Sticky Post!

A few housekeeping items of note:

– If you copy material from this site, whether they are parts of recaps, parodies, translations, etc, please ask first and ALWAYS credit. This is a matter of internet etiquette as well as simple common sense. If you want to copy the entire recap/post… there’s no polite way to say this, is there? Please don’t copy entire posts. I would infinitely prefer it if you just link instead.

– Music and other media are provided for sampling purposes only. Please delete songs after 24 hours or whatever copyright policies in your country of residence dictate. If I have not made it clear on other posts, I am sorry, but this was always my intention.

– And last, please keep things civil in the comments. I’ve seen enough of trolls to know I don’t want them here.

That said, please do enjoy the site! 😀

Summer’s Desire, Episode 1 recap

I usually stay away from romantic melodramas (if you define staying away as watching through my fingers and pressing fast forward with extreme prejudice…) but Huang Xiaoming is in the lead role, and I love to look at him almost as much as I do pandas, so here I am.

It’s almost certainly going to end in flames and suicide threats (the drama, not me). Lay your bets, people!

You can tell she’s barely restraining herself from kicking him in the shins. 😛

Dong-yi Episode 4, recap

I was going to put a sad picture here, but why be depressed all the time?

Artist Profile: Isabelle Huang Ling

Isabelle Huang Ling (Chinese name: 黄龄) came highly recommended from various people on Baidu, who use the words ‘criminally underrated’ and ‘creative’ in a music industry that often prizes looks over actual performance skills. Her musical style is indeed very unique, and she possesses a plaintive yet rich voice somewhat reminiscent of older Chinese folk traditions. Her songs are a blend of pop, R&B, folk and ballads – quite versatile.

I admit, her songs take a while to get used to, due to Huang’s highly distinctive style, but I like them, so I thought I would share.

Download: [Mediafire]

Her signature song, and the eponymous single on her first album Itchy/痒 (released in 2007):

Live guitar duet for 夜来香/Fragrance of Night:

Just a reminder: my providing the songs here are purely for sampling purposes, if you do like her music, please support the artist by purchasing the album at Yesasia. This goes double for artists that are not as famous, so please don’t ‘hit and run’!

Hua Mulan (2009) Recap

I think everyone knows the story by now, what with the Disney adaptation, which was rather good given their usual idiocy. But anyway! China’s favourite female hero gets a serious live action treatment, with Zhao Wei starring as the eponymous general.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Hua Mulan, live action 2009, starring Zhao Wei.

Presenting Mulan, the fiercest of them all.

Dong-yi Episode 3 recap

Okay, just, I’m sure y’all know this already, but the first few episodes of a sageuk is nearly always filled with what I call the path where the hero/heroine has to walk through a valley of angst and dead relatives before establishing themselves in a lifelong mission of finding out why. So, the bloodshed is expected?

*passes you pre-emptive tissue*

Layout: Poll tiemz!

The reason I ask is because I changed the layout lately (if you’re on RSS or syndication you probably haven’t noticed yet). The reason is simply for better recapping, as this style has the widest columns of the ones I’ve tried.

I can’t change the colours, unfortunately, but if you have trouble reading, or other things you’d like to bring up, now’s the time.

Sevenses

Dong-yi Episode 2, recap

Dong-yi: Episode 2

Hey, now that Photobucket has stopped kicking itself in the head, figuratively speaking, we can has screencaps.

Watching this scene, I was thinking about how awesome Dong-yi would be as Iljimae. Think about it, she’s just as smart as he is, has a very strong sense of justice, and no one would ever, ever suspect it. 😛

Dong-yi Episode 1, recap

Dong-yi: Episode 1

Yeah, I’m crazy. (50 episodes! My soul quivers.) But I’m going to make this clear up front: Dong-yi looks interesting now, and so I’m recapping it, in part because fangirling for Bae Soo-bin has caught me by surprise and in part because I love how epic this drama promises to be. I will not, however, guarantee regular as clockwork updates (real life, alas, intrudes) nor will I guarantee to be faster than the fansubbers.

Obviously if it becomes a pile of steaming crap in the middle or Han Hyo-joo loses her acting chops I will stop, because one torturous go-round on the ‘Force Self To Recap Machine’ was quite enough, thank you. (Or, god forbid, it turns into Yi San, the drama of 77 episode fame.)

In all honestly, I love the entire freaking cast; that does not happen very often. In addition, I have faith in the writer and director, so we shall see.

Without further ado!

Dong-yi Character Stats

Translations are not 100% accurate, but they should have the general gist of things. Character sheets are at the bottom.

General Stats

(Choi) Dong-yi
– Portrayed by Han Hyo-joo, younger self portrayed by Kim Yoo-jung
– Age in drama: 11-49
– Born 1670
– Outgoing, intelligent, compassionate, good at math
– Her father and brother were framed and killed when she was young
– Had to keep hiding from Inspector Seo for same reason
– With the help of gisaeng Seol-hee (who was in love with her brother), took shelter at one of Pyongyang’s gisaeng houses and learned the arts
– Selected for service in the palace due to her natural intellect and generous nature
– At the same time Cha Chun-soo, her brother’s good friend, did his utmost best to keep her safe
– Eventually attracted the attention of King Sukjong and became Choi Sook-bin
– Was object of jealousy for Jang Hee-bin, but a great favourite with the queen

Shafted, shafted, shafted: A Story of Female Second Leads

This is Janine Zhang, who plays Lan Xiying in Black & White (she’s basically an expert on everything having to do with the law, medicine, and a damned good sharpshooter into the bargain). I would love to be her, but yeah. I’m not that awesome.

A long time ago Thundie wrote an article-essay on the treatment of male secondary leads in kdrama, and I felt inspired enough that I promised myself that I would write up a similar one about the female ones.

This is just something I’ve noticed, but the amount of hate towards female characters almost always beats the hate for male ones. And while on one hand it’s seriously not cool, on the other hand I think the tired old tropes women keep being thrust into have something to do with it.

Without further ado: