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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Translation:

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

[Source: Huang Zi Jiao's weibo]

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

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

Leslie: Of course I do!

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

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

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

Leslie: Not yet.

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

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

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

Leslie: Yes, yes, yes.

Jiao Jiao: Did you guys sit together and talk?

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

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

Leslie: Yes.

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

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

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

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

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

 .---.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jiao Jiao: No rush, huh…

Jacky: Right, right.

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

Jacky: Doesn’t matter.

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

Jacky (laughs): Right.

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

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

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

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

.---.

My comments:

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

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

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

Weibo Fever # 8: My Adoration of Mr. 'Big Nose' (大鼻友) and Mr. 'Big Head' (大頭鱼)…..

As you may have guessed, this is another Jacky related post (yay!!!!).

As most of you fellow Jacky fans probably know, my idol was in Taiwan last month for his concert tour (he held 4 shows at the Coliseum in Taipei). Of course, Taiwan is like a second home to Jacky because he has tons of friends (and fans) there -- one of those friends is his best friend of 20+ years, singer / host Harlem Yu. Over the years, whenever Jacky goes to Taiwan, he of course meets up with Harlem (if Harlem happens to be in town, that is), just like whenever Harlem goes to HK, Jacky makes sure to get together with him if possible. So of course, this time, it was no different.

Before I go on, let me backtrack a little. I started becoming a 'fan' of Harlem's back in the 90s, during my 'Taiwan entertainment' phase when I was pretty much following all things Taiwan (needless to say, I'm past that phase already, so I only know the older Taiwan artists and don't care for any of the newer 'idol' artists). One of my favorite Taiwan variety shows was "Super Sunday", which was hosted by none other than Harlem (as well as Taiwan's "Big Sister of Entertainment" Zhang Xiao Yan) -- I loved that show and I really enjoyed Harlem's sense of humor and liveliness as host, so I started paying attention to him starting at that point. It wasn't until after I started 'following' the show Super Sunday that I found out Harlem was actually a singer -- and a mighty good one too (he's considered one of the 'godfathers' of music in Taiwan).....so I guess you could say that I knew Harlem as a host before I knew him as a singer.

Not long after that, l found out that Harlem was one of Jacky's best friends (no wonder Jacky was such a frequent guest on Super Sunday!) and that's when I started becoming his 'fan' as well. These 2 friends truly have alot in common -- from their shared passion for music and dedication to family to their almost similar birthdays (both were born in the same month and year, but on different days) and everything in between -- it's really no wonder that they became such good friends. For me though, one of the things that I truly love about their friendship is their awesome, magical chemistry -- as Zhang Ziao Yan once said, when these 2 'boys' get together, they go wild (and yes, I call them 'boys' because they get so crazy when they get together, it's almost like they become 2 little boys in grade school, calling each other names and bickering with each other, sometimes even pushing each other around, but all in good fun). It's so cute to watch these 2 poke fun at each other on purpose, not to mention that it's absolutely hilarious listening to their 'brotherly' bantering back and forth (hey, who else can tell Jacky to his face "what are you, a pig?" and get away with it? LOL!). The most recent 'fun' I can remember off the top of my head was during Harlem's concert last year when Jacky attended as musical guest (no surprise there, since they do the musical guest thing for each other's concerts all the time) -- that segment of the concert was so good and I got such a good laugh out of it, I just didn't want it to end -- one of the 'highlights' was when Harlem and Jacky tried to perform a duet and Harlem kept screwing up the song (probably on purpose...LOL!), which threw Jacky off and caused him to forget some of the lyrics (which rarely ever happens) -- then they started jokingly blaming each other and calling each other names, which was absolutely hilarious (if I remember correctly, in the end, Harlem blamed 'lack of familiarity' with the song and Jacky blamed 'old age' for the screw ups....hahaha!)

Ok, so back to my original post....

During Jacky's most recent concert in Taiwan (Aug 18th to 21st), I was really really hoping that, in keeping with tradition, Harlem would be musical guest for at least one of the shows, but that didn't happen -- which, quite honestly, I didn't understand why at first, but then realized the reason: the format of Jacky's concert this time around (with the mini-movie being played out on stage and the various specially choreographed segments) wasn't really conducive to incorporating guest performances, since it would probably mess up the overall routine and format of the show. Nevertheless, the true friend that Harlem is, that didn't stop him from showing Jacky how much he supports him -- in addition to attending Jacky's opening performance on the 18th, he also attended Jacky's closing performance on the 21st, staying the entire time (and grooving to some of the songs from his seat in the audience section). And that's not all -- Harlem also hung out with his buddy backstage (I'm sure he had a VIP pass..LOL!) as well as afterwards, taking him out to eat and such -- plus that awesome present that Harlem had made specially for Jacky (see picture below).....

Pictures Credit as listed

After the first show, when Harlem was asked by reporters backstage, he said he came to "chao xing" (pay homage to 'the King')....but that he was also there to 'check things out' and make sure Jacky's performance was 'up to par'.....and that he would return on Sunday (the day of the last performance) to 'supervise'.....HAHAHAHAHA!! In all seriousness though, I was touched to hear Harlem say that watching Jacky's performance on stage moved him so much, that he actually cried during a few of the songs (awww....).

Anyway, in addition to the totally cool bright red "Hok Yau" Guitar that Harlem gave Jacky, he also sent him a gigantic fruit basket prior to the first night’s performance, complete with Jacky’s favorite fruit – apples (see picture).

The sign attached to the basket read:

To: 大鼻友


四日份水果
提供給破巨蛋記錄者


From: 大頭鱼

Translation:
To: Da Bei Yau ('Big Nose Friend’ – referring to Jacky)

4 days worth of fruits
Supplied to the person who will break the Taipei Coliseum record.

From: Da Tou Yu (‘Big Head Fish’ – referring to Harlem)

.--.

Also, here is what Harlem posted on his Weibo after watching Jacky’s opening show in Taipei:

他用1/2世紀的1/2來唱歌，唱出他的故事，也唱出我們的故事!聽到"如果‧愛"的時候，怎麼我眼睛又濕濕的，是他唱得太好!還是我們都太脆弱!!.....是人生!!

Translation: He [Jacky] used the ½ in ½ century to sing his songs and with that, sang out his life story, while also singing our story! When I was listening to [the song] “Perhaps Love”, why did I once again feel a wetness in my eyes? Is it because his singing is too good!? Or perhaps we are just too fragile!!....That’s life!!

Courtesy of:  Harlem Yu’s weibo (posted on 8/19 at 16:18):

.--.

Lastly, here’s a hilarious post from someone’s blog (no clue who the person is) that was forwarded on Weibo. The blog writer wrote about his friend’s ‘ encounter’ with Jacky and Harlem 16 years ago (hats off to the writer for his sense of humor – I was laughing the entire time I read this…LOL).

My interpretation of the ‘encounter’: Awww, Harlem is trying to help Jacky save money….what a friend! (Hahahaha!!)

Source: anhydride.pixnet.net

Originally posted on July 28, 2010

Translated by: llwy12

Asia God of Songs

The time is 1995. The God of Songs [Jacky] came to Taiwan for his concert. It was in the middle of his Taiwan tour and he was staying at the Hotel National [in Taichung].

This blog’s author was very young at the time, so needed to find a girlfriend – she was first love, but later ended up running off with another guy.

But that’s not important. At the time, she was working at Hotel National, in the Chinese food department. All of her colleagues were fighting over the opportunity to go see the Heavenly King [Jacky], however afterwards, when they returned, they appeared quite flustered.

Why?

The God of Songs had just entered his hotel room and so the service staff started performing their room service tasks in order.

The first staff was the bellboy responsible for taking up the luggage. After placing the luggage in the room, the Heavenly King, being who he is, did not put on airs or try to act self-important – instead, he was extremely polite and generously gave the bellboy a $500 (TWD) tip.

That particular colleague was jumping with joy – not only did he get to see the Heavenly King, he also received such a generous tip!

The second colleague was from housekeeping and arrived to clean the room. Actually, it wasn’t much cleaning, but rather just tidying up the various items that adorned the room. Upon completion, the colleague respectfully nodded to the Heavenly King, who was ready to hand over a tip.

Right at that moment, the Heavenly King’s best friend – yes, the one who sings “Let Me Love Enough All At Once” [Harlem] – suddenly appeared at the room. After exchanging greetings, the friend asked the Heavenly King why he didn’t go visit him first?

Laughing, the Heavenly King said that he just got off the plane and so headed over to the hotel first. As he was saying this, he took out a 500 dollar bill [TWD] and was about to hand it over to the housekeeping colleague.

The friend asks: “What are you doing?”

The Heavenly King replies: “They just finished tidying up the room and I’m very grateful to them.”

The friend says: “500 dollars? That much? Are you crazy?”

The Heavenly King replies: “The smallest amount I have is 500 dollar bill.”

The friend says: “Why didn’t you say something earlier? I have 100 dollar bills.” [turns to the housekeeping colleague]: "Come, come, come….thank you very much! Here’s your tip. As for the other room service crew, it’s not needed.”

As the rest of the staff left, they were muttering under their breath about the friend’s ‘stinginess’.

Recently, the writer of this blog saw a massage chair commercial that he [Harlem] did and suddenly remembered this interesting past ‘encounter’.
.***.
 Chinese Version:

亞洲歌神

時為1995年，歌神來台開演唱會，台中場，下榻全國大飯店。

版主當時年紀小，所以也要交女朋友，那是初戀，後來跟醫學系的男孩子跑了。


不過這不是重點。那時她在全國大飯店打工，中餐部。所有的同事都搶著去看天王，回來後大家都是氣呼呼的。


為何？歌神剛進房間，服務人員依序做room service。

第一位是提行李的，將行李安置完畢後，天王就是天王，沒有大牌的架子，非常客氣的給了500元的小費。

那名同事雀躍不已，不但能看到天王，還能拿這麼好的小費。

第二名同事，記得是做打掃的，其實也不是什麼打掃，就是把房間的擺飾再喬一次，必恭必敬的跟天王行禮，天王準備給小費。

說時遲，那時快，號稱天王的好朋友，就是"讓我一次愛個夠"的那個，突然出現在房間，看到天王就寒喧起來，問天王怎麼都不先去找他？

天王笑說剛下飛機就先來飯店，一邊說著就掏出500元，準備給那位打掃的同事。

好朋友說：你在幹什麼？

天王說：他們剛剛幫我整理房間，我很感謝他們。

好朋友說：500元？這麼多，你有沒有搞錯？

天王說：我最小的面額就是500

好朋友說：不早說，我有100的，我幫你給，來來來，謝謝你，這是您的小費。其他的room service就不需要了。

全部的人都暗罵那好朋友小氣。最近版主看到他拍按摩椅廣告，突然想起了這段往事。

My 'TVB Rant' #1: Why I Can't Stand TVB's Politics -- Part 1

Those who know me know that I have an affinity for TVB series. Yes, it's true that I do (though it's more for the series from the 80s / 90s and not the current ones -- but that's a different topic). But as much as I like TVB series, I absolutely despise its management and the way they run their business. TVB is definitely an organization that people like me just love to hate...especially the past several years when the new management came to power.

What I can't stand about TVB (primarily its management team) is their "fakeness" when it comes to how they operate --- the classic example of "do as I say, not as I do".

Some people would argue that TVB as an organization is very shrewd and calculating but that there is nothing wrong with that because they do have a business to run after all. I'm not refuting the fact that they are a business and at the end of the day, need to do what they can to stay "at the top" of the industry -- but that doesn't make their actions right (I mean, even businesses have ethical committees that keep them in check...)

I especially hate how TVB always strives so hard to keep up a certain "image" and "reputation" in front of the media and their business associates, yet behind the scenes, it's a totally different story.

Take the unwritten rule of "not accepting interviews with competitors in Cantonese" concept. Analysis of this situation will give alot of insight into how petty and "fake" TVB really is.

Back when the whole royalty issue erupted between the Big 4 record companies and TVB, some artists (like Kay Tse and Hins Cheung for example) decided to interview with rival stations in Cantonese (whether contracted with TVB or not). The whole issue of contractual obligations was brought to the limelight because the media wanted to see what TVB's reaction would be (knowing how "petty" they are and how they would view these actions as a "slap in the face"). When asked about it, TVB publicly stated that there is no stipulation in the artists (singers) contracts about them not being allowed to interview with rival stations in Cantonese....of course, they try to make themselves "look good" (or perhaps save face) by saying that they (TVB) are very open and encourage artists to "expand" their resource base.

But that's what they SAY.....internally (behind closed doors), they actually "frown upon" artists interviewing with rival stations in Cantonese....but because they can't do anything about it legally (since it's not in the contracts and they can't stop the artists from doing it) and they need to maintain a certain image with the media (since they made themselves out to be so "accepting"), they resort to backhanded 'little actions' to show their discontent and retaliate against the artists who went "against their wishes" -- for example: cutting those artists out of scenes, not interviewing those artists but interviewing everyone around them, giving less screen time to that person while upping the screen time for other artists, putting the artists "in the freezer" by not giving them any opportunities to appear in series or on shows for a long period of time (and of course, when confronted they deny it and hide behind the excuse "there wasn't anything suitable for that artist at the time -- we would not 'freeze' an artist over such a small thing")....in Kay's case, not only did TVB ban her, they went so far as to ban her husband Louis as well (though once again, they say that he has other stuff to do and that's why he's no longer hosting certain shows)...

Another very recent example is Jacky Cheung. As everyone knows, Jacky spoke out against TVB several months ago because of their royalties dispute with the Big 4 record companies. Jacky has nothing against TVB – he’s just speaking out on behalf of everyone in the music industry, because he has been an integral part of the industry and really wants to see the industry get back to the “healthy” and prosperous time period that it experienced back in the 90s. However, with the way TVB treats singers (through boycotting, banning, “freezing”, cutting artists’ songs/appearances, etc.), it’s definitely not healthy. Jacky understands how much work goes into creating a song and it pains him to see singers “disrespected” by having their songs banned or cut just because of a dispute with their record companies.

After Jacky made his position known, TVB started “boycotting” him – not only because he is one of the Big 4 record companies’ artists (Universal), but more importantly, it’s because they are petty and don’t like people saying negative things about them (though it’s the truth). Though TVB has not come right out and said they are banning him (they would never do that, as they need to “save face”), they have proven that they are banning or “retaliating” against Jacky through their actions.

Here are a few examples that I’ve seen in the past couple months (there are more, but this post is already becoming very long):

 Since Jacky spoke out prior to his film “72 Tenants” arriving in theaters, TVB could not really do anything obvious to jeopardize the film, since it’s their own film after all and they need to make money. So during all the promotional events for the movie, TVB would purposefully not “show” him in their news segments unless they absolutely had to (which was very few instances). Instead, they would focus the reports on Eric Tsang or their “favorite” artists such as Raymond Lam, Linda Chung, Bosco Wong, etc. etc. My reaction to this – who is the male lead in this series again? Last time I checked, the leads are Jacky and Eric, yet they only focus the promos on Eric and everyone else…

 During the 1 “defining moment” when Jacky and Eric interviewed with both TVB and i-Cable at the same time during the “72 Tenants” premiere (only because Eric Tsang purposefully made it happen to save TVB some face), TVB kept making it look like they are very “dai fong” (open-minded, welcoming), but yet, when that news segment aired on TVB, all of the i-Cable parts (and majority of Jacky’s interview) were “conveniently” edited out….

 When Jacky held his press conference for the release of his new album, he invited all the media organizations to attend – both i-Cable and ATV not only attended, they also sent news crews to cover the press conference. TVB, on the other hand, sent someone to attend the press conference (again to save face, since it would look too obvious that they were boycotting if they didn’t send anyone), but did not (more like would not) send a news crew to cover the event.

 Ok, this next one really pisses me off – when Harlem Yu (Jacky’s best friend) had a promo event for his HK concert, Jacky of course attended the event to support his friend (plus he’s the main musical guest, so of course it makes sense for him to be there). TVB sent a news crew to the event (because they don’t want to miss out and plus Harlem is a Taiwan artist, so I guess he is “exempt” from this royalties fiasco) – after covering the event, TVB’s news crew / reporters left the event, BUT THEN they went back to the event AFTER Jacky left so that they could interview Harlem. They obviously didn’t want to interview Harlem when Jacky was present because that means they would be forced to interview Jacky as well, so they instead went back after he left. I mean, HOW PETTY IS THAT???? Plus it is VERY DISRESPECTFUL AND RUDE!!!! And I don’t even want to go into the LAME excuse that TVB gave when the situation was all over the papers the next day – needless to say, the response they gave was a typical, lame, TVB lie.

 With the premiere of Jacky’s new romantic comedy “Crossing Hennessy” on 4/1 (way after he spoke out against TVB), there have been a lot of promotional events for the film. TVB did send news crews to cover some of the “big” events related to the movie (like the premiere), however their “backhanded actions” during their coverage makes it very obvious that they are still “boycotting” Jacky. For example, there was one segment on TVB entertainment news where TVB was on set during one of the events and Jacky was there – they showed shots of him “with the group” (because they had to, since they can’t “cut” him out of the group picture – haha!) but when it came to interviews, they refused to include him – in fact, this is where it gets interesting because during one of the events, TVB’s reporters interviewed almost everyone involved with the film EXCEPT Jacky and Paw Hee Ching (and Jacky is the MALE LEAD in the film) – the sad thing is that when they interviewed Andy On, they even interviewed Jennifer Tse (his girlfriend) and she’s NOT EVEN IN THE MOVIE!!! To me, it does not make any sense to interview everyone – even those who are not in the movie – yet, they don’t interview the MALE LEAD….if that’s not boycotting, I don’t know what is!

 Another recent example (this one is fresh off the press from several days ago): Eric Tsang celebrated his birthday several days ago by inviting a bunch of his friends and having a big party. Being one of his best friends, Jacky of course attended the event. In fact, he made an “exemption” for his friend by staying out late and drinking some alcohol with him (which he rarely does nowadays since his daughters were born). All of the newspapers that reported on Eric’s birthday party talked about many of the “guests” that attended and Jacky was always the first one mentioned (since he was one of the “biggest names” at the event). Yet, on TVB’s entertainment news, even though they covered the event and had an entire 10 minute segment dedicated to it, there was NO MENTION of Jacky at all in the coverage – in fact, they didn’t even show him at all in any of the clips that they showed of the guests. I mean, if you were to watch TVB’s biased coverage, you would think that Jacky wasn’t even there – but yet he was one of the biggest guest there! Is that screwed up or what??? I mean, isn’t it obvious that TVB is boycotting him when there is such a HUGE disparity between what every single non-TVB media organization reported /showed and what they showed? Am I the only one who sees this??


At the end of the day, it all boils down to politics -- plain and simple. And perhaps TVB is able to get away with it time and time again because they are such a huge powerhouse and practically monopolize the TV industry in Hong Kong -- it's unfair, frustrating, and annoying....and unfortunately there's nothing we can do about it because majority of the people choose to ignore it….

Random Memories of my "Taiwan Entertainment" Days....

I saw this video when I was on YT searching for the latest Jacky news and just had to blog about it.  The video is a short 8 minute segment about some of Taiwan's previous generation 實力派 male singers.  It starts by talking a little about Jacky's appearance at Harlem's concert, then segues into a few of the hit Mandarin songs that Jacky did (loved the video segments!).   There is some commentary about Jacky's career (his peak was in the 90s) and how he was dubbed the "God of Song".  After that, it goes on to some other Taiwan male singers of the 90s who were truly talented and had quite a few hit songs in their careers -- the 2 that the video talked about in particular were Phil Chang and Jeff Chang (it's funny how all 3 of them happen to have the surname "張"...lol!)....

Anyway, watching the video (although it was very short and only showed snippets of the videos/songs) brought back memories of that time years ago when I was really into Taiwan entertainment.  It was during the late 90s / early 00s when I started losing interest in TVB because I was so disappointed with them, so I turned to other countries (still keeping somewhat in tune with HK entertainment, but not as closely as before).  Since I do not like to "follow" entertainment from countries where I don't understand the language, my only choices at that point where to follow Taiwan entertainment, mainland China entertainment, or Hollywood...the obvious choice for me was Taiwan entertainment, since I was already familiar with alot of the people -- plus I had taken Chinese classes in college for the purposes of learning Mandarin (so I can read Chinese newspapers, books, and understand the language completely).   So I started watching more Taiwan series and also listening to songs from Taiwan artists -- that's sort of how I amassed my collection of Mandarin songs that I like (outside of Jacky's Mando songs of course). 

I liked a few of Jeff's songs (like 2 to 3) and he's not bad as a singer.  But I liked Phil Chang more though -- probably because the way he sings is very unique (he has that deep voice that is perfect for love ballads) and very hard to imitate -- some have tried, but failed miserably in my opinion because they over-exaggerated (like they would "slur" their words really heavily in order to imitate his singing...I personally don't feel that Phil slurs his words, as I am able to understand everything he sings...I think his method is just unique and not everyone understands it).    Not only are his songs good (most are written by his wife and himself), he's also one of the few Taiwanese artists to truly become popular and make a name for himself in HK (illustrated by the fact that he won a few awards at the HK music award ceremonies, which are known for being rigged in favor of their own artists).  In my opinion, it's well deserved because not only can he sing well with alot of emotion, he also is a 'creative' artist who composes and writes his own songs. 

Watching this short video makes me want to go back and listen to all my Mandarin songs again (plus the Jacky ones)...true, it's only 8 minutes, but it sure brought back memories!





Source:  完全娛樂

20100410哈林庾澄慶-無底深愛巡迴演唱會-台灣站張學友助陣完娛超夯Elog

人魚王子哈林征服小巨蛋 庾式情歌超動聽每一首都是經典；哈林小巨蛋開唱 歌神張學友獻聲相挺；歌倆好耍寶搞笑 大秀樂器口技；歌神跳豔舞；二胡伸號合奏 展現超好默契；兩人一搭一唱鬥嘴 歌迷笑翻天；哈林音樂教室開課 歌神來踢館；超爆笑對唱 歌神忘詞哈林落拍。

實力派唱將什麼都是焦點？？歌神張學友經典歌曲唱不完；每一首情歌 都是暢銷K歌金曲；只要跟歌神合唱歌紅人也紅（鄭中基高慧君）；1990年代歌手 會唱才會紅？！張信哲的情歌 情感深刻好動人；張宇獨特嗓音 唱出男人的痛。

Jacky's Trip to Taiwan....

Jacky was in Taiwan recently to appear as a musical guest for his best friend Harlem Yu's concert at the Taipei Arena.  While he was there, he also took the opportunity to do a mini news segment for Taiwan's TTV evening news.

I just love Jacky's awesome chemistry with Harlem!  They've been best friends for close to 20 years and when they get together for any type of performance, they get really crazy -- it's so cute!  These 2 have alot in common -- not only were they born in the same year and month (July 1961), they also share alot of other similar traits....it's no wonder that they are such good friends and have such great chemistry!

Harlem said that whenever he has a concert, Jacky is always the 'usual' guest -- and whenever Jacky has his concert in Taiwan, Harlem 'guests' for him....I love watching them together because they are so comfortable with one another and have so much fun together.

I am also looking forward to the news segment for TTV that Jacky does -- this is his very first try at actually anchoring the evening news (though of course he only does a small segment).  The funny thing is that he is asked to anchor the news segment that talks about himself -- it was so cute how in the beginning he kept messing up (one time, he said "them" instead of "him" when referring to himself -- LOL!!!!), but then after that, he got it perfect (the anchor praised him for doing so well).  Love it!!!

For further details, see complete posting in my "Jacky Corner" page

Harlem's concert - news footage:

Source:  Era News




Promo for Jacky anchoring news segment on TTV:

Source:  Youtube / TTV News