we are only made of air and dust

Maybe the synopsis is just written badly, but, seriously, WTF.
Easy Fortune Happy Life.

Yan Da Feng is a rich, arrogant, hot tempered, bad boy who refuses to honor his grandfather's wish to marry an ordinary country girl, Xie Fu An, who is studying herbal remedies with her grandmother. To get out of the marriage, he sends a killer to get rid of her.

I could see how that totally has 'romance-comedy' written all over it. I mean, I love a well done dark comedy/satire as much as any slightly over-educated, recovering English major would, but somehow, I have a hunch this twdrama is not going for that angle.

The less said about my life currently the better, but at least fandom remembers to keep me happy (and this is the fandom lj, after all.)




Why I'm still PISSED at the producers and screenwriter of Kurosagi: The Movie (WASTE OF TIME), because they totally squandered THIS, THIS COMPLETE ADORABLENESS for the sake of putting Yamapi in a few hundred terrible wigs 'disguises'. YOU TOTALLY FAILED THAT TIME, JAPAN. (Don't think I haven't FORGOTTEN.)

and also:



NEW FACE OF ROMANCE.

My standards? They have completely gone on holiday - because when I actively look forward to how awful Koishite Akuma is going to be, and yet, I rub my hands in glee in anticipation? You know I have no standards left.

There might be fic, guys. I KNOW I AM TOTALLY HORRIFIED.

take two!

or, JAPAN DOES TWILIGHT. I'm just going to run out and get some popsicles, and then I'll be back to liveblog. AND DONE.



Look! Who says I can't use what I learned from korean dramas in real time?

oh, and I almost forgot. I'm going to be in NY July 30-August 5 (flying in on the 29th) to see my BFF and other friends I've known since HS, and I know cynicalism and I are going to attempt a second meetup (seeing how she's going to be on MY side of the country a few days before). I haven't been back to NY since I was an adult (with the exception of the 2007 Eurofiesta), so if anything's cool or changed since then - that I should go see, please let me know?

I'm planning on stopping by Muji. ^__^

( he's unresponsive, sighs dismissively, and doesn't play well with others -- and he's a teenage boy )

Anime Expo is now in Long Beach, and is hosting 'the jrock event of the century'. The last time I went to AX, there were two visual kei guys (I shall call them the purple ribbon men), but now it's Gackt and Miyavi! A quick google search shall tell you all you need to know about either - they're Japanese rock musicians, I believe Gackt is classically trained and anyway, they've formed some kind of SuperGroup called Skin. Gackt creeps me out just a tad, but Miyavi is like the crown jester prince of jrock - he's just too funny and I like some of his songs. They're performing on June 29. There is going to be a 90% chance that I am going to be surrounded by catgirls and stupid manga kids and otaku with yaoi paddles, and I'm just a crotchety old lady who wants to punch people in the face 85% of the time......I'll ask Linds if she wants to go with me.

Do you think that popular culture accurately represents the environment it reflects? For example, America's on going love affair with mostly crappy reality tv shows, game shows, and the 100 ton behemoth that represents the Law & Order franchise? I predict, 20 years later, Law & Order: In Hyperspace will be running, with reanimated heads as the actors. (Futurama said it, so it MUST be true.)

I'm only pondering this because of my recent immersion in asian pop culture (reclaiming the other half of my hyphenated existence, one could say) and trying to see the truth among all the pretty, shiny lies/entertainment, and trying to interpret it through the Western filter. Pop culture is escapism or satire waiting to be written, but what is commonly loved and hated among the masses - isn't it also a reflection of our ideals/expectations?

Then again, I could just be over-reaching or oversimplifying. I do that sometimes.

Also, I have now firmly decided that Japan is a nation full of virile young men (read: Pop stars/actors/models) waiting to marry the slightly more experienced older woman. Maybe all those office-lady dramas had something more than just wish fulfillment going on.

While I'm being 89% facetious, the other percent notices that for the most part, courtships among the cognesceti often span years, and usually marriage occurs when the lady gets pregnant. (See: Kimura Takuya defense.) This also happens with brooding British musicians.

Oguri Shun's best friend (and really, he has a name and I know it, but I just like calling him Oguri Shun's best friend) Tsukamoto Takashi (that blond Casa Nova in Stand Up!, the love interest in Teppan Shoujo Akane, etc, etc.) is getting married/is married to his significant other, she's apparently five months pregnant, and seven years older. Love is love, after all - and when you're ready, you're ready.

I am not ready. I'm still at that delightful, "Let's make out, and have a conversation about Sartre, and I'll make you a mixtape!" phase.

It's a pretty awesome phase.

But one day, I'd like think I'd be at the Margaret Atwood - Variations on the word 'Sleep' phase - I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment only. I would like to be that unnoticed & that necessary.

So I'm polishing the second half of Five futures's second future, while writing the third future, with notes on the fourth and fifth future planned out, and watching Kurosagi MVs on youtube - and these are things I have to confess:

1. I haven't re-watched Kurosagi in months, so the fic I'm writing? All memories of the series I have, and after checking on some of the MVs, some startlingly similar linear parallel plots. Or something. *cough*. Yes, that's exactly it. It's both AU and linear time-wise. And I like monkeys.

2. I absolutely have DVD commentary on this supposedly simple supposed to get me back in the saddle fanfic-wise writing experiment. 50 ways started out like an experiment, and then I apparently died and never wrote anything again. But really, when you have two characters that are this dynamic and all their drama comes from the things they can't say to each other, HOW CAN THERE NOT BE COMMENTARY? I will babble like the proverbial brook!

3. There are, at my last count, three Kurosagi MVs with the song "Far Away" by Nickelback as the theme. I (have made peace with the fact) like the song well enough, and it's certainly hit all the angsty notes. Still, dear MV makers: There are Other Songs.

My friend Tom writes very good ones! Or even that tried and true romcom staple, "You and Me" by Lifehouse (Grey's Anatomy, this is ALL YOUR FAULT). I need to learn how to make vids. She says, for the millionth time.

4. I have these moments where it's bloody difficult just to write for ten more minutes. Ten more minutes, and I'm wrestling with the problem of writing versus writing beautiful sentences. I have that English Major's disease (particularly vile since I majored in Creative Writing) of writing really (or wanting to write) elaborately constructed prisms of sentences and sometimes I fall in love with a turn of a word or a phrase, and it's great and it's pretty but it's sitting dead on the paper, because while it is pretty and sparkling, it is also not particularly useful. So heeding the advice of the Mokonoboo pigs, "Simple is best." I'm trying not to fall in the trap of being too 'writerly.'

5. I have wasted several hours of my life looking up Shirota Yuu on youtube. There are long lanky legs and Latin seduction music and cooking with Spanish accents and this is Yamapi's fault. He's SIX FEET TALL. I am ded, as the kids say.

6. No one dies in my fic. I'm not feeling particularly Shakespearan today.

7. I'm almost done with my carton of Quality Street. And seeing how the pound now trounces the dollar utterly, I do not think I will be re-visiting the UK any time soon. And I'm done with my Tunnock's caramel wafers. Oh my sweeties! And clotted cream. This is when I miss the UK the most.

8. I've decided on my viewing habits for the next month: I'm quitting Witch Yoo Hee until it's finished, I've started Nodame Cantabile, I'll be downloading Sexy Voice & Robo, I'm not watching Liar's Game until it's finished, I'll be downloading Proposal Daisakusen, Seito Shokun, and I'll wait for Bambino! to finish before watching. And I have my Outsiders DVDs to keep me entertained in the meantime. Of course, this could all change, but I have only so much free time and instant gratification is so much more appealing.

9. I would keel over in shock if the Rumored Next Project (there's been 'statements' made by Pi that suggest that he and Maki have signed on for another project together) if not Kurosagi 2, something that would require them to gaze longingly at each other, and you know, follow through. I would keel over in shock and then I would EXPLODE. IN SQUEE. Or if this was some alternate universe, and Johnny's Jimusho had been taken over by a non-insane control freak, that the next 'project' Yamapi and Maki were signing on for was in fact a public announcement of their relationship. Because, yes, crazy making out!

10. I've had a lot of sugar.

11. I should be writing this fic now.