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.
Happy birthday
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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!! :)check out the awesome Caspian/Susan vid. I'm so sad she's not gonna be in the next one:(
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)
*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.
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
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.
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?
Currently watching:
Black & White
Shining Inheritance
Invincible Shan Bao Mei
Seen:
Taiwanese:
Corner with Love-3/4 -would be 4/4 but for the abrupt ending
Devil Beside You-4.5/5
Hana Kimi-3.5/5
Love Storm-3/3
Mars-5/5
Meteor Garden-4.5/5
My Lucky Star-4/5
Romantic Princess-2/5
Silence -4.5/5
Smiling Pasta - 3.5/5
Sweet Relationship-3.7/5
ToGetHer-4/5
Wish to See You Again-4/5
Why Why Love-4/5
Korean
9 End 2 Outs-4/5
Boys Before Flowers-2.5/5
Full House-5/5
Goong(Princess Hours)-5/5
My Girl-4.5/5
Snow White-3.5/5
Soulmate-4.5/5
The First Shop of Coffee Prince-5/5
The Lawyers of the Great Republic Korea-4.9/5
Who Are You? - 4/5
Japanese
Hana Yori Dango -4.5/5
Hana Yori Dango 2 - 4/5
Hana Kimi- 5/5
Proposal Daisakusen-4/5
Nodame Cantabile-3/5
Films:
Linger-1.5/5
Secret-5/5
Virgin Snow-3/5
Abandoned:
Snow Queen(too angsty and didn't like main girl. Hyun Bin was hot though)
Fated to Love You(main girl was a dishrag and guy was a selfish bastard - and neither changed the whole course of the drama)
Romantic Princess(story fell completely apart. Also, Wu Zun can't act and it was straight cheese instead of mostly cheese)
My Name is Kim Sam-Soon(loved parts, other parts bored me; eventually, for some reason, I just stopped watching)
The World that They Live In(soulless media masquerading as art)
Kurosagi - no real romance :(
Gourmet-food. UGH. So bored.
Hotelier-meh. just didn't draw me.
Abandoned Temporarily:
Hot Shot(hit the Slump and couldn't get past it)
The Outsiders(so tragic. not sure I can take it)
Time Between Dog and Wolf(too angsty/tragic; also, main girl annoys me a bit. Waiting till I have energy to pick it up again and handle the inevitable doom)
Autumn Tale(story of me and kdramas - too much inevitable doom/angst
Cain and Abel - God, the pace, and the obsession with the bad guys.
1% of Anything-just too long
To Watch:
Korean:
Delightful Girl Chun-Hyang
Love Story in Harvard
While You Were Sleeping/One Shot
One Fine Day
Crazy for You-Yoon Kye Sang!
Last Scandal
Lovers
Legend-rec by miss_dian , sodahands , and dangermousie
La Dolce Vita
Fight
The Painter of the Wind
Thank You
Spring Waltz
Mawang
Fly High?
Save the Last Dance
All In
Which Star Are You From?
Dalja's Spring
Stranger than Paradise-rec by timescout, has Lee Sung Jae
Taiwanese:
Say Yes Enterprise
Mysterious Incredible Terminator
Love Scar
My MVP Valentine?
Bull Fighting
Calling Love?
Magic Ring
Japanese:
Pride
Binbo Danshi
Gokusen
Tatta Hitotsu no Koi
1 Litre of Tears
Itoshi Kimi E
Hana Kimi SP
To Avoid:
Tokyo Juliet(lots of bad reviews and it was listed repeatedly as one of the dramas people regret watching)
Lovers in Paris(because of ending)
Miss No Good(such crap)
Possible, but star actors I don't like:
Prince turns to Frog
Ying ye 3
In Love with a Rich Girl
which of you are fans?
You know who I'd like to see in a drama together? Besides Rainie Yang and Show Luo? Song Hye-Go and Gong Yoo. They're both such expressive actors in their faces.
I admit it. I do want to watch this movie.
1)So I'm back at college. and life is madly, madly insane. This year so far has been twice as busy/intense, both academically and socially, than last year. I haven't had a chance to stop and breathe all week.
2)Which brings to the fact, that sadly, I'm going on semi-hiatus(maybe even full-out hiatus after finishing The Outsiders and WTSYA) for a while, probably a few months. Will be posting much less - summer's over, I don't have time to watch dramas...:( During the school year I usually watch a drama once every month or two months, so I'll probably update during those times, but other than that I'll be pretty quiet. LJ is an addicting drug much like dramas:) but in the end RL is more important.
3)I'm postponing(probably) watching The Ousiders for another couple of weeks since my life is so unexpectedly busy. However, I can't WAIT to watch it, it looks amazing and I hope they finish subbing it.
4) They had BETTER finish subbing WTSYA at some point. Until then, it remains my light at the end of the tunnel.
That's it, pretty people.
Also watched the pilot of Fringe, J.J. Abrams newest effort, and was underwhelmed.
Plot: so-so. Highly derivative, reminded me of a mix of The X-Files, Lost, and Alias, only not as good any of them. Got stronger toward the end of the episode, and ended on a high note that did leave me wanting more.
Pace: Pretty good, especially in the second half.
Dialogue: crappy. Cliched and rather predictable, which frankly surprised me as dialogue is one of the things J.J. Abrams does best. But in this there was none of the smooth, fast-paced, eloquent/witty/poignant writing of many of his other dramas.
Romance: decent. This is the one highlight actually; while the romance was by no means great, my cynical little heart still swoons over any bit of well-done romance, particularly that involving agents/people who really shouldn't be involved with each other and who originally start out liking other people/disliking each other. Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv have some genuine(not smoking, but genuine) chemistry, in the handful of potential-romantic moments they're allowed to have.
( The moments that will, in spite of everything, make me watch the second episode of Fringe... )
:D
I take it back. Barely 15 mins in and already the depression of Silence is getting to me. However, I've realized I'll never actually be "ready" for this drama, so going to just watch it anyway. Zaizai makes anything endurable. :)
ETA1: not to put the wrong spin on it. I'm loving this drama already, and have a feeling it will be Vic's best acting, except perhaps for Mars. However, I must admit I don't expect to like Park Eun Hye - I can almost invariably tell my looking at an actor/actress whether I'll like them or not - I'm almost never wrong - and when I looked at Park I knew I wouldn't like her as much as many other actresses. :(
ETA2: Seriously - love all Vic Zhou dramas. Just got the first glimpse of him and am smiling already. :) Vic is magic. I don't know why.
On the plus side, Mark Wahlberg deserves to be better known.
On the minus side, I've never much liked vampire/vigilante/religious horror films.
You decide for yourself.
Synposis: Coming together to solve a series of murders in New York City are a DEA agent (Wahlberg) whose family was slain as part of a conspiracy and an assassin (Kunis) out to avenge her sister's death. The duo will be hunted by the police, the mob, and a ruthless corporation
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