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dangermousieMr. Mousie and I watched In Bruges tonight (with Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes). It just opened and it was WONDERFUL. Both darkly funny, and sad. Plus, we've been to Bruges so it was extra cool.
We have also watched eps 11-12 of Hong Gil Dong. Caps and meta coming, but for now, all I have to say is:
a. it gets better with every single ep
b. How can the same drama make me LOL like a maniac and get weepy-eyed?
Oh, when Chang Hwe was looking for Yi Nok in the smoke, and flashbacking to his mother and saying he won't lose someone again. And the weeping. OMG. And the hug.
When Gil Dong was bandaging Creepy Goth Girl's foot and that ratty, dirty pouch that Yi Nok made him fell out (he always has it on him AWWWWWW) and he picked it up really quick and she was all 'it's so ratty' and he defends it 'it's embroidered.' IN YOUR FACE, Creepy Goth Girl!
Ohhhh, when Yi Nok tells that bandit how much she misses Gil Dong and GD is hiding and hearing it and he is crying too. OHHHHH. I think that is why he finally doesn't run away: he gave her up because he thought it would be best for her, but it's been wearing on him so much and then he hears how she hasn't gotten over it for a year.
THE FINAL SCENE!!!!!!! When she asks him if he is a dream or a ghost and he whispers 'dummy' and she runs into his arms and he drops his staff and his arms go around her.
BEST THING IN HISTORY.
I am going to cap the eps myself later, but for now, caps from dramabeans.
Heeee:
Hotness:
GD hears YN talk about missing him:
And he watches her sleep for hours:
She sees him OMG:
And now am dead. Oh my wonderful OTP:
I have also continued with my watch of Que Sera Sera and have just finished ep 15. It's still incredibly excellent.
Oh, I love everything about this drama. Everything.
I especially love how Tae Joo largely holds it all together but sometimes he can't any more, and the cracks show and you see what a mess he is. Oh, that scene when he sees Eun Soo try on the wedding dress of her marriage with JH (who is a darling btw). His face!
Or when he is drunk and keeps repeating over and over and over 'what have I done to Eun Soo?' because she's gotten all hard. Ohhhh.
I love how being in that family is killing his independence. How happy is he when he hides in his old apartment (significantly next door to ES and decorated by her) as a refuge, lying to Hye Lin (his relationship with her continues interesting) that he is with friends or whatever. It's like he needs a place of his own, to hide. He is going to be so miserable in all of this.
Oh, the way he looks at Eun Soo! (I also love how he's matured and is concerned for her happiness as opposed to be self-destructive. He is the one who reassures her about failed presentation, he is worried JH doesn't really love her etc).
AND EUN SOO IS PREGNANT WITH JOON HYUK'S BABY!!! And JH announces it at dinner with HL and TJ and TJ drops his glass and keeps sweeping the fragments without even noticing that he is cutting his hands worse and worse and oh oh oh his eyes.
Got these off dramabeans :)
First off, nonmanpainy one. The newlyweds :(
And my OTP!
MANPAIN. Well-dressed manpain:
The glass scene!!!!!!
Last but not least, the amazing![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
walkwithheroes made two perfect Something Happened in Bali MVs. One about the OTP of Jae-Min/Soo-Jung and one about the love triangle. The OTP one almost made me cry:
I loved Bali so much. It's like a darker QSS actually (or, since QSS is later, I suppose QSS is like a happier Bali). Bali is one of these impossible dramas: there are some characters you want to murder (Jae-Min's entire family should have been strangled in their sleep) but they are nasty in a very realistic way, the ending is the bleakest in any kdrama I've ever seen (but makes perfect character sense),there is a certain sense of realism about the world (poverty sucks, the powerful are unjust, damaged people can go off the rails), but the thing that keeps drawing me to it the most (I will actually rewatch it once I finish QSS) is the incredibly screwed-up, irresistable, intense love story: the interactions between Jae-Min and Song-Joo are some of my favorite things in the dramas. And Jae-Min himself, even though what he really needed was years of therapy, since it would have been impossible to go back in time and get child protective services involved, he happens to be one of my very favorite drama heroes. Which probably says worrying things about me, but whatever...
Oh, and a little reading update:
I.
Pramoedya Ananta Toer, This Earth of Mankind (Indonesia)
The plot (modified from wiki): Set at the end of the Dutch colonial rule, the central character and the narrator of This Earth of Mankind is a Javanese young man, Minke, who is “fortunate” to attend an elite Dutch school because he is a descendant of Javanese royalty. Minke faces a complex and dangerous world when he meets Nyai Ontosoroh, a concubine of a Dutch man but his life becomes evenmore dangerous when he falls in love with Annelies, the beautiful Indo daughter of Nyai Ontosoroh.
I am about halfway through. I like it a lot but there isn't a plot urgency so I am reading it in a leizurely fashion.
II.
Guy Delisle, Pyongyang (Canada)
Grafic non-fiction. Summary from amazon: Pyongyang documents the two months French animator Delisle spent overseeing cartoon production in North Korea, where his movements were constantly monitored by a translator and a guide, who together could limit his activities but couldn't restrict his observations. He records everything from the omnipresent statues and portraits of dictators Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il to the brainwashed obedience of the citizens. Rather than conveying his disorientation through convoluted visual devices, Delisle uses a straightforward Eurocartoon approach that matter-of-factly depicts the mundane absurdities he faced every day.
Just finished. It was incredible. Also, did you know that women are only allowed to ride trycicles because Dear Leader found bycicles unsafe for them, and that 50% of Pyongyang population were at one point informers?
III.
American Shaolin by Matthew Polly (USA)
(amazon summary) Growing up a ninety-pound weakling tormented by bullies in the schoolyards of Kansas, young Matthew Polly dreamed of one day journeying to the Shaolin Temple in China to become the toughest fighter in the world, like Caine in his favorite 1970s TV series, Kung Fu. While in college, Matthew decided the time had come to pursue this quixotic dream before it was too late. Much to the dismay of his parents, he dropped out of Princeton to spend two years training with the legendary sect of monks who invented kung fu and Zen Buddhism.
Expecting to find an isolated citadel populated by supernatural ascetics that he’d seen in countless badly dubbed chop-socky flicks, Matthew instead discovered a tacky tourist trap run by Communist party hacks. But the dedicated monks still trained in the rigorous age-old fighting forms—some even practicing the “iron kung fu” discipline, in which intensive training can make various body parts virtually indestructible (even the crotch). As Matthew grew in his knowledge of China and kung fu skill, he would come to represent the Temple in challenge matches and international competitions, and ultimately the monks would accept their new American initiate as close to one of their own as any Westerner had ever become.
Laced with humor and illuminated by cultural insight, American Shaolin is an unforgettable coming-of-age tale of one young man’s journey into the ancient art of kung fu—and a funny and poignant portrait of a rapidly changing China.
I am just started and I am in love.
IV.
The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong: The Autobiographical Writings of a Crown Princess of Eighteenth-Century Korea (Korea)
(amazon summary) Lady Hyegyong's memoirs, which recount the chilling murder of her husband by his father, is one of the best known and most popular classics of Korean literature. From 1795 until 1805 Lady Hyegyong composed this masterpiece, which depicts a court life whose drama and pathos is of Shakespearean proportions. Presented in its social, cultural, and historical contexts, this first complete English translation opens a door into a world teeming with conflicting passions, political intrigue, and the daily preoccupations of a deeply intelligent and articulate woman.
Am about to start
We have also watched eps 11-12 of Hong Gil Dong. Caps and meta coming, but for now, all I have to say is:
a. it gets better with every single ep
b. How can the same drama make me LOL like a maniac and get weepy-eyed?
Oh, when Chang Hwe was looking for Yi Nok in the smoke, and flashbacking to his mother and saying he won't lose someone again. And the weeping. OMG. And the hug.
When Gil Dong was bandaging Creepy Goth Girl's foot and that ratty, dirty pouch that Yi Nok made him fell out (he always has it on him AWWWWWW) and he picked it up really quick and she was all 'it's so ratty' and he defends it 'it's embroidered.' IN YOUR FACE, Creepy Goth Girl!
Ohhhh, when Yi Nok tells that bandit how much she misses Gil Dong and GD is hiding and hearing it and he is crying too. OHHHHH. I think that is why he finally doesn't run away: he gave her up because he thought it would be best for her, but it's been wearing on him so much and then he hears how she hasn't gotten over it for a year.
THE FINAL SCENE!!!!!!! When she asks him if he is a dream or a ghost and he whispers 'dummy' and she runs into his arms and he drops his staff and his arms go around her.
BEST THING IN HISTORY.
I am going to cap the eps myself later, but for now, caps from dramabeans.
Heeee:
Hotness:
GD hears YN talk about missing him:
And he watches her sleep for hours:
She sees him OMG:
And now am dead. Oh my wonderful OTP:
I have also continued with my watch of Que Sera Sera and have just finished ep 15. It's still incredibly excellent.
Oh, I love everything about this drama. Everything.
I especially love how Tae Joo largely holds it all together but sometimes he can't any more, and the cracks show and you see what a mess he is. Oh, that scene when he sees Eun Soo try on the wedding dress of her marriage with JH (who is a darling btw). His face!
Or when he is drunk and keeps repeating over and over and over 'what have I done to Eun Soo?' because she's gotten all hard. Ohhhh.
I love how being in that family is killing his independence. How happy is he when he hides in his old apartment (significantly next door to ES and decorated by her) as a refuge, lying to Hye Lin (his relationship with her continues interesting) that he is with friends or whatever. It's like he needs a place of his own, to hide. He is going to be so miserable in all of this.
Oh, the way he looks at Eun Soo! (I also love how he's matured and is concerned for her happiness as opposed to be self-destructive. He is the one who reassures her about failed presentation, he is worried JH doesn't really love her etc).
AND EUN SOO IS PREGNANT WITH JOON HYUK'S BABY!!! And JH announces it at dinner with HL and TJ and TJ drops his glass and keeps sweeping the fragments without even noticing that he is cutting his hands worse and worse and oh oh oh his eyes.
Got these off dramabeans :)
First off, nonmanpainy one. The newlyweds :(
And my OTP!
MANPAIN. Well-dressed manpain:
The glass scene!!!!!!
Last but not least, the amazing
walkwithheroes made two perfect Something Happened in Bali MVs. One about the OTP of Jae-Min/Soo-Jung and one about the love triangle. The OTP one almost made me cry:I loved Bali so much. It's like a darker QSS actually (or, since QSS is later, I suppose QSS is like a happier Bali). Bali is one of these impossible dramas: there are some characters you want to murder (Jae-Min's entire family should have been strangled in their sleep) but they are nasty in a very realistic way, the ending is the bleakest in any kdrama I've ever seen (but makes perfect character sense),there is a certain sense of realism about the world (poverty sucks, the powerful are unjust, damaged people can go off the rails), but the thing that keeps drawing me to it the most (I will actually rewatch it once I finish QSS) is the incredibly screwed-up, irresistable, intense love story: the interactions between Jae-Min and Song-Joo are some of my favorite things in the dramas. And Jae-Min himself, even though what he really needed was years of therapy, since it would have been impossible to go back in time and get child protective services involved, he happens to be one of my very favorite drama heroes. Which probably says worrying things about me, but whatever...
Oh, and a little reading update:
I.
Pramoedya Ananta Toer, This Earth of Mankind (Indonesia)
The plot (modified from wiki): Set at the end of the Dutch colonial rule, the central character and the narrator of This Earth of Mankind is a Javanese young man, Minke, who is “fortunate” to attend an elite Dutch school because he is a descendant of Javanese royalty. Minke faces a complex and dangerous world when he meets Nyai Ontosoroh, a concubine of a Dutch man but his life becomes evenmore dangerous when he falls in love with Annelies, the beautiful Indo daughter of Nyai Ontosoroh.
I am about halfway through. I like it a lot but there isn't a plot urgency so I am reading it in a leizurely fashion.
II.
Guy Delisle, Pyongyang (Canada)
Grafic non-fiction. Summary from amazon: Pyongyang documents the two months French animator Delisle spent overseeing cartoon production in North Korea, where his movements were constantly monitored by a translator and a guide, who together could limit his activities but couldn't restrict his observations. He records everything from the omnipresent statues and portraits of dictators Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il to the brainwashed obedience of the citizens. Rather than conveying his disorientation through convoluted visual devices, Delisle uses a straightforward Eurocartoon approach that matter-of-factly depicts the mundane absurdities he faced every day.
Just finished. It was incredible. Also, did you know that women are only allowed to ride trycicles because Dear Leader found bycicles unsafe for them, and that 50% of Pyongyang population were at one point informers?
III.
American Shaolin by Matthew Polly (USA)
(amazon summary) Growing up a ninety-pound weakling tormented by bullies in the schoolyards of Kansas, young Matthew Polly dreamed of one day journeying to the Shaolin Temple in China to become the toughest fighter in the world, like Caine in his favorite 1970s TV series, Kung Fu. While in college, Matthew decided the time had come to pursue this quixotic dream before it was too late. Much to the dismay of his parents, he dropped out of Princeton to spend two years training with the legendary sect of monks who invented kung fu and Zen Buddhism.
Expecting to find an isolated citadel populated by supernatural ascetics that he’d seen in countless badly dubbed chop-socky flicks, Matthew instead discovered a tacky tourist trap run by Communist party hacks. But the dedicated monks still trained in the rigorous age-old fighting forms—some even practicing the “iron kung fu” discipline, in which intensive training can make various body parts virtually indestructible (even the crotch). As Matthew grew in his knowledge of China and kung fu skill, he would come to represent the Temple in challenge matches and international competitions, and ultimately the monks would accept their new American initiate as close to one of their own as any Westerner had ever become.
Laced with humor and illuminated by cultural insight, American Shaolin is an unforgettable coming-of-age tale of one young man’s journey into the ancient art of kung fu—and a funny and poignant portrait of a rapidly changing China.
I am just started and I am in love.
IV.
The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong: The Autobiographical Writings of a Crown Princess of Eighteenth-Century Korea (Korea)
(amazon summary) Lady Hyegyong's memoirs, which recount the chilling murder of her husband by his father, is one of the best known and most popular classics of Korean literature. From 1795 until 1805 Lady Hyegyong composed this masterpiece, which depicts a court life whose drama and pathos is of Shakespearean proportions. Presented in its social, cultural, and historical contexts, this first complete English translation opens a door into a world teeming with conflicting passions, political intrigue, and the daily preoccupations of a deeply intelligent and articulate woman.
Am about to start
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ah, Americah Shaolin.
Date: 2008-02-17 07:45 am (UTC)And he has a pretty interesting take on why Asian men are/can be so openly affectionate/teasing with each other, but totally distant from women.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-17 08:14 am (UTC)I'm only up to episode 3, but it is good stuff!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-17 12:23 pm (UTC)I was pissed as soon as Creepy Goth Girl said that she wanted to go looking for Gil Dong. I knew nothing good would come from it, and I was right. Now people who shouldn't know Gil Dong's alive know that fact, and that's just going to cause lots of drama and angst for him and the thieves.
I still like the Prince. I like that he's troubled about the decisions he's having to make and that he's actually thinking about them instead of just following Madame Noh blindly in how she wants to make him king. I do feel bad for him since he's fallen for Yi Nok and they're not going to end up together.
Re: ah, Americah Shaolin.
Date: 2008-02-17 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-17 05:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-17 05:57 pm (UTC)And yeah, I like the Prince's growth and internal struggle a lot.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-17 09:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 12:43 am (UTC)He is my favourite secondary character in the history of ever (decided). I love the way he keeps thinking about the things HGD said to him. They are quite similar, actually. I remember similar struggles HGD had at fist..
And OTP! YAY! But to hide the whole year from her was too cruel! Yes, they are OTP and all and I love them together (I also completely fell in love with YN at some point) but I never like when this happens in fiction. As if it is up to HGD to decide what is better for YN's well-being. Why doesn't he let her to decide? A whole year of tears is too much to bear.
This drama also grown on me A LOT. I is already in my top 10.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 01:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 01:52 am (UTC)Oh, and three other things that interested/amused me. I loved the voiceover by the monk at the beginning of episode 12 that appeared to be a prediction about the situation Yi Nok was in (but was really about the game he was playing with the grandfather). I also liked the scene when the two men were "warming" the food, and the merchant comes over and has them heat the tea kettle for him. I had to start giggling when all of the thieves (even Gil Dong) teased the chief guy about his "problem".
no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 08:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 08:11 pm (UTC)I can give him that and this makes sense, but still - BAD BOY! Ladies are not packages to be disposed at your will. I loved YN's reaction when she saw him (and may be this is one of the biggest reasons I fell in love with her). If it was me , I would have gotten very VERY offended that my friend seemed to be fitting to disclose himself to other people (thieves, etc. - everyone knew it!) and not ME. I would have been offended for days. YN is such a great girl!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 08:13 pm (UTC)I am not really MAD at him (he is such a teddy bear) but I mad with him. :D
no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 08:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 11:38 pm (UTC)Yeah, it's a situation where you really can't win either way no matter the decision you make.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-19 12:23 am (UTC)I don't think was too serious about YN a year ago, I think he would have just decided that she went to China or something. Didn't she and DG want to go to China?
In a way, the fact that GD left YN alone allowed the prince to get too close to her, it would have been different otherwise.
I think it is a hard decision, true! You see, if I was in a situation like YN's I know I would have found it hard.