Hana Yori Dango, Boys Before Flowers, Meteor Garden

Ok I admit it! I am bloody biased or blinded or whatever! I don't care! Hahaa.




I happen to think the cast for K-drama Boys Before Flowers, the Korean version of Hana Yori Dango, is the best looking compared to the Japanese and Taiwanese versions.




Lookie how cutie they all be! (Plastic surgery rumours or whatever! To hell with it all! The outcome looks so good on these guys, if they did do surgery, I'm not saying they did. I wouldn't know and it doesn't matter to me.)



I never wanted to watch the Taiwanese version, Meteor Garden, because I really hated the looks of the lead actors (*gag*). I mean, come on! There are better looking Taiwanese guys compared to these ones ... and to think this series shot them to stardom. *gag some more!*



And maybe it's the difference in era and fashion and tastes, but the Japanese cast looked soooo girlish, I couldn't stand it!!



I'm not romanticising Korean guys nor am I saying all Korean actors win hands down, but someone made a montage comparing the different cast and I think the Korean cast for this series really meet my taste.




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Caitlin R Keirnan

Have I found an absorbing new author?



Today I chanced upon this book (many chance happenings lately) and when I read the opening, it pulled me in so fast that I dropped The Graveyard Book and started on it right away.

Imagine that! Dropping Neil Gaiman?

I googled and she has a few other interesting-sounding titles. I think this is a potentially good author whose books I'll search for in future.

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K-drama: Boys Before Flowers

I chanced upon the Korean version of Boys Over Flowers (a story about the exploits of 4 rich and "beautiful" boys, aka F4) that is showing on KBS World at 9pm weekdays on Asia cable tv (not sure yet which weekdays, I don't have the Cable TV mag).

The Korean version is called Boys Before Flowers, and it's a new K-drama that's enjoying quite some success in Korea, I believe.

So far, I've watched the 3rd and 4th episode over Monday and Tuesday, and I'm so hooked on it! Must get the DVD set when it's released. I only recognise the lead actress Koo Hye Sun (fourth from left of pic above) but none of the F4 boys.

Nonetheless, the boys are pretty to look at. I personally like Lee Min Ho (centre of pic - I think he'd make a good Edward Cullen hahaha) as Goo Joon Pyo aka Domyoji Tsukasa and am particularly fond of Kim Bum (second fr left - so cute!) as So Yi Jung aka Nishikado Sojiro.

I've never read the manga nor the other drama versions, Japanese or Taiwanese, believe it or not. So I'm coming into this show with fresh eyes.

There are so many things that are wrong with this k-drama, in particular the darn hilarious perm on Lee Min Ho and the over-acting cuteness of the lead actress Koo Hye Sun.

But maybe I'm biased toward k-drama, I find it all works together quite well and the 2 episodes I saw provided me with enough laughs to draw me into the show. I'm trying to catch every episode!


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Review: 28 Weeks Later

Saw the vcd (that I bought recently) of 28 Weeks Later last night.

It's a story of events 28 weeks post 28 Days Later, where the zombies have died and people have re-entered Britain (or as hinted, repatriated back) to reconstruct it with the assistance of an almost all-American NATO force. Most of the rest of England is fenced off, while the citizens live in a protected reconstruction zone. The zombie-infection is re-introduced into the city by a stroke of stupidy and carelessness, via contact with an asymptomatic carrier of the virus, who was brought into the reconstruction zone.

28 Days Later was a great atmospheric-shocker zombie movie set in England. It was well-filmed and well-written, so I hoped the sequel, 28 Weeks Later, might be just as good. 28 Weeks Later was made by original production crew, with original director Danny Boyle playing a key role as the Executive Producer.

However, I was quite let down by 28 Weeks Later. Besides a shocking opening scene, the rest of the movie was lacking in thrills, tension and atmosphere. Not surprising that the sequel was certainly a pale comparison to the original. It might have to do with the fact that the director is different and there were so many writers for the sequel, compared to only 1 for the original.

Furthermore, I did not have any emotional connection with the lead characters, unlike in the first film, where I felt for and sympathised with almost everyone. The leads in 28 Weeks Later were played poorly by the actors (with the exception of the very excellent Robert Carlyle, who did what he could with what he was given, then couldn't do much more because he became a zombie *sigh*).

Probably, the script was badly written and badly filmed (I felt almost no build-up of tension and the supposed climactic scene was ... clinical to me). I was immensely annoyed with everyone, and felt nothing at all when they were in danger or when they died!

While it's not a bad film (by many standards, I think it exceeds alot of the Hollywood fare), I think it failed to live up to the standards set by 28 Days Later. I do not regret spending time watching this film, but I was quite disappointed by it.


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Memories of Another Day & Library List

I found a Colleen Gleason book, When Twilight Burns, in the office library today and I borrowed it.

It brings to mind that a few years ago, I won of one of her books, in a lucky draw held by Colleen Gleason herself, but I never received it. I didn't bother her to remind her to send me the book. I figured it must have gotten lost in the mail. Since then, I haven't read her books at all, but I'm aware she's a popular author.

Now that I've finished reading the Twilight series, I think I'm ready to embark on Colleen Gleason, so I"m glad I found this book in the library.

Some other books I borrowed from the library:

Haunting the Nightside, Simon R Green
Memoirs of a Novelist, Virginia Woolf
After Dark, Haruki Murakami
Hellboy - Oddest Jobs, edited by Christopher Golden

Right now I'm starting on The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. Thankfully there isn't a strict borrowing time limit (books can be freely renewed) at my office library. So I can start on the books I borrowed after I'm done with The Graveyard Book. I expect I shall finish it quite fast.


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Review (of sorts): Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer

Well, that's it, I finished Breaking Dawn last night!

What a rush it was, but strangely, I have no thoughts about this book beyond what I wrote yesterday and from before.

Ofcourse, my feelings remain the same as those right from the start: I apologise that I was disinterested with Bella's new experiences as a "newborn" and her experiences as a "wife". I admit I was slightly impressed with Bella's innate talent/gift, and how it morphed from something passive into something powerful.

I have no right to read this Twilight series!

As usual, I was totally sold on Jacob Black, I'm glad his imprinting with Renesmee was tastefully written. I'm glad his role is so central to everything that brings goodness, happiness and peace to the Forks and Bella world.

Someone I know said she hated the ending.

Me? I am apathetic. It only makes me happy that Jacob got someone great like Renesmee. Right now, I really love to know their story. I bet there's a tonne of fan fic out there on this couple.

Now, on to my movies and k-dramas. But I got to decide on a book for commute-reading: Graveyard Book, Anathem (so huge!) or Never Let me Go?

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Hauls and Hoarding: Just Not Enough Time!

I've been rushing through, lapping up Breaking Dawn, loving every minute of it, especially the portions written from Jacob Black's perspective. There's alot more humour in this book, it doesn't take itself too seriously, thankfully! I stayed up until 3am last night reading, but now I'm at the part where it's back to Bella's perspective and I'm slowing down.



It's frustrating me, that I don't have enough time in the day to do everything I want. I want to watch the movie and k-drama discs I bought too.

I have hoarded too much lately, due to the cheap prices at the stores. I'm tempted to take time off from work to just veg out at home and watch k-dramas and movies!

Just the other day, I was walking along and spotted a VCD sale. Cheap, for the price of less than a ticket to the cinema! So I bought a few shows that I haven't seen yet.



It's easy to be a movie and k-drama addict, going overboard hoarding all the discs! It is very cheap to get old box sets, especially if they have Chinese subtitles. My Chinese reading abilities suck, especially if it's old Chinese and not simplified Chinese, but I can't resist the cheap k-dramas. I just have to pause at certain points to read the Chinese subs if I'm not fast enough.

Here's a bunch of k-drama that I have hauled and waiting for me to watch.



Top Row L-R: Hwang Jinyi, with Chinese subs, from Poh Kim @ $4.50SG, Witch Yoo Hee with Chinese subs, from Blue Max @ $8.00SG, Il Ji Mae from TS @ $18SG.

Bottom Row L-R: Purchased from long ago, I can't even recall the prices or locations! Winter Sonata, I'm Sorry I Love You and Glass Flower.

Yes, I'm slow, I've never watched Winter Sonata at all, yet, after all this time of being a k-drama fan!

At this moment, I am still tempted to get at least 1 more k-drama, because I'm catching random episodes of Sassy Girl Chun Hyang reruns on tv. I never watched this one and it's turning out to be quite interesting. I saw it on sale at TS. I feel like just getting the dvd because I hate watching k-drama at the rate of one-episode-a-day!



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