My picks for entertainment ~ suggested movies, TV shows, music, and books ~ so you can enjoy some quality ME time! (ATTN Korean drama addicts! This blog has lots of K-drama love.)
If parents want to choose a vintage movie to watch with their kids, especially young girls, pick "National Velvet" (1945), which starred Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney.
One of my favorite films as a kid was “National Velvet” which starred a 12-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, alongside Mickey Rooney. This child had a horse she believed could win a race if only she could ride him to victory. She entered the race and her horse won. But they disqualified her as the champion. Why? Because she was a girl and girls were not allowed to compete. Her spirit was not broken. She beamed with pride and joy. She was so proud of her horse because she proved that he could win the race and that they could be "the best that they could be". I loved that movie!!
For those who enjoy watching the movie and reading the book, National Velevet was adapted from a book by the same name, written by Enid Bagnold.
In my humble opinion this movie is a timeless classic that children of every generation would enjoy; especially young girls.
This movie which starred Russell Crowe is a movie I could watch again and again.
For the record: Marcus Aurelius was not murdered by son his Commodus like in the movie and he did arrange for his son to succeed him as emperor. His son was a horrible character as the movie depicted and according to historical records he was killed by a gladiator. Before he was ultimatley disposed of, Commodus managed to outsmart and kill most of the people who opposed him. But in the end, the senators finally figured out a way to get rid of him!
The real history would have made for a good movie. Nevertheless, whoever wrote the movie script decided to take some “artistic license”.
Anyway! Who cares if the film was not historically accurate? It was a terrific movie!!
“Are you not entertained?”
Yes! Yes! I was very entertained. Best movie of the century!! 😊
I've been a loyal viewer of American TV sitcoms since the late 50s, I watched Father Knows Best and My Three Sons and Leave It To Beaver. Fast forward to my adulthood and I watched Family Ties and The Cosby Show. Having had all of this exposure to "wholesome family entertainment", I can state unequivocally that ‘A Different World’ presented a different world to the US audience.
Before Bill Cosby’s “fall from grace”, he had a propular TV show and I was a faithful viewer. Lisa Bonet played the part of Denise Huxtable, one of his daughters. Her character was so popular they created a brand new TV show about her days in college. She attended Hillman College, an HBCU.
(HBCU = historically black colleges and universities. At one time during the period of segregation in the USA, blacks attended so-called “separate but equal” educational institutions. But these days anybody who wants to can attend no matter their background. Hey! They are really good schools! Our US vice-president Kamala Harris attended an HBCU.)
The show was started with Lisa Bonet in the spotlight, i.e. the main character. However, the character “Whitley” played by Jasmine Guy almost instantly took the spotlight. Viewers really liked her. I think it was “her accent”. LOL. If you ever saw the show you would understand that joke about Whitley’s accent. Lisa Bonet left the show after the first season.
In June 2021, the cast got together to discuss “the good old days” and the article was published in Vanity Fair. “A Different World” ran from September 24, 1987 to July 9, 1993. I was not a regular viewer. It was light comedy but often tackled serious topics. To borrow a quote from the article: “Fans remember the show as much for its cultural relevance as they do for its laugh-out-loud comedy and talented cast.” That’s true. I distinctly remember one episode where they addressed the link between sexual promiscuity and AIDS. It was definitely relevant to the times and it presented a world that was different from any of the other popular TV sitcoms during that same time period. The real plus or takeaway from the program is that it, in real life, the show actually encouraged a lot of young people of color to attend colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher learning.
Lisa Bonet left the entertainment industry and replaced it with motherhood. That’s not a bad tradeoff. She was first married to Lenny Kravitz; and now she is the wife of Jason Momoa.
Jasmine Guy had a productive acting career in film and on stage, and also tried her hand at music. She also worked behind the scenes producing and directing but has not taken on any significant projects in the entertainment industry recently.
My preference is for Korean historical period dramas. I get so attached
to the characters. The women look so elegant and refined in their silk
dresses; and their hair is so beautiful, adorned with those pretty hairpins. The men look so noble with those hats and those robes. If it
weren't for the fact that the king and crown prince wore special robes,
all the guys could look like kings.
Joseon was the last dynasty of Korea and its longest-ruling Confucian dynasty. During its reign, Joseon encouraged the entrenchment of Chinese Confucian ideals and doctrines in Korean society. Neo-Confucianism was installed as the new dynasty's state ideology. Wikipedia
Here is a problem for me that makes it difficult to watch the modern
K-dramas. Once I see these men and women in the traditional clothes of
the Chosun (or Joseon) era, it's hard to look at then wearing modern clothes in a
20th century drama or comedy. They just don't look the same!
Fortunately, in America, there are sites that stream these series so
that I can watch them online. I can't afford to pay for the subscription
so I have to watch with the advertisements. But I'm OK with that.
(Even though it takes forever!)
Here's a TIP. Don't ever pick a series that is fairly new and all the
episodes have not been uploaded and translated with the English
subtitles. I made that mistake once. Never again!
I got hooked on “The Flower in Prison”
(2016). but I did not realize that it was a new series. Oh the agony of
waiting for the next episode to become available. But it was worth it!
However, whenever I get ready to watch a Korean drama TV series, I make sure all the episodes are there.
I recently read an article about female philosophers who were contemporaries with the male philosophers in the ancient world like Aristotle, Epicurius, Socrates, etc. ("Wise Women: 6 Ancient Female Philosophers You Should Know About") I did know one of the women philosophers named in the article: Hypatia. I knew of her because I saw a movie about her. Rachel Weisz played the part.
I love Rachel Weisz. She is a fantastic actress. But I did not like this movie. Of course, Ms. Weisz did a fantastic of playing the role of Hypatia. What I did not like about the movie was that it was the story of a real life human being and her ending in the movie was horrific! What was worse? When I did more research on the real woman, it turns out the movie did not really show what happened to this woman. The Hollywood version of her death was horrible. But what they did to her in real life was much much worse. Why did she have to die that way when she had really done nothing worthy of death? I don't want to explain it. It's too graphic. I give this movie a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Watching Korean dramas is my guilty pleasure. I especially like the
historical period dramas, during the Joseon period. I have published a
few detailed reviews of K-dramas here on Read.Cash. But I also shared some quickie reviews on its partner site, Noise.Cash, which I am recapping below.
If you have not watched these you should add them to your watch list.
If you have watched them, let me know if enjoyed them too!
The main character is a feisty little innocent girl who is fiercely
loyal to her family and friends, but has the courage, inner strength and
determination to break with tradition, and find her own way in a cruel
world that is not a very nice place for a low-born; especially not a
low-born young girl.
This series is 60 episodes, with an extraordinary cast, and based on a
true story. It is a real life love story between a king and a woman he
took to be his concubine: Dong Yi (played by Han Hyo-joo) and King
Sukjong (played by Ji Jin-hee).
It's a love story with a bold and daring hero who is not only an
expert swordsman, but knows how to handle a pistol and a rifle. His love
interest is an intelligent woman whose father is a scholar and allowed
her to learn (although she had to dress up like a man to attend school).
They both dream of their country, Joseon, as a land that will one day
be populated with free people. His enemies thought they had killed him,
but he was saved and taken to another country. He returned to Joseon
with a new identity, and determined to settle old scores. The first time
his beloved sees him again, she faints. He may be wearing different
clothes and using a different name, but he still looked to her like the
man she loved. She thought she had seen a ghost.
A baby who was born in a prison turns out to be a princess. But
before she learned her true identity she was taught by a martial arts
master and first learned how to kick butt!! It's a handy skill to have
if you're going after the bad guys who caused your mother's death. The
main character is Ok Nyeo played by Jin Se Yeon who is on my list for
favorite Korean actresses.
A young prince witnesses horrific bloodshed and commands that it be
stopped. Since he is a small child, his command is disregarded and he is
returned to his father; only to learn that it was his father who
ordered the bloodshed. To add insult to injury, his mother is
“accidentally” killed (really she was murdered). From that day forward,
he not only hates his father, HE HATES EVERYBODY! Everybody except his
close friend. He was forced into a marriage of convenience. His wife,
the princess, becomes pregnant by another man. In an effort to cover
this up, the father-in-law (the father of the princess) attempts to kill
the prince. The attempt fails. Trying to escape his assassins, the
prince falls down a slope and hits his head. A poor man finds him, takes
care of him as best he can while he is unconscious. When he regains his
consciousness, he does not remember who he is. The poor man tells him
that he is his daughter's husband-to-be and that they must marry
immediately or his daughter will be flogged.
For 100 days, he lives the simple life of a commoner and falls in
love. He is found by his father-in-law and brought back to the palace.
His memory has not returned. But slowly bits and pieces of incidents
from his past, like puzzle pieces, begin to come together. His story
begins … AGAIN! He realizes who he is and what he needs to do. He also
knows what he wants to do. He wants to marry the woman he fell in love
with as a commoner, who is also the little girl he met when he was a
child and had promised he would marry some day.
A young prince meets and makes friends with a nobleman's daughter,
when they were children. An accident happens on a boat and the girl he
met is tossed overboard. Her father believes that she drowned. Her
sister grows up and the prince, now king chooses her to be his bride;
not realizing that she is the twin sister and NOT the girl he met when
he was younger. Corrupt officials arrange to have both King Lee Kyung
and his queen, Kang Eun Bo, assassinated on their wedding day. They
succeed in killing the sister but the king miraculously comes back to
life. The people are terrified of him. How can he possibly come back
from the dead? The twin sister realizes that her sister has been
murdered. She takes her sister's body and secretly buries it. Then she
returns to the palace AS IF she has also risen from the dead, just like
the king. The king not knowing that she is the young girl he had met as a
child, also believes his wife has come back to life. However, the twin
sister's main purpose for returning to the palace is to discover who
murdered her sister. For all she knew, even the king may have been
involved. But she eventually realizes his innocence and falls in love
with him. The problem is that she has already deceived him into
believing that she is the one who died. This makes their personal
relationship very complicated. As if life in the palace wasn't already
complicated with all of the scheming, conniving, ruthless, greedy
politicking that was going on. Oh! Did I mention the prophecy?
Goo Hae-ryung is a female historian. Prince Dowon (or Yi Rim) is a
young prince who has been sheltered from the outside world. These two
main characters are adorably cute! But they have had some tragedy in
their young lives. They both lost their fathers through violence. Of
course, the adults around them try to hide the truth. But the two of
them trying to uncover the truth makes for a good plot.
The time is during the transitional period between the end of the
Goryeo dynasty and the beginning of the Joseon dynasty, which is why it
is “The New Age”. A king, princes, military leaders, all engaged in a
power struggle to build a new country. Seo Hwi and Nam Seon-ho are two
childhood friends have the power of their friendship “tested”. Things
happen to them, they get separated, and become enemies due to a
misunderstanding about "my country." One of them decides his country is
“the country of the abandoned”.
“'Bossam' in the Korean title refers to a customary remarriage
procedure that took place during the Joseon period. At that time, a
widow could not remarry. A single man or widower would kidnap the widow
and marry her. Some of the kidnappings were agreed upon in advance and
others were by force.” (Quote Source: https://asianwiki.com/Bossam:_Steal_the_Fate)
Here's the story. Two friends earn their living by kidnapping widows.
It's a steady paying job because … evidently, a lot of widows want to
be kidnapped and remarried. However, there is one widow who does not
have this on her mind. She just happened to be sitting outside and the
kidnapper happened to go to the wrong house and … uh oh! … she is
accidentally kidnapped. You think this problem is easy to solve. The guy
made a mistake, so all he needs to do is take her back home. Right?
WRONG! The lady who was kidnapped turns put to be a princess. Her
father, the king, wants to see her. Since her father-in-law did not know
how or why she disappeared or where she was, HE LIED! He told the king
his daughter committed suicide, having died from the grief of being a
widow. The king finds out that his daughter is alive and wants to use
this fact to trap the father-in-law and get rid of him for treason. The
father-in-law also finds out she is alive and the entire series is him
trying to have her killed so that he doesn't get caught in his LIE!
HA! That stands for hooked again!! My new addiction is watching Korean historical drama TV series. There are way too many of them for me to keep up. They are so exciting and interesting, even though the basic plot in most of the series is pretty much the same.
What's the basic plot, you ask?
Eh! Some palace intrigue on the inside, rivalry among the nobles and scholars on the outside, honorable slaves, and commoners who prove time again that being poor and uneducated does not equal stupid! ... and of course, the love triangle. No Korean drama is complete without the love triangle. △
For each series, the script writers take this plot, create different and intricate twists and turns, and develop characters that make the viewers immediately choose sides and start rooting for them! I like this lady or this man! But that person has got to go! When the ruthless evil characters finally go down, you're pumping your fist in the air and going Yeah! A flood of relief washes over you and then you have to remind yourself that it's just a TV show. :)
While seeking and finding more and more historical series to satisfy my K-drama addiction, found “Dong Yi” (2010). This television program is directed by Lee Byung Hoon, who also directed "Jewel in the Palace" (2003).
Reviews indicate that Hoon's 2003 series was extremely successful, so it went on my watch list. But because the 2010 series includes in its cast an admirable child actress, Kim Yoo Jung, who also starred in “Tamra the Island” (2009) and “The Moon Embracing the Sun” (2012) ~ her cute little face drew me in. The series is based on the life of a real historical person:Royal Noble Consort Suk of the Haeju Choi clan.
{Side Note – According to recent reports in South Korean entertainment news publications, Ms. Jung's latest project, “Moonlight Drawn By Clouds” aired its first episode during the 4th week of this month, August 2016. It is being well received. Series at viki.com.}
Back on point. The child character played by little Ms. Jung, is a “commoner”, i.e. not born into a noble family, who grows up into a beautiful and intelligent, caring and compassionate young woman, played by Han Hyo Joo. The character's name is … what else? Dong Yi!
She went from the child who had everything taken away from her to the woman who had the world laid at her feet. According to all the fortune tellers, “her light” was going to shine brightly in the land of Joseon.
Nothing annoys me more than reviews with spoilers, so extra precaution is taken to constrain myself and not to reveal too much. Here are my impressions so far.
Good start! Series starts off with a very peaceful idyllic scene of a man fishing and enjoying a quiet leisure moment. The silence is immediately shattered when the man is brutally murdered. But before he breathes his last breath, guess who finds him? A young child named Dong Yi!
Good fortune? I'll say! This lady was born under the Lisa Bonet lucky star. She got two hot guys wrapped around her finger! If you know who Lisa Bonet is and you watch this show, then you'll understand my meaning. :)
60 episodes and I've only reached the halfway mark. What's the hook the writers used to keep you interested all the way to the very end? A butterfly! Don't know about everybody else, but I love butterflies!
I was
born in the 1950s. That means that I am from the first generation
that got to experience television in the home. What a marvelous
invention! I know my late mother never intended for the TV set to
become her babysitter but my sister, my brothers and I spent hours in
front of the television. There were so many wonderful programs to
watch that educated and entertained us. I especially loved to watch
movies with my big sister. The movies back in my day were memorable
and made a lasting impression on my young developing mind. Below are
three (3) films from my childhood that created indelible memories.
Heidi (1937) ~ This is a classic children's story written
by Swiss author, Johanna Louise Spyri, adapted to film. Famous child
star Shirley Temple played Heidi, the little orphan girl who was
taken to live with her grandfather. After she and her grandfather had
bonded and become close, she is tricked into leaving “the
grandfather” and sold to be a servant in a wealthy man's household.
If I tell you more and you have not seen the movie, that would spoil
everything. So I'll stop right here.
The Wizard of Oz (1939)~ I loved this movie!! It was a
musical but everything about it was magical. The Yellow Brick
Road, the Wizard, the Munchkins, the Wicked Witch, Glenda the Good
Witch, the ruby red shoes that Dorothy wore, and that song she said
that melted everybody's heart: “Somewhere
Over the Rainbow”. Judy Garland was cast as Dorothy. Yes,
it was also based on a book. L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy
novel titled “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”.
National Velvet (1944) ~ This is a film about a horse
race. Not just any race. England's Grand National Sweepstakes horse
race. There is a young girl who has a dream that she can win. It is
based on a story by Enid Bagnold. Famous child star Elizabeth Taylor
played the role of Velvet Brown. Did she win the race? You'll have
to watch the movie.
I can't
remember the first movie I saw starring Chow Yun-Fat but I have been
a huge fan for a really long time. He is a notable Hong Kong
celebrity … I mean … Super Star! While his portrayal as the king
of Siam (now Thailand) in “Anna
and the King” (1999) was a very touching love story, I am
more a fan of his kick-butt action films like “Hard
Boiled” (1992) and “Replacement
Killers” (1998).
His
acting career has not been without controversy.
For
example, several years ago (2014), he was banned from making films in
mainland China because he took roles in “films like Pirates of
the Caribbean: At World's End, Bulletproof Monk, and Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon ...”
That
was a reason that was given. However, some believed that his real
crime is being pro-democracy.
What do
the Chinese government expect? He was born in Hong Kong when it was
not a part of China and under the British; and he has enjoyed
democracy and freedom all of his life. His name used to be Donald
Chow.
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