TV Drama Review #92 - Conspiracy in the Court 汉城别曲

How long? 8 epis
When & which tv stn? 2007/KBS
Who's in?
Jin Yi Han ~ Park Sang Gyu
Kim Ha Eun ~ Lee Na Young
Lee Cheon Hee ~ Yang Man Oh
What's it abt? (Edited from KBS World)
The drama is set in the late Joseon Dynasty court in turmoil due to power struggles between the vested interests and rising powers. It is a historical drama with a touch of mystery about an unprecedented serial murder case. In the late Joseon, after two wars against the Japanese and Chinese, the country is in turmoil. The government has failed to proactively respond to changes home and abroad while new culture and ideas flow in. Against this backdrop, King Jeongjo envisions a drastic reform for the people but the conservative political groups fear and reject the cocksure attitude of the king. In the midst of social, political changes, two men and a woman struggle to lead a “right” life.
Love & Hates:
I think it's quite a daring move to use a totally new cast for a drama. Though this drama suffered a low viewership rating, I think it's a very good fushion saguk (historical drama in korean). Plot is refreshing, fast and swift (only 8 epis). What made the drama watchable was the cast too. I am totally impressed by the new faces like JYH and KHE. (Maybe newbies could act better sometimes..) Actually, the drama is quite "dark" la, constant murder cases, night backgrounds, lots of bloody scenes etc...but then the storyline unrevealed more twists and secrets. I felt that the drama could have more epis...for a fuller development. I liked the ending very much, beautifully done..shall nt disclose too much here.
OST was superb..u can listen to contributions from JYP's new girl group Wondergirls etc. Loved the instrumentals...
Worth watching?
Wld reco to u guys ya...

眼睛想旅行

--书--
昨天, 蒋先生借了两本书给我看.
杨君伟的"伟言耸听",
和"东南亚踏歌行".
说到杨先生的新书, 内容范围很广.
都是一些他经历过的事情,
或者是他对某些事情的看法.
每一篇文章，都有类似几米的插图.
还没看完"东南亚".
11个国家, 每个都有一首歌做代表.
阿清喜欢看关于旅游的工具书.
我想当我读完这本书之后,
应该会很想快点到邻近的国家去走走.
(其实已经有计划了, 只是在等时机)
我很好奇. 在我身边的友人,
能马上列出东南亚有什么国家吗?
我们往往都很向往去比较远的国家，
有多少人知道其实东南亚有很多宝啊？
阿清也有偏激的时候.
有跟一些友人说过, 如果没有必要,
阿清不会想踏进对面那块土地. (不过, 东边的例外..哈哈!)
其实没有什么理由, 纯粹就是不喜欢.
阿清看来跟她也没有什么缘份.
只去过她最南部的城市和一个外岛.
咳~
--璇--
再过一个星期, 老妹就要去江南大城杭州了.
一去就是四个月.
说长不长, 说短不短.
已经"千交代万交代"她要拍很多照片给我看.
哈哈! 阿清知道那儿风景超美.
说到这, 阿清也想去看看.
可是没时间...咳~

Brave Story

--Lunch @ Cineleisure--
Met up with CH at noon. Had my lunch @ Pastamania. It was a disappointing meal. The Marinana spagh tasted far from delicious...and there's something wrong with the tomato sauce. Well, the calms' meat were pathetic....and they didn't even bother to arrange to food properly. Everything....prawns, sotongs and calms were messed up. I mean..there's food presentation right? Well...don't ask me to eat there in the near future.
--Brave Story--
(from movieXclusive.com)
Wataru is an ordinary, eleven-year-old kid whose world has just collapsed around him. His father has walked out on the family and his mother is in the hospital for attempted suicide. All he wants now is his old secure and comfortable life back. When he discovers a magic gateway to another world called "Vision," Wataru literally leaps at the opportunity. Before he can save his family, he'll need to do battle with a world of demons, his own friends and ultimately, himself!
Well, the story itself was quite interesting, though it may not be that fun when compared with the previous anime which i had watched.. "The Girl who leapt thru' time". "Brave Story" may not have the best animation technique...but it kinda reminded me of classic or older animes. Haha! Enjoyed the part when Wataru was at the Vision world with his new pals...animals in human-styled dressings and of coz..speaking in Japanese. Lolz....
I am quite glad with the ending..though I wondered why....shall not disclose much here...Perhaps sometimes we don't really need to think that much.
Nice themesong from Aqua Timez..."Ketsui no Asa ni".
--Aftermath--
Went to Park Mall's Dome to meet up with E.W, Aunt Jo and Tuan. Then walked ard PS...lots of changes at B2..check'em out!
--To CH--
I had sent the song to ur email..check it out wor!

天冷就回来

--Bugis Aji Tei--
味亭京都茶房最近的午餐套餐有新变化. 有很多新的食物...看了想流口水. 哈哈! 虽然我还是对他们的服务水准感到不太满意, 可是今天这餐太好吃了..就算了吧! 哈!
璇的salmon don.
我的saba kimuchi 套餐. 豆腐占了特制的浆料, 使得普通的冷豆腐吃起来特别香. 那个白萝卜也很好吃...呵呵!
--天冷就回来--
吃完饭之后, 我们走到国家图书馆的Drama Centre Theatre去看音乐剧咯! 我的"第一次" 就献给了实践剧场. 对"天冷就回来"也是满心期待. 两个小时十五分钟的表演, 果然没让我失望. 虽然剧情很薄弱...不过, 听了梁文福的那40首歌曲之后, 还是感到很满足.
剧情很简单..就是说阿乐的爱人已逝, 他决定背着行囊离开了家, 独自去了纽约, 追求自己的音乐梦想. 在那里, 他遇见了阿强, Rose, 还有一群在pizza店打工的人. 随着时间留去....阿强的旧情人想跟他复合...Rose为了得到表演的机会想牺牲自己...而阿乐却还在迷失方向...不知道他到底要什么. 最后....他们都决定回家...
先说贯穿整个音乐剧的音乐...大多都是大家耳熟能详的曲子. 例如: "天冷就回来", "陪我看日出" , "细水长流", "如果你不小心想起我", "戒情人", "久久才见到你的好" 等等. 新的编曲, 加上梁文福超棒的词句...让音乐剧有点像小型演唱会. 哈哈!
剧里的四位主角都表现得不错. 田伟鸿的歌声和演技都非常棒. 陈瑞彪...还挺熟的名字...也有超棒的声音. 女主角董姿彦..唱歌时让我想起郭美美. 不过, 是唱得更好的美美哦. 哈哈! 我真的觉得她可以去发唱片. 施慧玲起初的表现还挺普通...唱歌的时候有点拉不到音. 不过, 渐渐看到了她的进步. 表现不错喔~ "881" 的小木瓜王欣也有表演..不过, 她演的只是个小角色. (但还是很枪眼!)
看完了此剧之后...很期待本地将来的音乐剧啦, 舞台剧啦..呵呵!

Summer Festival 夏祭り

--Japanese Sch Changi Campus--
Went to work as a volunteer at the Summer Fest earlier on with Mandy, Shirley & her daughter. Well, I am quite tired now, though I had only stood for abt 1.5hrs..may be coz' i was bending down, squeezing the sauces out and standing with my pain toe...had difficulty walking properly after that. Haha..(old woman) Sadly, I didnt manage to take many pics coz' I thought I won't have time walking around, so I didnt bring my cam along. Anyway, I did have an hr to walk abt la...but wanna save my HP's batt..so paiseh la.
We were 2 hrs early to prepare the food...and u cant imagine Ah Ching was selling a food which she didn't like to eat...and yes...sausages! OMG! Lucky i got use to the smell...or else i would faint mentally ah. Lolz. It's great to work with the "Hanasukai" members...hehe!
My "premium bento" for dinner from Tonkichi wor! Wah...yummy!
Tried my luck to scoop one Japanese styled YoYo..actually it can be quite easy and quite tough. I managed to get one la...shld have got another one..Haiz. Saw others scooping goldfish at another stall...didnt tried that la...that one is tougher. There were too few game stalls le...mostly were food stalls...quite a pity la. Haha! Got a free piece of coupons la..but didnt manage to eat or buy many stuffs...only played that Yoyo game, bought some お菓子 and a bottle of レムネ, which is a glass marble soft drink.
Btw, saw many "fake Japanese" too...hahah! I meant Singaporeans dressed in Yukata. Well, it's quite a weird scenerio when u found abt 80% of the adults who were wearing Yukata were Sgporeans. Haha..most Japanese adults don't wear lo...only their kids. Anyway, like what Shirley said, it's too easy to spot them..coz' besides their dressing...their lingo & behaviour weren't Japanese at all. Ha!
Started working at the stall at 7pm la....thought somebody wld replace me by 8pm..but nobody came..instead there were fewer ppl working at the stall. The few of us were busy like mad lo. Gotta thank a Japanese-Chinese volunteer la...coz' I couldn't really catch the orders initally, esp. those from Japanese. Haha..
Why leh? Example...Some of them used " 一本", some used "一つ", some used "いっこう"..and i even heard "二杯". Haha..though I understood la..but it could be confusing when the orders came in non-stop. Finally, i got better la..but the sauce bottles were giving me troubles. It's so hard to squeeze them when the bottles were sort of emptied. Ha!
Was glad to see the last batch of sausages selling off fast...then some of them started saying last 5....4....3 more...etc. Finally all gone..and all of us cheered! Haha!
A lil' accomplishment for Ah Ching today..though she's suffering from her pain toe now. Ha!
Tmr's another busy day...

TV Drama Review #91 - Outrageous Women 麻辣女人

How long? 18epis
When & which tv stn? 2006/MBC
Who's in?
Yoo Ho Jung ~ Song Mi Joo
Im Ji Eun ~ Kim Eun Young
Jung Woong In ~ Jung Suk
Lee Ki Woo ~ Jang Woo Jin
Oh Joo Eun ~ Yang Da Rim
Sah Gang ~ Go Sang Mi
What's it abt?
A story inspired by "Desperate Housewives". The drama tells a story about Mi Joo, a divorcee who seeks revenge on her ex-husband, Jung Suk, a plastic surgeon who had remarried with his wife, Eun Young and their daughter Ha Na. Eun Young hires Mi Joo as her clinic's dentist.
Mi Joo then meets Rookie, a baseball player who happened to be the owner of the house, which she rented in Korea upon her arrival after 10 years living in U.S with her son, Joon.
Da Rim is Rookie's girlfriend, but she is seeing someone behind his back. Later, Rookie is unable to be a pitcher anymore. Da Rim decided to continue see her match-making boyfriend while trying to ditich Rookie...but soon finds out that Rookie and her neighbour Mi Joo are rather close to each other. Da Rim's sister-in-law Sang Mi has a big pressure from her mum as she hasnt bear any child. Her husband, a lawyer, is always busy with work. Sang Mi suspected that her husband has an affair outside....later she finds out abt her husband's secret...
Love & Hates:
This drama has one of the most childish plots I have ever seen. The main plot is Mi Joo seeking revenge from Jung Suk...and there goes the scenes with both of them taking revenge on each other. Perhaps u will find these two 30 something fellas quite dumb and irritating, with all their childish actions to get back at each other, while trying to keep the secret...abt their relationship and their son. However, I really enjoyed the moments when Mi Joo won and Jung Suk suffered from his evil-doings. Haha..too funny liao. The other side plots were alright, I personally like to see scenes b/w Rookie & Mi Joo. If there are more scenes b/w them wld be better still.
Personally, I only know Lee Ki Woo from the cast list. His performance was okay la, like his chemistry with YHJ. The other cast did a relatively gd job too...JWI was quite exaggerating with his expressions, but I enjoyed his performance. Haha...super gd chemistry with YHJ too. Disliked IJE's character Eun Young...she's really a selfish fella...forgot who broke up whose family and instead revenge on the victim.
Worth watching?
It's worth watching this drama as I think most of you would enjoyed the funny scenes like me. Butta, gotta bear with the constant quarrelings and shoutings from the cast.

Temple Tour

--4 Locations--
Went to "visit" my grandparents at different temples today la. Was kinda tired due to the weather...lolz! (might as well say I am old liao..). Finally found a fish porridge stall selling delicious porridge and yu sheng @ Tiong Bahru market. Haha....Later, E.W and Tuan went to pick up their specs la...stylo Puma specs for Tuan...hahahaha! (ms scientist Chean....:p).
Anyway....got a busy wkend coming up. Shall update then.