Queen Inhyun's Man - a drama so gonna drown you in tears.

Travelling through time and space has been a concept much explored by the human race. The ability to warp and manipulate the very essence of time itself is an idea that has permeated the entertainment culture, manifesting itself in the plot lines of T.V. shows, novels, and movies.

In my free time, I’ve decided to follow Queen In-hyun’s Man, a drama that is surprisingly good and touching.

The drama switches between two time periods, 1694 and 2012. The 1694 story line, set during the Joseon era, features our hero Kim Boong-do as he tries to restore the exiled Queen In-hyun. This storyline is fraught with political intrigue as he fights the conniving plans of Minister Min, who supports the opposing Lady Jang. It is in this time period he is given the time-travelling talisman that transports him to the future. The talisman works only for him and only when the hero is in immediate danger of death. Returning to his time period is a bit easier and doesn't require a threat of death.

The modern storyline features Choi Hee-jin, an actress playing the role of Queen In-hyun for a sageuk in her time. She becomes the only friend that Kim Boong-do has in the new world. After a couple of hijinks, the two somehow fall in love.
BUT. As Kim Boong-do goes back to the Joseon era, his talisman gets torn and his memories of his time in the modern era fade away.

Time becomes the main antagonist as the largest obstacle these two have to face. 
Well Hee-jin  has 300 years blocking her love. The fact that the biggest obstacle the two characters have to face is an abstract idea, time, provides for a more satisfying ending when they do overcome it.

Along with the plot, the characters are written well. Hee-jin is a spunky, impulsive woman. She has her childish moments and she is pulling off the role well, able to portray the spontaneity and the spacey nature of the character. Hee-jin is a good complement to the level headed and serious Kim Boong-do.
Speaking of the Joseon scholar, he has easily become one of my favorite male characters in the K-drama world. He is not a cold, detached, obnoxious, man who has no understanding of basic human interaction. Instead he is an intelligent, level headed, noble, sexy, (ahem) scholar.
 To be honest, I’m bracing myself for some noble idiocy because this man is just too awesome to exist in a K-drama rom-com. He’s just too damn adorable trying to figure out the 21st century.

The aspect of time travel is well explored in this drama.  History has been tweaked as he uses the tools in the future to help him survive and that could have some unintended consequences. The drama also effectively uses time travel as a way for Kim Boong-do to travel quicker. He understands that modern modes of transportation are more efficient and faster. He uses that to his advantage to move freely about and execute his plans. It further emphasized the clever nature of the character and it helped drive the plot.

Anyway...I seriously don't think I can coherently express the extent of my love for this drama. The amount of good things about it is just too much to list. Just - everything about it is perfect. The cinematography is wonderful - you have to physically watch the drama itself to appreciate just how visually stunning it is. And the music is so beautiful - I love saguek instrumentals in general, but here the music is alternately epically exhilarating, breathtakingly romantic or just simply gorgeous and sweeping and plain awesome - it literally makes me get goosebumps and makes my heart beat faster and creates this AWESOME ambience and does all the things that a drama OST should do, and more.

有一份莫名的感动

这种感觉何等强烈。
是一种莫名的感动。偶尔想起会心跳加速; 闭上眼会扬起嘴角笑; 为了守护着这这种感动可以不惜一切为之奋勇，甚至是我每天呼吸的理由。
这份莫名的感动，可以塑造你，既可以把你摧毁。这份莫名的感动，可以时而让你兴奋又紧张，时而让你难受又心疼。

如果就只有那么一次，你是否愿意一辈子把这份莫名的感动当永远的靠岸？

我愿意。因为这份莫名的感动源自于你。

Death

Are you afraid of death?
What death is like ?
Some says it brings tremendous fear, grief and torment.
Some says it is peaceful, happy and joyous.

Last night was a long night for me. I tossed and turned in my bed, while the thought of death twirled in my brain like socks in a dryer.

As a Catholic Christian, I believe in the existence of Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell. When a soul leaves the body, it will head towards one of the destination. For eternity.

Heaven is a place where a soul will find eternal peace, joy and bliss. The love of God so intense, song of praises all day long, feasts and banquets in the house of God. A place where there will no longer be pain and anger, no hunger and poverty, no anguish and bitter pills. This is a place where everybody on earth longs to be in after death.

Purgatory is a place where impure souls will have to purify themselves before entering heaven. These souls are not banished from God's kingdom, they are not sentenced to Hell, they are just not pure enough to enter to the Gates Of Heaven. In this place, they will experience the grief of not being able to see God's glory. The people on earth will have to offer prayers for them, so that their souls may find peace soon.

Hell. Hell. Hell. Is the most horrible.place you can ever imagine. There are anointed people who have been chosen by God to enter Hell and come back to life again to spread the good news, described hell as a place of unimaginable torment. The souls are trapped in hell, pleading and begging for mercy, while some curse and spit in the name of God.
The demons torture them with fire, serpents eat and tear their insides apart, sharp blades are pierced into their body over and over again.

So , are you afraid of death ?
Well to be frank, I am. Life is too fragile. You never know when is your turn to leave.
There are so many things that I havent achieve, so many places I've never been, so many words unspoken, so many leaps not taken.

STELENA

We ship for so many reasons: encouragement, desperation, connections, and the ultimate feeling, LOVE. We are encouraged by bonds so strong that they can stand the test of time, death and loss. We become desperate if our team is not together, and at times, we are willing to do over the top things to make it happen. We connect to a story, to characters and to a love in bloom. We yearn or lust to see two people together, and when it happens, we are overwhelmed with emotion.
Then there is love – the one emotion that everything is all about – the one thing we are willing to die for, and give up everything for.

Stelena is magical, and yes I will say it, they were destined to be together from the beginning. We all remember the story of Stefan finding the crashed car of Elena’s parents on Wickery Bridge and making the decision to save her when he simply did not have to. Stefan didn’t know who she was or even that she looked like his first love, Katherine (Yes, my belief is that he did love Kat, but it was not a true love). He only saw this by investigating the car crash and saving the girl. Then he “had to know her”. The EPIC love story was about to begin.

I can’t say that it’s a great story to tell the grand kids – “we met at the bathroom entrance” – but this is where the story unfolds. Their eyes met, they talked, it was awkward, but most of all, it was epic. 

Throughout Vampire Diaries season 1, Stefan and Elena’s relationship was tested and they were left ever shattered for other loves (I’m talking unconditional love here.), family and what’s good for the majority and the well being of others. 

They have been made to separate, made to lie and even made to lie to each other to keep the other protected. 

Damon tested their relationship with his love for and obsession with Katherine and even by killing one of Elena’s best friends, Vicki, and turning her into a vampire – possibly, showing Elena it’s better off not to be around a vampire at all. But by episode 10, Stefan feels that his love for Elena is not enough to keep her safe and the right thing to do is walk away. He does this out of love and devotion to her. Of course, Elena doesn’t see it this way, and she confronts him – “If you walk away, it’s for you. Because I know what I want. Stefan. I love you.”

However, more tests are about to unfold.  Elena finds out a shocker. She is the exact look alike of Stefan’s first love, Katherine. Elena feels betrayed, and this truth is too much for her to handle. And throughout the rest of the season, Stelena’s ship continues to get rocked. Stefan goes through a dark time (No more drinking the squirrels.) and Isobel, Elena’s biological mother, would come back to test them by trying everything in her power to keep Elena away from the Salvatore brothers.

We are now over half way in to Vampire Diaries season 3 and the ship has been overcome by pirates – the people responsible for them not being together. At the end of season 2, Damon was bitten by a werewolf, which was a death sentence for him. When Klaus told Stefan “the only thing stronger than the love for blood, is the love of this one girl”, I think Klaus was wrong. Stefan has a bigger love, a stronger love, and that is his love for his brother. He’s needed his brother with him the entire time he’s been a vampire and he could not watch him die. He was willing to, and in fact did, give up everything (including walking away from Elena) to save his brothers life, only to become the one thing he hated the most, “The Rippah”. This was, in my humble opinion, the ultimate test for Stelena. The Stefan that Elena fell in love with was gone.

But fear not. As we’ve watched Stefan being “The Rippah”, we’ve also seen glimpses of the old Stefan still hiding in there, and Stelena fans all over have seen this too. I do not think any of us can forget the epic phone call where Stefan did not have to say a word to Elena – “Stefan, I love you, always hold onto that”. Even with the test of Elena possibly having feelings for Damon, the Stelena ship stands strong. Even Klaus admitted “That kind of love never dies”. And as Caroline has stated, Klaus is “like over a billion years old”, so he cannot be wrong. He is a wise man.

 Ultimately, love needs to be tested and proved to be true.

Not For Sale.

Care. Honesty. Love. Attention. Support. Comfort. Shelter. Tolerance. Understanding.
Not sold in supermarkets.

You've got to earn them to have them. Same like you've got to pay five dollars for a bar of milk chocolate. Just that you can't actually pay cash or swipe your credit cards to obtain those.

You have to care to be cared. To be honest to never get cheated on. To love to be loved. To give attention to be found. To support to hear applause. To comfort to be comforted. And the list goes on.

So.... What goes around comes around.

HOH

So today, all those missing-you sensations and emotions just got heightened. The feelings were compounded.

I realized I spent about half an hour sitting in front of my computer, looking at your pictures and kept muttering " i miss you i miss you i miss you". Lol. 

I wish you were here. With me. Right now. I wish I knew a ju-ju that could transport you from Perth to where I am now. :)

Vampire Diaries

Yeah I confess I'm kinda obsessed with Vampire Diaries recently. I think it is because of the fascinating story about vampires, werewolves and witches; spells and bites. Wait, okay I admit part of it, just part of it, is that the Salvatore brothers are gorgeous looking, so is Elena.
Although some part of the story portrays really evil shoots which I would feel faint each time I watch, the story taught me about love.
Nothing can stop one from loving, as long as the love is real, not even death. So I guess that's what it meant by " Till Death Do Us Part ". :)