These are a Few of my Favourite Things: Monsters and Music

Posted under KDrama, KDrama Reviews, These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things on January 15th, 2021 by

It’s finally happened again! I found a K-Drama that I love enough to want to enthusiastically recommend it to all and sundry despite its (very few, very small) flaws. It combines two of my favourite things: monsters and great music–and is therefore more greatly beloved. I’ve tried to figure out exactly why it is that I love monster stories So Very Much–is it the high stakes? the way pretence is stripped away from real life so that only what’s real remains? the different ways characters are able to show bravery? the way monsters are usually combined with real life?–and I still don’t have real answer.

All I know is that by the time the camera was panning over the breath-taking sight of monsters free ranging in the cityscape outside the apartment block where our heroes are trapped, with Imagine Dragons’ Warriors howling in the background, I was well and truly hooked. I already knew it was my bag–monsters!–but I hadn’t expected how very good the sound track would be. I’m currently writing to that soundtrack most days; it elevated an already amazing series from being heart-wrenching and thought-provoking to breath-taking and tear-inducing as well.

What is this glorious series, you ask? It’s the Korean series Sweet Home, the first season of which is on Netflix and has ten hour-long episodes. I’m currently waiting with bated breath to know that there will be a second–and for those who, like me, may not be able to wait, it’s based on a webtoon that actually is complete. Whether or not you can find it in English, however, is entirely another matter.

the basic premise

The residents of Green Home Apartment Building wake up one morning to discover that the lower floor is entirely shut up; lock, stock, and barrel. They can’t get out.

Someone unknown, for reasons unknown, has separated the residents of Green Home from the world outside, and they have no intention of letting them get out. The half of our protagonist group that is on the bottom floor spend almost the entire first episode just trying to get out and then discovering that…maybe they don’t want to.

Up on the higher floors, the other half of our protagonist group, comprised of a suicidal young man, a gangster ballet girl, an actual gangster bloke, and the coolest old bloke with a hard-wired crutch are all variously discovering that something big and nasty and bloody is roaming the halls. And that something may have come from one of their apartments.

To my joy, there are as many female as male characters, and they are all people! Not all strong in the same way, but allowed to have their own story in their own way. I loved being able to contrast the physical strength of one of the girls with the mental and spiritual strength of one of the others. Unlike many kdramas, the female characters aren’t relegated to the background, and they aren’t forced to be butt-kickers to be acknowledged.

the monsters

Don’t get me wrong. The monsters are both amazing and terrifying: I caught my breath several times, something which rarely happens with me. They were very well done in terms of CGI in my opinion.

However. The most terrifying thing about these monsters is that they were each, one and all, once humans. It’s not too much of a spoiler; you discover it pretty quickly. But this chilling fact leads on very quickly to another discovery–namely, that anyone in the building is liable to turn at any minute, and no-one knows why, or how, or if it can be stopped. Is it infectious? Is it rage? Can it be stopped once it starts? What does one do in order to survive and protect the people one loves when one of the group starts to turn monster?

As Twenty-One Pilots says in Ride— “Would you ever kill?”

That’s the truly terrifying proposition here.

the problems

For me, there are very few problems with this series, but there are a few problems. The first one is that if you don’t care for bad language, you’re going to have to look away from the screen a few times. The translation team often translated an f-word where one didn’t exist, but every now and then it didn’t translate one that was there, so it runs fairly even. There is definitely bad language in this one, and slightly more in English than there would be in Korean, due to some of the swears being automatically worse in English than the Korean counterpart.

The second problem is all with the editing: there were several episodes where it felt as though a chunk of story was just…missing. Characters got from up on the top floor to the bottom floor with no problem and no onscreen representation of the same, although we know it’s hard and dangerous to do it. Little things didn’t quite match up. At first, I thought this was a clue, and due to a few different things that also might have been clues, had a conspiracy theory to go along with it: turns out it was either just bad editing or perhaps there are cut scenes after the credits that Netflix cut off before I saw them. I’m going to do a rewatch so I know which it was.

overall

This was a solid, riveting watch for me: I finished it in a few days, even trying to pace myself. It wasn’t just that it was solid: it caught my heart and soul and dragged me in, made me love the characters, and killed some of those characters. No one is safe from death; no one is safe from turning monster. No one knows what will happen.

And I loved every gloriously soundtracked second of it. 100/10 recommend. (BTW, check out the Imagine Dragon’s song I linked above: it’s also a trailer for the series, and it’s a pretty good indicator of what to expect.)

Recommendations: Namesake, Misaeng (미생), and Day6

Posted under KDrama, KDrama Reviews, These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things on August 21st, 2017 by

This is technically a Favourite Things post. So I guess, have the proper pic?

Here ya go:

The problem is, I have about three new favourite things I want to share with you.

The first, as you might have guessed from the name of the post, is Kate Stradling’s new book, NAMESAKE.

Somehow I managed to miss both the tweet announcing its publication AND the blog post (I blame the flu. I am sick, and tired, and incredibly stupid) so I was hugely excited when a random Amazon search showed up Namesake.

I’ve now finished reading Namesake, and have joined in a discussion of its linguistic and thematic excellencies over on Kate’s blog in the comments section, where she announced the release.

I would normally do a proper review here, but the fact is that I was reading and reviewing Kate’s books before I actually knew her, and then I discovered that she had in fact read and reviewed mine, which makes things awkward. (I don’t review under my author name, and it was a mistake far too easy to make.)

So now I don’t so much review her books as scream “BUY THIS BOOK IT’S FLAMIN’ FANTASTIC AND YOU’LL NEVER WANT TO STOP READING IT”.

(For the record, I’ll have it be known that I was her fan first.)

(Also, read Namesake. It’ll be the best book you read this year.)

Misaeng. Ah, Misaeng!

Ah, those iconic Misaeng terrace scenes…so many…so good!

You guys probably know by now how much I love puppy dog heroes. I love being able to cheer wholeheartedly for characters, and I can thoroughly cheer for Jang GuRae. I was a little unsure at first, because the actor is the slender, pretty type that I don’t necessarily care for–but that character! Guys, the character! He’s a Baduk player (think a Korean sort of Chess) who at the age of 26 has been unable to continue playing Baduk from a necessity to earn money. He joins a company instead, sponsored by a mysterious benefactor–something that earns him the immediate ire and disdain of his coworkers.

This is basically Sales Team 3 in a nutshell. Mr Oh is wild-haired and mad, Mr Kim is slightly concerned, and GuRae has no idea what’s going on but lots of enthusiasm…

I love seeing the world through GuRae’s wide, idealistic eyes; and more, I love seeing how this drama shows the way the world sees GuRae. I love the changes he brings about because people come to see the world through his eyes–or themselves through his eyes. And it’s not just puppy GuRae; the rest of the characters are wonderful to watch. Because although I love Jang GuRae the best, I relate best to flawed, twisted, wrong-minded characters who stand on the knife’s edge of ruin. I know how hard it is to see yourself as you are, and how much harder it is to change when the change needs to come from within yourself. I know how easy it is to give up and blame anyone but yourself.

And this is pretty typical of all the interns. I love them all.

This drama does everything right character-wise, and it has one of the most beautiful ways with metaphor that I’ve seen since watching Beautiful Office. The episodes have flown by, though I’ve been trying to eke them out, and now I only have 7 left to go…

This one is going to be one I buy after I watch it on Netflix.

Okay, so the last thing that I discovered this week and immediately loved is the Korean group Day6.

Guys, I try really hard not to discover new Korean groups. I’m very happy with Jung Yonghwa, CNBLUE, B.A.P., and a smattering of BTS and GOT7 with assorted, much older faves. I don’t have the time or the energy (or the money) to be buying more Korean music. But somehow I ended up on the Twitter of Day6’s Jae–I don’t remember how, maybe it came up in my reccs–and there was Dwight’s face (yup, the Office’s Dwight) staring at me and a feed that I found pretty amusing. Which of course meant that when I went to Youtube and found a clip of Day6 mixed with other stuff, I thought, well, why not give it a listen.

I’m so glad I did. That first clip was Congratulations, which I loved the first time I heard it. Loving a song straight up is really unusual for me, because when I find a new group it usually takes a few songs for me to warm to them, and a few repeats for me to thoroughly love the music. I dunno. Maybe something’s broken in my music centre. Then I went on to 좋은걸 뭐 어떡해 (which translates roughly to ‘What can I do?’) and which I loved even more than Congratulations. So now I have a new band to listen to. I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS, GUYS. I DON’T HAVE THE TIME. On the other hand, Day6’s music is a great addition to my writing playlist, so there’s that…

Last but not least–and nothing to do with Favourite Things but more in the way of a general update–the cover for Memento Mori will be done in another week or two, after which there will be excerpts, cover reveals, special blog posts, giveaways, and other awesome stuff in preparation for Memento Mori‘s publication month!

I’ll have preorder links to share, too, so keep an eye out. And let me know about your Favourite Things discoveries this week!

These Are a Few of My Favourite Things: Meredith Allady

Posted under Awesome Authors, Favourite Authors, These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things on May 27th, 2017 by

Technically, Meredith Allady doesn’t qualify as a Favourite Thing; being, as she is, a person. So this blog post is more in the way of a review of her latest book, A SUMMER IN BATH, and a general fan flail about what an awesome writer she is.

For a start, Meredith Allady has the distinction of being one of only TWO authors I know of who, when compared to Jane Austen, actually bear out that comparison. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve read that this or that author is JUST LIKE reading Jane Austen. RUBBISH. They’re not. They’re like a very bad version of Georgette Heyer. (If they were a GOOD version of Georgette Heyer, I’d have no complaints, but even so, weigh your comparisons, people!) Meredith Allady, on the other hand, is about the closest thing I’ve read to Jane Austen, while at the same time having her own style and voice. She writes the period as if IN the period, which is as big of a compliment as I can pay a historical writer. It’s not just the knowledge of the period, it’s the style of writing: the gorgeously Georgian comma usage and sentence structure, the conversational humour, the attitudes and considerations. And as a Christian, I SO MUCH LOVE that her characters talk and live God, Christ, and scripture. However, be not alarmed, non-Christian readers; the usage is natural and just, and you’re unlikely to feel preached at unless you’re of the most delicately minded atheists who can’t stand to see the names of God or Christ in print (in which case, your life is already hard enough: skip this book).

Add A SUMMER IN BATH on Goodreads by clicking through the pic…

Having flailed a little, let me proceed to the book in question, A SUMMER IN BATH.

First and foremost I should mention that I think this is the best of Meredith Allady’s books so far, despite the fact that, as warned, it was almost entirely sans Ann (my favourite character from the Merriweather Chronicles). It zipped along at a pace that was, contradictorily, both satisfyingly speedy and Regency-fashion sedate: I never found it too slow (in fact, it was very difficult to stop reading for run-of-the-mill things like eating and sleeping) but neither did I find that it was missing the particularly sedate perambulatory style that I love so much about both Allady’s and Austen’s work.

We meet Sibyl, Sibyl’s sister Jane, the Earl, a mysterious young man (or not so mysterious, if you’ve already read the previous two books), and several other characters, some of them known only as recipients of Sibyl’s and the Earl’s letters (until the end of the book, anyway). This book is written in the epistolatory style, but there is absolutely no lack of dimension to the characters, which is a huge testament to the writing of Meredith Allady. Each of them is fully-fleshed, fully human, and capable of making mistakes. We’re mostly in Sibyl’s head, but we get a wide range of sight and character, and occasionally, we get a letter in the Earl’s P.O.V. (delightful excerpts, but more of that later…)

First of all, I LOVE BEING IN SIBYL’S HEAD. She’s at the same time so young and naive, yet so mature. So learned and clever, yet so inclined to run aground when it comes to knowledge of people. SO. FLAMIN’. ADORABLE. So inclined to reflect on her own behaviour and correct wrong things. Even if other people in the situation do the wrong thing, if Sibyl does the wrong thing too, she acknowledges it and makes it right. I love right-hearted characters. And Sibyl never comes across as stuffy for doing so—just thoughtful. She’s a beautifully well-drawn character. It’s a constant delight seeing the world through her eyes, and even if I don’t agree with her assessment of novels(! :D), I love that she’s a complete, unapologetic, distinct character. I found myself very much at home in her head.

Unusually enough for me nowadays, I utterly fell in love with the hero of the piece, the Earl. Some of this falling in love has to do with his AMAZING way with words and the fact that for the first time in years, I had to seriously think about the provenance of a word to decipher its meaning, not having come across it before. Not just once, but about three times. Having done so, I could work out from root words and context what the word meant, but it was something I’ve not had to do for years. Not to mention the usage of older, WONDERFUL words that I almost never see in fiction any more.

More than than, it’s his affectionate view of Sibyl that made me love him. And, in the cleverest way imaginable, this view of the Earl is given not just in letter fragments from his P.O.V., but in the letters from Sibyl. Through her largely ignorant eyes, we see exactly how the Earl views Sibyl, and if Sibyl has no idea of his feelings for her, the reader is left in no doubt. It’s beautifully, BEAUTIFULLY drawn.

There are side-stories, side-threads, and things left to be told in later books. They’re things that you can guess if you’re a little more inclined to noticing things than Sibyl is, but if not, on a re-reading you’ll see that they’re gently led from early on.

All in all: BUY THIS BOOK. I LOVE THIS BOOK. Read it again and again, and enjoy the excerpts from writings of the day that Meredith Allady has cleverly pieced in between the letters. They’re there for a reason, and most of them are humorous (though if you’re like me, you’ll have an aw moment or two, as well).

(SIDE NOTE: I can’t say how much I LOVED seeing Clive. He’s a character I simultaneously love and hate. Well, not hate; but I would love to smack him upside the head every so often. Please don’t think I don’t love him. I do. But I think he would greatly benefit from the occasional smack upside the head throughout the course of his life.)

I got my hot little hands on a paperback copy of A SUMMER IN BATH (and at the same time purchased paperbacks of the first two in the Merriweather Chronicles) because if I love a book I always want the paperback of it and I was certain in advance that I’d love the book. So just a small note to add that I ADORE the bigger print in the paperback version, because I’m getting old and my eyes are starting to prefer larger print…

Five utterly-well-earned stars for A SUMMER IN BATH.

K-DRAMA REVIEWS: The Suspicious Housekeeper (수상한 가정부)

Posted under KDrama, KDrama Reviews, These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things on December 13th, 2016 by

Every now and then you come across something that is an instant classic with you personally. You know what I mean: it’s nearly perfect, though not quite perfect, and even its imperfections are familiar and loved friends by the time you’ve finished watching/reading it.

That’s how I felt about The Suspicious Housekeeper by the time I finished the first episode. I still feel like that. It’s far from perfect, but even those imperfections are an integral part of what I like about this odd-ball, not-this-nor-that South Korean Drama.

What is unusual about me loving this drama so much is that it deals with a couple of things that I will almost never watch, but found were dealt with in a beautiful way. In fact, there were a lot of things about it that, had I known in advance, would have stopped me from watching it altogether.  Themes such as adultery, suicide, teenage rebellion carried to extremes, and little children in emotional pain are not things that I would typically watch for amusement. The Suspicious Housekeeper does them in such a way, however, that I found them not only surprisingly moral, but enthralling.

The title refers to a Housekeeper hired by father Sang Chul after his wife dies, to look after his children and the house. It’s not, you understand, that she is suspicious of someone (though she is, later on). It’s more that everyone finds her suspicious. But really, it could go either way and work just fine.

The plot

-ish. It’s kinda hard to condense HOW MUCH FLAMIN’ PLOT there is in these 20 eps down to a paragraph or two. The essentials, however, are as follows:

*Sang Chul’s wife died in an accidental drowning before the beginning of the drama–or did she? The children are reeling from her death already, though Sang Chul is less sad.

*Sang Chul is less sad because he wasn’t really ever in love with his wife, and had, in fact, been having an affair. Normally, this would have stopped me watching the series immediately. This time it didn’t, because knowing a little bit about K-Dramas now, I was very well aware that in a drama of this calibre, cheating would never be shown to be okay, or rewarded. I was right, and I’m happy I was right, because this show is so worth watching!

Sang Chul’s mistress. Oh, I hated her! Her ending, however, I completely loved. Well done, the writers.

*Basically, by the end of the first couple episodes, everything is on fire. The children are no longer sure of anything. They know their dad cheated on their mother. They don’t know whether or not he loves them because he’s a truthful (if wishy-washy) man, and can’t commit to tell them he loves them when he isn’t sure he does.

*The children take over the house and refuse to let Sang Chul back in until he agrees that he will never again meet with his lover. This is, again, something that would normally make me stop watching something: I have no love for children being taught that it’s okay to dishonour their parents. But again, the way this drama dealt with it was so poignant and beautiful that I can’t really fault it.

*Toward the middle, after Bok Nyeo has more or less settled things with the children (if not with Sang Chul) we meet with a VERY SCARY MAN who Bok Nyeo is sure she knows, but that man is supposed to be dead. This is where the drama goes from family drama into psychological thriller, including a crooked cop, a stalker, and layer upon layer of conspiracy. The children by this point are firmly on Bok Nyeo’s side, and fiercely love her, so there is the constant threat of danger to them as well as Bok Nyeo.

That’s all I can say without major spoilers, so on to the characters!

The Characters

This is Bok Nyeo. She doesn’t smile. She very rarely shows any emotion, as a matter of fact, even guilt. When Sang Chul asks her how she could do a certain thing that she’d done, and asked her didn’t she feel any guilt/responsibility, her response is: “I threw that away somewhere.”

What Bok Nyeo does do is cook exactly like the childrens’ mother did, keep the house impeccably clean, and…follow orders. I mean, really follow orders. Without hesitation, without second thought, without remorse, and without ruth. (Yeah, I could have said ‘ruthlessly’, but it wouldn’t have matched, okay?!)

This, with the four children also giving orders, could and does become dangerous. And yet, each time, when I hoped for the best from the children, they invariably showed me their best (after a little while in the case of some of them).

Bok Nyeo is a truly amazing character, played by a truly amazing actor.

Sang Chul, the childrens’ father. His life is unravelling, one awful lie after another. Weak, wishy-washy, and yet absolutely truthful with his children once the biggest, dreadful truth is out there. It’s like he lied to himself and everyone else so much that now he won’t even lie when his children want to hear that he loves them and he doesn’t think he does love them.

Eldest daughter Han Gyul. Angsty, bereft at her mother’s death, and furious with her father for cheating, she is an explosion of bad decisions waiting to happen. I actually kinda disliked her for a long time, but I could really see why she was behaving the way she was behaving, so I was willing to give her some slack.

As the eldest girl, Han Gyul gets not only a big part in the proceedings (both family drama and thriller), but her own little story-line complete with a couple of love interests (one of whom manages to be even MORE ANGSTY than she is, which is, frankly, incredible.) Kim So Hyun was as amazing as ever in this part, but then, I’ve never seen her anything but amazing.

Eldest brother Doo Gyul–AKA, my squishy. I loved this kid! He was my favourite of all the kids, despite me loving clever cookie Si Gyul and adorable Hye Gyul. I actually started out by hating him: mostly because he slapped Bok Nyeo, and that really got up my nose. Before too many episodes were over, however, I had begun to love this messed-up little kid.

Doo Gyul actually makes this face (or variations thereof) A LOT. That’s because he’s always doing something daft.

Why, you ask? A number of reasons. The first and foremost of these is because of his big heart. The second is his stupidity. He rushes in where angels fear to tread, stuffs things up majorly, and tries his stupid best to protect and serve the people he loves. Mostly he does this by doing groan-worthy things that a moment’s reflection might have told him were bad ideas, but that just made me love him more. He’s quick-tempered, hasty, and really not very bright. The thing that cemented my love for him was the scene where he and the other children sneak up on Bok Nyeo at the amusement park, where she has a meal set up for someone else. Doo Gyul sits down angrily, grabs one of the burgers, and stuffs it in his mouth, saying: “These are ours now!” He’s just adorable.

Clever cookie Si Gyul. Oh, this little baby! He’s dealing with mum’s death, bullies, and the fact that he has to pass his tests. He made me cry. This whole drama made me cry so many times, but Si Gyul was the first who made me cry happy tears because I was so proud of him. That’s right, I cried because I was proud of A TOTALLY IMAGINARY PERSON. Si Gyul is such a little darling.

Darling, pig-tailed Hye Gyul. An emotive little girl who just wants someone to love, and a stable family. Hye Gyul made me cry heaps because she’s always getting knocked down and having to get up again–always having to deal with things that are far too big and old for her to deal with.

Bok Nyeo doesn’t show much emotion, but when she does, you can guarantee that Hye Gyul is the cause of it, somehow.

Honestly, most of the tender Bok Nyeo moments were because of Hye Gyul, and Hye Gyul is the primary mover in Bok Nyeo’s eventual restoration.

Hye Gyul is the one who brings back fear, love, slight happiness, and tenderness into Bok Nyeo’s scarred, cold life. When Bok Nyeo’s freakin’ scary stalker sees them together, in fact, the first thing he does is go off into a mad rage: “I saw a mother’s look on her face again? Why is there a mother’s look on her face?”

Which brings us to scary stalker guy, Seo Ji Hoon. This guy legit terrified me. Gorgeous face, and the most frightening eyes I’ve ever seen. He creeped me out every time he appeared on the screen, and he just got scarier and scarier as the episodes went on.

One of the scariest things about Ji Hoon? His ability to portray absolute fragility.

His utter ruthlessness in going after what he wanted, his boy-like adoration, his terrifying tenderness–this guy just really freaked me out. First rate job, Song Jong Ho. You’ll always be my litmus test for creepy stalker guy.

You’re never in any doubt that this man is a Very Bad Man, but you can’t stop watching with your mouth open.

Flaws…

I loved this so much, guys. I really did. Go out and watch it, and you’ll see why. You’ll come to me with tears on your face saying: “W.R., why?? Why all the feels?? Why did you make me cry?”

And yet, it wasn’t perfect. I’ve come to the conclusion that perfection in this case might have made me love it a little less. I love this imperfect, messy, emotion-tugging drama.

And yes, okay: the camera does tend to pan over each of the children’s faces to get each of their reactions every time something particularly bad or good happens. It’s campy but the kids are such good actors, and it’s done so often that it’s more of a quirk than an actual flaw. Maybe a quirky flaw.

And it’s too long. Well, not exactly too long. But the storyline doesn’t quite know what it is–is it a family drama, a psychological thriller, or a story of redemption through pain?–and this means that it has three rather uneven acts. Again, it’s more of a quirk than a flaw, and I admire this story for pushing out of the mould and being what it wants to be. It also means that you get satisfaction on all counts and all threads: the family drama is brought to a close, the thriller ends with a bang, and the redemption is lovely. It’s just…odd.

I’ll leave you with this pic. It’s what I like to imagine the family looks like now. I love that they’re all smiling, even Bok Nyeo.

HEY HEY IT’S THE MONKEES!

Posted under Adventures In Real Life, These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things on December 5th, 2016 by

I’m ridiculously excited.

I probably told you guys this ages ago, but tonight is the night I go to see The Monkees. So I can’t concentrate to write, or study, or do anything, in fact (except rewatch The Librarians S2 with me Ma). It’s also a chance to dress up, so that’s nice.

Because I LOVE an opportunity to dress up!

Because I LOVE an opportunity to dress up!

I’ll let you know how it went when I get back…

…

…

…OKAY, I’M BACK AND GUYS IT WAS BRILLIANT AND THE MONKEES ARE BRILLIANT AND I HAVEN’T HAD SO MUCH FUN IN AGES.

*Deep breath*

Okay, first things first. I am delighted to announce that Peter Tork still does the adorable prancing thing while he plays (guitar, banjo, or keyboard). AND IT IS STILL JUST AS FLAMIN’ ADORABLE. He can also pick a really mean banjo and has a delightful sense of humour. Mickey Dolenz is still as brash and fun and loud as ever, and has more energy than I do on a good day!

The whole thing, in fact, had so much energy and vibe and fun to it that I don’t think I’ve been to a live performance I enjoyed more. The supporting musicians were absolutely wonderful, and both to frame and accent the Monkees performance beautifully.

AND GUYS. GUYS. I GOT TO DANCE TO THE MONKEES, LIVE.

Who got to dance to the Monkees, live?? This girl, that's who!

Who got to dance to the Monkees, live?? This girl, that’s who!

(If I’d have been a bit quicker I would have got to shake Peter’s hand, too, but I can live without that 😀 )

They came back on the stage ‘cos we made such a noise when they left, hooting and yelling and clapping, and played Pleasant Valley Sunday. Then they played as a last thing, I’m a Believer (reminding us with a twinkle in their eyes that they played it before Shrek), and some people started to go up the front and dance.

Well. I knew I’d never get another opportunity to dance to the Monkees, so of course I left my seat and danced!

I only took three photos (I tend to soak things in instead of taking pics) and they’re all very bad ones, but long story short, if you’re wondering whether the ticket was worth the price, then YES, many times over.

monkees

My two favourite Monkees, Peter and Mickey <3

Now I just need to wind down enough to sleep….

(In related news, I’m slowly slowly getting replies to my inquiries about using lyrics from The Monkees’ songs in Bright as the Eyes of You, though I still don’t yet know if I’ll be able to afford to do so. Meanwhile, lovely beta readers are reading BatEoY and I’ve already had some very useful feedback, so things are still progressing for a late-this-year/early-next-year publication.)

Some Deliciously Disturbing Singing

Posted under Cool Stuff, These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things on October 17th, 2016 by

I’m particularly fond of the Johnny Depp version of Sweeny Todd. Not only are the words terrifyingly insane and strangely beautiful, but the music is whimsically, intricately good. Stephen Sondheim is one of my favourite composers. Sweeny Todd, in particular, is gruesome, mad, and hilarious all at once, the cleverness of the lyrics wrapped in a beautifully haunting series of melodies and harmonies.

In short, I never thought I would find anything so deliciously disturbing as Sweeny Todd.

And then Rebekah Hendrian (who, BTW, is also responsible for my new-found love of B.A.P.) posted this video on Twitter. Of course I watched it.

Disturbing? Yes.

Delicious? HECK to the yes.

I think this may be the first time I’ve ever fallen in love with a Voice. And what a voice! I haven’t heard such quality of tone since listening to Ivan Rebroff.

Through the first video, I found the second song (part of the same musical).

These videos are my new Favourite Things, which means I will watch them over and over and over again. And when I finally manage to chivvy Mr.G over to Korea, I want to see this musical– or at least Hong Kwang-Ho in whatever musical he happens to be in. Because I want to hear that voice live.

And now I live in hope that someday there will be a soundtrack of these guys doing this musical, so I can listen to it on repeat.

In the mean-time, I have my soundtrack of Sweeny Todd…

These are a Few of My Favourite Things: FLOWER BOYS NEXT DOOR

Posted under KDrama, These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things on October 10th, 2016 by

Welcome to THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS, the KDrama edition!

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FLOWER BOYS NEXT DOOR

I’ll say right now that FLOWER BOYS NEXT DOOR contains pretty much everything I love about KDrama, and most things I love about the best T.V. shows–and, in fact, story-telling as a whole–within its bright little bubble.

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The description of this KDrama interested me straight away (a free-lance editor with agoraphobia is set upon by a boy-puppy type hero and chivvied out of her comfort zone? yes please!) and when I learned that the female MC was played by Park Shin-hye, it was a no-brainer.

The Players

Go Dok-mi (Park Shin-hye)

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I love Park Shin-hye. I love the fact that she’s not horrendously, unhealthily skinny. I love that she’s always adorable. I love watching her act. I’ve also found out that she has a gorgeous singing voice (she’s actually part of the soundtrack for Flower Boys Next Door), so there’s that too.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that I absolutely adored her character in this. Go Dok-mi is a freelance editor who, as a schoolgirl, was so much bullied by both enemies and (supposed) friends, that she almost tried to kill herself, and ended up as an agoraphobic shut-in. From her small apartment, she watches the world outside (and particularly the guy next door, with whom she has fallen in love) with her bright yellow binoculars.

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I love Go Dok-mi’s frugal cost-saving measures. I love her infrequent, nervous trips Outside, when she can’t put them off any longer. I love the fact that although she doesn’t care for herself, she has an incredibly caring nature, and will always do the kind thing for others. I love her quiet, undemanding, unrequited love for the man next door. I love her humble self-knowledge.

One of my favourite Dok-mi moments? When, after seeing her through 5 or 6 episodes where she won’t put the heater on to save electricity costs, wearing multiple layers to keep warm, and sleeping with hot water bottles (which she uses, when cold, to flush the toilet)– when Enrique says thoughtlessly upon entering her apartment “Oh! So cold!” we see her turn on the heater immediately. It’s the trademark of this beautifully written drama to place such quiet, effective moments in the most unexpected places.

My other favourite moment is when she tells Jin-Rak: “You had it wrong the whole time. I’m not the princess. I’m the witch who locked her in.”

Enrique Geum (Yoon Shi-yoon)

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Okay, this was only the second KDrama I watched (after something like 10 KDramas) where I didn’t get 2nd Lead Syndrome. That should tell you something about how delightful Enrique was.

How to describe Enrique? Well, he’s a world famous games designer, but the first word that springs to mind is puppy. This little puppy of a hero is warm, and kind, and enthusiastic. He doesn’t give up, he’s teachable, and he has a heart that is just as kind as Dok-mi’s. His unrelenting bouncing around Dok-mi’s seemingly impenetrable facade of untouchability is just delightful to watch–as delightful, in fact, as watching him fall in love with her all unknowingly, and her falling in love with him with barely greater knowledge.

As much as I love each character separately, I love them as a couple even more. I don’t know if there’s an actual age difference between them, but Enrique’s bouncing youthfulness combined with Dok-mi’s decidedly womanly dignity is a truly gorgeous dynamic. (Guys, he calls her Ahjumma! Ahjumma!) And it’s not just his relationship with Dok-mi that is heart-warming: his relationship with Jin-rak is also a huge highlight of the drama.

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Oh Jin-rak (Kim Ji-hun)

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Oh Jin-rak. Some of the best comic moments in this drama come from Oh Jin-rak. He’s been in love with Go Dok-mi ever since he first saw her at their shared apartment building.

Remember I said that I didn’t get 2nd Lead Syndrome with this drama? I didn’t, but that’s not because Oh Jin-rak, the 2nd boy of Flower Boys Next Door, wasn’t an awesome character.

He totally was.

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For starters, he’s a writer. How could I not love him? Not only was he a writer, but the very nature of this drama (wherein Jin-rak is part of a team who write a webtoon based on their life) means that the fourth wall is constantly being broached in the most delicate and delicious manner. Jin-rak is the source of most of this assault on the fourth wall–the rest coming from the Editor–and he is one of the most self-aware characters I’ve had the joy of watching. Plus, he’s a Facilitator, and if you’ve read my posts on KDrama, you know how much I love Facilitators.

Despite that, I was very happy to see him not end up with the girl. (Oh, yeah, SPOILERS).

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A big joy for me in the character of Jin-rak was how much we got to see of his personal growth and shenanigans. This was followed closely by the joy in the relationships grown between him and Enrique, and the even sweeter seonbae/hubae, hyung/dongsang relationship between him and Oh Dong-hoon. It’s so rare for a western show to focus on brotherly love that it was a constant refreshment.

Oh Dong-hoon (Go Kyung-pyo)

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This kid is another actor I’ve loved in everything I’ve seen him in. As Oh Dong-hoon, he plays an impoverished kid who is bunking with Jin-rak while co-writing a webtoon with him. Their hyung/dongsang relationship is sweet and hilarious to watch, and it’s not Jin-rak alone who grows over the course of the drama.

Even sweeter is the budding (yet entirely practical) romance between Dong-hoon and the Editor. I loved seeing those two together.

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Editor (Kim Seul-Gi)

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I’m quickly gaining new favourite actors, because Kim Seul-Gi is sheerly hilarious. All the quiet incursions of the fourth wall that Jin-rak isn’t responsible for, the Editor is, and as I’ve said before, her relationship with Dong-hoon is just perfect.

The Editor is (obviously) the editor of Jin-rak and Dong-hoon’s webtoon. She gets four hours of sleep per night, and therefore spends the remainder of her time with the cutest panda eyes I’ve seen, and a raging case of bipolar disorder that is even cuter than her panda eyes.

OBVIOUSLY she’s a favourite character.

Cha Do-Hwi (Park Soo-jin)

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Blurk. Cha Do-Hwi is your requisite bad guy gal who used to be a friend of Dok-mi’s in school, and then both betrayed and bullied her to the point of suicide because Cha Do-Hwi fell in love with the teacher who seemed to be falling in love with Dok-mi.

My biggest fear was that Jin-rak would fall in love with her, because I really hated her.

She’s unpleasant and highly toxic, and never actually gets to the point of admitting total fault. What I like about this character is, that although you never see her change, exactly–well, you never see her change. And that was oddly satisfying. Because although Dok-mi was able to grow beyond her boundaries, by the end of the drama you could see that Cha Do-Hwi would never change, and that, to my justice-loving mind, was punishment enough.

Also, I hated her clothes.

Watanabe (Mizuta Kouki)

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This kid was basically there to look pretty and be a plot device, though he was a pleasant one and rounded out the group nicely. Watanabe is a Japanese boy who is cooking his way around the world. There’s not too much to say about him, but he fit in with the whole drama beautifully, and he’s a constant thread through it.

The Plot

Well, I’ve already really told you most of the important stuff. There’s other stuff going on, of course: the residents picketing their apartment for better terms, the mystery of who really owns the apartment building, the packing up and leaving of Dok-mi’s one-sided love from the apartment across the road, Enrique’s first love– not to mention a totally sweet, budding romance between one of the older, female residents of the apartment building and the elderly security guard.

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Then there are the mobster-looking types who are following Jin-rak around, and the scurrilous goings on within Enrique’s gaming fandom…

The Writing–oh my goodness, the WRITING!

I don’t remember the last time I actually squealed in glee while watching a movie or tv show. With Flower Boys Next Door, I was doing it constantly.

The metaphors, guys! The subtle, beautiful metaphors, in both dialogue and situation.

The constant, delicate encroachments upon the fourth wall.

The downright lovely, delightful characters!

I’m actually so overcome with how amazing the writing is that I have almost no words to describe it, and after watching Flower Boys Next Door I just sat in my chair saying to Mr.G: “I will never be able to write like that!”

I loved the comedy. I loved the way they played with viewer expectations, and the way they subverted those expectations.  Oh my goodness, I LOVED how they directed and obscured the narrative, and then tore the rug out from under my feet in the most hilarious and heartwarming ways!

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You’ll see what I mean when you get to this part. And then, like me, you will laugh until you cry at what they’ve done with your expectations.

*Breathe, WR, Breathe*

Okay, you can probably tell I loved this one to bits (it’s one of my top 4 KDramas that I can rewatch over and over again) so go out and watch it already before this blog post runs beyond its already ridiculous word count as I try to convince you.

The best part? I get to watch it over and over, and it’s STUDY, GUYS, because I’m learning Korean.

 

 

 

These are a Few of my Favourite Things: MAIRELON THE MAGICIAN

Posted under Favourite Authors, These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things on August 8th, 2016 by

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Mairelon the Magician by Patricia Wrede

Mairelon the Magician. What can I say about it? Well, it’s by Patricia Wrede, which almost guaranteed that I’d like it, even if I hadn’t, you know, liked it. It’s Fantasy. But it’s Regency. Well, it’s a Mystery, though. Oh, and also Adventure. Comedy. Did I mention it’s a Regency?!

There aren’t that many Fantasy/Regency blends out there–well, not many GOOD ones, anyway–so when I find one that’s good, I tend to enjoy it a great deal and re-read it often. Mairelon the Magician (and its sequel, The Magician’s Ward) are no exception to that rule. They’re two of the best Fantasy/Regency books you’ll find, and are even more enjoyable than the rather better known Fantasy/Regency blend Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer.

“What have you done with the Sacred Dish?” Jon grated.

“Lost it in a card game,” Meredith said.

Things I like about Mairelon?

Well.

There’s a street urchin boy who is actually a girl. That’s always a winner with me. (It’s not a spoiler, you know in the first page–relax). Maybe it’s because I wanted to be a boy when I was a kid, or maybe it’s because I always wanted to be a street urchin: whatever the reason, I’ll almost never say no to an MC street urchin girl-pretending-to-be-boy.

There’s a plump-faced, magician, main character (Mairelon himself, in case you were wondering) who is delightfully irritating and deceptively ineffectual. He is SUCH a fun character. He has me laughing the whole way through every re-read.

Oh. And Mairelon has a henchman called Hunch. I’m not sure why I find this so incredibly satisfying, but I do. I find it even more satisfying that his henchman called Hunch has a mustache–and I can only hope it’s a handlebar one (we are told that he frequently chews the ends of it, so I’m gonna believe what I want to believe).

Avid Heyerites will recognise many familiar words, phrases, and themes. Even the structure will be familiar. Despite that, the whole thing has an original feel to it that is very hard to achieve with anything that can (and will always) be compared to Heyer. It’s madcap and ridiculous and just outright FUN. You should definitely read it.

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