my ajumma notes

Background:   ‘Vladivostok’ (shot in Latvia) Ladies:            Shin Se-kyung,  Jung Yoo-jin   These details were enough to bring me to the show. ‘Vladivostok’ wins – everything is so dark and dismal.  Unfortunately, the female characters weren’t sufficiently well-crafted.  It is true that Se-kyung has screen aura and is a visual glow in any scene where she appears (I think it might have been the director who said something along these lines) but Chae Seon-hwa should have been written with more layers.   Yoo-jin could also have been used better.  Her Agent Im had very limited scope too.   Zo In-sung is alright as Zo. Park Jeong-min was the one with depth of character and Park Geon reached those depths!  Se-kyung won best supporting actress for this, so I don’t know why he didn’t win best supporting actor.  Park Hae-jun (Hwang Chi-Seong) ...

Finally watched it, after thinking about watching it for more than a decade.   This was so much fun!    There was so much fighting, shooting and killing but one puts up with all that since it is, after all, a ‘secret service’ story.    There was way too much of the f word, though, and that was extremely tough to put up with.    Oh, my poor ears… do Brits really talk like that all the time??   S tiff upper lip and all? Colin Firth (Galahad/Harry Hart) was the reason why I wanted to watch this and he lives up to every expectation.    Charming, understatedly amusing, skilled agent – he was great but I would have preferred him to enunciate a bit more deliberately so that we can hear/understand what he’s saying without having to process the words too much. Taron Egerton (new Galahad/Eggsy) enunciates very clearly!   Such a  likeable character and I love how his talent and abilities are unravelled over time.    Also lo...

Ha. Who would have thought that Mr Darcy would one day become Mark Darcy and would one day become King and then king of the academy. I am real busy and should be busy doing what I am supposed to be doing but I just had to say that.

Boo hoo, where has all the rain gone? On the topic of Bambi, I chanced upon this Bambi video with a Rescuers song. And this list of 'The 10 Darkest Children's Movies', topped by Bambi . Somehow, I mostly remember just Thumper and other rabbits. Selective amnesia maybe. Or I didn't pay attention.

Warning: spoilers ahead It is not often that I watch non-TVB Chinese drama but I find myself following what I thought was a mainland serial, Infernal Lover . I thought it was weird that an idol drama guy (Mike He) was in a show with a largely mainland Chinese cast. I found out later that the show was by a Taiwanese and planned as an idol drama! Clever idea, I thought, idol drama in a historical setting (Republican period). In what sounds like quite a story in itself, due to problems with the original female lead and other stuff, they had to re-cast the cast, re-do parts of the story and re-film some of the scenes. And so it looks like what it does now. (Doesn't the other male lead look like Sammul Chan?) As with Royal Embroidery Workshop , I was fascinated by the (female) costumes and sets, and, really, not by the acting. I find mainland acting rather stage-y and staged. Mike He's style is so different. Plus, he had this modern floppy hair look while all the other (forgettabl...

The boy and I quite enjoy the current 9pm serial. Which Singaporean wouldn't be able to identify with themes such as school, homework, grades, tuition, Tiong Bahru market and dengue fever? Actually, I think 'My School Daze' is a rather lame version of the title. They could have used 'School Is Killing Me!', or 'My School Bag Is Killing Me' (milder) or 'My Back-breaking School Bag' (even milder) or something. I'm impressed by the acting of the kids (teens included) in the show. They are, on the whole, much more natural than some of the 'veteran' actors and actresses alongside them. Anyway, it is strange to see Ann Kok and Cynthia Koh acting as parents. I must have missed many years of local TV because the last time I saw them, they were doing 'sweet young thing' roles and now, they have suddenly become 'aunties'.

Confessions of A Shopaholic was fun. And it's always nice to have a young man with a British accent in the show, ha ha. During my habitual pondering on trivial matters, it struck me that chick flicks have a lot in common with the kind of K drama I watch. So it finally dawned on me that these K shows are just chick flicks in another language and culture. Ha ha, am I profound or what... Some people thought Sam Soon was like a Korean Bridget Jones. I don't really agree but of course there are a few similarities in their characters. I recently watched Spotlight and there you have Woo-jin, the broadcast journalist, which was what Bridget Jones was too. And then there is Kim Sun-ah (Sam Soon) in When It's Night , acting as a Sam Soon-like character but in a museum-national treasures setting... So everything seems to be related to everything... There is also that top-of-the-building scene, you know, when the guy or girl goes to the rooftop to reflect on something (usually bad) ...

I must confess that I wasn't one of the dunno how many million who were glued to the TV for the finale of The Little Nonya . I don't think I watched more than 10 minutes of the serial though I was initially curious about how the show would turn out. Well, as things turned out, I did not get the feel of jolly Bibiks and Dondang Sayang and such. Instead, it felt very much like a TCS melodrama... I liked the beautiful sets and costumes, though. Lovely. Oh well, I guess my not liking the show makes no difference because there were the dunno how many million who beat all records by tuning in to it. Actually, I'm not really one for epics. I did not survive either Oshin or Jewel of the Palace , with which Nonya has been compared. Not that they weren't interesting. Jewel was interesting but too long and slow-moving for me. Oshin was alright, I guess, but there was too much suffering. I mean, the poor girl just had so many unfortunate incidents happen to her that it became...

It's time once again to write about trivial topics, ha ha. I mentioned this K drama, 1% of Anything , sometime back. The title is grammatically odd but it is what the show is about - that even if there is a 1% possibility of something working out, there is that possibility of things turning out well in the end. I kind of like that storyline. It is a 2003 production, making it a contemporary of Stairway to Heaven and All In. Rom-coms weren't quite in yet at that time so it must have been quite a change from the usual fare then. This show will appeal to die-hard romantics and anyone interested in watching the precursors for many later rom-com scenes. I recognised so many scenes here that were copied in shows like My Girl , Goong , etc. (For all I know, maybe this show copied those ideas from elsewhere.) The show also has practically all the elements you would expect in K drama - rich family versus poorer family, blind dates and match making, best friends, one girl and two suit...

There is a strange story in today's ST, 'I think I saw Mas Selamat', a fairly graphic account of this person's (possible) close encounter with the man. A few strange things in this story. First, she said she saw a 'Malay man on the other side of Thomson Road.' How could she tell he was Malay from across the road? She noticed while he was walking near SJI (International) that 'he had a limp in his left leg'. Didn't the police say the limp is only noticeable if he's running or something like that? She said he looked 'scruffy', but why should he? I'm sure that in prison and detention centres, people have their baths and stuff. It's not as if they are left to rot there, right? She also said he looked 'dishevelled' and 'disoriented' and as though he didn't know where to head or what to do. Somehow, I find it hard to believe that an apparently astute and well-trained man like him would appear so 'lost'. Then,...

Warning: spoilers ahead! Never thought I'd ever blog about a Taiwanese drama serial, ha ha. It Started With a Kiss , starring Ariel Lin, Joe Cheng, Jiro Wang (from the boyband Farenheit) and many others. In summary, Ariel from the 'F' class has a crush on Joe, a genius (IQ 200) from the 'A' class. Her dad and Joe's parents are old friends so Joe's family takes them in when Ariel's home collapses in an earthquake. Jiro is also from the F class and has liked Ariel for a long time. I think this show will do very well with a Singaporean audience so perhaps Channel 8 or U should bring it in. The school scenes brought back so many memories - the Principal hauling up the F class teacher for their poor grades, Ariel struggling with Maths, Ariel struggling with her holiday homework, the F class boys falling asleep during the Principal's speech, wanting to do well in the exams, hanging out with your best friends, etc. When I watched the part when they went on...

Speaking of local drama serials, I happened to watch a bit of this one about doctors (seems like every other time I turn to Channel 8 there's a re-run of some old serial!) and I suddenly remembered that when I watched Rude Women , I thought the lead actress resembled Xiang Yun (who was in the doctor serial). Mi Joo, played by Yoo Ho-jeong

Fancy that, 25 years of local Chinese drama. I sent this article to A, who lives in SF, and she commented that she hadn't heard or thought about names like Friday Background or Chen Hanwei for a long time, ha ha. I believe we can still vote for our favourite local dramas. I won't be voting or watching the 25th anniversary show but I must name my favourite shows here. I didn't watch all the shows that are nominated so I'll just choose my top 3: Coffee Shop Tofu Street Good Morning, Sir ( The Awakening is iconic but not top on my list) Bottom 2: Golden Pillow As You Like It (Goodness, how did they get nominated??) Anyway, X-tongfang and I were recently discussing the slow progress in local drama standards. 25 years already, leh, and still like that... Also read that Prince Yul will be one of the presenters at the Star Awards . Does he speak Mandarin? Or English? (picture from here )

A couple of nights ago, I was stoning in front of the telly since it was the first day of the holidays and also, rain had interrupted the French Open . It was just as well, I suppose, because the last match telecast - and interrupted - was yet another boring Federer match. So, I was channel surfing and chanced upon Rondo and I Have a Date With a Vampire III . Vampire III I watched quite a bit of Vampire I and vaguely heard about a II but, wow, how did they manage to think up another storyline for III ??! Vampire I was so complicated and my brain was really tired following all the switching from past to present to future, living human lives and then reverting to vampires, vampire catchers and other immortal beings (I assume they are immortal because some of these guys have lived for 800 or 1000 years or something) and those mega fights in the skies of Hong Kong. Obviously, the show has quite a following and it must be one of ATV's huge successes. Won't be catching this seri...

Speaking of 'sway' spurned lovers, the latest one I've come across is in Love Revolution ( only 12 episodes!), a J show I recently watched. Heroine of the story is pretty, 30-ish Smart Doctor, who is dying to fall in love and get married. She meets Aspiring Actor and Broadcast Journalist (right). She falls for Broadcast Journalist like a ton of bricks. It's obvious from the start (to the audience but not to her) that Aspiring Actor is nuts about her. But... she has fallen for Broadcast Journalist like a ton of bricks already. No doubt, Smart Doctor and Broadcast Journalist must be given credit for their love that stands the tests of time, separation and misunderstanding, but the one who loves most in the show is undoubtedly Mr Aspiring Actor. What he does/does not do because of his undying love for Smart Doctor: Y does not pursue her at first because he is still struggling to survive in this small-time drama group and he knows he doesn't have much to offer Y resp...

I mean love of the celluloid kind. Read that the director or producer or writer or whatever of Sam Soon was here, checking out possible shoot locations. That seemed like a what’s-the-big-deal non-news kind of news item. After all, K drama has featured Indonesia, Thailand, China, Japan, and even places like Prague and Paris . Ah, but it could be a learning opportunity our local industry. I’m not sure how well Mediacorp’s attempt at romantic comedy, the Cowherd-Weaving Maiden show, did in its ratings. I watched a bit of it to see what it was about. I think the idea of the Cowherd being a milk salesperson and the Weaving Maiden a fashion person is cute. For Mediacorp’s sake, I hope that is an original idea. Bolstered by a couple of reliable veterans and the guy playing that effeminate, muscular character, the show has a lot of potential. However, I still had the feeling that it was rather ‘raw’. Nevertheless, it’s a definite step up – or maybe many steps up – from that (yawn) shipyard ...