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Amber
20 August 2010 @ 03:04 pm



Comment to be added. I'll probably accept you if we have interests in common. Please specify if you'd like to be put in the "Other friends" filter, in which you'll get my western television, movie, and occasional book thoughts as well as the rare real life post, or in the "Asian drama" filter, in which you'll get most of the above plus all my rambles about Asian dramas and Asian entertainment...or both.
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Amber
02 January 2010 @ 08:01 pm
[info]scanky_chops listed Being Human in her round-up of what she watched in 2009, leading me to check up again on when exactly it's premiering this month, andd...January 10!!! Oh Asia and Britain, why do you spoil me so?? (it will also air in the US but no one knows when - to which all I can say is, thank God for the internet and "friendly" downloading, and if you treated fans and audiences better we wouldn't need to download, hmm?)

For those who don't know, Being Human is an awesome, quirky, charming Brit show about a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost who end up living together. It's by turns very funny and very dark (very graphic - I almost stopped watching but then its heart pulled me through). What can I say? It's kind of like a lower-key, more relationship-based, funnier Supernatural, with 2 absolutely superb (and hot) actors as the werewolf and vampire and an actress who, if she's not quite up their level skills-wise, at least is well-cast personality wise for her role as a ghost. It's got a vibe I've only ever seen in Dark Angel. It was apparently a surprise hit in Britain, hence the second season, and has been quietly making the rounds of my flist, whom almost universally love or like it, for the past few months.

check out the shippy vid that sold me on the series(there's actually not quite as much romance as the vid makes it look, but whatever - the series is still good)

Aaand, for those who have seen it, check out this awesome trailer for the 2nd season!

Mm. Please give me shippiness this time around, mmk? *begs*
 
 
Amber
31 December 2009 @ 01:47 pm

IN PROGRESS

1. Nobuta wo Produce


Synopsis: Kiritani Shuji is the popular guy who gets along with everyone, from the jerks to the nerds to the just plain weird. The one person Shuji cannot stand is Kusano Akira. To Shuji, Akira is just plain annoying. He laughs, talks and acts funny. Things heat up when a new student comes to school. Her name is Kotani Nobuko, a girl who has no self confidence at all and is content at being made fun of and bullied in school. Shuji and Akira come to an accord that in order to make use of their "youth" they will "produce" Nobuko as the next popular girl. One of the conditions, however, is that nobody should find out that they are working together as a team to make this concept possible. Unveiled here is the story of true friendship between three unlikely candidates who would not have been friends if not given the special circumstances.

My take: I came late to the Nobuta fanwagon, but when I did I fell so hard that I broke into a thousand tiny pieces. It was universally recommended to when to try when I first tried jdramas, and while I liked it then, I just didn't get it, and stopped after a few episodes. Two years later, no longer a drama newbie and with 9 other jdramas under my belt, I tried it again...and magic happened. It instantly shot past all the other jdramas I'd seen to become, not just my favorite jdrama, but one of my favorite dramas ever. And this for a show with very little overt romance!  (I am highly romance driven and watch pretty much everything for the romance).  Nobuta is just brilliant in a crazily lovable kind of way that makes my heart ache. I wanted to re-watch it the day after I finished it. I couldn't stop thinking about it while I was watching it. I added it to the shortshort list of dramas I could potentially write a thesis on because it's just that good. I don't know, I can't even...I just get incoherent when I talk about this drama. What I can say, however, is that it's pitch-perfect, superbly acted (Kame as Kiritani Shuuji is basically a Japanese cross between Ferris Bueller and Jim Stark and won the Japanese equivalent of an Emmy for his lead role), well-produced and directed (light and dark are often interestingly played with and there's just some lovely shots peppering it throughout), and completely funny, sometimes heartbreaking, and completely heartwarming. A love story for the ages, between three people. I am the last person to support friendship stories over love stories - part of the reason why I avoided jdramas for so long - and I did indeed wildly ship Shuuji/Nobuta during the first three-fourths - but then something happenned. The OT3 just got too perfect. I, the ultimate romantic, had to give up on my dream of romance, because even I could see that what this three had between them was really better than romance, and that a romantic pairing would ruin it. Upon which I fell so deeply in love with the three of them together that the ending still burns a little(not that it's sad. it's just not perfect in a happily-ever-after kind of way). What can I say - if you haven't seen it, you don't even know what you're missing and need to rectify that now. And if you tried it once and it didn't take, try it again - because that's what happened with me.

When it gets good: I already loved it by the end of the first episode, but the 2nd one solidified that

2. Love Shuffle

Synopsis: Usami Kei is a salaryman who has risen in status due to his engagement with Mei, the wealthy daughter of his company's president. Shortly after she breaks off the engagement, a power failure leaves him stuck in the elevator of his apartment building. Trapped with him are three others living on the same floor - Airu, a trilingual interpreter, Ojiro, a model photographer, and Masato, a psychiatrist. While waiting, their conversation hits upon their love lives and the question of whether there is truly only one fated partner for everyone. As a result, they decide to try "shuffling" their relationships with each other.

My take: Quirky, hilarious, romantic, and brilliant, this is easily one of the best(directed, and produced at least) Asian dramas I've seen thus far; a bit Before Sunset, a bit Lost in Translation, and a bit every good romantic comedy you've ever seen(with the best of Japanese crack added on), Love Shuffle is that rarest of things; a really really good drama, one that you can recommend to your friends and which you want to go shout from the housetops after finishing it. It's very rare to find a drama which manages so well to be both dark and heartwarming, laugh-out loud hilarious and yet deeply serious. Angsty, well-written and clever, it's populated with oddball, hilarious characters who are all played by beautiful people who can also act (it's superbly cast and the characterization is across-the board excellent; I adore almost every single one of the characters and even those whom I don't adore I find amusing). Finally, even by Japanese standards it's exquisitely produced with careful, stunning cinematography. 
(See also the mini-pusher post I did for it while watching it).

In summary, it somehow manages to be romantic, a great friendship story, funny and deadly serious at the same time, a growing-up tale for all the adults in it, a suave, sophisticated artsy piece, and to touch on art, death, love, sex, unemployment, friendship, self-destructive impulses, insecurity and self-identity - in 10 episodes. WHY ARE YOU NOT WATCHING IT NOW?

When it gets good: First episode is dull, no two ways about it. Get through it by dint of fastforwarding if necessary, pausing every now and then to pick up important details. It's basically all background and set-up. The drama picks up speed rapidly in ep 2 and is AWESOME by ep 3

You can download or torrent the RAWs here and get the subs from D-Addicts.


3. Hanazakari no Kimi Tachi e(aka Hana Kimi)

4.Pride

Pride is one of the most perfect and seamlessly written dramas I've ever seen. It's about a lot of things - people and their relationships and how they work and what drives them, and hockey and friendship and loyalty and "pride" - but above and beyond all that - it's a story about two people. Halu, a smart-mouthed, offbeat, bad-boy hockey captain with a playboy past and a set of issues an inch deep, and Aki, an old-fashioned, spunky "good girl" committed to her long-distance boyfriend whom she hasn't heard from in two years. Highlighted by exquisite acting and a fiery OTP chemistry that can shift from nuanced and low-key to heartbreakingly intense in the space of a second, it's just a brilliant love story and a really really good story, so real sometimes that it hurts. It's never over the top but can pack a powerful emotional punch in a single scene or moment, and the writing is impeccable, as is the production and directing(Queen's "I Was Born to Love You" is a wacky but inspired choice as the theme song, and the opening credits are so so pretty). If I were to describe it, I would say that it's a cross between Mars and Tatta Hitotsu no Koi(the former for content and the latter for the straightforwardness of the plot/story arc).

5. Hana Yori Dango

6. Tatta Hitotsu no Koi

7. Tokyo Friends
 
 
Amber
19 December 2009 @ 03:40 pm
HAVE BEGUN OUTLANDER.

At long last.

We shall see if all the hypes and recommendations actually mean anything.

I am also downloading the last ep of Tatta Hitotsu no Koi, which is one of the best takes on Romeo and Juliet that I've ever seen.

My life is happy.
 
 
Amber
11 December 2009 @ 08:59 am
Drama Do's and Don'ts
Drama First Kisses

Men Who can wear black

Drama icons

Drama Lists:
Best Dramas I've Seen
Top 10 Dramas from Anywhere

Best drama MV makers:
tierradeborinquen
taffy4185 - she's only made two drama mixes thus far but both are fantastic
queencofbrooklyn- such a beautiful use of color and appropriate songs
yulchaeyang
flower12

Currently watching:
Yamato Nadeshiko Shiche Henge/Wallflower/Perfect Girl Evolution
Pasta
Autumn's Concerto
Creating Destiny

Perpetually on hold
:
East of Eden -eps 6-11, 15-16, 18-20, 22-29, 38-40, 45, 48, 50, 52, 54-56
Hong Gil Dong


Upcoming dramas to see:
Extravagant Challenge
Down with Love - Ella Chen, Wu Zhun
Summer's Desire - Barbie Xu!!!!, Peter Ho, Xiao Ming
Dong Yi-Han Hyo Joo, Ji Jin Hee -March
A Man Called God- Song Il Gook - March

Kdramas:
Someday and many others which Livejournal has consistently deleted
Stranger than Paradise
One Fine Day(watch on DF)
Legend
Sweet 18
Capital Scandal

Jdramas
Itoshi Kimi e
1 Pound Gospel(Kame!!!)
Aishiteiru to Itte Kure - according to[info]dangermousie it's super romantic
A Million Stars Falling from the Sky
Smile
Buzzer Beat(Yamapi)
First Kiss
Innocent Love
Bara no Nai Hanaya


Twdramas

Say Yes Enterprise

Possible, but star actors I don't like:
Prince turns to Frog Ying Ye 3 In Love with a Rich Girl

Films Seen:
200 Pounds Beauty -2.5/5
A Millionaire's First Love-4.5/5
Daddy Long Legs - 3/5
Hana Yori Dango movie - 4/5
Linger-2/5
My Girlfriend is a Secret Agent-2/5
My Sassy Girl-3/5 Secret-5/5
The Art of Seduction -2.5/5
Virgin Snow-4/5 - stunning cinematography and lovely indie feel but the plot's a bit thin. The main actress oddly reminded me the whole time of Summer Glau - spitting image, I swear.

To See:
A Moment to Remember
Fair Love

Tajomaru
Sukiyaki Western Django
Crows Zero

Seen:

Kdramas
: (17)
9 End 2 Outs
Boys Before Flowers
Goong
Fireworks/Exhibition of Fireworks
Full House
Last Scandal
Lawyers of the Great Republic Korea
My Girl
Partner
Robbers
Shining Inheritance
Snow White
Soulmate
Thank You
The First Shop of Coffee Prince
Who Are You?
You're Beautiful

Jdramas: (11)
1 Litre of Tears - 5/5- I avoided this for a long time because I thought it would be tragic/angsty beyond reason, but I was so glad I watched it after doing so. It's neither manipulative nor an angstfest, but rather a very straightforward, compelling, intensely well-acted story of a girl and her family (and the boy she loves). Absolutely lovely and the romance with Ryo kept me going- mmm, the long smoldering glances!! it's funny, wistful, and very near perfect (and yes, heartbreakingly sad at times). Highly recommended.
Hana Yori Dango 1 - 5/5 - does this even need commentary? An enduring classic in its own right, there's just something about this, as flawed as it is(it's not nearly as perfectly-written as say, 1 Litre or TattaKoi) that has a spark of complete and utter magic. It's very very hard to not at least like HYD.
Hana Yori Dango 2 -4.5/5 - the second season surprsied me by being almost as good as the first. The tone, plot and characterizations stayed very consistent and true to the first one
Hanazakari no Kimi Tachi e -4/5
Love Shuffle-5/5
Nobuta wo Produce - 5/5 - I came late to the NwP fandom, but fell for it so hard when I did that it instantly became my favorite jdrama
Nodame Cantabile-2.8/5 - ugh. I liked this just enough to finish watching it and no more, and have regretted doing so ever since. I have a reasonably high OTT tolerance, but this was just too much, and the female lead annoyed me and the male lead was as wooden and stiff as ever I've seen
Pride-5/5
Proposal Daisakusen-4/5
Tatta Hitotsu no Koi-4.5/5-giddily romantic and lovely with a superb soundtrack, this is one of the most beautiful and well-shot dramas I've seen, and Kame is a wonder as always. A Japanese take on Romeo and Juliet about a ship mechanic and a rich girl who fall in love. I'd recommend it for jdrama or drama newbies
Tokyo Dogs - 3/5-tongue-in-cheek and hilarious, the best thing to do with this drama is not take it too seriously. It's great brain-candy and ridiculously fun escapist crack. Expect bromance, romance, hot! Shun, hot! Shun in a suit and with a gun, cheeky, hilarious, adorable Mizushima Hiro, and Yoshitaka Yuriko in an OTP that would be awesome and angsty as hell in a kdrama and is still addicting and adorable in a jdrama

Twdramas
: (14)
Corner with Love-4/5
Devil Beside You-4.5/5
Hana Kimi-3.5/5
Love Storm-2.5/5
Mars -5/5
Meteor Garden -4.9/5
My Lucky Star -4/5
Romantic Princess -3/5
Silence-4/5
Smiling Pasta -4/5
Sweet Relationship-3/5
ToGetHer-4/5
Wish to See You Again-4/5
Why Why Love

Abandoned:
1% of Anything- such a lovely drama but it's just too long
Cain and Abel - ugh, the pace and the obsession with the bad guys
My Fair Lady - a glossy mess that was an entire waste of the talent and money that went into it
Marrying a Millionaire - when you get bored halfway through the first episode, you know it's not a good sign
Hello Miss-ditto to above
Heading to the Ground - I really wanted to like this, and stuck it out for a good third of its run. But even the leads' chemistry and rather lovely romance couldn't save this ridiculous story
Fated to Love You - I got sucked in, only to realize halfway through that I utterly hated what it had become Snow Queen- too angsty, and I just could never quite warm up to Sung Yuri's character
Spring Waltz - ughh, I hate childhood stories and this felt so lacking in heart to me. Felt like a slow-moving artwork instead of a human tale. Time Between Dog and Wolf - I enjoyed what I saw, but it's just not my thing
Hot Shot - the main girl is a blip and while the sports/male rivalry was excellent, I need at least a bit of decent romance to pull me through Kurosagi - when I heard the only romance was of the UST variety, I lost interest, especially because from their first scene together I shipped them so hard I knew it would break my heart
A Star's Lover - tried one ep, seemed sweet but unexceptional Tazza-great concept and good actors but poor writing & pacing ruined this
Momo Love - a schizophrenic drama if there ever was one. I loved the delicate romance and the adorable OTP and the thread of wistfulness that ran through it, but when they threw out all remaining threads of cohesiveness and narrative logic halfway through, I lost patience and gave up

Temporarily Abandoned:
The Outsiders - so angsty, and I could see the doom coming from a mile away
Black and White - I got sidetracked at some point and haven't picked it up since
Sapuri - sidetracked by other, better dramas

To Avoid:
Cinderella Man - looks and sounds so utterly boring
In Soon is Pretty - I love Kim Hyun Joo but I heard the plot is bipolar Triple - I'm in dramas for romance and resolution. Triple does not qualify. Miss No Good - ugh ugh ugh, one of maybe two dramas which I dropped five minutes in. The worst end of frenetic, extreme, over-the-top Taiwanese dramas
My MVP Valentine-30 episodes!! Love or Bread - tried the first episode and just - no Bull Fighting - flisties hated it Gourmet-ugh. food is just not my thing. Hotelier - sooo boring. Loving You 1000 Times - much as I love Lee Soo Kyung, I hate adultery storylines even more. No.
Akai Ito-see this post
Hotaru no Hikari - apparently there's adorable UST but no overt romance to speak of
 
 
Amber
14 September 2009 @ 04:37 pm

Matthew Perryman Jones deserves to be better known. he's had a collection of such amazing songs on One Tree Hill.

here's his debut MV(go subscribe to his youtube channel, he just set it up)




Tags:
 
 
Amber
28 August 2009 @ 01:23 pm

Joey: You gotta learn to read between the banter, Pacey.
 
 
Much like [info]dangermousie 's guide to the shippy episodes in East of Eden, I've decided to compile a guide to the Pacey/Joey shippy episodes in Dawson's Creek, so that any who come after me and don't want to have to watch 6 seasons of crap to get the good stuff. Of course I'll miss out on some things as I'm skipping around a good deal, but here goes.

Summary:
-Season 1 has 3 worthwhile PJ episodes
-Season 2 I skipped this season completely and I recommend the same for PJ-ers - it's the DJ season full-out all the way through, and very dark times(read: nonexistent) for our couple(read the IMDB episode summaries if you don't believe me)
-Season 3 - the first half showcases the delicious gradual build-up of the PJ relationship as friends, then things take off romantically in episode 12(halfway through the season)
-Season 4- it's the PJ season much as season 2 was the DJ season
-Season 5-dark, dark, dark times:( both go through a constant succession of other people whom they're in love with, and apart from a handful of scattered scenes out of the whole season, there's almost no interaction at all, and the finale leads back to the DJ storyline(yech)
-Season 6-first half basically a continuation of the PJ nonexistence/black-out that was season 5, but halfway through it they finally snap back into action in episode 14


Season 1:
Ep 1(so you know what the series is about)
Ep 8
Ep 10
Ep 13-it's mostly Joey/Dawson but there's this one delicious scene where PJ talk

Season 2:
er...

Season 3:
Watch all except for below
skip ep 10-Pacey isn't in it at all
ep 11 has Pacey and Joey individually but not really any Pacey/Joey
Ep 12-oh God, so good-things start heating up around episode 12 and just get great from there

Season 4:
watch all - it's the Pacey/Joey season

Season 5:
Season 5 is a very dark time for PJ shippers, but fortunately for us, their pairing is capable of inspiring enough dedicated fanaticism that a Youtube member went through and posted clips of virtually all the PJ clips in season 5(she has other seasons too but season 5 is the only one that it's necessary to resort solely to clips instead of entire episodes I think).
Eps to watch:
503,504,(509 may look good, but honestly there's like 2 minutes of extremely platonic conversation in the whole episode)
510(see below clips for the best parts)
In the following clip from 510, stop once it gets to them walking home together and skip to the next one, which has slightly more content.
</lj-embed>


511-has more PJ scenes than half the season combined, and also re-introduces Chad Michael Murray of One Tree Hill as Joey's love interest
512-see below clip


only good part of ep 513:

517
523(the finale) has only one Pacey/Joey scene and it's well worth watching cause some of their famed chemistry comes back but if you take my advice skip the episode itself, especially the last scene, because it's all DJ in the most sickening manner(most of the time I don't hate them but this one - yuck)

Season 6:
The first half of the season has a few scattered bits of PJ, but overall it's very dark land, with them both being involved with other people and not even interacting as friends. Episodes 611-613 have zero Pacey/Joey interaction(at all), and it's not until episode 614 that PJ snaps back into action in a big way.
No Pacey/Joey interactions in ep 619, either.

 
 
Amber
25 August 2009 @ 07:15 pm

Anyone know how to watch stuff on megavideo without having 3 ads pop up and getting sent to that horrible site to watch stuff online that you have to pay for or something? 

for the past month or so I get re-driected to it everytime I click play on a MV video.

 
 
Amber
23 July 2009 @ 10:40 am

So, I kind of assumed everyone who could already had got one, but based on [info]dangermousie 's post just now it appears I was wrong, so here goes-

I have 15 11 invites for Dramafever, the site on which you can watch Korean dramas free and legally in streaming high-quality full-screen.
The videos are only available for those who live in North American or have a North America proxy(or something like that) unfortunately:(.

If you want one, leave me a comment(will be screened) with your email and I'll invite you.


It's seriously super cool guys. I finally got around to actually watching one on it - Thank You - the other day, and omg such an easy and pleasant experience.

 
 
Amber
19 July 2009 @ 10:17 am

This is to test whether changing my theme could possibly fix my font problem.

 
 
Amber
30 June 2009 @ 09:19 pm

Just read a cheesy Clare Darcy romance novel called Cecily and blogged about it. :) here's my thoughts.

I needed a break from the relentless depression of Anna Karenina, so read a Clare Darcy romance novel in 2 hours flat, and God, it was such an adorable confection of fun, charm, and spades of romantic tension. Give me a grey-eyed lord with a tendency for falling in love with the last person he should, a stubborn, impulsive girl who is completely persuaded that he could never fall in love with her,  and I am a happy hopeless romantic. Granted, the delight of the ridiculous misunderstandings, witty/sarcastic dialogue and romantic-tension laden interactions of the main couple was somewhat weighed down by the overly flowery language that dogs period romances - Cecily is part of a "Regency" trio - but the delicious bubbly fluff of the  alternate universe/romantic scenarios was just what I needed right now.  Plus, the dynamic between Cecily and Lord Robert was quite delicious - he's acerbic, reserved, and never shows what he's thinking except when he gets angry(and thus dangerous) while rescuing her from the seemingly dozens of unfortunate situations she manages to get into in the course of the novel(some of them his fault) while she's headstrong, heedless, and impulsive, and certain that in spite of her feelings for him he'd never notice her over the scores of society ladies chasing him. It's cliched, but I don't care; I've been missing Darcy incarnations in my fictional heroes.Mm:)

note: see icon.



 
 
Amber
25 June 2009 @ 09:32 am

Happy birthday [info]alexandral! I wish you days full of chocolate, books, superb period dramas and amazing Asian dramas for the year ahead, as well as good health and general happiness!! :)

 
 
Amber
21 June 2009 @ 09:48 am
NOTE: LJ deleted most of the top 3 dramas on this list, but they were-

1) Mars

2)Coffee Prince

3) Devil Beside You.  I know some people who love the other Mike He/Rainie Yang drama Why Why Love a good deal more, but for me this was the first drama I saw them in and one of my first Taiwanese dramas ever, and while it could be argued that WWL has a more consistent plot, DBY has my heart. It was love at first fight when Qi Yue(Rainie Yang), after gathering all her courage to hand a letter of confession to her long-time crush Yuan Yi(Kingone Wang), hands it by accident instead to bad boy Jiang Meng(Mike He), the school troublemaker known as "the Devil". The exchange sparks the Devil's interest and he begins pursuing her, to her horror, which becomes even greater when she realizes that he's the son of the man her mother's going to marry and that they'll be living in the same house from then on...

My take: DBY starts out, in the first ep, over-the-top and strident, but recovers its pace an episode or so into it and reveals itself as an absolutely lovely, funny, delicious romantic comedy, with a chemistry-laden OTP and a gorgeous attention to relationship detail. DBY has several of my favorite drama tropes - forced proximity(they live in the same house), bad boy/good girl(and in this case, he really is a bad boy in that he tends to do whatever the hell he wants regardless of circumstance), reasonably well-handled male jealousy, male bonding, hurt/comfort/grief, tons of OTP time, etc. Oh, and a plus? There are TONS of passionate, thorough, excellent kisses(I've always wondered - do the drama writers/directors feel comfortable having RY get passionately kissed because she always looks and seems so innocent? nothing can "corrupt" her in audience's eyes? Because generally twdramas are highly restrained about their kiss types - but MH and RY never hold back, in fact tongue could so easily be used in these types of kisses...) that make me melt inside. Whatever else its flaws might be, DBY hardly ever falters in its OTP interaction. It's definitely one of the best Taiwanese dramas I've seen.

Why you might not like itYou hate Rainie Yang. Which, I can kind of understand in spite of my love for her, in which case you probably won't enjoy this. Or , Mike He's mullet bothers you too much(don't worry - he still manages to be hot). Or, you can't stand over-the-top Taiwanese dramas...which again, I can understand, but bear in mind that in this one all the cheese/soap-operay-ness is balanced out by the delicate, delightful OTP scenes/moments.

When it gets good/Got me! moment
: You know, I need to re-watch this because I haven't seen it in a long time, and it's hard to remember specific moments, but I'm thinking, maybe the scene in the first or second episode in which he goes to hit her and kisses her instead.

Fav scene: When he throws open the door suddenly and she's charging forward to hit him and he kisses her instead. Then shuts the door and gets back on the phone with her, that smile playing around his lips...:)

MV: my favorite one of them(highly spoilerish)
</span>


6) THANK YOU(Korean)

Synopsis: Dr. Min, a brilliant, successful surgeon, throws up his career and leaves after being unable to save his girlfriend when she's diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and dies. When his mother sends him off to a small island to recover under the excuse of working for her, he falls in with Lee Young-Shin (Gong Hyo Jin) and her child, and, renting a room from them, quickly gets drawn into the lives of this independent single mother and her incorrigible child with AIDs.

DISCLAIMER: It is not nearly as angsty as it sounds. The AIDs storyline doesn't affect things at all as far as the kid getting sick and only affects them insofar as Lee Young-Shin struggles to keep it a secret from and/or deal with the reactions of the village people to it. I hate uber-angst and avoid all dramas with it but this is not one of them.

My take: You know, if it weren't for the second half of this drama, Thank You would easily be in 2nd place. (and I fully admit that it is a better drama than most of the ones on this list). But it had certain flaws in the second half that really bothered me, and I personally thought the last few episodes/the ending was rather disappointing(not the ending itself - happy ending:) - but how it was handled) so it goes lower on this list. Having said that, Thank You is brilliant, an incredibly well-written, compelling, addicting drama with an exquisite balance of the funny, the heartbreaking, and the romantic, with amazing performances from Jang Hyuk and Go Hyo Jin, particularly Jang Hyuk as an icy woobie doctor:) If you haven't seen Thank You yet, you should probably drop everything you're watching and go watch it. Oh, and did I mention that it gets off the ground faster than almost any kdrama I've seen? Most kdramas take between 1-3 episodes to really get good/addicting. Thank You is compelling from almost the first moment.

Why you might not like it: Umm, I have to confess it's really hard for me to think of a reason for you to at least not like the first half...umm... I honestly can't think of a single reason. Unless for some reason an element of the plot/story itself bothers you - single mom, kid with AIDs, doctor...but if that's the case why would you watch it at all? And it's MUCH less angsty than it sounds.

When it gets good/Got me! moment: when Dr. Min walks in on the patient strangling his girlfriend in the first episode and instead of stopping him coolly urges him on and gives him tips. And the moment that follows.

Favorite scene/s: The shampoo. It was absolute perfection for every second. I wanted to halt time so that it wouldn't be over. And when he wipes her tears.
I know exactly what my favorite line is and am soo tempted to put it here but it would be spoilery. really did find the best MV for this(there arent' many good ones on Youtube) in her top dramas post so I am shamelessly stealing.


7))FULL HOUSE (Korean)

Synopsis: One of the most famous Korean dramas of all time, Full House is the first Asian drama for many people and the one that gets them hooked on the genre.
When Han Ji Eun(Song Hye Kyo)'s friends buy her a plane ticket and a vacation to China, she is ecstatic, having never left the country before. On the flight from Korea to China, she ends up sitting next to superstar actor Lee Young Jae(Rain), and promptly throws up on him as an introduction as the plane takes off. Once in China, however, the paid vacation turns out to not exist. Stranded in a foreign country without money and unable to contact her friends, Ji Eun manages to swindle borrow money from Lee Young Jae, who is staying at the same hotel. She returns to Korea expecting never to see him again, but, surprise! her money-scheming friends have sold her house and all its possessions in her absence and run away with the money, and guess who they have sold it to? Yup, Lee Young Jae. Through a series of circumstances, the two end up entering upon a contract marriage, and it all goes from there.

My take
: Full House is just so completely adorable. It's really hard to capture why it's so fantastic, but, as with many people, it was my first Asian drama ever, and the one which sold me on the genre for all of time. And as such it was always keep a place in my affections:) It's hilarious, well-written, with great characterizations, sufficiently angsty subplots underneath the OTP bickering/cuteness to anchor the story, and scads of adorableness and chemistry between the OTP made up of Rain and Song Hye Kyo(and I don't care what people say - I find it hard to believe too, but I stand by my opinion that Rain actually is a good actor).

Why you might not like it: If you hate Rain or Song Hye-kyo, it's over. Although in my personal opinion, and to my own utter disbelief, Rain actually is a good actor and does a good job in this one. Also, like most older dramas, the production values ain't the greatest. What it lacks in glossiness, however, it makes up for in script.

When it gets good/Got me! moment
: The moment she decides to scam him - whenever in the first or second eps that was:)

Fav scene: er, maybe when she's sick and he takes care of her? or the adorable chicken dance:)




8)SOULMATE(Korean)


Synopsis: When Lee Soo Kyung(yes, all the characters in this drama go by their real-life names)'s long-term boyfriend proposes, she expects to be overjoyed. Instead she finds herself embarrassed, confused, and oddly reluctant to accept, but ultimately does so anyway. Shin Dong Wook, meanwhile, is an inveterate playboy who has finally met a woman he believes he can have a serious relationship with, sweet, old-fashioned
Hong Yu Jin(Sa Kang), a friend and co-worker of Soo Kyung's. When Soo Kyung's fiance falls for another woman, man-eater Jang Min Ae(coincidentally Hong Yu Jin's mentor and - roommate, if I remember correctly) and breaks up with her, the stage is set for these two soulmates, whose lives have brushed past each other so many times already but who have yet to meet, to finally collide.

My take
: Oddly enough, two of my top 10 dramas star Lee Soo Kyung(the other being Lawyers of Korea), and both are as overlooked as she is. Soulmate is
a lighter drama, in some ways, although in some ways also very wistful and sad(everyone has lost out in some way by the end of the drama). It also has hands-down the most beautiful and compelling first meeting between the OTP of any drama I've ever seen apart from perhaps Kurosagi. Soulmate marketed itself as a different sort of drama - it's more frank about sex than usual for a kdrama, for instance, and all the main characters go by their real life names, and indeed it is, but not for any of those reasons. Soulmate is just totally different in vibe and concept than any other kdrama I've seen - it's simultaneously somehow very modern and very sweet, combining the freshness of approach with the pure-love heart of the traditional kdrama. More than that, however, it it somehow captures something of the wistfulness and transcendent beauty of life, the way, living in a world with millions of people, sometimes, the lives of strangers can collide - or can just as easily slip past each other, never knowing...The only other drama I've seen do this - capture something of the fragile wonder and mystery of life and human interactions - is Taiwanese drama Silence. Soulmate is also beautifully filmed, with a delicacy to it that creates many ethereally, heartbreakingly beautiful shots and scenes, and deeply romantic, with a standout indie soundtrack only rivaled by Coffee Prince(if you notice on Dramabeans, the soundtracks/song lists of Soulmate and Coffee Prince are the only ones she features). What can I say? It's funny, it's beautiful, it's heartbreaking, it's heartwarming and addicting...go watch it.

Why you might not like it: People tend to stay away from Soulmate for one of three reasons: 1)it looks like it's all about sex based on the alternate cover 2)The love in it looks too "pure" and overly childlike based on above cover 3)The lead doesn't look attractive, again based on above cover. I'm here to assure you that, whatever reasons you might not have to like Soulmate, none of those three should be it, as they're all rampant misrepresentations.

There's also a number of supporting characters who figure largely, from man-eater Min-Ae to Dong Wook's adorkable wannabe-womanizer friends to good-hearted Ryo Hei; I personally enjoyed all of them and found them pretty harmless but if you are easily impatient or like your supporting characters of a certain type then this drama might not be the one for you. It also does have its sexual moments, though nothing too terrible or overt, but I wouldn't recommend it for a kid.


When it gets good/Got me! moment: it's hard to remember, actually, but I think it was partway through the first episode when Lee Soo Kyung plops down on her bed after her fiance proposes to her and all sorts of ridiculous scenarios start going through her head on the ideal marriage proposal, and then eventually of course she realizes that it wasn't the mode but the man himself that's the problem

Fav scene: when he sees her crying and puts his earbud in her ear(runners-up: when he rescues her at the restaurant and when she passes by him outside the window before they meet, near the beginning of the drama)


MV: this isn't my favorite Soulmate MV but it is I think the least spoilerish


9) Tie-the ninth spot is a two-way tie between two very different dramas, Partner and Hong Gil Dong.
PARTNER (Korean)

ETA: I originally wrote this post when I was about three-fourths of the way through Partner, which was subsequently mostly ruined for me by a mediocre, not-particularly-shippy ending. After some thought, I decided to leave Partner on the list, but as soon as I find a better drama Partner is getting bumped straight off(can you tell I'm rather bitter?). That's not to say you shouldn't watch it, however - it wasn't a horrible ending, just a disappointing one, and Partner remains an excellent drama overall.

My take
:  Partner came out of nowhere for me - even after Lawyers of Korea shot to one of the top spots in my list of favorite dramas, I was still suffering from the misapprehension that lawyers dramas just weren't for me, right up there with food, fashion, and doctor dramas. However, as it turns out, apparently it all depends on how they're handled, and with two - two! - lawyer dramas on my list of all-time favorites, clearly I'll have to withdraw my stance. Regardless, I went into Partner for the cast - while I only remembered Lee Dong Wook vaguely from My Girl, I remembered liking him, and I adored Kim Hyun-Joo after her alternately charming and ball-busting turn in Boys Before Flowers, and was expecting to highly enjoy but not love this drama.

After the first two episodes, I found it enjoyable but unexceptional. Then, somewhere between the 2nd and 4th episodes, I fell for it, and the next week I found myself looking forward to it all week, and after that I fell more deeply in love with it every episode until by around the 9th episode I'd reached the peak and since then I've just consistently loved it at that level. Partner is just really really well-written - it doesn't falter via plot, style, pace, or vibe, and Lee Dong Wook and Kim Hyun Joo were just perfectly cast as two lawyers who start out antagonists, become friends, and then fall in love.

Why you might not like it: Partner is after a legal drama, which means a big part of the plot is the legal cases which Tao Jo and Eun Ho take on. I personally found them surprisingly interesting and addicting, but some are less interesting than others and if that kind of thing bores you utterly to begin with then you'll probably end up wanting to fast-forward through those scenes. Which could get problematic as the personal/relationship stuff is very interwoven with it. Also, there are a couple side stories, including an office romance, which you may or may not find interesting(personally, I tend to watch the legal parts but fastforward through the office romance, which is quite unlike me but there you have it). I am not counting the romance between Honey Lee's character and Tae Jo's brother as a side story because it's a major part of the plot.

When it gets good/got me moment
: I don't remember an exact moment, but I do remember that I was hooked by the end of the 3rd episode.

Fav scene: I have two, and they were more of moments, really: the first when they're in the car and he completely unexpectedly leans over in the middle of a conversation and it looks like he's going to hug her but doesn't and instead he puts her seatbelt on - watching her the whole time. I died a thousand deaths. It was such a small moment but so good. Inexplicable to describe - you have to see it. And the second is...you know, I was going to pick a certain one, but even as I speak at least six different other potentials are flooding into my head, and I can't choose.


Spoilery MV:



HONG GIL DONG (Korean)

Synopsis/My take: I almost didn't watch this drama. I am completely uninterested in sageuks as a genre, even fusion ones, and I heard all about how bi-polar HGD is and that it goes from rollicking comedy to deep angst unexpectedly in the last few eps. I watched it because it's polarizing and I wanted to be able to form my own opinion on it, and because I couldn't stand the fact anymore that I hadn't seen any Kang Ji Hwan dramas. The verdict? I still don't like sageuks. But I will watch them now, particularly fusion ones, and particularly if they have Kang Ji Hwan. Hong Gil Dong is somewhat uneven, it's true -  but only to a slight extent, and not nearly as much as I was expecting. Part hilarious, rollicking, rambunctious comedy about a smart-mouthed, good-for-nothing thief/vagabond who falls for a stubborn, good-hearted peasant girl with some major martial arts skills and gets up to all kinds of Robin-Hood-like mischief with his band of charmingly quirky thieves, and part societal commentary on a reluctant and unlikely hero who rises from the cast-off bastard son of the Interior Minister to the most famed outlaw in the land and the hero of the people, fighting for justice and protecting the poor wherever he goes in the name of changing society, Hong Gil Dong is a brilliant, brilliant story that strives for far more than the average kdrama and mostly achieves it. It's just supremely well-written and ten billion different kinds of awesome and every time I thought it couldn't get more awesome - which happened halfway through the drama - it did. I know people complain that it's bi-polar - but honestly, there were currents of darkness and hints of what was to come from the very beginning, and mixed in with all the overt, tongue-in-cheek quirkiness and hilarious comedy were some serious themes anchoring it, so while I wish HGD did not end as it does, I do not think that it is completely unwarranted. HGD is a stunning adaptation of the Robin Hood myth, one of my personal favorite stories of all time and which has resonated the world over for generations for a reason, and it's also one of the most guuh and awesome and heartrending love stories I've seen in drama land. I highly recommend Hong Gil Dong - even if you don't think it's your thing.

Why you might not like it:
It is rather over the top, and it is a historical drama, whereat a fusion one, so if either of those are deal-breakers for you this might not be your thing.

When it gets good/got me moment:  When HGD beats her in the fight and wins her as his "wife" :) 1st episode I think? Or perhaps 2nd.

Fav scene:
When he looks over as he's about to give himself up to be captured and sees her in the crowd, appearing out of nowhere like a vision, glowing up at him, nothing but love and support written on her face for whatever he might do, and when, as she silently mouths "fighting!" to him, a slow, magnificent smile creeps over his face. YI NOK IS THERE.

Slightly spoilery MV (super spoilery one here)


10)METEOR GARDEN (Taiwanese)

Synopsis:
Shancai(Barbie Hsu) is a poor girl unhappily attending a wealthy school in which she doesn't fit in at all. The school is led by four boys called the F4, a group of handsome, incredibly wealthy, domineering boys who hold absolute sway over all the school attendees and are headed by Daoming Si(Jerry Yan) the richest of them all. When one of Shancai's friends is bullied by them one day, Shancai snaps and openly defies them, and immediately finds herself the target of bullying by the whole school. Daoming Si, however, fascinated by her stubborn courage, soon finds himself falling for her...Meteor Garden is a little bit of everything - part underdog story, part tragedy, part comedy, but mostly a Cinderella tale, and one of the original Asian dramas that contributed to the craze. It's pretty much a must-see for Asian drama watchers. It's also the drama that started Vic Zhou and Rainie Yang on their road to fame. And it came before Hana Yori Dango, the Japanese adaptation of the same manga(and of course that addicting trainwreck BOF).

My take:You know, I was watching an MV of Meteor Garden the other day, and just remembering how much Iove it. It was my first Taiwanese and my second Asian drama ever, and while I wasn't initially impressed with it, I fell fast and hard at some point. Barbie Hsu absolutely lights up the screen as the most kick-ass girl ever(easily the best interpretation of her manga character) and she and Jerry have amazing chemistry and the script is just incredibly well-written and well, it's just really good and has this magic about it that I can't quite pin-down. It's one of those classic stories that draws on some of the most basic ideas and impulses that drive us as human beings.

Why you might not like it: its production values are kind of low(it's one of the older dramas) and Jerry Yan isn't the best actor in the world. And the male fashion is odd at best, though nowhere near approaching the atrocity of Full House.

When it gets good/Got me! moment: When Lei comes by and picks up the basket that the others kicked over(1st episode if I remember correctly)

Fav scene/s: still one of my fav drama scenes of all time - so epic. The getting-beaten-up to protect the girl scene. Till this one, I thought that such overtly, satisfyingly romantic scenes could only exist in my imagination. I was wrong:)

My favorite shippy MV can't be embedded but is found here.

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(Wow, I totally want to re-watch this now...)

In conclusion-
Drama I marathoned the fastest/most obsessively:Hana Kimi
Drama I've loved the longest and most passionately: Mars
Drama which made me hyperventilate the most but ultimately made me the most bitter perhaps: Partner
Drama that made me worship the ground the writer walks on: Lawyers of Korea

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Goong, Hana Yori Dango 1&2, Brilliant Legacy, Who Are You?, Corner with Love, My Lucky Star, Silence, and Smiling Pasta. These are all dramas which are well-written, compelling, and hugely enjoyable, which I definitely recommend watching if you haven't seen yet, but just didn't quite have that spark of consistent magic that I require in my top dramas, or just don't have my heart in the definitive way the others do. 


 
 
 
Amber
02 June 2009 @ 01:46 am

check out the awesome Caspian/Susan vid. I'm so sad she's not gonna be in the next one:(




 
 
Amber
25 May 2009 @ 07:41 pm

Okay kids - here's my second music video ever made. I have to say - I'm kind of proud of it :) It's not great, but I think it turned out well particularly given that I chose all the clips based on another song which Youtube promptly told me had been copyright-claimed by WGM or something:(

This one has
Boys Over Flowers,Alias, Proposal Daisakusen, Full House and Veronica Mars.

Note: LOTS of incredibly spoilerish Prop D from the ending bits so I highly recommend not watching this if you haven't seen it yet(it's an adorable drama and I highly recommend it - the ending more than makes up for the draggy bits in the middle)



 
 
Amber
25 May 2009 @ 06:35 am

*sigh* So last night I went nuts and instead of going to bed at midnight like the good disciplined girl I've been being lately-I stayed up ALL NIGHT. As in, I haven't slept yet and it's almost 7 AM. yes. I'm a fool. Doubly so because it was all for the sake of procrastination-over-paper disguised as obsession with mastering Windows Movie Maker enough to make a music video.

Here it is. sigh. It's not really that great, though I think I did use an unusual collection of clips: there's Roswell, Coffee Prince, Boys Over Flowers, Dark Angel, Alias, and Veronica Mars.




On the one hand, I hadn't realized it was so easy to put together a bunch of clips. On the other hand, I hadn't realized how hard it was to make it turn out good quality.

Anyway. I set up a separate account for myself on Youtube and I have no doubt I'll be making more in future if anyone's interested.




Tags: ,
 
 
Amber
20 May 2009 @ 08:55 pm
Drama icons/graphics )      




 
 
Amber
02 May 2009 @ 05:38 pm

Well kids, it's time to add two more ships to the ever-growing pantheon of my romantic preferences. And they are...(drumroll please):

Jack/Kate from Lost, and Felicity/Noel from Felicity. I've watched the first 3 episodes of each over the past few weeks and my ships are already set. (Ironically enough I just realized both are JJ Abrams shows). Why I ship Jack/Kate: well, to be honest, I knew I'd ship them even before starting the show - Jack is just my kind of guy, and I disliked Sawyer/the actor who plays Sawyer from almost the first moment I set eyes on him. I'm really glad he's there - he's a necessary part of the plot - and I probably won't even mind the parts where Kate gets with him - but overall, I think the Jate ship is really really well done, because even though Jack's a good guy and Kate's a bad girl, Jack has enough strength about him to handle her, and Kate's drawn to him because of that strength, that stability, and also because he represents the opposite of her world, a world of lies and running and deception. Plus, they have great chemistry and (never to be underestimated) they look great together.


I like Felicity/Noel not because Noel is the most amazing hero/romantic lead ever created - although he's slowly but steadily growing on me - but because he has absolutely no competition whatsoever. Ben, at least so far, is one of the most insensitive, shallow, blank, uninteresting, and self-centered losers I've ever had the misfortune to see as a television lead. I don't hate him - he's got good qualities, and his good looks and charm to spare offset the shallowness somewhat, but all that leads to is a lead whom I'm so ambivalent about that I can't even care enough to despise him. He's so, ultimately, inoffensive, or at least that is what it seems like the drama is tryign to write him as(I've no doubt they're attempting to go for "deep", "complex", or "charismatic" but y'know, television writers, you should really check the dictionary definitions of those words. Just maybe). Which leads to apathy apathy apathy slight despisement. Nope. Noel, on the other hand, may not be as good-looking, but he's got ten billion times' Ben's emotional maturity and character depth, and he's got an offbeat, boyish charm that 's very appealing.

Adorable vid-

In other news, I watched North and South for the fourth or fifth time yesterday, and God, I always forget how much I love it, and every single time I appreciate it more. Wrote some thoughts on it that struck me this time here

 
 
Amber
Oh, and I totally forgot to mention the absolute best part of BOF episode 23, which was the Ga-Eul/Yijung scenes which absolutely ROCKED MY WORLD and were quite possibly the most undiluted squee I've had the whole frickin series. That was seriously adorable beyond words and made me deliriously happy. They had better have a happy, satisfactory ending or I'm going to take a knife to the streets.

In other news, I tried out both Lie to Me and Castle, and both are excellent in very different ways. Good acting all around in both, which was a pleasant surprise(I think because they've got older actors - no rookies here). Lie to Me is not too serious but just serious enough, with taut writing and a very nice underpinning of seriousness/character development/angst-tragedy - and best of all all the major characters are very likable, decent people. Castle is a more graphic and faster-paced but in some ways smaller-concept show, but Nathan Fillion and Nina whatshername fill their roles with verve and ease and have good chemistry and witty dialogue with again, the nice underpinnings of serious emotion, so I highly advocate this too.

 
 
Amber
10 March 2009 @ 06:38 pm

I have a question: I'm new to capping, and thus far I've only used Media Player Classic to cap, but several of the dramas I'd like to cap aren't full screen in it, so when I cap there's annoying black margins around the caps. How do I get rid of that? Specifically, I'd like to cap Silence but I can only find it in less than full screen. Help?