Remington Steele vids(part 1)

So, earlier, dangermousie inadvertently reminded me(by asking about one of my icons) that I haven't really talked much about my favorite TV show ever, Remington Steele, very much here, certainly not since meeting  a fair bit of my flist.

As it is far too late in the day(read: early in the morning) to properly meta, I shall stick to vids.

For those who don't know, Remington Steele is an 80s series about Laura Holt(Stephanie Zimbalist) an ace private eye who gets regularly dismissed and overlooked because she's a female and hey, private eyes are supposed to be men. So she creates a male supervisor, Remington Steele, who works in an "advisory capacity" and prefers to work in the shadows and never meets with clients.  She doesn't get the credit, but she gets the work and the credit is given to her to "pass on" to "the boss" so it works.

All is going along well as she's about to make it big when a con artist(Pierce Brosnan)-who she will later dub "Harry"-stumbles over her scheme.  He, of course, is there to steal the diamonds she was hired to protect, and since it takes one con to recognize another, he sees through her con and presents himself to her client as  Remington Steele(incidentally, if you ever hear me say "high heels through the heart" I am referring to my continued amazement that that did NOT happen to him when she realized that  A) He WAS the con artist she was worried he was and was after the diamonds(more confirmation than realization, really), B) He had seen through her con, C) he had taken on the identity of her boss and thus, was taking her credit, and D) they both knew there was nothing she could really do about it without risking her own con being exposed.  That scene is likely the scene that made me fall in love with the show)  Of course, by the end of the adventure, he's come to rather like the idea of playing detective(or rather, the idea of a free ride and and having a go at trying his luck with Laura) and she realizes that there are advantages to there being a "real" Remington Steele, and they become partners.(well, there's more to it than that, but it's after 3 am...)

The show is set in a detective agency and the leads  are detectives, but the mysteries themselves-while usually fun-are of secondary importance.  The main things are A) the wit and chemistry between the leads(which is hard to match and almost impossible to surpass, IMO) and B) love for and paying homage to the classics(Steele is a huge classics buff and can find a movie to correlate to any case it seems)  Humphrey Bogart was a particular favorite.  Actually, the show is the main source of my interest in the classics.

Anyway...

( vids )

Remington Steele vids(part 1)

So, earlier, dangermousie inadvertently reminded me(by asking about one of my icons) that I haven't really talked much about my favorite TV show ever, Remington Steele, very much here, certainly not since meeting  a fair bit of my flist.

As it is far too late in the day(read: early in the morning) to properly meta, I shall stick to vids.

For those who don't know, Remington Steele is an 80s series about Laura Holt(Stephanie Zimbalist) an ace private eye who gets regularly dismissed and overlooked because she's a female and hey, private eyes are supposed to be men. So she creates a male supervisor, Remington Steele, who works in an "advisory capacity" and prefers to work in the shadows and never meets with clients.  She doesn't get the credit, but she gets the work and the credit is given to her to "pass on" to "the boss" so it works.

All is going along well as she's about to make it big when a con artist(Pierce Brosnan)-who she will later dub "Harry"-stumbles over her scheme.  He, of course, is there to steal the diamonds she was hired to protect, and since it takes one con to recognize another, he sees through her con and presents himself to her client as  Remington Steele(incidentally, if you ever hear me say "high heels through the heart" I am referring to my continued amazement that that did NOT happen to him when she realized that  A) He WAS the con artist she was worried he was and was after the diamonds(more confirmation than realization, really), B) He had seen through her con, C) he had taken on the identity of her boss and thus, was taking her credit, and D) they both knew there was nothing she could really do about it without risking her own con being exposed.  That scene is likely the scene that made me fall in love with the show)  Of course, by the end of the adventure, he's come to rather like the idea of playing detective(or rather, the idea of a free ride and and having a go at trying his luck with Laura) and she realizes that there are advantages to there being a "real" Remington Steele, and they become partners.(well, there's more to it than that, but it's after 3 am...)

The show is set in a detective agency and the leads  are detectives, but the mysteries themselves-while usually fun-are of secondary importance.  The main things are A) the wit and chemistry between the leads(which is hard to match and almost impossible to surpass, IMO) and B) love for and paying homage to the classics(Steele is a huge classics buff and can find a movie to correlate to any case it seems)  Humphrey Bogart was a particular favorite.  Actually, the show is the main source of my interest in the classics.

Anyway...

( vids )

Strange Tales of Liao Zhai: A Bao, general thoughts + Liar Game ep 4

A Bao

Watched the last Liao Zhai story, A Bao(mentions that it stars Rainie Yang as the heroine, as she knows several on her flist really like her)  A Bao is about a veterinarian, Zi Chu(take a guess how hard it is for me to NOT say "Zhi Shu" here, ISWAK fans...) who sees the daughter of a wealthy family, A Bao, and falls in love with her after seeing her put an arrogant suitor in his place, and later sees displays of her intelligence.  As "luck" would have it, said suitor injured her pet bird, and the bird is sent to him to get it's wing fixed.  Eventually they're able to meet at a fair when he helps her maid(who brought the bird to him) and become friends(clearly headed towards more).  The rejected suitor(who, incidentally, is too obnoxious for words and deserves a far worse fate than he received), though, is unwilling to accept defeat and has his nurse mother(nanny equivalent, I assume) who is a sorceress place a curse on A Bao so that every day, her memory is reset to the morning she met Zi Chu, and so she doesn't remember him, even the few times she's able to regain her memories, she loses them againthe next day.  So every day, Zi Chu "meets" her and they become friends, and then the next morning, she's forgotten about him.

Eventually, of course, he's able to break the spell(with help) but not only is her father not happy with the idea of his daughter marrying a poor veterinarian, but the suitor is still having rejection issues.

Liao Zhai in general

With one exception(Painted Skin) the 6 stories in this volume of Liao Zhai(there are 500 Liao Zhai stories total, I believe, but there are 2 more series-one with another 6, the other with 4-coming out soon) are romances with supernatural elements. The stories don't feel remotely repetitive or formulaic to me(though I can see that Chinese Paladin drew heavily on these stories at times) but fell into 2 categories: two young lovers meet and fall in love, and then supernatural forces intercede to separate them and they have to conquer them, or a woman of supernatural origins falls in love with a mortal man and she has to protect him from both earthly and supernatural forces, while he tries to protect her and her humanity, such as it is, and save her from other supernatural forces coming to punish her.  Not EXACTLY the stories, but close enough to give you a general feel.

But, basically, they're supernatural, "True love conquers all'(or at least, tries its best) romances with a supernatural twist.  Also?  They almost all manage to get through the piles of angst dumped on them and end HAPPILY.  Which was a pleasant surprise because I was thinking I'd get maybe one happy ending out of the lot.

Anyway, very good series, much recommended.

Liar Game

My download tried to beat me, but hardsubs saved me.  I ADORED the best yet. 

winterspel posted a picspam, including the...uhm...visual highlight of the episode *whistles* yesterday.  But really, as usual, the whole thing was squee worthy.  I had(as most did, I'm sure) guessed who the real X was, and about the teams, already, but it was handled well, as was Akiyama's exposing it.  Also?  How awesome was it when he was exposing X and doing his superior, gloating bit and when he got to the part about how they were all greedy and untrusting he stops and turns to Nao and his voice, face, body language, etc. all change and he goes "You don't count.  I already know you're a special case." then goes right back to sticking it to X(and the other contestants) once he was through taking care of the important stuff.  *flails*  (Why don't I have a flailing icon?  Sigh...)  And the S&M conversation, and his face at her naivette(and hers during the whole thing) too perfect.  *almost couldn't care less about plot at this point*

 

Strange Tales of Liao Zhai: A Bao, general thoughts + Liar Game ep 4

A Bao

Watched the last Liao Zhai story, A Bao(mentions that it stars Rainie Yang as the heroine, as she knows several on her flist really like her)  A Bao is about a veterinarian, Zi Chu(take a guess how hard it is for me to NOT say "Zhi Shu" here, ISWAK fans...) who sees the daughter of a wealthy family, A Bao, and falls in love with her after seeing her put an arrogant suitor in his place, and later sees displays of her intelligence.  As "luck" would have it, said suitor injured her pet bird, and the bird is sent to him to get it's wing fixed.  Eventually they're able to meet at a fair when he helps her maid(who brought the bird to him) and become friends(clearly headed towards more).  The rejected suitor(who, incidentally, is too obnoxious for words and deserves a far worse fate than he received), though, is unwilling to accept defeat and has his nurse mother(nanny equivalent, I assume) who is a sorceress place a curse on A Bao so that every day, her memory is reset to the morning she met Zi Chu, and so she doesn't remember him, even the few times she's able to regain her memories, she loses them againthe next day.  So every day, Zi Chu "meets" her and they become friends, and then the next morning, she's forgotten about him.

Eventually, of course, he's able to break the spell(with help) but not only is her father not happy with the idea of his daughter marrying a poor veterinarian, but the suitor is still having rejection issues.

Liao Zhai in general

With one exception(Painted Skin) the 6 stories in this volume of Liao Zhai(there are 500 Liao Zhai stories total, I believe, but there are 2 more series-one with another 6, the other with 4-coming out soon) are romances with supernatural elements. The stories don't feel remotely repetitive or formulaic to me(though I can see that Chinese Paladin drew heavily on these stories at times) but fell into 2 categories: two young lovers meet and fall in love, and then supernatural forces intercede to separate them and they have to conquer them, or a woman of supernatural origins falls in love with a mortal man and she has to protect him from both earthly and supernatural forces, while he tries to protect her and her humanity, such as it is, and save her from other supernatural forces coming to punish her.  Not EXACTLY the stories, but close enough to give you a general feel.

But, basically, they're supernatural, "True love conquers all'(or at least, tries its best) romances with a supernatural twist.  Also?  They almost all manage to get through the piles of angst dumped on them and end HAPPILY.  Which was a pleasant surprise because I was thinking I'd get maybe one happy ending out of the lot.

Anyway, very good series, much recommended.

Liar Game

My download tried to beat me, but hardsubs saved me.  I ADORED the best yet. 

winterspel posted a picspam, including the...uhm...visual highlight of the episode *whistles* yesterday.  But really, as usual, the whole thing was squee worthy.  I had(as most did, I'm sure) guessed who the real X was, and about the teams, already, but it was handled well, as was Akiyama's exposing it.  Also?  How awesome was it when he was exposing X and doing his superior, gloating bit and when he got to the part about how they were all greedy and untrusting he stops and turns to Nao and his voice, face, body language, etc. all change and he goes "You don't count.  I already know you're a special case." then goes right back to sticking it to X(and the other contestants) once he was through taking care of the important stuff.  *flails*  (Why don't I have a flailing icon?  Sigh...)  And the S&M conversation, and his face at her naivette(and hers during the whole thing) too perfect.  *almost couldn't care less about plot at this point*

 

Remington Steele vids(part 2)

How many RS vid posts can I make?  Well, there's 5 seasons(or 4 seasons and 3 tv movies, whichever way you prefer) of romance, angst, hijinks and making out and quite the fanbase...

This post is mostly scenes and clips, instead of MVs.

( vids )

Remington Steele vids(part 2)

How many RS vid posts can I make?  Well, there's 5 seasons(or 4 seasons and 3 tv movies, whichever way you prefer) of romance, angst, hijinks and making out and quite the fanbase...

This post is mostly scenes and clips, instead of MVs.

( vids )