Empresses in the Palace

Hi, Julie's here to introduce you this Chinese historical drama Empresses in the Palace.

What's it About?

The background of this drama is set in the first year of Yongzheng Emperor's reign, (Qing Dynasty). In order to balance the power of the royal harem and imperial court, Empress Dowager Renshou prepares an election of all the government officials' daughter for the imperial harem.

Zhen Huan is one of the government official's daughter, she is beautiful and intelligent. At the age of 17, she is innocent, her dream is to find her beloved and stay with him forever. She is selected to join the imperial harem and become the Emperor's concubine, which is against her will. The Emperor loves her extraordinarily at the beginning.

She danced for the Emperor. 

                               

The love from Emperor brings her jealousy and treacheries of the imperial harem. Eventually she finds herself is caught in the conflict with the aggressive Consort Hua . Consort Hua has done many contemptible and cruel things to hurt her and even wants to kill her.

Consort Hua adds poison into Zhen Huan's food; she frames Zhen Huan's best friend--Shen Meizhuang up, says that she is pretending to be pregnant; she drowns her another good friend--Chou Changzai; even when Zhen Huan's pregnant, she punishes Zhen Huan to kneel down...

Many insidious reasons leads the abortion of Zhen Huan.

All the pain that she suffers finally makes her become stronger and she starts to revenge...

In the end, she becomes the new Empress Dowager.

All in All

I really love this drama, I will give it a 5/5. There are 76 episodes and I've watched them all. It's a popular drama, there is an American short version of this drama with 6 episodes and 90 minutes each episode.

Source: Wikipedia

Julie

I Remember You

Hey guys, it's CW here. Been getting a lot of positive responses from my previous posts, so here I am with another drama review.  Seriously, although watching and reviewing k-drama is my side job, dramas that I can 100% wholeheartedly recommend friends to watch have less than 20.   "I remember you" is most definitely on my top 20 list. The main dude, Soo In Guk is not only my bias, been following him since "Reply 1997".  Soo In Guk has always been in mellow drama and now for the first time challenging a romantic thriller *melts*,  even more charismatic!

So the story revolves around MaleLead, his stalker, the guy who killed his dad and his missing younger brother.

Here we go~  

The story begin when MaleLead received a mysterious email regarding a murder case in South Korea, he then returned to Korea for this matter as it links to what he has been searching for. 

On day 1 of his return, at the crime scene, a random detective chased him down the street.  MaleLead was surprised that she knew his name.  FemaleLead aka stalker was disappointed that he had no idea who she was.

Because... she has been stalking him for the past twenty years... how could he have not known?

When MaleLead was about 10, him, his dad and younger brother moved to a new suburb. MaleLead found a dead dog at the backyard and buried it.  MaleLead's dad thought it was MaleLead who killed the dog.  Because ever since they moved in, their neighbors  noticed an increase of dead animals around the area...

MaleLead's father is a psychologist, as well as a counselor for inmates.  

MaleLead's father found uncanny similarities between his son and the inmate he's currently counselling.

 Coincidentally MaleLead and the psycho serial murderer met.... They had a long chat.  

 MaleLead reads his fathers memo everyday behind his father's back. He found out that his father thought he's a monster.

Soon afterwards, MaleLead's father locked him up in the basement and isolated him from the world.

The psycho killer escaped prison and came out to kill the counselor. 

For some unknown reason, MaleLead's younger brother knew exactly who the psycho was and quickly escaped from the house. 

MaleLead came out from the basement and found his father on the floor. 

Okay, seems confusing but I can't say too much otherwise I will spoil it.  Let me know if you liked it and leave a comment below!

Source: DramaWiki

CW

I Need Romance 2014

 

 

CW here with another MUST WATCH Korean drama.

 

The first series of I need Romance began in 2011, following 2012 and now 2014.  In particular, the 2014's one is the most touching drama that I've seen in ages.  Many times while watching it, I felt like noting down their lines, I've watched this drama 3 times now since 2014.  I find it so comforting to watch after a breakup, this drama will definitely heal your heart!

 

Okay, enough of my personal feelings, this is a drama which focuses of lives of a group of team working at a home shopping company and revolves around competition, friendship and love.  This drama also gives overseas audience insights on working women in Korean and their lives at work and at home.

 

FemaleLead 32 years old: Kim So Yun   (not famous... got nothing to say about her)

MaleLead 26 years old: Sung Joon (not famous as well...)

Male2: Nan Goong Min (the forever Male2... hehe, those of you who's into Kdrama, will definitely have seen him in at least 3 different dramas as Male2)

 

 Okay, so the drama opens up with the MaleLead reminiscing childhood memories of FemaleLead. 

 MaleLead returns to Korea.

 FemaleLead is the team leader at a home shopping company.

 Living the life with a stable boyfriend (same company, he's not that important so Im not going to show you his face).

 MaleLead calls FemaleLead and asked her if he could stay with her during his time in Korea. FemaleLead was not happy about that as it reminds her of bad childhood memories (she used to help her mum babysit MaleLead for money.

MaleLead is now a successful pop music producer... see the car he's driving?

 

 FemaleLead casually ran into MaleLead at a party but at that time she didn't know who he was.

 

Random boyfriend broke up with FemaleLead, however it didn't matter much to her as she's used to the love game.  Note: the ex-bf didn't pay for dinner after the breakup....

 

 

Maybe episode 1 looks abit dull, but trust me it gets better and it's also very funny at times! I don't want to spoil it by going into too much detail. Watch for yourself and let me know in the comment below of what you thought of it.

 

 

Source: DramaWiki

 

CW.

Last Week Tonight - The Show You Probably Haven't Seen

This is famous, yet its name excapes you...

...you think it's something like "Last Night, This Week".. 

...maybe it's because many talkshows seem quite.. boring...

However,

this isn't your 

typical talkshow

About the show

John Oliver talks about the general news of each week and sums them up on his show. However, his material is very well researched and he continously brings up really important details which mainstream media seems to somehow miss out. Best of all, John Oliver, orginially born in the UK, adds wonderful sarcasm and irony to every story using his British humor.

Interviews

Last Week Tonight doesn't usually involve people sitting on a stage talking and exchanging internal jokes with the host, instead John Oliver himself goes out and talks with people. You might remember Edward Snowden for example, and how this man became one of the most wanted men in the world for leaking information about spying on ones' own citizens. Well, Oliver simply went over to Russia and had the interview there.

Popularity

Last Week Tonight has become one of the most popular talkshows in the last few years. As any talkshow, fans are attracted to the topics discussed, or the general humor and jargong, but Last Week Tonight has something extra- an awesome sense of moral and kindness as well as spontanteneus actions.

For example, while talking about the refugee crisis, he shifted focus to one young girl, Nadine Mustafa who also managed to flee a civil war by getting onto boats and trains, although being disabled. While in Europe this girl had was interviewed by a journalist who took notion of her very fluent English. She explained that she learned it watching american TV-series. 

John Oliver repeatedly mentioned how nice this person seemed, and decided to ask her favourite shows' favourite characters film a special scene just for her and send her their regards.

This is a truly, really nice thing to do for a person one has never met, but it gets even better if you consider the dangerous position many refugees find themselves in. Check it out yourselves on youtube or HBO's website.

In general it could be said that Last Week Tonight has a very netrual, anti-racist, anti-homophobic and humorous take on most news stories, yet it manages to stay aware of the darkness of certain stories.

Background

HBO's Last Week Tonight stars John Oliver, who was an Emmy-awarded writer for The Daily Show With John Stewart until HBO saw him appear as a guest host and decided to make him the host of a show of his own. The official explanation is that HBO "notice of his 'singular perspective and distinct voice.' "...

Sources:

• HBO
• IMDB
• Watching the show duh

personally I hope the show won't find this blog post and make fun of me for whatever reason... their jokes and internet firewars can really burn.

2 Broke Girls

Hi, Julie's here to share one of my favourite American television sitcoms 2 Broke Girls.  In this sitcom,  Max Black (Kat Dennings) and Caroline Channing (Beth Behrs) are the two lead characters, they are roommates, colleagues and best friends. They are charming and funny in their own way. Their unique personalities are like precious pearls, shiny, shiny~

What's it About?

Max Black grew up in poor working-class family and she has an unknown father, while Caroline Channing was raised as a multimillionaire's daughter. There is a huge difference between their perspectives of lives and their personalities. Max is sarcastic and street smart and Caroline is sophisticated. However, they become best friends under these differences.

Caroline's father got caught due to a Bernard Madoff-esque Ponzi Scheme's operation, and soon Caroline becomes disgraced and penniless. She is homeless and then she meets Max and becomes Max's roommate. They start their funny life stories.

They both work at a Brooklyn diner as waitresses.

This is the video of their funny reactions to Han's age.

One day that Caroline discovers Max's talent of making cupcakes, they start to raise money and work toward their dream--opening a cupcake shop.

All in All

There are currently 4 seasons with 94 episodes. CBS renewed the series for a fifth season on March 12, 2015.
A lot of fun is ongoing. My personal rating for this sitcom is 4/5,  it brings me joy and laughter.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Broke_Girls
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=2+broke+girls&espv=2&biw=1242&bih=606&tbm=isch&imgil=6nRI5jSy0qRFhM%253A%253BAmJNT1HN1ArL6M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwhatsonnetflix.com%25252Fwhat-to-watch%25252Fis-2-broke-girls-coming-back%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=6nRI5jSy0qRFhM%253A%252CAmJNT1HN1ArL6M%252C_&usg=__hJVSGsB_uyFYy18XhhdV5EhJC0Q%3D&ved=0CJkBEMo3ahUKEwiph_mU4KnIAhULJZQKHcxIAeE&ei=2pgRVqmyJ4vK0ATMkYWIDg#tbm=isch&q=2+broke+girls+quotes


Julie

BBC's Sherlock

Brainy is the new Sexy~

It's Pat again! Today, among the many great British television shows, we will be taking a look at BBC's Sherlock. We're steering away from sitcoms today and will be taking a look into the alluring, mysterious, and thrilling adventures of Detective Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick, Watson.

What's it About?

As this point in life, I shouldn't even have to explain the awesomeness and grandness of what the Sherlock series entails, but, for the sake for doing things properly, here's a quick synopsis taken from our good ol' friend, Wikia:

Sherlock is a contemporary update of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories, starringBenedict Cumberbatch as the world's only consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes, and Martin Freeman as Dr.John Watson. Una Stubbs appears as their landlady, Mrs Hudson, Rupert Graves as DI Greg Lestrade, Louise Brealey as Specialist Registrar Molly Hooper and Mark Gatiss as Sherlock's older brother Mycroft Holmes.

What Makes It So Unique?

More often than not, TV or movie adaptations of classical books often fall short in representation and capturing said book's glamour. However, BBC Sherlock is one of the few exceptions that actually does justice to its book counterpart, if not portray it better in its modern interpretation.

One thing it captures very well is the personality of Sherlock, our lead detective for the series. His quirky, eccentric, and awkward character is well portrayed in the series, making character interactions all the more interesting and dynamic in nature.

His fascination of difficult cases, the ecstasy of trying to discover the truth, and his lack of proper social understanding make the series far from mundane.

All in All

With the series currently rocking 3 seasons with 3 episodes per season with each episode being around 90 minutes, Sherlock captures the wholeness of each episode, making each episode complete and satisfying to watch. Its only flaw is the waiting time in between each season. As far as I am concerned, season 4 will be airing in either 2016 or 2017. Despite that, BBC's Sherlock will definitely be worth your time.

I give the series a 4.5/5

Sources: Gif Soup for the Gifs and Wikia for the snyopsis

Twenty Again

 

 

 

It's Amy here, today I shall introduce to you guys one of the best Korean drama of 2015, it's Twenty Again! Starring Korea's top actor and actress!

 

As usual, I will not attempt to confuse you guys with the confusing Asian names.

 

FemaleLead: Choi Ji Woo from Winter Sonata (the most popular Korean drama of all time!)

MaleLead: Lee Sang Joo 

Twenty again  is about the FemaleLead after giving up on her dreams at 19 in order to follow her husband to Germany, as well as to raise her son.  And then 20 years later she decides to join her son and study at the same university.

 

Here I'll take you through episode 1 of Twenty Again.

 

 

The drama opens with the FemaledLead and Male2 filing for a divorce.  The excuse Male2 gave to FemaleLead for the divorce was because she does not have a university degree, he feels that he cannot communicate with her as she is under educated.

 

 

 

             FemaleLead studies hard for the university entrance exam.

 

 

On day 1 of the enrolment, she ran into her high school friend (which he had a huge crush on her).

 

 

At the same time, she was also diagnosed with cancer with only 6 months of time remaining.

 

 

FemaleLead struggled as she know her son will not be happy to find out she's going to go to the same university as him, as he is ashamed of his own mother.

 

 

However, she made up her mind that she's going to use the remaining time well and complete her bucket list.

 

FemaleLead drawing up her route so she won't run into her son or her husband.

 

 

Mature aged students are usually discriminated by others at a Korean university, FemaleLead struggled to fit in.

 

 

In short, Twenty Again is definitely worth watching, as I have just finished watching Remember You (I will review this another day :) ) and the Male2 in Remember is a psycho serial killer, and in Twenty Again he's the FemaleLead's arrogant and self-centered husband. So for those of you who have already seen Remember You and still can't get over the chills you got from that drama, this romance comedy is definitely worth watching. 

 

Let me know below in the comment box of your thoughts~

 

 Source: DramaWiki
 

CW