Hello! Gosh It's Oct!

Just gotten back from a lovely holiday from istanbul and Greece.

Thought I will hop over here and then with shock...OMG! I just realised I havent blog here for ages! Has it been 4 months since I last wrote anything?!!! Crap!

 Well, I was still watching drama but just not blogging them...lol. I mean nothing much to write since I canx translate Korean dramas and it's like a dry up pond in the Japanese drama Alley.

 However, there was a rather interesting recent award winning manga adapted Japanese drama titled "I.S-Otoko demo Onna no demo nai Sei" which means "inter-sexuality -neither male nor female gender".

The story involves 2 lead actress which depict how they had to cope with social and family pressures on dealing with the fact that they are born with the reproductive sexual organs of both genders. The thing I like about Japanese drama over Korean is that they do come up with edgier scripts, covers more interesting topics rather than just sticking to romance and historical or family stuff like the Koreans.

Unfortunately there seem to be a dearth in the "good looking young and able to act" talents in the current Japanese entertainment circle. I cannot stand the AK48 girls and all these new young people they are dishing out in the youth category. Just look at the reprise of the "花ざかりの君たちへ イケメン♂パラダイス, Hanazakari no Kimitachi e: Ikemen Paradise" and you can tell... Why on earth did they even bother to redo Ikeman Paradise is BEYOND my comprehension. Firstly, it's too soon and secondly but most important of all, they will NEVER BEAT the original Ikeman Paradise with all the hotties! Dont bother trying!

The actors and actress in the original drama were too well picked and perfect for the character they play! Seriously, no one played the role as perfectly for Mizushima Hiro as Nanba Minami and Ikuta Toma as Nakatsu Shuichi And I cannot envision any one else who played Mizuki as well as Horikita Maki. 

Then there is the Japanese version of "You Are Beautiful". Dear lord, I nearly died when I watched the first 2 episodes. It's like waiting for the train wreak to happen. When you have seen a good drama series, you want to bang your head in frustration when you see a super bad remake... I couldnt bring myself to attempt to watch them butcher one of my fav past manga "Ouran High School Host Club" either. Sometimes...some manga are just best left to anime and drawn work without adaptation to drama...

 That said. Watched another Japanese (2010) movie played by Ikuta Toma, titled Ningen Shikkaku / No Longer Human. 

It's adapted from a super famous Japanese novel from one of the master novelist. While I like Ikuta in Ikeman Paradise, I am not so sure about his performance here in the movie. I think while he was adequate, I didnt think that he fully grasped and portray the role very well. In the movie, he came across as a pure drunk and alcoholic who squandered away his artistic talent through his vices addiction rather than someone who was pained at his inability to blend and fit into the society and seek to find solace in drinking, and the love hate relationship he had with his senpai. It's hard to explain unless you read the book but still, it's a good movie to watch to pass time.

And then I had also been keeping busy with watching Japanese Anime...(are there any other? Lol!) Been following "Blue Exorcist" and "(青の祓魔師（エクソシスト）(Link to episode trailers), Ao no Ekusoshisuto," It's a good fun anime to watch and not to mention I LOVE the song Take off (dwnld) by 2PM (yes the Korean boy bands are taking over Japan by storm!)

A second on my watchlist as well is Nurarihyon no Mago (ぬらりひょんの孫) season 2.

With the change in producer, the season 2 is way cooler and more intriguing than season 1, not to mention better draw and less "cutie pie". I wont go into the story plot since you can google that easily but yes, they are certainly entertaining!

In terms of manga,  havent started on any new works but I did manage to find time to complete reading the not so recent series of "Shiawase kissa 3-choume". I must have mentioned this before in my older post, that is, if you have not started on this, I really recommend this to you guys. The characters are beautifully drawn and adorable!

 Truth is, I have kinda wean myself off Korean drama for a while. Alot of stuff on my plate and kinda short of time to do the other stuff I needed to do and also been travelling...It's bad to think of all the hours I had been spending on watching drama! Lol! Then again if I dont, what will I have to share with you folks right? 

Let me know if you think there are any good stuff I had missed and really shouldnt for the love of "drama" (wanted to say love of god but sounded kinda blasphemy..hahaha). Meanwhile, here's a friendly wave to all my other blog regulars...hope you gals are still hanging around and I havent lost you girls yet!

Music: Yamapi - One in a Million

Following Yamapi's success with his last year's single release "One in a million", Victoria S took the same song, gave it English Lyrics and turned it into a hot dance track as well.

Missing Mizushima Hiro

Japanese Drama is really boring for me nowadays. Have no idea why they have taken such a bad turn.

I really miss Mizushima Hiro... It's such a pity that we wont be seeing him on TV anymore ever since he quit being an actor to become a writer. Sob Sob..he was one of my fav actor and now....but hey at least our fav actor has won a prize for his new work "Kagerou", winning the Poplar Publishing Grand Prize and best seller in terms of pre-sales alone.

News Update:Kim Hyun Joong

I am a few weeks late to report on this but I dun think it matters.

Ooo Lala! Our Oppa Kim Hyun Joong has certainly turned from cutie boy to hottie buffy suave matured man! Apart from the obvious short crop he is spotting, his whole attire has also changed. His new mini album is also steering him into a more serious singer wannabe than the previous teeny bobby boy band singer.

I definitely Love this new look. HOT! Sizzling Hot! As if my summer isnt hot enough...such a visual delight. However, my excitement kind of stop there.

As my regular readers will know me for being brutally honest in writing what I think, this time round I hold no exception. I think the main track isnt really that great. In fact, neither do I like the way the MV was directed. I know Oppa is putting in ALOT of efforts to improve his dancing but ahem..sorry, I wasnt very impressed with the Break down MV. Because he is now dancing with a bunch of professional dancers in a group, his inadequacies were showing up even more glaringly. His motions were split seconds slower than everyone else. His body looks kinda stiff and i  sense somewhat hesitation in his moves (like he was acting out the memorised steps rather than making the moves his), and most of all, the dance step transitions were not fluid at all. They were jerky, and I felt like I was seeing a dance student rather than a dancer. It was a little awkward frankly to actually see him "try too hard" in his moves. Plus, his choreographer must either be the same one every one uses or he isnt very original because the moves looked very copied. It's overused moves are losing its appeal, and boring.

In the other MV "Please", I think the execution of the idea sucks. I love the frame freeze moment showing Oppa as if he was in a story. Those were good. It was the solo and group dance part that I dislike. I felt the scenes do not gel at all and ahem, again, his dance moves were not very polished.

Those glaring flaws aside, Oppa;s vocal actually sounded pretty nice. He just need a better sound writer that will give him a hit song, not a mediocre song riding on his fame to be a hit. Know what I mean? In terms of catchy song, I would rather listen to "Can't Nobody" by 2NE1 than Oppa's new release.

Btw, have you gals heard, Oppa is already dating another celeb for 10months. I wonder who the lucky girl is to catch his eyes!! Lucky gal!!!

Okie for those who wants to see the video I have been critic'ing.

Hot Summer K-Drama: City Hunter!

Has anyone else started on City Hunter?!! Our tall cute dashing Lee Min Ho is back, and this time as the adorable city hunter!  I like!!!!!

I almost wanted to skip past episode one so that I can get going just to see Lee Min Ho! Haha. That was how impatient I was.

I wont say its a spectacular drama but it definitely is entertaining enough for the summer. I would say it is an average script to date, with average director execution but all that has nothing to do with Min Ho. If you are familiar with HK movie of City Hunter, then you should expect something different here. I didnt read the Japanese manga for this so I am unclear what was the original plot.

Synopsis (up to episode 6)
---------------------------------
This Korean drama version has shifted ground zero from tokyo to localised it to Seoul instead. The story begins with Lee Minho's character's dad being a govt president body guard. They were told to infiltrate North Korea to assassinate some of the high officials but they were being betrayed at the last minute by the Seoul officials and secretly being killed off. So Minho;s dad who was already injured and feeling he was gonna die anyway decided to shield his best fren and protect him from death by sacrificing himself, not before entrusting his wife and newly born son (minho) in his fren;s care.

However, his fren who would not take this betrayal laying down decide to take matter into his own hand. Instead of caring for his best fren's wife, he stole the baby and left a note asking the wife to move on with her life and she would be better without the baby burden. Thus comes the vengeance plot where the soldier trained Minho mercilessly and relentlessly with all the fighting skills, where one day he will assist to avenge his father's death.

Minho grew up to be a sweetie pie really and not some hard core cold blooded soldier despite his upbringing. However, upon witnessing the death of his nanny-carer being shot to death before his eyes, he sought revenge and in his haste he accidentally stepped on a landmine intended for the enemies. His stepfather saved him but in the process, lost his own leg. While the stepfather was in half daze, he finally revealed the truth about minho's birth and how he must exact revenge on the people who had ordered the death of the 21 soldiers without a valid cause, except in the name of corrupt politics. He asked Minho to extract the bullet embedded in his shoulder blade and told him that was the bullet that had pierced minho's dad's heart. However, the stepfather failed to reveal the truth that Minho wasnt abandoned by his biological mother. So minho still had the notion that he was unwanted by his mum in pursuit of a better life for herself.

Once his mind was set, Minho underwent all sort of training both academic and military skills. He was successful recruited by MIT and became the youngest IT PHD holder to graduate and returned to Seoul. His first mission was to be hired by the Seoul Govt IT dept (somewhat like pentagon in the States). Then he was to find out the 4 other people who ordered the assassination on his father and his peers.

During the time there, Minho got to know Kim Nana for real (whom he already been confiding to her picture back in his Thailand hidden village. he got her pix from a guy he had saved.)

Unknowingly, he had already started to fall for her and because of his mission, Nana was also being targeted by the politicians who are digging deeper into her relationship with Minho who by know is known as the "city hunter" after exposing the first corrupt seoul high official. In trying to protect her, he decided to make excuses to move in with her in the name of renting out the apartment rent free in exchange for housekeeping and cooking meals.

Through the guy he had saved (and now serving as their cook), he found out where his mum was. From a distance, he looked on at her filled with conflicting emotions. He couldnt understand why a woman who had abandon him isnt living as well as he had thought, but instead was slaving alone managing a small cooking stall. He didnt approach her. At the same time, his step father appeared. His step father told him he might as well "go see" his mum. Minho tried by pretending to be a customer but he couldnt sit through it and left without eating the noodles she cooked after she passed a comment that "Your parents must be very proud of you to graduat from MIT at such young age." Unknown to him, his mum actually still have not given up on him and still searching for him.

His step father meanwhile had returned to Seoul because he was furious at Minho defying his instructions to kill the scumbags who ordered the death of the 21 brave soldiers and perished out in the cold sea. Minho's intention was never to kill these people though he hated them for killing his biological father. Yet Minho had wanted to return to normal life after he was done with this revenge business so if he had killed them, he knew he can never return to being the same guy he was anymore. So he explained to his stepfather that the circle of vengence will never ceased through blood shed and so the best revenge is to destroy them publicly through the legal justice and public outcry. These people will be ruined for life. However Minho's step father on the surface agreed with Minho's method but in reality, he plotting to kill these officials once Minho tracked down the masterminds who gave the order to assassinate the 21 soldiers.

Kim Nana is a simple but filial daughter who had witness the death of her mother in a car accident and having her father in coma for the past 10years in hospitals. She had lived in poverty because she was raising money to give her dad operation in hope he will wake. By chance, Minho learnt of her situation and being the tender hearted guy he was, he paid for the operation without a second word and left. Kim Nana insisted on paying him back little by little, and unknowingly, got drawn into his life.  However, due to Minho's inability to communicate with girls (as well as male ego issue) , the both of them ended up squabbling more than anything else. Minho always ended up pissing her off and constantly have to devise ways to "appease" her but was always one move too late.

Another Govt Prosecutor who was zealous about capturing all these corrupted official obviously like Kim Nana too. However the secret was that his father seemed to have something to do with Kim Nana's parent's car accident and he seemed to be trying to make up for it by being a secret penpal to Kim nana in giving her encouragement via letters.

I have watched to episode 6 and so far has rather enjoyed the drama to date. It's light hearted and its amusing to see Minho's uncertainty and self muttering when it comes to dealing with his emotions with Kim nana. The fighting scenes are certainly nothing to crow about but then again, we are talking about idol star, not action movie star so I am not expecting alot of that so its ok.

Anyone else is watching this apart from me?
My frens have been asking me to watch 49days but I just kept putting it off. Maybe its the theme...I prefer something more lighthearted I supposed.

Quick Review on Midas, Dream and Hair show

Just finished watching the 2 main dramas since I had free time on hand... Midas and Dream.

Midas got better towards the end but with a rather predicatable ending. All's well ends well sort of concept. The evil ones got their retribution, and good triumphs the bad once again. It all boils down to one theme, do not be enslave by one's greed for money. Money is an object. You can be seduced by its alluring temptation and end up wayward, or you can remain noble and also do many good with it. Havent seen anything new that I do not already know. Still performance was credible and entertaining enough to keep me going on.

Dream on the other hand is more teeny boppy idol kind of drama. You watch solely because u want to see your fav idol or because you are bored. To be fair, it is not bad..just not gushing with creativity nor  brillance if you catch the drift. If you do not have high expectations and just want to focus your wandering restless mind on something to watch...it's about a bunch of kids that enrolled themselves in a sing and dance specialty school, overcoming the odds, facing their weakness and fears face on etc. The dance is average, the song is average. Nothing spectacular or retentive to me. Not terribly exciting or groovy.

Also caught another one "Hair Show" (up to ep 4. is there more? hope not). It's a rather forgettable one this one. It's suppose to be centered around hairstylist but my god, the so call "creative" hair designs are a shame..its god dam awful! Discounting all the bad hairdos and amateurish hair design drawings, its a barely passable series to watch. Another bland trying to make it sort of drama....