first impression: Three Kingdoms RPG (Hong Kong)

First of all, I think I’ve seen plenty of time-travel drama series lately to realize that the mechanism for time-travel is really hard to grasp in each series. The only storyline in which I can one-hundred percent agree with the time-travel mechanism is TVB’s A Step Into the Past. At the very least, in this particular storyline, we aren’t dealing with some strange mystical magic that causes the main character to time leap for “some writer/producer given reason that still needs a lot of explanation.”

A Step Into the Past involves futuristic technology wherein our main character is asked to return to the past, take a simple picture, and then return to his present-day. We make use of scientific methods to force the time-travel storyline. Sure, the fact that this technology was tested on HIM of all people is highly for story progression reasons, but it still makes more sense than a mystical, magical explanation. In this case, Hang Xiao Long (main character of A Step Into the Past glorified by Louis Koo) being sent back in time by some rich man and his team of specialized scientists propels the story, then further stabilizes it by instigating that our time-machine instrumentation still has some imperfect kinks (a more realistic gesture) when he is sent three years earlier into the time period that everyone was hoping he’d land in. When his time-machine remote’s battery dies, he realizes that he’ll probably have to wait three years to get to the correct time frame while he tries to figure out how to make his remote time machine work again. And so the adventure begins and we all end up loving it (save for a few cliched and blocky moments in his journey).

Thus far, I’ve been watching time-leapers go from the Korean Joseon time period into modern society. The mechanics of that time-leaping is still undeterminable, usually some sort of magical sleight of the heavens, or the like... I haven’t finished watching Queen In-Hyun’s Man, so I really don’t know if they talk about the time-traveling mechanism; but I know for sure that in Rooftop Prince, the time-leaping isn’t even really explained, but is blown off with an indirect explanation: That this was a decree of fate.

Operation Proposal (which I also haven’t finished watching) makes use of a human conduit who creates the opportunity for our main hero to leap into the near history of his younger high school life topped with a lot of non-explanation save for the word “miracle”. On some levels, it works, but on others, it’s still a little sketchy.

Other time-traveling series I haven’t quite bothered with: Time Slip Dr. Jin, Bu Bu Jing Xing, Palace... etc...

Coming back to Three Kingdoms RPG, I had been looking forward to this series for a LONG time (BIG emphasis on the word “LONG”). We were talking about combining an obsessed gamer as the main lead with the historical Three Kingdoms MMO that he loves playing so much and a time leap back to that exact era. In essence (if games are as historically accurate as gamers believe them to be), then throwing this guy into the time period he plays with regularly would be kind of awesome. After all, he gets to show off his strategic gaming skills in a real life situation (and in this case, he gets to meet his most revered idol, Chu Kot Leung of historical infamy). I was always a fan of A Step Into the Past, and to be honest, if TVB sticks with their normal chops, then the storyline of Three Kingdoms RPG could be a good one.

And then we also combine Raymond Lam, Tavia Yeung, and Kenneth Ma into one setting and I’ve got all my favorite cast members in place (well, at least two of them).

And so we step into Three Kingdoms RPG with a lot of hype (at least on my part) and expectation. Kenneth Ma is the main character who gets sent back in time to the Three Kingdoms era and meets his revered idol Chu Kot Leung (Raymond Lam) and shares a romance with a character role played by Tavia Yeung. And technically, this is the only summary anyone can really dig up at this point. What the main reason for his time-travelling is, I’m not sure anyone knows yet. At least in A Step Into the Past, Hang Xiao Long’s time jump was due to human means, although the fact that he landed three years prior to the target time and ends up needing to “make history or cease to exist” when things in history seem to go wrong tells us that there may have been some sort of heavenly interference in his initial mission.

The first episode of Three Kingdoms RPG took me 40 minutes to actually start enjoying. This is actually a first for a TVB series. Typically, TVB is really good at hyping up the introduction and then giving you a great impression from Day 1 of broadcast. The first episode for most TVB series is usually the best one. If it’s one thing that TVB knows how to do, it’s hooking the viewer with that very first episode as well as doing their research wonderfully for the series to take off without a hitch.

Okay, so they did their job... they just did it kind of half-assed.

I will admit that TVB has a good idea of what its viewers like to see. And thus, they know that we don’t like to spend too much time dragging on with build-up. So I expected that by the end of the first episode, we would be time-leaping to the past with our main lead, which is accomplished quickly. Unfortunately, all of the build-up for our main lead, Sze-ma Shun (Kenneth Ma) was so agonizing to watch that I almost gave up. I mean, this is the first episode. I should not be rolling my eyes and “meandering” through it while playing Minesweeper. My attention should be completely focused on the storyline and its opening (though for its benefit, the opening sequence had a good theme sung by Raymond and the first few frames depicting the actual Three Kingdoms RPG game was pretty neat). For TVB, this was actually a little disappointing, because even with series that I have no intention of watching because it sounds stupid, the first episode is STILL a hook-line-and-sinker type.

I dread the rest of the series because I don’t know if things will just get worse; but then I also anticipate watching the rest of the series because maybe TVB’s writing and production man-power was placed in the rest of the story and things will get better. Maybe that expositional build-up was simply a quick hash together to get the main lead where he needs to be. But then the production staff is really going to have to put in beyond 100% effort to make up for it in the long run. Especially explaining the time travel mechanism which already didn’t make any sense.

For the first 40 minutes of this episode, I found that I absolutely do NOT like our main character already. He’s a game obsessed lazy layabout who feels like he’s entitled to luxury just because... well... just because. He doesn’t even have a good reason for being a bad son who has no stable career at his age (which I’m assuming is somewhere nearing his thirties, because, let’s face it, there is no way that Kenneth Ma is getting away with being an early twenties), spends all of his days playing MMOs, online chatting with several web-girlfriends, and just being a pain in the ass to his family. He’s fortunate that, at the very least, his little sister (played by Cilla Kung) seems to think he’s a decent human being. I feel sorry for her already, because she’s either going to figure out that he’s a leeching worm and disown him which will break her heart, or she’s going to forever idolize him for some unknown reason other than the fact that he’s her big brother.

I’m not saying that Sze-ma Shun is a bad person. On the contrary, I’m sure he IS a decent human being underneath all of his lazy, good-for-nothing immaturity. At the very least, he won’t leave a stranded stranger to die on the side of a mountain, and he values his friendships. He’s not the type who will go out and commit illegal acts even for his own benefits. But let’s face it, he’s a thirty year old man stuck in a sixteen year old mindset. He thinks he should be entitled to being a lazy teenage boy when, at his age, he really should be getting a job, making his own money, and at least NOT giving his family any grief.

But this might be the standard immature asshole to noble hero trope as our character plot device. Sze-ma Shun, through time-leaping backwards into the Three Kingdoms era, learns the values of family, ambition, and maturity before he gets catapulted back into his own time. So this, my friends, is more than likely a lovely TVB-ified story of one man-child’s growth in character. I see nothing less happening because TVB is predictable.

The entire first episode of this series had been a little hard for me to swallow, probably because Sze-ma Shun is made out to be such a spoiled brat. I welcome the fact that he’s got SOME appreciation for history through his gaming, and the fact that he values his friends and the code of brotherhood honor (this will all come in handy for his convenient time-leap back into an era where brothership is extremely significant; especially during war). At least he’s got something he can play off of. I mean, we can’t ALL be Hang Xiao Long and start off as the genius warrior who just keeps getting smarter and stronger as the show progresses. (Also, Louis Koo is a much better actor than Kenneth Ma, by all standards).

So here’s a quick run-down:

Sze-ma Shun gets into fights regularly with his father who tells him he needs to work to earn money while the guy practically scolds his father for not straight out just giving him money. Sze-ma Shun spends his days slacking off from work, treating his friends to his father’s restaurants good food, and works as an extra on filming sets (you know, the type who play a random citizen or soldier and die in multiple frames but no one ever notices the same guy playing different roles who appear for a whole of two seconds). Sze-ma Shun has slacker friends as well and together, they spend their time playing video games, slacking off together, ogling girls' and their legs, and making trouble like putting sticky rat capture glue on an expensive car after breaking into it and finding a little packet of illegal substance. And then this is where we find the value of Sze-ma Shun’s friends who both point fingers at him dealing in the illegal while getting themselves off the hook. And believe me, I don’t feel sorry at all for the rat bastard, though I kind of wish he was being punished for his own wrong-doings rather than being framed for something some other asshole in the present did.

Basically, if Sze-ma Shun’s entire progression is to become a better man, then he has A LOT of work to do; otherwise, I may not be able to relate with his plight at all.

Finally, while on the set of an historical drama and/or movie playing the role of a soldier who probably dies after his scene is over, that freak storm hits Hong Kong and magical stuff happens. Due to being framed for possession of illegal substance and obstruction of justice, Sze-ma Shun runs away from the police who are trying to arrest him and ends up in some mountainous cavern where our time-traveling mysticism takes affect with some shoddy CGI (and some shoddier acting from Kenneth Ma where I wince and cry at the same time, because, Dude, I know you can do better than that!). The last five minutes of the series shows Sze-ma Shun walking around thinking that he's still in filming set when he runs across others in historical garb and speaking in historical tones (and he's still in his historical soldier get-up as well). And when people are killed and an army rushes passed his line of vision on the trails below, he finally realizes that he's probably not in modern-day Hong Kong anymore.

Clearly, the series has a direction. It just had no idea how to get us there without pleading that we give into a full-out suspension of disbelief at all costs. We have a despicable main lead who is being over-acted to death by someone who knows better what acting should look like; and then there are shoddy CGI and really cruddy magical components at play. I'm not sure I'll be able to get over the magic bubble thing being a time warp portal. But I'll persevere...

Fortunately, there’s also Raymond Lam who is more than likely the other main male lead (as per typical TVB standards, they wouldn’t cast this guy aside for the other one so easily; and also, his character is the first to be presented in the opening theme sequence which usually means that he's the true main character). He will make his role bearable, at the least, and maybe now that we're in the proper era of the series' setting, the story will take off with better pacing.

The last five minutes of the first episode is what actually got my excitement all hyped up finally, bringing me back to where I’ve been standing all this time about Three Kingdoms RPG. Sze-ma Shun, by some strange force of nature (literally some freak storm approaching Hong Kong and what looks like magical force field bubbles and some terrible directing and acting conveyance), somehow gets sent back into the Three Kingdoms era. We don’t know how or why this happened, but it does, and as far as time-traveling series goes, I would bet big bucks that the time-travel mechanism will be left in the dust as the series progresses. TVB’s aim is to get the hero where he needs to be, no matter how tacky or unbelievable. Explanations will either take place a lot later on after we quit caring about the whys and the hows, or they will never be addressed again.

But anyway, I’m excited because the adventure is now about to begin. I expected no less of TVB, but I had at least expected to be able to relate with the main guy from the beginning. I guess that plot point will just have to be addressed later. I also expected a little more from Kenneth Ma as well, but it seems like he’s in that “the director needs over-extreme comedic acting exaggerations NOW” mode; which is painful coming from him when you know (and I repeat again and again) he can do better.

For the meantime, I look forward to seeing my beloved Raymond Lam in his revered Chu Kot Leung role -- a man who was known throughout China as the best war strategist... well, EVER. And then once Sze-ma Shun learns how to man up and mature, I expect some good old lovey-dovey bromance to take place. Ever since their last series together (The Four), I’ve missed seeing some of these young TVB stars gather in one series to present their bromantic awesomeness-es. (Okay, enough of the fangirl-ing.)

As far as cast goes, I’ve been a little wary of Kenneth Ma taking center-stage next to Raymond Lam. For one, Ray is going to outshine Kenneth Ma no matter what; no questions. Kenneth Ma isn’t a terrible actor or anything, but he’s also not the most natural either. He has his moments. He settles into his characters really well, and he conveys emotions decently. But sometimes, he tends to flatline it and I’m forced to ask myself “Does this situation suddenly feel like he’s trying too hard to convey his character’s feelings?” In other words, if I have to ask that question, then the answer is most likely a big fat “Yes.”

A lot of TVB actors and actresses have a tendency to overdo their acting a little bit under certain circumstances (especially comedic situations). I don’t know if this is something to do with the directing or maybe a misconception of what is acceptable as a form of acting. But even the best of the best have had their flaws, and the ones who manage to break out of that mold usually end up leaving TVB in pursuit of movie roles (others just get lucky that I can still suspend my disbelief that he or she is in character). Kenneth Ma has his bumpy moments when he can get so into character that I appreciate his rapport with his role, but then sometimes he falls out of sync and I’m shown that he’s just some actor doing his job.

Oh... but it would appear that he is definitely in character this time around. Unfortunately, the agony of his character is probably part of directing and writing flaws. Too tacky, too fake, and too much... so I hope the atmosphere of the series tones him down a little bit now that he’s done his time leap.

I’ve gone and watched a couple other series from TVB recently, and Three Kingdoms RPG is the big one I’ve been anticipating. So maybe my love for this little station’s productions will be rekindled soon. It’s not like TVB has dropped off of my radar; I just wish that they would return to their former glory from back in the 90s to SOME of the early 2000s productions. Or maybe my ranges have just expanded way too much now that I’ve included Korean dramas, Taiwanese dramas and Japanese doramas into my scope.

We will see how this works out as I have my eye on two other TVB productions that are currently airing as well. On the other hand, there are a slew of Korean dramas that are about to premiere in the next month and I don’t know if I have that kind of time to try appreciating everything.

As far as Three Kingdoms RPG goes, it seems like the next episode is really where the story’s adventure will begin. The first episode spent its entirety building up our main character to be the lazy, immature sleaze bag we will learn to either hate or love, depending on his development. Not much to go off of, but maybe by the third or fourth episode, I’ll have an idea where this series is heading.

news: Where's my TVB Miracle?

I am at the edge of my seat in anticipation. Ever since the sales presentation for TVB (HK) aired last year, there has been one specific series I've been looking forward to seeing. Needless to repeat myself over and over again, but TVB has been a big disappointment in my life for a few years now. While I had still been watching some series, the number of TVB series on my "watched to completion" list just kept shrinking with each recent year. (Yes, I went and did an exact tally of everything I watched.)

2006 was the last year of TVB in which I actually tallied a number of series in the double digits: I watched 13 of their 2006 productions, but not all of them were well-received and one of them was highly overrated (*coughcough*ToGrowWithLove*coughcough*). Or maybe more than one had been highly overrated (The Dance of Passion AND Lethal Weapons of Love and Passion) only one of which I actually enjoyed.

Starting in 2007, the number of TVB drama series I watched began to dwindle. We went from 8 in 2007 to 9 in 2008, and then in both 2009 and 2010, I only actually watched 5 series completely. In 2010, I started watching some series and then ended up dropping them like hot potatoes.

So what about 2011?

I saw one, yes, only one entire series produced by TVB. But my reasons are probably best left for another post I'll be dishing out later on.

Rant finished (well, sort of), I still have the need to check out future projects for my native television station. The sales presentation gave me what would ultimately (hopefully) be my revived interest in the TVB arena.

回到三国 (Wui Dou Saam Gwok, in Cantonese; Hui Dao San Guo, in Mandarin)
Return to Three Kingdoms

And this image of Raymond Lam in his role of Chukot Leung is the only picture I've been able to find that is slightly representative of the series. The photo at the top is all I could find that promotes the actual series itself and those aren't even the people who will be starring in it (so yea, total fake out; my bad). TVB likes to create their sales presentations with various actors giving the audience a taste of what's in store and then they play musical casting until something works out better. Of course, I totally wouldn't have been averse to Steven Ma being in this series as well. There aren't any true promotional posters and the series has been finished filming for months now. Even a while back, from my own sources, it was said that Return to Three Kingdoms would be airing soon in late February of 2012. And so I got excited and totally looked forward to it.

If it's one thing that I like, it's historical series, and with a premise much like the A Step Into the Past glory that was so loved this was going to be my return crack for TVB. Other various series that seemed interesting enough just never piqued my interest even if I saw the first episode and thought to myself "I'll think about watching it."

But now there aren't even anticipated broadcast dates from my sources about when Return to Three Kingdoms will be presented. And I'm in a bit of a ranting, raving funk because of that now.

Raymond Lam is one of my favorite Hong Kong drama series stars and alongside him, Tavia Yeung will also be starring as female lead in this series. Granted, this won't be a Mysteries of Love reprisal of their love line since Tavia is paired with Kenneth Ma, but I'm still wanting to see their interaction. Because in Face to Fate, even when they didn't have a love line together, they still exhibited tumults of chemistry as a bickering pair of questionable comrades. And it was fun.

Nonetheless, I'm a little disappointed that there might be a delay on the broadcast of this series. TVB is known for doing such things with highly anticipated (even if I'm the only one anticipating it) series, pushing them aside for something they think will bring in better ratings for that time period. Or maybe they're in a funky disagreement with one of their own actors and decided to play tricks by postponing that particular actor's series. I've learned over all these years that TVB is not above being petty like that.

random thoughts: A Tribute To Fangirl Insanity

Warning: This post contains a lot of senseless rambling. Proceed with caution.

Upon diving into a new area of entertainment, I always chance upon certain stars, celebrities, artists, actors, etc., that I become unconditionally attached. Basically, it's called an irrational, yet justified fangirl obsession and it becomes dangerously delusional... or something like that.

When I find someone in the entertainment world that I take a shine to, the following will happen: 1) I search for their works, whether music or other drama series and I enjoy them with a strong bias, 2) I web-stalk them for the duration of my obsession, 3) I look for YouTube video clips that other fans around the world have uploaded depicting my obsession in all the best features. Pretty much, for a good amount of time, I'm hooked to that person until he or she leads me into a new obsession (which sometimes doesn't take long).

For example, during my TVB Hong Kong drama years (which pretty much spanned my entire life) I have always found that, due to certain character roles, I end up falling senselessly for the actors behind that image. The very first time that my obsession ended up going into overdrive, however, was because of TVB celebrity Bosco Wong, known for many, many breakthrough roles and his ability to naturally blend in with the drama series he participates in without trying to steal anyone else's spotlight. Through him, I finally discovered what an obsessed fangirl could do when given the right resources on the internet.

I joined an English-based fan club for more news and information on him. I spent a lot of time on YouTube looking up anything related to him. I've seen almost every drama series he starred in (even the short cameo scenes from his earlier work). And I even began listening to his music when the company debuted him as a singer -- and I tried to justify that his singing really wasn't that bad, although ultimately I had to admit that he really isn't cut out for being a vocalist and should just stick with acting.

I was totally in love with this guy. This had been nearly five years ago when I saw him lead a series for the first time in a series which also show cased a rather cute romance line for him and rumored celebrity girlfriend Myolie Wu. Five years ago, I was still in that early twenties young adolescent stage where being a fangirl is still justifiable (in my opinion). Nowadays, I just refer to myself as the self-proclaimed fangirl, but really I'm a hermit otaku woman with fangirl tendencies...

But what are labels... really? Moving along now.

This is not to say that he's the one and only (or even the first) TVB star I've fangirl-ed. Others include Raymond Lam who, in comparison, is a much more refined actor and also an excellent vocalist. But during my obsession with Raymond Lam, it had never occurred to me that I could go online and "web-stalk" him like I did with Bosco. But that's okay. I tend to see Ray in the same light that I see my eternally beloved superstar Andy Lau anyway: I should only ever view his work, listen to his music and admire his talent rather than try to follow him around like a lost lamb. His talents are just too classy for me to fangirl him (not that I don't). But this guy has gotten to a point where he has entered my list of "Eternal Fandom" wherein no matter what he does or who I end up obsessing over next, he will still be in my list of top artists, right there next to Andy Lau, BoA, Utada Hikaru, Stephen Chow (Hong Kong movie director/producer/actor genius), and many others. Since the list hasn't officially been set, I'd hate to mention any other people and then end up denying them in the future. Because this unofficial list will only ever include the stars and artists who are there to stay and not just any random celebrity I happen to take interest in for a short few months (not that this list is really important to anyone else but myself).

TVB was where I started off finding my most beloved stars because I grew up watching Hong Kong drama series, and to this day still hope that I can get out of it what I used to when I was young. Several young actors from that broadcasting company had easily come into my interest aside from the above mentioned:

- Tavia Yeung -- Yes, she's a girl and it seems strange to fangirl her, but she's a talented young actress with some of the best crying skills I've ever seen and she's always got great chemistry with her co-actors, whether or not there's a love line. Her acting skills have always been consistently improving and has finally been able to pick up series as the main female lead without having to share the limelight with others, and that, in itself, had made me ecstatically happy for her.

- Steven Ma -- There's not much to say about this guy except that he's a naturally talented actor and there have been multiple character roles where he's caught my attention over and over again. But the obsession phase never really came around for him.

- Gordan Lam -- While he's no longer part of the TVB family and has moved on into shooting movies and the like, he's always been one of my favorites for one standard reason: his ability to emote feelings and tell a story with his eyes. To this day, the one thing I remember about him is seeing those eyes express something and being able to feel exactly what it is he's trying to express. There's talent for you.

- Roger Kowk -- I had a short obsession phase with this guy just because of one character role he played. But after that, I really only paid heed to the fact that he IS a good actor, but otherwise not really that attractive.

While there have been many others I've been attracted to in the past through TVB, I have to admit that the fangirl phase never really hit it's peak. The male stars in TVB had always been... well, typically the majority of them were way older and at the time that I watched TVB religiously, I never really could feel attracted to older men (with Andy Lau as the only ever exception). So the fangirl phase really only hit Bosco and Raymond even if I DID have a lot of other stars I became interested in.

But as my world began to expand, my new obsessions began to grow and I found that fangirling certain stars became increasingly easier due to the amount of wonderful talent in the realm of Korean entertainment.


Let's backtrack a little bit though before we dive into Korean entertainment:

My first dive outside of TVB drama series had actually settled in the anime and manga area and the first and only artist I fangirled was none other than very talented voice actor Suzumura Kenichi. You may find my post on him here: The Many (Anime) Faces of Kenichi Suzumura. While I had never officially seen this person, I had heard his voice in so many forms that I ended up putting him on my favorites list. He is quite a talent and to this day, I won't change my mind. But my "fangirl" period for him ended a little too quickly, I think. My obsession dwindled pretty fast. Thus, he hasn't entered the "Eternal Fandom" list.

There had been other voice actors I admired, but seeing as how I can't even pick out their names without looking anything up, they apparently weren't that significant to me. Sakurai Takahiro is a voice actor who is probably best known for some "handsome men" and "hero" roles, but I know him best as Cloud Strife-sama from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children movie. There's also Kobayashi Sanae, a female voice actor who is usually known for voicing younger boy roles and spunky girl roles.

The funny thing about this anime and manga phase, however, is that I never truly fangirled any REAL people aside from Suzuken-sama. My fangirl tendencies usually strayed towards the fictional anime or manga characters. But we'll just leave it at that and if anyone is interested in my anime and manga obsessions, head right on over to the drama zone's sister site and enjoy some more insanity.

After that anime and manga period (which lasted a whole of five months) ended, I quickly made a leap into the next area of entertainment: Japanese dorama. This obsession lasted a whole of two drama series, both starring the eternally lovely Ikuta Toma-sama whom I still have inklings of obsession for, but not to the point where I fangirl him to oblivion. During that time, of course, I was about to breach the lines of sanity and dangerous because of him. For an idea of how much I liked this guy, you can check out the only Hana Kimi posts I have shared on this site. I think I swoon over him enough in the two posts about the Japanese version of Hana Kimi to make up for the short amount of writing I'm dedicating to him here. His admittance into my "Eternal Fandom" list is still in debate, because I still squeal over learning about new movies or drama series that he participates in, but I haven't been motivated enough to go watch them. I still follow a blog that is dedicated to him, but I don't always read everything posted there. And so I'm kind of giving him a few more months before I make that ultimate decision to switch mode from obsessed fangirl to eternal supporting fan.

I believe that the ultimate decision will come into play after I finally get around to watching the rest of the dorama he stars in as well as the two movies he has recently finished shooting.

Nonetheless, I shall always refer to him dotingly as the lovely Ikuta Toma-sama because I DO really love him so... *cue huge fangirl sigh*

Following the Japanese dorama phase, which is more correctly referred to as the "Ikuta Toma-sama fangirl phase", I ended up finally entering that Taiwanese Idol phase. Taiwanese Idol drama series and Taiwanese Idols have always been a big thing among young girls of Asian culture. The idea behind Taiwanese Idol Dramas, after all, were simply to show case the most popular celebrities in a series for all to bask in their prettiness. The majority of these drama series were romantic comedies at their best, featuring good looking men and women who were young and sometimes already quite widely popular. A handful of them were truly able to act, but the rest of them really just survived on their already accumulated popularity.

Admittedly, I can see the main aim of Taiwanese Idol Drama at young girls in their teenage to early twenties and older otaku girls like me who are suckers for romantic comedies.

It wouldn't be until the production of Taiwanese drama series Black and White that we finally see a break in the monotonous romantic comedy or melodramatic romance track that Taiwanese Idol Dramas have become known for, which are usually low budget and nothing spectacular aside from being fun entertainment. Granted, Black and White still show cased good looking people in the main roles, its story line and direction was a new experience for those of us already used to the typical Taiwanese Idol Drama formulas.

In this territory, I truly DID end up spending quite some time, nearing more than a year of interest. Remnants of my obsession with Taiwanese Idols still linger and I will find myself still looking for some possible drama series to watch from that area. But, of course, it hadn't really taken long for me to get tired of the same stereotypical story lines, over and over again, and the same celebrities playing the same pretty boy and pretty girl roles, over and over again. While this was the rather superficial reason why I liked Taiwanese Idol Dramas in the beginning (the good looking people as well as the fluffy romances) it is an indulgence than can only pique my interest for so long. And then, after a while, I realize that I'm yearning and grasping for something else with more substance. It would also be nice to see good actors on the television screen once again.

It's not that every Taiwanese Idol Drama is an empty shell filled with flower vase celebrities. I haven't exactly seen every possible Taiwanese Idol Drama possible. There ARE good story lines that aren't just fluffy romance pieces and there ARE good Taiwanese actors and actresses (Rainie Yang, Ariel Lin, Kingone Wang, Barbie Hsu, to name a few). But the main formula is pretty much predictably reused over and over again as the plot's resident attraction and the majority of Taiwanese Idols are too stiff at their best.

Once again, in every area of entertainment (in this case, every different country and culture) I tend to find a few stars I cling to rather easily. Looking back at my obsessions, however, make me realize that the Taiwanese Idol arena is truly for the young teenage girls.

For the first part of my Taiwanese Idol interest, I was a big fangirl for hot boy group Fahrenheit for one simple reason: Wu Chun. With a baby face and a killer athlete's body, this man is truly one of the most handsome men I have ever laid eyes on. And so because of him, I ended up becoming a fan of the boy group he was part of, listening to their music religiously, buying their concert DVD as a souvenir of my fangirling, and following their career through news sources and YouTube videos. I started picking out drama series which included at least one of the four boys (men?) and my flight of Taiwanese Idols obsession started there.

My love for Wu Chun, however, slowly faded in the presence of Fahrenheit's strongest vocalist, Aaron Yan Ya Lun who was the youngest in the group as well as the first official real life bishounen I have ever seen. Youthful and vibrant, this boy had all the attributes that I had never thought possible in the real world as a bishounen -- I always, always, always believed that bishounen could never exist in real life until Aaron Yan came along and proved that Japanese manga certainly had a basis for their "pretty boy" character descriptions.

Aaron Yan was easily picked out from the four person boy group because of his strong vocals and his obsession with music. But my love for him had been a slow and progressive one because of the fact that I was also basking in the superficial glory of other Taiwanese Idols during that time as well. With the likes of Rainie Yang, Mike He, Show Luo, Nicholas Teo and the like catching my attention, Ya Lun wasn't exactly the most stand out performer out there. So he is simply part of a small portion of my fangirl obsession as the youngest and cutest of the Fahrenheit group. Having and innocent personality, a gorgeous smile and almost flawless skin, this boy was adorable in his own way, but could have very easily passed off as a pretty girl if not for his deep voice.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for me to admit to myself that none of the four boys in Fahrenheit held much conviction in their acting skills. Wu Chun is good looking, but his acting is awkward and stiff to say the least, though he IS quite well suited for action as shown in the movie 14 Blades. By far, I am most impressed by his role as the antagonistic basketball player with a dark edge and awesome-hot death glares in the drama series Hot Shot. As the semi-villain, he actually shows a rather attractive intensity (even if the actual character role makes no sense). Little Ya Lun is cute, but you can figure out almost immediately that he believes himself to be a good actor and so tries too hard to prove himself in that aspect. This ultimately ends up making his acting a little unnatural. Jiro Wang Dong Cheng is probably the only one in this group who even has remotely refined acting skills... but he's not very good at bringing his character to life and you can clearly see it as "Jiro Wang acting as such and such" rather than just seeing the character. I don't mention the last member, Calvin Chen, only because I have only ever seen his one supporting role (which was unnatural at best) and so I would unfairly judge him in this matter.

But anyway.... Moving along from Ya Lun, I entered a much confusing phase known to me strictly as the teenage BBT phase wherein I fangirl some of the youngest entertainers in Taiwan during their timeframe of reign. This is where I truly tried to return to my past youth shamelessly because these boys were strictly fangirled by teenagers.

BBT is short for Bang Bang Tang which came from the Taiwanese television program and talk show called Mo Fan Bang Bang Tang (which I will elaborate more on in a future post). But to be brief, BBT is a group of young boys chosen off the streets through days of auditioning to join a sort of "Super Star Training Course" that would focus on turning a couple kids into famous celebrities by putting them through several training classes with entertainment industry managers, singers, dance teachers, and the like. At the same time, these kids' own personal perserverence is observed through a television program where a classroom setting is arranged for them to show off what they do best and whether or not they can handle being on television professionally. For two years, these boys became a massive cult hit in Taiwan and sometime last year was when I first discovered them long after the television program had disbanded.

I ended up watching the entire television program from the very beginnings of the classroom selection in 2006 and up to the combining of the boys with their sister class in 2009 until I finally got tired of them sometime during their 2010 episodes. It hadn't taken long for me to crunch through all those years of broadcasting, and during that time, I also happily became accustomed to watching Mandarin-based T.V. shows without English subtitles. The best thing that ever happened to me because of BBT was that I finally learned to understand conversational Mandarin where it had always been confusing to my unskilled Cantonese speaking mind.

From BBT, I grew to admire a select few boys, thinking that they were really very talented and hardworking, even if they didn't end up becoming hardcore celebrities. Their skills are fairly unrefined, unfortunately. Acting wasn't a strong trait aside from maybe one of the boys and one of the girls in the sister class. Singing was also not a strong trait aside from three specific boys in the group who still have not found their big break. Dancing and comedy, however, was truly their calling and I think this is what made the television program as well-received as it ended up being.

Ah... the charm of boy bands... my inner teenager will always have her say...


This phase lasted for a short period of time, because I began to lose interest in the Taiwanese Idol arena after I finally picked up my second Korean drama series and said, "Wow! I'm following these more closely now!" Well, not exactly in those words, but seeing as how I've already breezed through one Korean drama series after another, it's no refute as to my cling to fangirling the entire Korean entertainment industry as a whole. It was like discovering TVB's charm all over again, but in a different country and in a different language, with several television stations and many, many more stars (unlike in Hong Kong where TVB was pretty much it as it overshadowed the weaker ATV studio).

The list of how many of the young male stars as well as some of the female stars I've become a fan of is slowly growing itself to the roof.

Jung Yong Hwa of CN Blue was an immediate love when he charmingly portrayed the sweet and romantic Kang Shin Woo in the highly popular You're Beautiful. I ended up picking up all of CN Blue's music as well as following closely along with Heartstrings, his second drama series project alongside female starlet Park Shin Hye, who has also become one of my favorites in the Korean entertainment arena because of her onscreen charm. While I don't fangirl female stars, Park Shin Hye is definitely one that I would willingly follow her career for because she has a definite "IT" factor to her that cannot be easily found with too many others. Jung Yong Hwa, simply put, is just good looking, musically talented, and charming -- unfortunately his acting is still rather lacking and I hope that he'll get the chance to improve upon that. Park Shin Hye is simply charming and a great actress.

The next obsession took form in Lee Min Ho... or rather the character role that he played in City Hunter, Lee Yoon Sung. To this day, I'm not even sure what had possessed me to pick up City Hunter since it's not really my type of series; but I'm glad that I did because I highly enjoyed it and it finally gave me that missing "substance" that I'd been looking for since the days of Taiwanese Idol Dramas and endless shoujo manga. And through City Hunter, I felt like my grasp on television drama series has expanded outside of romantic comedies to include so much more (despite romantic comedies still being my main diet). But Lee Min Ho easily gained my fanship for so, so many reasons, even the most superficial reason of him being extremely good looking and incredibly, sizzling hot. This young one is a talent no matter how you look at it, because I found in him that rare ability to emote with just his eyes and his facial expressions that few actors actually have. And so we let the fangirl obsessions begin... Of course, he's not the best actor out there as there are still some desirable improvements he can make, but nonetheless, I worship his kick butt hot character of Lee Yoon Sung in City Hunter and look forward to new projects in the future.

Not long after Lee Min Ho, my next obsession took form pretty quickly: Song Joong Ki, otherwise known as the perpetually beautiful pretty boy very easily caught my attention. While everyone else who watched the highly popular Sungkyunkwan Scandal may have leaned more towards the silent hero Moon Jae Shin, played by Yoo Ah In, I was fairly attached to the flamboyant and unpredictable Gu Yong Ha, played by Song Joong Ki, if only for the character's personality and significance and some finely sprinkled adorable goodness. And, of course, because of him, I ended up following through with the first ever Korean variety program I've ever watched, Running Man. I have plans to pick up other drama series that he has participated in, and I look forward to the day that he can be center stage in his own drama series. Because being pretty isn't his only skill, rather, his acting skills are decently refined and very well presented. The only disadvantage that he has so far, however, is that his acting skills aren't extraordinary and if it weren't for the character of Gu Yong Ha in SKK Scandal, or even if not for his cute looks, Joong Ki might not stand out as much. But since SKK Scandal is the only series I have seen of his, I might be prematurely judging his skills.

Nonetheless, there is no doubt that this darling little cutie-pie was quite the influence in my continuously molding viewing habits. There is the possibility that Joong Ki will be receiving an individual article in the drama zone soon, but I haven't quite made a plan for it yet.

Other Korean stars began to catch my attention as well while I continued to watch drama series after drama series. Yoon Eun Hye hit my list of favorites after watching her performance in Goong and Coffee Prince wherein she portrays two completely different character roles in each series. I then picked up a movie that she starred in and really enjoyed that as well. She is truly one of the greatest female stars of the current generation, beautiful and talented. Park Min Young was also an interest for me, having gained my admiration because of two fairly strong female personalities in two different drama series, City Hunter and Sungkyunkwan Scandal. Both series were very well received by viewers and myself and both characters she portrayed were readily lovable and unique; unfortunately, I have a bit of a bone to pick with her crying scenes as I have certainly seen much better ones, but overall, she's pretty good at what she does and she's also elegant and gorgeous while she's doing it.

Following, there hadn't been too many others who came into that "obsessed fangirl" level for me, even IF I gained a bit of love for them. There was just never enough spark for me to cling onto them tightly like I had done for a lot of others in the past. At least not enough for me to mention by name because I easily moved on from them fairly quickly to watch a new drama series.

Except now we approach the main reason why this article had been written in the first place.

I had begun writing this article, following my half-baked brainstormed notes over how to format writing about actor and singer Lee Seung Gi. I had even titled this article as "Lee Seung Gi". And as with a lot of other posts that I write, I love to start off with an introductory paragraph (or two or three or ten) that would eventually lead into the subject. The article for CN Blue had included such an introductory, talking about my love for music and my obsession phases of music. This had been my intention when starting the article for Seung Gi. But as one can tell, the writing process ended up getting a little out of hand, and halfway through, I resignedly scrolled back upward and changed the title to it's current glamour.

And thus, thanks to my often aimlessly wandering mind and a specific subject (komawayo Seung Gi ya) I ended up completing an entire article based on random rambling about my fangirl tendencies. It's not like I had never planned on writing something like this before, but I just never know how to format certain articles or even how to start them. So as we can see, I've finally written something quite worthy of posting in my blog as a type of "filler" random thoughts article that can very easily spiral into many, many other new articles to come. Also, it gives me something to post aside from all those "intro info" and "thoughts" pieces that I so very often slack off on, because it DOES sometimes get a bit monotonous for me to simply summarize and review a drama series, especially if I don't particularly know what to say about it aside from "I totally loved this" or "very excellent series that I recommend" or "what the heck was this story trying to convey".

I'm a writing fanatic, but recently, words baffle me and I have trouble coming up with wittier or more imaginative analogies.

But anyway... with the posting of this article, I have opened up the possibilities of including many more individual articles about all the other celebrities and stars I've mentioned up to this point. I had been meaning to make a list anyway, and with this article, my intentions, I'm sure won't be in vain. We WILL have more drama zone insanity focused on my fangirl tendencies because several of these people mentioned in the article will more than likely be detailed on in the future: two of which I have already decided would be added to my list of people to talk about.

Coming back to the initial intentions of this post, I mention Lee Seung Gi this and Lee Seung Gi that, but to be totally honest, I really plan on doting on him in his individual article more so than here, so the only thing I can really say is that I think I may have found an all-new young star to potentially raise into the ranks of my top favorites -- you know, that unoffiicial list mentioned at the beginning of this post that currently only includes Hong Kong's stars as well as two international super stars, BoA and Utada Hikaru. As I continue to follow his career from his debut in 2004 to the present, I have high hopes that he will surpass even my own expectations of him.

As someone else has stated in another blog somewhere that I read in passing, "How is it that Lee Seung Gi is just so good at everything he does?" Because honestly, this statement is NOT far from the truth as far as I've seen and Seung Gi is still young with a long road ahead of him. Going from an amateur singer to a now refined vocalist, his potential is still yet to be reached, but his music has become widely popular. I have yet to find a song of his that I didn't entirely like. Jump-starting his acting career almost immediately with the 2009 ratings killer Brilliant Legacy, Seung Gi's skill can very easily be recognized in that area as well and with some slight improvements here and there, he can readily move into the ranks of best actor with time. And finally, his variety and talk show hosting skills had come as a surprise to me entirely. Seung Gi's image was never really one I had pictured as an MC; he came off as a genteel, quiet and easily embarrassed type because of his age as well as his debonair looks. While this is quite true of him, it seems that it doesn't stop him from working hard at becoming a well-like and readily acceptable talk show host -- this boy has the skill to do anything that he wants and he does it exceptionally well too.

And so, in one paragraph, I have pretty much summed up the entirety of the Lee Seung Gi article I've been planning. But have no fear, the article itself will definitely have more detailed information as well as lots of very squeal-worthy pictures.

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Related articles:
people: Lee Seung Gi (Korean singer/actor)

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thoughts: Moonlight Resonance (TVB) - part 2 review

Moonlight Resonance @ dramawiki

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This article contains a lot of spoilers so read at your own risk.

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I won't go into details about the story line to this series -- after all, it was a typical plot wherein everyone schemes to take over the riches of a family business. There are good people and there are bad people and then there are complications. And so for a more thorough summary, it would be best to check out any wiki sites out there (like the one I have listed above), because I'm not going to really bother with the summary here. (Unless I decide to create an intro info article for this series.)

The beginning of the series had been quite the build-up and with all the hype and glamor, I had been expecting Moonlight to be on par with it’s predecessor. As I had mentioned in the previous blog back in 2008, I was truly looking forward to the happy endings that were advertised as well as how the series would handle the social taboos that presented themselves in the form of our two main romantic couples.

Raymond Lam was cast as Kam Wing Ho/Ah Ho and Linda Chung was cast as Yu So Chau/Ah Chau and the two were placed together as the new “golden couple” of TVB after their excellent chemistry in Heart of Greed. While they didn’t end up together in the end after Raymond’s extravagant and heart-breaking death scene, the viewers hoped for the day that the two could be paired up again and have a happy ending. This was a prayer answered in the form of the spin-off sequel to Heart of Greed.

Moses Chan was cast as Kam Wing Ka/Ah Ka and Tavia Yeung was cast as Seun Ho Yeut/Ah Yeut as another couple put together; they were never a couple that was looked forward to, but it was a breath of fresh air as compared to pairing Tavia with Bosco Wong again, and again, and again, and again. And with both of their popularities, this couple was rather anticipated as well.

On a side note, the downfall with TVB, I think, is that they only have so many favorite main leads and must reuse and recycle them over and over again. Hong Kong is a small place after all, compared to the likes of Korea or Japan. While this works for the fans who love nothing more than to see their favorite onscreen couple get together (over and over and over again), it gets a little old for others after a while -- pairing a couple up twice or maybe even a third time is fun, but after that, you want to see them in a new role with a new person for whole new possibilities. Maybe after a couple years we can bring this beloved couple back together for more fun, but only after a few years when other possibilities have been experimented with.

What I had mentioned before were the social taboos presented. Ah Ho and Ah Chau were two kids who had grown up together, pretty much best friends in the traditional childhood loves. But a twist of events caused by the “evil and calculating” Yan Hung played by Michelle Yim broke apart a once happy family and later turned Ah Ho and Ah Chau into step-siblings when Yan Hung married Ah Ho’s father Kam Tai Jo played by Ha Yu.

The idea of step-siblings falling in love with each other has been addressed in few other story lines before -- none that I’ve ever really read about. But the idea was interesting and I had my anxiety amped up in order to find out how this issue would be dealt with in the future. After all, the two were obviously in love with each other from the beginning, the two obviously got along with each other very well, and there were family members trying to remind them that they were now “brother and sister” and could not be together romantically.

Oh, the angst! The suspense! The delicious possibilities!

The anxiety was built up about this plot... but then it fizzled as soon as the character of Dr. Ling Chi Shun showed up (played by Bosco Wong) to sweep Ah Chau off of her feet and make her fall in love with him. This particular relationship development, unfortunately, was disappointing from the start. Ling Chi Shun liked Ah Chau, but ever since the beginning, she did not reciprocate those feelings. She got along with him, she admired him, and she could have been his best friend. But the only reason she even got together with the doctor was because she needed to move on and away from Ah Ho because of the taboo. So when this happened, I was expecting that maybe the drama would start -- Ah Chau probably would have some inner turmoil about not being able to be with the person she actually loved and instead was using a good man as a fall back.

But then the relationship ended up making Ah Chau fall recklessly in love with Ling Chi Shun as well -- an unexpected turn of events and a rather senseless action. Unfortunately, as the viewer, I never really understood how that happened. One moment, she was in love with Ah Ho, the next moment she could so easily put her entire emotions into loving Ling Chi Shun. And so when the two had to break up on account of him still being in love with a former girlfriend, she was devastated and went crawling back to Ah Ho for comfort, thus falling in love with him all over again. I just never understood why she was so depressed about her break up with the good doctor because throughout their relationship, they didn’t even seem like they were that much in love.

Sure, they had great chemistry with each other -- but as friends. Ah Chau never convinced me that she had been able to move on and accept Ling Chi Shun as her boyfriend; so when the "devastating break-up" came around, I couldn't accept that she was suffering that much about it at all. I'm almost certain that this couple had been a means to try the pairing out so that viewers would be able to accept the couple in a later series that aired after this one, not mattering how small their roles; and Bosco Wong's appearance in the series was just a way for the producers to be able to recycle their actors from Heart of Greed into the new plot. Don't get me wrong, I like Bosco Wong and I think his acting is top notch; but his role really could have been done by anyone or could have been non-existent and down-sized (unlike the role of Raymond Lam's Alfred in the predecessor).

And then the ending of this relationship? The taboo of Ah Chau and Ah Ho being step-siblings in love was never even addressed. The two just sort of... got together and all was well. Where did that taboo go? I guess maybe after Yan Hung was divorced and kicked out of the family, it was suddenly okay for the two to be in love again because now they were no longer step-siblings?

I’m not sure if that’s even how real life would work out. Or maybe it is and I just need to get with the times.

Setting that one aside, the second romantic couple brought to the forefront had an even harder time. Granted, while we make a point to emphasize that neither of the parties of each couple are blood related, it still serves to point out social taboos when relationships have a title put to them.

Tavia Yeung plays Ah Yeut who was adopted by the Kam family when she was young. She grew up together with all of her adopted siblings and eventually ended up being part of the family even if she wasn’t blood related. Ah Ka, played by Moses Chan, was her elder brother and should have remained as thus. The two love and take care of each other as siblings should and it was pretty nice.

The first few episodes that I watched about the two had not even started out their mutual attraction for one another. It wasn’t until Kate Tsui’s character, Lo Ka Mei appeared that we start getting hints that Ah Yeut has developed feelings for Ah K a-- but before that, she was still treating him just like a brother. And then in the span of one very sad, very emotional scene where Tavia gets to show off how beautifully she can cry and make the viewer feel for her, we suddenly learn that she has been in love with Ah Ka for a long time. But prior to her confession, I don’t think anyone, not even the viewer, suspected that this was even remotely true. The writers needed a turning point for the love story to begin and, to kill two birds with one stone, they wanted Tavia to cry to her heart's content. Because on a much more serious note, Tavia Yeung is one of the few actresses in the entertainment world who can display those heartbreaking crying scenes so beautifully that it makes your heart break just watching her. While this was a good scene for her to display her talent, this was a really senseless scene for the series itself.

And so this was how their relationship was brought into the surface.

To be totally honest, I was disappointed and I was actually kind of put off by it. I wanted to see some better reasoning and some mutual attraction between the two that would have caused something like this to happen. Ah Ka shows throughout that he is very much attracted to Lo Ka Mei and they even start dating. But he never shows any form of romantic interest in Ah Yeut, not even up until the very end right before the two end up together as a couple in the last scene. And Ah Yeut, aside from confessing that she likes Ah Ka, had not shown any sign of romantic interest in him either. Maybe she was attracted to his gentle caring ways... but then again, the brother that she actually grew up in the same house with, Ah Ho, had also taken care of her in a sweet and charming way. Why didn’t she fall for him instead? After all, Tavia and Raymond exhibited better chemistry than Tavia did with Moses.

As the story goes, Ah Ka was never even really around the siblings enough to form any impression on them. Ah Ho was the "big brother" in the family who took care of everyone. If Ah Yeut were to form a crush on one of her non-blood related brothers, it would make more sense that she would do so towards Ah Ho, just because he is the typical charming big brother type and he was more accessible.

On a side note, if Ah Yeut were to form a crush on one of her non-blood related brothers, how come that had never happened before during their young, teenage, hormone raging years? Wouldn't it make more sense for her to feel attracted to one of her non-blood related brothers at a more vulnerable age during a time when they might not have established that sibling relationship yet? After so many years of being brother and sister, suddenly falling in love with each other seems kind of strange, wouldn't it?

But no... disappointment ensued and continued to ensue even outside of these two romances.

Because with the second couple, there were also no social taboos addressed. After all, despite not being blood related, the two were brother and sister for their entire life. HOW does this not merit some sort of objection from family members or even some complications within themselves? Ah Yeut was allowed to continue having a crush on Ah Ka while he subtly ignored it and continued to date his Lo Ka Mei. And the romance was non-existent between this couple anyway while they were left in second priority behind Ah Chau and Ah Ho’s story.

And then when they finally get together in the end, you find yourself wondering... How did this happen so easily? And to top it off, Ah Ka had never bothered to return any of Ah Yeut's supposed feelings, only treating and loving her as a little sister -- this was very obvious.

Setting aside these disappointing resolutions, there are just too many more disappointing resolutions to look at in the series as a whole. The build up was rather good, but ended up becoming bland when the producers seemed to really just want to have a turn of events and a lot of crying scenes in each episode. You got tired of crappy things happening after a while. And then in the end, with the magical flick of the almighty writer’s pen, all problems are suddenly not problems anymore. It was almost as if God or some other higher being suddenly decided to intervene in order to give the viewers a happy ending because the quota of forty episodes was getting closer.

Ah Chau’s final betrayal of her mother was valiant. Except, it wasn’t very realistic. Why, after all this time, did she finally decide to take everything away from her mother and give it back to the rightful owners? And why, if she knew about all the terrible things that her mother had done, did she not seem too stressed about it until those blessed scenes where the director told her to cry to her heart’s content? Why did she still worship that terrible mother who did terrible things? Did this girl not have a backbone or anything? Or did she just relish in the idea of being a damsel, torn between her own biological mother and the rest of the family she loves so much?

It was ridiculous. And it was probably just another way to show the viewers that, yea, Linda Chung is an excellent new talent who can cry wonderfully within a micro-second of action.

And finally, why did everyone in the series not make any sense at all?

Terrible things happened and Yan Hung was allowed to walk all over everyone even though it was blindingly obvious that she was being a malicious evil.

In truth, the writers pretty much just piled blatantly obvious injustices on top of more injustices just so the viewers could get a little teary-eyed and end up hating the ultimate antagonist with a great passion by the very end. But then in the very end, they allow her to become a better person to redeem herself? She goes to jail and realizes her mistakes and suddenly all is forgiven and she can be allowed to be friends with everyone again?

I’m just not sure whether I had been irritated with the last half of the series or just exhausted and didn’t even really care anymore.

I’ve never seen all of Heart of Greed -- it was a tear-jerker from the beginning and I had to quit after the first ten episodes before I became a crying mess, but what I saw of it was rather wonderful; and with all of the hype of it having a rather bitter sweet ending, I was reluctant to continue watching it. But I’m almost thinking that maybe I would have been more satisfied with the resolutions in Heart of Greed than I was with Moonlight Resonance. Moonlight Resonance’s only goal, it seemed, was to throw everyone's favorite cast into a new series with a new plot and try to make everyone cry -- whether due to the depressing scenes or just from irritation.

After all, Moonlight Resonance was part of TVB's new-fangled version of a sequel: take a very popular, well-received series and recreate the plot device with the same cast in different roles but with a similar story type basis. And to be totally honest, with the exception of one recreated sequel, the rest of them hadn't quite been working.

I don’t really care to recommend this series to anyone. I certainly was disappointed in it.

The only saving grace was the build up of the first half of the series and the acting from the cast members. The series boasted a lot of nostalgic flash backs that were fun to follow and some very heart-warming scenes among the family. The cast had great chemistry with each other and brought their characters to life excellently. Raymond Lam is one of my favorite actors... of course, he slept through his character since this nice guy, filial son and sometimes witty young man was definitely NOT a challenge for him to portray. In fact, I think that all the characters were carbon copy created for each cast member except for Michelle Yim who did an excellent job as the villain. In contrast, Lee Si Kei’s all-knowing and all-forgiving, better than thou motherly type of character was a little overdone and really didn’t shine like everyone kept giving her credit for. So she was taken from a rich lady and turned into a poor mother from one series to another... big deal, her personality was the same. And it annoyed me. Because, for one thing, as much as I don’t like Kate Tsui, what her character said about Lee Si Kei’s character was correct -- she always seemed like she had to be in the right and everyone else didn’t know any better. Lo Ka Mei chose a wrong time to convey that thought as it was used incorrectly, but to be totally honest, I think she was right.

Overall, I enjoyed bits and parts of this series. After all, it had some of my favorite actors in it and they were top notch actors as well. But story line wise, I think I would rather not bother with it.

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Related articles:
Extraordinary Moonlight @ Abstract Abyss -- the first impression post at a different blog

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music feature: C.N. Blue (Korean) and some thoughts

In the past, I have always been an avid fan of a lot of new music groups and singers or artists due to popularity or good looks or just how much I liked them in such and such movie or series, or if they happened to have one really good hit that I obsessed over for weeks. This has changed little, but I think my tastes have been getting a little bit better.

I won’t say that I’m a hundred percent shallow and cannot tell the difference between good music and bad music or mediocre music when it comes to who I end up following or internet stalking, but I have those moments where I pick up an interest in someone who really does have good vocals and good music. I will admit though that I typically prefer to listen to "what I like" and I don't go for the meaningful lyrics or the above average tunes or those traditionally wonderful voices. I'm not that deep of a music listener and sometimes there are no reasons why I like listening to certain songs.

Not everything has to have some sort of deep-seated meaning for me to enjoy it. I like what I like.

But anyway...

In the past, there was Raymond Lam, TVB artist who sang many theme songs for the series that he starred in as well as some that he didn’t star in. He has a very versatile, unique voice and has been able to hit notes and pitches that even a lot of professional singers cannot find. And so when he finally came out with his own albums, I went crazy like a rabid fangirl. Of course, while his voice is excellent, it was a different story with some of his music-- I don’t think he got a very good selection in his official albums, but even so, because it was him, I followed his news religiously and listened to his songs like they were my only source of nutrition. But I have to admit that the music got old really fast and I realized that not all of the songs were even that catchy or meaningful or even that interesting-- at least not enough for me to continue following obsessively.

It’s all fine, I still like him despite his bad crop of albums. He's a great actor and has an excellent voice; case closed.

In recent times, there was a little idol group called Fahrenheit from Taiwan that I followed religiously and even joined forums for. I practically fell in love with them. Yea... I wonder about it up to today, after two years of being their fan, why I had followed them for so long. To be totally honest, aside from the decent vocals of youngest member Aaron Yan and the rock-music inclined Jiro Wang, the group was pretty much disappointing in the talent and singing and dancing area. They were simply a group singing together in their first album, they played around with harmony in their second album, and then they projected a new image in their third album... and it all went to hell after that. By their third album, I think they pretty much made image a more important factor than music and it showed in their fourth and last album. It was disappointing to see them give up on progress like that and now they’re finally all separated. This group, I think, was a ploy to get four otherwise little known men out into the industry for some exposure. And I daresay at the risk of getting myself flamed unmercifully, they were really over-hyped. I mean, sure, they were four very good looking men and through interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, they showed a very close-knit companionship that made you smile. Some of their songs were rather good to listen to, but in the end, they really weren't that great.

But, just like with Raymond, I followed them like a crazy fangirl and listened to their music all the time... but I never played their music around anyone else, because deep down, I knew that they really weren’t that good. I was just a really big, obsessed fan because I was in love with Aaron Yan and thought that Wu Chun was the hottest thing on the eastern hemisphere (which is probably still true).

Other groups and singers I followed really weren’t too bad, honestly. Of course, there was that slight slip into the teenage era where I idolized a young group of boys called Lollipop from Taiwan who were extremely popular among young girls ten years my junior. And that didn’t last long though. I was mostly interested in the television program that these boys had come out of called Mo Fan Bang Bang Tang wherein you were allowed to watch regularly as a large group of boys displayed talent and went through tests to become selected into the ultimate six person boy band for ultimate exposure. It was fun, interesting, hilarious, and sometimes emotional, but I enjoyed it and so that's why I liked the six little stinkers for a while.

Other groups and singers I had followed, though not as religiously, included the three person girl group S.H.E. who are known as the longest running girl group in Taiwan. The three have been together for about ten years and going-- though due to recent incidents, they have had little exposure and have been going through a rough patch. There will be another post for this group and I will currently say that I love their music because aside from all three having excellent vocals, they have also built a great enough harmony with one another that probably comes with being both musically talented as well as extraordinarily close to one another.

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More posts on those mentioned above may take place in the future, but as the very first music feature post on this blog, I would like to introduce my opinions in the music arena as well as the latest band that I have started to stalk religiously on the internet.

I don’t know if my tastes have really improved that much in present day; but I have to admit to myself that I really DO enjoy the music presented by Korean boy band C.N. Blue. Comprised of four young Korean singers, this group is actually rather becoming; all four contribute great vocals to their music. Jong Yung-hwa is the leader and one of the main vocals of the band and has also brought exposure to the group by starring and standing out in 2009 Korean drama series You're Beautiful; he also plays rhythm guitar and he can rap like the best of them.

The rest of the members include Lee Jong-hyun who is also one of the lead vocals in the group as well as plays the lead guitar. Lee Jung-shin plays the bass guitar, and lastly, Kang Min-hyuk is the drummer.

I love their music as much as I have always loved music of groups I obsess over, but I don’t have that deep down knowing that I have had about others. I truly DO believe that this group is excellent. As a band who play their own instruments, compose and write their own songs, and can perform live without any difficulties, these guys aren’t just another idol music group. Their vocals are up to par and their music really isn't too shabby.

I’ve watched a few live performances and they are the real deal. With a drummer and three who play guitar, they aren’t just a group of good-looking men who were thrown together and forced to be a popular singing idol group. Of course, I really don’t know if they were “just thrown together” but they really do work well together as a four man band. Jung Yong-hwa and Lee Jung-hyun both have excellent and strong vocals as they comprise the main singing parts of their music. And Jung Yong-hwa’s random rapping parts are just... well, I find it really sexy. Rapping is not an easy task, and to be able to do it wonderfully with a great voice and sound charming at the same time... well, I give him my ultimate thumbs up.

The music of C.N. Blue isn’t all about sad love songs and sappy romances. They have love songs and sappy romances, but others of their songs are very upbeat and catchy. Some fans have referred to them as having a style similar to that of some American rock bands such as Maroon 5; although it could be because one of their songs sounds similar to what a Maroon 5 song would sound like. Wiki describes their music as pop rock or power pop. I, personally, don't know music well enough to describe what style of rock they play, but I know what I like and these guys are really good.

In a short interview that I watched of theirs (with brief English subtitles enough for me to decipher what they were talking about) the group themselves didn't have much of a description for their music. Lee Jong-hyun admits that his music style and Jung Yong-hwa's music style is quite different and so they have to discuss what kinds of songs they end up composing. Jung Yong-hwa mentions that he would like for them to be the type of band who can sing any type of music and not simply remain in one style.

I think this is a great ambition, because sometimes when a group or a singer remains with one style for a long time, it could either be awesome or it could become bland. Soon, every single one of their songs will start to sound alike and you lose interest; or, if not, then that person's awesome-ness just continues to become even more awesome. There is no middle ground, sadly... A lot of excellent music artists who have lasted a long time, I think, have managed because they DO change up their styles every so often, attracting new fans; this is something that I think comes with a lot of experience as a singer and spending a long time in the entertainment industry.

Anyway, back to C.N. Blue, it really helps that they are truly musically talented. Did I mention the excellent vocals? As the interview went, it was revealed that Jung Yong-hwa has been learning and practicing music ever since he was very young and he knows it so well that he doesn't even have to think about the difference between a tone and a semi-tone. Having recently been interested in playing piano, I have asked that question before and I still don't really understand it. But then again, we all know that I'm not musically talented or anything.

And so what if they all happen to be extremely good looking (and almost too pretty to be true)? It’s a bonus and good looking young men are allowed to have great talent as well.

Of course, I will admit that there are many of their songs from their earlier albums that I don’t really care for too much. But the albums that gave them their big break are genuinely good. Granted, I don’t really understand Korean, but what translations I’ve been able to search out of their songs have come back with meaningful or fun lyrics to go along with their upbeat and easy-listening music.

I will admit though, the song that got them their big break titled “I’m a Loner” sounds kind of weird. But after hearing it a couple more times, you start to catch onto it. It’s neat.

On top of that, after watching some Korean dramas and listening to some Korean music, I came to realize just how good a lot of Korean people are at speaking, and even singing, in English. This group really isn't the best at English as it is still rather accented, but it's commendable that they can do it. My little world grew up in the Hong Kong based, Cantonese speaking area of the entertainment industry where English speaking was definitely NOT a strong trait. Even after flowing into the Japanese industry and the Taiwanese industry, fluent English speaking celebrities were hard to come by-- except in instances in the Taiwanese area where that artist had actually been born and raised in America or Canada or the like.

But after hearing some English being spoken by Korean artists, while still slightly accented, I'm absolutely impressed. Then my dad told me that Korea has had a lot of Americans "stationed" there for many, many, many years. English was like their second language.

I guess that makes sense.

Before anyone starts to get insulted by the sudden awe that I have about Korean's speaking really good English, I assure you that this in no way was a means to be rude or insulting or racist. I am Chinese, born and raised in America and I grew to speak English the American way (slang and poor grammar slip-ups included). I grew up watching TVB series wherein people who tried to speak English typically sounded heavily accented despite believing that their English is really good. I understand that Asian languages and English are extremely different and hard to learn one or the other because my parents aren't entirely fluent in English either. And I also know some older women and older men who like to think that their English is perfect even though no one, not even their children raised to understand heavy accents, can decipher a thing they're trying to say.

But sometimes it's nice to be able to hear an Asian speak English without an accent so that I can actually tell others, "See, not all Asian people speaking English sound like they drop all their plurals and miss every other word. We don't all sound like Kung Fu Chicken... or whatever you all like to call us," And then gracefully tell them to "Try speaking Chinese without an accent, THEN we'll talk." Because I have also come across a lot of American people who truthfully think that they are pronouncing Chinese characters exactly the same way as we do and that they don't have a stupid accent.

But anyway, getting OFF of my soap box...

Back to C.N. Blue, other information about them can be found at their wiki site: C.N. Blue wiki.

Another good site to follow for these guys would be the English fansite CNBLUESTORM which I will gladly add as a link on my sidebar as soon as I get around to it. Through CNBLUESTORM you may also find other sites that have info on these guys as well as their official YouTube site where there are currently four official MVs uploaded plus some teasers.

I have never been an avid follower of Korean music despite one of my favorite artists being Boa Kwon of Korean origin who has hit it big in both Korea and Japan-- I had always listened to her Japanese songs. But after watching a little series called You're Beautiful that dealt with the "behind-the-scenes" story of an all-boy band wherein music was a major part of the show, I decided to search out music by C.N. Blue as well as their "older brother" group F.T. Island. I really enjoyed the soundtrack from You're Beautiful and found that, even though Jong Yung-hwa doesn't get to sing too much in the series, he is a leader of his own boy band. And so, since he had such a unique rapping voice and awesome singing voice, I decided to follow C.N. Blue, and to my pleasure, I ended up liking their music. It also helps that Yong-hwa played the role of the sweetest and most romantic Prince Charming I've seen in a long time and made me fall helplessly in love with his character, thus falling helplessly in love with him.

Case closed, Jung Yong-hwa and C.N. Blue are my new obsessions.

You're Beautiful and C.N. Blue could be said to be my catalyst into the Korean entertainment world. Because before the drama series and this rock band, I had never really bothered with Korean entertainment despite it being extremely popular in all Asian countries. I had watched a Korean series before You're Beautiful, but aside from showing me that Korean drama series had some good actors and good story lines, it really didn't do much for me.

So I'm ecstatic. I've got a new boy band to stalk on the internet, and I'm happy that they have great musical talent and all four of these men, I've come to notice, are extremely good looking and almost too pretty to be true. Yes, they are very pretty. Men don't like to be described that way, but I can't help it-- they really are very pretty.

As an end to this article, I share some highlights about C.N. Blue:

My favorite member currently is Jung Yong-hwa due to the role that he is cast as in the series You're Beautiful-- he was the "Prince Charming" I fell in love with almost too easily. You would have to watch the actual series to know why-- but if no one sees it, then maybe I'm just really easy to please. When I heard him rapping a part to one of the series' songs, I was hooked to him. He is currently starring another new series, Heartstrings, and I am hooked to that series as well.

My favorite C.N. Blue song to date is 'Love Light'. I also enjoy listening to 'Love Girl' as well as a newer song that is said to be written by Yong-hwa for Heartstrings.

I would definitely recommend C.N. Blue's music to anyone. And if you find that you like them, here's also a small advertisement for their labelmate F.T. Island, a five person all boy rock band where fellow co-actor from You're Beautiful, Lee Hong-ki does the main vocal.

C.N. Blue started off their career in Japan and managed to make it onto Oricon charts. They were a huge hit in Japan before they started releasing in Korea. So all four of these young men are bilingual in Japanese and Korean... maybe trilingual as their English isn't too bad either. I wonder if they'd try to learn Chinese so that they can expand into the Chinese arena. That would be fun.