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alexandralYes, the picture below is totally OTT and Peter Ho wears FEATHERS, still, I love it:
The wedding chapter of the novel is out!! YAY! I am reading it and I am feeling very angry with Luo Xi. I was fearing this moment all along, and may be my opinion about his character have always been affected because I knew this is going to happen. But in reality, I am even angrier than I thought I would be:
Xia Mo is about to marry Ou Chen. On the way to the ceremony, Luo Xi meets her and in no ambiguous terms tells her to marry him, Luo Xi or he will commit suicide. And when she refuses, he drives home and commits suicide THERE AND THEN without thinking how this can affect her (or any other people), just thinking how much he is in "pain".
Can a person get more selfish than that? Whatever is happening in Xia Mo's life, you can not control it, Luo Xi. And the fact that you are doing the lowest (and weakest) possible thing available to a human makes you the weakest possible man. And honestly, I don't feel your pain. You have two arms, two legs, healthy body, stacks of money, fame, etc. Why should I feel sorry for you?
The wedding chapter of the novel is out!! YAY! I am reading it and I am feeling very angry with Luo Xi. I was fearing this moment all along, and may be my opinion about his character have always been affected because I knew this is going to happen. But in reality, I am even angrier than I thought I would be:
Xia Mo is about to marry Ou Chen. On the way to the ceremony, Luo Xi meets her and in no ambiguous terms tells her to marry him, Luo Xi or he will commit suicide. And when she refuses, he drives home and commits suicide THERE AND THEN without thinking how this can affect her (or any other people), just thinking how much he is in "pain".
Can a person get more selfish than that? Whatever is happening in Xia Mo's life, you can not control it, Luo Xi. And the fact that you are doing the lowest (and weakest) possible thing available to a human makes you the weakest possible man. And honestly, I don't feel your pain. You have two arms, two legs, healthy body, stacks of money, fame, etc. Why should I feel sorry for you?
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Date: 2010-06-30 06:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-30 09:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-01 06:09 pm (UTC)I think its the blackmail part that really bothers me, it just seems like a low blow to someone.
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Date: 2010-07-01 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-30 07:11 pm (UTC)Oh Luo Xi no!
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Date: 2010-06-30 09:04 pm (UTC)I agree with dangermousie - LX is really mentally ill!
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Date: 2010-06-30 07:39 pm (UTC)Actually, it made me feel much sorrier for Luo Xi because it shows just how damaged he is - I mean, he is ill, mentally, IMO, and needs treatment. But I know you have a different take on suicide.
In any event, you'll be glad to know they removed the suicide from the drama - Luo Xi does not have a suicide attempt in it. Which makes me very happy because it shows that he is much less damaged that in the book and so it's OK if he doesn't get Xiamo because he is capable of functioning and eventually finding his own happiness.
Btw, since I know you view suicide as a huge weakness/bad thing, what do you think of Ou Chen's attempt - back with the car crash? I mean, neither that not LX's attempt bother me but what's your take.
Oh, you'll also be amused to know that apparently both Xiamo's mom and Ou Chen's mom killed themselves for the same guy (Ou Chen/Xiao Cheng's father). That would be the most awkward wedding reception ever - can you imagine :P (So clearly suicide for love seems some sort of a theme in this - though I view the Moms as much more selfish than OC or book!LX because neither of these guys would be leaving behind small dependent children).
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Date: 2010-06-30 09:11 pm (UTC)Ou Chen made his attempt to look like an accident and he keeps totally silent about this to anyone - there are no effects on other people, so it is fine IMHO.
I am glad they removed it from the drama - as you say, Luo Xi would be a bit more "normal".
HAHAHAHHAHA! This novel is the gift that keeps giving, and you know, the ladies of the likes of Stephanie Meyer should really learn some lessons from the Asian novelists. The thing is so OTT but somehow the whole thing works!!! or take, for example "Vampire Knight" - incest everywhere, vampires, etc. and it is so good!
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Date: 2010-06-30 10:50 pm (UTC)But there are no effects only because he didn't die - let's say he was successful in his truck-raming. I bet Xiamo is no dummy and she'd realize it was suicide. He WAS doing it so she'd forgive him (which is so messed-up I have no words), after all.
I don't have a problem with his actions (or even LX's) but I do think they all need to see a shrink.
Re: LX's suicide as a threat - well, it's similar to OC again. LX is blackmailing Xiamo using his life, and OC is using the life of her brother. Both the guys have issues the size of the Sahara and if this was real life, I'd tell Xiamo to get far away from either of them :)
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Date: 2010-07-01 08:46 am (UTC)I beg to differ!
1) The way he did it would have been just ruled out as an accident – if she isn’t suspecting anything now , there is no chance she would have suspected anything in the case of his death. The way it all played – if he was dead, she wouldn’t have even known what happened at all (remember, she didn’t even know he had an accident until he told her! I think she must have been in prison, so she didn’t read the papers or something?).
2) Yes, another big difference with LX is that she DID tell OC to die, and she meant it. So in his situation, I wouldn’t even mind him telling her everything (although I think him a bigger man because he didn’t) . She wanted him dead. She didn’t want LX dead. This is a BIG difference. She is responsible for what OC did, but she can’t be made responsible for what LX did. BIG difference.
Re: LX's suicide as a threat - well, it's similar to OC again. LX is blackmailing Xiamo using his life, and OC is using the life of her brother. Both the guys have issues the size of the Sahara and if this was real life, I'd tell Xiamo to get far away from either of them :)
I adree that both iguys have issues, but for some reason LX’s issues annoy me and OC’s issues make me go “poor woobie”!!!! I will try to articulate why:
On the OC side:
Re: marriage. I thought long and hard why the marriage arrangement doesn’t bother me at all and I have understood why: I don’t think a marriage is a big deal. My friend married a man so that she could live in the UK. Whilst this is not something I would have done, who am to judge her. I knew people from Africa who had families at home and who married in the UK , divorced and brought their families across. Who am I to judge again?
At the same time I view giving kidney to a guy whom you don’t even know as a big deal. XM is not even his gf at this point, so he has no connection with the dying boy whatsoever.You can divorce easily at our day and age, you will never get your kidney back. It would have been different in a Victorian novel, but not nowdays.
So , an arrangement of “kidney for a marriage” seems to me as huge bargain on XM ‘s side.
On the LX side:
If LX was a semi-unselfish bf, he would have understood the situation and they would have worked it out together with Xm and laughed in the face of OC who has nothing but empty marriage paper. But LX is not, he is a self-centered so-and-so who doesn’t even notice that XM’s brother is ill and who goes on kissing other ladies when his gf is in a hospital looking after her sick brother (and this was before she agreed to OC’s marriage proposal, in fact this was the thing that pushed her towards agreeing) . She knows that if she tells LX about the marriage arrangement he would spoil it all, and she is right. There is no way he can think of the brother’s health, he just thinks about himself.
LX’s kissing other girl is another big thing for me – I see my bf kissing other ladies- this will be the end of it.
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Date: 2010-07-01 12:37 pm (UTC)Re: suicide - well, the whole point of the exercise was for OC to get Xiamo's forgiveness so he clearly wanted her to know. But I agree with your points, she probably wouldn't have - I guess he was just not thinking clearly.
Re: marriage. I agree that your 'scam' scenario is plausible and may even be the norm in modern societies (that's the first thing I've thought of, too, when he suggested it - 'OC, you refused a one-night stand, but what you asked for is sort of a longer version of that with the fact that she will get half your ginormous fortune on top? OK.' BUT, and that is a big but, for some weird reason nobody in that fictional world views it this way - the way Xiamo acts IS as if she is in Medieval Florence and will always be stuck with OC until they die of old age.
She just may not be thinking things through but I cannot help but be affected by her mental state - she is miserable, close to collapse and I cannot forgive OC causing this state in her, and dragging her towards the altar anyway when he sees what it's doing to the woman he's supposed to love above all else. Clearly, he doesn't love her above his own wishes (Neither does LX blah blah but once again, he doesn't get the girl so this is of less interest to me - and he does snap out of it eventually, unfortunately for him, too late).
Yes, kidney donation is a big deal, but people do it all the time - for family members, friends, or even random people (I remember reading a story in the local paper about a coffee shop owner who needed one and one of random townpeople donated). I wouldn't consider OC a coward for not doing it at all in the first place (though XC is no strnager but a sweet kid he's known for a long time), but to do what he did is despicable, IMO. Not to mention an 'admirable' drama hero would probably donate without asking for anything in the first place :P but I don't even require that, just for him not to be such a jerk - clearly this was part of his plan, why else did he get tested other than hoping he'd match and then he can force Xiamo to him (the book even says this was his long-ago plan).
A random point about the marriage - I have to say even if LX was laid-back and understanding and not an utter mess, this sort of arrangement with OC would probably put the nails in the coffin of their relationship - they both may have still tried hard at it after the divorce but that's a heck of a thing to get through - your gf becoming someone else's temporarily - I know if genders were reversed and I was in the situation, it would drive me mad. Logically I could understand it but emotionally I'd go mad.
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Date: 2010-07-01 01:12 pm (UTC)I get this, but I think we will see sufficient amounts of scenes that signify OC’s reformation. If we don’t, I might end up not liking the drama as much. You see, this is a big thing of mine, when a hero starts horribly but gets reformed at the end. I like this more than when the guy is 100% good. Remember DMS in “Meteor Garden”? He almost raped Shankai! And at the end we totally buy his reformation. So at the moment, I see how OVis nasty to her and XM is nasty to him (she told him to die!) and I am all full of glee and expectation of how he is going to reform. Again- if he doesn’t, I would not like this. But if he does – I am easy to forgive.
I would have felt sorry for LX if he didn’t feel so much sorry for himself. I despise people like this, family issues or not.
BUT, and that is a big but, for some weird reason nobody in that fictional world views it this way - the way Xiamo acts IS as if she is in Medieval Florence and will always be stuck with OC until they die of old age.
This is a good point. But I think this is because they all are nuts. :D
She just may not be thinking things through but I cannot help but be affected by her mental state - she is miserable, close to collapse
She is not miserable because of OC, she is miserable because her brother is ill + LX left her (he left her, remember! AND KISSED OTHER LADIES just before that)
clearly this was part of his plan, why else did he get tested other than hoping he'd match and then he can force Xiamo to him (the book even says this was his long-ago plan).
I was sure this was the part of his plan all along, but still , the emphasis is different. He didn’t initiate anything and Xia Mo could have found someone else! In fact, she seems to have means at the moment – I can not believe there are no other matches (not in the whole world?) . Instead of trying to persuade OC and losing time, why doesn’t she look far and wide?
And LX annoys me even more here – instead of throwing tantrums, why didn’t he (presumably he is rich) didn’t help her to look for a kidney match in Europe or USA or something?
What goes for OC IMHO, is that just before she agreed he was ready to do it for free (when he saw her being miserable) but then she agreed and he couldn’t bring himself to say “no”.
I know if genders were reversed and I was in the situation, it would drive me mad. Logically I could understand it but emotionally I'd go mad.
But I know people who did this kind of thing and gone through unscathed. You have to have no feelings for the marriage partner, though, otherwise (like in SD) everything mixes up.
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Date: 2010-07-01 02:21 pm (UTC)Instead of trying to persuade OC and losing time, why doesn’t she look far and wide?
Heh, otherwise we wouldn't have a story! Real world rules do not apply :) (Because yes, she is a highly popular star, just give a sob story interview to a reporter!)
But I know people who did this kind of thing and gone through unscathed.
See, for me, if my husband ended up shacking up with another woman, for even best of reasons - ugh, I get ill just thinking about it.
Btw, I am sure you know about asianfanatics.net forums, but if not, its SD forums have a lot of yummy spoiler clips.
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Date: 2010-07-01 03:34 pm (UTC)I know you will. :D But if they won't show any major change in OC - I won't care for the drama as much as I do now in expectation that the changes would happen.
The changes would be completely unrealistic too - in reality a person like OC or DMS will end up as wife-abusers. but I don't want reality! I want to see that single chance for them!
See, for me, if my husband ended up shacking up with another woman, for even best of reasons - ugh, I get ill just thinking about it.
me too, I can think of some crazy reasons, but this doesn't ever work for me personally. but I see people doing it - who am I to judge? their life in Africa is terrible.
Btw, I am sure you know about asianfanatics.net forums, but if not, its SD forums have a lot of yummy spoiler clips
EEEEE! Than you!
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Date: 2010-07-01 08:57 pm (UTC)I am faced with the fact, however, that while I can recognize OC can make Xiamo happy and has changed into a good guy, nothing is going to switch me from LX/Xiamo ship. It's irrational but I can't help it. I think it's in large part because I went into this such a huge Huang Xiaoming fangirl (if I made a Top 10 fave drama actors list, he'd be on it).
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Date: 2010-07-01 09:03 pm (UTC)I think it's in large part because I went into this such a huge Huang Xiaoming fangirl (if I made a Top 10 fave drama actors list, he'd be on it).
I totally get this. Some of the actors have a great pull for me too. In fact, SD only works so well for me because I have never truly liked the way LX looks (yes, I am so shallow). i am tempted to check Huang Xiaoming's other dramas - they can't make him smile that way in every drama, can they?
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Date: 2010-07-01 09:23 pm (UTC)Plus, I think the plot is your thing - awfully melodramatic and awesome.
He is someone who comes to Shanghai of 1930s and almost by accident rescues the big mob boss' daughter (I mean, he rescues her on purpose but that he was in a position to do so is accidental).
He becomes boss' right hand man eventually and he and daughter fall in love but for some reason (no idea, I am not that far into it yet, I just know it happens), Mob Boss wants her to marry someone else and they try to avoid it but she eventually does it to save HXM's life and he leaves and then a bunch of stuff happens but ultimately he returns for vengeance against mob boss who I think got his family killed though of course he still loves the daughter and it's basically angst angst angst.
Re: OC. Yes, I have no problem with this. Also, I think he untied the green ribbon from her wrist before he went in for surgery. Awwww again. I do think OC has changed into a lovely person despite it all, just fangirling HXM won't let me switch :)
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Date: 2010-07-02 06:58 am (UTC)Shanghai Bund: everyone dies, right?
re: green ribbon like unconscious remembering his mother: I liked this. I thought it was a little strange for a man to be having that green ribbon ALL THE TIME, but as a momento/talisman it makes perfect sense.
There is so much goodness to look forward in SD!
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Date: 2010-07-02 11:54 am (UTC)Re: ribbon. I really liked the mother connection because before it was just weird - I mean, yes, he still unconsciously loves her after his memory loss etc etc but still - now that it's both a connection to the girl he loves and his mother, it somehow makes more sense to me. It's also terribly sad - he basically made a ribbon for Xiamo modeled on his one memory of the only person who, it looks like, ever loved him. OK, the more I think about it, the more woobie poor OC becomes 0 I even feel myself switching ships - the guy did have a dog's life, even if he was rich.
(I have to say when I was watching that glashback to his mother, I kept thinking "idiots, she may be having postpartum depression, why don't you get her treated? Argh!" and then I thought of Asia's attitude to depression in general so...)
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Date: 2010-07-02 07:01 pm (UTC)** looks back at pretty pictures ** Oh, who cares! I am dl-ing this now (but any detailed spoilers for the ending will be much appreciated). I might watch "Young warriors" on a smaller screen as well.
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Date: 2010-07-02 08:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 02:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 09:05 pm (UTC)