The Last Forever with How I Met Your Mother

“Kids, I’m going to tell you a story. The story of How I Met Your Mother..”

I first heard this line back in 2008 when Ghel and I started watching the show. The first episode got me hooked and I remember saying “Hey I found my new favorite show.” I consistently and repeatedly watched the episodes and I fell in love more and more with Ted, Lily, Marshall, Robin and Barney.

No joke but I think my own gang became close because of HIMYM. During our awkward days, when we have no story to talk about, HIMYM became our common ground.  We got our own blitz, glass-shattering thoughts, oh! Moments and we even dreamed of our own MacLarens.

HIMYM felt very real to me. I related to Ted’s pains, saw most of myself in Robin’s walls and ambitions, laughed at Barney’s ways, and adored Lily and Marshall’s love story. Each episode, I took home something that was emotionally uplifting. In more ways than one, they really taught me how to live. That’s how personal HIMYM and I became.

Which is why I’m still reeling on the ending that happened.

I didn’t like that Robin and Barney got divorced after spending the entire season planning their wedding. I didn’t like that Barney went back to his jackass ways after the divorce and even got another playbook and fuck if he really completed a perfect month of sex. I didn’t like that all of a sudden he’s mature again after seeing his lovechild. Yes, maybe a kid can really change your life but in the narrative sense I felt that it was rushed and forced just for the sake of showing a matured Barney. I didn’t like that the Mother died just that fast. I felt sad that after 9years of waiting for her, the show just gave a minute showing Ted’s married life with her – and then she died. Just like that. Really, Show, if you’re really going for the death track you should have at least made it super dramatic. But not even a funeral was given. It seems unfair for Ted and the Mother. I didn’t like that Ted and Robin got together in the end. They didn’t have to be together just because the last scene was planned and filmed nine years ago. There was just so much build up on the Mother being so awesome and perfect for Ted that’s why I was really looking forward to seeing many scenes of them together in the end. But sadly it didn’t happen that way.

But on the other hand, it now made sense why Ted began with the story of how he met Aunt Robin. It made sense why on the first season where Ted met a stripper named Tracy, he joked to the kids that it was how he met Mom because her name is Tracy McConell (clap clap on the continuity, Show). It made sense that amidst all the fun stories that Ted told, the fun was never about him. The fun was all about Barney and his adventures, Lily – Marshall and Robin-Barney’s love story. Most of the stories about him were about his many failed attempts on love, how he got left at the altar, how he got hit by a goat -- and boy did he emphasized all of that. All because he was telling the kids that without the Mother, before he met her and after she died, his heart will always be sad. It made sense on the ugly reality that people die; friends change priorities and fall apart; and no matter how truly people fall in love, some relationships are really not meant to last. I appreciated all of that.

I wish the Show ended on the train with Ted’s monologue on the background telling how thankful he was for approaching her. That he was thankful for the life they have built, no matter how short it was. I wish they showed Lily, Marshall, Robin and Barney on the porch with Ted – gray hair and all that. Because I believe the show wasn’t just about Ted’s love story– it was the five of them being for each other and for Ted.

It was just a so-so hour among the many good half-hours in nine years that HIMYM gave us. After all, it’s just 2014. Ted and the Mother are probably having a date at Central Park right now and talking about Renaissance and Star Wars. I’ll think of it that way.

I’ll miss you HIMYM. Thank you for being here in my youth’s many big moments … and for actually being one of the big moments of my life.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

"I know these will all be stories someday. And our pictures will become old photographs. We'll all become somebody's mom or dad. But right now these moments are not stories. This is happening, I am here and I am looking at her. And she is so beautiful. I can see it. This one moment when you know you're not a sad story. You are alive, and you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you're listening to that song and that drive with the people you love most in this world. And in this moment I swear, we are infinite."

ROTW: False Positive

Title: False Positive - How I Met Your Mother Season 6, Episode 12

Year: 2010

Category: TV Series

Rating: Pure Awesome Sauce! 

It's Christmas time in How I Met Your Mother's world. And guess what? Lily's PREGNANT! So after finding out, the whole gang were in the same line of thoughts: "Somebody's having a baby. What the hell am I doing with my life?"  

I'll never feel the weight of the thought until I turn to my late twenties and my other friends are already starting to make a family while, say hypothetically, I'm the only one who's not.  But I definitely see where Robin and the rest were coming from. So to turn their life in shape, Robin took the more serious job of being an associate researcher at World Wide News and Barney decided to donate a big portion of his Christmas bonus to charity. Marshall and Lily went a tad overboard in preparing for the coming baby -- until they found out that Lily's not really pregnant. Yeeep, some pregnancy test kit brand should be recalled. 

So, instead of the boring researcher job, Robin took the "Currency Rotation Specialist" job in a game show called "Million-Dollar Heads or Tails". Or to put simply, she prefer being seen in national TV as a coin-flip bimbo. Can't blame the girl... the exposure's high. Barney, meanwhile bought the diamond-pinstriped suit instead of donating to charity. And our couple? Well... seems that they weren't really ready yet for an addition to family. They prefer buying a puppy. A cute puppy.

 BUT. His friends' immaturity made our bestman Ted go berserk. He scolds them big time and forces them to the right path. And it seems like the bestman always knows best.  Robin is now working for the World Wide News, Barney donated three racks of suit plus a fat check and Lily and Marshall spent a lovely night together (if you know what I mean). 

Aww. What a great last episode for the year! It's what I love the most about How I Met Your Mother. Recently, the episodes are more on just pure comedy. Plus I'm not really buying the addition of Zoey, Zoe or whatever that Arcadia fangirl's name is, to the group. So I am definitely happy with episodes like this. It shows our gang's inner self and struggles with life. Robin's struggling with the slow progress of her career, Marshall and Lily's been pressured about starting a family which most couples feel, and Barney's been keeping his soft, boyish side in exchange of being cool and awesome.  These feelings make them more human and real even though they are just characters from a TV show. Sure, Barney's sex life is funny. and Robin's pop star past is even funnier. But episodes like this is what makes How I Met Your Mother tick. 

ROTW: My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (Round Up)

Title: My Girlfriend is a Gumiho 

Year: 2010

Category: TV Series (Korean)

Rating:  Pure Awesome Sauce!

For a little bit overview click click click. 

I never had high expectations when I started watching this drama. I did not even have any biases for the actors involved. I have seen Lee Seung Gi in Shining Inheritance, and the girl from Rain's drama. But they weren't the reason why I watched it. I was just looking for a good romcom to watch after the exams so I tried the first two episodes. And right after the credits was shown, I was already sure that I will follow this show. No. Matter. What. School stuffs on Saturday nights, move over. 

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho has the freshness I am looking for. It has a mythology to back up its plot so you'd really expect some fantasy. But even the fantasy part was inserted just right. Not over-the-top. Not a "WTF IS THAT" that you'd usually say to overboard fantasy stories. Just right for its story.

It's unconventional characters also added up to the freshness. Usually, the lead guys are cold, reserved, mysterious and handsome. Perfect men who'll never exist in this world. While lead girls are weak yet optimistic, bright and exactly the opposite of the guy but for a reason the writer only knows, they fall in love. But again, Gumiho is an exception. Our hero is a wimpy dude who's so immature and weak that he's even scared of ghosts and his grandfather. Our girl is a bright one too, however unlike others, she's not a damsel-in-distress to be saved. She's got her childlike innocence but with a scary spunk. She's strong, physically and emotionally. What our fox wants, our fox gets.

And I totally dig that. I don't actually hate it when the man pursues the lady and they keep their feelings to each other for three episodes or so. But isn't it getting old? It's kinda tiring (and pointless) when they have to stalk and steal glances of each other. That's why I love Gumiho's set-up. Our heroes are so friggin honest about their feelings, thanks to our fox! I love that she's not shy to say that he loves her guy and even ask if he can like her back. Very straighforward! Gah, how can it be so easy for her. Nomunomunomuchuwa! And for our hero? Well, he's kinda slow on emotional stuffs ever since episode1, but our fox is patient. Hehe.

Oh the cuteness level. It's way above the normal! Above the attainable! How. Did. They. Do. That. I always have this stand: on-screen chemistry cannot be fabricated and forced. Two actors have got to be born with it and do a show together. And I think this show proved me right. Shin Min Ah and Lee Seung Gi were born to do this show. No one can pull off the characters better than them. No one's carrying the presence of the other. Sometimes, there's out-staging but overall, they complemented each other's characters.

I also find the antagonist in this drama very interesting. Sure there's this annoying noona who's so ineffective in bringing problems to our heroes (Not that I'm complaining), but I feel that the main antagonist in this story is Death. Yes, there's the life-and-death conflict in this story. Like Harry and Voldemort. One lives while the other survives. They introduced this conflict at a very early time that's why all of us kept thinking on how will we get a happy ending out of the story. Because Voldemort died and Harry lived, right?

How did it end? I will not say.
Endings are important because blah endings always top the 15 beautiful earlier episodes in a drama. It either has to make a lasting impact that viewers will remember or it's rushed and a wtf that people will totally forget. As for Gumiho, it was the former. One of the best ending I have watched. And the only rom-com that made me cry A LOT. I felt like two of my friends left me after the show ended. Yea I was that emotional.

I am not hard to please when it comes to romantic comedies. Give me some cute and I will definitely watch it. However I seldom get attached to a drama. This is one of the rare ones. The characters started to grow on me at a very early time that's why when it's already parting time, I find it hard to let go. Except for the fantasy part, everything about them are so real. I really miss all the exciting Saturday nights that this show gave me. It was good while it lasted.

A story of two people struggling to become human in their own ways. They grow and learn with the help of each other. And then they meet halfway. It's not just about rainbows and cotton candies. Not about fooling around with the slapstick. It's not a melodrama. It's a heartfelt story.

Do you still have to ask me if this drama is worth watching?
I think I found my new favorite.

Til next time!

Hoi hoi! 

ROTW: My Girlfriend is a Gumiho

Title: My Girlfriend is a Gumiho

Year: 2010

Category: TV Series (Korean)

Rating:  Pure Awesome Sauce!



Actually, I don’t know if any of you knows what I’ll be blabbering about, but what the hell.

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho is a new drama of the famous Hong Sisters (they are the writers of My Girl and You’re Beautiful) which just aired last August 11. It stars Lee Seung Gi, of Shining Inheritance, and Shin Min ah.

It is a story about a guy (a beta-male, clumsy and dumb guy he is) who accidentally frees a nine-tailed fox also called as a gumiho, who’s been locked in a painting for 500 years. When he was dying because he fell from a cliff, the gumiho gives her bead (kinda like the source of her powers) to heal the guy. However, the doctor’s fee has to cost him a lot of cow’s meat and patience because the gumiho, having given to him the source of her powers, has to stick with him all.the.time. And so the journey starts. ;)

I love this drama because the story is so fresh! Too cute for words, actually. It’s only once in a blue moon that beta-male leads the story because it’s always the cold and mysterious who’s winning everybody’s hearts. Ehem. I seriously am thanking everyone involved for not casting Sandara Park for the role. Shin Min Ah is so perfect in portraying the gumiho that I am thinking that it's her past life. That adorable fox makes me giggle all the time. Tee hee.

You might have noticed that I watch a number of Korean dramas. It’s because I’m a sucker for the cute and Korean romcoms give all the cute that I need. There’s always a fresh and very light story ahead, comic relief and less angst. It’s enough to make my day.

Review of the Week (ROTW)

Well since I'm a pretty boring person and I couldn't think of anything fun to say about my life (ormaybe I'm becoming a private person), I came up with a weekly drama/movie review thingy. Just something that would keep me blogging every week.

Before somebody starts yelling at me because I bashed their favorite show, please know that this is how I rate stuffs. 

"I just can't find a reason to like it"

No sense, BORING and totally not my type. If it's romcom, I find all the humor on it as stupid. If it's drama, I can't relate and understand what's all the crying all about. Now for being "boring", I watch some laid-back, mellow and quiet movies and I have to admit that I have to have a lot of driving force to get to the half of it. Pero may taste naman ako, and I know the difference between "artistic silence" and boring. (e.g. Confessions of a Teenage Dramaqueen, The Breakup, One Tree Hill, TWILIGHT!)

"Good cast;horrible project"
Q: Uy maganda ba yung movie?
A: ANG GWAPO NI ZAC EFRON!

All that is to blame is their decision why they took on that horrible project. (e.g. Mean Girls, 17Again, I Know Who Killed Me, Prison Break season4) Or probably those dramas/movies who stars your favorite actors so all the while you're anticipating it got you disappointed when you finally saw it. And you have no choice but to finish it because your lovey is there. (e.g. 17Again again, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, New Moon)

"Meh"

Just so-so. It got you entertained for the whole time, not bad, but also not recommendable. Those that won't come out of your mouth after you've seen it. (e.g. From Paris with Love, Terminator Salvation, Men in Black, Chuck, Gossip Girl)

"Worth the time"

A good movie that kept me hooked for the whole time, didn't get me bored and definitely worth my 200 peso-ticket...or my 8hours of downloading or my marathon time. And it's something I can recommend. (e.g. Pursuit of Happyness, She's the Man, Avatar, Step-up 1, Time Traveler's Wife) 

"Pure awesome sauce!"

The 5/5stars. The additional chills, goosebumps and elated emotions draws the line between this and the former rating. It's the kind of movie/series that will make me update my Facebook page and add it to my favorites. You know what I mean. I will remember it like, forever. (e.g. Hard Candy, The Classic, If Only, How I Met Your Mother, The Patriot, Titanic)

Just remember. Different opinions, different tastes.

I think this is going to be fun! Can't wait to start it.