Hi everyone, langdon813 has been busy handling some real life needs, so that why she's not around.

I'm sure she'll be so happy to know OT-ers have been thinking and asking about her.

@ mookie - if Wanderer is suited for a WKW treatment, why oh why did he attempt it with LoCH in Ashes of Time? But regardless, I agree, Wanderer is a giant existential drama if ever there was one.

@ crzycpl

There is another ArJoe collaboration - Love or Bread. But it wasn't a hit, and I've heard the story is quite boring and the characters not suited for our ArJoe.

http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Love_or_Bread

When I need an ArJoe fix, I just re-watch ISWAK.

@ 151 ockoala : Hope everything's okay with l813. Tell her we miss her.

Searching through my mess of a video collection last week, I also found a set of ISWAK... not sure when I'm going to fit that in though... Sigh. Especially as I keep rewatching stuff I already like.

@ reluctantbutaddicted

I'll let langdon-unni know, I'm sure she reads OT but is just too busy to post. :-)

As for ISWAK, my sister gave it to me and I kept it on my shelf for almost a YEAR before one day I finally decided to watch, and I've only ever regretted why it took me so long to get interested to pop it into the DVD player. ArJoe is real, and a pairing made in drama heaven.

@ mookie

The Yang's Clan - okay, I hate all the Song Dynasty posturing, because as my hubby pointed out, we're all freaking Chinese people that probably contain bits of Han, Jin, Liao, Xi-hsia, Dali, Mongol in us - so why are we supposed to automatically root for the Song, or the Ming, for that matter. Good question, I do like how the new adaptations are less dogmatic in its rah rah nationalistic pride.

However, to watch Yang's Clan, which I am mighty tempted - you have to tell me, does Yelu Xie die in the end. We all know what happens to the younger 4 Yang brothers in the traditional folklore (4th bro - becomes a Liao prince consort, 5th bro - becomes a monk, 6th bro - only one to return and last of the Yang sons, 7th bro - dies amazingly heroic death, along with the 3 oldest bros).

It pisses me off that there is no live shoot system in Mainland, otherwise, I cannot imagine with the popularity I've been seeing of Yelu Xie's character and Yuan Hong's acting, the producers didn't just say "f*ck it, let's let those two get together since the 5th brother is going to go all samsara on his wife anyways." I.e. a Bidam-esque revision, which it appears tickled belleza to the nth degree.

Sigh, this video I keep watching over and over, you don't even need to know the plot, Yelu Xie is THE man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGyt3fMLN0M

And then if I'm truly in the mood, I'd do this video and pretend I'm off to war: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv2FV9-obHI

"I.e. a Bidam-esque revision, which it appears tickled belleza to the nth degree. "

POOR BIDAM!!! :( :( :( :(

Sorry. Reflexes.

Live shoot FTW. The Army of Bidam Lovers demanded satisfaction! Yushin? Chunchu? Historical accuracy? Suck it!!!

Gawd I love Live Shoot.

@reluctantbutaddicted,

"they show up on film (when posed and lit properly etc) as being in proportion and more aesthetically attractive."

Yes, it's due to how they shoot closeups. If a person is very short, you can always bring the shot in or crop it a bit. All looks good provided you're not shooting a scene opposite Nicole Kidman. If a person is taller than 6-foot, this can cause problems with the frame. If you're doing TV work and using a lot of camera, it may be a big pain to get everything in the shot if the people vary in height too much. That limits your choices when you do cuts.

In Korea and Japan, there's also an emphasis on very tiny faces (so that everything is proportional on camera.) This isn't obvious on TV, but if you see K/J actresses or singers in real life, you'll be shocked at how utterly tiny they are. They're not short; they're miniature It's really intimidating.

did any of you guys ever watch Hap Hop Hung with Tony Leung??

I love that show even though it twisted the book completely.

@amg1 & momosan: I'm just going to suspend my disbelief from now on, since I can find a million wrong things and I have only been just a server at swanky places. I was half expecting for fur-guy (on the "Italy" team) to come back the next night sporting a chef coat with fake fur trim. Which would be.... Fabulous! ;D

I started watching Wish Upon a Star / whatever we're calling the star show. I pretty much gave up on the first episode and started on the second, which is when things start moving along. Which is better. Shower scenes are getting more artsy or something now.. sorry I could not watch that scene without rolling my eyes! Anyways, I thought a little of Les Miserables when Pal Kang (spoiler alert maybe?) cuts her hair. Too bad she can't clothe those kids by selling her hair...Also a little like "nobody knows" hopefully not as sad as that.

I'm getting so pissed of at people stealing JB's banners. Really, first links and then banners. Apparently there's nothing that can be left alone.
I'm not gonna rant here anymore, instead I'll go and write a really long post to the dear blogger who thinks banners are everyones property. Nooow, what's "you're a thief" in arabic....

@belleza;
' Is it just me, or are their heads disproportionately large from the rest of their bodies? O_o'

actually my bud saw SHK closeup quite a few times during her shooting of WW in Spore, I've seen Leslie close up quite a few times as well... They have tiny (SHK) to small (Leslie) head...but they r sooo extremely skinny (esp Leslie) and SHK is way shorter than her reported 162cm. So I guess it's a combo of proportion and the camera angle.

'Tsui Hark . . . no no no . . . . He is to Chinese cinema what Andre Kim is to fabrics. '
Andre Kim was 'good' light yrs ago in a galaxy farfar away right? *sigh* I honestly have no clue what's happend to Tsui Hark lately but I loved Peking Opera Blues, Shanghai Blues and Once Upon a Time in China... and he did an Aces Go Places with Leslie! <3

@crzycpl and ockoala,

o don't touch Love or Bread...or a big maybe, just set your expectation at u r just watching a fanvid done in <40 days with everything amateurish exc ArJoe... these 2 still r magical with chemistry gold in such a horrendous production. it's only 10 short (or long haha) eps, it's just that the PD, though has numerous 'hit' TWdramas under his belt... all his works have no plot....just a tag line and stars.

and regards to Langdon and cingdoc. :)

on WKW: he's in madlove with OuYangKe and really LoCH is the only LC novel who have 5 great masters or more that he can 'mess' with. lol. and he covered his behind saying Ashes (which I do like) is no LoCH, it's just his fanfic of the young 5 greats.

@ockoala on Yang's Clan:
in hindsight , true, but it's almost always only the Sung Dynasty (emperors r all scholars/poets/master painters...with no emphasis on military ie weaklings ) that substantiates the argument of 'middle earth was really a melting pot'. Otherwise, who wanna share?! Even Shilla, Baekje and Goguryeo can't hold hands.
o no deaths...hehe it's even more idol drama-ish this Young Yang Clan, perfect for fangirling... I have zero interest in all those other more famous pretty boys in there...so I was ffing to just YeluXie's scenes, finished it in hours... glorious.

Actually Mainland has a great system imho, it's an in btn of live shoot and entirely pre-produced.. coz for Yang Clan, they did add eps and did reshoot to add more YeluXie and the King (Lee Jie) coz of their awesomeness, but u still have to balance screen time of all the bigger stars, and have a plausible plot. and feed the canon.

for our loverboy YuanHong, I kinda love he's not bigger a star... kinda under the radar, but already recognized for his talent, he has less idol baggage than say a HuGe, thus opening him up for juicier supporting roles. Actually without HuGe's tragic accident and the 1yr+ hiatus of LoCH, the audience was going to see him kinda back to back fr Yelu Xie to YK and that would've really built his momentum. It's also the reality that their management is not super huge, w/ limited resources and HuGe is their no.1 priority. He's cool with it (I think genuinely), I'm as well and they r still buds.

lol I saw these bts fr his current DJG-esque drama... it's post on blogs of his friends fr the set... when she's posting the pic, he walked by, she asked him...hey some ps?! (those accessories..lolz) he retorted.. y mess with perfection?! (老袁正好途经，问其是否需要修图，其自我陶醉曰：如此完美，何须修图！) haha his bud's twittered: perfection of the camera? the photographer? the model?!) and of coz all the twits were saying he's totally referring to the model... lol

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/5552/eb9abc996f2e17396f068c7.jpg
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/7082/54ff3727g72dfa53ee61569.jpg

@ yourewaytoonosy

First off, I did in fact slog through the TVB Tony Leung production of Hap Hop Hung (or English title Ode to Gallantry, mandarin pronouciation: Xia Ke Xin), one of the smaller Louis Cha novellas. As gloriously bad as it was, that was one production that was actually so bad it was entertaining for me. Tony plays a pair of twins, one impish one upstanding, and geez did Tony look alternativelty bored/wooden, or overacting/semi-deranged. Now I know the history of TVB actos, I betcha Tony was looking to get let out of his contract. Back then, as a kid, I couldn't understand why it was so bad and why Tony Leung suddenly could no longer act. ;-)

@ mookie

Now my turn - eeeeeeeee, ohmygoshloveinabucket......thank you for those BTS pictures of our loverboy. So fine, so fine, like I said, a young So Ji-sub in the making. The blog content about those pictures are even funnier, you can tell Yuan Hong (and Hu Ge) are total goofballs in real life. I saw this from a c-entertainment blog, about how Hu Ge, Yuan Hong, Lui Shishi and Tang Mi (the RoCH 2006 version of Guo Xiang and Hu Ge's co-star in CP3) took a vacation to Egypt, check out the pictures!

http://cfensi.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/hu-ge-yuan-hong-yang-mi-and-liu-shishi-in-egypt/

The blogger said the four-some should double date, not sure which pairing though, but this freakin awesome tagline to one of the photos had me in stitches!:

"On second thought it’d be hard prying these two girls apart long enough for them to take much notice of Hu Ge and Yuan Hong." Apparently LSS and TM are totally BFFs after making CP3. You know, Crystal Liu Yifei totally annoys me with her wooden acting, but her facial-twin Liu Shishi is actually not bad, she's definitely had lots to improve, but she's alright.

SDLKFJWEROIUFFFFFFFFFFF.

I keep looking up Perfect Girl Evolution previews. I simply cannot wait for whenever the day of the week this airs... YES IT AIRS THIS WEEK. FFFF. COME TO US SOONER, YAMATO NADESHIKO SHICHI HENGE!!!

For all interested here is a preview, quite lengthy if I say so myself, but wow, I am SO watching this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIgjoSTVoic

Yeah, Perfect Girl Evolution is like the F4 meets Nobuta meets The Hobbit. :D

@ mookie

Followed your footsteps, kinda had no choice. I watched the best parts of The Yang's Clan (i.e any scene with my loverboy). I did intend to try and watch it all, but then after while, I just kinda checked out since all 7 of the brothers got PWNED by Yuan Hong as Yelu Xie. It's pretty hilarious how he outacts all 7 of them combined. Only Daddy Yang was superb, but he's a seasoned actor. Li Jie was wasted as the Emperor in that it didn't give him a chance to shine more. The ladies are all fine, and the actress playing Guan Hong, the 5th wife and love interest of Yelu Xie was perfectly cast, her acting is a bit too heavyhanded at times, but she looked the part.

But our loverboy, oy vey, I can't decide which role I liked better, I think its way easier to love Yelu Xie, since he's really all good, just on the other side of the patriotic fence, whereas Yang Kang is all over the place. I think I like both the same, just for different reasons. Sigh, when I finished, and Wu Lang (who btw is singlehandedly the MOST annoying brother and a total snore) decides to become a monk, all I could think was that his wife deserved it for breaking the heart of the hottest general. Hu Ge really needs to take some extra acting lessons, he's pretty nondescript here and for a lead, he's really got to step up.

Anyways, it was all in all a very productive night. I also need to finish a j-drama, Otomen, which is adorable but really just cotton candy fluff, and I was still in the mood for heart pounding fare. Our loverboy did not disappoint, a bravura performance from his very first scene to the last.

But it does create a Bidam-esque dilemma - you write an "antagonist" that is way more manly and interesting that the leads, and then the actor who plays him is also a better actor, then you're stuck with everyone shipping non-canon. Sigh, its good for us viewers, so no complaining here.

@ ockoala re:double date trip in Egypt lol they r such a cute bunch.
u know I rem reading fr his blog, they were on this 3day cruise, the gang decided to play cards (our loverboy thought it was boring)...and he wanna discodancing! lol he finally dragged Shishi to be his 'wingman' but she did a quick scan of the floor...and left to play cards... so our boy...he went strut his stuff...a Russian babe flirted with him, they danced a bit, he used up his very limited engrish.. haha then the babe smilingly said, 'u r in trouble, look!' and there was her hubby, AND she had a ring! her hubby gave them a thumbs up...' carry on..' , embarrassed.. he danced off... THEN she came back and brought along her gf, another hot Russian babe... same old, EXACTLY same old! haha ring...hubby... lolz... so our boy could't help but wonder on his blog if foreigners find it funny to mess with boys like him this way, not once but twice.

btw that hotpink earpiece... haha Shishi's bday present to this dork. But seriously, THIS hot in some random bts?! See warning: his YeluXie is a MAN, a very dreamy hopelessly romantic warrior sparking loads of fangirlswoon... he's a young smoldering Takenouchi Yutaka doppelganger in it. All I wanna say is please don't let him take on any of these historically baddie roles (not lolz)... I'm going to be disowned by my own race going soo off canon ALLTHETIME.

@Hap Hop Hung/ Ode to Gallantry/ Xia Ke Xin:
I watched the TVB production live... I was still crazily on my reread of SmilingProudWarrior and I haven't touched that book yet....but I was going huh?! this is really a LC?! So I read the book, I do like it FWIW, imo, with his full length works, LC was given ample workspace to weave his brand of masterfully complex tales...but in shorter stories, it felt like reading Indiana Jones, a bit too hyper, frenzied.... though out of his shorter works I still love his Flying Fox of Snowy Mt, short and sweet in wuxia goodness.

ETA: o gosh my warning was a tad late....

@ mookie

You know, Liu Shishi gave him those pink earphones as a giant humongous stamp of ownership - every girl who sees it must know the man *belongs* to someone already, no man would ever buy those. (also, he's so self-deprecating, I don't know lots of guys who'll share their defeats at picking up ladies, and that was a pretty funny story).

It's like Sung Yuri giving Kang Ji-hwan a shitzu for his birthday, and he named it Yi-nok. Yeah, all joking aside, I would never be surprised if they dated, because that was a total GF stamp gift if ever there was one (hello, big man with a shihtzu?).

I'm on board for Clothing (the) World, but will skip all the melodrama and just wait to see him pair up with Shishi again. Janine is not my fave actress, she's kinda stiff at times, but I think he'll end up with Shishi and not Janine in the end.

Droolworthy shipping picture from 衣被天下: http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=3&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=%D2%C2%B1%BB%CC%EC%CF%C2+%BE%E7%D5%D5&in=24752&cl=2&cm=1&sc=0&lm=-1&pn=68&rn=1&di=697792049&ln=571&fr=&ic=0&s=0

Anyway, your warning was a tad late, but I went in expecting the best and he delivered, a swoonworthy character and he brung the acting chops and committed completely. Every line of dialogue from him was meaningful and awesome.

@ockoala'...I went in expecting the best and he delivered, a swoonworthy character and he brung the acting chops and committed completely. Every line of dialogue from him was meaningful and awesome.'

seriously, those r some of the most romantic (supercheesy if delivered by anybody else) lines I've ever ever heard in a period.... *swoon*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scY1nYAazS8

I bet u've seen this vid before, but our loverboy and Shishi in couple's outfit!!!! haha <33

yeah, I think I'll watch Clothes but strictly just their scenes. Shishi said she's going to 'revenge' the kiss fr LoCH and be the aggressor this time. CANT WAIT!

hehe I love fangirl shipping with you! :)

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/9409/ec96593d2afd1ddf3c6d976.jpg
http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/5239/b80c3ca829b6c980ca130c6.jpg
awwwwww

Something to tide you over until episode 3 of Chuno on Wednesday...

BTS of Jang Hyuk & Lee Da Hae's kiss scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5tLhNaqjec
:D

Aja-aja has shut down (to non-members, and membership by invite only)... where else are people watching? Viikii doesn't have Chuno and Pasta is delayed until Feb... Any suggestions? I guess I've been overly reliant on those two. Thanks!

^ Then...more awesomesauce time for me and JB... :P
But, seriously...I don't think I could keep up with KJH on the soju (especially since I need a little cranberry juice in mine to drink it). ;)

@djes

Agreed. About the entire Shinee thing. Like seriously - even though I am on the same approximate age-level as they are (like same age as Key and Minho), but seriously why is Taemin so young?! He makes me feel old. Goodness.

And out of all that craziness for my obsession for Shinee (though I don't quite qualify as noona for them, except obviously the crazy young Taemin, and I am technically a few months older than Key and Minho)... I am learning the dance to Ring Ding Dong. Which I probably look like a circus monkey, practicing that dance. No, even circus monkeys are probably better coordinated than myself...

@ mookie

1. I love fangirling with you over LC, it's a fact, too much fun, esp. with our loverboy around for the next X years as a face to follow.

2. You are killing me woman! That YT video you posted of Hu Ge, Yuan Hong and Liu Shishi promoting LoCh 2008 had the single best exchange I've ever seen btw those three: so our loverboy gets up to sing to Shishi (who plays his love interest in the show), and when he's singing, he kinda walks over to Hu Ge and puts his arm on his shoulder, and then when loverboy finishes, he says to Shishi, "can you feel the love?", and she says "for whom?" (ROFLMHF), and then there is a bubble that pops up on screen on top of Hu Ge's head that says "to me!" (my head fell off, I am laughing so hard.....)

The bromance in LoCH was off-the-charts, but really, with Hu Ge and Yuan Hong being BFFs (as loverboy said when asked: same school, same classes, same dorm, even same bed!), their acting when together definitely improves Hu Ge a notch.

As for "Shishi said she's going to 'revenge' the kiss fr LoCH and be the aggressor this time" - ha, I did hear loverboy loves Janine, but Shishi loves him, and then Janine gets married (willingly but reluctantly), and then loverboy has to leave to defend the Song (like, again?), and Shishi follows him, and perchance they end up together, but regardless, Shishi is definitely the aggressor this time. Though I will argue she pretty much threw herself at him in LoCH 2008 (except those 2 kisses between YK-MNC, which was 1000% our loverboy taking charge and I'm still pretty pink thinking about it).

Let's ship til we can ship no more! The character of Yelu Xie is to me ultimately a very 瀟灑 man. You know what I mean: hard to translate that phrase, but its someone who can love and let go when needed, true to himself, confident and forthright, just all the characteristics that makes another man go "dude, I want to be that guy" and a woman go "dude, I want that guy to want only me."

@ samsooki

He he, I totally would squee if SYR and KJH dated in real life, they really had amazing chemistry in HGD. I personally also don't have a problem with "mine" getting shackled to someone in real life. If my "I lub you" got a GF or got married - I would only worry whether the girl would be good enough for him, and also worry that he's got too much of a playboy air that the poor girl may find herself single again in no time. See, I'm totally pragmatic about it.

I've discovered ultimately what makes me adore certain actors is really their wonderful acting talent that really makes it a joy to watch them, and the fact they are super pretty/handsome is only icing on the cake.

Isn't our LDH just iridescent in Chuno, she's all glowy from the inside out. I may just ship LDH and toss those manly pec man-boys aside.

@ hjkomo

Hum, *clear my throat for full effect* - Wheeeeeeee, thanks for the clip! Whatever reservations I had about Robbers, Jang Hyuk and Lee Da-hae had lots of chemistry and I'm so excited they paired up again, and in such a meaty period piece. More kissing please!

@ momosan

I adore Otomen, it's perfect j-drama idol fare, with a genuinely sweet, charming, kinda off-beat story, but totally tickles the shouja manga lover in me. Doesn't help that there is so much eye-candy in it~

@ samsooki : I agree, they (aja-aja) were taken for granted. As a free site, that was bound to happen (human nature not to value what we get for free). What I find particularly distressing about the situation is all the abuse they've received from users who weren't contributing... there were some really nasty emails. I was shocked at the tone of them. I don't understand who would think that kind of abuse is appropriate in any situation, but in a situation where someone is providing something for FREE???? I don't get it at all. So, I can't blame them for deciding to just shut up shop and cut themselves off from the unwarranted (and frankly bizarre) hostility.

Re "joining" aja-aja, you can't, apparently. They can invite you, but you can't ask to join. I contributed before this happened, but have not been invited to join. Therefore, I can't use the site. But I used it a lot before I contributed and so I figure I was 'clearing my debts'. They sent me a very nice note by email to explain that they were shutting down; I appreciated that.

Re: "joining aja-aja": I donated some money as thanks in the spring, last time there was a problem (realised I was taking advantage of their kindness, though not poaching their links) and even though I gave less than the $50 they were suggesting as a membership level and expected nothing future in return, they offered me a standard membership to take the 700 MB files. In times when there is a lot of hooha going on (as you say, lots of nasty emails, etc), it may just take them longer to offer a membership. Or maybe they are really fed up, and who can blame them? I certainly appreciate what they have shared so far.

From OT #116

@ kdxmel

yes i did catch the first Nodame Cantabile movie while i was in Tokyo.... even though i didn't understand a lick of what was being said, i could get the general gist of it (nodame's imagination is quite vivid) and then i asked a bunch of questions to my friend who understood probably about 70% of it ha. I'm really looking forward to the 2nd one even though it won't be out in Japan until April and then who knows when on dvd for the rest of us :(

@ reluctantbutaddicted

re: ebisu - i only wish i could have seen it and took pictures during the day... i made my friend take a million pics of me posing on the big stone sculpture but it was so hard to see cuz the lighting is difficult to take pictures with on a regular camera... oh well. at least i was where matsujun was!! :)

i think the most exciting place i visited on my 'drama tour' was Coffee Prince though. its so freakin pretty with all the christmas lights outside and they restored the drawings on the wall inside. coffee there is like $8/cup though. ridiculous haha.

@ mookie

Yang's Clan - Yelu Xie's character: "seriously, those r some of the most romantic (supercheesy if delivered by anybody else) lines I’ve ever ever heard in a period…. *swoon*

Whomever wrote his dialogue needs a raise and promotion. I did not find it supercheesy at all, just super swoony (though I admit that 90% was it was Yuan Hong's delivery - clean, sharp, decisive and piercing). He was always so honest and to the point with Guan Hong about how he felt towards her. Would he have given up his country and become a Song to be with her, we'll never know b/c she keeps rejecting him, and he only asked that she be with him.

I love characters that with good reason scoffs at the notion of artificial boundaries, i.e. family, nation, ex-relationships, etc., and chooses love when they know their heart's desire. It's very heady stuff, and it moves me more than the restrained I'll love you in my heart type of love. Just a personal preference, but it does tap into our collective desire to see drama love be somehow more dramatic, more grand, more ah-inducing than what real life may entail.

Which is why at the end of Damo, I was totally shipping the police commander, because he made a choice and he chose Ha Ji-won, knowing what he would be giving up. Which is also why Chuno is probably going to leave me in a puddle of mess on the ground in about 5 weeks time.

Sagueks/period pieces really really afford the kind of sweeping romantic tales of love that are harder to write in modern dramas because then it would feel less plausible. The grand epic scale of a QSD or an LoCH/RoCH is really the perfect stage to have grand love affairs that transcend time and place.

@ samsooki

Ah, I first heard of it here in OT many many months ago, and I immediately understood its use and context, because I'm a loveswoony girl and it's in my DNA to ship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_(fandom)

Though its mostly used in the plural, i.e. shipping a couple. I've also seen it used in the singular, i.e. my shipping LDH, and I kinda mean it as shorthand for "worship".

179 lovenyc52 : did you get the CP coffee mug? I did, and I'm glad I did every morning when I drink tea from it! When I went the first time, a year ago, it was pretty empty, my friend and I sat down and ordered hot chocolates, and then a busload of Singaporeans on a tour came in... they were having a great time taking pictures of everything and themselves in front of the mural and the autographs... it was fun to watch (and then we did the same thing!). I went again when I was in Seoul in the summer, and the place seemed to be full of Seoulites, just having coffee in a nice cafe. That was kind of cool, too.

I know I haven't been posting any mini-summaries of Autumn's Concerto, which is really because the drama got an extension has slacked off considerably from the heartfelt breeziness of the early episodes.

But hot damn it, if the show isn't pulling out ALL the stops prior to its finale. Next week's previews show: (1) My cutie darling Tuo-ye getting his heart ripped to shreds when he finds out Mu-cheng married Guang-xi (whose being an ass) to spring him from jail, and (2) a totally unnecessary "nekkid" scene with Vanness in a very very lowly slung bathtowel dragging Ady off to bed.

Yup, when all plot fails, bring on the heartache and the gratuitious naked/love scenes. I laugh at and with AC's oh so charming and sincere brand of fan-service. That really is what TW dramas tends to do well, it makes idol dramas loaded with fan service. AC will probably land on the upper echleons of TW drama status, but it could have been so much better is what I'm probably going to walk away from it thinking.

@ 187 ockoala : gratuitous nudity? Why aren't I watching this??!?

@ reluctantbutaddicted

No need to watch AC in its entirety. Here's the happy preview (in HD, no less!), fast forward to 1:09. Enjoy. Really really pointless other than to convince us the the leads still love and have the hots for each other, but by now I'm not caring too much either way. But still a big thanks to the production for getting Vanness to bare so much.

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

@ reluctantbutaddicted

ockoala unni is right ... ISWAK is awesome and ArJoe are soooo real. I'm totally waiting for them to come out one day and just admit they've been dating since ISWAK! :)

@ ockoala

I read about Love Bread after I posted my OT and it doesn't sound like a hit. But I might just watch it anyway to see ArJoe.

Re: aja-aja.com

It was a sad day to learn that aja-aja.com has shut down to non-members. Not sure where to get raws from now other than d-addicts.com but the seeding there isn't as good as aja-aja.com. I hope they come back one day, but until then, will have to scour soompi for cute girl's torrent links.

Re: AC

OMG! I just watched the preview. TWdramas are too hot to handle. Way more advanced than their Korean counterparts. Hehehehe

@ samsooki,
o no, don't ewww at fangirl shipping! ;) Think of it as the 'awwwww.... *swoon*' ending we want w/ every fairytale, we just want the OneTruePairing to 'live happily ever after' whatever that curtails, also sometimes it'll be btn characters, sometimes it'll be btn a loverboy and ourselves when we're so far beyond help...lolz so u can still say 'u ship SYR' and it'll be 'u want SYR to be happily ever after in a drama/ in real life with somebody/anybody to her desire.' still very noble for a fanboy.

@ockoala,

our loverboy is very into practicing his limited English atm, so he's fidgeting with sth called Omegle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omegle
haha he was ranting about his exp, with ppl rudely disconnecting chats him when he just wanna convo, couple seconds into it. (and he's beyond cute being all honest with he's a guy in his 20s and warning his fans to stay away fr it because there ar a lot of bad men in their 20s out there lolz) haha one went like this:

'M or G' ' OMG' -end-

so cute.

@ockoala
I just watched the preview...and wow...that was pretty hot. I haven't seen past the first episode of AC, but maybe I should change that. I heard the ratings are pretty high over 7.8 or something. I'm actually impressed at how intimate scenes in Twdramas have improved over time and really rapidly in the past two years. From ISWAK 2 to FTLY to Black & White to AC, I'm still kind of surprised at how much they are pushing the boundaries. Either way, I've always loved how the romance would unfold in a TWdrama.

@Samsooki
I don't know if "I totally ship SYR" would equal exactly to "SYR shipping in lonesome." I feel like there is an implied "SYR is awesome and whoever she is paired with is great but she doesn't necessarily have to be in a relationship." But like ockoala said usually when it's singular it carries the connotation of "worship" rather than "relationship."

Seriously LDH is gorgeous in Chuno...and OJH so far has been impressive. Can't wait for the next episodes (and subs!)

@ mookie

You and I can offer to practice English with him (I've got the silliest grin on my face as I am typing this), and then we'll both be collectively divorced by husband and disowned by family. I'm all about talent and charisma, and our loverboy has it in spades.

Btw: a fave snippet of dialogue from LoCH 2008

Episode 7: Yang Kang, upon seeing Mu Nianci and Guo Jing together: "Like a flower placed on cow dung."

Ouyang Ke, first amused at the juvenile jealous insult, then on seeing Huang Rong also appear by Guo Jing, replies to Yang Kang while looking at HR: "You said it right."

These version of LoCH is literally is such a wuxia idol-drama that I've been unable to keep my head on straight, I feel I had an unspoken prayer to the drama gods (please, make an idol version of my fave novels), and drama gods answered without even my realizing it until now. :-) My headed buried so deep in k-dramas I barely chanced to realize something was afoot, and now I have more dramas to appreciate. Thanks again, twin.

@ Taohua

AC isn't pushing the boundaries of any love scenes, except for pushing clothes off Vanness. :-)

ArJoe in ISWAK 2 - only think worth rewatching is literally how unbelievably sexy and long their makeout sessions go for, it makes me slighty voyeuristic. And in Black & White, I seriously though Mark was going for making a Level-3 type movie with the totally unexpected but "woah watch out for the furniture, ouch that's gotta hurt tomorrow, jeez, I didn't think Mark can lift a girl that high and that fast with one arm" type gymnastics.

^ lol, if I'm not at work, I'll totally go into that Omegle thing and just randomly 'hi' ppl w/ 'Yuan Hong?'... lolz...and I can picture u itching to do that exact same thing..

hehe just reading that snippet brings me back to my 16yo inner squeeeing which I thought I cant do in that high a pitch anymore... *sillygrin*

@ reluctantbutaddicted

no..what CP COFFEE MUG?!?!?!??!?!?!??! i didn't know they sold stuff there :( oh well, at least i got the experience. when i went it was a mix of visitors and seoulites just chillin. kinda cool to see.

@ AC watchers

i have to watch ep 15 still!!!! my computer is freakin out on me and won't let me stream on viikii.. only YT which has no subs so i have to skip out on the taiwanese conversations. oh well, at least i'll get my AC fix and then watch it in full when i can DL it. poor tuo ye though :( he's always been there for mu cheng and just gets shafted in the end...

@Samsooki
I don't know how you had the patience to answer the people who feel like they are entitled to and demand access to aja-aja direct links. But I do agree with everything you said, though I don't know if I could have expressed as thoroughly as you did or without actually ranting at them. And what gets to me is the fact that yes maybe on some vague notion of internet courtesy a website might want to inform their followers...but I can't see how people complain Aja-Aja didn't when they actually did. For the past two weeks at least they've had a message warning (in pretty BOLD letters) that they may shutdown public access. I actually think the comments this time are worse compared to when they closed last time.

But seriously it's only in the past year the site has become really popular so what were people doing before then? And I kind of wonder are people that incapable of looking for other ways to download and watch kdramas? Sure it might be difficult and can be a pain, but there other sites/ways.

There are other direct download link sites (multiple other ones to be honest), streaming sites (again multiple and some actual legit ones like Dramafever), torrents (probably one of the main sources for most dramas, especially jdoramas even today), clubboxes (though this is getting a little limited because companies are cracking down) or if you are really desperate---the old school way and use IRC (though this can be a virus minefield and a pain to learn). Gah! But I feel old...I almost feel like saying "Back when I first started watching dramas we didn't even having direct downloads much less streaming sites!"

But that's besides the point...the biggest problem is the link stealing. And seriously it's not difficult to link Aja-Aja and giving them credit instead of stealing their dd links. Or even downloading from Aja-Aja and setting up your own Megaupload account with the files if you are willing to spend the money. But you could do it for free and just properly credit Aja-Aja. ::sigh::

As much as I love having access to Aja-Aja and the fact that if they do shutdown public access I might never get to watch certain dramas that I can't find anywhere else online...It might be better for the ladies to limit access. I personally don't know if I could handle the stress and pressure from so many ungrateful people who don't appreciate how difficult it is to maintain a site like theirs. And since it seems like broadcasting companies are really beginning to crackdown (like w/youtube and Viikii), so there's a danger of that as well. Oh well...good luck to the ladies.

Sorry for the long rant!

samsooki 173

"i can’t let three lovely ladies all be at the mercy of the hard-drinking kjh."

i think it's more likely that the three lovely ladies will take advantage of KJH.

@ Samsooki

You go, Ji Hoon's daddy!!! :D

@ kb

Who? Us??? o_O
At least, we wouldn't kidnap him [much] or torture him [much]... ;)

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For Tamra Islanders and TEAM PARK KYU...

Clips from director's cut dvd (which were edited out of the original broadcast) -

http://u.youku.com/user_show/id_UMTQ4MjQ3NDk2.html