meganbmoore | doramas and Hogfather

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doramas and Hogfather

While I wait to get a new infusion of doramas(soooon, I hope, soooooooon) I've decided to give some of the dramas I tried but didn't immediately click(but that I still have) a second chance. I tosses(figuratively) the ones that strightup rubbed me the wrong way or had something I really disliked, and am left with:

cdrama:

Guts of Man
Magic Sword of Heaven and Earth

jdrama:

Antique Cake Store
Boku Dake no Madonna
Densha Otoko
Fugoh Keiji
Kougen E Irasshai
Nanisama
Oh OkuSay Hello to Blackjack
Slow Dance
Teppan Shoujo Akane

Anyone have opinions to offer up on any of the above?

Also, Amazon sent my DVDs overnight. As they didn't charge me for overnight shipping, I have no issues with that. My Tin Man DVDs had a painful trailer for some horror movie, but also one for The Hogfather from the Pratchett series, which looked like it could be decent. Anyone seen that?

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What was the horror movie?

Have you seen Tin Man yet, or were you waiting for the DVDs?

The horror movie was something about mists.

I was waiting for the DVD for Tin Man.

I watched part of it on Tuesday. I'll hold off comments until you see it, I'm curious what you'll think.

Just posted on the first episode. Short version is that it's not the best thing ever, but it's pretty enjoyable and an interesting steampunk take. And I like Cain, who strikes me as being just this side of suicidal.

I did like the new take on atmosphere.

I wanted to like Cain, especially as the series is named after his character, but I felt the actor didn't quite settle into the role. I wound up falling asleep multiple times during the series (but did see the last scene) and maybe he gets more engaged but he seemed to simply spew his lines. I could certainly see what they aimed for in the part, the reluctant protector/standoffish/not-involved guy, but I didn't buy it from the actor.

Zooey Deschanel's delivery won me over at first but after a while I wanted to smack her to induce some inflection to her lines. Emily gets away with it in Bones but I'm starting to suspect Zooey is highly overrated. I'll hold off complete judgment until I see All the Real Girls (which she's supposedly awesome in, although it was years ago) but I was not impressed. And I wanted to like her!

I think the actor is mostly going for "cold and repressed," at least, that's what I'm getting from it.

The Deschanel sisters have a very similar approach to acting, and they also have similar enough voices that I had to remind myself what I was watching a few times, but it does work much better for a character like Bones than for D.G.

The dynamic between Cain and D.G. is one I'm very fond of, romantic or platonic, and that likely influences me, though. I get the feeling that the title has as much to do with the fact that a "Tin Man" is supposed to be that world's representative of law and order but is oppression instead has as much to do with the title as Cain does(and based on the first episode, it does seem to still be D.G.'s story more than Cain's.)

Guts of Man?????????

Sequel to 'Scent of Man' perhaps? A more in-depth exploration of the same story?

You know, i thought you were being 100% flippant when I first read this, then I remember that there IS something called "Scent of Man" out there, though I can't recall if it's a movie or a kdrama. ("Guts of Man" I got back when I was grabbing every period drama I can find, but have since realized that I really dislike the main actor...he's one of those who just can't act, but unlike so many of them, he has no charm or natural likability to compensate.)

calixa referenced it. I just remembered because the name seemed so bizarre.

Is it just me or do Taiwanese/Chinese dramas generally have a higher proportion of actors who are good-looking but can't act well, as compared to jdramas and kdramas, where many of these guys might be hot, but they can also all act very well.

Yes, I've noticed that. Probably contributes to my inability to get into TW dramas the way others do. (Most TVB and mainland dramas actually do have pretty decent-or better-acting, they just also have the not so good ones. For example, Ron Ng, the guy in question here, tends to be the bad apple among good ones in his dramas...except they pair him off with Leila Tong a lot...Leila's one of those who plays off her costars, so she's good with a decent axtor, but flat with a bad one.)

You have no idea how much I can to see that one. Almost as much as I want to see the one about the Korean vampires from Romania.

I assume we're meant to get "courage of man" equivalents.

That's so much less exciting that what I was imagining.

The Hogfather is not as good as the book, but I still liked it. Ian Richardson is ver good as Death.

I thought that Hogfather was about as good as you can get when televising a Pratchett novel. Worth watching.

Then I shall.

I really disliked BDNM. I wanted to drown the heroine, she was so high-maintenance, unstable and annoying. And if you know my boundless tolerance for even the lamest heroines, that's saying a lot. Takki's character wasn't interesting either.

I've heard bad things about Antique Bakery.

Antique Bakery has Fujiki Naohito and Abe Hiroshi. IIRC, when I tried it before, the pacing drove me batty. But it has powerful incentive.

Even with all the pretty, it was fairly confusing and boring. Though I did manage to watch it all the way through since I have it on DVD. Still, I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone.

I remember FN cracking me up with how he did the slash, but that the drama seemed to be trying to "time" it like a manga, and it just ended up painfully slow.

I have not seen Hogfather, but recall much, much squeeing from friends in the UK when it first aired. (I have seen the animated Discworld adaptations, which are quite cute: animation's a bit clunky, especially in comparison to the best modern anime, but the voice casting is excellent...Christopher Lee as Death is PURE WIN.)

I've heard a lot of complaints about the Antique drama changing Ono's backstory and making him straight, but haven't seen it myself yet. (I probably should read the actual series first, instead of just the author's smutty post-series doujinshi... *koff*)

Hmm...which was Ono? I remember tons of slash coming from Fujiki Naohito's character(the enigmatic baker) and actually, iirc, that and Abe Hiroshi's lurking were about the only things about the pacing that worked.

Ono is the star pastry chef, cute boy in glasses, Tachibana's high school friend, who is referred to as a "gay of demonic charm". The manga has a lot of UST between him and Chikage, the sunglasses-wearing waiter...it's, um, rather less unresolved in the "official" doujinshi, of course. The drama apparently totally cuts out their pre-bakery friendship, and makes Ono straight but just awkward around women due to a bad relationship in the past.

They are remarkably smutty, aren't they? And yet with tons of angst. I've gotta respect that!

Yes...Ono's a bit more the predatory-seducer than I care for at times, but between all the unrequited crushes and his little coming-out story and all the rest of the angsty angsty angst, I just can't seem to hold it against him; for all his slutting around and irresistible-seducer routine, he just doesn't seem terribly *happy*...

He's not ... he's addicted to the sex in the physical sense and for the feeling of control it gives him, but it's not going to give him the sense of lasting self-esteem he needs. And the situation with Chikage is just heart-breaking ... . She doesn't believe in easy solutions, which is to her credit, I think.

. . . how the hell can they make Ono straight? That's like making a manga based on Brokeback Mountain that removes any hint at homosexuality.

*snickers*

No, he's totally straight in the drama! Just really, really awkward and uncomfortable around women, because he got badly burned in a past relationship. Which was straight. Because he's totally not closeted, really.

I can't even imagine him being in the closet. The Gay of Demonic Charm can't be like that!

Perhaps it's a very luxe, huge walkin closet, with a cushy bed and secret boyfriend stashed behind all the winter clothes?

Yeah, that'd work. Plus a door connecting the closet to the nearest gay bar.

I haven't seen Hogfather myself, but the general impression I'm getting is: average to good with some rather good performances.

I honestly think you'd be better off familiarising yourself with the books first, though.

I wouldn't watch Hogfather until you've read the book. It would spoil it. I remember people saying it was pretty decent (this was on neilgaimanboard when it first came out in U.K.). The only U.S. review I've read of it was by one of those critics who doesn't read stuff like this and is proud of that ... .

Pratchett books are proving a tad elusive cheap, atm. I don't suppose there are decent omnibuses out there?

There have been a few omnibus editions binding two or three linked books together, but most of the ones I've seen were either special book club editions or UK imports, so availability is spotty and in the latter case they may run you more than new copies of the individual books.

Are you picky about new v. used, hardcover v. paperback, etc.? Powell's (http://www.powells.com/s3?kw=pratchett&sort=by_price) has some pretty reasonably priced used copies.

Wait! Someone made a movie based on one of the Discworld books? O_O

I am sooo out of the loop. D:

The book was a blast of course. I want to see the movie even though I doubt it will completely measure up to the book.

Hogfather was the first (and only, to date) live-action adaption, it was done as a two-part TV movie. Prior to that, there were animated series based on Wyrd Systers and Soul Music.

Ah. I see. I think I heard about the animated series, but I haven't run across much info on them. Thanx. ^_^

I downloaded Hogfather a while back ago (I think this was christmas?) and wasn't too impressed by it. But then again, I think Pratchett's books are probably very hard to adapt, so it was a bit hit and miss. I think the lead actress physically fit what I think Susan looks like, but I'm not sure her personality - the right mix of chilly/pragmatic reasonableness in the Discworld gone mental - was fleshed out more than just stiff English governess.

Also, as much as I heart Maki, Teppan Shoujo Akane was terrible, and the spotty subs didn't help it very much. If J-TV picked it up, I might try watching again, but....I don't know. It does make me hungry for okonomiyaki, though.

From the bit I watched of Akane...I remember loving Maki, finding the rich girl amusing, and hating everyone else.

I've only watched Boku Dake no Madonna and Slow Dance out of your list. Would never rec Boku Dake no Madonna to anyone. Slow Dance was okay, though a little slow and lack of plot. But I persevered till the end anyway since I liked the leading girl :)

Haven't seen the Hogfather movie, but I love the book.

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doramas and Hogfather

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I have pain of crotch!

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hmm

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