The "Great Firewall of China" is in action again. Just a day before the Tiananmen anniversary-- Youtube, Flickr, Blogspot, even Twitter is reported to have been blocked before the day. I'm guessing the block will probably last another day or two. I remember few years back when I was still in Shanghai, I was so frustrated that Google was blocked for a couple of days because of the annual political meeting (or something like that). I remember having a research paper due the next day and I can't really do the research because of the block! At times, I'm just really baffled by their "protective" policy-- you can't really control information anymore in these day and age. There's always a workaround the ban. It's really getting to a point of being ridiculous.

On a lighter note, I'm currently on a CSI marathon! Warrick died and Grisham left! They will be missed! There's some episodes from season 9 that were really nicely done-- the one with Nick and several case throughout the year. Grisham's departure was handled nicely too. It's nice to have that transition between him and Ray Langston. The way they worked together in a case and how he offered Ray the job makes the viewer accept Ray much better.

Moving on to Asian dramas, I'm currently following several Japanese and Taiwanese dramas. Here's my opinion of them so far.

My Queen (敗犬女王 / Bai Quan Nu Wang): This series is pretty good until the 11-12th episodes. After those, it really gets so draggy and just spiraling downwards. The story is about San Wu Xuang, a 33 years old single career minded women who's appears to be strong but yet inside she's actually a hopeless romantic who can't forget her ex-fiancee. By chance, she met a 25 year old guy who ended up to be her neighbor and become her co-worker later. So, hints of romance started and they have chemistry. But of course, she can't forget her ex, who later showed up and he somehow still love her. So, yeah, the triangle love ensues. The first 11-ish episodes had a good story and plot line. It wasn't until they kind of threw in the unforgettable ex-fiancee that they went spiraling downwards. The beginning of that arch was quite alright, but as they progress on, the love triangle gets draggy and even after that was resolved, they still have a few more episodes focusing on the couple. After the love triangle was resolved, I care less about what happen. I watched the last few episodes in fast-forward just to know what happen. They should have just make the plot more compact and cut down to 13-14 episodes.

Black & White (痞子英雄 / Pi Zi Ying Xiong): I think this might be the first Taiwanese drama that I watched beyond 13 eps and haven't fast-forwarded any of the episodes. It's still airing right now and I'm anxious to see how the story will unfold. Zai-zai plays a rogue cop called Chen Zai Tian and he's partnered with a very straight and honest cop, Ying Xiong. The two opposites character will have to work with each other through a series of cases that's somehow related to each other and solve certain conspiracy-mysteries. There's also some plot twists along the way and I think that what makes it really interesting. This is probably the closest that Taiwan gets to HK police action movie/series. The actions and explosion were pretty nicely done. What really kept this series together is the small cases that interconnected with each other leading to a big case. The mysteries of what is that conspiracy and who's the insider involved were the ones that kept me coming back for more. Overall, this is a really good action/thriller drama to watch.


Meitantei no Okite (名探偵の掟): A really funny drama done in parody style poking fun at the drama/detective genre. The story follows Tenkaichi Daigoro, the "famous detective" and how he solve his cases. The 3 main characters (including Tenkaichi) are all self-aware of their roles and that's partly what makes it so funny. They have a "room" that's serves as a "backstage" to the story where they would explain things and discuss the "cliche" of detective stories XD I'm a fan of detective/mystery stories which makes this series really appeal to me. Even the music was really similar to the ones that Detective Conan used. I think this is probably one of my favorite Jdramas this season (the other one being Atashitachi no Danshi :P )


Atashinchi no Danshi(アタシんちの男子): 1 girl + 6 guys= reverse-harem shoujo type of drama XD LoL The story follows Chisato, a homeless girl who agreed to marry the CEO of a toy company just 1 month before his death. After his death, she's "forced" to live with his six problematic sons as their mother. You can probably guessed where the story is going with this. The plot was actually pretty common (having read numerous of shoujo manga that have similar type of plot line), but it was the way they shot the drama that makes it so fun to watch. It was really manga-ish and comical that it's entertaining. The quirky characters and sound effects makes it even funnier. Having 6 good looking guys on the show helps too :p and you know that more than one of the guys will inevitably fall for the girl! I think this drama is somewhere along the lines of HanaKimi...

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