Eclipse

Did I say 2 gimme 2 weeks? Hehe this novel is more gripping than the previous two, that it only took me a day and a half. Maybe partly because it was another quiet Saturday night and I feel the need to be downstairs rather than holed up in my room with my kdramas.

Meyer's Eclipse gives me a glimpse of hope for Jacob, but at the same time make me feel sorry for Edward too. Sigh! Its reasonable for Bella to fall in love with two great person, but for them to fall for the temperamental Bella? it boggles the mind - but they said cupid is blind.

I have lots of jumbled thoughts in my head after finishing this novel, that to put it in writing will not make sense even to myself. So I'm gonna make this post short and simple. The epilogue of this novel "nearly" made me shed a tear for Jacob. I empathize with Edward too, but he got the silly girl, didnt he? Sigh! I read my niece blog that she got her hand on Breaking Dawn already, wonder of she can finish it off in 2 days......

I was listening to Ressa Herlambang's Menyesal again, but I think 6ixth Sense's Tak Bisa Memilihmu (I do like Nubhan's version better, but I already posted his video before) is more appropriate...

New Moon

Silent day today...maybe because the house next door was empty. I need to have my car cleaned, tapi malas to clean myself and to hantar to a car wash - nah, dont want to go out. I know I'll end up entering a cds shop somewhere buying either Hong Gil Dong, On Air, or Oh Pil Seung (or all!!!!) or buying some movies that I dont have any time to watch.

Anyway, just finish up New Moon today. It has such as slow beginning that it takes me weeks to finished it - one chapter at a time. Then things started to get interesting with reappearance of Jacob Black - not that he's left or anything (unlike Edward, hmph!), just that his character becomes more prominent.

See, Edward cleaned up everything and left Bella because of the incident on Bella's birthday. So young Bells become a zombie for months, that was until she decided to break her promise and live recklessly - by riding a motorcycle! She enlisted Jacob's help. It turns out his life was destined for greater purpose - protecting his people.

Then, Edward comes back into her life - oh no! and she had to choose if its Edward or Jacob - and of course she choose Edward with his coldness rather than Jacob's warmth. Well, maybe I'm prejudiced because Jacob destined to be the 'underdog' in this story - so naturally I'll take his side. Not that I hate Edward but its just he's too in control, too cold...

I never found werewolves endearing before. I remembered the movie Underworld, they depict the werewolves as worse than vampire, in that they completely transformed into an animal and lost their human instincts and feelings. But in this novel, you kinda grow fond of them... Hope Jacob have a happy ending... I'm gonna start on Eclipse now.

Oh, there's the part where Bella compares her lifestory with Romeo & Juliet. I think this Shakespear's little tragedy gotten so famous among his other works because the lead character died so young. I was never fascinated with R&J, this grand romance that they would rather be dead than live without the other. So selfish! Taking the easy way out- coward! Which makes me wonder how Meyer gonna end this syory with Breaking Dawn...would Edward turns mortal again? or would Bella turns immortal? Would they have their happy ending or died when the other died? Since this book was targetted for young adults, I dont think Meyer would want to show an example that suicide is okay if the love-of-your-life is no longer alive....

What I also found funny is 20-year-old Bella sees herself as someone responsible and cautious. She is???!!! Isnt she the one who begged (or is it forced?) for Edward to change her into a vampire - did she consider the point beyoooooooooooooond where she will spend forever with Edward? I'm intrigued by why she's immune to the vamps' special power, but apart from that she's just a normal-high-strung teenager who's obsessed with someone who is too much for her to handle.

The saleslady at BestEastern promise me that their shipment of Breaking Dawn comes next week, so give my niece a week time to read it - so that's two weeks, enough time for me to finish up Eclipse ^_^

Foxy Lady (3.5)

No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee.
-- John Donne

A drama that questioned "Does age matters?" Well, it might not matter to you but it matters to everyone else. Yeah...yeah, you'll say its your life, butt-off!!! But like the poem above suggest, 'no man is an island', we live in a community- unless you're willing to live in the middle of nowhere and shun everyone... Hmmm, if I could get things by ordering online and having it delivered up to my doorstep - but I'll have to pay the telephone bills, the water bills, the electricity and the gas ( I still wanna live in a lap of luxury, even if I could live without human company); I still have to meet people to install them first, and hey how do I get the money?? Farming? Haha...laughably impossible!

Back to the drama, it potrays the life of a 33 year old single female reporter of an 'adult' magazine, Go Byeong Hee (Go Hyun Jung). One day she found out she had benign uterine tumor, the same day she found out that her so-called-soulmate is gay. She drowns her sorrrow and worries by getting drunk in some out of town location. She called up her best friend Park Seung Hye (Ahn Sun Young) to get her, but she sends her younger brother Park Chul Su (Chun Jung Myung) instead.

Chul Su ,24 years old, just got back home after wandering around the world for 1-2 years, he's an excellent car mechanic, a handy man to fix thing around the house, but has no ambition whatsoever -he reasoned that way, he won't fail at anything. (Hmmm...that brought to mind the quotes, "You are a failure if onl you have fail to try" and " Failure to plan is planning to fail"). Anyway, the night he went to pick up Byeong Hee, they ended up had to stay in a motel and the drunken Byeong Hee 'attacks' him. He pushed her away several times, but what he was supposed to do when she keep on kissing him, he's only a man afterall - buaya mana yang tolak bangkai? (But to compare a carcass with a female, Grrrrr!)

Byeong Hee didnt remember everything that happened that night, so she suggest they'll just erase it from their memory altogether. Chul Su held the same opinion at first, then a good marriage prospect for Byeong Hee made an appearance and he cant ignore his heart any longer...

SPOILER!!!!

It turns out that he was in love with Byeong Hee all along, but because of the age difference and Byeong Hee always treated him as her own younger brother, he decided to go away, hoping that by the time he return she'll be married and have a family, and he'll get over her.... Yeah, a few years is acceptable but 9 years???? As she said when he return (while smackng his butt repeatedly), her baby had grown up to be a man, she used to change his diapers... then madly he grabs her hand and put it on his crotch, this is where you really wanna feel right? he yells, wakaka...the shocked looks on her face!

What I don't understand is the relief and happiness Chul So shows when Byeong Hee told him she wasnt pregnant...shouldnt he be dissapointed if he's really in love with her, he could use the baby as an excuse to marry her...

Another sideline story is Byeong Hee's younger sister, Go Jun Hee (Kim Eun Joo), a model. One modelling show, she met Park Byeong Gak aka Bulldog (Son Hyeon Joo) a President of a luxury brand. After that he pulls his string making her modeling career comes to a halt. He make a proposal to her, to become her 'sponsor' as long as she do as she was told, he'll make a successful model. He had no intention to make her his mistress, he just want to see her everyday because she was a dead-ringer to his deceased wife. Even though he is ignorant and crude, the spoiled and selfish Jun Hee really fall him, but the problem is he's way to old for her. I think their story is more cuter than Byeong Hee and Chul So ^_^

Anyway, if the female is older than the male; people will look badly more on the female - cradle snatcher! If the male is way older than the female; people still look more negatively on the female - gold-digger! Isnt this world just fair? People stereotyping other people easily(...hehe myself included, just cant help it!) but hey you just can't please everybody, so just please yourselves lah...be damned what other people thinks (easy to say ^_^). I like this description in koreanmovie.com at the start of the review of this drama.

"Most people probably have experienced at one time or another, searching for a pencil all over their house, only to discover they had been holding it in their hand all the while. This drama is about the process of realizing that the pencil is in your hands.This drama wants to talk about the simple truth that both love and happiness are found right beside you, right in your heart. It wants to say that if you discard your superficial defenses, just a little, you too can become happy".

Go Hyun Jung (DOB: 2 Mac 1971)

Chun Jung Myung (DOB: 29 Nov 1980)

Kim Eun Joo (DOB: 31 Aug 1985)

Soo Hyeon Joo (DOB: 24 Jun 1965)

Jo Yeon Woo (DOB: 30 May 1973)

{Byeon Hee's other love interest; a doctor, kind and thoughtful. Isn't she a bbabo? }

Hello! Miss (3)

Lee Soo Ha (Lee Da Hae) - the 38th granddaughter of the Jae Ahn Lee clan and owner of the clan manor Hwa Ahn Dang - is trying to save the place from going bankrupt. She inherited the historical home after her father left for Seoul with another woman years ago and her mother died last year of stomach cancer. This is the part where I dont understand their culture, the property was rightfully and legally hers but her action was dictated by the clan's elder, who was no help at all in protecting her home. All they do are bicker and order thus make her life more difficult. She call them for help when they were house-arrested by group of protestors, and they answered that they were on their way to visit another house - which is not at an emergency thus they can go for a visit at another time! When she needed fund to make some maintenance work on the house, they said they already spend the funds on something else. If I were her I'll told them-when they butt-in my business again - to go to hell! How dare they dictate and judge my action when they were no help whatsoever!

And another thing, what makes me wonder after watching all these Kdramas were; in Korea can anybody withdraw your money as long as they had your bank's passbook? What about all those certificates for possessions, can they changed the name of the owner without needing verification of the current owner?

Anyway, one day she meets Hwang Dong Gyu (Lee Ji-hoon), who wanted to buy Hwa Ahn Dang at any price. He's the eldest grandson of the president of TOP Group; who was once a servant at the manor - the grandfather cannot rest in peace unless he spends his last days in Hwa Ahn Dang's master suite. He and Soo Ha bicker constantly whenever they met but soon he realised he was falling for her. However, despite his strong feelings for her, he stumbles a lot due to his poor courting skills.

Enter his cousin, the charming playboy Hwang Chan Min, who falls for the country bumpkin Soo Ha also. He who was at first not interested in inheriting his family’s business, embarks on learning the business rope and be a responsible man to win Soo Ha's heart. It was really sweet at first when he and his cousin compete fairly to gain Soo Ha's interest, but then when he saw that he's losing ground, he resort to underhanded tactics :( Sigh! He was so cute compare to Ji-Hoon, why couldnt he be the lead hero? Then, the grandfather complicated matters further, promising to pass the managerial rights to the grandson who can win Soo Ha's hearts and indirectly gives him the Hwa Ahn Dang.

Then there is Seo Hwa Ran (Yeon Mi Joo), a model who has a secret history with and a secret plan for Hwa Ahn Dang, and Lee Joon Yong, Soo Ha's brother and Chan Min's friend who can't forget a girl from Hwa Ahn Dang he knew when he was a kid... I really like Dong Gyu's aunt, Hwang Yoo Il (Choi Soo Rin), I know she like her freedom as a single woman and all, but wouldnt it be nice if she does fall in love at last? ^_^

Casts:

Lee Ji Hoon as Hwang Dong Gyu (DOB: 1979-Mar-27)

Lee Da Hae as Lee Soo Ha (DOB: 1984-Apr-19)

Ha Suk Jin as Hwang Chan Min (DOB: 1982-Feb-10)

Yoon Mi Joo as Suh Hwa Ran (DOB: 1982)

Ryan as Lee Joon Yong (DOB: 1983-Oct-19)

Additional:

Beginning of this drama, I was like darn Lee Da Hae was playing the same character as in in My Girl, so boring...cant she try some more challenging character? But I read Robber also boring... Hmm... Playing serious character like in Green Rose was not her genre maybe..but if she keep acting the same kind of characters over and over again, boring ler...

I dont think I've ever find any guy with full pouty lips handsome...but the three lead males in kdramas I had finished/currently watching made me revised my opionion. Some of them can be cute ^_^ but not handsome!

Lee Ji Hoon -->One of the reason I put off watching Hello! Miss because looking at the boxset, I didnt find the lead actor handsome, but then am currently watching You Are My Destiny every weekdays on KBSW and he's so adorably sweet there ^.^ and well, in Hello Miss, kinda okay but not outstanding

Chun Jung Myung ---> He was in Fashion 70's also with Joo Jin Mo, so okay he pale in comparison with Jin Mo sophsticated-dashing-handsome-looks there, but his rare sweet smile in the drama make a mark in your heart. Now in Foxy Lady, his doesn't sport a crew cut hair as in Fashion 70's and clean shaven, so he looks so young! (could pass f0r 18!) and his sweet smiles....sigh! Cutay

Eric Moon ---> Chiwu, The Mighty is currently airing at KBSW every Mon and Tues...after watching the first episode, I'm not dedicating myself glued to the sofa every 9pm (sigh! unlike Three Daddies and One Mom), but reading Javabeans review makes me watch it occasionally. Nah....I dont think I find him cute or handsome...eventhough many consider him sexy. He bored me in Phoenix, irritates me in Que Sera Sera and look like a long-haired-homeless in Chilwu.

Another actor, my opinion is in the minority is Won Bin. After Autumn in My Heart many went ga-ga over him... Beauty is in te eye of the beholder ^_^