My Private Life

This is inspired by this post by @clairedaring which almost physically hurt me because it's so sad.

Therefore, I'm reporting for duty to gush about Up Poompat for a minute or two (or ten) because I want to and because Up is amazing and deserves all the praise I can give him.

There's just something about Up that pulls me in. I haven't previously been able to put my finger on it (I'm more of a visual person rather than a verbal one), but I think his portrayal of Ming in My Stand-In clarifies it for me the more I get to see him in it.

It's the way he portrays depth. There's something deeper, something more that goes on beneath the surface of his characters. And he does it again and again. It's most notable for me in Lovely Writer, Hoon Payon, and Step By Step, which are three very different roles.

And, on the subject of variety. This man can play a multitude of different roles and do it convincingly. It doesn't matter if it's as an introverted writer with a kind heart, an obsessive serial killer, or everything in between. He's believable in all of it. He's just that good.

To think that this loveable cutie in Lovely Writer...

Is played by the same actor as this frustrating, self-absorbed idiot in Step By Step...

Which is played by the same actor who portrays this spoiled rich brat who's always pining after what he can never have, and does so convincingly, speaks to Up's versatility.

(It took me waaaaay too long to find a gif of this particular moment, lol, but I eventually found it here.)

I personally love Up as Ming in My Stand-In (I'm not influenced by the novel, btw) because he's shown over and over again that he can portray a variety of complex characters. And the way he uses contrasts in his acting (I have no idea if there is a technical term for this because I don't know anything about professional acting), the way he has this sweet demeanor at the same time as he delivers the most poisonous line (and, sometimes you don't realize how poisonous that line was until later) is top notch. The same goes for his ability to portray a domestic life with Joe that feels genuine from Ming's side as well (which he did so well in ep 3) at the same time as we know it won't last due to Ming's jealousy (especially around Joe and Sol) and his pining for what he can't have.

Speaking of contrast, there's also the fact that Up was blessed with his angelic face, which just gives me whiplash every time his character turns out to be the complete opposite. He can literally disguise his serial killer tendencies with that angelic face and demeanor and I feel so manipulated (in a good way) when his character's true face is revealed.

And the way he uses his face to portray different emotions and shifts in emotions is amazing.

And then there's Up. As in, the person behind it all. The Up that actually lives up to his angellike face. The Up that's genuinely sweet and funny (which you can see on his YouTube channel, where he's currently posting videos with Poom but also has a lot of older ones with Kao whom he partnered up with in Lovely Writer). And the Up that sang "You are My Sunshine" in the bts of the second episode of My Stand-In. If that's not endearing as hell, I don't know what is.

This is just a fraction of all the things I love about Up (and I could spend days gushing about his chemistry with everyone he's paired up with and worked with), but since I've already spent two hours on this little post (lol), I'll save that gushing for another day.

#actual representation of writers with creative block

My initial take of the ending was him still having unresolved feelings with Wang Shuo. Thinking on it, he may have something unfinished, but it's keeping Wang Shuo out of their lives.

We see how he handled Meng Tao. He does manipulate here and there, but they all do. I think his core character is protector, which is such a contrast from how I started seeing him. The more lore and backstory we get just seems to paint a picture of a man who loves his people and would do whatever he needs to in order to keep them safe. If that's beating the shit out of a teacher and publicly ruining him then he will. Now if that possibly means becoming the wedge between your best friend and a guy you don't trust (even if you once did), then he will. He'll take that damage to his friendship if it means removing the most dangerous snake. He'll stick by while his best friend wastes away because that's how he keeps him alive.

what am i the most proud of from this year?

Lately, Ding Yuxi has trended in weibo for his phenomenal acting in Love Game in Eastern Fantasy and people have started calling it "jinjiang style acting" for being able to portray the fancy and wordy description or narration jinjiang (JJWXC) novel authors use. For context, jjwxc is a chinese website for publishing novels.

Someone in weibo has created a compilation of his micro expressions and let me tell you, if you appreciate good acting, watch this.

Link to the original post here.

NOTE: All subtitles were MTL'd! I only added subtitles so that when I rewatch it I don't have to rely on my notes for the translations. It's all really for ease of watching. I apologize if there are mistranslations within the video.

FUN FACT: xiaoding's expression in yyxh was used as a lecture material in a film school in China! This also got trending in weibo.

I really like Mu Sheng, he's so unique among the typical MLs of the majority of cdramas out here

He is a terrifying and ruthless murder machine, an incredibly traumatized man, a petulant child, has social skills of a wild coyote and the biggest sister complex that I've ever seen (and yes, I know about the Rise of Ning)

she’s a little too easy to love #1