Sunday, June 24, 2007

The Frog Prince

Thanx to Sister Choy's strong recommendation, I embarked on watching that supposedly phenonmenal Prince Turns Into A Frog (王子变青蛙) that took Taiwan by storm and won my Malay friend's heart by hynopsis (so I suspect) recently. As my friends would know, I'm pretty much anti-QJL, mainly because they have an (old) boy band that can't quite decide if they are a 4, 5 or 6 member group. And that's not all, the stars under the QJL stable are just not quite 'there'. I shan't go into elaboration on what I mean by that since the philosophy of karma keeps ringing in my head. Anyway, the biggest problem with QJL lies with their boss and his iron-fisted management combined with cock-eyed misjudgement.

Now, back to the Frog Prince. I really think that it's Taiwan's top rated drama by sheer stroke of luck. Storyline is cliched and said to have been uncannily similar to K-drama Save the Last Dance. Its saving grace is the generally good production, scripting and impressive supporting cast. The leads are just....well....lacking in overall image direction and plain dowdy in style though Qiao-en impresses with her natural acting. My 3 fave characters from the show turns out to be...


From left: Qiao-en (Tianyu), Tianyu's mama and Tianyu's didi

Tianyu's didi speaks with a farnie accent cos I think he's ABC but he's really quite cute and shows potential to blossom into a hottie! What disturbs me a little is the near-cock-eyeness of 2 actors from the drama:

1) Ming Dao (aka 动力火车's brudder) ~ ok, his is not so bad. But once the camera caught him in one of those 'intense gazes' scenes, I can't help noticing how close his 2 eyeballs move towards each other.

2) Whatever Qiao her name is lar (they seem to have many Qiaos in QJL) ~ Oh gosh! Either her eyeballs are damn big and that's why they always look like they are about to 'langa' each other, or she's got a lazy eye problem lor.

(Ignore Shaowei on the right please. He can't really act, not exactly good looking but is lucky to be above 180cm to merit him a place in 2 different (old) boy bands named after some numbers.)

By the way, the wardrobe of the cast sucks and I dun blame the actors. If the character played by Mike He in Why Why Love thinks Rainie Yang dresses like Ah-Soh, the wardrobe crew should really take some cues from QJL Production on how to look really 俗. Even the styling on Meteor Garden filmed 7 years back looks trendier than this Frog Prince drama done in 2005 lor.

Overall verdict: 3 stars - worth watching on Tudou but forget about buying the VCDs lar.

* * * * *

p.s.: Intro to the Pipi Rating System

From now, I'll start rating shows according to this scale -

0 star: It's so bad, I feel ashamed for having watched a single second of it. (Example in this category: 炮制女朋友)

1 star: I only bother giving it 1 star to save myself the embarassment for having watched more than 5 seconds. (Example: 恋上你的床)

2 stars: Barely passed the grade. Watch it only if you have a soft spot for something or someone in the show.

3 stars: Watchable production but not worth your investment on the VCD / DVDs. I rather squint my eyes silly watching it on the small screen of YouTube.

4 stars: Eye-candies passed, production passed, entertainment value passed; what more can we ask from a near-perfect show?

5 stars: Oh-My-Freaking-Gawdly good show! So awesome you can watch and rewatch and rewatch...!

Sunday, June 17, 2007

放空、放松。放手、放逐。

If there's one thing I can be proud of during these times, it should be how much patience I have for my situation. And how at peace I am with things. While there are feelings of uncertainties sometimes, I'm still coping fine. I guess my 'future projection' psyching works very well for me.

So for that someone who told me how worried you are over your current circumstances, I must say you need to work on positivity. Cos I think there are far more others in worse state.

Have faith. If you have a religion, then trust that your almighty will sort it out for you. For those without spiritual support, there's always the 'chicken soup' tales of how wrongs will be right if you never give up.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Something about Nothing

I've been quite clueless and inspirationless over what to write about these days. I can't even put in words nicely how I'll gush over Mayday (and more Mayday). Nor can I pen that "10 Things Friends Should NEVER Bao-toh on Me" article just yet till I feel I've regained my wicked stroke of genius. So this is what you get from a useless once-in-a-bluemoon good writer like me today - a mere update of sorts.

I've been reading quite a bit of onedayinmay. Absolutely fantastic blog by a Mayday fan based in Canada. She writes well too! Check out her other sites, such as a Mayday lyrics translation site and her travel adventure in East Asia blog. I'm in awe of her translation, I mean that sort of dedication and background researching is deserving of my 'kowtao' ok!

While I haven't regained my writing prowess, there are quite a few who lined up to ask of favours such as looking through their cover letters and resumes and better yet, help them EDIT and IMPROVE. Seriously, I gotta start charging for this man. It's getting on my nerves. These are favours I do good frens (maybe as per Bren's suggestions, I shall start issuing PRIVILEGE CARDS to those who are entitled to seek my 'professional expertise' freely). How shall I charge the rest? Suggestions welcome.

I've also been spending time catching up with Asian popular culture. This is perhaps the ONLY arena which makes me champion among friends now. What do you expect of a jobless bum who can only pray someone has some sense to spot her talents and recruit her soon? Anyway, I'm done with Taiwanese drama Summer X Summer, featuring my fave drama cutie for now ~~ JOE CHENG! He has a dog named PP in the show and he said PP has a special place in his heart.....hahaha......*dreamy eyes*. Lead actress Wu Xiong did a passable job but her lazy-tongued Chinese irritates me quite a bit. That said, Joe's L and Rs are all in a mess too but he more than made up for it by looking good and acting cute. HAHAHAHAHA!



I've also finished Corner with Love. 小猪can act, production is good, script is well-written but.....the lack of raw bursts of energy sometimes makes it less memorable than say Hana Kimi, It Started with a Kiss, Meteor Garden etc etc. I guess I always prefer dramas with school setting. Being young is so fun! Corner with Love is adulty love. I'll say worth watching though it gets really draggy towards the last parts. However, the classic hokkien poem in epi8 more than make up for any dragginess! As for Summer x Summer, it's a light show that's worth catching too despite its less ideal ratings in Taiwan! Not draggy and 2nd lead Ruan Jing Tian looks great.



Now I'm heels over Why Why Love 换换爱 (dun ask me what's with that crappy English title), with the very diabetically sweet duo - Mike He and Rainie Yang. You'll swoon at Kingone's new look too! I give his makeover 2 thumbs-up compared to his image in Devil Beside You. This is fun to watch and it drives me nuts that I can only catch it once a week on Youtube since this has started airing in Taiwan only on 3rd June! TS - pls bring in the DVDs quick!!!



If you'll like to watch the above 3 shows I've mentioned and you're leading a pre-prince Cinderella life like me, I recommend u watch them free on Youtube, Crunchyroll or VEOH. I am very grateful to fans from around the world who uploaded the videos (some even subbed it!) and actually made a boring life like mine very colourful.

I can't believe Taiwan has so many hot cuties guys that even a VERY GOOD LOOKING one has to make do with being a 2nd or 3rd lead in the dramas. Look at pathetic Singapore. Our cutie actors population is in such sorry state that we're still talking about 'saving' Christopher Lee from further imprisonment. Oh yes, even a more decent looker like Chris is imported lor!

Heads-up on what's up for me:
1) I've taken the unofficial role of Bren's singing competition coach. She's gonna sing "Eyes On Me", her best song when we did a run-through during the last KTV session. Everybody cheer for her!
2) Free meals awaiting me. Yoohoo! *Muaks* to all those who have collected bonus, found new job or simply feel like giving me a treat :D
3) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows akan datang. The final instalment of the 7 books. Finally, our journey with Harry, Ron and Hermione is coming to an end. You know this mixed feeling of excitement and wistfulness that you're nearing that something you've been looking forward to and it'll also mark a closure to a chapter? :(

Woah........! My something about nothing has added up to quite something! Maybe the blogging bug is back.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

寻找五月天 . Finding Mayday

I present you the link to Mayday's designated designer...tadang!!! ~
http://www.wretch.cc/blog/no2good

More Mayday links!
http://www.miniworld.com.tw/user/imayday
http://www.my-mayday.com/ (Check out the article on '换换爱' - I confirm + guarantee wanna watch this new romance comedy featuring Mike He and Rainie Yang!)

And here's where you can catch Mayday in Jump 离开地球表面 concert:
7th July - Guangzhou, China
20th & 21st July - Taipei, Taiwan
7th Oct - Tokyo, Japan
20th Oct - Shanghai, China

Drop me a mesg if you are a fellow Mayday fan dropping by. Cheers!

heartbreaker

You stupid idiot. Call me dunno for what. I was trying so hard to avoid u oredi ok. Some more dare asked me for things. Some more can chirpily intro me to your gf, then asked me to talk more to her. I'm not an entertainer ok. I repeat I'M NOT AN ENTERTAINER.

Sorry, you prolly feel nothing's wrong but I got my selfish agenda and if that agenda can't ever be fulfilled I dun think I can act very normal cos somewhere inside feels farnie. Pls pls stay away from me. I've oredi stopped nearing you so do me a favour and leave me alone. Till I'm truly immunised.

J.U.M.P.

Joy
我不喜欢为五月天演唱会做观后文章, 因为我无法形容那种发自我内心的喜悦和感动. 但还是要为昨天的绚丽作点笔记啦!

Utopia
六个月的期待换来三个小时的甩, 跳, 喊, 乐. 怎一个'爽'字了得? Jump没带我离开地球表面但有带我穿越现实生活的苦闷,进入超high空间!

Magic
能和那么多位一样喜欢五月天的朋友在一起真的很神奇! 舞台几个动作就唤起统一反应, 很厉害!

Prince Ashin
阿信有意或无的放电眼神,看了会脸红...啊哟...很过分, 老天怎么可以把那么多长处,才华和可爱聚集于同一个人的身上?!!!

现在要怎么形容那精彩过后, 感觉空虚的心情落差? 要赶快找工作...哦不对,希望工作赶快来找我. 因为我要赚钱去看更多五月天演唱会, 而且要买最最贵的票ok!