Taiwan Drama: Down With Love 2010

I am currently watching Down With Love starring Jerry Yan (of Meteor Garden) and Ella Chen (of the female band S.H.E.). This is Jerry Yan's best idol drama since Meteor Garden. Needless to say, Jerry provides the eye-candy while Ella Chen lends the cutest comic relief in the series.

Down With Love is yet another Cinderella story - leveled up to the max, with Ella Chen playing Yang Guo, a poor, hardworking, tomboyish girl with the most emphatic facial expressions, and Jerry Yan as Xiang Yu Ping, the cold-hearted, cynical divorce lawyer who doesn't trust girls.

I like the themes of the series which include some child psychology, same-sex issues, and tough love on errant parents (so far) - which is a refreshing change from the "magical thinking" mechanisms usual for Asian TV series. Of course, as it is, Down With Love, with the central Cinderella motif is magical thinking in itself, but I highly appreciate how the writers peppered the fairytale storyline with pressing issues of the day (ahem, here I am again defending my beloved Jerry Yan dramas).

I thought I wouldn't like Ella Chen as Jerry Yan's leading lady. Being used to the likes of Janine Chang and Barbie Hsu, willowy and dreamy, Ella Chen is a refreshing difference. I like how natural her beauty is, with the apple hairdo only some fashion mavericks would dare to sport. She has this cute stray cowlick that makes her look anime perfect! What makes her stand out is her acting abilities - slapstick but not awkward, downright funny, you can't help but love her! She shifts from silly facial expressions to a more serious appearance with natural grace. Ella Chen's Yang Guo grew on me after 2 segments, I could actually empathize with her character.

If you're looking for a good laugh and a live-action-anime-style series, Down With Love is it!!

Hot Shot/ Basketball of Fire 2008 - Review

Jerry Yan will be my hottie forever (according to my fan-heart)... And wow! Has the packaging of his stardom improved by meteorical measures since Meteor Garden (no pun intended). For one, his fashion sense has greatly, astoundingly improved...If in Meteor Garden I, he was up against his tacky clothes and reliant on his amazing looks, in Hot Shot, Jerry has become a real star!

But since this is not mainly about Jerry, let me get to the "review" part of this post.

All in all, I highly enjoyed the series. Surprisingly, it got lower ratings compared to high ones of Fated to Love You. Perhaps it's because Hot Shot wasn't all that emotionally sensational - again, compared to Fated to Love You. In fact, Hot Shot is a very easygoing watch, with its fair share of intriguing twists and turns and spectacular scene sequences (especially when they play basket!). I also love how they interspersed the comedy and drama of it.

But then again, my son and I were looking out for an important sequence at the end, which would have tied up the whole series and make the title truly worth being called "Hot Shot". The sequence we had in mind wasn't there.

Other than that, I should say it was worth watching. It was not sensational, but I must say it was really good!

Image from Crunchyroll.

Jerry F4ever ;-D

Sigh. It's past my bedtime and I just finished wrapping some presents for friends: a mother (her birthday tomorrow) and daughter (the latter being my godchild, whose Christmas present I ordered and just arrived). I thoroughly enjoyed wrapping the gifts - but it took me one hour to find the perfect motif for the ribbons and charms. So now, it is past my bedtime and tomorrow is the last day of the working week (yahoo!) -

To watch or not to watch? I'm now at episode 10 of The Hospital starring dreamy Jerry as Dr. Su Yihua, and am I having a ball!

This time around, I am enjoying my eye candy sans the anger and violence of Dau Ming Sz (of my all-time favorite Meteor Garden). In The Hospital, Jerry's character is more subdued as the underdog (ahem!!!). His acting is more dynamic than as he was in Magic Kitchen (where his acting was subject to criticisms, i.e., Jerry just smoldered. [lol!] - and I have to agree, his acting in Magic Kitchen was flat). But this time around, the variety of facial expressions of Dr. Su is absolutely - sigh - heartmelting.

Overall impact? Mushy in an Asian sort of way. I was thinking before that The Hospital was another poor imitation of Grey's Anatomy (which I avidly watched until I couldn't stand the musical chairs of romantic and sexual partners). Well, the producers of The Hospital, also known as White Tower, did follow the Western suit of creating TV serieses based on lives of professionals in the medical field, and though not an original concept (what's original these days, anyway?!), The Hospital is highly watchable (I'm biased :D).

Eye candy is number one, second is the Asian flavor of dealing with the issues (the ceremonies behind transactions, blind respect for hierarchy, the awkward fight for idealism which is a "new" concept for "obedient" Asians, to name some), and the assimilation of Western "values" into the Asian context is quite interesting. I would like to say I'm in it for the story. Well, maybe, but definitely I'm in it for the pleasure of watching Jerry move haha - and okay,I admit, to see the unfolding of the subplots, which are well, Asian kinda good.

And I love that, Asian kinda good...

To watch or not to watch. I'll decide while I take a bath (which reminds me, Jerry has a safe and sexy bath scene which almost made me faint! hahah!)

More on this latah!

P.S. Love his team up with Janine Chang! Sweet!

Got the image from tsinoy.com

Hana Yori Dango, Meteor Garden, Boys Over Flowers Visited

Jerry Yan is texting me through his Sony Ericsson cellphone. Tonight, he's saying, "Miss U".

Fantasies are for free!

Jerry Yan has been the leading man of my dreams since I went crazy over Meteor Garden back in 2003.

Before Meteor Garden, I've always been a snob in my viewing preferences; always rationalizing my choices of shows and leisure time activities etc., and mostly, if not always patronizing Western shows and literature.

It irritated me when the buzz at work was all about Dau Ming Sz and Sancai. Who the hell were they? Finally, I decided to watch an episode to see what the frenzy was all about.

Before I knew it, I was hooked to the max. After work, I would cozy up at the couch in front of the TV and cross the threshold between reality and paradise.

After the show ended, many months later, I ordered the VCD set online and would use MG as my background noise while doing paper work.

***

I think I have viewed the two seasons of Meteor Garden five times over and still get that giddy feeling while watching and even after.

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Last year, a friend of mine introduced me to Itazura Na Kiss, an anime series, and I was sucked into the colorful world of Irie-kun and Kotoko. The same friend recommended Hana Yori Dango the anime series.

After 6 years of Meteor Garden, I found myself entrenched in Yoko Kamio's drama.

So much so that one of my bestfriends sent me the first four books of the original manga (which are part of my prized possessions).

***

And now, the same co-workers who were crazy over Meteor Garden are busy updating on Gu Jun Pyo, Geum Jan Di and Ji Hoo...

What's a girl to do? I joined the band wagon, and am hooked.

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The Real Star of the show I must say is Yoko Kamio. She has retold the Cinderella and Little Mermaid stories in the modern day Asian setting. Who could resist a fairy tale?

It is every girl's dream. Unabashedly, it is mine.

And of course, in a jaded, heartbroken era, happy endings are best sellers. If it eludes us in the ground we tread, we get the vicarious victory through the TV screen for that moment in time.

Sayonara for now, xie xie ni... Jaa Ne! Till my next musing...

Ethan Ruan - My Queen

I definitely think Ethan Ruan looks hot. He's definitely my type - he has the physical features which capture my fancy = in equal footing with Jerry Yan that is! :D

I was searching Ethan Ruan via Google and saw that he has a new series called My Queen. I checked out the synopsis through different blogs and drama-wiki which says it's about a love story between a 33 year old hardworking single career woman and a 25 year old guy with a regular job.

This post won't have spoilers as I decided that the storyline isn't my type, younger guy-older woman affaire de coeur. Oh well, different strokes for different folks.

I'm still in the parallel world of Fated to Love You. LOL.

(image source: http://www.crunchyroll.com/forumtopic-435074/my-queen/)