Thursday, April 26, 2012

My 'TVB Rant' # 19: TVB's Top Onscreen Couples of All Time Poll -- My Thoughts on the Final Top 10 Results

This post is actually a follow up to my earlier post about TVB's poll of the 'so-called' top onscreen couples from the past 40 years. In that particular post, I already 'vented' about how RIDICULOUS many of the 'picks' were and how STUPID it was to leave out many of the truly 'classic' couples from the past 4 decades.

Well, if you thought I sounded pissed in that post (believe me, it was already toned down...the very first time I saw the nominee list, I almost hit the roof!), wait until you see the 'final results' of the couples who ended up making it into the Top 10. The nominee list was already a JOKE to begin with, but the Top Ten results list was way worse!!

I know I'll probably be called a 'conspiracy theorist' again when I say this, but quite frankly, I don't give a care.....I honestly think that the reason why TVB put this stupid poll together was not to 'pay tribute' to the many 'classic' couples that have graced our television screens in the past 4 decades, but rather, their primary intention was to PROMOTE their current artists (aka their biological sons/daughters as well as their 'favorites'). Why do I think that? Several reasons:

1) TVB knows full well (as do most of us) that most of the people who would likely be voting in the poll would be younger generation folks (i.e. the after 90s crowd), most of whom have not watched (and probably never will) the older series from the 70s, 80s, and even the 90s -- most of them are only familiar with the current TVB series and current 'popular' artists [though in a sense, it's a little bit hard to blame the audiences entirely because it's hard not to 'pay attention' to the current artists given TVB's 24/7 'in your face' promotion of them]. This would actually explain why TVB made such ridiculous choices in terms of the nominees (cuz they knew that people wouldn't vote for them anyway, since majority of today's audiences haven't watched the series and don't even know who they are!).

2) How else would you explain why 8 of the 10 'classic couples' who made it to the final Top Ten were from the "after 2000s" era (which is a joke in and of itself because how could a couple who has only been around for 5 years or less be considered 'classic'?) and out of those (8), 6 of the couples consist of biological children and/or are 'favorites' of TVB management? (I'm actually quite serious here -- if someone is able to provide a logical explanation in support of TVB here, I'm willing to listen!)

Just as an example of how 'un-classic' most of the Top 10 couples were -- despite having watched each of the series, I honestly could not remember all the names of the characters that each of the artists played in each of the series (except for maybe like 3 or 4 of the series on the list, which I was able to write down purely from memory) -- I actually had to go look them up in order to make sure I had the right names!   In my opinion, if those couples were TRULY 'classic' -- which also means 'memorable' in my book -- the average audience should at least be able to remember the character names!

Ok, so without further adieu, here are the final Top Ten results from TVB's poll (I'm actually NOT going to comment specifically on the couples / artists in the poll persay because I don't feel like dealing with the wrath of certain artists' fans right now -- all I'm going to say is that pretty much only TWO of the couples from the below list would have made it into MY LIST of the Top 10 'classic' couples!).

** Note: The rankings DO matter in this poll -- the way the couples are listed is based on who 'supposedly' got the most votes from the audiences.

TVB's Top Ten Onscreen Couples -- Final Results

Source:  TVB.com



1st place:  Bosco Wong (Ling Mao Chun) and Myolie Wu (Tin Lik) from "Wars of the In-laws" (2005)

2nd place: Wayne Lai (Chai Gau) and Sheren Tang (Hong Bo Kei) from "Rosy Business" (2009)

3rd place: Moses Chan (Kam Duo Luk) and Charmaine Sheh (Chao Yang) from "Can't Buy Me Love" (2010)

4th place: Raymond Lam (Kam Wing Ho) and Linda Chung (Yu So Sum) from "Moonlight Resonance" (2008)

5th place: Kevin Cheng (Law Lik Nga) and Myolie Wu (Wong Si Fu) from "Ghetto Justice" (2011)

6th place: Kevin Cheng (Sum Lang) and Niki Chow (Ko Yat Si) from "Under the Canopy of Love" (2006)

7th place: Andy Lau (Yang Guo) and Idy Chan (Siu Lung Nu) from "The Return of the Condor Heroes" (1983)

8th place: Roger Kwok (Ding Sheung Wong) and Jessica Hsuan (Ling Choi Fung) from "Square Pegs" (2002)

9th place: Moses Chan (Tong Chi On) and Linda Chung (Seung Joi Sum) from "Heart of Greed" (2007)

10th place: Chow Yun Fat (Hui Mun Keung) and Angie Chiu (Feng Ching Ching) from "The Bund" (1980)

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Weibo Fever # 13: Jacky and Leslie’s Taiwan trip [11th Annual Golden Melody Awards]

I saw the below clip reposted on Weibo earlier today and it was way too funny (and cute) to pass up, so wanted to share it with fellow Leslie and Jacky fans (as well as fellow Super Sunday fans)!

Not sure how many of you are familiar with Huang Zi Jiao (黃子佼) -- he's a famous Taiwanese host and comedian (and musician and writer and DJ and.....you name it, he's done it!)....definitely a talented individual and one of my favorite Taiwanese hosts! I actually became familiar with him over a decade ago (way more than a decade ago to be exact) during his days as co-host for the Taiwanese variety show "Super Sunday" together with Zhang Xiao Yan (張小燕), Harlem Yu (庾澄慶), and Pu Xue Liang (卜學亮). SS was one of my favorite Taiwan variety shows, as I loved the chemistry between all the hosts – the ‘dream team’ duo of Jiao Jiao and Ah Liang especially never failed to crack me up each time I saw them together on TV (awww, I miss them now...haha)!

Anyway, in this old video clip from the year 2000, Jiao Jiao was actually on a work assignment for Super Sunday: his task was to ‘greet and welcome’ the artists at the Taiwan airport who would be arriving to attend the 11th Annual Golden Melody Awards (to take place that night). In addition to bringing the usual camera crew, Jiao Jiao also brought along a 3 person ‘orchestra’ and instructed them to play the artists’ songs as they stepped out of the gate.

The actual clip itself actually shows Jiao Jiao ‘picking up’ several artists, including Leslie Cheung (張國榮), Jacky Cheung (張學友), Dave Wang (王傑), Zhang Zhen (張震), and Gigi Leung (梁詠琪), however the part that I’m going to focus on is the Leslie and Jacky part (since that segment was the funniest!).

Jiao Jiao actually has a good relationship with many HK and Taiwan artists and back then, “Super Sunday” was still a tremendously popular show, especially with its focus on promoting singers – therefore, he is able to joke around with them utilizing his 'trademark' sense of humor without them getting offended. I love Jiao Jiao's brand of humor – he says the funniest things and his facial expressions are always spot on according to the occasion (LOL).

I've actually seen the below clip before and probably even have the segment on videotape somewhere (part of my HK/Taiwan Entertainment memorabilia collection...LOL), but since it was such a long time ago, I pretty much forgot about it until now. It’s a great little clip though and brought back a lot of awesome memories!

Here’s the link to the video clip from Tudou (courtesy of Leslie’s fan site) as well as a ‘capture’ of the Jiao Jiao / Leslie exchange. I’ve also translated the commentary from the netizen who posted the actual clip on Weibo (which sort of sets up the scene so that the clip makes more sense):


Translation:

Rancy綵虹糖 wrote: In 2000, Jacky Cheung and 'Gor Gor' Leslie Cheung arrived at the Taiwan airport [for the 11th Golden Melody Awards]. "Super Sunday" host Huang Zi Jiao greeted them at the airport exit and even arranged to have an orchestra play music to welcome them. As Leslie arrived and was being interviewed, the orchestra 'accidentally' started playing Jacky's song in the background -- in turn, when Jacky was being interviewed, the orchestra also 'accidentally' played Leslie's song in the background...hahaha! Afterwards, the host [Jiao Jiao] gives Leslie a bouquet of flowers, but then asks for it right back so he could use the flowers again to give to Jacky....playfully, Leslie 'smacks' this particular host [Jiao Jiao] upside the head...HAHAHA...way too funny!

[Source: Huang Zi Jiao's weibo]



Dialogue between Leslie and Jiao Jiao (translated from video clip)..

Jiao Jiao: Leslie Gor Gor, how are you! I’m from “Super Sunday” – do you know who I am?

Leslie: Of course I do!

Jiao Jiao: Really! Oh, so moved! (motions to the crew member) Come, come come, present flowers! (Leslie takes the flowers)

Jiao Jiao: Leslie Gor Gor, you haven’t been back here in a long time. When will you be releasing another Mandarin album?

(At this moment, a crew member tells the orchestra that they’re playing the wrong song)

Leslie: Not yet.

Jiao Jiao: Oh really? You should hurry up and come out with another Mandarin album.

(As Leslie walks on, Jiao Jiao continues to interview him.)

 Jiao Jiao: You were on the same flight with Jacky earlier?

Leslie: Yes, yes, yes.

Jiao Jiao: Did you guys sit together and talk?

Leslie: No, but we were talking this entire time.

Jiao Jiao: Oh, so you guys were talking while waiting to go through Customs.

Leslie: Yes.

Jiao Jiao: Do you mind gesturing to the Super Sunday audience for us? Super! Thank you! Bye!

Leslie: Bye! (he turns and starts to walk away with the flowers in his hands)

Jiao Jiao (chasing after Leslie): Um, s-s-sorry.....(Leslie turns around)....the flowers we still need to use again later....sorry! (Jiao Jiao grabs the flowers out of Leslie's hands)

Leslie: Ha? The flowers aren’t for me to keep? (Leslie playfully smacks Jiao Jiao on the head and big red letters flash across the screen: LESLIE CHEUNG HIT PEOPLE LA!!)

Jiao Jiao: Aiya! We only have that one bouquet of flowers! Sorry! (Looks around) Where’s Jacky? Where’s Jacky?

 .---.




As an extra ‘bonus’, here’s a translation of the next segment in the video – Jiao Jiao’s interview with Jacky:

Jiao Jiao (rushing over to interview Jacky, who was sigining autographs for fans): Finally, we’re able to squeeze in and have a talk with Jacky. As is our usual practice, let’s present flowers to Jacky Gor Gor! (He hands Jacky the flowers) Welcome Jacky! (immediately takes the flowers back) Ok, thanks..we need to use the flowers again later. (Jacky laughs)

(All this time, the orchestra was still playing Leslie’s song, so the crew member tells them: ‘Hurry up, switch to Jacky’s!’)

Jiao Jiao: Congrats! How’s your wife doing? [TN: Jacky’s wife May was pregnant at the time]
Jacky: Not bad, not bad!

Jiao Jiao: Really. Did you give Harlem some pointers? He doesn’t seem to be able to make it come out. (a few seconds of awkward silence as Jacky looks confused and ponders Jiao Jiao’s question.)

Jacky: How long has it been? There’s no rush! [TN: Harlem had just gotten married, so Jacky meant that there’s no rush for him to have children just yet.]

Jiao Jiao: No rush, huh…

Jacky: Right, right.

Jiao Jiao: Do you hope to have a son or daughter?

Jacky: Doesn’t matter.

Jiao Jiao: Doesn’t matter, as long as have a child, right?

Jacky (laughs): Right.

Jiao Jiao: Are you nervous? In a few hours , need to d-d-deliver (Jacky looks at Jiao Jiao quizzically)…..deliver the awards! [TN: Jiao Jiao purposefully plays on the Chinese word for ‘delivering’ a baby]

Jacky: I think…I think…I think….Harlem’s chances are greater!

Jiao Jiao: Have you noticed that your song has been playing in the background? (He points to the 3-man orchestra behind them…Jacky looks over and laughs). We’ve had a 3-man orchestra following us and you didn’t even notice?! (Jacky laughs again). They work so hard! Ok la, ok la, add oil! SUPER! Thank you, Jacky! Bye bye!

As Jacky walks away, a voice in the back [Leslie] shouts out “Where are my flowers?” to which Jiao Jiao replies: “Your flowers, I will be taking with me…bye!”

.---.

My comments:

Omg, this clip (and the corresponding dialogue) was HILARIOUS!

First, Jacky’s expression when he comes out the gate and sees Jiao Jiao (he makes a funny face at him like a little kid, then walks right past him…hahaha) totally cracked me up. Then, Jiao Jiao rushes over to welcome Leslie (hey, Jacky came out first – Jiao Jiao was obviously playing favorites…LOL). I almost fell on the floor laughing at the sight of Jiao Jiao grabbing those flowers out of Leslie's hands and 'recycling' them to give to Jacky....and I'm pretty sure that the band playing the wrong music was definitely not an 'accident' (hehehe)......no wonder Leslie smacked Jiao Jiao! HAHAHAHA!! Oh, and Jiao Jiao's reaction to Leslie hitting him -- PRICELESS!!

In the next segment, when Jiao Jiao interviews Jacky, it’s obvious from the way he joked with him that they have a close relationship (primarily due to Jacky’s closeness to Harlem and Xiao Yan Jie) – also, Jacky’s silly expression throughout the whole interview was just too cute (LOL)! My favorite part was at the end of Jacky’s interview when Leslie suddenly asks about his flowers again (hehehe...)

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

My 'TVB Rant' # 18: Blatant SNUBS from TVB's 'Season of Love' Top Onscreen Couples of All Time Poll

I know TVB’s poll took place over 2 months ago and the results are pretty much done now, but I sort of got 'reminded' of it when I was doing my 'Weibo Fever #10' post. Actually, I remember laughing (after my anger subsided, that is) when I saw the final nominees from the poll because some of the so-called 'classic on screen couples' that TVB chose (nominated) to be in the poll were definitely NOT 'classics'!! I honestly don't know what criteria TVB used to choose the final nominees (all I know is that they chose 1 couple from the series that aired each year starting in 1967), but I do know that many of the couples they chose to be in the poll definitely would not be most audiences' picks (I'm talking longtime watchers of TVB here) to represent that particular year! And to add salt to the wound (so to speak), not only did they choose some 'undeserving' couples to be in the poll (meaning they don't even come close in terms of 'classic' couple), they also left out some couples that are very OBVIOUSLY classic, memorable pairings (for example, I don't think anyone would disagree with me that Felix Wong's Kwok Jing and Barbara Yung's Wong Yung in "Legend of the Condor Heroes" was an endearing onscreen couple and absolutely falls into the 'classic' category, right??). Well, Felix and Barbara were just one of the many examples (I've listed more of them below, based on my humble opinion) of the obvious SNUBS from the TVB poll. [Maybe in a way, it's sort of better that I waited to write this post because I probably would have been more harsh / critical toward TVB (or whoever it was who chose the nominees) if this post had been written back then.]

Anyway, in terms of the poll itself, I didn't have too much of a problem with the nominees from the 60s and 70s era, since most of those I would have probably picked as well (plus many of those were before my time anyway and I didn't watch most of the 70s series until the late 80s, so the impact is a bit different). I also didn't have too much of an issue with the 'after 2000s' couples either (well, I guess it was more like I didn't really care, since that was around the time when TVB started deteriorating and I didn't really give a crap about many of their artists and series from that time anyway). The ones that I truly had a problem with were the picks from the 80s and 90s era, as that was the era where TVB was at its peak and it was also the era that produced the most truly memorable onscreen couples (there were so many SNUBS and 'WTH picks' from the 80s and 90s era, I was starting to wonder whether the person who put together this poll even watched TVB series period!!)

I know this will sound mean, but the person who put this poll together must have been on drugs or something because it's hard for me to believe that any HK TV series fanatic or long-time TVB follower would actually fail to include most of the below couples on the poll (the first 5 couples especially!!) and instead choose to include such 'forgettable' pairings as Liu Wai Hung and Carina Lau from "Games People Play" or Liu Wai Hung and Esther Kwan from "Mutual Affection" in the 'classics' category!!!

So which 'classic' onscreen couples did TVB leave out in their poll? And which couples did they include that made diehard TVB fans like me scratch my head and exclaim WTH?? Read on for the ‘lowdown’…..


SNUB #1: Felix Wong and Barbara Yung -- Kwok Jing and Wong Yung from "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" trilogy (1983)

Quick question – which TVB fan out there has NOT seen the 80s version of “The Legend of the Condor Heroes” (or at least heard about it)? For those who have seen it, how many people out there would NOT consider Felix and Barbara’s portrayal of KJ and WY as ‘classic’?

Ok, this one really bugs me actually….TVB obviously remembered to nominate Andy Lau and Idy Chan's "Return of the Condor Heroes" pairing, but yet they forgot to include the couple that started the whole Jin Yong hype in the first place (at least for most of us who grew up in the 80s that is): Felix and Barbara's classic pairing from "Legend of the Condor Heroes" (which came before ROTCH, by the way)!!! Just look at the facts -- it has been close to 30 years since the 80s version LOTCH was made, yet to this day, when many audiences think of Kwok Jing and Wong Yung, the names that automatically come to mind are Felix and Barbara's -- not to mention that this pairing is still wildly popular all over Asia (not just in HK) even now! And you know what ticks me off the most about Felix and Barbara being 'left out' of the poll? Well, TVB decided to include Chilam Cheung and Athena Chu's portrayal of Kwok Jing and Wong Yung from the 90s remake (the series pretty much sucked in my opinion) in the poll, yet their pairing (and portrayal of the characters) was NO WHERE NEAR as 'classic' and 'endearing' as Felix and Barbara's (nothing against Chilam and Athena, as I like both of them as artists…I just didn’t like the 90s remake period). Well then, how the hell could TVB fail to nominate Felix and Barbara in their ‘Top 10 Onscreen Couples of All Time’ poll??

Who TVB chose instead: Andy Lau’s Yang Guo and Idy Chan’s Siu Lung Nu from “Return of the Condor Heroes”.

Ok, in a sense, I could understand why TVB wanted to include Andy and Idy in the poll, as they truly were a classic couple (and to this day, the ONLY portrayal of Yang Guo and Siu Lung Nu that most audiences recognize). In fact, I absolutely would have included them as well…BUT….NOT AT THE EXPENSE of Felix and Barbara! I mean, I understand the difficulty in choosing because both LOTCH and ROTCH aired in 1983, but I think this would be one of those instances that warrant an exception – meaning that TVB should have chosen BOTH COUPLES to represent that year, since both were equally important! Come on now – would anyone really have minded if there were 45 couples in the poll instead of 44? It’s not like audiences would have rioted or anything if there were 2 couples representing 1983 instead of the traditional 1, right?


SNUB #2: Michael Miu and Barbara Yung -- Szeto Mun Mo and Ah Yin from "The Fearless Duo" (1984)

In any poll that deals with 80s 'golden couples', how is it possible that at least ONE Michael Miu and Barbara Yung pairing is not included? I mean, they were THE representative onscreen couple of the 80s, as the two of them pretty much collaborated in the most series during that era! Though I personally would have chosen their collaboration in “The Fearless Duo” for the poll (primarily because their love story in that series was the most touching and the one with the best result), but honestly, I would have been happy even if they were nominated for a different series (i.e.: “The New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung”, “The Foundation”, “United We Stand”, etc.). Michael and Barbara were paired together as a couple 4 times in 1984, so that means TVB had at least 4 series to choose from in terms of a nomination, yet they failed to choose even ONE??? What are the odds of that happening?

Who TVB chose instead: Tony Leung’s Cheung Wai Kit and Maggie Cheung’s Tse Wing Chi from “Police Cadet ‘84”

Hmmm….tough one, but I actually would have chosen Michael and Barbara over Tony and Maggie. Why? Well, if we’re talking ‘classic’, back then Michael and Barbara as a couple was way more popular than Tony and Maggie – plus I’ve always been of the opinion that Tony’s character matched better with Margie Tsang’s Yip Hao Yee in “Police Cadet ‘85”. Also, if we look at sheer numbers, Michael and Barbara were paired together 4 times versus Tony and Maggie being paired just once -- according to the TVB traditional formula, if an onscreen pairing is overwhelmingly popular, TVB will usually ‘milk’ the relationship by having them pair up as many times as possible….so to me, the fact that TVB had Michael and Barbara pair up so many times tells me that even they felt that these 2 were popular and compatible as a couple! And just like with 1983, if TVB really wanted to include Tony and Maggie as well, then again, make an exception and include BOTH!


SNUB #3: Deric Wan and Maggie Siu -- Chai Ho Nam & Shek Yi Ming from "The Blood of Good and Evil" (1990)

Sorry for being mean, but who in their right minds would leave Deric and Maggie out of a TVB classic couples poll??? I mean, as a long-time TVB follower, if you were to ask me for a list of TVB's classic 'golden couples' , Deric and Maggie would ABSOLUTELY be near the top of the list! They were one of the most endearing and popular onscreen couples of the late 80s/early 90s (starting with 1989's "Looking Back in Anger" and pairing up twice more in 1990's "The Blood of Good and Evil" as well as 1994's "The Conscience"....and let's not forget 1991's "The Breaking Point" -- even though they weren't a couple in this series, the 2 of them simply collaborating in another series together was a treat in itself). I doubt anyone would disagree if I said that Deric and Maggie were wildly popular as an onscreen couple back then (the early 90s especially). Also, 3 of the 4 series they collaborated in were among the Top 10 higest rated TVB series of their generation (basically counting up to the mid-90s), with their pairing garnering thousands of fans in HK....and yet, they were EXCLUDED from the poll?? WTH??

Who TVB chose instead: Leon Lai’s Yim Zi Wah and Nnadia Chan’s Chou Shun from “Songbird”

Um, TVB actually cheated a little with this one because “Songbird” was released in 1989 and finished airing in 1990 – so technically, it could have been counted under 1989 instead (though they still would have lost out, since Felix and Carina rightfully took the spot for 1989). To be honest though, as much as Leon and Nnadia may have looked good together in “Songbird” (and I did like them as a couple in that series), I really wouldn’t consider them a ‘classic’ couple, especially when compared to Deric and Maggie! And again, if we want to go with the ‘numbers’ method – well, up to that point, Deric and Maggie had already collaborated in 2 series together (as an endearing couple in both) whereas it was the first (and only) collaboration for Leon and Nnadia….so for me, Deric and Maggie win hands down!


SNUB #4: Michael Tao and Kenix Kwok -- Cheung Dai Yong and Jessie Ko from "Detective Investigation Files 1 - 3" (1995, 1996, 1997)

This snub REALLY ticks me off to no end! The DIF trilogy was one of TVB’s biggest HITS of the 90s and since the series aired in 1995/1996 as well as 1997 (I’m talking about the original trilogy only with the original cast), TVB pretty much had 3 chances to nominate Michael and Kenix, yet they were passed up each time!! How stupid is that???

I mean, is there anyone out there who would disagree that Michael and Kenix are a 'classic' onscreen couple, especially given how IMMENSELY popular the DIF trilogy was back in the 90s? In fact, Michael and Kenix were so popular as a couple that there were even audiences back then who thought they were actually a couple in real life (of course, it didn't help that they filmed alot of commercials together back then too). The weird thing is, TVB obviously recognizes the immense popularity of these two as a couple, otherwise the station would not have paired them up again 2 MORE TIMES in series in the after 2000s era when Michael returned to TVB (they were paired together in "Love Bond" and "Shine on You" ). So you mean to tell me that TVB knew enough to pair Michael and Kenix up 5 times, yet couldn't even nominate them ONCE in their classic couples poll? What gives???

Who TVB chose instead: Well, it depends on which year….since DIF would have been eligible in 1995, 1996, and 1997, let’s look at who TVB chose in those 3 years:

1995: Gallen Lo’s Fong Shu Gan and Kathy Chow’s Lau Ah Choi from “Plain Love”
1996: Liu Wai Hung’s Chan Gui Sheung and Esther Kwan’s Liu Yuet Or from “Mutual Affection
1997: Bobby Au Yeung’s Kwok Oi and Esther Kwan’s Shing Ping from “Taming of the Princess”

If we look at 1995, I’m actually ok with Gallen and Kathy, since I truly liked and enjoyed “Plain Love”, but just like with Leon and Nnadia, I just wouldn’t consider Gallen and Kathy a ‘classic’ couple -- though I’m not opposed to them being in this poll, I would have readily replaced them with Michael and Kenix instead. I’m definitely ok with the 1997 choice, since Bobby and Esther are definitely a ‘classic’ couple and they would have been my choice as well to be in the poll.

The ‘representative’ couple from 1996 however was an absolute JOKE!! I can’t believe that TVB actually chose Liu Wai Hung and Esther Kwan’s pairing in “Mutual Affection” to represent that year – SERIOUSLY??? Who are they trying to fool? I mean, not only did they pass up Michael and Kenix (which was already a ‘sin’ in itself), they also didn’t include a single pairing from “Cold Blood Warm Heart” either (which also aired in 1996)! I would have been ok with even one of the pairings from CBWH bumping out Michael and Kenix, but Liu Wah Hung and Esther??? REALLY?? Um, since when was LWH and Esther a more ‘classic’ couple than Michael and Kenix? Heck, does anyone even REMEMBER the series “Mutual Affection”???? Enough said!!


SNUB #5: Ekin Cheng and Nnadia Chan – Bao Mun Lung and Ah Lit from “Instinct” (1994)

If we’re talking about ‘classic’ onscreen couples, another definite choice for me would be Ekin and Nnadia, as they were one of THE representative couples of the 90s. I guess we could sort of consider them the Michael and Barbara of the 90s in that they collaborated in the most series together (in terms of being paired together), though if you ask me, my favorite pairing of theirs is the one in “Instinct” (I cried so hard when Nnadia’s character died in that series).

Anyway, if TVB really wanted to include Ekin and Nnadia, they could have chosen any of their other collaborations as well (they were paired in 4 or 5 series together throughout the 90s, including a cameo appearance as a couple in one of the 90s sitcoms)….yet once again, the two of them were passed up completely! Arghh!!!

Who TVB chose instead: Julian ‘Chilam’ Cheung’s Kwok Jing and Athena Chu’s Wong Yung from the 90s remake of “The Legend of the Condor Heroes”

Some people may disagree with me here, but I would definitely have chosen Ekin and Nnadia over Chilam and Athena, primarily because I’m one of those who absolutely hated the 90s remake of LOTCH (yes, I actually sat through most of it and regretted it) – plus for me, no one can ever replace Felix and Barbara as KJ and WY (not even Chilam, whom I absolutely adore as an actor). Also, if need be, we could play the ‘numbers’ game here as well (haha…see, told you it’s the TVB formula), since “Instinct” would have been Ekin and Nnadia’s fourth time pairing together (well, technically 5 if you count the sitcom I mentioned earlier).


SNUB #6: Leon Lai and Kathy Chow – Ching Long and Shum Mun Yee from “The Breaking Point” (1991)

This one is actually a personal favorite of mine, only because I was a huge fan of the series back then. I may not be a fan of Leon’s (still not even today), but Kathy WAS one of my favorite actresses – plus I really liked the cast of the series as well as the story, so that definitely helped fuel my obsession with this series. From an onscreen couple perspective, Leon and Kathy definitely did look good together and their chemistry in this series (as well as their previous collaboration in “Cherished Moments”) was very apparent. So yes, I would definitely include these two in my list of ‘onscreen couples’ from the 90s.

Who TVB chose instead: Hacken Lee’s Chuang Kit and Sammi Cheng’s Si Mun from “A Life of His Own”

Ok, this is really a tough one for me because I liked both series quite a lot – also, the Hacken / Sammi pairing in this series was one of my favorites as well, so I wouldn’t necessarily say that they weren’t deserving of a spot on the poll. With that said though, if I really had to choose, I would most likely go with Leon and Kathy, primarily because they collaborated in more series for one, and two, I just liked the series too much.


SNUB #7: Bowie Lam and Flora Chan – Tsang Ka Yuen and Lip Bo Yin from “Untraceable Evidence I & II (1998, 1999)

The Bowie and Flora pairing has always been on my ‘favorite couples’ list from the 90s, as I love the natural chemistry between these two. Both of them were excellent in UE and I took to this pairing so much that I totally looked forward to their pairing in “Healing Hands” as well (which turned out to be a disappointment compared to UE, though part of that was because of the messy storyline). Anyway, their pairing is still a greatly memorable one and I continue to hope that one day, they might collaborate again (though most likely not at TVB).

Who TVB chose instead: Since “Untraceable Evidence” aired in 1998 and 1999, it would be appropriate to look at the nominees for both those years:

1998: Lawrence Ng’s Paul Ching and Ada Choi’s Jackie Tong from “Healing Hands”
1999: Gallen Lo’s Yip Wing Tim and Flora Chan’s Helen Fok from “At the Threshold of an Era”

Given the choices, I would definitely choose Bowie and Flora in UE instead of Gallen and Flora in ATE – ok, I admit that it’s a personal bias of mine because I actually preferred the Gallen and Kenix pairing in ATE rather than the Gallen / Flora one….plus to me, Bowie and Flora are more ‘classic’ in terms of pairing (from a chemistry perspective especially). As for Lawrence and Ada – of course I would keep them in the poll.

.---.

In addition to those listed above, here are a few more couples whom I felt should have been in the poll but were excluded (they're certainly on my list of 'classic' couples, that's for sure!

.-- Tony Leung and Kitty Lai from "The New Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre" (1986)

.-- Eddie Cheung and Margie Tsang from "The Turbulent Decade" (1985) or the sitcom "Everybody Loves Somebody" (1989)

.-- Michael Miu and Jamie Chik -- ok, I know they probably don't count because the 3 series they were in together as a couple ("The Yang's Saga", "The Two Most Honorable Knights", and "The Dragon Sword") were sort of 'cameo' performances and they weren't the 'main' characters, but still, they deserve to be on the list, especially since they became a couple in real life (yes, this is my personal bias talking...LOL).

.***.

Concluding Thoughts

Aside from the ‘snubs’ that I mentioned above, there were also a few ‘what the hell were they thinking’ nominees in the poll. I already mentioned one of them above (the Liu Wai Hung / Esther Kwan pairing)….but the pairing that made me really want to strangle the person who put together this poll was the ‘representative’ couple from 1988: Liu Wai Hung and Carina Lau from “Games People Play”.

If you thought the LWH / Esther pairing was a joke, the LWH / Carina pairing was even worse (I actually did watch the series “Games People Play” due to my long-time TVB roots plus I rarely missed a series from back in the 80s, but if you guys never saw the series, don’t worry – you didn’t miss anything). Not only was the pairing of LWH and Carina forgettable, the series itself was forgettable as well. What irks me most is that in 1988, there were SO MANY good series with pairings that could have easily beat out this one -- for example: some of the more popular series from 1988 were: “A Friend in Need”, “The Two Most Honorable Knights”, “My Father’s Son”, “And Yet We Live”, “The Saga of the Lost Kingdom”, etc. – yet TVB chose a pairing from a relatively unknown series? Even now, I’m still scratching my head with this one!

Lastly, as a point of reference, here are screencaps of the entire list of nominees from the poll (one couple representing each year from 1968 to 2011). Note that out of this list, 10 couples were chosen (based on audience votes supposedly) as the ‘Top 10 Onscreen Couples of All Time’ (I’ll do a post on that piece later).

TVB十大熒幕情侶選舉 [TVB Top 10 Onscreen Couples Poll]

Source: TVB.com

Monday, April 16, 2012

Weibo Fever # 12: More Celebrity Childhood Pictures **Edited to include Answers**

Hope you guys had fun guessing the celebrities in the 3 pics that I posted earlier (see Weibo Fever #11 post)!

Some of the pics were obvious (Tony Leung’s for example…he hasn’t changed one bit from that picture…hahaha) whereas others were a bit of a shocker. There were a few where I actually had to go back and study the pics again once I found out the answers because the celebs looked way too different!

Anyway, ready for more? Here are 3 more pics for you to try, along with the relevant clues underneath. Answers will be posted in the next few days.

Enjoy!

****

** All pictures credited as listed **

Pic 4: Female Artists - 'Nostalgia' edition


** Hint: These female artists are all former TVB fa dans from the 80s (hence the 'nostalgia' part). Most of them (except for one) are still active in the entertainment industry in some way (though not necessarily in HK).

Answers (place cursor on 'period' and highlight to read):

.Top row (left to right): Maggie Siu (邵美琪), Carina Lau (劉嘉玲), Barbara Yung (翁美玲)
Middle row (left to right): Jamie Chik (戚美珍), Kathy Chow (周海媚), Carol ‘Dodo’ Cheng (鄭裕玲)
Bottom row (left to right): Sandra Ng (吳君如), Angie Chiu (趙雅芝), Margie Tsang (曾華倩)

.---.

Pic 5: Male Artists C - Music industry edition


**Hint: All male artists in this segment are SINGERS. It shouldn't be too hard to guess, as almost all of them (except for one person) are still active in the entertainment industry even now [the first 2 pics in the first row should be VERY obvious]. One artist is a non-HK singer. One BIG hint (just cuz I feel like it..haha...) -- yes, my idol's childhood pic is included among these (won't go so far as to say which row the pic is located in though...LOL).

Answers (place cursor on 'period' and highlight to read):
.Top row (left to right): Leo Ku (古巨基), Hacken Lee (李克勤), Andy Hui (許志安)
Middle row (left to right): Jordan Chan (陳小春), Paul Wong (黄贯中), Daniel Chan (陳曉東)
Bottom row (left to right): Danny Chan (陳百强), Jacky Cheung (張學友), Luo Da You (羅大佑)

.---.

Pic 6: Female Artists C -- Beauty Queens


**Hint: As the title suggests, all of these female artists participated in some type of beauty pageant (not necessarily TVB, so don't just think about Miss HK pageant).

Answers (place cursor on 'period' and highlight to read):
.Top row (left to right): Michele Reis (李嘉欣), Anita Yuen (袁詠儀), Amy Kwok (郭藹明)


Middle row (left to right): Charmaine Sheh (佘詩曼), Sonjia Kwok (郭羡妮), Anne Heung (向海嵐)
Bottom row (left to right): Shirley Yeung (楊思琦), Kenix Kwok (郭可盈), Maggie Cheung Hor Yee (張可颐)

Friday, April 13, 2012

Weibo Fever # 11: Celebrity Childhood Pictures **Edited to include Answers**

As I was doing my daily 'stalking' on Weibo (LOL), I stumbled across a few pictures from a netizen that I thought would be kind of fun to share.

Pictures can speak a thousand words (as the saying goes) and for me, getting the chance to look at baby or childhood pictures of people is fun, as I like to see how much a person may (or may not) have changed. Some people may look the same throughout their lives (and hence even in a baby picture, he/she is easily recognizable) while others may look entirely different when they're adults versus when they were children.

Below are a few childhood pictures of various celebrities who are pretty well-known in the HK entertainment industry (that is, to those of us who follow HK entertainment pretty closely that is).

How many celebrities are you able to identify?

Have fun!! :-)

** All pictures credit as listed **

.---.

Pic 1: Female Artists


** Hint: All pictured are TV actresses for the most part (except for 1, who was in very few series) and all of them worked for TVB at one point (I know that's not much of a hint, since almost every celebrity in HK worked for TVB at one point in their lives...LOL).

Answers (highlight to read):

Top row (left to right): Ada Choi (蔡少芬), Jessica Hsuan (宣萱), Esther Kwan (關詠荷)
Middle row (left to right): Monica Chan (陳法蓉), Annie Man (文頌嫻), Flora Chan (陳慧珊)
Bottom row (left to right): Vivian Chow (周慧敏), Noelle Leung (梁小冰), Athena Chu (朱茵)

.--.

Pic 2: Male Artists A


** Hint: Again, all the guys pictured are (or were) TV actors (though that doesn't mean they didn't do 'other things' throughout their careers -- such as singing) and all worked for TVB at one point. One of the guys is now a popular movie actor (actually, an 'award-winning' movie actor).

Answers (highlight to read):

Top row (left to right): Alex Fong Chun Sun (方中信), Ben Wong (黃智賢), Raymond Cho (曹永廉)
Middle row (left to right): Sunny Chan (陳錦鴻), Derek Kok (郭政鴻), Gordon Lam (林家棟)
Bottom row (left to right): Bowie Lam (林保怡), Nick Cheung (張家輝), Julian ‘Chilam’ Cheung (張智霖)


.--.

Pic 3: Male Artists B



** Hint: This is the 'superstar' edition (meaning most of them are popular, 'big name' stars) -- don't limit yourself to TV, as a few of them could be movie actors and/or singers.

Answers (highlight to read):

Top row (left to right): Eric Tsang (曾志偉), Leon Lai (黎明), Chow Yun Fat (周潤發)
Middle row (left to right): Tony Leung (梁朝偉), Aaron Kwok (郭富城), Felix Wong (黃日華)
Bottom row (left to right): Andy Lau (劉德華), Leslie Cheung (張國榮), Stephen Chow (周星馳)

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Weibo Fever # 10: TVB’s ‘classic’ on-screen couples: 1994 to 2003

I found this clip on Weibo (Sina) and loved it so much that I absolutely have to share it.

Earlier, TVB had done a ‘classic TVB couples’ poll where they took 1 couple from each of the 44 years that it has been in existence and had audiences vote to come up with a Top 10. Though there were some couples that were truly classics, there were others that I totally was like WTH?? And unfortunately, there were a lot of truly ‘classic’ couples who were missing from the poll (some so blatantly missing that it ticks me off just thinking about it)!

Anyway, enough with my rant….after watching this particular video clip made by a netizen and posted on Weibo, I definitely feel so much better, as this clip includes a lot of ‘classic’ couples that should have rightfully been in that poll but were not. Now of course, since this clip only covers couples from series from around 1994 to 2003, it’s not all-inclusive, but at least it has many of the ones I would consider ‘classic’!

Also, watching this video clip brought back so many memories, especially since I recognize almost every single series featured in this clip (many of the series are amongst my favorites from the 90s and early 2000s).

Hope you enjoy this clip as much as I did!

P.S.: How many series do you recognize? Better yet, how many of these ‘classic’ couples are amongst your favorites as well?

*********

Source: Sina Weibo (credit as listed in picture below)


Link to Video clip here

**Note: I've been trying for hours and couldn't get the video to embed in blogger for some reason..so I included a link to the video instead. Sorry for the inconvenience!**

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Jacky Cheung ½ Century Concert – Chengdu stop: Jacky recalls his love story with wife May Lo

I came across this awesome article written by a reporter in Chengdu as a promotional piece for Jacky’s upcoming concert in the region. It’s a very heartwarming piece recounting Jacky and his wife May’s relationship and so I felt moved to share this with fellow Jacky fans.

With Jacky’s concert ending next month (final stop in HK on May 23rd), there will inevitably be fewer opportunities to read news about Jacky – I know that I will definitely miss ‘following’ all the updates about his concert shows (I feel as though I’ve traveled with Jacky all around the world this past year and a half..LOL)! Therefore, might as well enjoy these articles while they last!

.****.

Jacky Cheung ½ Century Concert – Chengdu stop: Jacky recalls his love story with wife May Lo

Article published April 11th, 2012

Source: Chengdu News

Translated by: llwy12

Picture credit as listed


“From the moment I had that ‘electrifying’ feeling, I knew that we would be together.” These are the same words that both Jacky Cheung (張學友) and May Lo (羅美薇) coincidentally happened to say when giving separate interviews to reporters. Sometimes, that’s the way love is – a chance encounter that turns into love at first sight.

On May 4th, Jacky Cheung will be returning to Chengdu [China] to serenade audiences with one signature love song after another – it will be as though he is recounting his own romantic love story with his wife May Lo for his many fans.

Jacky states: “Years ago, there were many times when, with tears in her eyes, May would try to persuade me to quit drinking – she would even buy all sorts of special teas and candies to help me kick the habit, but unfortunately none of it worked. Every time I got drunk, she would prepare tea for me, put a warm towel on my forehead, clean up the vomit in the bathroom….at that time, not only would I not be moved by her actions, sometimes I would even act like a lunatic, holding a wine bottle in one hand and waving erratically at her with the other hand, telling her to get out!”

He continues: “Back then, aside from my own family, there was only one other person who cared so much about my well-being -- that person was May Lo.” At that time, out of desperation, May told Jacky that she was breaking up with him in the hopes of ‘provoking’ him into getting out of his rut and back onto his feet, however this caused his mood to become worse – seeing Jacky in this condition was painful for May and her heart ached for him. She had one of their mutual friends bring him a message: if he would resolve to quit drinking, then she would return to his side. These words were like a light at the end of a dark tunnel for Jacky and from that moment on, he was determined to quit drinking. In October of 1988, May returned to Jacky’s side.

Jacky recounts: “In order to properly handle marriage and family relationships for a lifetime, there are so many things that one must learn.” Nowadays, Jacky always puts his family ahead of all else – in fact, he has even considered sacrificing his own career and interests for his family. Jacky states: “I feel that up to this point, as a husband I would give myself a 60 and as a father I would give myself only a 70 [out of 100]; therefore, I decided to put my family at the center of my life [to continue working on being a good husband and father] – if anyone tried to interfere with these plans, I wouldn’t have any second thoughts about leaving the entertainment industry.”

.----.

Chinese version:

张学友来蓉讲爱的故事

2012-04-11 05:49四川新闻网-成都商报

  成都商报讯(记者 任宏伟)“从那刻有触电的感觉开始,我就知道我们会一起。”这是张学友和罗美薇在接受采访时不约而同谈到的一句话。有时候,爱情就是这样不期而遇,一见钟情。在5月4日的晚上,张学友这位好男人将在成体中心深情演唱一首首动人情歌,就像给蓉城歌迷讲述自己和妻子罗美薇的浪漫故事一般。

  张学友说,“好多次,罗美薇泪眼模糊地劝我戒酒,甚至买来各种戒酒茶、戒酒糖果,但都无效。每次喝醉了,罗美薇总是泡茶、敷热毛巾、清理卫生间里的呕吐物……可我不仅不感动,有时还会像疯子一样,一手拿着酒瓶,一手挥舞着让她滚蛋。”

张学友说,“当时除了自己的亲人,还有一个人关心着我,那就是罗美薇。”当初宣布分手,也许不过是个“激将法”,想刺激他积极进取,谁知张学友却越发消沉,罗美薇看在眼里,痛在心头。她只好委托好友传话给张学友:如果他下决心戒酒,她会考虑回到他的身边。听到此话,张学友恍若在黑暗中见到曙光,一口答应坚决戒酒。1988年10月,罗美薇回到了张学友身边。

  张学友说,“一生一世处理好家庭与婚姻关系,不知要学多少东西。”张学友永远把家庭放在第一位,甚至想到为家人牺牲自己的事业与兴趣。张学友对外宣称“我觉得到目前为止,做罗美薇的老公,我只能打60分,做爸爸能打70分,所以我决定将重心放在家庭,假如再有人干扰我的计划,我会义无反顾地退出演艺圈。”

  泸州老窖·国窖1573之夜张学友1/2世纪演唱会成都站

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Mingpao Interview with veteran TVB actor Wu Fung: ‘After 80’ Abundance

Wu Fung is one of my favorite veteran / senior actors! I grew up watching his series and even though I don't always like the characters he portrays, I almost always enjoy his performances in the series.

One of the many qualities I like about Wu Fung as a person is his optimistic and postive outlook on life as well as his 'genuineness' in treating all people with respect, regardless of how he himself is treated. Based on various interviews, his philosophy is basically 'Don't sweat the small stuff' -- as long as you try your best and enjoy what you do, don't let the trivial matters get you down. Such great advice!!


In addition to having a great attitude, Wu Fung is also a very honest and sincere person, which is definitely rare in the entertainment world. It's no wonder that he is so highly respected and admired in the industry (which was obvious a couple months ago with all the people who showed up at his suprise birthday party).

Anyway, I definitely enjoyed this interview and hope that those who grew up watching Wu Fung perform onscreen will enjoy it as well!

*********

Mingpao Interview with veteran TVB actor Wu Fung: ‘After 80’ Abundance

Source: Mingpao Weekly, Issue 2264

Translation: llwy12

Article originally published March 31, 2012


The tremendous amount of dedication and respect that Wu Fung (胡楓) [nicknamed ‘Sau Gor’] demonstrates toward his work is something that today’s younger generation may never be able to emulate. He does not have a manager, so he arranges all job opportunities personally himself. Recently, he has been busy filming the TVB sitcom Til Love Do Us Lie 《結‧分@謊情式》 while at the same time preparing for his concert at the HK Coliseum [TN: his concert took place this week], plus aside from that, he also does volunteer work on a consistent basis. In a week, Sau Gor is pretty much busy 7 days straight, so when our [Mingpao] reporter contacted him for an interview, he advised that he would try his best to accommodate.

After trying for more than a month to arrange an interview with him, our reporter finally received a call back from Sau Gor: “Let’s meet at the YWCA café on Waterloo Road – we can talk over lunch.” Since Sau Gor lives in Ho Man Tin, that particular café is indeed the most convenient place to meet.

Having been in the industry for close to 60 years, Sau Gor just finished celebrating a memorable 80th birthday. With his concert next week [TN: actually this week], Sau Gor will once again break the record for the ‘oldest’ [age-wise] artist to hold a concert at the HK Coliseum – truly a plentiful ‘harvest’ for him!


Working gives him energy

A few days prior to this interview, the organization that Sau Gor does volunteer work for held a special birthday celebration for him, with over a thousand people in attendance. Outside of his busy filming schedule at TVB, Sau Gor dedicates much of his free time to doing volunteer work in the local community.

“Most of the work I do services the elderly and senior citizens. Sometimes I would help out the Professional Medical Services Association by traveling with them to visit and sing for the elderly; other times, I would help with the distribution of scarves, food, snacks, etc. at the senior centers.”

In terms of filming Til Love Do Us Lie, the 120 episode sitcom is enough to keep him busy for 6 months straight – even though he works 6 to 7 days a week, Sau Gor expressed that working actually makes him more energetic.

“Working makes me very happy and gives me a lot of strength -- the more I work, the more lively and energetic I become. Acting is something I enjoy a lot – even though sometimes it can be exhausting and I don’t get enough sleep, I don’t feel tired at all because of the joy I experience in the process. Normally, I need to sleep for 9 hours, but nowadays, I only sleep 7 to 8 hours average.”

Even though filming for the sitcom ended in March, Sau Gor has still been quite busy preparing for his concert, which will be taking place on April 3rd at the HK Coliseum.

“Last time [10 years ago], people were asking why I sang so few songs at my concert, so this time around, I hope to sing a lot more songs, hopefully more than 20 or so. I’ve chosen mostly old songs to sing because most of the audience will be older people. This time, I won’t be doing as much dancing because I don’t want to be out of breath when I sing – after all, I’m 80 years old, not 18.”

The last time Sau Gor performed at the HK Coliseum was 10 years ago when he was 70 years old – at that time, he was the oldest person to hold a solo concert and the milestone was recorded in the Guiness Book of World Records. That concert was an unforgettable experience for him: “Andy Hui (許志安), Nicholas Tse (謝霆鋒), Twins, Louis Koo (古天樂), and Gallen Lo (羅嘉良) were all guests at that time. This time, I won’t be asking them again, as they were willing to help out the first time, which to me is enough – I don’t want to bother them. Godchildren are a different story though – I can ask them multiple times, since they’re my godchildren after all!”


Friendship with Cantonese opera singer Bak Suet Seen

Sau Gor has 13 godchildren spanning 3 different generations. In the early 80s when he was at ATV, he collaborated often with actresses Ban Ban (斑斑), Marian Wong (黃造時), Chui Si Fei (徐思斐), Christine Fong (方國珊), etc. and since he had great affinity with them, they became his goddaughters; in 1987, while filming director Jeffrey Lau’s (劉鎮偉) cult classic The Haunted Cop Shop 《猛鬼學堂》, Sau Gor developed a close relationship with the film’s stars – Jacky Cheung (張學友), Prudence Liew (劉美君), Sandy Lam (林憶蓮), Chan Fai Hung (陳輝虹), and Billy Lau (樓南光) – they started calling him ‘godfather’ and next thing he knew, they’ve been calling him that for 25 years; later on, when he started filming television series for TVB, he met Leon Lai (黎明) and Mickey Chu (朱健鈞) and soon, they became his godsons as well. According to Sau Gor, all his godchildren are very good to him and very filial.

“Leon and Sandy already promised to be musical guests at my concert. Nick Cheung (張家輝) will be a guest as well – he’s not one of my godsons, but we are still very compatible and quite close. I met him back when I was filming [TVB sitcom] Mind Our Own Business《開心華之里》with [Nick’s wife] Esther Kwan (關詠荷) – I have a special affinity with Esther because she shares the same Chinese name as my wife.” [TN: Sau Gor’s wife is also named ‘Wing Hor’ (詠荷)].

A few months ago, Sau Gor’s family arranged a surprise birthday party for him. At first, they told him that it would be a regular family dinner, but then when he arrived at the venue, he was surprised to see Nick Cheung walking toward him and wishing him a happy birthday – he was so happy at that time that he didn’t know how to react.

“I got a bit over-excited, as I saw so many good friends there – it definitely moved me to tears. When I think about all the preparation work that my kids did in the few months leading up to the event and the hundreds of phone calls they had to make, I know that they must have put a lot of time and effort into it – I’m moved just thinking about it.”

The biggest surprise for Sau Gor was that legendary Cantonese opera singer Bak Suet Seen (白雪仙) took the time to attend his surprise party. Though Seen Jie [as she is known to her fans] collaborated with Sau Gor more than 50 years ago in the film Nanny’s Tears《媽姐淚》, he admits that he no longer remembers what character he played in the film: “It was probably the ‘pampered young master’ type! I remember that Yam Jie [TN: another legendary Cantonese opera singer, Yam Kim Fai (任劍輝)] was in it as well. At that time, Seen Jie was already a senior level artist – she was quite demanding, but I was never afraid of her. She takes her work very seriously and does not tolerate carelessness.”

Sau Gor’s good friend and long-time ‘partner’ in front of the camera, Josephine Hsaio (蕭芳芳), could not make it to the party due to illness, however she called him later to send her birthday wishes: “She also sent me a card that her daughter helped make – it was a caricature of me on a stage with spotlights and lots of audiences surrounding me; on one side of the card, it said ‘Wu Fung very good’ 『胡楓好掂』and on the other side was written ‘Wu Fung handsome boy’ 『胡楓靚仔』-- she put a lot of thought into the card and it moved me tremendously!”


Keeps in contact with children and grandchildren via Internet

After he finishes his concert, Sau Gor is planning to go on a 3 week vacation with his wife – they will be visiting their children and grandchildren who live in Canada and England: “At this time in my life, my sons, daughters, and grandchildren are the most important.”

Sau Gor has 3 daughters and 2 sons, with a total of 6 grandchildren between them, ‘distributed’ amongst 3 regions: Hong Kong, Canada, and England: “We’re like the United Nations, haha! With the technology nowadays, we can keep in contact with them easily via the computer, so no need to worry anymore!” Sau Gor doesn’t know how to use a computer, but he did learn how to go on the internet and communicate with his children / grandchildren via webcam, so he’s still somewhat in tune with modern technology.

Though most of his children and grandchildren live overseas, Sau Gar has no intentions of immigrating – even when he goes to visit them, he always makes sure he is not away for more than 3 weeks. The reason? Because of his work at TVB: “Whatever TVB asks me to film, I agree to it, even if sometimes I don’t feel like it. There have been times where I ‘reluctantly’ take on a filming project…why do I say ‘reluctantly’? Because sometimes they ask me to do a cameo role that doesn’t have much screentime – I like participating in entire filming projects whenever possible.”

With a career spanning 60 years, Sau Gor has participated in countless movies and TV series. When asked which movie or series he is the most proud of, Sau Gor admits that it gives him a headache just thinking about it, as he participated in so many that it’s difficult for him to remember them all: “In the series The Final Verdict《誓不低頭》(1988), I played an honest and upright lawyer – many people say that was my most representative work – I feel it was pretty good.” Recently, in the movie Overheard 2 《竊聽風雲2》, Sau Gor got the chance once again to act alongside his good friend [and The Final Verdict co-star] Kenneth Tsang (曾江) – his only ‘complaint’ about that performance was that he had “too little screentime…more would have been better!” It’s obvious that Sau Gor never gets tired of acting and his passion for the craft is still very strong.


The forefather of the ‘underground’ relationship

Wu Fung’s real name is Wu Gai Sau (胡繼修) [TN: hence, everyone calls him ‘Sau Gor’] – his father was a renown antiques inspector, so at the age of 21, he arranged for Sau Gor to work at an uncle’s antiques shop. However, Sau Gor had no interest in antiques whatsoever and didn’t want to waste his life in such a dull job. One time, when he was serving as the best man at a friend’s wedding, many people praised how handsome he looked in a tuxedo, commenting that he looked “more handsome than many celebrities out there”. This ‘accolade’ ended up changing his life forever….one day, he came across a production company’s ad recruiting actors to join their company – he applied right away.

“Perhaps I was born to be in this industry! I have a stuttering ailment in real life, yet as soon as I’m in front of the camera, the dialogue flows out smoothly and fluently for some reason.”

Sau Gor joined the entertainment industry in 1953. In his very first film A Man’s Heart《男人心》, he was already cast as the male lead, starring opposite popular actress Fong Yim Fen (芳艷芬) – with his trademark dimples and good looks, he captured the hearts of many young female audiences and soon, the fan letters started pouring in.

Shortly thereafter, he got the chance to collaborate with many of the ‘Ah Jie’ level fa dans at the time – Patricia Lam (林鳳), Bai Yan (白燕), Tang Bik Wan (鄧碧雲), Nam Hung (南紅), etc. – most of whom brought along their housekeepers and chauffeurs to take care of them while they worked. Sau Gor was never put off by this ‘grandeur’ and instead, continued to work hard – even Bak Suet Seen, who had notoriously high standards, would continually praise his performances.

In the late 1960s, musicals became very popular and actresses such as Josephine Hsiao and Connie Chan (陳寶珠) rose to fame – formerly, as child stars, Josephine and Connie had played Sau Gor’s daughters, but now as adults, they became his ‘love interest’ in many popular musicals focused on singing and dancing. From that period on, Sau Gor earned a nickname that has stuck with him for decades – ‘Dance King Sau’.

Sau Gor married at the age of 24 – his wife was his first girlfriend and they had started dating even before he entered showbiz. At the time he decided to marry, he was a popular siu sang and so it was not recommended to marry so early, however his 90 year old grandmother wanted great-grandchildren, so he obliged. His boss at the production company he worked for didn’t want him to publicize his marriage and at that time, there was no such thing as the ‘paparazzi’, so Sau Gor and his wife married in a low-key, private ceremony – it can be said that he was part of the first generation of celebrities who ‘secretly’ married. It wasn’t until his kids were 5 to 6 years old that he publicly acknowledged his marriage and in 1995, they completed the ‘official’ registration process.

“The best thing about my wife is that she never gets jealous – she also prefers a low-key, ordinary life. She always tells me that whenever I do interviews with reporters, try not to talk about her if it can be avoided. She is very easy to get along with and our relationship is a comfortable one.” With the blink of eye, Sau Gor and his wife have been together for more than 50 years.


Healthy walking and jogging

Sau Gor is a huge advocate of leading by example and all these years, that is what he has taught his children and grandchildren. He sets the example by maintaining a stable and steady style of living and discouraging the pursuit of greed and vanity. He prides himself in the fact that none of his children or grandchildren have the desire to be celebrities or enter the world of showbiz.

“I’ve always been the ‘steady’ type; even back when I earned decent money with my acting career, I never had the desire to invest in a business or become an entrepreneur – my focus was on being a good actor. Even though I once opened my own production company, the whole purpose was to make it easier to further my acting career – when there were no more movies to make, there was no point maintaining it. My children are the same way – they are ordinary workers with steady jobs and regular income and when they earn a little more money, they might make some small investments, but nothing major. It’s best to live a simple life.”

When his kids were small, Sau Gor was busy with filming, so he did not get the chance to spend as much time with them as he wanted. Now that they are all grown up and he is getting older himself, he hopes to spend more time with them to ‘make up’ for the lost time in childhood. Therefore, whenever there’s free time, he and his wife fly overseas to visit their children and grandchildren.

At 80 years old, Sau Gor is still strong and healthy as well as very lively and active. He reveals that his ‘secret trick’ is walking – every chance he gets, he walks. At home, he walks along the walls of his living room, at work, he does slow pacing in the dressing room and studio while waiting to shoot his scenes, and before he goes to sleep, he walks a few circles around the bed. Basically, just walk slowly and relaxingly at every opportunity – over the years, this has slowly become a ‘habit’ for Sau Gor, one that he has been able to maintain for several decades.

“I also maintain a healthy diet – I try not to eat greasy foods and at home, we try to cook light dishes whenever possible. Also, avoid eating foods that are high in cholesterol.” His method of healthy living is already so ingrained in his mind that he does not need his children to remind him – it comes naturally to him now.

To prepare for his concert, he has also taken on jogging to practice his stamina – he usually jogs near his home, for about 10 to 20 minutes at a time, in the hopes that when he gets on stage, he won’t be out of breath.


2-2-2-2-0 [Twenty]

Even though Sau Gor’s stuttering was still apparent during the interview and at times, he had to break up his sentences into multiple parts, it’s obvious that he does not like to speak superfluously – each time, he would get to the point right away. He also does not like to dwell on the past and instead prefers to finish what he wants to say quickly and effectively.

After the interview, as Sau Gor got ready to leave, our reporter let him know that the pictures from the interview will be given to him after they’re developed. Then, after saying goodbye, Sau Gor headed up Waterloo Road toward his home – though the road was a bit slanted, that did not prevent him from walking quickly and steadily. As the sign at his party inferred, Sau Gor is still ‘young at heart’ -- his manner is indeed similar to that of a [2-2-2-0 year old] lad.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

News Article: Jacky Cheung pays tribute to Leslie Cheung during concert; encourages fans and friends to donate to charity

Another great article about Jacky!

Jacky's 'love' for his good friend and 'brother' Leslie is obvious, especially given how Jacky rarely changes the lineup of his show (usually he only does it during the Encore segments) because he wants to ensure the integrity and quality of the show (pretty much the way he rehearsed the show is the way it's usually performed). For Jacky to change things and perform Leslie's song as a tribute to him, goes to who how much Leslie meant to him!

Also, once again, Jacky's philanthropy shines through in his gesture of having his fans and friends buy 'fortune bags' to donate to charity in lieu of giving him flowers and such (he did the same thing last year when he performed in HK -- he had people donate bags of rice instead). As usual, Jacky goes about his philanthropic ways without fanfare and without flaunting....he absolutely proves that charity comes from the heart. What a great model for us to follow!

I've said this before and I'll say it again: I'm absolutely PROUD to be a Jacky fan!!! :-)


*****

Jacky Cheung pays tribute to Leslie Cheung during concert; encourages fans and friends to donate to charity

Source: Mingpao, Oriental Daily

Translation: llwy12

Pictures credited as listed


The day before yesterday, Jacky Cheung completed the 127th show of his ‘1/2 Century World Tour Concert’ in Hefei, China. Since the day of the concert (4/1) was also the 9 year anniversary of his good friend Leslie Cheung’s death, Jacky discussed with the music coordinators to specially add the song 《風繼續吹》[‘The Wind Continues to Blow’] to the lineup. With a slightly quivering voice, Jacky told the audience: “I hope to sing a song for a special friend of mine – a friend whom I will love and miss forever!” As Jacky performed Leslie’s classic hit, the entire audience of more than 20,000 people sang along with him.

In the next couple weeks, Jacky will be touring in various cities in Mainland China as well as Malaysia and in May, he will return to Hong Kong for the final 8 shows of his concert tour, which will be held at the Asia Expo Center. By the end of the tour, Jacky will have performed a total of 144 shows on his concert tour, which breaks all records for number of shows by a HK singer. Jacky’s manager and concert producer Florence Chan expressed that the tickets for the last 8 shows are all sold out – she also revealed that as a special treat for fans, the finale shows will feature some visual effects that were not seen at previous shows, including a specially designed glass stage as well as a 360 degree revolving LED wall.

Just like with his previous concert last year in HK [where he asked his fans to donate bags of rice for charity in place of buying flowers], Jacky once again asked his fans and friends not to send him any flower arrangements – instead, he encouraged them to each buy a $250 HKD worth ‘fortune bag’ 「友福袋」consisting of oil, rice, sugar, various canned and boxed goods, as well as other articles for daily use. After the HK shows, concert organizers will work with local charities as well Jacky’s fan club to have the bags distributed to elderly seniors in the community who live alone.

.***.

Chinese Version:

學友《風繼續吹》悼張國榮

【明報專訊】張學友前晚於合肥完成第127場「1/2世紀巡迴演唱會」,當晚正值好友張國榮的死忌,他特別與樂師商量加唱一曲《風繼續吹》。學友語帶哽咽表示:「希望唱一首歌送給一位朋友,我永遠都愛他及懷念他。」全場2萬多名觀眾與他合唱。

學友之後要到內地及大馬開騷,5月中返港假亞洲博覽館舉行終結站的8場演出,換言之於世界各地共舉行144場,打破香港歌手紀錄。製作人陳淑芬表示,香港的8場演出已爆滿,香港演唱會特別設計玻璃舞台,配合360度環迴LED Wall,增強視覺效果。

同時,學友再次呼籲好友們不要送花,改為購買每個250元的「友福袋」行善,當中包含油、米、糖、日用品、罐頭、燕麥片等,可經主辦機構代購,完騷後經慈善團體、義工隊、歌迷會等合力派給獨居長者。

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Remembering Leslie Cheung: Jacky Cheung’s eulogy speech at Leslie’s funeral

For us die-hard followers of HK entertainment, the date of April 1st, 2003 is one that we will never forget…on that fateful day back in 2003, one of the industry’s most beloved entertainers left us forever.

Today is the 9 year anniversary of Leslie Cheung’s death. Each year around this time, Leslie’s fans from all over the world gather together to remember him – even those who may not be his fan per say still pay tribute to him in their own special way.

This year, I choose to remember Leslie through a good friend of his – my idol Jacky Cheung. Jacky and Leslie’s friendship dates back close to 3 decades and even though the two of them weren’t the type of friends who constantly kept in contact with each other, that did not prevent them from having a close friendship akin to that of brothers.

At Leslie’s funeral back in 2003 (which was held 1 week after Leslie’s passing), Jacky not only had the heavy responsibility of being one of the pallbearers who helped carry his casket during the ending procession, he also shared his memory of his good friend through the touching eulogy speech that he gave (his was one of 3 eulogies given at the funeral by those within the entertainment industry: director Tsui Hark’s eulogy represented the film industry, late lyricist James Wong’s eulogy represented the music industry, and Jacky’s eulogy represented all the artists as well as Leslie’s close friends).

Below is the English-translated version of Jacky’s eulogy speech. I hope that through this speech, we can all remember how much Leslie meant to all of us and how significantly he touched all of our lives, even though many of us did not know him personally.

Leslie is truly a legend and icon in the entertainment industry – he is a magnificent artist, one who is unmatched in his generation! Even though he is gone now, his memory will live forever in our hearts.

Miss you much, Leslie!

*****

Picture credit as listed

Translation: llwy12

Jacky’s eulogy speech:

Perhaps we will never be able to completely understand just how much pain Gor Gor [Leslie] has had to endure in this past year that led him to make such a decision [suicide]. However, for me, this ‘decision’ is absolutely a serious and unbearable loss! Gor Gor is an artist who possessed a handsome and unrestrained demeanor, a style that was classy yet carefree and distinguished, the ability to sing as well as dance equally well, and the exquisite acting skills of a consummate actor.

Based on what I know of him as well as my personal experience, he is a person who dares to love and is not afraid to admit it, dares to speak out but never loses propriety, respects his elders and mentors his juniors, devotes himself wholeheartedly and loyally to his love relationships, maintains professionalism in his work, lives his life earnestly, takes his responsibilities toward his family seriously, does everything within his power to help his friends, is good-natured and kind-hearted, and whether he is attending a work-related event or just meeting up with friends, he is never late. He is the person I strive to emulate when it comes to being a good person – without him, I feel as though I’ve lost the guiding light to my road ahead and there will no longer be anyone to shine a light amidst the darkness.

Throughout this past week since Gor Gor has left us, I’ve been asking myself repeatedly: ‘does Hong Kong actually have the ability to cultivate another artist like him?’ Not sure if everyone ever thought about what it would be like if one day there were no more stars in the sky and everything would be pitch black. With Gor Gor’s passing, it is as though the sky has suddenly lost one of its brightest and shiniest stars, leaving behind only loneliness and emptiness.

Lastly, if Gor Gor is able to hear me right now -- I would like to ask if you remember during a gathering last year, you said to me : ‘Jacky, when are we going to do a musical together?’ What I would like to say is this: ‘Gor Gor, I’m already prepared and the script is ready – though I don’t know when or where, but even if it has to be in another lifetime or in another kingdom, I am still very willing [to do a musical together], because it would be my absolute honor to do so!’