Korean Drama - The Vineyard Man/The Man of the Vineyard

The Vineyard Man/The Man of the Vineyard

Rating: 9.6/10

The Cast:

Oh Man Suk as Jang Taek Gi (32)
Lee Soon Jae as Lee Byung Dal (Ji Hyun’s granduncle, 78)

Lee family
Yoon Eun Hye as Lee Ji Hyun (26)
Kim Chang Wan as Lee Hyung Man (father, 53)
Lee Mi Young as Choi Ok Sook (mother, 52)
Jo Gyu Chul as Jee Ho (brother, 18)

Park family
Kang Eun Bi as Park Hong Yi (23)
Lee Sook as Hong Yi’s mom
Yoon Moon Sik as Park Young Kam (Hong Yi’s grandpa, 65)

About the Drama:

Chinese title : 葡萄园里的那男子 / 葡萄园的那小伙儿

In this romantic-comedy, (an adaptation of the book The Vineyard Man by Kim Rang), Yoon Eun Hye plays Lee Ji Hyun, a clothing designer in Seoul, who reluctantly leaves home for one year to work at her grand uncle’s vineyard in a small village. However when arriving in the country, she reunites with a Jang Taek Gi Oh Man Suk, a local resident who had been wrongfully arrested in Seoul by police after Ji Hyun reported having a dress-which she had designed-had been stolen. The two clash frequently as Ji Hyun has a difficult time adjusting to life in the country and working with Taek Gi. However, after many twists and turns Ji Hyun adapts to rustic life while falling in love with Taek Gi.

Comments:

It is a nice drama and I enjoyed the scenery where they filmed the drama in. The pairing up of Yoon Eun Hye and actor Oh Man Suk was also refreshing and they had great chemistry acting together and Oh Man Suk was very funny in his role as country bumpkin Jang Taek Gi.

I got to say that either Oh Man Suk is such a good actor or he is just being himself...but he really does look kinda blur blur and silly some times (in the drama)....Jang Taek Gi is such a lovable character. Honest and dependable, you can't help loving him =) With favourite actress Yoon Eun Hye, looking at her do so much weird thing in the vine yard is most interesting...It was very sweet watching their romance blossoming in the vineyard and is a definite must watch drama for fellow Korean drama fans!

Korean Drama - Spring Waltz

Spring Waltz

Rating: 8.9/10

CAST:

Seo Do-young 서도영 as Lee Soo-Ho/Yoon Jae-Ha 윤재하
Han Hyo-joo 한효주 as Seo/Park Eun-Young 서/박은영
Daniel Henney as Phillip 필립
Lee So-yeon 이소연 as Song Lee-Na 송이나

About the Drama:

The story shares the similar format of genuine love and childhood memories.

Eun-Young is angry because she thinks Soo-Ho left her in the hospital on purpose. She did not know that Soo-Ho left her to be adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Yoon, so that they will help to pay Eun-Young's hospital bill

When he was young, Mr. and Mrs. Yoon have told him that Seo Eun-Young was dead, so that he will give up his childhood and move on with a better life with them. All the while Soo-Ho had thought that Eun-Yong is dead

When Soo-Ho (as Jae-Ha) met Eun-Yong again, he had a feeling that Seo Eun-Young might be the Park Eun-Young is he had known in his childhood. It was only until he found her in the island that they spent time in during their childhood that he realised and confirmed that Eun-Yong is really Seo Eun-Young

When Soo-Ho (as Jae-Ha) talks this problem to the graveyard of Eun-Young's mother, Lee-Na heard it and she realized that the man in front of her is not her real childhood sweetheart Jae-Ha but Soo-Ho

When Eun-Yong finally knows the truth went to find Soo-Ho. However, Soo-Ho is missing and Eun-Young went to the island where they first met during childhood time and found Soo-Ho there. This is a happy reunion.

Soo-Ho had to choose whether he wants to be Soo-Ho or be Yoon Jae-Ha since the media got a wind of his real identity. During the press conference, Soo-Ho's real father saved Soo-Ho's career, by lying that Soo-Ho is Jae-Ha

Soo-Ho injured his hand and this ended his piano career. He returned to Austria. He did not let Eun-Young know about his injury. Lee-Na went back to Korea and asked Eun-Young to marry Soo-Ho. Lee-Na also told Eun-Young that Soo-Ho cannot be a professional pianist anymore due to his paralyzed hand.

Eun-Young flew to Austria and met Soo-Ho coincidentally on a bridge. They got married. Soo-Ho bought a house on the island where he and Eun-young first met. They lived happily ever after

Comments:

Very interesting show. Especially love Daniel Henney in the show. Don't really like the ending actually. Would have been better if the ending is nicer. (I guess I did not watch the last episode since I did not see Lee-Na going to Korea to tell Eun-Young about Soo-Hoo's condition) I was wondering why they have to have such sad ending for the show....OMG

RMVB Error No sound on Win7

I have just installed Win 7 and that I could not play any of the the RMVB files that I could play previously using Win Vista/XP.

I have installed k-lite codec pack but when it comes to playing RMVB files there is no sound and the error message is as follows:

Media Type 0:
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
Audio: RealAudio COOK 44100Hz stereo

AM_MEDIA_TYPE:
majortype: MEDIATYPE_Audio {73647561-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
subtype: Unknown GUID Name {4B4F4F43-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
formattype: FORMAT_WaveFormatEx {05589F81-C356-11CE-BF01-00AA0055595A}
bFixedSizeSamples: 1
bTemporalCompression: 1
lSampleSize: 14880
cbFormat: 112

WAVEFORMATEX:
wFormatTag: 0x2004
nChannels: 2
nSamplesPerSec: 44100
nAvgBytesPerSec: 0
nBlockAlign: 930
wBitsPerSample: 16
cbSize: 0 (extra bytes)

Puke blood....It did not work event after I have intsalled Real Alternative Player.

After struggling for some time I found a post that solve the problem immediately if you are using Classic Media player or Real Alternative Player:

1) Download binary codec pack for MPlayer just click on the HTTP next to Windows x86 20071007 to download the file.
2) Extract the file
3) Copy cook.dll and pncrt.dll and place these 2 files in C:\Windows

I tried just copying one and it does not work...both files has to be included in your C:\Windows before you can hear any sounds from the RMVB files that you played. OMG Win7 is really getting on my nerve. Cos you only get this problem if you are using Win7, I never had such problem while using Win Vista or XP. The codecs works perfectly.

Taiwan Drama - Meteor Garden

Meteor Garden

Rating: 8.6/10

The Cast:

Barbie Hsu as Shan Cai
Jerry Yan as Dao Ming Si
Vic Chou as Hua Ze Lei
Vanness Wu as Mei Zuo Ling
Ken Chu as Xi Men

About the Drama:

Shan Cai is a hardworking, tough girl who always defends the weak.

Dao Ming Si is stubborn, hot headed leader of F4.

Hua Ze Lei is a soft spoken and kind boy who's opinion Si relies on the most.

Mei Zuo Ling is a fun loving playboy who is very loyal to his group of friends.

Xi Men is the other playboy of F4 and close to Zuoling.

The story centers on a plain and poor teenage girl called Shan Cai, who goes to a university for rich people. She did not want to go to this university but was forced upon her by her parents. Worst part is that the family had to work very hard to be able to afford her studies there. The university is dominated by a gang of handsome but arrogant students called F4, who are the heirs of the most influential families in Taiwan.

In the beginning, Dao Ming Si, the gang leader, he is distrustful of everyone but his three childhood friends. He thinks money can solve anything. Dao Ming Si hates Shan Cai so much that he gives everyone in the university orders to make her life miserable. However, Shan Cai's persistence gradually gains Si's respect and later he falls in love with her. Like many other TV series, the lovers end up getting together after going through a series of painful challenges.

Shan Cai at first likes Lei, and totally hates Dao Ming Si, especially for his horrible arrogance and bully character but then starts to have feelings for him eventually. As her life gets tougher, she just keeps enduring, earning the respect of all the F4 boys.

Comments:

After watching the Korean version, Boys over Flowers, I went and immediately bought the Taiwan version of it. To my dismay it is not as good as what my friends had said about. But you have to understand, they have watched this like years ago. I guess at that time, it should be considered a good drama.

I would say that the plot etc is good since it is from the same Japanese comic book, however the style and also the environment is not as grand as the Korean one. I guess I will have to watch the Japanese version before I can compare all 3 of them.

Barbie is fine at her part, unfortunately, Jerry Yan can’t act.

One most impressive scene of the whole drama is when Dao Ming Si's mother asked Shan Cai to go and do a performance on stage thinking to embarass her. I loved the part where she just slamed so hard on the piano and acted like she did not know how to play the instrument. Then she followed by telling the audience:

A philosopher once said...women, dazzling diamonds and glittering jewllery have won you illusory majesty..but what's left around you is only snobbish poison, the odour of arrogance and alluring but fatal fragrance

Women, when you once again salute wealth, hail to fame and extol power, please do not ask about hte thrush which sang to you. It has flown away from you...because it has sung itself hoarse.

Its golden voice has perished, for the sake of its real dignified and pure soul.

She ends with saying:

Does the status of a person, whether they are superior or lowly depend on the playing of a tune? (sub titled as Does the nature of a person's soul depend on the playing of a tune?)

Or does it depend on his family background? So what if a person wears branded stuff and plays the piano? This is the only tune I can play. But so what?

Love this scene the most!!! Extremely impressive and sensible way of saying.

Korean Drama - Boys Over Flowers

Rating: 9.8/10

Cast

Koo Hye Sun as Geum Jan Di
Lee Min Ho as Goo Joon Pyo
Kim Hyun Joong as Yoon Ji Hoo
Kim Bum as So Yi Jung
Kim Joon as Song Woo Bin

About the Drama

Korean drama " Boys Over Flower" based on a hit Japanese comic. Based on the comic series of the same name by Yoko Kamio, it has been made into a live TV series in Japan, Taiwan (Meteor Garden) and even Anime.

The names adepted here is very much different from the comic/Japanese/Taiwan TV series. Geum Jandi (who is supposed to be Makino Tsukushi) a girl-next-door who gets herself tangled up in a relationship with a rich and stubborn boy, and her life takes a turn as she gets involved with him and his friends, or F4.

Goo Hye-seon (Jan-di)
Jan-di is a commoner whose family owns a dry cleaning store located near the luxurious and well known Shin Hwa College. She is a swimmer of her school which doesn’t even have a swimming pool. One day, she visits Shin-hwa high school, where the top 1% of the wealthy children gets to go, and accidentally saves a student from a suicidal attempt. After this incident, she is scouted to this prestigious school as a swimming athlete. The school itself and the students who go there do not suit her taste, but Jan-di bears the problematic circumstances, as her parents wish her to get close to the rich. She happens to step out for her classmate who is being bullied by four boys, called F4, and gets the ‘Red Card’. As the whole school starts bulling Jan-di, she unexpectedly meets Ji-hu on the stairway. She bumps into Ji-hu, but later Jun-pyo shows his feeling for her and their relationship gets tangled. Will the love triangle disrupt F4 and change their lives forever?

Lee Min-ho (Joon-pyo)
The leader of F4 and the heir of the largest conglomerate in Korea. Raised by servants, instead of busy parents, Jun-pyo’s got the world there is nothing that can not be done. Growing up as the son of the rich family, he has gone through numerous of kidnapping, terror attempt. He is a master of martial arts and self defense skills, but avoids swimming because he experienced drowning when he was kidnapped. His older sister, Jun-hee, is the one who he afraids the most. Ironically, Jun-pyo falls in love with Jandi, who reminds him of his sister. Jun-pyo’s got natural curly hair, hot-tempered, but has an innocent heart. Although he can fluently speak 5 languages, he shows weakness on common sense and Korean vocabulary. Jun-pyo has simple and straight personality and relies upon intuition more rather than being rationalized. He is pure at heart in front of a girl he likes, so he gets hurt when he figures out Jan-di likes Ji-hu, his closest friend among F4.

Kim Hyun-jeong (Ji-hoo)
The grandson of the formal president of Korea, Dr. Yoon Seok-young, and the most attractive guy among F4. Ji-hu is the heir of Su-am Cultural Foundation, Art Center, and Orchestra own by his family, and also a musician. He lost his parents at age of five when he got into a car accident. He overcomes the hardness with his first love, Seo-hyeon. Ji-hu believes that she would be his last love but he can’t get to her completely. Jan-di is the one who encouraged him when he was hesitant to get close to Seo-hyeon. With Jan-di’s support, Ji-hu follows Seo-hyeon to France, but comes back after he realized that his feeling for her was admiration, not love. Ji-hu does not show concern for others, knows what he wants to do, and never sweeps along with others. After Ji-hu becomes a friend with Jan-di, his personality starts to change and conflicts between love and friendship.

Kim Beom (So I-jeong)

The gifted potter and the successor of the prestigious family. Although Yi-jung has gained reputation for his talent for ceramics, he cannot take away the feeling that he is living a life of his brother. Yi-jung’s older brother, who was exceptionally talented and expected to become the heir, left home and also quit working with ceramics. Yi-jung was possessed by a sense of inferiority and this complex made him couldn’t settle down with one love. He is a playboy, but gentle and warm-hearted. Although he didn’t realize about himself yet, Yi-jung is desperately looking for his one true love.

Comments

Totally love this show...the settings, the actors, the actresses and also the school uniforms!

Someone once told me that Koreans are the best actors and actresses, they can show how a person can cry beautifully. Yes! Jandi () she can really cry beautifully.

I love the last episode the most, the part where she tried her best to win back her destiny. Epic!

The actors and actresses really puts in a lot of effort to make this show a sucessful one...actors and actresses are losing weight, lacking sleep and not eating right due to their popularity. Cast members like Lee Minho, Kim Hyun Joong and Goo Hye Sun all have noticeably lost weight.

Lee Minho has lost 8kg (around 18 pounds) and Kim Hyun Joong has lost about 6kg (around 13 pounds) since production began. The agency is working to provide nutritional supplements and keep the cast well-fed but it’s still not enough. Kim Hyun Joong’s back injury from his car accident still ails him and he suffers from fatigue. Goo Hye Sun suffered a head injury during filming and was hospitalized for her injuries from a car accident not too long ago.

Taiwan Drama - Momo Love

Momo Love / 桃花小妹

Rating: 8.9/10

The Cast:

Jiro Wang as Shi Lang 史朗
Cyndi Wang as Chen Tao Hua 陳桃花
Ken Zhu as Chen Qi 陳起
Lan Jun Tian as Chen Cheng 陳承
Ding Chun Cheng as Chen Zhuan 陳轉
Godfrey Gao as Chen He 陳合
Jing Wong as Chen Yu Yi 陳餘一
Calvin Chen as Xue Zhi Qiang 薛志強
Wang Xin Ru as Shi Xue (Shi Lang's Cousin Sister) 史雪
Li Jia Ying as Gong Hui Qi (Shi Lang's Childhood friend) 龔蕙琪
He Mi (禾宓) as Xiao Mi 小米

About the Drama:

Momo Love is adapted from Japan’s best selling manga Momoka Typhoon. The plot is about Tao Hua who has been pampered and loved by 4 of her brothers almost to the extend of sister brotherly love.

Tao Hua is the youngest, and only girl, in a family of six children. Her four elder brothers are afraid that their place in Tao Hua's heart will be diminished if she is to fall in love, hence the four brothers had set stringent guidelines as to whom she can date. Or rather never allow anyone to date her. They will "deal" with her suitors with the most horrible manner.

The brothers force the 5th brother, Tian Zhong Yu Yi to look after and take care of Tao Hua and he even have to risk his life to protect her. Yu Yi is like Tao Hua's best friend and also forms an alliance with her.

Shi Lang has recently moved into Tao Hua's area and attends a school nearby with high academic standards. Shi Lang and Tao Hua meet on a rainy day, during which Tao Hua falls in love with him after he gives her his umbrella. She thinks that he has a big heart. Until Shi Lang comes into the picture, no guy has passed all of the guidelines set by the brothers.

Despite Shi Lang's clean track record, the brothers are still unwilling to let go of their sister. They resort to getting their youngest brother, Yu Yi, to stay in high school an additional year in order to protect Tao Hua.

The brothers were so desperate that they even "hired" Xue Zhi Qiang to distract Tao Hua from Shi Lang without realising that Zhi Qiang is actually interested with Tao Hua.

The course of Tao Hua's love life is not only hindered by her brothers, but she has to compete for Shi Lang's affections with Gong Hui Qi, who is Shi Lang's childhood friend. Who of cos had returned to Taiwan because of Shi Lang and she hold a torch for him.

The two main conflicts of the story consist of Tao Hua's struggle to prove that she can be independent as well as whether or not Shi Lang actually likes Tao Hua.

Comments:

This is a very heart warming comedy where you see the brothers of Tao Hua trying to protect their sister with extremely exagerated manners.

The funny parts are how the brothers find ways to hinder her love life, but after watching a few episodes of such things it solwly becomes very boring.

I really can't stand when I see them bullying the 5th brother. Especially when they took his room and made it into a walk in wardrobe for Tao Hua.

Cyndi Wang is such a amateur actress, but she can easily cover that up with her cute looks =) Shes so so cute! Love her!

Korean Drama - Queen of the Game

Queen of the Game

Rating: 9.6/10

The Cast:

Kang household:

Lee Bo Young as Kang Eun Seol
Han Jin Hee as Kang Jae Ho (father)
Yoon Mi Ra as Jang Su Ja (housekeeper for 20 years, 50)
Kim Hee Jung as Park Young Sun (Su Ja’s daughter, 30)

Lee household:

Joo Jin Mo as Lee Shin Jun / Chase
Nah Young Hee as Han Mi Sook (mother)
Lee Suk as Lee Suk Gyu (father)
Kim Hong Pyo as Beo Geu Kang (Shin Jun’s friend, 30)

About the Drama:

Joo Jin Mo and Lee Bo Young will lead the weekend drama “Queen of the Game”. Lee Bo Young plays the daughter of the owner of a hotel. Joo Jin Mo plays an M&A (Merger & Acquisition) expert. The filming is scheduled to start in cities of New Zealand including Auckland and Queenstown. Staff from the movie “Lord of the Rings” will participate in the project. Viewers will be presented by the beautiful scenery of New Zealand captured from helicopter.

This is a story about revenge and how love will lead to forgiveness.. and that love will overcome everything- the story about the man who seeked revenge.. and the woman was the target since she’s his enemy’s daughter… she was naive, clueless and lovable.. ( the usual heroine that we expected in k-drama) and it’s a known fact that he WILL actually fall in love with his enemy’s daughter in this whole process…but there’s a twist..the woman will find out.. heartbroken by his betrayal.. and she starts plotting HER OWN revenge..

Comments:

The drama caught my attention when I looked that the box cover of the show...The actor looked totally like my idol Andy Lau!! I was wondering how come he's acting in a korean drama....LOL...Joo Jin Mo is totally handsome here, as always...

This is a drama about revenage, love and heartache. Usually, stories involving revenge have lots of conflicts, twists and turns that make them good stories. The revenge process is also intriguing enough to get past the first five episodes or so, as Lee Shin Jun tries to capture the heart of Kang Eun Seol while falling in love with her at the same time.

As expected, this is quite a heavy feeling drama. It focuses more on the emotions of the characters rather than the details of their actions. For example, why was Eun Seol in Koodu's Farm in the first episode? We know Shin Jun shows up to purposely bump into her, but how did he know she will be there? It's way too big a coincidence. The whole business Shin Jun gets involved in at the hotel is also vague...

I just don't understand why can't the two love birds just forget about the rivalry between the families and live happily ever after?

Nah Young Hee (Lee Shin Jun / Chase's mother) could have forgiven Kang Jae Ho (Kang Eun Seol's father), don't you just want your children to be happy?

The entire cast has done excellent jobs at their roles, especially Joo Jin Mo and Lee Bo Young as the two main leads. Not only do they have good looks, but they share great chemistry and fit their characters very well. Jin Mo's Shin Jun is portrayed as a man stuck between a strong will to revenge and the unmovable love toward his target. Bo Young plays the change in Eun Seol seamlessly, from an innocent and slightly spoiled rich man's daughter to a post-tragedy working mother. She evolved in that role very well.

The conclusion of the series, as said by Eun Seol at the end, is "forgiveness is the best revenge" - Not only is the sentence well done, the story supports it from start to finish.

Queen of the Game [Eng Subs] (Complete)