Goong Princess Hour

Wooh! Just finished the korea drama Goong Princess Hour, all 24 episodes in 3 days and 2 nights, very tired now. Heehee. It is quite a good series, as it arouses your emotions, especially the last few episodes when the situation between the crown prince and princess are quarrelling so badly. Check this blog out, it has quite a informative blog about the drama.

In the drama, I just felt that as a learning point, couple should communicate with each other. Actually, all it takes is for the crown prince to tell her he loves her, then she will not have to second guess his feeling, even when he has returned all the gifts and photos of Hyo Rin. Just like all girls, they have their insecurities, even married women, just got to tell them, they are loved. As the drama progresses, things start to change when he tells her that he want to be with her and love her.

Oh yes and one more: " Be at the RIGHT place, at the RIGHT time, with the RIGHT people, doing the RIGHT thing, saying the RIGHT thing." This show is like a roller coaster ride (prepare some tissue after episode 6, everytime things start to get better between the couple, the crown prince or princess will do something to cause hurt the other party unknowingly and strangely, neither party want to explain to each other or listen to each other.

Below a review from another website (quite interesting)

http://www.koreanfilm.org/tvdramas/index.htm#palace

Palace (2006, MBC miniseries)
Imagine being a happy-go-lucky high school student and finding out one day that your commoner grandfather and the King of the country had made a pact that you would marry the Crown Prince.

This is Chae-kyung's predicament as she is quickly thrust into a royal marriage to a complete stranger. (Oh, and did I mention that Korea is a country that doesn't even have a monarchy in the real world?). For some, it's a true alternate reality Cinderella story, but for Chae-kyung, her Prince, named Shin, turns out to be mean and selfish with little intent of breaking up with his previous girlfriend and every intention of divorcing her in a couple years.

But the bubbly and good natured Chae-kyung finds solace in the Crown Prince's cousin, Prince Yool. He is the true Prince Charming, a kind and understanding soul who quickly falls in love with her (his cousin-in-law). Complicating the situation is the fact that prince Yool used to be the Crown Prince and she was originally betrothed to him. And as it turns out, the parents of the Princes have a complicated past and love triangles all their own.

Sound like a soap opera? Well, obviously it is. And a good one. Chae-kyung must navigate the difficult worlds of the palace and high school and marriage. The mixture of three situations that are difficult enough on their own creates all kinds of interesting difficulties for our girl next door.
Yoon Eun-hye (second from right) is perfectly charming as Chae-kyung. She is the most delightful part of the show -- goofy and cute without ever being too annoying. She cries a lot but never comes off as weak. The performance really brings a lot to a character that's hard to dislike and easy to care for. Joo Ji-hoon (far left) is also great as Shin, the troubled monarch to be (he does great even though he's almost always dressed in questionable pink frocks). At first Shin seems somewhat one dimensional, but over time his complexities and insecurities come to the fore and are portrayed very effectively. Former boy band idol Kim Jung-hoon (far right) debuts well here, portraying the complicated and tortured character Yool. Along with the three leads are a great cast of supporting characters. Particularly of note are Chae-kyung's bumpkin family and her wacky trio of friends -- the characters that add the greatest comic effect to the show.
And the show balances the comedy and the drama very well. It never gets too sad or too silly for too long. A scene where the elders try to get Crown Prince Shin and Chae-kyung to consummate their marriage had me practically rolling on the floor in laughter, while a simple shot of Chae-kyung waiting by the phone and never receiving a call from her absent husband required a box of tissues. The show is full of tender moments, and really works best when it focuses on the love triangle of the younger characters, and tends to lose steam when a lot of attention is paid to the Elders.

Prince Shin does eventually begin to warm to Chae-kyung's utter adorableness, and a love triangle full of joy and pain plays out over the show's 24 episodes (It was originally slated for 20, but the show became so popular that they extended it for 4 more episodes of misunderstandings and tears). In fact, the extra 4 episodes might be a bit too much, because it does seem like there's maybe one misunderstanding too many by the end. As for the end, it's a bit strange and not the most satisfying I've seen, but it certainly gets the job done, and in no way should be a deterrent from watching the rest of this truly enjoyable show.

But right up to the last couple episodes, I didn't know which guy to root for. Sometimes I wanted her to end up with Shin, and sometimes with Yool. And it's not only a question of who will get the girl, there's also a question of which Prince will become the next ruler. Because as the Princes struggle for Chae-kyung's affection, their mothers connive to grasp the throne for them. Once again, the court politics mixed in with high school politics add a great twist to this drama.
A lot of the success of the show is credited to the top notch production values. The three main characters wear an array of designer outfits, and seem to be in a different one every time they appear on screen. The crown prince and princess' quarters are stunningly beautiful. The production was denied when they asked to shoot in a real castle, but it's all for the best, because what was created was perfect for the series.

The show's surprise success in Korea (which shouldn't have been surprising, due to how great it looked and how good the main trio of actors are) has caused it to be dubbed the next big thing in the Korean wave. There are high hopes that the show will catch on in other Asian countries. Even Variety has called it the "future of Korea's TV drama industry". And it could easily gain a following as loyal as Dae Jang Geum or Winter Sonata. (Review by Alison Veneto)

In conclusion, just enjoy it. Heehee.

Akeelah and The Bee

Just got some time at hand to watch the movie "Akeelah and The Bee" on DVD.

I was not able to catch it in the cinema. Wow! It really blew my mind away with all that bomblastic words: Xanthesis, Gabbro, pulcher?????? It deserves 3.5 stars out of 5 stars. It is entertaining even with a simple story plot: just a girl overcoming all odds (in terms of skin colour, rich and poor, parental objection) to become the national spelling bee champion. As the movie moves, it draws you and connect with you and the emotions you feel when the character wins or loses. It can be quite touching. That is what a good movie does: connect with the audience.

There is a little quote in the movie, which is also used in another of my favourite movie: Coach Carter. At the end of "Coach Carter", the naughtiest student, who turned over a new leaf after the death of a cousin said the same quote.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure

We ask ourselves

Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us

And as we let our light shine,

we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

United 93 - Crisis Management

Wow, I have being really busy for months, trying to get the pupils to finish their portfolio and artefacts for the 'N' levels exams and now with a bit of time I have (still setting questions for the end of year exams), I manage to watched united 93 on dvd. I had it for quite long since june 06 but just did not get down to watching.

Today might be a interesting day to watch it, just three days after september 11. HAHA. And of course, I went onine to see if there is any conspiracy theories, concerning the crash, and just as I expect, check this out.

As a singaporean watching the movie, I watched it from another aspect. I felt that at the end of the day, it is the families of the victims AND the perpretrators that suffer from the loss. Fathers and mothers lost their sons and daughters, children lost their parents., even the perpretrators are sons to a father and fathers to their children. There is no gain in terrorist activities and likewise, there is no gain for the old men on top of the military to sent the young men to a warfront.

I also have another thought: if I was on the plane, what will I do? If you are on the plane, would you have done the same? or what will you do? From a macro aspect, are we (Singaporeans) prepared to handle crisis?

As in the movie, ( Some people say real life is reel life and reel life is also real life) I saw characters just break down and weep and weep as if there is no tomorrow or running around like headless chicken, same as many movies dealing with crisis. Being in a school environment allowed me to see the same characters in real life, not only pupils, but teachers also. I thank GOD for national service to prepare us, but I do see the same characters in the army too when we are stressed beyond what we normally as civilians will do, going for exercise for four to five days without much sleep and dealing with difficult situations. JUST CALM DOWN AND USE THE BRAIN: THINK!!!!

Am I being too logical and rational? Just as the movie progresses, some people get over the initial shock and calm down enough to plan a retaliation. I will have done the same as the people on board, used the trolley as a battle ram to knock down some perpretrators and the cockpit door, but may do something differently. While raming the door, someone has to disarm the bomber, pouring hot water on him will only blind him and hurt him but will not stop him from detonate the bomb. Secondly, spray the fire extinguisher into the cockpit, charging in blindly will only cause confusion. Fire extinguisher ( hopefully, it contains carbon dioxide, even foam is fine.) will blind the perpretrators and carbon dioxide will cause them to rush out for oxygen, only then deal with them. It is smart of the passengers to use the seat as shields in the movie, but what happened in the actual situation, I would not know.

Another question is if you are the pilot, will you open the door even if you receive a message not to allow cabin intrusion and the life of a flight attendant is at stake? I think this is a interesting question to ponder over? Will you sacrifice the life of one (or few) to save the lifes of many?

In the movie, the air traffic control or the 911 response is really lacking in brains, to the extent of stupid. The terrorist pilot accidentally went on air to say that there is a bomb on board and the air traffic controller calmly say:" United 93, can you repeat again that you have a bomb on board?" and through out the movie the same air traffic controller is just asking for the pilot to response to the calling. The 911 response conversation is even funnier asking the caller to please hang the line, while he transfer the line.

Overall, the movie is ok, maybe 3 out if 5 stars. Interesting, but pace is abit slow, gets a little boring when they feature on four or five passengers calling their families ( the same message again and again) but this is also the most touching part, especially a mother reconciles with her daugther who is on the plane.

In conclusion, to the 911 situation, get over it. Dun every year take it up and rake up the past, just let the dead men die. Just as every historical events, few hundred years down the road, no one can be bothered about it.

Live today, hope for tomorrow and let the past pass.(Said by me yours truely)