Heard it through the Grapevine Episode 3 & 4 Review

Heard it through the Grapevine A.K.A Heard it as a Rumor A.K.A I heard a Rumor [HITTG]

This is Black Comedy at its finest.

In these two episodes, things picked up. While I thought ep 3 was slower paced, ep 4 was really well done. Plus, the comedic element was multiplied in these 2 episodes, haha. The background music were especially hilarious, and they matched the atmosphere more so than in the first two episodes.

I really like all their acting too. So good. Not too over dramatic, just slightly. A perfect amount, I dare say even. Character development for all the main characters are done just right and I am super impressed.
I felt really engaged and was super engrossed throughout ep 4. Bravo, well done! I can't wait to catch up on this drama. :)

Rough recap
Han In Sang escaped from his new study room, at least for a few hours, and bonded with Seo Bom over Manhwas (?).
Bom's father found where the Rich live.
In Sang's mother's friends get really suspicious.
In Sang's sister help fast forward the discovery of the mystery of the rich family weirdness by posting baby related photos on SNS.
Too bad, In Sang sucks at playing hide and seek, and he freaks out his mother from under the dinning table.
Rich parents pretended to accept the young couple's love.
However, they had other plans and sent a separate proposal to Bom's family, tempting them with lots of money.
Not 100% convinced by money, Bom's parents thought hard about Bom's choice.
Bom's mother successfully invaded rich family's house, and screamed like a mad woman.
The two kids then found out about the separate proposal, and want to make their own decisions away from rich parents.
Marriage, so it is, and they stomped right over to register their marriage.

The preview for Episode 5 gets me so excited!
What's happening to the marriage? Is the rich really going to "destroy" their "perfect" life? What kind of internal conflicts do they have?

Thank you so much for reading! :)
Do you guys think that I should include screen captions? Tell me in the comments section below or tweet me @raycherr.
Click Here to read more about what I thought of the pilot + first impressions.
Click Here for my review on the second episode.
Cheers and see you guys soon! :)

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Survivor 30 Episode 4 & 5 Notes

Hey there,

This note is published after quite a delay after the broadcast yea
I was thinking about what happened in the 2 hour episode... :/
Am I too crazy about Survivor? I doubt so, I haven't even watch all the seasons, nor remember all the details that happened...
Is it too much? too annoying? heck i am even thinking about visiting Survivor Island (Pulau Tiga) 
... and now i have come to a decision since I don't think that there is much, for me anyways as an audience, to write about, at least for now. So, for the following week, I shall just be tweeting about the show. :) and maybe do a roundup/conclusion after the finale.

Anyways, if u are still interested, here are my thoughts on what happened this week O.O

The first reward challenge was crazy. Kelly and how she was hit on her head...
Hit → Stumble → Bleed → Drench in blood
It happened so fast, i was really shocked... but she was really brave and didn't complain at all(at least it didn't make the final cut).
Still shock a few days after watching it... :/ But no one seems to be making the stitches to be that big of a deal so I guess I am just overreacting???

This episode had me wondering if the producers/editors were making us go on a ride... The people I thought were at the bottom (Rodney, Dan etc) are still here while Lindsey was voted out?! wow.

Then Max, another big character, voted out too?! wow. shocker.
I can't believe it, while they are "annoying", sooner or later are we going to end up with boring characters? haha

I must say that this season, the casting is really good, most players are quite interesting and memorable.
Moving on to the tribe swap... eh, I feel that it is really lopsided in terms of physical strength, obviously the blue tribe has the upper hand...
Also, when some of the players wanted to apologise to Sierra, Dan was claiming that he is smart, and the way he goes about it totally backfired. ): These days, it seems like with Dan it's hit and miss with his actions in camp. He was stereotyping how guys and girls listen differently in the first hour and I definitely don't think that him acting like a Smart Alec is going to make him player of the season... (ok, this award is non existent already right hmm)

Nonetheless, I am still looking forward to how this season will play out! :) May the best player win.
If you interested in my thoughts on Survivor, you could follow me on twitter @raycherr. Sometimes, I will tweet about what happened in the episodes. Cheers!

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Red Velvet 레드벨벳_Ice Cream Cake_Music Video Review

Red Velvet is back, lalalalalalalalalala happiness
The Song
I really like this song in my first listen(which is rare)! Even from the teaser, the La La La s were enticing. I'd say it is a superb decision from whoever in SM that decided that RV would get to sing this song. Ice cream cake is a very catchy and interesting song to listen to. The English phrases were executed very well too.
♫ Its so tasty! Come and chase me! ♫
However, now comes the conflict. This might annoy some RV stans but I really hope that you guys understand where I'm coming from, ok?
Alright, yep, some of you must have been thinking this, no? Isn't this a concept that F(x) should have gotten? I am not saying that only f(x) is entitled to this kind of mysterious funky concept, but I just felt that despite coming from the same entertainment company, shouldn't lines be drawn clearer? F(x) has done songs like sweet witches, which I do believe belong in the same category as Ice Cream Cake... So... what i mean is that it is quite confusing to have idol groups that overlap each other in songs that they put out. I might be a little oversensitive now, so please don't bash me! I think that I just need more time to get used to the idea that RV can do any concept they want. :)
Overall, RV did a great job with this song, and this is my favourite song from them thus far! La La La La La La La La

The Video
Ooo, the visuals from this video complemented the song very well. Shot at very nice locations, the video felt like it was an experimental, indie film to a certain extent and was interesting to watch.
From touching their hair,

to the ball bursting into balloons,

to cutting the ice cream cake,

to plain shots of the members,

they were all tastefully done! :) Bravo, I award this the best SM music video ever!!! Haha, this is really my style, artsy and indie-ish but not too crazy nor have too many hidden meanings in them.

The Artist
So far, RV has been doing really diverse concepts from cute to sultry to mysterious, showcasing their diversity to challenge various genres. I appreciate this. However, there is a tradeoff by doing this. I tend to think that it is more iconic and unique if a group/idol do a certain genre for at least a few months/years as the audience can recognise them better. Perhaps, they are still discovering which concept works best for them, and hopefully they settle down with one for at least a few comebacks. It is the power of familiarity, while their songs might sound similar (cough cough owl city in the past), they will have a much stronger and hardcore fanbase in my opinion.
Also, moving on to the addition of a new member Yeri, I think that she fits in very well. Ok, maybe it is just that I'm not super familiar with the RV members, but she does not feel out of place in this MV at all. :)
I have heard that Red Velvet is a project group, so I guess we can look forward to seeing more changes the next few comebacks. May it be successful and refreshing!


Thanks for reading my first ever MV review in this blog! >< Hope you liked it, & don't hesitate to tweet me @raycherr about what you think! :)
In the meantime,
if you like Kpop, why not check out "10 Flaws of No Mercy" here?

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Heard it through the Grapevine Episode 2 Review

Heard it through the Grapevine A.K.A Heard it as a Rumor A.K.A I heard a Rumor [HITTG]

Thoughts
very very interesting show...
This is actually the first korean black comedy I'm watching, and I am enjoying every single second of it thus far.
Once again, i felt uncomfortable throughout most of the episode. but I keep coming back for more. Its a very fun ride to be be on, with the dynamics and quirks of the different characters.
This episode we saw more of In Sang's family and environment.
Also, the two main characters are "isolated from the world" in different ways which I think is a sign that the show is more character-driven than plot-driven (I really hope so!). Bom is separated from her baby while In Sang is separated from his family(both biological and newly added ones) to focus on his studies. It is very funny how at this time the rich family wants to juggle being humane and caring to the baby/mother while still getting In Sang to become a lawyer and to "maintain" their status, haha. Well, I guess they hold enough power to do whatever they want.
I am quite curious and wonder if this situation happens in real life, how would the people involved react. :/ Why is the dad Jung Ho so concerned with saving and caring for the baby? I'm almost certain it isn't just his kindness nor conscious that is leading him to do such a good act. If they wanted to get rid of Bom and the kid, I'm sure they could have done that pretty easily with money and power... but the fact that they didn't, means that there's something deeper than what we are seeing as of now, and I can't wait to find out his motivation in doing so. I am thinking that it could be that he wants to respect his son's decision to a certain extent given so much restrictions he had already imposed on In Sang, but I am doubtful. #curious

Preview of Episode 3
Would In Sang be able to escape from his new room?
Why is Bom so shocked?
I think that next episode will be more focused on Bom's family? Hopefully this coming episode or the next. ^^

While I catchup on the drama, why not follow and tweet me @raycherr? :) I tweet about various different kind of entertainment.
Or read my review of Episode 1 here?
Review of Episode 3 and 4 here too!

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Survivor 30 Episode 3 Notes

Disclaimer: This is no well-thought out recap/review but random thoughts on the episode.

Spoiler Alert.

O.o I wasn't expecting the votes from "Barbie Box alliance" to split once again, but Nina went home nonetheless. Too bad Nina let her tribe get the best of her and so off she goes. I thought that what Hali said during Tribal was pretty accurate, Nina has to try to be more "no collar" (whatever that means haha) to fit in more if that is what she wants, and if she wants to feel like she belonged. I guess Survivor was too hard for her, in terms of not just her hearing disability but also how she dealt with her tribe mates. (maybe only applicable in such season where they stereotype different groups of people :/) Side Note: Why on earth are some of the players trying so hard to fit into the stereotypical blue collar and no-collar? I don't think that the white collar are that "White collar" yet especially with the nudity and weird talk about monkeys making out haha, but as an audience, i sure thought that them finding the idol together/publicly was kinda weird. 

However, everyone was super critical of each other, that's for sure regardless of their collars LOL.

This week's immunity challenge was not as exciting as the previous 2, but nonetheless it revealed quite a bit of Joe's personality, letting Nina "sit out" this challenge.That was probably a huge mistake on his part.

And surprisingly Will is doing well in this game! As long as he doesn't go to tribal again with no collars, he should be making it pretty far in this game i think! We shall see. 

See ya next week, in the meantime, you can find me on twitter @raycherr :)

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Heard it through the Grapevine Episode 1 Review

Heard it through the Grapevine A.K.A Heard it as a Rumor A.K.A I heard a Rumor [HITTG]

Main Thoughts
Finally I found a drama that looked interesting and is currently ongoing so I decided to try it out. I would say that HITTG did a very good job for the first episode.
Spoilers ahead so please do watch the episode first! :)

In a drama, the opening scene/sequence usually make or break my experience and interest in watching the show. I thought that the opening scene was slightly disjoined as an international audience and I didn't quite understand what was happening with the golf reference. However, things picked up as they went on to introduce the family members, bringing in relatable themes like teenage issues: academic performance in schools, expectations from the family and pregnancy (clarification: I am not/never pregnant but I watched about 2 seasons of The Secret Life of the American Teenager) and my interests rose.

Following, they introduced the other family involved, who had a different set of issues altogether. Main actor Han In Sang was from a rich family with power. Great thing was that he didn't exactly looked like he belonged. Something was bothering him, he was also just doing what was expected out of him in front of his family. Almost like he dreamed of another world where he didn't had to be stuck with inheritance of power and restrictions, though he still went on with such 'orders' from his family. So, no stuck up jerk who thinks that he is the center of the universe. Yeah! Also, they did a fantastic job in showing the environment that In Sang was in while showing his cool personality.

This was told with a backtrack in the time period, to explain how Seo Bom got pregnant, which i really liked. The flashback was subtle and nicely executed.
As the story progressed, I started to make sense of what happened to result in the first scene in which the father was thorn between love and expectations. ←  and this is likely to be the main theme of the drama.

This episode was really well done in my opinion. I was pretty uncomfortable throughout the whole episode, and I think that this was what they wanted to achieve, thus great job! No perfect family, just really TWISTED (haha remember In Sang's mother's friend said it in this episode?) issues that they have to deal with. All while letting the audience already figure out what is about to happen next, but still look forward to the progression. The one hour show passed really quickly and I was not bored at any point.

Side Notes
This is a black comedy, which I do enjoy most of the time! Really looking forward to future episodes.
Lee Joon looks really good hehe ;) I really want to root for him. I totally looked past In Sang's internal conflicts and how he is so unlike a stereotypical wealthy kid who is super sure that he is in love with Bom. He even wants to take responsibility, which is unlike what a stereotypical rich kid will do: Let his parent clean up his shit with $$. Might sound really immature and clueless, but I still hope his current personality and feelings don't change too much! (totally developing a crush on him omg)

I also keep comparing this show to the Secret Life (see above mentioned show) just because of the teenage pregnancy issue... :/ while Shailene Woodley is an awesome actress, the show was pretty ridiculous with a new pregnancy every new season? haha, HITTG keep it classy ok? ^^

Preview of episode 2
Waaaa her water broke???
The rich family is definitely upset.
Will In Sang and Bom still get married?

Alright, will try to watch episode 2 asap before I forget everything from this episode...
In the meantime, you can follow & tweet me @raycherr with your opinions about the show. (I reply most of the time!)
No spoilers pleaseee, cheers!

Edit: I have finished watching this drama! :D I highly recommend this drama and do read these reviews as a companion piece if you want to.

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Survivor 30 Episode 2 Notes

Disclaimer: This is not a review nor recap but more of my random thoughts.
Spoiler Alert ahead... 
I am always excited for a new episode of Survivor! Really interesting 2nd episode...

I kinda promised a breakdown of all of the players this week but... Tbh I am still quite clueless about some of them.
MIKE
Last episode, I really liked mike, this episode he was still great but not so much... Him not being able to control himself and yelling at his tribe mates to do work was definitely not what I expect from a good player. Still hope that he will go far though.
DAN
Oo he is interesting. Surprising I was really delighted to find out that he is athletic and he was great in the immunity challenge! Not too sure about his social game yet (same situation as mike) (and might be just clashes with this specific tribe) (being positive!). Can't wait to see more of dan's play.
Moving on to the white collar
Nudityyyyyy
MAX
I really can't look too hahahhahaha. He is pretty eccentric, and pretty influential, even Yahoo's executive stripped haha. Oh my I am laughing due to my awkwardness... Haven't seen any really smart strategic play by him yet, but I've heard quite a bit about him, so I am looking forward!
TYLER
So far he has been perfect. :/ praises for him by many viewers. Nothing bad about him at the moment... I think he is going to go real far in this game, and maybe even win.
Lastly for now, the last tribe
VINCE
Who sadly has been voted off. I do think its Nina's fault that he is gone too. :/ he was great for TV haha creepy and interesting. What a pity.
NINA
Ah... I am not very sure she has a good grasp on this game actually. Bursting out at the girls and being so truthful with will, I think will eventually be her downfall. Very respectable to be out there with an additional challenge, but wished that it didn't play to her weakness but instead become an unexpected weapon. Though so far, not working out very well.
WILL
Good move bad move? Time will tell hahaha. As a player, he isn't someone I am rooting for but I am really interested to see what happens to him.

And that's it for now! What are your thoughts on the players this season? Tweet me @raycherr :)

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