My Top 10 of 2008

It's the time of the year! This list is purely based on personal taste and bias and it's not in particular order.

十字架 - 謝安琪 --- Album: Binary

每個人都會 - 方大同 --- Album: Orange Moon

分手要狠 - 吳雨霏 --- Album: Lady K: Transformation

幸福合作社 - 范曉萱 --- Album: They Kiss Again OST

愛不疚 - 林峯 --- Album: Your Love

周大俠 - 周杰倫 --- Album: Jay Chou 2007 World Tour Concert Live

夢非夢 - 容祖兒 --- In Motion (Mandarin version unreleased)

深深愛過你 - 薛之谦 Album: 深深愛過你

不吐不快 - 張敬軒 --- Album: Urban Emotions

復刻回憶 - 薛凱琪 & 方大同 Album: It's My Day

Besides my top 10 of the year, I also compiled my top 4 [fill the blank] songs, for the sake of being mean for once. Suggestions for the blank: scratch-head, what-the-bloody-hell, cringe-worthy, laughable...you name it...

- 中華冷面 - 鄧麗欣 => Stephy is cute, there is nothing wrong for once with her singing and the melody is catchy but the lyrics are WTH. "Where did you get your noodles" bwahaha

- 連帶關係 - Twins => I feel bad to put them here since I don't know if there's a chance to see them back together in the future. Unfortunately, I remember myself rolling eyes at the scratch head lyrics when I heard this song since the beginning of the year. Song written by Jay Chou and it's rapped Jay Chow....hmmm...

- 水果大聯盟 - 裕美 => A song that should not be taken too seriously and it's targeted for kids, fine...but I swear once you hear it, the singing and the lyrics are unforgettable!

- 大開色界 - 劉美君 => It's Prudence Lau's comeback song and it's...cool...BUT I always have chills in a bad way whenever I hear this song. Maybe I still can't accept the boldness of the song...

Butterfly Lovers

Butterfly Lovers Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
Life is fleeting as the butterfly, beautiful yet transient. As legend has it, a pair of butterfly lovers re-appears once more after having gone through three lifetimes of repeated pain and tears. This time, they find each other in the world of martial arts. Liang is highly skilled in martial arts and resides in the mountains. When his Master tasks him to take care of Zhu, a girl from a wealthy family who dresses as a guy to hide herself from a revenge, it sparks off the painful journey that they must go through once again. Zhu’s father, in order to repay the kindness shown to him, has betrothed her to a General Ma although Zhu is in love with Liang. Love can fester into hate in some while in the selected few, it can lead to undying love that survives one lifetime after another.


My comments:
I read a lot of criticisms regarding this version of Butterfly Lovers. I didn't think it was that mediocre but it isn't wonderful as well. I was into the story, I cried at the end but I wasn't as moved as I should be as I thought it was a bit shallow. There are a few laughs here and there but the biggest comedy effect was Harlem Yu dubbing his own voice in the Cantonese version. I swear how he delivered his lines are just so LOL hilarious because it's so heavily accented and so Mandarin that I have rely on the subs (similar to Jay Chou's case in Initial D).

The love between Charlene Choi and Wu Chun was cute to watch, they had good chemistry and they were passable in their roles, so was Hu Ge. I thought that He Ge had a meatier role than Wu Chun and I had sympathy for Hu Ge until he slaps Charlene for refusing to marry him, he did love Charlene but just over passionate in the wrong way. Harlem Yu was very likeable too.

My problems with this movie: there are some random dialogues that seem so out of place that is laughable, check out what were the dialogues after Wu Chun and Hu Ge's bloody duel at the end. (~roll eyes~) Next, the part with the fake death pill, it's so Romeo and Juliet. Although the legend of Butterfly Lovers share some tiny similarities with Romeo and Juliet but they are two completely different things therefore, by using this important aspect of Romeo and Juliet, it made this adaptation unoriginal.

Khalil Fong - Orange Moon

Wow, it's been a year already since Wonderland! I got my copy of Orange Moon yesterday and I'm still listening while typing this. It's so LOVE! It's so laid-back, smooth, relaxing and romantic, suitable for the holidays mood. Orange Moon didn't give as much surprise compared to Wonderland but I admire its simplicity and the arrangement of each song is worth checking out. I don't have a track that I feel like skipping. I'm 200% positive that there will be a 2nd edition with a bonus DVD...wanna bet anyone?

My 5 favorite tracks (very hard to choose though):

- Singalongsong => A simple and heartfelt song. When I heard the first 2 lines, I thought it will be Love Song's lyrics in English. Khalil singing in English is just so dreamy...

- 小小蟲 => I didn't feel much when I heard it at first but when I read the lyrics, it scores extra points. The lyrics are written by Fama, it's just so cute!

- 黑白 => one of my top 3 favorites of the album, reminds me a bit of 每天每天 but more jazzy. Just listening to the melody is romantic enough.

- 黑洞裡 => Romantic and the lyrics are so beautiful!

- 每個人都會 => I've been listening to this song for half a year and it's easily one of my top 10 of the year. The lyrics are just so heartwarming.

At around 16 minutes of the last track, there's a hidden track called Orange Moon, which is the demo of Eason Chan's 倒帶人生...

Jay Chou concert @ Toronto

I joined the Jay Chou concert tour to Toronto just to watch the show...I do consider this a chance of a lifetime to see him live since I've been a fan for 7 years. It was totally worth it despite that huge snow storm in Ontario that delayed a lot of things and that I have to work the next day...

The concert lasted about 2 1/2 hours and the crowd was pretty high. I was in fangirl mode by screaming and singing along out loud too! I managed to shoot clips of every song and as always, I complain that my camera just sucks at shooting in the dark...so the pictures were not too satisfying; they are either blurry or you see a minuscule Jay...sigh...

Concert ticket, booklet and glowstick...I was part of the 'mountain peak crowd'...

Jay playing GuZheng!!! I wish that the quality of this pic is better!

Concert rundown:

- 黄金甲

- 無雙

- 最後的戰役

- 不能說的秘密

- 安靜

- 聽媽媽的話

- 黑色幽默

- 最長的電影

- 說好的幸福呢

- 牛仔很忙

- 千里之外

- 青花瓷

- 本草綱目

- 夜的第七章

- 夜曲

- 迷迭香

- 稻香

- 雙截棍 (acoustic happy version)

- 彩虹

- 開不了口

- 陽光宅男

* Encore (the best part of the concert!!!):

- 周大侠

- 髮如雪

- 霍元甲 + 雙截棍

***Youtube has lots of clips of the concert, wow, a big thank you to the uploader so I can relive back!

Playlist of early December

- 鑽禧 - Shirley Kwan => Themesong of TVB's Gem of Life, which I'm not watching obviously but as a song, it's just super cool.

- 天國的微笑 - Fiona Sit => A song that sounds like standard pop but it isn't and that needs a few repeats to warm up but I see improvements in Fiona's singing.

- 小酒窩 - JJ Lin & Charlene Choi => A saccharinely sweet karaoke friendly duet but I like it and find myself humming after listening to it once. Surprised at JJ's Canto pronounciation...

- 今夕是何年 - Hacken Lee => The last time that I really like a Hacken song was probably 六呎風雲; although there is still the trademark Hacken singing here, there is a fresh feeling in this song.

New Breath Of Love

I don't know how to classify New Breath Of Love (26 episodes), is it a Taiwanese drama or a Mainland drama?

New Breath Of Love Synopsis: (from Yari's Blog)
New Breath of Love,
There is Breath of Sweetness,
But Also Sadness’s Bitter

Lam Jing Wai (Tammy Chen) is a thirty-years old financial trading assistant, and once encounter advertiser Tsui Hoi (Raymond Lam) whom is humor, handsome and romantic. After meeting Tsui Hoi her life change from peace and calm to an up and down roller coaster. On the other side, Wong Ming Zheng (Alex Fong) whom is a business man but has totally different personality from Tsui Hoi also fell in love with Jing Wai. Unlike Tsui Hoi whom is a playboy and surrounded by girls, Ming Zheng’s heart only contains Jing Wai and no other women. Should Jing Wai choose Ming Zheng that is stable or Tsui Hoi that gives her sweetness and also bitterness? Can Jing Wai really ignore the fact of having Lisa (Ady An) by Tsui Hoi’s side, and Sophia who tolerate everything that Ming Zheng does?

Cast:
Tammy Chen as Lam Jing Wai
Raymond Lam as Tsui Hoi
Alex Fong as Wong Ming Zheng
Ady An as Lisa Fan
Jiang Hua as Ching Ling

My comments:
I watched the Cantonese version of New Breath Of Love with Raymond Lam and Alex Fong's real voice and with pretty much everyone else dubbed. It's interesting to see Raymond and Alex in a non TVB production working with non TVB actors/actresses. The leading actresses are Tammy Chen and Ady An, both from Taiwan.

It's a trendy modern city romance type of drama about different people's perceptions and perspectives of love set in Shanghai. This drama centers mostly on Lam Jing Wai. Jing Wai is the goody good girl who is boring, serious, conservative and leads this routinery life (sounds 80% like me :D). Tsui Hoi is completely the opposite of Jing Wai as he's spontaneous, carefree and romantic. Wong Ming Zheng is like a mirror of Jing Wai so it seems like they are the perfect match but if they are together, it makes two boring persons together while Tsui Hoi can provide a lot of surprises to the boring Jing Wai. Although that Tsui Hoi is very sweet and does a lot of romantic things to dote on Jing Wai, I can't help to think about Lisa, who supposedly is together with him for seven years. It makes Tsui Hoi a two timer, even though he later explains that he only treats Lisa like a sister and cannot upset her because of her disease so he cannot break off with her that easily. Lame excuse if you ask me...and he's a guy who is afraid of commitment so if you ask me, Ming Zheng is a better choice.

The drama can be slow moving at times so patience is required. A lot of time is focused on Jing Wai's confusion and insecurities about her relationship with Tsui Hoi. When she slowly opens up to him, you a different side of her but it's also sad to see the professional and confident Jing Wai performing badly at work and desperately waiting for Tsui Hoi's calls. I'm touched by the ending although that I'm a bit disappointed that it's not the guy chasing the girl back. Guys can learn tricks from Tsui Hoi about how to win a girl's heart and can learn what not to do from Ming Zheng, especially that classic proposal line: "Are you willing to be buried at my backyard?" (~faints)

The other couples are interesting to watch too. I think everyone acted well in this drama although overall chemistry wise, it's lacking. However, Raymond and Tammy make a compatible couple and I've never seen Raymond this charming (I didn't watch Heart of Greed and Moonlight Resonance and I still have no intention to do so) so yeah...

* Themesong of the drama

TVB 41st Anniversary Awards

Just finished this year's TVB awards show and it's entertaining compared to last year, at least everyone looked less zombie-ish and it's less messy and rushed...As expected, Moonlight Resonance (I still refuse to watch this drama for various reasons) swept everything!

My observations:
- The results are actually fair and satisfying, no WTH moments, so there should be no controversy post-show
- All the nominees get to say something at the beginning, which I think is cool but too bad a lot of artists didn't attend.
- Unexpected guest presenters; I mean you see Anthony Wong, Francis Ng, Athena Chu, Dicky Cheung and Karena Lam in TVB?!

- Strange to see Tavia Yeung nominated again for improvement award when she already won this ages ago (in 2003).

- When the top 5 best actresses were announced, shocked to see Susanna Kwan out and Linda Chung in.

Congrats to all winners!

Last One Standing

Last One Standing (21 episodes) is my fifth TVB drama that I finished this year...not bad as I only finished one last year...

Last One Standing Synopsis: (from DramaWiki)
Cheung Sing Hei was sent to prison for murdering his stepfather. The key witness of the case turns out to be his cousin Tong Lap Yeen. Ten years later, Sing Hei is released from prison. Lap Yeen is now one of the most influential people in the city while Sing Hei's reputation and future are in ruins. Feeling extremely frustrated and harboring suspicions about the case ten years ago, he is desperate to find out the truth behind his stepfather's death. After some investigation, Sing Hei realizes who the real killer is, but there appears to be no motive. More importantly, evidence is also lacking. This story is about how Sing Hei exposes the truth and ultimately proves his innocence.

Cast:
Kevin Cheng as Cheung Sing Hei
Roger Kwok as Tong Lap Yeen
Yoyo Mong as Lei Pui Ka (Carmen)
Kiki Sheung as Lau Kit Yee
Ellesmere Choi as Yeung Kin Yip
Yvonne Ho as Cheung Chung Si
Macy Chan as Ma Ngoi Lam (Kelly)


My comments:
I heard a lot of good things about Last One Standing so I was curious what it was all about. Boy, it was an intense drama! It was suspenseful but you know right from the beginning who is the true villain. It's the process of how to find the evidence that is exciting; it had a lot of moments where I was like "Oh no!". The drama was nicely built up in the beginning but watching the beginning can be very tiring as there are a lot shouting, yelling and kicking.

Seriously, I'm pretty impressed by Kevin Cheng's performance this time. I never considered him a good actor but he gave a more than fine performance. Hei is a psychologically complex character, very boiled up with lots of rage and anger and I felt his desperation. It's interesting to see him changing from a character full of rage to a calm 'actor' gathering evidences against Yin. I rooted for him all the way. Kevin's character is a great contrast to Roger's character. Roger Kwok is also very good as Mr. Nice Guy on the surface but deep down is a crazy monster. Once, you learn more and more about Yin, he becomes creepier. Everytime he gives that sinister smile, I have chills. What he did to his adoptive family is just beyond shocking! I believe that he really love his family and Carmen but when everyone turned against him, he becomes this psycho maniac. Sigh...money is evil! The actresses are a disappointment. Yoyo Mung didn't have much to do here and I didn't really care about her relationship with either Kevin or Roger and I'm glad that there isn't really a closure in their relationship because after all the things that happened, it's really hard for Hei and Carmen to be together. Yvonne Ho as Kevin's sister was almost unbearable, a very over the top performance and luckily she had less screentime toward the end. Macy Chan is still very raw in acting and is completely miscast as the mature accountant and as the woman who's deeply in love with Kevin.

I'm pretty satisfied with the ending, although the last scene can cause nightmares. I swear this drama has the horror/slasher movie feel! My biggest problem with the drama is how can Hei get sentenced 13 years for manslaughter but Yin, who committed more crimes get such a low jail sentence? Worse of all, viewers can see that he isn't remorseful. Potential sequel? No please!

Note: Seeing Kevin and Roger against each other in this drama reminds me that they worked together as buddies in that wacky drama Not Just A Pretty Face... :p

* Themesong of the drama

Before They Were Famous...

I always wanted to make a post about this topic, but digging clips is pretty time consuming but I had fun searching these treasures...Long live Youtube and Tudou!!!

TVB young talents:

Raymond Lam in At The Threshold of An Era (1999-2000). One of his well known 'extra' role...


Ron Ng in Golden Faith (2002). I really didn't remember him in that drama and you'll probably miss him in this clip since he didn't have a close-up...


Kenneth Ma in A Step Into The Past (2001). I wouldn't know that he appeared in this drama if I didn't wiki him...


Bosco Wong in The Awakening Story (2000). I actually remember his 'extra' role in this drama!


Prepare to spit water watching this:


Others:

Jay Chou in 1998, hard to imagine him with the Aaron Kwok hairstyle...


Dayo Wong in 1987...classic!


Khalil Fong in 2005, it wasn't that long ago but you'll see a long haired Khalil without his trademark huge frame glasses!

Playlist of early November

- 單身旅行 - Myolie Wu => I thought that she will follow the jade girl path like most of her colleagues from TVB but it's a good little surprise here. It's a cool song that proves that she's a capable singer.

- 如果愛 - Khalil Fong => Soulboy is back again with a new album in December (hopefully!), it's still his usual soothing song about love but interestingly, he co-wrote the lyrics with Vivian Hsu!

- Tonight - Raymond Lam => The big surprise from his new album. I hope that this song will be plugged so I'll have a chance to see a performance of this song with choreographed dance steps, although I know it's unlikely...

Famous 08

Yesterday evening, I went to watch Famous 08: 4th Annual Montreal Chinese Contest at Club Soda with friend B. Call me outdated but I never knew that such contest exixted in Montreal and it's the fourth year now! The reason why we went is because HK singer Jason Chan was the guest...how rare to have Chinese celebrities in Montreal!

I actually enjoyed the show last night, the ambiance was pleasant. Who knows, the winner might be a future celebrity in HK :)

- Joe Cheng (an actor/singer who was in quite a few TVB series) was the MC last night.
- Jason Chan sang 4 songs: 永久保存, I Miss You, 固執 and 車匙. Even though I'm not a fan but he sounded really good live!
- The male contestants were better than the female contestants.
- I guess that Raymond Lam must be popular here as well since he was mentioned a few times during the evening.
- I finally realize that my camera sucks at taking pictures in the dark! I hope that my friend's pictures will turn out better than mine...

Before the show started

The MCs

The nine contestants

Jason Chan

Jason Chan again

Jason Chan with MCs

Jason Chan with the contestants at the end

The Four

I think The Four (TVB, 23 episodes) is the 4th TVB drama I finished so far this year...

The Four Synopsis: (from DramaWiki)
Based on the novel by Wen Rui An, the drama is centered around four extremely skilled assassins/detectives who are hired by the Chinese Emperor to arrest and execute any criminals roaming through the country.

Cast:
Raymond Lam as Mo Ching
Kenneth Ma as Tit Sau
Sammul Chan as Jui Ming
Ron Ng as Lang Huet
Dominic Lam as Chu Kot Jing Ngor
Kate Tsui as Song Ji Yin
Selena Li as Nam Yeuk Fei
Vivi Lee as Tit Yau Dung
Cilia Kung as Ling Siu Do


My comments:
I watched The Four for the reunion of the four main actors and I'm pleasantly surprised that it's a highly watchable drama. Watching this drama is like watching a fusion of ancient Detective Investigation Files and Wesley Files. At least, I didn't expect to see a 'zombie' case in drama like this. The cases were quite interesting and complex although that in every case, the finding of evidences are overly coincidental. One thing to bash is the fighting; it looks really fake and cheap, overly computer animated but that was always a TVB problem. The scenery are breathtaking though.

A lot complained about the casting of the actresses since they are not really on par with the lead actors. True, the actresses are mostly inexperienced, especially Vivi Lee and Cilia Kung who play the love interests of Sammul Chan and Ron Ng respectively. That didn't really bother me that much because this is a drama focusing on the guys and the girls didn't have much to do, except to be saved. One thing that I like is that there are no messy triangle/square relationships. They only developed Mo Ching/Ji Yin and Tit Sau/Yeuk Fei's relationship. The other two pairs are underdeveloped but I'm a bit confused if there was even love involved for these two pairs; they seem more like siblings to me. Kate Tsui and Selena Li had more screentime and more meatier roles. I see improvements in Selena but I think that Kate is terrible here. She's not suitable for ancient dramas, she comes off as awkward most of the time and the way she delivered her lines is like she's reading straight from the script. I know that she has to have the heartless tone as an assassin but does she have to be that robotic as doctor Song as well. However, I have to admit that her farewell scene with Raymond Lam was very well done and that was the only time I had some feelings for her.

I find myself liking the character Tit Sau the most in the entire drama. I like the earlier part of Mo Ching when he's emotionless. It's cute to see him opening up to everyone and give a little smile later on but he really lost his coolness once he's in love with Ji Yin. I'm a bit disappointed at how Mo Ching is blinded by love, trusting and letting Ji Yin go after countless betrayals. Oh boy, she did a lot of awful things! Watching Mo Ching like that makes me want to throw stuffs at the TV (even if Raymond Lam looks really good in this drama :p) It's a pity that both Jui Ming and Lang Huet didn't have as much character development. I enjoy watching the four guys together, from how they despise each other to their bonding to finally becoming the best partners. The ending is rushed just like any drama, there wasn't really a closure...

It's not a bad drama afterall...

* Themesong of the drama

Jay Chou - Capricorn

I just got Jay's 9th album Capricorn (魔杰座), the pre-ordered version with the metal box and this magic cube. Contrary to what others say, I think this is the best album he had in recent years. Yes, it's not that innovative and creative but it sparked me on the first listen and there is only one song that I would skip; that means I love 10/11 songs in this album! It's a cute and happy album...

Just a few observations:
- He still has his unique mumbling-singing but his vocal is different in each song and that's a surprise.
- He balances his old stuffs with new genres in this album but sometimes, each song reminds me too much of his previous works and there are songs that seem other singers would sing but not Jay himself.

01. 龍戰騎士 - A game song along the line like 半獸人, I think it sounds like a song that Taiwan boybands such as K-One, 5566 or Fahrenheit would sing...

02. 給我一首歌的時間 - Vintage love ballad type of song from Jay, I see resemblance to 我不配.

03. 蛇舞 - Indian flavored type of song, a genre he didn't try before if I remember correctly.

04. 花海 - A simple song in terms of melody and arrangement but it's his mourning/crying way of singing that makes me have goosebumps.

05. 魔術先生 - The most rich song in terms of arrangement, has connection to 牛仔很忙, since the 不用麻煩了 不用麻煩了 part was included.

06. 說好的幸福呢 - The only song that I would like to skip, it's a yawn for me.

07. 蘭亭序 - The only 中國風 song and I don't know why but I can imagine Anson Hu singing this song.

08. 流浪詩人 - From the title, I thought it would be a slow ballad but no it's an upbeat song.

09. 時光機 - Another vintage ballad...

10. 喬克叔叔 - A Latin flavored type of song, just listening to the intro, I thought that I was listening to a Marc Anthony song!

11. 稻香 - The sound of insects and kids make this song comfortable, it has the 七里香 feel.

The Chaser

The Chaser Synopsis: (http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr)
Ex-cop pimp Jung-ho is irritated because his girls keep disappearing without clearing their debts. One night, he gets a call from a customer and sends Mi-jin. Jung-ho realizes the phone number of the customer matches that of the calls the missing girls got last. As something smells fishy, he searches for her. During his search, Jung-ho dents a car in the alley. When Jung-ho spots blood splattered on the driver’s shirt, he senses the man, Young-min, is the suspect. After an intense chase, Jung-ho catches Young-min. But because of Jung-ho’s pretense as a cop, they are both taken to the police station. At the station, the man bluntly confesses he has killed the missing women, and the last girl, Mi-jin, may still be alive. As the whole police force is obsessed with a random search for corpses, Jung-ho is the only one who believes Mi-jin is still alive. With only 12 hours left to detain the serial killer without a warrant, Jung-ho’s hunt begins, searching for Mi-jin entrapped in a place nobody knows.

My comments:
I felt uncomfortable and had chills after watching The Chaser; it's a brutal, dark, gritty and violent thriller. It's not that violent in the bloody sense but a lot of things are implied and that's what makes it chilly. It's interesting that both lead characters are unlikable. Young Min being the villain is just detestable right from the beginning but Jung Ho is character that you don't really want to root because he's not heroic at all and he's responsible for Mi Jin's tragedy. However, you still wish that he can find evidences to capture Young-Min. I thought that the director will give us a little hope about poor Mi Jin but he had burst our little bubble. It was sad! Sigh...

I'm usually not that smart on goofs and flaws but I found this little mistake they made: Young Min injured this hand and was bleeding when he tried to hammer his victim but when he got out of the police station, his hand didn't have a single scratch...err...

My only vacation of the year

My short little vacation of 9 days in California ended so fast...:( I enjoyed my family visit there and I wished that I had a little more time sightseeing. Sigh, I'm back to my routine work now...

The neighborhood where I stayed in Stockton, it's a man-made pond that has fishes and ducks!

The ducks from the pond; we fed them bread every evening!

The incredible sight of 11 roasted piggies for the wedding banquet...

Only had time to visit Golden Gate and Chinatown in San Francisco

California's State Capitol Building in Sacramento

A part of the ceiling inside the building

Playlist of early October

I probably won't update this dead blog for at least 2 weeks so I better post this now...

- 十字架 - Kay Tse => Probably not a plug from the Binary album but I really like the whole feel of the song, beautiful song and good performance from Kay.

- 粒粒皆辛苦 - Fama feat. Caffeine Park (?) => I really like the lyrics of that song and I think I get and appreciate the lyrics more as I age.

- 破氣球 (When I Fall In Love) - Vitas Lu => My recent discovery, heard about him for awhile but finally listening his songs now. I didn't like everything at first but it grows on me so is this song.

- 稻香 - Jay Chou => Nothing special when I heard it but I appreciate its simpleness after a while, I preordered my copy of his latest album!

PS. 9 months has passed and I cannot really name 10 award deserving hit songs this year (award deserving hit songs doesn't mean my personal favorites), so it's been a bad year so far...

I'm addicted to...

HEROES!

I can't believe that I finished two seasons of Heroes in a week! All 34 episodes in a week! Season 3 will premiere next monday so should I follow the series every week or just wait for the DVD release next year? It's so painful to wait every week for ONE episode and those commercial breaks...argh! But I really want to know what will happen next...ah...

A cure to my addiction is to find another addiction, so cousin p, I'm counting on you for Dexter :p

M

M Synopsis: (from http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr)
A prominent up-and-coming author Min-woo readies his new much anticipated follow-up novel while suffering from frequent nightmares and hallucinations. This unexplainable condition affects both his personal and professional life. Soon he can’t differentiate reality from fantasy and continues to have feelings of being chased. His own paranoia leads him to a café in a dark, unassuming alley and encounters a charming young woman named Mimi. Min-woo starts to wonder how he and this girl in front of him are connected and traces long-forgotten memories of his first love.

My comments:
I don't have much to say because I'm not sure if I fully got M...Although that I find it confusing and messy with the flashbacks and the time jumping back and forth, I'm actually pretty intrigued by it and I wasn't bored for a movie that's almost 2 hours long with no much happening but seeing someone mad. Even halfway through the movie, I had not idea what is really going on. However, it's really beautifully shot with most scenes in dark but the colors are mesmerizing. It keeps us guessing what's up with Minwoo; is he dreaming, hallucinating, is it all real or he's simply schizophrenic? I didn't find it surprising about the identity of Mimi and what happened to her. Anyway, this is not my type of movie so watching one like that from time to time is an interesting experience.

Upcoming movies

Being a bit disconnected with HK cinema lately so I was updating myself for future releases this year. Well, HK cinema is not entirely dead yet...at least there are still some movies that seem worth checking out. I'm posting this so that I'll remember these titles for future rents or purchases. :D

Lady Cop & Papa Crook (大搜查之女)
Cast: Sammi Cheng, Eason Chan, Michelle Ye, Chapman To
My reasons to watch: Sammi's comeback and it's by the people behind Infernal Affairs. Sammi + Eason should be a refreshing duo to watch. Looks like I will have some fun time spotting cameos.

Painted Skin (畫皮)
Cast: Vicki Zhao, Zhou Xun, Donnie Yen, Aloys Chen
My reasons to watch: Technically, I'm not sure if it's an HK production since most of the cast and crew are from Mainland. I tried to read this story from the 聊斋 collection but it was too hard to read so I abandoned. Anyway, it's by a cast that I'm fond of and it looks creepy.

Connected (保持通話)
Cast: Louis Koo, Barbie Hsu, Nick Cheung, Liu Ye
My reasons to watch: Louis Koo! Hehe...that aside, director Benny Chan's movies are guaranteed to be action packed and it's Da S' first HK movie.

Butterfly Lovers (武俠梁祝)/ 2nd trailer with dialogues
Cast: Wu Zun, Charlene Choi, Hu Ge, Harlem Yu
My reasons to watch: The trailer did boost up my expectations. It looks really dark and moody and of course, tragic. I'm curious how they will change this classic story and fusion it with martial arts.

When a Dog Loves a Cat

I remember having interest in watching When a Dog Loves a Cat (20 episodes) when I saw the little preview during the sales presentation but oh boy...

When a Dog Loves a Cat Synopsis: (from DramaWiki)
Chow Chi Yu runs a pound. Her whole family knows a lot about the animals and loves to take care of them. One day, she brings home a dog that was abandoned on the street. Unfortunately, the dog is ill and infects the other dogs in the pound, almost destroying her business. At the same time she meets Miu Jun, the man whom she realizes had left the sickly dog on the street. Of course this makes her despise him and so the two of them are always fighting with each other.

Cast:
Gallen Lo as Miu Jun (MC)
Myolie Wu as Chow Tze Yu (Chow Chow)
David Lui as Chow Tze Tsim
Margie Tsang as Sui Tin Lan (Tina)
Benice Liu as Man Chi Kei (Kit)
Raymond Wong as Ying Hoi Leung (Carson)
Tracy Yip as Cheung Ka Ka

My comments:
I thought that When a Dog Loves a Cat is only average. Being a 'comeback' drama of Gallen Lo, it's a bit disappointing. It's only of those dramas that you saw but wouldn't remember much next year. Anyway, the message is good about how pets can change and cure people and how people should not abandon them, etc. The interactions between the pets are cute to watch although I thought that the voice dubbing of the pets a little too cutesy. I find myself liking Can Can, the cat more than Siu Ba, the dog, ha! The drama title references when Siu Ba loves Can Can and when MC loves Chow Chow...

The beginning was okay but after 15 episodes, the drama drags and doesn't have much story, which mostly revolves around how MC pushes away those around him after he learned his illness. It turned out to be manipulative at the end and I wasn't as moved as they want us to be although the final episode was a sobber. I also had problems characters development. Some characters just changes a little too fast, it's like they realized what they did was not right and then just have this 180 degrees change in a snap, so fast that I cannot digest it. A lot of people were complaining about the ending but I'm actually fine with it. Not all romantic comedies have to end happily ever after.

The acting of the cast is also average. I felt that this time they are mostly reprising roles that they previously acted. I didn't have much surprise in terms of acting. Maybe because it was filmed during the summer, you can clearly see everyone looking tired and worn out. The Gallen and Myolie pairing is very odd, not because of their actual age difference but because of their memorable siblings relationship in Golden Faith. Whenever I see them together, I have images of them in Golden Faith, so it distracted me a bit watching them in romantic scenes. Therefore, I wouldn't mind if Chow Chow ends with Carson although he's a playboy and a bad boyfriend at first. Carson was more interesting to watch than MC. I like the arrogant MC who shouts "Wrong! All wrong!" at the beginning more than the selfless MC at the end, which become a boring character.

If you really want to watch cute dogs and cats, go ahead. If not, you're not really missing anything.

* Themesong of the drama

Playlist of early September

- 兩面 - Emme Wong => I think Emme's singing is a bit tense but it's a good dance beat song for the summer.

- 不只是場夢 - Nicky Lee => not sure if it is or will be a plug but I liked it at first listen. Very Khalil in terms of composition and very Khalil in terms of performance as well. Good job Nicky for handling well the song while another Niki ruined a Khalil composition.

- 不吐不快 - Hins Cheung => this song is a winner after being indifferent for his first 2 plugs, I still have to ask, why '吹水'?!

Fated To Love You

Finally, after more than 2 months of waiting, I finally finish Fated To Love You (24 episodes) since I joined the hype when it aired the 12th episode in Taiwan and since then it’s pure torture to wait for ONE episode per week…

Fated To Love You Synopsis: (from Dramawiki)
A really unfashionable working class girl Chen Xin Yi has the desire to tie down her handsome boyfriend to be with her. Due to certain reasons, her boyfriend gets her to go on a love cruise and she started to ponder on how to lose her virginity and tie down her boyfriend. Xin Yi ended up taking cold medicine which made her drowsy and went into Ji Cun Xi's room. Cun Xi is the sole male heir to his family's company and has been in love with his girlfriend, Anna, for a long time. He planned to propose to Anna on the boat but she didn't turn up on the cruise. An island owner added drugs into Cun Xi's drink and Cun Xi became disorientated and returned to his own room. Xin Yi and Cun Xi end up having a one night stand. Xin Yi later finds out that she's pregnant and Cun Xi's grandmother forces them to get married. Will a couple forced to marry for the sake of their unborn child find love with each other?

Cast:
Chen Qiao En as Chen Xin Yi
Ethan Ruan as Ji Cun Xi
Baron Chen as Dylan
Bianca Bai as Anna
Tan Ai Zhen as Ji Wang Zhen Zhu
Na Wei Xun as Anson

My comments:
Hoho…I was very curious about the hype surrounding Fated To Love You because it broke all rating records in Taiwan and it’s now the highest rated series, dethroning its previous record holder Prince Turns Into Frog, starring the same main actress. I even read the novel version before watching the drama and when I started the drama, the impatient me read the comic version to ensure that it’s a happy ending. I really like the novel, it’s short and sweet and the drama followed faithfully the book until the miscarriage part.

I absolutely loved the first 14 episodes but the last 10 episodes gave me a headache most of time. It dragged a lot at the end and the story just turns around in circle. Fated To Love You is still a Cinderella story but it’s more mature than most of Taiwan’s idol dramas. It’s a shame that it started so powerful and mature but ended so childish, lame and corny. I agree that since Cun Xi treated Xin Yi like dirt at first; therefore, he should suffer a little and must have a hard time winning her back but the way it played out is just tiring. The drama could have ended in 18 or 20 episodes since a lot of scenes could be omitted and it wouldn’t hurt the drama (eg. such as Steven Chou’s second mistaken abduction, Cun Xi pretending to be blind, etc…~roll eyes) However, I was all teary when Cun Xi and Xin Yi finally had a proper wedding at the end.

The biggest discussion of the drama is who should Xin Yi end up with: Cun Xi or Dylan? I’m a supporter of Cun Xi right from the beginning although I do think he’s a jerk sometimes. When he’s a jerk, he’s really a jerk; when he’s sweet, he’s really sweet. When he’s with Xin Yi, you see the chemistry and sparks whereas Dylan and Xin Yi seem more like siblings to me. So when Dylan and Xin Yi were temporarily together, it just didn’t seem right to me. Character wise, Xin Yi is a character that I can relate to, physically or behaviorally. I just cried with/for Xin Yi a lot of times whenever Cun Xi treated her badly. She’s sometimes too selfless that it can be annoying. Cun Xi is one flawed character. He’s wishy-washy, indecisive and acts sometime like a kid. I just want to knock his head for being so indecisive that he ended up hurting both Xin Yi and Anna. I don’t really agree with his way of handling things such as being engaged to Anna and “chasing” Xin Yi at the same time. Dylan is like the most perfect character; however, because he’s so perfect that I don’t have much feeling for him. I just find it funny the way he walks, like he’s going to throw a fight anytime. I believe Anna is not evil, she’s just selfish and manipulative. She’s not the sole responsible for the miscarriage incident because the parties involved had a certain responsibility to it. She won a bit of my sympathy at the end. All the side cast seem like they came from cartoons, their performances are so animated (or exaggerated) that can be tiresome and irritating. Maybe that’s not my type of humor.

I wondered if Fated To Love You would turn out to be my #1 Taiwanese drama…but I guess not. The top spot for me is still Mr. Fighting!

* Themesong of the drama

Hins Cheung - Urban Emotions

I still bought Urban Emotions despite hearing people say that it's disappointing. I agree that there is a certain level of disappointment because Hins did not write any songs in this album and he's leaning more to the commercial path singing crowd pleasing songs. Furthermore, it didn't help that I absolutely found his first two plugs 他的故事 and 櫻花樹下 boring. I find myself not having interest in listening to the whole album a third time. I listened to all his albums and my favorite is still am/pm and I can conclude that I prefer him singing Mandarin more than Cantonese...

In short, what I love about this album is its title: Urban Emotions and the CD booklet.

Songs that I wouldn't skip:

- 不吐不快 => it should be his jackpot hit of the year but the mention of '吹水' in the lyrics kinda ruined the song a bit. What was Lin Xi thinking when he wrote the lyrics?

- 鬧鬼愛情 => the only song that gave a surprise and I found myself tapping along

His Mandarin and Cantonese Hate That I Love You duet with Rihanna were nothing special but gimmicks. Listen to the original version instead. 吻得太逼真, Mandarin version of last year's hit 酷愛 is an unnecessary bonus.

I'm in Wonderland!

I got these two albums yesterday; I already finished Khalil's concert and I'm listening to Hins' CD as I'm typing this.


I'll just focus on Khalil's Wonderland Live 2008 DVD + CD on this post and these are the highlights:


The most haunting performances: 南音, 每天每天
The most perfect performances: 拖男帶女, 叫我怎麼說
The most charming performances: all the English songs
The most lively performances: 愛的初體驗 (with Endy Chow), the MJ dance
The most surprising performance: 春風吹, almost unrecognizable after its rearrangement
The most funny performance: 歌手與模特兒, look how he improvised when he forgot the lyrics
The most disappointing performance: 蘇麗珍, I love this song but that performance wasn't his best.

It's always an enjoyment to listen/watch Khalil live because he's the type that goes with the flow and it's always different each time he performs. For this concert, I give him my thumbs up, totally worth that 20$ I paid and a special thank you to Warner HK for being generous this time releasing a DVD and a CD, bows again to Warner!!!

However, some minor complaints here. It's very obvious that they cut a lot of Khalil's talking (I want to hear his lame gags =)) and those blurry and slow motion shots took away the live feel, it felt more like shots for MTV. Too bad that his performances with Fiona Sit and Fama were not included in the DVD as well because it sounded really good in the CD.

When the camera was on the crowd, I spotted a few celebrities: Eason Chan, Wyman Wong, William So and Louis Cheung...hehe...