Anjell performing at SBS awards

I am such a sucker...when Nimy posted this "good stuff" for us all in the chatbox, I was resisting...resisting to get all suck in all over again with YAB. However, resistance is futile!!!

When I saw the "ANJELL" performance, my stupid lopsided grin was plastered all over my face AGAIN thruout the whole video! Will this addiction never stop?!!! When my Hyung-nim pops out, I was like "Ahhh Ahhhh Ahhhh"!!! When I saw the auntie spectator crowd using her bino for closeup view, I was thinking "I want that tooooo!" I am going crazy...yet despite knowing that, I still want to play the clip repeatedly for tonight! Hoooo Hoooo

Everyone looks sooo gooood there! Park looked sooooo pretty, Hongki looked and sound pretty cool there and Shinwoo, well shinwoo looks goregous pie (though a little awkward and only one not singing....).

The strange thing is apart from actual singing, I dont think they are actually playing the instruments either, save for Hong Ki who seemed to be the only one having the serious expression when playing the drumset. Everyone else seem to be play acting, esp shinwoo...haaaaa. So I assume the setup is just to match the YAB scene.

JGS is looking more and more polish and confident with each increasing performance and appearance. Canx wait to see his next performance, hopefully not in a period drama though because I dont quite get drawn in for those...

Incidentally, is it true that everyone in ANJELL except JGS won an award for YAB?

PS: Thanks Nimy for the treasure find!!!

Travel log - changing of royal guards ceremony

this guard exchange ceremony is held outside the deoksugung [palace] at designated time slots.

The last session which i caught is at 3.30pm. the whole session is longer than the clip i caught on my camera but i didnt have much space left on my memory card, so this is just a short clip towards the ending of the ceremony where the guards are heading back towards the palace. However, its pretty much the same thruout. There was some korean shouout going on but i have no idea what was said.

i think the only thing that kinda ruined the effect was the fact that it is smack right in the city landscape, so its just harder to get into it when a huge dunkin doughnut signboard is hovering right behind, and the modern vehicle zooming past without a care is rather contrasting. IF this had been done inside the palace compound rather than surrounded by the tall modern structures, i think the grandness or royal solemn impact would have been greater...

travel log - Banpo bridge display

the background music comes with the PA system together with the light show... it wasnt someone playing their own music in the public ;p its quite a nice tranquil romantic spot, just sitting back relaxing and having a good chat with friends there.

travel log - pixs from seoul

ok folks... i finally found some time to upload some of the pixs i had taken when i was in seoul. its prob about 1/3 of the set of pixs i have taken but u get the idea.. ;p here's the slideshow.

yeah, back from seoul

kinda tired after getting back from seoul because i hardly slept. the trip was really fun and on average, i dont get to bed till like 5am. sometimes its just late nights, some times its just chitchat...

some of the cafe closed at midnite, while some places are 24hrs. so its pretty easy for time to passed by without one actually noticing it. i supposed it was better for me as i had a local friend to bring me around and check out the local haunts rather than tourist spots, for food at least.
truth be told, in terms of tourist spots like the palace, it is definitely not as spectacular as japan. then again to be fair, i didnt have chance to go on day trips outside seoul. however, the shopping and eating are pretty good for me. transport is also accessible to all places except i was a little taken back that korean people are not exactly a friendly bunch... compared to japanese, they are like heaven and earth. perhaps its my own fault to assume that korean nation will be a friendly, polite batch and hence have my expectation crushed... this statement esp applies to all the older korean folks. i really literally stayed out of their way [hair] because they sure looked grouchy to me perpetually, and always shoving people out of their way without saying anything...that's the bad thing about being mistaken as a korean i guess. i see that they dont do it to caucasians as much. sigh...

anycase, i went to everland, and tried both the theme park as well as caribbean bay which is a water theme park. it was superbly fun. in fact, i didnt realised till belatedly that it was the same park that hyunjoong went in the show 'we got married', where he had to piggy back his wifey and also took the rollercoaster ride. speaking of the rollercoaster T-express... it was OMG. IT HAS THE STEEPEST DROP EVER. i have taken a lot of rides in my lifetime and normally i aint too excited, but this one, this one is marvelous. its almost like free fall down but it doesnt end there. the ride continues with 12 ripples of drops. it was hell of an amazing ride on the wooden structure. i will talk more when i post up the pixs.

i also went to the cafe where they filmed coffee prince. it was a nice spot though they had a rather grumpy male serving staff...sigh. it was some effort before i found the place actually because it was not in the map and the cafe had no name so to speak. i had to go to four seasons house, a place where they had all the drama set of winter sonata etc to ask for directions.

the weirdest thing i must admit in korea, is how little english is spoken and used in seoul, despite all the grand effort to promite its tourism. without my friend, it would have been impossible to know which bus stop to go to grab what number bus, or where to stop. nothing was in english....

initially it was a little challenging. then to my surprise, i realised that i actually got on better speaking in japanese rather than in english. odds are, someone on the street and in restaurants will understand japanese more than english. talk about bizarre....

alright, i am dead tired.
more laterz. watch this spot.

Side track - Hello from Seoul

Hello from Seoul!!!

Sorry I didnt have time to do episode 7 for BB coz I am busier than expected in Seoul. Been eating, walking, and shopping till I drop dead. Imagine... shopping till wee morning 4.30am... only in Korea does this happen.

I have been watching My Fair Lady on Tv. Like me, my friend Hyun didnt like the ghastly red hair on her either and she just look soooo tired. I think the eyeliner makeup is alittle too harsh for her and made her look kinda..well...slutty / bitchy? Well that's just me... in general, I think the hair stylist did a super bad job for most of the characters in this drama. By the way last nite, I cannot believe the butler kissed her! I went ewwwwweeeeee.....Grosss... sorry, he is too ugly by my standard...i sooo much prefer the lawyer guy... Pretty good watching Tv with real time translator next to me for a change rather than reading the subs, not to mention have someone making comments with me as we watch it together.. Ha!

I went to do the local sauna and hot bath thingie at Yongsan today. Oh its soo fun! Unfortunately i couldnt take pictures inside so I wont be able to show u guys. However, it was kinda shocking for me when the elevator door open and my eyes are greeted by dozens of fully naked fair korean women walking all over. I was laughing and told hyun that i felt as if I step into the world of a porn set, without the act of course. Shocker! I was quite lost for the initial minutes....since there wasnt any english signs and i had to wander around, figuring my way and watch how the locals did it... Its a completely different experience from visiting the public baths and hotspring in Japan. Just uniquely different but I had fun. There was open area where everyone can just lie down, watch some TV [big screen], and buy snack from teh store there. After trying out the various sand, kiln room, traditional korean hot charcoal sauna and steam, plus the ice room, I was all ready for the body scrub, kinda like the turkey baths if u know what i mean... my skin never felt cleaner and smoother.... :P By the way, I did the funny towel head wrap with the 2 buns on each side thingie too. Very few koreans did it in real life, unlike what i saw in the drama.

This little korean baby girl was soo cute, i was picking out my icecream and she started to follow me all over, and ever stealing mouthful of icecream from mine! I had to carry her all over hunting for her dad...it was quite funny since i dont speak korean and she doesnt seem to care. She didnt seem to mind strangers at all. I think it was the icecream lure.... haaa

Food wise, I am loving it. My korean friend was kinda surprised at how I took in all the food with gusto and actually enjoying it. Strange it may sound but some of the flavor actually tasted like my mum's cooking...eg like the aged old kimchee spicy soup, it actually tasted like my mum's sezchuan spicy soup!!! I love the spicy hot pot too. Yummy!!!

Ok... i digress. I couldnt help but wanna talk about my current seoul trip alittle. The pictures will come later when i get back...meanwhile....No drama updates still... till next week!

Tomorrow..everland it is!

Off to Seoul

Just a quick note to say that I prob may not be able to do a timely update on next's week episode summary for Buzzer Beat because I am heading to Seoul for holiday and the video prob wont be out by the time i board the plane.

My korean friend has extended his invitation to be my local guide on his return trip and i figured why not with free accomodation thrown in. Ha....

If anyone has any great ideas or must not missed places for me to explore in Seoul since it will be my first trip there, will be great to hear from u since i may have some slots to be by myself....i am soo excited now... i can hardly sleep.... ;]

A Note From Me

Yeah it came to my notice that Megavideo has build in a time limiter of 1hr max to view videos on their end. Nothing I can do about it and I wont complain since at least I still get to watch my fav drama.. There are couple of "solutions" out there to extend your viewing but I leave it to you folks to google that out. Meanwhile, I will try to put in as many view site alternatives as possible (when I find them) which hopefully works for you.

However, if you do come across links which already has the video removed or deleted or just broken link, do me a little favor? As I don't have time to check back on all the past post, please do leave me a comment in that post to notify me, and I will remove the invalid link so as not to disappoint others... :)

Thanks!
TvADddict

Primeval Season 3

Next to paranomal series "FRINGE", I really like the past seasons of this Uk production to date- Primeval. So imagine my excitement when the latest season 3 just started on my side of the world and I'm certainly still glued to it despite having to wait for a while for it! Not sure how I feel about Sarah Page who is suppose to be an Egyptologist. Hope she will add more interesting dynamic to the team

Anycase, this is way way way way much better than Torchwood, and prob even better than Dr Who, though Dr Who is more like a cult classic than anything else.

Story background
Primeval follows a team of five scientists tasked with investigating the appearance of temporal anomalies across Great Britain and containing prehistoric and futuristic creatures which enter the present. So yeah, if u are a sucker for creatures and dinos, u might like this series. I thought the CGI effects aint that bad really.

PS: If u happen to have finished watching this season, let me know if its worthwhile for me to follow thru this season as I have heard mixed reviews about it.

Mobile Novel: Akai Ito (J)

I just finished reading Part 1 of 2 for the Japanese Mobile novel - Akai Ito. I was stunned to bits when I realise how different the characters are from those in the TV drama.

Nishino (A-Kun) and Mei are so radically different in the drama that it took me a while to adjust. While the Mei in Tv is sweet, compassionate and understanding...the girl portrayed in the book is..well...different. Not to mention the experiences she had endured in the book is way way way much more "violent" than the Tv version. In the book, Mei couldnt let go of the her childhood crush. Nishino is a "flirt" who has no qualm of one night stand, and to date has brag of 50 girlfriends. While avoiding their teacher, they ran up to hide at the roof top and Nishino thought Mei was cute and kissed her. Mei who experienced her first kiss with Nishino decided to forget Yuya her crush by geeting involved with Nishino. As the story progress, they went beyond friendship and got intimate physically.

In the novel, Nishino initially had causal dabbling in party drugs but stopped after he fell in love with Mei. However one day, after a misunderstanding with Mei, an extremely upset Nishino went to his mum's friends for drug and ended up sleeping together. Mei on the other hand was devasted by the sms she received from Nishino to break up. In a fit, she seek solace from her senior another guy and slept with him... (Later on she found out belately Nishino never sent that sms)

Unfortunately that marked her demise...because the guy's exgf was jealous and hence ordered a bunch of gangs to gang rape Mei and Mia. They went through a terrible ordeal and by chance discovered it was not random rape but a hatched revenge scheme.... The senior in rage went to bash up the instigators and the rapists and was later sent to some probation...

Mei also found out she was adopted and tried to kill herself via road accident. Of course she didnt die. Her parents divorced and her sister moved with her dad.

Meanwhile during the month they had broken up, Nishino got addicted to drugs. Mei went to visit him to try hopefully to tlk him out of it. In the end, they resumed their physical relationship. Meanwhile, Yuya told Mei things are not working out between him and her sister.

This is the end of part one. Shockingly different eh! I am going to read Part 2 tonight...I honestly wonder how different it is going to be!

Whirling back from Taipei, and Twilight...what's the fuss?

I am back!

Life has been incredibly hectic for me these few months and these weeks with the travels and people flying in and meeting them. I simply couldnt find time to blog anything nor watch anything! Dust is collecting on my PC believe it or not. I still havent finish watching BBF last few eps, but i seriously doubt I am missing anything much....

Had a great time in Taipei. Was eating and shopping so much that I was overly exhausted and if my tummy can expand anymore, I would prob look like some pregnant woman. Taipei is a haven for snacky food and chinese desserts........... I went to the 24hr bookstore Eslite and bought "Akai Ito" original novel! I had to go to 2 places to try to get hold of the 2nd installement as it was completely sold out! So i was lucky to really grab the LAST book in the store. I have to find time to read it after I finish my Twilight novels. Yeah its a reading month.

Did I mention I saw the Twilight movie on flight, and I found it impossibly boring and incredibly slow? How can such a lame teen flick garner so much hype? I much prefer Rob as Cedric in Harry potter than as Edward. He is alright as a vamp though Not so sure what the fuss is about.

However, I personally did think the novel was on a better level, readable and more captivating than the movie itself. Am now into the third installment Eclipse after finishing Twilight and New Moon. The last book is totally out of stock for now. One of the reason I prefer the written over the movie is perhaps the book was able to cover more grounds, detailing emotions and other lead up, while the flick was more cryptic about some parts which didnt make sense, till I finally read the book. I kinda cringe at those cheesy lines but oh well, it is afterall a romantic movie.

I am increasingly liking the chracter of Alice ALOT at the story development. She is just sooooo sweet!!! I cannot wait to see how the animosity between Jacob as a werewolf and Edward's clan develop due to Bella's existence and Victoria after Bella as vengence for Jame's death. Apparently the treaty states that so long as Cullen is back in town, the wolves cannot enter their terrority as part of the pact unless Cullen breaks the truce if they so choose to take a bite at anyone. This becomes tricky because Bella is sooo hell bent on wanting Edward/ Alice to transform her. Tonight, I cannot wait to start on the third book. 3 books in 2 days. Can't go any faster since I have to make the 3rd book last till I lay my hand on the 4th.

Up to date, somehow, I get the feel that the Twilight series remains of an amateur version of Laura Hamiliton's vampire/ werewolves series but Twilight series is of a more censor PG friendly version to date without the outright sexual intonation set in Laura's version.

Sorry I digress. It's hard to stick to just drama summaries at times :)
I havent sort out my pictures but I didnt take much in Taipei since I was so busy running around and soaking in hot spring.

Ok folks, next week on, I shall be back in action! All my fav anticipated drama should be on too by then!

Off to Taipei

I know I have been "missing in action" for a while... just been really busy to find time to blog. Mum's here to visit for a while, went to watch Hong Kong Sevens over the weekend. The games were ok, it was more like seeing everyone else all dressed up in funny costumes though I think there are lesser "weirdos" this year. The whole week was all rain so it wasnt much fun. My friend dropped by HK as well and so we headed to central Lan Kwai Fong and the place is jammed pack with expats!!! Luckily we found manage to find a quiet spot.

Now, am preparing for my short trip to Taipei tomorrow. Utterly exhausted... dont think I have had any good rest since my return from Osaka. Havent found time to sort through my pictures yet! Arrrrgggghhhh!!

Well the good thing is that alot of the Japanese drama that I am keen to watch isnt due till mid April. I am so looking forward to airing of Boss drama - Jun pei!!!! Yeah!!!! Other than that, I havent snooped around to find out what else is worth my time. Any one any leads, let me know yah!

Meanwhile, I 'll be off to more eating and shopping in Taipei...Night market and Onsen here I come!!! So until next week, J'aa mata ne!

Back in town!

Am back!! Dead tired from all the exploration so i shall do the summary for Mei chan last episode tomorrow! I have yet to watch the front 20mins I missed... Meanwhile, I better get down to downloading my pictures before I forget about them!

I am so missing the Kani (crab) in Osaka now, not to mention the Tako balls and fresh sashimi...sigh. Alrite! Rest for now and back in action tomorrow!

The 20th Alliance Francaise French Film festival (Sydney)

I love foreign films. I love heading off to the Japanese and French film festivals! For Japanese film festivals, its almost always screened in the Japanese Foundation Association, whereas the french festival are often screen on large movie screens. I have clean forgotten from lack of use -every bit of my French that I had once picked up in uni, except for sa va, bien, merci, but I still like to watch french movies all the same. At least my French tutor would be able to sigh and find have some redemption in my failure of a student as such.... (^_^)

I always look forward to the The Alliance Francaise French Film festival in any countries I'm stayin in. Last year this time, I had be hanging around Oxford street joining the movie goers for a good time. This year, I am going to miss the 20th festival which is now screening in Sydney till 19th Mar.

Reading off the website, there are couples of movies I would love to watch just from the synopisis from the listing like "Comme les autres", "Le grand alibi", "Un baiser s'il vous plait" and ,more.... (official site). Unfortunately for me, I have to wait till end of the year Dec this time round for the 38th French Cinepanorama festival to arrive in Hong Kong this year. For those who had never given The french film festival a go, how about trying it this year. You will like the quirky witty humour in many of the comedies:)