Alexandra Leaving

I am watching the episode 3 of this Korean Robin Hood story . Korean period dramas are usually fabulous, with gorgeous costumes, good stories and very very good looking Korean actors. This one is going to be particular good because not only it has the prettiest Korean actor Lee Jun Ki in the title role of a man of noble birth who has to hide after the unjust murder of his father, but it also has the cutest guy Park Pyung Ho as his half-brother, half-enemy Shi Hoo .

This show has SNOW!!!!!!! It has yearning!!! It has dimples!!!

Icons of Shi Hoo, free to share.

Preview:

.. ....

( The rest of the icons behind the cut )

PS: Park Pyung Ho' profile looks very much like profile of Jo Ji Hoon?

OMPH! I have only seen a pilot but I can safely say that "Being Human" is the best supernatural show about vampires, werewolves and all such things that I have ever seen. It doesn't go the way all the other "vampire" shows of this year go, namely into vampire romance (which has become a genre all by itself!). It is not that I don't like vampire romances, and it is not that "Being Human" doesn't have a romance story in it. But an exploration of what makes us human, and how can we control our dark side is so much more interesting. Can we live without hurting others?

We get to see an amazing trio of young British actors Guy Flanagan, Andrea Riseborough and Russell Tovey playing a vampire, a ghost and a werewolf sharing a flat together. There is a promise of the bigger ach developing, with Adrian Lester playing a charismatic leader of the London vampire community, ready to lead his comrades into a battle with humans.

Among other strong sides is the dialogue. It is witty and amusing, but without leaving you with the feeling that real people don't speak this way.

The show is gorgeous cinematographically, filmed in the traditions of classic noir movies. I couldn't resist and made some icons, free to share, please let me know if you need any text added.

Preview:
........

( The rest of the icons behind the cut )

PS: Please let me know this is going to continue and when?

Icons are free to share, please let me know if you need any text added or removed.

Preview:

........

( The rest of the icons behind the cut )

First of all - happy birthday to savepureness and maddeinin. I hope that the next year will be happy and full of good things for both of you!!!

All you have been posting incessantly about Battlestar Galactica and making me want to watch it again. I was a little apprehensive as the show and I had parted on not-happy terms, but after queenofthorns stopped posting about anything else but BSG I caved in. I am so glad I did. I completely forgot how much I love this show. I love:

- Lee! And his path that will lead him to be a president that finally leads everyone to Earth.
- And Kara! And them together! And her special destiny of finding Earth!
- I love Tigh ! And he is a cylon! What a surprise!
- I love Leoben! But I am still Lee/Kara until the end of times.
- I even love Anders! Because he is a cylon too (and how did this happen?).
- I love scruffy and aging Adama!

- But please, take away annoying Baltar.

Let me tell you about my love with icons from the episodes 4.01 and 4.02 ("He That Believeth in Me" and "Six of One") . The icons preview:

........

Icons are free to share. Please let me know if you need anything altered, text added or removed.

( Some more icons behind the cut. They mostly involve Lee, his stripy suit, his white shirts and his jumpers of various colours. )

"The Legend" (or "First King's Four Gods") is one of the best shows I have seen among Western, Asian or other period/fantasy dramas. Unforgettable. I haven't been that much in awe (and true awe, as in AMAZINGLY GOOD TV awe) since "Rome", I think. I'll try to talk about this show in a way it deserves later.. I haven't slept properly last night in a crazy icon spree. :D

But just in short, "The Legend" is one of the best TV shows I have seen because:

- AMAZING world building
- vivid and larger than life characters.
- costumes of fabulousness
- dialogue I want to quote now EVERYWHERE
- cinematography and battle scenes of greatness

Icons are free to share, please let me know if you would like any text added. I don't mind for icons being used elsewhere (not on LJ) but please don't hot-link.

Preview:

........

( Some more icons behind the cut )

I was looking for some fairytales for my daughter. One of my forever favourite fairytales is "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen; it is my special winter holidays story. We used to watch it as children, year after year and never get tired of it. I was searching for an English translation of this story and I found one Here, with breathtaking and thoughtful illustrations by Vladislav Yerko, a famous Ukranian illustrator.

Vladislav Yerko was born in Kiev in 1962. He graduated from Kiev's Polygraphic University. He is famous for his outwordly beautiful illustrations to fairytale books but he is known to be a quiet man who avoids media attention. Vladislav received the main "Book of the year 2000" award for his illustrations to "The Snow Queen".

My favourite illustration from "The Snow Queen" is below. It captures the essence of the character of The Snow Queen for me, her beauty, cold and emptiness.



( More illustrations behind the cut. They break my layout but they are so gorgeous that this doesn't matter..  )

I have made some icons, preview:

.. .. .. ..

They are free to share but please credit the artist!

( The rest of the icons )

( Credits: )

It was GREAT!

( I am loving it, with spoilers )

Icons, Preview:

.. .. ..

Icons are free to share, please let me know if you would like any text added!

( The rest of the icons )

Oh, it is wonderful. It is absolutely mine, very personal film.. My grandfathers (both) died in the WW2, not died actually but are "missing presumed dead" and my paternal grandmother starved to death in the occupied territories whist waiting for my grandfather to return. As I am getting older I find myself thinking more and more about their destiny, trying to imagine how it was.. Did they burn in a tank (and this is most likely as both of them were in tank troops). Or did they make their way to Nazi camps? Nobody will ever find out where they are..
My grandfather-in-law (who passed away some years ago) was there on the beaches of Dunkirk.. He was always telling the stories how he found his own brother whom he hadn't seen for 8 years there..

Oh, I am so sorry – I have gone reminiscing instead of writing any sense. :D The film is beautiful, exquisitely filmed with the interesting splits in the narrative and changes of POV. The musical score is outwardly, so tense and stirring and hauntingly romantic. Actors are fabulous, especially James McAvoy. :D I need to talk more about the storyline but may be in a separate , spoilery post. I'll just say that I can't stop thinking about it, I think I even dreamt of it..

But as unforgettable as romantic storyline was the most memorable impression from the film for me is the sight of the beaches of Dunkirk, thousands of British troops lost and waiting ..

I have made some "Atonement" icons, free to share

Preview:

.. .. ..

( the rest of the icons )

Screencaps credit : filmweb

Resources: my userinfo

Vilhelm Hammershoi (15.05.1864 – 13.02.1916) was born in Copenhagen, Denmark.

His art sometimes is called "dispassionate" and "purist" but this is strangely at odds with my own impression from it. I would have called his art to be "moody" and "atmospheric" but at the same time it is full of light. It gives me a feeling of disquiet. I often find myself staring at his works as if I stare long enough I find a secret of each painting. Hammershoi almost always painted his models from behind as if to hide the expressions on their faces and he often painted shadows. His most famous model was his wife Ida and though I seem numerous paintings of her I still feel that I don't really know how her face looks like. Was she pretty? Melancholic? It seems that she was..

Few of my favourite paintings of Vilhelm Hammershoi:

A Lady reading in an interior:



( The rest of the paintings behind the cut )

I made some icons from his paintings. They are free to share. Preview:

.. .. .. ..


( The rest of the icons plus two of the icons from Monet paintings )

"We don't need to dream no more" Stringer Bell

I have finished watching the third season of "The Wire" this weekend. To tell the truth, I struggled a little with the season 3. It didn't "grab" me from the beginning as season 1 and particular season 2 did. But as I continued to watch so much of the whole picture and whole paradigm of "The Wire" started to develop beautifully in this season that at the end I fell completely in love with it.

( More about season 3. Spoilers for all season. )

( My favourite characters in a gallery of sceencaps. Spoilers )

I made some icons too (I never can resist) and they are free to share. Please let me know if you need any customisation, any text added or taken away

Preview:

........


( The rest of the icons )