Hilarious news of the day...

I just listened to some old Toni Braxton and I miss her awesomeness!

What happened to her? Best voice, passionate, great music and all that? Why did she start going downhill after the Secrets album?

Give you my heart (Boomerang soundtrack). I must say that there was a time I loved the movie Boomerang. I used to be such an Eddie Murphy fan... well, my entire family. :D



Love shoulda brought you home (also Boomerang soundtrack). I loved when Halle said, "Love shoulda brought your ass home last night." Of course, this was when I was younger and 'ass' was still a swear word.

Another Sad Love Song (on of my favorite Karaoke songs)

Seven Whole Days

You Mean The World To Me I just love the lyrics to this song.

Breathe Again. Wouldn't it be awesome to run around a maze, playing hide and seek with a smoking hot guy? Hmm.... sweet dreams to me...

I'm feeling okay about writing again...

...Phew! I think I'm actually able to write right now but I've decide to hold off till Saturday. I'll try to write two chapters of Consequences and one of Honeymoon over the long weekend. Saturday will be two weeks since I updated Consequences so I'm sure my readers will be wondering what's up since I normally update frequently. But I don't feel like bumping my thread so I'm not making any announcements. I guess I'll just add an apology to the update on Saturday.

I guess by Saturday I'll have a fresh mind and clear head. I still don't love my stories or characters but I can tolerate them long enough to finish the soompi stories. Then no more writing for a while... although I'm thinking of finishing the Mission story. We'll see.

Out of boredom, I went through my old entries and apparently, this has happened before. LOL... I guess it's just a matter of losing my love for writing for a little while. But all's well that ends well, aye?

I've sent over some short stories to be added to an anthology that's getting published (a friend hooked me up). I'm lazy - I should have edited them but since a professional will be doing that, I decided to just send as is. I'm so bad! But anyhoo, I'll see how this goes.

But how can one tell if their story is good? During the writing process, I have absolutely no idea and in all honesty, I think it sucks but years later, when I read a story I no longer feel any connection to (and have forgotten), I generally have a more objective view of it. For example, during my cut and paste, I read some chapters of Femi's Diary and it's pretty funny. hehehe... I can't believe some of the stuff I wrote. For example, the character, Femi, attended a concert and this is one of the comments she made afterwards:

Beyonce is a ho. Camel toe. Enough said.

lol... and the level of swearing is really high. Geez. But damn, that shit needs to be edited. Too many typos and it's quite dialogue-heavy (mainly phone convos).

I have lost the desire to write

I hate my characters.
I hate my plots.
I hate my writing style.
I hate my stories.
I hate the process of writing.
I hate everything I've ever written.
I have half a mind to delete every single thing I've ever written and just call it a day.
I have decided to just take a break and not think about it.
I hope this goes away soon.

Drama watching...

Subs for episodes 14 & 15 of Coffee Prince came out last night. I've seen episode 14 and found it so much better than the previous one. I think it had a lot to do with grandma's disapproval so at least there was some angst. And it was quite romantic.

Now, what cracked me the HELL up was the guy's so called dream job. I know he supposedly had a thing for toys so I thought the job was toy-related. It certainly didn't help that the offer letter from New York, FL looked like a copy and paste job from a Monster.com ad. But the funniest thing I've heard all day was that the position he was moving to America for was Senior Blog Designer. Okay, but seriously, WTF?!?!? I laughed for like 5 minutes nonstop for that. His parents were pushing him to return to America to be a blog designer? And how much do people make at that job anyway? Isn't that something anyone with html skills can do? That's his dream job? Or were the subs wrong?

Other than that, it was a vast improvement from episode 13.

I'm also watching Rude Woman starring my hot guy of the moment, Lee Ki Woo. Okay, this guy is freaking gorgeous. I can eat him up for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The guy is like 6'3 which is just awesome and his little lisp is so freaking cute. Gosh! I'm enjoying the drama because it's lighthearted and cute but Ki Woo is the butter icing on the yummy carrot cake. Mmmm. I'm slightly psycho so I've not been watching the episodes in sequence but it's still very cute.


I've been watching Someday on AZN and it's supposed to be an intelligent show and although the treatment is quite nice, it's still the same old love rectangle thing except I'm not rooting for anyone. I really wouldn't mind the main girl ending up alone. For one, the rejected guy is so clingy and annoying, trying to force himself on her but the other guy is pissing me off with all his suicidal tendencies. But I'll keep watching.

Fiction Downloads

For now, this is the only one available for download. I've taken all others off.

Finding A Bride (MNIKSS fanfic)


New rule as of October 16, 2010.
If you want a pdf of WFF, leave a comment. Thanks.

Yellow Handkerchief

I first discovered Korean Dramas through WYBE in Philadelphia. They air a lot of international programming and it's how I really got introduced to Bollywood (even though I'd seen some back in Naija but it was never my thing) and Korean daily dramas.

The first one I saw was One Million Roses. The dramawiki info is wrong as there were about 170+ episodes. The next I saw was So, this is love. Followed by My Precious Child and then Yellow Handkerchief.

What WYBE did was air two dramas at the same time - a rerun during the day and one airing in Korea at midnight. Since I was still a newbie, all the daytime ones were new to me.

Anyway, so during the broadcasts of MPC and Yellow Handkerchief, I got a great job offer here, so I had to relocate. Frankly speaking, not being able to watch YH put a little dent in my joy about my new job. I think it's fair to say that even though I didn't get to watch YH in its entirety, it's the most awesome show I've ever seen. (My favorite mini-series is MNIKSS and so far, nothing has been able to beat it. Although many viewers feel that Coffee Prince raised the bar, I completely disagree. I can probably name at least 10 dramas that I've enjoyed more.)

Yellow Handkerchief is the usual kdrama story about love, rich vs poor etc etc. Unlike in miniseries where there's really one main couple, the daily dramas generally have a lot of couples. The main story was about a girl who'd been in a relationship with a guy for about 9 years. During that time, they both struggled financially and got engaged. The bastard guy meets some heiress and decides to leave his long time girlfriend only to discover that she's pregnant. He tries to make her get an abortion but she tells him to fuck off. In the end, he does marry the rich girl and the story revolves around all their relationships.

I believe this show was where Han Ga In met her husband. Han Ga In plays the rich girl's younger half sister (who hates her) and her husband plays the jilted woman's younger brother. They meet one day (I think he hits her with his motorbike) and after colluding to destroy her sister's life, fall in love but can't be together because of their siblings' drama. I did root for their characters to get together but mainly because the girl stalking him was so damn annoying.

The grandmother from CP and Dal Ja's Spring played the jilted woman's suitor's grandma and even though she was a loving woman, she sure as hell took the whole parental disapproval to the max. Her issue was that she didn't want her grandson to marry a single mother.

Why the trip down memory lane? Well, there are two reasons:
1) I just read some info that it's possible to purchase this series on DVD for $162. There are 169 half-hour episodes. Should I? Or should I not?
2) It's Saturday morning and back in Philly, this was when I watched the week's worth of kdrama episodes I'd taped. And in the middle of it, I'd check to see if the Bollywood movie airing at 11am was any good and if it was, would pause my tape to watch it, then get back to my kdramas. I do miss that.

It's quite a shame that we don't have a similar station here. Why didn't I move to NY/NJ/IL/TX/HI/CA etc etc?

Anyhoo, I found the first three episodes on youtube so I guess I can watch a bit.

I finally saw episode 13 of Coffee Prince...

... and it was incredibly boring. UGH!

Weird...

For some reason, the later episodes of Coffee Prince are reminding me so much of the later chapters of Wrong Foot First and With One Foot In. Lol... I've been reading those chapters a lot in the past few days and it's almost as if I didn't write them myself... weird.

I think I'm slowly losing my mind.

I'm such an agbaya...

... (i.e immature)

I love this song from High School Musical 2. I didn't like either of the movies but I like this song.

Thou shalt write a chapter today...

Thou shalt write a chapter today
Thou shalt write a chapter today
Thou shalt write a chapter today
Thou shalt write a chapter today
Thou shalt write a chapter today
Thou shalt write a chapter today
Thou shalt write a chapter today
Thou shalt write a chapter today
Thou shalt write a chapter today
Thou shalt write a chapter today
Thou shalt write a chapter today
Thou shalt write a chapter today
Thou shalt write a chapter today
Thou shalt write a chapter today
Thou shalt write a chapter today

If I write (okay, copy and paste) this enough times, will it come true?

Is it just me or is it a really bad year for Bollywood?

Hmm...

I've seen a few films this year and in general, there haven't been many to go crazy about. In fact, there's no 2007 release I can honestly say was great. Some were nice like Just Married, Honeymoon Travels and even Salaam-E-Ishq but in general, IMO, it's been a shitty year for movies. I am not even looking forward to any movies at this point. 2006 was so much better.

But in the spirit of Bollywood, how about a bollyspam?

Kabhi Neem Neem from Yuva. Yuva is a nice film but overrated, IMO. I hated the Abhi-Rani couple because it was violent but I believe I'm in the minority. I did like their song, though. I just love the 'duet' that began around the 2:03 mark.

Tinka Tinka from Karam. I've tried to watch this movie a million times but I usually get bored halfway through. I love the song, though.

Na Tum Jano Na Hum from Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. LOL... I found the first half really difficult to get through (it took me 3 months) but I loved the second half of this movie. How so melodramatic. Hahaha... if you think too hard (or even a little), you'll hate this movie. You just have to leave your disbelief at home.

Taal Se Taal from Taal. It's an average movie but the songs are great.

And of course, Ishq Bina.

Kasam Ki Kasam from Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon. The movie has been universally panned and I never plan to watch it but I love the song. In fact, seeing this video made me watch another movie with the Hrithik and Kareena pairing (because I couldn't get a hold of this one) called Yaadien and that was just plain awful. But yeah, the song is so sweet.



Lal Dupatta from Muhjse Shaadi Karogi. Gosh, I love all the songs from this movie but the movie itself is just not good. It's one of those overdone comedies and every time I try to watch it, I just end up only watching the songs.




Yenna Solla Pogirai from Kandukondain Kandukondain. I think I just love the picturization. It's the Tamil movie version (kollywood and not bollywood) of Sense and Sensibility. The book is my least favorite of Austen's work and I really lost interest in this movie even though quite a few people like it. But the songs from the movie rock, sha.

Soona Man Ka Aangan from Parineeta. The movie turned out to be nicer than I'd expected. The same predictable stuff but nice cinematography and acting.

Maar Dala from Devdas (2002). If the movie had come out a lot earlier, I would have said that the word overrated was probably created just to describe it. Seriously. What a piece of CRAP. I hated this movie with a passion and I am not too fond of Shah Rukh Khan either. But I like Madhuri and this song.

Saajan Saajan from Dil Ka Rishta. This movie sucks. Plain and simple. I couldn't watch it past halfway and I have a high tolerance for Bollywood B.S. But I like this song - it's fun.

In the spirit of the last two songs, here is Tujhe Yaad Na Meri Aayee from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Unlike most of the movies mentioned in this post, I love this film. It's the same ol' bestfriends-become-lovers story but who cares? I live for that stuff. And first watched it when I still liked Shah Rukh Khan.



Saajan Tumse Pyar from Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya. Another not-so-good comedy. It was a hit but I'm still yet to finish it. And it's been over a year. But I like this song.

Fanfic and feedback

I just got a review for a story I wrote over 3 years ago and for some reason, I am so tickled.

The review was positive although the rewiewer did also provide some constructive criticsm. I guess I am tickled because, of course, she was correct but it was one of my earliest works when I was still trying to figure out how fanfiction worked so I wrote it like it was original fiction. The great thing about fanfiction is you don't have to establish backgrounds and relationships and the lazy part of me really misses that.

2004 was very productive for me in terms of writing. That was the year I discovered fanfiction and pretty much the same year I abandoned it. Not because I got sick of writing, but because I got sick of the show The O.C. and had no interest in writing fanfiction about the characters.

That got me thinking about the impact fanfiction has had on my writing and I must say that a large percentage of what I learned about writing was through fanfiction. Not just the experience of writing a story but also the discussions I had with other fanfic writers on TWoP. Gosh, I really miss being part of the fandom. On a side not, whenever I see TWoP, my mind reads it as PWP. Gosh, I'm so dirty minded.

It's always funny when I get a review for one of those stories because even though it was only three years ago, it feels much longer and it's funny to realize that there are people still reading that stuff. And how do they manage to do so considering all my stories are based on the first season and so much has happened since then? But it might be related to the fact that I wrote about non-canon relationships often starring minor characters in the show.

Which brings me to my My Name Is Kim Sam Soon fanfic that was completed in July 2006. It was simply written out of my love for the show and to give it a more complete ending. At the time, I didn't realize that k-fanfics were mainly about singers (RPF)and when I couldn't find a KSS fanfic to read, I wrote one. I am almost certain I've blogged about this before.

Anyhoo, I do wish there were more kdrama fanfics but most dramas do have endings that can't be stretched much further.

I wish I knew where I was going with this post but I guess it's time to go home, aye?

On the writing front...

... I must say I'm quite pleased with the direction in which my story is going. But gosh, writing can be so tedious. I wish there was an easier way... I should at least be writing a first draft of the next chapter but I'm so not in the mood. I guess I'll just write a more detailed outline.

I googled "Love Triangle" and this is what I got. I wanted a different image, though. One where the girl was the main attraction and not one where she was biting off her competition's foot.



This is one is even less romantic...



lol... go, Samantha :D

"Dear God, I hope I'm not stuck with this one."

HAHAHAHAHA


I love this song called Foundations. Yes, I am late but I only just discovered it. It's by a British singer called Kate Nash. And it's about the ups and downs of relationships.

1st Shop of Coffee Prince

I finally got in on the Coffee Prince action. Around episodes 4 and 5, I got bored AND the story is very predictable but it's also endearing and well done. I've seen up to episode 10 so far. The final kiss in episode 10 is also very gay as the guy is tonguing someone he thinks is a man (even though she's a girl) so it's interesting to see him succumb to his feelings for another man ignoring the implications in respect to his sexuality. Also, the part at the end of episode 8 that went like this:

You're gay, right? Well, I'm not so stop seducing me.

was also touching.

I find the girl annoying and extremely selfish for never revealing her true gender to him as there were ample opportunities but since it's a drama, he obviously has to find out from someone else. But seriously, you'd rather the man you loved think he's gay than to risk losing him by telling him you're a WOMAN?!?!? In what world does that make any damn sense? And after he tells you that he loves you and wants to be with you, you STILL don't tell him? So what happens when it's time to have sex? Would it be a 'ta-da' moment?

And Han Kyul himself, did he honestly think this through? Because he loved Eun Chan, did he plan to start having gay sex, something that we are supposed to believe doesn't feel natural to him? Or he didn't think that far? Tonguing a guy is one thing; having sex with him is another. And the fact that he was tonguing Eun Chan showed that he had sexual feelings for him.

But it's a contrived storyline anyway so I guess we are supposed to ignore that. I personally don't have any real problems with cross dressing storylines as I was thoroughly entertained by She's the Man.

Loads of chemistry and I'm enjoying it. It's definitely not the best drama I've ever seen, not even for the year (I prefer Queen of the Game, Taiwanese drama My Lucky Star and some others), but it's nice. While I love character-driven movies, generally, for dramas, I need a bit more plot. This drama is almost all character-driven and there are a few side stories I am not that interested in for example, his parentage and her sister's and mother's romantic lives. I am interested in Sun Ki's side story since as of yet, we know so little about it.

Another thing that stops me from outright loving it is that I feel that it's a cop-out gay story. I often wish they'd just go all the way and not have the guy turn out to be a girl so that it can be all nice and dandy. If you want to be real, take it all the way. Of course, there are all sorts of repercussions that'll come from this so I understand why one might be reluctant to create such a drama.

In stories like this and Twelfth Night (well, I have only seen the movie starring Ben Kingsley), I feel that the men have gay tendencies. No matter how some people might try to explain about pheromones and what not, I still find them to be gay. In She's The Man or Hana Kimi, it was different because in the former, even though he liked Viola when she was pretending to be Sebastian, he was never confused nor did he have any sexual feelings towards her in that state (unlike in Twelfth Night) and in Hana Kimi, he knew she was a girl from the get go. But with Coffee Prince, after seeing Han Kyul tongue Eun Chan so passionately, for the rest of the episodes, I'm going to keep thinking that Han Kyul has gay tendencies.

In all honesty, if a hot guy, for some reason, thinks I'm a guy and falls in love with me, God knows I aint dating him. WTF?


Nonetheless, I need the subs to come out so I can watch the showdown (ep 11 when someone spills the beans) and their make up in episode 12. Romantic shows generally end when the couple gets together so I'm not quite sure what's going to happen in the next 5 episodes. His family (or people he thinks are his family because apparently, they aren't his blood relatives) is very cool but I'm guessing some conflict will come from them not accepting her. Oh well, I guess I just have to wait and see.

I guess the storyline of his true parentage needs to be resolved but as I previously mentioned, I'm not that interested in it. I hope the show doesn't tank in the later episodes. From what I've seen so far, from my POV, this drama is absolutely overrated but that doesn't take away from its goodness. But big ups to the woman writer and woman director for creating a good show. More and more women need to get into the industry.

Buhahaha... Romanus the Bachelor

Just a short comedic skit... hahaha. Stupid funny but entertaining as well. No real point but whatever, it's only 6 minutes long. And you need to understand the Nigerian Igbo accent to get it.

Hmm...

... the kdrama world is all ablaze about Coffee Prince. I don't know. Should I watch it too? The subs are coming out at record speed. I think I'll take a stab at it. I don't know what's up with the whole cross dressing thing in 2007. First Taiwanese Hana Kimi created a sensation. Now it's Coffee Prince and Japanese Hana Kimi. Since the Taiwanese HK had a sucky ending, I might watch the last episode of the Japanese version to wipe the stain.

Loving another drama called 9 End 2 Outs about friends who become lovers (I'm guessing). That's right up my alley... too bad I can't watch it all now. Still on ep 3 and waiting for subs.

On other things... still writing Consequences. I'm on chapter 22... feeling better about the story. My writing it, the readership and all that. I'm at the point where I'm enjoying the story. I hope it stays that way.

Honeymoon... writing it but quite slowly. It's a 'side project' so I don't mind writing slowly. The sad part is I keep forgetting the characters' names. LOL For some reason, this has more readers than Consequences... still not many but for me, each reader makes a huge % of my readership. Lol... by soompi standards, I am practically a failure. I wonder why this doesn't bother me enough to just quit (although I'll be leaving after these stories are completed).