All this talk about CitC makes me wanna get through it before winter break ends and dreaded school starts again. Maybe Brilliant Legacy have to be on hold for a couple of days.

POOR BIDAM!!! :( :( :(

Word is, Kim Nam Gil (Bidam of Queen Seon Duk) will be going into the service in March. I'm just . . . stunned. We thought he seemed tired, even melancholy, during the past week (awards show and OST concert.) But if this is true, I mean, WOW. Goodbye already??? :(

Ah...if only Samsooki would heed Noona's advice more often... ;)

I'm thrilled at your response to this. Another convert down...how many more can we get in the new year? :)

@belleza
I know right?! That means there won't be a chance to see him in anything before he leaves :( I was so looking forward to his next project too...but it just kills me that I might have to wait a while for that.

On Gokusen series
I know a lot of people thought it was silly, but it was my first ever drama and I LOVED Matsujun and Nakama Yukie together---they had such good chemistry. I have the whole series on CDs still somewhere. Gokusen II on the other hand not so much....but it did get better midway. But yeah, I haven't been impressed with the Johnny boys since after Arashi (like w/Kattun, etc). I know I say this a lot, but IMO the Arashi boys and other actors (non-Johnny's like Oguri Shun) of their generation are probably some of the best actors in the J-industry. In contrast, IMO I feel the K-industry has strong talent in most cases all across the age groups, and the young stars are some of the most talented. But then again the J-industry is shifting towards more of an idol system like belleza said earlier. But I miss the golden age of jdoramas during the 90s....cliche, yes...but there was a lot of heart...and emotion

WTH I just saw that there is supposed to be a Japanese version of Coffee Prince!

Why must they remake shows thats original run was perfectly fine?

"there is supposed to be a Japanese version of Coffee Prince!"

Still a unlikely rumor though. Eikura Nana (of Mei-Chan) was said to play the Eun-chan part, but she's already doing a show for the winter season. Narimiya Hiroki is going to do the Bloody Monday sequel (original was a good show, if you want to see a Japanese version of Iris or 24, BM is pretty close.)

Never mind that though -- there's also a Filipino remake coming up. :D

A few days old, but thought it was interesting.
I didn't watch Three Rivers, but sucks for Daniel Henney. :(

From bad to verse: Asian Pop's 2009 year in review
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/12/31/apop123109.DTL

Wow, I didn't know SF pitcher Tim Lincecum was Filipino. Good to know!!

Happy new year all OT-ers!

I'm back in London from the freezing and snowy shores of Korea. I must say, I over indulged in Korean food and was able to visit a few of my fave kdrama filming locations. I also thoroughly enjoyed watching kdramas on TV in 'live' time, even though I didn't understand a word of it. I like it how the episode airs for a straight hour with no interruptions from commercials or what not. Brilliant.

You guys have me all curious about CitC now so will have to go dl it and get cracking on it. I really enjoyed Damo when I watched it a few years ago (?) or was it just last year? Time flies and I have no idea what happened last year. Next thing I know, it'll be February 2010!!

I saw Avatar in 3D and it was awesome!! Highly recommended. With Sherlock Holmes in cinemas, I've never seen such a queue for the Sherlock Holmes museum here in London!! There has NEVER been a queue for the Sherlock Holmes museum in the past 4 years or more that I've lived in London!!

@hjkomo,

congrats on converting Samsooki. may it be only the beginning of your influence keke. even though i had nothing to do with it, i feel a certain amount of smug pride myself, having loved CitC since it first aired and feeling it was THE overlooked drama of its year. As Samsooki falls over himself trying to find the words to express how he feels about CitC, we can only nod and say ::yawn:: yeah, we know... :)

@thundie,

and where pray tell is Daejanggeum on your list of sageuks?? It's at the top of my list, and in my all-time Top 5 k-drama list. I confess I haven't seen Shin Don but i have added it to the list at your recommendation... and the fact that OMS is in it. ^^

OMG I am so behind! I had no idea that Jo Han Sun was going to guest on Family Outing! ♥

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05FO2q8MnOA

"CitC since it first aired and feeling it was THE overlooked drama of its year"

Yeah, this one aired about at the same time as Coffee Prince. KBS went through this quirky one year stretch where they ran one fusion sageuk after another.

The storyboarding for CitC is really, really good, and in some respects, it's similar to how J-dorama is shot (esp. with the very, very tight shots and there are cameras are placed high to look down on the scene . . . thankfully we don't get that sterile, fluorescent backlighting that mars J-dorama night scenes.) If you think through the camera placements for each scene, you'll also notice that the director loves using the long lense to extend the size of rooms and force your vision to not notice the details around the room. There's lots of intense, tight closeups as well.

Some of the transitioning work would have benefited from more tracking shots used with a single camera -- the cuts sometimes come too quickly and too self-consciously -- but that would be completely unrealistic given the budget.

The way the show is directed kinda represents one of my core beliefs about filmmaking. Action, comedies, and thrillers should be shot very tight. Limit the establishing shots, limit the periphery. Force the viewer to not be able to see around the corner and put the drama into small rooms.

what i look forward to in 2010 k entertainment wise

-jaesuk oppa getting more time to be with his family ( was he pressured by upset fans to remain on shows he wanted to leave ie FO :/ )

-jaebum oppa rejoining 2pm.

-albums albums albums! esp want to hear another jisun album (and excited for some nice indie albums)

-some revamping of 1n2d, it's gotten a bit stale.. though i still love it

-good dramas! the only one i enjoyed this year out of the few i watched was shining inheritance/brilliant legacy. the rest were mediocre. yes this includes teeny bopper you're beautiful and messy BBF.

All I take away from Sherlock Holmes is that Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law love each other very very much. And RDJ is so ready for Ironman 2 with his physique.

What's with the spate of uber-bromances going on in my watching queue? First all this talk about Tony and Andy in Duke, and now watching RDJ and JD make googly intense eyes at each other for 2.5 hours.

Real review-wise: Sherlock Holmes is an in-between movie for me in terms of quality, but as a movie watcher, I enjoyed spending time watching it. I am ambivalent about Guy Ritchie's directing style, at times its effective and exhilirating, but then GR goes and drags out a scene too long or a jump cut one to many times, and then it loses it effect.

SH has no story or plot worth discussing (just your run of the mill pseudo-occult detective story), but makes for it with ample atmosphere. I love GR's storyboard of Victorian London its all its grime, grit and grey.

And of course, RDJ as Sherlock is just wonderful, like a delicious NY strip, succulent and satisfying. I don't quibble with the purists who think this is a giant slap to the SH of the novels, I see this as Guy Ritchie's re-imagining of SH. Jude Law is fine as the bromantic interest of RDJ.

I have a dream - another magical pairing I would kill to see make a bromance movie together is Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp. I envision those two as the Al Pacino-Robert Deniro of their generation. A Heat with these two would blow my mind. Then I can fall into an eternal sleep happy.

@Samsooki,

Gotta catch up with The White Tower too. Lest we forget, Jejoongwon is coming up Monday. Chuno is kinda shrug to me, but I'm psyched up for Jejoongwon. That is, if anybody subs it. :(

"SH has no story or plot worth discussing "

Honestly, I thought the story itself was pretty good. I think Guy Ritchie went a little, erm, LockStock+Barrel with the clues but the clues were pretty well thought out and there was enough spookiness around to give pause.

BTW, is Brat Pitt really going to be Moriarty? Professor Mor has a 6-pack and doesn't like to wear underwear?!? O_o

"I envision those two as the Al Pacino-Robert Deniro of their generation."

I think Depp would lose that battle. Depp is a great character actor, but for me he still doesn't have enough emotional gravity. Robert Downey Jr can be charming, quirky, all sorts of fun, but his dark, sunken eyes are privy to private hell. It's what makes his Sherlock so good (and pretty true to the Doyle novels.)

^ O M G @ockoala, I think I have to steal u fr your hubby and make u my conjoined twin. just coz u like RoCH08 as a purist (sameHERE!) and BROMANCE!!

I saw Holmes as well, Avatar IMAX completely sold out till Feb (And if I'm watching a movie coz of the CG and the simpliest *yawn* story, I need to see it proper... I'm one of the those kids there were bored to zzzz watching Jurassic Park when it was first out...) I felt EXACTLY the same as u did, but I went in knowing I'll be getting ONE scrumptious bromance... and gawd am I fascinated by bromance since my manga days... I loved Slamdunk the st version, but there's a pervie 18+ spinoff of shonen-ai that ranked way higher than that. (shame me) and more shame me, my fascination of Saint Seiya was strictly out of all the diff combos of bromances and those glittering armors!! (or I vaguely rem one of them had a KO move of 'absolute zero' which cracked me up bad every time....LOLZ) I'm be along with u in eternal bliss if RDJ and JD do a WKW's Happy Together....or another Talented Mr Ripley coz JD is just in that stratosphere of prettiness (I'm sorry Matt, I still like u in Bourne, but if we had Alain Delon as Ripley before u...u r just not in that pretty league)

I'm sooo glad u like LoCH08!! :)))))) It reignited my drama passion actually, and I did check up on many more Cdramas coz of that, and o boy, seriously good stuff ... esp in the dept of good 'saguek' (not wuxia...yet) with a great balance of historical accuracy and entertainment in a SUPER epic portion. I did watch it with my hubby as well, and initially he was so irked by Ariel's lack of ANY physical beauty (in his opinion) of HR....and he was iffy with HuGe as Guo Jing as well, yes, he has to be a dumb piece of wood but I think playing that character is as hard as Ariel's Xiang Qin in ISWAK, to be likable not just by us, but to sell it to us as THE catch in the eye of THE Huang Rong (the brightest cunning b8tch in all JY's novels), it's quite a feat..... ie in some ways there r similarities in our shippings in ISWAK and LoCH, that's beyond ODD o_0

See the LoCH book used up years of me debating with my buds... there were parts in it that were written so brilliantly (yup, most concerning HR or those North East South West masters....) but there were parts that bored me to tears (sorry Mongolia....) and it's equal parts each. It's one of my best and most boring reads of all JY. Then there's the Yang Kang and Nin Chi part that I pulled couple heads of my own hair off. JY set out to write a monster that's just born bad, nth really tragic happend to his childhood or life (in the wuxua world) to attribute any cause and effect. JY even thrown in many a times for him to redeem himself, but he just chose to be an ass, not even an interesting convoluted damaged ass, but a boring 2D cardboard cutout sorry excuse of a man...with a gorgeous face and smarts. It screwed with my 12 yo head when I read the novel. As much as RoCH screwed with me with THAT Xiaolungnu.... I love Yang Guo, he's one of my fav JY characters actually, he's human, he's flawed but he's convincingly real.....so to me he deserved a much better mate than Xianlungnu, who was the embodiment of all things dumb in womanhood. 1. When u r raped, RAPED, u dun just go and assume u were violated by someone u love and go 'o, alrighty with it, I love him also, no big deal...' 2. WOMAN, u r much older than your boytoy/truelove, u r in cougar territory being his 'maestro', u don't go make this young red blood sexy man wait 16 years. For Ariel's XQ in ISWAK, at least there r other things going on with her character to make the dumbness less irritating, but XLN only has her pretty face...and that grates on me even more.

I really need to watch CitC, but my brain is pretty fried by Holmes and my anticipation of Avatar. I'm not sure if I know how to spell sophistication the word properly to read X's subs..

o Brat is really doing Moriaty, he has to, come on Brad, if u can freaking make us buy tics to watch u bromancing Clooney over and over again , u owe us all those bromance 3some sparks with RDJ (and lets not forget Jude Law)

I just thought Ritchie was so in love with RDJ too that he hecked with the narration in the middle part and just gave us more and more bromance (YES MORE!!) then did a very to the point miser-ly minutes of 'plot' just to get us to the next RDJ showdown. more than fine with me. I'm amazed he got all that storytelling cramped in successfully.

@ mookie

We need to do an on-line chat STAT. I agree with everything you're saying, sh*t, I need a brain meld with you right now!

Oh, @ belleza, I wouldn't count out JD before the battle begins, remember post-21 Jump Street JD wild years, before France came along, he's got demons aplenty. But I also will given the early edge to RDJ, he's just so vested and possessed, in everything he does. And I did like the story in Sherlock, I agree there was a story, but it wasn't anything we hadn't seen before, and really was a giant mcguffin to have SH and Watson air out their issues between bouts of fist-fighting.

Anyways, back to my Legend of the Condor Heroes '08 version watch - my little boy stared mesmerized on screen when we watched 30 minutes or so together tonight, it was the scene in the Jin Palace when Guo Jing and Huang Rong keep sneaking back to steal the antidote, and running into Ouyang Ke and all the goons, and there is so much wonderful wuxia choreography we were in blissful heaven.

Anyways, I read spcnet.tv reviews of LoCH 08 and pretty much everyone *loved* Ariel's version, different than Barbara's, but worthy of appreciation, and definitely, just like Huang Rong stepped off the pages of the novel and on screen. She captured the novel's very essence razor-sharp mind, lack of emphathy, devotion to GJ, playful but turns on a dime. Oh, and all the reviewers had all seen the 1982 version, so the reviews were truly enlightening to read. But I'm about to go crazy if what the reviewers said is true - which is this version adds much more meat to Yang Kang's story - someone called it "Yang Kang E's True Hollywood Story: The Deceiving, Conniving Son You Wish You Never Had." Ha ha ha, I dies laughing - but this is in no laughing matter. If not done right, I may go ape-sh*t crazy in the latter half of LoCH 08, so wait to talk me down the cliff.

When I saw episodes of the absolute worst remake of a Louis Cha novel - the 2003 remake of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, I actually threw the DVD set away, I was soooo pissed. Then I approached all mainland remakes with a sense of doom, and 2006's RoCH and 2008's Duke confirmed I should be scared, very very scared (for basic example - both remakes had Huang Xiao-ming as the lead - like, how absolutely WTF is that casting? The lead of RoCH is one of the handsomest smartest man ever, the lead of Duke is one ugly, dumb, amoral wastral - and the same male actor plays both? Geez).

And the 2006 RoCH, I stopped watching the second after the rape scene - when the director made it all soft focus, billowing clothes, falling plum blossoms, and took 10 minutes to enact. I was like hell no this is not happening, GOOD BYE to you ridiculous version!

Which is why the 2008 LoCH remake is so amazing, I'm more shocked that its from the same director and producer, I guess you can learn from your mistakes!

Anyways, @ mookie, I have four compendiums of a TW writer writing her analysis of various aspects of Louis Cha novels: Women of LC novels, Men of LC novels, Love in LC novels, and Life in LC novels.

The top three ladies the writer MOST dislikes: (3) Princess Hsian-Hsian in the Book and the Sword (even her name is lame, Princess Fragrant - beautiful, dumb as a door post, to think a nation almost toppled for her, worries me). (2) Wang Yu-Yen in Demi-Gods (so what she has a photographic memory, she's also a giant cold-hearted beeyotch). And lastly, (1) Xiao Longnu from RoCH (in fact, RoCH is the writer's least favorite LC novel - I'm not surprised).

As for your comments: "When u r raped, RAPED, u dun just go and assume u were violated by someone u love and go ‘o, alrighty with it, I love him also, no big deal…’ 2. WOMAN, u r much older than your boytoy/truelove, u r in cougar territory being his ‘maestro’, u don’t go make this young red blood sexy man wait 16 years" - I second ALL THAT, sister!

But then again, girl grew up in a freakin TOMB all her life, so I give her a pass in her complete lack of any ability to have a meaningful discussion with the dreamiest dreamboat lead character ever written by Louis Cha, Yang Guo, to figure out whether the guy who had sex with her *after* blindfolding her was in fact her guy, and that she hadn't just been violated. Still, oy vey, girl was sorely lacking any common sense. I would have at least asked - hey Guo-er, cutie pie boytoy of mine, did you by any chance, last night, oh I don't know, between learning martial arts with your insane adopted father, take the time to come back and make blissful love to me (translate into olden times dialogue, of course?). Rather than assume it was Yang Guo, and then get pissed he didn't act like he tupped her.

Anyways, happy to be your conjoined twin. If I can find my brother's Saint Seiya collection, I'll even take pictures to send to you. That was the most homoerotic manga of my childhood, all those *battles* and *training scenes*

@ samsooki current CitC afficionado

Why am I not surprised, your taste is truly eclectic yet exemplary. I also love Heat - and that is one movie where the only thing lacking was a stronger story/plot. Everything else, from acting, casting, directing, editing, sound effect, you name an Oscar category, was superb. If everything else was a 10/10, the story was only an 8/10, but still, to me, the movie was a 12/10. Does that make sense, I loved it, despite recognizing its shortcomings. If there was just even one additional scene of RD and AP face-to-face, that would have been fan service enough I would have completely turned off any analytical ability and just *swoon* over the movie from beginning to end.

Which is to say, to a koala, always give the fan service, it would net you much goodwill.

Let's all pretend Righteous Kill did not happen.

@Creating Destiny,

HOLY CRAP she's adopted?!!?

(whoa, way to procrastinate telling your daughter dad(s). She must feel like Eddie Vedder right now!!)

While I was majorly :( *sob* that my Robotech Collection had a cracked case when I opened it last night, so much so that I could not watch it (yes I am an obsessive - but hey it wasn't cheap!) the upside was it allowed me to have an excuse to venture near my crack den (aka Asian DVD shop) on the way to exchange it for a sparkly new one.

So not only did I get to exchange my Robotech (which I obsessvely made them check that all was fine before I walked out) - I picked up uber bargains. :)

How uber? Check this out ......for the cost of my ONE Robotech series I picked up not only:
1. Return of the Condor Heroes (Andy Version/Idy Chan)
2. Legend of the Condor Heroes (Barbara Yung/Felix Wong)
but also non LC series
3. At Threshold of an Era (part 1 and 2 - which I don't remember ever watching in full),
the latest 2 TVB 'anniversary' series'
4.'Born Rich' and
5. 'Beyond the Realm of Conscience'
AND
6-9. THREE (yep 3!) Jdramas.
So Robotech = 9 Asian DVD series. LMAO :)
Sure they are not the nice versions ockoala got, but I'm as happy as a kid in a candy shop.

Officially love 2010 and it is only a few days old! And this is before Chuno-uary offical starts too :P

@ockoala
" If not done right, I may go ape-sh*t crazy in the latter half of LoCH 08, so wait to talk me down the cliff."

Hey if I ever gets remotely that way (just saying as I never seen LoCH 08) just remember to chant 'Chuno-uary! City Hall recaps! Chuno-uary! City Hall recaps! .....' while slowly stepping away from the cliff edge ok? :)

@belleza,

wow, thanks for that excellent analysis of the technical/cinematic aspects of CitC. time to watch it again!

@ bspanda

You know, I did watch 1999-2000's At the Threshold of an Era, part I, evidently it must not be very impressive because I never bothered with part II. I thought I stopped watching TVB dramas after 1998's Secret of the Heart (which actually wasn't half bad, but all the TVB vets by then were gone and I was ready to move on as well). And this was the last of the uber-Anniversary productions from TVB, I recollect. But the best really was Cold Blood, Warm Heart. Check it out if you haven't yet seen it before.

So excited you bought all these awesome dramas! I consider it a Christmas gift to myself, is how I justify it in my head. :-P

I just finished CitC episode 4 - gloriously flawless, calling it a drama, or a TV show, or an hour of television somehow just seems so, not appropriate. It's like reading an epic poem, and each chapter and verse is a feast of perfection. I'm still not crying or moved, but its just me, I get moved by maudlin things for the most part, so not a diss on the quality and the essence of the drama, which is truly seamless in execution. It's not too convoluted, but I definitely prefer to stop each night after one episode and re-view the drama in my mind quietly afterwards.

Oh, and KBS2 is showing My Fair Lady right now, and I happen to turn on the TV, and oh lordy is it just a hot mess of a show. But I still stand by my love for YSH and YEH, even in the drama, it's just so hard to overlook all the.........plot and dialogue written by gerbils.

@ mookie and bspanda

Remember this: 天龍八部 (or Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils). I found the opening sequence from the 1980 version, and though the song is ONE of the best TBV theme songs of ALL time (seriously, second only to the Bund, perhaps).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh9YWhiYf8U&feature=related

Anyways, this was a show that DOES NOT age well at all. Watch for the sheer hilarity factor (pay special attention to the scene when Qiao Fong holds Ah-zhi, gets up, and suddenly the rain starts like someone turned on the sprinkler on top of him, so funny!). In fact, it didn't age when I watched it in the 80s, I was all like, what the hell is this, so goofy. What a difference a year or two makes.

I guess what I'm trying to say, and you two understand, the 1982 adaption of Legend of the Condor Heroes really is something special, when the year before, the even bigger cast and crew adaption of Demi-Gods was amateurish by comparison.

Maybe I am biased, as Demi-Gods is the only full length novel of Louis Cha's that I have NOT read, as I just don't like the story. It has THREE male leads, one is a dude who changes nationalities mid-way and accidentally kills the love of his life because he's a arrogant prick, the other is just a metrosexual accidental playboy whose father is the biggest player on the continent and fathers an army of illegitimate daughters, all of whom fall in love with their (maybe?) half-brother, and lastly, a monk who who eschews his vows when he gets trapped in an ice-cave with a chick who turns out to be the Hsia Princess.

I'm supposed to cheer for these three guys? Erh, not bloody likely. And with pretty much every single female character in the drama, parental and child generation, either a shrew or a bitch, and most frequently, both, I also wonder what woman pissed off Louis Cha SOOO much he had to write a novel that obliterated female kind (and the sole wondeful, kind, loyal female lead gets killed less than 1/3 through the story). Though the scene when Qiao Fong kills who he thinks is the person who killed his father, and then he discovers its the love of his life disguised, and he just wails and picks up her body and walks away in the rain - just......perfect done, even with the silly special effects. Pathos is pathos, baby.

Demi-Gods is important in that as a history piece, it's set before the start of the Legend of the Condor Heroes, and creates an understanding of the historical landscape that would be LoCH. But as a novel, I won't touch it with a ten foot pole. And LC wrote the novel is a very unique way, as three seemingly unrelated stories that dovetail in the middle when all three men meet and then become blood-bound sworn brothers, but by then, I want all three to collectively jump off a cliff so the ladies can be rid of them forever.

Oh, and critics love this novel because it's resounding theme is that of "forgiveness" in that when all the bloodshed, revenge, politics, warfare, petty emotional ties are all said and done, what we strive for is forgiveness of our sins and the sins of others in the world, so that we may leave unrestrained by any dust from this earth. LC's tied it to the teachings of the Buddha, hence the title refers to the Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils in the teachings of the Boddishatva. But I wonder, why are all the women so bedeviled even in a novel about transcending the agonies of life?

Watching CitC requires much thought, leading to other thoughts......related and unrelated.

To my kind OTers:

I'd like to apologises to the Non TVB watching OTers for my continual rant about my rediscovering these 80s TVB gems. But you just don't know how much it has brought up childhood memories chatting about it. This is sort of like my 'Robotech' growing up. Hope you understand and forgive me!

@ockoala
(I might have to find ya via YT to continue my rant, and prevent OTers being bored to death my me :) )

Think I might have to rename/code share Chunouary as Woah-Yippeeuary!

Just cracked open my RoCH and was O_o on why there was 5 dvds. Was totally confused - did they give me duplicates? WTF?! Imagine my delight when realised that there was THREE dvds just for RoCH (Oh I must have forgotten how lengthly it was - a total epic!). After a brief check on the quality - well it was not awesome transfer - but was nearly totally sucked into watching vortex when I noticed the AWESOME supporting cast.

OMG we had raved about Barbara and Felix I totally forgot that back in it's hey day TVB used real heavyweight ACTORS as supports. The awesome Shek Kin (RIP you martial arts legend), Lau Dan et al...and I totally forgot Michael Miu Kiu Wai as in it too!

The RoCH 'pack' also had two other DVDs. Not sure what it is only that one has Julian Cheung and Athena Chu (but it's not the LoCH 1994) and a Ekin Cheng series too.

Re: 天龍八部 (or Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils)
Yep the song is a classic. Guessing that you have had to endure karoake torture with this one as well? Have to confess I get constantly confused with what sequence Louis Cha's books are, I just knew LC via TVB. LMAO

Never really liked watching Kent Tong (aka Barbara's ex) even when I was little. Don't even recall this one.

@ bspanda

I'm the culprit of the sudden TVB discussion on OT, but seriously, it was caused by Damo (I love it, oh god, I love it so much), then all that pent up Chuno anticipation (seriously, the trailers are way more wuxia than saguek), and then CitC. I seem to be living in hundred of years ago these days. Chuno-ary, I am chanting.......

Okay: quick and dirty Chinese history lesson via Louis Cha's main novels

Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils - set in the 5 Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period
LoCH: Set in the Sung Dynasty (with Jin encroachment and burgeoning Mongol power)
RoCH - set in the invasion of the Mongols and collapse of the Sung Dynasty
Dragon Sabre and Heavenly Sword: set in the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty and heralding the eventual rise of the Ming Dynasty, as an important ancillary character is given the name Zhu Yuan-zhang, the Taizu or founding father of the Ming Dynasty
A Deadly Secret (or Requin of Ling Sing) - a shorter novel, but set in the late Ming Dynasty, with an ancillary character of Li Zhi-cheng, a real life protector of the waning days of the Ming Dynasty.
Duke of Mount Deer: set in the early days of the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty, with the rebels all Ming supports hoping to "protest the Qing and revive the Ming" (their silly slogan).

So, is Kent Tong your least favorite Five Tiger? He's mine, well, cuz he's such a pretty boy, he always got the effete metrosexual pretty boy role. And that does not endear one to a young impressionable girl. And yeah, the heavy weight roster of supporting characters in the TVB stable actually reminds me of many of the awesome supporting character actors in k-dramas, the one who plays the mom, dad, grandpa, boss, etc. (they are all awesome, and keep showing up in one drama after another, and causing me whiplash - for example, the evil Gyo-bin from Temptation of Wife showed up a few months later as Byo-jin's father in Tamra, and I was like, no way, he's the condensed essence of evil!). ;-)

My fave in order are: Tony, Andy, Michael, Felix and Kent. But if I had to choose, I'd stick in Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung AND Adam Cheng in the mix, because those guys were a billion shades of awesome as wuxia heroes. Especially Adam Cheng as Chor Leu Heung, or the man who made my mom swoon and want to leave my dad (or so I've heard).

Thanks for the brief LC rundown. I wiki'ed the LoCH 1983 and OMG the list of cast members were like a who's who of awesomeness.

Yep Kent is/was so not my fav of the five tigers. If anything it was a toss between Tony and Felix as my fav (still think Felix plays the honest man well) with Micheal and Andy joint second (or is that third/fourth?). Had thought at the time, that Micheal was the most 'leading man-ish' of them as he was (and still is) good looking. When he left acting for awhile it was a shame and glad he is back, even if TVB has gone totally stupid.

But if you were add the others in the mix....Chow Yun Fat was awesome in that era. While I'm hazy with the details of the series' now - just listening to the theme songs of The Bund 上海滩 and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly 網中人 brings me back to Fat Gor! Actually don't recall his wuixia roles. Adam Cheng on the other hand was like king of the wuixia. His Chor Leu Heung was stuff of legend. I only discovered Leslie more from his singing, then his acting in films. He was one beautiful talented man. RIP

Chow Yun-fat only did one wuxia drama, he was the lead in Louis Cha's Smiling Proud Wanderer (笑傲江湖):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOS404SGO1Q

It's my fave novel (and mookie's, actually, and alot of others, most folks I chat with about LC love either Duke or Wanderer, and they are so different).

I didn't disuss this one in the Chinese history rundown because LC for once DID NOT discuss actual politics in the novel (he kept the entire novel in the make-believe world of wulin, or the world of the martial arts practitioners - he purposely refused to dated it, but he wrote it supposedly as a scathing rebuke of the Cultural Revolution and the Gang of Four (i.e. the book was in fact a reflection of modern politics as opposed to his revisionist fictionalization of actual history).

CYF was perfectly cast - the hero Linghu Chong is an iconoclast, not as eccentric as Yang Guo, but someone not tainted by the lust for power, prestige, fame or prowess, and yet he gets everything and then happily gives it all up. While Adam Cheng ruled the wuxia world as the ideal wuxia hero in looks and bearing, CYF is actually not suited for wuxia movies (and fans of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon may flay me), which is why his casting in Wanderer is perfect, because the hero was in fact not suited for the wulin society of hypocrites. Oh, he's handsome, and tall, but his eyes convey a sadness that wuxia heroes don't have, and so I fell in love, and never looked back.

In my mind, CYF is the ideal hero for The Bund era dramas, i.e turn of the century, japanese-resistance pieces, in the three-piece suit, cigarette, intellectual turned triad leader.

And in Capital Scandal (which I really should finish) Kang Ji-hwan looked and acted the part for that period piece, it was the script which failed him.

I'm also very sorry, but all hells break loose w/ the mention of Jin Yong.... a master scholar I fangirl/stalker adored for his sheer power of his writing and what can come out of his brain, but I absolutely can't stand in terms of ideologies.

@ ockoala re: LoCH08, EVERYTHING the peeps r raving is sooo true, it adds gravitas with them being adoring fans of the BarbaraFelix version (ie our TVB80saddictanon gp). I'm just amazed how many fans of that little TVB oldie has in the 15-25 age gp.

and LoCH08
If ThisMishil had the brows, Arie's HR elevated the actress' mastery of eye muscles.

and brace yourself for later LoCH08 coz at the end of it
I'm totally shipping YK and NianChi (omg), hubby (AND dadinlaw) turned total fanboy(s) over NianChi. We shallow us, do flock tog in a fam, I'm afraid
I'm slurping up every delish bits of bromance btn GJ and YK (yup, glorious loads aplenty)
I'm even fangirling and mourning over OuYangKe

So yup, I've eaten many socks and adiosed my purist self.

06R0CH, I can casually stomach it coz I hate the book anyways, I dun mind all the messings or the Doc Mart on HXM's YangGuo and Liu was actually a truer XLN if u ask me, the girl really had to be born mentally retard and looked like she was repeatedly dropped on her pretty head every 15 min... ie she looked the part.
My biggest woe with that whole 'violation' thing: in the book she 'enjoyed' it. Now if u were born and raised in some tomb off human existence and was only fed on honey all your life and hence your retardation of not knowing what RAPE is...I'll let it slide, but if she was written as some natural breathing woman afterall who was not feelingless and had a big case of hormones...now that's not rounding up that whole bs.

Yup, the second BIGGIE y I hate RoCH with a vengeance is what Jin Yong did to my HR, IF I had fallen in mad love with say CJW's character in StH, my anguish over her miseries did not measure up to how JY just chopped HR (esp her intelligence) up to silly pieces to fit in the crazy menopausal ax waving Asian b8tch trope. And y I like Yang Guo is coz he's basically HR's bloodson! What is wrong with you woman for all the hate on YOUR reincarnation with balls?!!? don't worry about the havoc he'll run on woman/fangirlhood, we're lost cause (and...um... he stayed a virgin till after that silly 16 yr chastity pact and he's grown some amazing silver mane...) For a 15 yo HR all playful and devilish and flirty and heck with all the social constraints and morality, it's convincing she'll be a one man lady after she met her Jing gege at that tender age, but for our YG, and him not even sensing one bit that convo his tombbound not that bright Gugu was hinting on....um... lost me.

And my love for the LoCH HR knows no bound. She is y BORA MUST DIE!! y I hate Athena's HR was that she reduced her to only her womanly charms when our HR will just be as asskicking awesome as a dude ( see YG), JY loaded her up with all shapes and forms of awesomeness when her most redeeming quality was her brain. She can be happily living alone in that tomb cooking up gourmet with bees and honey and beating Julia Child + JangGeum in that fantasy IronChef battle....coz she literally cooked poetry. (it's a shame the 08 version still suck lemons in the CGI... that soup thing only looks delish if u r Shrek/Viola), does she need to be even OMGpretty?! or the all mighty super power of the OPW?! nope, it's kinda sad that in TVdrama/wuxialand, 'once a b8tch, forever a b8tch) ,but HR trumps that trope since it's all in her conscious choices whether or not be a sweet 16 yo devoted GJ fangirl or the baddest sadistic b8tch that can outevil the OuyangFung (again solely @ LoCH, I refuse to acknowledge the existence of HR@RoCH).

I do apologize also for my neverending ramblings on JinYung... I havent started on DemiGods (it at times crept up to my top 3 JY, depending on my mood...)

@bspanda, hehe do you consider that a great bargain!?! I guess that's a direct measure of your RobotechLOVE.

If u fancy Beyond the Realm of Conscience, u'll have to watch War and Beauty (04). It is seminal TVB anni dramas thereafter. Yes TVB dramas r totally crapfests nowadays...not even craptastic, but I still check out too many of them for my own good, and at times they have very rare, good ones. I do think they do detective drama good enough, they dont take themselves too seriously like Boss or HIT (which I find too laden with holes and put themselves in an embarrassing spot of not bad nor good enough that it's entertaining...) I still rewatch To catch the uncatchable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Catch_the_Uncatchable, Detective investigation files (I, II only) (yes it's a total ripoff of Kindaichi case files, but imo better than the dorama renditions)
And believe it or not, there's still very solid acting found once in a while in TVB stuff, I loved Rosy Business, Sheren Tang, whom I did not care for for the longest time, blossomed to some GHJ level of screen presence. Wayne Lai had been the most underrated and underused actor in TVB past 20 years, he finally got his break there. Though http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Legend_Begins was not a terrific drama in many levels, Ada Choi did the role of her career.

@ belleza

Yes, SE is adopted! I was wondering how the story would progress once YJ and SE got together. I guess more trials and tribulations for our destined pair as they go through life together.

@ mookie
Took me a while to figure out your references - with my eyes @_@ and my heads a poundin' whilst reading - I felt the passion in your arguments and it was all very entertaining! LOL The "CJS in StH" reference was LMAO when it finally clicked. The only bummer is you make me want to catch LoCH08 now too :P

Re: Robotech
Although I now realise I might have glimpsed it in the 1980s having seen Ep 1, the reason why I went all Robotech was due to the uber fandom of my much admired Dramabeaners in previous OT (eg Javabeans, Samsooki et al). The track record they have for enjoyable stuff was enough for me to fork out my dough. The only thing now is their 80s Flashbacks of Awesomeness (EFBoA) Robotech might have to make way for MY EFBoA - JY TVB dramas. :)

Might be risking my life here but Lisa's intro scene in Ep 1 (lecturing Claudia) did not impress.....do no feel the love for her (yet), perhaps not the best intro, at least for me. Not judging - just saying! *runs to hide*

Re: War and Beauty et al
Did enjoy War and Beauty and thought that Sheren Tang gave a standout performance in that. Since then have enjoyed most of her TVB performances - if I didn't it was the TVB scripts *yawn* - but her performances are always strong. And yep Wayne Lai is underrated - good to see he finally got his moment in the spotlight again (he had it before with Journey to the West right?)
Detective Investigation Files Series were really good - and I might be in the minority but I hold much love for some of the the unrelated cast of Part IV (the Louis Koo/Jessica Hsuen pairing rates high on my all time drama favourites).
Need to check out Where the Legends Begin - Ada Choi can be shrill at times. but still a fav of mine.

Oops typo - meant the reference to " CJW’s character in StH" not CJS (who is that? I just made one up - new character in StH! LOL)

Looking over J-pop/J-rock news:

Wow!! FAKE? is going to product their new album with Youth. Wow. You go Ken!!

What's this -- Gackt covering Nakashima Mika's Yuki No Hana??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vhrENp0GVY

But that's nothing. Marty Friedman (formerly of Megadeth and now a J-pop fixture) covers Yuki No Hana live too?!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNU02ySnSVQ

@hjkomo (Korean Guitarist):

Check this one out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaHaRUPfKok

That was Bo Gyung from some years back. She's now 15, and she has various other YT clips. She's something!!

And while she is impressive, this dude is truly the ultimate Noona Killer. OMG lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWY4kNemArE

The back and forth in the OT makes my head spin. Anyway Happy New Year to all!!! Watching "I am Sam" the subs suck as per usual but I find the first episode endearing. The dorky teacher looks familiar and yehee he's the guy from "Ruler of Your Own World", heard good things about that drama.
Just finished watching "Thirst", good subs thats why I got suckered into watching, this movie is Freaky .

@ belleza

Impressive.
But what got hubby attention wasn't the girl's guitar skills, it was her choice of music.

btw, do you never sleep? :P

@ Samsooki

As if Ji Hoonie doesn't hate love his hats and blazers enough? :P

3 days till Chuno!

Another trailer:
http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=690858531

Update on Autumn's Concerto (without subs)

GX has (finally) found the memory card in the bracelet which stores the photos of him and MC. And the memories came flooding back. Looks like the wedding is over for GX and YQ. Poor YQ. You almost had him. GX got really pissed off with MC and is now threatening to take XL away from her. He clearly still doesn't know the truth as to why MC left him.

@ JB, Samsooki, nycgrl, kb...and anyone else

I'm looking for a 국어 (Korean language) book that will help with my grammar proficiency, since I never formally studied Korean (those 8 o'clock labs in college were a bitter deterrent). I'm a visual learner, but most of my Hangeul knowledge is auditory in origin, so a book would come in handy. Any recommendations?

making my way through robotech, and i must change my sentiments and agree with the ladies on this board. i guess my young mind missed minmei's intolerable antics when i first watched it many years ago, but i surely didn't miss it this time. rick hunter deserves better.

as my friend once said, 'she's good from afar, but afar from good.' yes, indeed.

bora on the other hand...she's a misunderstood byproduct of unfortunate circumstances...and when she's sweet, she's so sweet. i've watched up to ep 14, and i think i am going to stop there. that way, she remains alive and well and lives happily ever after with tae-woong.

next up is 'kyung sook, kyung sook's father.' its topic is one i can't miss. thanks to the year-end reviewers who brought it to my attention.

hjkomo 198

i have two korean textbooks that were used at my college:

1) http://www.cheng-tsui.com/store/products/korean_korean_conversation/korean_conversation_level_1_textbook

2) http://www.cheng-tsui.com/store/products/korean_korean_conversation/korean_level_2_textbook

these textbooks cover grammar in more detail than your garden-variety 'learn korean' texts you'll find at a typical bookstore.

btw, i have no idea about the legitimacy of the above vendor. i just googled the textbooks and posted links so that i could show you what the books look like.