JoleCole's Station

Chinese dramaland has been quite boring lately after the resplendent splash Legend of Lu Zhen made on the mainland China rating radar. Therefore, I ventured into another territory - Korean dramaland. After reading so many rave reviews on different blogs and doing a little research myself, I decided to try out the cable-produced JTBC cable-produced crime thriller, Cruel City (Heartless City), starring Jung Kyung-ho. I am now totally drawn to Cruel City , particularly to the devilishly suave undercover cop disguising as gang boss, Jung Shi-hyun or also known as Doctor's Son in the drug ring. Jung Kyung-ho may not be the drop-dead-gorgeous Korean actor at first sight, but he definitely has heart-throbbing acting skills! As an actor, he has always given me this boyish vibe. I previously watched him played the tormented Prince Hodong in Ja Myung Go and caught glimpses of his performance as as a spoiled brat in Sorry, I Love You . But Jung Kyung-ho's  Cruel City brings his acti...

Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying the cooler temperatures. I've been quite zoomed out of recent releases in dramaland since nothing really catches my attention. Many of you recommended that I check out Zhao Liying's new period drama called Cuo Dian Yuan Yang . I will definitely check it out since the story is based on one of the very first Chinese novels I read. However, I just wish the main actor was bit more...charismatic. LOL. He isn't exactly how I pictured him when I read the novel. Instead of watching new drama series, I've actually been giving older dramas I checked out years ago but somehow never fully watched them in depth another glimpse. It also happens that Wallace Huo starred in these dramas I've been watching lately. This coincidence is the result of my mom who has been watching Rouge Snow and Chinese Paladin 3 dubbed in Cantonese on my local Chinese satellite channel. While she was watching these two series, I suddenly got the urge to rewatc...

I have a strong habit to "ship" people together. This involuntary desire to ship couples can range from real life celebrities, characters in dramas or movies, characters in manga/books to famous historical figures! Fortunately, I have no interest to ship individuals I know in real life. PHEW! There are quite a few historical couples that I shipped, but my ultimate favorite is the Tang Dynasty Emperor Taizong 唐太宗 (personal name Li Shimin 李世民) and his Empress Zhangsun 长孙皇后. I'm not sure if you've heard of this couple since many existing Chinese period dramas tend not explore their relationship. They are often written as major characters in a series but Li Shimin ALWAYS gets paired up with some fictitious female character. -_-

While Chinese dramaland remains dormant with no exciting news, I will drift off to other random topics.  Though I sometimes pretend to be profound and philosophical in my drama rant, I certainly possess a superficial side, which makes me nonimmune to all things pretty, particularly pretty people in pretty costumes. Hence, you all understand my attraction to Female Prime Minister, which has two gorgeous main leads. I have always been a big fan of period dramas because I feel they offer more visual stimulation than modern series. In period dramas, more exquisite details are given to props, sets, and costumes.  Add some pretty faces to this formula and the aesthetic effect of the production automatically magnifies.

Before the advent of popular internet novels or even romantic "idol" dramas in general, Chinese television was once dominated by romantic series created by Qiong Yao.  She is a famous Taiwanese romantic novelist who adapted many of her novels into popular TV series and movies for decades. Her first movie screenplay brought major success in 1960s. She is also renown for hand picking countless beautiful women and bringing these aspiring actresses to super stardom. They include Bridgette Lin, Vicki Zhao, Ruby Lin, Fan Bingbing, Jiang Qinqin (Shui Ling), Chen Hong, Chen Derong, Qin Lan, Leanne Liu Xuehua and etc.These women were completely unknown to the general audience before filming Qiong Yao's TV series/movies. I don't think I know of any prominent writer who has as much monopoly or "power' over her TV series as Qiong Yao.

Even though I watched A Frozen Flower more than three years ago, I suddenly got the urge to write about it. The intensity of the storyline definitely made it memorable. It's also interesting that as I browse the online commentary on this movie in both Chinese and English-speaking world, the interpretation of the story is quite divided based on gender.

A Frozen Flower (Ssanghwajeom) is a 2008 Korean movie about the love triangle between a homosexual king, his queen, and his chief royal guard. I'm a total sucker for pretty period dramas or movies with pretty people and pretty costumes. But man...when I first watched A Frozen Flower, it gave me quite a SHOCK! I knew it contained some sexual material and violence inappropriate for the young audience, but I never expected it to be SOO graphically explicit!

Due to the relative downtime I'm experiencing in mainland Chinese dramas, I've been surprisingly venturing back into TVB dramaland. Just a little caveat, I completely gave up hope on TVB's ability to produce any great series several years ago and would rarely watch anything from beginning to end. My expectations for TVB productions are pretty much NIL , but at the same time, my patience to endure their mediocrity is also very low. If I do watch any TVB dramas, they tend to be modern crime/detective series or just pure brainless comedy. Both Tiger Cubs and Three Kingdoms RPG fall into these categories.

I'm sure everyone has their own set of memorable TV characters they never grow tired of watching. A few days ago, I saw a video documentary about the suicide of a famous 1980s Hong Kong TV actress, Barbara Yung, and I suddenly became very nostalgic. Her role as the spoiled, highly intelligent Huang Rong made a very deep impression on me as a child. As a result, I decided to put together this list (note: I actually have another list for my favorite characters in American TV shows). Though I lost count on how many dramas I've watched in my life, the number of characters that still ring loudly in my head are far fewer in comparison. I didn't really rank my favorite TV characters but put them in chronological order based on the year I first viewed the TV series.

It has been a very long time since I have a strong urge to watch a movie in theater and right now I wish I can just fly to China to watch Painted Skin II: The Resurrection on the big screen. Currently breaking box-office records, this fantasy epic about a fox demon trading "skin" or body with a disfigured princess is drawing massive viewership and earning accolades for its cinematic achievements.

I was never really an ardent or true fan of a single artist or singer. When I do get obsessed about something, it tends to be about an onscreen couple (e.g. FengMi, Alex Su/Vicki Zhao, Carmen Lee/Louis Koo, etc.) or drama series (e.g. Sealed with a Kiss, Huan Zhu Ge Ge). Rarely would I follow one particular actor religiously. I do have a few actors/actresses I prefer NOT to watch in leading roles and would rather see them in supporting roles. In other words, there are more cases where I prefer not to watch a  drama series because of particular actor/actress than I would purposely watch a drama series just for a particular actor/actress. Due to my exposure to Female Prime Minister, Chen Xiao caught my attention and I began to "study" his filmography. I first heard his name on Spcnet Forum from a fellow hardcore FengMi Shipper and my good buddy, Mango_cake. She seemed to be very fond of him. When I saw his photo, my first reaction  was "Oh young boy with pretty face...

Middle Photo: Director Wang Wenjie giving feedback on Su Dongpo's old age makeup When I watch a biographical drama, I think it's fun to see how the main character ages over the course of his/her entire life. In most dramas, the time jump, if any, only spans two different time periods and usually involves no more than 10 years. So we usually get to see the styling of the character for only two different stages. Since Su Dongpo is a bio-epic, we'll get to see the gradual transformation of the character over a period of 40 years. The actor, Lu Yi, who plays Su Dongpo, was only 31 years old at the time of shooting (he's currently 36 years old), but his character will be 66 years old by the end of this drama.

At first, I didn't pay too much attention to this TV series because I was quite disappointed with the casting decision, particularly the Korean American actor, Nathan Lee, who plays Li Longji. I feel he lacks the commanding presence and regal aura necessary for this character. Hopefully, his acting chops have improved enough from his last drama I watched for me to change my initial prejudices against him.

Instead of devoting my time to translate SWAK novel (sorry readers!), I've been marathoning through a lighthearted, somewhat cheesy remake of Frog Prince called Waking Up Love.  I actually attempted to watch this drama more than two times last year, before finally building enough motivation to finish it yesterday.

  Originally written by cainfreya, translated/commented/edited by JoleCole   Stratagem 2: Episode 1 - At a night club, Mo Shaoqian sits leisurely as he watches his men bully the private investigator who has been trailing him. Kill with a borrowed knife ( 借刀杀人) Wiki Attack using the strength of another (in a situation where using one's own strength is not favorable). Trick an ally into attacking him, bribe an official to turn traitor, or use the enemy's own strength against him. The idea here is to cause damage to the enemy by getting a 3rd party to do the deed.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Since 2011 just ended, I just wanted to do a quick personal review of all the TV series I've fully watched/attempted to watch/or managed to dip my fingers into last year. First, I must confess I have a peculiar/somewhat unpredictable taste in dramas and also an incurable habit of loving to speedily skim through my dramas because of the strong urge to know what happens next or the lack of patience. Sometimes I may get too easily distracted by a new drama and completely abandon the current drama I'm watching. The dramas I don't finish do not necessarily mean I hate them. More often, it just means that these "unfinished dramas" failed to sustain my interest for too short of a time period to make me want to watch it completely in one sitting or follow it all the way during the initial broadcast period. I may go back to finish them at a later time when I have more time or regain the mood to resume where I left off.

Title: "Love of Kangmei" 康美之恋 Singer: Tan Jing 谭晶 If you like the "Love of Jiangnan" MV I previously posted, you may like this one even more due to the breathtaking rustic scenery filmed in Guangxi Province. The Jiangnan MV is more "picturesque" and painted, while karst mountainous backdrop in this video is definitely more raw and real .  The immensely popular Li Bingbing (from Forbidden Kingdom and the upcoming Resident Evil movie) co-starred with her college buddy from Shanghai Drama Institute, Ren Quan, to tell a simple idyllic love story in rural China.

Song Title : "Love of Jiangnan" 江南之恋 Singer : Tan Jing 谭晶 By chance, I discovered this gorgeous MV on YouTube and absolutely fell in love with the breathtaking dreamy theme that the director/artistic team managed to convey in the video. I heard it took a year for the production team to produce this music video.  Mandy Lieu, a Hong Kong supermodel, and Tong Dawei, a renown Mainland Chinese actor, were cast as the lead roles of a foreign-born girl living in China before the outbreak of World War II and a young soldier respectively. They fall in love before the war and get separated for 8 years before reuniting in matrimony. The former soldier then takes his bride to meet his family in the Jiangnan region.