Dramalog #4

1. Princess Hours/Goong

2. Lovers in Paris

3. Save the Last Dance

4. Three Dads with One Mommy

5. Cinderella's Sister

6. Personal Preference

7. City Hunter

8. Boys Before Flowers

9. Mackerel Run

10. Protect the Boss (6 episodes only)

11. 49 Days

12. The First Shop of Coffee Prince 

13. Flower boy Ramyun Shop

14. Iris (just finished!)

15. Faith (ongoing/simultaneous with Korea)

This is what paying close attention to details mean

Comment by 1leggedstraycat on dramabeans.com

"I don’t know if anyone had already caught this, but if Choi Young is THE Choi Young, Eun-soo is 33 years old, and wikipedia can be trusted, then Choi Young was the one who fortold that grass would not grow on his grave due to his unjust death. This turned out historically to be true until sprouts started growing in 1979. So wouldn’t that be the year Eun-soo was born? …That would be some cool fiction/reality blending. Or was the age they talked about in the English character draw ups left as their Korean age and she would have been born a couple years later? If it was, the writers were totally missing some majorly awesome poetic history/story mesh."

Now watching: Faith aka The Great Doctor (ep 4)

Singapura

I just got back from a quick and hasty* trip to sunny Singapore. It's sunny; not sunshiny. Sunshiny's more alive and fun and creative. Sunny's so-so. But since it's a new place, and I'm with great company - myself, most of the time, I enjoyed it nonetheless.

See the Marina Bay Sands - check
Gardens by the bay - check
Eat Hainanese chicken/chicken rice - check
See the Merlion - check
Makansutra Glutton's bay - check
Sight seeing at the bay area - check
Ride the train - check
Ride the double decker bus - check
Lunch with a high school friend - check
Sri Marimamman Temple (SG's oldest Hindu temple) - check
Chinatown - check
Little India - check
Orchard road - check
Ikea - check
Eat kaya toast (traditional breakfast in SG) - check
Eat in hawkers - check
Singapore Museum of History - check
Fort Canning Part - check
Mt Faber cable car ride - check which also gave me a bird's eye view of Sentosa, so I skipped Sentosa
Bugis night market - check

That's a whole lot of walking! But really, nothing's fab except for the transportation system. Nothing larger than life. Just pure cosmopolitan flair, which is too bland for my liking. Everything's man-made, make-believe, unreal and escapist. It's just...souless. And I do not, for the life of me, understand the amazement with Marina Bay Sands. That's the problem with first world, no? People tend to live in a vacuum totally obscure of the reality that is bigger than themselves or their jobs or their apartments.

*Booked the flight only 3 days in advanced; decided to go to Singapore on the day I booked the flight; planned my itinerary on the plane to SG

Still the best Korean drama moment

That moment in episode 1 when Puchai said "yes" under his breath, accompanied by a tiny smirk after accurately hitting his target with a guava. And then the epic action scene soundtrack plays for the first time.

Little missed sunshine

Nakaka-miss na ang araw. Bukas, ika-sampung araw na ng tuloy-tuloy na pag-ulan. Bahagya ko lamang nakita ang langit sa tuwing nagpapahinga ang ulan. Pero ang araw, hindi ko talaga nakita, kahit isang sinag man lamang.

Masarap ang malamig na panahon. Pero nakaka-irita ang pagkabasa ng paligid, lalo na sa bahay namin na lagi nalang may tumutulo sa bintana at nanunuot na tubig sa mga pader.

Nakaka-miss ka, araw. Pag nagkita tayo ulit, tititigan kita ng bonggang-bongga.

Wisdom of N.P.

Got this book, N.P. (North Point), two years ago only because it was P20 during a Powerbooks sale. And only because the author is named "Banana". But I only read it for a day last May, and then this weekend.

True to the Japanese form (author is Banana Yoshimoto), it's very minimalist. Well, it tackled different types of relationships ranging from the simple (sisterhood) to the complex (lesbian, incestuous, high school-old man) but somehow Banana managed to make it look simple.

Some wisdom in the book as follows:

"People are just so weak. Like me, I was raised in a terrible environment and have seen a lot of appalling things in my time, but, in the end, I still believe that people are fundamentally good. And also extremely fragile." (p.68)

"There are people like that, who have no fear of failure and are constantly starting from scratch. They never appear to be at peace with themselves, but then it's no wonder. People like that may claim what they do is right, but you can tell from their faces that they have many regrets, like they've been banished to some dark alley."  (P.93)