Paprika (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
partypaprika) wrote2008-06-12 10:52 am
partypaprika) wrote2008-06-12 10:52 am
Entry tags:
in which i come back!
Hey! I'm back! I'm officially returning from my lj hiatus. I'm pretty sure that I've been gone long enough that most people have forgotten me, but that's ok. Because I'm back!
It's summer here, so although I'm working and doing research, I have lots of downtime, which means that I will finally be able to get back into the lj way of things. Reading other people's entries, writing my own (hopefully), and finally doing all of those memes that Alex tagged me for three months ago.
I'm currently in Baltimore for the summer (yeaahhhh?) doing research for one of my old professors. I'm working under a post doc who's very nice and very pregnant and also not so good with english. We're making zinc oxide nanowires. Everyone kind of looks at me like I'm crazy when I tell them this, but to be honest, it's a lot of fun and incredibly interesting. I could go on more about what we do, but then everyone would realize just how incredibly dorky that I am. Unfortunately, my post doc doesn't always know what to do with me and since I've already read over 20 scientific papers on zinc oxide nanowires and nanostructures, this means that I've come into an overabundance of free time.
For the first time in over a year, I've not had to do homework so my evenings have been remarkably free. I've gotten back into cooking, which I had forgotten how much I loved. One of my roommates last year made horrible messes in the kitchen, such as making a cake with a toffee sauce on top and then leaving everything unwashed and uncovered lying about, and after first semester I refused to clean up for her. Sadly that meant that I didn't get to cook very much. But now that she's not here, I've dug out my barefoot contessa cookbook and been cooking like mad. If anyone has fun summer recipes they'd recommend, I'd love suggestions! I think that next weekend, my friend and I are going to host a creole themed dinner.
On the drama front, I've become obsessed with Legend--I've watched 18 episodes in less than a week. I don't think I've mainlined a drama the way that I'm watching Legend since my beginning days with HYD and jdramas. The Legend is so incredibly fantastic. I almost didn't watch it because whenbitofpixiedust was pimping it to me and told me it was a korean historical piece, I immediately backed away. Korean dramas tend to be a bit more angsty and melodramatic than I enjoy and I've never really gotten into Asian historical dramas. But she continued to push it and described the first few episodes and she made it sound so interesting that I couldn't help but watch it. I was not at all let down --I can't get over the visuals, the awesome plot, or the amazing characters. It really impressed me.
It's summer here, so although I'm working and doing research, I have lots of downtime, which means that I will finally be able to get back into the lj way of things. Reading other people's entries, writing my own (hopefully), and finally doing all of those memes that Alex tagged me for three months ago.
I'm currently in Baltimore for the summer (yeaahhhh?) doing research for one of my old professors. I'm working under a post doc who's very nice and very pregnant and also not so good with english. We're making zinc oxide nanowires. Everyone kind of looks at me like I'm crazy when I tell them this, but to be honest, it's a lot of fun and incredibly interesting. I could go on more about what we do, but then everyone would realize just how incredibly dorky that I am. Unfortunately, my post doc doesn't always know what to do with me and since I've already read over 20 scientific papers on zinc oxide nanowires and nanostructures, this means that I've come into an overabundance of free time.
For the first time in over a year, I've not had to do homework so my evenings have been remarkably free. I've gotten back into cooking, which I had forgotten how much I loved. One of my roommates last year made horrible messes in the kitchen, such as making a cake with a toffee sauce on top and then leaving everything unwashed and uncovered lying about, and after first semester I refused to clean up for her. Sadly that meant that I didn't get to cook very much. But now that she's not here, I've dug out my barefoot contessa cookbook and been cooking like mad. If anyone has fun summer recipes they'd recommend, I'd love suggestions! I think that next weekend, my friend and I are going to host a creole themed dinner.
On the drama front, I've become obsessed with Legend--I've watched 18 episodes in less than a week. I don't think I've mainlined a drama the way that I'm watching Legend since my beginning days with HYD and jdramas. The Legend is so incredibly fantastic. I almost didn't watch it because when
bitofpixiedust was pimping it to me and told me it was a korean historical piece, I immediately backed away. Korean dramas tend to be a bit more angsty and melodramatic than I enjoy and I've never really gotten into Asian historical dramas. But she continued to push it and described the first few episodes and she made it sound so interesting that I couldn't help but watch it. I was not at all let down --I can't get over the visuals, the awesome plot, or the amazing characters. It really impressed me.I have to say that there are very few characters that I simply dislike or hate in Legend. Lord Yon, the Hwachan leader, and that annoying counselor (who reminds me of the one from Mulan) are the only characters that I unreservedly hate. While there are moments that I don't like Kihae, such as when she DOESN'T protest her innocence to Dam Deuk about killing his father or when she kills the oracle, I also feel a lot of sympathy for her character. She's grown up in this oppressed world, under a powerful leader who's made it clear that while she's important, he has ultimate control over her. I think she's been walking a very fine line for a long time and it was only a matter of time before she snapped. She does play the victim card a lot and she doesn't fight to break out of her role within the Hwachan. There were so many opportunities for her to attempt to talk to Dam Deuk when he would have believed her. It was a bit fustrating. But at the same time, I totally shipped Sujini and Dam Deuk from day one, so I wasn't too upset that she was sabatoging their relationship.
I guess my main problem with Kihae is that I feel that she was so powerless or at least led to believe that she was powerless for so long that now she does have power, she's completely unable to deal with it. She's been in the mindset of a victim so long that she can only see herself as a victim.
Another conflicted character, but one that I do like, is Ho Gae. He does pretty atrocious things, more so than Kihae, such as killing innocent villagers and yet I feel that he's so human. All he's ever wanted is acceptance and probably love from the people that he cares about -- his mother, his father, and Kihae, and all of them have very conditional love towards him. They'll love him IF he does this correctly or IF he gets something or IF he becomes king. So what he feels is right or wrong comes secondary to what they believe he should be doing. That scene where Dalbi begs him not to hurt any more people and what happened, why did he change and realizes in that instant how far he's come from person he used to be. I think he feels that he's so far beyond redemption that nothing can possibly save him. That's why he's so blank faced during the battles or killing, he's just pushed all of his emotion out of the way. I mean, he offers his heart to Kihae! And what does she do? She tells him that she's going to use him, discard him, and then probably have him killed the same way that she wants him to kill Dam Deuk.
They did a great job with the character relationships and quirks in the series. I love how Sujini is very attatched to her alcohol. So much so that when the elder of Julno wants to adopt her, everyone congratulates her because "Julno has the largest wineries." When she later tells Dam Deuk that she's turning it down, he jokingly questions her decision because of Julno's wineries. Stung, Sujini replies that it's quality not quantity. I love how incredibly awesome the friendship between Dam Deuk and Sujini is. I'm going to have to save a post just for that. Because, well, they're amazing.
I've gotten so emotionally involved in this drama. This is the first drama in a while that I've found myself talking to my screen or actually unable to contain my joy at certain scenes. I found myself watching the battle scene in episode 17 or 18 where the King enters the castle with my mouth open as his army proceeded to demolish the bad guys. And, this is kind of embarrassing, I screamed pretty loudly when the cabinet hostages decided that they should atone for their mistakes. It just caught me so off guard. I love how I'm able to fully immerse myself in this world--it's so vivid and real.
Also--how kick ass are the girls in this? I don't think I've ever seen a kdrama with so many strong, awesome women in it. I love how the two greatest warriors in the series-- Sae-Oh and Kajin or Sujini and Kihae-- are women. And the regiment that protects the King--women. The best blacksmith--a woman. I'm not going to beat about the bush, I totally have a girl crush on Sujini. This is seriously one of the most empowering korean drama for women that I've ever watched. I really wish that I could watch more like this. And to think, I almost didn't watch this because it was a "historical" drama. Thank you Lindsay.
I guess my main problem with Kihae is that I feel that she was so powerless or at least led to believe that she was powerless for so long that now she does have power, she's completely unable to deal with it. She's been in the mindset of a victim so long that she can only see herself as a victim.
Another conflicted character, but one that I do like, is Ho Gae. He does pretty atrocious things, more so than Kihae, such as killing innocent villagers and yet I feel that he's so human. All he's ever wanted is acceptance and probably love from the people that he cares about -- his mother, his father, and Kihae, and all of them have very conditional love towards him. They'll love him IF he does this correctly or IF he gets something or IF he becomes king. So what he feels is right or wrong comes secondary to what they believe he should be doing. That scene where Dalbi begs him not to hurt any more people and what happened, why did he change and realizes in that instant how far he's come from person he used to be. I think he feels that he's so far beyond redemption that nothing can possibly save him. That's why he's so blank faced during the battles or killing, he's just pushed all of his emotion out of the way. I mean, he offers his heart to Kihae! And what does she do? She tells him that she's going to use him, discard him, and then probably have him killed the same way that she wants him to kill Dam Deuk.
They did a great job with the character relationships and quirks in the series. I love how Sujini is very attatched to her alcohol. So much so that when the elder of Julno wants to adopt her, everyone congratulates her because "Julno has the largest wineries." When she later tells Dam Deuk that she's turning it down, he jokingly questions her decision because of Julno's wineries. Stung, Sujini replies that it's quality not quantity. I love how incredibly awesome the friendship between Dam Deuk and Sujini is. I'm going to have to save a post just for that. Because, well, they're amazing.
I've gotten so emotionally involved in this drama. This is the first drama in a while that I've found myself talking to my screen or actually unable to contain my joy at certain scenes. I found myself watching the battle scene in episode 17 or 18 where the King enters the castle with my mouth open as his army proceeded to demolish the bad guys. And, this is kind of embarrassing, I screamed pretty loudly when the cabinet hostages decided that they should atone for their mistakes. It just caught me so off guard. I love how I'm able to fully immerse myself in this world--it's so vivid and real.
Also--how kick ass are the girls in this? I don't think I've ever seen a kdrama with so many strong, awesome women in it. I love how the two greatest warriors in the series-- Sae-Oh and Kajin or Sujini and Kihae-- are women. And the regiment that protects the King--women. The best blacksmith--a woman. I'm not going to beat about the bush, I totally have a girl crush on Sujini. This is seriously one of the most empowering korean drama for women that I've ever watched. I really wish that I could watch more like this. And to think, I almost didn't watch this because it was a "historical" drama. Thank you Lindsay.