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dangermousieThis news just made me giggle and snort and do other unladylike things (from Yahoo news):
OSLO, Norway - A Lithuanian held on suspicion of theft in an Arctic Norway jail slipped out of custody — literally — by stripping naked, smearing himself with vegetable oil and sliding through the prison bars, police said Wednesday.
"He slipped through the bars on Christmas Eve," said Svein-Erik Jacobsen, operation leader for the Oest-Finnmark Police District. The unusual escape made national news in Norway on Wednesday.
Another Lithuanian, held as an accomplice in the same cell, also used the technique to try to slip out of a window of the Vadsoe Jail, but failed, apparently because he was too big. The men had managed to bend the bars slightly to gain more space.
"It was a good effort," Jacobsen said. "But all he did was get his head and part of his shoulder through the bars."
A police news release identified the escaped suspect as Yuris Sinkevicius, 25, and said he was 5 feet, 8 inches tall and thin. He remained at large. The statement did not name the second suspect.
Both were arrested in Sweden in late October on suspicion of being involved in an organized grand theft ring that had hit targets in northern Norway and Sweden. They were turned over to Norway, and were being held pending an investigation and possible indictment.
In other news, oh, I am so in love with Snow Queen. I like a lot of dramas, and adore a bunch, but it’s rarely I come across a drama where I have no impulse to fast forward whatsoever but instead want to dwell in every moment of it.
You know, if Silence was really a Taiwanese attempt at a k-drama, Snow Queen is k-drama doing a jdrama. But combining the certain understated sensibility and faster pace of a jdrama with kdrama visuals and romanticism, with a certain dreamy purity all its own.
You know what I really love about it? I enjoy kdramas a lot, but most of them have a deal of filler in it (an average kdrama is at least 16 episodes long, contrasted with jdrama’s 11, and those 11 are also shorter per ep). But this one moves fast, no filler, no drawn out contrivances.
And I adore the characters. Tae-Woong is just amazing. He reminds me of Hiroto in Tattakoi because everything he feels is reflected on his face. It’s a clear mirror of a face, almost silent-movie in that quality. SQ made me fall for Hyun Bin. I’ve seen him before in A Millionaire’s First Love (a movie that is like A Walk to Remember on LSD) and thought he was good-looking and angsted prettily, but that was the sum of it. But here, not only has he catapulted from ‘attractive’ to ‘gorgeous,’ but I love the vulnerability and integrity, and immediacy of his character. When we first meet Tae-Woong, he is 17, but in some ways, he really has the unfiltered response of a child: witness the scene of him and Bo Ra running at that airport. In a way, that is why he can interact as well as he does with the 14 (???) year old Bo Ra: he has the directness of childhood still (and he will never lose it). But it’s that sheer openness that makes him so dreadfully vulnerable to the ‘impure’ world around him. He is so decent, so good without being bland, without being weak (I love it when he hits what’s his name, the annoying ‘genius’ guy) that my heart just goes out to him because I know it will not work out for him, to be like this.
And I adore child Bo Ra. I know she is bratty and spoiled and imperious, but she is dreadfully lonely and she is so amusing. I love the bit where he ran to her because she beeped him it was a matter of life and death (it wasn’t) and, afterwards, in a restaurant, Bo Ra, who looks all of 12, all skinny angles and stick bones, asks him ‘You ran here…are you in love with me?’ as if it’s the most logical thing in the world. And Tae-Woong is just as amused as I am. I really do love the way he treats her: sort of like an amusing little sister to protect. Her oddity doesn’t bother him at all. But he doesn’t look down on her as a kid either. Guuuuh, he’s got so much gentleness in him. And when he leaves school for a day because he’s been accused of plagiarism, I love that his horrible day turns to be bright and happy after all because he goes running after her beeper message and they end up spending the day larking together, it all being slightly surreal.
Summary: Snow Queen. Watch it. Now.
And this, very tangentially, made me think about another topic. Namely, the glorification of nerd in Asian drama (and anime and manga).
Have you noticed this? Unlike in a lot of Western shows, where if you are brainy, you are sort of uncool (or at least fine, you can be a sweet fun nerdy girl but as a guy, no way. Also, you might be sweet but you are never popular), a lot of Asian media seems to glorify braininess as a number one desirable trend.
Asian drama nerds are a hot sexy commodity. The girls try to study hard, as well (Tsurara in Kurosagi wants to be a Prosecutor, Chun-Hyang is the star of her class in Delightful Girl Chun-Hyang, Miaka and Yui in Fushigi Yuugi both set aside time in their busy adventuring in order to prep for exams) but what I really notice is the glorification of the MALE nerd.
As a girl who finds nerds exactly her type, I am squealing in joy.
Evidence? Fine, here are the ‘specimens.’
First and foremost, Zhi Shu from the Taiwanese It Started with a Kiss. Zhi Shu is super brainy. He is really good at hard sciences, he effortlessly gets into med school, he gets the best grades in class, blah blah, blah. And guess what? The heroine follows him around like a smitten puppy, there are other girls who drool over him, he is quite a celebrity in the school, and he is also allowed to be athletic and hot. Yup. And a LOT of emphasis is placed on how brainy he is.
Then there is Tae-Woong from the Korean Snow Queen (my newest obsession). The boy is a math genius. And much as he needs to believe he is worthy to live and love again, part of this new progression is his returning to the potential of his intellect.
There is Ryo from Hot Gimmick: arrogant, desired by girls, and totally a study fiend.
Even in something like Gokusen, which is all about delinquents, Shin is super super smart.
And I am not even talking about characters like Goong’s Shin, who is quite intelligent though this is not an issue in the story as much. Etc etc etc.
Yay, Nerds are Hot.
In some further unconnected news, I have checked out the Wallflower manga and I am in love.
Crazy, giddy, silly, 'this is even better than the awesome anime' love.
The hilarious, offbeat story about Sunako, a girl who became a horror-loving, creepy, scarily-dressed reject as a reaction to a guy calling her ugly, and four handsome young men who are supposed to transform her into a lady in order to get free rent, OWNS me.
Screaming, giggling, and squealing are much in evidence.
I adore Kyohei (one of the four, with hair like Takki, a matter of fact manner, and a temper) and Sunako as a ship etc etc etc.
But you know my chief revelation of yesterday? Nobuta Wo Produce is like a live action Wallflower. Only Wallflower has romance and a much tougher, awesome heroine. Hey, I can thus pretend Yamapi is Kyohei? OK with me. And Horihita Maki is Sunako. YES.
And to end on an oddball note, I end with some Eragon bashing. Some deliciously bashing movie reviews:
http://www.ericdsnider.com/movies/eragon
http://www.flickfilosopher.com/blog/2006/12/eragon_review.html
And a site where essays analize the awfulness. Samples:
If there were a single word in Entish, Elvish or the tongues of Men to express how completely and irredeemably annoying Eragon is, the Epistler would dearly like to know it so that he may carve it into Paolini’s forehead.
And
The diagnosis is now complete: Eragon is a sociopath. He fulfils every single one of the criteria. As a bonus, he also displays a few of the symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
It’s awesome. Go: http://www.anti-shurtugal.com/epistles.htm
And thus ends the post I’ve been writing on and off for days :P
OSLO, Norway - A Lithuanian held on suspicion of theft in an Arctic Norway jail slipped out of custody — literally — by stripping naked, smearing himself with vegetable oil and sliding through the prison bars, police said Wednesday.
"He slipped through the bars on Christmas Eve," said Svein-Erik Jacobsen, operation leader for the Oest-Finnmark Police District. The unusual escape made national news in Norway on Wednesday.
Another Lithuanian, held as an accomplice in the same cell, also used the technique to try to slip out of a window of the Vadsoe Jail, but failed, apparently because he was too big. The men had managed to bend the bars slightly to gain more space.
"It was a good effort," Jacobsen said. "But all he did was get his head and part of his shoulder through the bars."
A police news release identified the escaped suspect as Yuris Sinkevicius, 25, and said he was 5 feet, 8 inches tall and thin. He remained at large. The statement did not name the second suspect.
Both were arrested in Sweden in late October on suspicion of being involved in an organized grand theft ring that had hit targets in northern Norway and Sweden. They were turned over to Norway, and were being held pending an investigation and possible indictment.
In other news, oh, I am so in love with Snow Queen. I like a lot of dramas, and adore a bunch, but it’s rarely I come across a drama where I have no impulse to fast forward whatsoever but instead want to dwell in every moment of it.
You know, if Silence was really a Taiwanese attempt at a k-drama, Snow Queen is k-drama doing a jdrama. But combining the certain understated sensibility and faster pace of a jdrama with kdrama visuals and romanticism, with a certain dreamy purity all its own.
You know what I really love about it? I enjoy kdramas a lot, but most of them have a deal of filler in it (an average kdrama is at least 16 episodes long, contrasted with jdrama’s 11, and those 11 are also shorter per ep). But this one moves fast, no filler, no drawn out contrivances.
And I adore the characters. Tae-Woong is just amazing. He reminds me of Hiroto in Tattakoi because everything he feels is reflected on his face. It’s a clear mirror of a face, almost silent-movie in that quality. SQ made me fall for Hyun Bin. I’ve seen him before in A Millionaire’s First Love (a movie that is like A Walk to Remember on LSD) and thought he was good-looking and angsted prettily, but that was the sum of it. But here, not only has he catapulted from ‘attractive’ to ‘gorgeous,’ but I love the vulnerability and integrity, and immediacy of his character. When we first meet Tae-Woong, he is 17, but in some ways, he really has the unfiltered response of a child: witness the scene of him and Bo Ra running at that airport. In a way, that is why he can interact as well as he does with the 14 (???) year old Bo Ra: he has the directness of childhood still (and he will never lose it). But it’s that sheer openness that makes him so dreadfully vulnerable to the ‘impure’ world around him. He is so decent, so good without being bland, without being weak (I love it when he hits what’s his name, the annoying ‘genius’ guy) that my heart just goes out to him because I know it will not work out for him, to be like this.
And I adore child Bo Ra. I know she is bratty and spoiled and imperious, but she is dreadfully lonely and she is so amusing. I love the bit where he ran to her because she beeped him it was a matter of life and death (it wasn’t) and, afterwards, in a restaurant, Bo Ra, who looks all of 12, all skinny angles and stick bones, asks him ‘You ran here…are you in love with me?’ as if it’s the most logical thing in the world. And Tae-Woong is just as amused as I am. I really do love the way he treats her: sort of like an amusing little sister to protect. Her oddity doesn’t bother him at all. But he doesn’t look down on her as a kid either. Guuuuh, he’s got so much gentleness in him. And when he leaves school for a day because he’s been accused of plagiarism, I love that his horrible day turns to be bright and happy after all because he goes running after her beeper message and they end up spending the day larking together, it all being slightly surreal.
Summary: Snow Queen. Watch it. Now.
And this, very tangentially, made me think about another topic. Namely, the glorification of nerd in Asian drama (and anime and manga).
Have you noticed this? Unlike in a lot of Western shows, where if you are brainy, you are sort of uncool (or at least fine, you can be a sweet fun nerdy girl but as a guy, no way. Also, you might be sweet but you are never popular), a lot of Asian media seems to glorify braininess as a number one desirable trend.
Asian drama nerds are a hot sexy commodity. The girls try to study hard, as well (Tsurara in Kurosagi wants to be a Prosecutor, Chun-Hyang is the star of her class in Delightful Girl Chun-Hyang, Miaka and Yui in Fushigi Yuugi both set aside time in their busy adventuring in order to prep for exams) but what I really notice is the glorification of the MALE nerd.
As a girl who finds nerds exactly her type, I am squealing in joy.
Evidence? Fine, here are the ‘specimens.’
First and foremost, Zhi Shu from the Taiwanese It Started with a Kiss. Zhi Shu is super brainy. He is really good at hard sciences, he effortlessly gets into med school, he gets the best grades in class, blah blah, blah. And guess what? The heroine follows him around like a smitten puppy, there are other girls who drool over him, he is quite a celebrity in the school, and he is also allowed to be athletic and hot. Yup. And a LOT of emphasis is placed on how brainy he is.
Then there is Tae-Woong from the Korean Snow Queen (my newest obsession). The boy is a math genius. And much as he needs to believe he is worthy to live and love again, part of this new progression is his returning to the potential of his intellect.
There is Ryo from Hot Gimmick: arrogant, desired by girls, and totally a study fiend.
Even in something like Gokusen, which is all about delinquents, Shin is super super smart.
And I am not even talking about characters like Goong’s Shin, who is quite intelligent though this is not an issue in the story as much. Etc etc etc.
Yay, Nerds are Hot.
In some further unconnected news, I have checked out the Wallflower manga and I am in love.
Crazy, giddy, silly, 'this is even better than the awesome anime' love.
The hilarious, offbeat story about Sunako, a girl who became a horror-loving, creepy, scarily-dressed reject as a reaction to a guy calling her ugly, and four handsome young men who are supposed to transform her into a lady in order to get free rent, OWNS me.
Screaming, giggling, and squealing are much in evidence.
I adore Kyohei (one of the four, with hair like Takki, a matter of fact manner, and a temper) and Sunako as a ship etc etc etc.
But you know my chief revelation of yesterday? Nobuta Wo Produce is like a live action Wallflower. Only Wallflower has romance and a much tougher, awesome heroine. Hey, I can thus pretend Yamapi is Kyohei? OK with me. And Horihita Maki is Sunako. YES.
And to end on an oddball note, I end with some Eragon bashing. Some deliciously bashing movie reviews:
http://www.ericdsnider.com/movies/eragon
http://www.flickfilosopher.com/blog/2006/12/eragon_review.html
And a site where essays analize the awfulness. Samples:
If there were a single word in Entish, Elvish or the tongues of Men to express how completely and irredeemably annoying Eragon is, the Epistler would dearly like to know it so that he may carve it into Paolini’s forehead.
And
The diagnosis is now complete: Eragon is a sociopath. He fulfils every single one of the criteria. As a bonus, he also displays a few of the symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
It’s awesome. Go: http://www.anti-shurtugal.com/epistles.htm
And thus ends the post I’ve been writing on and off for days :P
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-04 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-04 08:16 pm (UTC)In fact, I can only think of very few exceptions. Domyouji in Hana Yori Dango is not the sharpest crayon in the box and Rei in Mars doesn't do well in school and doesn't care to, feels like he's been blessed when his Dad tells him he doesn't have to go into business, and ends up being a motorcycle racer.
But still, he is a very good motorcycle racer. Competence seems to be the key. Competence and success. Even in a non-academic setting, one has to be good at what he does. I am thinking of Gong-Chan of My Girl, who successfully runs the hotel business (and his best friend is totally into the groove by the end, too) or both the male and female protagonists of Tokyo Juliet, where if they are designers, they'll be the best designers they can be and be very successful.
Stories about people on the fringe not just of society (the way Kira and Rei are in Mars, though they are somewhat reintegrated by the end) but success, seem to be very rare. Something like A Love to Kill (where both the protagonists are skirting the edges of desperation and really fail at so many things), or Sang-Doo (with its ex-convict gigolo and an unenthusiastic female teacher as leads) or Tattakoi (where Hiroto doesn't go to college but he doesn't magically become a rich factory owner. He is an anonymous factory worker by the end) are quite rare.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-04 11:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-04 08:43 pm (UTC)Hyun Bin is love. You really need to see him in My Name Is Kim Sam Soon, he's just that good.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-05 12:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-05 01:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-05 03:05 am (UTC)Right now I am mainlining Green Rose like heroin, so it will have to wait though :)
no subject
Date: 2007-01-04 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-05 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-05 04:09 am (UTC)I mean, I like NobuPro fine, but nothing will beat an actual YamaNade live action dorama, IMHO. :p
no subject
Date: 2007-01-05 04:19 am (UTC)Live action? Oh my God. If they made it, I would DIE.
But yes, I finished volume 1 and I have no words for its awesomeness. No words.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-05 04:24 am (UTC)im glad the anime is introducing more people to this fandom. i deserves so much crack love. XD
no subject
Date: 2007-01-05 04:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-07 05:22 am (UTC)This entertained me for hours. I picked up a copy of the book from a friend and couldn't get past the first three pages it was so bad. Read worse than bad fanfic so finding all this was so much fun.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 11:39 pm (UTC)