It Takes Two To Tango

Series of communication breakdowns and Penang's hottest season had made me grumpy. I was trying my level best to get adjusted to my new life FAST but some people's complacence and ignorance was really testing my patience. This morning my dad's single mindedness made me raised my voice during breakfast.

To cool off, I dashed to Prangin Mall. Honestly, I was really tired. Couldn't sleep well because of the weather and prior to that, I didn't have a proper rest since I arrived in Penang. Don't forget , just few days in Penang I already had my "assessment" by the BIG BOSS and MEM Besar. Yes, I need an air-conditioned space to chill out and cool off my head. And another Yes, I just need a MIE time.

The Power of Madonna

Enough talks about works ... so boring and sooooo not MIE. Just when I need the "release", my "favouritest" (hahaha ... among some early English words I invented in Primary 1 other than good, gooder, goodest) TV show of the year, Glee, latest episode which aired in the States on 20th April was all about the Power of Madonna. Oh, I sooo love this episode as I soooo love that "Auntie" ... just like Sue Sylvester's entry line ...

"How I worship her ever since I was a little girl. Madonna is THE most powerful woman to ever walk the face of this earth".

Plus SHE was the woman responsible for my RAMBOMADONNA persona. And for the record Miss Sue Sylvester, I too used to date younger guy(s) just like Madonna. Wooohooo ... Panassss ... Unfortunately now that I join the civil service, hard for me to change and reinvent my image for a new concert. Hahahaha. Jim Hiew ... I hope u read this entry as I miss our mini concerts at YU KIEN's warehouse and Mie's solo to Madonna's Frozen during SKTM nite.

Ok ... the latest episode 15 featured the Glee casts singing to some of Madonna's hits such as Like A Virgin, Like a Prayer, Express Yourself and of course .... two of my personal "favouritests" ... Vogue and 4 Minutes. Though I prefer Madonna performing to Vogue than 4 Minutes with Justin Timberlake .... for GLEE my vote is for Kurt and Mercedes' 4 Minutes ... and sorry Aunt Madge, I think their version is better too. I searched high and low on the Net for the video clip and hope this embedded video works.



To be honest, it was Sue Sylvester singing to Vogue, that made me all restless since Monday to watch this episode. Sue definitely had her Sue Time in this clip, even substituting it with the line "Sue Sylvester dance on air" and "Will Schuester I hate you..." I hope the video works.



Another nice video worth watching is the girl casts of Glee singing to Express Yourself. Hey, I am signing off people ... enjoy!

NOTE: This entry has been updated with better YouTube videos.

Korean Drama Fever (H1N3) – HOT BLOOD

When my foster dad called me yesterday asking why I was so silent the whole week, I simply answered, “Uncle, I got H1N3 lah … not feeling well”.

“Hohoho,” he chuckled. “Better don’t come to the house then.” (Sigh!) Good for me too. Otherwise Auntie Pakiam will start feeding me and Puvan’s wedding is just 2 weeks away. Why did I agree to wear saree for his wedding?

Anyway I wonder whether Uncle Perumal understood what I meant by H1N3. I felt a bit feverish though due to lack of sleep since Christmas. Hehehe

Well I have to say my mum was part to be blamed. She gave me “bad influence” when she was my Orang Gaji Berijazah for 2 weeks. I thought that I was soooooooooooo over with Boys Before Flower (BBF) and went on with my life. I never anticipated that I got hooked again … this time with Hot Blood (and sometimes Iris or Terms of Endearment). Mummy, you should have stick to Sehati Berdansa!

This time, it was a real challenge too because unlike BBF, Hot Blood was not a super hit. Other than Viikii or Mysoju, it’s hard to find other sites to watch the drama if the link is broken and being “Mie” I want to watch this drama on high definition. Even the “fan-subbers” took their time to provide the English subtitle. During the glory days of BBF, tonight it went on air in Korea… tomorrow you could watched it on thousand of fan sites.

So I’d got no choice but to download this drama episode by episode from Aja-Aja website on my crawling broadband. Huhuhu. Sometimes it took more than 24 hours to download an episode. Nasiblah I am not a PHD student, surelah tak balik UK tahun depan hehehe. The waiting really kills me!

Synopsis, cast information please click here. (if you dare Semin!)

Hmm, what do I like about this drama? Actually I was quite drawn to the character Kim Jae Hae played by Chae Jung Ahn, who is the top female car salesperson in Korea. Sometimes she can be the vixen, straight-forward and hardworking businesswoman, compassionate spinster, spirited team leader, wise elder sister or wicked witch of the west. For a while I believe that Ha-Ryu, the main character, may have fallen hard for her. But pandai cover line through his naiveness.

As for Jae Hae, though I don’t really approved whatever feelings she may still have for her ex, Kang Seung Joo, I understand very well the feelings of a woman who had fallen head over heels for a man only to be deeply hurt and betrayed later. She had to create a strong outer shell to conceal and protect the shattered damsel in distress and faced challenges in life alone. Hmm … déjà vu!

Whoever that comes next may need to work hard to get her love. I have to applause Chae Jung Ahn’s performance here, not easy to bring that character to live.

Since I only have KBS World on my ASTRO subscription so it’s plain to see most of Korean dramas which I am more familiar with are from KBS. However I knew that some great dramas aired in SBS in Korea. One in particular is You’re Beautiful.

I stumbled upon it while “googling” for Top Korean Drama 2009 and there is this site who ask viewers to vote between Boys Before Flower OR You’re Beautiful. Hooo … bahaya ni. Biasanya fever or drama addiction seperti ini ada kaitan dengan kedatangan BIG MAJOR TASK!

Anyway, I will blog about it later if it’s worth watching. Here is the link for the 1^st Episode.

Farewell F4, Welcome F1

Never in my life, bangun awal pagi semata-mata nak tgk ending drama Korea online. Hehehehe ... bestnyer time2 kritikal nie broadband maxis coverage in my area pun dah marvelous. Memang berbaloi lah pengorbanan itu walaupun lambat gi ofis sebab terlena kejap lepas habis menonton. Eeee, masuk je lah mana2 forum tentang Asian Drama nie semua sedang hangat bercerita pasal Boys Before Flowers nie termasuklah my sunbae kat Durham, Re Soo Min (nama Korea dia) hahaha.

Re Soo Min sunbae, one of my friends once told me , orang-orang yang buat PHD nie most of them time live in their own world and deep in their own thoughts ... so sekali sekala tak salah layan drama Korea nie to expand your imagination hehehe

To my amazement bukan setakat Asian region jer tapi sampai Europe, Australasia and Latin America. Tgk mcm mana besar peranan fan sub group mengangkat martabat industri drama Korea, sebagaimana they did to Japanese anime. Hmmm ... out of curiosity ada ke tak orang fan sub kan drama Spa Q dan Natasha ke bahasa lain ...

Anyway, akak pun dok sibuk promote drama Starlit kat depa2 nie jugak, bagi up sikit drama Taiwan pulak. Anyway, F4 and BBF Korea nie pun bukan famous dalam acuannya sendiri. Nie pun sebab kejayaan Meteor Garden. I kureng sikit la drama Taiwan nie after Meteor Garden, except tahun lepas drama Bull Fighting lakonan Mike He and Hebe (S.H.E). Lagu2 dia best.

Rasa nak promote lah Starlit nie kat Miss Kang, asyik2 tgk drama Hokkien lakonan Taiwanese Ah Cheng jer.Mcm mana nak improve Mandarin gitu, aku takpe lah boleh cover sebab hybrid. Dia dah cop kat IC Kang Bee Leng hehehe ..

BTW, anyone tgk F1 kat Sepang International Circuit on 3 April - 5 April ? Aiyaaa... akak tahun nie tak dapat jadi gadis litar lah sebab kena korbankan weekend nie .. eeee

Mana Satu Harus Ku Pilih ???

This morning I reached office at 7 am, hati dah membuak-buak nak tengok episode 24 with subs Boys Over Flowers yang dah diupload kat Arashi. Pada masa yang sama rasa nak sambung jugak tgk Starlit Episode 8 sebab dah sampai part Ah Yue confessed his feelings to Xiao Lu tapi ...

I dah buat janji manis kat Dato' TKPO dan betting dengan Dato' LA that the investigation paper siap dengan charge paper akan siap hari nie jugak ... tak kira lah daylight saving kah, gempa bumi kah, tsunami kah it will siap ...

then ... teringat pulak arahan Tan Sri KSN yang maklumat unlicensed housing development dia nak by next meeting PEMUDAH dan setakat nie tunggakan 47 cases yang inherit dari officers dulu-dulu baru 6 dah aku siap investigation paper. Nie pun tgh sedih bila baca fail2 tuh, banyaknya tak dibuat dulu-dulu. Eeee... even kes aku yang baru kat Muar tuh pun aku dah siap geledah dan with IP kat Dato' LA in 3 months.

Mampu kah aku siapkan semua tuh sedangkan hati ini merintih nak settlekan "kertas siasatan" I on what happen to Joon Pyo and Jan Di ... adakah ia akan berakhir dengan kebahagian? Aarghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ...

Moga esok menjanjikan kebahagiaan buatku ... (huhuhuhu ... ayat sastera gilerrr)

Life Filled With Drama

Semuanya gara-gara Boys Over Flowers dan semuanya pun berpunca dari Boys Over Flowers ...

Hehehe ... emo pulak bunyinya. Actually hari Rabu hingga Jumaat last week luar biasa sibuknya at my office gara-gara Task Force meeting dengan PEMUDAH and dalam meeting tu Tan Sri KSN bagi arahan2 yang buat I kena unpaid overtime. Tu semalam tiba2 rasa nak jadi couch potato bantai tgk drama Korea to destress. Sedey nyer, BBF episod 24 with subs will only be available on tuesday next week sama ada kat Viikii, Arashi atau EpDrama.

So I check lah kat WikiDrama kot kot ada drama Korea yang sedang hangat di pasaran sekarang nie kat stesen Korea lain like MBC and SBS. Memang ada a few lah like Cain And Abel (SBS) and East of Eden (MBC) .... eee tapi I tak berapa minat lah heavy drama begini to destress. Anyway, I pun belum explore sepenuhnya ... kalau top rating mesti best kan?

Tiba-tiba masa check website mysoju di baru jer upload satu drama Korea called Princess Ja Myung Go (PJMG) and classified as HOT! Tgh airing sekarang on SBS since 10 March 2009. Wat attracts me I pun tak tahu. Tapi drama Korea genre historical and romance yang paling last and best I tengok pun Jewel In The Palace.

I pun try tgk lah dulu episod 1 dia kat EPDrama. BTW sinopsis dia klik sini yer. People, i rasa nie memang akan jadi hit lah. Kalau baca sinopsis memang lah macam cerita sejarah tapi yang nie dia pakai konsep flashback. Drama started dengan cerita Prince HoDong dan Princess Ja Myung a year after the fall of NangNang kingdom. Then pastu dia flashback lah how the fall happen and why Princess La Hee betrayed her country.

In short after watching 2 episodes I memang impress dengan cinematography and creativity production team in making cerita historical begini bukan mcm biography. You will noticed some similarities dengan Chinese/Hong Kong historical-martial art movies. Historically, ancient Korean kingdom memang banyak influence from China especially during Han Dynasty reign.

I pun checkout on wikipedia and found out that Nangnang kingdom (also known as Lelang Commanderies) was among the four commanderies installed by the Chinese Han Dynasty before it fell to the Goguryeo. So the story nie was based on those period lah. Sayang, the modern site of the ancient Korean kingdom locations as mentioned in the drama is in Pyongyang, North Korea. But if it a hit like Jewel in the Palace and Winter Sonata, I am sure banyak location penggambarannya akan jadi tourist destinations lah.

Yang tak bestnya, only 2 episodes of PJMG so far yang dah diupload kat mysoju and Viikii site. So tak dapatlah akak nak destress sepenuhnya. Jadi tiba2 teringin pulak nak tahu apa jadi dengan hero BBF Taiwan @ Meteor Garden, Jerry Yan. Sebenarnya I nie allergic dengan Jerry Yan coz ia mengingatkan I pada seseorang hehehe. So seboleh-bolehnya I cuba elak tgk gambarnya atau dramanya atau movienya. Nie pun satu lagi drama yang dikategorikan oleh mysoju as HOT! But of course, its a Taiwanese drama but heronya tu yang associate dengan BBF.

Nama drama nie Starlit (synopsis click here) and tgh air kat ASTRO pun channel 324 bagi sapa-sapa yang ambik Emperor Package lah.Baru habis tgk episode 1 and I suka his performance in this drama, kurang kontrol hensem hehehe. I tgk kat YouTube jer so ni link dia K. OK lah nak sambung tgk. Pas ni nak cari pulak drama baru lakonan hero BBF Japan @ Hana Yori Dango, Jun Matsumoto bertajuk Smile ....

Akak Frust ....

Tau tak... I sambung balik tgk Boys Over Flowers (Korean version) kat YouTube since balik BTN. Walaupun in between those time kena attend my friend's wedding, join Sam's office karaoke outing and then our own karaoke/shopping kat Ikea session ... masa-masa yang terluang I habiskan menonton episod2 yang tertinggal ... sampai rumah tak dikemas, baju tak dibasuh semata2 nak menghabiskan drama nie.

Pastu makin lama makin mencabar nak cari episod yang ada sub-title. Problem is makin lama, makin best citer tuh. Nie pun in between uploading tgk2 jugak meteor garden untuk cari persamaan dan perbezaan. Trust me, the korean version is totally awesome.

Korean nie memang aku salute lah kalau buat telenovela yang penuh dengan konflik, mainan perasaan, ekspresi and cute boys yang poyo ... huhuhu. Cuma aku sakit hati tgk fesyen pakaian actors/actresses yang ntah apa2 ... so called designers lah ikut standard depa ... Having said that kalau nak dibandingkan baju Jerry Yan kat Meteor Garden mcm beli kat Mydin la pulak(ahaksss).

I have reached episode 18 and kalau ikut beberapa website yang I dah checkout, kat KBS2 TV pun baru air setakat episod 18 ... huhuhu lama lagi lah aku nak tunggu arashi nak sub episod 19-24. Arashi sunbae ... cepat2 lah sub dan share episod2 tuh ...

Anyway, to Adz ... memang berbaloi lah kalau ko stay back kat office semata2 nak tgk citer nie kat YouTube ... bagi lah laki ko jaga anak2 ko tuh dalam tempoh "kritikal" nie hehehe ...

Boys Before Flowers ..

Just few weeks back I think I recovered from my anime addiction and korean drama fever. Jangan tak tau ... masa PTK 3 I bantai tgk Saiunkoku Monogatari sampai 2 pagi ... hehehe. So pada suatu petang yang hening at home, after going through a Monday blues I switched on my TV and started to look for cerite2 best.

Suddenly I saw something I like on KBS World .... Boys Before Flowers (Korean version of famous Taiwanese hits Meteor Garden). Betul ke nie? Kenapa I was not aware about it? Huhuhuhu ... thank you KBS and thank you Astro!

Sebenarnya citer nie was adapted from a Japanese manga Hana Yori Dango by Yoko Kamio. Rasanya ramai dah tau kot. I suker sangat this story pun because I was a fan of F4 of Meteor Garden. Siap belajar nyanyi in Mandarin lagi time keje kat FTMS. Baru lah I rasa diterima dalam komuniti satu kampung with my forefathers Once Upon A Time In China kat ofis. Yelaa... now I not only have Chinese surname, Chinese look but I also sing in Mandarin hehehe ... Was so in love with Jerry Yan amidst rumours that he is ... (..sigh).

Due to Meteor Garden punya populariti and success jugaklah Japan pun buat siri Hana Yori Dango in 2005. The Japanese version sebenarnya yang I was looking 2 hari lepas on YouTube after my cousin Grace excitedly told me on my last trip home. The Korean version rupa2 start airing since Jan 5 2009 ... eeee seronoknya ...

BTW, I sekarang kat ofis sebab broadband reception kat office excellent ... sanggup semata2 nak tgk drama ni. Chow dulu nak sambung tgk episod 5 dia ... To the creator of YouTube ... you deserve an award.