Scorpion - TV Show [CBS]

Smart people are always fun to learn about, whether it be about their accomplishments or about their lives there exists a fascination about them that draws us normal folk to them and makes us unable to look away until the end. That is one of the reasons I think watching this TV show has given me great pleasure, along with many others.

Scorpion gives us a nice look into the life of a genius who gathers a group of highly intelligent people as they learn to cope in the normal world and deal with a various number of social problems born from the very fact that they are special to a number of other situations that utilise their gifts that take full advantage of the fact that they are the way they are.

It’s an interesting opportunity to view how different the intellectual types deal with things as opposed to ‘normal’ people due to the way they think and the way they have learned to cope thanks to growing up in a society that both reveres and rejects their kind. I especially like that they brought in a normal person to show the vast contrast in how they view things with the Paige character.

What’s even more interesting is that the show seems to be based off the life of an actual person. Though I doubt many of the events actually happened, it’s interesting to see how these genius people are used by both the government and people, it makes for captivating entertainment as you absorb yourself into the life of Walter O‘Brien and his associates.

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I like the pacing of the show and the characters are fun to get to know, making me actually want to meet the real life counterparts all the more as I picture who they might be. Definitely a show I can survive watching a few seasons of.

Pinocchio - KDrama

This drama won me over with its cast, so there’s no denying I had high expectations for it from the get go and all I can say is… wow. Not only did this drama deliver on plot and visual appeal, but it delivered on the feel factor tenfold as well as with an ending I can live with and possibly re-watch once I have hypnotized myself into forgetting this series and watching it all over again.

Pinocchio is a drama that I hesitate to call a romance drama as it puts the romance in the backseat and focuses on the lead character’s journey to find the truth and ultimately what it takes to bring out the truth as it dives into the world of journalism and reporting.

It gives us the behind the scenes look at how those people live and work to bring us the news every day and what they go through and I have to admit it is an interesting and entertaining world to view through the eyes of the characters, especially our main female lead who suffers from a fictional disease and is thus unable to lie.

The drama gives up a rich plot with in depth twists and turns that have you falling for even the side characters and villains. It was quite an interesting treat for me when I realized I was actually starting to care just a tiny bit for the one villain near the end whereas I would have gladly burned them at the stake eight episodes into the drama. It’s the kind of character development I live to observe and it’s done so subtly.

The pacing of the show is pretty interesting too as it seems to move at first too slowly then suddenly too quickly, but still manage to pull off the standard 20 episodes of most dramas. But I still found myself captivated by the good acting and chemistry between the lead actors as well as the comedy executed by the other supporting actors who made it very hard to not like their quirky performances.

All round this was a very good drama, hands down. If it didn’t win some kind of award I would be astonished and disappointed. I loved it, actors, plot and all and I would highly recommend it for anyone else, new to the Korean world or not!

Alternate reasons to watch >.<!

The Librarians - TV Show [TNT]

It is my dream to have a huge library with lots of books of all kinds just covering the walls one day. A place where I can just sit/sleep/live and read all the days of my life and just exist, that would be pretty interesting don’t you think. So when I came across this TV series about a ‘infinite’ library that housed all sorts of history and artefacts as well as books and all sorts of other stuffs I always thought was just in my imagination I won’t lie, I was excited.

I began watching The Librarians with a slightly high expectation and I won’t say I was disappointed to find a show that delivered an Indiana Jones-like vibe as it took a bunch of academics with their standard government official bodyguard and took them on various adventures. It’s the kind of show that reminds you of the games you played when you were little children in the backyard as you hunted for treasure with you friends or cousins as you played explorer.

It’s a nostalgic feeling as you watch the story which is also surprisingly good plot-wise as they keep it simple and draw you in with the fantastical reality that magic exists underneath the world we know.

I like the different characters, though I feel they could probably be fleshed out just a bit more as they feel a slightly predictable, but given the good acting I can let it slide just a little and enjoy them for now.

What I also like is that this series is based off of an old movie series and they actually kept the main guy! For me that wins a lot of points as it adds some authenticity to the show.

There are some things I do find that are kind of corny about the show, like the exaggerated fighting scenes, but I guess that’s some of the appeal of the brand that I also kind of like. It’s a win-lose kind of thing, depending on the mood.

All in all, it’s a good old adventure TV show to watch on a lazy afternoon. Some take to it, while some will whine for something more hi-tech and better. But I think we need shows like this, I mean without corny loveable shows like this I feel we lose something inside, don’t you agree?

Hot Young Bloods - KMovie

I decided to watch this purely because it had the one lead actor Lee Jong-Suk in it and based on the dramas I have watched and am watching with him in it I have high expectations all around. Attractive appeal aside he actually has some decent acting ability when it comes to playing his character and though I am beginning to sense a certain type of character that he always does tend to play I still find it worthwhile as the storylines he is associated with are always intriguing.

Hot Young Bloods is an interesting love story set in what I believe is the 1980’s. The set work is well down and the attitude by the supporting actors is on point. The overall feel of the story is pretty old school so that was a pretty novel experience. 

However, as old school as everything felt it was interesting to see that the language wasn’t so clean cut as the TV of old school used to be censored as the actors let loose a string of intriguing words every so now and then teaching me a few things in Korean I’m sure any language teacher would cringe away from teaching me. I loved every minute of it!

But the language wasn’t the only rough thing in this supposed romance as gang fights were key plot points in how the story moved as one of the female leads who is actually the leader of her own gang falls for the school playboy who goes out of his way to woo every girl except her.

It’s interesting to see how the delinquent queen pines over the playboy especially after a new arrival comes and creates further frustration for her. 

Admittedly there are some slow points every now and then where the story drags but there is always a quick gang fight to stir things up and get the story back on track as it moves to an interesting end.

Akatsuki no Yona - Anime

This anime reminded me of watching a Korean drama for some reason. You know, those ones based in the Joseon era… strange to see it in anime form, but a good strange.

At first I thought I’d be bored stiff once I realized this was feeling a bit ‘Joseon’, not because I don’t like those dramas, but because I wanted to watch an anime, not a drama. I have set times for these things… I’m kind of weird like such. Anyway, I stuck through it and strangely enough I wasn’t as bored or as disappointed as I thought I’d be.

Akatsuki no Yona turned out to be a pretty decent anime that had me caring about fictional politics as it dived into the power struggle that was taking place in the Kingdom of Kouka as a lone princess, ignorant of the evils of the world, is driven out the castle by the one she loves and is forced to learn how to survive on the run.

The storyline pulls you in with some good plot as it justifies the bad guy’s motives and I find myself not entirely disagreeing with all of his methods, just the extremes and his impatience. I love this kind of conflict when I can’t really root for the protagonist 100% until she convinces me to. It’s quite captivating.

What I also love is that this period anime brought in a bit of fantasy, always a favourite of mine, and they did it slowly. The backstory is great and it creates enough anticipation for what the protagonist could become and it’s exciting.

As our exiled princess journeys to find a way to re-claim the throne we see her grow as well as gain a following of characters that help her along the way. It’s an interesting journey to watch, especially as our princess learns the truth of her father’s rule and the difference between royal living and the commoner’s life.

I’m very curious to see where it goes and I’d recommend it to anyone into dramas from the Joseon-era or even to those just as interested as me to see which King has a more sustainable rule, one that works partially in shadow and with war or an idealistic one of true transparency and determination for peace?

Birth of a Beauty - KDrama

Birth of A Beauty - Poster

When I first came across this drama I was excited for the concept, but I couldn’t help being slightly worried with how they would execute it. Obviously this kind of topic is always a touchy one when it comes to the general media, never mind the Korean culture and despite my reservations on the details I still opted to give it a shot despite knowing how irritated I would be at some point during my viewing experience.

The drama started out pretty good, the idea of a random house wife living happily to serve her in-laws and travelling husband while no one really appreciated her was a bit much for me to handle I’ll admit but that was more a cultural itch to scratch than anything else. 

I liked that she had a solid story to push her drastic change into the ‘beauty’ that we would be seeing for the majority the show. Her story gave her brilliant character development and made it easy to build for future plot development that, for me, created quite a nice story to bite into.

The romance was also interesting as the two leads moved along together and discovered they were connected by more than a desperate housewife’s plea as they learn the dark truths of those closest to them and embark on a mission to expose the truth.

The story was simple enough but it worked and the plot had enough momentum to create a beautiful work of art…But here is where things get troublesome as the story becomes overly, and unnecessarily, complicated with the male lead’s storyline that overlaps with our housewife-turned-beauty.

Though I understand the need for his story, I wish they had condensed it to something more bite sized instead of blowing it up to the extent that they did.

It is clear near the end of the drama that even the creators of this show were at a loss at how to beautifully fix the tangle of plot they had twisted and they just resorted to mixing it into one bowl and hoping it would come out like something acceptable. It was truly frustrating to watch all this unravel near the end as they rushed to close off their loose ends instead of strategically sending off the show.

While it was a good drama to watch and it is a concept I wish to see re-used in a different manner in another drama at some point, I feel is could have been better.

50 Shades of Grey - Movie

I went into this cinema with mild to low expectations, thus my viewing of it might have been slightly skewed in some aspects. But never the less, it was a movie I don’t think I regret watching, mostly because I aspire to be an author who writes books that may one day turn into film. Though not of this content one can still dream such things are possible, I mean if Fifty Shades can do it, why not another random story by an author in a far off land called South Africa?

Anyway, I should probably mention I did read the book, though I barely remember the experience as it was quite a while ago and I never did make it through the first one, let alone the second one and though I own all three I’ve yet to finish reading the series. But thankfully the movie didn’t stray too off course as it delivered what was generally expected.

The reason I mention the books isn’t because the movie is based off of them, but because one would need to have read them in order to follow most of what was happening in the movie. Otherwise you would be watching nothing but something of a sweet romance turned strange porno that ended abruptly. But that of course is just my opinion.

The start of the movie is surprisingly good. The anticipation that is built up is decent as our main couple roll out the tension with good-ish acting as they play out the sweet moments but it becomes quite obvious that not much attention is given to the side characters as the focus stays on the main couple barely showing anything more than two to three minutes of any other actors at a time.

Is it because the producers couldn’t afford the actors show time, or didn’t care for them? Who knows… but it was kind of a let-down not to have more faces to focus on.

One thing I noticed though, once the ‘big reveal’ came and things became all steamy between our protagonists, I felt like there was something missing. Granted I kept thinking ‘wow...they must be really comfortable with each other to be doing these scenes together...’ I also couldn’t help feeling like a lot of the shots felt forced but I guess that was inevitable given the content we’re speaking about here…

And then the rest of the movie happened and it felt like an anti-climax. It was as if all the tension was spent and given out at the steamy scenes and the producers didn’t care anymore. They just wanted to end the movie.

Honestly, I don’t know if I was the only one but near the end there I was struggling to keep my eyes open as I slowly tried to keep myself awake. It was as if the plot stagnated and meaning was suddenly trying to be forced into the situation whereas it could have been slowly introduced along with all the kinky stuff.

But that end though… I can honestly say I didn’t see it coming. I liked it and yet I think they could have done it better, but again tis only my opinion. Will I see any more movies they will milk this franchise for, probably. I’m an unfortunate perfectionist, or maybe, just maybe I’m a masochist… either way I’m too curious for my own good and I recommend those open minded enough to be just as curious because the release of a movie like this in our time says a lot about our society and culture and if anything it deserves a speckle of ponder.

Nanatsu no Taizai - Anime

I went into watching this with no expectations really, well maybe just one if I had to be really honest and that was that it had something to do with the premise of the seven ‘deadly’ sins. Now as I am a fan of the Full Metal Alchemist I guess you could say I didn’t pass this anime by too quickly as I was browsing my new intake of shows that recently were released and acquired and I can say happily that I was not disappointed.

The anime follows the adventures of a princess who goes looking for our heroes who are initially painted as the enemy as the story is introduced but as things move along we see how this isn’t the case as the princess first encounters the leader of our bandit of thieves who were branded as the deadly sins and finds a care free child-like boy who saves her from being captured by the real bad guys. Albeit a perverted character the happy-go-lucky leader of the deadly sins agrees to help the princess as he is moved by her sincerity as well as having business with his former warrior buddies and off they go.

The plot leaves for many things to be anticipated and the storyline is quite rich with interesting character development when it comes to each of the sins and their backstory and I must say I love the way it is executed.

The mixture of different races leaves you continually questioning what each character is and though frustrating, I admit it is a bit exciting, especially when the reveal is key to the storyline and how things come together.

So would I recommend this to another human beings, yes I think I would. It’s great fun and the story is easy to get into with not much dragging along the way like most things get milked these days and the main character keeps you entertained in both his perverted ways and his happy care-free persona. It’s definitely a good break from all the modern-era anime worlds as it dives into what feels like the middle ages and goes from there.