Asian Drama Series Review: Shining Inheritance/Brilliant Legacy

Synopsis: This will be focusing on the love and trials of the 20 year old generation. Go Eun Sung's life is similar to Cinderella's. After her father died, her step-mother, Baek Sung Hee, took away all of her assets and her younger brother, Eun Woo, suddenly disappears without a trace. Eun Sung preservers and works really hard to become a chef at a food company. The grandson of the food company, Sun Woo Hwan, notices Eun Sung and falls in love with her.

Characters:

Han Hyo Joo as Go Eun Sung
Lee Seung Ki as Sun Woo Hwan
Bae Soo Bin as Park Jun Se
Moon Chae Won as Yoo Seung Mi

Rating: Don't Miss It!

Spoilers after the Jump!

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The only similarity of Shining Inheritance/Brilliant Legacy to Cinderella is the father who went missing, and the evil stepmother and stepsister.

I don’t usually watch family dramas, but I found Shining Inheritance to my liking – both story line and characters.

For a rich girl Eun Sung turned out to be quite resourceful and not helpless at all. With luck thrown in, in the form of the grandmother who turned out to be the owner of a large food company, and Jun Se, a restaurant owner who she first met at the airport upon arrival from the US, Eun Sung was able to overcome the hardship that came from her stepmother and stepsister’s evil acts.

I initially preferred Jun Se for Eun Sung because Hwan, the boy whom Eun Sung accidentally exchange bags with in the airplane and who turned out to be the spoiled and arrogant grandson of the grandmother.

When he first appeared, Hwan looked morose and was unsmiling. Not sympathetic at all. But he had me at his first smile. The smile really transformed his face – from unattractive to suddenly so hot. Plus, he has his own drama and issues that explain the way he acts and the way he threats people.

Hwan makes a transformation for the better so he became likable towards the middle and final parts of the drama. Of course, there are also the kilig moments of Eun Sung and Hwan. Don't expect passionate kissing because I don't think many Korean dramas have many of those.

Jun Se is the epitome of “good guys finished last.” He was the first to meet Eun Sung and his character remained true to the end but he still did not get the girl in the end.

The stepmother and stepsister, Seung Mi, are truly vile. Their lies, the stepmom’s greed for money and the stepsister’s obsession with Hwan, made Eun Sung life miserable and that of her autistic brother.

As usual, the secondary characters stole the show for me. Grandmother who is very principled in the way she runs her corporation and threats her employees, and Eun Sung’s autistic brother, an “idiot-savant” who is a genius with the piano. The brother is a breath of fresh air, and the actor who played the brother is truly convincing.

Here We Go Again: Marian Rivera and her Primadonna Ways

Talks about Marian Rivera having an “attitude,” a bad one, continue.

The most recent one is Marian acting a primadonna on the set of her top-rated primetime show on GMA-7, Darna.

Marian reportedly complained to a staff member about the muddy location in Bulacan at the set of Darna. "Di ba sinabi ko sa inyo na ayaw ko nang maputik?" was Marian’s complaint. The staff member carried Marian to a less muddy area to avert a blow up from the Kapuso star.

Also during a taping of Darna, Marian was said to have uttered "Dumating na ang reyna na walang bulaklak sa tenga."

Who else wears a flower on their ear? Carla Abellana. She’s stars in the TV soap “Rosalinda,” a telenobela character with a penchant for wearing a red rose on her ear.

There also a story going around that Marian refused to share her dressing room with Carla because she wanted to all the space to herself.

So what if Marian Rivera has an attitude? I’m a casual fan, so I don’t really care if Marian is the next Mother Theresa or the spawn of the devil. If I see her somewhere in person, I doubt I’d want to get her autograph or have my picture taken with her. Sucks for the avid fans, though. You know those kinds of fans.

I’m reminded of what my friends and I say when we see a beautiful girl. “She’s pretty.” Oo, pero hindi siya masaya. Broken family yan sigurado. We’d all laugh, of course, because it was meant as a joke. You can say “ah, you’re just a jealous hater; you’re bitter; you’re sourgraping, etc. However, underneath that joke lies the maxim that keeps us from jumping from the nearest bridge, hating all people, generally hating life: “A person can’t have it all.”

I guess the universe has a way of evening out things. Marian Rivera is very pretty, famous, rich and has a hot boyfriend, but “masama ugali nya” at broken family siya.

As I said I don’t if Marian Rivera’s face doesn’t match her character. What I’m confused about is why Marian’s maldita moments continue to come out. Marian Rivera is one of Kapuso Networks’ prized possessions, so why are they letting negative publicity ruin their star’s image?

Me thinks, Marian and her management start giving out more envelopes or making those envelopes thicker to shut down all these bad publicities. Money effectively shuts up reporters. Ask Anabelle Rama.

Survivor Philippines Palau: Week 2 – Who Got Voted Out?

Schoolteacher Carol was the second castaway booted out from Survivor Philippines Palau.

Who didn’t see this coming? Carol stood out like a sore thumb in her tribe, Koror, because she never left her classroom. Many a castaway have been voted out for being a know-it-all.

Carol should have been gone before Justine, the Beauty Queen, but was saved by a stupid immunity bracelet.

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Now Carol is on her way to Isla Purgatoryo, where she will have a face-off with first bootee, Justine, to determine the castaway who will get a second chance at P3 M and the title of sole survivor.

Paolo Bediones calls Isla Purgatoryo twist, but purists like me call this bullshit. Once a castaway is voted out by his/her fellow castaways, and his/her fire is extinguished there must be no second chance at coming back.

We’re only in the second season and there’s no other twist that could have been introduced? There’s a perfectly good reason why a castaway is voted out, either he’s useless, has no clue (to play the mental or social aspect of the game) or annoying. If you’re one or all of those, then you need to get off my TV yesterday.

Reward Challenge: I know Koror finally won something. I can’t comment since I wasn’t able to watch this episode. Fell asleep. The next episode, I see Carol acting like she’s useful by attempting to fish in shallow waters. Her fellow castaways are on to her, but she’s clueless. No clue, no fish.

Immunity Challenge: HAHHAHA… Mga pinoy pikon at namemersonal. I’m looking at you alpha boy, Vlad. I like Suzuki so far so I was kinda tingly and giggly when Suzuki held Vlad’s head under water for a few seconds. I wish it could have been a few seconds more. It would hurt Vlad, only his ego. LOL

After watching season after season of Survivor, the US edition, I can feel a tribe shuffle coming. I don’t like this kind of twist but the producers have to create drama and excitement because the game is becoming predictable, with Airai continuously trouncing the lame Koror tribe.

Louie needs to go first because he is targeting my eye candy, Marvin.

DOJ Files Murder Charges Against Ruby Rose Father-in-Law, 5 Others

The Department of Justice will file murder charges against six men linked to the killing of Ruby Rose Barrameda-Jimenez, including her father-in-law, Manuel Jimenez Jr.

The DOJ panel found probable cause to indict Ruby Rose’s father-in-law, Manuel Jimenez Jr., his brother Lope Jimenez, Manuel Montero, Eric Fernandez, Lennard Descalso, and Robert Ponce.

But an investigating panel recommended the dismissal of the complaint against her husband, Manuel Jimenez III, from whom Ruby Rose was estranged. The couple was said to be engaged in a bitter custody battle for their two young daughters when she disappeared.

Aside from Ruby Rose’s estranged husband, Manuel, the panel recommended the dismissal of the complaint against a Rudy dela Cruz, for lack of evidence.

After Ruby Rose was killed, her body was placed in a cement-sealed steel container which was thrown into the sea off Navotas Fish Port, where the Jimenezes own property. The body might never have been found if a man claiming to be an accomplice to the crime had not told authorities of the exact location of the body.

The case would be lodged before the Navotas Regional Trial Court.

Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said the investigating panel based its recommendation on the affidavit submitted by eye witness Manuel Montero, who came out in the open last June to tell the Barrameda family the location of Ruby Rose’s body.

Montero alleged that his employer, Lope Jimenez, Ruby Rose's uncle, ordered him and the other suspects to carry out Ruby Rose's killing because she supposedly brought shame to the Jimenez family.

Montero will remain as an accused until the court grants his motion to be discharged as one of the suspects and be allowed to turn state witness.

The DOJ panel’s recommendation came as a surprise to the Jimenez family, according to their legal counsel, Mario Aguinaldo.

"Si Mr. Jimenez (Jr.) was shocked because he was really not involved in the crime. But his son (Jimenez III, also known as Third) felt vindicated. So the family really has mixed emotions right now," Aguinaldo told GMANews.TV in a phone interview.

He added that Jimenez Jr. is prepared to face the case in court and debunk Montero’s allegations.

Devanadera said the DOJ would also ask the court to discharge Montero from the list of the accused so he could be a state witness.

Geneva, Why So Glum?

Protein deprivation will do that to you. I kid. I Kid.

I just notice that models I see in a lot of “Go, Vegan/Vegetarian” ad campaigns don’t smile. Example, Geneva Cruz’s picture above. Does doing away with meat also get rid of one’s humor?

Aside from the lack of humor, the vegans/vegetarians that I seem to hear from are those who make you feel less of a human being for refusing to badge from the top of the food chain.

If meat-eaters are disgusting, compassionless omnivores, what is a vegan/vegetarian? I looked it up in my favorite online dictionary, the Urban Dictionary, and it says a vegan is a person who kills fruits and vegetables; annoying skinny fucks who refuse to eat meat or any other animal by product.

A vegetarian is a bad hunter; someone who survives by consuming not food, but the stuff that food (i.e livestock) eats; a person that is too much of a pussy to eat meat.

Vegans/vegetarians are sanctimonious, moralistic assholes who can’t keep their lifestyle choices to themselves. Well, I don’t believe veganism turned them into assholes. They were asshole, shitty people to begin with even before they decided to be vegans/vegetarians.

I also don’t believe all vegans/vegetarians are skinny. Case in point: Yasmine Kurdi, another local celebrity that we see on PETA ad campaigns. Yasmine is a proud and out vegetarian, but I guess chocolates and cakes don’t count as meat?