Holiday's over, back to the battlefield...

Well, it's been a long mental break and a short physical break...  stopped work at my old place on the 6 Jan... threw myself into the duties at the market store, waking up at 6am every day, and not getting home till 5pm until the 20th... 14 days of intense physical activities has left me with a sore and aching body (yup, my neck and shoulder injury has been aggravated once again). But mentally, other than the stress of worrying about over-ordering of stock during this festive period... I was relaxed mentally and was in bed by 1030/11pm each night...

Then it was 3 days of rather toned down celebrations... gambling kept to a minimal... no mood and lady luck ain't with me... losses to date, one month's transportation funds. hahaha... dammit! but come to think of it.. I did win some on the eve... so.. it could be about half month's transport... anyway... we are in the red people!

So, it suddenly hit me last night.. that this would be my last night of being jobless... tonight when I sleep, I will do so knowing that my alarm clocks will be turned on again, and that I will have to wake up when it rings, and my work life begins again. It was such a depressing end to my saturday... SAD...

Ah well, it is definitely better to be employed than unemployed...today... my last day of freedom.. and since it's my last day, I shall summarize what I did, beside working at the market store and from my CNY celebrations, from the moment I left my old job. I watched a massive amount of Korean dramas... HAHAHA... MASSIVE!

1. Cityhall (시티홀, 市政厅), 4-stars
Watched and completed the show. The political intrigue provided an added dimension to an otherwise normal romance show. Of course, the lead actor and actress Cha Seung Won and Kim Sun Ah are the people I like. For those who don't know, Cha Seung Won is the guy from "The Greatest Love", while Kim Sun Ah is from the very famous "My Lovely Sam Soon!". Chemistry was good, I was glad for the wardrobe and hairstyle change about 10 episodes into the show for Kim Sun Ah... and I am starting to wonder whether Cha Seung Won would ever appear in a drama show and not be in a three-piece suit! :P Of course, he looks terribly dashing in them...

2. Sungkyunkwan Scandal (성균관 스캔들, 成均館), 3.5-stars
Watched and completed the show. Typical show where girl hides in an all boys school, insert comic elements, funny situations... it's a standard sure-win formula in a "period drama"... and I also like the insertions of Confucius teachings within the show... :) Park Yoo Chun (that dude from JYJ, formerly DBSK) and Park Min Young (actress, not from any band/group) star in this drama. Still, the fairly young cast (needed since they are students) of course wasn't too convincing at times, although I think they have done very well, considering their age... means that it's a nice and fun show, but not a great show - 3.5 stars. Special mention for Song Joong-Ki who was funny and looked good in the show. Definitely a pretty boy.. and he leaves you wondering when he would mature or improve his acting chops to eventually get his own drama show.

3. Scent of A Woman (여인의 향기,女人的香氣), 3.5-stars

Watched and completed the show. The saving grace of this show is Kim Sun Ah, who lost an amazing amount of weight to depict a lady who is diagnose with 4th-stage cancer and 6 months left to live. It did provoke some thought in me as I have been thinking of the phrase, "if today was your last day, what would you do?", and to always live life to the fullest.. and this was an example of what living life to the fullest means, love life non-withstanding. 

The best part of the show for me was Kim Sun Ah telling Lee Dong Wook (supposedly hugely popular in Korea and very cute, but for me, is cute, but not that cute. Incredibly good looking from selected angles.) that she doesn't just have him in her life, she still has her family, her mom, her friends... and that she has a commitment to all of them. It's good since it's realistic... one can't face death without involving the many people who are a big part of your life. It's not just your spouse/partner as is often depicted in other drama shows. It was 4-stars, but I reduced it to 3.5 stars due to the ending. Throughout the show, I was wondering how they are going to deal with her passing on, since it's obvious that this is not going to be one of those feel-good shows where they find a miracle cure, and they, totally avoided the issue. *face-palm* Giving one of those crap endings. Of course, it is a good show, just that I was disappointed by the ending.

4. Prosecutor Princess (검사 프린세스, 检察官公主), 2.5-stars 

Watched but did not manage to complete the show. I actually quite like the lead actor, Park Shi Woo... the lady is a little more forgettable. However, her role as a bimbotic prosecutor got too much on my nerves, I don't do very well with stupid females (nor stupid males for that matter) and after one too many ridiculous scenes, where the lady does not even understand why everyone is angry with her, I can't seem to continue with the show. It reminds of this Taiwanese drama show, "It Started With A Kiss Part 2", where Ariel Lin is acting as a silly girl. If you can't even do simple things like photocopying properly, you are better off in a home. Seriously. While Kim So Yeon's role is just too self absorbed and since I cannot even find it cute, nor can I identify with her love for fashion and labels, it was a show that just went "whoossh" over for me. 

5. Protect The Boss (보스를 지켜라, 守护老板), 3-stars 

Watched, but did not manage to complete the show. Was somehow, bored during the fights between the male lead, Ji Sung and Young Woong Jae Joong (another dude from JYJ, formerly DBSK). It was a show that I think was successful, buy which somehow, didn't quite gel with me. 3-stars. I actually suspect I would start to like the show a lot more if I had mustered up the patience to continue watching

6. My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (내 여자친구는 구미호,   我女友是九尾狐), 2-stars

Watched, and could not get past the 5th episode. It was sooo boring. The lead actor, Lee Seung Ki is not particularly good looking, although the lead actress, Shin Min Ah, fits the bill of an innocent fox spirit. There is this incredibly good looking guy, No Min Woo, but who is a little too weird an insertion into the show, and since he's not the male lead, not a very well-developed character. Of course, I didn't have the patience to watch out the rest of the show... it was quite a failed production, considering it came from the famous Hong Sisters, who wrote one of my current favourite drama - The Greatest Love. 

7. Lie To Me (내게 거짓말을 해봐, 對我說謊看看), 3-stars

Watched and completed it. Yoon Eun Hye, an actress that I have quite liked since watching her in Coffee Prince (The 1st shop of coffee prince). She is cool in this show, at least she'a hardworking and successful lady in the show. However, the guy, Kang Ji Hwan, I think his gay-ness could not be hidden. I actually wonder if it's his tenor voice. His voice, is really too high for a guy who looks like him. This brings to mind selected actors who have nice deep voices that I like, for e.g. Cha Seung Won and Lee Sun Gyun. Being a bit of a tenor is not a bad thing, but there has to be this deeper reasonance, a man should sound manly. >< Anyway, the entire show's scripting and storyline is a bit weak. Of course it's watchable, but it's definitely not a great show. 

and I even found the time to re-watch The 1st shop of Coffee Prince... hahahahaha.... 

Drama Review: The Greatest Love (최고의 사랑)

Title: 최고의 사랑 / Choegoui Sarang

Also known as: Best Love, The Greatest Love
Episodes: 16
Watched: 20 December 2011
Rating: 4-stars

Synopsis:
Ae Jung was once the most popular member of girl band The National Treasure Girls. However 10 years ago the band broke up and she received most of the blame. Despite her warm personality her career has suffered ever since and she now spends her time fighting for air time on variety shows. Dokko Jin is a top movie star at the height of his career. The two meet and become involved in each other's careers. Yoon Pil Joo is a doctor of oriental medicine who has no interest in the entertainment industry but agrees to make a dating show. Dokko Jin helps get Ae Jung a role on a new reality show called Couple Making. Pil Joo is the bachelor being set up on Couple Making. Both men fall for Ae Jung both off and on the screen.


Grouch's Synopsis (just cuz I think the standard synopsis doesn't say much):
Goo Ae Jung, who once experienced the peak of stardom when she was part of the four-girl group - "The National Treasure Girls", has since fallen on bad times after the group disbanded. Her shaky solo career now relies on her ablity to fight for air time on variety shows. In comparison, Dokko Jin, is a highly successful movie star, who is at the peak of his career with multiple endorsement deals under his belt. An extremely proud and confident man, he is highly rational on the importance of his public image to his career and is fully aware of the perils to look out for as a "top star".

After a chance meeting and a series of mishaps, Goo Ae Jung and Dokko Jin's fates are irrecovably tied together in this "doomed to fail" relationship, where Ae Jung's image will take a further plunge if the public even gets a whiff about a possible relationship. She knows without a doubt that she will be depicted by the media as the seducer and gold-digger. While Dokko Jin's image will suffer as the guy with "bad taste" and who has abandoned his legions of fars for this "has-been" singer/entertainer.

To add spice into this whole mess, Yoon Pil Joo, a highly eligible bachelor (rich, handsome and intelligent), who is an Oriental doctor running the highly successful family "oriental medicine hospital" business gets embroiled into a three-way relationship after an accidental meeting with Ae Jung where he falls for her. He is unwittingly sucked into the dirt and scandal-filled Korean entertainment industry from his safe haven.

Goo Ae Jung, at the bottom of the barrel in the entertainment industry will now have to choose between being with Dokko Jin and risk sinking even deeper, pulling Dokko Jin down with her, or with Yoon Pil Joo, who offers her the opportunity to leave the harsh and cruel entertainment industry.

Review:
Yup... the expert on all sorts of dramas - Korean, Japanese, Hongkong and Taiwanese drama... I am a huge fan of drama series =) And... so... here we go!!

The Greatest Love, one of the better romantic-comedy around due to its witty script and the experience of the two main leads - Gong Hyo Jin (Goo Ae Jung) and Cha Seung Won (Dokko Jin). As opposed to the recent spate of pretty boys drama serials from Korea (not that I don't like them.. who doesn't like eye candy?), these two are good looking, but not exceptionally so.

Instead, they are very smooth in their delivery, believable in their characters and even the "at times" over-the top depiction, which adds a comic element to the show are somewhat done in okay taste (borderline bad taste, but still manageable due to the stars' very credible acting chops).

The characters are developed well, and the pace of the show is very well managed, which is the exception rather than the rule for korean dramas. They didn't even add too much flashbacks, and there wasn't too much crying *Like!*. I am not saying there's no crying, but it's contained...

In particular, I love the role played by the little fat boy, Yang Han Yeol as Goo Hyung Kyu, and his nickname in the show - Ding Dong. And I absolutely love Gong Hyo Jin (Goo Ae Jung), she is just soooo good and this show, although her role is that of a matyr, is very tastefully done, and her quiet strength to support the people around her is instead, very believable.

It's also nice to watch a show where the leads are closer to my age, and are realistic about their expectations and commitment to love. Love the realism shown in the movie, and even the ending, is one that was realistic and rational on how they overcame the difficulties. The ending doesn't disappoint.

Love the show. Go rent/buy it.