Went to my grandma's place yesterday to laze around and slack a bit. Ended up being a couch potato again. Everywhere I go I become a couch potato. I was trying out the sepia function of the camera, while being glued to the sofa in front of the tv set.



Guess what got me glued to the couch this time? This very very nice Hong Kong serial War and Beauty! It got me hooked less than 5 minutes into the first episode. The whole story is about the concubines in the palaces fighting for power and each trying to outdo the other in front of the emperor. The story is full of twists and turns as each character always turns out to be less innocent than you used to think she was. Even as concubines to be, they plotted against each other to eliminate those they think are the prettiest.

Some interesting parts of the show include some rituals never before seen on tv regarding how the concubines were chosen for the emperor, how they were trained, and how they were finally selected to ummm..... mate with the emperor. During the selection, every single part of their body was measured, to make sure it was up to standard. Including the length of the feet, the legs, everything. There was even an interesting part where errr... some maid has to undress the concubine selection candidates and smell their armpits to see if it was.... uhh.... unpleasant. Wahaha!! The final part of the selection was done by the emperor, and those who don't pass becomes palace maids or get sent to the border to marry the tribes in those regions. After the concubines were selected, it seems like they have to even report their menstruation cycle to the eunuch in charge of them, so the emperor can choose when to.... ummm... mate with them. In fact, they are not considered a true concubine until after consummation of marriage. Interesting.

Considered to the excellent acting of the many female actresses in this serial, the male actors were few. There was only one male, who rose throught the ranks from being an insignificant contract worker to finally become a great official. This was one smart guy who knew how to make use of all the opportunities available. I think in the end, he managed to rise through the ranks by becoming the lover of the most powerful concubine in the palace. No I haven't watched till that part yet... but I think so... after watching the trailer. There was this other guy, an imperial physician. His medical skills were unrivaled and all the concubines look for him to cure their weird, personal diseases, illnesses that they do not want others to know about. He knows how to induce labor, remove moles, cure some drug addictions (equivalent to the addiction to something like cocaine or heroin today), and even *gasps* induce an early onset of menstruation so the concubines can mate with the emperor earlier. Through his treatment of all the concubines, he uncovers many of their dirty secrets and plots, but he does his job quietly, without going around telling stories about the different concubines. One smart guy. One wrong move and one wrong word in the palace can cost you your live.


Glued to the TV set... watching that show. I really lurve HK period dramas... why can't Singapore shoot more period dramas!? When was the last time they showed one?! Argh! Anyway, I spent the entire day honing my imperfect Cantonese cos this vcd was in Canto. It's quite interesting! Ok I mean my Canto's really lousy... but it's nicer to watch in Canto than Mandarin... really! It's like, when you watch Jap or Korean serials you like to listen to them speak in their native language rather than the dubbed over Mandarin right? Same thing applies here. But hearing the uhh... emperors and concubines speak in Canto can be real funny sometimes. Like, they call the princess "gak gak", while in Mandarin we call the princess "ge ge". When I first heard "gak gak" I was wondering what the hell is that.. until I finally figured that out. And you know in those period dramas set in the Qing dynasty, when the maids greet the concubines they have to go e.g. "Yu Fei Niang Niang ji2 xiang2" then in Canto it would be, "Yuet Fei Leung Leung gak cheung". When they announce the arrival of the emperor, in Mandarin it's "huang shang jia dao" while in Canto it's "wong sheung ga dou". Never mind, I still think the weirdest word is "gak gak"... just doesn't sound very princessly does it? Imagine, gak gak = princess, princess = gak gak..... gak gak = princess, princess = gak gak...... uhhh... never mind.


There my beloved grandma... shhhh don't tell her I took a pic of her. Took this quietly. Haha. She was playing the mahjong game Ming Xing San Que Yi!! Wah I tell you it's really damn addictive... The minute I sat down, I played for a few hours straight, only the thought of War and Beauty waiting for me to watch could drag me away from the computer. And the minute my grandma started playing, she forgot all about her lunch and dinner. Not that I remembered lar.. I was too busy watching War and Beauty. But I must say, this mahjong game is really fun cos it's really really easy to win big. I got a da san yuan and a da si xi and xiao san yuan and xiao si xi before. Also got a qing yi se... one suit. And we won like, 30++ tais once... like... WAH!!! How to ever win like that in real life?! Never mind.. it's just a game.



Oh and recently, bugged my dad to borrow a new swordfighting novel for me to read. Will have a new addiction from now on. The first few pages already got me very hooked. I love swordfighting novels!! I'm the wulinmengzhu!!!! WAHAHAHA!!