Ending theme of the currently airing Taiwanese drama serial, 籃球火 (Hot Shot), 一半 sung by Jerry Yan 言承旭 himself, 1 of the male leads of the show too:
Me quite surprised Jerry Yan actually sounded not bad for the song! But then, this type of 'melt melt' song is my fav type, so, maybe I'm a bit biased. ;)
Anyway, complete version of the song not available yet, it's not in the OST album. I guess it'll be recorded in Jerry's own album in the near future. _______________________________________________________
The other craze from the same show: Superman, by 倪子冈.
The dance seen in the clip is performed by the basketball team during their warmup sessions, then when they won their 1st championship title, they danced this in front of their opponents & fans, driving the opponents nuts!
This isn't the official MTV for the song, but I prefer this version from the 幕后花絮, cos it's the only complete version of the dance. Hence the screen shots don't look so 'cool'.
For a fuller impact of how the dance infuriated the opponents, view episode 6 of the drama, when the team danced after they just won.
Initially didn't really wanted to watch the not-so-good acting of the 棒棒堂男孩 & 黑girl (previously known as 黑涩会美眉).
But at that time, didn't find any other good shows to watch, & had thought the sypnosis quite interesting, so gave the 1st episode a try.
Now I'm on to episode 5, and frankly speaking, I find the show slightly more engaging that the 篮球火!
Oh, the youngsters' acting have only improved slightly, but fortunately, the plot isn't all that complicated. You can't go too far wrong with all the usual love triangles and 欢喜冤家 kind of couples in the popular 偶像剧 format.
What's interesting is how the drama incorporates the 古代武侠 elements into the present day situation. Imagine all the gongfu in 金庸's stories actually existing in the modern society. There're schools (hidden in bamboo forests of some 八卦阵) to teach potential students the different types of gongfu.
Chemistry is actually the art of making poisons. Physics is the skill of 暗器. And the students all dread the exam of Modern Gungfu History, where they have to memorise the various fights & gongfu styles used by 黄飞鸿 & 霍元甲!
Of course, in the spirit of traditional 武侠小说, there will be some secret gongfu manual the 邪教 is trying to lay their hands on, which is kept in the school's 藏经阁 (ie. the library). So the good guys will have to train their young proteges in some formidable gongfu to defeat the bad guys. What a totally predicatable but always popular plot!
To add a further mockery to the gongfu setting, all the key characters have names & certain characteristics that resemble some popular 武侠小说 character: eg. 令狐聪 is the 1st disciple & has the best kungfu，郭敬 is slow to learn but very upright，小聋女 has poor hearing cos she trained in 狮子吼!
All in all, an entertaining show for someone looking for light-hearted brainless relaxing hour of fun. Just my type of drama right now!
Got to hear this Malaysian singer's songs frequently nowadays, partly I think cos the Malaysian's really support their own artistes, so been hearing on the radio almost everyday when I go to fetch Sam from school.
林宇中's latest album, 干物世界. The 1st 主打歌，"干物女", was playing on FM101.3 two months before the release of the album!
Hadn't really liked 林宇中 from his past songs (watched the MVs on tv). Thought his voice a bit too 'sissy' to my taste, & the songs he penned himself were all that to my liking.
So was pleasantly surprised by his latest offering. Which was lucky for me, cos I was bombarded by it so frequently on radio!
His other 主打歌, "改嫁", is pretty good too.............unfortunately no MV made (yet?)...........
Sypnosis: Story revolves around a traditional Jap restaurant which still does things the very traditional way, eg. water from well, no food processors or microwave. The owner is a 23 yr old woman, Osen, who's always in a kimono, loves to drink & takes her duties of proprietress very seriously.
A typical Tokyo city chef came to the restaurant in an attempt to find the 'true' ways of cooking, & had to adjust to the restaurant culture where waste of ingredients is frowned upon, & where the weather & health conditions of the patrons are taken into account when planning the menu.
Every episode highlights the making of a particular Japanese food, eg. making of miso by hand, cooking rice by straw fire etc. The drama also showcases certain Japanese culture (eg. pottery, temple celebrations) & fine Japanese dining. What's best is how the show contrasts the fading of the old ways against the fast new pace of life.
Loves: The showcase of Jap food & culture! Makes me hungry just watching the fine dining presentations...............
Hates: Why didn't any romance blossomed between the 2 leads??????????? Was so looking forward towards the love story, esp. since the female lead seems to look forward to a date with the male lead in episode 4.
Realised I haven't been blogging about the shows I'm watching, partly cos I got so engrossed, I use all my free time to chase the good shows. Only after I've finished a drama serial do I remember to record & share it......
The craze this time is last season's Jap drama Osen. Took me some time to lay my hands on all 10 episodes, & I'm glad I did!
Though each episode is an individual story, it's very tempting to know what food would be featured in the next episode, & to know if the male & female lead would end up together.
So I end up feeling lack of sleep (again), & have a new love for the show's ending theme, 恋诗：
So sad, the last episode of 太王四神记 was aired on Tuesday night on Astro 双星. Now hubby & I have no more shows to look forward to at night. :(
Yesterday night was back to the sit-in-front-of-computer kind of evening, with him playing his Three Kingdoms & me catching up on my tv shows. No more rushing to the tv at 10:30pm sharp, no more avid discussions during & after the show.........
I must salute the good production of 太王四神记: never in my memory has my hubby re-watched an episode eagerly <24 hrs after he has 1st watched it!
I myself would willingly re-watch it again............I can't remember seeing the evil 大长老 at the beginning of the serial, wouldn't mind catching up all the details again!!!
Have missed the show too often: the screening times often clashes with Sam's bedtime. By the time he's asleep, I'm left with only the last 15 ~ 30 min of the episode.
Anyway, really not used to seeing 黄晓明 act as 韦小宝. I thought he looks lecherous most of the time...........ok, the character is very lecherous, but I still think it's a bit overdone.
Furthermore, don't find most of the wives pretty!!!! They're pretty average, only the 教主夫人 is good-looking to me. So even less encouragement to play catching up on the show.............
But one thing this drama version did pretty well: thought they detailed how mischevious & devious 韦小宝 is. Quite entertaining to see how all the 'smart' characters got cheated by him!
Haven't watched Hong Kong dramas for such a long time, feels really good to chase through the various plots. Though it's sometimes quite obvious who's the murderer (since the key suspects are often acted by established actors/actresses), it's wonderful to watch the bickering & quick-witted conversations between the main leads in the show. Reminds me of the terrific 一号皇庭 series, lovely!
Now have urge to go buy & watch the original 法证先锋, and even 洗冤录, which stars both 欧阳震华 & 林文龙. Love them!!!!!!!
Hmmm, or maybe just re-watch 一号皇庭 1st..................
Didn't realise the China remake of 射雕英雄传 is screening already!!
Have been eagerly waiting for the show ever since I knew my fav Taiwanese actress, 林依晨 is starring in the show with popular China actor 胡歌. Unfortunately, 胡歌 got injured in a car accident and they had to stop filming for one whole year for him to recover, so 林依晨 came back to Taiwan to film 恶作剧2吻.
Now that the show's finally done, can't wait to get my hands on the DVD!
Yes, think will have to splash money on this show, cos I'm definitely not going to catch all 50 episodes on the show on YouTube!
Sypnosis: Kimura Takuya is a primary school teacher, who reluctantly agreed to stand for election after his father & elder brother died in an air crash, so as to avoid having his mother take on the heavy responsibility. To his surprise, he won the election by a thin margin & thus became a parliment member. {episode 1}
Though he knew nothing about politics, he was nominated to be party leader, & hence the prime minister, by the ruling party's leading politician, who planned to take control of political power & use Kimura as a mere puppet. Kimura's clear understanding of the masses' day-to-day situation & his heartfelt speeches won him the distinction of being the youngest prime minister in Japanese history. {episodes 2 & 3}
He's helped by a capable secretary with her own political ambitions, a young admirer who simply wanted to help in whatever way she can, and a election planner with dashed political hopes. All 3 were with Kimura since the 1st elelction, & went on to become his close friends & colleagues in the prime minister's office. In the end, romance blossomed between the prime minister & his secretary.
Several episodes highlighted how Kimura's insistance on putting the country & the people's needs as priority, instead of just playing politics, touched the hearts of his own office personnel, his own party's senior, & even the opposition party's leader. There's also much detailing on how Kimura had to adjust to the political world, & how absurb some of the current systems are.
The 'evil' politician then realised Kimura would not be a mere figure head, & proceeded to put him in disgrace & force him to resign. But of course, Kimura has his own way to deal with the situation, hence a happy ending.
Favs: The show relied heavily on Kimura's charm & manner, to bring off the plot of a popular young politician with strong views on right & wrong. In the finale, Kimura actually has a 20 min speech explaining why he's going to quit his position of prime minister & dissolve the parliment for re-election. It's really quite impressive how he managed to hold the audience for that long, a must watch for Kimura fans.
Loved the comic relief brought about by the interaction between Kimura & his 3 helpers. And the plots on how Kimura try to fit in the political world seems quite realistic, eg. how he escaped from his bodyguards to live in his own house instead of the official prime minister's residence.
While the plots on how Kimura touched the hearts & changed the views of his fellow politicians are obviously idealistic, it's still quite watchable, as long as one bears in mind this isn't the real world. ;)
It's quite fun to watch the part where the masses just focused on what Kimura is wearing that day & totally ignores the political discussion of the day. And in episode 4, when Kimura is bombarded by tons of paperwork for qustioning the decision of certain government bodies, I can really identify with that work scenario!!!
Hates: Though the female secretary is very fitting in her role of capable secretary, I think she looks too old for Kimura in the show!!!!!! The actress is actually 1 year younger than Kimura Takuya, but in the show she looks older than him! Cannot tahan such a match!
And since Japan's political system is a bit different from what I'm familiar with, it's hard work reading the subtitles to follow the political plot. Had to re-watch many times.......
Latest drama serial chasing craze: Korea's 太王四神记 starring 裴勇俊.
The Korean theme song of the show, 千年戀歌 by the group 東方神起 is great! Sharing this MV version where the 2 possible candidates for kingship vie for survival (this is the stage we're watching right now):
Taiwanese version's theme song, 传说, by 林宥嘉&劉力揚, is also pretty good:
Was hunting for the lastest episode of the drama serial CHANGE, and came across one of my old favourites: Lion Heart, by the Jap group SMAP. The MV is really laughable, but I love the song!!! (even though have no idea what they're singing about)
Now that am watching 太王四神记 on Astro from 10:30pm, my whole night is nearly fully occupied in front of the tv, barely have time for the internet! And the 楚留香 is so wishy-washy on the story telling, I can't tahan all the draggy love talking anymore!
I need a better show to relax in my limited time!!!!!!!!!
I just cannot tahan the female lead 侯佩岑!!!!!! For some reason, she just doesn't seem at all like the sweet innocent girl the character is supposed to be, & it gets on my nerves to see her pretend to be one.
Too bad couldn't finish this Vic Chou show..........but when the drama focus around the female lead, even the best male actor would find it difficult to overcome such a great barrier.............
Watched 4 episodes of Change back-to-back till 3:30am yesterday night, or rather this morning. Partly was because got very irritated with son's repeated night wakenings that interrupted my viewing of episode 4 four times in an hour, so 'retaliated' by watching a further 2 shows.
Partly was, because, the show turns out to be quite fun to watch! 木村拓哉's character a bit similar to the one in Hero, where he's the idealist out on the job based on his dreams & not succumb to the unreasonable workings of the system.
This time, the system is the Japanese political scene, & though it's a world different from what I'm familiar with, luckily the main character is also a newbie to politics, & hence the female lead have to explain the innings to him (& thus the audience).
It's quite fun to watch how 木村拓哉 reformed the people working with him one by one. Though I know this is not really possible in the real world, the script is relatively well-written, such that the reasonings were all sensible & believeable, & if the audience haven't been hit by a cynical world, they may well believe that such a scenario may occur in real life.............
A fun plot was how 木村拓哉 became the youngest prime minister in Jap history: all the female voters were smitten by the new 'Parliment Prince', a single, good-looking 35 yr old ex-primary school teacher who's willing to follow his strong moral values & not submit to the 'evils' of the political world. Thinking he'll be an easy puppet to manipulate, the bad guy of the show pushed him to the post of prime minister, so as to secure his party's standing in parliment & enable him to seize real power. Of course, in subsequent episodes, 木村拓哉 showed he's not the mindless puppet he was thought to be.
This plot would be easily accepted if you forget the Japanese culture & imagine the Japanese adopt certain American traits. ;P
Can't wait to see how 木村拓哉 reform the bad guy...............oh, pretty sure this will be the way the story goes, it's that type of fairy tale, see?
Finding the show more & more drag-gy............hubby has given up on it & rather play his PSP.
Really, we both agree, the show's low ratings were definitely not simply due to 朱孝天's "肥帅" image. True, he does look a bit too plump for most people's image of the character, even though he does have the charm (well, enough to be convincing anyway).
But the real pitfall is the script. In the beginning I was chasing the show like crazy, cos to miss even 5 min means losing thread of the mystery & plot.
But 16 episodes down, I'm doing my household chores while waiting for the draggy lovey dovey talking scenes to be over, so that the plot can continue. The scriptwriter for these parts must be from one of those taiwanese 琼瑶 shows!!!!!!!!!
Thank goodness for the impressive sets & backgrounds, & 2 rather lovely female leads. Otherwise, I don't think I can even sit through the show on 8TV..............
Motivation to watch: Thought will be interesting to see how this drama is supposed to help the Taiwanese tourism board promote Taiwan overseas. Besides, the lead is 仔仔, & I had a good impression of the female lead 陈妍希 from her 1st show Why Why Love.
Sypnosis: The 3 male leads were close friends from high school. 10 years since, 王传一 is helping out in his family's hotel business & 仔仔 became a popular novelist, who turned to driving a taxi to get inspiration for his new novel. Thus he met 朱孝天, whom they've lost contact after the latter migrated to the USA after graduation.
The show revolves around the friendship & love stories of the 3 men, with flashbacks to their high school days, detailing how 朱孝天 & 王传一 gained the friendship of recluse 仔仔.
陈妍希 is the subodinate of 王传一, & initially had a crush on the dashing PR manager. She later became the love interest of 仔仔, whom she mistaken to be a suicide attempt while the latter tried to get back his inspiration from her. 陈妍希 is also a family friend of dejected 朱孝天, who rejected the love of 陈妍希's sister, since he still couldn't forgive himself for failing to save his father's business.
Another subplot in 关颖, dream girl of 王传一, ex-fiance of 朱孝天.
Loves: Got interested in Taiwan's 阿里山 after watching the show!!!!!!! The place was filmed so beautifully & seemed rather interesting. I had thought it was simply another nature reserve/mountain, but think the place is rather well developed as a tourist spot. Wanna go visit!!!!!
Oh, & they did a rather good showcase of the 101 building: the fireworks on New Year's Eve looks wonderful! Have never knew it possible to have fireworks of a building like that! And now I know, if visiting the building, must post a letter from the post office there, cos will have a unique 101 building postmark!!!!!
Hates: the slipshod ending. Can't stand how all the characters repent/made decision in the last few minutes of their stories, when they've spent >10 previous episodes rejecting the other party.
Oh! the last 3 episodes were such a drag!!!!!!! Sooooooo predictable of taiwanese idol dramas to come up with some miserable twist to the story near the end, so that there'll be a happy end in the last episode.
And the last episode is so different from the rest of the show!!!!! They spent the 1st 15 episodes building up all the characters, only to have the main character repent in the last episode without any explanation of why he so suddenly 'gain enlightenment' & became the ideal good son & boyfriend. Did they have a different scriptwriter for the last episode or what???? Or maybe it was like the scenario in "On Air", where the last episode was filmed 1st before the prior episodes' script were written?????
Sigh!!! I guess can't expect too much. After all, I did have an enjoyable 13 episodes before the story developed downhill.
Especially around episodes 6~7, when the 2 leads started falling in love, it was soooooo sweet!!!! And so funny to see 仔仔's character get jealous in episodes 10~12! Really think 仔仔's acting has improved, watching the show mainly for him! ;) Pity he's so thin, would have been perfect if he looks a bit more healthy...........looking forward to see his next show!
陈妍希 was not bad, I thought. Even hubby noticed her across the room. She really reminded me of 大S. Wonder why she got so much bad press????????
Nearly every drama serial I loved has a good OST. Shows need good songs to bring the audience into the mood. And the story will help bring out the essence of the song.
So though I wasn't expecting much from the OST, since didn't really like the show's starting song by F4, I got to notice this song played whenever the female leads were having a sad time with their love life:
I believe in Love, by WOW 头号人物
The MTV for the song itself is actually rather boring. It was much more touching to hear the song when you're watching the drama's love story unfold..........really heart melting!!!!!! Kinda wish I can make my own mtv from the drama scenes to show you what I mean!!!!
Surprisingly, the rest of the OST used for the show are not bad, rather suitable for the drama. Don't think it's good enough to listen on its own, but as the soundtrack it did a very good job, I thought!
Vic Chou's 白 was not bad too.......well, at least I noticed the song when watching the show. Don't think much of the singing, but the tune & lyrics did the show justice, touching enough for me to actually find out about the song. So I guess it's a 'success'. ;)
Turns out to be not bad, funnier than I expected. 仔仔's character quite amusing, doing all sorts of weird interpretations of others' advice to him in his hunt for inspiration to write his novel. And 仔仔's acting really improved, now is less exaggerated & more believable when he acts like the crazed novelist. Only dislike is that he's gotten too thin!!! Not so nice!!!!!
王传一 is so cool in the show as a 花花公子! Much more good looking that 朱孝天, who looks fat in the show & has such a strange lopside hairdo. Looks like 王传一 got a more meaty role than 朱孝天, since the former appeared in the 1st episode already, while the latter only turned up from 2nd half of episode 2. Looking forward to see how 王传一 will chase the girl of his dreams......
Other leading actors/actresses, refer to DramaWiki.
Motivation: thought the plot sounds interesting. And it seems very popular, so gave it a try.
Sypnosis: romance story between 4 people in the media industry: female popular actress, her manager, a popular scriptwriter, and a 1st time director. Subplot details the drama serial the actress is leading in (written by the scriptwriter & directed by the director) - how a mentally slow young woman finds true love in her lawyer & reconciles with her long lost sister.
Faves: Loved the 2 male leads! ;) And the romance story is wonderfully woven: a 4-way love triangle with all the nuances you can ask for........... It's also quite interesting to see how the media industry in Korea works.
My fav clip: the 4 leads were attracted to each other & were trying to guess how the other party is feeling about him/herself........
Hates: The 1st 3~4 episodes are a bit slow, cos still spinning the story of how the 4 leads are related. Since the leads don't know each other yet, the romance factor is quite low (unless you enjoy knowing how couples meet), & all the details are on how difficult it is to decide to film a drama serial. I almost gave up watching the show! Luckily persevered till episode 5, when the sparks just burst, & it's wonderful since.....
Another irritating bit for me: too many flashbacks used. Sometimes I wasn't even aware it was a flashback, & got puzzled on the obvious difference in timeline (thanks to the show's efforts on the leads' changes of image). I suppose it works for the actress/manager storyline, since they meet again after 7 years, hence the need to flashback to understand their past. However, why use it on the director/scriptwriter love story?????
Chaseability: Why don't they screen an episode everyday?????? It's plain torture having to wait a whole week for 2 episodes!!!!!!!!!!!
Re-watchability: the romance factor is definitely worth re-watching again!!!!!! However, since this isn't a purely love story, this means have to go through all the broadcasting drama again.........
Motivation: Haven't watched a good romantic comedy for a long time, so tried the new spring season drama serial the moment I knew about it, even though didn't know any of the actors. Besides, the plot seems interesting.
Synopsis (of 1st episode only): Female lead is a nice, serious girl who can never to get a boyfriend, always falling for the wrong kind of guy & too shy to express her feelings. She signed a contract with a company she got to know at her fav bar, thinking it is a match-making agency. Turns out the company, Kronos Heaven, is launching a new Nightly Lovers series of human robots, & she had signed up for a free trial of the prototype.
The 1st male lead is the robot, named Knight. He's programmed to meet all the girl's expectations of an ideal boyfriend, including the requirement to be the "knight in shining armour saving the girl in distress". By the end of Episode 1, he's managed to reduce the female lead's fear of him as a "humanoid electrical home appliance" to a grudging acceptance of a robotic friend.
Meanwhile, the younger son of the company director, a seemingly irresponsible playboy (2nd male lead), begins to notice the female lead, a result of her comments on the company's new dessert menu.
Faves: Loved the simple fact there's finally a live-action drama adaptation of this kind of manga! There're lots of manga on humanoid robots, but this is the 1st drama serial I know of. Show is light-hearted yet has no exaggerating scenes. Plus, it's a romantic love triangle story of 2 guys fighting for a girl. What more could a gal ask for?????
Hates: None till now.........well, not after the 1st episode. The only disappointment is, the 1st male lead is not my type of dream guy. ;) Lucky female lead & 2nd male lead are acceptable to me.........
Chaseability: will definitely follow this show faithfully every week!!!!! can't wait for the next episode! wanna see how the 2nd male lead falls in love with the female lead!!!!!!
Motivation: Like the leading actor after the show that propelled him to fame, Nodame Cantibile. Plus, the show is supposed to be the best drama serial for the winter season it was aired.
Sypnosis: A man who's been unlucky all his life ends up in a temp teaching post in Nara, where he was suddenly confronted by a talking Deer, who needs him to transport an ancient sacred artifact from the Executor of the Fox, so as to conduct an ancient ceremony to sustain the confinement on the Whale trapped below Japan, else it will break free & cause Mount Fuji to erupt, eventually breaking up Japan.
When the relectunt hero made the mistake of getting the wrong artifact, he was punished by the Deer & henceforth would see a deer's head instead of his own reflection. To complete his mission & get his own reflection back, he must uncover the identity of the Transporter of the Mouse, who aimed to thwart the ceremony & keep the artifact for his own purposes. The hero was aided in his mission by his colleague, a blur History teacher who fell in love with him, & the Executor of the Deer, his student, who also suffered the same punishment.
Faves: loved the beautiful way Nara was filmed! I loved the place, so really enjoyed watching the beautiful scenery shown!
Thought the way the Japanese folklore of the Whale was linked to the Nara deer & the Kyoto fox very clever & innovative, quite convincing! Very entertaining & relaxing show!
Hates: none! ;) Don't expect Jurassic Park-level computer graphics though: the talking deer puppet & animation is quite obvious by movie standards, but good enough not to ruin the show.
Re-watchability: Wanna watch it once again, since it was enjoyable, but not in the near future. Have to wait till I've forgotten part of the plot 1st.
Haven't been doing anything for the past several days except play the (fluff)Friends Egg Hunt on Facebook (which was welcoming cos didn't require brainpower), and watching my latest craze: the Japanese detective drama serial, 探偵学園Q (Tantei Gakuen Q).
Started watching it by accident, simply because it was my favourite kind of show: detective stories! Turns out the show was transcribed from a manga series, author of 金田一，one of my favs. So the stories were relatively believable with nice detecting & analysing clues.
Show focus on 5 young detectives-to-be, classmates in a detective school, solving one case after another. Each case finishes in either 1 or 2 episodes, with sub-plots on each character's personal life. The oldest boy is the martial arts expert with perfect eyesight, the youngest a computer genius. The only gal in the group has instant perfect memory, capable of remembering everything she's seen. The 2 main male leads are very good at detecting & analysing, ie. solving the case. One is an optimistic boy who sees the good in everybody, the other a loner with a sinister family background.
Best of all are of course, the actors & actress! The 3 main characters in the show are only about 14 yrs old, & they managed to find 3 great actors/actress for the parts! Only thing is, the 2 lead actors 长得太清秀. When I 1st started watching the show, I thought the main lead was another girl-dress-up-as-boy character!
Very irritating, the serial is only 11 episodes long, excluding the SP. (They made a 2 hr special episode 1st, showcasing how they passed the various detecting tests to qualify for the Q Class in the school. Ratings was very good, hence they proceeded with the drama serial.)
I'm actually re-watching the entire serial immediately after I finished the last episode, something I haven't done since the old Jap serial, Hero. Normally I don't re-watch detective shows so soon, since it's no fun when you know the story's ending, but the interactions between the various characters are just too interesting to stop at 11 episodes. Now I'm trying to lay my hands on the the 45 episode anime........
A bit silly to drool over a boy so much younger than I am, but the actor 山田凉介 looks really cool in the show. See what another fan prepared on YouTube, scene from the show:
About the negative thing in the show: the relatively scary corpses. The murder victims are always filmed eyes open with deadpan faces & plenty of blood (for non-strangulation cases), so I have to make sure I don't look at those scenes too long, else I have trouble sleeping at night. ;P
Just finished watching the latest Taiwanese drama serial, 斗牛，要不要.
Started watching the show cos female lead is one of my fav, S.H.E's Hebe. This is the 1st time she's acting as female lead without Ella & Selina, so of course checked out her 1st effort.
After the show, found the 1st male lead, 贺军翔, to be actually good-looking: never understood why he was considered handsome from his previous 2 shows (换换爱 & 恶魔在身边). After this, can fully understand why he's so popular in Taiwan. Guess all the suits helped a bit. ;)
Also, finally found the 2nd male lead, 李威, to be acceptable. Previously found the actor to be a bit annoying. Now with such a heart-melting "protect her forever, even if can't be together" role, his popularity is also up.
One interesting aspect of the serial is its showcasing of fancy basketball moves. Really quite impressive, and the players soooooooo suave doing it!
However, cannot tahan the way the director keeps doing the 360 degrees filming. When focusing on the 2 leads falling in love it's lovely, but when it's done whenever they're together, & even when the 2 male leads are fighting for the attention of their gal, I can't help wishing to fast forward those scenes.
But a big plus: the soundtrack from S.H.E's recording company, HIM International. Really well suited to the show, having distinct themes for different threads of the story.
Loved this song 爱来过 describing Hebe's character's love for 贺军翔's. This is extract from the drama:
Was in no mood to do anything except watch my korean drama serial, Coffee Prince, for the past week. Literally spent all my free time on the show, finished the 16 episodes in 6 days!
Started on the show cos the reviews for 尹恩惠's acting (the female lead in 宫S) was great. In the show, she's a tomboy who's mistaken by the male lead to be a guy. The 2 became friends, girl fell in love with guy, guy fell in love & thought he had became a gay. To muddy up the waters, handsome 2nd male lead had crush on female lead, 1st male lead secretly loving beautiful 2nd female lead for 7 years. In the end, 2 loving couples with happy ending, of course!
In fact, the show is on a happier note than I expected from the usual korean shows. The focus is more on the sweetness & happiness of the love between the couples.
尹恩惠 was really quite cute in the show, very impressive, the way she gobbled her food with her foot on the bench, no wonder the male lead mistaken her to be a guy! (though looks wise, hubby said it's obvious she's a girl.)
Loved all the other actors & the 2nd female lead 蔡貞安 in the show. Male lead 孔侑 not really my type in looks - 2nd male lead 李善均 is soooooo much more dashing! - but to see him in love, can't helping liking the guy! And the other 3 'coffee princes' in the show also very cute! 2 of them are actually models, 1st time acting!
Unfortunately couldn't find a reasonable preview of the show on YouTube. Have to settle on this official MTV:
Woke up with the opening theme song to the korean drama serial, My Girl, in my head.
Maybe cos heard the song being played in Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf while we lunched upon arrival in LCCT, KL yesterday.
Maybe cos have rushed to re-watch the entire show on vcd in 5 days last week. Literally sacrificed my sleep to finish the romantic comedy!
Was triggered by the trailers on Channel U in Singapore, since they just started to screen it on weekends. I knew I've watched & enjoyed the show, but just couldn't remember the whole story line, so I whipped out my vcd & went through the love story again.
Basically, the female lead posed as the fake cousin of the male lead upon his request, to fulfill the dying wish of his grandfather. Turns out that the grandfather was so happy to find his long-lost granddaughter, he recovered from his stroke. So the act has to continue. Meanwhile, the 2 leads fall in love with each other, but being 'cousins' they can't admit so. Plus 2nd male & female leads to muddy the waters. The drama unfolds.........
Love the handsome male lead! ;)
Love the songs in the show too! Not just the opening theme, but also this one:
Oh, literally melt when hear this song played while the male lead is torn between his love for the female lead & his beloved (though autocratic) grandfather!
P.S. The rest of the OST, I've compiled into a playlist on my YouTube channel.
Couldn't assess my fav Taiwanese idol dramas while in Singapore.
And I had gotten totally hooked on the latest offering: 惡作劇2吻 (It Started With A Kiss 2).
So was desparate enough to watch the episode 9 on YouTube.
Was the 1st time I had to watch such a long show on YouTube. Luckily found a good source, the show only divided into 7 parts (some versions I saw had 10 portions), & most of the breaks coincided with the show's commercial break, so had quite an enjoyable time.
The trailer for the episode that triggered my craze:
Now waiting impatiently for episode 10...........
Shouldn't have watched a currently-showing drama..........such a difficult wait!!!!!!! But then, had enjoyed the 惡作劇之吻 a lot, so really couldn't wait to watch this sequel!!!!
In fact, missed the show so much, had rewatched part of my vcds in attempt to quench my 'thirst'!!!! ;)
Have finally exhausted my 6 days of tv-watching craze! Once in a while I get into one of these moods, when I feel like doing nothing except to sit & eat & watch tv till very late at night.......this time, it's taken a bit longer than usual to run out of steam, maybe cos I can no longer do nothing except sit & eat & watch tv. Have to cook dinner, play with Sam, so can only fulfill my craving at night after Sam falls asleep........
Noticed this Jap drama serial initially cos it's starring one of my fav male actors, 福山雅治. Was crazy over his previous show 美女与野兽, hence very glad he's acting again.
This time, his character is a very serious Physics professor, whose interest in proving the non-existence of paranormal activities results in him helping the female lead, an enthusiastic new police detective. He's a genius in his own field, and many other areas, showcasing different talents (eg. cooking, boxing, archery, etc) in different episodes.
There's a different crime story, coupled with a seemingly paranormal activity, and a different guest star actor/actress, in every one of the 10 episodes. Also, the scientific solution to the 'paranormal' activity will be explained & demonstrated in the lab (to the ignorant female lead), so can pick up a bit of physics along the way.
What attracted me aft the 1st episode is the kind of attraction between the male & female leading characters. Initially they were so formal to each other, always arguing sarcastically. By the end, the petty arguments & sarcasm remains (which is the fun part), but they are friends who obviously care for each other (romantically or just pure friendship, that's up to one to interpret).
The only "silly" part of the show, I find, is the interpretation of the thought processes of the male lead. I suppose there aren't many sensible ways to indicate how the genius' came to his brilliant conclusions, but I still find it silly to watch the presentation: the male lead scribble formulas & equations on the nearest available flat surface, with whatever he can lay his hands on to write with. The theme music starts in the meantime, then realisation struck, a stream of formulas & equations & screenshots of critical questions zoom to the final scene of the male lead striking his signature pose (3 fingers spread out on the centre of his face).
If not for the actor's good looks, I think I would have been laughing my head off........
Was in a very bad mood, so watched a new episode of Nodame Cantabile SP Part 1, despite the late hour.
Oh, it was great! Aft the 2 hr show, I'm back in a sensible mood. Am willing to empty the dustbin instead of letting it attract ants & cockroaches overnight, which was what I was seriously contemplating before the show.
So wanna share my current fav: the Japanese drama serial, Nodame Cantabile, 交响情人梦.
It's a adaptation of a jap comic, and the show retained some of the comic elements, eg. person being thrown abt like a rag doll. This I find amusing, adds to the 'anime' feel. Ultra exaggeration of certain aspects (eg. female lead's flat is dirty = room really looks like a rubbish dump!) makes the show even more light-hearted, very suitable for cheering oneself up!
The show is basically a standard love story, the female lead (Nodame) chasing aft the dream prince male lead (Chiaki). What makes this show different is its classical music background. Story occurs in a music university, Nodame plays the piano, Chiaki (being the dream prince) plays the violin, the piano, & aspires to be a conductor.
For every few episodes, there will be a showcase of some classical piece, which the leads would have been practising. At some point, the history of the piece would have been explained.
So aft hearing the signature tune of the piece several times, & knowing the music's background, it becamemuch easier for a classical ignorant like me to remember the piece. So much more effective than listening to a CD or listening to hubby explain! ;P
This is my fav classical piece from the show, love the way it's being presented! It's also the show's ending theme:
Now Astro (Malaysia's cable tv provider) is showing the serial on Sunday 3pm on the 8TV channel. Hubby watched episode 1 the other day, & he agreed it was good. :)
Only problem is, the show being in Japanese, have to read the Chinese subtitles, & it's difficult for me when it comes to the technical music terms. Luckily had watched the show on vcd, I had to pause the disc several times to read the subtitles!
The show is so popular back in Japan they flimed 2 additional special episodes in Paris & Prague. So can get to watch the beautiful scenery in addition to the good music! Can't wait to get my hands on the dvd!
Yes, will splurge on dvd instead of vcd for the SP. The show's good enough to worth it (for me)!
