Manga Boy!
22/08/2006
The King and The Clown
Is based loosely, I think, on sorta historical accounts of some Korean king and his reign. It’s pretty amazing how familiar period Korean dramas are to period Chinese dramas. But I suppose them ancient Chinese folk did travel a little. In this story, the King is a tyrant, psychologically scarred by childhood events and spends more time with his concubine than attending to the needs of his people.
In come the minstrels, roving around the country and countryside. In particular, a pair long-time companions – Jang Sang (Kam Woo Seong) and Gong-gil (Lee Jun Gi, my Manga boy) – an established act, are forced to move to Seoul after an accident. At this point you should know that Gong gil is the gentle, sensitive pretty one who plays the lady (or whore) in their acts.
So anyway, through a series of events the King meets these two minstrels, and appoints them as court jesters. In the meantime, the King develops a crush on pretty Gong-gil, while the Jang Sang is arrested and tortured for trying to protect Gong-gil.
Anyway. I kinda thought this would be an action drama. I didn’t really expect it to be Korean Farewell To My Concubine. In any case, my Manga boy is a little too masculine to do the excellent job Leslie Cheung did in his role as Cheng Die Yi. He tries, but little little details spoil it for him. The way he walks, the way he smiles, well. Testosteroney is good.
I am still undecided about what I think of the movie. In true Asian cinema tradition, the sets and costumes are lavish. The cinematography is superb. It’s a pretty pretty movie. That said, like the other post-Crouching Tiger Asian movies like House of Flying Daggers, and Hero, they lack a little something that makes you fall in love with the movie.
I hate to say it, but most Asian movies are like air stewardesses. Sorry. Flight attendants. They’re all manicured, and pretty, and they say and do the right things. They smell good. But you can’t have a meaningful conversation with them. Mostly because you’re only there for like 16 hours, and you don’t really want to talk to them, and they’re going through the motions. They’re not there to make you feel at home. They’re there to get paid.
So yeah. I’m a little disappointed with the movie. I think Manga boy could’ve done better, but still it was a good attempt. He probably had to have his ears pinned back for the movie, poor thing. So that should account for something.
His counterpart Kam Woo Seong did a commendable job, playing his over-protective, probably in love with Manga boy companion, but I saw little chemistry between them both. Neither as a lover, nor as a brother.
The psycho king was played by Kang Seong Yeon, and the only thing I can say about him is, damn I didn’t know he was my age. He looks old! But then again, that’s what a fake moustache does to a guy.
Final rating: 3/5 stars. Flight Attendant. Not something go nuts over.
Korean Serial: My Girl
15/08/2006
5-7-5: Summary in a haiku
Pretty boy pays chick
To pose as long lost cousin
Ending in romance
Drama level
More laughs than sobs.
Eye candy
- Lee Dong Wook (as Seol Gong Chan)
- Lee Jung Gi (as Seo Jung Woong)
- Lee Da Hae (as Joo Yoo Rin)
- Park Si Yeon (as Kim Seo Hyun)
Love shape
Square (two guys in love with the same girl, another girl in love with one of the guys)
The variables
Rich hotel scion, tour guide, scheming tennis pro, playboy who looks like he just walked out of a manga, winter scenes, patriach with a guilt-ridden conscience.
The hiccups
Crazed tennis pro ex-girlfriend who stops at nothing to win the ace back.
Guilt ridden granddad gets pissed that he’s been lied to.
Deadbeat dad.
Missing cousin.
The quirks
Manga boy! He looked like God assigned His plastic used the extra fine scalpel and just made two quick slits and carved out a really fine nose while he was at it. He got a little antsy and gave the poor boy really large satellite ears, which Manga boy now has to hide behind elfin hair.
Lots of snow, and really pretty winter clothes.
Bad names. The heroine’s name, Joo Yoo Rin, just doesn’t lend itself well for intimate scenes. Yoo Rin ah…
The plot
Rich Hotel Scion boy (Seol Gong Chan) is sent by his ailing grandfather to find his long lost cousin, who lost her parents (ailing grandfather’s estranged daughter and husband) in an earthquake 15 years before. He is unsuccessful, but hires Joo Yoo Rin to pose as his cousin since she’s such an eloquent liar. She agrees, since she’s up to her ears in debt her father got into.
Predictably, they fall in love, but things are complicated by his ex-girlfriend, the psycho tennis pro who practices with hoops the size of golfballs (who does that??). Manga boy also predictably falls head over heels in love with Yoo Rin and makes a heroic bid for her affections.
They also threw in the obligatory liability father, and stoic status conscious family, and that’s a wrap.
For a change though, there is no crazy tragedy ending.
Final rating: 4 out of 5 stars. Watch it. It’s funny, winter scenes are spectacular, and lead actors are scumptuous.
It’s a hard life
14/08/2006
Ok, dunnit. I finally added in a few more categories and recategorised most (if not all) my posts for this year. Going through the rest of the posts will probably take a while, as with cross categorising stuff, but a little step at a go works better for me, the lazy butt I am.
New categories include more specific sections for reviews for books, food, movies, music and tv shows, a section for work life, a section for just stuff around the house, a section for techstuff (I’ll need to go through the posts again to populate this one).
I had a pretty good, rested weekend. Lots of Korean drama, and I am now in love with Lee Dong Wook (better pics here. It was a really tough decision, since he was pit against a very hot small eyed Lee Jung Gi who looked like he just walked out of a manga. The website pics are very misleading, they probably propped his eyelids up with tape before they took the photos.
I was so inspired by all the winter scenes and clothes in the serial those 2 were in that when I got to Spotlight and saw the No-Knit scarf making kit, I jumped on it. And made myself a nice wooley scarf, without knitting! Talk about ktis that do what they’re meant to do! Pics of my creation later.
Have a great week ahead.
Happy Independance Day!
09/08/2006
Ah, that time of the year again
To feel truly Singaporean. Other times it sinks back into the back of your mind, even though you know you’re Singaporean through and through from your “wah-tur”s and your “some-bile khang-khong” to the disgust you have for disorder, chaos and confrontation.
I just realised that you know when the National Day Parade is on when you hear the jets speeding past your window. And you know in a couple of hours you’ll hear the rhythmic bom bom boms from the fireworks.
Why shouldn’t we celebrate? There’s a lot to celebrate.
It’s just the crazy singing that drives me nuts. How many more times do I have to hear that lame We are Singapore chorus? It’s not something you can switch off even if you wanted. I just have to open my mouth where ever I go and I’m identified. So do I look like I need a lameass song like that to remind me?
Anyway. While we’re at it, let’s take a look at why I’m trying to learn Korean 
hee hee hee.
Presenting – the epitome of Asian sensuality: Kim Sung-su.
I think there’s a director with that name out there, and I don’t think that’s the one. If you’re going to search him up, it’s the actor. The cute one with the Asian eyes.
Ahhh… so lovely and perfect, it makes my day.
Happy National Day!
Happy Birthday Netjackal!
18/07/2006
Here’s how you know you’re old – when your friends are old. It’s a little depressing, I’ve come quite a long ways from being the youngest in the department to being in the middle.
AAARRRGGGHHH
What’s more disturbing is that most of the way to hot Korean actors on those serials I’ve been watching are younger than I am. Not that I have the younger guy hang-up anymore. I’ve good genes.
My favourite du jour is Chun Jung Myung. He plays the bad boy in the formulaic love square. I won’t spoil it for you in case you want to watch it for yourself, but suffice to say they gave him plenty of shower and bare torso scenes for a really good reason. I mean, ok. The torso is academic. But the goofy grin is just cute. Plus, you gotta love a guy who’d get a buzz cut. Scruffy is hot.
On a lighter note, Yahoo! Answers has this contest thing, and one of the celebs asked How can Singaporean TV shows be as compelling as Korean drama series. Oooohhhh.
For my next trick
16/07/2006
I’m going to have a conversation in Korean
That’s going to take a while, and a lot of patience from Paul.
Learning a whole new language with someone there to verify stuff and serials to watch is so much easier than learning it off a phrasebook and a tape. On the flipside those are the very same resources I had when learning Mandarin – so I suppose I speak fluent foreigner Korean.
Still stuck on Fashion 70s – think I’ve about 3 dvds to go. It’s a waste to buy Korean serials on dvd. Those damn distributors encode video cd quality crap on dvd and pass it off as dvd. But most of the time if you want English/Engrish subs you’ll have to fork it out for the dvds.
Anyway. Let me know if there’s anything I should be watching. The key should be funny – not sappy the girl dies after she’s finally reunited with her lover type stuff.
Video Killed the Radio Star
15/07/2006
I’m a little disappointed I’ve only caught on with the whole Krama thing after Heesun has left, so I’ve only Paul to harrass now. I’m happy to report I can now understand 5% of what they’re saying on the show.
Like sorry. And don’t go. And let’s go. And fatty. And dumb-ass. All the good stuff. Paul also said that the sentence structure for Korean is different. The noun comes first, then the adjective.
Some of the words sound like Hokkien. And some of it sounds like Mandarin. On the whole it’s a complicated language, according to Paul. He doesn’t get why we assault him with our almost-daily sessions (which I’ve so assiduously uploaded onto Y! Video).
Which brings me to the whole Yahoo! Video thing. It’s weird. Some of the videos aren’t playing the audio. So I’ve noticed with the vids taken with my S1, the sound plays on both Firefox and IE, but when I uploaded videos taken with KF’s Ixus 800, the audio doesn’t play on Firefox. Very annoying. Mozz has the same problem with videos from his G5. What’s up with Y! Video?
Had dinner with Roger, Andrea and little Sara tonight. Sara’s really grown since the last time we saw her, which was probably a year back. She’s walking around, and doesn’t not seem to be able to sit still, mostly like Roger.
Anna Bana
11/07/2006
Sharks made me walk from Chinatown to Liang Court today. The nerve of her! She’s trotting along in her little pink pumps going clippity clop – well ok, not clip-it-y, but certainly there was a double clop – and we’re walking a good ten minutes there.
Ok, it could have been worse. I could be slogging it out on the treadmill.
Korean Face Crunch
I started my fifth Korean series yesterday and this one seems pretty big budget. It’s set between the fifties (during the Korean War) and the seventies. There are elaborate sets and helicopters and soldiers and towns and stuff, all interesting stuff. Part of the series is also filmed at some island, and it looks really good. Who knew all this exists in the country with the highest broadband penetration in the world?
I realise that Korglish speakers can’t really pronounce certain sounds that English typically requires. Like the “v” sound. They go, “fibe, siix, seben, eight”! Perhaps there isn’t that sound in their language. It’s a good thing I’m not Korean, and more importantly, KF’s family isn’t Korean. If not I’d probably get my name mangled into something like Banana. [KF: that's Ba'neh-na in your language].
Fighting!
You know you’re one when you’re contemplating reviewing the dramas somewhere online. I’m onto my fourth drama in three weeks, and even though parts of the culture takes a little getting used to – they’re unusually expressive, in a very weird Confusian non-expressive way – it’s still been pretty entertaining.
For one, I think the trick is to avoid blatant love stories. Titles with Heaven in it normally result in someone or everyone dying, so I’ve avoided them (since Stairway to Heaven, which I couldn’t bear watching). But that’s harder than you think, because almost every single title revolves around some kind of relationship that is frowned upon and thwarted at almost every stage (of course except the last).
The themes are very recognisable for anyone growing up on Chinese/Taiwanese/Hong Kong dramas. Family or work or society benefit vs self gratification, the weird hierachy that exists only in an Asian society where people feel that respect has to be accorded to anyone older or more senior (one of the biggest flaws in Confusian philosophy). It seems like in Korea, they still regard it with more reverence than us Singaporeans. Which makes for pretty interesting serial fodder.
Anyway. Four down, two more to go, so I think it’s time to start shopping again!
Learning Korean
08/07/2006
Ah-Neo busts out her best Korean
