Review: Princess Hours (Goong)

As you all know by now, I really love watching Korean soap operas (or popularly known as K-dramas). And rarely do I really like one that I go gaga over it. Full House, Sassy Girl Chun-Hyang and My Lovely Kim Sam Soon to name a few. Lately, a friend of mine recommended a new K-drama called Princess Hours. It's korean title is Goong, meaning Palace. Goong, like some of the later K-dramas, was based on a manghwa (Korean comic books) of the same title. The story revolves around an ordinary girl, Shin Chae-Gyeung, who found out that her grandfather and the emperor of Korea made a pact and that she would have to marry the crown Prince, Lee Shin-Goon. Her grandfather apparently saved the emperor's life during the Japanese occupation. The Prince, Lee Shin, has a girl friend who he had proposed to. But due to his girlfriend's high ambitions of becoming a ballet dancer and not wanting to be tied down in the Palace, turned down his proposal. His girlfriend lately realized her mistake when Prince Shin and Chae-Gyeung were married (talk about stupid) so she did everything she can to take away the Prince from Chae-Gyeung. Anyway, here's where it gets complicated. Prince Shin was not exactly the crown prince before. After a sudden death of the Emperor, the successor became the second heir or the Emperor's brother. According to Palace laws, only the Queen Mother, the Emperor and the Emperor's immediate family are to live inside the palace grounds. The other members of the Royal Family are to live outside the palace grounds. The late Emperor had a wife and son (the supposed real heir to the throne) Lee Yul, who were put into exile in Britain. After learning that the current Emperor has an ailment and Prince Shin is showing some signs of rebellion, Prince Lee Yul and his mother returned to Korea hoping that he can get back what was rightfully his, namely the throne, and depending on how you'll look at it, his supposed wife, Shin Chae-Gyeung. Well, the story of Goong is so deep. It's not your typical love triangle k-drama. Goong also has a beautiful soundtrack which I really love. The instrumentals and the songs is perfect for the series.

You might think that there's an exsisting monarchy in Korea. The Korean monarchy disappeared apparently during the japanese occupation. Goong is mainly a "what if" kind of story. What if there is a constitutional monarchy in Korea where the royal family is just a status symbol instead of a ruling power. They made reference to the British monarchy as a symbol for the people. Also they made reference to the British royal scandal between Prince Charles, Lady Diana and Camilla Parker Bowles. And the most funny part about the series, they made Prince William visit Korea. Well, it's not really Prince William, but their Prince William in the series did and is a good friend of Prince Yul.

This K-drama targets the teenage population by casting young singer/actress Yoon Eun-hye for the lead role as Shin Chae-Gyeung and model/actor Joo Ji-Hoon as Prince Lee Shin. With it's typical teenage love story, Goong attracts the younger viewers. But as the story progresses, the story becomes deeper and darker so if you'll notice, the latter episodes turned from PG-12 to PG-15. Anyway, I hope you get a copy of Goong (Princess Hours) and I also hope that you'll enjoy watching as much as I do.

Bounce!

18 VS 29

My interest in Korean soap operas got the better of me. Last Holy week (a week long holiday in the Philippines), I watched a Korean soap titled 18 VS 29. 16 episodes in all. Never got to finish it in a day. I started wathcing it thursday and finished it just yesterday. Thus keeping me occupied the whole vacation. Besides the poor subtitles, the series has a good story. Also, like every other Korean soaps that I've watched, they have the most annoying and beautiful antagonists, marriage is not a big deal to these antagonists and parents (or guardians) are always a hinder to the protagonist's marriage. The difference of this soap among the others is that the guy really love his wife. He never did have a relationship nor fell in love with another woman.

The story is about a married couple on the brink of a divorce. One fateful day, 29 year old Hye-chan, the wife, was on her way to the trial court to submit the divorce papers when a truck crashed into her car. Her husband, Sang-Young, also 29, is an actor who is rumoured to have a relationship with his co-actor in a TV series. Sang-young was on an interview when he heard about Hye-chan's accident. Hye-chan apparently survived the car crash but unfortunately, she lost her memory. She didn't entirely lose her memory. But all she can remember was from up to a certain day when she was 18 years old. When she was 18, that was when she first met her husband. Funny thing is, she hated his guts in high school. So when she woke up, she thought that she was still 18 and upon knowing that she married the guy who she hated, couldn't accept it. Her sister and husband tried to make sense out of her. They thought that she was only faking it in defense to the rumors surrounding his husband. The wife only thought he was having an affair when she spotted him carrying his drunk co-star to her apartment. Which apparently, nothing did happen. Being a loving husband that he is, he really convinced his wife that she's already 29, she's married to him and that they love each other very much. He tries to make her forget all about the bad things that happened to their relationship and about the divorce. But, as usual, certain factors tried to hinder their love in the form of a jealous, obsessive co-star, a love struck high-school student and a grumpy old grandfather.

It's tough enough to take care of someone who has amnesia, but this time, having to take care of someone who has selective amnesia or retrograde amnesia (as they call it) is far worse. Especially if you know that she hated your guts back to that event in time that she only remembers. The soap's funny. It kind of reminds me of the movie 50 First Dates and 13 Going On 30.

Bounce!

Tristan and Isolde

Last Saturday, I watched the movie Tristan and Isolde. They say that the story of Tristan and Isolde is like the Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet. For me it's more like the story of King Arthur. The story goes like this (spoiler alert). After the Romans moved out of Britain, the tribes of Britain were in shambles. Ireland, being untouched by the Romans, decided to conquer Britain. The remaining tribes of Britain tried to unify themselves in order to save Britain from Ireland.

Tristan was a son of a baron whose parents were killed when a group of Irish soldiers raided their town. He was then adopted by Mark (who will later be crowned King of Britain) and grew up to be a cunning and powerful warrior. He was made second hand man to Mark. He championed Mark in every battle. One day, upon defending their people from the Irish invaders, Tristan was but by a sword filled with poison. Thinking that he was dead, he was put on a "death" boat and floated into the sea. Unfortuntely, his boat landed on Ireland. Fortunately, he was still alive. He was found by Isolde, who happened to be an Irish princess, and saved his life. The two fell in love while Isolde (who changed her name fearing that Tristan would fear her) was still caring for the wounds of Tristan. Then reports of a Briton in the Irish shores came to the Kings ears and held a hunting party for the said Brit (Tristan). Isolde, upon hearing this, alerted Tristan and sent him back home to Britain.

A few years later, the King of Ireland decided to make his daughter Isolde as a prize in a tournament to be fought by the champions of the tribes of Britain in order to create disorder among the ranks. Tristan, being the champion of Mark, won the tournament. Tristan didn't know who Isolde was because Isolde gave him a different name. Unfortunately, Isolde can't be his for he only represented his master Mark. His master is set to marry Isolde. There began the dilema. They love each other. Tristan, being loyal to his master and now king, was torn apart. He couldn't stand seeing Isolde with another man. He tried his best to part with them as much as possible. Isolde, who is also torn apart, decided to make the first move. She told Tristan that she couldn't bear not seeing him, thus forcing them to do the bad deed of seeing each other late at nights and make love. In the end, they were caught and was sentenced to death. Mark, who both loved Tristan (as a son) and Isolde (as wife), found himself confused and decided to let them go instead. But because of an Irish invasion, Tristan was killed and Isolde being heart broken, disappeared and was never found again.

It's a touching movie. I do love period films especially during the Dark Ages in Britain. But because of the missing appropriate accents of the actors, it sort of spoiled the movie for me. I remember watching Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Kevin Costner playing the role of Robin Hood, never even tried using a Britishc accent. So it was kind of awkward in a sense, knowing that the characters are supposed to be English but has a (more like) Texan accent. The ending is also weird. But then again, it is a tragic story after all.

Bounce!

Holy Week-end Indeed

It's a monday. And today is a start of another week. After almost a week long vacation last week (because of Holy Week), it's back to work again. Yesterday was Easter Sunday, so Happy Easter to all of you out there. Last week, I didn't get a chance to go online due to my ongoing problems with my broadband connection. Thankfully, we have an internet connection here at the office. I didn't miss much I guess. Probably because I was too busy last week watching a Korean soap called 18 or 29. I'll talk about that later. Also during the Holy Week, it is tradition that all stores and malls are closed on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Local TV and radio stations are off air (thank God for cable).

Anyway, last Maundy Thursday, me and my friends went on church hopping or "Visita Iglesia" as we call it. It's a common practice in the Philippines to go on a Visita Iglesia during Holy Thursday. It is said that one must visit atleast 7 churches within a day, do the Stations of the Cross and your wish will be granted (I don't know about this part, but it sounded more like a superstitious belief). It's the first time that I did a Visita Iglesia without my parents. It's more fun. We went to Malate Church, Manila Cathedral, San Agustin Church, Binondo Cathedral, Shrine of Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Light (whew), Our Lady of Lourdes Church (in Tagaytay) and the circular church in Greenbelt respectively in that order. We were planning on going to the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters convent (popularly known as the Pink Sisters), unfortunately, there were a lot of visitors going in and out of their convent so it's quite difficult to enter. After a meaningful Visita Iglesia, my friends and I decided to hang around The Fort till midnight and chat.

On Good Friday, I started my Korean soap marathon. I had a hard time watching because of the bad subtitles. You have to piece evertything together in order to understand what the characters were saying. Still, the story was good and I liked it. My marathon ended yesterday. There were 16 episodes all in all. I didn't have time to finish the soap within a day because my friends (who I went with doing a Visita Iglesia) asked to meet me later that evening. Apparently, they couldn't get enough of our chatting on thursday and decided to continue chatting more. Well, it was fun. We bonded a little.

It was a good thing that on Black Saturday, mall operations went back to normal. So me and my parents went to the mall. They played BINGO as usual, while I watch a movie, as usual. I watched, Tristan and Isolde. According to the movie poster, "Before there was Romeo and Juliet, there was Tristan and Isolde". Okay, the film is supposed to be a tragic romance flick set in Britain right after the Romans moved out. Upon watching the film, I can't help but think that it is more like an Arthurian lore rather than a Shakespearean play because of a secret love between Queen and Champion (reads Guenivere and Lancelot). It's weird though that they decided to cast James Franco as Tristan. He's not a brit in anyway, and his dialect is confusing at times. Sophia Myles, on the other hand, who plays Isolde, seemed to lost the Irish accent (she is, after all, playing an Irish Princess). Directed by Kevin Reynolds, who directed Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, it's no wonder that accents were not emphisized in the film.

On Easter Sunday, we had our regular family get together. Nothing much happened on Easter Sunday. We already heard mass Saturday night. It was probably the longest mass I've ever attended. 7 readings, 7 responsorial psalms and a dance number. No wonder it took 2 and a half hours. Still, we did get baptized again.

Hopefully by this week, the broadband connection at home will be fixed so I can do this blog stuff at home instead of at work.

Bounce!

Ranting Mood

Since I'm in a ranting mood today, I would like to say that I'm starting to hate my broadband connection. It's as slow as hell... I mean as slow as a dial-up connection. Paying 750 bucks a month is not really worth it. A dial-up can download files better.

Just Another Typical Day

Just watched Win A Date With Tad Hamilton the other night. It got me into thinking that how easy it is to get a girl in the movies. No matter how hard the protagonist tried to win over the girl, he usually ends up being with her by the time the credits roll (no matter what they look like; fat, short, skinny, ugly). Just thinking how easy for them to say how they feel to the opposite sex just makes me crazy. Sometimes, no matter how silly this may sound (try childish), I wish I could live in the movies. Not at a movie house, ofcourse. What I mean is the actual film.

In the film Win A Date With Tad Hamilton, Topher Grace's character, Petey, is your average joe who fells in love with a local blonde bombshell in the image of Rosalie (Kate Bosworth) who happens to be his childhood friend and loves Tad Hamilton who happens to be an actor. Anyway, as the title goes, Rosalie won a date with Tad Hamilton. Apparently, Tad Hamilton fell in love with Rosalie leaving Petey in ruins. Petey never admitted his love for Rosalie the whole time they were together until Tad decided to take Rosalie back to California with him.

Reality folks, the girl wouldn't have made a second opinion about going with an actor (for pete's sake, he's an actor for crying out loud) even though the local boy decided to tell his true feelings impromptu. But what really happened in the film, Rosalie left Tad to be with Petey. End of story. Now, what I would give to be in Petey's place right now. I guess scriptwriters don't do much of a homework now, do they? All that matter's to them is that the movie must end happy. But what does that leave us average joes? False Hopes!

They say personality is the key. Well, here's what I have to say... BULL SHIT. Personality is all I have and look at me now. Sour griping as always. Personality will only give you an answer of.. "I only see you as a friend." No matter how people try to say that they don't look at the outside, they still do. Like they say... First impression lasts. If you're not good looking enough and meet someone for the first time... huh. Good luck in trying to win her over. Which brings me to another point. Most people are shallow... that is a fact.