Doc Martin Season 3 - End, Adı:Aylin - End, Chilling Romance

Doc Martin Season 3 was not as good as seasons 1 & 2 so I have found myself eager for a change and watched Chilling Romance instead. Not a good decision since while I like Son Ye Jin (pretty and talented) and love Lee Min Ki (how can I not love Geum Soon's younger brother in law?) and the film was a love story, it simply felt not enough. The horror was not that scary and the comedy was not that comic - the only funny joke was repeated again at a later scene- and the editing was lousy. The real problem though was the lack of chemistry between the leads. They are both good actors and they both look good but it just didn't work for me. I'm eager to watch another horror rom com though, I think this genre may work if done right.

After finishing A Kiss at Midnight which turned out to be generic and nothing special (romantic bits were not that good either) but easily readable, I have started Adı:Aylin written by Ayşe Kulin. Now this one was a huge bestseller years ago. Everyone I know had read it then. I just bought it because it came half price and I like Ms.Kulin's Gece Sesleri. I was not ready for this book's power. The titular character is a real life relative of Ms.Kulin's and she had a very interesting life. Of course the writer kept piling compliment upon compliment to her but didn't hide some of the not so good things that she has done. All in all I was so engrossed with it on my return journey from Istanbul (where I my friend Teresa has brought me Chilling Romance and four other hopefully better films) that I actually got into the wrong Metrobus and lost over an hour travel time (which I spent by reading the book of course). Now that it is finished I'm thinking of starting Miyuki Miyabe's The Sleeping Dragon. I'm hopeful for this one too since I like all her other books.

Doc Martin Season 2 - End

I really like Doc Martin and season two was excellent all around.

House Rules - End, True Blood Season 4- End, Hunger Games, A Kiss At Midnight

Hunger Games The book is much much better. This film kind of sucked actually.

True Blood Now this is just the opposite. I have read the first Stackhouse novel years ago and it just didn't appeal to me at all. But the show is amazingly entertaining. Not to mention feast for the sore eyes with all those great looking men (well if I have to decide now, I'd go for Eric - but I usually can't decide between Eric and Bill). Anyway can't wait for Season 5!

House Rules I like the way Judith Picoult writes getting her point across without being too much of an Elizabeth Gilbert, E.L James or Stephanie Meyers etc. This is the second book of hers I read and liked it well enough.

Now to cleanse my palate I have started to read one of those romance novels  and this one is called A Kiss At Midnight written by Eloisa James. It is a retelling of Cinderella story and it is enjoyable so far (but there are not any romantic scenes yet to my utter dissapointment)

Dance with Dragons - End, House Rules,Doc Martin Season 2- Eps 5, True Blood Season 4 Eps 2

Well, end of Ramadan and then Bayram celebrations and my reluctance to go on line at home contributed to the lack of updates. Now let's see if I can come up with a decent round up...


Dance with Dragons ended in a cliff hanger and I wouldn't mind if it is anyone else but Jon??? What happened? Is he alive? I can't wait to read the next book.

So in order to reduce the effect of the withdrawal syndromes, I decided to start a completely different book, in this case Judith Picoult's House Rules. And I like it even more than I thought I would. This lady is a decent writer.

Meanwhile a manager at work thought I'd like British Series Doc Martin and to no one's suprise I love it. It is almost like a Maeve Binchy book. A bit like a Dr.House prototype but much better since there is not anything obvious the way American shows mostly are. Now that is not necessarily a bad thing but in this case being low key works a lot better. Anyway I took a break from it since:

Another colleague at work purchased Season 4 of True Blood and it is one of my favorite series. Not only because of the hotties (and there are two great looking actors) but also I like the humour and its point of view. In this case I think this show is much much better than the books it was inspired from. Now being obvious works wonders in this story :)

A Dance With Dragons - Book 2

Last night I have finished the Book 1 and I guess I have fallen asleep reading Book 2 and not because the book is sleep inducing no, a person like me who loves sleeping can only hold out for long.

Now we have chapters on everyone but I'm not sure this was a good idea. I'd rather continue reading more about the characters I have been following from the beginning (unless they are dead that is). But still the prose is gliding and the story is compelling.

I have taken to walk at the thread mill during my lunch break since I'm fasting and I think I'll keep on doing that even when Ramadan is over God willing. Not just because of the exercise but also because I feel happy when walking and reading a book and I'd rather do that than sit and gossip with co workers. Especially when the book as good as A Dance With Dragons.

I had to leave and return to work right when Tyrion was put to auction in a slave market. What a cliffhanger!!

A Dance With Dragons

The book completely pulled me into its world and I feel it hard to stop reading as I have to do - since I need to get up to eat something before sunrise so I need to sleep before 01:00 a:m-.

I started to like Tyrion again, it is not hard to since he is I think inherently good despite his upbringing. I also wish that Ramsey would meet a dreaful end, hopefully at Winterfell where his wedding to fake Arya will be. Even though Theon is unpleasant and not a character I ever liked I feel so bad everytime his chapters come. The guy suffered so much so much. I never thought I'd say this but poor Theon.

Jon keeps on being the great guy he is. I hope he will not be swayed by Mellisandre - and her killing Bones instead of Mance - wow! I couldn't understand whether Stannis knows about it or not but he has to I guess.

Daenrys is going through tough times but I like it that she is not cruel. And I hope that the dragons will start to get more active soon.

Wild Romance - End, 11/22/1963 - End

Wild Romance ended predictably. There were no suprises but I enjoyed it regardless. And not just because of Lee Dong Wuk and his hotness but there was an eaernest mood to the series which appealed to me. I also liked the chemistry of the lead couple. The editing was sloppy and affected the storyflow and the show was not visually oriented. I liked it a lot but will hesitate to recommend it to anyone else.

I have also finished listening to 11/22/1963 and it ended in a way that appealed to me. Bittersweet and not totally stupid. All in all this novel was very good but I still rather read a novel than listen to it.

I'm now totally into Dance with the Dragons and I'm loving it.

Wild Romance Episode 13

Last night Wild Romance kept me interested throughout despite the obvious cuts and editing flaws.

Well the cleaning lady is the stalker apparently and looks like her aim is to make Mu Yeol dependant on him. Meanwhile Mu Yeol finally wised up to the fact that he loves Eun Jae. I really like how those two interact and their scenes are always the best.

Mu Yeol to his credit, told Jang Hee that he doesn't want to come back together with her. But he -rightly I think- thinks that it is not in good taste to declare his love for Eun Jae right after he dumped Jang Hee. Well meanwhile stupid cleaning lady thinks that Jang Hee is her competition (silly woman is in love with Mu Yeol) and manipulated Sister in Law to damage her. Sister in Law is one of the side stories, she has given up on being a famous painter to get married and have a family with Mu Yeol's Hyung (Oh Man Sok) and she has unresolved issues with her gallery owner mother due to that. Cleaning Lady fed her jelaousies and insecurities (Jang Hee is a very talented painter) and not only she had a miscarriage but we also see her going out one night to dump the trash -which carries one of those photos Cleaning Lady sends to the people she manipulates- we find that all of Jang Hee's paintings which were going to be shown in Sis in Law's Mom's gallery are damaged the next morning. We do not know whether Sis in Law is the culprit. It is a bit obvious no? (but apparently the show doesn't shy away from obvious when it came to whodunnit sections).

Meanwhile bar boy finally realised that it was the Cleaning Lady who manipulated him and since bar boy is a nasty creature, I see black mail attempts in the future.

Wild Romance Eps.11, Nana - End, Dance of the Dragons

Wild Romance continues to entertain me despite not being a good drama (editing problems mostly, a lot of the storylines are just left there) Lee Dong Wook is really good looking and I love to watch him.

Now Funny Hair confessed to Wookie but later on turned into a bet or something because Wookie didn't reply him and Jang Hui came right at that time.  Dong A and Manager Gim are nicely paired and while dating they also try to find the dangerous stalker.

In episode 11 Funny Hair bodyguards Jang Hui because Wookie insisted (and if she didn't accept, he would not join the training hence getting yet another penalty). Wookie and Funny Hair get along spledidly and Funny manages to get Jang Hui outside her depression (her cat is killed by the stalker). And while Wookie is at home, the housemaid accidentally burns herself and Wookie takes care of her and takes her home. There we understand that housemaid is actually in love with Wookie in a rather obssesive way but Wookie is clueless as usual and when Jang Hui and Funny Hair are attacked by fat high school kids Funny Hair fights them while Jang Hui gets the police. Funny Hair took quite a beating since there were a lot of those kids but when Wookie rushed of from housemaid's house (saying "Jang Hui" on the phone) he only sees Jang Hui's superficial wound and started to yell at poor Funny Hair who got up and limped her way out of the coffee shop they have met. She is trying so hard not to cry and then Wookie takes her in his arms and puts her in the car (while Jang Hui looks on suddenly realising that Wookie may have feelings for Funny Hair although so far he is not aware that he is falling for Funny Hair, only thinks of her as someone he can trust and enjoys to be with as friends). And then we see the housemaid entering a room covered with photos of Wookie. OMO! Is she the stalker? To be honest I don't think so, mainly because they made it so obvious. It can't be can it? Nah, it can't be that obvious.

Nana finally finished and I even got used to the printing mistakes and started to like it better towards the end. The irony is that I don't think we'll even discuss it with the book club.

I have started Dance of the Dragons and fell right back into that world as if I have never left. This book is extra good because it is focused on my favorite character Jon Snow and my second fave Tyrion Lannister. There is also Daenerys who is the best among the females.

Be Strong Geum Soon - End, Game of Thrones (TV Series), Water for Elephants, Footloose, Wild Romance Episode 7

Be Strong Geum Soon ended with glory as far as I'm concerned. The last 6 episodes were tear fests and in the best possible way too. I loved all 163 episodes of this and am not scared of the daily dramas now. This show truly satisfied me. And it ended perfectly.

After that I decided to make a complete change and watch Game of Thrones. I love the book(s) and the series are not bad at all. The actors, the costumes, the sets, the music, well the whole production is near perfect. The thing is that the books are long and complicated so it is better to read them and then watch the series.

After that my Korean drama lust returned and I started Wild Romance. The main reason for me to want to watch this is that the guy is really good looking (Lee Dong Wook) and the girl has funny hair. Yeah silly reasons I know but there you go. I'm into these series but not as invested as Geum Soon.
The setting is baseball. A Seagulls fan is forced to be a bodyguard to a Dreamers star player. Well I thought the team angle would be more since I think I can understand it (replace baseball with football and basically you have my country there). Rival teams can cause big problems in relationships. But the issues are different.
The funny haired girl basically fell in love with the hottie in a few episodes - well I don't blame her. He is of the tough exterior softie interior type and looks great. But there actually is someone out there who is after hurting him and they need to find that person. Also he has a past love and she just came back at the end of episode 7.
Now Hottie thinks of Funny Hair as kind of a buddy. He even spooned her out of affection. But Funny Hair is head over heels (I don't blame her, the man is great to look at) and the arrival of past love -and what an entrance jumping on to the guy and declaring that you missed him. I don't like this girl. I'm team Funny Hair all the way.

I also watched Water for Elephants and it is such an unnecessary film. I never understand why they made it. The book must have been better but the film turned me off it. And this is coming from a viewer who loves Reese Witherspoon.

On the other hand the reviewing of Footloose (original) was amazingly entertaining. And not just the nostalgia factor nor it was so bad it is good. I genuinely liked it. Especially the part where he goes with the democratic way to get what he wants. Smart hero.