Russian in me but the hulking fur doesn't bother me a bit. In fact, I want to get him a dog furcoat (they are the warmest) and a matching hat.

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

I love the beautiful furs they wear in BBJX, but that... thing Wallace is wearing totally leaves me in the cold. Particularly when you compare him to Yan Kuan:





That one he's wearing in the first pic looks better, actually. This one's even stranger.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I want to know what kind of an animal produces blue fur. OTOH YK is looking fiiiiine.

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

Doesn't help that the design of his robes look exactly like my 5th aunt's lounge curtains with silver fish on them. It's only when you look closer that you go, "Ahhh, those are dragons! V. Chinese."

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

ROFL