Winter has finally kicked in around here and all I want to do is lie in bed with a blanket around me! I know… anything under 15 degrees Celsius is considered ‘cold’ in this part of the world!
Has it been a long time since my last post? Almost 3 weeks? It’s starting to feel like I’m watching too many dramas again and need to just finish at least one before continuing any more!
WATCHED DRAMAS
Detective Investigation Files IV Eps 1 to 2 – Some days I just want to watch a HK drama but none of the currently airing ones interest me. So I got DIF4 from a friend, this is a series I have never actually watched! Gosh, this series is like 15 years old!!!! OMG. I avoided this for so long because I loved DIF 1 to 3 so much I cringed at how they can just change the entire cast and still kept the DIF name. pffttttttt… TVB likes to do that. The first two episodes were decent though. But then, I have a looooong way to go – 50 episodes! I wonder if I will finish this by the end of this year!
Marry or Not Eps 16 to 27 – I feel like I’m finally making progress with this drama! Surprisingly, the meddling ex-girlfriend storyline ended fairly quickly (within 4 eps or so?) but that means our main OTP is just travelling along rather happily… and the story has to focus on other couples. The episodes around 20 were somewhat boring when they introduced this side story which didn’t relate to anything else that was shown previously. I think it was supposed to show if you love someone, you must cherish them right now otherwise you might not get the opportunity later. I started to lose interest during those episodes.
At least in episode 24 Tian Xin & Xiu Jie Kai’s storyline is finally heading towards the next hurdle. They’ve gotten together, overcame the misunderstandings with the ex-girlfriend and finally this is the issue that has been hinted at since the very beginning – XJK’s fear of marriage. I’m still wondering though, how is that going to fill the next 13 episodes? I hope it just doesn’t get super draggy.
Pleasantly Surprised / Love Myself or You Eps 1 to 3 – So much fluff and cuteness. I’m not really a fan of Jasper Liu but how can anyone say no to that smile? It doesn’t feel like much has happened in 3 episodes but even when Puff is supposed to be ‘I am fine to be alone so just go away’ mode – she’s still extremely likeable. Her sister’s son Xiao Yi is also super cute. Everytime they call him Xiao Yi I see Aaron Yan’s younger self in ‘Just You’.
Jolin is finally making a ‘proper’ appearance in episode 4 – I am twiddling my fingers in anticipation HAHAHA.
Rock n’ Road Eps 7 to 8 – I didn’t watch any episodes last week so I’m beginning to lose track of what happened. It’s not that this is bad, it’s just… I can’t explain why I’m not super motivated to watch it. Wrote a Favourite Scenes post for episodes 4 to 8 last week so that pretty much covers how I feel about Rock N’Road at the moment.
Wayward Kenting Eps 1 to 2 – I’ve wanted to find a good quality video source AND the time to watch this for a while now but double fail for me. The quality on the Chinese streaming sites are marginally better than YouTube but I just can’t use those sites without going insane because of speed issues.
Back to the drama itself I really enjoyed the first two episodes! Perfect drama to watch to remind me of summer plus the cast of Eddie Peng / Ethan Ruan / Janine Chang is made of win. But I probably won’t have time to keep watching at the moment. Keeping this one on the radar and hopefully I can get back to it before summer. (December is summer here lol.)
You Light Up My Star Ep 1 – VERY interesting start. Although I will try to not make any judgements on this until I watch more. It has good comedic moments because of its observations on the entertainment industry but at the same time very dark themes involving mental illness. Once we start dipping into the darker themes there really is no turning back because the satire will seem too out of place and make the drama even more of a split personality. I don’t really think Joe is a particularly strong actor but the success of YLUMS is riding on a lot on his performance.
I give kudos to any production company, director, television network etc who tries to do something different in Taiwanese dramas. It’s a struggling industry and it’s too easy to just rehash the same old formula and bring in beautiful actors / pairings the audience will love. So I’m coming into YLUMS wanting to like it. I don’t like having high expectations these days but I just hope that the coming episodes will build on this interesting premise.
WATCHED MOVIES
Overheard 3 – It’s rare for the third part of a popular film series to have the same three main actors in parts 1, 2 AND 3. Even Infernal Affairs couldn’t achieve that. (Although the ending to the first Infernal Affairs makes any sequel rather difficult in the first place, but I digress…) Plus Overhead 3 is another completely new story and not related to previous movies.
I was really disappointed with this one. Even with Sean Lau, Louis Koo and Daniel Wu plus a different storyline I found the story really confusing and it just wasn’t that exciting. Zhou Xun’s role was rather redundant and if they really increased her screentime because she’s… well Zhou Xun, then they just proceeded to make the movie worse. Each of the leads was supposed to have one film each where they played a more significant role (eg. Sean in Overhead and Daniel in Overhead 2) so it was Louis’ turn but he didn’t make much of an impact. Not his fault I suppose since he wasn’t given a lot to work with.
I think they’ve milked enough of this franchise?! But then it did well in Mainland China so who knows.
OTHER STUFF
Cutest MV ever!!!!!! The start is totally their meet cute scene from Miss No Good. HAHAHAHAHA. OMG this makes me so happy. I love these two. The song Snore is also the theme song to currently airing Tie the Knot (媽咪的男朋友).
I didn’t even realise one of my 90s favourites – William So Wing Hong has a new Mandarin album! Last month, he appeared on some variety shows including SS Xiao Yan Night. I don’t really know why James Wen was the other guest but they did a duet together! 舊愛還是最美 aka Past love is always the most beautiful (roughly translated) is one of my favourite songs like, forever and it was funny to hear James actually sang this when he entered a singing competition years ago. He chose the song because he was a fan of William LOL.
From 8:45 onwards 🙂 Although it’s awkward two men are singing this LOL.
This has been a really long post but I can’t help myself but to include this picture. Bolin & Ivy spent Children’s Day (1st June) together doing this. I cannot stop laughing and very efficiently made it into a banner!
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