Alexandra Leaving

I have become so obsessed with "Game of Thrones" that I must admit it to myself and seek treatment, preferably in the form of some other obsession inducing material like Asian drama. Preferrably with a heart-wrenching romance and possibly with some other plot too, and by heart-wrenching I mean angsty but with a good ending. I have enough tragedies pending in Game of Thrones, so I am not ready for 49 days. It will also help if the drama is at least half-way through because I want to marathon.

It does not matter if the drama is Korean, Taiwanese or Japanese.

Thorn Birds


BTW, I have finished "Thorn Birds" this week which were just the thing and not bad at all (I wished for a little bit more romance between the main couple, though). May be I will have a chance to post about it one of those days, but for now my ratings are 6/10.

Do you have any dramas with heart-wrenching love to recommend? ** puppy eyes **

My life seems to be in a craziest stage since the time of my long-forgotten youth: work is madly busy, Zend PHP certification exam is approaching too fast (6th of December), I need to write two assignments for the Leadership and Management course (which culminated on 19th of November in consolidation day and my team's win!) by the December 18th, on which day I am flying off to Moscow. Oh, also lately I went to few one-day conferences and as a result London is practically making me sick, especially considering that one of the conferences happened on the day of the Tube Strike. I still hold on tightly to my usual optimistic POV, but only just. If I don't go prematurely all gray, I am due for two Christmas weeks of ice sculptures, ice skating and pancakes in Moscow.

In good news, I finally nailed salchow (A move in figure skating in which the skater jumps from one skate, completes a full rotation, and lands on the other skate) and tea-pot move and completely completed my silver NISA (National Ice Skating Association) level!

I am not even watching anything!!! Well, may be "Lost Girl" and "Gloria", but this is ALL. "Gloria" is safely helping me through this crazy real life spell.



My daughter made me go and watch "Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows 1", which overall was a pleasant surprise. Of course, I am still the same old nay-sayer that is not overly excited by Harry Potter in any shape or form , plus I have a confession to make: I find grown-up Daniel Radcliffe to be somewhat on the creepy side. Where has the pretty boy gone? BUT! To be fair, "Deathly Hallows" was much much better film than the two previous ones. There was enough time given to beautiful landscape shots, there was enough time for characters to talk to each other, and there was enough time devoted to Dobby's death (more time than to Dumbledore's death, actually) and Ron's jokes. Some other excellent things included Ron himself, Hermione in a red dress and Luna's father. Oh, if there are any Hermione/Harry shippers left (although I am not one of them) : I thought "Deathly Hallows number 1" was a really shippy film.

In short, I enjoyed the film, enough to give it 6.5 out of 10 and we had a nice time afterward in Pizza Hut. It took a lot of explaining for my daughter and her friends to understand what the Horcruxes are, though. I blame it on the scrambled-up previous film.

( Some more film stills )

PS: Oh where ebooks_crack has gone????????????? I am so very upset!!!

I am insanely obsessed with Korean drama "Chuno", in fact , the last time I was so obsessed happened when I was watching "Rome". I urgently need some distraction, if possibly, in a form of a period drama that:

1. Preferably is under 30 episodes long (50-60 episodes maximum)
2. Has a strong romantic storyline (if possible, with tortured individuals)
3. Preferably Korean.
4. Has an OTP that preferably is developed slowly.
5. Has male leads as good looking as Jang Hyuk and Oh Ji Ho (this is a hard one, I know!)
6. Has female leads as strong as Lee Da Hae
7. Multiple separate OTPs and/or avoidance of the usual love triangle will be a particular bonus (I am a bit tired of the main Chuno dilemma, you see - which OTP is "better" - Tae Ha/Un Nyun or Dae Gil/Un Unyun)
8. Hot bodyguards in love with their mistresses is a also a big bonus

I haven't seen too many Korean period dramas, there are only 5 that I have seen in full:

1. The Legend - loved
2. Damo - loved
3. Iljimae - not bad
4. Hong Gil Dong - liked at first, disliked the last quarter
5. Painter of the WInd - loved it

And 3 that I haven't managed to finish:

1. Hwang Jin Yi - I was't brave enough to continue this to the end, but I loved it.
2. The Return of Iljimae - I liked this one too, I don't remember why I got stuck.
3. Conspiracy in the Court - I am watching it now and loving it, but it reminds me of "Chuno" too much.

( Here is something to convey my big thanks for the recs: a picture of Oh Ji Ho on a beach )

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was reminded by winterspel's post that I meant to ask for some Japanese dramas recommendations for ages. Recently the dramas I watch happen to be mostly Korean. :D And even though I have a strong belief that Korean actors are THE most gorgeous bunch of guys any country ever produced, I feel I need to expand my horizons. :D And especially I feel more so since I have started watching "Hana Yori Dango" for it is too adorable for words.

SO, PLEASE recommend Japanese dramas of your choice!!! I will be thankful to you forever!!!!

Japanese Dramas I have seen, with the ratings:

1) Long Vacation 8.5/10 - My favourite Among Japanese dramas. MUSIC.
2) Kurosagi 8.5/10 - Absolutely excellent. And Yamapi.
4) Remote 7.5/10 - One of the best OTPs and highly adorable heroine
5) Good luck - 7.2/10 So much cuteness.
6) Nobuta wo Produce 7/10 - Extremely intelligent.
7) Pride - 6/10 I haven't finished it yet, but it doesn't make my heart beat faster
5) Forbidden Love. 3/10 - I felt very uneasy with the subject matter. But TAKKI!!!

Things I particular enjoy in dramas and shows:

1) Romantic story full of angst
2) Male friendship that is larger then life
3) Good ending
4) It would not hurt if it starred Yamapi, Takizawa Hideaki or Oguri Shun. And a drama with Takuya Kimura or Takeshi Kaneshiro is always a good thing. :D

HUGE thank you and virtual champagne to fabulous elspethsheir. She explained the process of header adding so wonderfully well that it was not so scary after all. And now this is official - I am LJ forever because I have a header!

This is a painting of of La Pia de'Tolomei by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a lovely lady "who was imprisoned and murdered by her husband in 1295 in a castle in Maremma" (Rossetti archive).

I have one only tiny problem - the top margin in header doesn't disappear and stays 20px (and because of it I had to add bottom margin to balance it out). I did what I could in css for .header, but it must be somewhere else or I am totally missing something because of late night.

Also syliasyliasylia made wonderful icons from paintings of John William Waterhouse and THEY ARE FANTASTIC! Here is the link

And also I just noticed that today is the first of April!