bury me in this dress

I finished watching “My Little Chef” last night. I liked the dorama. It’s very charming and not at all mushy. In fact, there’s practically no romance in it.

The story revolves around Seri, daughter of a famous chef, who inherited her father’s talent for making the perfect French food suited for every individual. She and her step sister travelled to Tokyo and ended up working for Petit Etoile, a new French restaurant. Seri was made the head chef and together with the other staff, they try to keep the restaurant afloat.

Each episode of this series showcases French cuisine but since I’m not into that, I never found myself salivating. What I liked were the interesting customers in each episode and their lives are revealed through the food Seri creates for them. Of course, this makes for very touching moments.

I finished watching Orange Days last night and I can honestly say that it’s a good dorama. Very light, sometimes bittersweet, sometimes funny too.

It stars Satoshi Tsumabuki (of the Waterboys fame) and Kou Shibasaki (the crazy girl in Battle Royale).
Here’s the synopsis according to the TBS site which produced this dorama:

Kai Yuuki (Satoshi Tsumabuki) is in his senior year at university studying social welfare psychology. At present, he is in the middle of job-hunting season. He is finding it difficult with no job offers so far.

One day, he meets a girl who is playing violin in the campus. She is Sae Hagio (Kou Shibasaki). In marked contrast to her beautiful tone and attractive looks, her personality is somewhat impertinent. And to top it off, she communicates through very vulgar sign language.

Four years ago, she lost the most important thing for a violinist - her hearing. As a result Sae closed off her inner self from the outside world.
Kai finds himself on a date with Sae, in place of his best friend. Unexpectedly, he comes into contact with Sae’s private side.
Love, job-hunting, friendship… Setting a campus in spring as a dorama`s backdrop, it’s the start of a glittering youth drama.

One of the reasons why I like this drama is the gentleness of some of the characters like Kai, Akane and Keita in contrast with the more in-your-face personalities of Shohei and Sae. They’re all about to graduate and going out into society is a really big step for them so they try to enjoy the few months they have before the graduation where they will pursue their careers. So one of the subtexts of this dorama is the Japanese working class society where in the adults strictly adhere to corporate rules and decorum because if they don’t, they might risk their jobs.

Another reason why I like Orange Days is because I became more aware of the feelings, fears, and struggles of deaf-mutes. Sae is a deaf-mute but she isn’t born that way. She was a child prodigy for violin and was asked to study at Julliard. While there, she caught a rare disease which damaged her hearing. It was a shock to her and the people who loves her. She is used to being the princecss. She’s very pretty, talented, admired by many and suddenly becoming deaf is a huge blow. She misses her old life, she feels so different from those with normal hearing. She’s angry but doesn’t know whom to blame. When she met Kai and his friends, she slowly learned that there are people who will support her and make her feel a part of their group. And through Kai, she learned how to love and to trust again.

However, this isn’t my favorite dorama. I just really enjoyed watching it.

I’m watching doramas again. I guess that means I’m feeling much better now. Really. I haven’t watched a dorama for months because…I don’t know. I lost interest I guess. But tonight I’m getting hooked on Orange Days.

I watched the premiere of Project Runway last night (on Discovery Travel and Leisure channel) and LOVED it! I’m hooked and couldn’t wait for the next episode. I’m rooting for Austin Scarlett but I know he’ll get booted out on episode 9. Fuck being in Asia. This show should be aired here the same time it’s shown in the US. Anyway, I love Austin. I like his style and I love what he did with those corn husks.

I am your fan!

For fellow American Idol addicts. Remember Rhonetta Johnson? According to D-listed, she’s been arrested several times. You can even check out her mug shots and records here. Just type Johnson then Rhonetta. For those who missed her appearance, I embedded it in this post.

I couldn’t stand Ringu saishusho. I was able to watch 9 1/2 episodes but I’ve given up because it’s just soooooooooooo boring. I got up to ep 10 simply because I was hoping the story will get better but halfway through it I just got more confused about the plot so I said “to heck with it” and picked up a book instead. I’m going to start with another dorama now. I’m trying to decide between Shomuni Finale or Salary Man Kintaro. I think I’ll go with the latter.

God. What a boring day! And now I’m obsessing about a certain band which I won’t mention because I used to be friends with them but things turned ugly. I still think they’re music is really great though. Gah I want to have my own band. Anybody reading this from the Philippines into ethereal, shoegaze, and dream pop?I can sing, ya know.

I’m so fed up with surfing, I’ll just watch the Ring dorama. Uhuh, it is based on Ringu but I don’t find it scary.

I’m feeling much better after last night’s talking session with Louie. I just can’t believe I keep up with so-called friends who are skanky bitches. Ho ho hoe.

Might go out with Fortune tonight and play video games. We are totally newbies as in just randomly pressing buttons. I think it’s a waste of money but the gaming place (EGG) looks so fucking cool. The monitors are flat screen and the seats (more of couches actually) look so comfy. I hope they have The SIMS2 for playstation because I really want to try that. I doubt Fortune would like to play that though. I bet he’ll want to play those NBA games. I want cute or scary games!!!

Louie and I are planning to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tomorrow. I can’t wait to see it. I have high expectations of the film so I just hope I won’t be disappointed.

I finally finished the dorama version of Gokusen. I found it quite enjoyable. Compared to GTO, another classroom dorama, I think it lacks charm. I like the chemistry between Yamkumi and Sawada but their relationship never developed into a full blown romance. I was hoping for it to develop in Gokusen 2 but Matsumoto Jun, who played the character of Sawada, is not there anymore so I don’t think I want to watch that. Speaking of Matsumoto Jun, I think he looks kinda hot. He’s so androgynous so yay! I like his pouty lips. Heh.

Yay! I got the doramas I ordered from Buruburu. Some of the new titles are Gokusen, Trick 1&2, Heaven’s Coins 1&2, Ring series, etc. If you want to see my dorama list, click on the link at the sidebar.

I finally had my hair cut today. It’s okay but I prefer the old cut better. I usually go to Studio 546 but my favorite stylist resigned so I was forced to go to another salon. I was thinking of going to Hairbytes but I settled for David’s Prestige. I think it’s a wrong choice since the stylist made me wait for so long and he’s not that good. I’ll try Hairbytes next time or if I find out where my favorite stylist works now, I’ll go there. Studio 546 gives really good haircuts but it’s expensive there. Bing, my favorite stylist, is just a creative director (whatever that means in salon parlance) but it costs 600+ to get my hair done. Their senior stylist charges around 800 pesos. In Prestige, my haircut cost me a little more than 400 pesos. So that’s a lot cheaper. But I guess I really have to pay more for better service. My hair is really damaged from the bleaching and dye job I had a couple of months ago. It’s very course and dry. Always in a tangle as well. I really need to take care of my hair more but I don’t have the patience for it. I just yank the brush and leave the tangles there.

I just finished watching ‘Pride’. I like the last episode even if it’s really mushy and pa-cute. I wish a guy would propose to me like what Halu did. Speaking of doramas, GMA 7 started airing the bastardized version of Friends last Tuesday. I tried watching it yesterday but I couldn’t bear it. Their dubbing is just so awful. I’ll be surprised if it becomes popular in the Philippines. Maybe that’s a good thing because it might discourage the networks from airing doramas. Heh

I’m watching doramas again. I guess that means I feel better. I’ve had Antique Cake Store for quite awhile now. I downloaded episodes 1-3 first but a more interesting drama was released so I kind of lost interest in Antique. The rest of the episodes, 4 to 11, I bought from buruburu so I could complete the series. But I just remembered that I didn’t burn episode 3. I figured I could always download it again but it seems that it’s not available anymore. I didn’t watch that episode back then so erasing it was a stupid thing to do. Now I have no choice but to skip it and watch episode 4. I just hope my CD-Rom doesn’t act up again.