Dramatic and Cinematic

Alice: A SyFy Alice in Wonderland

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:19:52 GMT

Okay I just finished watching part one of this SyFy mini... and WTF?

So the basic plot of part one is... it's about 150 years after the first Alice's visit to Wonderland and Wonderland has changed BIG TIME. It's an urban wasteland (surprise surprise) where drugs of liquid emotion, extracted from human prisoners, control the masses. When Alice--a young woman emotionally scared by her father's disappearance--rejects a proposal from her boyfriend, Jack, with a special ring, he get's kidnapped by White Rabbit, a shady organization from Wonderland, and Alice is forced to chase them through the looking glass to save him. After escaping White Rabbit Alice is taken to the Tea House where she meets Hatter, a cute young grunge punk incarnation of the Mad Hatter. Hatter takes her to meet with the rebels against the Queen for help but they both end up on yet another hit list when they learn she has the magic ring that controls the looking glass passage to the real world. While they are on the run there is a whole series of WTF forced romantic moments between Alice and Hatter. Hatter has the mooning puppy thing down. lol On their way to the knight's forest in a speed boat he even says that the Tea House is trashed and there is nowhere in Wonderland he can hide anymore so he has no choice but to return to the real world with Alice... only to change his mind about 10 minutes later. They run from the Jabberwocky and meet the knight. They rest there the night but Alice ditches Hatter to go to the Heart's Casino to turn herself over to the Queen. She plans to trade the ring for Jack, but instead she discovers Jack is the prince of Wonderland and is engaged to the Duchess. Alice is imprisoned after learning her father is also somewhere in the Casino and Hatter sets off to save her once he wakes to find her gone.

Now my thoughts...
Oh dear lord the dialog is baaaad. I'm not sure if it's a combination of bad dialog and bad acting, but the dialog is bad for sure. It's so cheesy. So far the plot is mediocre and the interactions between Hatter and Alice seem pretty forced. Hatter is quite cute though.

I have to wonder though... When the hell did the Hatter/Alice fandom get life? I mean, I really don't get how the Hatter transformed from a creepy old man who was a huge duche and only in ONE SCENE in the original story... into a hot young man who not only is a lead but has the hots for Alice... who for some reason is a grown woman rather than an 8 year old girl. How did the Hatter even become popular enough for this fandom to be born? This fandom existed long before this mini series... so I just don't get it.

Moving on... the whole casino thing just makes me laugh. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be funny but the faces the prisoners make... it's just silly. I did love the mad scientists munching on cookies out of a robotic rabbit head though. That was funny... as was the robot bunny assassin...

Conclusion...
I intend to watch part two just to see how it ends. It's entertaining to see the modern versions of old school symbols and try to figure out who the characters are supposed to be. But it's still super cheesy, which is a disappointment.

Barbarian Princess

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:46:21 GMT

My god sometimes people are so bloody PC they are stupid.

The Hawaiian studies professor would actually prefer NO ONE give a crap about Hawaiian history than to let movie producers glamorize it a bit to get people's interest? Every country's history has had movies made where history was slightly altered for the story's sake... but if it can make more people actually interested in learning about the real history, then why throw a huge fit? The people who will walk away believing it to be 100% true are the people who would have never cared about Hawaiian history or any history in the first place. So, knowing an inaccurate history is better than knowing none at all.

And the protesting over the title just make me gape in wonder about how dense people are. The title "Barbarian Princess" in no way is calling her a barbarian. By protesting that title they are trying to sweep history under the rug since that is what the press called her in the era. The point of the title is to show that the "Barbarian Princess" is actually poised, graceful, and ladylike while the Americans are monsters who are the true "barbarians." So, it's not an insult you fools.

Foods that makes you have a heart attack... lol

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 02:19:39 GMT

This week somehow... don't ask me how it happened because I really don't know, my mobile screen cracked and turned black. It's not even that old. And I got that one because my old one died a watery death... It seems my phones are doomed to tragic deaths lately.

So anyway, I called my dad and he took me to replace the mobile after class... only they no longer sold that phone. I had to pic a new one out. As we were looking at phones he asked what features I NEEDED. I said it only needed a camera and a way to get the pictures off. i found one that was pretty similar to my dead one with a 2 megapixels and a miniSD slot. But Dad spoils me and asked me why not get the 8 megapixel camera that happens to make phone calls. lol

And that is just a preamble to the photos of this weeks dishes at school... XD

Sous vide and fried pork = super fat bacon coma.

Tortilla de Patatas with a Romesco sauce.

Shrimp Ceviche

Mini Montecristo.

Paella.

Bitter greens, chard, and apple salad.

Duck in orange olive sauce. (blurry lol)

Summer's Desire

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:39:42 GMT

When love is so strong that it becomes stifling,
Would you escape or confront it?
The most touching, dreamlike love of the century.

And to liven up my mood and my LJ... Summer's Bubbles promos!... or I guess they are now calling it Summer's Desire. Though... given the plot... this is only a small step up in happiness. lol Angst and drama and a serious love triangle... this drama is looking better and better. Peter's character seems like suuuuch a moody arrogant asshole ♥~ He's looking mighty fine too. And Xiao Ming... words can not express his deliciousness. Barbie and Xiao Ming actually look quite cute together.

God I hope this is one of those shows that makes it really hard to predict how it will end and who she will choose. I foresee someone dieing though. lol

Professor Layton

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:03:28 GMT

I just beat Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (game 2 in the Layton series). For those who don't know, Professor Layton is a Nintendo DS series originating from Japan. The concept is, a British Professor and his young apprentice wander around solving gigantic mysteries and mini puzzles in the process. It's mostly a puzzle and riddle game. But wait, let that sink in a moment... British characters... voiced by the Japanese...

And not just any voice actors, unlike the American versions, Professor Layton is baited with some pretty big name Japanese actors doing the voices. For example Oizumi Yo does the voice of Layton while Horikita Maki is young Luke (I say young Luke because game 3, which is not out in America yet, has older Luke voiced by Oguri Shun.) and Kamikawa Takaya does a character in game 3 too. And that's just a few of them.

It kills me that it takes America so long to translate games sometimes. Japan is getting game 4 this holiday season and there is no clues about when America will get game 3... but since game 2 came out recently I expect it wont be very soon.

I do find it hilarious though that the Layton series seems to think it's Star Wars. The first game was actually part 4 of the story. The new game getting released in Japan in November will be part 1. So it went 4-6 and they will now do 1-3.

Oh and some more awesomeness from Japan... Following the games November release, just before Christmas they are also releasing Professor Layton and The Eternal Diva... the first Layton animated movie.

Trailer 1

Trailer 2 with the voice actors.

Trailer 3

Tag!

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:19:52 GMT

tagged by izzaki

1.Write your username
puppet_princess

2. Write your 2 favourite bands/groups of the moment
Groups?
BOBO and...Cherry Filter...
The larger portion of my music is solo artists though...

3. Write something you ♥, aka let me see your heart
Sleeeeeeeep...?

4. Write the name of your favourite person of all time
Me! haha

5. Write the name of your recent favoured person
Make that personS...
Li Yi Feng - because he's a total media whore right now. So much goodness to love.
Ma Tian Yu & Guo Ding - because they help me sleep. lol
And GD because he's a different kind of whore. XD

6. Tag 6 people to do this meme
resie_ness
teddaybear
hitomi83
horangi333
suna_sprite
dipropylene

G-Dragon makes me feel dirty...

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:09:15 GMT

*I refuse to post pictures and/or videos for this post since I'm sure everyone reading this is already attacked by a dozen Heart-breaker icons a day and have seen such media on their friend's page at least five times already.*

So, it's nothing new that G-Dragon loves the in-your-face sexuality. "I love sex" buttons and naked girl t-shirts are a common occurrence for him so I don't really pay much attention to it anymore.

But sweet baby Jesus... his solo CD makes me feel dirty.

Is there a song on that CD NOT about sex? Seriously.
It's not even subtle anymore. If you want super blunt sexual references... look no further. Breathe doesn't even try to spin it with poetic words, rather things like... "I know you want it baby," "You and me hardcore," "Til you say no more," "Let's do it some more." And that's just the English parts. The Korean parts aren't really any more wholesome. "Hello" teaches how to pick up chicks. And OMG I don't even no where to start with the metaphors in the "Heart-breaker" MV.

So many metaphors my brain nearly exploded. In case anyone missed it. The albums logo, the apple, sexual reference right there. The setting of the MV was a futuristic looking Garden of Eden and GD is lounging about under the tree being all heathenish and eating apples... which are a thinly veiled metaphor for women, and their *cough* forbidden fruit. Walls of apples with bites taken out of them? Not hard to see the meaning there. You could sort of call him romantic, what with the pining for the one apple that got away. But that kind of gets ruined by the boob cuddling and the horribly graphic sheet symbolism. I think the sheet was that part that was too much really. It was just one step too far.

While I sound really negative... this is actually why I adore G-Dragon. The insane outfits and the ~~blunt~~ honest male sexuality is what makes him appealing. Otherwise he'd just be another average-ish guy who raps. I think he's aware that he can't put up much of a fight against the "pretty boys" who fill pop-culture, so he draws attention with wacky behavior, gossip, and weird wardrobe phases. It makes him interesting... like a clown... lol

It's OPEN!

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:24:41 GMT

And growing fast.
After a few weeks of work... 26 profiles is a bitch to do really... the comm was finally ready to officially open last night.
Resie and I are still working to upload the piles of goodies we actually have, which is a lot.
But we are open for business now.

Get all the My Hero boys love at jiayou_myhero !! :P

Happy Birthday Wonder Twin!!

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:35:25 GMT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RESIE!!!!

Technically it's not your birthday for me yet. But since you are from the future I figure I should celebrate your your birthday and not my your birthday.

So... your wish is my command...

Actually... I've been planning this post and your present for almost a week.
You have no idea how hard I was laughing last night when you said you wanted Feng for your birthday and I knew that's what I was giving you already... in a double dose. lol

Your present.

Enjoy. :P

BOBO OPPO Pic Spam!

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:09:02 GMT

*Cough* I refuse to explain WHY I'm doing this because it's a story in which I am very stupid... but I'm sure Resie will still enjoy mocking me as well as the yummy spam.

BOBO are spokesmen for OPPO, an electronics company *duh*, right now.

Feng Happiness production shots

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:13:02 GMT

Happiness is Definitely Strong (幸福一定强 xing fu yi ding qiang) productions shots!

Their are also shots of Ming Dao outside the hospital they were filming at but they are super blurry and grainy so I don't want to stare them. :P Plus, while I adore Ming Dao, he's handsome, cool, and charming while still able to act like a cute little kid, it's no longer very thrilling to me when I hear news of him being in a new drama. He's in a looot of shows and this year alone... wow. But the draw of "Happiness" for me is... It's Li Yi Feng first major role and I have grown quite fond of Annie Chen. Despite being very new to acting, Annie has had some surprisingly great scenes in "Prince + Princess 2." She has a very raw emotional expression that just made my heart ache for her character and made me cry. So, I am looking forward to what she does with a new role.

On to the Feng shots! Yummy glasses... he's looking quite handsome.

New books make me all foody-nerdy

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:02:26 GMT

I swear this was actually a randomly selected page of the FL Companion. lol

We got my text books for school today and they are 1) a hell of a lot lighter than last semester's monster, 2) very interesting and pretty. lol

The New Food Lover's Companion is basically a giant dictionary/encyclopedia of food, techniques and various jargon. It's got pronunciation and explanations of what things are and where they come from. I can already see the days of sitting around a table flipping to random pages and going, "Guess what a Fuzzy Melon is."
Presenting Service is my front of the house text and the most boring of the lot. That little @#$# is the only used book we bought and it's the smallest and most useless of them all.... and yet it was the most expensive of the lot. How messed up is that?
Culinary Calculations translates to stupid math you should already know. Mostly fractions and conversions and stuff. But math IS required and I figured I might as well beat all the specifics into my head now so I don't get confused later when I have to start taking Baking and Purchasing.
The Flavor Bible is by far the prettiest and most interesting of the books. It's a book that references the flavors of different ingredients and classifies it's uses, flavor compatibility, and incompatibility. The cover under the dust jacket is puuuurdy.

Sauteed Pineapple, Cinnamon, Vanilla, and Star Annis cover the front and back. It looks delicious.

Pancakes are evil...

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:52:57 GMT

... and make me feel bloated.

I choked on my morning tea...

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:30:39 GMT

My wonder twin is truly evil sometimes. I think she uses her future powers against me on purpose. She waits until I go to bed to put together massive Yi Feng picspam so that while casually browsing my friends page in the morning I get a lung full of hot minty liquid.

While speaking of Feng... I was too lazy to post this yesterday when the news was released, but... LI YI FENG IS GONNA BE IN A NEW DRAMA!!

After Prince of Tennis 2 which will be airing sometime in August Feng has been bumped up a notch on the cast list. Yesterday it was announced that he will be a primary (second male) in the new drama that will begin filming this month, 幸福一定强 (Xing Fu Yi Ding Qiang) or Happiness is Defiantly Strong... or something like that. The drama will be staring Ming Dao, who has been doing A LOT of mainland work lately and will be Annie Chen's second drama after Prince + Princess 2. I have no idea what it's about yet, but Resie practically beat me to death with this news yesterday. lol I'm super excited though. Feng's getting more into the spotlight which is good. Now if only Kimi would move up from the low budget movies on to something a bit bigger. And you can clone those sentiments for the rest of the boys.

Isn't he just adorable? Annie looks good too. Her hair is growing out again nicely.
God this little half smirk kills me.

In other drama news...

Hot damn Jerry looks hot in that shot... erm what was I gonna say? Oh right...

The complete spoilerific plot description for Down With Love seems to have made it's way to the internet. I shall cut it down to the main concept though as to not spread spoilers.

Xiang Yu Ping, an expert divorce and inheritance lawyer, is seen by others as cold, selfish, and ruthless. After Yu-ping’s older brother dies in a car accident he has little choice in taking in his brother's two orphaned children, Fei and Ting. Every nanny he hires to care for them is either scared off by the mischievous children or ends up falling in love with him. Fed up, Yu Ping asks his secretary, Yang Duo, to find a nanny that meets his requirements. Having lost all their wealth when their mother passed away and being abandoned by their father after racking up heavy debts; Yang Duo can not ignore the fact that she needs the money and recommends her younger sister, Yang Guo, for the job; assuring Yu Ping that her tomboyish sister will not fall in love with him by lying that she does not like men at all.

So... put simply... she tells him her sister is a lesbian to help her get the job, only she is soooo not. Can you not feel the insanely awkward hijinks to come from that?

And in Korea...
It's announced that Jang Geun Suk will be in a new drama called 미남이시네요 or You're Beautiful... in the sense of a male. So more like... You're a Pretty Boy. lol Early descriptions are calling it a story about an idol groups lives off stage. LOL Sukie is getting what he wants it seems. They are making him into a popstar. Geun Suk is the only confirmed cast member so far but supposedly it will air in October-ish.

中文 - 是谁？

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:37:46 GMT

叫 (jiào) - call (shout/order)
名字 (míng zi) - name
贵 (guì) - honor
姓 (xìng) - surname /be surnamed
老师 (lǎo shī) - teacher
认识 (rèn shi) - know
朋友 (péng you) - friend
来（lái） - come
久 (jiǔ) - long
明白（míngbai） - be clear/understand
哦 (ò) - interjection "oh"

And since I don't have a Chinese name... I shall use the names of cute boys instead. lol

您贵姓？ - What's your surname?
我姓乔。 - My surname is Qiáo.
你叫什么名字？ - What's your name?
我叫乔任梁。哦，你认识他吗？ - I'm called Qiáo Rèn Liáng. Oh, do you know him?
认识，他是我的老师。 - I know him. He is my teacher.
我的朋友来了。 - My friend is here.
你的朋友叫什么名字？ - What's your friend's name?
他姓李，叫李易峰。 - His surname is Lǐ, he's called Lǐ Yì Fēng.
哦，我明白。 - Oh, I got it.
易峰，好久不见。 - Yì Fēng， long time no see.

I will have nightmares

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:15:22 GMT

Jarvis made a new post on his blog today.
All I can say is... "What...?" *hides behind the couch scared.*

So... Which IS better?

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:42:44 GMT

I found this rather funny.

I had downloaded the Chinese Paladin 3 OST a few days ago. I've been reading about it for weeks so I knew it was an interesting collection of artists. However, I hadn't actually listened to it fully until this morning. I had my iPod on shuffle and suddenly this song comes on. The opening rift sounded familiar but I couldn't place it. I knew it was something Japanese and I felt like it was the opening song to a TV show, but I couldn't recall what show so I looked down to read 我做我的王 by 兄弟联 from 仙剑奇侠传三. That's not Japanese. Is it a rip off... on the Chinese Paladin 3 CD?

And then they started signing and I started laughing.

GOGOCLUB - Be My Own King (Wo zuo wo de wang)

Not a rip off. A cover. A cover of what...? Why super cute chibi detectives of course. Apparently GOGOCLUB did a cover of Answer by the Japanese band FLOW, which was the opening song for the show Tantei Gakuen Q.

The original.

So the question is... which version is better? lol

I also find it a little funny that this song is on a wuxia OST. Even if Chinese Paladin is not your typical wuxia.

China is so ignored...

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:30:02 GMT

I had writen up this huge ass rant a few days ago but LJ ate it so this is my less ranty rant... lol

So the other day Resie and I were talking about how sad the mainland section of the AF forums are. It's a little strange since if you ask Chinese speakers, they can name a lot of mainland shows, however, they never talk about them. Among the online communities (the non-Chinese speakers) the mainland has a very negative view. People think the only thing that comes from the mainland is cheap boring wuxia dramas. 99% of the people who have seen a mainland drama mistake it for Taiwanese. Why? Because that's what is hot. Taiwanese idol dramas. No one knows that idols exist in the mainland too. However, most mainland dramas I've seen are amazingly high budget and have this one thing Taiwan doesn't always seem to care about... Talent. I've never actually seen a bad actor in a mainland drama.

While I watch and enjoy Taiwanese dramas... I'm not under the delusion that they are well cast with skilled actors or have any idea what good story structure is. Most of them are pure fluffy crap that are fun to watch because the actors are cute. In fact there are only a few that I have seen that I thought were good all the way through. Taiwan also produces lots of deeper entertainment cast with unknown actors and with artistic storytelling. PTS is one of the stations famous for this, however, fangirls and boys don't want dramas like that so they never reach the communities.

I love things Chinese and I enjoy fansubbing because it's educational to me. It forces me to learn and do research about Chinese culture, history, pop culture, expressions, language, and more. But most people who watch TWdramas don't seem to care about these things at all. More recently there has been an influx of such viewers. I blame it a bit on the streaming accessibility. It brings in viewers who just don't care about China but only want to see pretty people. These people are a bit of a nightmare to me. They take no effort in absorbing any of the culture they are watching but their fetish has them obsessed to the point of delusion. They love or hate shows based on who is cast and who is directing, not because the story or production is good. They want the same actors and actresses together in every drama because they hold sick fantasies that they are really in love and aren't just actors. They refuse to see the weaknesses in the actors or directors they idolize because obsession makes them blind to it. Does realizing the actor you idolize can't act mean you can't idolze them? It's a bit unhealthy I think. There has also been a flux of tweens who hardly speak Chinese, or English, and want to create gibberish subs which most TWdrama watchers will eat up since they don't actually care if they can follow the plot.

With this attitude on the rise, Resie and I have been leaning more towards dramas with new or lesser known actors, based on the plot. We have PTS TV movie collections to at least try to get something deeper out there for people to stumble across. We have also been more interested in mainland dramas. We have sort of started a mission of making people realize that mainland China has more to offer than wuxia and that the mainland has idols... who are just as hot as Taiwan's. Plus the drama stories are more unique and less formulaic than Taiwan's cookie cutter romance novel-esque dramas. We have already introduced a number of mainland dramas to the communities without them being very aware that we have. Prince of Tennis is a mainland drama cast with idols, Armor Hero is also 100% idols, Legend of the Magic Stones, while having TAE, an actor who is often in TWdrams, to lure in picky fangirls and boys, is also a huge mainland idol cast. We also have plans to increase our mainland dramas projects in the future.

While this idea of introducing the communities to mainland idols came to us we had been watching the development of Meteor Shower, or whatever they are calling it now. They keep changing the name to try to deny it's a Hana Yori Dango remake even though it is. While I am totally over HanaDan, four remakes is sort of like beating a dead drama horse if you ask me, the thought had occurred to me that given the manga's popularity, if cast well a mainland HanaDan would be a good source to show the communities that the mainland has some hotties and youthful shows. Of course they severely disappointed me in their casting of meh~ idols who I don't think have ever acted before. The Chinese fans shared my disappointment... (yeah I know it's an old article)

Despite the influx of fans spamming various forums on Baidu to argue that the “Four Hotties” of My Hero should’ve starred as F4 in a mainland remake of Meteor Garden, the top five of My Hero obviously didn’t care for a role in Meteor Garden.

When asked what they thought of Daoming Si, only Kimi replied positively, saying that he was loyal to his friends. Jing Boran replied “an useless person” and Fu Xinbo said “a bit unintelligent”. If they were Daomingsi, the first thing that both Kimi Qiao and Jing Boran would do is to get a new haircut; Fu Xinbo would start being responsible to his career as well as love; Li Yifeng would become a police officer.

Of course, there are things to be admired about Daoming Si - Kimi and Li Yifeng liked his “simple thoughts and determination,” Jing Boran the fact that he “did what he wanted,” and Fu Xinbo and Li Yifeng his “true love for Shancai/Makino.” Fu Xinbo also believes that if his mom ever opposed his girlfriend, he would go with Jay’s advice – “Listen to Mama’s words.” - cfensi

I had forgotten I had read this months ago until I reread it the other day. This of course gives me mixed feelings. On the one side, it would have been awesome and so easy to mainstream with a cast like that. On the other side, I am so happy the boys I love have good taste and would not touch HanaDan with a ten foot pole. On the bright side though, they are in other dramas. XD

The delicious fake Meteor Shower cast...

Dao Ming Si/Domyoji Tsukasa - Kimi Qiao Ren Liang
I had to look up info about Kimi the other day because I wasn't actually that familiar with him. For some reason I would always ignore Resie when she would rave about Kimi. Not sure why. but I am kicking myself for it now since he's my kind of awesome. Resie is even rubbing it in with Kimi pic spam on her LJ. :P

Hua Ze Lei/Hanazawa Rui - Fu Xin Bo
On the right. While BOBO as a whole is pure love. Xin Bo is the hot one for sure. God he's yummy...mmm...

Xi Men/Nishikado Sojiro - Juck Zhang Chao
Ducky Jucky~ <-- I do this just to make Reise twitch.

Mei Zuo/Mimasaka Akira - Deeven Wu Di Wen
The "hot" one. He always seems to play the sexy player.

Some other hottie hot idols I've grown fond of... that I can think of right now...

Huang Xiao Ming
Sexy actor turned pop star. Xiao Ming has been in a lot of insanely high budget shows and plays very different and dynamic characters. He does a mix bag of modern, period, and ancient dramas.

Hu Ge
98% of Hu Ge's dramas are ancient wuxia ones. In fact I think he's only ever done two modern shows. Buuuut... he's like the king of wuxia. He's in pretty much all the epic popular wuxia dramas. He's a super hottie. He's a singer. And he's an amateur photographer.

An extra Hu Ge MV because I like this song and it makes me want to cry. This came after Hu Ge's car accident in which his assistant was killed. The bandages are mock ups of his injuries from the crash. He had to have reconstructive surgery on his right eye.

中文 - Nouns: Pronouns

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:47:52 GMT

Chinese nouns consist of common nouns, pronouns, and proper nouns.

Common Ｎouns are concrete tangible things as well as abstract concepts.
书 (shū) - book
车 (chē) - car
意思（yì　si） - meaning, idea

Pronouns are nouns used to refer people in place of their name.
我 (wǒ) - I/Me (1st person)
你 (nǐ) - you (2nd person)
您 (nín) - you (formal)
他/她/它 (tā) - he/him, she/her, it (3rd person)
自己 (zì jǐ) - self (reflexive)

Plural Pronouns
我们 (wǒ men) - we/us (1st person)
咱们 (zán men) - we/us (1st person inclusive. speaker + addressee(s))
你们 (nǐ men) - you *plural* (2nd person)
他们/她们/它们 (tā men) - they/them (3rd person)

Proper Nouns are given names of places or people.
中国 (Zhōng guó) - China
美国 (Měi guó) - America

Inclusive versus Exclusive
咱们 is the inclusive form for "we" or "us" meaning it includes the speaker and the person(s) being spoken to. Basically "me and you (all)."

我们 is the exclusive form of "we" or "us" meaning it includes the speaker but not necessarily the person(s) being spoken to. "Me and him/her/them."

我们 is commonly used for both cases except apparently sometimes in/around Beijing. That makes little sense. lol

咱们走吧！ - Let's go!
走 (zǒu) - to go, to walk, to leave, to move
吧 (ba) - ...right?, ...OK?, ...let's?, ... shall we？, [used to indicate a suggestion or request]
咱们都是中国人 - We are all Chinese.

我们想跟你谈谈 - We want to talk to you.
想 (xiǎng) - want to/think/recon
跟 (gēn) - with/and
谈 (tán) - talk/discuss
我们都喜欢学中文 - We all like to study Chinese.
喜欢 (xǐ huɑn) - to like

自己 - Self
自己　is used to express things like, "myself," or, "yourself."
我不喜欢自己。　－　I don't like myself.
It can also be paired with a pronoun to add emphasis...
我自己。。。　－ I myself...

----------------------------------
Exercise
1）___ 是大学生。
They are college students.

2）___ 也是大学生。
We are also college students.

3）___ 认识 ___ 吗？
Do you know them?

4）___ 念中文吗？
Do you study Chinese?
[念(niàn)- to study]

5）妹妹，姐姐都念中文。 ___ 不念中文。
My younger sister and older sister all study Chinese, I myself don't study Chinese.

----------------------------------
Answers
1）他们是大学生。
2）　我们也是大学生。
3）　你认识他们吗？
4）　你念中文吗？
5）妹妹，姐姐都念中文。我自己不念中文。

中文- Numbers： Part 2

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:33:25 GMT

Numbers 100-9,999 are constructed similarly to English.
百 (bǎi) - Hundred
千 (qiān) - Thousand
667 - 六百六十七 (Six hundred-sixty-seven)
2,894 - 两千八百九十四 (Two thousand-eight hundred-ninety-four)
9,999 - 九千九百九十九(Nine thousand-nine hundred-ninety-nine)

Numbers 10,000 to a million are counted by the ten thousand.
万 [萬] (wàn) - Ten Thousand
24,000 - 两万四千 (two ten thousands and four thousands)
89,667 - 八万九千六百六十七 (eight ten thousands and nine thousands-six hundred-sixty-seven)
273,561 - 二十七万三千五百六十一 (twenty-seven ten thousands and three thousands-five hundred-sixty-one)
892,894 - 八十九万两千八百九十四 (eighty-nine ten thousands and two thousands-eight hundred-ninety-four)
2,735,610 - 两百七十三万五千六百一十 (two hundred-seventy-three ten thousands and five thousands-six hundred and one ten)
8,979,999 - 八百九十七九千九百九十九 (eight hundred-ninety-seven ten thousands and nine thousands-nine hundred-ninety-nine)

百万 (one hundred the thousands) - 1 Million
千万 (one thousand ten thousands) - 10 Million
亿 [億] （yì） or 万万 (ten thousand ten thousands) - 100 Million

Note: When two occurs before 百，千，or 万 either 二 or 两 can be used.

Empty hundreds or tens places may be read as 零 - Zero
3,053 - 三千零五十三 (three thousands-zero-fifty-three)
When the number has a series of zeros, 零 is only used once.
2,001 - 两千零一 (two thousands-zero-one)

New Layout - Hu Ge Ge

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:06:43 GMT

Yay~ New layout.
I know... I'm totally avoiding doing any actual work... but I was due for a new layout anyways.

I had intended to do a Shuai Shuai layout, to have Resie mock me over. But you know... it's just soooo hard to find high quality pictures of Shuai Shuai that I like. So... Hu Ge struck my fancy today instead.

中文- Numbers： Part 1

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:48:44 GMT

Knowing 1-10 means you automatically know 1-99 since counting in Chinese builds upon itself.

One - Ten
一 (yī) - One
二 (èr) - Two
三 (sān) - Three
四 (sì) - Four
五 (wǔ) - Five
六 (liù) - Six
七 (qī) - Seven
八 (bā) - Eight
九 (jiǔ) - Nine
十 (shí) - Ten
零 (líng) - Zero

Numbers after that are stuck together to create larger meanings.
十一 would mean eleven and 十二 would be twelve. This pattern continues until twenty where 二十 would mean two tens or twenty. Like wise 三十 is thirty and 四十 is forty. As it all follows this pattern 五十二 would be fifty-two and 八十九 is eighty-nine. All the way up to 九十九, ninety-nine.

*When a classifier is not used and you are simply counting， "two" is represented as 二.
Ex. 一。。。二。。。三。。。四。。。五。。。六。。。

*When "two" is part of the number: 12, 22, 42... 二 is also used.
Ex. 十二，二十二，四十二

*In all other cases when "two" occurs before a classifier, the word used is 两 [兩] (liǎng).
Ex. 两个人 [兩個人] (liǎng gè rén) - Two people
两本书 [兩本書] (liǎng běn shū) - Two books

Exercise:
Finish the chart.

Arabic	Chinese
14
	五十六
28
	七十四
39
	二十二
67
	十八
92
	八十八
77
	四十一
26
	二十三

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arabic	Chinese
14	十四
56	五十六
28	二十八
74	七十四
39	三十九
22	二十二
67	六十七
18	十八
92	九十二
88	八十八
77	七十七
41	四十一
26	二十六
23	二十三

True Blood Season 2 Episode 03

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:16:37 GMT

Hmmm few comments on this episode.

This was the episode I was waiting for. Sookie was attacked and needed to go to Fangtasia for treatment. In the book, it was a game of pass the Sookie as the four vampires had to take turns cleaning her blood of the poison. I was looking forward to the look on Eric's face when he got what he wanted. Buuuut, they cut that bit out. The back surgery was the most disgusting thing yet though. That was... wow.

And Jessica is adorable. Teenage vampires still are just teenagers after all. Getting caught making out on the couch by your "parents." Trouble...

Deeven Icons

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:19:12 GMT

Yes I know I'm insane. The first think I do when I get home from the hospital is make a crap load of Deeven icons for Resie. I didn't even make Shuai Shuai ones for myself while I was at it.
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1	2	3	4

5	6	7	8

9	10	11	12

13	14	15	16

17	18	19

True Blood Season 2 Episode 02

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:06:39 GMT

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Eric is groooooossssssssssss..... and yet... while throwing severed arms at people, spiting out blood, and basically just drenching himself in blood.... I still find him so incredibly hot.

Wow, Bill is an asshole. Yes yes I know he's supposed to be a complete dick. This is why they break up. But it seems a little early and sudden for him to shift into such heavy toolness. I mean, it's like all of a sudden out of almost nowhere he's mean to Sookie and rough with her. It would be awesome if they powered though the plot of Dead in Dallas and made this season a mix of that and Club Dead. However I doubt that will happen since "Bill's missing." would be the best cliff hanger for the season finale.

The fellowship is creepy... the writers sure did make Jason messed in the head...

Wah... I really need to power though the rest of the books. Perhaps I will try to do that this week/next week while I'm stuck in bed. Not like I don't have a long list of shows to watch to keep me entertained too... but then ethidda will stop bugging me so she can talk to me about book 9. lol