I must admit that I have not been feeling that strongly toward a couple in recent dramas – possibly because of numerous co-stars to choose from and how I would want to open up all possibilities for each artist, not wanting to rob myself of possible discoveries. Or maybe just that the plot was not convincing at all. Or was it the factor that they were trying too hard to make it work by throwing in random scenes? Everyone has to agree that chemistry is what makes a couple work, right? But everyone has a different definition on that factor, leading to disputes among fans. I won’t get into that battle in this post so don’t worry about that.

What I want to talk about today is the collaboration between Blue Lan Zheng Long and Annie Liu Xin You. I must say that they have a very good chemistry in ‘I Do‘ and ‘L-O-V-E‘ (Hua Shan * 24). It’s not just ‘very good’ but indescribably addicting to watch because of their interactions in all their scenes together. I think that ‘I Do’ wouldn’t be as successful if it wasn’t for them. (Though the ratings showed otherwise, but it was very popular among fans – or those who actually took time to watch and discover many things about it.) Their chemistry was convincing because they did not try too hard. But it just seemed so natural when they were interacting in their scenes. It made me excited again – like I was once was about pairings. It was like it was okay to be stubborn about this pairing and not support other co-stars. (But not to the extent of bashing of course.)

What made ‘I Do‘ different from other typical dramas of the prince and the poor girl was that it had some element of unpredictability to it. Not to mention the seriousness of how it addressed marriage. It let us have it all in one package with meeting, getting to know each other, marriage, and then the whole trying to make marriage work. It did not let on the element of paradise or happily ever after feeling – though that was implied at various times of how many couples wanted to get married.

Another thing that ‘I Do‘ spared the audience of was the silly and senseless humor. There was humor but it was realistic enough so that we could relate to. It was the subtleness of those daily moments and the friendship different characters shared that made it more colorful.

Though its only fault was the whole ‘crazy girl’ thrown into the formula to spice up the drama some more. (However, we could not blame the creators too much since they have to maintain some sense of excitement to keep viewers hanging on the edge of their seats.)

What made the story real was the characters involved. No one was perfect yet they were perfect for their significant other. What was more promising was that almost everyone had their head pinned down to earth so they did not seemed like they lived in the clouds half of their lives.

Summer – though was supposed to be the poor, hard-working girl but we could see that she was NOT that poor to the point that she was glad to be rescued. She was not praying to be rescued. She used to be a princess too once upon a time when her father was still well off with his business. She had suffered through the whole incident of ‘ground giving way under her’ after knowing her father’s business was done for, but learned to be strong after meeting Hao Zhe. However, she did not dwell on being rescued – like said before. She just kept making a living and continued on with life – whether she could find her significant other or not. She was very practical. She knew what was like to live with wealth and without wealth. (Though her father’s business failed years before but he still had some sort of business running so they could not be called poor either – but could be mistaken as so.) She stayed carefree and optimistic, not dreaming of a possible getaway from it all either. She was satisfied with what she had and how she was still able to survive after all that had happened.

Hao Zhe, on the other hand, was well off but was not happy due to family conflicts. It drew out a typical picture for his character – the poor little rich guy. Also, the guy who seemed arrogant on the surface but had a good heart below all that tough exterior. However, it was not all about that. We often see how it was for other dramas. But Hao Zhe was a true ’shao ye’ with all his attitudes intact. He still has a good heart as an overall, but was not so goody-good that you wondered how he was able to pull it off with so much complications with his family among other things. His unrest nature that became the constant conflict between him and Summer made it different from other ‘prince charming’ characters. He had to learn how to restrain himself from temptation but failed several times before knowing to cherish what he has. But that did not mean that he has to change himself 180 degree from who he was before. It was part of him.

Their characters were believable and was easy to relate to. But it would not had worked that well if it was not for Blue and Annie’s collaboration. They were excellent in carrying out their roles and interacting with each other. They made us believe they were really Hao Zhe and Summer. They made us believed that they were a couple. That same magic leaped over to ‘Hua Shan * 24′ as they take on yet another collaboration. Surprisingly and fortunately, their magic did not die down like other collaborations and made it refreshing with their new characters. They were still close as before but gave off a different feeling toward one another because of the events unfolding the plots. It did not lack chemistry though they did not shared many imtimate scenes together like in ‘I Do‘. They still made it possible and addicting to watch with their subtle interactions throughout – and even the traumatiziing parts. It was not overdone at all.

I won’t spoil it much for those who did not watch both mentioned dramas yet and will come back next time with a similar topic yet with another couple.

*Most images were collected around the Net and belong to their respective owners. The rest were captured by DTLCT.

Soooo yeah, my basement neighbour is one of those bass-obsessed types.  The kind of person that can only listen to music with a subwoofer.  The kind of person who needs to FEEL his music as well as hear it.  I’m two floors above him and his music vibrates my bed… and not in a good way.

So this morning, when the bass had finally subsided at like, 430 in the a.m…. of course the ol’ pup decides that it is then that she needs to go out for a walk/pee!

So I took her out and took advantage of the cool light and took some pics:

Hey there Toronto breakfast joints, I have some news for you:

When someone orders Huevos Rancheros for breakfast they want to be filled to the brim with starchey, protein-filled deliciousness. 

There should be no white showing on the plate.  There should be guacamole [not avocado chunks], and there should be plenty o’ full-fat sour cream. There should be no capability to eat another meal, post-huevos.  In fact, there should be a bit of a  strain to stand, post-huevos.

Universal Grill:  understands the  huevos concept and has pretty much mastered it, AND has the loveliest servers ever.

Sunrise Grill & Crepe: not so much with the huevo-understanding-thing, nor the decent-service-thing.

Both restaurants have delicious homefries, though… just so you know.

go my feet and my legs and my running shoes

round and round and up and down and holy god, i’m sore.

i was a spinning virgin, but no more.

i effing love it.

verbal encouragement + cycling + loud music + sweating = my perfect workout

can’t wait for more.

A classy and elegant rehearsal dinner invitation perfect for your special occasion!

($2.00 per invitation)

it’s bulb season.

This makes my body hurt, my nails dirty, my boots muddy

and my tummy get bigger, because I’m hungry ALL THE TIME.

nom nom nom.

eff you bulbs.  you are spectacular in the spring, but for now you are terrible.

27th Nov 2009

KOOSHI at Mandarin Gallery will open from 11am onwards to tie in with the Mall’s Official Soft Launch. We are located on level 3 unit 25. Do drop in to visit us. Bring along the print out of  MG Gift voucher to enjoy $5 shopping discount per item. Limited period only. You will also see the the exclusive “I DO” range in the shop.

333 Orchard Road

Mandarin Gallery #03-25

Tel: 62357982

Oh you KNOW what I’m talking about.

I can’t believe this shit passes for cereal.  For BREAKFAST cereal.  For the meal that you’re supposed to have EVERY morning before you get off to live your day!!! 

This is like cavities in a bowl… and I like it.

I just spent the last 10 minutes wandering aimlessly around the internet on a topic-hop that started with ‘lucky charms’ , and ended in `the banana guard` .

Remember the good old days when the internet was fun because you could find out anything and that was cool, rather than just a given?

Sigh.  I’m feeling old…. like the generation I’m a part of just stopped being the current generation.

wow.

I need to go brush my teeth and read a real-live book before bed.  

Goodnight internet, you soul-sucking time consumer.

Thanks, rain day.

Instead of slopping around in giant piles of triple-mix and getting sand granules in my ear, this morning I made these:

I spent some time in Point Au Baril this summer and took some fun pics.

The header on my page is from the same weekend.

I tease with these:

For more: explore

Screw you; toronto drivers.  Pay attention.

So, I almost got hit by a car driver on Friday.  I rang the hell out of my bell, and my headlight is blinding, but she still turned left across my lane and nearly provided a terrible t-boner for me.  Luckily I was able to swerve with her into the road she was driving onto.

I yelled ‘W H A T    T H E    F * * *!!!!????!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!’  She barely put up her hand to say sorry or even acknowledge how close that was.  Then I nearly collapsed over the front of my handlebars and screamed at the top of my longs ‘ ‘AAAUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!’ 

Now, I feel like I’ve pulled a muscle just below my sternum. 

Near-death experiences are SO much more effective than ab-rollers.

• Fed changes the way banks assess overdraft fees?
• Readings by Cheryl Merkowski. She done cracked!
• Cover songs by Debra Wilkerson of Church of Debra

Today’s music by the evil internet drones!

Help support the show by making a purchase from the new digital downloads store at digistore.visitronix.com or donating via paypal to visitronix@gmail.com. The main website is now located at visitronix.com

AND, her last name is a seed from my favourite type of bread!!

So last night I fully realized that I like the reviews from Now magazine better, but for the most part, Eyeweekly has a far better team of writers.  I try desperately every week to get in some leisure reading of my own from my pile of books in my bedroom, but I can never dedicate enough time to feel like I’m really reading again.  BUT! But, but, BUT… every week, I get truly excited when I notice that the random piles of newspapers all over the city have new covers.  In the last few months, most of the covers of eye have made me react something like ‘Omigoodnessyes! They’ve written about that!?! I can’t wait to read this issue.’  

This week the cover is something about manchildren; the type of guys who never want to grow up (or aren’t capable of it) and are either proud of it, or just don’t care.  BUT, I didn’t really want to read that until I flipped through the paper to try to find something by Carraway.  A couple weeks ago she read my mind by doing a piece on [not] hoarding stuff right when I had decided that I was definitely going to give up my apartment in January to go on a trip to somewhere in South America and was suddenly feeling  weighed down by the accumulation of objects/stuff in my space.  I loved it.  So I was flipping through Eye last night and I was getting kind of sad because I got to all the sexyads and thought I was searching in vain… but lo and behold, there she was on the back page because her article this week was on..

dunh dunh dUNNNNNNH:

Procrasturbation.     Love it.  Both the activity and the article. 

I participanted in ido workshop 2009 from School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, An article about my ido 2009 exprience was published on Curve magazine from Australia. I would like to share the article.

ben’s been traveling a lot the past couple of weeks, and has a little more traveling to come in the next couple. which is a wonderful thing – can’t explain how fun it is getting to see him having new opportunities to do what he loves.

we were talking today as he’s driving home to spend his 23rd birthday (today. happy birthday husband ben!) and a part of saturday in nashville before he hits the road again. we were talking about how being apart has been hard, but it hasn’t been unbearable, horrific, or anything we chalked it up to be beforehand in our heads. i think his exact words were this: “it helps that we are both confident in what we’re doing, and in that we love each other. it’s definitely not ideal, but in this season of life – this is where we are.”

two things i’d like to say about my husband’s thought:

1) this would be a good motto to adopt for all of those un-ideal but called-for situations that come up in life.

2) ben’s words made me realize it’s an invaluable gift to believe in whatever you’re doing in life’s moment. it makes any challenges that come from it seem a little better than bearable, if not downright purposeful. so i’m not sure whether a) this means to only do things you believe in, which seems a little idealistic and unrealistic to expect all the time (…does it?) or b) maybe it means that if life hands you something that wasn’t at the top of your list, you do your best to find something about it to believe in and give it purpose. i think maybe it’s both.

trying to differentiate between these two things (a and b) made me think of this:

at the end of the movie forrest gump, forrest is talking to his wife/lifetime best friend jenny at her gravesite after she’s passed away. he says:

“…I don’t know if Momma was right or if, if it’s Lieutenant Dan.  I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze. But I think maybe it’s both. Maybe both is happening at the same time.”

well said, forrest.

The eyes, Chico, they never lie

An inspiring piece from one of my favorite poets. She’s from Maine and she’s devastated…enough said.

Share stories

On a personal note, I have just become an official Playback theatre apprentice! After an initial audition and callback (harrowing because it has been yonks since I auditioned for anything), I was accepted into the troupe. I am truly wonderfully excited.

Pip.

When mulling over the idea of starting a blog, a good friend of mine, who was considering my best interests told me, “Jessica, just journal.” She was right. But with a three week outreach trip around the corner and a need for prayer, I can no longer resist.  

Here I am world of the blog, will you be my friend? 

Much like other Bloggers (is that a bloglitically correct term?), I thought I would start mine off on a vulnerable note. Here are some pictures from my first photo assistant job at the wedding of Bronte and Anthony.

All this time change is doing to me is making me feel MORE guilty about how slow my lazy ass is in the morning.

Before i had the excuse of ‘darkness’

Thanks, calendar!

*note*  I actually really do love that it’s bright in the morning. I just like to keep up the bitter-sarcastic-whoa-is-me-ness that I’ve developed of late.