After my vacation, I felt much less exhausted, but still not 100% well enough to try many new things. So it's a mix of fluff and trying (but not sticking with) new things.
TV new (ongoing)
The next Wu Lei costume drama I tried was
The Long Ballad from 2021, starring him as a young general from the grasslands, and Dilraba Dilmurat as the titular Changge. OMG why did nobody tell me that this has a) a cross-dressing FL and b) Wu Lei in "barbarian" braids? I am smitten. The storytelling is quite good, too, the characters are all flawed in different ways, and the action isn't quite as ott tropey as on other shows. Still plenty, the ML has to save the FL again and again, all the usual tropes are there, but she also has agency and gets stuff done on her own. The only thing I really don't like much is that it's obviously cast with only young idol actors who are too young for their roles (especially Wu Lei omg - he was 20!). But that's really my only complaint so far. It's more of a growing-up tale for both leads than a torrid romance, although the romance undercurrents are extremely strong and I like it all a lot. I'm now a little over halfway through, and they have both confessed their love for each other, just not *to* each other. I suspect this drama will not have any kisses, but at this point I am invested enough in their love that I don't mind too much. I have also grown fond of the second FL (played by Zhao Lusi), so I don't need to skip much. I'm going slowly through the drama, because I don't want it to end - that's always a good sign. It's free on
youtube or on
viki.
a few caps

She does not look very believably male but points for effort

Disguises for all

Braids for all

Fur and rivets

Muscles and long hair

Strong female lead (also braids)
I started another period drama - a xianxia that AvenueX recced:
A Moment But Forever. It's so over-the-top magical, with lots of very esoteric locations and sparkly visual effects that I am honestly charmed. (I remember Lost You Forever had quite a few of those kitschy locations as well, but even though I loved LYF *a lot*, I always had to laugh at those. This show does it better!) I can't say I liked the ML's looks much at first (he's played by Liu Yuexi), but I got used to it over time and now find he looks okay. He has a nice and natural laugh, too - which is useful in this series, because it's quite humorous. I don't hate the humor in it, either, it's mostly subtle and underplayed, which I generally like. It bored me a bit in the middle there (eps 8-13), but now the ML is slowly starting to a) clue in to the FL's actual identity (she's a goddess but is forbidden from telling him) and b) fall for her, so it's getting a bit more interesting again. The humor has devolved into more ridiculousness, but it's still okay so far. I'm on ep 23 (of 36) now. I really liked the arc where she has to walk through his subconscious: lots of dream sequences and magic fights, and finally the ML gets a bit of face acting to do (he has to be mostly stoic otherwise). I'm enjoying it for the magic and beautiful scenery/creatures, so I don't mind that the romance is glacially slow so far. They're still not together (and may never be? idk?), but I do enjoy the silly xianxia magic, and the steampunk craftsmanship.
a few caps

the main couple

his palace has a glowy tree

and a very pretty throne

celestial dragon

magical steampunk craftsmanship
Starlit Bloom is a short noona romance cdrama - 24 eps of about 12 minutes pure running time (without intro/trailer). It's cheaply made compared to the things I usually watch but not as cheap as some old Z1L stuff (*cough*). The acting is so-so, the dubbing is meh, and the story is one long trope. But it's short, so... who cares. It's about a young second-generation rich guy who falls in love with a female entrepreneur. I like the noona aspects, and I hate all the tropes, the usual. It's nothing special, I'm already on ep 18 and think I'll finish it soon. It's on
viki.
TV continued
I watched two more eps of
Dream Within a Dream. It's starting to bore me a little, I have too few costume dramas to compare it to/enjoy the parody. But it's still good, I'll likely continue. Just very very slowly. :) ...And now I know Liu Yuning (he played the second ML in The Long Ballad), so I have one more reason to continue it.
TV (dropped)
My Youth - a kdrama starring Song Joong Ki, who I really like from Sungkyungkwan Scandal and Vincenzo. I got to episode 5 of 10 when the foreshadowing looked too tragic for me and I stopped. They may just be messing with us, but I wasn't invested enough to find out. It's about child-tv-star-turned-florist Sunwoo Hae (played by Song Joong Ki) and his high school crush/not-crush Sung Je Yeon (Chun Woo Hee) who went on to become an agent working for a production company. It's very slow, lots of childhood and high school flashbacks (which I found mostly annoying because I'm watching for the ML and half the time his character is not played by him...). There are lots of nicely lit shots, and I like it a lot visually. The characters never seem to communicate with each other, often changing the subject mid-sentence or asking questions of each other that are never answered. There's this whole thing about his father remarrying and nobody knows anything about anything, like... does that couple never talk to each other at all? That's a whole pattern on this show, with all the characters. The romance is developing in a (to me) unusual way, with him being infatuated with her but trying not to overwhelm her with it, and her having been infatuated with him in high school but now... over it? Idk? Anyway, it's an unusual dynamic, and the slow, mostly observing, hardly ever explaining pace really worked for me. It's on
viki.
Movies
I watched
Kpop Demon Hunters! It's as good as everyone says it is. I first thought it was going to go the Zootopia route of prejudice against others, but it went the Frozen route of don't be ashamed of yourself. Despite me constantly trying to compare it to other movies, it felt fresh and fun, and the music was good. Some of the animation went too far into "ugly anime" for me (but the popcorn eyes made me laugh), the tiger and bird otoh were very Ghibli. It was a strange mix but it worked. The boy band seemed to be moving in unnatural ways to me, but apparently that was done on purpose. I didn't find it attractive, in any case, and I usually like kpop boy band dances. Overall a solid rec.
Deep Cover - a British comedy about a group of improv comedians going undercover for the police. It's very absurd, and I loved it. A little dark in places - the film plays it off as funny but I imagine it must be pretty traumatic for the characters. It stars Orlando Bloom and Sean Bean (half of lotr right there) and Nick Mohammed (from Ted Lasso). It's a rec. I also liked the blues guitar soundtrack.
Things I looked at (like 20 minutes each) but did not really pick up (yet) :
Melancholia - noona kdrama with a maths genius student and his teacher (apparently the romance only starts after he's no longer her student but I didn't get very far in). Looks interesting.
I started
Glass Heart on Netflix, the Japanese "drummer girl joins a band" thing which friends have recced to me as nice romance and found family. So far I think it's nice, the FL is interesting, and the music is great, and there's lots of rain with beautiful imagery, and a genius composer who I'm not quite sure about whether I like him or not yet. I've only seen a little over half an ep (of 10). I'm too stressed (back at work after my vacation) to have a long attention span :( but I'll definitely try to continue that show.
Bon appetit your majesty - I got through ep one, typical kdrama length of over an hour, so that's not as little as it sounds. So far hasn't gripped me, but I'm willing to try.
Dongji Rescue - it came out on streaming platforms on October 4th, so I now have better quality. But I haven't taken the time to watch it yet.
Saw a trailer for a (non-Asian) m/m drama, called
Heated Rivalry. It will air in November, the trailer looks good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADi1iextoUM