Watched till 12 on WeTV and liked it, but the gap until Thursday for 13-14.... Maybe I should just have watched it from today in 4 episode slices a day?
There is a "movie version" on Youtube now, cutting away the overlong pesky credits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9181RBQAQLU (2h37) For those who want to watch at length (last part is not the best).
yes π’ The alcoholic father trope is too hackneyed. Only one episode left and the story feels bogged down into nothingness. Did they really need the unnecessary support couple to hog time before finish? The "surprise" at the end of ep.22 was "huh? δ»δΉζζ?", for me. I don't expect much to redeem it, from end episode tomorrow.
Newcomers : don't bother with this item beyond first 5 or 15 episodes, which are only ok to look at cute faces of Guan Yue and Lin Xiaozhai, and some fun interaction, and only if you've got time to waste despite the very short length. The rest trickles down like a pitcher of slightly sugared water knocked over in the desert. First 13 episodes are collected into "movie version", btw. At least, that saves time on the overlong credits parts.
Shenli fan of "cluck cluck" ? To The Wonder? A Journey To Love? Eternal Brotherhood? The Forbidden Flower ? The Inextricable Destiny? My Precious pets and Z.Tao music? Love Me Love My Voice music ? Hidden Love ? other ones? the "Profiles" and "mini profiles" ? what's your favorite(s) ?
I am straying to other dramas and some I'd put on hold but hope to finish nonetheless. There's a continuing avalanche of interesting titles that I'd like to peek at too.
Long companion pieces or profiles take some time and investigation, so just now, I'll probably restrain myself. Peace and quiet are my aspirations, when the neighborhood has decided noisy drilling and construction work causing me to consider moving back into deep space for a few months!
You should. It's different, but so beautiful, and not overlong. Despite so short (8 episodes), it directly opened…
It's the beauty of it too, that viewers initially feel almost lost on an alien planet, like Wenxiu, when she lands in this totally unfamiliar environment of herder culture, where everything seems to be done haphazardly or follow other sets of rules. Glad you liked it. It really is worth the little time spent on it, very satisfying and pushing horizons for the viewers.
I don't mind changes. A drama imo does not need to be totally aligned with a novel. What annoyed me, a lot, was the rushed feeling and inconsistencies I felt after episode 31-32. The Jiangnan arc would have been better if it had come into "next season", and poor Wu Zhu turned out ridiculous with that "blood" here. So: that ruined a lot for me. Sadly, it's my last impression from the drama, so I can't rate that one a 10 - despite I liked it a lot for 31 episodes... 9 at best. I expect there will be lots of reviews, so I won't add one. What I did was suggest a challenge to spot the characters on one of the excellent ensemble posters, and give my solution; Here : https://kisskh.at/discussions/joy-of-life-season-2/59937-jol-season-2-casting-filming-broadcast-air-dates-discussion?pid=3062999&page=31#p3062999
When a woman cheats on man he's said to 'wear a green hat'. So with Fan Jian raising another man's son...
It's popular for hunters in Germany ... lol Different countries, different customs, different color meanings. If you are in China, or in a Chinese speaking area, yes, don't wear that color hat
I expected so. But then, I find the last episodes since 31 too splotchy and puppet-like. Even the Wu Zhu fight. The Ming people are unbelievably predictable and rotten. Had to pause mid way of 35 because they bored me and acted like a sleeping pill. But it's so close to end that I will flog myself to keep an eye open in case last episode changes pace from fits and jumps into more flowing story. I have not read the novel (am daunted by its length) so up till now was just happy with the drama. JOL1 was an unmitigated joy for me, easy and thrilling, lots of interesting asides ; JOL2 was totally OK for me until the surgery, which challenged too much my suspense of disbelief but ... still ok. The knife and tearjerker next made me fidget, and how come Wu Zhu did not realize there was no living being in the carriage he was following : he's got a sort of scan inbuilt feature as an advanced humanoid robot. The yellow oil thing for "blood" of the alien made me cringe. The Ming and LCZ alliance with Xie Bi'an idly hid in a room as a puppet in a box or closet, while HTDD suddenly dropped in to idly comment on how high the swordsmen flew, further added to my discontent. So, this last part is making me annoyed... I wish production had cut at FX, from his bed, reluctantly and tacitly agreeing to take 3rd prince as his follower, leaving the change of heart of Wan'er to a possible S3 and not showing FX up again, seemingly fully recovered in no time despite "having lost his qi" supernatural abilities. The scriptwriters could have given themselves more time to figure out and hone the patching of "too much" in a better flowing future season. S2 seemed to sail on the rocks for me after 32, and become a badly mixed pot of chopped fish soup adding past due yogurt into the unwholesome concoction. I finally also became angered by the plethora of ads that pop in. Usually, I'm just looking at such with a sarcastic grin: TV dramas are soap opera after all (and a lot of TV stuff, sports events, etc are littered with commercials). But even if these warts got cut away, the rhythm of the drama has become jagged and discordant. Now, I am not looking forward any longer to an S3. A pity. But, since I am late to the finish (some have already done so, and the drama isn't shown as "airing" any longer on MDL), there is one episode and a half left which I must try to watch: will this change my mind now? Still hoping against the odds.
You should. It's different, but so beautiful, and not overlong. Despite so short (8 episodes), it directly opened…
You can find an introduction about Li Juan the author and her books in the companion piece I gave the link to, section 1. One of them is translated into English : "Winter Pasture : One Woman's journey with Kazakh Herders" and if you want to read it (311 pages) you can purchase it on Amazon (link to it is provided), or download a copy elsewhere. The drama is based on another book, still untranslated, centered on the Naren Summer Pasture.
As for dialogue : part is in Kazakh. Some Kazakh viewers were impressed by the accuracy (see Reviews section) and a Turk commenter could understand some part since it is a Turkic language. Kazakh is the main language of that ethnic group which lives mostly in Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture of Xinjiang province, in China. Of course, Kazakh people can also be met elsewhere in China, they are not parked in the north west corner or other parts of the country.
The actor Yu Shi studied the language with a Kazakh teacher at Minzu university in Beijing (Minzu university is the prestigious "university for non Han ethnic groups", teaching almost everything from science to music, archeology, and "minority languages"). He mentions it in the last interview linked in the companion piece, section 4 about production and reception. (You can find maps and descriptions about Kazakhs, Xinjiang, Uighur/Kazakh alphabet and more in part 3.1 and 3.2 of the companion piece, and the music section 5 also introduces Kazakh composer Yerpoli, as well as the most famous Kazakh singer, Dimash, although he is not a Chinese citizen).
Yu Shi is fluent in Chinese putonghua and Mongol, being of Mongol descent, and has now added Kazakh to his language skills. His horse riding and horse training skills were valuable for this production, since filming such scenes involves risks and needs trained professionals to achieve desired look. Such as horseback archery. Yu Shi is totally able to play buzkashi, an ethnic horseback sport which involves some risks. Ordinary herders (and local children) are featured too, but the production needed a pro actor to perform special scenes as well as the light romance, and Yu Shi was a good choice, bringing his fame. So, part of the cast are real Kazakh herders, and the series involved real Kazakh actors or actresses (Alimujiang, Alima, Hailati...), also Mongol (Badma). It was nice to see the range of the more well-known actors alongside the lesser known ones.
In the series, other people speak Chinese "mandarin", "putonghua" with different accents, and also Mongol, since Oirat Mongol people are also living in that area. They intercommunicate despite language differences, and this is also part of what is shown. Anyway, the series is subtitled, so it is not difficult to understand the dialogues.
Yall should drop more recommendations** smart male lead with slight romance
Good idea : there's a Recommendation section above the Comments one btw. Nirvana in Fire has already been added, but Rise of Phoenixes, Blood of Youth and Ancient Detective can still be added ! I will add A Journey To Love, although there, it's FL who fakes her death and returns, repeatedly, and the romance is strong enough to weep at the dire fate.
The poster is really appealing. Whenever I see this drama poster in review section I always end up coming here.…
You should. It's different, but so beautiful, and not overlong. Despite so short (8 episodes), it directly opened on Douban at 8.5, went up to 9.4 at one moment; now well seated at 8.8, far above even much hyped Shen Li and JOL2 (which are totally different of course).
It is still having people comment about it on Chinese social media. If you want to know more, have a peak at the companion piece in Discussions section above, where you can look at pictures, maps, explore links, listen to music, find the link to another nice drama set in that region...
Yet another interview : Yu Shi talks about his character concept and imagined back story, and the possible evolution of the new generation of Kazakhs in China. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWopa7NxUX4 (6'30, subtitled)
I have also added an illustrated link in the companion piece (above in "Recent Discussions").
I have also added updates with pictures for some variety shows, for Travel Any Door (to be aired on June 6 if not mistaken) and Game of Cubes: The New Utopia (ex The New World of the Cube) which has aired, with a subtitled ep.1-2 on YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCVvTM_KH7A
Both have started their chosen calling and career, apart, but BaTai's visit may imply they will stay friends even if three years have gone by and Wenxiu's rash confronting Gao was one cause of the accident and the death of Snowshoe.
2 
4 
1 
Maybe I should just have watched it from today in 4 episode slices a day?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9181RBQAQLU (2h37)
For those who want to watch at length (last part is not the best).
The alcoholic father trope is too hackneyed.
Only one episode left and the story feels bogged down into nothingness. Did they really need the unnecessary support couple to hog time before finish? The "surprise" at the end of ep.22 was "huh? δ»δΉζζ?", for me. I don't expect much to redeem it, from end episode tomorrow.
Newcomers : don't bother with this item beyond first 5 or 15 episodes, which are only ok to look at cute faces of Guan Yue and Lin Xiaozhai, and some fun interaction, and only if you've got time to waste despite the very short length. The rest trickles down like a pitcher of slightly sugared water knocked over in the desert.
First 13 episodes are collected into "movie version", btw. At least, that saves time on the overlong credits parts.
To The Wonder? A Journey To Love? Eternal Brotherhood? The Forbidden Flower ? The Inextricable Destiny? My Precious pets and Z.Tao music? Love Me Love My Voice music ? Hidden Love ? other ones? the "Profiles" and "mini profiles" ? what's your favorite(s) ?
To stay a while longer on the subject of JOL/JOL2, did you have a look at the character spotting/naming challenge : https://kisskh.at/discussions/joy-of-life-season-2/59937-jol-season-2-casting-filming-broadcast-air-dates-discussion?pid=3063611&page=31#p3063611
Maybe you can answer too ?
I am straying to other dramas and some I'd put on hold but hope to finish nonetheless. There's a continuing avalanche of interesting titles that I'd like to peek at too.
Long companion pieces or profiles take some time and investigation, so just now, I'll probably restrain myself. Peace and quiet are my aspirations, when the neighborhood has decided noisy drilling and construction work causing me to consider moving back into deep space for a few months!
https://kisskh.at/discussions/joy-of-life-season-2/59937-jol-season-2-casting-filming-broadcast-air-dates-discussion?pid=3062999&page=31#p3062999
I expect there will be lots of reviews, so I won't add one.
What I did was suggest a challenge to spot the characters on one of the excellent ensemble posters, and give my solution; Here :
https://kisskh.at/discussions/joy-of-life-season-2/59937-jol-season-2-casting-filming-broadcast-air-dates-discussion?pid=3062999&page=31#p3062999
https://kisskh.at/discussions/joy-of-life-season-2/59937-jol-season-2-casting-filming-broadcast-air-dates-discussion?pid=3062999&page=31#p3062999
Different countries, different customs, different color meanings.
If you are in China, or in a Chinese speaking area, yes, don't wear that color hat
But it's so close to end that I will flog myself to keep an eye open in case last episode changes pace from fits and jumps into more flowing story.
I have not read the novel (am daunted by its length) so up till now was just happy with the drama. JOL1 was an unmitigated joy for me, easy and thrilling, lots of interesting asides ; JOL2 was totally OK for me until the surgery, which challenged too much my suspense of disbelief but ... still ok. The knife and tearjerker next made me fidget, and how come Wu Zhu did not realize there was no living being in the carriage he was following : he's got a sort of scan inbuilt feature as an advanced humanoid robot. The yellow oil thing for "blood" of the alien made me cringe. The Ming and LCZ alliance with Xie Bi'an idly hid in a room as a puppet in a box or closet, while HTDD suddenly dropped in to idly comment on how high the swordsmen flew, further added to my discontent.
So, this last part is making me annoyed...
I wish production had cut at FX, from his bed, reluctantly and tacitly agreeing to take 3rd prince as his follower, leaving the change of heart of Wan'er to a possible S3 and not showing FX up again, seemingly fully recovered in no time despite "having lost his qi" supernatural abilities. The scriptwriters could have given themselves more time to figure out and hone the patching of "too much" in a better flowing future season.
S2 seemed to sail on the rocks for me after 32, and become a badly mixed pot of chopped fish soup adding past due yogurt into the unwholesome concoction.
I finally also became angered by the plethora of ads that pop in. Usually, I'm just looking at such with a sarcastic grin: TV dramas are soap opera after all (and a lot of TV stuff, sports events, etc are littered with commercials). But even if these warts got cut away, the rhythm of the drama has become jagged and discordant.
Now, I am not looking forward any longer to an S3. A pity.
But, since I am late to the finish (some have already done so, and the drama isn't shown as "airing" any longer on MDL), there is one episode and a half left which I must try to watch: will this change my mind now? Still hoping against the odds.
As for dialogue : part is in Kazakh. Some Kazakh viewers were impressed by the accuracy (see Reviews section) and a Turk commenter could understand some part since it is a Turkic language. Kazakh is the main language of that ethnic group which lives mostly in Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture of Xinjiang province, in China. Of course, Kazakh people can also be met elsewhere in China, they are not parked in the north west corner or other parts of the country.
The actor Yu Shi studied the language with a Kazakh teacher at Minzu university in Beijing (Minzu university is the prestigious "university for non Han ethnic groups", teaching almost everything from science to music, archeology, and "minority languages"). He mentions it in the last interview linked in the companion piece, section 4 about production and reception. (You can find maps and descriptions about Kazakhs, Xinjiang, Uighur/Kazakh alphabet and more in part 3.1 and 3.2 of the companion piece, and the music section 5 also introduces Kazakh composer Yerpoli, as well as the most famous Kazakh singer, Dimash, although he is not a Chinese citizen).
Yu Shi is fluent in Chinese putonghua and Mongol, being of Mongol descent, and has now added Kazakh to his language skills. His horse riding and horse training skills were valuable for this production, since filming such scenes involves risks and needs trained professionals to achieve desired look. Such as horseback archery. Yu Shi is totally able to play buzkashi, an ethnic horseback sport which involves some risks. Ordinary herders (and local children) are featured too, but the production needed a pro actor to perform special scenes as well as the light romance, and Yu Shi was a good choice, bringing his fame. So, part of the cast are real Kazakh herders, and the series involved real Kazakh actors or actresses (Alimujiang, Alima, Hailati...), also Mongol (Badma). It was nice to see the range of the more well-known actors alongside the lesser known ones.
In the series, other people speak Chinese "mandarin", "putonghua" with different accents, and also Mongol, since Oirat Mongol people are also living in that area. They intercommunicate despite language differences, and this is also part of what is shown.
Anyway, the series is subtitled, so it is not difficult to understand the dialogues.
Despite so short (8 episodes), it directly opened on Douban at 8.5, went up to 9.4 at one moment; now well seated at 8.8, far above even much hyped Shen Li and JOL2 (which are totally different of course).
It is still having people comment about it on Chinese social media. If you want to know more, have a peak at the companion piece in Discussions section above, where you can look at pictures, maps, explore links, listen to music, find the link to another nice drama set in that region...
Happy watching !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWopa7NxUX4 (6'30, subtitled)
I have also added an illustrated link in the companion piece (above in "Recent Discussions").
https://kisskh.at/discussions/an-ye-yu-li-ming/119875-profile-of-chen-zhe-yuan?pid=2762099&page=1#p2762099
I have also added updates with pictures for some variety shows, for Travel Any Door (to be aired on June 6 if not mistaken) and
Game of Cubes: The New Utopia (ex The New World of the Cube) which has aired, with a subtitled ep.1-2 on YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCVvTM_KH7A