Musings of the Obsessive Kind

1. I am sure anyone who's interested has found it by now, but in case you haven't, ( long, 26-min trailer for Jade Palace Lock Heart is behind the cut )

So gooooood! This is providing me with new criteria for boyfriend-picking - is the guy going to be willing to gut-stab self in days before modern surgery and antibiotics to save my life? If so, he gets into my skirts. (Other criteria - please pick someone whose relatives are not homicidal in their efforts to get on the throne - that way you won't have to be in danger in the first place). You know, the more I watch JPLH in general, the more I realize how well Hanadan framework works in a period drama - it raises the stakes to life-and-death levels and makes some actions and general personalities more realistic.

2. In news of dramas other than JPLH, I am really enjoying New Tales of the Gisaeng. It's a typical family drama with a billion storylines and I skip them all except for those involving Saran and Damo (individually and together) but their story I love so much! Also, love that he's mouthy to his awful father. I hate when characters are filial to bastards.

( Some caps of cuteness )

3. I finished Taiyou no Uta. So good. My favorite scene was this one in ep 7. ( Scene in question )

4. Checked the ending of Otomen to make sure it ended to my liking (jdramas tend to do annoyingly open endings) and yay! ( cuteness here )

5. In case there is any doubt about which couple I ship in Dream High, guess which scene I rewatched the most in ep 9? ( Go ahead, guess!!! )

6. In case you can't get enough of the "woman travels through time and ends up in love triangle with future emperor Yongzheng and Yinsi (aka guys I refer to as Four and Eight in my JPLH posts), may I alert you to Bu Bu Jing Xin, coming out later this year and starring Liu Shi Shi as the time-traveller and Nicky Wu and Kevin Cheng as the princes. I love LSS, not familiar with two male leads but they seem fine enough. It's supposed to be an angsty take on all of it (to which I want to say "only in period cdrama would JPLH be considered anything but an angstfest." Heh).

( Either way, it looks freaking gorgeous )

Without knowing anything about this story's take, I rec LSS to go for future emperor. I mean, from what hollyxu told me, historical version of Eight ended up being tortured/poisoned in prison, which isn't really a great marriage prospect.

1. I am sure anyone who's interested has found it by now, but in case you haven't, ( long, 26-min trailer for Jade Palace Lock Heart is behind the cut )

So gooooood! This is providing me with new criteria for boyfriend-picking - is the guy going to be willing to gut-stab self in days before modern surgery and antibiotics to save my life? If so, he gets into my skirts. (Other criteria - please pick someone whose relatives are not homicidal in their efforts to get on the throne - that way you won't have to be in danger in the first place). You know, the more I watch JPLH in general, the more I realize how well Hanadan framework works in a period drama - it raises the stakes to life-and-death levels and makes some actions and general personalities more realistic.

2. In news of dramas other than JPLH, I am really enjoying New Tales of the Gisaeng. It's a typical family drama with a billion storylines and I skip them all except for those involving Saran and Damo (individually and together) but their story I love so much! Also, love that he's mouthy to his awful father. I hate when characters are filial to bastards.

( Some caps of cuteness )

3. I finished Taiyou no Uta. So good. My favorite scene was this one in ep 7. ( Scene in question )

4. Checked the ending of Otomen to make sure it ended to my liking (jdramas tend to do annoyingly open endings) and yay! ( cuteness here )

5. In case there is any doubt about which couple I ship in Dream High, guess which scene I rewatched the most in ep 9? ( Go ahead, guess!!! )

6. In case you can't get enough of the "woman travels through time and ends up in love triangle with future emperor Yongzheng and Yinsi (aka guys I refer to as Four and Eight in my JPLH posts), may I alert you to Bu Bu Jing Xin, coming out later this year and starring Liu Shi Shi as the time-traveller and Nicky Wu and Kevin Cheng as the princes. I love LSS, not familiar with two male leads but they seem fine enough. It's supposed to be an angsty take on all of it (to which I want to say "only in period cdrama would JPLH be considered anything but an angstfest." Heh).

( Either way, it looks freaking gorgeous )

Without knowing anything about this story's take, I rec LSS to go for future emperor. I mean, from what hollyxu told me, historical version of Eight ended up being tortured/poisoned in prison, which isn't really a great marriage prospect.

Kindlekindlekindlekindle!

In case you haven't figured it out, I am madly in love with my Kindle. It's small, it weighs less than my wallet and it can hold so many books - I can take it everywhere to read - trips, in bed, in the bath, everywhere.

So, here is what I have on my Kindle so far:

( Cut for list and comments )

In other news, I get very tempted to check out Merlin - so many on my flist love it. But whenever I get close, I start thinking about big WTFs (why is Merlin Arthur's age and his servant) and small ones (Gwen as a Black servant as opposed to a queen. Also, while it's not impossible for there to be a Black person in the isles of that time, it's very unlikely, to say the least). Oh well - Arthurian mythos is an odd thing to be a purist about, but I remember griping my way through the entirety of Clive Owen's King Arthur movie and don't want a repetition of that.

I bet they eat potatoes, too! /bitter

And finally, Otomen continues to be ridiculously sweet - unlike MeiChan and jHanaKimi, it has heart and also a Universe I can conceivably identify as our own.

1. I have tried The King and I and quickly gave it up. Not only does it have a mind-numbing number of characters I cannot tell apart from each other or puzzle their relationships to each other, but within the first five minutes, someone is dug into the ground up to his neck, smeared with honey, and covered in bees. Thank you, very much for those nightmares, drama. All that, and a story about a eunuch starring an actress I dislike and an actor I find unappealing to say the least. In 60 episodes. PASS.

2. Episode 2 of Otomen is sheer adorableness (how does it get more adorable, how?) It's a rare jdrama adaptation of a shoujo manga I like. I am still behind on Orthros No Inu and Buzzer Beat and must catch up, though.

3. Out of curiousity, I checked out some of Tamra the Island ep 14 just to see if my opinion of that drama as the worst thing it has ever been my misfortune to see come out of Korea was justified. I was delighted to discover a tongue-in-cheek deliberately anachronistic take on period drama with some weighty issues thrown in. Unfortunately, said drama was Hong Gil Dong. Tamra, alas, remains a silly piece of fluff. LOL. It looks sort of improved - no potty humor and Im Joo Hwan and the lead girl whose name escapes me, aren't too bad at their jobs (girl has rather ceased channeling Jandi's crazed overacting). William is as wooden and hideously albino as ever, but we can't have everything. I have no motivation to watch more but am at least pleased to declare it not a total loss. And I think IJH and Lead Girl could star in Group 8's planned It Started with a Kiss remake - they physically look the part, have good chemistry, and not actors who I adore so I'd feel upset they are stuck in that mess. If surprisingly the drama turns out well, good for them, and if not, no loss to me :)

4. In good news for moi, Han Ji Min dropped out of Lee Jun Ki's Strange Heroes. Now, I adore HJM but the reason I am happy is her replacement. It's Kim Min Jung - I adored her to bits in Fashion 70s and she is in not nearly enough things. OMG YES.



5. A bunch of images from You're Beautiful are out, and also the images from a mini-concert they did. Oh YES. They did a promo mini-concert, LOL.



( Emo Prince, a Mobster's Loved Stepsister, a bleached boybanded and some other guy form a band )


Nomnomnom can you taste the cheese?

1. I have tried The King and I and quickly gave it up. Not only does it have a mind-numbing number of characters I cannot tell apart from each other or puzzle their relationships to each other, but within the first five minutes, someone is dug into the ground up to his neck, smeared with honey, and covered in bees. Thank you, very much for those nightmares, drama. All that, and a story about a eunuch starring an actress I dislike and an actor I find unappealing to say the least. In 60 episodes. PASS.

2. Episode 2 of Otomen is sheer adorableness (how does it get more adorable, how?) It's a rare jdrama adaptation of a shoujo manga I like. I am still behind on Orthros No Inu and Buzzer Beat and must catch up, though.

3. Out of curiousity, I checked out some of Tamra the Island ep 14 just to see if my opinion of that drama as the worst thing it has ever been my misfortune to see come out of Korea was justified. I was delighted to discover a tongue-in-cheek deliberately anachronistic take on period drama with some weighty issues thrown in. Unfortunately, said drama was Hong Gil Dong. Tamra, alas, remains a silly piece of fluff. LOL. It looks sort of improved - no potty humor and Im Joo Hwan and the lead girl whose name escapes me, aren't too bad at their jobs (girl has rather ceased channeling Jandi's crazed overacting). William is as wooden and hideously albino as ever, but we can't have everything. I have no motivation to watch more but am at least pleased to declare it not a total loss. And I think IJH and Lead Girl could star in Group 8's planned It Started with a Kiss remake - they physically look the part, have good chemistry, and not actors who I adore so I'd feel upset they are stuck in that mess. If surprisingly the drama turns out well, good for them, and if not, no loss to me :)

4. In good news for moi, Han Ji Min dropped out of Lee Jun Ki's Strange Heroes. Now, I adore HJM but the reason I am happy is her replacement. It's Kim Min Jung - I adored her to bits in Fashion 70s and she is in not nearly enough things. OMG YES.



5. A bunch of images from You're Beautiful are out, and also the images from a mini-concert they did. Oh YES. They did a promo mini-concert, LOL.



( Emo Prince, a Mobster's Loved Stepsister, a bleached boybanded and some other guy form a band )


Nomnomnom can you taste the cheese?

I currently have only limited net access (don't worry, a temporary thing) so won't be able to get to comments till tomorrow. Sorry guys!

1. Jin has done an anan photoshoot? I don't even like him (he looks more like a girl than I do!) but am curious. Link? Mainly so I can verify he is indeed a he.

2. I have watched ep 1 of Otomen with subs. GLORIOUSNESS. Epic gloriousness.

3. Apparently they are turning Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend) into a kdrama. YESSS. With the heroine a 30-yr-old who gets dumped and reacts by ordering a hot, expensive sexbot. Like we all do. I adore the manga, didn't care for the jdrama, so am excited at this. From my perspectve, it can only be a good thing - it's not as if there is an adaptation I love already out there. At the very worst, it won't be any worse than jdrama, only with hotter men and more delicious angst, and at best it will actually give me an adaptation I like. Any takers for who should play the perfect-sex-candy-dream-bot? If she is ordering someone her own age, I am going with Song Seung Heon, otherwise known as the hottest man in Asia as per yours truly. He'll be free for a drama, too. If we are going slightly younger, the inhumanly beautiful Hyun Bin (I think he's in his later 20s?) He's also an amazing actor, so. And if we are going for way younger, Lee Min Ho - give him a chance to be in a good manga adaptation for once. Joo Ji Hoon was born to play this role, but alas...

( Gents in question )

We'll see.

4. I am so predictable. I tried Tamra the Island and thought it was the worst drama I have ever seen. But sundae_sweet's posts have persuaded me to give it another glace at least. Why? They had promised me plentiful mistreatment of hero(es) including whipping. Am so very pathetic. We'll see.

I have finished ep 5 of Orthros No Inu and it was total love. Last year was a wash for me, jdrama-speaking - I cannot think of a single one I liked. This year is shaping lovely though - I am obsessed with OnI, I adored what I have watched of Smile (must complete now the subs are done), Otomen is very cute, and filmi_girl just introduced me to the adorableness that is Buzzer Beat. Not bad, jdrama world, not bad.



(I adore the 'subtle' symbolism)

( Thoughts on and caps of ep 5 )

Oh, and as I mentioned up top, Buzzer Beat is adorable. Mainly because of the way Yamapi looks at his OTP:

I have finished ep 5 of Orthros No Inu and it was total love. Last year was a wash for me, jdrama-speaking - I cannot think of a single one I liked. This year is shaping lovely though - I am obsessed with OnI, I adored what I have watched of Smile (must complete now the subs are done), Otomen is very cute, and filmi_girl just introduced me to the adorableness that is Buzzer Beat. Not bad, jdrama world, not bad.



(I adore the 'subtle' symbolism)

( Thoughts on and caps of ep 5 )

Oh, and as I mentioned up top, Buzzer Beat is adorable. Mainly because of the way Yamapi looks at his OTP:

I haven't been watching any jdramas lately, but am about to do 4 at a time.

In addition to catching up with subbed eps of Otomen and Smile, I have decided to check out Buzzer Beat as it seems sweet and has Yamapi:



And Orthros No Inu because it seems very anime in its concept of two very different men with godlike powers and because it stars Takizawa Hideaki, one of the few jdrama guys I will watch anything with (he is beyond ridiculously gorgeous).



I missed you, my jdramas!

I will let you know how it went!

I have just watched episode 1 of Otomen and it is every bit as adorable as the manga it's based on. It's funny but it's also lovely and with heart (something I find lacking in such jdrama adaptations as Hana Kimi) and not so far removed from reality that I lose interest (like Mei-chan No Shitsuji). Basically, one ep in, it's rather a delight and the casting is very manga-spot on.

In case you somehow missed my earlier summary, here is what Otomen is about: Asuka (Okada Masaki) was a boy who always liked girly things - baking, sewing, cute stuffed animals, the works. However, once his father left the family in order to become a woman (literally), in order to make his mother happy Asuka has managed to supress all these unmanly tastes - he's become quite macho - he is a national kendo champion and will easily take you apart in a fight. He has a fanclub of swooning girls, school bullies flee at the sight of him, and underclassmen want to emulate him. One problem - he is still a 'girlyman' at heart. And then he meets Ryo (Kaho), a girl who is an utter tomboy, and it is love at first sight for Asuka. So, do opposites attract? And even if so, how would Ryo deal with finding out that the cool guy everyone is in awe of is actually a guy who loves girly things - an otomen.

( Summary of episode 1 in caps )