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growing through life- 2010- the review

2011-04-25T01:54:00.000-07:00

Growing through life

The story

Growing through life talks about the struggles of 2 families over 2 generations. Hoi Leung (Damian Lau) has always felt that his father is biased towards his older brother Hoi Yeung. He felt even more betrayed when the woman he loves left him and went to marry Hoi Yeung. Damian was devastated, but was determined to set his life back on track. He met his current wife Liza (Cecilia Yip) and had a perfect family. His business became really successful too. But his picking on Yeung’s family causes the 2 families’ relationship to sour.

Hoi Sing (Raymond Lam) is Hoi Yeung’s son. His deceased father left him with a small factory, and Raymond is determined to run it well. Yet, Damian continues to cause trouble for the factory, worsening the tension between the 2 families. Damian continues to try to ruin Raymond’s factory until Raymond’s mother (damian’s ex-lover) revealed a long kept secret. Raymond is actually Damian’s son! Damian is shocked, and determined to nurture Raymond into a successful businessman like him, and mend the broken ties between him and his son. However, he did not use the best methods, and Raymond only walked further and further away from him.

Meanwhile, Raymond’s good friend Lam Dai (Bosco Wong) starts to feel jealous as Damian gives Raymond many privileges. After several setbacks and humiliation, ambitious Bosco decides to craft a long intricate plot to climb up to the top…

Official Synopsis
HOI SING (Raymond Lam) and his mother HO WAI-SUM (Lui Yau Wai) have been running a domestic appliance manufacturing factory. SING’s uncle HOI LEUNG (Lau Chung Yan) is a money-minded snob who has been seeking to acquire the factory by whatever means. LEUNG’s wife CHENG MING-CHU (Cecilia Yip) and daughter HOI MEI-SZ (Toby Leung) try to intercede for SING and finally manages to convince the man to put the acquisition on hold. Eager to covet the plant site, LEUNG has placed a spy FONG LAI-KING (Zhao Ziqi) in the factory to wreak havoc. To make LEUNG give up on his acquisition plan, SUM decides to reveal a long-kept secret to him. SING invites his friend CHUNG LAM-TAI (Bosco Wong) to join his factory so that he no longer has to fight alone for the family business. But who would have thought that TAI is in no sense a blessing but just a wolf in sheep’s clothing? SING gets betrayed by TAI, and worse than that, his fianc?e CHUK YIU-KWAN (Song Wenfei) asks to cancel the wedding all of a sudden. The cold reality has eventually forced the lad into the fiercest commercial wars with his next of kin… (SOURCE: TVB)

The characters

Damien lau

The title of the series is called ‘growing through life’. Surprisingly, I feel Damian’s character is the one that ‘grows’ the most throughout the series. I’ve never really hated him from the start. But his changes throughout the series really impress me and touch me a lot. From a relentless businessman who looks down on people, to a desperate father imposing his ideas on a long lost son, and slowly to the forgiving, sacrificial father who quietly waits for his son to accept him. I really enjoyed every moment of Damian’s performance in this series.

Raymond Lam

To be honest, I really didn’t like Raymond’s character much at the start. His hair looks old-fashioned, and he is impulsive and impatient, and made many wrong decisions. In comparison, Bosco is much more composed, and smarter. Raymond’s character was sweet sometimes, funny sometimes, irritating sometimes. It was only towards the end when he matured and toned down, did I really like him. I feel that Raymond’s acting has matured a lot in this series. Great performance, great tears, and I can really feel his difference at the start and the end of the series. His performance was especially good when he is going through the ‘down points’ of his life, like when Song Wei Fei left him, when his mother died, and when he found out Damian is his father. I liked Raymond’s performance in this role, and am looking forward to even more improvements in the future.

Cecilia Yip

I have some mixed feelings about Cecilia in this series. Cecilia’s character undergoes DRASTIC changes at different points of the series. She started off as the perfect wife- caring, forgiving, understanding. After she lost her baby and found out that Raymond is Damian’s son, she becomes a totally different person. She becomes really mean, really crazy, and slightly frightening to watch. She thinks Damian does not love her at all, and treats him like an arch enemy. She yells and screams a LOT. And then when Damian got into an accident, she realized how much he actually loved her, and became her original self in one episode. Cecilia’s crazy performance was really intense, and I have to admit that I did enjoy watching those scenes. She became crazier and crazier each episode, until it was finally revealed that she is actually seeing a psychiatrist. Her performance was really good, but part of me feels that it was a bit over the top. There were too many of those crazy scenes, and also, she recovered way to fast!

Zhao Zi Qi

ZiQi is Damian’s ‘spy’ at first, sent to ruin Raymond’s factory. Zi Qi is a really cute spy. She is bold, she is smart, yet no one can ever tell she’s the spy, because she looks very honest. She betrayed Raymond a few times at the start, yet it’s hard to blame her. She has a family to feed, and her medical bills to pay for. Later on, she starts to like Raymond, and never left him no matter what. This is a cute and likeable character. She and Raymond make a cute bickering couple. But after 30 episodes, I still cannot get used to the dubbing, I really dislike the dubbing…

Bosco Wong

At the start, I am very supportive of Bosco’s character. He is smart, calm, a good friend, and filial son. I felt bad for him when he went through many setbacks, like when Damian fired him, and ZiQi rejected him. I could understand why he turned bad, but of course, he did go too far, and make it hard to forgive him. But throughout the series, we know he just wants to prove his capability, and did still have a conscience. Even when he did really bad things, like killing Damian (twice), you can see his remorse and regret. I always thought Bosco suits the ‘cute’ characters better, and never thought he would pull off a bad character. But I was wrong, and Bosco really did surprise me. This must be one of my favourite roles for Bosco, and I’m also surprised that Bosco can cry well. When his father died at the end, I could really feel his pain, and I cried with him too. Great job, Bosco!

Toby Leung

Toby looks good in this series, and her acting did improve from the first time I saw her. But no matter how, I just can’t seem to like her. Every time she appears, there will be some tears, some slow music, and some cheesy lines. Her scenes are always so draggy, and make me want to fast forward them.

Song Wen Fei

I never knew who she is before this series. She’s a mainland artist, who spoke in Cantonese for this series. Song Wen Fei’s character is really beautiful, yet pathetic, desperate, and sometimes slutty. It’s a relatively small character, but I find her very interesting to watch.

The chemistry

Damian lau and Raymond lam

Even though Raymond only called Damian ‘dad’ twice in the series, those 2 times meant a lot. This is the second time Damian acted as Raymond’s father, and both times, they look really good together as father and son. Great chemistry, great development… I loved their interaction the most towards the end, when they finally stopped arguing and we are just waiting for the moment for Raymond to accept Damian.

Raymond vs Bosco

Raymond and Bosco have different backgrounds, and different characters, yet they are ‘good friends’ (at the start).

Raymond grew up in a more well-off family. His father is the boss of Bosco’s father. Thus Bosco’s father always calls Raymond ‘little master’. It does get annoying, but who would have known that Bosco minded it so much… Raymond is the self-righteous one. Though he is not stupid, his thinking is more straightforward, and he is less ambitious. All he wants is to ‘keep his father’s factory’ and ‘work with Bosco’.

Bosco, on the other hand, grew up from a less well-off family. His first love left him because he is poor. Bosco said ‘It’s fine if you leave because you don’t love me. But if you are leaving because I am poor, I will never forgive you!’ Later on, there was Damian who humiliated him many times. There was ZiQi who rejected him because she likes Raymond instead. And importantly, he feels that his father sides Raymond more than him. I really can’t blame him for wanting to climb up and get people’s respect. But he went too far, and hurt way too many people…

Raymond and Bosco have good chemistry at pals. I’m glad they never explicitly fought over the 2 girls (ZiQi and WenFei) as that will be really clichéd. I’m glad they didn’t have many big confrontations, and Raymond merely distanced from Bosco quietly, because that is much more real. I like how the producers portrayed the changes of their friendship. It is real, and not too dramatized.

Damian and Cecilia

They were a really loving couple, unfortunately their relationship turned REALLY sour in the middle, mainly because Cecilia went crazy (thanks to Bosco). I was so glad to see them make up. Their conversation at the poolside (somewhere in episode ~26) was really touching. Great chemistry there… It’s sad that Damian had to die and leave Cecilia alone for the rest of her life.

Raymond and Zhao ziqi

Cute bickering couple. Their chemistry reminds me very much of Raymond and Li Qian in ‘Twin of Brothers’. (Is it because the female dubber was the same?), especially when Ziqi stares at Raymond with her big eyes. I’m not a fan of them for sure, but yes they are cute at times… but for some reason, I feel Raymond doesn’t really like ZiQi that much. Sometimes it seems like he’s just ‘settling’ for her…

Bosco and Toby

Bosco never loved Toby from the start to the end, but Toby loves Bosco so much. From the start, Bosco was already lying to her. But Bosco is so good at lying, he can get almost anything he wants from her. Poor Toby…

Dominic and Bosco

A naggy geeky father, and a smart ambitious son. As the audience, we can tell how much they care about each other. Unfortunately, Bosco does not feel Dominic’s love so much, and Bosco does terrible things which broke his father’s heart.

The story

On the whole, the story isn’t perfect. It has its flaws, and some room for improvement here and there. The first few episodes were really not too appealing. And sometimes, I find the series being a little too preachy (same problem in ‘The Drive of Life’). And the theme of ‘letting go’ was brought up way too many times. Nevertheless, the story is special in its own way. I really like how they show each character’s growth and changes, and how they portrayed all the different relationships, plus some twists and turns here and there

The performance

Performance wise, I’d like to commend every member of the cast for doing a great job! Damian is the shining star once again, I can’t emphasize enough what a great actor he is. Younger stars like Raymond and Bosco seem to have matured a lot. Thumbs up to their performance too. Cecilia’s crazy performance reminds me of Christine Ng in ‘the building blocks of life’. I can’t say I like it, but it really was respectable. I’d also like to mention Dominic Lam. I’ve never seen him play this kind of nerdy fatherly role before, and I think he really nailed it. Great job!

The ending

The ending is less abrupt than many other series, but still a little too abrupt. Bosco turned good so fast, and Raymond and Toby forgave Bosco for KILLING their father too easily. How many years will you take to forgive someone for taking your father’s life? Maybe never. Yet Toby was actually thinking of visiting Bosco at the hospital before his liver transplant. Is love really that blind? Yes, I know the producers want a happy ending, and want Bosco to turn good at the end. But he seems more relieved than remorseful. In his last conversation with Raymond in jail, he was talking about how good he feels and how well he sleeps every night because he had ‘let go’. As the audience, it’s a little hard to accept…

The Best Scenes (there are many, but I can only remember a few for now)

- When it was revealed that Cecilia was actually seeing a psychiatrist, it was quite a dramatic and sad scene…

- When Damian and Cecilia were having a conversation at the poolside, it was a very poignant conversation, and Damian was hinting that he had recovered his memory

- When Damian was begging Toby not to break the law to win her case against Bosco, he told Toby how he didn’t let go in the past, and how that caused him to lose many more things. It was gradually revealed that Damian had regained all his memories, and how sad he is that he cannot acknowledge Raymond as a son. And the next moment, Raymond was standing there, he heard everything. That was quite an emotional scene.

- Before Damian died, Raymond called Damian ‘dad’ twice. The first time Damian couldn’t hear it, and then Raymond said it again. It was so touching! Who would have known that was the last time we’ll see Damian alive…

- When Bosco’s father was dying, he told Bosco ‘Son, I’m proud of you’. Bosco was crying. On the other hand, Raymond was somewhere else reading Damian’s diary. Damian said Bosco is like a reflection of himself, and asked Raymond to forgive Bosco. That was such a touching scene! And the perfect emotional climax for the last episode.

Worth watching?

Compared to the Drive of Life, Growing through Life has a much smaller cast and smaller budget. It doesn’t really have the ‘grand’ feeling, but it is a good series in a different way. Worth watching? I would say yes

Beyond the Realm of Conscience- the review

2010-06-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

Cast:

Main Characters:
Charmaine She- Lau Sam Ho
Tavia Yeung- Yiu Kam Leng
Susanna Kwan- Yuen Cui Wan
Michelle Yim- Chung Suet Ha
Moses Chan- the emperor
Kevin Cheng- Ko Hin Yeung

Supporting Characters: (many many!)
Lee Kwok Lun- Ma Yuen Tze
Selena Lee- Man Bo Yin
Susanna Tse- empress kwok
Ram Tseung- Bou Gung Gung
Mary Hon- Empress Cheng
and many more

What, When, Where & Who (from http://main.tvbsquare.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=224&Itemid=35) Inside the palace, within the walls, there are wars between beauty and power. In order to survive, people uses different strategies to gain control. The story mainly focus on the Imperial Household Bureau, which is responsible for Embroidery, Jewelry, Food & Beverages, and Furnishings. It's a story about power struggles, and a group of girls who needed the power to survive...(and a group of guys we can ignore)

The main character, Charmaine Sheh, who always uses "Speak good words, do good deeds, show good will" as her motto, her motto also helps her survived inside the palace, and she was able to make good friends with almost everyone. Well, almost everyone admires her motto, but her evil best friend Tavia Yeung, who can care less about the motto, instead, Tavia uses many harmful ways to get what she wanted... The story not only focus on Charmaine and Tavia's struggles, it also focus on the power struggles between Michelle Yim, the head of Embroidery and Susanna Kwan, the head of Jewelry. Their arguments, acting skills and misunderstandings shine the entire series. Without the two of them argue with each other, the whole series will be awfully boring.

Comments

Charmaine She vs Tavia Yeung
Lau Sam Ho is the perfect saint. She does all the right things. On the other hand, Yiu Kam Ling is the ultimate villain. She does all the wrong things. In fact, almost every good thing that happened in this series has something to do with Charmaine, and every bad thing has something to do with Tavia. Charmaine and Tavia are great actresses. They have brilliant chemistry when they were best friends and when they were arch rivals. Unfortunately, I think the script writers did not do the best job crafting their characters.

On one hand, Charmaine's 'goodness' in the series is seriously overemphasized. She also gives off a 'weak helpless girl' image, often bitten by a snake, hurt by an animal trap or knocked down by evil people. She lacks the special factor like Dai Cheung Gam, which make the audience want to remember her character.

On the other hand, Tavia's character is rather intriguing at first, when she was still good, but has many different values from Charmaine. I loved the scene when she was crying and laughing at the same time when Charmaine got promoted over her. Tavia may not be a living goddess like Charmaine, but she was real, and made the audience empathize. BUT, all of a sudden, Tavia becomes really wicked. She no longer do things to defend herself. She becomes a sadist who wants everyone dead except for herself. She is already a concubine with only ONE rival, Selena Lee. Don't other emperors have 3000 concubines? Yet, she's never happy with what she has, and she becomes extremely petty. She kills people like drinking water. I was wondering throughout the series, what made Tavia so evil?

I would also like to comment on their outfits. All the outfits and accessories are nicely and intricately designed, you can't deny the efforts. But, sad to say, I think Tavia looks ridiculous. Her make up is way too thick, her hair is in a funny shape, and her eyes look scary. Wouldn't it be more interesting if the producers made Tavia the concubine look more gorgeous, and Charmaine the servant more plain-looking? I thought the message is that goodness lies in the heart and looks are not as important. But this series is totally trying to prove otherwise.

Susanna Kwan vs Michelle Yim
Like Charmaine and Tavia, Susanna and Michelle were also best friends turned enemies. But unlike Charmaine and Tavia, their misunderstandings are cleared at the end. Both Susanna and Michelle are great actresses. They can argue really well. I especially liked Susanna's character. She's the more forgiving and understanding one, with a secret romantic history which she keeps to herself. Michelle, on the other hand, misunderstands her good friend easily. As a result, their misunderstandings never end. It keeps the story going, but it's also tiring to watch. For some reason, I feel a bit uncomfortable watching Michelle's performances in some scenes maybe because of the exaggerated expressions and movements. But all in all I think they both did great jobs

Moses Chan and Kevin Cheng
You can say that the male characters in this series are rather forgettable. I liked neither Moses nor Kevin, but Moses' character is more interesting of course. He starts off as a prince, and has to pretend to be stupid for (is it 20?) years to protect the lives of his mother and himself. Lee Kwok Lun wanted to make use of Moses' character to be his 'puppet emperor'. On the day Moses becomes the emperor, he surprises everyone with his intelligence, making all the evil people very angry. For the rest of the episodes, Moses struggles to overthrow evil Lee Kwok Lun's powers. It is an intense and interesting fight. In terms of love, Moses knew Charmaine way before Kevin. It is Charmaine who helped him survive his toughest years. However, Charmaine loves Kevin and only Kevin. Moses forgivingly hides his love and only tells charmaine at the very end. Unfortunately, Charmaine did not accept the emperor's love. I love the last scene in the last episode, when Charmaine walks out of the palace, and Moses looks at her from behind, and his eyes were red. What a bittersweet scene...

Yet another stupid villain- Lee Kwok Lun
Basically there are only 2 villains in these series doing all the bad things, Tavia and Lee Kwok Lun. I simply can't stand watching Lee Kwok Lun's character! He's and arrogant man who thinks he can have anything he wants in the world and he is convinced that anyone against him deserves to die. He also likes to humiliate people to show his power. I just hate watching this character because he is ridiculously evil. The scene I liked the most is at the end when Tavia kills Lee Kwok Lun. It's absurd that the emperor could not kill this guy for 32 episodes, but Tavia does it in 1 second. But, I still love that scene because of Tavia's crazy performance. She insults him as a 'castrated man', and tells him, "Not only did you lose to the emperior, you even lose to a woman like me!". He totally deserves to die in humiliation, for all the sins he has committed, but I still think it's not painful enough. Just a stab? Way too easy!

The ending- too fast, too easy
Many things were happening, everything had to be settled fast. The thing which I really can't accept is Tavia's ending. I don't understand why the emperor cannot kill her. Tavia killed SO MANY people. And of all the people, she killed Selena, who is the emperor's wife, Selena's unborn baby, who is the empror's child, and even the emperor's mother who has always treated her so well! Tavia killed 3 very important people in Moses' life, but Moses spares her life for a stupid reason. Before Charmaine leaves, Charmaine even asks Moses to be lenient on her, and Moses agrees! Lucky Tavia, she just turns crazy and live in her own happy world, to me that is way too easy for her. Now that is driving me crazy. This has happened many times to TVB villains. I really don't know what's the message they are trying to drive at.

The Series vs Sales Presentation
As we can see, there were some differences in the story in the sales presentation clip and the series itself. I obviously prefer the story in the sales presentation. In the sales presentation, charmaine and Tavia were junior servants at first. The seniors had their own fight and caused Charmaine and Tavia to suffer a lot. Tavia, having suffered so much, wants to rise to power and have her revenge. Charmaine, on the otherhand maintains her goodheartedness. In the series, Tavia did not have to suffer THAT much. She abruptly became another person, incredibly selfish and greedy. She lacks the 'human factor' and inner struggles which i was looking forward to. In the 2nd half of teh series when Tavia was bad, she lacked the depths and layers which she had at the beginning. It was rather disappointing, no matter how awesome Tavia's performances were.

Overall comments:
I do not have the energy to comment on the other characters because there are so many of them. In short, this series has many plus points. The great ensemble cast, the novel villain performances from Tavia, the carefully crafted dialogues, the grandness, the beautiful decorations costumes and accessories, all these efforts are highly commendable, and impressive. On the other hand, this series also has many ways to improve, I just cannot bring myself to call it a 'classic'.

The Building Blocks of Life

2010-04-25T05:27:00.000-07:00

I first started watching this series almost 2 years ago. I loved it at first, then slowly got tired, put it aside, and couldn't find the time and motivation to continue. It is surprising that 2 years later I picked up this series again and started watching from where I left off, and in the end, I love it so much! It is difficult to find a love story in TVB series that tug my heartstrings so much, so read on to find out more.

The story:
13 years ago, Chung Kwok Keung (Alex Fong Chung Sun) was a highly talented and ambitious architect, who had lots of dreams, who believed architecture can change the world. He also has very high expectations and a bad temper. One day, because of a small argument, he quit his job and left his teacher, Kong Shing Yu (Chung King Fai).

Alex settled down as a designer in his sister's construction company. Over the years his temper changed, and got more and more comfortable with his unchallenging life. He also had a girlfriend for many years, Wai Yee (Christine Ng), and were going to get married. For 13 years, Alex never thought of going back into architecture despite his talent, until he met Cheung Man Jing Freeda (Tavia Yeung), a young and passionate architect, who reignited his passion. Alex finally decides to make a comeback, and become colleagues with Tavia.

Meanwhile, Tavia and Alex help each other through many struggles, and as expected, they are in love. It is difficult for them not to fall in love, because the get along so well, from the moment they met. Both of them know that there is no way Alex can abandon his girlfriend. They try really hard to suppress their feelings, but fail sometimes. As the audience, we know it is almost impossible for them to be together, but the way they love just touches your heart. All these develop into a bittersweet love story, which is surprising, and difficult to forget.

Love Factor

Tavia Yeung
What a great actress! Tavia's performance in this series is totally awesome and I just can't think of a second person who can portray ah Da like her. In this series, Tavia's character has to go through many struggles from the start to the end. From the first episode Tavia already starts liking Alex. When she realises that Alex has a girlfriend, she is so disappointed, but has to keep everything to herself. Next, she had struggles with her family and her grandmother's death, in which Alex helped her a lot. And then, her relationship with Alex starts to get complicated, and Tavia gets torn between guilt and confusion. Tavia portrays her internal struggles of being the 'third party' so well, you can totally feel for her, and can't bear to blame here. And then finally, Tavia runs into a car accident, and becomes a new person. She doesn't want anything except for peace and health. You get to see her less and less, and miss her more and more. But you know, Tavia's heart has never left Alex all this while. Tavia's performances (which include lots of tears) are memorable. Her outfits (and herself) are gorgeous (except for the last scene). Without Tavia's performance to pull off the script, this series will not even be close to good.

Alex Fong Chung Sun and his chemistry with Tavia
I've never expected myself to put Alex Fong on a 'love factor' list, because I never found much connection with him, but now I finally did. Alex's character goes through some changes throughout this series, both in career and relationships. At first, he is laidback, he likes to eat, but he is a responsible and good man. You will not expect him to fall for another girl, including Tavia, much less cheat on his girlfriend. As soon as Alex got back to architecture, things started to change. He found his 'fire' back, even though his temper is much better than before. Meanwhile, he starts to like Tavia without himself realizing. This is when I start to like his character, and how he is always there to help Tavia when she is in trouble. I like the way Alex talks. It sounds funny, yet it makes a lot of sense. Without him, Tavia will not find her kinship back so easily, neither will she get over her grandmother's death. I love the scene where Tavia was hiding at the bay/beach, and Alex found her and told her not to cry and wiped off her tears. Tavia said 'why do you always care for me'. Alex said 'because you are very troublesome'. I love that line so much! Contrary to many people who find them a mismatch, I think the two of them match very well and have great chemistry. The age gap is not a problem, it is somewhat intentional and even value-adding

honourable mention- Christine Ng
Christine is a great actress, no doubt. It is difficult to deny her efforts in acting, especially in the scenes when she was being crazily jealous and paranoid. Her character is simple and nice. Her only fault is to love Alex too much. I'm happy for her that she could find her own happy ending eventually.

Don't care factors- certain parts of the story and some supporting characters
Beware that some parts of the story are rather boring at times, and I have fast forwarded certain scenes. For example, I don't care about the office politics and power struggle in the firm. I don't care about Chung King Fai's struggles because it is not even well developed and his performance was unimpressive. I don't care about Power Chan's villain character because I don't see the point in his existance, though his performances were great. And of course, I don't care about Natalie Tong's messed up relationships.

Power Chan and Natalie Tong- what kind of relationship is that?
Natalie dates Sam Chen at first. He did many things for her. They even have a baby, but she doesn't care. Meanwhile, Power Chan snatches Natalie over using lies and more lies. All of a sudden, they are together, they are getting married, and all of a sudden, Natalie loves Power like crazy. I don't understand how she can forgive him for all the bad things he had done. But TVB just wants Power to turn good in 5 minutes and Natalie and Power Chan to end up together, and there is nothing I can do. Hence, like I mentioned above, it is better to put this part of the story under the 'don't care' factor.

The ending including Tavia's ugly outfit
The ending was rushed as usual. Though acceptable, it did not do the story all the justice it should. The concept of Tavia slowly losing her memory and recording everything down on a CD is nice, but it is way too rushed! The CD was way too short. And then, in the last scene, when Tavia and Alex met again at the beach, Tavia's outfit and hair was so awful! Why did she have to look so awful? And Tavia was acting more like she has become stupid, than she has lost her memory. The ending is not horrible. But it could have been better to give the audience a better sense of completion...

The Performances
For the best actress, I have to choose Tavia over Christine even though they are both great. Tavia's performance really touched my heart. Alex is a great actor, and I did not realise this last time. His character is both old-fashioned and charming, and Alex captured the balance very well. His emotions are subtle, but can definitely be felt. Anne Heung plays a small role, simply and convincingly. Timmy Hung, this may be the best of him I have seen. As for the other supporting characters, I don't really want to mention them much. Power Chan deserves best supporting actor, but I really don't care about his character.

Concluding remarks
To sum up, TBBOL may have low ratings, n some negative comments, but for me was totally worth watching. There are boring scenes I don't care about, but there are even more touching scenes I remember. It is a different kind of chemistry, and different kind of story. The characters dialogues are always interesting to hear. Most importantly, the 2 leads, Alex and Tavia, gave a performance which is stemmed from their hearts. Last but not least, it has a great sound track and themesong! ;)

D.I.E. (Death Investigation Extention)

2009-04-21T23:17:00.001-07:00

Cast:
Roger Kwok
Sonija Kwok
Derek Kwok
Kenneth Ma
Margie Tsang

Story:
After being hit by lightning, Roger, a policeman, found himself with an unusual ability. He can communicate with the dead! If someone is murdered and has grievance, he or she is able to send certain signals to Roger. However, these signals are usually very brief and vague. Hence Roger has to use his detective skills to find the real murderer…

Meanwhile, a new department D.I.E. is formed. The department, which comprise Roger and Sonija, is made up of rather capable people. But due to various reasons, they cannot work well with people, and got ‘exiled’ to D.I.E. All unclosed cases are sent to the D.I.E. Roger then uses his special ability to solve all these cases, making D.I.E. more and more famous…

Love Factors:

Sonija Kwok
I thought Sonija can only play the ‘beauty’ character. In the end she plays the boyish character very well. Some of her funny expressions are great. Her action stunts are also nicely done. I’m starting to respect Sonija more and more as an actress. Ever since Land of Wealth and On the First Beat, and now D.I.E, I’m liking Sonija more and more.

Derek Kwok (Righteous)
What a cute character! Derek’s name is ‘righteous’ in this series, and indeed, he lives up to his name. His idol is bruce lee. He dresses and fights like him. Righteous is one of the best supporting characters of the year!

Mimi Lo
Mimi plays a very vain character who only cares about her looks and marrying a rich guy. I have no idea how she managed to become a policeman. But I soon realized that she is actually quite smart! Mimi’s comedy performance is wonderful. Her expressions are hilarious. Every time she appears, it brightens up the screen.

The entire D.I.E.
Every person in the department is very funny. They are so cute together. Their chemistry is sparkling.

Can’t help but notice Stephen Hyunh
Stephen plays a pathologist. He is very cool, very professional, but also very cute. It is just a small character, but I can’t help noticing Stephen. His acting improved, and he is really cute in this series!

The Story
I think the story is great! Sure enough, there are ridiculous and unbelievable parts, but in all the story was highly entertaining. The cases are refreshing and exciting, just that sometimes it is too complicated, I get a little lost…

Dislike factors

The ending…
A rushed marriage, an abrupt death, a surprise baby… all these happened way too fast!

How Come factor
The producers did not explain, how come Roger’s powers failed in the very last case? What happened?

The little ghost Siu Yee, why does she look the way she looks? Isn’t she supposed to look younger?

Funny Factor
‘Big Mouth Ying’
There is this guy Sonija is chasing from episode 1 to episode 25, but he still hasn’t gotten caught. This guy is very lucky! It’s funny how Sonija chased him SO MANY times but failed. It’s also annoying seeing Sonija rushing to chase him without even thinking!

The Performance
Roger shines in any performance as usual. He looks so young and handsome it amazes me. Kenneth Ma is not bad, first time seeing him play such a high-ranking role. But tje high ranking policeman is weak in love, unfortunately. Derek Kwok is the best supporting actor. Sonija Kwok… she is not the best, but for some reason I just enjoy watching her so much, I am going to become her fan soon. Mimi Lo is the best supporting actress. It is great to see Margie Tsang come back. Her performance was unnatural at first, but got warmed up soon enough. She is very pretty!

Worth Watching?
This is a very original story, with unique settings and characters. I think this series is totally worth watching. It is a very refreshing change from the usual TVB cop series. The style is SLIGHTLY similar to To Catch the Uncatchables.

The Drive Of Life- Review

2009-04-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

Cast:
Damian Lau- Hua Wen Han
Liao Jing Sheng- Hua Wen Hong
Michael Miu- Hua Wen Shuo
Joe Ma- Wei Yong Biao
Raymond Lam- Hua Zhen Bang
Feng Shao Feng- Hua Zhen Min
Ng Wai Kwok- Wei Tian Xing
Ron Ng- Xi Jie Qiang

Charmaine She- Rong Xiu Feng
Sheren Tang- Wang Shao Fen
Jessica Hsuan- Hua Qing Yu
Myolie Wu- Fang Bing Yi
Toby Leung- Hua Qing Lin
Gigi Wong-
Chan Mei Kei- Wei Chang Ping
Chiu Ngor- Qian Qian

Note:

This review is really hard to write as it is simply too long and there are too many characters!Please note i'll miss out on many details...

Story:
This is a story that spans from 1994 to 2007, about a family’s dream, national pride, and the China car making industry. The Hua family has dreamt about creating local motor cars, that are safe, durable and affordable for the Chinese. It is about taking the future into your own hands, it is about pride, it is about driving on your own path with your own car. For many years, there wasn’t much breakthrough, until the generation of Damian Lau and his two brothers. The 3 of them, with the help of many other members of the family, set up ‘Hua Zhe’ to realize this dream. While embarking on this long journey, they inspired many people around them to make a contribution. Meanwhile, there are the good people, the bad people, and those struggling between good and bad. There are relationship problems, misunderstandings, and tragic events. The characters learn from these challenges. They grow up as a person, and their relationships only become stronger.

The Characters/Performance:

Actors
Damian is definitely the best actor of this series. His performance is so solid! He is an amazing father and leader, and his air and expressions totally show the power he has. At the beginning, he is also very stubborn. He assumes everyone should live the way he thinks is right. Of course, all that changed later on. All in all, it was a stellar performance. Liao Jing Sheng has a very gentle and refined disposition. I liked his performance very much. Michael Miu is such a charming and handsome actor. His portrayal as the young and fun ‘small uncle’ was charismatic. I don’t like his mad or emotional scenes though. Raymond Lam and Michael Miu’s characters are a little similar. Sometimes he is a man, sometimes he is a little boy. I think Raymond did a wonderful job. The tears he shed are heartbreaking, and I find Raymond specially handsome in this series. Joe Ma is the character to hate. Before Joe Ma killed Ng Wai Kwok, Ng made a very insightful description of Joe Ma’s character: He is a petty and stupid man. Someone (Damian) treats you a bit well, you become so loyal to him. Someone (Damian) rejects you, you bear such a heavy grudge. This statement made me understand Joe Ma’s character a lot better. Besides being petty and stupid, Joe Ma is very evil, and he only cares about himself. He doesn’t know how to love at all. He can even risk the life of his own wife and child! Such a man does not deserve to be forgiven, but he was, and there is nothing I can do. Feng Shao Feng is cute, not much comments. Ron Ng’s character is small, but he is very cool(when driving) and likeable (he is a very good person). Ng Wai Kwok’s villain performance also stood out a lot. It is great having him back. Look forward to more great performance from him!

The Actresses
Jessica Hsuan is always likeable, but I still feel slightly disappointed that Jessica’s character is stupid. Jessica suits the smart image much better. Charmaine She stood out the most among the female leads. Her character was full of spice and excitement. Her eyes are full of spirit. Her chemistry with Raymond is sparkling. Myolie Wu is likeable once again. I like her gentle and caring character, and subtle facial expression. Her usual characters are too active, it makes me a bit tired watching. Sheren Teng is another one who stand out. Her character matured so much from the beginning to the end! I love watching the changes. And I love her character at towards the end. Gigi Wong is the number 1 disappointment. Her character is petty and stupid, her hairstyles (all of them) are bad, and her performances were mediocre. Her performance in ‘Golden Faith’ was much better. I totally do not understand why Damian chose Gigi over Chan Mei Kei. Toby Leung is the number 2 disappointment. Firstly, I do not understand why Toby must act so emotional over her parents quarrel. She is already a grown-up girl. Secondly, I find it very hard to find any enjoyment in watching Toby act. Chan Mei Kei Charmaine’s mother, Damien’s old lover, a very refined, beautiful woman with a dark past. Her death was the turning point of the whole series. I really love her character, but I also pity her a lot. I like how she loves Damien so wholeheartedly, and is willing to sacrifice anything for him. I also like how she is so refined, so kind, and so forgiving. Unfortunately, she does not have a good life, and she had to suicide. Her past is very pitiful. No wonder Charmaine took so long forgive the Wah family… I liked Chiu Ngor’s innocent, eager-to-learn character at first, but soon she becomes an annoying girl who is weak in love and easily cheats on her boyfriend. Her character adds very little to the series.

Chemistry Factor

The Chemistry of the Hua Family
Very close-knitted family. Very sweet to watch. I see the most chemistry among the 2 kids and their father Damian. I especially like the father and son relationship between Raymond and Damian. It stood out a lot to me.

Michael Miu and Sheren Teng
I am surprised to be putting them in the love factor list. Before watching this series, I didn’t really pay much attention to this couple. At the beginning, I even hated their scenes together, because their marriage was very screwed up. But I didn’t know that a great story was unfolding. Michael and Sheren learned from their failed marriage. They started afresh from friends. They learned to improve on their own weakness and accept the weakness of each other. They learned to understand and care about each other. Finally, Michael is trying to win back the heart of Sheren. The process is so sweet. In the end, Michael and Sheren became one of my favourite couples in this series.

Charmaine She and Raymond Lam
What awesome chemistry! At the beginning, Raymond and Charmaine like to challenge each other on their wits, then they became partners and think of ways to earn money together. Soon they became attracted to each other, because they found each other smart and charming. However, because of 1 recession, Raymond disappointed Charmaine and they separated. After some time, Raymond changed from a playboy to a responsible man. He tried to convince Charmaine that he truly loved her and can give her happiness. From then their relationship became built on love. After that, Charmaine’s hatred for Raymond’s family and the loss of their baby drove them apart. Raymond was shattered. When he finally picked up the shattered pieces of his heart, Charmaine came back to cause more trouble, and they started going against each other. That was so painful to watch. Finally, it was selfless Myolie who made them realize that they still love each other very deeply, and brought them back together. From then on, you know nothing can separate the two of them anymore.

Myolie Wu and Feng Shao Feng
What a refreshing chemistry! This couple only started developing towards the end, but it was a pleasant surprise. Myolie and Feng were both withdrew from their relationships because their partners love someone else. They confided and sought each other for comfort. They became the perfect company for each other. Finally, they fell in love and found happiness in each other. How wonderful!

Joe Ma and Jessica Hsuan
I don’t enjoy their chemistry. 1 is selfish, 1 is blind, I don’t want to say more

Ron Ng and Toby Leung
Ron’s character is very cool and nice. Sometimes he is cute with Toby. Sometimes I don’t really care because of Toby’s poor performance.

Damian Lau, Chan Mei Kei, Liao Jing Sheng
A beautiful love triangle, which lasted many years. I hate Damian Lau the most in this love triangle. He is so cruel to Mei Kei! Mei Kei loves Damian so deeply, even after so many years, until she decided to marry Liao Jing Sheng, until the moment she died, she only loves Damian. Liao Jing Sheng loves Mei Kei in the same unconditional way. He forgave Damian eventually. I admire his broad heart.

Raymond Lam, Ellesmere Choi, Myoli Wu

The 3 of them are very cute together. Ellesmere's character is surprisingly cute! Myolie is a great girl for Raymond, unfortunately, Raymond's heart has no room for a second girl other than Charmaine...

The Story

Despite its length, the story of TDOL was barely boring. This is because there are many characters and relationship, so we need more time to develop each part properly. From the beginning till the end, we can feel the changes and growth of the characters. The story has its emotional, funny, and exciting moments. It is a wonderful mix. All in all, thumbs up!

The Performance

Besides Gigi Wong and Toby Leung, I have no complaints on the acting. All the performance was great! I just hate Joe Ma's character too much, I don't even care about his performance anymore

Worth Watching?

YES! One of the best series of the year!

The Seventh Day- Review

2009-04-17T06:05:00.001-07:00

Cast:
Kevin Cheng Ka Wing- Yau Chi Wing
Niki Chow Lai Kei- Leng Ka Yan
Bosco Wong Chung Zak- Don
Natalie Tong Sze Wing- Sasa

Story:
This is the story about 2 men, Kevin and Bosco, who are born on the same day, 7th of August. They have completely different characters, and lead totally different lives. Kevin appears aloof and indifferent, while Bosco is witty and sweet-tongued. Kevin does not care about wealth and prestige, while Bosco is a money-hungry man. However deep down, both have very warm hearts. Kevin and Bosco met their loved ones, Niki and Natalie respectively, on the same day. Each couple has a very different destiny, yet at many points of time, their experiences are aligned. Both couples go through many ups and downs, putting their faiths into test. At the end, both love stories turn out beautiful. Like the narrator said, as long as we know how to treasure the people around us, life naturally becomes very beautiful…

Comments

Kevin and Niki
Before watching this series, I was having reservations against this couple, because many reviewers found them boring. To my surprise, I love this couple so much! Kevin and Niki are simply awesome together. From Hard Fate (2004), Under the Canopy of Love(2006), and to this series(2008), their acting improves, and their chemistry rocks more and more. True enough, some parts of their story are tiring to watch, but as a whole, it was a beautiful love story, and a sparkling chemistry.

Chemistry aside, I actually liked the love story between Kevin and Niki. At first glance, the story looks too typical. Parental objections, third wheels, deadly disease… but this is okay, because the script for the story is appealing. The producers put a lot of heart into the dialogues and other little details, to bring the best out of a typical story. They managed to convince me that Kevin and Niki seriously love each other, and their strong faith in the relationship really touched me. It’s hard for me to describe, you must feel it for yourself. Basically, this is a really moving love story.

Favourite parts:
- somewhere at the beginning, Kevin never expresses his thoughts, yet he expects Niki to understand him, never caring about Niki’s feelings. It was great to see Niki get mad. I love it when Niki scolded Kevin, because everything she says makes sense. But their faith is strong. At the end of episode 5, they finally got together under the wishing tree J
- When Kevin’s father took Niki’s money… Kevin was very angry and scolded Niki. There was one scene, Kevin borrowed money from all his friends to return to Niki (even though it was obviously not enough). Niki was very upset that Kevin was so concerned about the money, and she started crying, so did I. But Kevin merely does not want Niki to be harmed, he is protective of Niki, but does not know how to express it, and ends up losing his temper. At the end of a confrontation, they hugged and Kevin told Niki not to cry. That was such a sweet scene!
- When Niki learned about Kevin’s past from Kevin’s grandmother. Niki thought to herself, ‘Kevin is a filial man. My mum once told me, a man who loves his mother will definitely love his wife as well.’ I love that quote, and I suspect it is true!
- Most of the time when Niki writes on her online diary… I enjoy reading what she writes
- The whole part when Niki tried to break up with Kevin because of her disease. It is very tiring watching her do that. But it was also very touching to watch Kevin refuse to give up. His faith is very strong, he simply cannot believe that Niki does not love him anymore, because that is impossible!
- Kevin sends Niki an email with the blue print of their ‘dream house’. The email was so touching that I cried with Niki. Kevin loves Niki so much!
- Niki finally accept Kevin back again, that is in episode 18. Kevin’s crying broke my heart. I love that scene, it was my favourite scene in this entire series. 1 line I remember the most, was when Kevin said, ‘Don’t keep thinking about your disease. We cure it once, we’ll take it as passing 1 obstacle. Then, I’ll bring you to a beautiful place, eat something really nice, do something we have never done before’. I can’t forget that scene!

Bosco and Natalie
I hated their relationship at the beginning. It was ridiculous! Their ‘motives’ of dating each other is unbelievable. I mean, Bosco is young and capable and clean, why would he even think about getting close to a rich girl to get rich? Isn’t that what jerks do? But Bosco doesn’t look like such a jerk! And Natalie… She wants to date someone to get inspiration for her comics because she ‘ran out of ideas’. But she was the one who came up with all the weird ideas to make a fool of Bosco. Why can’t she just draw the stories out directly? It is so unnecessary to play all the tricks on Bosco! Both of them indeed go to the extreme to attain their goals, it is so unbelievable!

Thankfully, Bosco and Natalie’s chemistry did improve, ironically that happened after they ‘broke up’. I started seeing the ‘human’ and ‘sane’ side of both characters. They started realizing their feelings for each other, and started missing each other. I wonder HOW those feelings got developed but they did anyway. It was nice seeing the emotional side of Bosco and Natalie. BUT I hated how Bosco dealt with his relationship with Natalie and Charmaine. He ended up hurting them both. In the end, they got back together because of a baby, what a stupid reason…

The 3rd Wheels
For Kevin and Niki, we have Selena. I have nothing against Selena. Her life is too tragic. She loves Kevin as deeply as Niki does, but it will never be reciprocated…

For Bosco and Natalie, the third wheel is Charmaine Lee. Charmaine was a very sweet girl at first. I do not know what she sees in Bosco. She ended up doing many stupid, selfish and degrading things for Bosco, it changed my impression of her character completely… The writers just had to make her do all these stupid things, otherwise Bosco and Natalie’s story cannot continue to episode 20. Haha…

The Supporting characters
The family members of the four leads are all nice to watch. Niki’s father is annoying, but he does love Niki a lot. In this series, Bosco and Natalie also each have a clique of friends. Their chemistry is okay…

The Story
There are stupid scenes, stupid events you don’t care about. But generally I still like the story. It is artsy and charming in its own way.

The Performance
I did not like Kevin’s character at first because he is so cold and has a bad temper. But very soon I saw his warm heart and I can ignore those flaws. Kevin is the best actor of the series. His crying took me by surprise. It improved so much, especially at the scene where he got back together with Niki. Niki did her trademark lovable character, it is hard to not like her. But sometimes I don’t really like her crying. She whines instead of cries. Bosco’s performance is forgettable, and I do not like his hair at all! Natalie is the most improved actress. She was never bad to begin with, but this is her first leading role. It is the first time she gets to showcase her ‘inside emotions’.

Worth Watching?
Kevin and Niki fans can NOT miss this series. If you’re not a fan to begin with (like me), I still think this series is worth watching. For me, I enjoyed it very much, and I will remember Kevin and Niki’s story for some time.. If you are not a sentimental person or not very much into romantic films, then this series is not for you, and you will be extremely bored…

the master of tai chi- 1st thoughts

2009-04-16T04:47:00.000-07:00

Tai Chi was my most anticiapted series of 2006 and 2007, yet it did not get aired in both years. Finally 2008 came and the series was released, but I only got to watch it today. I do not care about the reviews. The cast looks great, the trailer looks awesome, and the scenery is breathtaking. I have watched 9 episodes. So far, I'm sad to say that this series is NOT living up to my expectations.

Love Factors

Fighting scenes

This is the number 1 selling point of the series. Real fighting- no computer effects. I am impressed by the fighting. Every character (who knows how to fight) in this series is convincing because they really know Kungfu (some know more than the others). They look like martial artists inside out. The fighting scenes are so fast, and so beautifully done. This is 1 aspect Tai Chi did not let us down on.

Vincent Zhao - Wu Ma, Melissa Ng- Sang Qing, Guan Shan Yue

Wu Ma is such an interesting character. From a cynical and violent man whom everyone shuns, Wu Ma slowly changes to become peaceful and more understanding. He learns to love and care for people around him. All thanks to 2 people, Wu Ma's teacher Guan Shan Yue and Melissa Ng's character Sang Qing. At first Wu Ma looks very violent. But in front of his teacher and Sang Qing, he shows his innocence, just like a little boy. His teacher wants to help him attain the highest level of Tai Chi, and to do that , he must help Wu Ma let go of his hatred and attain peace. His love for Wu Ma is so unconditional and touching. Wu ma and his teacher have a very unique relationship.

Sang Qing is Wu Ma's confidant and soulmate. She cooks for him and helps him in his practice. She works together with the master to help Wu Ma succeed. Sang Qing is such a selfless and kind girl. I love her character and her chemistry with Wu Ma.

Basically the life these 3 people live is very nice. In a secluded, peaceful and beautiful place. Everyday Wu Ma and his teacher practise Tai Chi, while Sang Qing cooks great food for them. The idea is very appealing. :) I love watching the 3 of them together.

Dislike Factors

Myolie Wu- Yan Zi Gui

I don't know whether to blame the director, the writer, or Myolie herself. Myolie's character is very frustrating to watch. Her expressions are too exagerrated. Sometimes they look unreal, sometimes they are simply unappealing. She yells and screams most of the time. Her costume and hair are not pretty at all. Basically, I do not enjoy watching Myolie's character and acting at all.

The weak story

Up till now there is nothing in the story that captures me. The pace is too slow and the story is typical. The only reason why i'm continuing to watch is to see if it gets better.

Useless Factor

Beautiful Scenery, Great cast.

Tai Chi reminds me a little of Land of Wealth. Beautiful scenery, great cast... but all these cannot save a weak story. I really hope the story of Tai Chi improves!

credit: pictures from http://tvb.windy-goddess.net/

每当变幻时 (Hooked On You)

2008-05-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

This story, spanning 10 years, describes the life journey of a rather average hongkong girl, Ah Miu. Ah Miu was born and bred in the wet market. She reluctantly works there for many years to clear her father’s gambling debts. Deep down, she believes that she is meant for a higher station of life. She has 2 wishes, to leave the wet market by the age of 30, and to find a ‘good’ man.

Miu meets “Yu Lo” (Eason Chan), another fishmonger, whom she became soulmates with. Miu and Yu went through many ups and downs together, getting conned, ‘upgrading’ the wet market so that it won’t lose its edge over the supermarket etc. They came a long way.

Yu starts to pursue Miu. Miu realizes she is falling for him, but she sees a future she doesn’t want with Yu. On the last day of 1999, Miu finally left the wet market, and broke all ties with Yu and everyone else in the wet market. (Her father has died by then) On the same day, the wet market was shut down by the state, leaving Yu totally shattered.

After 6 years, Miu has become a renowned make-up artist. She has found a good career, but has yet to find a good man. At this time, she recalled Yu, and realized, Yu is her key to real happiness. Miu and Yu finally reunited after the long parting. Nothing seemed to have changed. Their chemistry was still sparkling like it used to be. Just when Miu was about to express her feelings, she realized Yu is already married with a family. Yu was just a simple man who wants a stable job and a caring wife. Miu was simply gone for too long…

Oblivious to Miu’s feelings, Yu walks away with his wife and daughter, while Miu stares at their backs, with a tinge of regret and emptiness. Like how she has always been trying to find her ideal wallet, ‘a Gucci which looks like Prada’, she spent 10 years searching for the wrong ‘happiness’, which may not even have existed, and simply let the best slip by.

This story makes you hooked on it, thinking, where does your happiness lie? What are you looking for in your lifelong partner? It is not only the journey of Ah Miu, but the changes of the other supporting characters as well. Using the history of hongkong as a backdrop, it also tugs the heartstrings of many hongkongers.

With a strong sentimental script and a perfect cast, (leading and supporting), Hooked has come to become my favourite movie of 2007 and in fact, one of my all-time favourites. It is one of the most underrated movies of 2007. The Hongkong film industry needs to produce more films like that rather than slapslick comedies or war epics that are merely empty spectacles.

Finally...

2008-03-19T02:44:00.000-07:00

After months of Hiatus, I've finally decided to do a little TVB update today. My don't know how many readers I have left after all these months of disappearance, but rah, I'll still blog.

What I have watched... (very short comments)

The Price Of Greed

If there is 1 series I have to recommend from year 2006, then TPOG is definitely it. Because of all the bad reviews, I am surprised by how grappling and exciting and charming this series turned out to be. Performance wise, Bosco and Sammul are perfect for their roles. Kate is not as unbearable as in Brink of Law and On The First Beat, Shirley is okay. Story wise, I enjoy every moment of it, especially after Sammul comes back in episode 8. Basically, in comparison with all recent TVB productions, POG is an original and successful master piece. I still don't understand why is POG warehoused, and why crappier series are being aired...

Best Bet

Due to lack of time/interest, I skipped quite a few episodes of this series while it was airing on tv. To tell you the truth, that is extremely fine because BB doesn't really have a story for us to follow. Nevertheless, I always came back to watch BB whenever I had enough time/interest because it is pretty good entertainment. The 'no gambling' message is cheesily and cornily espoused for countless times throughout the series. But it is cute. The jokes are so silly that I can describe them as 'retarded', but I still laughed nevertheless. BB is a series for stressed up individuals like me to enjoy (= (Skip the first few episodes though, they were quite boring)

Dicey Business

I was so in love with DB for the first 20 episodes or so. Bobby is the number 1 love factor of DB. His character is so cute, so strong, and his unconditional love for Bosco his brother is so poignant, and moving. If this series was aired a little earlier, Bobby should have just taken home the 2006 best actor award. The Bobby and Jessica chemistry also shines. Now i'm on episode 27. Though this series is still good, it is getting a little tedious, looking at Michael being evil, and looking at Bosco's sheer apathy towards his brother's feelings. Nevertheless, DB is still a good series to watch. Perhaps 30 episodes instead of 35 will suffice...

The Building Blocks of Life

For Tavia's sake, I had to watch this series regardless of what reviews I hear. After watching the first episode, I thought 'I am so going to love this series'. The architectural theme, and the refreshing chemistry between Tavia and Alex is very captivating. I am at episode 6 now and holding on. This series is becoming relegated to some random office drama and Alex's performance is going downhill. He is simply not pulling off the 'passionate architect' role well enough. I will press on to continue enjoying Tavia's performance. She's such a great actress!

Land Of Wealth- my final thoughts

2007-12-20T04:45:00.000-08:00

After 6 interminable weeks, I finally finished the series Land of Wealth. Remember some time ago I gave quite a positive review about the first 10 episodes of LOW? Well, I guess it's time for me to turn the tables against this series which has one of the most major disapointment of the year.

Don't leave, read on to find out more

If you have read Metal's review before, he mentioned that it was only after 18 episodes when "LOW wakes up and realises that it has a story to tell". That is SO true. I liked the first 10 episodes because they managed to trick me into thinking that 'everything is just building up' and that 'more excitement is ahead'. Unfortunately after the next 8 episodes I was going to switch off my television. But I still pressed on.

For the next 14 episodes, things did get more exciting. Not only exciting, but also messed up, and screwed up. I feel like the producers are still in control of the story line. That's a good thing. But I do not understand why did they choose to mess up the story line like that.

I couldn't make myself love the story. The political and banking parts are not exciting enough. The love parts were messed up, vexatious, and left the audience with lots of regrets. It was so twisted, everyone married the person they do not love, no one gets to be w/ someone he or she truly loves. Couples are ripped into pieces and the pieces are thrown everywhere and anywhere.

ok I'm exagerating, but i'm just trying to show my disappointment.

It could be a masterpiece

Look at the grand costumes, the gorgeous scenery, the upbeat themesong and themevideo, four lovely main characters, and the awesome performances from the leads and supporting cast. All these is useless if the story line sucked, but it's also a waste of money and resources to create these beauty. LOW could have been the best series of the year, but because of the lousy story, it has become one of the worst series of 2006. (Not as bad as War and Destiny which I gave up on after 8 episodes... at least i made it thru 32 episodes of LOW)

The perfect couples broken up

I wasn't paying much attention to Moses and Sonija as a couple but soon realised that they were very much the focus of the series. I started to like them tgt quite quickly, especially because Sonija's character was so energetic and cute, all the way up till episode 22 or 23, when a stupid misunderstanding changed their relationship so badly without any turning back. It just made me miss those days of their innocent and cute interaction.

Steven and Tavia were the number one reason why I wanted to watch LOW, but also the number one disappointment. Their chemistry was definitely present, and it really rocked. But the scenes with them are really WAY TOO LITTLE. In fact MANY of their scenes were cut. It gives me a feeling that the producers hate them tgt. Also, in the end the story got really twisted as well. Another stupid misunderstanding break them apart. Tavia marries Moses and all of a sudden does not seem to love Steven anymore. Steven gets tagged by a not very pretty girl called Erica Yuen. Tavia dies, and I don't even see Steven at her funeral...

the scenes which got cut:

- the snow storm scene which looks totally gorgeous got so truncated. I still enjoyed it, but it was WAY too short!

- The scene where Tavia and Steven were getting buried alive by horse thieves. I saw the filming of it and I cried, but in the actual series it got cut...

- Steven standing at the side looking and crying when Tavia dies. In the version I watch, there is no Steven at all when Moses carries Tavia out of the prison

Give me those scenes! I want to watch them so badly...

In the year of 2006, the costume dramas looked the most promising, but also turned out the most disappointing. Watching LWOLAP, DOP and LOW gave me quite similar feeling. It made me thinkg 'Why can series look sooo awesome from the outside but turn out to be just a beautiful empty shell?' This can make u feel very dejected and upset. Of course, among the bunch, LWOLAP was a much much better series, with awesome characters and a story which kept me very much interested, unlike DOP and LOW which i was watching half-heartedly most of the time.

The Verdict

My suggestion, give this series a cursory glance, don't skip it totally. You need to have a feel of teh grandness and beauty of Land Of Wealth. It's cinetography is one of the best in recent years. However, don't pay too much attention to the story, it can make u very vexed. Like I said, performances rocked but the story sucked. Browsing and watching selected scenes where ur favourite actors and actresses perform is more than enough.

Maiden's Vow- the Review

2007-12-03T07:05:00.000-08:00

Finally completed this series! Here is my long review... pls enjoy (:

This review is really hard to write, because this series is made up of 4 different stories and 4 different sets of characters. Maiden’s Vow is a story which lasts 4 generations, showcasing how the gender concepts and Woman’s social status have changed over the past century.

Dai Sze Ga (Charmaine She) narrates the story right from the first generation, that is, the story of her great-great grandmother Ngai Yu Fung (Charmaine She), who lives in the Qing Dynasty. At that time, women had no say at all in their marriage. Their happiness was always put last, everything else was more important. Yu Fung and Yu Ci fell in love from young, but to save the Ngai family, Yu Fung had no choice but to marry into the Wong Family. Wong Yue Lam (Sammul Chan) is Yu Fung’s terrible husband. He is very stupid, unreasonable, and only knows how to squander away his family’s wealth. Yu Fung had to suffer a lot in the Wong family. Thankfully, Yu Ci, who became a cook in the Wong family, was there to be her guardian angel. After the downfall of the Wong, Yu Fung and Yu Ci started the ‘Phoenix Restaurant’ together to support the useless people in the Wong family. From a small teahouse, the restaurant became bigger and bigger, and even the Empress Dowager patronized their restaurant. Finally, all the struggles are over, Yu Fung and Yu Ci can finally be together. Yet at this time, tragedy struck and both of them died together in a bomb incident…

The second generation is the story of Sze Ga’s great grandmother Wong Ji Kwan (Charmaine She), the daughter of Yu Fung and Yue Lam. She is a passionate, patriotic teenager, who loves to study. Ji Kwan also believes in ‘freedom in love’. Everyone thinks she is very rebellious, but she only wants to be with the one she truly loves. Ji Kwan falls for her teacher Lei Kat Cheung (Joe Ma). However, due to their teacher and student relationship, everyone objected to their relationship, and they had to elope. Kat Cheung was also a revolutionist. Eventually, he became a spy who works for the country. The couple had to go through a lot of separations and reunions. In the end, Kat Cheung had to escape, and never came back, leaving Ji Kwan and her unborn child…

The third generation features Sze Ga’s mother, Bak Wai Zan (Charmaine She), who is Ji Kwan’s granddaughter. Wai Zan and Doi Lap Yan (Joe Ma) were a happy married couple. However, there are some problems. Lap Yan believes that the man should go out and work and the woman should only stay at home and complete the chores. Hence he does not allow his wife to go out to work, even though she is very smart. Wai Zan decides to go out to work secretly, and ended up having to opposite Lap Yan. This whole story then became an office battle between men and women. Meanwhile Wai Zan and Lap Yan’s relationship became worse. At the end, Wai Zan realizes that the Phoenix restaurant is her family’s business and decides to take over it and save it from closing down. While combining efforts to do so, Wai Zan and Lap Yan finally made up. Lap Yan also realized that his chauvinistic ways were unacceptable and changed for the better.

The story fastforwards to the 21st century. Sze Ga and Ah Zan (Sherming Yiu) are best friends. Sze Ga believes in true love, but not marriage. She thinks that marriage is just using a certificate to tie each other down, and they can file for divorce any time, any day. Ah Zan is a more ‘promiscuous’ girl. She goes out with multiple guys and toys with feelings, but she is still a nice girl. Fong Ka On (Joe Ma) is Sze Ga’s cohabiting boyfriend, but they broke up due to misunderstanding. After Ka On leaves, Sze Ga finds herself pregnant with Ka On’s child. Sze Ga decides to be a single mother, with the support of ah Zan and ah Kat (Sammul Chan), her ex-boyfriend who turns out to be homosexual. Meanwhile, they were all working together to reopen the Phoenix restaurant. In 2 years, Sze Ga transformed from a nameless beer promoter to a top famous successful business woman. At this time, Ka On comes back. After many twists and turns, all the misunderstandings finally come to an end and the two are reconciled. Ka On proposes to Sze Ga, however, Sze Ga knows that marriage is not the best option for her…

Love Factors

Charmaine She- the last generation Doi Sze Ga
I have to say this is the character which stands out the most in the entire series. From the first episode, you start to hear her voice already, and look forward to seeing her, wanting to know what Sze Ga’s character is like. When her character first appears, you may be very surprised to see that Sze Ga is a very wild and ‘not-so-good’ girl. But soon enough, you’ll find that she has a very warm heart, she is strong, and she has a very uniquely likeable character.

Charmaine She- the best actress
I don’t know if any actress can be as versatile as Charmaine. I have to say that Charmaine’s performances are AMAZING. She is able to make all 4 characters shine, and prevent us from getting bored with her performances (unlike Joe Ma). Her tears were tragic in the first generation. In the second generation, acting as her very own daughter, she convincingly acted cute and youthful (really loved her in here). Her comedy expressions were very successful in the 3rd generation, and I don’t need to say anymore about the last generation. In a way you’ll feel that this series was specially made for Charmaine to win the Best Actress award.

Sammul Chan- the best supporting actor
Sammul only appeared in the 1st and last generation, but both times his appearance took me by surprise. In the first generation, I was surprised by how thrashy his character is. This is the first time I see Sammul play such a completely hate-able character. He was definitely convincing, and I really felt like slapping him. In the forth generation, I was surprised again when Sammul’s character turns out to be gay and falls in love with Joe! Oh my god… Despite that, this unique character turns out to be another success. I loved ‘Ah Kat’. I loved how he supports Charmaine as a friend. He is the greatest friend you can ever hope for.

So-So Factor

Joe Ma
I cannot say Joe’s performance is bad, but to me it was just plain. I only liked Joe in the 2nd generation (his teacher look was very refreshing) and the last generation, where he is the rich and high-class accountant. I think Joe Ma suits high-class educated characters the best. His ‘innocent’ character in generation 1 and his ‘funny’ character in generation 3 just wasn’t the best…

OVERALL COMMENTS

The Story
All in all, the story wasn’t bad, although I found the last part of the 2nd generation boring and most of the 3rd generation flat. The rest of the story was a laudable effort. The last story was the highlight of the entire series, and also my favourite. I was able to enjoy it from the beginning to the end without feeling bored at all.

The Chemistry

Charmaine and Joe
I cannot say they don’t have chemistry, but I also cannot say that their chemistry rocked. But after seeing them for so many episodes in so many different stories, I must make myself believe that they do have chemistry…

Charmaine and Sammul
100%- match-able, whether they are ‘sisters’ in the last generation or ‘hardworking wife and useless husband’ in the first generation. I love their chemistry together!

Sherming Yiu and ‘Pang Pang’
I don’t know who this actor is, but the two of them were quite cute in the last generation.

The performance
Charmaine She gets the best actress award, I don’t have to say more. Joe Ma is good, but Charmaine is better. Sammul is the ‘most improved’ and ‘best supporting’ actor. He is a good actor. Sherming Yiu can be the ‘best supporting actress’. Her performances were great, even though her character was too mean. I would also like to mention Elaine Yiu. I know she sucked in Safe Guards, but this time her character in the 2nd generation was very comfortable to watch. Let’s hope to see more improvements from her (but no more leading roles please)

The Verdict
If you are a Charmaine or Sammul fan, you can NOT miss this series. If you’re not, you should still watch this series, but you may want to get your fast forward button ready for the 3rd generation.

Chirp chirp crow crow

2007-11-26T21:37:00.000-08:00

The following content is not very healthy for Bernice fans

Raymond Lam........ Bernice Liu....... Both of them ace in their own ways. Raymond is charming, Bernice is beautiful. They are cute off screen and onscreen (e.g.: in Survivor's Law, in Raymond's MV)

but but but, there is one thing they can NOT do together

and that is to.......

sing a duet.

I'm so sorry but I think I have to put the blame on Bernice. When Raymond meets Bernice in a duet, Raymond's voice is like the chirp, Bernice's voice is like the crow. The contrast is great, and it's hard to stomach... (With sufficient editing and ample takes, Bernice may be able to sound palatable on recording. But when she sings live it is just weird, her voice gets shaky. )

It won't be so disturbing if these two didn't sing together. I was listening to their rendition of andy lau's classic song 一起走过的日子, where Raymond made a perfect entrance, and then Bernice voice woke me up from the dream I was entering...

Then I remembered, I few years ago, I had the EXACT same feeling. That was when Raymond and Bernice sang 'Beauty and the Beast' at TVB's 37th anniversary. Raymond's singing was excellent and mesmerizing, but Bernice's singing just spoilt my 2 minutes of pleasure. Raymond's voice is the stable type, Bernice's voice is just too young/shaky/I-dunno-how-to-describe. They just don't go...

Thank goodness all these are one-time live performance. Enjoy the chirp, endure the crow, and forget about the entire thing (=

I should be getting Raymond's album soon. CAN'T WAIT!

Currently Watching... Land Of Wealth

2007-11-16T05:38:00.000-08:00

Recently, I have watched the first 10 episodes of the series. Having heard many bad reviews, I watched this series half-heartedly. Very true, I was yawning thru the first 2-3 episodes of the series. But to my surprise, I soon started loving it. The story builds up very slowly, but very nicely. There is one word to describe this series- beauty. The beauty of the scenery, beauty of the costumes, beauty of the dialogues, and beauty of Tavia Yeung captivated me.

Costumes

Not only Tavia's costumes, every other character's costumes, from supporting to main characters, from young to old characters, are all very pretty! Maybe it's because of all the fur, they give the costumes some sort of class.

Poetic Dialogues

Say the dialogues of Dance Of Passion are beautiful? Why not look at the dialogues of LOW. They are so poetic and beautiful! Sometimes you may not understand what they are talking about (for e.g. when Steven is reciting some ancient poem). This is when you look at the subtitles, and realise that the poems are actually quite meaningful.

The Characters

All the 4 main characters are so lovely in this series. Supporting characters like Stephen Wong and John Chiang are likeable too. Even minor characters like the old man who mentors the trainees and John Chiang's loyal servant are quite interesting to watch. The number one character i hate is Lau Dan's character, as well as his entire family...

Steven and Tavia

In terms of looks and characters, Steven and Tavia are really the PERFECT match for each other! Their story reminds me of the story of LITCOL, but theirs make me feel a lot sweeter. I already know they are not going to end up together, so I can only savour every single scene of theirs for now...

What will LOW become

From what I heard and read, the story is going to screw up big time later on. That will be really disappointing. Breaking Steven and Tavia up with a MISUNDERSTANDING is also one of the worst things to look forward to.

So what will Land Of Wealth become? Will i love it or hate it? I need to watch on to find out. But I will take pretty long because my channel only broadcasts 1 episode per day.

On The First Beat- review

2007-11-12T17:08:00.000-08:00

Cast: Ron Ng, Sammul Chan, Michael Tao, Sonija Kwok, Joey Yung, Kate Tsui, Kenny Kwan
Episodes: 30
Producer: Wong Wai Sing

Story:
After 27 weeks of training, the cadets have finally graduated and are out to be a real policeman and to serve the public. They are all matured and ready to deal with greater challenges, and dangers ahead…

In this sequel, Ron and Sammul continue to be best of friends, along with their respective girlfriends, Tavia and Fiona. In the first episode, Tavia leaves for Japan to study, embarking on a long-distance relationship with Ron. Meanwhile, Fiona got killed by a ruthless criminal in the second episode. Sammul and Ron were devastated, but their lives continued…

2 years later, Ron and Sammul met Michael, who always seems to be picking on them. Eventually they learned that Michael only wants to help them. Michael had a broken marriage with Sonija, who is also a policewoman. The two go through many ups and downs, breaking up and getting back together again… Joey is Michael’s little sister who is a very nice girl. Ron slowly realizes that his love for Tavia has faded and Joey is the one he loves…

Meanwhile, Ron, Sammul and many other cadets got chosen to join the PTU. They go through even more intense training, their jobs get more challenging, and the crimes they fight get exciting….

Who is a good policeman, who is not? How will Ron solve his relationship problems? Will Michael and Sonija have a happy ending? And will Sammul finally let go of Fiona? Watch this series to find out.

Love Factors:

Ron Ng
Since Men In Pain, this is the second time I’m putting Ron as a love factor. I just enjoy watching the changes of Ron’s character as the series progresses. From a stubborn, inconsiderate and impulsive little boy in The Academy, Ron becomes braver, calmer, nicer and smarter in On The First Beat. The changes are subtle, so you need to watch the series to slowly feel the changes, and fall in love with Ron’s character. I also think Ron’s acting improved, or maybe he simply suits this kind of characters better.

Sonija Kwok
In this series, Sonija is a very cool and professional policewoman. I like her portrayal of the character, and surprised by her very much improved performance.

The story
I like the story, in fact, I like it quite a lot more than the story of The Academy. The different kinds of duties of the police are portrayed in a very realistic fashion, from settling petty domestic disputes to fighting street protesters to arresting the major criminals. Not only do we understand their duties more, we also learn more about the politics in the police force, understand the characters more, and also see many different sides of the society. All in all I think the scriptwriters did a great job writing the story.

Sequel or original?
Like I said, despite no Tavia, no Fiona, no Michelle Yim and no Michael Miu in this sequel, I prefer the story of the sequel to the original. It is more exciting, and less cheesy. I prefer the themesong of the sequel as well. Oh can you feel, our sweat and tears, we’ll over come hard ship and fear… oo~ so upbeat!

Dislike Factor
Kate Tsui
Kate’s character is already annoying, but Kate, as an actress, makes her even more annoying by being sooooo noisy! I hate the way she yells. But Man Jing is still acceptable. Kate did show SLIGHT improvements from The Brink Of Law to On The First Beat, though there is still a long way to go…

Pity Factor

Michael and Sonija
After going through SO much, the two still didn’t get to be together in the end. I pity Sonija the most, the way she died was really sad…

Tavia Yeung
I really don’t understand why Ron can stop liking such a sweet girl like Tavia. Tavia is the kind of girlfriend every one dreams for, but Ron left her with nothing but a broken heart…

Sammul Chan
First, his dad left him in the last episode of The Academy. Then, his girlfriend left him in the 2nd episode of On The First Beat. And from what I see, Sammul’s character will probably stay single for the rest of his life. Poor guy, why must he live such a hard life?

How Come Factor
At the beginning, Michael's character sucked. If he wants to help Ron and Sammul, why must he make himself so hateful and refuse to admit that he wants to help them?

Chemistry Factor

Michael and Sonija
Michael and Sonija make a refreshing but great pairing. Their characters may be very different, but they complement each other and match well. However, their story is built mainly on misunderstandings, it may get a bit tiring. Nevertheless it is still quite a memorable chemistry.

Ron and Joey
If you didn’t watch The Academy, you will think that Ron and Joey make a cute couple. Very true, they do have some chemistry. But if you watched The Academy, and witnessed how Ron and Tavia built up their relationship, it is very hard to accept that Ron stopped loving Tavia. If Ron’s feelings for Tavia can change so quickly, his feelings for Joey probably won’t last either…

Sammul and Sonija
Sammul and Sonija were more like friends than lovers. It’s a very refreshing and unique kind of chemistry, and it’s nice to see how they confided in each other and helped each other through their problems.

The Performance
For the male leads, Michael’s performance was the most solid. Sammul and Ron were also very good. Sammul is the same Sammul you saw in The Academy. Ron is also about the same, but more mature and likeable. For the female, Sonija was the best to watch. Joey was only okay, many other actresses can play her character. Kate was annoying, but she did do her character some justice.

Overall: worth watching?
Yes

The Brink Of Law

2007-11-06T19:42:00.000-08:00

Episodes: 25

Producer: Mui Siu Ching

Cast: Steven Ma, Bernice Liu, Ron Ng, Shirley Yeung, Kate Tsui, Michelle Yim, Elliot Yue, Stephen Wong etc.

The Story:
Maintaining justice and fighting crime is everyone's duty. This is what Steven believes, and what the story is about.

The whole story revolves around the police, Steven and partners, Nikola the company, and the Tung family. At the beginning, the police were only interested in Michelle Yim and her brother, as they suspect them being involved in illegal gambling business. But as the story progresses, more and more of the dark side of the Tung family begins to unfold....

Love Factors

The Story
is really exciting! Like a roller coaster ride, all the twist and turns and ups and downs make you finish the series really fast...

The Villians
are the true highlight of the entire series. Michelle Yim first, honestly this is the first time i see Michelle act as a villain and I AM impressed. She can be really ruthless, but she truly loves her sons. Very interesting character. Shirley Yeung surprised me totally, with her performance and with her character. At first I thought she was just a petty bitch, but slowly I realised how scheming, hypocrite and relentless she is. I especially like the way she changes expression. One moment she pretends to smile, once they are gone, her entire look changes. Awesome! Elliot Yue is a wolf in sheep's skin. He's a great actor, but I absolutely HATE his character, especiallywhen he kills his own brother and his own son, you'll realise how selfish this guy is... Basically, without these villains, the whole series is an empty shell, and I won't even watch it

Stephen Wong
I'm really surprised and impressed by Stephen Wong's performance in this series, especially the 2nd half. His character is lovely and also pitiful. His performance is a big thumbs up. His ending made me cry. I'm starting to like Stephen now, and I hope tvb starts promoting him more and giving him more good roles.

HATE factor
Kate Tsui
I can think of 10 or 20 or more actresses who would do a better job than Kate for this role. As a newcomer, Kate's acting is almost unpalatable (in this series). As a fashion designer, Kate's hairstyle and dressing sense totally sucked. Learn from Shirley! Basically, this is a series Kate fans (if any) really want to forget...

The themesong and the themevideo
I watched it 25 times but i still don't like it

Pity Factor: the innocent lives lost (there are so many)
First it was Kenneth Ma, then it was Ron's father. Both deaths were so sad, and such a pity. But what made me REALLY depressed were the death of the two good boys: Ron and Stephen. The Tung family were really dark, almost everyone in the family is evil. Ron and Stephen are the only two angels in the Tung family. However, they have a sorry end just like the rest of their family. Ron didn't have to die, if he didn't turn back when Elliot called him. Stephen's suicide made me cry. He was so helpless. He had a kind heart, but cannot accept the truth about his evil parents, and also all the betrayal from the ones he truly loved. He could be a great man, he had a bright future ahead, and the thought of his tragic end is really really depressing...

Overall comments

The Story
The story wasn't very deep, but it was very exciting, and also managed to showcase many different sides of human. All in all it was worth the time

The Performance
To me, Michelle Yim stole the whole show, followed by Shirley Yeung. Steven Ma is solid as usual, but overshadowed by the villains. Bernice is really pretty, but I still think her acting can improve, a lot more... I liked Ron Ng's performance at the beginning, but it sort of fell flat after a while. Ron's performance in OTFB is much better. Kate Tsui... I bashed her enough, so I'll leave her alone. Most improved actor goes to Stephen Wong. Yoyo Chan also did quite a good job for a newcomer.

watch it, or not?
Yes

I'm back... finally

2007-11-06T19:32:00.000-08:00

Really sorry that I have disappeared for such a long time. I hope my readers are still around, because it has been REALLY long. I was so caught up with my own life that I almost forgot about this blog. But after watching 22 episodes of On The First Beat, I decided to proclaim now...

I love Ron Ng~ His character has matured subtly but radically from The Academy until On The First Beat. I am not surprised that Tavia, Kate and Joey all love him so much, because I do too. ^.^

I will try to write a review for OTFB after I'm done with it, a pretty good series indeed... I may also write a review on The Brink Of Law which recently finished, and Maiden's Vow (which I'm still in the midst of watching over cable TV)

Stay tuned, tvb keep rocking~

More NBOL pictures

2007-07-15T07:04:00.001-07:00

Currently watching- New Breath Of Love

2007-06-29T22:42:00.000-07:00

Before the hype of The Drive Of Life begins, let's talk about Raymond's new mainland series New Breath Of Love starring Raymond Lam, Chen Yi Rong, Alex Fong Chung Sun, An Yi Xuan and many more. Over the past few days, I have finished watching 10 episodes of this series. I don't like the title, and I still don't, because I think it is boring. But actually the title does fit the series well. Watching this series is like a breath of fresh air, very refreshing, and in some way enlightening. NBOL deals with many different perspectives of love. They are interesting to learn, and not too hard to understand. Raymond and Yi Rong make a great couple, I just love watching them together so much. Let's hope this series gets better and better for the remaining 16 episodes...

ancient princess- Tavia Yeung

2007-06-19T04:51:00.000-07:00

Tavia is one of my, if not favourite actress in TVB. She may not steal the thunder every time, but IMO, she still shines in her every single role. I'm a big fan of her ancient looks. Tavia suits her ancient outfits too well. There are 3 outfits/sets of outfits I like the most. First, it was in Whatever It Takes. My impression of that series is vague now, but I still like her outfits. Second, it was in Twin Of Brothers. Gosh she looked so perfect, and cool in them. I was crazy over Lei Sau Ling's beauty for quite some time, and for some reason Tavia's look reminded me of Kristy Yeung. The last one was of course Land Of Wealth. I love Tavia's outfits since the day of the costume fitting. Haven't gotten to watch this series. I heard good and bad comments about this series, but it's okay. I just want to watch this series to enjoy Tavia's awesome outfits and great performances...

TVB ancient prince 2- Raymond Lam

2007-06-17T04:36:00.000-07:00

In many interviews, Raymond will always say, he doesn't want to be 'stereotyped' as the 'ancient king', and wants to try out more modern characters. I totally agree you should never stereotype your roles. But for some reason, I just love watching Raymond portraying those ancient characters so much. I love the way he holds the heavy bow in Lofty Waters Verdant Bow. I love the way he plays the flute in Eternal Happiness, and I love the way he rides on horses in Twin Of Brothers. In fact, it was 'Kau Chung' in Twin Of Brothers which converted me into a die-die-hard Raymond fan...

The Characters:

Raymond has played many types of ancient characters: the dopey type like in LWVB and EH, the playful type in Face To Fate, the tragic type in Blade Heart, the political type in A Step Into The Past and TOB etc. That is my favourite type, because I love seeing the mean and ambitious Raymond the most. There is also the angsty type, like in Lethal Weapons Of Love and Passion, which I really like, but I think the screenwriters screwed up some parts of the story, and that is a pity. Soon in the "four great constables", you'll get to see the angsty and emotional ancient Raymond again, and hopefully, tgt with a good script. (:

outfits= no good?

Sometimes Raymond's ancient outfits can look a little weird, which makes me pissed with the producers. But sometimes, they can be really unique, and nice...

Raymond as the king in ASITP. A not-so-perfect but promising performance, plus the best king outfits. Totally love it!!

Twin of Brothers- Messy, crazy, especially the hair, but I love it more and more each day

Face to Fate- a series with one of the most screwed up outfits. Should be thankful Ray still looks pretty decent, not to mention CUTE

Angsty Raymond, totally love his poise + his hair!

My ideal ancient hair style for Ray, too bad he only appeared for less than 15 minutes in this...

to know who's my ancient 'princess' (there is only 1), stay tuned to find out!

TVB ancient prince 1- Steven Ma

2007-06-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

You and I have all watched countless tvb ancient series, acted by various different actors. TVB has way too many actors. But who is my true ancient prince? Recently I'm watching the series Safeguards (ok I know I'm slow). And omg I'm in the process of being converted into a diehard Steven Ma fan. Anyway, steven has acted in many many ancient series, and aced in all of them. His ancient characters can be split into two types: the tragic scholar type like in Where the Legend Begins and Perish In The Name Of Love, or the funnier type, like in Better Halves, A Change Of Destiny, or the upcoming Gentle Crackdown 2. Steven is an awesome comedian, but I still like his tragic characters the most. Somehow, when he speaks, his back is really straight, his voice is really deep. It makes you believe that Steven really comes from that era...

"Where the Legend Begins" and "Perish In The Name Of Love"= the tragic type

"A Change Of Destiny" and "Better Halves"= the funny Steven

Who is my other ancient prince? Stay tuned to find out!

TVB mid-2007 analysis

2007-06-11T00:08:00.000-07:00

Whoohoo time really flies and we're in the middle of June already. Why do I keep feeling that 2007 is a good year for TVB? Simple: the new stars are improving (e.g. Linda Chung, Selena Lee, Fala Chen), the old stars are coming back (Gallen Lo, Maggie Cheung, Esther Kwan, Anita Yuen), the scripts are getting better (to some extent), the posters are getting beautiful. Maybe because this is TVB's 40th year. 40 is an important number and that is why TVB has to ROCK.

What are the series of 2007 like?

The series which became the talk of the town is Heart Of Greed. This series made me addicted, but I can still think of ways to improve it. The other series I in love with is The Brink Of Law. Watching it was like riding on a roller coaster.

Two other series which got pretty good reviews and ratings are The Family Link and A Change Of Destiny. The two older warehouse series which got aired and gained good ratings are War And Destiny and Ten Brothers. The series which I'm watching now and finding pretty interesting is The Slicing Of The Demon (interesting, but weird ya). Series like Devil's Desciple and Best Bet and Life Art are the ones with their lovers and their haters. Eventually I'll still watch ALL of them (on TV/ by download) and experience their good and bad moments. Basically none of these series are CONDEMNED, if you get what I mean.

So let's just say, TVB has passed decently for the first half of 2006.

Is there more to come?

DEFINITELY YES! Here are what I'm looking forward to...

The series which are coming...

1) Cadets On The Beat

"Oh can you feel, our sweat and tears, we'll overcome, hardship and fear..."

I'm pretty upset that Tavia Yeung got written out, because I really like this actress, + her awesome chemistry with Ron in The Academy. BUT, I've come to terms with it and I'll still give COTB a chance. In fact, I'm looking forward...

2) The Seventh Day

Will producer Wong Sum Wai be able to make another series on par with UTCOL, or even a better one? I believe yes...

3) The Drive Of Life

I've already seen two trailers of this series, and they look awesome. One tricky problem about this series is its length, and HOW and WHEN CCTV is going to air it, because that will have a direct impact on the ratings in HK. BUT, that does not matter to me because TDOL will still have my biggest support. The most important thing is still the quality of the production.

"Don't forget I'm still in the warehouse!"

Is it because TVB has too many series to air? Or for some other reason, these series are taking DANGEROUSLY long to be released...

1) Master Of Tai Chi

Because Ray and Myolie are already in TDOL and because of Melissa being pregnant, I won't be surprised if MOTC only gets released at the end of 2007. By then, this series is going to break the record of the longest time between completion and release. It was one of my most wanted series of 2006, and then it became my most wanted series of 2007. I hope, I hope, and I HOPE it won't become my most wanted series of 2008. Poor Vincent Zhao, his first, and probably last series with TVB gets buried in the warehouse, waiting for its day to see the light...

2)"Sau San Chuen"

Sorry I don't know the english title of this series. I'm talking about the fantasy series starring Sunny Chan, Benny Chan and Linda Chung. Won't it be weird seeing Linda's performance in INVERSE-CHRONOLOGICAL order?

3) The Ultimate Crime Fighter

A crime fighting series with some supernatural elements. Same producer as UTCOL, Yummy Yummy etc. etc... It was in the 2006 sales promotion... It was also one of my more looking-forward series of 2007. Let's hope it will get its chance to see the light soon too...

Heart of Greed- The review

2007-06-01T01:35:00.000-07:00

The Story
The Tong family is famous in Seung Wan for selling abalone. They own 31 shops all over the district and possess 600 million dollars worth of inheritance. These 600 million dollars are a blessing, but they are also a misfortune. From the outside, the Tong family seems like a perfect family to live in, with lots of warmth, laughter and happiness. However, beneath the peaceful surface, the hearts of greed are stirring up lots of currents...

The whole story began because of one person, Susanna Kwan. For thirty years, she could not swallow the fact that she does not have a ‘real’ status in the Tong family. Hence, she keeps creating trouble for the Tong family, no matter how well her husband, Ha Yu treats her, no matter how many times the big wife, Lee Sze Kei forgives her, no matter how much money she already has…

In the Tong family, there are also four children, whose names represent: peace, relax, happiness and joy. Moses Chan is the eldest son, and also the most filial out of all. However, because he is an ‘illegitimate’ child, he faces a lot of problems when handling the family affairs, even though everything he does is for the family’s good. Bosco Wong is the second son. He is basically kind, but too impatient. He fell in love with a rich man’s wife Tavia Yeung, and that gave the family lots of problems. Chris Lai is the son of Susanna Kwan. He is a very innocent boy, but has a horrible mother. Because of that, he is trapped in the middle of two sides. Fala Chen is the youngest daughter, who behaves like a kid, but she is also very filial. These four children live up to their name, and bring lots of laughter to the family. Because of them, the older ones spend lots of time, effort and money, just so that they have a better future.

Meanwhile, Moses meets Linda Chung, and was willing to be her guardian angel. Moses, Linda, Raymond and Yoyo developed a very interesting love rectangle, even though it is a complete different story from the Tong family’s part.

Love Factors

Dai Kai- Lee Sze Kei
It is safe to say, Dai Kai is the most respected member of the Tong family, and she deserves this amount of respect. Without her around, the whole Tong family will fall apart. She is a wise mother, an understanding wife, and she has great ways to deal with the bad ones. Basically, everything she does is right, and every speech she gives is an inspiring one. Even later on, when she is down with the disease, Dai Kai didn’t stop caring for her family until her very last breath. This is indeed a powerful and very worth-remembering character, even though she only appears until episode 28.

Talking about performance, there are two words to describe LSK’s comeback performance: ‘SOLID’ and ‘AMAZING’. Gosh I really love watching her every single performance! I love it when she is firm, I love the way she lectures the different people, and I also love her emotional scenes. One line I remember the best is in episode 13, when she told Susanna, ‘This is not the court, I don’t need evidence to prove your guilt! My eyes are the evidence!’ I will never forget how she said that line! I was going to stand up and applaud! And that was probably how many other felt.

Dai Bao- Ha Yu
Compared to his wife, Ha Yu is a bit useless, because he is more gullible, and his heart is too soft. However, he is also a great father, who loves his family and his kids. You will love him the most before he dies, because of the interesting ways he fights with Susanna. One of his scenes you can NOT miss is at the end of episode 35, when he tells Susanna ‘I Love You’. Gosh I totally love that scene. Ha Yu’s performance is also very very solid from the beginning to the end.

Lei Yi- Michelle Yim
A loving and capable Aunt who takes good care of the family’s business, a very different Michelle from what you just saw in The Brink Of Law, but again, totally solid performance.

Sai Bao/ Dak Dak Dei- Moses Chan
No doubt, Moses is the ‘pillar’ character of the entire series, and I love his character. Moses is a great son, a great brother, and a great friend to have. He may seem dorky and old-fashioned, but he is the most mature and sensible one. I really love the way he protects his family and his younger siblings, and how he is always there for Linda.

Performance wise, I didn’t like Moses’ performance at the beginning, because I found it exaggerated, and confusing. But everything just gets better and better. Soon, I found myself loving his jokes, the way he speaks and acts, and even the way he cries. Yes Moses cries very well (though not very often) in this series. The tears just well up in his eyes, but there’s no sound, it’s very heartbreaking…

Improvement Factors

Seung Joi Sum- Linda Chung
Moving away from the Tong family, let's talk about Ms Linda Chung. Gosh she really did improve! If you don’t understand what improvement is, watch the first scene of episode 37. But actually it's not only that scene. You can really feel her improvements and increased confidence in this series. Plus, her dressing sense is awesome in this series. It is easy to like watching her, and falling in love with her name ‘Seung Joi Sum’.

Yan- Fala Chen
Youthful, energetic little sister, very lovely indeed! Fala did improve quite a lot in her acting and her cantonese.

Give-me-my-screen time! factors

Bosco Wong and Tavia Yeung
You will see the most of them when they were getting married and when Tavia was accused of having an affair. Besides that, Bosco and Tavia’s screen time is actually very little, even less than the ‘guest star’ Raymond Lam. I think even Chris Lai has more screen time than them. I think the producers should develop their story a bit more, especially because Tavia is such an awesome actress. Her crying scenes were totally awesome.

Sui Mak Mak- Yoyo Mung
Yoyo is Linda’s best friend, who is constantly in search of her true love but to no avail, only to fall for Alfred. For some reason I think Raymond and Yoyo's characters match much better, but they fall in love at the wrong time. If Raymond met Yoyo before Linda, then things will be perfect. Anyway, Yoyo’s role is actually very small. At times, you may even forget that she’s in this series!

Dislike factor

Sai Kai- Susanna Kwan

From the beginning to the end, Susanna NEVER stops creating trouble for everyone. It’s annoying, it’s tiring, and it really makes you hate her to the core. What I hate the most about her is how she twists facts to fit her own agenda. Perhaps, this will be the ‘most hated character of the year’. Anyway, Susanna gave an awesome performance, and also sang a marvelous themesong. Sometimes I feel really tired for her, because she has to yell so much!

Kau Fu Bo- Louis Yuen
Another greedy man who is also very annoying; he keeps switching from good to evil back and forth, it gets confusing.

Tavia’s family, especially the mother
This is a family which is SERIOUSLY hungry for money. Every time I see them, I feel like yelling at the screen, ‘If you want money, go earn it yourself!’ I don’t know what kind of upbringing is this, but I’m glad Tavia is different from them.

Linda’s brother
An utterly cheap man ugly inside out

The excessive blog scenes
In this series, Raymond and Linda like to blog a lot, and tell the audience about what they feel about their love life. Their blog entries are all pretty touching, but there is simply TOO MUCH. Some of them got to go! Also, the song ‘My Love Will Get You Home’ gets played way too many times. I like the song 'Vincent' much better.

The sloppy courtroom scenes
I think the courtroom scenes are too short and very substandard. It just makes the series seem a little lame towards the end. It’s like the court is a playground for these rich people…

Don't-blame-me factor
Alfred- Raymond Lam
In this series, Raymond plays Linda’s boyfriend, who bring her lots of sweetness, but also lots of tears. I didn’t really fancy Alfred’s character at first, because he was impatient, and not a very caring boyfriend. Like what he said about himself, ‘I never understood what it is like to be truly nice to someone.” Moreover, he cheated on Linda. That is why many people cannot forgive him. But maybe I can, because I can't help associating his sad family background to his playboy character. In fact you can't really call Alfred a playboy, he just wants to find someone who knows him better...

And surprisingly, after episode 29, things started to change. Alfred turned out much more devoted than I expected. It is true that when you don’t lose something, you won’t know how important it is to you. Losing Linda made Ray realise he loves her the most, and that changed him 180 degrees. For 7 episodes Raymond did everything he could to redeem himself, and this is when you will start to love him more and more. It’s a pity he never knew that Linda had already forgiven him, a big big pity…

Pity factor

Raymond Lam
If you have seen the themevideo it is not hard to guess that Raymond dies in this series. But it is also a great surprise that the producers chose to kill off this character. The most important reason why I pity Raymond is not because he died, but because he never got to know that Linda forgave him before he died. The thought is very de pressing… The ending of episode 36 and the beginning of episode 37 is really sad, makes you shed lots of tears… However, watching the rest of episode 37 gives you a strange feeling, because the aftermath of Ray’s death is a little weird, maybe that’s just what I feel…

Chris Lai
Foon Foon is such a good boy! Yet, he has such a horrible mother. Really pity him, to be trapped in the middle of two sides. Fortunately, he is able to tell right from wrong.

How come factor

The 2-in-1 story
If there has to be one bad thing about this series, it has to be this. The Tong family catfights, and the Moses, Linda, Raymond, Yoyo love rectangle are really NOT RELATED. Even though I enjoy BOTH stories A LOT, it is tiring and awkward to see the scenes jump randomly from one line to another. I think the love story should be filmed as a separate shorter series, and I’m serious. I really can’t accept the fact that these two stories are force-fit to such a large extent. I keep wishing Linda, Raymond and Yoyo could be more related to the Tong family. I just hope Raymond and Linda could fight more cases related to the Tong family. I just hope the courtroom scenes weren’t so lame…

What about the ending?
There are 3 words to describe the ending—rushed, unfair, surprising
Let’s talk about Susanna first. Boy I really think her ending is lame. For 39.5 episodes this woman gave the Tong family nothing but trouble, trouble and trouble. But in less than 10 minutes, she shed two drops of tears, repented, and the Tong family accepted her again? I also don’t understand why the producers keep pushing the blame to Linda’s brother, because Susanna was already evil to begin with. Basically, I think the producers were way too kind to her. Her ending was way too fast, and way too easy.

What about the other evil ones? Okay I don’t care about Tavia’s family or Linda’s brother, but what about Louis Yuen? He is part of the Tong family, and I’m quite sure he is better-natured than Susanna. Did the producers forget about him?

Then finally, it’s the Linda and Moses thing. I was surprised that Linda and Moses ended up together, but I’m okay with that, because it’s good to move on and find your own happiness. I just found it too sudden. Why did Moses have to buy a ring? Why did Moses have to say ‘Marry me?’ We watched 39.9 episodes of Linda and Moses being good friends. It’s hard to stomach 0.1 episode of them being ENGAGED.

Favourite scenes:
Episode 13: Who is the human, who is the ghost
Lee Sze Kei gave one of the most powerful lectures. She said two golden lines. The first line was, ‘this is my home, not the courtroom, I don’t need evidence , my eyes are the evidence!’ The second line was ‘who is the human, who is the ghost, I can tell!’ These are the two lines i'll never forget

Episode 16: Bosco and Tavia’s wedding
There was a lot of trouble during Bosco and Tavia’s wedding day. That made Bosco mad, it also made Tavia cry. I really love watching Tavia cry, and watching how Lee Sze Kei solves all the problems. The best part is of course, when the family performs. The whole scene was really grand, and really touching. Basically, don’t miss episode 16.

Episode 21: Chasing Susanna out
During the last two episodes, you will be very puzzled why did Lee Sze Kei forsake her own family. At the end of episode 21, you will understand why.

Episode 35: I will not give you a single cent!
This is the scene where Ha Yu comes out of the hospital and chased the villains out of the house. Ha Yu told Susanna he will not give her a single cent. I love the way he says that. I love the way he finally wakes up and protects his children. Another awesome scene.

Episode 36/37: Please forgive me
Let me warn you first, Raymond’s death scene was really sad! We all know, Raymond’s biggest wish was to get Linda’s forgiveness. But at the phone booth in his last breath he did not say a single word about that. He talked to Linda like it was a normal conversation. Linda had no idea she was going to lose him, but Raymond’s eyes were tearing. The way Raymond said ‘Bye bye’ was so emotional! After that, the police called Linda. Linda was shocked. She said ‘I just talked to him on the phone how can it be him?’ She was in denial until the doctors pushed him out. Linda screamed and cried until your heart shatters. But the saddest part is when Linda pieced the broken pieces of the seashell, and found the words ‘please forgive me’ engraved on it. That is Raymond’s biggest wish, but it was never fulfilled until he died…

Episode 38: Ha Yu’s death scene
Even at his deathbed, Ha Yu managed to trick Susanna. It was a cool death scene. I really hate Susanna, who didn’t even allow her husband to leave in peace! What kind of woman is that!

Episode 38: Chris Lai stands up for himself
Chris Lai tells the reporters that yes he has a very good mother, and he started telling many stories. It was then you slowly realize it wasn’t Susanna he was talking about, but Lei Sze Kei. That was cool ~.~ The scene ended with a powerful slap. O.o I really don’t think Susanna should slap him, because every single word he said was right!

Worth Watching?
You CANNOT miss this series. If you miss this series, you might as well not watch any series this year. Yes there are flaws. But if you skip this series because of those flaws, you are missing out a lot…

HOG going to say good bye, Alfred going to say goodbye...

2007-05-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

This is what tv drama like to do to you. Let the character do some wrong. Then, make him do everything to redeem himself. And before you finally decide to forgive him, they take him away from you. His tears, her tears and my tears are going to torture everyone inside out. Aw mann I can't wait to watch episode 36 and 37 of HOG, but I also can't bear to see alfred die!

Going to miss it

HOG portrayed really well the kinship b/w the family and the different roles each member plays. I've really never enjoyed a drama so intensely for a long time. So of course I'm going to miss it, A LOT. It has also been some time since i was SO drawn into a love story. It was really moving

the two-story factor

one major drawback of the series is that it is like two different series force-fit into one. Two different groups of people from two different worlds on the same screen, the only pathetic link being Moses Chan and the courtroom scenes towards the end. However, having said this, I have to say that it is two EXCELLENT stories. The most intensive family drama, and the most emotional love story. Yes, they don't go, but if u enjoy them separately, it is a brilliant enjoyment

5 more episode of HOG, 1 more episode of ray, I'll treasure it well!!

HOG- The new RY chemistry!

2007-05-18T04:49:00.000-07:00

Just like to share an emotional kissing scene between ray and yoyo in episode 27.

Basically, Ray and Yoyo finally started their 'affair'. Basically, Ray's love for Linda is dying, but, he does not want to be a jerk. So he asks Yoyo out and wanted to break up with her.

Yoyo then starts to say many things. She told Ray this is not her first time being the third party. She said, 'every time he comes, I would wish he could stay abit longer, I would wish he wouldn't leave'. She admits that it's miserable, and the tears started to well up in her eyes.

The scene continues...

Yoyo: Actually I also feel very happy. This time, I went to Taiwan again. Once I got down the plane, I went back to the disco. Even though this time round you're not around, and there is no earthquake, but when I'm dancing alone, I remember being with you the last time, and that makes me happy.

Actually we have no idea when will there be another earthquake. When will the sky fall apart, no one has any idea. We will not know what our future will be like. The things we don't know, why don't we not care about it? Isn't it enough for us to know that we're serious about each other?

"Hmm?" The way Yoyo said "hmm?" was so emotional, so 'cai leung'...
The expression on Ray's face was priceless. He finally gave in to the temptation. The passion and the remorse all in one face. I can't capture the right image, you've got to watch that scene urself. It's just a split seecond, i loved that expression.
the scene ends with a very short but emotional kiss. I wish it could be a little longer, but it was enough to make me touched.

Actually, you can't help it if love has died, just have to deal with it well. Of course what Ray and Yoyo are doing is not sth which impresses anyone, but I can really feel their chemistry, very moving, two lonely hearts...

Heart of greed themevideo- major discovery

2007-04-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

Having watched the themevideo at least 10 times by now, something caught my eye when I was watching it today. Look at the picture above, look at what's in the red circle. Awww :( It's so hard to believe, because Alfred (Raymond) looks very much ALIVE now. It's so hard to believe that he is going to died young. That is sad!

Anyway, did I say how much I'm loving HOG now? It's really an awesome series. All the family scenes, watching those villains who create all the problems, those good ones who do everything to pull the family back together, the whole process is an awesome one. It can make u cry and laugh and mad at the same time. Way to go! I think I'm addicted...

Heart Of Greed- first 3 episodes- little thoughts

2007-04-15T00:04:00.000-07:00

Recently, I have watched the first 3 episodes of HOG, and true enough, I am not disappointed at all. I admit, I am (very) irritated with Moses' acting. Does his character really have act like that? I'm not so sure (more like 'no'). I also admit, some of the newcomers aren't doing so well (like Fala Chen). But it doesn't matter, I can wait for her to improve. The most important thing is, everyone else is doing awesome, plus, the story had a great beginning (the first 3 episodes at least).

Episode 1 is basically an introduction and nothing much happened. I think the flashback beginning suits the series really well, because it gives the audience anticipation, of what the story will brew into...

Moses' ringtone in episode 1: "Your mum wants you! Your dad wants you! Your granny wants you! Your grandpa wants you! Your kid wants you..." So funny...

In episode 2, you get to see the "4 beauties". All 4 of them are so pretty, it's making me a little jealous. >< Fala Chen- youthful, lively
Linda Chung- She's the good girl type, perfect girlfriend material
Leanne Li (is that her name)- model material totally
Yoyo Mung- She gave me the deepest impression. I think Yoyo has a lot of character and charisma in this series especially

Episode 3 is by far the most interesting episode out of the 3 I have watched. The whole vacation incident is a little 'warm-up' for more problems the Tong family is going to face. Who is the one to blame? Here is my little analysis...

1) Lee Sze KeiBlame her? Of course not! She is the most forgiving and understanding wife

2) Susanna Kwan
Blame her? Many people will say yes. She has some amount of jealousy hiding deep under her heart, and it is slowly oozing out. You cannot imagine what will become of it one day. I can see where all the jealousy and uncontentment is coming from, so I'm not going to hate her (for now). But just be contented with what you have will make everything a lot simpler. But as you know, this series is called 'Heart Of Greed'....
3) Ha Yue. Blame him? I would say yes. Blame him for lying to his big wife in the first place, blame him for being so insensitive to Susanna Kwan, it really made her mad...
4) Moses Chan. Blame him? Yes, for being so stupid...
5) The other kids. Blame them? Yes. They are neither loyal to their father or their mother, only want to get their benefits. But it's okay, they'll all grow up...

Conclusion: Who is to blame? Everyone is to blame? or no one is to blame...

Moral of the story: A man should never marry 2 wives.

Heart Of Greed themevideo

2007-04-15T00:02:00.000-07:00

Very nice themevideo. Made a few captures

A very close-knitted family, 4 very cute kids...

Not so harmonious after all?

Bring the memory back: The most memorable silence 2

2007-04-05T06:15:00.000-07:00

In this scene, Kevin and Niki were having a cold war. From Kevin's POV, he is very hopeful, he thinks everything between he and Niki can be solved. From Niki's POV, she has many insecurities and struggles inside which no one can understand. That night, she took out her violin, and began playing a song.... many many times...

This is Kevin, waiting at the restaurant, looking hopeful...
This is Niki, taking out her violin, looking a little uncertain
She starts playing the song for the first time
Meanwhile, you realise Kevin is still waiting at the restaurant, the wait is getting a little long... This is when you realise Niki will not be turning up at all
The second time Niki played the song, she played it a little faster, meanwhile, Kevin was starting to feel hopeless... Niki then plays it even faster, with many extra notes. This is when you really start to feel her confusion, frustration and sorrow...
Kevin is finally leaving the place, Niki still doesn't want to stop playing...
The sixth time Niki plays the song, the string breaks. Niki finally wakes up. The song is over, the date is over, but both hearts are still aching...

Why do I love this scene:
This scene has no dialogues at all. The expressions, the music, the body language of the characters tell you everything you need to know and everything you need to feel, especially Niki's side. Kevin's pain of waiting, Niki's pain of keeping someone waiting, the whole idea is packaged so well in this scene. Not a single dialogue, but I still love this scene

I am finally back... for a while

2007-03-24T00:23:00.000-07:00

It's been more than a MONTH since I last blogged. Really sorry for my lack of appearance. Yes yes, I disappeared for all the reasons you were thinking of. I was lazy, I was busy, I was distracted...

The Brink Of Law (thoughts):
TBOL is an awesome series I definitely recommend. But I am really ashamed to say that I did not finish the series. Basically this is how it works. My family rented the discs. Everytime you rent a series, you can keep it for 3 weeks. However, during those 3 weeks, I was so busy that I could only watch the series up to episode 14. After that, we had to return the discs. It is okay, I will finish up this series, some day...

Currently watching?
LITCOL and APCOM on satellite TV. Yes. I am lagging. BADLY. But I realised TV is the best and most reliable means of connecting me and TVB.

What is up!
HEART OF GREED. It looks awesome. I'll probably not watch it until my june holidays come. But still, I'm going to promote this series a little.

What do I look forward to the most?
Heart of Greed is a grand production. Looking at the whole cast, if i list out everything there is to look forward to, this post will never end. So, I'll HIGHLIGHT what I think is the best part of HOG...

1) Susanna Kwan. Do you realise, in all the trailers, you hear her voice at least 50% of the time? Watching the trailer, listening to the themesong, I know that she is going to be one person who stands out the most in the entire series.

2) Raymond Lam+Linda Chung. Let's talk about Raymond first. From a guest star to a supporting character to a major supporting character (Raymond's face actually appears before Bosco in the themevideo, even though Bosco was suppose to play the leading character), these changes happen for a reason--- Ray's performance stand out too much. ^-^ His character sounds really interesting, I still can't figure out whether he is good or bad. Now let's talk about Linda Chung. I don't like her in forensic heroes. That was the last series I saw her in. But looking at the themevideo, her improvements look promising. Plus, Linda looks STUNNING in HOG. Stunning, seriously stunning. Lastly, let's talk about Raymond+Linda. Their scenes look awesomely sweet. They really look like the perfect fit. The best parts of the themevideo are all their parts. I can't wait to watch their love story, hear their duet. Please do not disappoint me.

an old picture, a really sweet kiss
another hot kiss
Ray. He looks so upset/distraught in the entire themevideo...
Raymond and Yoyo. A new pairing. An affair you will not root for. They still look good together.
oo why so emotional?
my three favourite shots of linda in the themevideo. Anyway, I think I can guess what is happening in the third shot, memories...

3) Tavia Yeung. I think Tavia is an awesome actress who shines in any character she plays. This time, she plays rich wife, who has a very mature and charming and sometimes aggresive air. I really look forward to watching her performance. There was one part in the themevideo, she gave Bosco a tight slap. That was an awesome slap. The tears she shed are also awesome. All the way Tavia!!!

Tavia Yeung, her powerful tears and powerful slap

9th of April, 9.30pm, Jade Channel, Don't miss it~

credits: all my pictures from metal's blog: http://www.virtuesofharmony.net/blog/

The Brink Of Law- episode 9 to 11

2007-02-16T00:51:00.000-08:00

Shirley successfully kick Sherming Yiu out of the company

look who's back
Aww don't be so upset Kate, at least you have the greatest boyfriend

Hateful sister, really really unreasonable!

look at the way steven looks at his sister. "tsk tsk"

upset steven

handsome ron

Evil, but pretty

Cute! Ron is so cute!

The Brink Of Law- episode 7 and 8

2007-02-12T00:52:00.000-08:00

WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS: IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED BEYOND EPISODE 8, DO NOT LOOK AT THE SCREEN CAPTURES IN THIS POST, OR YOU MIGHT REGRET IT DEEPLY...

Breakup
Bernice: You only hear what you want to hear

Kenneth: Why are you alone? Where are your family
Shirley: (sinister) They're not free
I can't stand it when the villains get angry with the police for arresting their people. They really had it coming... Poor Kenneth...

Nice Kenneth, bring Steven and Bernice back together
Have one last good look at him...

?!?!
OUCH! THAT HURTS SO MUCH
I LOVE KENNETH! I DON'T WANT HIM TO DIE!!
*weep*
Bernice's emotional scenes improving each day...
EVIL WOMAN. I never expected Michelle to be THIS evil, murdering someone for revenge...

spring kiss, shocked ron, cheap shirley

Under The Canopy Of Love Review

2007-02-08T07:19:00.001-08:00

This week, Singapore's VV Channel (Ch 55) has already started to air UTCOL. Last year, when this series was released, I haven't set up this blog yet. So today, I would like to take this chance to publish my review for this series, plus, encourage more Singaporean audience who haven't watched this series to watch it. Note, the review was written many months ago, and edited a little recently...

Summary:

In a mall, there is a beautiful ‘canopy’. Basically, it is a huge screen on the ceiling of the mall, which makes the mall very beautiful. The canopy witnessed the ups and downs of two lovers, Kevin and Niki. After a reunion, Kevin and Niki are deeply in love. However, Kevin is the type who wants to climb high, Niki is the type who needs security. Because of this, the lovers were drifting further and further apart each day. Meanwhile, there is Bosco, the ‘guardian angel’. He is in love with Niki, but he also does everything to keep Kevin and Niki together, because he doesn’t want Niki to get hurt. He was the kindest, but all he got in return was a broken heart…

Basically, there is one theme the whole story talks about, romance. Different people have different perspectives of what romance is. Niki believes that love is a lifelong commitment, while Yvonne Ho (Niki’s elder sister) sees it as a stepping stone to better life. Kevin tries to balance both his career and romance, while Bosco gives his girlfriend absolute priority. Everyone is different. Because of this difference, anyone might get hurt falling in love, but upon meeting a certain someone, one is still willing to give him her whole heart…

Love Factor:

Simple concept, excellent presentation

The whole concept of this series is simple, but the producers were able to make it special, memorable, and not just any lovey-dovey series. First, let’s talk about the packaging. I love the setting, the bright lenses, and the pretty clothing everyone wears. I also love how the producers use two words to describe what each particular chapter is about. There is also Kevin’s narration. I love his narration, because many things he says about work and relationships are worth pondering over. All these make watching the whole series feel like reading a storybook, what a great idea! Moving away from the packaging, let’s talk about the plot itself. All the little sub-plots are tied in nicely, making the series flow very comfortably. The main and supporting characters grow on you each day, making you feel for them and start to step into their shoes. The dialogues are cute, minimizing the ‘boredom level’. Background music is never over the top, everything is ‘just right’. All these little factors make a very ‘beautiful’ series, a series worth remembering.

Worth-mentioning Factors

Natalie Tong

Her character is pretty similar to that in Yummy Yummy and Love Bond- the cute little sister, but also having a strong personality. I’m liking Natalie more and more each day. She is so talented and cute, and she can also cry.

Stephanie Che

Bosco’s cute auntie, aha, I love her! Her screen time is very minimal, but she is still so cute! Perfect aunt!

Mark Kwok

Glad to see him finally breaking out of the bad guy stereotype. I actually like his good guy character, and also pity him, because he has such a horrible girlfriend. I always thought he was just stupid to be so kind to his girlfriend. And then during their break-up, he said, “I always knew, even though we are dating, you never stopped looking out for other guys. I don’t blame you, because I know everyone has the right to choose. All I can do is to treat you as well as I can, and hopefully one day, you will realize that I am the best. But now I realize, you never will.” After that line, I loved this guy, even though his role is so small, hehe.

Dislike factors

Charles Szeto

I don’t find him handsome, I don’t think he can act…

Some of the characters

There are quite a few characters I dislike in here. The very first one is Yvonne Ho’s. She is way too selfish when it comes to relationships, but I still like her because she is a good big sister. Next, I disliked Mimi Lo’s character. Her kind of character is very common in the real world, it made me feel some kind of connection. I’m glad she changed for the better soon enough. I disliked Charles, he was too childish. I disliked Kevin’s mum, oh my gosh I was disgusted when she told everyone Kevin is not her real son. I disliked KC, he is gross. I disliked Mrs Yim, she is too narrow-minded. Lastly, I hated Claire Yiu. I wasn’t hating her at all, in fact, I was liking her for her strong personality, right until she told Bosco that terrible lie, which complicated everything. I can’t believe she got away with it! Anyway, somehow, most of these dislikeable characters got their happy endings. I think the producers are trying to get a message across- forgive and forget. It is better to be happy together. “chai chai foon lok”. I got the message. I just hope I can do it in real life. Hehe…

Episode 20

Am I the only one who found the last episode draggy?

Pondering Factor- Is a white lie justified?

After this series, I’m starting to feel that it is justifiable to tell white lies after all, because the truth might end up being a torn in the heart forever… Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

How Come Factor?

Why are so many fans calling Niki Fiona and Bosco Nick? I’ve seen the ENTIRE series and no one calls them that. Mmm…

Pity Factor

Bosco Wong

He treats his friends with a most sincere heart, but ended up with nothing in return, except a broken heart. He was hurt so badly, so that the male and female leads could get their fairytale ending…

The Cast

Our Mr Best actor 2006 indeed did a great job portraying the perfect boyfriend. I love his character, so gentleman, so smart, and so patient. BUT, I do not like Kevin’s depressed face. Hehe. So is he deserving of the best actor award? I am not sure… Anyway, I still like Kevin in Yummy Yummy better. Niki Chow, I used to think she was just the funny and cute kind, whose acting happens to be comfortable to watch. Right now, I think she really does have something in acting. She gave Ah Sze a lot of character and realism. Bosco was also great being the goofy and “not-so-handsome” character. Check out Bosco’s crying scene in episode 20. *ouch* Everyone else did a great/reasonable job, everyone besides Charles Szeto.

The Chemistry

Kevin, Niki and Bosco together make up a perfect trio. I love this combination. I think the producer picked the perfect people for the roles, just like how she did for Yummy Yummy. (These two series have a lot in common, I feel.)

The Story

I felt pretty neutral towards the story in the first few episodes, and then I slowly got into the ‘mode’ of the series. By the time I reached the last quarter of the series, I was loving it. I really like how the producer presents her ideas, making a seemingly ordinary story feel so special. However, I disliked the last episode, which consisted of some unnecessary plot. Such a beautiful series deserved a more beautiful ending. Besides that, the screenwriters did a great job. (:

Worth watching?

Yes of course. Watch this series with a little bit of patience and some heart, and hopefully, you will end up loving it like me. (:

Summary:

Love Factor:

Simple concept, excellent presentation

Worth-mentioning Factors

Natalie Tong

Stephanie Che

Bosco’s cute auntie, aha, I love her! Her screen time is very minimal, but she is still so cute! Perfect aunt!

Mark Kwok

Dislike factors

Charles Szeto

I don’t find him handsome, I don’t think he can act…

Some of the characters

Episode 20

Am I the only one who found the last episode draggy?

Pondering Factor- Is a white lie justified?

After this series, I’m starting to feel that it is justifiable to tell white lies after all, because the truth might end up being a torn in the heart forever… Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

How Come Factor?

Why are so many fans calling Niki Fiona and Bosco Nick? I’ve seen the ENTIRE series and no one calls them that. Mmm…

Pity Factor

Bosco Wong

The Cast

The Chemistry

The Story

Worth watching?

Yes of course. Watch this series with a little bit of patience and some heart, and hopefully, you will end up loving it like me. (:

The Brink Of Law- episode 6

2007-02-05T06:56:00.000-08:00

Very enlightening conversation between Ron and Shirley about life and making mistakes. Ron is such a great cousin! I love his character...

This is the first time Ron starts to look SLIGHTLY annoyed. His uncle is indeed a horrible horrible person...

Kenneth, beware! Look at Michelle Yim's eyes! She is totally out to kill him! No, I don't want Kenneth to die! He is such a great policeman!

May you rest in peace...

I am loving this series more and more each day... It better maintains this standard all the way until chapter 25!

The Brink Of Law- episodes 4 and 5

2007-02-05T01:00:00.000-08:00

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS
If you have not watched episode 5 and do not want to be spoiled, please don't view anything after the two Shirley Yeung screen captures. And anyway, episode 5 is a must-watch. Very very emotional...

Surprisingly, I am liking Shirley the villain. Her performances are not bad at all. Actually, she is not really a villain, but what we call a 'siu yan', very petty, very calculative, the type who has many little actions, but will never murder a human being or something. Very real, very interesting, plus, very pretty... I just don't like her hair that much...

It took me a while to realise that Yoyo is not Ha Yu's real daughter, no wonder she is SO MEAN to him...

She asks him to go and die! How horrible is that! But if I were Yoyo, I'll probably hate my father as well. Not everyone can be as fillial as Steven...

More events which led to the ultimate suicide...

??!??#%^&

All the emotional cryers crying their hearts and our hearts out. Mary Hon, gosh, she totally lost control. It made me feel so sad...
Anyway, I find Ha Yu's death really pitiful and emotional. The moral of the story: DO NOT GAMBLE

The Brink Of Law- episode 3

2007-01-27T22:21:00.000-08:00

MORE, MORE MORE!!!

I just cannot stop ranting about how pretty Bernice is. I love her hair, her clothes, her watch, her figure...
Horrible, horrible character. Why did she delete the sms? Why did Steven even bother to appologise to her? KICK HER OUT OF THE HOUSE!
Eye candy~ (Look at Shirley, so pretty! So envious...)

Cute Ron... A Zhun, I love A Zhun...

After 3 episodes, I am loving this series a lot. But I am watching tbol too slowly. I am too busy nowadays, shall try to catch up more during the weekends... Hope to come back with more updates! Can't wait to see what the story brews into! Every character seems interesting.

The Brink Of Law- episode 2

2007-01-27T05:15:00.000-08:00

Very very sorry for the lack of updates! Let's just say, ever since school started, life have been moving at an amazingly fast pace, which to me, is quite a good thing, because I like my life now a lot more. Hehe...

Ok enough about my life, I finally did screencaptures for the next episode of TBOL, enjoy!

Kenneth and 'dogdogdog' aka '999'. Haha, really cute!
Yoyo Chan, horrible sister
Ten years ago....
Bernice's first appearance. She is SO pretty! I love everything she wears!
Steven's dad: 'When someone sends you letters and you don't receive them, there are a few possibilities. Firstly, the address is wrong, secondly, the letter got lost, or maybe, no one sent any letters at all, she just said it out of politeness'. Aha! That is so true!

Kenneth and Bernice reunites since ITA

PRETTY!

The Brink Of Law- episode 1

2007-01-14T00:41:00.000-08:00

whoo, finally I watched the first episode of the series. It is way too soon to make any judgement at all, but the story does seem very interesting. So far, I am liking Ron's look and character already. He is so charming, I can't wait to see what becomes of him later on! These captures are made by myself. Please credit me if you are going to post them anywhere else.

The themevideo:

Gosh, Bernice and Shirley look totally gorgeous

Kenneth Ma plays the senior inspector like in ITA, but not so shy anymore, pretty cool
Steven lectures his father about illegal gambling

Steven is interviewing for a job as a prosecuter. What he said is pretty enlightening
First acquaintance between Kate and Ron.

In LFD, Kate and Kenneth were lovers. Now, they are siblings. I think they are much cuter as siblings. Kate is a very naggy sister. "Herbal tea + football match", hehe, that is so cute.
Steven was annoyed by Kate and Kenneth's bickering. His expression is so funny...
oo, cool specs!
Episode 1 ended off with a little surprise, that Michelle Yim is no simple woman at all...

Curse Of A Golden Flower

2007-01-13T06:16:00.000-08:00

In case you didn't know, I am a fan of Jay Chou, a fan of his talents, not so much a fan of his personality. Because of that, I did not want to miss the chance to watch him act, and so, I decided to watch this movie. As a result, I completely regretted it...

Let's just say, this is the best movie to waste your time. The whole story is totally pointless! Everyone is crazy. They want their own family to be dead. The whole screen is SO golden that it isn't nice anymore. The fighting look stupid. Basically, I almost can't find ONE good thing about this movie. Why did I ever want to watch it? Why do people even LIKE it? Why do the producers want to make it?

I have been crazy over the song 'Chrysanthemum Bed' by Jay Chou for the past months. Within two hours, I don't want to listen to that song anymore... In case you are not aware, u can hear this song on my blog, somewhere on the sidebar. I promise, very soon, I am going to change the song. *shrug*

***

Ok, back to the TVB world, where have I been the entire week? Basically, school life has been too hectic for me to update my blog as often as before. I have gotten the first two episodes of TBOL, and hopefully, I can start watching them soon, and flood my blog with cool screen captures. Yippie! Do stay tune!!!

2007, open your eyes, look out for...

2007-01-06T22:16:00.000-08:00

2006 was the year of the following people: Charmaine She, Kevin Cheng, Linda Chung, Kenny Wong. I don't have to explain why anymore. They were everywhere! So who will be the most strongly-featured star of this year?? Here is what I think...

The budding fadans:

Selena Lee
2 years ago, she was the 'Yoyo' in Just Love who cannot act, cannot cry, cannot yell. Today, she is becoming one of my favourite actress (in her generation at least). Every performance from her is a great surprise and great improvement. To me, she is already the most improved actress of 2006. But it is okay, because 2007 is a great year for her, and TVB will not stop promoting her (hopefully). She is in so many series, and her roles are getting bigger and bigger. The Seventh Day, On The First Beat, A Change Of Destiny, Face To Fate (which is airing next month), and Master Of Tai Chi. Speaking of MOTC, I have seen the long trailer of the series, which featured 2 seconds of Selena's performance. She was giving Kenneth Ma a tight slap. And because of that slap, plus Selena's teary face, I cannot wait to see her performance in that series!
Natalie Tong
Natalie is slowly moving away from the 'cute little sister' character. Her roles are getting bigger, and more and more variety. Life Art and The Seventh Day will be her representation for next year, especially TSD. Add oil!
Kate Tsui
Up till now, LFD is the only performance I have seen from her, so I don't want to comment too much on her acting skills. For some reason, I don't really like her face and her voice. But I still believe she has a bright future with TVB, because she is in TONS of series. The Price Of Greed, The Brink Of Law, Cadets On The Beat, The Whole City Dances, did I miss out any? Will she be the most improved actress of 2007? It is way too early to tell. But anyway, I still like Selena better.

By the way, anyone care to tell me the age of these actresses?

The Best Actor Showdown

Raymond Lam
Some 2 years ago, Raymond is already the best actor in my heart, because of one series- Twin Of Brothers. This year, Raymond is going to be one of the strongest contender, because he has SO MANY episodes waiting to air. Master Of Tai Chi, Heart Of Greed, The Drive of Life, and also New Breath Of Love, which should be released in Mainland/overseas soon. PLUS, Face to Fate will be airing next month. How many episodes is that in total? Oh my... Anyway, I was thinking, TVB must have decided to air FTF out of the blue for a reason... muahaha...
Steven Ma
The Brink Of Law, A Change Of Destiny, The Entire City Dances. 3 very different and seemingly very interesting series, no wonder Steven says he aims to win the favourite actor award this year. Steven is a very great actor, but so is Raymond, and many others. So who will it be? Steven, Raymond, or someone else who pops into the picture later on? I don't know. It all depends on who TVB wants to promote more. But for one thing, this year, prepare to see Raymond and Steven all over the place.

The Brink Of Law preview

2007-01-01T21:39:00.000-08:00

I don't have to promote this series anymore. The poster looks awesome, the trailers look so exciting. Everyone is excited about this first series of 2007. I can't wait either!

The synopsis can be found here
http://www.virtuesofharmony.net/blog/2006/12/series-411-brink-of-law.html

Here are the trailers:

Trailer 1- Ron Ng
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKMgJ9NemWU&mode=related&search=

Trailer 2- Michelle Yim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62rMxk5_G_M&mode=related&search=

Trailer 3: Steven Ma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY3ipAA5ehA&mode=related&search=

Trailer 4: Shirley Yeung
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv2fBsEEoqM&mode=related&search=
(o.O all of a sudden Shirley Yeung doesn't seem like such a lousy villain. Will she be a convincing villain?)

Trailer 5: Bernice Liu and Kate Tsui
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUCvHaHR1fc&mode=related&search=

Trailer 6: general trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO1N3Zs2EOM&mode=related&search=

Trailer 7: full introduction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37HNbQ8buC0&mode=related&search=

I am going to watch this series soon. Should I run an exclusive 'TBOL tidbits' section for this series? Yippie~

Must-sees of this new year, 2007

2006-12-31T23:15:00.000-08:00

What series are you looking forward to most in 2007? I have many, but I just hope they all turn out good, and not disappointing.

10) Title: A Change Of Destiny (天機算)
Producer: Tsui Yu On (The Price Of Greed, The Biter Bitten, Virtues Of Harmony)
Number of episodes: 20
Cast: Steven Ma, Shirley Yeung, Benny Chan, Yuen Wah, Selena Lee, Mimi Lo
Airing Date: unconfirmed
Synopsis: (credits to http://jaynestars.com) A Change Of Destiny centers around the conflicts and human greed sparked by a renown metaphysics manual, which promises to reveal secrets to unlocking the mysteries of the future. However, appreciating the simple happiness of one's life as destined and the close people around us is the true path we should pursue in life.
Thoughts: This story reminds me of Face To Fate a little, and it does sound interesting. Looking forward to see Steven's performance, and also the evil Benny+ gentle Selena chemistry. (:

9) Title: Best Bet (爛賭義當老婆 )
Producer: Lei Tim Seng (Safe Guards, Fantasy Hotel, The Conqueror's Story)
Number of episodes: 20
Cast: Michael Tse, Linda Chung, Anne Heung, Wayne Lai, Louis Yuen, Yvonne Lam
Airing date: februrary
Synopsis: A comedy about a funny gambler, reminds me of the series 'Game Of Deceit'. In this series, Linda is Michael's wife, and she will be bullied by Michael. Michael even sells his wife to pay his debt! Oh my how is that going to happen? Anne heung is a gambler who collects debts for a living.
Thoughts: This series looks like an awesome comedy. "Tim-gor" is the producer. Linda looks so cute, Anne looks so pretty. Michael is finally getting his leading role. Wayne Lai is also in this series. Way to go!
8) On The First Beat (學警出更)
Producer: Wong Wai Sing (Life Made Simple, The Academy, The Herbalist Manuel)
Number of episodes: 30
Cast: Michael Tao, Sonija Kwok, Ron Ng, Sammul Chan, Joey Yung, Kate Tsui, Selena Lee, Yan Ng, Kenny Kwan, Tavia Yeung (Guest star), Fiona Sit (guest star)
Airing date: unconfirmed
Synopsis: A continuation of the series The Academy. After graduation, what happened to their lives, and their career as a police? Watch to find out. The cast is more or less the same, some new faces are coming in, some old faces are leaving. Let's hope this series will be even better than The Academy.
Thoughts: For some reason, when this series first started filming, I was greatly repelled. But slowly, I'm finding my interest coming back, especially because I saw Power Chan and Selena Lee on the cast list. But I really cannot understand, why oh why must Tavia leave?? Tavia and Ron built up such a PERFECT chemistry in TA, why should I even try to see Ron with another girl? That is so sad! :((

7) Phoenix Rising (獄焰驚情 ) Producer: Tong Kei Ming (Bar Benders, Glittering Days)
Number of episodes: unfixed
Cast: Sunny Chan, Louisa So, Leila Tong, Crystal, Loh Fun Airing date: unconfirmed
Synopsis: The story is set in the 1930s, about a female criminal, Louisa So. I don't know the details about the story, but it sure looks interesting!
Thoughts: A unique setting and background, very attractive. Louisa So playing the female villain, can't wait! Anyway, so many TVB artists are going to ATV, it is interesting to see ATV's Crystal Tin coming over to do a TVB series, plus Leila Tong and Sunny Chan, this series is a must-see!

6) The Seventh Day ( 最美麗的第七天)
Producer: Wong Sum Wai (Under The Canopy Of Love, Yummy Yummy, My Family)
Number of episodes: 20
Cast: Kevin Cheng, Niki Chow, Bosco Wong, Natalie Tong, Elaine Yiu, Charmaine Li, Selena Lee, Stephanie Che
Airing date: unconfirmed
Synopsis: Another romantic story, another UTCOL. What is the story about exactly, I am not sure
Thoughts: I liked UTCOL a lot, so I have faith that TSD will be yet another great love story. Like UTCOL, the setting and background of this series looks beautiful, even more beautiful than UTCOL. They are even heading out to Japan to film this series! Niki looks totally gorgeous. Natalie is finally getting a biggie role. Plus Charmaine, Selena, (don't want to mention Elaine), wow, so many pretty girls!
5) The Ultimate Crime Fighter - 通天幹探
Producer: Wong Sum Wai (Under The Canopy Of Love, Yummy Yummy, My Family)
Number of episodes: 35
Airing date: unconfirmed
Cast: Yuen Biu, Moses Chan, Kevin Cheng, Gigi Lai, Yoyo Mung, Maggie Siu
Synopsis: 3 policemen with special abilities come together to combat crime, plus, a nerdy Gigi, a pretty Yoyo, and a gay Kevin...
Thoughts: Moses, Kevin, Gigi, and Yoyo. I like all of them. I like the producer. My gut feeling tells me that this will be a good series, at least, there will be good action sequences (Yuen Biu is in here). So, will I be disappointed, will i not?
4) Heart Of Greed (溏心风暴) Producer: Lau Ka Ho (When Rules Turn Lose, The Gentle Crackdown)
Number of episodes: 40
Airing date: tentatively march
Cast: Moses Chan, Bosco Wong, Raymond Lam (guest star), Yoyo Mung, Tavia Yeung, Linda Chung, Michelle Yim, Lai Lok Yi, Fala Chen, Ha Yu, Lee Sze Kei, Wayne Lai
Synopsis: One of the grand productions of the year, about a big and rich family and its abalone business. Where there is wealth, there is greed; where there is greed, there is evil; where there is evil, someone gets hurt. In this series, the veteran stars are the spotlight, the young stars are a bonus. The entire cast is awesome, you just have to watch it!
Thoughts: There are so many good things to look forward to for this series, I don't even know where to start from. I hope this grand production can bring the good-old tvb times back. Anyway, who is the female lead? I still cannot figure out now. Maybe there isn't one. What is up with the ending? Why can't Raymond stop ranting about it? Ahh, I can't wait. So, March it will be?
3) The Brink Of Law (突围行动)
Producer: Mui Siu Ching (Love Bond, The Charm Beneath, Forensic Heroes)
Number of episodes: 25
Airing date: January 2007
Cast: Steven Ma, Ron Ng, Bernice Liu, Shirley Yeung, Kate Tsui, Michelle Yim
Synopsis: A story about the illegal betting business. Catfights, backstabs, deception, betrayal, twists and turns. All these make factors make up one of my most anticipated series of 2007.
Thoughts: What a great way to start a new year! This series looks AWESOME, the poster looks amazing. Steven Ma is always the best, Ron Ng's bespectacled characters looks super interesting, so does his chemistry with Kate. Michelle Yim will be the most awesome villain. Shirley Yeung, I have seen 5 seconds of her 'villain performance' in the sales presentation. Not so good. Mmm, I hope she turns out okay. Can't wait!!

2）The Master Of Tai Chi (太极）
Producer: Leung Ka Shu (Golden Faith, Survivor's Law)
Number of episodes: 30
Airing date: unconfirmed
Cast: Vincent Zhao, Raymond Lam, Myolie Wu, Melissa Ng, Kenneth Ma, Selena Lee, Derek Kwok, Power Chan
Synopsis: Wu Ma (Vincent) was abandoned by the world ever since young. He isolates himself, he thinks that everyone owes him something, until he learned a new art of kungfu- Tai Gik. Tai Gik is a very special kind of kung fu, it makes him feel calm and balanced. It made him able to see the warm side of human being. It made him a better person inside out. A series about kungfu, growing up, and human philosophy
Thoughts: When will this series be out?? I have been waiting forever! A golden producer, a beautiful setting, an awesome cast, an educational and philosophical story. I cannot wait anymore!
1) The Drive Of Life/ The Legendary Era (岁月风云）
Producer: Leung Ka Shu + Poon Ka Tak
Number of episodes: 60
Cast: Damian Lau, Michael Miu, Joe Ma, Raymond Lam, Charmaine She, Jessica Hsuan, Sheren Teng, Myolie Wu and many many more...
Airing Date: July 2007
Synopsis: In 1997, Hong Kong was returned from British to Hong Kong. It is a day all Chinese will remember. Looking back at the past ten years, we have been through a lot. TDOL uses the chinese car industry and the big Wah family as a backdrop to bring out all the rain and storm we have been through. It is a series which will win the empathy of all chinese, it is a series to celebrate our existance...
Thoughts: Sometimes, it is not just the cast and the number of episodes which determine how 'mega' a production is. Just looking at the very 'big' theme of the series, you know that this is the most important series of the year. Every part of the cast is great. And of course, Mr Raymond Lam plays one of the most important characters. That is a great thing. 1st July 2007, more than one billion Chinese men and women, waiting for this day...
What about the other series?
No, I'm not assuming that they are no-good. They are just not in my personal 'top ten', hehe. Another two series I have been anticipating are Devil's Disciple and Life Art. DD looks like a really refreshing and interesting fighting series. However, it is taking so long to get released, that I am feeling a bit suspicious. As for LA, I have always been hoping for tvb to do a series about art, be it drawing, writing, or anything else. The theme of expression can be really interesting. As for LA, I am not sure. It can be interesting, it can be boring. I don't dare to hold my hopes too high.

Must see movie- Blood Diamond

2006-12-31T03:19:00.000-08:00

Gosh is this the best movie I have seen this year? I think so. Fancy seeing the best movie of the year on the LAST DAY of 2006! Haha.

The movie is set in 1999, Sierra Leone. It was an unstable and chaotic period of time. Here in Singapore, the lack of natural resources gives us a lot of limitations. But in Africa, being rich in such resources might not be a good thing after all. Where there is money, there is greed; where there is greed, there is evil; where there is evil, there is bloodshed. And this is how the whole issue about conflict diamonds began...

Ponder factor: Leonardo DiCaprio vs Jennifer Connelly
The two of them are very different persons. Leonardo's Danny Archer is a white African, and also a very mercenary businessman. Growing up in a time of war, he believed that the world has become ugly. He feels that there is no hope. People kill each other to survive. That is a fact that cannot be changed. To him, money is the most important, and he cannot care about anything else. On the other hand, Jennnifer's Maddy Bowen is an idealist journalist, who wants to bring an end to the world's suffering. The believes of the two of them are on two extreme ends, but one common trait brought them together- courage, perseverance. And then, they start to influence each other on their worldly views. But who is right, who is wrong? I am not sure. I am more towards Bowen's side though, because she is the kind who brings us the hope. Hehe

The Performance:
Hounson, Connelly and DiCaprio all did an AMAZING job. I love the latter the most. I totally love his African accent, so cute, and so convincing!

What to do as a consumer?
First, you have to WATCH THE MOVIE, and learn about some things you never knew. That is the whole point of producing this movie- to raise awareness. When you are looking at a beautiful diamond necklace on a display shelf, have you ever wondered what kind of price have been paid behind producing it? The second thing to do is to INSIST that the diamond you buy is 'conflict-free'. But how do you insist actually? If the smugglers mix the dirty diamond with the other diamond, there is nothing we can do. To me, just don't buy diamond at all is the best solution. What is the point of wearing a piece of stone in the first place?

Favourite quotes
Archer: Sometimes I really wonder if God will ever forgive us for doing all these to our own people. And then, I look around at what's happening, and I realised, God has left us a long time ago.
When Archer said this, I wanted to cry...

If you haven't watched this movie, watch it now!

TVB's yummy christmas feast!!

2006-12-23T20:14:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! All the best for the coming year! I wish all of you health and happiness, and success in your studies, your career, your relationships, and everything you want success in! =D And also, world peace...

Anyway, what is christmas without GOOD FOOD? Yes, to me, that is more important than anything else, hehe. Before we all set of for our christmas feasts, let's 'warm-up' with frostbite's exclusive TVB yummy christmas feast! ((: It is made up of all my favourite TVB dishes. (The fact that I actually remembered these dishes shows how much I loved them, haha)

To start off, let's have Joe Ma's Chrysanthemum cake in Maiden's Vow. There are four chinese words to describe this dish- 晶莹剔透, which mean bright and transparent. Like Charmaine's father said, by looking at it, you know it's nice already! It is not too sweet, not too filling, and it has the fragrance of a flower. It also reduces 'heatiness'. (You get heaty by eating too much chocolates, or feeling too stressed) Put it simply, this is the perfect dish for me! Ahh I want to try it so much, hehe.
How can a feast go without staple? The next dish is Kevin's hand-made noodles in Yummy Yummy. This isn't an ordinary bowl of noodles. This bowl of noodles changed the lives of 5 different peoplle. It looks so good, you've got to try it!
Now, it's time for the most expensive dish of the day. It is Joe Ma's competition dish in A Taste Of Love, called 'Ice on Fire'. What so amazing about this dish, is that it combines ice and fire, two things which are supposed to destroy each other. Joe only uses the fish cheeks, which is said to be the best part of the fish. He had a whole TANK of fish, cut out the cheeks, and discard the rest. To me, that is a big waste. But I am still very impressed. The whole dish is like a piece of art. It looks so beautiful. (Sorry, I couldn't find a better capture!)
After our main course, let's move on to the deserts. I have one chinese desert and one western desert. The chinese one is of course, Roger's Mango Sweet Dumplings in Life Made Simple. Mango, sweet dumplings, I never thought they would go. Maybe they do, maybe they do not, but that's okay. The essence of this dish is the thought behind it. So sweet, hehe...
The western desert is of course, Joe Ma's cakes in The Gateau Affairs, especially the apple cheesecakes. Gosh, when Joe was experimenting to create 'the perfect cheesecake', he churned out SO MANY cakes. Ahh, just give me any of the rejected ones, and I'll be very happy. Lol...

By now, you all must be very full already. It is time for a drink, to help your digestion. This drink is called "Teary Red Eye". It is a kind of wine created by Charmaine in Country Spirit. Not only is it great wine, it also has a sad story behind it, because this wine represents how much Charmaine misses his man. Every night, she hugs a pot of the wine, and shed two drops of tears into it...
Ok, so this is it! Frostbite's special christmas feast. I hope you have all enjoyed it. Merry Christmas once again!!!

Men In Pain, Ron Ng ((:

2006-12-20T18:13:00.000-08:00

Credits to http://www.fairytale-promise.blogspot.com/, I FINALLY found the full version of Ron's ending song in MIP. Aha, that is a great thing, because listening to ripped versions, you hear the same dialogues over and over again, until I really can't bear it anymore. Haha

Series: Men In Pain
Sung By: Ron Ng
Lyrics:

實在是愧當　多苦都不願講你愛的金剛　其實世界迫我要假裝
熱淚未會淌　暗地獨自釋放我這好漢　太不恰當無奈這種苦況我必闖
*為何無情地放手　為何無權利挽留妳已盡興　別再打擾妳太久
為何仍然在顫抖　或許心死可得救原來再愛　然而到最終妳會走*
#事實在夢內極仰慕　想起當以前那般親熱程度我那會深愛　絕對妳最好
自問份內事亦已做　但願讓熱情再可得到其實痛苦中愛也好#
若是被看輕　根本不想弄清我這種孤星　其實很想跟妳訴心聲
汗是未結冰　已沒人沒反應妳不高興　我的率性然後家中都已變孤清

What is the song about?
Ron Ng tells his girl that he is not as strong as he seems...

Download here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/3q47n6

Face To Fate Airing, but...

2006-12-20T18:06:00.000-08:00

News source from:
http://tvbchinesenews.blogspot.com/2006/12/series-airing-news.html

Seems like these few months, TVB has a thing about airing old series. To me, FTF airing is a great thing, because I loved that series (minus the final few episodes). It is also a bad thing, because I have no confidence in the ratings at all. PLUS, 'Best Bet' will be airing after The Brink Of Law. That shoves Master Of Tai Chi all the way until MARCH, at least. It could be postponed even further. Aww :( I think I started my MOTC previews way too early. Maybe let's forget about it for a while. I bring it back up when the time comes. Hehe

The Master Of Tai Chi preview- part 1

2006-12-19T02:29:00.000-08:00

Some time ago, I ran a series of 'Face To Fate tidbits', where I compiled all the articles, screenies and reviews of the series. Now, I'm going to do the same thing for the upcoming Master Of Tai Chi. This is my most anticipated series of 2007, period. I have already started saving up, it BETTER not be disappointing. Haha

To start off, here are some behind-the-scene pictures and preview-screenies I found from Fungforever and also the tvbsquare forum. Mostly Raymond ~.~ The pictures are beautiful. Enjoy!Vincent Zhao practising Tai Chi

Raymond fighting with Power Chan. This fighting scene keeps appearing in the previews, it must be an important one. Both Raymond and Power look so full of fire...
What is happening? Is there a riot or something?
Melissa looks so pretty like this
Beautiful waterfall
Raymond and Myolie- Why do they look so mad? I love Raymond's mad look. His eyes are so full of spirit. Whoo...
Aww, so sweet. Did I see this in Plain Love2 before? Hehe

behind the scenes:

haha, so cute
Raymond, what are you looking at?
Hardworking raymond, lucky fans =p
pretty wedding dress (:
Aha, I love this outfit. So mature, so charming
Is raymond crying??
Nice poses (:

Bring the memory back: the most memorable dialogue3

2006-12-17T01:15:00.001-08:00

Series: Yummy Yummy (the elevator scene)

In ONE lift, Raymond and Charmaine shared many scenes together, most of which are very cute, BUT I only have the luxury to share ONE here. The dialogue is pretty simple, but it is just so funny, all thanks to Raymond and Charmaine's hidden comedy skills. ~.~

Watch the scene here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4uEBqPoPg4

The scene happens in episode 15. Mandy knows that Daniel likes her (she does not like him). She also knows that Daniel is finding a chance to express his feelings. She is really freaked out. She tries everything to avoid Daniel, BUT when Daniel has a crush on you, he really STALKS. Hahaha

The scene...

Charmaine making sure that the coast is clear and rushing into the lift. *faster, faster!*

uh oh, haha...

Look at Charmaine's face >.< Daniel: Why didn't you wait for me for lunch? What do you like to eat, I can treat you

Charmaine smiles awkwardly

Daniel: Mandy, actually I...

Mandy: Oh ya Daniel! (interrupts) I have checked the coverpage for this issue. Basically there is no problem, but I would like to change the colour.

Daniel: Okay, change it, change it. Actually there is something...

I think Raymond's expression is so funny!

Mandy: Oh yes, (interrupts again), that interview about the teochew dishes, I've seen it, but there are some problems with the photographs, so I would like to shoot it again.

Daniel: Okay, shoot it, shoot it. I know maybe some things are a little too fast for you, but...

Mandy: HAVE YOU HEARD THAT Kevin is learning how to make noodles, he wants to be a cook you know! (interupts AGAIN. Mandy tries to sound excited, it's really cute!)

Daniel: Kevin wants to be a cook then let him be a cook lor. Can you please let me finish the whole sentence? (Haha, I just love how Raymond said this!)

*lift DING*

Mandy: (looking relieved) Here we are!

*lift turns dark*

Mandy: Eh? What happened?

Daniel: I think the lift broke down.

Mandy: Broke down?

Daniel: Sometimes fate is so unpredictable you know... (HAHA!)

Mandy: Help! We're trapped!!

Daniel: Relax...

Mandy: Quick, get someone to open the door and let me get out of this place!! Let me out. LET ME OUT!!

***

Mandy keeps calling for help

Daniel: Everything is destined. It's useless. (lol...)

Mandy: What do you want??

Daniel: Even though I look very playful usually, I am very serious about you you know... I understand what you worry about. You just lost your boyfriend. Starting a new relationship so soon will raise a lot of rumours, but you should not think this way. You must learn to live for yourself.

(The way Ray said this was really funny)

Mandy: You are wrong, I am not afraid of rumours at all. There is nothing between us at all! I only think that the timing is not right.

Daniel: Think carefully, Mandy. I'm really very sincere. I'm not the unfaithful kind who fools around you know.

Mandy: I know that, but you must understand that certain things cannot be forced right... (Daniel does not get the hint)

Daniel: I do! I know my background and my appearance easily make others misunderstand that I am not serious about relationships, but shouldn't you understand me? I'm not that kind.

Daniel: Mandy, please stop deceiving yourself. Let out all you feelings! (HAHA) I'm only waiting for one word from you, one word is enough. (one sentence I mean)

Mandy: Okay I'll say it. I do not like you at all please stop bugging me! *ouch*

Crimson Sabre themesong

2006-12-16T00:55:00.000-08:00

Series: Crimson Sabre (2000)
Sung By: Hacken Lee
Lyrics:
哭泣的夜短叹长嗟如像困於荒野一切也凋谢
当天的夜分秒难舍情像缺堤倾泻
为何别了定要装出好过些
明明是爱得深明明是伤得很仍是要假装要扮作没缘分
只可以强忍只当没发生埋藏热爱逃避眼神的接近
太狠心太多苦苦牺牲期望有一天我们会没仇恨
轻轻挽你手却捉不到你手难明是我还是你没有信心
仰天笑问有否天荒爱未泯

仰天笑问从来没怨别人这世间不太多像我这般情深

If you haven't heard this song, do download it. Nothing really special about the lyrics (I think), but I really love the chorus. Whoo, reminds me a little of the Dicey Business themesong

download here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/dxdnsq

Bring the memory back: The most memorable silence

2006-12-13T03:05:00.000-08:00

From dialogues to monologues, from monologues to silence; this favourite scene recap is getting really fun! I shall aim to recap as many scenes as possible before term starts. (:

Today's scene: Twin Of Brothers- Raymond Lam's disappearance

This is an infamous scene, which converted many people into Raymond fans, including myself. Without a single dialogue, this scene can make you cry till your eyes become dry. Raymond's death in TOB had a huge impact on many fans. It made them really paranoid. Haha. It's really funny how everyone fears that Raymond would die in all his subsequent series ever since, especially TLB, LWOLAP and FTF. Before even one third of the series is aired, some fan will say, 'oh no, is Raymond going to die??' It really amused me. haha. Is that why the producers don't dare to kill off Ray's character ever again? I don't think so la. But now we know, Kau Chung's death had a powerful impact on everyone, including myself. (I watched this scene ??? times) So right now, let's go through the emotional torture again...

the most beautiful place to say your final good bye, KC peacefully onf YC laps...

Beautiful flashbacks, the most awesome moments between KC and YC (Flashbacks can be pretty badly done you know *shrugs*)

Ron once said: I know very well who is the one I love. If there is only one item (the bunny slippers or the glass ring) you can bring with you before you die, which is it?

Surprised? Touched? *cry cry!*

YC's magic tear. This has happened quite a few times. Whenever YC thought that KC has 'died', she drops her 'magic tear', and then KC wakes up. Now, it happened again, but...

KC: Tomboy, I never thought you knew how to cry
YC: Why can't I, who asked you to be so naughty (oops there IS a dialogue)

The most beautiful moments of silence, gazing..

Why frown?? Oh no...

This look, the 'I'm sorry, I have to go' look, it made me cry

A very tight hug "No, please don't go"

KC gently pushes YC away, which also made me cry

What a sad kiss. The moment their lips met, he's gone... :(

Kau Chung's last words, he said he will watch over YukChi forever. The most touching last words, which brought this story to a perfect end.

P.S.: After two years, I finally dug this scene out to do this entry. How much of your emotions did I manage to dig out?

You can download the ripped instrumental here. It's so awesome!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ixa1hg

Bring the memory back: The most memorable monologue2

2006-12-11T20:50:00.000-08:00

This is the scene where Myolie tells her father about how useless she is. Ahh it's so sad. I'm putting it under my collection because it's a scene which can touch everyone's hearts. I believe many of us (including Myolie in TGA) experienced the same feeling before. When you are pursuing your dream, not only do you need determination to persevere, you also need lots and lots of courage...

Gordon: If you haven't come back to help, I would panick!
Myolie: Why don't I come back to help you next time?
Myolie: This is where I really belong. Only in this place, my existance is worth something
Gordon: Are you unhappy working in the cake shop??
(Myolie shakes her head)
Myolie: I met Ah Leung again. She is marrying that rich girl...
Gordon: Men who depend on women to get rich are worthless!
Myolie: I'm not unhappy because he is getting married. Thinking back, I did so many things, opening a cakeshop, learning to bake cakes, using up all my savings. I'm already 25 and I'm still a trainee!
Myolie: You guys are right to scold me. I really have no talent in baking, it's just that I don't admit it... Right now, the pastries I bake are still burnt! There's only 200 dollars in my bank account, every month, I need to borrow money from my cousin to give you allowance.
Gordon: Don't be upset, it's always difficult getting started. Things will get better...
Myolie: (shakes head) I'm always causing trouble, always need people to clear up the mess for me. I caused my colleagues to stay up overnight for me, caused them to lose their bonus. I am just getting into their way!
Myolie: I'll always be useless my whole life. Father, am I very useless?
Gordon: How will you be useless? You will always be the most capable girl in my heart. If you haven't come back to help me just now, I would really panick!
Myolie: In the past, I always felt that I wanted to leave this place. But now I realise, only this place can give me a sense of security
Gordon: Myolie, if you are not happy in the cake shop, do come back to the laundry shop. The doors of the washing machines will always be wide open for you! (Haha)
Myolie: Father! Gordon: Don't cry!

You can watch the clip here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1icTFyIzLto

Pure wine, drunken shadow

2006-12-10T20:14:00.000-08:00

I just realised I haven't done this themesong thing for a long time. Now, I'm finally doing it again, because I came across this old song in my collection. It is a 2001 song, from the series Country Spirit sung by Kit Chan and Jacky Cheung. Let me tell you, they make one of the most PERFECT combinations for a duet. Kit Chan, in case you do not know her, is an amazing singer. She is from my country, and also from my school ~.~

A picture of Kit Chan in the musical 'forbidden city'. If it ever gets screened in your city, you have to watch it! It is awesome!

Song title: 醇酒醉影 (Pure wine, drunken shadow)
Series: Country Spirit
Sung By: Kit Chan, Jacky Cheung
Lyrics:
醇酒一杯曾是你与我的约定
别讲一声不想破坏地上宁静
若果清醒只知世事是无定
宁愿不醒双双抱著彼此醉影
*让呼吸的声音比歌声更动听现已快灌醉了我的冷静
让天边一颗星化身一个记认定跟你在那儿唱咏*
缠绕不清难道已暗暗的注定
如此风景酒醒过后欲辩难认
没应不应即使背负或承认
难得温馨一起醉掉剩下余命
repeat *
醇酒一杯如为了每次的约定谁的倒影杯中似是份外平静
别需清醒只管快乐地逃命用呼吸声轻轻抱著彼此醉影

What is the lyrics about?
Two people (probably lovers), who rather get drunk, because the real world is too complex for them...

Comments:
I loved how the song began with Jacky's opera-ish "ah..ah...", and then Kit came in to sing the first line. Gosh, amazing introduction, followed by a perfect harmony in the chorus. And then, there is also an intermission featuring some woodwind instrument, sounds like a flute, I love that part.

Download the song here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/w1wc4u
You can also watch the themevideo here, great themevideo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSf13SvijJo

overdue news: the mystery betrayer

2006-12-09T21:14:00.000-08:00

I way away during the past week, so I missed the hot news about Sammul's 'mystery betrayer'. Aha, this news is really interesting. Who would imagine that grown-ups men can be so bitchy as well??

If you want to know who I think 'betrayed' Sammul, the answer is--- I really do not know. Am I too stupid, or is human heart too difficult to see through?

I love the olympic 6 (mainly raymond, ron and Bosco). As the audience, what I appreciate is their talents, their style, and the productions they star in. Their personality isn't that important after all. Nevertheless, to all the backstabbers in the world, (including THE guy lurking in the tvb studios right now) leave the innocent ones alone, can't you? Good luck to you, I hope you find something more worthy to do in your life. =p

P.S.: Who do I suspect?
Clue: The one who can topple the 'stairway to stardom' (easy to guess, right? I might be very wrong though. It is really just a random guess)

Bring the memory back: The most memorable monologue

2006-12-08T17:13:00.000-08:00

I hope you guys are enjoying my "bring the memory back" series so far. I really enjoy doing this recap, because it makes me feel that tvb is still good in some way (there are many things which make me feel otherwise)

Instead of doing a dialogue recap today, I would like to bring back the most memorable monologue. Because of this speech, I became a Charmaine fan. Till today, I still think Charmaine performance as Mandy Chow in YY was the best. This is the scene when she found out that her boyfriend cheated on her. Gosh, everything she said make my heart break. Here goes...

(Before this, Charmaine's four good friends, Tavia, Kevin, Raymond and Ben found out that her boyfriend was having an affair. Charmaine knows it as well. The four of them wanted Charmaine to confront him, but Charmaine refused, and she ran away. At first, the four of them were mad that Charmaine ran away. By the time night fell, they started feeling worried, and everyone went out to look for her. Tavia was the first to find her.)

Ah Yan: Mandy
(Charmaine turns around, her eyes were wet)
Ah Yan: Oh no, Mandy, don't be upset. Maybe I made a mistake, I'm sorry!
Mandy: No, you did not. I went to the restaurant just now, and I really saw them together. From the very first day when I accepted him again, I was already deceiving myself, because I don't want to lose the only person in the world who loves me. Ever since my father left, my mum was never happy until the day she died. I'm so scared, so afraid to meet a man like my father. And then Marco appeared. He is really nice to me. Naturally, he became my closest kin on earth. So I gave him all my life, my hope, my heart...
Ah Yan: But that doesn't mean he can hurt you
Mandy: You guys are right to scold me. I shouldn't run away, because the longer he lies to me, the deeper I get hurt. But right now, I really feel terrible! I feel like someone stabbed me really hard in my heart, it's so painful that I cannot breathe (I cried when Charmaine said this) It's like the day my mum died. I feel like I have nothing left, not even the last kin, there is only me left in the whole world
Ah Yan: No, that's not true! There is still us, you have Kevin, Raymond and Ben. And there's me, I will take care of you! You won't be on your own! No matter what happens, I would be by your side. I will never leave you alone. (Note: Tavia knows that Charmaine is her sister, her heart is aching...)
Charmaine: In the past, I only know how upset my mother is. Right now, I can really feel it. I feel really sad!
Just then, the 3 guys marched in together. The way they walked in is quite funny. And then, seeing Mandy, they were relived, and smiled ;)

THE END

The big day!

2006-12-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAYMOND!!!

Lucky Raymond, cutting FOUR birthday cakes in one year. That's the power of a celebrity. Aha. Anyway, our Raymond has turned 27 this year! o.O this is fast. 27 is actually pretty close to 30. It felt like yesterday when I first watched A Taste Of Love. Raymond was like... 20?

BIRTHDAY WISHES FOR RAYMOND:

- Grab the best actor award next year. You can do it! =D

- Release an album/sing more songs. I promise to listen to it every night!

- 身体健康. Good health (:

- 长生不老. Haha, that means never age. There are some celebrities which fall into this category (e.g. Kevin Cheng, Raymond Cho, Frankie Lam, Michael Miu, Adam Cheng etc.) The older they get, the better they look. Raymond looks so much better now than he was in the ATOL days. I hope his handsomeness stays forever! Overworking can hasten ageing, you know!

Bosco Wong= Patrick Tang??

2006-11-24T02:16:00.000-08:00

For one moment, when I saw the Dicey Business themevideo, I really thought I saw Patrick ><

Real Kung Fu review

2006-11-23T18:50:00.000-08:00

Information

Cast: Yuen Biu, Maggie Siu, Leung Ka Yan, Lau Ka Fai, Yuen Biu, Timmy Hung, Jack Wu, Charmaine Li, Selena Li
Number of Episodes: 20
Producer: Chung Wai Kin
Themesong by: Alan Tam
Released Date: Anniversary Series 2005

The story:

“Wing-Chun”, is a very famous art of kung-fu practised by Bruce Lee, whom we all know. This series tells you the story about Bruce’s great-grand master Leung Zan. In this series, he meets many different people, some are his friend, some are his foe, some teach him important lessons, some give him nothing but trouble. He is a legendary kungfu master who was not only good at fighting, but also has a good character which we all should learn from…

Love Factor:

The ones who can fight
Real Kung Fu has a very unique cast. Like the title suggests, most of the cast knows REAL Kung Fu in REAL life. No cheesy computer effects, only 100% real fighting, which is very impressive to watch. Even though I don’t like Yuen Biu’s face and acting, he really can fight. Lau Ka Fai, Yuen Wah and Derek Kwok are also awesome. But my one and only favourite is Mr Leung Ka Yan. I love his ‘fadan’ style, and his arrogant but kind character, just love him so much!

Jack Wu
For those of you who complain that there are no ‘cute guys’ in this series, don’t forget Jack Wu! Ooo I just love him so much in this series! He plays the ‘fadan’ character really well. Feminine, shy, but extremely cute!

Don’t-care factor: the plot
I can’t say the plot is bad, because compared to the lovey-dovey WFH storyline, Real Kung Fu is slightly better. However, you still shouldn’t expect too much from the plot, because it is very typical, and very forgettable. The typical Qing dynasty series: a murder case which the busybody main character cannot stop investigating about, bringing himself lots of trouble, the smuggling of opium, the ‘black’ shop which does ‘dirty’ business, the rich family which is very stupid, some corrupted figures from the imperial court, PLUS, for all I care, the worthless love relationships. These are the most typical elements to each Qing Dynasty series, and the writer of RKF didn’t manage to make it stand out in any way, unlike in Find The Light. I remember, when I saw the scene where Charmaine and gang went to burn the opium house, I told myself, ‘Gosh, I saw that warehouse too many times!’ Nevertheless, it was still an acceptable story.

Dislike Factor

Yuen Biu+ Maggie Siu
I really do not like this pairing. It just feels too weird and unnatural. I even prefer to watch the scenes where Selena pesters Yuen Biu. Yuen Biu and Maggie Siu simply do not match.

Charmaine vs Jack vs Timmy
I do not like pointless love triangles (these days, most of them are pointless). I do not like the concept of love triangles at all, not to mention how OVERUSED it is. I think this part of the plot is really unnecessary, and adds a lot of boredom and sissy-ness to the series.

Worth watching?
Just watch this series for the cast and appreciate their solid fighting. Other than that, just don’t expect too much from the rest of the story, and you will be fine. (:

The themesongs of 2006

2006-11-21T23:30:00.000-08:00

Back to being a DJ for a moment, presenting djfrostbite's 2006 themesong collection! 2006 is an interesting year, because you get to hear many different artists try out singing (ok that has been the trend since last year). Some of them, you can't get enough of the singing, some of them, you look forward to their future improvements, for some, one song is more than enough...

The real singers steal the thunder
Land Of Wealth (Eason Chan): This is my FAVOURITE song of the year. Don't ask me why. I can watch the themevideo over and over again. Hehe, the power of Eason...
http://www.sendspace.com/file/l6qtbg

Dicey Business (Hacken Lee): This is the LAST song released for this year. Last but definitely not least. (: It was stuck in my head for the past 2 days! I do not have the audio version yet, but you can view the themevideo here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2w2cJ5V83g

New: ripped version of themesong found! here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/g7mchg

La Femme Desperado (Miriam Yeung): This is another one of my favourites of the year. A catchy melody, plus some very meaningful lyrics. If you have not read my entry on this song, read here: http://djfrostbite.blogspot.com/2006/07/its-hard-to-be-woman-miriam-yeung.html
If you have not downloaded the song, this might be your last chance!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/7zujs7

Raymond Lam Collection
Being a Raymond fan, of course I have to dedicated one SECTION of my collection to him! Anyway, Raymond is a great singer, period. Unfortunately, the poor fans just can't get enough of his singing, because he releases SO FEW songs. When will his album (if there is one) be out??

Realise: This song has been released early last year, but the series was only released this year. Therefore, it is still considered a 2006 song. Anyway, this is my favourite Raymond song ever, especially when I heard the first line "Who understands how I feel right now...." Aww! *melts*
http://www.sendspace.com/file/8o3tbf

Chut Qiu (from LWOLAP): Another one of my favourite themesongs of the year. A unique melody, a little romantic feeling, plus the heavy ancient feel. This is an awesome song! Especially after you read the lyrics and connect it to the story itself. If you have not read my entry for this song, read here:
http://djfrostbite.blogspot.com/2006/09/lwolap-code.html

If you want do hear the song, download here: (TV version)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/nk6v6l

Destiny (from Face To Fate):: Sounds strange at the beginning, grows on you towards the end. Very interesting lyrics where the writer seems to resign to fate yet resent fate. Haha, so is our destiny in our own hands? Or are all the choices we have just illusions, and the future is merely the unfolding of truth?
http://www.sendspace.com/file/bl8nmj

The Duet Collection
In 2005, TVB released the "All About Men" album, in 2006, TVB released the "Lady In Red" Album. It would be really cool to release a men-women duet album in the following year! But before that happens, do you realise that there are quite a few duets released this year?

UTCOL (Kevin and Niki): Very sweet song, but don't listen to it too many times! Or you might get a headache!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/1ol4s3

Face To Fate (Frankie and Tavia): Aha, I love this duet! Perhaps I will name this my favourite duet of the year! Unfortunately, the full version was NEVER released (yes, fans! Give up finding! The full version might NEVER be released until the series gets aired. But wait, will FTF ever be aird?) Anyway, back to the song. Ahh, Frankie CAN SING. I love how he sang the line "静夜里听你声音" (listen to your voice in the quiet night). And Tavia, I really like her distinctive singing voice. (no matter how well the other female can sing, their voices sound so boring and alike! ><) I'm looking forward to her future improvements, and to hear more songs from her in future!

Anyway, the longest version of the song you'll be able to find is 1:16, nothing more. You can find it here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/bwth0s

To Grow With Love (Andy and Myolie) I LOVED Myolie's singing in the WAD themesong. But this time round, she just sound a little choked, like the power couldn't come out. Mmm, anyway, this is still a nice song. Here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/dra6mt

The Other Talented Singers Of TVB (besides Raymond) (Somewhat in order of preference)

Steven Ma- Safe Guards: Steven's LOW and mesmerizing voice.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/e0ch64

Benny Chan- APCOM: Very cute song!
View the themevideo here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak8QGXBykyQ

Myolie Wu- War And Destiny: Great performance! This is still my favourite Myolie song until today. Myolie is a great singer, perhaps one of the best female singers existing in tvb today, now that Flora and Nadia etc are all no longer around...
http://www.sendspace.com/file/h3irg1
and also: Mr Pig from TGWL
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ufljp5

Frankie Lam- Forensic Heroes
You might want to read Metal's analysis here:
http://www.virtuesofharmony.net/blog/2006/11/deciphering-themesongs-4.html
The song is also uploaded here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/6k2g2d

Linda Chung- Swear
I shall recommend it right now even though the series 'sau san juen' is only releasin next year. I really like Linda's singing, or is it because the song suited Linda's voice well? I don't know. Anw, she, too, has a distinctive voice, and I wouldn't mind hearing more songs from her in future. You can say I buy her singing skills more than her acting skills (for now la)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/dhcvyt

Kevin Cheng- Trimming Success
Congrats on the release of your album this year! I support Kevin, but in terms of singing, I still like all the above better. Mmm...
http://www.sendspace.com/file/b9tik4

The Forgettable Songs
Bar Benders (Adam)
Love Guaranteed (Stephy Tang)
Maiden's Vow (Charmaine She)
A little lazy to upload them, if you really want to download these songs, you can request for them in the comments section (:

You can't say they cannot sing, but...

Charmaine She- Is Charmaine inconsistent? Or is my taste constantly changing? Sometimes, Charmaine seems to sing so well, sometimes it just feels squeaky. Compare the DOP ending song and the Maiden's vow theme/sub-theme songs. Or has Charmaine's singing deproved over those few months? I don't know. But anyway, Charmaine's song "lovers in the yellow sand" is an awesome song we want to remember. You can read metal's analysis here:
http://www.virtuesofharmony.net/blog/2006/10/deciphering-themesongs-2.html
I have also uploaded the song here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/u1uepk

Shirley Yeung (TBB)- Mmm till today I still can't figure out why Shirley got booted out of the Lady In Red album all of a sudden. Her voice is very kiddy, but I still think she can somewhat sing, but, it's forgettable.... I didn't keep the song. You can view the themevideo here (it is pretty cute)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqdq7qqQBco

Bowie Lam (DOP)- I feel very neutral towards Bowie's singing. But anyway, the DOP themesong was a potentially awesome song but screwed up eventually. The bits and pieces just didn't flow together too well. Same thing, request for it if you really want it. (:

Also listen to the CIB themesong
I have heard many bad comments about this series. I myself have not watched it. BUT, I do like the song! Very classy and catchy. Here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/84ajng

Ron Ng- MIP subsong: Okay, I think Ron has improved in his singing. I love his SONGS, but I still feel very neutral about his singing. But this song from MIP is worth sharing. It is not the full version, but still, enjoy!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/3kfdsl

Sharon Chan- At Home With Love: I am running out of comments, but this is quite a nice song, you can try to listen (:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/yangwm

One Time is enough
Bosco- Au Revoir Shanghai: Aha, sorry all Bosco fans! The ARS themesong was a pain for me. Looks like Bosco falls under Louis and Wong He's category. That flat flat voice. Maybe rapping is still the better choice for him! Again, if you want the song, request for it (:

Overall best background music award: LWOLAP
Really, LWOLAP's BGM is the most beautifully done. Every scene is accompanied by the most apt and moving background music. Every scene is like a piece of art. I think the producers put a lot of heart into this aspect of the series. I am now sharing with you my favourite BGM of the year: the chinese violin and piano duet:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/5x7221

Bring the memory back: The most memorable dialogues2

2006-11-19T06:52:00.000-08:00

What is going on: Bosco likes someone in Kevin's team. However, Kevin thinks Bosco is gay, so he thought Bosco likes this GUY in this team. And then, he finally finds out how wrong he has been!

Kevin: looking for someone?
Bosco: no, just came up to fetch some stuff... Now that I bumped into you, I have something to ask you (puts arm around Kevin's shoulders)

Kevin: (looking uneasy) sure... but you don't have to hold me to do it
Bosco: oh ok... it is like this. I have fallen in love, but my object of desire keeps me at arm's length... now we are close yet far apart (raises his hand like an ancient poet)

Kevin: you don't have to be so literary, can you be more direct?
Bosco: Actually I want you to teach me what to do
Kevin: But I'm not good at this kinda stuff..
Bosco: Are you kiddin me? you have not courted girls before?
Kevin: Of course i have courted girls, but if Leon is the one you are courting i don't have a clue!
Bosco: Leon? Of the lease department? But he is a man!The one I am courting is chris!
Kevin: Chris? Of the promotion department? But she is a woman! (HAHA)
Bosco: Of course she is a woman, she can't be a man!
Kevin: you mean you are not...
Bosco: huh?
Kevin smiles are realises that he made a BIG blunder!

Bring the memory back: The most memorable dialogues

2006-11-19T06:32:00.000-08:00

Credits to pk888 from asianfanatics forum

Following the win of Kevin and Charmaine in this year's anniversary, it is time to bring back some memories from my favourite series, Yummy Yummy, where these two winners were the leads.

This is a scene in the series Yummy Yummy featuring Kevin's two funny parents, Hui Siu Hung and Kiki Sheung. Basically, that night, Kevin was going to bring her girlfriend back home for dinner. The two parents are very curious whether it is Tavia or Charmaine he was bringing back, so they had a very cute discussion about the two girls, refering to them as the 'char siew bun' and the 'butter custard bun'. It is really funny! Enjoy reading!

Mom: That's all the food you prepared, not good, this is the first time Gai Jai is bringing back his gf...you should have at least a chicken.
Dad: Do we have to prepare such a grand feast? It'll be too much.
Mom: Yeah you're right!.....Hey, which bun do you think our son will bring home? BBQ bun or Li Wong Bun?
Dad: He didn't tell you?
Mom: Didn't you talk to your son? Don't you two do father & son talk?
Dad: Ah...it don't really matter, BBQ bun and Li Wong bun are still buns. I don't think it'll be "Sat Kay Ma" (think it's those yellow stick square cake we eat at cha lau).
Mom: "Sat" your head....I think BBQ bun is better, it matches our son more
Dad: No...I think our son likes Li wong bun more. Li wong bun is more knowledgable/education
Mom: what you talking about Li wong bun is more knowledgable, it's the same as our son.
Dad: What u talking about, they're far apart in knowledge. Li wong bun is more elegant and generous and forgiving. BBQ bun is cho lo (tomboyish/rough)
Mom:What you talking about BBQ bun is cho low..no
Dad: Of course cho low...she is always using her hands and legs with our son while talking
Mom: So who do you think is the BBQ bun?
Dad: Ah yan (Tavia)
Mom: Hey ...NO NO...Mandy is the BBQ bun
Dad: NO....What I think is Li Wong Bun is more elegant, generous and forgiving. BBQ Bun to "Die sick gap die gen" (sorta like cheaper and easy to eat...don't know how to translate this part)
Mom: How can you say this....she's a girl. Anyways, I don't really care which bun it is. If our son likes it, I'll be okay with me.
Dad: Yep yep...it'll be better if our son eats both buns
Mom: Stop talking about nonsense. YOu'll make a fool of yourself if they hear

....." DOOR BELL RINGS ".......

Dad: Lets go out to see which bun it is

....."DOOR OPENS AND IT"S MANDY"......

Dad: Told you it's Li wong bun.
Mandy: What Li wong bun...???
Kevin: Oh no...my dad is saying he wants to eat li wong bun...!!! Dad go eat dinner now..... (the way Kevin said 'sek fun la!' was so cute!)

P.S.: I really wanted to make/find a screenie for this scene but couldn't!

Moving down the 'morality scale'

2006-11-15T20:30:00.001-08:00

The trend in the past: perfect role-model characters
TVB crafts many different types of characters for us. They can be funny, serious, impulsive, calm, outgoing or shy. No matter what, there will be ONE similarity. They have a GOOD HEART. Old granny loses her way, the helpful young girl will lend her helping hand. Helpless young girl gettting violated in the back alley, righteous kungfu hero comes to the rescue. Young teenager accused of commiting a crime he never did, determined social worker/lawyer finds out the truth. This is what 100% of the tvb main characters are in the past, and what 90% are today.

The reason?
The media wants to send the right message across to the audience. They also want the audience to love the stars forever. Hence, this trend will never die. Main character of each story=role model for all

The growing trend of today: hanging between good and evil
I just mentioned 90% of tvb main characters today are perfect role models. So where are the other 10%? They belong here. TVB likes to add flaws to each of their characters nowadays. War and Beauty is the best example. What about LWOLAP? Fung Hang Lit, our dear Raymond, torn between good and evil for 40 episodes, and everyone loves him. In the modern world, RDOV have the most of such characters.

The reason?
1) to create a refreshing feeling
2) to portray characters closer to reality so that the audience can relate to them

BUT MEANWHILE...
1) the producers will think of a thousand reasons for you to forgive them at the same time. "Character has no choice, character wants to protect himself," these are some common reasons thrown at us, for fear that the audience will end up hating the main characters. These reasons will be repeated over and over again, to make sure you know that the main characters aren't TOTALLY BAD
2) there will also be another SUPPORTING character, who has a WORSE personality than the already-flawed main character. Most evil character will NEVER be the main character, no matter what.

The Future Trend: ultimate villain=the main character
Why not?

It will be really cool to present things from a different perspective. I have an idea. That is, let the main actor play the bad character (maybe a schizophrenic murderer or sth), and let different supporting characters come and go to analyse and study his psychology. Wouldn't that be great fun?

It will be the best to use this concept on the detective and suspense genres. For one thing, no one will guess that the MAIN character, who is usually the victim or the investigator, to be the real culprit.

Comedies- is it possible?
If you watch the popular USA sitcom 'Friends', NONE of the 6 characters are normal. They are all crazy people, their lives are in a mess, we are NOT going to follow their footsteps. BUT, the sitcom is still extremely popular and LONG-LASTING. The audience can just watch it as a senseless comedy, laugh at them, mock them, and continue staying tuned every single night.

What have I been watching?

2006-11-15T01:37:00.000-08:00

FYI, I am not the type who catches up with the latest series released. Reason 1) Don't want to spend money to rent them. Reason 2) Do not trust file sharing programs. I save my money for Raymond Lams' series only. -.- So here I am, analysing some passe series you might want to remnisence about now (:

1) INTO THIN AIR
Information

Cast: Michael Miu, Melissa Ng, Bernice Liu, Kenneth Ma

Number of Episodes: 20

Producer: Cheung Kin Man

Themesong by: Bernice Liu

Released Date: September 2005 (HK and Overseas)

Summary:

The story talks about a private investigators firm, where the PIS help different people find different things they have lost. Michael is the owner of this firm. Two years ago, he quit his job as a policeman, and set up this firm to search for his missing son. Two years have passed. He helped countless people, but still could not find his own son. However, as the truth draws near, it is a hurting one…

Comments

The Story

To me, the story was not really bad, but definitely not good enough. The reason is because most of the cases are not exciting enough. The story does not deal a lot with the investigations. Instead, it is more about the family or love relationships between major and minor characters, some of which may interest you, some of which may bore you. There were only 2 cases which really captured my heart. One was the infamous piano case featuring Michelle Yim and Patrick Tang. That story was just too beautiful and emotional. The second one was the truth behind Michael’s missing son. The outcome of the case was unexpected but logical at the same time. I even started feeling emotional about it. The rest of the cases were a little disappointing, especially the last one about Melissa’s ‘twin’. Gosh, I felt like the producers were just dragging time to clog up 20 episodes…

Why do I feel cheated?

1) The title "yan gan jing fat" is captivating, but also misleading. What the title means is "disappearing from the world". However, from the beginning to the end, how many missing people were there? There is only ONE, Michael Miu's son. In my opinion, the story would be a lot more exciting if it dealt more with the missing people, and not any random unexciting case.

2)The poster of this series looks GOOD. An eerie tree, a beautiful hug between Michael and Melissa, it makes the whole series feel so mysterious and suspenseful. In the end, the series was just a random mix of comedy, romance, and some 'heartwarming' family relationships...

Worth watching?

Basically, no. Actually, there were moments of the series I really enjoyed, but I just feel that the whole story did not have a proper theme. It was all over the place. Unless you are a Kenneth fan (boy, he is the CUTEST guy in the series), you can give this one a pass. This is not the worst series, but there are many better ones out there.

TVB never fails to shock us every year

2006-11-10T07:49:00.000-08:00

The FULL anniversary results can be found here:
http://tvbchinesenews.blogspot.com/

I have several comments to make.

Happy because:
1) Raymond Lam WAS in top five for BOTH best actor and favourite character awards after all! That was all I was asking for, and I am happy enough. (:

Relieved because:
1) Steven Ma and Michael Tse did NOT win the most improved actor award. That would be totally weird!

Disappointed because:
1) Wayne Lai did not get the best supporting actor award

2) There was no 'surprise' for the most improved actress award. Linda Chung took it home after all...

No Comments because:
1) Shirley Yeung winning the best supporting actress award. I haven't seen AR, and I don't want to jump into any conclusion, and I wasn't exactly rooting for any particular supporting actress, because none of them really did impress me.

Shocked because:
1) Charmaine taking home TWO major awards? Will that cause a little bit of indigestion??
Don't get me wrong, I do love Charmaine. I am a fan of her. I want her to win the best actress award. But did she have to grab the favourite character award AS WELL?? Sure enough, her character in MV was good, but SO WERE THE OTHERS like Sheren, Ada, or even Myolie. Is it really necessary to leave ALL THREE of them empty handed? Isn't that way too mean?

2) Mr Best Actor: Kevin Cheng!
Aha, this really came as a big big surprise. Who will expect Mr KevinCheng to beat the veterans, and get the best actor trophy earlier than Moses, Joe or Raymond did! This simply shows that the 'boundary' between the old and new generation of tvb actors is getting blurrer and blurrer, to almost non-existant.

Don't get me wrong. I DO love Kevin. I might even be one in the VERY FEW to feel that he DOES deserve the best actor title. Ever since Yummy Yummy last year, Kevin's performance has won all of my heart. I know I am slow, but having RECENTLY watched UTCOL, I see that Kevin really has the charisma, though not many people feel it. If you look at the top 5 list, Kevin is my personal favourite (unless Raymond was nominated for LWOLAP which was impossible, or unless Steven Ma was in top 5) This decision of TVB came to me as a great shock, but also great joy. I believe in the next few days, Kevin will face lots of bashing on forums or newspapers. BUT, he has all my support. Good luck to you, Kevin, and once again, congratulations!

Raymond fans awaiting... an eventful 2007

2006-11-07T18:47:00.000-08:00

Nevermind the fact that Raymond did not get into the top 5 for 'Best Actor Award 2006'. Never mind if Raymond does not win "favourite male character 2006" (he has a chance though). It is always good to look forward, especially when Raymond has SO MANY promising works releasing next year...

Face To Fate
There is a high chance that this series will remain a warehouse series forever, but seeing what happened to Trimming Success, Misleading Track, and Greed Mask etc., I am still hoping TVB will air this series some day, because it is a good series. (:

Tai Gik (English title unknown- don't make it something stupid!)
Producer: Leung Ka Shu (Survivor's Law, Golden Faith)

Number Of Episodes: 30

Cast: Vincent Zhao, Raymond Lam, Myolie Wu, Melissa Ng, Kenneth Ma, Selena Lee and many more

Raymond's role: 2nd male lead

Character name: Duen Hiu Sing (段晓星）

Paired up with: Myolie Wu

Reasons to watch:
1) Real fighting, human philosophy, plus a little bit of politics. All these themes added together make the story seem really attractive.
2) The producer, who does not produce many tvb series, but his every piece of work is awesome. Also, Raymond seem to be one of Mr Leung's 'favourites'. I am sure he will give him lots of opportunities to SHINE.
3) The love stories between Vincent, Melissa, Raymond and Myolie sound very beautiful. You can read more about them here: http://forum.tvbsquare.com/forum/index.php?topic=1932.0
4) Vincent Zhao in a tvb series, with RAY. o.O that is awesome. I read the synopsis about his character (link above), and I find his story really attractive. A kid who was once abandoned by the world, grew up in isolation, but slowly learns to trust humans and see the warm side of mankind, it reminds me of Kam Sai Wai (in the REAL novel, not LWVB).
5) If I did not remember wrongly, there was one interview, when Raymond was asked which were the performance he is most satisfied with so far, and he named TOB, LWOLAP and Tai Gik. o.O this is what we call FIRST HAND information. I can't wait to see what Raymond has to show us this time round!

Anyway, I think this list can go on for ages. TG is my most anticipated series of 2007, in case you did not know it. I hope it does not disapoint!

The New Breath Of Love
Production type: Mainland

Number of episodes: unknown

Cast: Raymond Lam, Chen Yi Rong, Alex Fong

Raymond's role: 1st male lead

Character Name: Xu Kai (徐凯）

Paired up with: Chan Yi Rong

Description:
Based on Wong Man Wah's novel: 61x57. Mmm, the sound of the title tells you for sure that this is a romantic series, set out to 'explore the different perspectives of romance'. It sounds sophisticated. o.O Since I seldom watch mainland productions, I don't know what kind of expectations to set for this series

Reasons to watch:
1) The story- (if it turns out good)
2) The Cast: Raymond, Tammy, Alex Fong. Whoohoo! It's good to see Raymond playing the 'charming modern guy' character again since TLB. This time round, he would be more of a 'playboy'. I've read a little bit about his character in one of his interviews. You can read it here:
http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=200606101749362845250lo.jpg
Sounds like a very layered and interesting character
3) This is Raymond's chance to break out into the mainland market, and we must support him!
Any drawbacks?
This series looks really sweet+beautiful. And with Raymond, there is NO way I will skip this series. I just hope the storyline turns out good.

Tong Sum Fung Bo (English title unconfirmed)
producer: Lau Ka Ho (The Gentle Crackdown, When Rules Turn Lose)

Number of episodes: 40

Cast: Moses Chan, Linda Chung, Raymond Lam, Yoyo Mung, Bosco Wong, Tavia Yeung

Raymond's role: guest star

Character Name: 程亮

Co-stars: Linda Chung, Yoyo Mung

Description: Ray's character here sounds similar to that in NBOL. Charming gentleman sometimes, a little bit of a jerk sometimes. However, I think Xu Kai will be explored more deeply compared to this one, because Raymond is only guest-star status in this series. For the sake of Raymond's 20-episode appearance, I am going to watch the entire 40 episodes. Mann, I hope it will be good! I think so though, Tong Sum Fung Bo is dubbed as one of the grand production of 2007 after all!

Sui Yuet Fung Wun (English title unconfirmed)
Producer: Leung Ka Shu (Survivor's Law, Golden Faith)

Co-producer: Poon Ka Tak (La Femme Desperado, Men In Pain)

Production type: Mainland+TVB collaboration

Number of episodes: 60

Cast: Raymond Lam, Charmaine She, Myolie Wu, Joe Ma, Jessica Hsuan, Damian Lau, Michael Miu, Gigi Wong, Sheren Teng, Ron Ng, Toby Leung, Chan Mei Kei and many more

Raymond's role: 1st male lead

Character Name: Wah Zan Bong (华振邦）

Co-stars: Charmaine She, Myolie Wu

Desription: Once again, Mr Leung is producing a grand series with his favourite cast: Raymond, Jessica, Myolie, and his beloved daughter Ms Toby Leung. Hehe... The story has something to do with the car industry, and mainly revolves around the family business of the Wah family, using this family as a backdrop to bring out the 'wind and storm' HK has been through over the past 10 years since being returned to China. o.O Sounds really BIG.

the ONLY reason this is a MUST WATCH:
I can think of loads of reasons to watch this series, but I am lazy to. The most important reason, is the fact that our Mr Raymond Lam is playing the FIRST lead role in a mega GRAND production. Seems like tvb has found someone to succeed Gallen's "leading-man-in-grand-production" status, and that someone is Raymond! :D:D:D I might be thinking too much out of this, but I AM indeed very glad that Ray got this opportunity. Add oil! Best actor 2007, yeah man!

Another reason: Charray once again! I am really missing their chemistry. Elated to see the pair up again =D

don't be freaked by the not-so-good outfits you are seeing in this picture. Since the beginning of the series was set in 1997, the clothes worn have to correspond to the time...