I was fortunate enough to attend a press conference before the gala premiere of the movie 'Return of the Cuckoo Press '. The organizer did put in effort to direct us the way to the press conference which was on the faraway (ok not so far) Sentosa. There was some drama getting there but thankfully I managed to find the place. Although it was a long walk, I'm glad that I was there.
I was seated at the
middle from the back.
Press con
I was seated directly in front of Chilam and naturally took more photo of him than the other artiste. hahahaa
Seated beside Chilam Cheung is Nancy Sit and Charmaine Sheh.
Nancy Sit is a veteran Hong Kong actress. She is wearing sunglasses due to a case of the sore
eye. She maintains her skin really well!
Charmaine lost a lot of baby fats as what she had mentioned before and
look very slim. In front of me is a matured and professional actress. I
like the way she smiled and answer the questions after some thoughts.
The whole press conference was filled with humor with our cheerful and friendly Chilam and Nancy Sit smiling happily. The atmosphere was relax and cheery, conversing in Mandarin (with a little Cantonese accent). They shared about their experience while filming this movie and the nostalgic feeling since the drama series was shown 15 years ago. FYI, the drama was the highest rated for a TVB Hong Kong drama. Many years had passed and the cast came together again to continue their story onscreen.
Chilam Cheung!!!!!
Chilam Cheung does not age at all and is still so handsome. In fact, he looks better than his younger days. I knew he is a good looking chap and he looks even more handsome in real person. He has his own humor and charm which was prominent throughout the interview. I am really thankful for having this opportunity to be close with the stars and above all it is the opportunity to experience an actual press conference settings which we often watched on television. I would say it is not really that scary or cold as some may thought, the atmosphere is actually quite good. The best of all, we can take picture and video during the conference. So now it's time to photo spam~~~~~!!!! :)
This movie is simple and sweet, perfect for taking out that tissue box and wiping a tear or two. The plot is (a little too) idealistic and a tad cliché but it still makes for a good time: there are touching (tear-jerking) moments, sweet moments (that make you go awww… or just think that it is sappy) and hilarious moments (that make you laugh till your stomach hurts).
Sypnosis (and yes… some spoilers... perhaps)
This story is about a girl called Lin Truly, who is played by Vivian Sung as the high school girl version and Chen Qiao En as the adult version. We are first introduced to the adult truly (sounds much better in Chinese). She struts her way trumpihly into the office having clinched an (apparently) big deal and spots a diamond ring on her hand. Everyone crowds around her and congratulates her. Seeing this, you would thing that Truly is a success career woman who has both the career and love of her life. But that façade is soon broken away as the next scene depicts Truly struggling to finish her never ending work.
We soon realize that Truly is actually taken advantage of by her boss and made to overwork without any overtime pay. All the deals that she has clinched are not rewarded according to the hard work she puts in; often being shortchanged. Her colleagues, especially her team members (under her) while outwardly show their admiration of her work ethics and success, actually despise her like of a spine and workaholic tendencies (where they end up the collective ‘casualties’).
Just before knocking off work (and only realizing how late it is when hinted by her team members), her fiancée calls demanding to know why she is not yet at the restaurant and that he is tired of always waiting for her. He flares over the phone and gives her and demands that she better turn up in the next 5 minutes or he will leave. Truly tries to reason with him, but to no avail. Sighing, Truly packs her bag and is about to leave the office to appease her fiancée whenher boss struts in announcing that there is a meeting at midnight and that she will attend it. So she and her team better start preparing materials for the meeting.
Due to her weak character, she is constantly bossed around to work overtime and does not know how to say no. This earns the ire of her team members who are desperate to go home after a hard day at work, but because of Truly they have to work overtime until midnight.
While buying an ‘instant’ dinner at the nearby convenience shop, Truly overhears her team members criticize her and make fun of her weak character, vowing not to be like her when they grow older. This encounter sets her recalling her high school days as she narrates her story of her growing up…
This was a time before there were handphones and pagers were seen as the ‘in’ thing, along with roller skates (not blades) baggy jeans, denim jackets and long fringes for the guys. It was the era of the Four Heavenly Kings (Liu De Hua, Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung and Leon Lai). Every fangirl was just crazy about them. The setting itself just brings you back in time and get a feel of life back in the 80s / 90s and the realization that no matter the times, fangirls are all the same in their adoration of their idols.
Girls being girls
As a high school student, Truly is a bumbling average looking girl who has a unrequited crush on the school’s heartthrob and genius Ouyang Extraordinary (played by Dino Lee). She is also neighbors with the school’s belle, Tao Minmin (played by Dewi Chien) and has 2 best friends. Truly is also a BIG fan of Andy Lau. Evan life-sized cutout is enough to make her short-circuit.
One day, Truly receives a chain letter that she takes very seriously and so she writes 3 chain letters to send away the ‘bad luck’. Her first recipient is a mean, grouchy teacher and her second recipient is Tao Minmin. For her final recipient, she decides that it will be the school’s troublemaker Hsu Taiyu (played by Ta Lu Wang) because she saw him making life difficult for Extraordinary.
When Extraordinary receives the chain letter, he mistakes it for a love letter and while he reads the letter (on a road with cars), a van makes a turn and knocks into him. He breaks his legs as a result and attends school the next day in a cast and crutches. His underlings are upset that someone has attempted to ‘curse’ their boss, so they set out to find the culprit which leads them to Truly.
Truly is terrified of Taiyu, who finds every opportunity to boss her around and order her to do things for him (i.e. forces her to buy for him black sesame noodles, but the sauce and the noodles must be separated etc…). Their interactions are somewhat cute as Taiyu bullies Truly doing ridiculous things for him.
Trying to get Taiyu'd order right lol
One day, he forces her to skip school and brings her to a roller skating ring(the popular hangout of bad students in those days) where he indirectly ‘throws’ her into a wall since she does not know how to skate. A fight soon ensues when a rival school gang storms the rink and fights with Taiyu because the leader does not want Taiyu to skate with his girlfriend. The fight ends when the rival gang is beaten and the leader declares that they have to go back to take an exam (lol).
This encounter leads to some disciplinary action by the school. Truly is interrogated by the discipline master to fess up to the incident and point who is the student that started the whole mess. Truly surprising does not point the finger at Taiyu and gang, but rather takes up the responsibility herself. As punishment, she has to clean the school’s swimming pool (it’s just scooping up the leaves in the water).
Whilst scooping up dead leaves at the pool, Truly overhears two familiar voices, Extraordinary and Tao Minmin. Their conversation is a little bit ambiguous (they were talking about getting caught, taking responsibility, not to worry and a baby). This sends Truly’s mind into overdrive and just as they are about the leave the locker room, a panicked and devastated Truly hides herself in the pool desperate to not get caught. She almost drowns but is saved by Taiyu. She is puzzled as to why Taiyu would at the pool and learns that he has a crush on Tao Minmin.
So together, Truly and Taiyu, work through misadventures to help each other win their dream dates. But along the way they find themselves being attracted to each other rather than their intended dates. Though they do not admit their feelings in a direct manner, they seem to understand each other but yet seem to misunderstand that the other party still likes their crushes. And so the ‘game’ continues by them helping each other get their dream dates. Through this youthful rite of passage, their friendship evolves and they learn a thing or two about true love. The process is both touching and sweet, and shows how much Truly had grown when she stood up for Taiyu when the new principle, who was prejudiced towards him - a ‘failure’ of a student, tried to find all ways and means to kick him out of school.
But alas, as with all first loves’ they do not end up together Taiyu had to go overseas for an operation: apparently since the time he get into the car accident in the beginning of the movie, his head had been hit a couple more times in fights which resulted in a blot clot that needed to be removed. His family decides to relocate as well. There was a slight misunderstanding before Taiyu left for overseas, leaving Truly upset that she misunderstood Taiyu and that she had truly liked him as much as he liked her.
From left: Taiyu, Truly, Extraordinary and Minmin
Now, we are brought to the present, where Truly sits in a park listening to a cassette (!) that Taiyu had given to her before he left, reminiscing about the past. The next day she storms into her boss’s office and throws a resignation letter on his table telling him (to his face) that she is sick and tired of his overbearing ways and that if he does not reward her according to her effort she will quit. When she comes out of the boss’s office colleagues applaud her and her team members really show their appreciated and admiration of her guts. One team member says, “I would have just sent in an email and not thought to write a letter! That was so cool!”. To which Truly replies, “Sometimes doing it by hand and personally feels more satisfying than using technology.” She walks out of the office with a vibrant smile on her face and soon breaks up with her materialistic naggy fiancée.
With the two major obstacles in her life settled, Truly attempts to buy tickets to the latest Andy Lau concert but fails to do so. She is indignant and disappoint because after being a fan all these years she still fails to be able to purchase a ticket to his concerts. But she does not let that set her back and she still goes to the venue of the concert on the day itself.
A BIG fan
There she has a chance encounter with the man himself and convinces him to not only sign an autograph for her but also take a selfie. As he writes her name, Andy Lau pauses and asks if she is going to his concert. She replies that she was not able to and he so kind heartedly gives her a number she can call to get the ticket. He stresses the fact that she must call the person and turn up for the concert, to which she joyfully agrees. That night, as she calls the number and explains the situation hoping to score that ticket she turns around and meets…. Taiyu (Jerry Yan)!!!!
They both look at each other and smile, albeit awkward but happy to see each other. There was once that Taiyu had promised Truly that he would get Andy Lau to sing for her and now he has actually done it. Even the concert name, which I think was Truly Yours, indicates that Taiyu has never once forget Truly. They look at each other shyly and smilingly walk towards to concert theatre.
Thoughts
Like I mentioned at the start of this post, the plot is a little clichéd but minus that it can be somewhat heartwarming. And while I might not be able to understand the rave reviews, I will say that it was a good simple movie, at least the story and ending was much better than That Girl in Pinafore - 我的朋友，我的同学，我爱过的一切.
Unfortunately, real life is not like reel life. The minus points for me were…. Please… first loves may or may not work out but they usually do not become so good looking. Most often than not, they actually change shape as they age and make you go…, “What happened to them?!”, if you happen to bump into them a few years later (if you ever do). I am not saying all, just most of the time. And who still remembers promises made when they were young and make it a point to fulfill it especially when you have lost contact with the person you were supposed to fulfill that promise, wait on fate? lol And when you meet them years later, the awkwardness just is not there? Not to mention, the critical point of whether you can (still) recognize each other after all those years from teenage to adult hood spent separated.
I like this movie… I really do. But the pragmatism in me overwrites my enjoyment of the movie when it is all over and the movie ends. hahahaha
Lately I have been into Chinese novels, or rather, more into audiobooks or radio dramas. So I decided to try my hand at translating and I have chosen this book to be my very first project! This is a fantasy novel by 九鷺非香 (Jiu Lu Fei Xiang). It is basically about deities and reincarnation etc… It basically entails the misadventures of a 2 deities who eventually become a couple in the end. The interactions between them are adorable and at times hilarious. Of course, not everything is happy and there is a little bit of angst but it still has a happy ending (which was satisfying to me at least). The two deities get off on the wrong foot on the first day they meet, end up in a fight that messes up everyone’s romantic fate (those red threads!). So as a punishment, they have to end up having to spend 7 'bitter' lifetimes with each other.
Impulse is the devil! Xiao Xiang Zi comes to understand this old adage so much better after she meets that nightmare of a guy. However, no matter how great her understanding is, it’s still difficult to contain the burning flames of an impulsive spirit… that jerk… the jerk who makes other people want to stab over and over at first sight! Benevolent Buddha, almighty Jade Emperor, oh author and readers who don’t retaliate even after your dignity has been smashed to smithereens! Anybody at all! Please tell her.
How can she control her impulse…?
P.S. A gentle warning from the beautiful author: impulse really is the devil~
Character Profiles:
Xiao Xiang Zi (Female Lead):
Originally a puff of cloud that was passing by Yue Lao’s residence and was suddenly turned into a fairy (celestial entity). Hence, commencing her life in the heavens and working under Yue Lao. Since her route to becoming a deity did not involve any meditation or training, she is somewhat lacking in knowledge and her skill is mediocre (not very strong). Due to her original form being a puff of cloud suddenly getting turned into a deity by Yue Lao, she is somewhat naïve, rush and has a unique process thought. She is about 300 years old and has a complex about her name as the Xiao (at the beginning of her name) and the Zi (at the end) is similar to a eunuch’s name in ancient times.
Chu Kong (Male Lead):
A celestial star
deity who crosses path, actually he kind of crashes into Xiao Xiang Zi
one day – the day of their enmity. From the moment he unceremoniously
crashes into Yao Lao’s residence, both he and Xiao Xiang Zi dislike each
other. Their encounters leads to a fights and results in Yue Lao’s red
threads to be messed up (running the matrimony fates of the mortals). He
is arrogant, tactless and (mostly) mean (towards Xiao Xiang Zi) and
does not really know how to express himself properly. **** Spoiler: His
background is related to the big bad that almost destroys the world. ***
Yue Lao: An elderly deity, white beard and all, who is supposed to be in charge of the matrimonial fates of humans. But unlike his outer appearance of being reliable, it turns out that he likes to drink, is lazy and randomly connects the red threads. While drinking and gazing out at the sky one day, he decides (in his drunken impulse inspiration) to turn Xiao Xiang Zi into a fairy. After ‘turning’ her, he makes her work for him as 'free' labor while he skives off work (with no one knowing of course). Jade Emperor: The one who oversees everything in all the 3 realms and the one who decides on the lead characters punishment. He assigned General Li to write their mortal fates for 7 lifetimes.
Zhi Hui: A 10 thousand year old demon, whose original form is that of a demonic stone. He encounters the couple in their 2nd lifetime and is somewhat of a recurring character that helps the couple to realize their feelings for each other: his appearance in the 2nd lie time, unsettles Chu Kong (seeing him as a love rival).
Emperor of Hades: His temperament is opposite of what his job description is - that is the afterlife. Or rather you could say that it is precisely of the nature of this job, that he want to find some fun and break out of the mundane cycle. So instead of a gloomy, serious, stern Hades, he is rather childish, jovial and loves to make fun of the couple, much to their chagrin. He is one of the major supporting characters.
General Li: Tasked with writing the ill-fates of the couple for 7 lifetimes, he seems to have a fetish for tsundere and is a little sadistic wanting one to chase the other and.. just suffer. However, despite his enthusiasm, since the couple know of his plans, they try to and successful thwart his plans. They end up spoiling almost all the fates' General Li has written. So much so that he gets so upset and dejected that he quits writing their fates after the 3rd lifetime or so since nothing he wrote every went accordingly to the script (director fail! lol).
And so with that, the (more important) characters have been introduced!
Update: This has actually been fully translated by volarenovels so you can read it all here
Sarang was asked to feed G-dragon oppa Her foods. At first she refused but in the end decided to feed him with her spoon. I am sure many people want to be in her shoes!
Now they have became closer and starts to play with each other. Sarang even gave him a hug at the back. I think G-dragon really gets along well with kids because he is taking things slowly without giving any pressure to the kid. Therefore, he succeed in getting close to Sarang.
To end things in a nice note, G-dragon brought a pink mitten hat for Sarang. How cute when both G-dragon and Sarang wore the same mitten hat and took a picture. Sarang even took G-dragon oversize cap and place it on her head. I love the selfie picture and the farewell hug! A pity that Sarang would not kiss G-dragon on the cheek. Hahaha.. Anyway this is a heartwarming and cute goodbye.
Have you watch the famous Korean Variety show - Please take care of my refrigerator? This is really a funny and interesting variety cook show featuring some of the famous chef in Korea. The special guests of the day is none other than Big Bang Tae Young and G-Dragon. The format of the variety show is very simple. The guests will bring along their refrigerator to the show and showcase it to the audiences. The appointed chefs will try their best to cook the ingredients in the refrigerator and serve it to the guests.
The show begins with our G-dragon being carried to his guest seat. Do we call that royal service? What about our dear Taeyang? Anyway, Taeyang came with a sunshine smile.
Taeyang dished out some information about G-dragon in an adorable way. Such as how Yang Hyun-Suk favour G-dragon among the Big Bang members and even agrees with him in every things. Taeyang also revealed a flaw about G-dragon and that is his mouth cannot keep secret. To which G-dragon defend himself saying that telling him means that they wanted the secret to be known.
Here comes Taeyang fridge into the recording studio. First of all, that is a huge fridge and everyone were waiting in anticipation to see what is in store. It impressive to see Taeyang fridge and all those big and small food containers. It is noted that some of the foods were eaten halfway and those were the remaining food kept in a container. The expiry date of the foods were inspected too.
Time for the chefs to show us how to cook those nice foods using the ingredients found in Taeyang fridge. Cute expressions from our dear Taeyang! Scream!
G-dragon is looking at the foods with great anticipation. I like the way he appreciate the foods and give a good reaction to the all foods that he eats.
They were happily eating the foods when Taeyang break into a little dance move. At one point, they said that the Chef looks like TOP who loves to look cool in everything.
G-dragon laugh so heartily at the cooking performance of the Chef. He seem really happy to think of the foods. Sure, G-dragon need to eat well in order to be healthy. Anyway, we knows how much he likes to eat.
They truly score 100 points for those cute and funny reactions after they tasted their foods. Throughout the program, their smile never leave them and that is what we call professionalism.
Do you think that the Chef look like TOP? Anyway, it is hilarious to see the Chef perform. They were even worried about his finger as it seems like he cut himself. To their relief, it is actually tomato skin which looks like red blood.
G-dragon give more cute reactions, therefore it is hard not to notice him. He simply make so many hand gestures and distracted me from Taeyang.
Anybody like the way G-dragon do these cute facial expressions? Those boyish charm and cute baby smile!!! All the foods look so delicious, it is really hard to choose the best dish that suit their taste bug. Oh, the agony of having to choose the best dish is so difficult.
Thank you Taeyang and G-dragon for coming to the show. I love to see them simply relax and smiling happily. They truly deserve all the love from their fans. Bang, Bang, Bang!
A naive vampire prince from Vampire planet visits Earth to see a live performance of his favorite idol contender. He remains stuck on Earth with his three trusted and loyal servants. He then decides to join the competition himself and struggles to become a global pop idol. - taken from wikipedia
As expected, this drama is so cute and hilarious. Unlike other vampire stories, it is refreshing to see a light hearted comedy drama rather than being scary. What attracts me to the show is our three handsome actors/models. The title of the drama says it all. Vampire Idols is about idols which means we get to see many eye candies. Of course there is something to look forward to the look department in every episode.
I really enjoyed this series because of the hilarious storytelling. These vampires are really cute when they tried to adjust to human lifestyle. They were simply naive, gullible and funny in their own ways. Being an "alien" to the earth planet, they encountered many incidents and situations that they cannot handle. I would highly recommend this drama if you have not watch it.
I got to admit that I am interested in the drama because there are many eye candies. These models are so professional and it makes my heart fluttered like crazy when they posed like this. The funny moments are when they doubt their good looks because in their vampire planet, they are considered the ugly bomb!
Even when having his make over in the hair salon, Hong Jong Hyun still look so good. Unbelievable! But it is expected of models right? Anyway I like his nerdy and socially awkward role in this show. He is gentle like the rabbit but has a high IQ. Since he is a genius, he proved to be knowledgeable. In him we can find a walking dictionary that seems to know many things.
Lee Soo Hyuk is another hottie in this drama. Among the vampires, he is the most loyal bodyguard. The prince saved his life, therefore he is full of gratitude towards him. He is the the most powerful warrior that serve the loyal highness. My first impression of him is that of an oddball who is fair and has sharp features. His character is very righteous and kind. However, he is sensitive to blood and is the only one that resembles a vampire.
Kim Woo Bin, what can I say except that he look so manly and childlike at the same time? His naive and gullible personality is so endearing. While watching the show, I fell for his pure heart and interesting character. In this show, he has Super sharp hearing and is dorky.
This is the vampire prince Lee Jung . He is the one that make the show so funny and adorable with his humor and cuteness. Due to his "ugly" looks by Korean standard, he is often criticised. However, he is perfect in vampire planet. Sometimes he can be irritating or annoying, however he is pure at heart. Actually, he behaved like a child and depend a lot on his servants. He have a one sided love on Girls Girls leader Woo Hee.
They portray a cunning couple in this show. Dong-yup is the vampire earth guide, who is supposed to take care of the prince while they are on earth. However, he and his wife Soo mi were scheming to steal the prince diamond necklace. Due to the fact that liar Dong-yap is a vampire therefore he will not grow old. This is very sad since the lady is a human that married a vampire.
She is Min-Kyung. Her nickname is thunder as she is known for her fast delivery of foods to the customers on her motorbike. One day, she accidentally knocked onto the vampire prince and befriended him. She is a homeless but hardworking girl. Later on she became a road manger and then the vocalist of a girl group.
These are the Korean girl group Girls Girls. Ironically, Minah is a member of a girl group called Girls Day too. They portray the Korean idols with different personalities. Woo Hee being the daughter of the entertainment company boss has a fiery temper and is bossy. The rest of the members are sexy kitten Soo yuen, cutie pie Minah and mysterious stylish girl Yu-bi.
Kwanghee who acted as himself in this show is comical and cute. He does act like a diva calling himself Hwang prince. His exaggerated expressions can be irritating at times. However, kwanghee is quite suitable for this role.
Fans of Takashi Kashiwabara, here is a good news to share with everyone. Our Kassy has been living a simple and happy lifestyle. This is the recent photograph that he posted on his Weibo. He looks more manly and cool now.
He posted a picture of the wheat noodles that he love to eat. With the picture he shared about healthy eating with his fans. That bowl of noodles look delicious.
This photograph was taken to commemorate their last Soccer match before the team retires. Can you spot Kassy among the team?
Kassy loves to eat and we can see most of the pictures that he posted are about foods. He mentioned that he is trying to make chestnut rice. Do you love the photographs that he took? I personally like all the pictures and that shows us the down to earth Kassy that is currently at peace with himself. He used to be a superstar that is so far away. However, after his star diminished, I can see the real Kassy. As a fan, i support his choices in life as long as he like the way things are right now.
