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Yesterday evening, I went to watch Famous 08: 4th Annual Montreal Chinese Contest at Club Soda with friend B. Call me outdated but I never knew that such contest exixted in Montreal and it's the fourth year now!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