i have been working on my jclub presentation the last two days, so even though i finished sweet relationship this weekend, i haven't found a new drama to watch yet. finally i finished the ppt tonight, and now i have also decided on my new project: bump off lover. actually i have been meaning to watch this for quite some time. but when i first wanted to, i couldn't find the episodes. tonight i realized that trusty mysoju.com has just finished posting all the episodes!
i know there are horror dramas, which i can't imagine being scared for like 14 episodes on end...would i just live in fear for 2 weeks? anyway, i'm not sure if this drama is actually supposed to be scary, but it'll definitely be a change from the normal romantic comedy idol dramas i like so much. i'll probably start watching tomorrow night.
tonight i was browsing dramawiki. they have a page for listing tw 2006 dramas, a page for 2007 dramas, and a page for 2008 dramas. so i was looking to see what dramas i haven't seen that are worth watching. this is how i decided to watch bump off lover. there is also a page for upcoming tw dramas. turns out, there is an upcoming drama called 劍道．愛("jian dao. ai" or "kendo. love"). there isn't a synopsis page yet, but all i can say is...THEY TOTALLY COPIED ME! i wrote a drama called 跆拳道﹐ 愛到 ("tai quan dao, ai dao" or "taekwondo, love came"). check out my drama!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
tasty snacks
when my mom came back from a vacation to taiwan recently, she brought my brother and i each a tiny pack of japanese snacks. she said they were from our cousin. all she knew was that they were really expensive, but didn't know exactly how much they cost. at the time i scoffed. what's the point of such expensive snacks? last night i was hungry so i ate mine.
THEY WERE REALLY GOOD! here i have scanned in the front and back of the package so you can see what i ate (and how big the package was; that's a 6" ruler). click on the image so you can see it bigger and the crackers better! on the back is a little picture of each kind of cracker you can find in the mix. there were a few of each of the smaller ones and only 1 or 2 of each of the larger ones. each cracker was as delicate, as tasty, and as carefully made as the pictures suggest. each type of cracker had its own, unique, and tasty flavor. i only wish i could read the little descriptions on the back.
on the packaging i found a website, but i couldn't find this specific snack pack in its list of products. on top it says "welcome to *something something something something* kingdom". one of the houses on the right is a link to is history. bottom center is a link to it's "store". at the castle's door is like a "quote of the day" or something. top right is some old guy's house or something. anyway, that's all i can make out from the chinese characters they use without having to pull out a dictionary. it's a pretty cute site though. makes the snacks even tastier!
THEY WERE REALLY GOOD! here i have scanned in the front and back of the package so you can see what i ate (and how big the package was; that's a 6" ruler). click on the image so you can see it bigger and the crackers better! on the back is a little picture of each kind of cracker you can find in the mix. there were a few of each of the smaller ones and only 1 or 2 of each of the larger ones. each cracker was as delicate, as tasty, and as carefully made as the pictures suggest. each type of cracker had its own, unique, and tasty flavor. i only wish i could read the little descriptions on the back.
on the packaging i found a website, but i couldn't find this specific snack pack in its list of products. on top it says "welcome to *something something something something* kingdom". one of the houses on the right is a link to is history. bottom center is a link to it's "store". at the castle's door is like a "quote of the day" or something. top right is some old guy's house or something. anyway, that's all i can make out from the chinese characters they use without having to pull out a dictionary. it's a pretty cute site though. makes the snacks even tastier!
spending money
i'm going to taiwan!
i've seriously spent like no money since starting my job one and a half years ago. now, i'm finally planning a vacation! here's what i spent in the last week:
00847.76 plane ticket to taipei (mar27-apr17)
00249.99 sony cybershot dsc-h3 (black)
00039.99 sony np-bg1 lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack
00014.99 lowepro rezo 50 camera pouch
-0025.00 best buy gift card from coupon for buying camera!
---------
$1127.73
i've seriously spent like no money since starting my job one and a half years ago. now, i'm finally planning a vacation! here's what i spent in the last week:
00847.76 plane ticket to taipei (mar27-apr17)
00249.99 sony cybershot dsc-h3 (black)
00039.99 sony np-bg1 lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack
00014.99 lowepro rezo 50 camera pouch
-0025.00 best buy gift card from coupon for buying camera!
---------
$1127.73
another sweet relationship update
i just finished sweet relationship.
here are some final thoughts:
first, i take what i said about megan lai back. her character becomes progressively annoying. i still like her as an auxiliary actress though.
second, it seems like every drama always likes to throw in a new character during the last quarter of the show. the character is not really a main character because he/she is not in most of the drama, but he/she has a lot of air time during at least a few episodes. many dramas follow this general storyline: first quarter only the audience knows the two lead characters are meant to be, in the second quarter one lead falls for the other, at the end of the third quarter the other lead finally starts to show hints of reciprocating, at which point this random last quarter character comes in to drag the drama through the last quarter and into the last episode. sweet relationship is no exception. the last quarter character is played by gu xuan chun, a japanese guy whose chinese is really hard to understand and who is really gross and who eats especially gross. i think his character is actually supposed to be attractive, i just find him incredibly gross, especially in this drama. he was in both the rose and they kiss again, so i guess qu you ning really likes him.
third, qu you ning really likes to have cute chubby little boys in this dramas!
fourth, still not a huge patty hou fan, but again, i loved vic's acting in this.
fifth, the storyline wasn't that exciting, but the drama was very well made. many really good and/or really cute scenes.
finally, the dramas always have previews for the next episode at the end of each episode. i always hate watching the previews because they give entirely too much away. yet, i still watch them because i can't stand not watching every second of the videos; it would feel incomplete; what if i missed something? however, even with the extensive previewing, the ending (of the last episode) was sufficiently surprising (well not surprising, but not in the preview) and cute/not a complete let down.
here are some final thoughts:
first, i take what i said about megan lai back. her character becomes progressively annoying. i still like her as an auxiliary actress though.
second, it seems like every drama always likes to throw in a new character during the last quarter of the show. the character is not really a main character because he/she is not in most of the drama, but he/she has a lot of air time during at least a few episodes. many dramas follow this general storyline: first quarter only the audience knows the two lead characters are meant to be, in the second quarter one lead falls for the other, at the end of the third quarter the other lead finally starts to show hints of reciprocating, at which point this random last quarter character comes in to drag the drama through the last quarter and into the last episode. sweet relationship is no exception. the last quarter character is played by gu xuan chun, a japanese guy whose chinese is really hard to understand and who is really gross and who eats especially gross. i think his character is actually supposed to be attractive, i just find him incredibly gross, especially in this drama. he was in both the rose and they kiss again, so i guess qu you ning really likes him.
third, qu you ning really likes to have cute chubby little boys in this dramas!
fourth, still not a huge patty hou fan, but again, i loved vic's acting in this.
fifth, the storyline wasn't that exciting, but the drama was very well made. many really good and/or really cute scenes.
finally, the dramas always have previews for the next episode at the end of each episode. i always hate watching the previews because they give entirely too much away. yet, i still watch them because i can't stand not watching every second of the videos; it would feel incomplete; what if i missed something? however, even with the extensive previewing, the ending (of the last episode) was sufficiently surprising (well not surprising, but not in the preview) and cute/not a complete let down.
Monday, February 11, 2008
difficult decisions
life is full of difficult decisions.
this weekend, my brother wanted me to take him to the library, so while there, i decided that i should start reading (for pleasure) again. i think since high school, i have read maybe 1 or 2 books not for a class. i will admit it, but yes, i am ashamed. every week, newsweek interviews a writer and makes a list of his/her top 5 favorite books. a few weeks ago, they interviewed ha jin. he sounded like a modern day amy tan. and i like newsweek, and i liked amy tan when i was young, so i figured i would like ha jin. i checked out two of his books: waiting and war trash. i started reading waiting first (probably because it was shorter). it is set in cultural revolution china and is about a doctor who is trying to get out of a loveless marriage (to a woman his parents picked and she has bound feet) so he can marry is nurse girlfriend. anyway, it was totally boring. why do people write with so many dumb descriptions in such a generic way? like, who cares if a bird flies off in the distance as the protagonist walks along in the countryside? so then i became worried that all this asian drama watching had numbed my senses and made me too impatient to read. maybe i forgot that cultural revolution stories are always so cliche. [actually, i did immensely enjoy the cultural revolution novel gang of one by (a family friend!) fan shen, one of the maybe 1 or 2 books i have read since high school. seriously, i would recommend it. a fast and enjoyable read!]
so then, i decided to read something else. i had bought a copy of we the living (by ayn rand) many, many years ago, and now i finally decided to read it. by contrast, rand's descriptions are tight and fitting: "They put their bundles on the floors, and their bodies on the bundles, and slept...When at last, snorting and groaning, the train rumbled in, men besieged it with fists and feet and ferocious despair." the first chapter ends like this:
the only problem is, i really want to know what happens next in we the living and i really want to know what happens next in sweet relationship. so what am i going to read/watch tonight?! life is full of difficult decisions.
this weekend, my brother wanted me to take him to the library, so while there, i decided that i should start reading (for pleasure) again. i think since high school, i have read maybe 1 or 2 books not for a class. i will admit it, but yes, i am ashamed. every week, newsweek interviews a writer and makes a list of his/her top 5 favorite books. a few weeks ago, they interviewed ha jin. he sounded like a modern day amy tan. and i like newsweek, and i liked amy tan when i was young, so i figured i would like ha jin. i checked out two of his books: waiting and war trash. i started reading waiting first (probably because it was shorter). it is set in cultural revolution china and is about a doctor who is trying to get out of a loveless marriage (to a woman his parents picked and she has bound feet) so he can marry is nurse girlfriend. anyway, it was totally boring. why do people write with so many dumb descriptions in such a generic way? like, who cares if a bird flies off in the distance as the protagonist walks along in the countryside? so then i became worried that all this asian drama watching had numbed my senses and made me too impatient to read. maybe i forgot that cultural revolution stories are always so cliche. [actually, i did immensely enjoy the cultural revolution novel gang of one by (a family friend!) fan shen, one of the maybe 1 or 2 books i have read since high school. seriously, i would recommend it. a fast and enjoyable read!]
so then, i decided to read something else. i had bought a copy of we the living (by ayn rand) many, many years ago, and now i finally decided to read it. by contrast, rand's descriptions are tight and fitting: "They put their bundles on the floors, and their bodies on the bundles, and slept...When at last, snorting and groaning, the train rumbled in, men besieged it with fists and feet and ferocious despair." the first chapter ends like this:
"Alighting, she stopped for one short second of hesitation, as if feeling the significance of the step. Her foot was sunburned, and she wore a home-made wooden sandal with leather straps. For one short second the foot was held in the air. Then the wooden sandal touched the wooden boards of the platform: Kira Argounova was in Petrograd."and it was upon reading this that i knew i wanted to finish the book. you can tell already that kira argounova is going to be a hero (the likes of roark and dagny!) and now i realize why i couldn't finish waiting. the protagonist in that novel is anything but a hero. who wants to read about him??
the only problem is, i really want to know what happens next in we the living and i really want to know what happens next in sweet relationship. so what am i going to read/watch tonight?! life is full of difficult decisions.
what are they teaching kids in school these days??
last night my (13 year old) brother asked me if i was going to vote in the US presidential election this year.
i said, "probably not."
"why?"
"too lazy."
"then you should vote for me."
"who would you vote for?"
and without one bit of hesitation, my brother said, "obama."
"why?"
again, immediately, my brother said, "because he is black."
my brother explained to me that, at one time, in the US, black people could not even vote! (*gasp*) seriously, that was his reason.
i then tried to explain to him that voting for someone merely because of the color of his/her skin is discrimination.
he said, "no, it's DE-discrimination."
i said, "probably not."
"why?"
"too lazy."
"then you should vote for me."
"who would you vote for?"
and without one bit of hesitation, my brother said, "obama."
"why?"
again, immediately, my brother said, "because he is black."
my brother explained to me that, at one time, in the US, black people could not even vote! (*gasp*) seriously, that was his reason.
i then tried to explain to him that voting for someone merely because of the color of his/her skin is discrimination.
he said, "no, it's DE-discrimination."
Sunday, February 10, 2008
2 korean movies
in the past week, i watched two korean movies. both were SO korean. SO KOREAN!
lover's concerto this was recommended by shauna, but she has yet to see it. the lead guy is the male lead from my sassy girl, in case anyone cares. i don't want to say too much (i'm not going to link to a synopsis, because the wikipedia gives WAY TOO MUCH information), however: this was one of those movies that is supposed to have twists and surprises, but it is sooooo korean (to the point it's like parodying itself, seriously), so i could usually guess what the twist was before it happened. and then the other thing i have to say is: melodrama melodrama melodrama!
love, so divine this is also sooooo korean! but in a romantic comedy type of way. this movie was purely enjoyable. kwon sang woo (i first saw him in stairway to heaven and immediately took notice of him, but i think many people know him as the male lead from my tutor friend. he's my second favorite korean actor, right behind gong yoo!) plays a priest-to-be that ends up falling in love with a girl (surprise, surprise). anyway, the movie isn't a major work of art, but his character is totally precious. a very well done very normal movie with a totally cute/precious character. o! also, lee sun gyun (the cool/cute cousin who almost stole the show in coffee prince) has a cameo in the movie (it's easy to miss, look out for him eating cotton candy!). definitely worth watching (and rewatching).
lover's concerto this was recommended by shauna, but she has yet to see it. the lead guy is the male lead from my sassy girl, in case anyone cares. i don't want to say too much (i'm not going to link to a synopsis, because the wikipedia gives WAY TOO MUCH information), however: this was one of those movies that is supposed to have twists and surprises, but it is sooooo korean (to the point it's like parodying itself, seriously), so i could usually guess what the twist was before it happened. and then the other thing i have to say is: melodrama melodrama melodrama!
love, so divine this is also sooooo korean! but in a romantic comedy type of way. this movie was purely enjoyable. kwon sang woo (i first saw him in stairway to heaven and immediately took notice of him, but i think many people know him as the male lead from my tutor friend. he's my second favorite korean actor, right behind gong yoo!) plays a priest-to-be that ends up falling in love with a girl (surprise, surprise). anyway, the movie isn't a major work of art, but his character is totally precious. a very well done very normal movie with a totally cute/precious character. o! also, lee sun gyun (the cool/cute cousin who almost stole the show in coffee prince) has a cameo in the movie (it's easy to miss, look out for him eating cotton candy!). definitely worth watching (and rewatching).
sweet relationship update
i have now finished episode 3 of sweet relationship. doesn't seem very far, but i'm now twice as far as i was since my last post.
i have decided that i LOVE vic in this drama! he's so grumpy all the time, and i have realized he is really good at being angry. and everything about him and how he acts in the drama! which is strange because seeing him being himself in interviews (etc) i feel like since his meteor garden days, he has become more and more like--the only way i can describe it is--monkey+girl. i just feel like he's been castrated and is now working in the Forbidden City, or something. but really, in the drama, he's great. it just shows again how great qu you ning is as a director. i once read this article that asked qu you ning about his casting cai yi zhen (wu xiong) in they kiss again, since she was not well received in her previous drama, summer x summer (i didn't think it was so bad; i actually quite enjoyed that drama and didn't mind her character.). qu you ning said something like, she just needs good direction. and if no one else can make cai yi zhen shine, qu you ning can! (well i don't know, not enough of they kiss again has aired yet.) but really, qu you ning is so good at making his characters both special and very real. some of his very classic characters: kui (the rose), baihe (the rose), zhishu (iswak), xiangqin (iswak), and even zhishu's mom (i LOVE her!). they are totally ridiculous, but so real to me. in qu you ning's dramas, each character, each drama is special. think about it, kui is nothing like zhishu, both played by joe cheng. (but think about mike he's dramas...i feel like he always plays the same character. that's what most idol dramas are like, which is fine, people are soooo typecast.) and vic in sweet relationship is totally different from his real life monkey+girl aura (thank god). i really can't describe it, he's great. of course not all credit goes to the director. i feel like vic is generally pretty good at playing a character that is not monkey+girl. his acting is pretty good in this, which contrasts patty hou's acting. it's her first drama, and i wouldn't say she's bad (it's sufficient for an idol drama), but i feel like vic can act way better than her. for instance, in this last episode, they were both sick, but vic's sneezes were way more convincing.
one complaint: even though this whole drama is supposed to be about food, i don't feel like my senses are overloaded with lots of food. unlike nodame cantabile, in which i got to hear lots of good music every episode, here i don't feel like there is an abundance of good food. (soups are pretty boring.)
i have decided that i LOVE vic in this drama! he's so grumpy all the time, and i have realized he is really good at being angry. and everything about him and how he acts in the drama! which is strange because seeing him being himself in interviews (etc) i feel like since his meteor garden days, he has become more and more like--the only way i can describe it is--monkey+girl. i just feel like he's been castrated and is now working in the Forbidden City, or something. but really, in the drama, he's great. it just shows again how great qu you ning is as a director. i once read this article that asked qu you ning about his casting cai yi zhen (wu xiong) in they kiss again, since she was not well received in her previous drama, summer x summer (i didn't think it was so bad; i actually quite enjoyed that drama and didn't mind her character.). qu you ning said something like, she just needs good direction. and if no one else can make cai yi zhen shine, qu you ning can! (well i don't know, not enough of they kiss again has aired yet.) but really, qu you ning is so good at making his characters both special and very real. some of his very classic characters: kui (the rose), baihe (the rose), zhishu (iswak), xiangqin (iswak), and even zhishu's mom (i LOVE her!). they are totally ridiculous, but so real to me. in qu you ning's dramas, each character, each drama is special. think about it, kui is nothing like zhishu, both played by joe cheng. (but think about mike he's dramas...i feel like he always plays the same character. that's what most idol dramas are like, which is fine, people are soooo typecast.) and vic in sweet relationship is totally different from his real life monkey+girl aura (thank god). i really can't describe it, he's great. of course not all credit goes to the director. i feel like vic is generally pretty good at playing a character that is not monkey+girl. his acting is pretty good in this, which contrasts patty hou's acting. it's her first drama, and i wouldn't say she's bad (it's sufficient for an idol drama), but i feel like vic can act way better than her. for instance, in this last episode, they were both sick, but vic's sneezes were way more convincing.
one complaint: even though this whole drama is supposed to be about food, i don't feel like my senses are overloaded with lots of food. unlike nodame cantabile, in which i got to hear lots of good music every episode, here i don't feel like there is an abundance of good food. (soups are pretty boring.)
Thursday, February 7, 2008
sweet relationship
i have watched 1.5 episodes of sweet relationship, but i am going to prematurely give some of my thoughts on the drama. this is not binding, since, keep in mind, i have only seen 1.5 episodes.
the drama starts at this really nice french restaurant, where this rich/important old guy is cooking dinner for his daughter's graduation/birthday (i couldn't tell which). you first meet vic as he is storming into the restaurant. you learn that vic is the head chef, and vic is mad that someone else is making subpar food in his kitchen. vic sees this pot of soup that the old guy had made and immediately dumps the whole thing down the drain, despite many protests and people trying to restrain him. at that moment, when the soup was going down the drain, i knew i was going to continue watching this drama (within the first 20 minutes of the first episode!).
vic's character is so classic idol drama: talented guy who will not tolerate other people's mediocrity and is always yelling at people. hey, a lot like chiaki from nodame cantabile!! he is (rightfully) elitist like zhi shu in iswak. and i like his personality, the way he thinks, and what he believes is wrong and right. and he is always so right. i won't say that vic is the most attractive guy, especially in this drama, but i do think his look fits well with the character. his attractiveness comes from his mad elitist cooking skills, and not from the strange elf ears that stick out from his chef's hat...
i don't know how i feel about patty hou (the daughter, who will obviously become the heroine). this is her first idol drama, and first acting experience? (i think.) she's totally cute/pretty, but a little generic. i feel like she doesn't have her own look. like ariel, ella, even rainie, they are not objectively the most beautiful, but they are not generic and they totally win you over. (see, this is also why i think vic as the chef works well. and why we all love joe cheng!)
usually i don't care that much about the auxillary characters, but for some reason i have always liked megan lai. at first i thought her character would be the evil/jealous type, but so far (1.5 episodes) she seems cool, and even cute sometimes. i hate when there is an auxillary character that is evil/jealous. it's just an easy way for the drama to cause problems between the leads. and then i am constantly nervous about what that evil/jealous character is going to do next. i'd rather the problems be more spontaneous so that i'm not biting my nails the whole time.
finally, i found out that the director for sweet relationship (qu you ning) also directed iswak! now that i know, i can't believe i didn't realize it earlier. one thing that i noticed about qu you ning's dramas is that every so often he likes to film a scene where the camera is moving around a bit (hard to describe, hope you get it), which seems unusual for the average idol drama. the camera moves around as if the scene has ghost/ufo music to it! and there has already been at least one scene like this in sweet relationship. qu you ning's dramas are always just ever so slightly more raw, so that, every once in a while, i feel like i've actually walked in on some real live (awkward) situation. he has a mix of sugary packaged drama idol scenes and real people doing real things scenes. qu you ning has directed: the rose, it started with a kiss, sweet relationship, and they kiss again. the rose and iswak are two of my favorite dramas, and i am currently watching sweet relationship and they kiss again. qu you ning's dramas are always very well cast (so i have faith in vic, even though he wasn't my favorite male lead before.) and the dramas always have very good characters--characters that make you OBSESSED about the drama. the rose, for example, has an auxillary character, kui. he has long hair, wears frilly girl bath robes, and is in love with his sister. BUT, no one who has watched the rose can help but fall hopelessly in love with kui. when watching these dramas, i get the feeling that qu you ning loves making dramas. this is an art to him and he takes care to make each one special. [on the other hand, dramas directed by lin he long (devil beside you, corner with love, why why love, romantic princess, etc.) are thoroughly entertaining, but very predictable and generic. i like his dramas too. they are sure to be good quality idol dramas, but that is all they are: idol dramas.]
o yeah, and the drama is basically about eating.
so, i am very much looking forward to watching the rest of sweet relationship, and have high hopes for it (definitely a bad idea; i am setting myself up for a let down...). so far the drama is setting up to be a pretty generic idol drama, but i believe in qu you ning! i'll let you know when i finish!
the drama starts at this really nice french restaurant, where this rich/important old guy is cooking dinner for his daughter's graduation/birthday (i couldn't tell which). you first meet vic as he is storming into the restaurant. you learn that vic is the head chef, and vic is mad that someone else is making subpar food in his kitchen. vic sees this pot of soup that the old guy had made and immediately dumps the whole thing down the drain, despite many protests and people trying to restrain him. at that moment, when the soup was going down the drain, i knew i was going to continue watching this drama (within the first 20 minutes of the first episode!).
vic's character is so classic idol drama: talented guy who will not tolerate other people's mediocrity and is always yelling at people. hey, a lot like chiaki from nodame cantabile!! he is (rightfully) elitist like zhi shu in iswak. and i like his personality, the way he thinks, and what he believes is wrong and right. and he is always so right. i won't say that vic is the most attractive guy, especially in this drama, but i do think his look fits well with the character. his attractiveness comes from his mad elitist cooking skills, and not from the strange elf ears that stick out from his chef's hat...
i don't know how i feel about patty hou (the daughter, who will obviously become the heroine). this is her first idol drama, and first acting experience? (i think.) she's totally cute/pretty, but a little generic. i feel like she doesn't have her own look. like ariel, ella, even rainie, they are not objectively the most beautiful, but they are not generic and they totally win you over. (see, this is also why i think vic as the chef works well. and why we all love joe cheng!)
usually i don't care that much about the auxillary characters, but for some reason i have always liked megan lai. at first i thought her character would be the evil/jealous type, but so far (1.5 episodes) she seems cool, and even cute sometimes. i hate when there is an auxillary character that is evil/jealous. it's just an easy way for the drama to cause problems between the leads. and then i am constantly nervous about what that evil/jealous character is going to do next. i'd rather the problems be more spontaneous so that i'm not biting my nails the whole time.
finally, i found out that the director for sweet relationship (qu you ning) also directed iswak! now that i know, i can't believe i didn't realize it earlier. one thing that i noticed about qu you ning's dramas is that every so often he likes to film a scene where the camera is moving around a bit (hard to describe, hope you get it), which seems unusual for the average idol drama. the camera moves around as if the scene has ghost/ufo music to it! and there has already been at least one scene like this in sweet relationship. qu you ning's dramas are always just ever so slightly more raw, so that, every once in a while, i feel like i've actually walked in on some real live (awkward) situation. he has a mix of sugary packaged drama idol scenes and real people doing real things scenes. qu you ning has directed: the rose, it started with a kiss, sweet relationship, and they kiss again. the rose and iswak are two of my favorite dramas, and i am currently watching sweet relationship and they kiss again. qu you ning's dramas are always very well cast (so i have faith in vic, even though he wasn't my favorite male lead before.) and the dramas always have very good characters--characters that make you OBSESSED about the drama. the rose, for example, has an auxillary character, kui. he has long hair, wears frilly girl bath robes, and is in love with his sister. BUT, no one who has watched the rose can help but fall hopelessly in love with kui. when watching these dramas, i get the feeling that qu you ning loves making dramas. this is an art to him and he takes care to make each one special. [on the other hand, dramas directed by lin he long (devil beside you, corner with love, why why love, romantic princess, etc.) are thoroughly entertaining, but very predictable and generic. i like his dramas too. they are sure to be good quality idol dramas, but that is all they are: idol dramas.]
o yeah, and the drama is basically about eating.
so, i am very much looking forward to watching the rest of sweet relationship, and have high hopes for it (definitely a bad idea; i am setting myself up for a let down...). so far the drama is setting up to be a pretty generic idol drama, but i believe in qu you ning! i'll let you know when i finish!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
fertilization
today i had an almost perfect fertilization with my super fertile fresh testes! in a petri dish of hundreds of xenopus eggs, only 2 did not fertilize. i'm so good at fertilizing eggs...muahahahah!
here's part of my job (i do this 3 times a week):
these xenopus embryos are in two cell stage. i stole this picture, but this is pretty much what my embryos look liked. unfortunately, many times, instead of looking like this, the the embryos are all rotten and smelly.
here's part of my job (i do this 3 times a week):
- ~one week before fertilization, i inject a low dose of human chorionic gonadotropin into a female xenopus. this is to prime her, or get her eggs ready and at the same stage. (at first, i was really nervous about giving frogs injections, because you can't be like, "okay don't move, or it'll hurt more." but it's okay, seems like they usually can't feel the injection at all!)
- the night before fertilization, i inject a high dose of human chorionic gonadotropin into the primed female.
- the morning of fertilzation, i squeeze and massage the female, while aiming her butt at a petri dish. eggs come squirting out into the dish! (easier said than done. you have to grab both legs of the frog, split them apart and stretch them out so she can't kick herself out of your hands. and it's best if you cover her eyes so she feels safe. and you have to massage and squeeze her while you are at it. and you only have 2 hands. i am now an EXPERT at this!)
- meanwhile, i drugged a male frog, cut it open, dissected out its testes, and stored the testes in the cold room. they can be used for up to 1 month!
- i cut a small piece of a testis, mash it up with teethed forceps, and touch all the eggs with my testis.
- i wait 3 minutes, allowing all the sperm to attach to the eggs.
- then, i flood the dish with water. the osmotic shock makes the eggs take in the sperm!
- ~1.5 hours later, the single cell eggs should have begun to divide into two cells!
- and my embryos are on their way to growing up!
these xenopus embryos are in two cell stage. i stole this picture, but this is pretty much what my embryos look liked. unfortunately, many times, instead of looking like this, the the embryos are all rotten and smelly.Sunday, February 3, 2008
a weekend of movies
i don't know what to blog about, so i'm just going to copy shauna. i saw two movies this weekend:
六號出口 (exit no. 6) i've been meaning to watch this for a while. main motivation: ethan 阮經天 (ruan jing tian)!! and then i was interested to find out that yazi (ring 徐宛鈴) from 超級星光大道 is in it as well. the movie is about some weird happenings around exit no. 6 of the ximen mrt station. there's 4 main characters: a good girl, a bad girl, and two goof-off guys. a girl disappears and they spend half of the movie looking for her (i was looking forward to this part of the movie, but may have been a bit disappointed, but this was still the more interesting half of the movie). the whole time i was watching it, though, i couldn't really decide if i liked it that much, but was thinking, "this is one of those shauna artsy movies." are there really people like this in real life? except the "good girl" do they or did they ever go to school?? i guess the whole point of the movie is like, yes there are youth like this in taiwan. i think this was generally well received, so i think if you were not me, you would enjoy it. well i guess it was pretty good. there's a touch of romance, friendship, and mystery. the ending is kind of weird, and i feel like they were trying to say something about life, or youth, or whatever (i hate that). best part of the movie was the soundtrack, so i'll be downloading the ost! o, and of course it was awesome watching ethan ruan be a hacker. but i'd rather he not have long dreads... anyway, the conclusion is: watch it.
sydney white i randomly downloaded this a while back and this weekend thought, why not? this movie stars amanda bynes (i liked her in she's the man, but her voice is actually kind of annoying/nasally in this) and matt long (omg i LOVED him in jack and bobby, why did that show get canceled??). this is a typical teen-flick...and not done well at that. sydney white (amanda bynes) wants to be in this sorority because her mom was in it, and then of course the sorority girls are mean, and sydney ends up living with a bunch of (7) loser guys. (i could not stop thinking about EC when watching those guys! no offense to anyone, it was in a good way...) o, and then tyler prince (matt long) is the president of a frat, and sydney's love interest. rachel witchburn (the president of the sorority) hates sydney because rachel also likes tyler prince. rachel also has this campus hot or not page, which she is, of course, #1, but sydney eventually is #1 on it. am i dense? it was not until the last ten minutes of the movie, when tyler prince kisses sydney white to wake her up (in a totally-hot-just-got-off-my-white-horse type of way), when i was like, OMG THIS IS SNOW WHITE! her name is WHITE, he is PRINCE! she lives with seven weird guys! then it was only THE NEXT MORNING, when i was like, OMG THE HOT OR NOT PAGE IS THE MAGIC MIRROR! yeah i am dense. o then it was only NOW, as i'm writing this, when it clicked that the president of the sorority is WITCHburn. but then after realizing matt long is supposed to be a dashing prince...i decided he wasn't a good choice for the character; he doesn't have the stature to be a dashing prince. conclusion: don't watch it.
does any of this make sense? shauna, watch exit no. 6 (you can stream it with veohtv here) and blog about it.
六號出口 (exit no. 6) i've been meaning to watch this for a while. main motivation: ethan 阮經天 (ruan jing tian)!! and then i was interested to find out that yazi (ring 徐宛鈴) from 超級星光大道 is in it as well. the movie is about some weird happenings around exit no. 6 of the ximen mrt station. there's 4 main characters: a good girl, a bad girl, and two goof-off guys. a girl disappears and they spend half of the movie looking for her (i was looking forward to this part of the movie, but may have been a bit disappointed, but this was still the more interesting half of the movie). the whole time i was watching it, though, i couldn't really decide if i liked it that much, but was thinking, "this is one of those shauna artsy movies." are there really people like this in real life? except the "good girl" do they or did they ever go to school?? i guess the whole point of the movie is like, yes there are youth like this in taiwan. i think this was generally well received, so i think if you were not me, you would enjoy it. well i guess it was pretty good. there's a touch of romance, friendship, and mystery. the ending is kind of weird, and i feel like they were trying to say something about life, or youth, or whatever (i hate that). best part of the movie was the soundtrack, so i'll be downloading the ost! o, and of course it was awesome watching ethan ruan be a hacker. but i'd rather he not have long dreads... anyway, the conclusion is: watch it.
sydney white i randomly downloaded this a while back and this weekend thought, why not? this movie stars amanda bynes (i liked her in she's the man, but her voice is actually kind of annoying/nasally in this) and matt long (omg i LOVED him in jack and bobby, why did that show get canceled??). this is a typical teen-flick...and not done well at that. sydney white (amanda bynes) wants to be in this sorority because her mom was in it, and then of course the sorority girls are mean, and sydney ends up living with a bunch of (7) loser guys. (i could not stop thinking about EC when watching those guys! no offense to anyone, it was in a good way...) o, and then tyler prince (matt long) is the president of a frat, and sydney's love interest. rachel witchburn (the president of the sorority) hates sydney because rachel also likes tyler prince. rachel also has this campus hot or not page, which she is, of course, #1, but sydney eventually is #1 on it. am i dense? it was not until the last ten minutes of the movie, when tyler prince kisses sydney white to wake her up (in a totally-hot-just-got-off-my-white-horse type of way), when i was like, OMG THIS IS SNOW WHITE! her name is WHITE, he is PRINCE! she lives with seven weird guys! then it was only THE NEXT MORNING, when i was like, OMG THE HOT OR NOT PAGE IS THE MAGIC MIRROR! yeah i am dense. o then it was only NOW, as i'm writing this, when it clicked that the president of the sorority is WITCHburn. but then after realizing matt long is supposed to be a dashing prince...i decided he wasn't a good choice for the character; he doesn't have the stature to be a dashing prince. conclusion: don't watch it.
does any of this make sense? shauna, watch exit no. 6 (you can stream it with veohtv here) and blog about it.
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