Sungkyunkwan Scandal

Haha…I can’t believe that I caught the Sungkyunkwan Scandal (KBS, 20 episodes) fever too…

Sungkyunkwan Scandal Synopsis: (from DramaWiki)
Sungkyunkwan Scandal is set in Sungkyunkwan University in the late Joseon era during the reign of King Jeongjo, revolving around the exploits and love stories of four youths. When her younger brother's illness worsens and their family is in danger of being evicted from their house for lack of money, Kim Yoon Hee enters the school under his name, disguised as a boy in her desperation to support him. There, she becomes friends with the intelligent and upright Lee Sun Joon, the playboy Goo Yong Ha and rebellious Moon Jae Shin.

Cast:
Micky Yoochun as Lee Sun Joon
Park Min Young as Kim Yoon Hee
Song Joong Ki as Goo Yong Ha
Yoo Ah In as Moon Jae Shin
Seo Hyo Rim as Ha Hyo Eun
Kim Min Seo as Cho Sun
Jun Tae Soo as Ha In Soo

My comments:
I usually would not pick a Korean ancient drama but I heard a lot of good things about Sungkyunkwan Scandal so I decided to give it a shot. I’m pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. I view it as an ancient version of Hana Kimi and the quartet as the scholar version of A.N.Jell (in You’re Beautiful).

I always like stories with the girl cross-dressing as a guy and it’s usually hilarious when the guys start to fall for her and then question their orientation. In this drama, it took long enough (15 episodes) for our dummy hero Sun Joon to know Yoon Hee’s gender and when he knew the truth, surprisingly he wasn’t as angry as I expected him to be. I totally expected one or two episodes where he would be all pissed off and mad; well not that I'm complaning...It’s so funny that Yong Ha knew from the very first glance that Yoon Hee is a girl and wanted to prove it to the other oblivious two but failed at every attempt. Aw…and Jae Shin, the poor guy hiccups whenever he is near a girl so imagine at first when he knew…hehe…I still LOL at the sleeping arrangements scenes (1, 2).

Too bad that the ending is too rushed. There were so many questions that left unanswered. We have a closure ending for our quartet but what about the others? I would like to know what happened to Ha In Soo and his sister. I kinda liked Ha In Soo despite what he did in the drama was glaring at everyone but I thought he had potential to be Sun Joon’s love rival. Why was Cho Sun in her situation in the first place? What really happened during the night Jae Shin’s brother and Yoon Hee’s dad’s murder? There’s this big talk about a better future for Korea but was it realized? It would be nice if there was ONE scene in which Yong Ha and Jae Shin telling Yoon Hee that they knew she was a girl. If I remember correctly, Jae Shin did not confess (at least verbally) once to Yoon Hee and now that’s a first in the little K-drama history that I know...

I thought the overall acting was great considering that they were mostly newbies. Park Min Young looks too girlish (she has manga-like round sparkling eyes) to pass as guy but I guess in an ancient setting it’s passable. Song Joong Ki and Yoo Ah In shone in their roles and I absolutely found their bromance endearing. Micky Yoo Chun was a bit wooden at the beginning but I guess that was part of the character and he just got progressively better. Ah…I’ll surely remember you guys, Jalgeum Quartet.

That is too cute to not post it (from kbs.com.kr)

* Opening credit of the drama

Break Up Club

Break Up Club Synopsis (from AsianMediaWiki)
Joe (Jaycee Chan) is an aimless young man who loves Flora (Fiona Sit) sincerely. Unfortunately for Joe, Fa breaks up with Joe due to his lack of ambitions. Joe then comes across the website "www.breakupclub.asia" which promises to reunite lost loves if they are willing to break up another couple ....

Meanwhile Joe is picked to participate in a documentary by director Barbara Wong dealing with break ups...

My comments:
Thanks to cousin p for lending me this movie. Jaycee Fong and Fiona Sit reuniting 5 years later for Break Up Club. They went from playing a teenage couple in 2 Young to playing a 20 something couple in this movie. Their chemistry is evident and I enjoyed the movie despite that I didn’t find their individual character likable. We see them breaking-up for some small matters, making up and then breaking up again in the same pattern so I think a happy ending for them is questionable. I like that it was an open ending, leaving it to the viewer's imagination. I admit that I did cry for the airport scene and I was surprised by the little twist at the end. It’s funny to see Patrick Tang in such flamboyant role.

Love In Disguise

Love In Disguise Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
Impossibly famous an incredibly young age, DMH (Leehom Wang) has only ever known a celebrity pop star existence. Yet, despite all the perks and glamour, there is still something lacking in his charmed life: True love. Refuses to give up in his search, with the help of fellow musician and friend WZB, DMH disguised as regular Joes in hope to find true love. While incognito, DMH and WZB strmble across the performance of a classical Chinese orchestra and DMG is immediately captivated by the melodies of the guzheng soloist, LMQ (Crystal Liu), a classical music student at the Shanghai Conservatory, who's affections lie with the accomplished, if not arrogant, conservatory virtuoso, ZXZ. DMH nevertheless promisses to help bring them together, deteermined to spend more time with LMQ.

Inevitably, DMH's distraction from his superstar responsibilities does not go unnoticed Agent Joan (Joan Chen). Further more, as he and LQM grow closer, it becomes increasingly difficult to conceal his identity. What happens if she finds out who he really is? Can she really love and respect a celebrity pop star? And can she forgive him for lying?


My comments:
Hmm…I’ve been neutral regarding Wang Lee Hom; I’m not a fan or a hater so I can watch Love In Disguise without any biases. How was it? It was cheesy, yes, as I found myself rolling my eyes a few times during the movie. But, overall I thought it was enjoyable rom-com mostly due to the music aspect since I was always fascinated by traditional instruments like er-hu and guzheng. I thought the romance part was unconvincing since I didn’t see any sparks between the leads.

Performance wise, everyone was passable since the actors were not required to do much or acting very hyper. Wang Lee Hom was basically playing himself (notice the way he moves his hands when singing in the movie is exactly the same in real life). The surprising thing was Crystal Liu remained a plain Jane until the end and got the guy. Finally, no huge makeover for the heroine to get the attention of the guy! Also, Khalil Fong’s little cameo as himself is cute!

My Girlfriend Is A Gumiho

Due to busy work schedule and lots of gatherings, it took me longer than usual to finish My Girlfriend Is A Gumiho (SBS, 16 episodes)...

My Girlfriend Is A Gumiho Synopsis (from DramaWiki):
Cha Dae Woong accidentally releases a gumiho, a legendary fox with nine tails that eats the livers of humans. When he finds out that she is a gumiho, he ends up doing crazy things to prevent the girl from eating his liver.

Cast:
Lee Seung Ki as Cha Dae Woong
Shin Min Ah as Gumiho
No Min Woo as Park Dong Joo
Park Soo Jin as Eun Hye In
Byun Hee Bong as Cha Poong
Yoon Yoo Sun as Cha Min Sook
Sung Dong Il as Ban Doo Hong


My comments:
As a Hong sisters drama, I expected My Girlfriend Is A Gumiho to be a cute and lighthearted drama but I didn’t expect to cry my eyes out during the last episode. I was a bit worried that it will be a sad ending. I enjoyed this and I laughed at some hilarious moments (the most memorable one being Mi Ho giving that billboard ad to Dae Woong as a gift and his expression!) but compared to the Hong sisters’ previous works, this one didn’t give me severe withdrawal symptoms hehe…

Lee Seung Ki and Shin Min Ah have great chemistry as a couple and Shin Min Ah is just too adorable as the clueless gumiho; I also wanted to pinch her cheeks. Her naivety and innocence at first created some absurd and funny situations. I can totally understand Dae Woong’s fears and burdens by having Mi Ho by his side. Who would not go gaga over him once he made up his mind to fully accept Mi Ho and that there is no going back for him. But I was more fascinated by No Min Woo’s character Teacher Dong Joo. The actor itself just had a few expressions throughout the whole drama but it worked because it’s such a mysterious character. He was considered as a roadblock to our main couple’s happy ending but it was interesting that it wasn't for love as he didn’t love Mi Ho in the romantic sense.

I enjoyed Dae Woong’s aunt and the director’s part as well because of cheesy references of A Better Tomorrow. I laughed out loud when they played that Leslie song. It’s also nice to see a darker haired Jeremy (Lee Hong Ki) and a longer haired Go Mi Nyeo (Park Shin Hye) from the Hong sisters’ previous drama You’re Beautiful appearing as cameos. Even UEE appeared as a art student. But…where were Tae Kyung and Shin Woo? :p

Antique

Antique Synopsis: (http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr)
Jin-hyuk was brought up as the well-bred heir to a corporate fortune. He has got the looks, the money and the charm, but even so, true love is hard to find. Jin-hyuk opens up a cake shop and hires Sun-woo, a talented patissier who had a crush on Jin-hyuk back in high school. Together with Gi-beom, an ex-boxing champion and Su-young, a clueless bodyguard, four unique and handsome men stir up a quiet neighborhood when they show up at the cake shop, Antique.

My comments:
Apparently this is an adaptation of a Japanese manga of the same name. But what a peculiar movie! It looks like a fantasy comedy but there is actually a mystery behind it. It has random singing/dancing snippets a la Moulin Rouge as well and when they were dealing with the kidnapping, it had the horror movie feel. Don’t watch this when you’re hungry, it makes you crave for cakes and sweets since they displayed a lot of yummy pastries. I liked the chemistry between the four guys and it was interesting that each had some background story. Special mention to Kim Jae Wook for playing a believable gay character (haha...he has Gay Demonic Charms) and I have to say this I’m very impressed by his French too (it’s not perfect but some sentences were delivered pretty accurately).

Shining Inheritance

What to do when I was sick in China? Watching Shining Inheritance (SBS, 28 episodes)…

Shining Inheritance Synopsis: (from DamaWiki)
Go Eun Sung's life is similar to Cinderella's. After her father died, her step-mother, Baek Sung Hee, took away all of her assets and her younger brother, Eun Woo, suddenly disappears without a trace. Despite this, Eun Sung preservers and works really hard to fulfill her dreams. When the CEO of a food company, Jang Sook Ja, suffers amnesia and can't remember who she is Eun Sung takes her in. However, Eun Sung does not know that she is the grandmother of Sun Woo Hwan, the man who she switched bags with at the airport. How will their constant bickering lead them to realize that they care more about each other than they let on?

Cast:
Han Hyo Joo as Go Eun Sung
Lee Seung Ki as Sun Woo Hwan
Bae Soo Bin as Park Joon Sae
Moon Chae Won as Yoo Seung Mi
Kim Mi Sook as Baek Sung Hee
Ban Hyo Jung as Jang Sook Ja


My comments:
Apparently, Shining Inheritance was one of the highest rated drama of 2009 and I can understand why. From the second episode in which Eun Sung’s stepmother, Sung Hee, snatched everything and abandoned Eun Sung’s young autistic brother, viewers have to sit through 20+ episodes of her lies and evil schemes and boy did she have some. She’s greedy and knows how to manipulate others so I was very curious what will be her ending. Also, Sun Woo Wan as the lead male character was so unlikeable at the beginning and seeing his transition from a royal jerk to someone responsible and loving is interesting as well. One of the best moments of this drama is when he greets sincerely the customers for the first time and the look on the staff…priceless!

For a 28 episodes drama, I didn’t feel that tiring but I thought that the last 4 episodes dragged a bit and lost its magic. Maybe because as it goes on, I found Seung Mi annoyingly desperate and pathetic that I just want to fast forward her scenes. Also, when Sung Hee’s exposed, I didn’t have this great sense of satisfaction and the scriptwriters of the drama were too nice with her ending. She did everything for money and it’s pretty unbelievable that she can go back to simple life. From the title, I expected that Grandmother will die but the ending about what she did with her inheritance is a surprise (an unbelievable surprise, I might add).

For once, the romance between the main couple progressed fairly slow in this drama and compared to other dramas, they are also very chaste. Lee Seung Ki and Han Hyo Joo had better chemistry when they were bickering than as a couple. As usual, our secondary hero Joon Sae, despite being a knight in shining armor, helping and giving the heroine a lot did not get the girl at the end. I was relieved to see him not turning into a pushy and evil guy. If you plan to watch this drama, prepare some tissues nearby.

My vacation Part 2: Guangzhou and Macau

After such chaotic trip to Shanghai, we went back to Guangzhou. Since my return to Guangzhou, I got really sick…I had gastro, gastritis and then caught the flu consecutively! So for more than a week, I was not in my best shape to visit anywhere and didn’t have a chance to taste yummy food! Luckily, once I’m well enough, I had at least a week to browse a little bit by myself.

I spent most of the time in Guangzhou and because the Asian Games (equivalent of the Olympics of Asia) are hosted in the same city so there are a lot of people everywhere as well. There was a one week free period of free public transit to all residents so imagine that!!! Plus, in order to take the metro, you have to pass security check as they have to scan your bags so it was quite hellish too! I stayed near Beijing Road and HuiFu Road during the trip and HuiFu EastRoad became a gastronomy section so as early as 9am there are line ups at the food counters (for stuff like roasted cheese yams…)

The five mascots of the Asian Games

The gastronomy section

I went to Macau for a day and luckily it was a pleasant day. It was hot but not unbearable. We visited some casinos and the most amazing one should be The Venetian. I mean how cool is that there is a big shopping mall and a mock Venice scenery within the casino!

Inside the Venetian Casino in Macau

Ruins of St-Paul in Macau

Casino Lisboa in Macau

All in all, it was a waste that I got sick during my trip and next time that I’ll go to China, I’ll choose a period when there are no special events in hope to avoid huge crowds…