Hair Product Commercials

I've always really liked shampoo commercials, especially how chinese, korean, and japanese commercials film them! I know I know, most of the 'perfect' and swishing in the wind hair we see in the commercials are either computer-generated or added special effects for that perfect swish, but I can't help but marvel how beautiful and inspiring those ads made me feel.

a cute Vic Zhou ad to promote Rejoice leave-in conditioners

Often, my favorite hair product cms have been from REJOICE, LUX, Tsubaki, and Pantene among others. I still remember years back when I made my relatives search long and far (through a bunch of markets across our neighborhood in Beijing) to ask for that one special Rejoice shampoo with added sunscreen (for hair)! That was after I saw this beautifully shot commercial of a gorgeous girl holding an umbrella under the sun, and then revealing her shiny, luscious hair as she walked on the beach. We never found a shampoo like that, it turned out it wasn't even out in stores yet.

My favorite Rejoice commercial was the one with Vic Zhou chasing after a girl on a train, he shoots a picture of her gorgeous locks before chasing her and finally thrusting his picture at her and she catches it..somehow, while riding the train.
Lux always featured the glamorous Fan Bing Bing, walking out on stage/red carpet and shaking around her pretty hair to the paparazzi...
Tsubaki is still my favorite go-to shampoos, titling themselves #1 for Japanese females ahaha. Those ads mostly feature 5 current top japanese actresses with beautiful sleek, black hair.
And last but not least, Pantene recently released their newest commerical featuring my favorite Japanese actress Aragaki Yui, and having her apply the leave-in conditioner and skip out into the rainy weather so carefree... wonderfully filmed commericals.

Looks like chinese women love their hair enough, not to just do commericals for hair, but FULL asian dramas dedicated to using the right hair products! Yes, namely... our new hit- mainland idol drama - Si Si Xin Dong! Watching up to their 10th episode already, and blatant Rejoice product placements are everywhere still. Though I do have to say I really want to try out their leave-in conditioner now! Haha. Even Blue Lan's first gift to Xiao Rou boyfriend-girlfriend wise was a shopping bag loaded with an assortment of Rejoice hair products!!

Mainland Dramas On Crack?

I've finally got around to release my first audio podcasts for my blog.
So here's the downloadable audio version of this entry! Get it now while it's fresh and hot ;)


Mainland Dramas On Crack
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I can't help but notice the rapid speed at how dramas are deteriorating in the mainland entertainment industry. First I saw a little bit of it in 娱乐没有圈, but it didn't look too serious then - only a couple of cliches and exaggeration here and there...

Meteor Shower's H4

Main leads of Si Si Xin Dong

Now, china is trying to compete with taiwanese dramas in how exaggerated we can get. I'm serious. Actually, by now, after seeing the first episodes of 丝丝心动, it's beginning to clearly show evidence of taiwanese romantic-comedy madness. Not that I have anything against taiwanese dramas in general - I actually really enjoy them. Fun and always entertaining. But immensely overacted. Formulaic. My complaint now is that chinese dramas are taking that very aspect of taiwanese dramas that I find really irritating - and plastering that over all their new idol dramas. Here are examples of that frustrationadfjklness pulled directly from 丝丝心动, china's most anticipated romantic comedy of this year. From the very start... a grandma with a wig, rapping and dancing.

Let's say I'm wealthy. Dream house. Dream job. Etc. (meme)

Yes, this is the second one in my 'dreamin of having monayy' series of posts. Basically, this entry is going to be a list of all the things I would do if I were rich - for instance, a CEO marketing person, or a famous movie director, or a publicist. Actually just whatever. Pretending I'm rich. That is.

1. Live in a luxurious apartment in the grand city of Beijing... The large apartment complex, or just the building, sits on top of a famous japanese crepe shop. Or cake shop, whatever. Every morning, I would get to order a small, delicious crepe filled with strawberries, frozen yogurt, cheesecake...

2. Go on frequent business trips, and stay at the Park Hyatt hotel in Tokyo, or the Shangri-la in Beijing. Just fancy business hotels would be great.

3. I'd have a fitness room all to myself. With an instructor who motivates me to jog 4 miles every morning and coaches me in tennis and volleyball.

4. I would invite myself in all the movie premieres I want, especially at film festivals in Asia... Maybe even walk on the red carpet!

5. Every time I visit Seoul, I would go to their famous saunas to relax. Instead of feeding boiled eggs to my mother-in-law like in korean dramas, I would eat my favorite icecreams there. Ice cream on freshly-baked, berry pies. Mmm.

6. Film my own music videos! Or even web series. Since I'll have my own studio and crew. That would be a dream come true. I've always thought of doing full series just like in those asian dramas we all enjoy, but the thing with my ideas are - none of them have ever come through fully. Usually the problems that arise are - not having the time to get everyone together, camera not functioning, or my scripts for them haven't been fully completed.

7. Get first class tickets booked for my family every time we travel anywhere! We've always rode economy, so time for a change! Plus, I've always wanted to travel in first class... sounds like you get a lot more space to sit (and not get squashed in your seat!), and just really really comfortable overall.

Okay, that's all, I'm pretty much done with this list as I have nothing else really to add :) Have a great day everyone!

What I would get if I had the money...

Aka What I would want if I was rich enough to not care about my spending. This is a just for fun thing so that I won't get bored. Heh. Yes, they are all material items, I'm not going to write a list like this just to add in 'honesty' and 'reliableness' and all the other crap that I've seen other people blog about... because this is in fact, a material items entry - so I'm going to be direct about it. Plus, I'm not actually asking people to get them for me...
This list is going to look like a wishlist, and I'll have another entry coming right up, and that one is going to be 'If I get rich...' (basically me listing out all of the things I would accomplish for my family, friends, etc).

1. Hermes scarf - after seeing a hk video called Seven Ways to Wear a Hermes Scarf, the halter top looked so luxurious and pretty on the model that I'm falling in love with Hermes a little too! Actually I might not want to get it myself, I'll have a guy get it for me. Puahaha.

2. Adobe Premiere Pro - yes haha, I totally would!! So expensive, but going to be so worth it since I love video editing and I dedicate a lot of time with it. Might as well get Adobe After Effects too, while I'm at it.

3. Unlimited supply of Red Mango - just the original frozen yogurts will do. I will definitely. Get. Them. In. LARGE. Size. Never going to go cheap again. That is, if I were rich, of course.

4. Porsche - porsche cars are absolutely my favorite type of cars. I'm not even that interested in cars, but porsches are just adorable.

5. Airplane tickets to Japan and a personal tour guide - because I love japan. Culture-wise, Drama-wise, Shopping-wise. Oh, while we're on that, I'd like to go shopping at their famous Shibuya 101 location and not be afraid to buy all those pricey cute clothing!

6. The Canon XH A1 - entry level, prosumer video camera!! FOSHO.

7. A luxurious, big shower room with a large shelf - Claustrophobic me. Plus it would be nice if it could come with a soft, fluffy rug so that whenever I step out of the shower, I'd not have to step on the cold, bare floor. Or accidentally slip because the floor's too slippery wet.

8. A library of 'self-advice' books. Or a library of marketing advice books. Love em.

9. My own tennis courts! I'm starting to enjoy tennis a lot, but oftentimes, I don't want to go all the way to the public tennis courts so that I can play two hours of tennis with so many people watching. You know?

10. Personal tutor. Personal trainer (workout person). Personal dessert cooker. If there's such a thing.

Excited for Playful Kiss, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, and Meteor Shower 2!

First of all, I'm so hyper about Playful Kiss, the new korean adaption of Japanese's cute manga of a dumb-girl-smart-guy romance story... and if you are wondering, yes, this is the same story as famous 2005 taiwanese drama It Started With A Kiss! Starring Ariel Lin and Joe Cheng. What a sweet story that was :)
This version is going to have Kim Hyun Joong (violin guy from Boys Before Flowers) and Jun So Min (newbie gal who played Mo rae in Bad Guy) playing the two main characters, Zhi Shu and Xiang Qin. In this case, they're called Seung-jo and Ha-ni. Hanii sounds like an adorable name already! 
Now here's a little sneak peek at the cute pair...

Yes, I did snatch this, but it was awfully adorable! Credits to dramabeans of course.

 When I first saw this picture of the two, I'll be honest... I burst out in laughter. Hyun Joong looked so awkwardly poised! Almost robotic if you look at his expressions... or lack of any. Bahaha. Sorry, he just looked so funny like that. So Min on the other hand made me go 'awww'. So familar to Ariel's expressions and gestures in ISWAK! Good good memories.
I know this hasn't aired yet, but I predict this will have a ton of fans by the time the drama's finished broadcasting. I hope it's as fantastic as those pictures show!

Now onto My Girlfriend is a Gumiho. I actually wasn't all over this at the start, but dramabeans convinced me to give this drama a chance! Plus I got a little more interested after seeing the mini teaser of this today. This is from the Hong sisters as well (who wrote the scripts for You're Beautiful!).

Meteor Shower 2 is coming right up!! In early August. So exciteddd.

Movie Review: Love In Cosmo《摇摆de婚约》

Yes, I've finally gotten around to doing my first..ever. Full-length movie review.


Love in Cosmo, a pretty sweet and short 90 minute film, starrs Yao Chen and Zhu Yu Chen.
In a nutshell, Shun (Yao Chen), a stylish editor of Cosmo magazine is with fiance two-timer. One morning, she jumps on top of a stranger on her fiance two-timer's bed, hoping to surprise him. He finally lets go of the covers and upon realising a complete stranger, she whacks him with her hair dryer and screams. This stranger turns out to be Jun Hao (Zhu Yu Chen's character!), her fiance's best bud who has no where to stay. Soon after, Shun gets demoted to work as a warehouse admin and her fiance dumps her. In begins Shun and Jun Hao's wacky relationship as pretend husband and wife!

Yao Chen  - Shun Jia
Zhu Yu Chen - Jun Hao
Guo Xiao Dong - the two-timing fiance




The title, with it's creative pinyin insert of 'de' set this movie apart from the others I looked at. Also, the movie poster's unique design was really attractive, bright splashes of color and character placements.
Now, on to the plot. At the start, I found the story a bit unbelievable. Mules in photoshoots running amok.

Fan Bing Bing as Madam Jin is absolutely gorgeous and Vic Zhou is really cute

I looked on Chinese Hulu's right-hand side today, and found a listing of the top rated and 50 of the most popular dramas in mainland entertainment thus far... and guess which gem I've found? Granted, if you've read the title, you'll already know what I mean. One of Fan Bing Bing's 2009 dramas, underrated I must say, The Last Night of Madam Jin (aka 金大班). Dramawiki definitely gave me a heads up on this months back, but as interesting the casting looked, I could never find it on Youtube or any other streaming sites I usually went to. So I gave up, since no one really provided any recaps or incentives for me to see it. But today, I came across this along with a few other chinese shows I wanted to see - so I decided to give my usual one episode chance, and this drama emerged as a winner. In fact, I'm on episode 6 of Madam Jin already, and I'm still hooked, which is quite a feat for a 1940s setting of a drama.

The plot is what get my continuing interest - Madam Jin was actually a daughter in a very rich family, but she was switched at birth with a girl who had a family-inherited disease. Henceforth, her fate with poverty led her to become a dance hostess at an infamous Shanghai club. This story explores Madam Jin's love life and how her whole life could have been different if she was not switched.

Food Lesson...

Never drink honey with hot water again. Or never eat gimbap with honey water again. Or actually, never eat a dozen gimbaps, plus a bag of hoshi ume, plus honey water in one sitting. Sigh. Major stomach bloating. Like a balloon ready to explode. Throwing up. No appetite at all. Even after seeing the delicious chinese snacks in "奋斗" episode 6-7. Omg. After 3 hours. Still a minor bloating and that feeling you get after choking on swimming pool water. My vision is a little blurred still, like a little dazed kind of way. Awful eating habits.

My Snack of the Day

Umeboshi... but I think this particular snack should go by 'hoshi ume' since it's more a portable snack than a seasoning for a meal or onigiri. Umeboshi = dried prune. So hoshi ume is a dried prune snack! I love this stuff. It's tart and reminds me of the chinese hua mei..mm.. I've grew up loving that stuff. Really sour, but tasty. I guess it's not easy to explain, but the taste is asdfjklajfa delicious.

I got this from my local japanese store.

Talk about Podcasts!!

I'm listening to Dramabeans' second podcast right now, as I'm typing these words.

Recently I learned that my friend is a radio dj for a kpop radio!! On an online forum and stuff like that. After listening to her broadcast, I got inspired to try out recording too, not for online kpop forums or anything like that, but doing them instead of my usual video vlogs. I started recording around the 13th of this month. When I started, I was really excited because using audacity to mix my recording with music made me feel like I'm actually a radio show host! Although my voice isn't terribly exciting, I think this is a good way to prepare myself for class presentations in the future, don't you think? No, I'm not thinking about doing radio broadcasts antime soon. But yes. My new obsession. First came journals, then blogs, then vlogs thanks to youtube, and now podcasts! Fun stuff.

What I love to do...

I'm just on a roll with blog posts aren't I? Here, I'm going to talk about the three main things I love doing, and how I think they relate to what I'd like to do a few years from now. Yes, I'm talking about future careers.

1) I love traveling, learning about other cultures, and languages. I love messing with the World Clock converter to see what people from (for instance) Beijing would be doing about....now. It's always exciting when my family plan summer/winter trips to somewhere far from where we live, I think exotic. Culture-wise, I think I would love travelling to Beijing, Tokyo, and Paris... Especially Beijing and Tokyo because both are filled with asians, kind of nostalgic for me personally, and around every street corner, you see handsome asian hunks or a random celebrity poster stuck to a bus stop post. Also, I love the building structures... apartments inside big buildings, the nearby convenience stores selling icecream, the street vendors with their street snackage...

2) I love directing people and telling them how they should feel when they are in one character or the other. Related to this, I also enjoy recording videos of all my memories with my family and friends. Plus, I edit my own videos as professionally as possible, with the given materials and softwares. I would go online and find all the possible tutorials when I want to create a specific video effect, and then go download a trial version of a software that I get recommended. Then, I would spend hours and hours perfecting my video so that the end product would always make me proud.

3) I love designing innovative posters and creating crafts out of what I have. Often, my school projects turn out very decent, even if I procrastinate until the night before to do them. One of the best memories of school, for me, was fourth grade when all the kids were participating in our Econ fair - and my buddies and I grouped together to create an innovative toy to sell to the 3rd and 2nd graders.

2/3/2010 - Koizora Movie Review and rants about asian blogs

Bumbleberri's drama of the day...

"amanda.."
"mm?"
"HA JI MAL GOR GU RE SO..."
"omgsh no bumbleberri no"
(someone else) "Ha. Ji. Mal go reee so! An bo riii. *RAPS*"
"haha that's a good idea! I like it!"
"Thanks!" roflll
"bumbleberri... I don't want to sing that cuz the song gets into my head"
"Tu ne peux pas chante cette chanson parce que tu ne peut pas parle le Coree! rofl."

***
Sina.com/cn - popular mainland chinese blog
Ameblo.jp - popular japanese blog
Naver.com - popular korean blog
***
EDIT: omg haha funny. I've always had a korean Yahoo blog without knowing it. Apparently if you have a registered yahoo email address, you automatically get a korean blog, is that right? I've just posted my first entry in it, fun fun. I wonder how to change the blog background though, not that I dislike it, but it's probably the korean default bg, and I want to make mine unique.

THIS IS PROBABLY THE nth TIME I'M REWATCHING "Koizora the Movie"... but this movie is strangely growing on me, every single time I come back and watch it again (usually more and more hq and with more understanding of japanese).

2/1/2010 - Little Babbling about My Two Favorite Asian Actors, and Goo Hara hairstyle!

Bumbleberri's drama of the day...

Q: What does it mean when you've been upstaged?


A: It means someone has done something more dramatic or interesting or significant than what you have done and drawn attention away from you or from your achievement and redirected the attention to themselves.
 
***
I love Jang Geun Suk, but his fashionista sense is a little...whacked. I guess you just can't have it all. I mean, if you are extremely tall, lean, well-built, have a adorable baby face, a melting smile, and just charming overall...then I guess we can just overlook his unique-but-controversial outfits that he likes to wear. 
Same thing goes for Yamapi, he's dashing, has a down-to-earth personality, pretty/boyish face, well defined body, polite, and of course that little bit of dorkiness that he sometimes shows. Yet. Yet... even Yamapi makes mistakes. And I will have to say that it is the uncountable times he's changed (and colored!) his hair. If you've been a fan of him or followed his magazine pictures/activities/dramas he's done, for EVER new drama, you can expect him to have a radical new hairstyle to match that drama.
 Of course I haven't forgotten Kim Bum! lol, he's actually my second fave after Yamapi keke. But Bummie doesn't have anything like questionable hairstyles/fashion or anything extreme like that. But then again, we don't know as much about him yet, you never know. He might just surprise us lol.

Today, by far was probably the most exciting day in english we've spent this school year. We got in groups and made up allegories/stories, trying to describe this painting of a nude man and woman. Anyways, of course, hilarious things ensued. "And she bounced away on her bubble because she only had one shoe..."
And I'm becoming a little fobby now. With the plaid (yellow/black) bookbag - no, it doesn't look ugly, it's very cute actually imao! ( i say this too many times ahaha) And sporting Goo Hara's fringe ponytail from this video.

1/6/2010 - planning out my drama project

Bumbleberri's drama of the day...
***
Vaseline: Brow groomer, lip-gloss (blended with any color), use on eye lids to make them look bigger, can remove make up, great moisturizer for routh knees and elbows, face moisturizer, use it tame fly always and split ends
• Eye Shadow: Brow filler, eye liner, can be used as a highlighter on your face, use it as a blush, as a lip color.

• Bronzer: Use it as an eye shadow, self tanner, create a little bit of cleavage, as a face sculptor
 - from E.L.F
pretty useful stuff! though I know about these tips already, but it's still good to review them so you don't forget right? 
---
Since yesterday night, I've been doing a lot of thinking (no kidding, XD)...  and I have decided to embark on a brand-new drama project - though the actual filming part will be a few months later bc I have finals atm. This drama currently has a working title, which is called "The Dorama Girl". (I know, very cheesy, but get used to it until I change it!)
 
This is just a simple story featuring a girl who watches too many dramas (hmm..think this sounds familar?) while attending high school in the US. She gets so addicted, she begins incorporating dialogues from various asian/english drama into her own life. Now, folks, this is a girl who also aspires to become an actress herself and make it big in some asian country (ex: Beijing, Tokyo), but her strict asian parents deem it to be impossible to her.
So in a way, this drama sounds like a exaggerated version of my own life, but in fact, it's not. Surprising as it might seem to some individuals, this reflects a vast majority of our large, asian drama-watching population. I'm aiming for this project to be the best scripted, funniest drama you have seen. Definitely not venturing into the serious drama territory. Now, I'm just debating whether I should plan this one out to be a weekend drama (ex: 家有儿女, Assorted Gems) or more of a 'idolish drama' (ex: You're Beautiful, Who Controls My Youth?)

1/5/2010 - Future career options and new drama brainstorming

Bumbleberri's drama of the day...

***
Argh. So much for putting a halt to my long-time pursuit of growing up to become a drama director/ film director. Only a couple days ago, I had finally finally understood why getting a successful career as a drama director would be almost an impossible task in the market these days. And mom and dad were right. I think. So I opted for the next best career, doing something along the lines of Marketing (reminscing my dalja's spring days..her character was a marketing director or smth, just thought I'd fill you in if you didn't know lol). Or advertsing manager, something artsy/creative would be good. But as I anticipate the new Hong Lou Meng mainland drama coming up on CNY, and yesterday's epiphany I had (actually I don't think the word epiphany makes sense here but I can find the words to describe this otherwise haha) - while I was doing my hw notes, I suddenly brainstormed a very original storyline for a new drama series, and the thought totally bugged me until I finally had it down on a piece of index card I grabbed that was lying around. This project is one that I want to begin around spring of this year, continuing throughout this year's summer break (hopefully). And honestly, I'm really hyper and excited about doing this. I remember the last time I had this kind of epiphany (for lack of better words) was one night in October of 2007, whilst I was dreaming. XD
So guess what I did that time? I forced myself awake (it was 2am)...grabbed a giant piece of paper, and begin writing nonstop on it, full of ideas for the story I wanted to write into a fanfiction novel about. I didn't stop until my fingers were cramped, after filling up the whole page - front and back - until 2:30 am. A full, nicely thought out love story about my favorite otp pair at the time, Yamaki. Unfortunately, I never got the story finished. Me and my incompletedness.
However, I don't want to give up and just stop like last time, this time I won't let that idea slip past me. I WILL make it happen :) Watch for this drama, folks! Along with your favorite, anticipated dramas y'all watch, I hope you will support mine as well, I'm confident that this drama will not fail me. Thank you!! And stay tuned for updates! Won't take long! :D

Another note, I think I'm more interested in the cinamatography field than just good ol' scriptwriting. This is just something I'm beginning to notice about myself, I'm more interested in the different camera angles dramas do, where to pose the camera for the best/emotional effects,... etc. But I also wish to do some directing, such as where the actors are supposed to stand/sit, interpreting the script, and imagining how the actors would portray those emotions. I love to have discussing about these sort of things, but I also like to boss people around *ducks away in shame*, maybe I'm cut out for directing? Actually, or not, because I've just remembered having made a bunch of music videos so far (each eating away ~ 5 hours of my day), treasuring them dearly, and wishing for a more professional program like Sony Vegas/Adobe Premiere to edit my videos...

Inspired By:
http://www.dramabeans.com/kdrama-scripts/
http://www.screenwriting.info/
Broke Up Today - younha MV
Seoul Song - SUJU ft. SNSD

I would love starting with short films like Goo Hye Sun (or even entering them into contests...sounds so amazing to me right now)... but I've already done one already, and I really hope to finish my new drama idea and focus on it before I move onto something else.

Ubiquitous Yogurt Drink - the Yakult!

Growing up, these small plastic jugs of the yogurt-like drink showed up everywhere. I've seen them stocked up in asian friends' houses, at local supermarkets, during kids fairs... all the time and just everywhere. One thing I never knew was the name of that darn drink! Even after Lee Minho from Boys Before Flowers filmed a whole commercial for the new "Banana Milk flavor" version of it!

Just this morning, while I went in search of my childhood favorite japanese sweet - I came across - FINALLY, the wikipedia page of that mysterious drink! Yakult. Funny name eh? For those who haven't checked it out yet, you definitely should! It's very detailed for a wiki page, and go there and just have fun with it alright? Maybe someone out there reading this entry right now had the same childhood questions about the name of this yummy drink too! So now you know... :)

5 Best Food Pairings

Okay. Another food post. As you can see, I'm really craving for food at the moment. Haha. So here's another one to make you start craving too! Muahaha.

Again, the pictures in this entry were googled up, so all credits belong to their respective owners.

1. Cookies and milk

 

2. Doughnut and coffee

3. Grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup

4. cake roll and green tea

5. Chinese Doughnut and soymilk (the doughnut isn't sweet btw, so don't be grossed out)

I'm craving for sweets... How about some asian sponge cake with some Japanese-style crepes?

These days, while my dad is the the hospital, I'm stuck around the house, so why not opt for some snacks to lighten up the mood? A few days ago, when my aunt and uncle came to visit, I experimented with Castella cake - which really turned out to be a success. Later, I tried the asian sponge cake that one would find in Asia, usually for birthday cakes - and as luck would have had it - mine turned out just as scrumptuous as those birthday cakes. (Kudos to the recipe) Especially after the whipped cream and fresh strawberries went on. Yumm.

Here's to Asian desserts! Just pick something below and I'll make it for youu... I know I'm far from an expert, but at least I can make decent desserts haha.
(this post is mostly dedicated to my family and friends, but it looks all so delicious right? hope it gives everyone inspiration to make cakes and other yummy snacks.)

Ps. I'm really craving #1 right now...mmm.

Disclaimer: None of these images (below, within this entry) belong to me. I googled them, so all of these pictures belong to their respective owners. Thank you!

1. Cheesecake Crepe

Introducing: recent Chinese dramas and movies

《摇摆de婚约》, 《娱乐没有圈》, and《杜拉拉升职记》.
   (Love In Cosmo)          (Entertainment Has No Circle)             (Dulala's Promotion)

Let's start with 摇摆de婚约. This is a newly released film that combines high-fashion, love, and some really familar characters. The beginning portion really had me hooked with it's quick visuals and superb editing. Plus we have the guy from Who Controls My Youth back as the male lead! Really funny and cute guy. The female lead is best described as spunky. Wacky. Careless. All the same, fabulously clumsy. Yup, looking forward to finishing this film - currently half way through.

娱乐没有圈 starts off cliche. It's almost like a mainland verison of... any idol taiwanese drama related to the entertainment industry. I do like the heroine though, she's really cute and funny and quite an unique character. Editing makes this show go round. They even had all the characters say their introductions to the camera, risking their show to corniness. But since I've only seen the first episode, I'm not here to judge this series...yet. Overall, I've found myself enjoying the series, despite it's downfalls, so try thsi if you haven't, and tell me what you think about it. Might get better as it goes along, it does have potential.

Want to watch high quality dramas online?

I've definitely been to quite a few internet streaming sites to watch my favorite asian dramas before, not a surprise compared to seasoned drama fanatics right? Youtube, crunchyroll, dailymotion, veoh, mysoju, dramacrazy, dramafever... For specifically new mandarin videos or new korean dramas, the go-to places are tudou and youku correct? Well not anymore. Because guess what spending a couple minutes searching for good mainland dramas to watch helped me find? A sohu online video heaven! Haha, yes! It's the videos section of the site, which has an extensive collection of asian tv series (majority are korean, taiwanese, and mainland shows). The best part is that when you click open a video, the first things you notice are it's high quality big screen, Hulu-like features, and no commercial pausing in between!

Actually, I can best describe this site as a Chinese version of Hulu! For instance, high quality, a movie theater function, and a big screen function. Personally, I'm a big fan of watching a video without commerical breaks, so this video site is perfect! Highly recommended for drama addicts. :)

Another reason why I love this site is that it offers full series (so that you don't have to go search up newer episodes)... and it ranges from the very popular dramas to the trickier-to-find-ones that aren't as popular, but ones that you really just about tried everywhere to find! For me, it was Dulala's Promotion, and a ton of other mainland dramas I've always seen listed on dramawiki, but ones I can never find on Youtube, like not even a trace of them sometimes.
I'm currently watching 媳妇的美好时代, translates to "A Beautiful Era of a Bride". At first the acting seemed stiff to me, but then I went back to the first episode, I immediately got hooked. The dialogue deserves praise, not on the same level as the witty Who Controls My Youth, but it's definitely realistic in terms of how Beijingese people would communicate. I guess it's more of a 'housewife' drama series, but the interactions were pretty hilarious, so I would keep a look out for this show. Also simutaneously buffering, are 《杜拉拉升职记》, 《爱在日月潭》, and 《北方有佳人》.

I'm watching a bit of the third one, and it looks very well-made. It stars Lin Miao Ke and Kou Zhun Hai (the famous actor who often plays emperors in dramas). Miao Ke might have a not-so-pleasant rep to people because of the Olympics controversy, but her acting is still decent, and really engaging to watch. Furthermore, the show is set in the 1940s and has a really nice tone to it. After skipping around and watching episode 13 right now, the show does drag on a little, not in the korean drama way, but more so becoming boring because the direction of the plot is getting too ambiquious. Also, the drama and suspense is getting toned down. Although I do want to mention that this drama is rather entertaining compared to the various other dramas set in this period. Now, let's talk about the other two I mentioned.

Du la la's Promotion starts off really light, yet has a distinct 'wang luo dan' drama flair - meaning authentic, mainland drama, with some quirky sides, lighthearted humor, distinctively different from just another idol drama. On the other hand, Love at Sun Moon Lake starring a charismatic pair, Ruby Lin and the cute guy from Struggle, is beginning to remind us of an early 2000s idol drama. Although it's cute and cheery and makes one wonder if Ruby Lin never ages, it's unlikely that I will pick that one up again any time soon. Reason? Cliche storyline. Also, did they really have to put in a theme tune that is 90 percent ripped off of a historical drama - namely Young Yang Warriors' "Farewell Poem"?

A Drama A Day Keeps the Boredom Doctor Away?

For lack of a more clever phrase. I know it sounds corny and unoriginal, but that's not the point of this entry. I'm embarking on a new drama, a japanese drama today. It's called Mioka, and it's about this girl who has a brain illness that shortens her life, and the episodes show her last love story she's about to experience with a boy named Taichi. At the premise, the drama kind of makes you think 2 things: it's a doomed love for sure, and it's going to be a long, tedious ride. But not really. From the very first episode, Mioka really drew me in through it's beautiful voiceovers and weaves in seamlessly how our lead heroine (in this case, is she a heroine) gives no care for anyone else, and she does things however she likes; including swinging poles wildly at another girl's boyfriend (who practically went out and played with the girl's feelings), and randomly jumping into public water fountains just because she's happy. She's definitely not insane, it's just kind of her way of showing the world that she can live her last days to the fullest through her actions.

This drama also touches a lot on the life of the male love interest (played by Kento, sharkboyy) - he lives on top of a restaurant, he looks half-caucasian, he has a cute group of friends, and his sister looks like Shida Mirai. I'm kidding, but you get the idea. After seeing the first episode, I'm going to say, my impression was really good. The storytelling was rather straightforward, the tone was actually really light, to my surprise, compared to the dark mood of the synopsis. Also, another thing that makes me excited is that this is Yoshitaka Yuriko's first main role in a drama! I've seen her in Love Shuffle, Tokyo DOGS, and some other dramas, but she's always been a side character, even though her character shines a lot.

Having Yuriko's character 'doomed' from the start eliminates that driven angst that the melo-kdramas can't get away from. I personally think this is a better idea for a story because people will like how brutally honest the story is, and also just gets the story so that it'll be able to focus on the other purposes of the drama, such as the love story, and the girl's determination, stuff like that.

Favorite japanese drama in over 5 months?

Tumbling has been around for a couple of months already, the main target for the jdrama, being teenagers. The cast includes Yusuke, Seto, and Miura Shohei - a handful of guys from the Seventeen magazine favorite ikemen. Not that I didn't like the plot, the cm and the casting of yusuke put me off a bit. So instead of giving this drama a try, I ignored it whenever I saw the title on mysoju or dramacrazy. Plus the poster showed the guys in what looked like pink and white tutus. Not too appealing.
Today though, I'm currently watching impatiently for the next episode of Calling for Love, meanwhile seeing the words Tumbling in big, bold letters on dramacrazy. So I told myself, since it's almost the last episode (uploading with english subs on dramacrazy is relatively slow), why not just give one episode a try. The reviews for this seems positive as well.
So I tried it, I'm on the first episode right now... and turns out, it IS really interesting, livelier than I had imagined. One of the biggest surprises I got from the drama so far, was the 'pretty' new transfer student, Mari. On first glance, she seemed like one of those 90s beauties. She looked confident, and her voice sounded cute. Strangely, I found her laughing face familiar, and that bugged me, so I did some research on dramawiki. Turns out, Seventeen model Okamoto Azuka plays this character!! Omg. I could barely tell. I had disliked Azuka as a model in Seventeen because she had always seemed so fake-looking and I couldn't get into liking her no matter how I saw her. But here, I had found her likable immediately. So this deifnitely goes to show how different a person's image could be shown in acting as compared to just their face on a magazine spread.
Anyways, I think I'm really going to like this drama, so I'll probably continue watching this!

Late Summer Must-Watch!

Let's anticipate the beginning of another school year! No haha. Let's focus now: summer vacation!

Meteor Shower 2, Hong Lou Meng, and the japanese movie, Hana Mizuki will be out mid-August!
I'm so pumped for them! Especially Hana Mizuki, with a stellar cast including Aragaki Yui, Ikuta Toma, and our lovable side character, Mukai Osamu.

Meteor Shower 2 is going to be cute because zheng shuang is cute, zhu zixiao is cute, and the story is going to be cute. So yeah. Most importantly, I've seen the first Meteor Shower series and it was not satisfying because they freaking left a cliff hanger at the end.
Hong Lou Meng is going to be beautiful, sophisticated, and boring. Why boring? Because half of the main leads are old women, and Dream of the Red Chamber is a long tragedy. I want to watch it for yang yang (the guy who plays the teenage male lead) and the chemistry of him and jiang meng. He's my new crush. Teehee. Yeah, I just copied nigahiga because he's cool, that's right.
Well, as for Hana Mizuki, self explanatary right? Aragaki Yui's last movie project, Koizora, was too kdrama like, tragic tragic. So Hana Mizuki better give me a refund for all those tears I cried during Koizora. No, just kidding. I didn't cry, but only because I read too many reviews on that movie before I watched it, and because when I watched it online, all they had was the raw video. Meaning no english subtitles, meaning I just ruined the movie for myself. But I still want to see Gakky in another romance movie, so I'm going to pick this one up. Yup, that's all the rant I'm doing today folks. Have fun reading? :)


I'm going to go back and add to my 2009-2010 official dramas and movies watchlist, so watch for that. But before I do that, I am going to write an update on my summer plan:

- family emergency, so cancelled flight to china last minute
- study ap calc and sat stuff
- run, do tennis, yadayada
- going back and fixing/updating my old music videos
- make videos and edit them with sony vegas
- eat frozen yogurt ALL THE TIME
- get acne free face
- make lists (you guys know this is my fave!)
- think about colleges
- volunteer like crazy
- hm. you might say I forgot something on this list, but no worries! WATCH DRAMAS.
- mmhm. that's it for now.

Reaching for the Stars - Episode 8!

This is not a recap or anything like that, just some Chen Zhi Kai fangirling!

Episode 8 is one of the cutest Zhi Kai (Ya Wei) episodes I've seen thus far, since I'm jsut skipping around, as I have finished this series a long time ago. So a brief summary... A dance party between all the rich CEOs of big companies, and Xiao Nuo (Ella) trips while dancing with Ya Wei (Zhi Kai) and Zheng Hao comes to rescue her from embarrassment. Meanwhile, Lei Lei's mom pushes her to dance with Ya Wei. The next day, Lei Lei has a conversation with Ya Wei about why their mothers keep on encouraging their relationship for the sake of their companies. Cutest thing ever, that Ya Wei!! His personality is just so sunny, and adorable and likeable... it's probably really hard for anyone, including Xiao Rou (Hebe) to push this charming guy away. So on with the summary, Lei Lei starts teasing Ya Wei about his crush on a new girl (turns out to be Xiao Rou)... cutest thing ever! A Must Watch scene. Ya Wei gives some pretty sweet love advice here too. Mr. love doctor. Later, Ya Wei finds an excuse to go see Xiao Rou and manages to get her name and number, while pretending to use her cell phone because his phone ran out of battery. Sneaky sneaky.

Let's Talk about Asian Drama Kissing!

I hate twdrama kissing. Because the actors touch lips and bam, an annoying loud theme song begans blasting nonstop into your ears just because it's THE MOMENT again for the millionth time. Or the male lead gets this hungry look in his eyes before he devours the girl's mouth.

Kdrama and jdrama. Unpredictable? Actually jdrama is more predictable because 90% of the time, it's just lip-touching-lip. Kdrama on the other hand, range from the mediocre lip lockings in One Fine Day and Full House - to seductive glances and full makeout sessions in Coffee Prince and A Man Called God.

And then there are the dramas that were such a fun ride that you didn't even notice how good or bad the kissing was or don't even remember if there was any in the first place!

Which ones do that sound like? Who Controls My Youth, You're Beautiful, Call of the Country, and Seigi no Mikata! Asian movies included! Do you recall any kissing in Innocent Steps? I don't see any. But wasn't that rom-com ride fun? YesOMG. At least for me.

Okay, so now for a complete list of drama actors and actresses who can do really nice kissing scenes, to look out for if you don't want slob-fest or the wood plank kissing...

mainland chinese actors
gimme a moment..oh!
charlene choi (well she responds well to mike's mouth ;)
zhang han (mmhhm. haha. sweet kisses.)
wang luo dan (runs up to fang yu... french kiss!)

taiwanese actors
ariel lin (very good kisser, I've seen a ton of her dramas. good acting and kissing!)
mike he (as much as I don't like to admit it)
joe cheng (yes, joe and ariel pair is STEAMY. I mean ariel, whoa. joe, whoa. Together. WHOA)
vic zhou (very nice very nice. don't like his eyebrows too much though.)
dylan kuo (pretty intense kissing from knock knock loving you)
ethan ruan (NEVER forget his kisses, too dreamy)
wu zun (only because of his plump lips... makes you think he's a great kisser)

korean actors
song il gook (sure likes kissing... a lot. all of his co-stars i bet)
yoon eun hye (okay I don't think anyone was surprised)
lee minho (well we've seen it. boys before flower's countless kisses)


japanese actors
okay. this is a toughy.
yamapi (ever since buzzer beat, our boy has finally started really kissing!)
kitagawa keiko (she taught yamapi, i swear!)
matsumoto jun (maybe a little too good hmm. big lips.)
mukai osamu (he's good at everything mm)

Ya Wei and Xiao Rou.

I'm watching, actually re-watching a bunch of episodes from Reaching for the Stars (真命天女). This was a 2005 tw drama starring all three girls from famous girl band, S.H.E. And this stars Chen Zhi Kai, so of course I had to watch this for him! Episode 20 was so sad! The highlight of this episode was Xiao Rou's date with Ya Wei (Hebe and Chen Zhi Kai), but then Ya Wei's mom saw him and made Xiao Rou leave Ya Wei. Hopefully things go better in the next episode!
Honestly, I wouldn't mind the whole story just revolving around this pairing... they encompass 90% of the cuteness and funniness of this show.

Zhi Kai is so damn tall! 186 cm. That's taller than Kim Bum! Taller than Jang Geun Suk! That's why when he's with his female co-stars, he's usually gets with the taller, sophisticated women so that he won't look like a pedo. Just kidding! XD I'm really just saying that because I'm jealous of tall women and tall men. Please make me taller heheh.
Btw, doesn't he look so much like a cross between Wu Zun and Jae Hee??
(actually more acting-wise than picture-wise)

A new post in months!! 陳至愷 :)

I've just finished my marathon of movies this week! Nothing special of course, just Karate Kid, Boku no Hatsukoi Kimi ni Sasagu, BALLAD, and Akai Ito. I really liked Karate Kid and BALLAD among these... Not that the other two weren't good! They were... but really really depressing towards the end.

David Choi - That Girl
Brian Kang - Without Me
Terry He - You Will Always Be My Summer

Yup, into a bunch of youtube 'originals' by the unsigned musicians out there. Amazing songs though!

Miwa - Don't Cry Anymore
YUI - It's All Too Much
Nishino Kana - Motto

Just checked out a couple of really good jpop songs Definitely recommend all of these. I've been listening to some of them for weeks!
Other things...
I haven't played tennis in 2 weeks and my summer plan in Beijing got canceled. But now I guess I can focus on volunteering and stuff like that. Maybe like going to more summer hangouts? :) Optimism ftw.

He's handsome! Long hair or no.

    
Aww.. Ah Li. I love you, be mine. (watching Calling for Love episode 8) I'm seriously tearing up from what he says to De Xin...