I’ve been wanting to watch this series since last year and figured since it’s airing on TV here, I might as well watch it rather than wait until later (since I have the series on DVD as well). The reason I wanted to watch the series was not because it won so many awards last year (to me, TVB’s awards have no significance and I would not use them to judge the ‘quality’ or ‘merit’ of any series or artists anyway, but that’s a different topic) – rather, I wanted to watch the series because I knew I would be treated to a high quality production. With experienced producer Lee Tim Sing and script writer Cheung Wah Biu at the helm, I already knew the series would probably be better than a lot of the other ones that came out the same year – plus add to that brilliant performances by Wayne Lai and Sheren Tang – it’s no wonder that the series was so successful garnered as much public accolade as it did.
I won’t attempt to do an in-depth or thorough review of the series, as that would be way too much, but I want to at least express some of my thoughts about the series and things that stuck out for me….more of a commentary of sorts…
First of all, Wayne’s performance was absolutely amazing in this series! Despite being in the industry 20+ years, this was only his second time as lead actor in a series and I must say that TVB is blind for not seeing the talent this guy had from the beginning. Since I’m an 80s/90s HK entertainment fanatic, I am definitely familiar with Wayne and have seen most of the series that he had been in throughout those decades. Even though he was mostly in supporting or minor roles, his acting prowess was already evident even back then (those who have seen “The Challenge of Life” from 1990 will know exactly what I mean). Anyway, knowing Wayne, I had high hopes for his performance going into this and I definitely was not disappointed – in fact, I was actually ‘blown away’ by his brilliant performance. Now I understand why Cheung Wah Biu likes working with him so much – he is able to bring out even the most minute characteristics of each character he portrays and make the character convincing as well as memorable.
In my opinion, watching Wayne perform is like watching the ‘master’ at work – it’s no surprise then, that Wayne is known in the industry for his meticulous acting (and rightly so). The best way to describe his acting: “perfect” – he never goes overboard with his expressions or gestures and always gets it ‘just right’. Many artists who have worked with Wayne have talked about how ‘mesmerized’ and ‘captivated’ they were whenever they watched him perform a scene (not just in this series, but in others as well)….and as a member of the audience, I definitely agree, as I was mesmerized by his performance as well!
His portrayal of Chai Gau – a ‘scoundrel’ who eventually works his way up to become ‘3rd in charge’ of a rice shop (actually a huge rice business) and a great leader for the citizens of his country – was very realistic and convincing. Of course, it does help that the character of Chai Gau was well written and had a lot of depth, so Wayne was able to use the ‘opportunity’ to let his acting skills shine. The important thing about the character of Chai Gau is that he is neither a ‘good’ person nor a ‘bad’ person – he had characteristics from both sides in that deep down he has a good heart, but he did do some things that a truly ‘good’ person would not do. Not everyone is able to pull off a brilliant performance of such a complex character, but for Wayne, it’s no problem at all!
Sheren’s portrayal of Fourth Mistress Hong Bo Kei was also very well done. Granted, Sheren’s acting may not be as ‘refined’ or ‘perfect’ as Wayne’s, but the most important thing is that her acting is of a higher level of quality than most of today’s artists. Her character was very smart and likable – extremely clever and as well as persistent -- always coming to the rescue whenever the Tseung family was in a bind and never giving up her values even in the face of adversity. She is well respected in the family (well, at least part of the family – except the evil Eldest Wife and her son Bit Man, both of whom hated her for making them fall out of favor)…not only that, she is also well-respected in the entire village, which is evident when she is wrongly arrested near the end of the series and all the villagers (led by Chai Gau) come to her defense. In fact, they would form a ‘Sei Lai Lai Bang’ (Fourth Mistress Party) to show their support of her.
I really liked Sheren and Wayne’s relationship in this series. It wasn’t a relationship based on love and passion like most ‘close’ relationships between a male and female. Rather, their relationship (and feelings for each other) was at a higher level and was one based on mutual trust and admiration. Fourth Mistress went from being Chai Gau’s enemy to being his closest confidante – sort of like ‘soulmates’ but without the intimate love relationship. It’s a very unconventional relationship and one that is not usually found in TVB’s series (which is what made it so special). Both Fourth Mistress and Chai Gau admired and supported each other so much that they were willing to make sacrifices for each other – especially Chai Gau. In the second half of the series, I finally understand why Chai Gau admired Fourth Mistress so much and eventually developed feelings for her near the end (though it never goes beyond that, which is what makes the relationship so righteous) – it’s because throughout her life, Fourth Mistress never did anything for herself – she was very self-less in that everything she did was always for others….Chai Gau had never met anyone like her – someone who would always give of herself self-lessly and sacrifice for others.
All those times when Chai Gau would come to Fourth Mistress’s rescue whenever she was in a tough situation and how he would trust her word fully because he respected her so much – it was definitely very moving. I feel that the turning point to their relationship – the part that made their relationship ascend to a whole new level (though still not a traditional ‘love’ relationship, since both were already married) – was the part when Fourth Mistress goes missing due to the invasion of the ‘long-haired robbers’ and Chai Gau does everything in his power to find her – including entering a disease-ridden village to look for her and eventually contracting the disease himself (which is what he ends up dying from). When Fourth Mistress finds out that her best friend contracted the disease because of her, she is devastated. The amazing thing is that despite being so ill and weak, during the last half of the last episode when Governor Lam tries to arrest Fourth Mistress again (after plotting with the evil First Wife and Bit Man), Chai Gau comes to Fourth Mistress’s rescue again – not only does he argue with Pang Hang as well as the governor, he also reveals that he and Fourth Mistress are actually working undercover for Master Wong (Kwok Fung’s character). He and Master Wong are finally able to get rid of the ‘evil clan’ once and for all, but then Chai Gau coughs up blood and falls to the ground….later on, when Chai Gau is very weak from his illness and everyone is celebrating his birthday with him (bittersweet, since he was dying), he kept saying that even if he dies, at least he knows that he had all these good friends and won’t have regrets. Fourth Mistress tells him to stop talking like that and demands that he must give the disease a good fight at least and not give up – and he does, but only because Fourth Mistress told him to. In the end, Fourth Mistress agrees to go with him to Shanghai (where he goes to seek treatment for his illness) and when he died 2 years later, she was at his side – the best friend and confidante who never gave up on him and would always support him….
Though I felt sad about the ending, I felt that the series at least did a good job with wrapping up the Chai Gau/Fourth Mistress relationship. The narrative that they did at the very end (like the last few scenes) after Chai Gau died was a very good summary of his life and a touching (though solemn) tribute to him.
There is so much more I could say about this series and perhaps in later posts, I will do so….one last point I want to mention is how successful this series was last year – and I can definitely see why. There was not much promotion for this series originally because TVB did not think it would do well (since it doesn’t star their “favorites”) – yet it was able to garner ratings of 47 points at its peak….and that’s not counting HDTV. (As a side note, it sort of sucks that they didn’t count the HDTV ratings because it surely would have exceeded 50 points…though TVB said that it was because RB finished airing right before HDTV ratings were to be counted, so they just missed it by like a day, I have my own ‘speculations as to what actually happened…but won’t go into that here).
And even though the series did win a lot of awards at last year’s TVB Anniversary awards, my personal opinion is that what mattered more is the quality of the script and of the acting, which in turn garnered accolades from audiences and from the general public in Hong Kong. Though there were (and continue to be) accusations that the series ‘copied’ mainland China series “The Grand Gate Mansion” and certain aspects of the “Rosy Business” storyline itself are VERY similar to that of another TVB series “Safeguards” (which was coincidentally also a Lee Tim Sing / Cheung Wah Biu / Wayne Lai collaboration), it really doesn’t matter to me – all I care about is that I enjoyed a good quality series with superb acting – something I haven’t seen from a TVB series in a LONG time.
LL's Musings 小賢角落
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Jacky's Cantonese Albums -- Some Recommendations
A friend had asked me to recommend some Jacky albums (Cantonese), so I put together the below list. Figured I would post the list here as well (partly because there is some commentary that I wrote about the album and so why waste it?).
One thing that I have to make clear though is that the below is just a few of Jacky's most famous albums, but is by no names all of them. I love all of Jacky's albums and there are many great songs in every single one of his albums -- however with 96 albums and 1500+ songs, it's way too many to list (it was actually kind of difficult for me to even come up with this list because there are too many of his songs that I like and the list only scratches the surface -- plus it leaves alot of his albums out).
Ok, enough said...here's the list....
***********
Cantonese Album recommendations
>> 愛你多一些精選 (Love You More Collection– Greatest Hits) / Release date: 1991
01. 一顆不變心
02. 每天愛你多一些
03. 李香蘭
04. Cry!
05. 忘情冷雨夜
06. 太陽星晨
07. 夕陽醉了
08. 再度重遇你 (可喜也可悲)
09. 衹願一生愛一人
10. Linda
11. 親親
12. 再愛上你
** Note: All the songs on this album are fantastic! These are all of his most popular songs from the late 80s / early 90s. Track 2 is of course the song that launched him into stardom – “Loving You More Each Day”. But the reason why I like this album is because every single song is good – for diehard Jacky fans, this is THE ALBUM to buy: it’s well worth the money!
===
>> 真情流露 (True Love Expression) / Release Date: 1992
01.偷閒加油站I
02. 愛得比妳深
03. 分手總要在雨天
04. Honey B
05. 暗戀妳
06. 明日世界終結時
07. 真情流露
08. 歲月流情
09. 紅葉舞秋山
10. 相思風雨中 (張學友、湯寶如)
11. 不要再問
12. 偷閒加油站II
** Note: All the songs on this album are classics as well. Track #10 is one of his famous duets with Karen Tong (one of my personal favorites, though it’s hard to choose because he had so many great duets). Tracks 1 & 12 you may recognize if you are into American music – it’s a remake of BoyzIIMen song “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” (hearing Jacky sing the Chinese version acapella is excellent!)
===
>> 愛・火・花 (Love Sparks) / Release Date: 1992
01. 愛、火、花
02. 還是覺得你最好
03. 日出時讓戀愛終結
04. 還我情真
05. 你是我今生唯一傳奇
06. 幸福宣言
07. 夜了……又破曉
08. 生命的插曲
09. 長流不息 (張學友、黎瑞恩合唱)
10. 獨尋醉
** Note: Another one of his classic albums. I especially recommend Tracks 1, 2, 5, 7, 9…..though all the tracks are quite good.
===
>> 愛與交響曲 (Love & Symphony) / Release Date: 1996
01. 剎那愛
02. 任性
03. 歲月流情
04. 生命的插曲
05. 過敏世界
06. 妳的名字 我的姓氏
07. 莫等待 / 相識非偶然 / 大丈夫
08. 我哭了
09. 擁有
10. 祝福
** Note: This is one of Jacky’s more obscure albums that not everyone knows about necessarily. But there are some great songs in it that are also classics and worth recommending. For this album, Jacky collaborated with the HK Philharmonic Orchestra, so the music sounds really nice. My recommendation is definitely Track 6 – Your Name, My Surname….this is an award-winning song that is absolutely beautiful (especially the lyrics). This song has even great meaning because it was a “hit” in 1996, which was the year that he married his long-time girlfriend May Lo – so it was sort of a dedication to his wife as well as symbolic of their marriage. It’s one of my all-time favorites of his!
===
>> 不老的傅説 (The Undying Legend) / Release Date: 1997
01. 不老的傳說
02. 愛是永恆
03. 一些感覺
04. 葬月
05. 怎麼捨得你
06. 花花嘉年華
07. 冷靜
08. 甚麼是戀愛
09. 原來只要共你活一天
10. 抱雪
** Note: Another great album! The significance of this album is that it was released the same year he did his record-breaking / award-winning musical stageshow, Snow Wolf Lake. Many of the songs were actually used in the musical, though he also released a special Snow Wolf Lake album that same year as well. All the songs on here are beautiful, but I especially like Track 2 “Love Is Eternal” (which is another one of his greatest hits, by the way).
===
>> Life is Like a Dream / Release Date: 2004
01. 勇敢的故事
02. 想劈酒
03. 燥狂
04. Life is like a dream
05. 慢條斯理
06. 她
07. 給朋友
08. 寧願做錯
09. 講妳知
10. 搖搖
** Note: All true Jacky fans have to own this album because it’s Jacky’s most personal album to date. Jacky wrote every single song on this album and also each song has special meaning, as it touches every aspect of his life. Tracks 2 and 3 are sort of representative of his “young and wild” days back in the early/mid 80s as well as the lowest point in his life that occurred in the late 80s when his career was almost shattered and how he turned his life around. Track 7 (For Friends) is dedicated to his close friends who died the previous year (his sister-in-law Anita Mui, his good friend Leslie Cheung, and a few others). Track 9 (Tell You) was written for his wife May – the lyrics to this song are absolutely beautiful and touching. Track 10 (Cuddling Yiu) was written for his eldest daughter (the name of the song is his daughter’s Chinese name) – it’s a cute lullaby song.
One thing that I have to make clear though is that the below is just a few of Jacky's most famous albums, but is by no names all of them. I love all of Jacky's albums and there are many great songs in every single one of his albums -- however with 96 albums and 1500+ songs, it's way too many to list (it was actually kind of difficult for me to even come up with this list because there are too many of his songs that I like and the list only scratches the surface -- plus it leaves alot of his albums out).
Ok, enough said...here's the list....
***********
Cantonese Album recommendations
>> 愛你多一些精選 (Love You More Collection– Greatest Hits) / Release date: 1991
01. 一顆不變心
02. 每天愛你多一些
03. 李香蘭
04. Cry!
05. 忘情冷雨夜
06. 太陽星晨
07. 夕陽醉了
08. 再度重遇你 (可喜也可悲)
09. 衹願一生愛一人
10. Linda
11. 親親
12. 再愛上你
** Note: All the songs on this album are fantastic! These are all of his most popular songs from the late 80s / early 90s. Track 2 is of course the song that launched him into stardom – “Loving You More Each Day”. But the reason why I like this album is because every single song is good – for diehard Jacky fans, this is THE ALBUM to buy: it’s well worth the money!
===
>> 真情流露 (True Love Expression) / Release Date: 1992
01.偷閒加油站I
02. 愛得比妳深
03. 分手總要在雨天
04. Honey B
05. 暗戀妳
06. 明日世界終結時
07. 真情流露
08. 歲月流情
09. 紅葉舞秋山
10. 相思風雨中 (張學友、湯寶如)
11. 不要再問
12. 偷閒加油站II
** Note: All the songs on this album are classics as well. Track #10 is one of his famous duets with Karen Tong (one of my personal favorites, though it’s hard to choose because he had so many great duets). Tracks 1 & 12 you may recognize if you are into American music – it’s a remake of BoyzIIMen song “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” (hearing Jacky sing the Chinese version acapella is excellent!)
===
>> 愛・火・花 (Love Sparks) / Release Date: 1992
01. 愛、火、花
02. 還是覺得你最好
03. 日出時讓戀愛終結
04. 還我情真
05. 你是我今生唯一傳奇
06. 幸福宣言
07. 夜了……又破曉
08. 生命的插曲
09. 長流不息 (張學友、黎瑞恩合唱)
10. 獨尋醉
** Note: Another one of his classic albums. I especially recommend Tracks 1, 2, 5, 7, 9…..though all the tracks are quite good.
===
>> 愛與交響曲 (Love & Symphony) / Release Date: 1996
01. 剎那愛
02. 任性
03. 歲月流情
04. 生命的插曲
05. 過敏世界
06. 妳的名字 我的姓氏
07. 莫等待 / 相識非偶然 / 大丈夫
08. 我哭了
09. 擁有
10. 祝福
** Note: This is one of Jacky’s more obscure albums that not everyone knows about necessarily. But there are some great songs in it that are also classics and worth recommending. For this album, Jacky collaborated with the HK Philharmonic Orchestra, so the music sounds really nice. My recommendation is definitely Track 6 – Your Name, My Surname….this is an award-winning song that is absolutely beautiful (especially the lyrics). This song has even great meaning because it was a “hit” in 1996, which was the year that he married his long-time girlfriend May Lo – so it was sort of a dedication to his wife as well as symbolic of their marriage. It’s one of my all-time favorites of his!
===
>> 不老的傅説 (The Undying Legend) / Release Date: 1997
01. 不老的傳說
02. 愛是永恆
03. 一些感覺
04. 葬月
05. 怎麼捨得你
06. 花花嘉年華
07. 冷靜
08. 甚麼是戀愛
09. 原來只要共你活一天
10. 抱雪
** Note: Another great album! The significance of this album is that it was released the same year he did his record-breaking / award-winning musical stageshow, Snow Wolf Lake. Many of the songs were actually used in the musical, though he also released a special Snow Wolf Lake album that same year as well. All the songs on here are beautiful, but I especially like Track 2 “Love Is Eternal” (which is another one of his greatest hits, by the way).
===
>> Life is Like a Dream / Release Date: 2004
01. 勇敢的故事
02. 想劈酒
03. 燥狂
04. Life is like a dream
05. 慢條斯理
06. 她
07. 給朋友
08. 寧願做錯
09. 講妳知
10. 搖搖
** Note: All true Jacky fans have to own this album because it’s Jacky’s most personal album to date. Jacky wrote every single song on this album and also each song has special meaning, as it touches every aspect of his life. Tracks 2 and 3 are sort of representative of his “young and wild” days back in the early/mid 80s as well as the lowest point in his life that occurred in the late 80s when his career was almost shattered and how he turned his life around. Track 7 (For Friends) is dedicated to his close friends who died the previous year (his sister-in-law Anita Mui, his good friend Leslie Cheung, and a few others). Track 9 (Tell You) was written for his wife May – the lyrics to this song are absolutely beautiful and touching. Track 10 (Cuddling Yiu) was written for his eldest daughter (the name of the song is his daughter’s Chinese name) – it’s a cute lullaby song.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Teresa Carpio temporarily leaves The Voice 2 - AsianFanatics Forum
Teresa Carpio temporarily leaves The Voice 2 - AsianFanatics Forum
Below are some additional comments that I posted in AF's news thread today:
I've been following some of the comments on the TVB.com forum since the beginning of the 2nd season and seeing the mindset of these people is truly disappointing as well as disturbing. If this is what is being taught to the younger generation (which it obviously is, since they had to have gotten the mentality from somewhere), then it will truly be a sad case 10, 20 years from now when the middle / older generation will no longer be in the picture and the younger generation will "rule". If the HK entertainment industry has been going downhill the past 10 years (which it definitely has, maybe for even longer depending on who you ask), it will be much worse years from now, to the point where the industry may even become extinct (sad sight indeed).
The direction of the show this year has definitely gotten off track in that it is no longer a singing competition, but rather a talent show. How else would you explain why TVB would even let some of the contestants (like Hardy and Emily) get into the semi-final round in the first place? I mean, if you have let's say 100 people audition and you had to pick 20 to be on the show, I am sure they would be able to find 2-3 people from that batch who sing better than Hardy and Emily -- so why did TVB let them advance this far? I definitely blame TVB for this as well because I also feel that part of this is being done for show.
For example, with Emily -- it was so obvious from the beginning that she was going to be eliminated -- I mean, she CAN'T EVEN SPEAK CHINESE!!!!! And she is trying to compete singing Chinese songs when she can't even pronounce majority of the words and people can't understand a single word she sings? Is it any surprise that she wasn't going to make it? And then to bash Teresa for being "harsh" or "blunt" in her comments toward Emily, causing her to get eliminated? Ridiculous!
Same with Hardy...his performance from the beginning was already bad -- he actually was supposed to be eliminated on the first episode, but the judges gave him a chance (so as far as I'm concerned, they were already 'lenient' toward him) -- and so when his performance continues to suck because he is just not ready to be in such an aggressive competition (and it's obvious to everyone, not just the judges), now Teresa is being made the 'scapegoat'? Why don't they question TVB on why they let him and Emily advance to this round in the first place when it was obvious that they weren't going to make it? Was it just so there would be some "controversy" so that they could get higher ratings?
More comments:
Exactly!!! And that's what the judges were trying to tell him! To be honest, none of the judges said that he sucked -- they basically told him that he is not ready yet, that he should concentrate on his studies and come back in a couple years to try again -- it's the truth, so what is wrong with that? Just because the comments were directed at a little boy who was too young to take any type of criticism -- and frankly, it doesn't matter whether the judges say something positive or negative because the boy was going to cry anyway (which was another thing that annoyed me -- he cried before his performance, after his performance, it seemed like all the time....that in itself already shows that he is not ready to be out in the "real world" competing like this)...
And Teresa's comments may be more blunt, but as you say, she definitely knows what she is talking about....plus the other thing that some people failed to realize is that Teresa didn't just criticize the boy -- she's very fair and defends when necessary. That's why Sammy (the host) got yelled at by her -- because he was laughing at the boy (sort of in a mocking way, though not purposefully) and she told him not to laugh and that it wasn't funny (basically reprimanding him for indirectly "making fun" of the boy) -- and she did praise the boy when she asked him why he wore that particular outfit (the one he wore when performing Jacky's song) and he gave a good answer. Unfortunately, those who keep saying that she was "too harsh" and "unfair" towards him are not looking at the whole picture....
Below are some additional comments that I posted in AF's news thread today:
I've been following some of the comments on the TVB.com forum since the beginning of the 2nd season and seeing the mindset of these people is truly disappointing as well as disturbing. If this is what is being taught to the younger generation (which it obviously is, since they had to have gotten the mentality from somewhere), then it will truly be a sad case 10, 20 years from now when the middle / older generation will no longer be in the picture and the younger generation will "rule". If the HK entertainment industry has been going downhill the past 10 years (which it definitely has, maybe for even longer depending on who you ask), it will be much worse years from now, to the point where the industry may even become extinct (sad sight indeed).
The direction of the show this year has definitely gotten off track in that it is no longer a singing competition, but rather a talent show. How else would you explain why TVB would even let some of the contestants (like Hardy and Emily) get into the semi-final round in the first place? I mean, if you have let's say 100 people audition and you had to pick 20 to be on the show, I am sure they would be able to find 2-3 people from that batch who sing better than Hardy and Emily -- so why did TVB let them advance this far? I definitely blame TVB for this as well because I also feel that part of this is being done for show.
For example, with Emily -- it was so obvious from the beginning that she was going to be eliminated -- I mean, she CAN'T EVEN SPEAK CHINESE!!!!! And she is trying to compete singing Chinese songs when she can't even pronounce majority of the words and people can't understand a single word she sings? Is it any surprise that she wasn't going to make it? And then to bash Teresa for being "harsh" or "blunt" in her comments toward Emily, causing her to get eliminated? Ridiculous!
Same with Hardy...his performance from the beginning was already bad -- he actually was supposed to be eliminated on the first episode, but the judges gave him a chance (so as far as I'm concerned, they were already 'lenient' toward him) -- and so when his performance continues to suck because he is just not ready to be in such an aggressive competition (and it's obvious to everyone, not just the judges), now Teresa is being made the 'scapegoat'? Why don't they question TVB on why they let him and Emily advance to this round in the first place when it was obvious that they weren't going to make it? Was it just so there would be some "controversy" so that they could get higher ratings?
More comments:
Exactly!!! And that's what the judges were trying to tell him! To be honest, none of the judges said that he sucked -- they basically told him that he is not ready yet, that he should concentrate on his studies and come back in a couple years to try again -- it's the truth, so what is wrong with that? Just because the comments were directed at a little boy who was too young to take any type of criticism -- and frankly, it doesn't matter whether the judges say something positive or negative because the boy was going to cry anyway (which was another thing that annoyed me -- he cried before his performance, after his performance, it seemed like all the time....that in itself already shows that he is not ready to be out in the "real world" competing like this)...
And Teresa's comments may be more blunt, but as you say, she definitely knows what she is talking about....plus the other thing that some people failed to realize is that Teresa didn't just criticize the boy -- she's very fair and defends when necessary. That's why Sammy (the host) got yelled at by her -- because he was laughing at the boy (sort of in a mocking way, though not purposefully) and she told him not to laugh and that it wasn't funny (basically reprimanding him for indirectly "making fun" of the boy) -- and she did praise the boy when she asked him why he wore that particular outfit (the one he wore when performing Jacky's song) and he gave a good answer. Unfortunately, those who keep saying that she was "too harsh" and "unfair" towards him are not looking at the whole picture....
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
“The Voice: Season 2” Thoughts – Where’s the RESPECT?
News Articles
Chinese Version:
http://www.mingpaoweekly.com/htm/20100603/mch1.htm
English translated version:
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/topic/723061-teresa-carpio-temporarily-leaves-the-voice-2/
I haven't posted in awhile because I've been busy, but reading this article really got me fired up to the point that I feel I should write about it. I actually made some comments in the Asianfanatics news thread about this as well, some of which I will reiterate here.
I've been watching the 2nd season of the TVB singing competition "The Voice" lately (not because I'm interested, since I hate hearing amateurs 'butcher' my favorite artists's songs -- but because it happened to be on TV). I also happened to be reading some of the postings in the "The Voice" blog on TVB.com's website.
The conclusion that I've come to is that in today's society (and more specifically in the HK entertainment industry), there is absolutely no respect for professionalism, talent, and the older generation. It's no surprise then, that the HK entertainment industry (whether it's music, TV, or movies) is so bleak and dismal -- the industry nowadays is full of younger generation 'eye-candy' whose attitudes are horrible (the arrogance and thinking that they know better than the older generation so they don't have to listen to them).
The 'latest' controversy with "The Voice" is over Teresa Carpio's comments about 12 year old Hardy Lam's performance last week -- he sang Jacky Cheung's "Born to be Wild" and got eliminated (I will refrain from commenting about my disappointment in hearing my idol's song get butchered.....painful, to say the least). Her comments were basically that Hardy chose the wrong song, he should have chosen something that fit his age, his outfit was questionable, etc etc. -- pretty much the same thing that she (and the other judges) had said in the previous episode (it's too early for him to be trying to compete in a serious singing contest such as this, he should be concentrating on his studies, etc. etc.). Of course, with her personality, she was alot more "blunt" about it then the other judges -- especially in her facial expressions....she totally was not laughing during his performance (as everyone else was, even some of the judges) and in fact, looked quite "pissed off" throughout his entire performance. (I'm pretty sure that if she had a bell on her podium, she would be pressing it like mad to tell him to get off the stage!)
To be honest (and this coming from me -- a "non-professional" in the area of music), Teresa was ABSOLUTELY right! The song did not fit Hardy at all! In fact, my first impression after his performance was that he's trying out for the wrong show -- it felt like a performance for a talent contest rather than a serious singing competition. First of all, the kid is only 12 years old (and he actually looks like he is only 9 or 10) and his singing was very childish -- what made the performance worse was that he was trying to sing in a deeper voice (perhaps trying to 'fit' the song or just to make himself seem older) which totally did not fit him at all. After the performance, I was like -- seriously? You call that singing? I mean, yes, the performance was "cute" in that you have this little kid dancing and singing and all, (I thought I was watching one of those "America's Got Talent" type of shows for a second there) but isn't this supposed to be a professional singing competition? What does "cute" have anything to do with it? We're talking about real world professional singing career here!
I can see now why Teresa was so upset. As a professional singer and music teacher with great talent and over 30 years in the industry, she absolutely knows what being a singer entails. And Hardy's performance (and a few other contestants' performances in my opinon) was not only a disgrace, but also disrespectful to the show and to the profession itself. That's why she was so blunt and telling it like it is -- heck I would be pissed too! One thing that I didn't know but found out about when I read the article is that Teresa not only reprimanded Hardy for his performance, but she also reprimanded his parents as well for putting him up to it and encouraging him (again, she's right) -- however, when TVB actually aired the episode, they edited out her comments (go figure -- typical TVB).
Teresa was absolutely in the right (and spot on) with her comments -- yet, the public (and others) criticize her for being "too harsh" towards a little kid! First of all, her comments were not harsh AT ALL (it's not like she cursed at him or anything -- she was very professional, abeit very straightforward with her words). Second -- who cares if he's a little kid? I mean, just because he's a little kid, does that mean they should be lenient and let him pass even though his performance was horrible? What kind of "professional, credible" judging would that be then? Again, the point here is that this is a PROFESSIONAL SINGING COMPETITION -- 'cuteness' and 'good looks' are not going to get anyone anywhere! People who try to play the "he's just a little kid so cut him some slack" card are just trying to cover up the true issue (the fact that he shouldn't have competed in the first place because he's not ready) and being too overly "PC".
I'm actually quite disappointed at all the negative criticism that I've been hearing about Teresa's comments on "The Voice". I was reading some of the postings on TVB.com's "The Voice" blog and it is very apparent that society nowadays does not value professionalism and talent. Last time, when Emily Chan (the 'westerner' who couldn't speak Chinese) got eliminated, there was already alot of criticism about Teresa being too harsh (which has no merit because she was just doing her job -- many people would've done the same thing). Some of the contestants (including Emily) wrote about the situation in the blog and some of them even went so far as to criticize the judges (not just Teresa, but all of them)...I was particularly irked by one person's comment who said something along the lines of "don't mind them (the judges)...they don't know what they are talking about anyway." HELLO????!!!! If this person is bitter about being eliminated because they can't sing to save their life, then that's their issue -- but how dare they disrespect the professionals who have been singing / producing / creating music for years who are just trying to give them constructive criticism to make them better people? Just because they are young and pretty, they think they can be arrogant like that?
It's no wonder that the HK entertainment industry is so dismal nowadays -- there are too many arrogant young know-it-alls in the industry who think they are better than those who came before them and therefore have no respect for the older generation (or even the middle generation for that matter)!
One last note --- regarding the contestants from Season 1 versus season 2: that brings up another point. I actually liked the season 1 contestants because most of them did have some talent (for one) but also because I felt that they were more humble and willing to learn...the impression that I'm getting from the current contestants is that they are more arrogant and are just in it to get there 15 minutes of fame rather than being serious about improving their skill so they can become good singers. The season has just started and already I've gotten pissed off on several occasions because of the attitudes of some of the contestants...it is definitely going to be a loooong season....
Chinese Version:
http://www.mingpaoweekly.com/htm/20100603/mch1.htm
English translated version:
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/topic/723061-teresa-carpio-temporarily-leaves-the-voice-2/
I haven't posted in awhile because I've been busy, but reading this article really got me fired up to the point that I feel I should write about it. I actually made some comments in the Asianfanatics news thread about this as well, some of which I will reiterate here.
I've been watching the 2nd season of the TVB singing competition "The Voice" lately (not because I'm interested, since I hate hearing amateurs 'butcher' my favorite artists's songs -- but because it happened to be on TV). I also happened to be reading some of the postings in the "The Voice" blog on TVB.com's website.
The conclusion that I've come to is that in today's society (and more specifically in the HK entertainment industry), there is absolutely no respect for professionalism, talent, and the older generation. It's no surprise then, that the HK entertainment industry (whether it's music, TV, or movies) is so bleak and dismal -- the industry nowadays is full of younger generation 'eye-candy' whose attitudes are horrible (the arrogance and thinking that they know better than the older generation so they don't have to listen to them).
The 'latest' controversy with "The Voice" is over Teresa Carpio's comments about 12 year old Hardy Lam's performance last week -- he sang Jacky Cheung's "Born to be Wild" and got eliminated (I will refrain from commenting about my disappointment in hearing my idol's song get butchered.....painful, to say the least). Her comments were basically that Hardy chose the wrong song, he should have chosen something that fit his age, his outfit was questionable, etc etc. -- pretty much the same thing that she (and the other judges) had said in the previous episode (it's too early for him to be trying to compete in a serious singing contest such as this, he should be concentrating on his studies, etc. etc.). Of course, with her personality, she was alot more "blunt" about it then the other judges -- especially in her facial expressions....she totally was not laughing during his performance (as everyone else was, even some of the judges) and in fact, looked quite "pissed off" throughout his entire performance. (I'm pretty sure that if she had a bell on her podium, she would be pressing it like mad to tell him to get off the stage!)
To be honest (and this coming from me -- a "non-professional" in the area of music), Teresa was ABSOLUTELY right! The song did not fit Hardy at all! In fact, my first impression after his performance was that he's trying out for the wrong show -- it felt like a performance for a talent contest rather than a serious singing competition. First of all, the kid is only 12 years old (and he actually looks like he is only 9 or 10) and his singing was very childish -- what made the performance worse was that he was trying to sing in a deeper voice (perhaps trying to 'fit' the song or just to make himself seem older) which totally did not fit him at all. After the performance, I was like -- seriously? You call that singing? I mean, yes, the performance was "cute" in that you have this little kid dancing and singing and all, (I thought I was watching one of those "America's Got Talent" type of shows for a second there) but isn't this supposed to be a professional singing competition? What does "cute" have anything to do with it? We're talking about real world professional singing career here!
I can see now why Teresa was so upset. As a professional singer and music teacher with great talent and over 30 years in the industry, she absolutely knows what being a singer entails. And Hardy's performance (and a few other contestants' performances in my opinon) was not only a disgrace, but also disrespectful to the show and to the profession itself. That's why she was so blunt and telling it like it is -- heck I would be pissed too! One thing that I didn't know but found out about when I read the article is that Teresa not only reprimanded Hardy for his performance, but she also reprimanded his parents as well for putting him up to it and encouraging him (again, she's right) -- however, when TVB actually aired the episode, they edited out her comments (go figure -- typical TVB).
Teresa was absolutely in the right (and spot on) with her comments -- yet, the public (and others) criticize her for being "too harsh" towards a little kid! First of all, her comments were not harsh AT ALL (it's not like she cursed at him or anything -- she was very professional, abeit very straightforward with her words). Second -- who cares if he's a little kid? I mean, just because he's a little kid, does that mean they should be lenient and let him pass even though his performance was horrible? What kind of "professional, credible" judging would that be then? Again, the point here is that this is a PROFESSIONAL SINGING COMPETITION -- 'cuteness' and 'good looks' are not going to get anyone anywhere! People who try to play the "he's just a little kid so cut him some slack" card are just trying to cover up the true issue (the fact that he shouldn't have competed in the first place because he's not ready) and being too overly "PC".
I'm actually quite disappointed at all the negative criticism that I've been hearing about Teresa's comments on "The Voice". I was reading some of the postings on TVB.com's "The Voice" blog and it is very apparent that society nowadays does not value professionalism and talent. Last time, when Emily Chan (the 'westerner' who couldn't speak Chinese) got eliminated, there was already alot of criticism about Teresa being too harsh (which has no merit because she was just doing her job -- many people would've done the same thing). Some of the contestants (including Emily) wrote about the situation in the blog and some of them even went so far as to criticize the judges (not just Teresa, but all of them)...I was particularly irked by one person's comment who said something along the lines of "don't mind them (the judges)...they don't know what they are talking about anyway." HELLO????!!!! If this person is bitter about being eliminated because they can't sing to save their life, then that's their issue -- but how dare they disrespect the professionals who have been singing / producing / creating music for years who are just trying to give them constructive criticism to make them better people? Just because they are young and pretty, they think they can be arrogant like that?
It's no wonder that the HK entertainment industry is so dismal nowadays -- there are too many arrogant young know-it-alls in the industry who think they are better than those who came before them and therefore have no respect for the older generation (or even the middle generation for that matter)!
One last note --- regarding the contestants from Season 1 versus season 2: that brings up another point. I actually liked the season 1 contestants because most of them did have some talent (for one) but also because I felt that they were more humble and willing to learn...the impression that I'm getting from the current contestants is that they are more arrogant and are just in it to get there 15 minutes of fame rather than being serious about improving their skill so they can become good singers. The season has just started and already I've gotten pissed off on several occasions because of the attitudes of some of the contestants...it is definitely going to be a loooong season....
Sunday, May 23, 2010
“72 Tenants of Prosperity” – My Thoughts
I just recently watched this movie – yes, a little late, but I didn’t want to watch it illegally on the web, so I decided to wait until it came out on DVD so I could go buy it instead….and considering that it stars my idol Jacky Cheung, of course I was anxious to watch it!
The interesting thing about this movie is its definite “Hong Kong flavor.” Airing in HK during the Lunar New Year holiday, the timeslot is definitely fitting – the comedic, upbeat, 喜喜洋洋 atmosphere of the movie endears it to audiences during a happy time when everyone is celebrating the holiday with their families.
Not only does it boast a cast of well-known actors and actresses, it is also filled with TONS of “inside jokes” and Hong Kong cultural references – so much so that I honestly don’t feel that anyone who isn’t already familiar with Hong Kong culture would be able to truly “appreciate” the movie. This is where I feel that the “cleverness” of the movie comes in – it is actually able to cover a lot of ground in terms of cultural and current event references in a short amount of time. Not to mention the 100 plus current and former TVB artists who appear in the movie – albeit mostly in bit parts and cameos -- but it was really fun to play “spot the star” though…
I feel that there were 2 primary purposes of this movie. One was to make audiences laugh – and it certainly achieves this goal! True, some of the content was not necessarily in good taste and it could be said that at times, it could be characterized as borderline ‘crude’ (especially with the curse words, indirect sexual references, etc.) – hence the IIB rating….but overall, the movie was truly very funny. This is one of those movies that I would watch for its light comedic humor, just to get a “good laugh” – not expecting anything else out of it.
The second was to bring forth the "spirit of Hong Kong" theme that is appropriate and fitting during the CNY holiday. This is probably why I get that "feel good" reaction after watching it -- because even though some parts were a little 'cheesy' (which to be honest, I think they made it that way on purpose), I couldn't help but laugh and be in a cheerful mood afterwards.
So yes, I feel the movie does it's "job" so to speak...
Some of my favorite parts from the movie:
>> The “Try Your Best” scene between Jacky (Shek Kin) and Eric (Ha Gong): I just thought it was hilarious that Jacky kept trying to tell Eric that his English is bad, so Eric tries to prove him wrong, but he ends up saying “Try Your Best” wrong anyway (and making it sound like he said it correctly)….I laughed so hard at that scene!
>> The scene where Jacky sings a few lines from his classic “Love is Eternal” song: well, first of all, I of course loved this scene because I get to hear Jacky sing (yay!!!!). The other reason why I liked it was because of the irony – after Shek Kin (Jacky) sings a few lines, his ‘son’ Kin Jai (Wong Cho Lam) says: “Quit imitating Jacky – you don’t even sound like him....Jacky actually sounds like this….” then Kin Jai launches into an imitation of ‘the real Jacky Cheung.’ Afterwards, Shek Kin says: “Wow, that does sound like him.” The irony of the entire scene (Cho Lam supposed sounds more like Jacky than Jacky does) totally cracked me up.
>> The Bosco / Myolie scene at the end (after the credits): I’m not going to attempt to describe it because I wouldn’t be able to do justice to it, but it was funny how Bosco kept insisting she is Myolie and in the end we find out it is her….the way it plays out is funny….and this is another little “tidbit” that only those who are familiar with Hong Kong entertainment would know about…
>> The scene where Jacky’s Shek Kin and Anita’s Siu Tao bump into each other at the café: both try to make themselves look “pretty” (Anita “touches up” her makeup and Jacky “fixes” his hair), but they end up making themselves look horrible because they end up using whatever is on the table. Then, when they look at each other, the reaction is like “Wah!”.
>> Shanghai Lady scene: I really liked this particular scene from the beginning of the movie. Joyce really did a great job of imitating her mother as “Shanghai Por” – not only the facial expressions and the actions, but also the overall “feeling”. It got me laughing from the start and definitely set the comedic tone for the entire movie. Her mother would be very proud!
There were other funny scenes as well, but these ones really stood out for me. I recommend this movie, but like I said before, my suggestion is to watch it purely for laughs -- don't think too much into it, and you will enjoy it as much as I did.
The interesting thing about this movie is its definite “Hong Kong flavor.” Airing in HK during the Lunar New Year holiday, the timeslot is definitely fitting – the comedic, upbeat, 喜喜洋洋 atmosphere of the movie endears it to audiences during a happy time when everyone is celebrating the holiday with their families.
Not only does it boast a cast of well-known actors and actresses, it is also filled with TONS of “inside jokes” and Hong Kong cultural references – so much so that I honestly don’t feel that anyone who isn’t already familiar with Hong Kong culture would be able to truly “appreciate” the movie. This is where I feel that the “cleverness” of the movie comes in – it is actually able to cover a lot of ground in terms of cultural and current event references in a short amount of time. Not to mention the 100 plus current and former TVB artists who appear in the movie – albeit mostly in bit parts and cameos -- but it was really fun to play “spot the star” though…
I feel that there were 2 primary purposes of this movie. One was to make audiences laugh – and it certainly achieves this goal! True, some of the content was not necessarily in good taste and it could be said that at times, it could be characterized as borderline ‘crude’ (especially with the curse words, indirect sexual references, etc.) – hence the IIB rating….but overall, the movie was truly very funny. This is one of those movies that I would watch for its light comedic humor, just to get a “good laugh” – not expecting anything else out of it.
The second was to bring forth the "spirit of Hong Kong" theme that is appropriate and fitting during the CNY holiday. This is probably why I get that "feel good" reaction after watching it -- because even though some parts were a little 'cheesy' (which to be honest, I think they made it that way on purpose), I couldn't help but laugh and be in a cheerful mood afterwards.
So yes, I feel the movie does it's "job" so to speak...
Some of my favorite parts from the movie:
>> The “Try Your Best” scene between Jacky (Shek Kin) and Eric (Ha Gong): I just thought it was hilarious that Jacky kept trying to tell Eric that his English is bad, so Eric tries to prove him wrong, but he ends up saying “Try Your Best” wrong anyway (and making it sound like he said it correctly)….I laughed so hard at that scene!
>> The scene where Jacky sings a few lines from his classic “Love is Eternal” song: well, first of all, I of course loved this scene because I get to hear Jacky sing (yay!!!!). The other reason why I liked it was because of the irony – after Shek Kin (Jacky) sings a few lines, his ‘son’ Kin Jai (Wong Cho Lam) says: “Quit imitating Jacky – you don’t even sound like him....Jacky actually sounds like this….” then Kin Jai launches into an imitation of ‘the real Jacky Cheung.’ Afterwards, Shek Kin says: “Wow, that does sound like him.” The irony of the entire scene (Cho Lam supposed sounds more like Jacky than Jacky does) totally cracked me up.
>> The Bosco / Myolie scene at the end (after the credits): I’m not going to attempt to describe it because I wouldn’t be able to do justice to it, but it was funny how Bosco kept insisting she is Myolie and in the end we find out it is her….the way it plays out is funny….and this is another little “tidbit” that only those who are familiar with Hong Kong entertainment would know about…
>> The scene where Jacky’s Shek Kin and Anita’s Siu Tao bump into each other at the café: both try to make themselves look “pretty” (Anita “touches up” her makeup and Jacky “fixes” his hair), but they end up making themselves look horrible because they end up using whatever is on the table. Then, when they look at each other, the reaction is like “Wah!”.
>> Shanghai Lady scene: I really liked this particular scene from the beginning of the movie. Joyce really did a great job of imitating her mother as “Shanghai Por” – not only the facial expressions and the actions, but also the overall “feeling”. It got me laughing from the start and definitely set the comedic tone for the entire movie. Her mother would be very proud!
There were other funny scenes as well, but these ones really stood out for me. I recommend this movie, but like I said before, my suggestion is to watch it purely for laughs -- don't think too much into it, and you will enjoy it as much as I did.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Review of "At the Threshold of an Era 創世紀"
I've been meaning to write this review, but just never got around to it. Though technically, this review covers Part 2 primarily (since I just finished watching it not too long ago), there will be many references to Part 1 as well as the series as a whole, since it's necessary to understanding the entire series.
As we all know, ATE was made in 1999/2000 to commemorate the changing of eras (transition to Y2K). It was a huge production back in the days and made history in a sense because 1) it was the first modern day "long" non-sitcom series (total 100+ episodes), which TVB had not done since the 70s (and even then, none of the series were more than 100 eps long), 2) the series boasted an ALL-STAR cast consisting of many of the biggest siu sangs and fadans of that era, plus other big names in the TV and music world (Gallen Lo, Roger Kwok, Sunny Chan, Kenix Kwok, Flora Chan, Maggie Siu, Liza Wang, Paul Chun, Ada Choi, Louis Koo, Joe Ma, Wu Qi Long, plus a supporting cast of well-known veterans).
After having watched part 1 years ago and only watching part 2 recently, I must say that I liked part 2 way better than part 1, even though part 1 has one of my favorite actors Sunny Chan. One reason is because the majority of Part 1 was spent "building up" the characters and the storyline -- and with so many "big stars", of course their would be multiple storylines and sub-storylines involving all the various characters. This is why, in my opinion, part 1 had alot of "draggy" scenes which were not always necessary to further the plot -- which is a shame because I truly feel that the length of this series is what caused it to get low ratings back when it aired on TV (well, not really that low, but lower than expected).....audiences probably lost interest at certain points with the dragginess (especially near the beginning of the series) and also the confusion with all the different storylines. I feel that part 1 only started getting "climactic" after the scene where Sunny Chan's character Hui Man Biu becomes evil -- it's the turning point of the series and many of the scenes following that one focuses on the emotional and physical struggles between the characters, which is where we get to see the true test of each person's acting.
Part 2, on the other hand, was "climactic" throughout (so much so that I found myself 'glued' to the TV set!). I think part of the reason why Part 2 was so much better was because it did not have to do any "buildup" because that was done already in part 1. The entire premise of part 2 was based on everything that happened in Part 1; in terms of plot, it continues where Part 1 left off, but most importantly, it also talks about the aftermath -- the repercussions of the events that happened in part 1 (the death of Sunny and Kenix's characters, Gallen's role in pushing Sunny over the edge, the kidnapping of Maggie and Wu Qi Long's characters, etc. etc.) and how they affected the lives of the characters. If I remember correctly, I believe TVB aired Parts 1 and 2 separately, in different years and the "selling point" so to speak for Part 2 was centered around the question of "How did Hui Man Biu die?" -- therefore, the first few episodes were spent 'unraveling' this mystery. I must say that this tactic was pretty clever because it makes those who watched part 1 want to tune in for part 2 in order to find out the answer and then continue watching as the events unfold.
Well, the revelation that comes out in Part 2 of how Sunny's character Hui Man Biu actually died was a bit of a shocker because up until that point, almost everyone thought that Gallen's character Yip Wing Tim somehow killed him -- or hired a hitman to do the job, since he wasn't actually at the scene. This is very important to note because this is the catalyst for why Louis Koo's character Cheung Zi Lik wants to avenge his brother's death in Part 2 (which drives everything that he does) -- so in a sense, it "sets up" the plot for Part 2, with Louis obviously taking over for Sunny as the "evil" character this time around. The revelation also changes the relationship between Gallen and Roger's characters -- who, along with Sunny, started off as close buddies, but were torn apart at the end of part 1 due to all the things that happened.....so going into Part 2, Roger was mad at Gallen for "killing" Sunny and causing his wife Kenix to die as well, leaving their baby son an orphan. But when it turns out that Roger actually caused Sunny's death and not only was Gallen innocent all along, but he actually tried to protect Roger by letting the whole world believe that he did kill Sunny, the 2 'brothers' end up reconciling. This is definitely one of the climactic points in the series, both from a "plot" as well as an "acting" standpoint: from a "plot" standpoint, it's important because Gallen and Roger's relationship is taken to a whole new level and they spend most of Part 2 working toward a common goal -- realizing the architectural "dream" that Sunny had prior to his death and doing everything they can to make it come true, in honor of their friend. From an acting standpoint, Gallen and Roger were absolutely brilliant with how they played out these scenes -- the emotional aspect was way up there and you could really feel Roger's guilt and anguish as well as Gallen's emotional struggle between protecting his friend and dealing with the entire world misunderstanding him.
One of the things that really impressed me about this series is the AWESOME acting by all the main players, especially Sunny, Gallen, Roger, Kenix, and Louis. The series really shows the acting prowess of these artists extremely well, as there are alot of emotional scenes and at certain points in the series, the same character ends up at 2 opposite extremes ("good" and "evil") -- it takes alot of skill to be able to pull off the superb acting that these artists did!
I'm just going to focus on 3 of the characters here, as there were way too many to do an in-depth review of each.
-- Gallen Lo (Yip Wing Tim): I must say that I was extremely impressed with Gallen's acting in this series. His character in Part 1 undergoes a major transformation in Part 2 and he played the part extremely well. In part 1, his character is essentially good, but is very ambitious and oftentimes would take extreme measures in order to achieve his goals -- including doing things that are borderline criminal. His character in Part 1 is very selfish and has no regard for anyone else when it comes to meeting his goals -- even if it means sacrificing his family, friends, girlfriend, and anyone else who cares about him. In fact, it can be said that he pretty much single-handedly "pushed" Sunny over the edge and set him on the course of 'evilness'. Of course, Gallen pays the price at the end of Part 1, especially after he witnesses the death of Kenix's character Shum Wing Yan and realizes the role he played (albeit indirectly). In part 2, except for the first few episodes where he is obsessed with avenging Sunny and Kenix's deaths, Gallen does a 180 degree turn -- he realizes everything that he had lost and how many people he had hurt with his actions and truly turns his life around. He goes from being the "selfish jerk" who would always act irrationally and oftentimes aggressively, to the humble, rational, righteous man who puts his family first above all things, is considerate about his friends' feelings, and even when people wrong him, he does not try to seek revenge like he would in the past.
His character goes through 2 opposite extremes, however Gallen's precise acting skills allow him to pull it off almost flawlessly -- he makes the character come across very realistic (you actually feel for him), yet not in a "cheesy" type of way. I actually went from "hating" his character in Part 1 to "loving" him in Part 2. As I've been saying ever since I finished watching part 2 -- Gallen should have received the TV King award for his acting in this series, as there was so much depth to the character and the acting was brilliant! (Well, I guess I should be happy, since he has 3 TV King awards already and still holds the record for getting the award the most times).
-- Sunny Chan (Hui Man Biu): Since I talked alot about Sunny in the earlier part of this review, I won't go as much in depth here....I do have to say though that Sunny is also a very skilled actor and is able to pull off every single role that is given to him with near perfection. His acting in this series was excellent -- especially with his transformation from "good" to "evil". Prior to watching this series, I was actually anticipating Sunny's role, as this would be the first time he portrayed an "evil" character -- and especially since all of the previous characters he portrayed were so righteous and good. Just as I was impressed with Gallen back in the early 90s when he started playing evil roles (and played them well!), I was also impressed with Sunny. Since he came out of the Acting Academy, his skills are of course very precise, especially his facial expressions in certain scenes -- which makes the characters that he plays so convincing and easy to relate to.
Even though the premise of Part 2 was based on Sunny's character, unfortunately, he was not in part 2 because he left TVB in 2000 and went to ATV (the reason why they "killed" his character off in Part 1) -- Louis Koo ends up taking on the "evil" role in Part 2, where his only goal in life is to avenge his brother's (Sunny) death. So imagine my surprise when, during one of the scenes near the end of the series, Sunny appears as his character Hui Man Biu from Part 1.....sure, the scene is technically a "dream sequence", but it was definitely not a flashback -- without revealing too much detail, he basically "appears" in that particular scene to tell his younger brother to "let go" of his anger and desire for revenge and to repent. I'm pretty sure the scene was probably filmed prior to Sunny leaving TVB, but it was still a pleasant surprise for me to see him at the end of Part 2 -- again, it was very clever of the script writer to put that scene in because it essentially "closes the loop" on the part of the storyline dealing with the Gallen/Roger/Sunny/Louis conflict.
-- Kenix Kwok (Shum Wing Yan / Kao Mei Na): Kenix actually plays 2 roles in this series. In Part 1, she plays Shum Wing Yan: quiet, reserved, innocent, compassionate, nice to everyone -- the epitome of the "ideal wife and mother" -- who has a secret crush on Gallen (and they do have a brief relationship), but ends up falling in love with and marrying Sunny. Her character in Part 1 is actually quite tragic -- she grows up in an orphanage and the only "relative" she has is Roger's family; as far as relationships, she has to go through alot of pain and suffering emotionally, first with Gallen, then with Sunny. In the end, she becomes the 'sacrificial lamb' in the whole Gallen/Roger/Sunny conflict -- going to jail for something she didn't do and then ultimately, death. In Part 2, the character she plays -- Kao Mei Na -- is completely opposite: loud and vocal, a little tomboyish, a little wild, willing to take advantage of a situation if given the chance -- and more importantly she grew up with a father who is part of HK's triad gangs (hence her background is a bit complicated and messy). Her role also has a bit of a "comedic" element to it because of her "bubbly" personality (plus her relationship with her father is funny at times as well) -- a stark comparison to the "tragic" element of Shum Wing Yan. It turns out that these 2 characters with completely opposite personalities are actually long lost sisters. No surprise that Kenix's character in Part 2 ends up with Gallen.
I have to say that I liked Kenix's pairing with both Sunny (in part 1) and Gallen (in part 2).....she had alot of chemistry with both actors and both pairings were so endearing that I can't decide which I like more (though I'm leaning more toward the Gallen/Kenix pairing....lol!). The other reason why I liked the 2 pairings is because the relationships (Gallen/Kenix and Sunny/Kenix) were actually pretty well depicted in the series -- there was substance to it and there were alot of emotional ups and downs as well as life and death decisions that both pairs went through, which, to me, makes the relationships more real.
Kenix definitely has talent as an actress, as she was able to take on both roles and make them so different in a way that was comfortable for the audience (me). I've seen most of Kenix's series and have liked all of them!
Overall, I really enjoyed this series -- part 2 especially! The series is extremely long and probably not everyone would be willing to sit through it, but with the awesome acting and the strong storyline for the latter half of the series, I feel it is well worth the time. I highly recommend it!
As we all know, ATE was made in 1999/2000 to commemorate the changing of eras (transition to Y2K). It was a huge production back in the days and made history in a sense because 1) it was the first modern day "long" non-sitcom series (total 100+ episodes), which TVB had not done since the 70s (and even then, none of the series were more than 100 eps long), 2) the series boasted an ALL-STAR cast consisting of many of the biggest siu sangs and fadans of that era, plus other big names in the TV and music world (Gallen Lo, Roger Kwok, Sunny Chan, Kenix Kwok, Flora Chan, Maggie Siu, Liza Wang, Paul Chun, Ada Choi, Louis Koo, Joe Ma, Wu Qi Long, plus a supporting cast of well-known veterans).
After having watched part 1 years ago and only watching part 2 recently, I must say that I liked part 2 way better than part 1, even though part 1 has one of my favorite actors Sunny Chan. One reason is because the majority of Part 1 was spent "building up" the characters and the storyline -- and with so many "big stars", of course their would be multiple storylines and sub-storylines involving all the various characters. This is why, in my opinion, part 1 had alot of "draggy" scenes which were not always necessary to further the plot -- which is a shame because I truly feel that the length of this series is what caused it to get low ratings back when it aired on TV (well, not really that low, but lower than expected).....audiences probably lost interest at certain points with the dragginess (especially near the beginning of the series) and also the confusion with all the different storylines. I feel that part 1 only started getting "climactic" after the scene where Sunny Chan's character Hui Man Biu becomes evil -- it's the turning point of the series and many of the scenes following that one focuses on the emotional and physical struggles between the characters, which is where we get to see the true test of each person's acting.
Part 2, on the other hand, was "climactic" throughout (so much so that I found myself 'glued' to the TV set!). I think part of the reason why Part 2 was so much better was because it did not have to do any "buildup" because that was done already in part 1. The entire premise of part 2 was based on everything that happened in Part 1; in terms of plot, it continues where Part 1 left off, but most importantly, it also talks about the aftermath -- the repercussions of the events that happened in part 1 (the death of Sunny and Kenix's characters, Gallen's role in pushing Sunny over the edge, the kidnapping of Maggie and Wu Qi Long's characters, etc. etc.) and how they affected the lives of the characters. If I remember correctly, I believe TVB aired Parts 1 and 2 separately, in different years and the "selling point" so to speak for Part 2 was centered around the question of "How did Hui Man Biu die?" -- therefore, the first few episodes were spent 'unraveling' this mystery. I must say that this tactic was pretty clever because it makes those who watched part 1 want to tune in for part 2 in order to find out the answer and then continue watching as the events unfold.
Well, the revelation that comes out in Part 2 of how Sunny's character Hui Man Biu actually died was a bit of a shocker because up until that point, almost everyone thought that Gallen's character Yip Wing Tim somehow killed him -- or hired a hitman to do the job, since he wasn't actually at the scene. This is very important to note because this is the catalyst for why Louis Koo's character Cheung Zi Lik wants to avenge his brother's death in Part 2 (which drives everything that he does) -- so in a sense, it "sets up" the plot for Part 2, with Louis obviously taking over for Sunny as the "evil" character this time around. The revelation also changes the relationship between Gallen and Roger's characters -- who, along with Sunny, started off as close buddies, but were torn apart at the end of part 1 due to all the things that happened.....so going into Part 2, Roger was mad at Gallen for "killing" Sunny and causing his wife Kenix to die as well, leaving their baby son an orphan. But when it turns out that Roger actually caused Sunny's death and not only was Gallen innocent all along, but he actually tried to protect Roger by letting the whole world believe that he did kill Sunny, the 2 'brothers' end up reconciling. This is definitely one of the climactic points in the series, both from a "plot" as well as an "acting" standpoint: from a "plot" standpoint, it's important because Gallen and Roger's relationship is taken to a whole new level and they spend most of Part 2 working toward a common goal -- realizing the architectural "dream" that Sunny had prior to his death and doing everything they can to make it come true, in honor of their friend. From an acting standpoint, Gallen and Roger were absolutely brilliant with how they played out these scenes -- the emotional aspect was way up there and you could really feel Roger's guilt and anguish as well as Gallen's emotional struggle between protecting his friend and dealing with the entire world misunderstanding him.
One of the things that really impressed me about this series is the AWESOME acting by all the main players, especially Sunny, Gallen, Roger, Kenix, and Louis. The series really shows the acting prowess of these artists extremely well, as there are alot of emotional scenes and at certain points in the series, the same character ends up at 2 opposite extremes ("good" and "evil") -- it takes alot of skill to be able to pull off the superb acting that these artists did!
I'm just going to focus on 3 of the characters here, as there were way too many to do an in-depth review of each.
-- Gallen Lo (Yip Wing Tim): I must say that I was extremely impressed with Gallen's acting in this series. His character in Part 1 undergoes a major transformation in Part 2 and he played the part extremely well. In part 1, his character is essentially good, but is very ambitious and oftentimes would take extreme measures in order to achieve his goals -- including doing things that are borderline criminal. His character in Part 1 is very selfish and has no regard for anyone else when it comes to meeting his goals -- even if it means sacrificing his family, friends, girlfriend, and anyone else who cares about him. In fact, it can be said that he pretty much single-handedly "pushed" Sunny over the edge and set him on the course of 'evilness'. Of course, Gallen pays the price at the end of Part 1, especially after he witnesses the death of Kenix's character Shum Wing Yan and realizes the role he played (albeit indirectly). In part 2, except for the first few episodes where he is obsessed with avenging Sunny and Kenix's deaths, Gallen does a 180 degree turn -- he realizes everything that he had lost and how many people he had hurt with his actions and truly turns his life around. He goes from being the "selfish jerk" who would always act irrationally and oftentimes aggressively, to the humble, rational, righteous man who puts his family first above all things, is considerate about his friends' feelings, and even when people wrong him, he does not try to seek revenge like he would in the past.
His character goes through 2 opposite extremes, however Gallen's precise acting skills allow him to pull it off almost flawlessly -- he makes the character come across very realistic (you actually feel for him), yet not in a "cheesy" type of way. I actually went from "hating" his character in Part 1 to "loving" him in Part 2. As I've been saying ever since I finished watching part 2 -- Gallen should have received the TV King award for his acting in this series, as there was so much depth to the character and the acting was brilliant! (Well, I guess I should be happy, since he has 3 TV King awards already and still holds the record for getting the award the most times).
-- Sunny Chan (Hui Man Biu): Since I talked alot about Sunny in the earlier part of this review, I won't go as much in depth here....I do have to say though that Sunny is also a very skilled actor and is able to pull off every single role that is given to him with near perfection. His acting in this series was excellent -- especially with his transformation from "good" to "evil". Prior to watching this series, I was actually anticipating Sunny's role, as this would be the first time he portrayed an "evil" character -- and especially since all of the previous characters he portrayed were so righteous and good. Just as I was impressed with Gallen back in the early 90s when he started playing evil roles (and played them well!), I was also impressed with Sunny. Since he came out of the Acting Academy, his skills are of course very precise, especially his facial expressions in certain scenes -- which makes the characters that he plays so convincing and easy to relate to.
Even though the premise of Part 2 was based on Sunny's character, unfortunately, he was not in part 2 because he left TVB in 2000 and went to ATV (the reason why they "killed" his character off in Part 1) -- Louis Koo ends up taking on the "evil" role in Part 2, where his only goal in life is to avenge his brother's (Sunny) death. So imagine my surprise when, during one of the scenes near the end of the series, Sunny appears as his character Hui Man Biu from Part 1.....sure, the scene is technically a "dream sequence", but it was definitely not a flashback -- without revealing too much detail, he basically "appears" in that particular scene to tell his younger brother to "let go" of his anger and desire for revenge and to repent. I'm pretty sure the scene was probably filmed prior to Sunny leaving TVB, but it was still a pleasant surprise for me to see him at the end of Part 2 -- again, it was very clever of the script writer to put that scene in because it essentially "closes the loop" on the part of the storyline dealing with the Gallen/Roger/Sunny/Louis conflict.
-- Kenix Kwok (Shum Wing Yan / Kao Mei Na): Kenix actually plays 2 roles in this series. In Part 1, she plays Shum Wing Yan: quiet, reserved, innocent, compassionate, nice to everyone -- the epitome of the "ideal wife and mother" -- who has a secret crush on Gallen (and they do have a brief relationship), but ends up falling in love with and marrying Sunny. Her character in Part 1 is actually quite tragic -- she grows up in an orphanage and the only "relative" she has is Roger's family; as far as relationships, she has to go through alot of pain and suffering emotionally, first with Gallen, then with Sunny. In the end, she becomes the 'sacrificial lamb' in the whole Gallen/Roger/Sunny conflict -- going to jail for something she didn't do and then ultimately, death. In Part 2, the character she plays -- Kao Mei Na -- is completely opposite: loud and vocal, a little tomboyish, a little wild, willing to take advantage of a situation if given the chance -- and more importantly she grew up with a father who is part of HK's triad gangs (hence her background is a bit complicated and messy). Her role also has a bit of a "comedic" element to it because of her "bubbly" personality (plus her relationship with her father is funny at times as well) -- a stark comparison to the "tragic" element of Shum Wing Yan. It turns out that these 2 characters with completely opposite personalities are actually long lost sisters. No surprise that Kenix's character in Part 2 ends up with Gallen.
I have to say that I liked Kenix's pairing with both Sunny (in part 1) and Gallen (in part 2).....she had alot of chemistry with both actors and both pairings were so endearing that I can't decide which I like more (though I'm leaning more toward the Gallen/Kenix pairing....lol!). The other reason why I liked the 2 pairings is because the relationships (Gallen/Kenix and Sunny/Kenix) were actually pretty well depicted in the series -- there was substance to it and there were alot of emotional ups and downs as well as life and death decisions that both pairs went through, which, to me, makes the relationships more real.
Kenix definitely has talent as an actress, as she was able to take on both roles and make them so different in a way that was comfortable for the audience (me). I've seen most of Kenix's series and have liked all of them!
Overall, I really enjoyed this series -- part 2 especially! The series is extremely long and probably not everyone would be willing to sit through it, but with the awesome acting and the strong storyline for the latter half of the series, I feel it is well worth the time. I highly recommend it!
Monday, May 10, 2010
'God of Songs' Meets 'King of Pop'
As I was flipping through some Jacky videos, came across this particular one from 1996. It is the World Music Awards held that year in Monte Carlo. That was the first year that Jacky actually won a World Music Award for Top-Selling Asian Artist in the World -- he was the first HK singer to ever win this international award (and the only one to win it from HK, if my memory serves me right).
Anyway, Jacky of course went to Monte Carlo to personally accept the award and also got a chance to perform his song "True Love" to an international audience. There were alot of big stars in attendance at the World Music Awards that year, including Celine Dion, Shania Twain, and the 'King of Pop' himself, Michael Jackson. Now, I may not be an MJ fan, but got to admit that he truly is a legend in the music industry and an icon to millions around the world -- so yes, it is a 'big deal' when he is in attendance at awards ceremonies. So when I saw this video of Jacky performing, my first reaction was -- OMG, not only is he performing in front of an international audience on a world stage in front of major music industry giants, he's also got the 'King of Pop' sitting right there in the front row watching his performance! I'm sure that would make anyone nervous -- even someone with as much stage experience as Jacky! But of course, Jacky's performance was awesome as usual (though I could tell he was a bit nervous). This is truly a great honor for Jacky and proof of his awesome talents....for us die-hard Jacky fans though, it was definitely a 'proud' moment -- especially knowing that we (his fans) helped contribute to the moment by buying his albums (the award was for Top Album sales, after all -- lol!). Most importantly for me though, this also proves that Jacky is truly a legend himself, as he set a precedence in album sales (not just in Asia, but internationally as well) that to this day, no other HK singer has been able to beat. And to be listed as #2 in the world (behind Michael Jackson) in terms of albums sales and the ONLY Asian singer with this honor -- wow -- I AM SO PROUD! Way to go Jacky!!!
One interesting thing about the video that I just have to mention....I found it funny that throughout Jacky's entire performance, the camera kept panning over to Michael Jackson and no one else -- like he was the only person in the audience or something. So I actually went back and watched some of the videos of the other performers at that particular awards ceremony and found out that the other performances were the same way (camera kept panning over to MJ). Not that there is anything wrong with that, I just thought it was interesting -- it's like they were trying to see what MJ's reaction was to each performance and see if he would approve. I wouldn't blame them -- with MJ's legendary status and the fact that he does not attend awards ceremonies that often (especially later in his career), the organizers were probably taking advantage of every scene they could get with MJ in it (and probably to see how the King of Pop views other artists judging by his reaction).
As a side note, Jacky actually won the exact same award (Top Selling Asian Artist in the World) the following year, but because he was preparing for his Snow Wolf Lake musical, he was not able to go personally accept the award. Bummer, since I would have loved to see his performance on the same stage again, but that's ok -- the fact that he got the award again is already enough to make me happy (plus his SWL musical was a huge success, so it was worth it)!
Anyway, Jacky of course went to Monte Carlo to personally accept the award and also got a chance to perform his song "True Love" to an international audience. There were alot of big stars in attendance at the World Music Awards that year, including Celine Dion, Shania Twain, and the 'King of Pop' himself, Michael Jackson. Now, I may not be an MJ fan, but got to admit that he truly is a legend in the music industry and an icon to millions around the world -- so yes, it is a 'big deal' when he is in attendance at awards ceremonies. So when I saw this video of Jacky performing, my first reaction was -- OMG, not only is he performing in front of an international audience on a world stage in front of major music industry giants, he's also got the 'King of Pop' sitting right there in the front row watching his performance! I'm sure that would make anyone nervous -- even someone with as much stage experience as Jacky! But of course, Jacky's performance was awesome as usual (though I could tell he was a bit nervous). This is truly a great honor for Jacky and proof of his awesome talents....for us die-hard Jacky fans though, it was definitely a 'proud' moment -- especially knowing that we (his fans) helped contribute to the moment by buying his albums (the award was for Top Album sales, after all -- lol!). Most importantly for me though, this also proves that Jacky is truly a legend himself, as he set a precedence in album sales (not just in Asia, but internationally as well) that to this day, no other HK singer has been able to beat. And to be listed as #2 in the world (behind Michael Jackson) in terms of albums sales and the ONLY Asian singer with this honor -- wow -- I AM SO PROUD! Way to go Jacky!!!
One interesting thing about the video that I just have to mention....I found it funny that throughout Jacky's entire performance, the camera kept panning over to Michael Jackson and no one else -- like he was the only person in the audience or something. So I actually went back and watched some of the videos of the other performers at that particular awards ceremony and found out that the other performances were the same way (camera kept panning over to MJ). Not that there is anything wrong with that, I just thought it was interesting -- it's like they were trying to see what MJ's reaction was to each performance and see if he would approve. I wouldn't blame them -- with MJ's legendary status and the fact that he does not attend awards ceremonies that often (especially later in his career), the organizers were probably taking advantage of every scene they could get with MJ in it (and probably to see how the King of Pop views other artists judging by his reaction).
As a side note, Jacky actually won the exact same award (Top Selling Asian Artist in the World) the following year, but because he was preparing for his Snow Wolf Lake musical, he was not able to go personally accept the award. Bummer, since I would have loved to see his performance on the same stage again, but that's ok -- the fact that he got the award again is already enough to make me happy (plus his SWL musical was a huge success, so it was worth it)!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
“Reaching Out (美麗人生)"
** Warning: This post contains spoilers – read at your own risk. **
Just finished watching an old TVB series from 2001 called "Reaching Out". It's actually airing on TV right now on the weekends, but because it's a pretty good series and I went ahead and watched the rest of it on my own.
There are many things to like about this series, one of them being the cast, which is quite well-balanced between newbies and veterans. The main/supporting leads in this series are Gordon Lam, Kenix Kwok, Benny Chan, Nicola Cheung, Michelle Ye, Ha Yu, Michelle Yim, and Sammul Chan -- plus a pretty solid cast of 'green leaf' veterans such as Gordon Lau, Wu Fung, Luo Lan, etc. The story primarily revolves around childhood friends Gordon, Benny, and Nicola, who grew up in an orphanage together and have a close-knit brother/sister relationship. It's interesting how different each of their personalities are, despite growing up together -- the chemistry of the 3 together in this series was also very well done:
> Gordon plays the quintessential 'big brother' Fook Sung who always has an optimistic and positive outlook on life no matter what happens to him (and alot does happen)...even when people wrong him, he always forgives them and always tries to put a positive spin on a negative situation -- his life philosophy is to "be the match that illuminates other people's lives". I actually liked the way Gordon portrayed the character because he was able to bring forth the essence of the character without going overboard and making it look cheesy. And I think that whoever cast him in that role knew that he would be a perfect fit because I've always felt that Gordon is good at portraying 'positive' characters that have a certain ‘boy-next-door’ 'naiveness' and 'aloofness' about them -- in fact, I sort of saw his character in this series as a modern day equivalent to the character he played in the ancient series "Crimson Sabre" (Yuen Sing Chi). The personality and character attributes are very similar.
> Benny plays 'second' brother Yee Sook who is pretty much a lazy bum with a big ego who likes chasing after pretty girls. I was a bit annoyed by his character at first, especially with how he constantly tries to take advantage of Gordon’s kindness and also his attitude toward his father, Ha Yu. But later on in the series, he redeems himself (after some things happen of course), gets a job, quits the ‘chasing pretty girls’ bit, and becomes more likable. He also brings a bit of ‘comic relief’ to the series, especially in his scenes with Ha Yu as well as Gordon.
> Nicola plays ‘little sister’ Ting Ting who has a secret crush on Gordon’s character but ends up becoming a couple with Benny’s character. She is a feisty reporter who is also very hard-working. She has a bit of that ‘little girl’ innocence that causes her to sometimes get ‘worked up’ over minor things and overreact at times, but her intentions are always well-meaning. I rarely ever watch any of Nicola’s series and frankly I’ve never really liked her because I always felt that she has an arrogant attitude. But I must admit that she did a good job with the character (though to be honest, I also found her character annoying at times because she would try to be ‘overly’ righteous and stubborn about a particular issue when she should just ‘let up’ a little).
In terms of the other artists / characters in the story, I will make a brief mention of the main ones:
> Kenix Kwok – she actually has a dual role in this story, as she plays the character Yuk Hiu Gwan as well as her older look-alike sister Yuk Hiu Nga. Kenix’s acting skills really shine in this series because the 2 characters she plays have completely opposite personalities: older sister Hiu Nga (who is plagued with an incurable hereditary illness) is very reserved, quiet, reasonable, extremely nice (the typical ‘school teacher’), and is the ultimate optimist, whereas younger sister Hiu Gwan (who is portrayed as a rich, young socialite with a complicated background) is loud, stubborn, can be mean and obnoxious at times when she wants to be (ex: making a production company ‘delete’ all their film just because they accidently captured her on film as she was walking by, filing lawsuits against people for minor issues, etc.), and is the ultimate pessimist.
Hiu Gwan’s relationship with Fook Sung is very interesting and actually quite enjoyable (it’s sort of a ‘love/hate’ relationship that ends up blossoming into true love). Ever the pessimist, Hiu Gwan’s goal throughout most of the series is to prove to her older sister that there are no ‘good’ people in this world and that Fook Sung – whom her sister regards very highly – is no exception. So she constantly tries to do stuff to ‘hurt’ Fook Sung (ex: trying to sabotage his relationships with his friends, etc.) in the hopes that he will reveal his ‘true colors’ (aka get mad at her and cut off all ties with her), but of course he never does. Instead, he sort of ‘plays along’ and uses his goodness and righteousness to change her (obviously, they fall in love and end up as a couple).
I’ve always enjoyed Kenix’s acting and have liked almost every single series she has been in. Her acting was absolutely awesome in this series and her pairing with Gordon was very unique and refreshing (I don’t think they were ever a couple in any other series). My only complaint is that she appeared way too late in the series – her character wasn’t ‘in the picture’ until episode 26 or 27…..since the series is 50 episodes (very long!), she was pretty much there for ½ the series, but I would have liked to see her more, especially since I enjoyed the scenes she had with Gordon.
> Michelle Ye – she played Gordon’s first girlfriend Shuet Yi who later leaves him and falls for Sammul instead (who is young and rich). Her character is very arrogant and also has a big ego – I hated how she ‘used’ Gordon’s character as a “shui po” after her failed relationship with her cousin and tries to ‘use’ him again after she breaks up with Sammul. Her character was the only one that I couldn’t stand throughout the entire series, especially in the last few episodes when she tries to ‘come between’ Gordon and Kenix.
If I remember correctly, I think this was one of Michelle’s first series, so for a newbie, she wasn’t bad in terms of the acting, though there was definitely lots of room for improvement. I still didn’t like her character though and to be honest, I don’t think she’s a good match for Gordon – she has more of that ‘childish’ look that is better fitted with Sammul than with Gordon. Plus, seeing Gordon and Kenix as a couple was much more endearing to me.
> Ha Yu / Michelle Yim – knowing nothing about this series going into it, I wasn’t expecting Ha Yu and Michelle’s pairing at all (I had thought that their first ‘official’ collaboration as a couple was in “Moonlight Resonance”). But I’m glad that they were in this series because – as usual – their acting was brilliant! Ha Yu played Benny’s father and Michelle played Gordon’s mother (though we find out later in the series that she is not really his mother). I love the chemistry between these two and how they would constantly bicker one minute then be friendly with each other the next minute….it was actually kind of funny at times. And their acting is “perfect” as usual -- just the right amount of delivery to get the characters’ personalities across without going overboard…..2 great veterans and a great pairing that I’m looking forward to seeing more of in the future.
In terms of the storyline and series itself, I feel that this is definitely one of the better ones that TVB has done. It has the perfect balance of comedic and dramatic elements and also sends a very positive message of hope, optimism, and the power of love. The series is very heartwarming and I personally was really touched by the storyline and what some of the characters go through. This message / theme was really brought forth through the evolvement of Gordon and Kenix’s relationship in the series, especially with the sacrifices that they had to make in order to find true love and happiness.
The last 10 episodes or so of the series were an emotional roller coaster for me, as there were moments of light humor and laughter (Ha Yu/Michelle and Benny / Nicola), but also moments of poignancy and tears (Gordon / Kenix). The last episode where Hiu Gwan (Kenix) was on the brink of death due to her hereditary illness and the sacrifice that Fook Sung (Gordon) made for her was especially touching – I cried when watching it, which is rare for me, especially with TVB series (the only other 2 series where I’ve gotten teary-eyed while watching are “A Kindred Spirit” and “Remembrance” – both of which happened to have Kenix as well….)
Anyway, even though this series was extremely long (50 episodes!) and there were parts that sort of dragged out unnecessarily (some of which I skipped), overall, it was very well-made! I definitely recommend this series to anyone who wants to watch a good quality series!
Just finished watching an old TVB series from 2001 called "Reaching Out". It's actually airing on TV right now on the weekends, but because it's a pretty good series and I went ahead and watched the rest of it on my own.
There are many things to like about this series, one of them being the cast, which is quite well-balanced between newbies and veterans. The main/supporting leads in this series are Gordon Lam, Kenix Kwok, Benny Chan, Nicola Cheung, Michelle Ye, Ha Yu, Michelle Yim, and Sammul Chan -- plus a pretty solid cast of 'green leaf' veterans such as Gordon Lau, Wu Fung, Luo Lan, etc. The story primarily revolves around childhood friends Gordon, Benny, and Nicola, who grew up in an orphanage together and have a close-knit brother/sister relationship. It's interesting how different each of their personalities are, despite growing up together -- the chemistry of the 3 together in this series was also very well done:
> Gordon plays the quintessential 'big brother' Fook Sung who always has an optimistic and positive outlook on life no matter what happens to him (and alot does happen)...even when people wrong him, he always forgives them and always tries to put a positive spin on a negative situation -- his life philosophy is to "be the match that illuminates other people's lives". I actually liked the way Gordon portrayed the character because he was able to bring forth the essence of the character without going overboard and making it look cheesy. And I think that whoever cast him in that role knew that he would be a perfect fit because I've always felt that Gordon is good at portraying 'positive' characters that have a certain ‘boy-next-door’ 'naiveness' and 'aloofness' about them -- in fact, I sort of saw his character in this series as a modern day equivalent to the character he played in the ancient series "Crimson Sabre" (Yuen Sing Chi). The personality and character attributes are very similar.
> Benny plays 'second' brother Yee Sook who is pretty much a lazy bum with a big ego who likes chasing after pretty girls. I was a bit annoyed by his character at first, especially with how he constantly tries to take advantage of Gordon’s kindness and also his attitude toward his father, Ha Yu. But later on in the series, he redeems himself (after some things happen of course), gets a job, quits the ‘chasing pretty girls’ bit, and becomes more likable. He also brings a bit of ‘comic relief’ to the series, especially in his scenes with Ha Yu as well as Gordon.
> Nicola plays ‘little sister’ Ting Ting who has a secret crush on Gordon’s character but ends up becoming a couple with Benny’s character. She is a feisty reporter who is also very hard-working. She has a bit of that ‘little girl’ innocence that causes her to sometimes get ‘worked up’ over minor things and overreact at times, but her intentions are always well-meaning. I rarely ever watch any of Nicola’s series and frankly I’ve never really liked her because I always felt that she has an arrogant attitude. But I must admit that she did a good job with the character (though to be honest, I also found her character annoying at times because she would try to be ‘overly’ righteous and stubborn about a particular issue when she should just ‘let up’ a little).
In terms of the other artists / characters in the story, I will make a brief mention of the main ones:
> Kenix Kwok – she actually has a dual role in this story, as she plays the character Yuk Hiu Gwan as well as her older look-alike sister Yuk Hiu Nga. Kenix’s acting skills really shine in this series because the 2 characters she plays have completely opposite personalities: older sister Hiu Nga (who is plagued with an incurable hereditary illness) is very reserved, quiet, reasonable, extremely nice (the typical ‘school teacher’), and is the ultimate optimist, whereas younger sister Hiu Gwan (who is portrayed as a rich, young socialite with a complicated background) is loud, stubborn, can be mean and obnoxious at times when she wants to be (ex: making a production company ‘delete’ all their film just because they accidently captured her on film as she was walking by, filing lawsuits against people for minor issues, etc.), and is the ultimate pessimist.
Hiu Gwan’s relationship with Fook Sung is very interesting and actually quite enjoyable (it’s sort of a ‘love/hate’ relationship that ends up blossoming into true love). Ever the pessimist, Hiu Gwan’s goal throughout most of the series is to prove to her older sister that there are no ‘good’ people in this world and that Fook Sung – whom her sister regards very highly – is no exception. So she constantly tries to do stuff to ‘hurt’ Fook Sung (ex: trying to sabotage his relationships with his friends, etc.) in the hopes that he will reveal his ‘true colors’ (aka get mad at her and cut off all ties with her), but of course he never does. Instead, he sort of ‘plays along’ and uses his goodness and righteousness to change her (obviously, they fall in love and end up as a couple).
I’ve always enjoyed Kenix’s acting and have liked almost every single series she has been in. Her acting was absolutely awesome in this series and her pairing with Gordon was very unique and refreshing (I don’t think they were ever a couple in any other series). My only complaint is that she appeared way too late in the series – her character wasn’t ‘in the picture’ until episode 26 or 27…..since the series is 50 episodes (very long!), she was pretty much there for ½ the series, but I would have liked to see her more, especially since I enjoyed the scenes she had with Gordon.
> Michelle Ye – she played Gordon’s first girlfriend Shuet Yi who later leaves him and falls for Sammul instead (who is young and rich). Her character is very arrogant and also has a big ego – I hated how she ‘used’ Gordon’s character as a “shui po” after her failed relationship with her cousin and tries to ‘use’ him again after she breaks up with Sammul. Her character was the only one that I couldn’t stand throughout the entire series, especially in the last few episodes when she tries to ‘come between’ Gordon and Kenix.
If I remember correctly, I think this was one of Michelle’s first series, so for a newbie, she wasn’t bad in terms of the acting, though there was definitely lots of room for improvement. I still didn’t like her character though and to be honest, I don’t think she’s a good match for Gordon – she has more of that ‘childish’ look that is better fitted with Sammul than with Gordon. Plus, seeing Gordon and Kenix as a couple was much more endearing to me.
> Ha Yu / Michelle Yim – knowing nothing about this series going into it, I wasn’t expecting Ha Yu and Michelle’s pairing at all (I had thought that their first ‘official’ collaboration as a couple was in “Moonlight Resonance”). But I’m glad that they were in this series because – as usual – their acting was brilliant! Ha Yu played Benny’s father and Michelle played Gordon’s mother (though we find out later in the series that she is not really his mother). I love the chemistry between these two and how they would constantly bicker one minute then be friendly with each other the next minute….it was actually kind of funny at times. And their acting is “perfect” as usual -- just the right amount of delivery to get the characters’ personalities across without going overboard…..2 great veterans and a great pairing that I’m looking forward to seeing more of in the future.
In terms of the storyline and series itself, I feel that this is definitely one of the better ones that TVB has done. It has the perfect balance of comedic and dramatic elements and also sends a very positive message of hope, optimism, and the power of love. The series is very heartwarming and I personally was really touched by the storyline and what some of the characters go through. This message / theme was really brought forth through the evolvement of Gordon and Kenix’s relationship in the series, especially with the sacrifices that they had to make in order to find true love and happiness.
The last 10 episodes or so of the series were an emotional roller coaster for me, as there were moments of light humor and laughter (Ha Yu/Michelle and Benny / Nicola), but also moments of poignancy and tears (Gordon / Kenix). The last episode where Hiu Gwan (Kenix) was on the brink of death due to her hereditary illness and the sacrifice that Fook Sung (Gordon) made for her was especially touching – I cried when watching it, which is rare for me, especially with TVB series (the only other 2 series where I’ve gotten teary-eyed while watching are “A Kindred Spirit” and “Remembrance” – both of which happened to have Kenix as well….)
Anyway, even though this series was extremely long (50 episodes!) and there were parts that sort of dragged out unnecessarily (some of which I skipped), overall, it was very well-made! I definitely recommend this series to anyone who wants to watch a good quality series!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Eric Suen’s “My Story (我的故事)"
I was listening to a Cantonese radio station on the way to work this morning and a song came on that sparked my interest. The song had a very nice rhythm to it and a 'flow' that made it easy on the ears. It wasn't necessarily a fast song, but it wasn't a slow ballad either -- it was one of those songs that I consider a "勵志" song (meaning 'inspirational')... it actually sort of reminded me of Jacky Cheung's classic hit "壯志驕陽" (a great song, by the way). I especially liked the part near the end of the song with the harmony and background vocals singing along with the artist, making it sound like a group song....
Anyway, this particular radio program has a habit of revealing the name of the song and the artist later on in the program rather than right before or after the song (since they sometimes play a few songs at once), so I was hoping I would get a chance to hear the song name at least before my drive was over. Luckily, this song was the last one in the 'lineup' so a few minutes afterwards, the host came on and recapped the names of the songs and artists. It was then that I found out the name of the song is called "我的故事 (My Story)" by Eric Suen. I was actually surprised because at one point during the song, I had thought the person singing was actually Chi-Lam (Julian) Cheung because it sort of sounded like him at certain parts -- goes to show that I don't listen to Eric's songs often enough to be able to differentiate his voice!
When the host talked about the song, she said that it is from Eric's new album and the music was actually composed by him -- not sure if the lyrics were written by him as well, though I would think so, since it's supposed to be a song about his life and experiences. The host also said that this was a special song and to 'pay attention to the lyrics'.....so of course, this makes me want to listen to the song again, since this was my first time hearing the song and I wasn't really paying attention to the lyrics -- I was too caught up in the wonderful melody….
Needless to say, when I got home, one of the first things I did was to look for this song so I can listen to it again. I found the MV of him singing the song live, which also had the lyrics printed on it. I listened to it again and this time paid attention to the lyrics….I must say that I LOVE the song….the melody is so sweet and the lyrics are so touching! I especially like the chorus, where the lyrics go something like this: “It’s your applause that accompanies me, love is right in front of me, unable to separate between you and me; may this song continue to play in the future, this belief is like a fire, overcome obstacles once again, overcome them together…..” The rest of the lyrics are very moving as well…it’s obvious that Eric wrote this song during the time when he had the illness with his throat because there are references in the song to possibly not being able to sing again and how thankful he is to all the fans who have stuck by him.
I especially like the video segment below in which Eric does a live performance of the song. Near the end of the song, he tearfully tells the story of a fan of his who died in a car accident on her way to buy a birthday gift for him – he used the guitar she gave him to write this particular song, and so he was hoping that the audience could help him out by singing the chorus part with him again and dedicating it to her. It was so touching that I got teary-eyed….
Anyway, this particular radio program has a habit of revealing the name of the song and the artist later on in the program rather than right before or after the song (since they sometimes play a few songs at once), so I was hoping I would get a chance to hear the song name at least before my drive was over. Luckily, this song was the last one in the 'lineup' so a few minutes afterwards, the host came on and recapped the names of the songs and artists. It was then that I found out the name of the song is called "我的故事 (My Story)" by Eric Suen. I was actually surprised because at one point during the song, I had thought the person singing was actually Chi-Lam (Julian) Cheung because it sort of sounded like him at certain parts -- goes to show that I don't listen to Eric's songs often enough to be able to differentiate his voice!
When the host talked about the song, she said that it is from Eric's new album and the music was actually composed by him -- not sure if the lyrics were written by him as well, though I would think so, since it's supposed to be a song about his life and experiences. The host also said that this was a special song and to 'pay attention to the lyrics'.....so of course, this makes me want to listen to the song again, since this was my first time hearing the song and I wasn't really paying attention to the lyrics -- I was too caught up in the wonderful melody….
Needless to say, when I got home, one of the first things I did was to look for this song so I can listen to it again. I found the MV of him singing the song live, which also had the lyrics printed on it. I listened to it again and this time paid attention to the lyrics….I must say that I LOVE the song….the melody is so sweet and the lyrics are so touching! I especially like the chorus, where the lyrics go something like this: “It’s your applause that accompanies me, love is right in front of me, unable to separate between you and me; may this song continue to play in the future, this belief is like a fire, overcome obstacles once again, overcome them together…..” The rest of the lyrics are very moving as well…it’s obvious that Eric wrote this song during the time when he had the illness with his throat because there are references in the song to possibly not being able to sing again and how thankful he is to all the fans who have stuck by him.
I especially like the video segment below in which Eric does a live performance of the song. Near the end of the song, he tearfully tells the story of a fan of his who died in a car accident on her way to buy a birthday gift for him – he used the guitar she gave him to write this particular song, and so he was hoping that the audience could help him out by singing the chorus part with him again and dedicating it to her. It was so touching that I got teary-eyed….
Thoughts on “Sisters of Pearl” Promo Segment
I happened to be watching TVB's entertainment news on TV yesterday and a segment came on regarding their new series "Sisters of Pearl." The cast was attending a promotional event for the series and everyone was dressed in their costumes from series. Very few of the series that TVB is coming out with this year look interesting and most consist of the same 'recycled' artists and scripts. But I think I may actually consider watching this particular series, primarily because of 3 reasons: First, the cast consists primarily of veterans (Michael Tao, Jessica Hsuan, Bowie Lam, Kiki Sheung, etc.), several of whom I haven't seen in awhile (namely Michael and Jessica) and second, the storyline sounds promising, as it is set in the pre-modern era and that time period / genre usually lends itself to some good storytelling.
The third reason is because of the chemistry of the cast. Michael, Jessica, and Bowie collaborated in "Files of Justice" in the 90s, which proved to be very successful -- so this series can be viewed as a 'reunion' of sorts for the 3 of them. Also, Kiki Sheung was in the same acting class as Michael (they graduated same year), so they are old "schoolmates" so to speak -- plus I'm pretty sure they collaborated back in the 80s, though probably not directly (they may have been in the same series, but did not share any scenes together). And of course, Michael collaborated with Joyce Tang in "Wasabi Mon Amour" so they're comfortable with each other as well.
Back to the promotional event segment....it's interesting to note that during the event, Michael stood out like a sore thumb. He was dressed in 'casual' clothes rather than the formal 'pre-modern' attire that everyone else was dressed up in. I mean, to a stranger with no knowledge whatsoever, it would look like he was just a bystander being asked to 'join the crowd' -- the only way you could tell he 'belonged' to the same series was the red "Sisters of Pearl" sticker he had stuck on his shirt. It makes me wonder whether he was actually 'invited' by TVB to promote the series along with the rest of the cast or whether he just decided to 'show up'.....in any case, I feel it's an indication of the strained relationship between Michael and TVB, which is unfortunate because this series is likely to be the last for Michael, possibly in HK. He has shifted his career to China recently and even openly said in an interview several months ago that there is 'very slim chance' that he would collaborate with TVB again. I won't go into all the history here, since it would go on forever, but basically, Michael was not treated well when he returned to TVB several years ago and has been quite outspoken about the unfairness of their internal politics and favoritism in the past few months, which of course ticked off TVB, since they don't like people saying 'negative' things about them (even though it's the truth)....so with this background, I am curious to see how Michael's character will be like in "Sisters of Pearl" and whether TVB once again gave him a lesser quality role or not....
To be honest, I was initially surprised that TVB is airing this series so early because I had thought at first that they were going to warehouse it. Reasons why I thought this -- because the series does not star any of TVB's current "favorites", the cast is comprised primarily of veterans (which TVB has a history of treating poorly), and in recent years, the trend with TVB is that they would warehouse all the 'quality' series and broadcast all the 'crappy' ones. The other reason why I thought this series would be warehoused is because of Michael Tao (for the reasons stated above). Now that I think about it more though, I can understand why TVB would not want to warehouse this series -- because they don't want to make it too obvious that they are 'retaliating' against Michael for talking bad about them....it makes sense and is pretty in-line with TVB's usual politically charged decision-making....
Well, at this point, I guess only time will tell.....I'll have to see what happens as the series actually airs.
The third reason is because of the chemistry of the cast. Michael, Jessica, and Bowie collaborated in "Files of Justice" in the 90s, which proved to be very successful -- so this series can be viewed as a 'reunion' of sorts for the 3 of them. Also, Kiki Sheung was in the same acting class as Michael (they graduated same year), so they are old "schoolmates" so to speak -- plus I'm pretty sure they collaborated back in the 80s, though probably not directly (they may have been in the same series, but did not share any scenes together). And of course, Michael collaborated with Joyce Tang in "Wasabi Mon Amour" so they're comfortable with each other as well.
Back to the promotional event segment....it's interesting to note that during the event, Michael stood out like a sore thumb. He was dressed in 'casual' clothes rather than the formal 'pre-modern' attire that everyone else was dressed up in. I mean, to a stranger with no knowledge whatsoever, it would look like he was just a bystander being asked to 'join the crowd' -- the only way you could tell he 'belonged' to the same series was the red "Sisters of Pearl" sticker he had stuck on his shirt. It makes me wonder whether he was actually 'invited' by TVB to promote the series along with the rest of the cast or whether he just decided to 'show up'.....in any case, I feel it's an indication of the strained relationship between Michael and TVB, which is unfortunate because this series is likely to be the last for Michael, possibly in HK. He has shifted his career to China recently and even openly said in an interview several months ago that there is 'very slim chance' that he would collaborate with TVB again. I won't go into all the history here, since it would go on forever, but basically, Michael was not treated well when he returned to TVB several years ago and has been quite outspoken about the unfairness of their internal politics and favoritism in the past few months, which of course ticked off TVB, since they don't like people saying 'negative' things about them (even though it's the truth)....so with this background, I am curious to see how Michael's character will be like in "Sisters of Pearl" and whether TVB once again gave him a lesser quality role or not....
To be honest, I was initially surprised that TVB is airing this series so early because I had thought at first that they were going to warehouse it. Reasons why I thought this -- because the series does not star any of TVB's current "favorites", the cast is comprised primarily of veterans (which TVB has a history of treating poorly), and in recent years, the trend with TVB is that they would warehouse all the 'quality' series and broadcast all the 'crappy' ones. The other reason why I thought this series would be warehoused is because of Michael Tao (for the reasons stated above). Now that I think about it more though, I can understand why TVB would not want to warehouse this series -- because they don't want to make it too obvious that they are 'retaliating' against Michael for talking bad about them....it makes sense and is pretty in-line with TVB's usual politically charged decision-making....
Well, at this point, I guess only time will tell.....I'll have to see what happens as the series actually airs.
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