A Love So Beautiful 致我们单纯的小美好, To: Our Pure Little Beauty

     "A Love So Beautiful" is the latest series I've finished. It is a 24-episode Chinese Series that was aired last 2017. It starts off with high school classmates Chen Xiao Xi and Jiang Chen who are also neighbors. Xiao Xi, a cheerful girl who doesn't study much, is expressive about her admiration towards Jiang Chen, the popular guy known for his looks and high grades. Together with their fellow classmates the funny Lu Yang, athletic but loyal Jing Xiao, and cool swimming team member Wu Bo Song, they embark on high school life to university until their adult life (mydramalist.com).

    I started watching the series last August 28 and finished it by September 2, 2020. At first I am just watching it to relieve stress and not expecting to really enjoy the story and the screenplay itself. Aside from the fact that I like watching school set up with young characters, this series is really a feel-good series to watch to. No too much drama and everything seems to be realistic. I also like that the story continued after their high school life to their professional life.

Jiang Chen (Hu Yitian)

    Jiang Chen 将陈 is really a snob type of guy. Well, he is popular because he is handsome and smart. I admire his character and view in life. Respectful son and focused in his studies despite of getting a lot of attention from other girls. 

Chen Xiaoxi (Shen Yue)

    Chen Xiaoxi 陈小溪 is cute and happy-go-lucky type of girl. She may not be so good academically but she is quite talented art-wise. She is an epitome of "never give up". 

    Overall, I love the series. I love how it reminded me that all things has its time and season. There are things that will happen when the time is right. So hold on and work hard for what you want to achieve and get.. if it is meant to be yours, you will eventually have it. 

Read more »

Crash Landing On You

It was somewhere in February when I saw my sister watching the first episode of Crash Landing On You. Since she's not really fond of watching Korean Series, I asked her if the series is good and she said yes. Few days after that, she told me that she slept past 5 in the morning already because she was trying to finish the series. I also saw a lot of people posting in social media that this series is really good. Despite the good feedback, I refused to watch since I don't really feel like watching too serious series (well, I just thought that it is serious because of the military uniform), this is also the reason why I haven't watched Descendants of the Sun yet.

Come first week of March, I finally gave in and watched Crash Landing On You... and YES! It's really good. First episode alone will make you want to watch more. With its romantic-comedy story will surely hook you till the dawn.

Crash Landing On You is about a North Korean elite guy who is also part of the military named Ri Jeong-hyuk played by Hyun Bin and a successful businesswoman in South Korea named Yoon Se-ri played by Son Ye-jin. The story started when Yoon Se-ri was blown by a tornado while paragliding and accidentally crossed the border of North Korea and met Ri Jeong-hyuk who is the current captain of the outpost during that time.

There are a lot of fun characters in the story that will make you laugh. Love, faith and hope was also shown in the series. It is true indeed that love conquers all.

The show also made me realized how deadly the love for power is. On the other hand, if we love others aside from ourselves and do the right thing, the result is amazing. No border can block the power of true love. Oh well, all I can say is... go watch it now!


Finished Watching: March 10, 2020

Read more »

Well-Intended Love (Season 1)

Just sitting on your couch? Thinking of what to do? Then this series might be for you. With its romantic lines and prince charming moves to die for, surely you will choose to stick around and watch as many episodes as you can.

Well-Intended Love is a Chinese tv series aired in 2019. The plot was about a young D-list actress names Xia Lin who was diagnosed with Leukaemia. In order to survive, she needs to have a bone marrow surgery of which the perfect match is from the young and handsome CEO, Ling Yizhou. So the two decided to get married to fulfill each other's needs, for Xia Lin to have the bone marrow and for Ling Yizhou to present someone to his grandmother as his wife. 

At first, it was quite a common story to have a contract marriage.. but I continued watching anyway because of Ling Yizhou who is Xu Kaicheng in real life. I fell in love with his hands (haha, forgive me.. it is so manly, I don't know.. I have a thing in guys hands). Aside from Ling Yizhou's hands, I also like the idea of a man protecting a woman of which is very common in any series (must in a real life too!). There are a lot of twists in the series too which will make you watch even more. 

Even though that this movie is not realistic at all, I believe that it  reminded me how important commitment is. Commitment in my marriage, commitment with my work, commitment with the people around me and commitment with what I like to do. 

While writing this, I found out that there is a Well-Intended Love Season 2 of which consists of 16 episodes and aired Feb 13, 2020 - Mar 12, 2020 in Sohu TV, sadly it is not yet in Netflix. 😭

Enjoy watching Well-Intended Love (Season 1) for now.

Watched from March 17-18, 2020.

Read more »

Post-Series Depression

In these days where there are so much good movies and series to watch to, where there are a lot of things that needs to be done but still we find ourselves asking, "what shall I do?". Despite of the to-do list that you have to tick, you still find time to watch and immerse yourself with these overwhelming movies and series. How are you now?

Well for me, I don't know. With the current pandemic that we are suffering now, here I am finding myself trying to escape from worries and all. Last week I started and finished Crash Landing On You, over the weekend I finished Kingdom Season 2, and in 2 days I finished Well-Intended Love.

Yesterday after finishing Well-Intended Love, I felt sad. This is not new to me tho because I usually feel sad whenever I am finishing the series that I am watching. I feel sad because of the thought that I already finished the series means I am not going to see them again. I have this separation anxiety thing with regard to the things that I focused on. Well, focused on too much.

Since it seems like I haven't moved on with these last three series I have watched. I had myself checked by the ever great doctor - google. According to Urban Dictionary, it seems like I have a PSD (Post-Series Depression). Ofcourse, this is just a joke for me! I am not entertaining this thing as a mental state problem (for me). I just really need to express and let this feeling pass.

*Clears throat* So what does Urban Dictionary says about this PSD?

It is the sadness felt after reading or watching a really long series or story. The bitter feeling when you know the journey is over, but you don't want it to end.

It is the longing for the words on the pages to move for you like they did the first time you read them. When you didn't know what the next paragraph held and the world in which the characters found themselves was entirely without limit. Because any time you re-read the story, you know that they aren't free to roam anywhere like they were before. They are stuck in a cart on a track and all you can hope for is to notice something about the scene you didn't before, and to just try to relive those feelings you had the first time around.

But it will never be quite the same.

This can apply to any series; be it a book series, TV series, an anime, comic, or even movie. The effects can also be felt after completing a stand alone piece that is not necessarily part of a series, although this isn't as common as PSD derives from the attachment one has to the story's characters.

Effects include, but are not limited to:
• A state depression or sadness
• The inability to start another story
• The need to rewatch/reread
• Excessively projecting felt love towards the internet
• Creating fan fiction

(prettyCoolGuy, 2012) 

It seems like I have 4/5 of the effects. *lol*. 😂

From what Lecklitner (2020) wrote of which he quoted some guy named Raymond Foss, “Reinvesting one’s energy and attention into another series can also help some move on”. Thinking about this, I was actually doing this reevaluating thing before... of which I had stopped doing by the way. *sigh* Oh well, I think this just be a temporary thing.

Last night during our GLC with my siblings and their D-Group, I found myself asking God for help. Help that He will find a way to deliver me from the sadness and emptiness that I am feeling. I realized that I have been spending a lot of time watching and even sleeping at 5am means that I am depriving God my time and attention. So this morning when I woke up and seek God. Aside from the daily bread, I allotted more time in reading the bible.

Watching series brings so much fun indeed, but guarding ourselves with its possible effect to our health (not sleeping for the sake of watching) and relationship with God must be observed. If you find yourself immensing so much with the series you've been watching, take a break and remind yourself of the reality that you are in. Series should help us relax and be better not makes as suffer nor makes as sad nor damage our emotions. Life is wonderful after-all. Smile! 😊


Reference:

Lecklitner, I. (2020). PSYCHOLOGISTS ON HOW TO FILL THE EMPTINESS YOU FEEL AFTER BINGEING A GREAT SHOW. Mel Magazine. https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/psychologists-on-how-to-fill-the-emptiness-you-feel-after-binging-a-great-show

PrettyCoolGuy, (2012). Urban Dictionary. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Post-Series%20Depression

Read more »