What is this, Horseville? 'Cause I'm surrounded by naysayers. Wordplay!

Finally got around to this



Following the cut you will find a ranking of my least to most favorite of the dramas (Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese) that I finished this year.

I think the whole this is pretty safe, though I do make a few allusions to plot points. So, I'm just going to cover my bases and say potential spoilers for Coffee House, Dal Ja's Spring, Fantasy Couple, Gumiho: Tale of the Fox's Child, Hotaru no Hikari 2, Iris, Kekkon Dekinai Otoko, Liar Game 2, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, Natsu no Koi wa Nijiiro ni Kagayaku, Oh My Lady, Playful Kiss, Prosecutor Princess, Shokojo Seira, Smile You, Smiling Pasta, Something Happened in Bali, Sunao ni Narenakute, Tsuki no Koibito, and Yankee-kun to Megane-chan.

( It's one big ol' image. JSYK )

Final Thoughts: I have to say, 2010 was a bit of a disappointment for me on the drama front. Nothing I watched this year merited a five star ranking on my own personal Drama Rankings. Maybe I'm just getting bitter in my old age, because my top two dramas I adored yet just couldn't bring myself to call them nearly perfect. But honestly, I wonder if I rewatched some of those 5 star dramas if I wouldn't demote them now. I watched them when the world of dramas was still mostly shiny, new, and wonderful. I thought everything was great back then. AH WELL.

What I can say is that there was a crop of excellent female characters, it's just too bad they were stuck in such middling (Eun Young, Coffee House) or straight-up awful (Maemi, Tsuki no Koibito) dramas.

Here is hoping for better results next year! I'm going to start 2011 off by finishing up Joseon X-Files and then either Chuno, Secret Garden, Story of a Man, or City Hall.

Three day weekends are the BEST. I went back to my parents' house for my little vacation and had an all around good time. There was car-washing and waxing, house cleaning (of the outside variety), shopping (and not finding anything remotely like the duvet cover I'm looking for), grilling, and drinking.

I also saw Prince of Persia with sailorgaia and it was just the fun, silly summer movie I thought it was going to be (Also saw The Last Airbender preview and it looks like it will be pretty amazing on the big screen. And that just makes me more sad about the racefail that is the casting. I also hope it keeps the humor that was such a huge part of the show). We went out to eat first at a new Asian restaurant that was pretty dead, but the sushi was good as was my udon. We also tried some sparkling sake which tasted just like sparkling wine (thus: delicious and dangerous). Anyway: Prince of Persia. I was convinced that the actor who played the older brother was someone I had seen before. But when I looked up Richard Coyle on imdb he hadn't been in anything I'd watched. Maybe he just has a face I've seen before? I don't know. But what I DID see is that he's playing Moist Von Lipwig in the TV version of Going Postal that JUST AIRED. So, I downloaded that to watch later.

Going Postal is the only Terry Pratchett book I've read (besides Good Omens, which was a collaboration) and just picked it up at the airport because I needed something to read. I enjoyed it, and maybe someday I'll read other Discworld books. Who knows, life is crazy.

I finished another book this weekend: A Game of Thrones, the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series that everyone else has read but I only heard about for the first time a couple months ago. I never read much fantasy beyond The Hobbit and the first book in the Wheel of Time series. The Eye of the World bored me when I first read it, but I think I was in 5th grade or something, so maybe I'll give it another shot?

Anyway, there was a lot about A Game of Thrones that I enjoyed. It was fun to get so immersed in that world and I'm really interested in how things are going to play out. I'm trying to remain spoiler-free for the series, so be careful if you comment.

What I didn't like about the book is how misogynistic it was. It's one thing for the world it takes place in to be sexist, it's quite another for every single female character to be either evil, crazy, useless, or a slut. I don't know how any of the households manage since all the noble men are off to war and all of the women are employed in whorehouses.

Even Catelyn, the mother of several of the main characters, who seems like a strong, capable woman, is driven to distraction by her husband's bastard son. She hates the kid, not her husband who did the cheating, the child. It's unreasonable, but well, she's a woman so it's to be expected.

The sole female character that seems to be free of all the negative female trappings is Arya. Who is what? Eight? But, she behaves more like a 'boy' so people find fault with that anyway.

Over in dramaland I decided to drop Personal Taste because it bored me, even with the kissing. I didn't care about any of the characters and I'm kind of annoyed that I made myself sit through 11 episodes. It wasn't fun or entertaining. It was a waste.

I'm in the middle of Prosecutor Princess and I don't feel AS apathetic about it as I did Personal Taste, but I'm still not that invested in it. I want to know what Lawyer Seo's deal is, but I'm mad at him for making Hye Ri sad. I'm happy to see her progressing as a prosecutor and a human being. Too bad she's the only character I care about.

I know a lot of people are giving up on Sunao ni Narenakute but that is one that I'm still enjoying. I'm not angry at Haru and Nakaji for their behavior, I think it's pretty human to have doubts. This holds more true for Haru though, since Nakaji was in what he thought was a committed relationship when he started flirting with Haru. But at the same time, their story isn't that interesting. I'd much rather learn more about Peach or Linda. Doctor is sweet, but a little too spastic for my taste.

Tsuki no Koibito is meh, and a little slow, but I'm intrigued to see where it is going. Shinohara Ryoko's character is the bright spot in that drama for me.

Finally watched the first two episodes of Coffee House and it strikes me in many ways as more light-hearted and fun TnK. You have the eccentric man, old friend, and spirited young woman. I enjoy Jin Soo more as a character than Rensuke, because while he is just as OCD (about the DUMBEST THINGS) as Rensuke, at least he tries to be charming. Eun-young isn't as much fun as Maemi, but I love how she takes on Jin-soo. Seung-yeon... I don't know. I appreciate that she's not some mindless, chipper ray of sunshine. She's just a normal girl, who is a recent graduate find it hard to get a job. But, she's not that engaging. The plot is fun and quick-moving though, so I'm enjoying it.

Randomly, I watched the first two episodes of Smiling Pasta because they were sitting on my hard drive and LOVED IT. It feels like it's been so long since I had such a strong reaction to a drama. Lately I've been bored with a lot of stuff, and just watched it because it was there. But I was bummed when I had to go to bed last night because I really enjoyed Smiling Pasta.

It's unapologetically silly and ridiculous (Xiao Shi almost gets killed by a JAVELIN on campus, luckily the boy she likes plucks it out of thin air to save her. The director also seems overly-fond of the fastforwardandzoompauserepeat camera trick WHENEVER something vaguely dramatic happens. It makes me laugh every time) but not an an annoying, completely over the top way. Xiao Shi wavers close to the line of being clumsily adorable, but never crosses it (though her family is so QUIRKY I worry they may wear thin). Instead Xiao Shi is a sweet girl, who is a little preoccupied with having a boyfriend, but isn't crazy about it. She just doesn't want to disappoint her family. And even when she finally does run into the cool popstar He Qun, she doesn't completely lose her senses. I'm pretty psyched to watch more.

So far this week has been the polar opposite of last.  Work is chill and I don't feel the need to murder people.  I would have to say things are looking up.  Though I just right back into it next week with travel and events and deadlines; so I'll just enjoy this calm right now.

ACen was fun, if very abbreviated.  24 hours is a far cry from the three days I'm used to.  I almost feel like I didn't have enough time to truly enjoy it.  I arrived and once I had unwound from the last 5 days it was time to go home again.  And it made me sad.  I did love getting to see everyone, I just wanted to see MORE of you.

One thing is for sure: I'm done with the Artist's Alley.  I just don't have the time or desire to put more energy into making things when they just aren't going to be received well by the patrons.  I thought I would give it a shot this year since the economy had calmed down a little, but it went about as well as last year.  There are just other vendors who are more creative and have better resources... and it's just not where my interest lie.

Having said that, I definitely want to get back into the cosplay game.  It's been about 2 years since I last cosplayed and I miss it.  The problem I have is that the (very small amount of) anime I watch isn't really cosplay material.  I pretty much stick to simple shoujo stories like Fruits Basket and Kimi ni Todoke... and there really isn't anything that interesting to choose from.  So, cosplay buddies, let me know your plans so I can play along.

Finished Oh My Lady! and it was very cute if unremarkable.  There were elements there for something but it just never stepped up its game.  The majority of the episodes just seemed to involve a lot of pivoting and not much plot.  Things picked up in the end, but it felt to me like the writer woke up from a nap and realized "Crap, we better finish this".  Because while I can see Min Woo falling for Gae Hwa, I wish we could have seen the same from her.  Granted, it's the ending I wanted, but it didn't feel earned.

Now I need to catch up on Personal Taste, which kind of bores me actually but I feel committed since I'm on ep 11.  It's never really clicked with me and I don't really like any of the characters so I don't know why I'm still watching.  There are some fun moments, but it really just kind of drags for me.  And Prosecutor Princess, which given the whispers on my flist gets really good?!  :D  I was loosing steam on that one too.  I think I'm on ep 7?

Sunao ni Narenakute continues to be very engaging.  I'm enjoying it and it's slightly ridiculous storylines very much.  It doesn't hurt that I love all the characters.  Though I think Peach and Linda are at the top of my list at the moment.  I like Haru, but they could spend a little less time on her since she really didn't have anything meaty until the rooftop confrontation.

The first episode of Tsuki no Koibito didn't disappoint.  Though it's going to be hard to root for Kimura since his character is a GIANT dick.  I kind of just want Maemi and Shu Mei to go off and be bffs and leave him in their dust.