Of Swords and Parasols

Hrm...the problem with Rondo is that I can't really mention the second half without giving away some pretty major spoilers that really shouldn't be given out.  However, as it is half jdrama/half kdrama and involves undercover cops and forbidden romances and plenty of angst, I shall spoil the part of the ending most of the dorama fans on the flist want to know(plus, it won't really spoil anything for the main plot beyond what I said in my other post).


I started this just expecting some action and to enjoy what promised to be some fast paced melodrama(see, I don't have a problem with melodrama and long eternal stares and angsts, it's just when that takes up most of a series-like most kdramas-I lose patience and interest)  but ended up absolutely in love with the first half, and then liking the second half, but wihing it was shorter.  About halfway through, there's a bloody marvelous twist that turns the series from one kind of story I love into another kind of story I love.  The only problem is that, as compared to the first half, and to most jdramas, the second half drags somewhat.  If you aren't used to kdrama melodrama at all, it's probably going to go from great to draggy, if you love kdrama melodrama it'll probably eat you alive.  I've seen enough modern kdramas to be used to the melodrama even though it annoys me, so I still enjoyed it even though I wish it had maintained the breakneck pace of the first half.  Still, I quite liked the series and wih there were more like it in general.

Anyway, i bring ome pics.

1.  My nephew is the world's messiest eater.  End of discussion.  Went to lunch with Myles, Jen and Jackson, and the lighting wasn't great...we knew he'd gotten some food on himself, but when we got outside, the boy was abolutely CAKED in food.  Also?  He only liked me today when the waist length ponytail was in grabbing distance.  He didn't like me a lot today...

2.  This is my new favorite icon.  It is a fairly silly icon and one I shall likely lose interest in before long, but it suits my more recent entertainment wants.  Plus, it has Kyo AND Manji, and I feel that combination is hard to top.  As long as they aren't fighting.  I feel there wouldn't be a Japan left if that ever happened.  (Though kingcrankycatseems to be appalled that I would even think of comparing Kyo to Manji...)

3.  In Rondo, it was recently revealed that the hero is Korean(actually, that may have been revealed in the first episode, but I was too busy being entertained by the melodrama and action to notice) but was raised in Japan.  The heroine, also Korean, apparently has no birth records, and there's no record of her at all before she was several years old.  I had SO better not have found myself watching a "I'm in love with my long lost sibling drama."  I have very, very carefully avoided both those and death in the snow kdramas...

4.  I have placed 2 book orders to Amazon this week.  One earlier this week of things I knew the booksale wouldn't have, the other today after not find the books at the sale.  A hardcover held up the first order, and now they're apparently all arriving the same day.  In three boxes.  Because now, even though the whole order is supposed to arrive on Wednesday, the hardcover is being shipped separately...

5.  I went back to the booksale today and got a couple of "grab bag" boxes.  One box had several books by Bertrice Small.  Small writes "romance novels" where the heroine, always the most beautiful and sensuous woman alive, goes through several lovers, all amazingly skilled(even the evil ones) and sometimes more than one at a time(per sex scene.)  I have read several for pure "WTF?" factor over the years, and they have all been amazingly bad and prosy.  One of these books has this lovely description:  "A fiery celtic beauty, Reganis abducted to exotic lands and delivered to Karim al Malina, master of the erotic arts, who will mold her into a Love Slave [their caps, not mine] fir for a Moorish king[9 out of 10 of her heroines end up this way, trust me].  Under Karim's tutelage, Regan-now called Zaynab, "the beautiful one"-is swept into uncharted realms of ecstasy.  But the pair break the first ruler of teacher and pupil when they fall in love.  Now, as Zaynab fulfills her destiny as the adored prize of the Caliph of Cordoba, she vows that somehow, she will be reunited with Karim, her only love..."  Ok, seriously, sweetie, the man's profesion is to turn nice abducted girls into first class prostitutes...you aren't the first one he's "swept into uncharted realms of ecstasy."  I am SO happy these books now get called "Erotica" instead.  Except hers, which, as far as I know, are still published as romance.  Did I mention the bulk of that is how most of her books go?


ETA: nihongofrancaisassures me that Rondo is not a "in love with my long lost sibling" drama despite red herrings.  I am relieved.  I'd hate to have my record accidentally be broken.

I have just started watching the japanese/korean drama, Rondo.  It's basically "Japan does a kdrama."

It's essentially about Nishijima Sho, an undercover cop trying to bring down the organization that got his father killed 24 years ago.  He is a true angry and dark and angsty hero and he only person he's nice to is his partner, Hide.  I feel that if Hide weren't played by Sato Ryuta, Sho wouldn't have time for him, either.  But since he is, being mean to Hide would be like being mean to an overgrown puppy.  Anyway, whilst being his angstridden self, he meets Choi Yoon A, a woman who recently immigrated from Korea with her younger sister and who doesn't speak any Japanese.  Actually, in true kdrama fashion, they ALMOST meet multiple times with the camera doing multiple takes each time.  I'm not sure why they moved to Japan, but Yoon A is a musician, and both Sho and Hide are fascinated (naturally) by her playing.  Sho by silently staring then pretending he doesn't notice and Hide by openly praising her.  I suspect Sho is friends with Hide so no one will notice that Sho doesn't speak much.

Anyway, Yoon A's boss tries to stiff her because she doesn't speak Japanese and he thinks he can get away with it, and pushes her hard enough to knock her against breakable things when she confronts him.  This results in a chain of events ending with ho bodily throwing himself over Yoon A to protect her from falling glass.

Now, when Korea does Korea melodrama, my eyes tend to glaze over before too long, but when Japan does Korean melodrama, I am entertained beyond words, just like with Love Generation.  As calixa  pointed out, it's probably because the melodrama lasts an eternity in kdramas, but in jdramas, you get the thrill and fun of the melodrama but it zips right by you and you're moving on before it can get boring.