Playful Kiss : First thoughts
So I finally found some time to start watching this drama. I’ve been looking forward to it for the longest time. I loved It Started With A Kiss, so when I heard they were making a remake I was so happy. I became even more excited when I heard that they chose Kim Hyun Joong to play the male lead.
I’ve only been able to watch the first two episodes, and all I can say is – what a disappointment!
Honestly, if I didn’t look forward to this series so much (and if KHJ wasn’t the male lead) I probably wouldn’t bother to continue watching it. It pales in comparison to ISWAK. Sure, the cast and their acting is okay and I like the costumes and the set, but that’s about all. The show is so colorless~ I have no idea how they can turn a good story into something this boring.
I saw so many behind-the-scene photos for this show in the internet and they were all really nice, which made me look forward to the show more. I expected myself to laugh and cry while watching it (like I did with ISWAK), but so far, nothing. No emotional response.
There are so many memorable scenes in ISWAK that didn’t appear in this drama. I know that the producers probably didn’t want to make an exact copy of ISWAK, but if they were going to change the scenes, they should at least make it better. Like when Baek Seung Jo wished Oh Ha Ni good luck on the exam, it was so plain and lifeless! I remembered getting all excited and giggly when Zhi Shu said it as he passed Xiang Qin in the hallway. And Xiang Qin’s reaction was priceless. Oh Ha Ni’s reaction in PK was like “Oh yay, he wished me luck, now what?”. And also the scene when they were checking out their exam scores. It was so anti-climatic in PK! That was actually one of my favorite scenes in ISWAK. It was so sweet the way the two of them went on opposite sides of the board to check how the other did, and how happy they were for one another. There was also a bit of a suspense there because Zhi Shu fell asleep in the middle of his exam, so we didn’t know if he would get a perfect score again (which he did). And I loved it when Xiang Qin said “We may be on opposite ends, but at least we’re on the same paper.” That was one of my favorite quotes in the entire series, and they took it out in Playful Kiss!! The way the scene went down in PK was just so – for lack of a better word – bleh~
But I guess what I can’t stand the most is the lousy soundtrack! Actually, I take that back. it’s a bit unfair of me to call it “lousy” since I haven’t really been hearing it, which is frustrating! There are so many colorless scenes that could have been improved dramatically by simply adding good music in the background. And it’s not even because they don’t have a good song to use. I checked out the official sound track of the series and the songs that they chose are actually nice, which makes me wonder why they’re not using them. There were a lot of dead air (uhh, I’m not sure if that’s the correct term) in the series which could have been filled with any one of those songs.
No wonder this series got such low ratings (but surprisingly, people keep giving it good reviews on dramacrazy). The first episode was really a pain to watch. Episode 2 wasn’t that much of an improvement, but it was a bit better (mostly because there were more scenes where KHJ appeared – he’s the only reason I continue watching the show). Anyway, the ratings go up after a few episodes, so I’m hoping the show will continue to improve. Just because a show started off bad doesn’t mean it can’t get better. The first few episodes of Goong bored me to tears as well, but I ended up loving it in the end.
I find the bears in the end of the episodes cute though. Unoriginal, yes (Goong already did that), but still cute.
(EZRA) 37/52 : I’m hungry for a chicken!
Her description:
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My sister and I recently started watching this Korean series called “My Girlfriend is a Gumiho/Nine-Tailed Fox”. It’s sooooo~ cute. It’s about a guy who accidentally releases a Gumiho (a legendary nine-tailed fox which is rumored to eat the liver of humans) and now he’s doing a lot of crazy things so that the Gumiho wouldn’t eat his liver.
The Gumiho took a form of a really cute girl and she’s always craving meat. I find it adorable because she behaves just like a pet. Obviously the series inspired this shot.
Thanx a lot to my sister for taking my picture and editing it
Week 37/52: There is a magic made by melody – A spell of rest, and quiet breath.
Self portrait last week. Taken for Flickr’s “Theme of the Week“. The theme was fashion statements. I’m not sure if this counts as a fashion statement, but it’s the best I could come up with XD I’ve been having a hard time coming up with ideas again.
Title came from Elizabeth Bishop’s Sonnet (1928).
Music brushes are from redheadstock.deviantart.com
Outtake:
Light Golden Brown + Hair cut
My roots were starting to show again, so I picked up a box of Revlon’s Colorsilk in Light Golden Brown last week. I normally get the one in Light Reddish Brown, but this is the color Aprille uses and it looks good on her, so I decided to try it this time.
The instructions said “do not use on damaged hair”, which made me hesitate a bit. I got my hair relaxed about two months ago, and it left the ends of my hair a bit damaged. I know that adding more chemicals to my hair was probably a bad idea, but I couldn’t stand the black roots. I decided to go through with it anyway and just avoided applying the dye on the ends of my hair.
Before and after shot:
For some reason, the color didn’t come out gold like it showed on the box. In fact, it looks pretty much the same as my previous hair color. How disappointing. At least the black roots are gone.
As expected, my hair didn’t take too kindly to being subjected to more chemicals. The ends became frizzier and more unruly, so I decided to get them trimmed. I went to Scissors and asked the hairdresser to remove the damaged sections. He ended up cutting about 6 inches off!!! I didn’t realize it at first because he worked on the back of my head in the beginning. When he started cutting the sides, that’s when I noticed that he was trimming off more than I expected. By then it was already too late for me to do anything.
The last time I had my hair this short was about three years ago. The change shocked me at first, but I’m beginning to like it. It’s much easier to manage and I feel fresher. Plus my hair looks so much healthier now.
It wasn’t what I expected, but I’m pretty happy with the results. Ckloy likes it too, yay~
(EZRA) 36/52 : Oh my sweet little piggy, this won’t hurt a bit
Mwahahaha~ Poor piggy XD
Ezra’s description:
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It’s not even half way through September yet and I’ve pretty much used up all of my allowance for the month already. I’m so broke! But at least I’m happy with everything I bought (especially the guitar hero which I chipped in for as my sister’s birthday gift).
This piggy bank is really small so it can only hold a few coins, but I thought it was really cute so I bought it anyway.
Thanks a lot to my sister for taking my picture and editing it!
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She’s wearing the beret I crocheted for her ^___^
Week 36/52 : Tomorrow’s way
My sister and I have been addicted to Guitar Hero. We’ve been playing nonstop since last weekend. We’re still pretty sucky at it, but we’re improving XD
Ezra told me this photo reminds her of Yui’s album cover. I’m not that familiar with her songs but I love “Tomorrow’s Way”, so I chose it for my title.
Thanks Ez for taking the photo and for lending me your sleeve thingies XD
Outtake:
I actually like this shot more, but Ezra and Gilbert like the other one. Gilbert says he’s not used to seeing pictures of people without their heads XD
This is album cover Ezra was talking about:
Guitar Hero!
Guess what I got for my birthday?
A Guitar Hero 5 kit!
It came with the Guitar Hero 5 game, and a shiny red guitar 
I’ve been meaning to buy this game for a looooong time now, but I never got the chance. So for my birthday this year, my parents and Ezra decided to chip in and get it for me.
Ezra and I have been having fun creating our characters and unlocking different levels. I’ve also finally managed to figure out how to connect our Wii to the internet (had to tinker with the settings on our router) so I can connect to GH Tunes. There’s a lot of nice songs there available for free download. We love Canon Rock, He’s a Pirate and the Chocobo song.
Thanks Mom, Dad and Ezra!
Birthday celebration with the girls
Right after our college bloc reunion last week, I went out to meet my favorite girls. We had dinner at Bonitos and tea at Boston Cafe.
Only Brinks, Aprille and Camille were available that night. Vesma was out of town and Moy left her phone at home, so we couldn’t contact her.
Brinky wore the beanie she bought at the ToyCon last June
Falling asleep while waiting for the food. (I stole Aprille’s flower ring XD)
Ravioli lasagna~ My favorite
Photoshoot at the National Art Center (Behind the Scenes)
A few weeks ago, Brinks asked me if I was available for a quick shoot. We’ve been planning to go out and take pictures ever since July (for her birthday) but we kept rescheduling because we’re both so busy. After months of postponing, we were finally able to squeeze a mini shoot in between work and school deadlines. Ezra and Aprille were also available, so we asked them to come.
Instead of taking pictures around campus like we normally do, we decided to go up to the National Art Center for a change. We wanted to shoot there last summer but it was closed to the public at the time. Luckily they allowed us in this time.
National Art Center parking lot
View from the top
Aprille and Brinks admiring the view
Aprille and Ezra were almost murdered by a falling coconut. They were standing thisclose to where it landed.
Brainstorm take me away from the norm I got to tell you something..
I’m sure you guys are used to seeing Brinks’s face on my stream by now.
This was also part of the quick shoot Brinks, Ezra, Aprille and I had last week. We had so much fun despite the heat.
This is my favorite picture of Brinks which I took.
I couldn’t think of a title, so I cheated. I copied this from Brinks’ latest status message in FB, LOL.
Outtakes:
Aprille took the last shot. I love it~
A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous
Quote by Coco Chanel
Meet my friend Aprille. This is the first time she’s appearing here on my stream I think. We’ve known each other since our junior year in high school, but we only became good friends during our senior year field trip. We both over-packed and we somehow ended up sitting next to each other on the bus. We could hardly move the entire time because our bags and pillows took up so much space. The ride was 11 hours long. But we had such a good time that we sat next to each other on the ride home as well.
Outtakes:
APhy 02 Batch Reunion (Ena’s despedida and my birthday)
It’s been a while since my blocmates and I last saw each other, so we decided that we should have a mini-reunion. Ena’s leaving this Friday for Australia to work/study and we all wanted to say farewell before she leaves. It turns out most of the people were free last Saturday, which also happened to be my birthday
We decided to hold the get-together at my house since Ena said she missed hanging out here. Seeing them all in our living room again brought back so many memories of our MatPhy overnight study sessions (AKA “videoke nights” and “movie marathons”). I miss college~
From L-R : Carmi, Erwil, Jam, Ena, Mhean, Leni, Dyason, Michelle, Ckloy, Glenn, Jenny and Alex. (Arvin arrived later in the afternoon so he’s not in the photo).
Leni, Ena and me. We spent about 90% of our APhy life together. People used to call us the “Powerpuff Girls” because we we were always together
We spent the afternoon singing, eating and playing games on Wii.
Some photos taken that day:
Glenn and Alex fighting it out on Wii Boxing
Alex killing some mountain lions on Cabela’s Big Game Hunter. (Look at Ckloy being so engrossed in the game XD)
(EZRA) 35/52 : Not a cloud in the sky. Got the sun in my eyes. And I won’t be surprised if it’s a dream
Ezra’s description:
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My sister, Brinks, Aprille and I had a mini shoot at the National Art Center the other day. It’s a school on top of a mountain. It’s really nice there. It was pretty high up so I got a bit dizzy on the way there.
I’m sitting on the railing of an old bridge in this photo. The bridge isn’t that high above the ground, but I could still break a few bones if I fell at that height so it was pretty scary.
Thanks to my sister for taking my picture and editing it!
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Outtakes:
Week 35/52 : I ain’t gonna be just a face in the crowd
It’s my birthday today!! I spent it by meeting up with old friends from college and having dinner with the girls (blog entries to follow). Tomorrow I’ll celebrate with family.
Thanks to Ezra for taking this picture. This is from a mini-shoot I had with Ezra, Brinks and Aprille earlier this week. I’ll post the rest of the pictures soon.
The shades belong Brinks’s … uh … friend?
Title is from the song “It’s my life” by Bon Jovi
Outtakes:
Whut? (Photographer: Ezra)
I like this one too, but I already have too many headphone shots (Photographer: Brinks)
(Photographer: Brinks)
(Photographer: Brinks)
Early birthday dinner with Moy
After my class yesterday, I met up with Moy and Ezra for an early birthday celebration. Moy and I don’t see each other much these days thanks to our busy schedules, but luckily we were able to squeeze this dinner in.
Moy took Ezra and me to Cafe Breton in Trinoma so we could taste their Galette Bretonne. It was HEAVEN~ It’s buckwheat crepe filled with spinach, shrimps, crab meat, cream, and Gruyere cheese. *wipes drool off keyboard* I’m actually not a big fan of shrimp and I’m mildly allergic to crab, but this tasted so good, I didn’t care.
Moy preparing my Galette Bretonne for me
Ez and Moy. Ezra ordered the Breton Mozzarella Burger which was also yummy~
(Sorry for the bad-quality photos. My camera ran out of battery so I had to use my phone T__T)
We shopped for a while after dinner, then grabbed dessert at Red Mango before heading home.
Ez with her frozen yogurt
Moy’s YUMMY choco waffles. If I wasn’t so full I would have ordered this too, it’s so good!
Thanks for yesterday Moy!
(EZRA) 34/52 : Eyes are windows of the soul
Ezra’s portrait last week.
Her description:
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When we were doing this shoot, our dog (Bo) followed us around and kept trying to get in the shot. He’s so cute.
One of my favorite Asian horror films is “Doll Master”. In the movie they believed that souls can enter through a doll’s eyes if you care for it enough.
Thanks to my sister for taking my picture and editing it!
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Outtakes:
Bo wanted to be in the shot too
Ezra didn’t want him there. (Can you see my reflection in the window? XD)
But he didn’t want to leave.
Week 34/52 : Antigravity
My portrait last week.
For TOTW : Hair
(I was too busy to come up with my own theme this week. Thank goodness for TOTW.)
Quick shot taken one morning before I left the house. I have so much stuff to do these days, I hardly have time to sleep T__T
