I was pushed on the train (normal) and fell on my knees (this is new), one arm tangled with a fellow fallen passenger. God bless the seated lady who tried her best to lift us up. But the damage was done–one blue patch on my knee, a couple more gashes on each leg, and certainly several more bruises to color my body in 12 hours time. Also, I was 45 minutes late to work.
Thank you, Monday. You have yet to disappoint.
It updated my iTunes, and more, so I guess this is an Oh! My Lady review.
I only watched the Korean drama because the trailer on ANIMAX showed Siwon with his trademark snarky grin, standing with his shirt open, chocolate abs in full view. Such a compelling persuasion, I tell you, even for someone whose Super Junior bias is not Simba (I’m so sorry Donghae!).
So I was prepared to finish it purely on fan-girl energy, but other hooks got to me. It is not a stellar, first-of-its-kind love story. The cougar romance has been played out often enough, by Demi andAshton and in Asian shores too, do not doubt it. But bias aside (I hope), Oh! My Lady offered a distinct charm. It was a very warm story.
It tells the humbling of the actor Sung Minwoo, who was looking down on us all–despite his bad acting–from his pedestal of pretty boy looks (and yes, yes, the chocolate abs), until the surprise baggage of an unknown child was dropped on his door. The adorable, face-full-of-cheeks, five-year-old YeEun. Enter ChaeRim as Yoon GaeHwa, the divorcee, desperate enough for means to feed her own daughter to resort to in-house housekeeping/nannying and innocent blackmailing. The moment she learns this secret before he does is the first critical moment of trouble.
And so the story goes. The chemistry between 24-year old idol Siwon and 32-year old popular actress ChaeRim was not instantaneous. I cringed at their first kiss, it felt as awkward as watching just that — a househelp and his actor master pucker up. Until the episodes go by and I believed it. ChaeRim carried Siwon well, little YooBin as YeEun was a ball of precious cuteness, and other than Park HanByul‘s flat delivery (her acting is as superficial as her character), I had nothing to complain about in this drama. Siwon has a long way to go before being the acting-dol he wants to be (and by God, HanByul even more), but he was endearing to watch. Though of course, the role of a bratty rich worshiped actor may not have been a long shot for him to internalize.
My take-aways (and these are such because I am still a fan-girl after all), 1. Siwon can act, 2. Siwon can sing (I was seriously doubting that, you see. I mean, isn’t he the Super Junior equivalent of Choi Minho? Not so, apparently)
And, 3. my updated iTunes. Drama OSTs can be as reliable as death and taxes, I’ve noticed.
And with that picture of epic familial cuteness, I look forward to drama Skip Beat with a shaking heart.
Kyuhyun: Is this how you feel when you’re trying to teach me dance?
Eunhyuk: Yes.
Super Junior M playing for Yahoo! Music.
Dream Asian man is Hanazawa Rui, but if I am to cross to the Caucasian side of the earth, hands down winner is always Mr Darcy. I have always heard his name crop up in movies and books, and never being as widely exposed to English literature as I would want, the only occasion for me to finally meet him is only when I dared buy the book.
Pride and Prejudice was the first classic I’ve read in years, and out of school at that, and I am eternally in love with it. And this movie version helped. Critics and fans are keen to point out that the Colin Firth version is still above it. But as I have never thought Firth as darkly sexy, and as I have believed every second of subtle, restrained and at times ironic English romance in the film as portrayed by Keira Knightley and Matthey MacFadyen, I hone no intentions of watching the BBC mini-series.
I am happy with the Lizzie and Darcy images that live inside my head. It just pains me to realize every time I re-watch and re-read though, that all ideal men seem to exist only in fiction. But thanks to Jane Austen, for the sliver of hope, and the experience of reading true love win over imperfections.
These are two movies I missed while Quanti forced me into a social exile. I bought and read the books before watching the movies, which is often a bad idea. But the gamble went well this time.
Overall, Beastly movie >>> the book, which is a rare feat, thanks to the Alex/Vanessa Hudgens chemistry (and here I was thinking she will never look good with anyone other than Zac Efron. Fairy tale remakes seem to be the in thing now, right next to comic book movies, and this one is refreshingly cute. Beware the slight slips of mush, and the scary Olsen witch, but the witty dialogue, the chemistry and Neil Patrick Harris made it a great one hour+ spent. For one, Pettyfer knew how to still melt you even with all the disfiguration going on.
On the other hand, I Am Number Four book >> movie, but it still wasn’t a waste of my time. Would still click the like button for it. The eye candy helped, and I have to admit I do like my share of sci-fci alien action (geek confession) but I was not entirely convinced with the Alex/Quinn Fabray (er, Diana Agron?) love. Which is ironic since apparently they were dating in real life.
Special thanks to ze dongsaeng for patiently and lovingly downloading both flicks. You know I would’ve paid for the ticket had we watched it in the theaters.
(I think Imma watch Beastly again *press replay after this episode of Oh! My Lady*)
There are multitude of reasons why I love James McAvoy (despite his height, and height is always an issue for me), and they were all brilliantly depicted here. He was sleek, smart, eloquent and vibrantly charismatic, and at the same time strong and vigorous in ways Professor X as we X-Men geeks know him is not. The Charles-Raven platonic love was an interesting thing to watch, and despite my biases, after my second watch I have to admit that it was mostly Charles’ arrogance and (dare I say it) insensitivity that spun the creation of Mystique. Although Raven’s inherent insecurities account for a lot, of course. Charles was trying to save the world, and she was being a classic brat. Thus I still blame her.
And then there was Erik. Michael Fassbender‘s take on the metal-force mutant was intense and exhilarating, and one important color to watch is his multi-layered chemistry with Charles. There is a distinct pull on me of depictions of boy friendships, mostly because they rarely run deep and rarely leave a sensible mark. But this comic book bromance does, and sets the theme for its constant reappearance in the franchise.
There is a lot more to rave and rant about with X-Men: First Class–the Brit-pop edge/soundtrack, the psychedelic cool effects, the awesome evil of the antagonists, the themes of war that knock too close to the world today–,but I am a biased judge, and thus not a reliable movie critic. So all I can say is: do watch it. It was the best summer movie of my hard working summer.
