Elantris

Elantris was chosen by me based on the length. I wanted value for my money and I don't mind fantasy especially when it ends in one book. This one has very good reviews and I had already purchased one series on Kindle by this writer. In the end I was very happy with this good natured novel.

Elantris is a city that used to be filled with superior humans graced with powers due to an energy force coming into them. It used to be a place where people are healed, there is food for everyone, protection against enemies (fascist country that wants to invade everywhere, the tool they use is religion).

As we start the book some fault in the energy and people who are chosen by this energy turn into some sort of living dead with many physical and mental obstacles to their well being. Elantris is in ruins and a place of exile.

We have three main characters a prince who is taken by a curse and exiled to Elantris, a princess who was going to marry the said prince but found that he is dead (a trick by the king in order to hide the princes' true condition) and a priest sent to the country to convert the people into the religion promoted by the fascist country (who will invade and massacre them if they do not convert).

The events properly escalate and with the reader Jack Garret's very good performance this ended up a happy purchase.  

Frontier(s)

Frontier(s) was not scary when I saw it. It was nicely filmed and at least it was not a found footage horror. I like clean cinematography and this film has it.

The story is interesting too. Our protagonists rob a place taking advantage of riots caused by election in France (it looks like a right wing party is going to be in charge). One of them got fatally wounded however and they take two cars, one party with two dudes and the other two ex lovers. The dudes find a B&B type of place at the border (frontier). There are two hot women at the reception one agressive the other a bit passive and sulky. And one bulky man cheering them on to have sex in the room. Of course we know that it is a bad decision to even stay here but the men are men and at least one of them goes into it willingly (the other is reluctant but eventually succumbs).

The ex lovers are headed to the same place. She is pregnant and SPOILER, she is the final girl. They too have been attacked by these crazies (here we are introduced to two more, a heavily pregnant girl and a large over weight man who seems very crazy but turned out to be a guy with at least some small mercy in him (he is still a killer but at least he doesn't seem to enjoy torture).

Well the owners of the establishment are a bunch of Nazis ruled by the family patriarch who is insane and wants his precious son to breed with our final girl. But when they realise that our girl is already pregnant they are overjoyed. She will give birth and they will raise the child in their sick ways and she can continue to breed.

Anyway in the end she escapes this hell hole killing everyone but the heavily pregnant chick and her freaky children (whom we do not really get to see clearly, only glimpses here and there)

All in all I was in the mood for horror and it satisfied the mood. To my surprise I actually had a nightmare the night after and got scared. Apparently fascism is truly scary. 

The Cape and Other Stories From The Japanese Ghetto

The Cape and Other Stories From The Japanese Ghetto is a novel I picked up either from San Francisco or Tokyo (I genuinely don't remember) and for some reason left on the 'to be read' shelf - this is unusual because I have a fondness for Japanese literature in English. Anyway I gave it a try because it fit my purse as a back up book.

And it turned out to be a great read. As usual I'm sucked in. The prose in this one is interesting because it sometimes went in a stream of consciousness type but not always and the chronology is not always linear. I loved it. Also the characters are labourers and their actions are rough and dramatic especially in the last story, Red Hair. 

After Midnight

After Midnight and Richard Laymon does not dissapoint. This is not as good as some of his other novels but still way better than lots of stuff out there. Mr. Laymon (RIP) knew how to tell a story. 

Great Teacher Onizuka (1998)

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Great Teacher Onizuka was a drama I have always wanted to watch. All my online friends loved it and constantly talked about it at the time. Well I have finally given in and started watching dramas on youtube. The ones for which there are not dvds that is. On line viewing is not something I could ignore any longer.

This is one of those lovely Japanese dramas which makes you laugh, cry and generally feel good about being a human.
I also happen to love Nanako Matsushima who is the female lead. And she was great in this one.

The story is how an ex gang member karate black belt guy who barely passed his teaching exams becomes a homeroom teacher to a troubled class of psycos and turn them into human beings while battling with embittered/ambitious co workers, stupid parents etc. Each of the twelve episodes was a gem. I love how full of love and hope and trust Onizuka sensei (or Onichi as called by his students) has and how forgiving he is. It is not possible not to fall in love with him and I did.

This is as good as it gets and it deserves all the love.



Great Teacher Onizuka youtube link

Brain

Brain was a purchase I only made because I kind of like medical dramas and Shin Ha Kyun (I don't think he is hot but he is a great actor). And read some good things about it here and there.

Well it turned out to be a blast of a viewing for a few reasons.

The first surprise was its makjang content. It was a surprise mainly because I automatically associate Shin Ha Kyun with quality projects. This probably is the only makjang I have watched him in.

The second good thing was that the cast of very good actors mega acting either on purpose or following directors' instructions. It turned out to be very entertaining to watch good actors giving their all into bulging eyes and exaggerated gestures and mimics.

The third thing to me was feeling that the drama is self aware and doesn't really take itself so seriously. This lent a great note to the whole thing and I ended up crying and laughing and generally having a great time.

Well this is by no means a good drama (for that you need to watch Misaeng or if you want a good medical drama then White Tower is for you) but very entertaining if you enter its wavelength as I did.

A few things of note

Jo Dong Hyuk (the secondary male) looks as if he has had lots of plastic surgery. It was kind of distracting (and not in a good way)

The female lead character was doing so well, especially after she was dumped and just as she was reaching for soju and baekju she realised that the guy is just not worth it and she should study and better herself instead of getting drunk and wallowing in self pity.

SPOILERS

However true to makjang, she in the end chose his career over hers and decided to follow him (as the brain scan that showed she was in love, which she left on the desk of our male lead, actually putting a stone over it so it wouldn't fly away, which it flew away anyway from the office window travelling all the buildings and streets to lend at her feet while waiting for the bus -yeah it is that kind of drama). 

The Velvet Promise

The Velvet Promise brought new things. The setting was middle ages, the hero first slaps and then rapes the heroine (but is a good and decent guy - ha ha), there a various types of villains the chief one being a female who is obsessed with the hero, the book is one misunderstanding another and despite the fact that I was not bored, I'll admit to smirking at various places. The writer loves to describe the clothing attire of the individuals and gave happy endings to everyone but the main villain (who went crazy and then burned her pretty face with hot oil -that she prepared to destroy our heroine's pretty face).

This one was not my thing.

The Lazarus Effect

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The Lazarus Effect is not particularly scary or intense or gripping. Actors did a fine job but it just ends up mediocre. A group of scientists invent a serum that brings a dead dog to life. And inevitably they try it on a human being with disastrous consequences.

Not really worth your time. I actually fell asleep at some point and had to rewind. 

Some Like It Hot

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Some Like It Hot is one of those golden oldies that never gets old. Although I'm not really a fan of Tony Curtis I do like Jack Lemmon and love Marylin Monroe (who is excellent in this one as usual).

Two orchestra musicians had to dress up as women and travel by train to Miami in order to get away from a gangster they witnessed killing people. On the train they meet lovely singer Sugar Cane who is kind hearted and very beautiful.

All in all it is entertaining still. 

The Deep End

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The Deep End is a weird film. I remember getting it when I was watching pirated copies (without being aware that they were illegal - such naiveté!!!) and falling asleep without ever getting to half way. This time I struggled through and despite the fact that I didn't like it very much, my mother loved it. I suppose I'd like the book it was adapted from better. 

Tilda Swinton is a mother with three children (one of them a high school senior) living with her father in law. Her husband is in the navy and she is often alone with the kids. Her eldest child is waiting for a scholarship from Wesleyan. She finds out that her son is a homosexual and is having an affair with a nasty older club owner. Yada yada yada and the club owner ends up dead and she disposes of the body. However she is now blackmailed by people who have a video of his son having sex with the nasty clud owner. Things get worse since even a kind hearted collector will bring trouble. 

The Cobbler

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The Cobbler you know what I love Adam Sandler but this film is not good. It is simply really really bad. Just stay away.

Mission Impossible

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Mission Impossible was very good in this second viewing. I didn't remember liking it that much the first time (despite loving De Palma). I gues John Voight annoyed me. Now that was lousy casting. Otherwise the film is fine. 

Love & Other Drugs

Love & Other Drugs yes I watched it again. Still suffering from Misaeng withdrawal and this was a perfect antidote. I have cried again and this second viewing was even better than the first one. 

Misaeng

Misaeng

I only purchased this one because it had really high ratings and that it was there and not expensive. I have read the recaps of the first episode but was not really captivated. Then I decided to give it a go and thank God for that since this is now among my all time faves. It shows what good writing, good acting and good directing can make any mundane story into one that is worth telling and worth watching.

I have finished it last night and still under the spell. This is is an office drama, telling us about the employees focusing on the time they spent at work. I now realise that one main character is missing from the dvd cover.

Our lead duo is

Jang Gu Rae - who was trained since from seven years old to be a baduk (Go) player - a la Nicholai Hel - but in the end he had to give up when his father passed away due to financial difficulties. He was accepted to a small firm but was still in the funk and left there to complete his military service. When he came back he drifted from one part time menial job to another until his baduk connections got him an internship at a big corporation.

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This is him acted by Im ShiHwan. I don't know who this guy is but he really made it work. I was all team Gu Rae, rooting for him to come out victorious from each challenge, hating the guys who tried to give him a hard time. 

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Oh Sang Shik acted by Lee Sung Min is the manager of the team Gu Rae started as a trainee. The great thing is that he is just a regular good guy who loves what he does for a living. He is not a hero or anything. He is just a decent man, a good superior and a very capable worker. 

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Ahn Young Gi is one of the other trainees and she is not only smart and resourceful but also an excellent worker with know how and instincts. However she is discriminated because of her gender and also she has a despicable father who gets all her money and spends it on booze or non sensical projects. Poor thing was so much under duress for many episodes. But she persevered and came out on top and further more she got

Jang Baek Gi who is not only hot but also smart and educated with great skills. He lacks imagination and innovation but he is ambitious and hard working. At first I thought he was going to be a villain but it is not that kind of a drama. He had a nice character arc starting with feelings of entitlement and petty envy for the ones with more success despite their lack of education and ending up as a considerate guy who is confident with his own skills and helps out other instead of being jealous. He also starts a nice relationship with Young Gi, treating her as equal. I wonder why he was not included on the dvd cover. 

And I need to mention his superior Assistant Manager Kang

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He is not only hot but one of those aloof, capable types who value work performance and was a great manager to Baek Gi. He is my second fave Assistant Manager because my first is 

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Kim Dong Shik acted by Kim Dae Myung is like a cuddly teddy bear with his ahjumma hair and chubby cheeks. He can speak Japanese, Chinese and English and he is a hard worker who enjoys what he does and does it well. He is also very kind hearted. If I had to pick one guy among the Asistant Directors I'd pick this one (yeah over the hot manager Kang) since somehow I felt close to him and even found him and his horrible wig sexy. Also this is a guy who is turn down by a marriage prospect because his not selfish enough. 

Aaaand last but not the least we have  

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Han Seuk Yol acted by  Byun Yo Han is like the office clown who hears all the news and distributes them. He is from a humble back ground but is a smart engineer with a practical mind and he also loves what he does but stuck with a truly horrible assistant manager who takes credit for Seuk Yol's work, treats him like he is a slave and also has a horrible private life. But in the end Seuk Yok learns that being right doesn't always mean you need to act rashly. He takes the high road in the end and is rewarded for his action :) 

I just loved this drama and enjoyed peeking through the day to day lives of the characters above. I now understand why this drama deservedly got high ratings. Kudos and thanks to everyone who worked in it. 

A Question of Belief

A Question of Belief This one was very cheap and I purchased it without really knowing whether I have read it or not. Thank God that it turned out that it is not one of the ones I have read. Brunetti is an alright detective but for some reason I'm partial to UK ones. At least it was a nice break from all the romance novels.

İncir Reçeli 2

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İncir Reçeli 2 Bence ilki kadar güzel değildi. Ne bileyim ilkinde daha bol melodram ve duygu vardı sanki. Yastan sıyrılma ve hayata & aşka devam her ne kadar çok güzel olsa ne bileyim bende ilk filmi izlerken oluşan hisleri uyandırmadı. 

Sonra bir de kızın davranışlarını garipsedim. Şimdi çok sevdiğin birini kaybediyorsun, ölümün acısını ve yas tutmayı çok iyi anlatan bir senaryo ile güzel çekilmiş bir film izliyorsun. Sonra o senaristin herşeyini araştırıyorsun, aynı zamanda müzisyen olan bu kişin çaldığı barda barmen olarak çalışmaya başlıyorsun, sürekli sayfa sayfa fan mektupları yazıyorsun. Ne bileyim bana çok sağlıklı davranışlar gibi gelmedi. Hatta stalker'lardan korkan biri olarak bunu yaptığını anladığım anda bir insandan soğurum gibime geliyor. Ama filmin erkek baş karakteri tersine bu duygulara olumlu yanıt verdi ve aşka ikinci bir şans vermek için kızı aradı buldu filan. 

Bu filmler sadece duyguların değil, belli bir hayat tarzının anlatılması aynı zamanda. Eğlenceli, söyleyeceği sözler olan insanlar var. 

He's Just Not That Into You

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He's Just Not That Into You well this second viewing was a lot better than the first one though not because the film was any good. It is a long film and help while away the time to reach to when it is time to eat. There are different couples with different problems and none of them are really very interesting or exciting. I like Ben Affleck and he is at least a good guy here. Anyway don't bother with this one unless you are fasting and it is three hours to the time when you can eat. 

The Strange Library

The Strange Library I saw at another book blog and since it was available at a reasonable price I purchased it. It turned out to be one short story with interesting packaging and illustrations. I was a different experience and I didn't hate it. However  as expected I loved the story. 

Respire

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Respire is one I saw in the festival channel and decided to check out since I liked the plot. Two high school girls meet and not everything goes as one would want.

I kept remembering Blue is The Warmest Colour but the only thing that is similar is that there are two girls. The dynamics are different.
Charlie has some problems, a violent father who keeps leaving them and a mother who keeps taking him back. The father loves her though and his abuse is probaby limited to her mother. She is well adjusted though with a best friend for long years, a circle of friends who are loyal and fun and she is smart and her grades are good.

Enter Sarah who comes into their lives like a whirlwind. A transfer student she tells them her mother is an aid worker in Africa and that she has come to their town to live with her aunt. She has colourful stories, a great sense of humour and is warm and generous. Charlie and Sarah become close and Charlie is happier than she had ever been. She even invites her to a holiday she goes with her mother (and their aunt). Everything was great at the start of the holiday but things started to go wrong. Sarah is a moody girl and this affected overly sensitive Charlie. This coldness continued back at school and gradually Sarah starts to hang out with other people. Charlie -who is by now in love with Sarah- just can't handle all this and follows Sarah to her home (after getting suspicious since some of her accounts change from the way she told them the first time). Well Sarah turns out to be the daughter of an abusive alcoholic mother living in the slums of the city. When Charlie confronts her with this, Sarah turns hostile and makes Charlie's life difficult (mostly mean stuff such as giving her number to the perverts, breaking and sullying her locker, writing bad things about her on the desks, telling her intimate things to everyone etc.) however when Sarah's mother beats her, Charlie is the one she turns to. This probably was a turning point since Charlie thought they'll be back to the way they first were but no. They didn't. Sarah started dating a guy outside school and one day came to Charlie's house to pick up her few stuff (she used to stay overnight at Charlie's house from time to time) and Charlie just can't take it anymore. Sarah's bragging about being so happy with her new boyfriend, how they will go to Paris and live there while Charlie will be stuck at this town with her loving mother and will probably live a small, simple life when Charlie snaps and hits her. She hits her head at the bed side table but no harm done until she starts to laugh collapsing on the bed. Charlie this time puts a pillow on her face and kills her.

This film was interesting, the actors were good, the story well told. However I wouldn't call it great or think will seek more films from this director (I wouldn't change the channel either)

Tender Rebel

Tender Rebel came to me just as I was wondering why there was not any Scottish women falling for English men. Yes ladies and gentlemen, in this one we have a Scottish woman who falls for an English man. The lady is extremely beautiful, smart and resourceful and the gentleman is extremely strong, an excellent boxer and an incurable rake. So why didn't I really enjoy it as much as I should have. I blame the romance novel fatigue. This was fourth in a row and by then I was midly sick of them. 

Lord of Ice

Lord of Ice is one of the romance novels I purchased from an on line second hand store for Ramadan. One tends to get distracted and will not really focus.

Anyway this one appealed to me better than the other two I have read. I liked the dynamics and the leads and their chemistry. The villain was suitably despicable and side characters were nice. 

How To Train Your Dragon 2

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How To Train Your Dragon 2 I was eager to watch this because I loved the firs one. Unfortunately this sequel didn't appeal to me. The emotion I have connected with in the first one was just not there. Anyway it was not bad, but just bland (to me).

Jersey Boys

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Jersey Boys is the Clint Eastwood film before The American Sniper. I think this is adapted from a musical (I remember seeing the ads for it in Las Vegas). I'm not an ideal musical viewer, strangely it is not a fave genre of mine. So I held this one off a bit but of course I have not considered the Clint Factor. I love the man and I guess I love all his films. This one is one of those biopic affairs that shows snatches of events of a long period of time. I guess this is from a true story and I liked it. The boys form a band, one member is disruptive, things go bad another member takes on the bad debt of the bad band member and he works and pays it off. Meanwhile these guys made good songs (You Are Too Good To Be True - is I think my fave of them). I liked the actor who played Frankie Valli the best.