My blog is celebrating its 9th birthday today! It is now 9 years old. Wonderful!
28th September 2008 was the day I first created my blog here under WordPress platform and I wrote my first ever post in a very informal and brief delivery. Now, I have over 1900 posts containing multiple informative articles, critical news and analysis, content reviews, or just a personal diary of what I have been going through from time to time. At first, I didn’t expect that my passion in blogging would come to this far, and not to mention that I have produced over 1900 posts to date. I have to be very excited and proud of myself for that!
Actually, in these few months, I do have a lot more in my mind to write in my blog here. However, I don’t have the time for it as I’m currently being overwhelmed with my thesis work. I promised that I will get back to my blog here actively right after I finish my thesis. And that would be end of this November. Two more months to go and I’m free to return to my hobbies (blogging included).
One more year to go and my blog will be reaching the one decade anniversary’s milestone. And for now, Happy 9th birthday to my blog again and wishing for me and my blog to have another awesome 9 years ahead!
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
Hey, I’m back to update the blog after some time. I have been stressed by my thesis work lately and so I didn’t have the mood to concentrate on something else in this recent weeks. I have been doing a decent amount of work every week and shown in to the supervisor, and still, there is more work to be done. There are now less than 2 weeks to the interim presentation and 6 more weeks to the most crucial final submission and presentation. This is the most significant part of my study and hence I could not be updating my blog as frequently as I did in the past. 24 hours a day is already not enough for me (applies to all architecture students too).
If someone wish to study architecture, I would not recommend unless he or she really has a very high passion on it. It will takes up a lot of effort (variety of tasks), a lot of money (very costly fees and expenses for needed materials), a lot of time (expect many sleepless nights to work on the assignments), etc. It will also sacrifice your leisure time for hobby or entertainment and it will sacrifice your social life. My housemates have been asking me to join them for some outings, games or events, but I rejected most of them since I seriously do not have the time for it although I do need some relaxation. But architecture doesn’t allow me to do that. Now, my housemates no longer invites me for stuff and I’m left alone in the dark. I’m really getting very jealous of them and the courses they are taking because they are so free all the time. I’m getting over it and I hope that architecture will really rewards me a lot in the future, looking from all the sacrifices and effort I have placed in it.
Well, I would still allocate a short period of time daily for a bit of entertainment to get the pressure out of me. If you knew me well, you would know what action that is. It’s by going online (I love to watch YouTube videos recently and I shall eliminate that habit soon as my thesis deadlines is nearing) and watching movies (I didn’t watch many new films this year) and series. Yup, I’m still on Hong Kong series. After ‘The Unholy Alliance’ ended, I started watching ‘Line Walker: The Prelude’. Now, I’m done with its first 10 episodes. It looks not bad so far but I felt that it couldn’t live up to its successful predecessor (2014’s Line Walker). I will write more about it (and review) after I finished the whole drama somewhere in October. It is one of the six (or seven) anniversary dramas this year for TVB 50th birthday celebration. I do look forward to some of the other upcoming exciting anniversary dramas such as the ‘Heart of Greed 3’ (named ‘Heart and Greed’ now), and ‘Beyond The Realm Of Conscience 2’ (named ‘Deep In The Realm Of Conscience’ now).
Back in Malaysia, my dad recently told me that he got some tickets for the closing ceremony of the ASEAN Para Games 2017. The games is the multi-sport event for the disabled athletes in South East Asia region. It is organized after the end of SEA Games last month. The closing ceremony will be held tonight in Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia is doing quite well in the medal tally although not topping it this time. We still made good result by becoming the second country with highest medal counts. I told my dad not to have high expectation on the closing ceremony as it will features not much of exciting performances but rather boring singing by some Malay artists (that is certainly not diversity!). Well, my dad will be attending mostly because he wants to bring his two grandsons (my two little nephews) to watch big event like this and the fireworks, and that the tickets they got are free. It would be nice if he obtained free tickets for the SEA Games opening ceremony last month. The opening ceremony for that is not bad and worth watching. Even if he got them, I couldn’t attend it as I’m now in Australia…for my thesis (again)!
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
Hmm…I was disappointed. That’s my feeling right after watching the final episode of ‘The Unholy Alliance’ (同盟) just now. It is an action crime-thriller television drama of 28 episodes produced by TVB that revolves on a modern Hong Kong crime family, led by the matriarch Ling Hung. She reunites with his son, Ko Tzi Kit who is sent to Taiwan to avoid any danger linked to the business empire her family is owning. That leads to many dangerous events and Ling Hung’s desire to leave the crime world. This drama is a follow-up production after the successful ‘A Fist Within Four Walls’ drama last year and brings back most of the cast and production crew members.
Why am I disappointed as mentioned earlier? The series started with a ‘bang’! Things are so intense and heart-stopping in every episodes. Yes, every episodes. There are suspenseful and chilling scenes in every episode. The story is fast-paced, the action sequences are awesome, the cast is doing great job (will talk more about it later), and every ending part of each episode had me yearning for more every day. This is a sign of an exciting series.
But then, as its last few episodes near, I sense downfall. The story just went downhill after Elena Kong is revealed to be the ultimate villain. I’m not saying her character is bad but every plots that are surfacing after her character is shown in the drama are terrible. Elena Kong is actually nailing this cool villain role and its definitely not her fault. It’s the storyline after her character appears that is so poorly written and messy. Those very awesome tricks in earlier episodes pulled of by Ling Hung (Nina Paw) are what made this drama intense. However, over usage of them in the last few episodes and with each covering very short span of the drama delivers no intensity. If you watched the drama, you will know what I mean. Short-lived plot twists….
Before the release of the final episode, everyone is guessing that Anthony (portrayed by Jazz Lam) is the ultimate big boss behind Kam Tien (Elena Kong). Even I am guessing the same too ever since the scene when he whispered something very evil to his brother, Ricky (Pierre Ngo) at the airport in earlier episode. There may be something evil behind this quiet kid. Yes, he is doing something wicked in the end but his character is immediately wiped out as he is not the main focus (the ultimate big boss). That role is revealed to be a group of four unknown wealthy men. This definitely puts me off. The last few episodes are messing the whole series up. It is this TVB’s recent pattern when they usually couldn’t finish a good series nicely.
How about the cast? Nina Paw did a good job taking on the role of Ling Hung. This is the first time I’m seeing her on television drama as she only works in film industry and has been crowned Film Queen before (won Best Actress in Hong Kong Film Awards). A great veteran actress. However, I find that her way of presenting her dialogue has been very rigid and being too similar (voice control and facial expression). The other two leads, Ruco Chan and Nancy Wu won both best actor and actress last year for their wonderful performances in ‘A Fist Within Four Walls’. Can their winning continues to this year with their role in this sister production? Definitely no. They have no challenging roles here and their characters are too ordinary. Ruco’s sudden transition from a very naive innocent guy to an immoral and manipulative man (not considered evil but still cunning) in the last few episodes (you will notice even his clothing style changes) is too unbelievable. Many people are praising Mr Yik (portrayed by Jimmy Au) but I personally felt he is just fine. A tough guy with cool stunts delivered….nothing more. On the other hand, I have to say Joel Chan and Elaine Yiu did well. I’m supporting them for the best supporting actor and actress awards end of this year for their roles here. They are doing great. Joel is a very talented actor and his character is very likable (I thought his character would turn evil in the end, but he is a nice guy all the way to the end). Elaine nailed her role too which is very demanding as it requires a lot of emotional scenes as her character is stuck between her family (who are plotting to kill Ling Hung) and Ling Hung’s family.
So…the series is very impressive on its first three quarters. It then goes downhill to a poor, rushed and unnatural script and disappointing conclusion. It would be much better if the production team placed more effort and thinking into the script for the plot’s ending and extends the drama to a little over 30 episodes. The drama should be fine (or even much better) with few more episodes. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Unholy Alliance’ a total of 7.8. If it does well on its ending part, I could have easily given this drama over 8. By the way, there are too much sexual innuendos going on between Ruco and Nancy. I knew this pairing is very much hyped now, but in real life, they are just friends. The producers made a bad decision to put in a lot of awkward sexual-related scenes for them in this drama. It felt distasteful and very unnecessary.
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
Two days ago, 11th September 2017 marks the 16th anniversary of the tragic 911 terrorist attacks in the United States. A news that had the world stunned and in shock. The image of the World Trade Center twin towers collapsing after being hit by passenger planes still haunts the minds of millions of people especially the Americans. 16 years have passed, and all shall move on. There is a small tribute ceremony held to mark this particular anniversary on the Ground Zero site, now redeveloped into a Memorial Park with the finished new 1 WTC tower. Some have commented to only organize such memorial ceremony once in every five years, rather than once a year as a sign for people to move on from this sorrow memory.
I disagree in my personal opinion. You can have 364 days a year to ‘move on’ but why not just take a single day in a year to look back to the past and remember this tragedy and the lives lost from it. It’s not a big request. A simple tribute ceremony as a gesture of respect once a year is still reasonable. At the end of the day, we do not wish to see any more terrorist attacks happening in this world. Attacks of such proportion in September 2001 on the US is terribly wrong. Every time I re-watch the clips of the news coverage or videos taken by the public during the twin towers’ attack and collapse, I’m deeply saddened. These terrorists are inhuman for doing such nasty things.
And, the day after (yesterday) is also a big day in US. Apple has just announced its latest release of the new iPhone X (and iPhone 8 and 8Plus, Apple Watch Series 3) yesterday to the public in a grand product launch event. It is also the first grand event that is held on the Apple’s new campus that is shaped like a ring (or a huge alien ship) that reportedly costs US$ 5 billion dollar to construct. What an expensive building. I contributed some for it too since I am an iPhone user. I’m a bit excited for its new iPhone X (X means 10 in romans to mark the 10th anniversary of the first iPhone release back in 2007). It has glass on the phone’s back for wireless charging ability, facial-recognition feature to unlock phone, absence of home button, screen filling up the whole front of the phone, latest operating software (IOS 11), better camera technology, etc. All these new features may have been done by the other smartphone brands earlier but hey, now it’s Apple’s turn. Due to its branding, hence all of its products are super expensive.
But I’m still attracted to it somehow. Will I buy? No. My previous iPhone 5 died last year. I can no longer wait for this new phone and so I bought the iPhone 7 in October last year. Now, even my iPhone 7 is considered out-dated even it is just one-year old. If my previous iPhone 5 can survive for another year (last until now), then I will certainly go for this new iPhone X. But it costs a whopping US$ 999 at least. Crazy…On the other hand, nobody really wants to talk much about the other products; iPhone 8 and 8 Plus which is just a slight upgrade from iPhone 7. As for the new Apple Watch Series 3, its new features are the ability to make and receive calls and surf internet. A very small gadget but with multiple advanced functions. Will I buy it? No. I don’t think I need it. Fancy and cool stuff but not necessary. I’m fine with just the smartphone. And on top of that, it’s very costly!
There are more and more great smartphones out there by other brands. Hence, I think Apple do really need to further step up their game in their future products. This new iPhone X may looks awesome but still there is nothing really ‘breakthrough’ or very ‘wow’ from it.
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
My parents went to the MATTA Fair today. I couldn’t join them these two years as I am currently in Australia for my study. It’s a fair (held twice a year) where most travel and tour companies set up their booths in Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) to promote their travel services and packages (usually comes with certain discounts too). That’s the time when my dad will usually choose which places to go for travel during the next Chinese New Year holiday every year and make reservation.
I will tag along normally for these annual Chinese New Year trips. My dad’s budget is very tight in these recent years as his business is not doing that well and that he spent huge sum of money on my current postgraduate education here in Australia. Hence, I couldn’t really voice out my dissatisfaction over the places he preferred to go. I understood that. But I’m very pleased that he still look out for my opinions. What a great dad he is! So, today he kept on updating me on the places he researched today during the fair through Whatsapp. There are not much choices since our budget is very low and every tour packages’ price shoot up a lot.
My dad’s first wish is Spain and Portugal. That is too far from reach as it costs more than 10k for a person. My wish is Egypt or Dubai but those places also costs around 6k for a person. We then narrowed it down to South East Asia and China region. We have covered some major parts of the South East Asia in the past and we don’t feel like visiting the remaining ones that we have not visited before such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Philippines (I think no tour for Laos and Brunei). So, … China. I have been to China several times too but China is huge. There are still many places worth exploring in China. The last time I went to China was in 2014 when we went to Yunnan. So, that would be a 4-years gap already when we visit the country again next year in 2018.
I would like to visit Shanghai but my dad visited it before. We like Xian (love to see the famous terracotta warriors) but there is no tour group going to Xian during the Chinese New Year holiday next year. Too bad. My dad saw this place called Shandong and Qingdao but after I did some quick research on that place, I’m not interested. We felt like going back to our motherland, Hainan Island but there’s not much to see over there and my dad complained that the package only gave us 4 days (too short). And then, we went to our final and confirmed selection; Zhangjiajie. Finally…after a long discussion this afternoon.
Have you heard of Zhangjiajie? It’s not as famous as Beijing or Shanghai but it is indeed a place known for its beautiful nature (especially its mountains and the recently popular glass bridges that made its news all over the world). It still costs over 3k for a person and the tour will be taking 8 days and 7 nights. I am still excited for this trip although this place is not top preferences as stated earlier. This trip will be my first planned trip after my graduation end of this year. My friends do plan for a vacation end of this year after we completed our study but till now, there isn’t any concrete planning on that yet. Zhangjiajie, see you in February 2018! It’s time for me to enjoy some breathtaking views of nature that Zhangjiajie offers! I did a quick research and the place is indeed very beautiful! I hope the scenery when I am there will be as picturesque as what I saw on the internet just now…and I can’t wait to walk on that scary glass-floor bridge!…it will be some wonderful opportunities for some great photography during this trip!
Countdown: 5 more months to go! Now, I have to get back to my thesis week although it is Sunday today (there’s no such thing as free weekend for architecture students!).
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
Hmm…I’m up to some horror movies recently. Well, it is the Hungry Ghost Festival now and it further sets the mood to watch some scary movies in these weeks.
‘Annabelle: Creation’ is a supernatural horror film that acts as a prequel to 2014’s ‘Annabelle’ movie and is the fourth installment in ‘The Conjuring’ film series. Remember the freaky Annabelle doll from the first ‘The Conjuring’ movie? The real doll (by now, you should already know that there is really a true story behind the doll) actually looks much more friendlier but of course for a horror movie purpose, a new doll with scary features has to be created. And then, it became so popular that it has its own stand-alone movie. And that’s not enough. Now, we have a prequel to that stand-alone film that drives from another film. And after the success of ‘The Conjuring 2’ as well, we will have a new stand-alone movie for that creepy nun too, soon (next year).
Let’s get back to the movie. It tells the story of a family who has its one and only daughter killed in a freak traffic accident. After that, the couple experienced strange things in the house and they assumed it was their daughter. But it’s not; it’s a demon craving for some horror and manifest itself in a doll. Several years later, the couple welcomed a group of girls and a nun to their house and the demon resurfaces to haunt and possess the children. This movie is slightly better than 2014’s Annabelle. The doll itself is still very creepy eventhough I have seen it many times by now. However, I find that this film series now is showing more and more of the demon’s feature (a black figure with horns?) and that somehow didn’t quite make it that scary anymore for me. Too much have been shown. The intense horrific and heart-stopping atmosphere has been toned down in my personal opinion. However, I am still impressed by some scary scenes or old school tactics used in the movie. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Annabelle: Creation’ a total of 7.2. I also like that the ending of this movie links to the starting scene of 2014’s Annabelle for a sort of continuity.
Next horror movie I have just watched is ‘It’. What a name. Just ‘it’. That ‘it’ refers to a clown called Pennywise. It is a supernatural horror film based on a novel by Stephen King and tells the story of a group of 7 children in Derry who are terrorized by the eponymous being, mostly in the form of a clown. First of all, I have to say I hate clowns. There’s the irony. Clown is created to entertain kids, but they turned out scaring them, and that’s the point for this movie (and also for several other movies in the past too). The movie delivered an effective horror outcome but it didn’t quite scare me. But if a kid is watching this, I’m sure he or she will be very terrified. It just didn’t work out for adults.
However, I still have to compliment the movie for being very effective as said earlier. The story is straight to the point, fast-paced, and covered a lot on these characters of innocent kids. These kids gave a very good performance in this movie. Another extra point to the movie is for its emotional grasp. I do felt the friendship between these kids and the sadness of one of them for losing his younger brother and his dedication to find him. However, this movie also sends out a bad message; implying that fat boy will not get the girl while a handsome one will. You will know once you have watched this movie. There is also some unexpected funny scenes throughout the movie. The clown is creepy and without any background knowledge of this story, I would say that it is all just the fear in the mind of these kids (the clown isn’t real?). Out of 10 points, I rate ‘It’ a total of 7.8. Now, this is just Chapter One as revealed at the end of the movie and I’m looking forward to Chapter Two which is going to be set 27 years later when they all turned into adults (of course will have older cast to replace them for those characters). This movie is safe for adults. Warning: just don’t bring kids to watch this. It is going to be a hell for them.
Let’s not talk about the horror stuff anymore. There’s a good news, and it’s about ‘Despicable Me 3’, an animated movie released few months back. The movie became the 31st movie in the history to gross over US$ 1 billion in worldwide box office. The achievement is accomplished as this week ends. It is now the 6th highest grossing animated film of all time and also the 3rd highest grossing film in 2017. That’s impressive. It is a good news to this movie as it will be out of the worldwide theatres very soon and yet it managed to cross the milestone and join the 1-billion club.
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
I was reminded by a person that leaves a comment to me here that the nomination list for the Singapore’s Starhub TVB Awards 2017 is out and asking me whether I will be writing a post about it and putting in my thoughts and predictions. I didn’t realize that the nomination list is out and it marked the first of the three annual major awards presentation honouring the best of TVB series and programmes (the other two awards that will come later are the TVB Star Awards Malaysia and Hong Kong’s TVB Anniversary Awards).
I find that it is a bit too early for Starhub TVB Awards to be held in October every year. This automatically puts those usually better series released in November and December to be placed in contention for the next year’s awards. This is a huge disadvantage to these series. However, in the same time, I find that Hong Kong has been very biased and putting too much of their attention to their anniversary dramas while forgetting other good dramas released in early parts of the year. As for Malaysian voters, they tend to just simply vote for their favourites without really judging wisely which one is truly the best in terms of performance. Pros and cons to these 3 respective awards.
Let’s get back to this coming Singapore’s Starhub TVB Awards 2017. It is going to be held on 21 October 2017 and the nomination list is out two days ago. Only Singaporeans are eligible to vote for this awards. Malaysia and Hong Kong citizens will have their turn later on. Here below is my predictions for each categories: (There’s asterisk marks (*) that indicate my top 5 predictions for several categories)
Nomination list for Singapore’s Starhub TVB Awards 2017
My Favourite TVB Drama Theme Song:
Sand in Hand – Hana Kuk (My Unfair Lady) I Would Not Pout – Stephanie Ho (My Unfair Lady) Walk With You – Kayee Tam (My Unfair Lady) King – Hubert Wu (Two Steps from Heaven) That’s The Way I Am – Nancy Wu (The No No Girl) Insight – Vincent Wong (Legal Mavericks) In Front Of Love – Stephanie Ho (Legal Mavericks) The End Of The World – Fred Cheng (Provocateur) Trigger On – Ruco Chan (The Unholy Alliance) Alone – Gallen Lo (Provocateur) Conquer – Fred Cheng (A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch) Skynet – Pakho Chau (Line Walker: The Prelude) Forgot Myself – Hana Kuk (Line Walker: The Prelude) Behave Oneself – Vivian Koo (Line Walker: The Prelude) After Graduation – Mag Lam (Oh My Grad)
My Pick: Walk With You – Kayee Tam (My Unfair Lady)
Opinion: I hardly remember most of the nominated theme songs above. Looks like ‘My Unfair Lady’ and ‘Line Walker: The Prelude’ is overwhelming the list. I have not even heard anything from the latter since the drama is not released yet. So far the most beautiful song this year is ‘Walk With You – Kayee Tam’ that is always playing whenever there is a romantic scene between Vincent Wong and Natalie Tong in ‘My Unfair Lady’.
My Favourite TVB On-Screen Couple:
Tony Hung & Priscilla Wong (Married But Available) Frankie Lam & Jessica Hester Hsuan (My Unfair Lady) Vincent Wong & Natalie Tong (My Unfair Lady) * Ruco Chan & Nancy Wu (The Unholy Alliance) * Ruco Chan & Rosina Lam (Burning Hands) Edwin Siu & Priscilla Wong (Two Steps From Heaven) * Joel Chan & Elaine Yiu (The Unholy Alliance) * Eddie Cheung & Adia Chan (The No No Girl) Kenneth Ma & Charmaine Sheh (Bet Hur) Vincent Wong & Ali Lee (Legal Mavericks) Raymond Cho & Grace Wong (A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch) * Matthew Ho & Rebecca Zhu (A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch)
My Pick: Joel Chan & Elaine Yiu (The Unholy Alliance)
Opinion: I feel like Ruco Chan & Nancy Wu will win this since their relationship is very much hyped now eventhough obviously there is nothing happening between them. Vincent Wong & Natalie Tong may win this too since I remember their romance outshine even that of the main leading pair in ‘My Unfair Lady’, Frankie & Jessica. They missed out Edwin Siu & Kristal Tin pairing in ‘A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch). I prefer this pair to replace Matthew Ho & Rebecca Zhu. Very tough competition.
My Favourite TVB Variety Show Host:
Pauline Lan – Lady First Singapore Season 5
Alice Chan – Wai Gor’s Wok
Tony Hung – Retiring in Paradise
Kenny Wong, Brian Tse, Chris Leung, Mayanna Mak, Alychia Chan, Ashley Chu – Peak to Pit
Benjamin Yuen, Mat Yeung – All Work No Pay Holidays (Series 2)
Lee Ka Ding, Helen Tam – The Ahistoric Grandpa Cooking Show (Series 2)
Samantha Ko, Auston Lam – Chef Minor in Singapore
Maria Cordero, Luk Ho Ming – Good Cheap Eats (Series 6)
Gigi Wong – Eating Well With Madam Wong (Series 3)
King Kong, Kitty Yuen, Jarvis Chow – Neighborhood Gourmet (Series 4)
My Favourite TVB Infotainment Programme:
Big Big World III Retiring In Paradise Easy Come, Easy Health Belt And Road Initiative Cantoxicating!
My Favourite TVB Variety Programme:
Wellness On The Go Singapore * Lady First Singapore Season 5 * Chef Minor In Singapore * The Ahistoric Grandpa Cooking Show (Series 2) Spirits On Vacation Peak To Pit 50 Golden Classics * Good Cheap Eats (Series 6) * All Work No Pay Holidays (Series 2) Side Walk Scientists (Series 5) TV Awards Presentation 2016 Dinner Ma’s
My Pick: Anything that has ‘Singapore’ name in it.
Opinion; I didn’t watch most of the nominated programmes. I enjoyed watching ‘Spirits On Vacation’ but I don’t think it will have any winning chance. I heard many have been enjoying the ’50 Golden Classics’ particularly in Hong Kong because those classic Hong Kong songs are mostly great (unlike now).
My Favourite TVB Supporting Actress
Elaine Yiu (The Unholy Alliance) * Samantha Ko (My Unfair Lady) Katy Kung (Two Steps From Heaven) * Rebecca Zhu (A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch) Koni Lui (Tiger Mom Blues) * Alice Chan (Two Steps From Heaven) Kelly Fu (Burning Hands) Jacqueline Wong (Provocateur) * Vivien Yeo (My Lover From The Planet Meow) Tracy Chu (Legal Mavericks) * Roxanne Tong (The Tofu War) Jeannie Chan (The No No Girl)
My Pick: Elaine Yiu (The Unholy Alliance)
Opinion: Elaine Yiu shines in her role in ‘The Unholy Alliance’. Her character goes through a lot of things in the series and she nailed it well, particularly the many emotional scenes she had in the series.
My Favourite TVB Supporting Actor
Owen Cheung (Legal Mavericks) Mat Yeung (My Dearly Sinful Mind) * Hugo Ng (Burning Hands) * Jonathan Cheung (The Tofu War) * Luk Wing (Two Steps From Heaven) Joel Chan (The Unholy Alliance) * Eddie Kwan (My Lover From The Planet Meow) Kenny Wong (Dead Wrong) James Ng (Destination Nowhere) Benz Hui (Line Walker: The Prelude) *
My Pick: Joel Chan (The Unholy Alliance)
Opinion: This should be Joel’s year. He has been impressive in these few years and many even said he outshined Ruco Chan in ‘The Unholy Alliance’ so far. He has improved significantly and I have no doubt seeing him taking on lead roles in the future.
My Favourite TVB Female Character
Jessica Hester Hsuan as Ling Man (My Unfair Lady) Natalie Tong as Ling Yu-ken (My Unfair Lady) * Nancy Wu as Yuen Ching-yan (The Unholy Alliance) * Priscilla Wong as Koo Shing-seung (Two Steps From Heaven) Rosina Lam as Ho Ching-fa (Burning Hands) Elena Kong as Cha Heung-sin (Tiger Mom Blues) * Ali Lee as Wong Lai-fan (Legal Mavericks) Grace Wong as Guo Cian / Wong Yi-san (A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch) * Sisley Choi as Chiu Ching-mui (Legal Mavericks) Samantha Ko as Tian Mi (My Unfair Lady) Kristal Tin as Fong Wai-chi (A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch) * Adia Chan as Law Lai-ching (The No No Girl) Charmaine Sheh as Sze Shiu-tung (Bet Hur) Alice Chan as Koo Shing-fun (Two Steps From Heaven) Katy Kung as Carmen Ching Sze-Yue (Two Steps from Heaven) * Tracy Chu as Tai Tin-yan (Legal Mavericks) Moon Lau as Emma Yip Yip (Two Steps From Heaven) Mandy Wong as Lung Lai-sa (Nothing Special Force) Rebecca Zhu as Fong Wai-ling (A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch) Elaine Yiu as Kate Wai Yee-yau (The Unholy Alliance)
My Pick: All 6 names above with asterisks (*).
Opinion: Singapore’s Starhub TVB Awards presented this award to 6 characters last year unlike in Hong Kong’s awards when there is only one winner. I didn’t watch ‘Two Steps From Heaven’ but I picked Katy Kung because she is lauded last year for her crying scene that led to her winning Best Supporting Actress in last year’s Hong Kong awards. Anyway, I’m still having doubt of that and Ali Lee, Elaine Yiu or Tracy Chu may steal that spot from her.
My Favourite TVB Male Character
Ruco Chan as Ko Tsz-kit (The Unholy Alliance) * Raymond Cho as Zuo Guang-dao / Fung Yat-bo (A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch) Bosco Wong as Chun Sing-hoi (Two Steps From Heaven) Edwin Siu as Yuen Chong-huan / Wan Tai-kwan (A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch) * Frankie Lam as Man Nim-sum (My Unfair Lady) Benjamin Yuen as Chui Tin-tong (Line Walker: The Prelude) Pakho Chau as Lok Siu-fung (Line Walker: The Prelude) Michael Miu as Cheuk Hoi (Line Walker: The Prelude) Moses Chan as Sit Ding-kap (My Lover From The Planet Meow) Vincent Wong as Man Sun-hop (Legal Mavericks) * Kenneth Ma as Chung Tai-yin (My Dearly Sinful Mind) * Wayne Lai as Kong Sheung-hung / Kazuo Suzuki (No Reserve) Tony Hung as Au Yeung Tsz-chung (Married But Available) Mat Yeung as Tung Yat (My Dearly Sinful Mind) Owen Cheung as Kuk Yat-ha (Legal Mavericks) Raymond Wong as Cheung Chin-pok (Married But Available) Eddie Cheung as Chong Fu-ho (The No No Girl) Joel Chan as Ling Tsin-yau (The Unholy Alliance) * Chris Lai as Wong Siu-ming (The Tofu War) Wong Cho-lam as Choi Sum (Oh My Grad) * Matthew Ho as Li Jin-zhong/ Li Siu-tung (A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch) Roger Kwok as Wai yat-sing (Dead Wrong)
My Pick: All 6 names above with asterisks (*).
Opinion: Singapore’s Starhub TVB Awards presented this award to 6 characters last year unlike in Hong Kong’s awards when there is only one winner. ‘Oh My Grad’ isn’t released yet but I think Wong Cho-lam is going to be super funny again and that would make his character easily likable. I didn’t pick anyone from ‘Line Walker: The Prelude’ because I have less expectations from it. Usually a TVB prequel or sequel isn’t doing well and putting in so many new major cast in the drama isn’t helping either.
My Favourite TVB Leading Actress
Kristal Tin (Destination Nowhere) * Jessica Hester Hsuan (My Unfair Lady) Nancy Wu (The Unholy Alliance) * Elena Kong (Tiger Mom Blues) * Nancy Sit (The Tofu War) Ada Choi (Oh My Grad) Rosina Lam (Burning Hands) Grace Wong (A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch) * Ali Lee (Legal Mavericks) Adia Chan (The No No Girl) Nina Paw (The Unholy Alliance) * Mandy Wong (Nothing Special Force) Sisley Choi (Legal Mavericks) Charmaine Sheh (Bet Hur) Niki Chow (Rogue Emperor) Priscilla Wong (Line Walker: The Prelude) Myolie Wu (No Reserve) Natalie Tong (My Unfair Lady)
My Pick: Kristal Tin (Destination Nowhere)
Opinion: There is no other performance this year so far that can surpass Kristal’s acting in ‘Destination Nowhere’ even when you place the males into the picture as well. She is exceptional and handled the challenging role very well. The dark horse in this category would be Grace Wong and Nina Paw. Nina Paw is a Film Queen and she did a wonderful job in ‘The Unholy Alliance’ too. How about Nancy Wu that been winning a lot of Best Actress awards in recent years? Well, her role in ‘The Unholy Alliance’ is poorly written. She has the skill but the role didn’t need her to do much.
My Favourite TVB Leading Actor
Bosco Wong (Two Steps From Heaven) * Roger Kwok (Dead Wrong) * Kenneth Ma (My Dearly Sinful Mind) * Ruco Chan (The Unholy Alliance) * Frankie Lam (My Unfair Lady) Edwin Siu (A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch) Gallen Lo (Provocateur) Vincent Wong (Legal Mavericks) * Ben Wong (Nothing Special Force) Eddie Cheung (The No No Girl) Tony Hung (Married But Available) Moses Chan (My Lover From The Planet Meow) Chris Lai (The Tofu War) Pakho Chau (Line Walker: The Prelude) Benjamin Yuen (Line Walker: The Prelude) Wayne Lai (No Reserve) Kevin Cheng (Destination Nowhere) Michael Miu (Line Walker: The Prelude) Matthew Ho (A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch) Raymond Cho (A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch)
My Pick: Roger Kwok (Dead Wrong)
Opinion: Roger Kwok is great in that series and there is no particular impressive acting by the other males in the dramas this year so far. Ruco Chan is no longer getting his winning streak because his performance in ‘The Unholy Alliance’ is ordinary so far.
My Favourite TVB Drama
Two Steps From Heaven Burning Hands Destination Nowhere * My Dearly Sinful Mind My Unfair Lady Tiger Mom Blues A General, A Scholar, And An Eunuch * The Unholy Alliance * Legal Mavericks * Line Walker: The Prelude * Oh My Grad Dead Wrong Provocateur The No No Girl Bet Hur The Tofu War Married But Available Nothing Special Force My Lover From The Planet Meow No Reserve
My Pick: The Unholy Alliance
Opinion: So far, the best series of the year that I have watched is ‘The Unholy Alliance’. It has suspense in every episodes, it has cool actions, some exciting characters, has engaging and fast-paced storyline, and has great cast. I don’t understand why there are some harsh critics that pan the drama. After the top 5 listed above, my next 5 picks would be ‘Two Steps From Heaven’, ‘Tiger Mom Blues’, ‘My Dearly Sinful Mind’, ‘Dead Wrong’ and ‘Burning Hands’.
Once you look at the nominees above, you will notice that most TVB anniversary dramas have been left out as they have not been released yet. Hence, the result of this Singapore awards usually differ with that of Hong Kong and Malaysia. And there are no public voting for ‘Most Improved TVB Artiste’ or ‘Best New TVB Artiste’.
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
I am a person who seldom dreams. Even when I dream on the night before, I would almost immediately forget its details the next morning. Most of my dreams had been very eerie in the past (seeing someone close get killed at a familiar place or lost in a dark forest are just some of the past scary dreams that I remember). Whenever I woke up from a dream, I would feel very tired as though my spirit has really wandered out of my body and really do things as shown in the dream in the other ‘reality’. Sounds complicated…Just two nights ago, I had a similar experience. In the dream, I was in a neighbourhood (couldn’t recall the details whether it is my neighborhood or somewhere else) and an eerie silence looms with no one else around. Then, I had a feeling that a nuclear bomb has exploded and I was running back to my house seeking shelter and protection. And when I looked to the outside, it’s all dust from the bomb explosion. And then, I woke up…and I was tired.
Perhaps I was reading too many news from North Korea which recently like to test their bombs and violating international rules for world peace. They have huge military power and have tested on variety of bombs and war weapons in the past. Will they be put to use? I don’t think so, even if they want to. Imagine North Korea attacking the US. This attack will provoke not only the US but many other countries that do not like North Korea to lend a helping hand. Then, North Korea will vanish very easily. They knew the risk and so, all they can do is just testing their weapons as an act of defense in their country that has been very behind, introvert and has no support from the others. So, in the end, nothing will happen besides than a few war of words.
Facebook recently reminded me that it has been one year since I last visited Taiwan with my classmates for an international workshop to fulfill the requirements of one of the units in last year’s second semester. The Facebook memory is there to give me a flashback of exactly what happened a year ago with all the pictures me and my classmates have uploaded. It was a fun yet exhausting experience back then. We spent half a month there (my longest period of time in an oversea vacation) and 10 days are dedicated fully for the workshop already. Eventhough the process is tough and tiring, but now I do miss it. I miss the challenging time, I miss the team mates, I miss the campus over there in Taiwan where the workshop was held, I miss all the new people I met, I miss the delicious Taiwanese street food, and I miss seeing Taipei 101, one of my favourite skyscrapers…
The other anniversary that has somehow overwhelmed part of my Facebook’s home page as well as on multiple online news websites is the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death. She died on 31st August 1997 and so it was her 20th death anniversary few days ago (that is also Malaysia’s 60th independence anniversary). Only a woman divorced with the heir to the UK’s crown, but Diana left a huge impact to this world. I was only 6 years old when she died and so I should not be knowing much about her. However, I do have interesting on knowing more about the history of the current UK’s crown (currently by Queen Elizabeth II) and the royal family. Whenever I visited a wax museum be it in Malaysia or in overseas, I would definitely see a figure of her. She is popular due to her angelic voice and appearance, priceless contribution on charity work, marriage to Prince Charles, relationship to the royal family, her personalities, and also her death in Paris that was caused from being chased by paparazzi that led to a freak traffic accident.
Alright, that’s it from me for my blog today. Currently, I’m kind of excited with my thesis work (presently in the design stage) and catching up to the latest episode of TVB’s ‘The Unholy Alliance’ drama every evening. Oh no, it will end soon (next week). The series has been very good so far and I will as usual post my review for the drama after it finished its broadcast of all episodes next week. It’s sad to see it ending this soon. A good series like this deserves more episodes.
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
Another month has came to an end. August was a great month particularly for Malaysians as we got to observe a great SEA Games, became the overall champion and celebrated the country’s 60th independence day! We are heading for a much better 60 years! And it would be much better if we have the government changed by the next general election. The election must be held no later than mid next year (2018). So, it is basically just around the corner for all Malaysians (above 21 years old to be able to vote) to decide on the country’s fate. No more cronyism, no more corruption, no more scandals, no more race-based politics, no more inefficiency or laziness, no more 1MDB. So, what shall we do? We all should know.
Let’s move on from that topic on government. As my country has just celebrated its 60 years of independence, my blog is going to celebrate its anniversary soon too. My blog will turn 9 years old by the end of this month. I can’t believe my passion in blogging has come to this distance. Usually, people would give up blogging after two to three years or blog lesser and lesser as time pass. That’s not the case for me and I’m hoping for a much more great 9 years ahead for my blog here. I’m also excited that it is getting closer to its ultimate 10-years (1 decade) anniversary next year. More info about this blog’s 9th anniversary highlight end of this month on its exact anniversary date.
What I will be doing for most of the time in this month? Very clear answer; thesis. By this month, I have to get straight to my design, finish all basic general drawings, finalize all the design solutions, and get my thesis ready for final presentation in November. There’s a lot of work that is needed to be done. I’m now in Week 5 and the submission is on Week 15 (10 more weeks to go) with presentation and grading on Week 16. There’s not much time left and I couldn’t get myself being lazy and uninspired to work on it from now on. My aim remains the same, to do and score well for this thesis, the final major assessment before the completion of this study and graduation.
Malaysians are now still in the midst of the long holiday! Very great but I’m jealous of them. This would be such a great joy for me if I’m working now in Malaysia. Holiday!!! There is no such thing as holiday for me this semester as everyday is about thesis and also on the other last unit to complete the Master of Architecture programme. Nevertheless, I would still find time in between for me to get some rest, to get some essential entertainment and to socialize, to prevent myself from getting stress or depression or whatsoever. Never going to have this final semester to ruin my normal daily life as much as possible. Hoping for a smooth September for me and everyone out there!
Vincent Loy's Online Journal 