jdrama: Nodame Cantabile Special, eps 1-2(complete)

I spent most of this evening watching the four hour(!!!) Nodame Cantabile Special.  FOUR HOURS!!!  (And, you know, pausing to do things...)  Like the series itself, I find it hard to think of anything intelligent or coherent to say about it, so instead, just a few random comments.

( clicky )

jdrama: Nodame Cantabile Special, eps 1-2(complete)

I spent most of this evening watching the four hour(!!!) Nodame Cantabile Special.  FOUR HOURS!!!  (And, you know, pausing to do things...)  Like the series itself, I find it hard to think of anything intelligent or coherent to say about it, so instead, just a few random comments.

( clicky )

medieval romances

I may come to regret this, but I think I'm in the mood for medieval-set historical romances(and by that, I mean pretty much anything between the dark ages and when people started abandoning swords for guns.)  Anyone have any good ones to rec?  

(I could post to a community, but I'm afraid of what I'd end up with.)

ETA:  Mention Bertrice Small and I'll be forced to cause physical injury.  I have my limits for historical Mary Sue smut fanfic, and she surpasses them by the first perfect lover, much less the third or fourth.

medieval romances

I may come to regret this, but I think I'm in the mood for medieval-set historical romances(and by that, I mean pretty much anything between the dark ages and when people started abandoning swords for guns.)  Anyone have any good ones to rec?  

(I could post to a community, but I'm afraid of what I'd end up with.)

ETA:  Mention Bertrice Small and I'll be forced to cause physical injury.  I have my limits for historical Mary Sue smut fanfic, and she surpasses them by the first perfect lover, much less the third or fourth.

Forbidden Kingdom

I just want to mention that i feel like I was forced to pay penance to get to see this.  First, there were the commercials, two of which were of the "if you use this cleaning/hygiene product, women will rip their clothes off and then try to rip yours off" variety.  Then there were the previews.  The first preview was, as near as I can tell, about how black cops are evil and if they're your neighbors, they will criminally harass you and flaunt their power when you object.  The only redeeming value to the previews after that was the second Hellboy movie, which actually just reminded me that I never did see the first.

Anyway, the movie.

It's Jet Li and Jackie Chan fighting and that's all you need to know.

Ok, fine, there's a plot.  Of sorts.

Essentially, some modern kid named Jason in what I believe is Boston(I don't know...the accents were almost incomprehensible.  It's bad when I can understand the people who's first language isn't English better than I can those whose first language is English.  Supposedly.  Accents are not things to be abused, Hollywood!) is a Kung Fu movie nut who buys  bootleg DVDs from a pawnshop.  When local bullies force him to trick the pawn shop owner into letting them in so they can steal his money, he ends up with a staff that transports him to a world that resembles medieval China.  There, he's saved from the evil Jade Warlord's troops by a drunken kung fu master named Lu(Jackie Chan)  who tells him that the staff belongs to the legendary trickster, monkey, who was tricked by the Jade Warlord 500 years ago, and that Jason is the destined seeker who has to return the staff to Monkey.  Soon, they're joined by a monk(Jet Li) who has been looking for the Seeker, and Golden Sparrow(Liu Yi Fei) and orphan whose family was killed by Jade Warlord.

Pretend nothing of the movie exists between the opening fight scene with Monkey, and when Jackie Chan shows up and saves Jason.  You'll be happier that way.

( spoilers )

Also: smillaraaq, based on what I remember of you've told me about it, I suspect White Haired Witch(I think that really is her name) is an homage to Bride With White Hair.  In addition to the prehensile white hair, she was raised by wolves, and she made a comment that made me think she hated men, both of which I think you mentioned in relation to that movie.

Also, out of curiosity, are personal pronouns difficult to learn for chinese speakers?  I ask because Golden Sparrow always refers to herself as "her," as in "her name is Golden Sparrow," and never says "I" or "me."  I'm wondering if it was supposed to be an affectation of the character's, or if it was just a language barrier Liu Yi Fei had problems with.  (Mind you, as I don't think they dubbed the actors, and I'm pretty sure she didn't speak english before the movie, so I'm not exactly complaining.)

( spoilery ETA )

Forbidden Kingdom

I just want to mention that i feel like I was forced to pay penance to get to see this.  First, there were the commercials, two of which were of the "if you use this cleaning/hygiene product, women will rip their clothes off and then try to rip yours off" variety.  Then there were the previews.  The first preview was, as near as I can tell, about how black cops are evil and if they're your neighbors, they will criminally harass you and flaunt their power when you object.  The only redeeming value to the previews after that was the second Hellboy movie, which actually just reminded me that I never did see the first.

Anyway, the movie.

It's Jet Li and Jackie Chan fighting and that's all you need to know.

Ok, fine, there's a plot.  Of sorts.

Essentially, some modern kid named Jason in what I believe is Boston(I don't know...the accents were almost incomprehensible.  It's bad when I can understand the people who's first language isn't English better than I can those whose first language is English.  Supposedly.  Accents are not things to be abused, Hollywood!) is a Kung Fu movie nut who buys  bootleg DVDs from a pawnshop.  When local bullies force him to trick the pawn shop owner into letting them in so they can steal his money, he ends up with a staff that transports him to a world that resembles medieval China.  There, he's saved from the evil Jade Warlord's troops by a drunken kung fu master named Lu(Jackie Chan)  who tells him that the staff belongs to the legendary trickster, monkey, who was tricked by the Jade Warlord 500 years ago, and that Jason is the destined seeker who has to return the staff to Monkey.  Soon, they're joined by a monk(Jet Li) who has been looking for the Seeker, and Golden Sparrow(Liu Yi Fei) and orphan whose family was killed by Jade Warlord.

Pretend nothing of the movie exists between the opening fight scene with Monkey, and when Jackie Chan shows up and saves Jason.  You'll be happier that way.

( spoilers )

Also: smillaraaq, based on what I remember of you've told me about it, I suspect White Haired Witch(I think that really is her name) is an homage to Bride With White Hair.  In addition to the prehensile white hair, she was raised by wolves, and she made a comment that made me think she hated men, both of which I think you mentioned in relation to that movie.

Also, out of curiosity, are personal pronouns difficult to learn for chinese speakers?  I ask because Golden Sparrow always refers to herself as "her," as in "her name is Golden Sparrow," and never says "I" or "me."  I'm wondering if it was supposed to be an affectation of the character's, or if it was just a language barrier Liu Yi Fei had problems with.  (Mind you, as I don't think they dubbed the actors, and I'm pretty sure she didn't speak english before the movie, so I'm not exactly complaining.)

( spoilery ETA )

I've been cursed since age 12.

While watching Forbidden Kingdom today and lamenting the wasted potential of Liu Yi Fei's Golden Sparrow, I realized that I've been doomed ever since I first latched on to characters.

The first fictional characters I ever really "fell" for(not crushed on, that came a little bit later) were Wren Ohmsford in Terry Brooks's Shannara series, and Jubilee in Marvel comics.  This essentially established my trend of loving female characters who tend to be unloved, unappreciated and underused by both their creators/owners and/or fandoms-usually for being female and/or not another character-for the last 15 years.

( cut for length )

Short version:  I've never had a problem finding awesome female characters to love.  I've just had a problem finding writers and fans who appreciate them, instead of dismiss and/or undermine them for being a girl and/or not being a preferred character.

And now:  book + milk + cookies = OT3

I've been cursed since age 12.

While watching Forbidden Kingdom today and lamenting the wasted potential of Liu Yi Fei's Golden Sparrow, I realized that I've been doomed ever since I first latched on to characters.

The first fictional characters I ever really "fell" for(not crushed on, that came a little bit later) were Wren Ohmsford in Terry Brooks's Shannara series, and Jubilee in Marvel comics.  This essentially established my trend of loving female characters who tend to be unloved, unappreciated and underused by both their creators/owners and/or fandoms-usually for being female and/or not another character-for the last 15 years.

( cut for length )

Short version:  I've never had a problem finding awesome female characters to love.  I've just had a problem finding writers and fans who appreciate them, instead of dismiss and/or undermine them for being a girl and/or not being a preferred character.

And now:  book + milk + cookies = OT3