Musings of the Obsessive Kind

Ahhhh, drama, how ridiculously do you spoil me? Now that it's more than halfway over, it's pretty clear Sungkyunkwan Scandal is by far my favorite drama this year except for Chuno. And ep 12 was the best yet.

Why are you so perfect, drama?

( Caps and thoughts. Pretty long )

Not related to anything above, but I think I will finally finish the Russian telenovela Bednaya Nastya. It's really long (close to 130 eps) and I spaced out somewhere on ep 80. But I feel in the mood. Ahhhhh, Vladimir/Anna, I used to be so obsessed with them.



This soundtrack vid even has occasionally OK English subs.

Things that make me happy today:

1. Battlestar Galactica season 4 starts this weekend! YES! Can’t wait! It seems like forever. Starbuck, Adama, Roslin, Apollo, Helo, Athena, Six, Anders, Tigh, Leoben, Tyrol etc etc. And…sigh…Baltar. He annoys me a lot, if for no other reason than that I want to forcibly shampoo him, but ahh, well.

I really need to embark on a mad BSG rewatch. Will buy S3 later in the week.

2. Doesn’t Doctor Who start this weekend as well? YES again.

3. As far as I remember, the remaining eps of Moonlight should air sometime this month? I miss my angsty vampires and the spunky reporters who love them! Me want. Now.

4. I don’t even watch Prison Break but I am glad both on principle and because I know it made happy a number of my flisters that ( spoiler )

5. Romantic Princess continues to be so incredibly cute! And the OTP is so incredibly shippable and squishable. It really does come across as a rather more well-integrated Rui and a Makino. Eee. I am always a push-over for spunky girls and reserved boys who are flabbergasted by them. ( Spoilers for first couple of eps )

6. I thought I couldn’t be any more excited about the upcoming kdrama Powerful Opponents, about the first lady bodyguard in the Korean version of White House. I was wrong! The guy who is going to be playing the President’s Son (please, PLEASE tell me she is assigned to protect him and that he will be her OTP) is not only the Secondary Guy in Smile Again that I fell madly for and have been scouring the net to see if he was in anything else, but:
a. he is younger than she is!
b. he is supposed to be “egotistic, tough outside but was hurt inside, a typical rebellious character.” LOL. Yes, please.
c. I saw some promo pics and he gets the snot kicked out of him. I approve.
d. Some awesome pics. ( Pics here )

7. I am finally going to restart the super long (126 eps!) soapy melodrama about hot (currently ex) serf actresses and the angsty aristocrats who love them, a.k.a. Bednaya Nastya. When I stopped, Vladimir was just carted off to be questioned for treason, as poor Anna stared uncomprehendingly at it all (to be fair, she isn't too bright) after her great success singing at the ball and exchanging flaming glances of passion with said Vladimir. Heeee. This never eases up, does it :)

Things that make me happy today:

1. Battlestar Galactica season 4 starts this weekend! YES! Can’t wait! It seems like forever. Starbuck, Adama, Roslin, Apollo, Helo, Athena, Six, Anders, Tigh, Leoben, Tyrol etc etc. And…sigh…Baltar. He annoys me a lot, if for no other reason than that I want to forcibly shampoo him, but ahh, well.

I really need to embark on a mad BSG rewatch. Will buy S3 later in the week.

2. Doesn’t Doctor Who start this weekend as well? YES again.

3. As far as I remember, the remaining eps of Moonlight should air sometime this month? I miss my angsty vampires and the spunky reporters who love them! Me want. Now.

4. I don’t even watch Prison Break but I am glad both on principle and because I know it made happy a number of my flisters that ( spoiler )

5. Romantic Princess continues to be so incredibly cute! And the OTP is so incredibly shippable and squishable. It really does come across as a rather more well-integrated Rui and a Makino. Eee. I am always a push-over for spunky girls and reserved boys who are flabbergasted by them. ( Spoilers for first couple of eps )

6. I thought I couldn’t be any more excited about the upcoming kdrama Powerful Opponents, about the first lady bodyguard in the Korean version of White House. I was wrong! The guy who is going to be playing the President’s Son (please, PLEASE tell me she is assigned to protect him and that he will be her OTP) is not only the Secondary Guy in Smile Again that I fell madly for and have been scouring the net to see if he was in anything else, but:
a. he is younger than she is!
b. he is supposed to be “egotistic, tough outside but was hurt inside, a typical rebellious character.” LOL. Yes, please.
c. I saw some promo pics and he gets the snot kicked out of him. I approve.
d. Some awesome pics. ( Pics here )

7. I am finally going to restart the super long (126 eps!) soapy melodrama about hot (currently ex) serf actresses and the angsty aristocrats who love them, a.k.a. Bednaya Nastya. When I stopped, Vladimir was just carted off to be questioned for treason, as poor Anna stared uncomprehendingly at it all (to be fair, she isn't too bright) after her great success singing at the ball and exchanging flaming glances of passion with said Vladimir. Heeee. This never eases up, does it :)

I have resumed my watch of Bednaya Nastya, otherwise known as that Russian series with the male lead who makes dangermousie spasm.

It's the usual awesome crack (I am up to 80s somewhere, out of 120 eps) but there is one scene that made me all sort of insane from glee.

Vladimir and Anna come to a masked ball. And she is supposed to perform for all the aristocrats, including the Royal family. But she totally freezes at the piano because her mind is so not on it, because she and Vladimir just had this fight, and he is totally mad at her (eeee, mutual jealousy ftw). And she can't and runs off. And OMG OMG eeeee, he goes after her. And he is telling her that she is beautiful and talented and that she can do it and calls her Anya and there is staring of hotness and he strokes her hair and eeeeee!!! Eleventy. And so she goes out and sings beautifully (of course :D) and everybody is all mesmerized but she is totally singing only for him and the staaaaaaaaaring and they are smiling at each other totally oblivious to the crowd. And then everyone is applauding but all she cares about is this little nod from him. EEEE! Did I mention that afterwards he is all set to be taken away by the secret police? Oh sweet sweet crack. But he pretends it's nothing.



Vladimir why are you so hot it ruins my retinas?

I didn't understand why people loathed Olga at BN boards. But now I do.

STAB.

STAB.

Serioiusly, she is causing problems for Vladimir AND Anna AND Alexander AND Natalie AND everyone I love in it.

Also, Alexander 'The Liberator' II is totally HOT.

I didn't understand why people loathed Olga at BN boards. But now I do.

STAB.

STAB.

Serioiusly, she is causing problems for Vladimir AND Anna AND Alexander AND Natalie AND everyone I love in it.

Also, Alexander 'The Liberator' II is totally HOT.

YES!

72 episodes in, and Anna finally admitted she loves Vladimir back. Well, she didn’t say ILY, but I think when the lady in question:

a. tells the guy things like ‘The most important thing is I am home [his, btw]. And you are near.’
b. Continues by staring at him with her anime eyes, touching his cheek and repeating things like ‘I have never felt so good, never’ when he is sitting up there, a few inches away and is staring at her.
c. There is prolonged kissing

I consider her at least mildly interested :D

So, basically, it’s clear if you are hot and angsty and rescue the heroine repeatedly, she will love you back :D

Of course, in order to get to that point, Anna had proven that she has no brains at all*, but hey, I don’t think Vladimir loves her for her mind :D

( rambling on heroine's dimness and other things )

Ooooh, and here is the vid of the scene, with my translations.



( Translations behind cut )

Of course, seeing that there are almost 50 eps left, I can only wait in giddy anticipation what kind of angst they will get to keep them apart for the duration :D

Not related to anything above, but this video of hot-dog eating contest between Kobayashi, a Japanese hotdog champion, and a bear, is something that can make anyone's year!

Somehow, 68 episodes (!!!) in, I have fallen hard for Crown Prince Alexander in Bednaya Nastya. I liked him a lot, before, but somehow, during the whole 'trapped in dangerous cellar with Marie and very ill Konstantin,' I fell for him like a ton of bricks: he is just so awesome to his little brother, and so anxious for him to be OK, and joking to cheer him up, and trying to get them out of it, and gets hurt really badly, but still manages to 'keep up spirit' so his little brother won't be frightened. OMG.

Also, Marie is so awesome, and I think I totally switched ships from Alexander/Natalie to Alexander/Marie. She is so sweet and caring and fun, and she loves him so helplessly. And he is always kind and nice to her, but no more. I adore Natalie, and the two of them together (she is the only one who can keep up with him, in fun and in anger) but it's impossible: Natalie hasn't even admitted her feelings for him to herself, for starts! And she seems so determined to marry her weasely spineless fiance.* But heh, is shipping Alexander/Marie RPShipping? *shudder* I guess the very awesome, yet totally inapproacheable men are such a fictional catnip. See Xi Men/Xiao You from Meteor Garden. Heck, Ten/Rose?

*who meanwhile got his serf Tatiana pregnant. I feel horrible for Tatiana. She can't help but hope he won't marry Natalie, now she is preggers, even if she knows it's ridiculous. Oh, you poor poor thing. There is room for only one fairy tale in this story, and it's Anna's.

Oh, and Vladimir continues to be his awesome self, snarking at Olga (who is super annoying) and writing the mushiest letters to Anna, which he then tears up and doesn't send. Though, listen hero, Vladimir. I realize that it's been some time since you've seen the inside of a jail cell, so you are missing your natural habitat. You know you show at your best advantage when angsting. Plus, you really miss Anna, and taking Olga to St. Petersburg is a perfect excuse to do 'I am not here for you' thing with Anna. But. Taking the Crown Prince's ex-mistress, who got kicked out to Poland by Tsar and Tsarina themselves? Not the brightest idea ever. OK?

I couldn't find a Marie/Alexander video, but there are tons of Alexander/Natalie ones. Since I adore that ship and am only pulling away because it's doomed, here is a vid I adore:



Am I bipolar? A few minutes after thinking Marie/Alexander could be cool, and adoring Marie, I am all 'maybe a few years later, Natalie will change her mind?' Multi-shipping. Most confusing.

ETA: Seriously, I bet part of the reason they chose to set this in this time period, is they wanted to have a royal family storyline in there, and if you look for an admired Tsar, it's pretty slim pickings. It'a basically Alexander and...what Peter the Great? fire_snake will undoubtedly correct me :)

ETA2: Heh. Vladimir's aunt performed euthanasia on his terminally ill mother? EEEEE. And he hates her and thinks she did it because she wanted his Daddy...

Somehow, 68 episodes (!!!) in, I have fallen hard for Crown Prince Alexander in Bednaya Nastya. I liked him a lot, before, but somehow, during the whole 'trapped in dangerous cellar with Marie and very ill Konstantin,' I fell for him like a ton of bricks: he is just so awesome to his little brother, and so anxious for him to be OK, and joking to cheer him up, and trying to get them out of it, and gets hurt really badly, but still manages to 'keep up spirit' so his little brother won't be frightened. OMG.

Also, Marie is so awesome, and I think I totally switched ships from Alexander/Natalie to Alexander/Marie. She is so sweet and caring and fun, and she loves him so helplessly. And he is always kind and nice to her, but no more. I adore Natalie, and the two of them together (she is the only one who can keep up with him, in fun and in anger) but it's impossible: Natalie hasn't even admitted her feelings for him to herself, for starts! And she seems so determined to marry her weasely spineless fiance.* But heh, is shipping Alexander/Marie RPShipping? *shudder* I guess the very awesome, yet totally inapproacheable men are such a fictional catnip. See Xi Men/Xiao You from Meteor Garden. Heck, Ten/Rose?

*who meanwhile got his serf Tatiana pregnant. I feel horrible for Tatiana. She can't help but hope he won't marry Natalie, now she is preggers, even if she knows it's ridiculous. Oh, you poor poor thing. There is room for only one fairy tale in this story, and it's Anna's.

Oh, and Vladimir continues to be his awesome self, snarking at Olga (who is super annoying) and writing the mushiest letters to Anna, which he then tears up and doesn't send. Though, listen hero, Vladimir. I realize that it's been some time since you've seen the inside of a jail cell, so you are missing your natural habitat. You know you show at your best advantage when angsting. Plus, you really miss Anna, and taking Olga to St. Petersburg is a perfect excuse to do 'I am not here for you' thing with Anna. But. Taking the Crown Prince's ex-mistress, who got kicked out to Poland by Tsar and Tsarina themselves? Not the brightest idea ever. OK?

I couldn't find a Marie/Alexander video, but there are tons of Alexander/Natalie ones. Since I adore that ship and am only pulling away because it's doomed, here is a vid I adore:



Am I bipolar? A few minutes after thinking Marie/Alexander could be cool, and adoring Marie, I am all 'maybe a few years later, Natalie will change her mind?' Multi-shipping. Most confusing.

ETA: Seriously, I bet part of the reason they chose to set this in this time period, is they wanted to have a royal family storyline in there, and if you look for an admired Tsar, it's pretty slim pickings. It'a basically Alexander and...what Peter the Great? fire_snake will undoubtedly correct me :)

ETA2: Heh. Vladimir's aunt performed euthanasia on his terminally ill mother? EEEEE. And he hates her and thinks she did it because she wanted his Daddy...

OK, I can't help it.

It's the cheesiest song ever, for this vid, but it's incredibly appropriate, seeing that the MV is for the cheesiest thing ever, in itself: Russian telenovela Bednaya Nastya.



It has no redeeming intellectual value (though it really brings my Russian back even fresher, which makes it my default language, which creates a minor problem :P) but it's so irresistable.

You might remember me going crazy over Baron Vladimir Korf the telenovela, a few months back. I got about halfway back, and got sidetracked. But I restarted. Heeee. Vladimir is just as noble and sarcastic and clueless about women as ever. And Anna is just as busty and pushy and bird-witted-thus-requiring regular-rescuing. YES.

(For those who just tuned in, BN is a 120ep Russian serial set in 1830s Russia, with our heroine Anna a serf actress, and sexy Vladimir her noble OTP. There are evil families, politics, murder plots, and cool costumes).