Korean Dramas

I am an escapist at heart. When things go wrong, or if there are just too many things, or if the day seems just a little bit empty, I like to bury myself in some form of fiction.

This means I read a lot, I write a little, and that I watch a truly egregious amount of television (not to mention the daydreaming). But only sometimes and usually in truly epic binges.

For those of us who enjoy an escapist binge, it is hard to do better than Korean dramas. I was introduced to the glory of Korean dramas through rageprufrock (a familiar name in many fandoms) and have pretty much never looked back. Filled with angst and pretty pretty boys, convuluted love triangles, love interests that usually start out hating each other and packing entire seasons of plot into one hour shows to the point that I always wonder what could possible go wrong next (Amnesia! They might be related! The house burns down! Now episode 2!), these shows are a gold mine, especially since there are decades of shows that I have never seen.

Two general sites that are incredibly useful if you are interested in getting into Kdrama or Jdrama (Japanese dramas are way weirder, but sometimes more satisfying) are www.mysoju.com, which has mountains of links for watching online, and kdramawiki. Also useful is keeping an eye on WITH 2 subbing team, who magically always seem to be translating the best stuff.

There is also the whole hard subbing (watching a streamed show with the subtitles added in) versus soft subbing (where you download the subtitles separately and add them somehow, and this is moderately less likely to get anyone in trouble) controversy, which is written about very persuasively elsewhere (and of course I have lost the link. Sorry!). Also, a number of these shows can be found commercially available from places like netflix or zip.ca (I know American netflix has some, who knows if zip.ca does).

However, due to the enormous number of these shows now available (I love watching access to previously hard-to-find items take off), I have compiled a list of my favourite shows so far. Now, my normal method of recommendation is to make high pitched noises while waving my hands around like a CRAZY person, but I recognize that this is not always the most textually useful system, so I shall attempt to make moderately more sense.

Goong (Princess of Hours) - This show is the one that started it all. A good tempered and entertaining school girl finds out her grandparents had arranged her marriage to the prince. It posits that there is still a Korean royal family, much like the one in the UK, and the outfits and set are FANTASTIC. Of course the two do NOT GET ON. My mom ended up watching this with me while we sobbed quietly at the ridiculous drama. Also, a couple of my friends have fond memories of my flailing synopsis of the convoluted linkages.

The 1st shop of Coffe Prince - Classic plot of "she gets mistaken for a boy and ends up with a job working with very pretty men at a coffee shop". But the characters in this are some of the best I have seen in any television show anywhere, and although it has a ridiculous premise, everyone deals with it in very real ways. I'm currently force feeding this series to my friends, and we are enjoying ourselves excessively. Additional link. 

Kimi wa Petto (You are my pet) - This one is Japanese and based off a manga. It is ... odder but still one of my favourites. A driven and slightly cold career woman adopts a young dancer who she finds homeless on her porch. She agrees to feed him and take care of him so long as he will keep her company as her pet "Momo". He also very grumpily complains to his friends that there is no sex. I find the Japanese fixation with finding relationships where you can be "Real" fascinating.

Other Favourites: (all deserving of their own recommendations, but I will never get this posted if I keep talking about them)

Hotaru no Himiko (Hour of the firefly?)
Hana Kimi
Boys before Flowers

But the great thing about these series is that there is one for everyone. It is actually like the past twenty years of foreign television are at your fingertips. And unlike American Soap Operas, these shows have fairly short episode lists, so they wrap it all up tidily within one season (except for the historical dramas. those go on FOREVER). So Good.

Grrr! Arrr!

I have a huge fondness for zombies. Zombie Walks (I swear I will go this year), Zombie movies (Fido), Zombie spoofs (Shaun of the Dead), and Zombie video games (Hunter the Reckoning anyone?) are all equally adored. I even have truly epic Opinions about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (also, the movie is coming up! I look forward to having Opinions about that too).

So it should surprise no one that I have spent far too many hours over the past couple of days playing
Rebuild.

In this tiny flash game, you carefully direct your survivors so that you can reclaim a city and not be devoured by the ravening hoards outside your walls. Pure bliss. But like Mardek, don't click on it if you have something else you were planning on doing today. You've been warned.

Upcoming marathons: Walking Dead (I will almost be in time for season two)
Upcoming shows: TyLean and thOrN at the Avantgarde Bar
Upcoming craft shows: Originals at Landsdown

Historical dramas or A Love Letter to the BBC

Earlier this year, I fell ass over teakettle for Downton Abbey, an upstairs/downstairs BBC drama set just at the eve of WWI on a country estate. Now, I'm incredibly stubborn, so it took no less than three VERY determined prods from people who know me VERY well in conjunction with a general internet orgy of appreciation for this series to get me to try it, but I am even now waiting with barely restrained impatience for season two. (the servants! and the sisterly fighting! The Irish socialist who is also the chauffeur! The occasional clandestine gay make-outs!)

Now what I can't understand is why no one was also shoving North and South at me (not to be confused with the American Civil War mini-series of exactly the same name). In this one, Miss Hale moves up from sleepy idyllic South to the industrialized Millton in the mid-1800s. In amidst a decadently sweeping score, she learns all about unions and strikes, industry and cotton, yelling men, being surrounded by death and gets proposed to repeatedly. I love it. Love love love. (It may help that our leading man has been compared to Colin Firth's portrayal of Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. And if you haven't seen THAT BBC production, well, I will meet you back here in six hours when you will be happier. Also, please note, none of that Kiera Knightley silliness here.)

This series shares a lot of elements with Downton Abbey: the focus on class struggle, the exploration of a time of upheaval and change, really fantastic production values. But it also shares this man:

His acting is amazing, and whenever he is on screen I just basically want to change the entire plot so that he can be happy. I don't see why that is so much to ask! He better be okay in Season Two of Downton Abbey, that's all I have to say.

On a sidenote, netflix.ca has finally stopped being rubbish. They've begun to acquire a steady stream of shows I genuinely want to watch. I'm very pleased about the whole thing.

Iphone Tethering

I actually went over my bandwidth last month, because I was horribly ill and mainlining the anime Samurai 7 through netflix like a banshee (this fixed bandwidth thing is such bullshit. Need to sign me that petition before it gets worse).

It was of course AFTER I received my bill that I realized I have a data plan which is approximately eighty billion times more than I need and could have shouldered some of the burden. So I went off to find out how to access my iphone data plan from my computer.

Guys, guys, it is SO EASY. Follow these instructions and TADA!  I will never need to pay for internet in a coffee shop EVER AGAIN. Now if I could just get decent coverage when I travel in the states.

UPDATE: Ok, so it is supposed to be that easy. I tested it, but only halfway, and then when I put it into practice this evening, I realized I am, once again, a giant liar.

First, find out if your provider supports tethering. You can check here. For those of us in Canada, Fido does. Then you can follow the instructions above. For some reason, you may not be actually able to find your phone. I recommend mucking about with the bluetooth, setting up the device, and then ending up using the network option called ethernet cable even though you know your phone is connected using a USB cord. Mine is working now, but to be honest I am not entirely sure how....

So best of luck! I hope it turns out and you too can enjoy delicious delicious data plan internet.

UPCOMING EVENTS: Whist and Poker with the Ottawa Steampunks

Lost Girl

While navigating the Toronto subway system, I came across a number of advertisments for the tv show Lost Girl. An offering from Showcase, (for my American friends, think of it as a combination of Bravo and Showtime) the ads featured a girl in tight black leather and vague text about demons. I was obviously intrigued, and then promptly couldn't find it online.

Well, I found it here (oh bugger, and it turns out is also on the official Showcase website linked above, am an idiot), and so far it is BRILLIANT. Better production quality than Blood Ties (which I still maintain is a show better than the original books, not matter how much I love Tanya Huff's other novels), the protagonist is strong and funny, her male foil is exactement à mon gout, and she's a succubus. I mean, come on! We're talking Fae, and the world building is really good, and I am super pleased about this, especially as it is perfect for my slightly hungover Sunday morning.

For those of us who tried Dark Angel and just Couldn't Do It, or maybe for those of you who really liked that show too, I heartily endorse this. Plus, Canadian! Can't wait to find out if it is set in a Canadian city too, because man I like it when shows are not set in New York City.

Upcoming Events: Maybe Spins and Needles on Friday? Crafting to a DJ is always good times.

UPDATE: He is wearing a vest!! And is all scruffy! Wheee~

Fringe

Right, so, yes, I am still totally working on that Korean television post, but I am also currently waiting for the second half of my Fringe episode to load, and I figured I should mention it to you.

Because Fringe is definitely my favourite thing on North American TV right now. It is a modern day X-files that so far has managed to stay good. So good. Even manages to balance two worlds in alternating episodes good.

And I think Olivia Dunham is one of my favourite characters of all time. I read a lot of feminist blogs, and there are a lot of things about current media that make me wince, but Dunham deals with so much with so much grace and without losing her humanity or her ability to cope. Right, I should probably stop now before I end up with another half finished post in which I go far deeper into my mad character love than the show necessarily needs. But guys, SO GOOD. so v. v. good.

Which of course worries me that the show is going to vanish some time in the next few months (Fucking Fox). It has been a long time since I waited for a show to air with such anticipation.

Eee Sherlock!

I am halfway through a brilliant and long post about the glories of Korean television, but I am interrupting that moderately scheduled blogpost to bring you a brief session of hand waving and gleeful grinning about another of my favourite shows.

Sherlock does the absolutely BEST rendition of an updated Holmes story, and it is one of the few cinematic endeavours I've yet to encounter which manages to use text messaging and laptops effectively. (the fact that so many movies still seem to use technology attitudes from the late 1990s drives me mad)

So yes, if you haven't seen the new BBC Sherlock series (only 3 episodes right now. I can hardly wait for more) I highly recommend them! And not just because everyone keeps assuming they are dating and Watson is endearingly grumpy about this since he is trying to get a date with an attractive lady, thank you very much. The second episode has some wonky eastern exoticism going on, but episode 1 and episode 3 are just So Much Fun.

The BBC has even done some work so that you can visit Dr. John Watson's blog online (his therapist recommended he start one). I don't think they've quite managed to devote the time that pulling off an integrated internet branch of this series, but I like the effort.

Which brings me to the actual reason I am posting about this now instead of six months ago when I dug through the internet for the British episode releases: this show has inspired some fantastically brilliant vids! The first one is genuinely pretty, and impressively edited. The second one just really entertains me.







EDIT:

Guys, the Sherlock vidders are just hitting it out of the park! They've even done some work to The Dandy Warhol song "I am a Scientist", to which I am quite partial.

Getting my Macbook to talk nice with my TV

So that my new couch wouldn't feel lonely, I finally bit the bullet and bought a TV. At 32", it seems ENORMOUS, but I simply did not want to put up with tiny screens for movie watching any longer (although I still have no intention of getting cable).

So right, I have a tv, I have a couch, and now I need a way to politely introduce my computer (still thinking about trying Canadian Netflix, although all my American friends have already partially ruined me for the experience with all their added available content) to my television so that they can be friends and I can watch Project Runway with my friend (a person friend. Not my tv, although he is very nice) without squinting. Squinting at chiffon is not actually awesome.

This was more daunting than I expected. The key is that you need some type of cable that will link your computer to your tv. Chances are you do not already have this cable, and will start wandering around the internet trying to find it. If you have a Mac, chances are even better that you will go to the apple online store and be COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED and then ask a techie friend. Who is in another country. And then you won't tell him the right information for what ports your computer has and so he will suggest the wrong cable and it will be AN UNENDING CIRCLE OF LAME.

But! By the end of it, you might actually have a decent idea of what you need, and it all seems super simple. This is my attempt to save someone from the lame cycle. (anyone. It was extremely frustrating)

First off, this guy has the best step by step, This Is How you Hook up your Mac to a TV youtube video that I have found. He is full of all sorts of useful information like "plug the computer in first or it won't work" (seriously? How was I supposed to magically know that otherwise?) and also shows you how easy it should be.

However, for it to actually BE that easy, you should do the following steps.

1. Figure out what port your laptop/computer/magic typing box actually has. 

I THOUGHT I had the mini Display Port, but this was in fact a lie based on googling on the internet and having no clue what those extra ports along the side of my computer were for. Most of the newer Macbooks and Macbook pros now have the mini display ports, so I figured that was what I had too. It wasn't until I bought the part, waited for it to arrive, and then spent twenty minutes trying to work out why it wasn't working and worrying I'd broken my new friend the TV (and cursing it for being finicky) that I worked out that I had an older version port called the Mini- DVI. This confusion was compounded by the fact that the cord I had bought sort of almost fit a different port and frankly I'm just grateful that I didn't electrocute myself and destroy my darling laptop (which has its own issues what with demanding bizarre charging rituals). I had to look up what my port was actually called on the original box, but I'm sure there is some type of google image search things that could also work.

2. Figure out what port in your TV you are going to plug into 


The internet seems to conveniently agree that you should plug into the HDMI input. So that's what I did. There are other ports, but seriously, I just decided to go with that one.

3. Accept that for some reason your laptop and television will use this cable for video, but not audio

For some reason, the macbook to tv cable/port things only carry the video. There is some muttering that new updates are fixing this, but it is OKAY, because you can just plug some old speakers (or, you know, nice and fancy ones) into the headphone jack (At least I know what that one looks like, and it is conveniently labelled) and TADA, sound!

4. Go buy that Adaptor!

I picked mine up at monoprice.com, because they are nice and cheap and clearly labelled (and were suggested in various forums). Good delivery, got across the border just fine, and I have now tested them twice: once for the wrong cable, and once for the one that actually works.

5. Remember to buy the actual HDMI cord too!  


Turns out if you just buy the adaptor, you are not going to have an easy time hooking it up to your tv. Thank goodness for the "customers also bought this" list, or I would have been even more frustrated during this endeavour. I suggest more than 3 feet for your cable too, as sometimes you want a bit more flexibility on where you can put your computer in relation to your tv. Oh well, I did say I wanted my electronics to be friends.

6. Plug them in!

Match up your tv to the HDMI setting and away you go! Also, don't force the connectors! If they aren't fitting, RETURN TO STEP ONE.

I am still ironing out the details on getting the screens on my laptop to match up to the tv (I can drag a screen from the laptop to the tv, and I think the F6 key [where I need to use the fn function key I've been ignoring for two years] has something to do with exterior monitors) but man, I am just pleased as punch to have finally introduced these two to each other.

Long Weekends

Since becoming single again I have found long weekends to be particularly challenging. Suddenly there is time that weighs heavily in my hands, and no matter how many games nights (yahtzee!), outings (Vintage Urban Cabaret - a belly dancing show with steampunk leanings) or breakfasts at Elgin Street Diner I plan, I always end up with just a little bit too much time in my apartment. This is of course compounded by the fact that on the holiday, things aren't exactly open, which makes running errands slightly less likely to happen.

But, this long weekend involved a couple of exciting developments. One: I discovered I can make raspberry pie as good as my dad's (this is unfortunately also coupled with the discovery that I am fully capable of eating most of a pie all on my own) and Two: I have missed crochet.

I have just finished a hat, and started a new one. I tend to like very simple projects, often ones that I can work on while watching something with subtitles (Today's korean drama is Sunkyunkwan Scandal which is ACTUALLY a school drama set in historic times and involves a young lady disguised as her brother so she can go to the all boy academy and get stuck in a room with a honourable lord and a guy described as "a crazy horse" [oh god, I love it so much])

So honestly, the hat is totally not worth showing you. BUT, I recently finished a project with a friend for an other more different friend's baby. We made a baby blanket. And because this friend is part of The Who Council (I may have been out at a show, slightly intoxicated, and decided to inform my friends that we were all Wise Owls and as such were on The Who Council. I may also demand they fistbump me and say Who! The Who Council is totally awesome), and is in fact one of the founding members, we made him a baby blanket with crochet owls. Guys, these owls are ADORABLE. The blue one is the tiny owl once I'd worked him into a granny square.

 and this one is the one that lives on my office wall. I call him Puppy. (The Poppy is for Remembrance Day! Remember! It is coming up!)

You can find the pattern here. Umm.. the eyes aren't supposed to come out mismatched, but be warned, that happens a lot.