Sol Crafter's Blog, page 26

RE: Bachelor's Vegetable Store (kdrama)

I watch all these kdramas and they warp my notions of reality. I think that I sympathize more with straight forward characters like Dong Yi and Han Tae Yang because that's pretty much how I am. Though I think they give themselves more trouble than they really need if they would just be honest with people; not about their more serious secret, but the smaller troubles they get into.

Half these dramas would simply fall apart if one character would turn to another and just lay all the facts out on the table. Instead, everyone has to hold everything all bottled up and creep around all over the place.

Sure, that kind of super melodrama is interesting for a number of episodes, then it just gets repetetive. You want the characters to quit moping around all the time and buck up. At the very least, you stop feeling sorry for the characters and you just think that they should totally cut contact with each other because they would be much better off.

"Bachelor's Vegetable Shop" is strangely compelling for a story about a guy selling vegetables, but I think that they've kind of lost track of the charm and have drifted into ridiculous territory. Also, they introduced some side stories for the supporting characters, then they don't follow through with them. We just get a tiny taste at a time and it's actually very frustrating.

I was willing to watch 60 episodes of "Dong Yi" because it was just that attention grabbing and entertaining. There were characters that I really cared about and wanted to see get a happy ending.

With "Bachelor's Vegetable Store," I've kind of gotten to the point where I think Han Tae Yang should just cut his losses and find some other girl to love, one that would actually appreciate him. I just think that she should face up to the fact that she's more interested in comfort and money than she is in love, and cut the ties; it would be a kindness to just let him go. But there's no way she's ever going to do that because she's selfish. She doesn't even care enough for him to protect his life from a woman that has shown a willlingness to do horrible things to people.

I'm so disgusted by her, that I think I would appreciate it if there were longer scenes in the secondary characters' lives to break the tension. Like I have my suspicious about Chan Sol's situation, but I kind of want to have that proved; that or I would really like an interesting twist. And I'm kind of curious about the seemingly homeless bachelor with the angsty past.

Filed under: Korean, Reviews, Television, TV Reviews Tagged: kdrama, Korean, reviews, TV show

So long to the Blog Hop. Here's the winners list:

Winners of ebooks:

Jean P

Mimi Rose

Shadow

Ashley (shadowestr)

Grand Prize winner:

Cristina C

All winners will be contacted by email shortly. Thanks for entering and I hope you all had a great time

P.S. Like I promised there's something cool for everyone that entered. So for every other entrant, there's a free copy of "Ersatz" in your future. Emails will be sent out soonish.

Filed under: Real Life Tagged: blog hop, freebies

With Love Valentine's Day Blog Hop #bloghop #freebies

Once again, it's that time of year again. That time of hearts and love and chocolate.

As anyone that's semi-familiar with my writing knows, I tend to write in a variety of genres and heat levels, though my stuff is usually on the softer side of hardcore porn Anyways, right now all I have published is m/m, though I promise that in the future there will be some m/f or m/m/f. Mostly though, my stories are about people and love.

I hope that everyone enjoys the excerpt and posts a comment at the bottom for a chance to win 1 of 4 ebooks I'm giving out or the grand prize, a signed print copy of "Heroes & Villains."

Much love to everyone that enters and I hope you follow the link to ride out the rest of the Hop. There's a lot of very good stuff being given out today by a bunch of incredibly wonderful people. So check out my entry, then be sure to enjoy the rest of the "With Love Valentine's Day Blog Hop."

P.S. My apologies to anyone that came around earlier. I had a post set up to be published at midnight of the 10th, but for some reason it seems to have disappeared I would have noticed earlier, but I was running errands this morning. I am incredibly sorry and I promise to make it up to everyone that does enter ::wink::

Title: The Brand

Author: Harper Kingsley

Genre: sci-fi, fantasy, mm

Pen is a Royal Concubine that belonged to King Darling, who has just been overthrown. Now Pen and the rest of the harem are spoils of war and belong to Duke Wrathful Fury, a hard man with the ear of the Emperor of the West.

 

 

Excerpt taken from "The Brand."

Coming back to the palace where he had spent his whole life, Pen almost didn't recognize the place.

It wasn't as though the palace had been ravaged of its riches, but there seemed to be hundreds of strange soldiers at work busily clearing away bodies and reordering the world he had always known.

"Take him to the harem so he may clean himself," Wrathful Fury ordered a lieutenant before turning to look at Pen. "I know how you enjoy your baths."

"How… How do you know anything about me?" Pen asked, unable to resist seeking an answer to his curiosity.

"I have been watching you," Wrathful Fury said. "Why else do you think I petitioned the Emperor to conqueror such a small and insignificant country?"

"For me?" Pen couldn't believe it, and the horror the thought of it brought made him want to be sick.

Darling was dead because of him? It was not something he had even thought of before.

"Why would you conquer our country… for me?" he asked.

Wrathful Fury smirked at him. "Darling refused my offers for you, so instead of just taking you… I took everything he possessed, including his life."

"Why would you do that?" Pen couldn't help the slight catch in his voice. "What's so special about me?"

"As if you don't know." Wrathful Fury reached out to brush his fingertips across Pen's lips. "You are a rare and wondrous treasure, the most beautiful person in all the world. And now you are mine. And all I had to do was crush Darling and his army and claim this country for my own."

Through sheer force of will, Pen kept himself from flinching back from that touch. His future was in the hands of this man and he would have to do his best to please him no matter what he personally felt, because more than anything, he wanted to live.

"So beautiful…" Wrathful Fury whispered. "And you're mine."

Darling had never made Pen feel like such a possession. There had always been this sense that if he had wanted to refuse harem life and venture out into the world, Darling would let him go. But he knew that Wrathful Fury never would.

The Duke pulled his hand back and turned to the lieutenant that was patiently waiting off to one side. "Take him to the harem," he ordered, all softness gone from his voice.

Pen allowed himself to be led from the foyer and up the stairs to the harem.

It felt oddly as if he was heading into unknown territory and not back into the only home he had ever known. Everything was different now. The world had shifted around him.

"What's your name?" he asked the lieutenant leading him. He figured he needed to start making as many allies as he possibly could, especially if this was going to be his new life.

The young man barely glanced at him. "Ilis."

"Lieutenant Ilis," Pen said, allowing a musing quality to enter his voice. "One of Wrathful Fury's trusted soldiers."

There was a slight hint of color high on Ilis' cheeks, but he still refused to look at Pen. It was going to take awhile before any kind of rapport could be achieved, but Pen knew he was going to have to take the time to make things work because he was in this for the long haul.

"Here you go," Ilis said, gesturing to one of the guards standing outside the double doors that led into the harem. The woman leapt into action, pushing the door open so Pen could pass through.

"Aren't you going to accompany me?" Pen asked.

Ilis shook his head. "I need to return to my duties. Besides, none but the Duke and his chosen guards are allowed into the harem. You go on alone."

Pen sighed. "Oh well, it would have been nice to have someone new to talk to, since it's always the same old faces day in and day out in the life of a concubine. Still, I truly need a chance to bathe," he said, wrinkling his nose at his stained clothing. He must look a sight, and probably didn't smell too fresh either.

Ilis jerked a nod at him, then turned on his heel and left.

Pen looked after the other man for a moment, then shrugged. He smoothed back his hair before sauntering through the double doors as prideful as a cat.

"Well, well, look at who's back," a snide voice said.

"Silence, Taro, or something bad's going to happen to you."

Pen flashed a brief smile at Gyre. The boy was forever trying to protect him. It was actually rather adorable.

"Help me bathe," he offered.

Gyre's face brightened and he came hurrying over. It made Pen smile a little to see him being so puppyish.

"So, how's it been?" Pen asked, low-voiced, as they made their way into the bathing chamber.

He could already see that some rather drastic changes had taken place in the harem, but he wanted a first hand account of all he had missed.

There were a lot less concubines in the harem. Faces that he had seen every day of his life had disappeared somewhere that he was almost afraid to ask about. There were also slight signs of some minor property damage off to one side, though it was obvious Wrathful Fury had had his men watching out for the harem to keep the damage to a minimum.

"How bad was it?" he asked.

Gyre shrugged as though it didn't matter. "Not so bad. We had enough warning that most of us hid. When the Duke's men broke in, they were under orders not to cause us any damage, so it was all right."

Pen lightly touched the younger man's arm. "I'm sorry I left you behind," he said seriously.

Gyre smiled at him. "I'm just glad you're back."

"So am I," Pen said, and even though he had meant it as a comfort for Gyre, he was surprised to realize that it was the truth. The harem was the only home he had ever known and there was really nowhere else in the world he wanted to be.

Stripping off his clothes, Pen stepped into the rinsing shower. He really didn't want to take the filth that covered him into the communal bath.

"I'll fetch you your shampoo and soap," Gyre said, glancing around. The body servants that usually cared for them had disappeared somewhere and they would have to take care of themselves until the situation straightened itself out.

Pen sighed heavily as the lukewarm water began flowing over him. He could practically see the filth rolling off his body.

He had never spent more than a few hours outside of the harem, and then he had been surrounded by bodyguards and bodyservants and had never had to lift a hand for himself. He had spent his entire life cushioned in safety with no worry that any kind of real harm could ever touch him.

He closed his eyes tight on the memory of the horror that had befallen his home in the last week. It was the kind of thing that had been burned into his mind for the rest of his life.

His first realization that something was wrong came when he was in the gardens with Darling. He had noticed that the king was quieter than usual, more serious.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Darling gave him a sad smile. "It's all coming to an end."

"What do you mean?" Pen asked.

"I fear…" Darling rubbed a hand across his face. "I fear that I have made a grave mistake."

"And what's that?"

"A messenger from Duke Wrathful Fury came to me last week and offered me immeasurable wealth to give the Duke something that he desired. I refused him."

"Why would you do that?" Pen demanded. "Wrathful Fury is an incredibly dangerous man. If you anger him… he will destroy our kingdom."

"I know that I should have given him what he wanted, but… I would rather die than lose it. And now I fear that I have doomed us all, because my messengers have brought word that Wrathful Fury has gathered the Horde and they're on their way here now."

"What?" Pen gasped, his fingers clenching hard against the edge of the stone bench.

Darling touched the side of Pen's face with wistful fingers. "You're so beautiful in the sunlight. I really don't want to let you go."

Pen's lip quivered and he didn't quite know why he felt like he was going to cry. "What… What's going to happen?"

"There's no way our army can stop the Hordes commanded by Wrathful Fury. We can't stop the inevitable end." Darling sighed deeply and gazed around the garden sadly.

"It's kind of sad, but peaceful too."

"I'm…" Pen threw his arms around Darling's chest and hugged him tightly. "I'm going to miss you."

He wanted more than anything to be able to say that he loved Darling, but that was a lie and they would both know it. As it was, he was exceedingly fond of the king and he really didn't want him to die.

Darling stroked a hand across his hair. "I will miss you too, my dear Lovely Splendour. But I'm happy that you were mine even if it was never meant to last forever."

Pen leaned his head against Darling's shoulder, pressing their chests–their hearts–together. "I remember the first time I met you. I thought that if I spent my entire life serving you it would be all right."

He could feel a soft trickle of tears landing against the top of his head, but he pretended not to notice. Kings did not weep, and if they did, concubines never spoke of it.

Sitting on the garden bench, wrapped close together, they both knew that what they had had was coming to an end. The world was changing and there was nothing either one could do to stop it. What they had had was almost over.

==END EXCERPT==

Comments?

Enjoy the rest of the Hop and have a truly wonderful day ♥♥♥!

Filed under: Discounts & Specials, Sneak Peeks, Upcoming Projects Tagged: blog hop, excerpt, freebies, The Brand

ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE: You Missed It

She saw a woman open her car door and step out. Brown fur trimmed boots, dark blue skinny jeans hung so low half of her naked butt was showing, a baby blue sweater, an attractive face with dark red lips and sunglasses, all topped with a mass of riotous dark curls. The woman's head turned, her arm extending so her hand could rest on the car door, and her hair whipped around in a smooth brown curtain. In that moment, in that light, the woman was beautiful.

"Ew, butt crack," she said, laughing. As she watched, the woman looked around, then ducked back into her gray sedan. The door quietly closed behind her.

"Really, you can see someone's butt crack?" Bill asked, looking up.

"You missed it." She felt kind of bad for him. The young woman really had been quite pretty. He'd really missed out. Not that she would ever say anything about it to him. It would be too weird.

Filed under: Real Life, Writing Tagged: anecdotal evidence, observation

RE: Supermarket Mania 2 [Video Game]

I know it's stupid. I know I'm completely Gump. But I can't help it that I like this kind of thing. "I yam what I yam," as Popeye would say.

For the price they're charging for the digital download, your ass is getting cheated out of some $$$. I don't care how fun this game is, it's very short and not a whole lot happens here.

I didn't really mind the price until I beat the whole game TWICE in one night. That's when I realized I was a SUCKER. Still, there's just something about stocking shelves, making people happy, and just basically running your own make believe supermarket chain that you just can't help loving.

If you want to get this one, you're better off shelling out for one of those super pack game bundles and getting it on a CD. For like $10 (or less) you can get this game and like 500 others all at one time. Much better deal.

rating: 3

Filed under: Real Life, Reviews Tagged: review, reviews, video game

TV SHOW: The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy [English]

The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

Creator: Maxwell Atoms

Stars: Greg Eagles, Richard Steven Horvitz, and Grey DeLisle

Featuring the voices of Greg Eagles (Grim), Grey DeLisle (Mandy), and Richard Steven Horvitz (Billy),the series stars the two main characters, Billy and Mandy, having manipulated the Grim Reaper, usually called "Grim", into being their best friend for eternity after having won a bet over a sick hamster through a game of limbo (playing limbo in Limbo.) Afterwards, having lost the bet, Grim is forced to be their "best friend forever."

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First things first: Why the hell isn't this whole series available on DVD? Why can I only purchase season one? What kind of complete crap is that? Unless their marketing strategy is to force people to download the eps, then I guess it's all right. 'Cause the plan seems to be working.

I remember when this show first came out on Cartoon Network. It was part of the "Big Pick" phase of programming along with "The Powerpuff Girls," "Dexter's Lab," "Ed, Edd, and Eddy," "Johnny Bravo," and "Courage the Cowardly Dog."

The basic premise is that the rather intellectually stunted Billy's pet hamster is supposed to die, so the Grim Reaper comes to collect its little animal soul. Billy doesn't want to let it go, so Mandy, his possibly evil yet — super adorable in her darkness — neighbor steps in and ends up scamming Grim out of his prize. And in the process, because he's totally Gump, he ends up promising that if the kids beat him in a limbo competition he'll be their best friend forever (a stipulation that was made much of in the episode "Keeper of the Reaper.")

After Mandy wins/cheats, Grim is forced into a time-share arrangement with the two kids and that's when the series starts. There's all kinds of crazy hijinks and enough pop culture references to make your head spin — Evil Dead, Dune, Fred Flintstone, Harry Potter, and Smurfs, just to name a few homages paid to my childhood.

This is one of those cartoons that appeals to kids of all ages, from 5 to 500. Younger children will see the bright colors and the silly action, while adults can be coolly amused by all the props offered to books and movies. And there's just enough gross humor to make this show a winner.

"The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy" needs to have the rest of its seasons and all of the movies put out on DVD. It's for the good of mankind!

rating: 5

Btw, in case you didn't notice: The voice of Billy is also the voice of Zim from "Invader Zim," and Mandy is Azula from "Avatar: The Last Airbender." Who'd have thunk it, amirite?

Filed under: Reviews, Television, TV Reviews Tagged: review, reviews, TV show

MOVIE: I Saw the Devil [Korean]

I Saw the Devil

Rated: R for graphic depictions of violence

Director: Jee-woon Kim

Writer: Hoon-hung Park (screenplay)

Starring: Byung-hun Lee, Min-sik choi, and Gook-hwan Jeon

Summary borrowed from IMDB: When his pregnant fiancee becomes the latest victim of a serial killer, a secret agent blurs the line between good and evil in his pursuit of revenge.

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Wow. I don't even really know where to start with this one. I'm not even sure if I even liked it or not, and I highly doubt that I'll ever watch it again. But that's just my personal preference.

This is a revenge movie ala "Oldboy" or "Otis," though this movie keeps it real.

Starts off with a woman having a flat tire and being stuck on the side of a mountain road. While she waits for the tow truck, she calls her fiance. His advisement: "Lock the doors and stay put. Wait for the tow truck."

While she's waiting, a van drives up and a man gets out. He taps on her window — she's smart enough not to open the door — and offers to check things out. She tells him she's waiting for the tow truck, but he insists.

Creepy guy fiddles around near the tire while she's still talking to her fiance. She tells her fiance goodbye and hangs up, then settles in to wait for the tow truck. Which is about the point that creepy guy pops up and tells her to open the door. She says no… and things get serious.

He busts in her car window with a hammer, thumps her with it on the head, then roughly drags her body to his van. At this point, I thought that she was dead and was horrified, but relieved that her ordeal was over.

It was not.

The awful sexual things he does to her are not shown on screen, though you can tell she went through some real trauma by the damage to her body when she wakes up naked and wrapped in plastic. She pleads with him, tells him that she's pregnant, and he basically shrugs and is just like "Wow, a twofer" before beating her to death and chopping her body up.

And that was just the first like ten minutes of the movie.

"I Saw the Devil" is one of those things that you cannot unsee. It twines its way into your brain and you simply cannot look away even though you desperately want to, because throughout the whole thing you're hoping that somehow things are going to turn out all right.

This movie is gritty and dark, though the cinematography is clean and clear and you maybe see way more than you want to.

The killer is just that — a killer. Even while he's being horribly tormented, he still needs to rape one more girl, kill one more person, and basically just bathe in that much more blood.

And the MC — oh, that's all, just oh. He has so many opportunities to just get some and get gone, but he has to prolong the revenge scenario until every aspect of his life and the lives around him are ruined. It is one of those human tragedies and is the basis for the title: I saw the devil, and the devil was me.

Do not watch this movie if you have a weak stomach. This isn't quite the orgy of violence that the "Saw" and "Hostel" franchises have become — for one thing, this movie has an actual story — but it is intensely graphic and disturbing. I spent the bulk of this movie with my hands over my eyes asking the people in the room with me "Is it over? Can I look yet?"

This movie is a thing of nightmares, not just for the images depicted, but for the idea that it could be real.

Rating: 3

Filed under: Korean, Movie Reviews, Reviews Tagged: movie reviews, movies, reviews

RE: Season of the Witch [movie]

Really not all that bad. For serious.

We were sitting around mid-week, completely bored out of our minds (or at least, some of us were. Others were watching kdramas on Hulu and dreaming about flying to Korea to corrupt some youth.) Anyways, my dad put on "Season of the Witch," a movie that had been on our Instant Queue for a ridiculous amount of time.

The movie opens up with the killing of a bunch of women accused of witchcraft and just keeps right on rolling. There was like no let up at all, it was just this fast-paced ride through a countryside ravaged by the Black Plague. And Behmen (Nicolas Cage) and his guy, Felson (Ron Perlman), are hot out of the Crusades and are charged with helping transport an accused witch for persecution.

If all the swinging of swords and chopping off of limbs in the first fifteen minutes didn't catch your attention, that's about when things went full-on action movie. There's hallucinations, murder, mutilation, a crazed bridge crossing, and at the end of it all… yeah, I'm not going to ruin it for you. (If you want to ruin it for yourself, use the Internet. That's what it's there for: ruining the endings of good movies.)

So if you want to watch a movie, eat some popcorn, and maybe have something to yell about with your friends, check out "Season of the Witch." It's on Netflix streaming right now, if that's what you've got.

~Pax

Filed under: Real Life, Reviews Tagged: movies, RL

RE: The Monster [Chinese Movie]

Title: The Monster a.k.a. Home Sweet Home

Starring: Shu Qi and Alex Fong, Tam Chun-Ho

Summary: A young family moves into a nice Hong Kong high rise and things immediately begin to go badly for them. They're only there for a short time–maybe a week–when their three year old son Chi Lo is abducted. The mother frantically searches for her son after the police have given up after only a few weeks. Some of her actions during her search–falling through the ceiling, buying a big rottweiler, etc–have some of the other inhabitants of her building thinking that she's just some crazy woman. But she is certain that some strange, rag-wearing woman has taken her son and she's not going to stop until she gets him back.

Opinion: Though this movie is classed as a "horror" movie, it would be a mistake to try and judge it by the same criteria as the usual Chinese horror movies ("The Eye," "Gu-On," etc.) And even though some parts were a tad overdramatic, it was still very interesting and I actually became very sympathetic of "the monster."

I would recommend watching this movie, just don't rate it on the basis of the usual horror movies. Don't go into it blind and prepare yourself to be moved to tears over the plight of the supposed villain.

Filed under: Movie Reviews, Reviews Tagged: movies, RL

AbFab – May contain spoilers about the progression of the show

Absolutely Fabulous

Starring: Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, and Julia Sawalha

Summary: Follows the wild life of wealthy Edina, her best friend Patsy, and Edina's straight-laced daughter Saffron. If you wanna know more about the show, here's Wikipedia: AbFab, IMDB: AbFab.

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I think that Absolutely Fabulous has only gotten better as the years have gone by. Not just because it's incredibly funny, but because it's so true.

Everything is completely over the top, but I can't help thinking that that's how I would want to treat getting old. I mean, I know I never will. But the dirty delight that in some parallel world there's another version of me just doing whatever the hell she wants…

It oddly delights me.

And since I'm never going to be doing all those crazy things, I have to get my vicarious goodies somewhere. Thus, enters Eddy and Patsy and an oddly reluctant Saffy.

I can see aspects of the wild and free person I wish I could be in them, and that makes me happy. Because for about thirty minutes at a time I can watch two women living completely free. And I see how some of their over the top behavior is received by the other characters on the show and it completely changes the course of their lives.

AbFab is the soap opera show for people that are too cool to watch soap operas (or at least admit that they do.)

=Discussion?=

Filed under: Journal, Real Life, Reviews, Television, What's up buttercup? Tagged: AbFab, discussion, PB&J, reviews, TV show