Musings of the Obsessive Kind

We bought our tickets to Peru! So excited! We will probably be doing the very touristy circuit of Lima-Nazca-Arequipa-Cuzco-Machu Pichu.

This week, btw, will be pretty light on posts, drama or otherwise - Mr. Mousie and I are living it up and going out every night so...I mean, I love dramas but not enough to pick them over that :P

Have some compensation:

A random comment I made in reply to your_insomnia has triggered my memory of one of my greatet childhood loves - the Turkish novel and TV miniseries adaptation of the same - Çalıkuşu Esen Engen or "Королек-птичка певчая" as it was known in Russia.

A story of a strong-willed young woman who becomes a teacher in a remote rural area when the man of her dreams proves to be less than she thought him, it was a very feminist novel, in retrospect, and made me love the tough, emotionally closed-off yet compassionate heroine. And the hopeless romantic in me kept hoping she and her first love would reunite (which they did), despite her fighting her attraction almost to the death because she did not want to be made vulnerable.

Anyway, it's a huge slice of my childhood.

Someone on youtube made a shippy MV from the 1980s miniseries.



I really want a rewatch. I still remember curling up on the sofa at my grandmother's, the whole family devouring this (my grandmother was a teacher in rural Uzbekistan during WW2 and is a really really tough lady who later taught delinquents for a time so I always associated the heroine with her. Though grandpa was never a problematic suitor, as far as I am aware).

A random comment I made in reply to your_insomnia has triggered my memory of one of my greatet childhood loves - the Turkish novel and TV miniseries adaptation of the same - Çalıkuşu Esen Engen or "Королек-птичка певчая" as it was known in Russia.

A story of a strong-willed young woman who becomes a teacher in a remote rural area when the man of her dreams proves to be less than she thought him, it was a very feminist novel, in retrospect, and made me love the tough, emotionally closed-off yet compassionate heroine. And the hopeless romantic in me kept hoping she and her first love would reunite (which they did), despite her fighting her attraction almost to the death because she did not want to be made vulnerable.

Anyway, it's a huge slice of my childhood.

Someone on youtube made a shippy MV from the 1980s miniseries.



I really want a rewatch. I still remember curling up on the sofa at my grandmother's, the whole family devouring this (my grandmother was a teacher in rural Uzbekistan during WW2 and is a really really tough lady who later taught delinquents for a time so I always associated the heroine with her. Though grandpa was never a problematic suitor, as far as I am aware).

And I am back!

I'll try to make this as coherent as I can because I am on hell of a lot of meds (not opiates - allergic to those, the thought of people developing painkiller addiction is as incomrehensible to me as someone chopping off his own foot for fun) and some pain.

I am sure a lot of you are already aware, SE entertainment is going to produce a Korean version of Hana Kimi, a popular manga (and later a twdrama and jdrama) about a girl who cross-dresses as a boy to get into an all boys' school to be close to her idol.

UGH

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

WHY?????

I am going to make it clear - I lieke the manga a lot. It's not going on my fave list, but it's cute, funny, and full of likeable characters. While nobody bothered much with acting in twdrama, it was rather cute until the WTF ending (which was in place because they were planning a sequel until it fell through). But the jdrama was an unmitigated disaster - shrill, ridiculous, miscast, and mainly created to showcase various scrawny idols and idol wannabe. Mizuki, the heroine, often felt like a cameo in a drama that was supposed to be about her, And funny-wistful-tender vibe of the manga was turned into OTT, jarring idiocy. Don't get me started on Horikita Maki and Oguri Shun as the leads - I adore them in other projects and I think they could have done a decent job here, but due to the script, they came across as singularly, wooden, unlikeable, and miscast.

I am pretty sure the kdrama is going to follow the jdrama version since it's produced by what is an idol-producing house, not a drama company. Say what you will about Group 8, but at least they have adopted many a manga, some well and some not so well - this is their bread and butter as opposed to a sidelike to showcase their newest, shiniest, most wooden properties.

They are going to stuff this with a bunch of pretty people who cannot act to save their life, make the plot so it would showcase those boy-wonders' amazingness and further wreck the delightful manga - in execusion and premise.

The fangirls will eat it all up, it will probably do well, and we'll be doomed to more of this. Kdramas are starting to remind me of jdramas of a decade ago an awful awful lot - when jdramas were still making a lot of quality dramas full of genuine (sometimes *gasp* older) actors which told nuanced stories, but were at the cusp of the great idol deluge which turned jdramas into what they are today - some adult dramas, but not too many, and the rest are half-baked idol projects which are not only full of acting that is mediocre at best, but also have simplistic/unrealistic scripts to satisfy those fans of idols who are 12 (in body or in heart) and because said idols couldn't act in a nuanced drama if their life depended on it. I really do not want kdramas to get dumbed down the same way.

Final note - if you must, must, simply must adapt a graphic medium, how about manhwa? There is a great deal of wonderful manhwa out there and it rarely gets adapted, instead kdramas just regurgitate manga stuff, often not too well.

And I am back!

I'll try to make this as coherent as I can because I am on hell of a lot of meds (not opiates - allergic to those, the thought of people developing painkiller addiction is as incomrehensible to me as someone chopping off his own foot for fun) and some pain.

I am sure a lot of you are already aware, SE entertainment is going to produce a Korean version of Hana Kimi, a popular manga (and later a twdrama and jdrama) about a girl who cross-dresses as a boy to get into an all boys' school to be close to her idol.

UGH

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

WHY?????

I am going to make it clear - I lieke the manga a lot. It's not going on my fave list, but it's cute, funny, and full of likeable characters. While nobody bothered much with acting in twdrama, it was rather cute until the WTF ending (which was in place because they were planning a sequel until it fell through). But the jdrama was an unmitigated disaster - shrill, ridiculous, miscast, and mainly created to showcase various scrawny idols and idol wannabe. Mizuki, the heroine, often felt like a cameo in a drama that was supposed to be about her, And funny-wistful-tender vibe of the manga was turned into OTT, jarring idiocy. Don't get me started on Horikita Maki and Oguri Shun as the leads - I adore them in other projects and I think they could have done a decent job here, but due to the script, they came across as singularly, wooden, unlikeable, and miscast.

I am pretty sure the kdrama is going to follow the jdrama version since it's produced by what is an idol-producing house, not a drama company. Say what you will about Group 8, but at least they have adopted many a manga, some well and some not so well - this is their bread and butter as opposed to a sidelike to showcase their newest, shiniest, most wooden properties.

They are going to stuff this with a bunch of pretty people who cannot act to save their life, make the plot so it would showcase those boy-wonders' amazingness and further wreck the delightful manga - in execusion and premise.

The fangirls will eat it all up, it will probably do well, and we'll be doomed to more of this. Kdramas are starting to remind me of jdramas of a decade ago an awful awful lot - when jdramas were still making a lot of quality dramas full of genuine (sometimes *gasp* older) actors which told nuanced stories, but were at the cusp of the great idol deluge which turned jdramas into what they are today - some adult dramas, but not too many, and the rest are half-baked idol projects which are not only full of acting that is mediocre at best, but also have simplistic/unrealistic scripts to satisfy those fans of idols who are 12 (in body or in heart) and because said idols couldn't act in a nuanced drama if their life depended on it. I really do not want kdramas to get dumbed down the same way.

Final note - if you must, must, simply must adapt a graphic medium, how about manhwa? There is a great deal of wonderful manhwa out there and it rarely gets adapted, instead kdramas just regurgitate manga stuff, often not too well.

I am detoxing from Three Kingdoms today for my own sanity. I got a full night's sleep, had proper meals, and have not watched an episode in 15 or so hours :P I doubt I'll last the full 24 though.

On the "yay!" news front, I showed the first two episodes to Mr. Mousie and he really really likes and wants to watch more (that will make his fourth drama, after Hong Gil Dong, Karei-naru Ichizoku, and Chuno). I think he's also a Cao Cao fan in this. I have an excuse to watch this twice! Wooo! Though he hates hates hates romance parts in shows, so I think I am going to have to skip the whole Diaochan/Lu Bu arc when we watch together or else he's going to go nuts :P

And speaking of, I went digging for stuff and found out that in 2004 they made a fantasy version of the whole Diaochan/Lu Bu thing, and called it Die Wu Tian Ya (apparently this was originally a 2002 drama called simply "Lu Bu and Diao Chan" but it got yanked for being too violent (really????) and renamed and reworked and that's what it ended up being). I can't say I am not tempted at the thought of 35 episodes of shippiness, but ultimately, nope - for one thing, I don't speak Mandarin and there are no subs, and for another, everyone just looks odd in it, and as if they've been having a bad hair day for a decade. The music is pretty though. Have a vid:



OK, back to detox :P

Baby Mousie just went to bed. I was going to do a whole bunch of things - reply to comments, do posts (I have a huge Three Kingdoms picspam I want to do of scenes I haven't gotten to yet), and of course watch more of Three Kingdoms but...

I can't stay awake, being dizzy and disoriented and ridiculously sleepy. It doesn't help that I was so obsessed I forgot to eat anything all day until I had my dinner and realized hunger was the one thing keeping me awake. I am clearly a zombie temprorarily. Still, could have been worse - I was so out of it today that I forgot my purse with wallet/keys/kindle in the grocery store and realized it only when I was halfway home. Luckily all the stuff was still there when I got back.

So very sorry, dying Han empire and its denizens - I'll continue watching you going down in flames tomorrow.

Jeez. I haven't watched anything on such an insane schedule since 2004 when I discovered the soapy goodness of Roswell and watched a season in one night.

Baby Mousie just went to bed. I was going to do a whole bunch of things - reply to comments, do posts (I have a huge Three Kingdoms picspam I want to do of scenes I haven't gotten to yet), and of course watch more of Three Kingdoms but...

I can't stay awake, being dizzy and disoriented and ridiculously sleepy. It doesn't help that I was so obsessed I forgot to eat anything all day until I had my dinner and realized hunger was the one thing keeping me awake. I am clearly a zombie temprorarily. Still, could have been worse - I was so out of it today that I forgot my purse with wallet/keys/kindle in the grocery store and realized it only when I was halfway home. Luckily all the stuff was still there when I got back.

So very sorry, dying Han empire and its denizens - I'll continue watching you going down in flames tomorrow.

Jeez. I haven't watched anything on such an insane schedule since 2004 when I discovered the soapy goodness of Roswell and watched a season in one night.

Sorry for being relatively MIA for the last few days. What with Baby Mousie's birthday party, family visiting, Valentine's Day, it got a little busy. But now the family went home (boooo, I love having Mr. Mousie's parents around), the party is over (it was a big hit - 9 of her friends came and she had a blast. She's been muttering "Happy Day, Heehee [corruption of her name]" ever since and demanding cake). And V Day is behind us - it was our 11-yr anniversary. We got a babysitter and went to a dinner and a movie. Munchkin was verrrry grumpy at me this morning for 'ditching' her but eventually condescended to forgive me. Oh, and Mr. Mousie gave me an amazon gift card among other things, which I have already partially used to acquire for my kindle a book on the Tang Dynasty as well as a book on the Incas I've been eyeing for months.

Anyway, back to dramas.

1. Dream High

( Dream High ep 13 quick thoughts )

2. Jade Palace Lock Heart:

( Jade Palace Lock Heart ep 8 )

3. Haven't had time yet to catch up this weekend's eps of New Tales of the Gisaeng but seeing that I am only watching one storyline, it won't take long. I honesntly cannot imagine any circumstances under which Saran will become a gisaeng, but supposedly she will, so I am very curious.

4. Is The Duo done with its childhood scenes yet? I want to check it out but only once adults come on the scene.

5. The first ep of the Inuyasha-type The Holy Pearl is about halfway subbed so I am going to check it out. Apparently they credited Inuyasha so it's all cool :)

ETA: Just finished the first ep and I like. It helps that I always found Gillian Chung immensely likeable on-screen though she isn't much of an actress. It's fun, animeish fantasy - not a serious materpiece or anything, but quite enjoyable. Plus, horned dude is hot.

6. The list of unsubbed cdramas that I really really would love to watch if only subs were out there is as long as my arm, but I am adding another one to it: The Conquest/The Warriors, starring Chen Kun and Sonija Kwok as star-crossed lovers in the Warring Kingdoms period (I think). There's slavery, angst, shippiness and other good things. Have a MV:



7. I've pretty much lost interest in Bu Bu Jing Xin, the upcoming period/timetravel drama with Liu Shishi, because fishcake gave me some details on the plot and it has some really big dealbreakers for me, but I have to say the design looks gorgeous. Hellochloe posted some new stills on her blog. Go take a look :)

8. Great news! Jiang Hu picked up cdrama Iljimae for subbing! You probably know them from Legend of Condor Heroes 200, HXM's Shanghai Bund etc. They are really really really good! It will probably take them a while to get to it seeing that they are busy subbing the monster Three Kingdoms (which I am dying to watch), but when they do, it will be excellent excellent subs!

Baby Mousie is stuffing her face with pasta and playing, and I am drinking chai latte and lunching on tomato soup while watching Casablanca - the local diner we went to is playing it with subs.

Heaven. Heaven heaven heaven.

I love Casablanca so much - a little more so with every time I watch it (though for the record, I am more of a Lazslo girl than a Rick one).

Speaking of classic movies, I wonder if my hint to Mr. Mousie about getting the Thin Man movies box set was sufficiently specific. I love those movies. It was the first time I realized marriage could be fun! (- was in high school at the time :))