Happy Belated Birthday to Me!

Let's celebrate with cake!



Well, since hubby did not fulfill his promise of buying me cake and a big bunny stuffed toy by conveniently falling sick after he got back from a 3-day work thing, I'm rebelling by staying down here with a muted Harry Potter movie on TV and 5 lovely men topped with icing.

Why is he so quiet? I'd better get back upstairs and see if he's still alive.

ETA:

He's not even feverish. Men are such babies. I'm cooking his comfort food and then I'm off shopping by myself, if it doesn't rain, that is. After so many years of being married, I still find my own company more exhilarating. How sad.

Belated birthday wish time! Things I want to have by 45, if I'm still not dead yet (what is the point, I'm asking ya??).

1. Manga Cafe
2. Japanese degree
3. Translation diploma
4. Some kind of Arts certificate (not sure about how and what to get, must do more research)
5. A published fiction (self-published is also okay)

I didn't even complete my Nanowrimo...heh. I feel like I have no business concocting goals in my blog coz that's a rather surefire way for me not to go and accomplish them.

Real life feels so much more exciting when they're captured in a 31" monitor and compressed to 1/3 of a billionth its size.

Army Boys

Why is everyone I'm following joining the army this year?? It's like a massive co-ordinated effort to deprive me of eye candies! *wails selfishly*

Let us look at the pretties who have left the bright lights only to emerge in the future at a time when I'm too old to care anymore...maybe.

On the other hand, how can I ever not care about Lee Jun Ki? And he's gonna be released in February (man, these news reports. 'Released' makes him sound like a criminal, or something)

Heechul may not be my most favourite member, but Super Junior feels incomplete without him. I will especially miss him during Mr. Simple since that's the song & performance I really really like right now. He just got in, so it'll be a long time before he comes out. 

Okay, so maybe there's no such thing as forgetting Rain no matter how many years he's out of the public eye. He's just too awesome for his own good.

And today I just found out that my favourite Jae Wook has already joined the military too. Well, that's a surprise. And I'm sort of maybe quite irritated for not knowing about it sooner. I hope he'll always be in good health while serving his country. I got interested in him when he played Sun Ki in Coffee Prince. Then I watched Antique and I knew about The Walrus, and the love happens. I've been following him on and off for awhile now. I just never thought that not looking up his fan page for a few months would end up in me finding news of him going off for his military venture. Demmit.

Hyun Bin is in the army too, but too lazy to paste pictures since I'm not too much into him.

Did I miss anyone else?

Gong Yoo is going strong after his release from the army. His new movies are Second First Love (film and theme song), and now The Crucible. I have to get the DVDs since I dunno how else am I gonna get to watch them here. And anyway, I hate going to the cinema to watch movies of actors I love a bit too much. The sombre atmosphere (or maybe that's just in Malaysian cinemas) is too suffocating. I miss him in dramas though. Yeah, us fans are selfish creatures who want the guys we love to be in the spotlight 24-7.

Joo Ji Hoon has been released! Wow, that sentence made it sound like he's some kind of production. But honestly Ji Hoon, please don't make us worry again, kay. Have a healthy life and work hard!

(I wonder when hyung is going off for his military service. He's 26 next year, so maybe soon. Just the thought of it makes me wanna cry buckets.)

[Drama I'm currently following] Mary Stayed Out all Night / Marry Me Mary - Ep 9

Contain Spoilers!

I was surprised that this drama has a very low rating, probably coz Jang Geun Suk's dramas have always had high rating. Oh wait.. You're Beautiful has a low rating too.. but it has a cult following! Anyway, ever since Playful Kiss got thrashed at the rating section, I never believe in domestic ratings anymore. This is probably the only drama that will have two guys I follow in the same lobby, restaurant and bedroom in my lifetime so I’m savouring the moment. It took me around 5 hours to finish this episode coz of the excessive rewind movements I made.. LOL. So many worthy MR-MG moments. I wish I had a cat.. I’d so name him Mu Gyul. Cute cat!! I'll probably suffocate it with with my overly affectionate hugs.

I can’t be bothered about the kiss at the end of the ep. If MR thinks she’s gonna be dating MG without running into a hundred ex-gfs.. not to mention fans and students.. trying to get their hands and lips on him, she has another think coming. And yeah.. MG has to start conditioning his non-confrontational brain to activate his non-confrontational body to push those pathetic girls away in the future. And what if there’re paparazzis following SJ to get another scandal scoop? If MG is still the music director of the drama.. won’t that be another problem for the production team?

Anyway.. the scene that actually made me go berserk is the meet-up between JI and MG.. kyaaaaaa! Jung-In, is talking about Mae Ri and business the only thing you can come up with as an excuse to stare at Mu Gyul for more than 10 minutes?? hahaha..I love this alternate couple. Someone make a fanfic already!

That said, I wish they throw some more likable characters into the mix. Right now, aside from MR and MG, I can’t seem to like anyone else. The parents are out of the list from the beginning, Jung-In is like a display mannequin in almost all the scenes (Why Jae Wook.. why? I watched this drama for you! I know you can be a brooding guy and still be full of life.. so why are you taking this easy way out? Is it at the behest of the director? I'm in despair...), I ish still wondering why Seo Joon is necessary, MR’s friends are mere (annoying) decorations, MG’s friends are just a bunch of cheerleaders.. how are the writers supposed to fill up 7 more episodes? I hope JI will still go with his decision to include MG and his motley crew in the drama. That’d be fun. I want more 'live' performances from the Absolute Perfection band!

IMO.. this type of drama will work better as a rom com M3 is supposed to be. I guess the writers have run out of wit by ep 3. That bedroom scene is epic and the screencaps/gifs should be immortalized in forums and chatrooms all over cyberspace!!!

Character analysis up to the current episode:

• Jung In who goes through life doing everything his father wants him to. Everything is bottled up with this guy. I can’t even imagine him shout at a wall when he’s angry. Throwing him into a brawl with Mu Gyul certainly made me see him as a human being, so he needs to be put in situations where he has to blow up once in awhile (preferably at his dad, but the old man is terminally ill so I doubt that will happen). I think, rather than MR, it’s with MG that he gets to be more himself and not a puppet controlled by his dad.
• Mae Ri who seems to think that she’s carrying the world’s problems on her tiny shoulders. She’s always going everywhere trying to fix things and she has no idea that the more she helps, the more the people she helps are bound to her. It’s precisely because she’s so understanding, always have the right things to say, will try to be beside them when they’re in trouble.. that all the guys are fighting over her now. And I think it’s sick that JI’s dad wants to keep her tied to his home just coz she looks a lot like her mom.. the woman he loved but couldn’t marry.
• Seo Jun who just goes with the flow.. most probably because she’s always got whatever she’s wanted since she was young.. that the only rebellion she displayed against her family is working as an actress. I doubt she’s doing it becoz she loves the profession or else why is it that she doesn’t care when she’s labeled as a difficult artist? Why does she have such a nonchalant attitude towards her craft? If you’ve left your family becoz they don’t approve of the choices you’ve made.. shouldn’t you work harder to show them that you have chosen well? She’s so hollow. Maybe that’s what attracts her to Mu Gyul in the first place… his passion in music that completely overshadows all other concerns in his life. She thinks it’s love though.
• Mu Gyul whose music is his food, his air, his salvation. I think he would have ended up on the wrong side of society without his love for his music. Encounters with all the women in his life (except for his mom and relatives, of course) were made possible only through his music. Even Mae Ri was not spared the crush when she saw him perform for the first time. I doubt his lifestyle that comes with his music will change, but he does need to separate between the women worthy to be let into his life and those who should just stay on its fringe. I don’t want his character to change much.. I love his free spirit, that he can sleep on thea street when he’s too sleepy or drunk just coz he feels like it. I love that he doesn’t use the GPS because he doesn’t like it when someone tells him what to do. I love that he uses bricks as bookends and that he has a swing right smack in the middle of his apartment. I love his over-the-top accessories and his shredded pants and his coats with their thick furry collars. I love his obsession with his hair. I love a lot of things about Mu Gyul that whenever the others push him with marriage talks, the thought that all the things I love about Mu Gyul may disappear as he tries to be more responsible about his relationship with Mae Ri is not making me happy one bit. I hope he can change and yet stay the same. Is that possible, newly-appointed scriptwriters? I really hope it is.

What is this obsession about marriage in this drama anyway?? I'm sorry, but I don't get it. It actually reminds me of a movie that also obsesses over marriage, i.e. 'Four Weddings and A Funeral', where the guy ends up proposing to the girl (or was it the other way around?) not to marry him.

Dear new scriptwriters, even if you want to change everything about this story by the last episode.. can you not make Mu Gyul wear a work suit?? I will cry buckets if you end up making him into a regular salaryman just to make him suitable for marriage. Who says you can't be a glam rocker and get married? I can give you a list of famous rockers, glam or no, whom people deem unsuitable for family life but are still happily married after so many years. Well, I'm sorta a rock chick in my spare time so I should know this, at least. So please... let Mu Gyul keep his hot pink tops and clunky rings and spiky mittens and girly hair until the end, kay.

[Drama I'm currently following] Mary Stayed Out all Night / Marry Me! Mary!

... hereby called M3 coz I'm a lazy typist.











M3 is one classic example to illustrate why my reason for watching a drama or movie is based on the actors/actresses I follow rather than any trust in its plots or story. In fact, the writer has already left the building in an effort by the production to boost the rating. Rating, schmating. If they cut down a large chunk of Mu Gyul-Mae Ri time and stuff the drama full of dramatics just to pull the adult crowd, I'm gonna be one unhappy fan.

There're so many interesting Jang Geun Suk-Kim Jae Wook moments in this drama that I'm completely on the M3 boat right now. Not to mention that the Mu Gyul-Mae Ri couple is the cutest couple in k-dramaland I've ever stumbled upon. Jang Geun Suk has not been able to score in the cute couple department in his previous dramas. I refuse to go gaga over a pairing that ends up with one of them being dead in the end.. so the Hwang Jin Yi-Heon Keum pairing totally doesn't work on me. Despite liking Tae Kyung a lot.. the Tae Kyung-Go Mi Nam couple only got cute about a few episodes nearing the end. Well, actually only during that last scene when they're both staring at the stars while mouthing mushy dialogues to each other. And he didn't get the girl in Hong Gil Dong & Beethoven Virus.

However, I'm not too happy with the way Mu Gyul's character is progressing. They're making him succumb too fast to the demands of several annoying members of society when he's been pretty successful at ignoring them for most of his life. Just because you fall in love for the first time doesn't mean you have to seriously consider changing yourself at every turn. Where's the carefree Mu Gyul? He's looking more and more grim with every episode. I want to see him running through the streets and laughing in abandon with Mae Ri in tow again. Even their escape to the place where they want to watch the sunset is interlaced with pretty dry talks about building a family and growing old together. Eeeep... kids, you're too young to be thinking about such stuffy things. Enjoy your youth! It goes away in the blink of an eye~

The subbed episodes (up to ep 9) can be found in Youtube:


I like the Episode 9 recap by girfriday in Dramabeans. Go read!

[Uploaded movie] Antique Bakery - Kim Jae Wook & Joo Ji Hoon

The yaoi treatment is getting the glorious place it deserves in this movie, a far cry from the shabby treatment given to it by its japanese counterpart. Trust the koreans to adapt a manga story faithfully. Why is it that they understand how a manga should be adapted better than the people from the country where the manga comes from? I feel this way about Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers) and Itazura na Kiss (Playful Kiss) as well. The korean adaptations are light years more interesting than the japanese ones.

Anyway, I think getting Andy Gillet to play Jean-Baptise Evan is such an acting coup. I looked up Andy Gillet on youtube. There're quite a few of his clips lying around. With his impossibly long eyebrows that stretch the length of his face and his hooded eyes that can haunt you every time he throws a look, he reminds me of Lee Williams. He's a model too. I doubt I'll be watching french movies any time soon coz I don't think I can be that obsessed with a european actor, but he's pretty cool.

I completely believe in the Seon Woo-Jean pairing, they look so natural together. Especially the scene with them in just their underwear *cough*. And every time they kiss, there's not even a hint of "we're just acting, get this take over with" in the way they respond to each other. Kim Jae Wook.. I'm hunting down all your works later. Do you know he's also in a band as vocal AND guitar? He plays the piano too btw..*ish besotted* ..I want to wait until Mary finishes before watching it coz I don't think I can follow it every week the way I followed Playful Kiss.. ^^;

And how good is Ji Hoon in the role of Jin Hyuk? He's so energetic and all over the place. I feel like watching the movie several times just to catch all his actions. I dunno why he's not been in more dramas and movies with that much talent. This is why, unlike other fans, I never complain about my favourite celebrities being workaholics and fainting everywhere. As much as I care about them, I want them to continue working so I can look up their never-ending supply of works anytime I want. I'm missing Gong Yoo so much now. I wish he'd be in more dramas. Maybe I should start re-watching Coffee Prince. And I want to buy Biscuit Teacher CD if I can find it in any store. The Veoh uploaded clips drive me nuts when they start jumbling up the scenes. It's a good thing that my brain is wired weirdly so I could still enjoy it.

...errrrrmmm, where was I? O yeah.. Antique Bakery.. *cough*

If you've watched the japanese drama, don't think that it's anything like that. It's much more exciting and in fact made me want to look up all the works by its director, Min Gyu-Dong. I wish there would be a sequel so I can see Jin Hyuk being willingly molested by Seon Woo. I think Jin Hyuk is already head over heels in lust with Seon Woo but being a hetero, he needs to be "convinced" before he can accept his change in taste. I'm perfectly alright with heteros being turned to homos in fiction. In real life where we are held responsible for the consequences of our actions, it's another matter altogether.

I highly recommend it! If you haven't watched it already.. go and have a look ~~


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[Harem] Kim Jae Wook, the Waffle Guy from Coffee Prince

You know that famous line.. "You had me at 'hello'..."?

Well, Kim Jae Wook had me at 'fuzaken janeiyo...' (hehe)

Is he really 100% Korean? Or does he have mixed japanese blood? My personal taste for japanese guys got me suddenly sitting up and taking notice the moment this guy shows up on my monitor.

Now I know which drama I want to follow next... but the synopsis sounds weird and I don't know if this slight crush on Kim Jae Wook is gonna sustain my interest until the drama ends.



I doubt I'll go all berserk over it but it'll be nice to be able to follow a drama that has someone I like in it again after Playful Kiss ends.