Skate Into Love (Chapter 1)

Novel: Skate into Love (冰糖炖雪梨)

Author: Jiu Xiao Qi

Genre: RomCom

Synopsis: As kids, Tang Xue bullied Li YuBing a great deal, and YuBing didn’t have it in him to fight back.  When they unexpectedly meet again in college after a six year separation, Li YuBing had successfully transformed into a hotshot hockey star, and he was ready to seek revenge.

*** CHAPTER  1 – SEATMATE ***

“My Seatmate”

Author: Tang Xue (Second Grade)

My seatmate’s name is Li YuBing.  He’s super annoying.  Why?  Because Grandpa had promised me that if I tested as No. 1 in the class, then he’d take me to Disneyland.  I really want to go to Disneyland!  But I didn’t get No. 1. Li YuBing did!  The teacher even praised him during the parent-teacher conference.  Dad said to me, “Look at Li YuBing. Now look at yourself!”  I really wish the teacher would stop praising him, because he’s so annoying

Coup de Foudre – Thoughts

I love Janice Wu with all my heart, and I was beyond excited to see her star as modern day lovers with the dude from the Oriental Odyssey.

UNFORTUNATELY, while the result wasn’t bad, their characters in Coup de Foudre were just dreadfully boring  Yan Mo is a dull, dull man, Qiao Yi has the personality of a wet rag, and their vanilla romance was flat lined from the get-go.

Touch Your Heart – Eps 7-8

How adorable are these two?!  So much love.  This drama reminds me a bit of Love020 in that it really gets its audience.  You came for a romcom, and romcom you will get! I cannot emphasize enough how much I adore the fact that the two characters work out their feelings and issues right away.

Gangnam Beauty Thoughts

It’s been so long since this drama came out that I think all that can be written on it has been written, but still, my two cents.  I really do think this is one of the best dramas to come out of Asia in years, primarily because it’s one of the few shows that captures so perfectly the ways in which women internalize sexism.

Touch Your Heart Thoughts

Why is Yoo In Na so freaking cute?  It definitely takes acting chops (or some inherent trait) to be so adorable that even girls think so.  I particularly like her character, because although she’s cutesy and not very smart, she’s also not stupid, and she’s certainly not helpless.  (This is in stark contrast to many female protagonists in cdramas who, even while professing to be “feminist” or whatever, are unable to walk two steps without help from a dude/many dudes.)  On top of all of this, she’s genuinely funny.

Ashes of Love (Chap. 21)

“Have some fun?!” Phoenix repeated my question with disbelief.  I felt a chill down the back of my neck.  “I came to look for you!”

I wasn’t sure what came over the mortals in the room; they all stared at Phoenix unblinkingly.  The fat man from the next booth swallowed hard and said, “Truly, he is the creme de la creme!  A god among men!

Ashes of Love – Some thoughts on pacing

Ashes of Love is such a charming, addictive drama.  But so. poorly. scripted.

I thought this even for the first twenty some episodes, when the going was good.  The problem of bad pacing dogged the production from beginning to end.  Now that I’ve spent some time translating, I’ve come to realize that the problem is due in large part to the pacing of the novel (at least in the beginning).