Hey, everyone. You would have noticed that I have not been able to update my blog frequently in recent time. I was super busy on my thesis week as I have to submit it by next week. I guess I shall take a bit of my time off and return here to update on my current ‘state of life’.
I have been occupied with so many things to do. Since I have been designing a skyscraper (not even a single tower, but a complex of three tall towers) for my thesis design project (it’s a large scale work), there has been a huge amount of drawings that I need to produce. Now I start to feel slightly regret over my decision to choose ‘skyscraper’ although it is my favourite. Since there are so many drawings in the picture (quantity assured), I am worried of their qualities instead. I am not being very good in graphic editing of the drawings especially for my rendering. My rendering skill is mediocre and I cannot succeed in producing photo-realistic imageries.
I have only about 14 weeks (actually only about 10 weeks or less after deducting the time for compiling research and going for interim presentations) on the design work. Hence, I think my design is still not at the best as it has not been fully explored or tested yet. There is literally not enough time to do that (especially for a complex of three towers). All the things would be much more refined and better if we have one or two more extra weeks.
Now, what’s left to do are my sectional drawings, further post-production to my renderings, additional diagrams, physical model and report compiling. And I have only one week left for that. I guess I’m not going get enough sleep for this one whole week…and that is seriously bad for my health. Although I still will allocate some time for sleep, but I cannot sleep well too due to the pressure from the incomplete work.
Now, I wish I can finish all of them smoothly and right on time. God…wish me best of luck on this. I’m hoping to perform well in this one which is the last ever assignment before the completion of this postgraduate study (Master of Architecture). Previously, I have prepared a schedule on what task I shall do daily in these final two weeks. As expected, I couldn’t meet the target as some drawings take longer time than predicted. Fortunately, there is still one good news as I have completed the final assessment for the other unit for this semester. At least I have one burden off my head and I can fully concentrate on this thesis.
Alright. That’s it for my update to the blog. I have to immediately get back to my work. And it’s the end of the month and I take this opportunity to wish Happy Halloween to those who are celebrating!
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
The Starhub TVB Awards 2017, the awards presentation that honours the best of TVB artists and programmes that were aired in Singapore for this year is held yesterday at Marina Bay Sands. Over 20 TVB artists attended the show. It is the practice of Starhub to only broadcast the awards presentation a week later (not live) which makes excitement to this awards dies down. Anyway, here below is the full list of winners:
(Here’s the link to my past blog post that shows the full nomination list for this awards and my earlier predictions – https://vincentloy.wordpress.com/2017/09/08/nomination-list-and-my-prediction-for-the-singapores-starhub-tvb-awards-2017/)
My Favourite TVB Drama Theme Song – ‘Forget Myself’ by Hanna Kuk (Line Walker 2: The Prelude)
Opinion: Before ‘Line Walker 2: The Prelude’ started airing, a lot of people including me predicted the romantic song from ‘My Unfair Lady’ that is always played when there is a scene between Vincent Wong and Natalie Tong in that drama will win this. But then, when ‘Line Walker 2: The Prelude’ comes out, I too changed my mind. The ending theme song by Hanna Kuk is beautiful. The melody is fantastic. So, I agree on this song winning.
My Favourite TVB On-Screen Couple – Vincent Wong & Natalie Tong (My Unfair Lady)
Opinion: I don’t really enjoy this pairing. I just couldn’t feel the romance between them in that drama and also I dislike ‘My Unfair Lady’ series a lot because it is very boring. I prefer Joel Chan & Elaine Yiu from ‘The Unholy Alliance’ to win this.
My Favourite TVB Variety Show Host – Maria Cordero & Luk Ho Ming (Good Cheap Eats – Series 6)
My Favourite TVB Infotainment Programme – Retiring in Paradise
My Favourite TVB Variety Programme – All Work No Pay Holidays (Series 2)
Most Improved TVB Actor – Matthew Ho (No Reserve, Rogue Emperor, May Fortune Smile On You, Tiger Mom Blues, Destination Nowhere, A General, A Scholar And A Eunuch)
Opinion: Wow…Now I realize there are a lot of series aired this year that has Matthew Ho in it. He must be very busy for them. I noticed his performance in ‘Tiger Mom Blues’ and ‘A General, A Scholar And A Eunuch’. He did well in both. Okay, due to his hard work, I agree for this award to be given to him.
Most Improved TVB Actress – Samantha Ko (My Unfair Lady, Bet Hur)
Opinion: No strong competition this year for this category. Samantha Ko only has two series this year and both series are bad in my opinion. She didn’t really shine in those two dramas and since there is no one else and there’s so many awards to hand out, let just give this to her since she is coming for the show.
Best New TV Male Artist – Bryan Tse
Opinion: Unnecessary award. These artists are way too new and are definitely not up to the standard to receive awards yet. Bryan Tse is interesting in ‘Line Walker 2: The Prelude’ but so fast there’s an award for him already. Too fast for such an interesting but very minimal performance.
Best New TV Female Artist – Roxanne Tong
Opinion: I hardly noticed her in any dramas I watched this year. I do saw her sometimes but she didn’t leave any impact yet. She usually portrays very minor characters. Very unnecessary to be awarded.
My Favourite TVB Male TV Characters (x7) – Benjamin Yuen as Chui Tin-tong (Line Walker 2: The Prelude), Edwin Siu as Yuan Chong-huan / Wan Tai-kwan (A General, A Scholar, And A Eunuch), Raymond Cho as Zuo Guong-dao / Fung Yat-bo (A General, A Scholar, And A Eunuch), Chris Lai as Wong Siu-ming (The Tofu War), Kenneth Ma as Chung Tai-yin (My Dearly Sinful Mind), Ruco Chan as Ko Tsz-kit (The Unholy Alliance), Joel Chan as Ling Tsin-yau (The Unholy Alliance).
Opinion: My preference would be to replace Chris Lai with Bosco Wong (Two Steps from Heaven) or Mat Yeung (My Dearly Sinful Mind). Agree with other winners.
My Favourite TVB Female TV Characters (x8) – Tracy Chu as Tai tin-yan (Legal Mavericks), Sisley Choi as Chiu Ching-mui (Legal Mavericks), Nancy Wu as Yuen ching-yan (The Unholy Alliance), Elaine Yiu as Wai Yee-yau (The Unholy Alliance), Jessica Hsuan as Ling Man (My Unfair Lady), Natalie Tong as Ling Yu-ken (My Unfair Lady), Kristal Tin as Fong Wai-chi (A General, A Scholar, And A Eunuch), Mandy Wong as Lung Lai-sa (Nothing Special Force).
Opinion: It’s too early to hand so many awards to actresses that I felt still not good enough such as Tracy Chu and Sisley Choi. Would prefer Elena Kong (Tiger Mom Blues) and Grace Wong (A General, A Scholar And A Eunuch) to take their spots.
My Favourite TVB Supporting Actor – Owen Cheung (Legal Mavericks)
Opinion: I didn’t watch ‘Legal Mavericks’ and so I couldn’t comment much. But I would still insist on choosing Joel Chan (The Unholy Alliance) to win this. He deserves supporting actor win for a very long time already. His role even outshines Ruco Chan in that drama.
My Favourite TVB Supporting Actress – Jacqueline Wong (Provocateur)
Opinion: As far as I enjoyed her performance in ‘Provocateur’, I am in the same opinion that it is too quick to hand important award to these ‘beginners’. I prefer Elaine Yiu (The Unholy Alliance) or even the hilarious Koni Lui (Tiger Mom Blues) to win this. Crying good doesn’t always means great acting. Sometimes, it is even harder to portray comedic roles.
My Favourite TVB Lead Actor – Vincent Wong (Legal Mavericks)
Opinion: I heard many people praising the drama and its lead actor, Vincent Wong. He is a young talented actor and has been on the rise recently to become one of the main TVB leading actors now. Congratulation for him on winning his first ever big award here. However, I have a feeling that he won’t be that fast in getting best actor from Hong Kong yet. Same situation for Ruco Chan last time. My pick is Roger Kwok from ‘Dead Wrong’ but the drama aired in Hong Kong and Malaysia in 2016 but only released in Singapore in early 2017 is a bad timing to compete for awards.
My Favourite TVB Lead Actress – Ali Lee (Legal Mavericks)
Opinion: Same issue. Too early to hand out big award to ‘beginners’. And this is lead actress category! I disagree a lot on this one. Hands down…the best female lead performance this year shall be Kristal Tin from ‘Destination Nowhere’. No one else could even enter the competition this year besides her. And suddenly, Ali Lee wins mainly because of the popularity of the drama she is in. Wow…’Legal Mavericks’ is really very loved by the Singaporeans. I guess I have to watch this drama end of this year to see how great it is especially the cast performances. I will still stick with my choice for Kristal Tin for Malaysia and Hong Kong’s ones later this year.
My Favourite TVB Drama – The Unholy Alliance
Opinion: Finally, the winning streak stopped for ‘Legal Mavericks’. It won too much. ‘The Unholy Alliance’ started off exceptionally well but just went downhill at its last few episodes. Very big disappointment on that. I think this award is just like a consolation to the drama (not deserving though). Well, ‘Line Walker 2: The Prelude’ is a potential dark horse but the series is only halfway when the voting already ended.
25th Anniversary My Favourite TV Male Character Award – Wayne Lai as Chai Gau (Rosy Business)
25th Anniversary My Favourite TV Female Character Award – Nancy Sit as Leung Yun-ho (A Kindred Spirit)
Opinion: The two awards above are the special ones this year to celebrate the 25th year of cooperation between Starhub and TVB. I do not know how the organizers judge the winners here. This is not open for voting (same for best new artists and most improved artists categories). I do understand the popularity of Chai Gau (Wayne Lai) back then but as for Nancy Sit, I only remember her role from ‘Virtues of Harmony’ and not from ‘A Kindred Spirit’, a drama that has a whopping 1128 episodes and run from 1995 to 1999.
So, next up will be the TVB Star Awards Malaysia 2017 and Hong Kong’s TVB Anniversary Awards 2017. The nomination list for TVB Star Awards Malaysia 2017 is expected to be released in a couple of days since the awards presentation is only about one month from now.
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
Before going with the drama review, I would like to take this opportunity to wish to all my Indian friends Happy Deepavali! This day reminds me of some warm and delightful Deepavali open houses that I have attended in the past, some very cool ‘kolam’ (artistic creation by using rice flour) that I have seen at malls, and some Bollywood films with excessive dancing or over-the-top scenes. Living in a multiracial country like Malaysia allows me to be exposed to variety of cultures and I’m loving it. Happy Deepavali once again!
Okay, now back to the review. ‘Line Walker: The Prelude’ is a Hong Kong drama that revolves on the effort of a police inspector on finding and working with his undercover agents in solving a large criminal case. It acts as a prequel to the successful 2014’s Line Walker that won Best Drama in that year’s TVB Anniversary Awards. Many of the original cast (Charmaine Sheh, Raymond Lam, Sammy Shum, etc) didn’t return but you can still catch a glimpse of their photographs in the final episode that tries to link back to the story in 2014’s series. Benz Hui and Michael Miu are back to lead this drama along with new cast (Priscilla Wong, Benjamin Yuen, Pakho Chau, Moses Chan, Jessica Hsuan, etc). This new line-up of cast looks promising too.
Although this drama couldn’t live up to the intensity and the fast-paced flow of its predecessor, it is still an enjoyable drama to watch with decent story and performances. Moses Chan who portrayed the main villain in this drama is unconvincing. In 99% of his scenes, he only sat on a chair and gave out his speech (that’s so plain). He literally don’t need to do much for this drama. I couldn’t really see or feel his ‘bad’ or ‘powerful’ side in him except from his very quick and cool shooting scene in the very last episode. But that too is illogical. He can shoot around 10 person in a split second and not giving the others a chance to return fire in one scene (it shows how fast his skill is), and then get shot by Benz Hui’s character easily after that.
The ending is good but it could be better. The drama should just end with the scene of Kenneth Ma loading a gun and mentioning that he will be taking revenge on behalf of his brother (Moses Chan). He looks great as a villain and I really hope to see him in the next one since the ending gave a big hint that the series will continue again before the event in the first ‘Line Walker’ series. And then there was this scene of Benz Hui and Pakho Chau in Thailand. How can Pakho suddenly came back and didn’t die from severe gunshots in earlier episode? I prefer his character to die and it will give more sense and meaning to the ending. He just left Hong Kong and stay with Benz in Thailand. For me, it was a very irresponsible act especially to Benjamin Yuen, Priscilla Wong and Michael Miu. On the other hand, I think Pakho is still not comfortable in filming drama (he has acted in many films previously but never in drama before). I can feel that his performance in here is a bit unnatural and restrained. Priscilla Wong and Benjamin Yuen are good but they are still not ending up together (what a pity since Benjamin did a lot for Priscilla but she just couldn’t sense it) even after Pakho’s ‘departure’. Recent Miss Hong Kong winner, Louisa Mak has been criticized for her performance in ‘Bet Hur’ but she is actually doing quite well in here especially in her last crying scene before her death.
Generally, this drama is a good effort to continue this franchise that has also expanded on the film side (there’s a ‘Line Walker’ film last year that starred Louis Koo, Charmaine Sheh, Nick Cheung, Francis Ng and Benz Hui). I also like the ending theme song for the drama. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Line Walker: The Prelude’ a total of 7.7. It couldn’t go past 8 because it still lacks the intensity as seen in the first ‘Line Walker’ drama. I remember there are a lot of explosive or climatic scenes in the first drama but not much in this one. The first drama also sparked a lot of debates and discussions especially on questioning who is the real UC during its run. No for this one. Okay, enough writing for this review; now I have to go back to focus on my thesis work.
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) which is considered the foremost authority on tall buildings has made it clear that it has four ways of measuring a building’s height. Out of the four, height to the architectural top is officially used to determine the list of world’s tallest building. Architectural top here includes unoccupied spires/pinnacles/parapets that are permanent and critical to the overall design while disregards antennae, signage, flagpole or other ‘functional technical equipment’.
This is the reason why the Petronas Twin Towers won over Sears Tower (now renamed Willis Tower) to become the tallest buildings in the world back in 1997. The twin towers reach the height of 452 metres including their architectural spires while Willis Tower goes up to 527 metres including its antennae. However, antenna is not included and hence the official height of Willis Tower is just 442 metres.
The other three methods on measuring a building’s height that can be seen as alternatives or extensions of the main measuring method are height to top of roof, height to highest occupied floor, and height to highest point (tip). The latter method is the one that counts everything from a building from its base to its very top including those ‘functional technical equipment’. Once Taipei 101 was built in 2003, the skyscraper cools down the controversy by topping the world’s tallest ranking in three out of the four methods. Then, Burj Khalifa came in 2009 to take all the top spots including the world’s tallest man-made structure and it is still holding the title now. The current list of world’s top ten tallest buildings is shown below which is measured in height to architectural top: (click on the image for larger version)
Besides than these four methods, other professional industries in this field of tall buildings such as the Emporis has its own set of methods too. But not to confuse anyone further, we will just stick to the more precise ones by CTBUH at this point.
There are still many parties who are not happy with these methods. They each has its flaws. The height to tip method rewards vanity height of all stripes, which could allow designers or developers seeking a height accolade to cheaply take the top spot using any poorly designed, extraneous addition to the roof. On the other hand, height to highest occupied floor does not acknowledge the impact that a building has on the experience of the urban environment – for example, the Burj Khalifa does not appear 584 meters tall but 828 meters, and as most of us will never be lucky enough to visit its topmost floor, it seems only sensible to judge its height based on its impact on the city’s appearance.
How about height to top of roof? In the variety of design of skyscraper nowadays, it’s very hard to judge the actual roof of a particular building. Is it just the roof over the highest occupied floor or roof covering the very highest portion of the building although the floor below it is not habitable. The Burj Khalifa has 244 meters of vanity height, but where exactly is the roof over its top floor? The tapered design of this building does not allow for such simple definitions. The definition provided also repeats the flaw of the “height to top floor” method, in that many skyscraper designs have significant architectural additions above this, which impact how they are perceived by those on the ground.
Hence, which of the four methods are the best? Of can you define what’s the ‘best’ or the ‘better’ here? Louis Sullivan, an architect who is always known as the father of skyscrapers, says “It must be every inch a proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exultation that from bottom to top it is a unit without a single dissenting line”. If we take this to be true then it is clear that measuring the height to the tip, including – and rewarding – any and all of the clutter that often adorns the tops of skyscrapers is a move against design quality.
By contrast CTBUH’s official measurement tool, at the very least, holds designers accountable for ensuring that the way a building’s height is expressed is also a factor in establishing its quoted height. As architects, shouldn’t we support any tool which encourages tall buildings to be expressed elegantly? Recently, once the 1 World Trade Center in New York City is completed, another heated argument surfaces. Some claims that it is US tallest building but some said it’s Willis Tower. Many don’t see the antennae-like, awkward-designed and out-of-proportion spire on top of 1WTC as the key architectural element of the building. I too stand in that opinion. However, CTBUH has approved to have the spire as part of its architectural component in measuring its building height to the architectural top.
Increasing a building’s height with poor design is a big NO for me. Putting in a huge spire that is not proportionate to the overall building is a bad decision too. On the other hand, I do think it is necessary to have vanity height (non-usable height) to ‘complete’ a skyscraper especially when it is a tapering design on certain occasions. This issue actually leaves up a lot of questions and is open for multiple discussions.
Nevertheless, what’s important is that ‘the architects shouldn’t be arguing over which building is taller, but rather which building is better.’
This year, Hong Kong’s biggest television station TVB is celebrating its 50th anniversary. In conjunction with this significant and historic golden jubilee, the station has released many big-production series this year that includes many artists that we have not seen for a long time (although the overall quality is still questionable). So far, I have watched over 12 TVB dramas this year and I’m expected to watch few more before the end of the year. This makes 2017 the year with highest number of dramas that I have watched.
The anniversary celebration started with a lighting ceremony held last weekend. It is attended by Liza Wang, Carol Cheng, Ha Yu, Louise Lee, Michelle Yim, Moses Chan, Kristal Tin, Kenneth Ma, Bosco Wong, Vincent Wong, Maggie Shiu, Elena Kong, Sharon Chan, etc. It is the standard practice by the station to have this lighting ceremony to mark the start of many anniversary events to follow and also to introduce the anniversary dramas and programmes. Before this ceremony, there has been many speculations that there would be 7 anniversary dramas this year, rather than the typical 3 or 4. To allow all these dramas to finish airing and compete for this year’s awards, there has been rumour that TVB is pushing its annual TVB Anniversary Awards to early next year rather than in their usual mid-December slot.
The lighting ceremony has squashed all the rumours. There is only 4 anniversary dramas and they are ‘Heart and Greed’, ‘Oh My Grad’, ‘My Ages Apart’ and ‘The Exorcist’s Meter’. ‘Oh My Grad’ which is the third series in ‘Inbound Troubles’ franchise headed by Wong Cho Lam is currently airing and I am watching it too. Wong Cho Lam only has a very minor role in here and the result is there is not much fun and humor to be enjoyed from this series as expected earlier. The other series currently airing that I’m also watching is ‘Line Walker: The Pelude’ which is a prequel to the successful 2014’s Line Walker series. It is not bad but not up to the intensity and drama we have seen from its predecessor. I’m surprised that it is not selected as one of the anniversary dramas. On the other hand, I’m surprised that a supernatural drama (The Exorcist’s Meter) is one of the anniversary dramas. This genre usually doesn’t appeal to most audiences and are usually delivering mediocre result and yet is picked as one of the highlight of the station’s 50th anniversary. Hmmm…
I’m now only excited for the release of ‘Heart and Greed’, the third entry of the famous ‘Heart of Greed’ franchise about family feuds. The first two are classic and I hope this one could live up to that but I doubt it. I’m happy that the veteran cast are all back (Ha Yu, Louise Lee, Michelle Yim and Susanna Kwan) but I don’t like the junior line-up. It would be awesome if the previous cast (Moses Chan, Raymond Lam, Tavia Yeung, Fala Chen, Linda Chung, etc) all return but that would be impossible since most of them has gone their own way and left TVB.
So now this means that the ‘Deep in the Realm of Conscience’ (sequel to ‘Beyond the Realm of Conscience’) and a series starring Dicky Cheung (forgot the title) are not anniversary dramas and will only be released early next year. Media have been reporting on them since early this year and everyone is hyped but now they are pushed to next year. I can understand that since the station is not able to fit in all these dramas before the end of the year which is now fast approaching. So I guess these dramas will not be competing for this year’s TVB Anniversary Awards too. The awards will be held on end of December most probably, a week before Christmas. Before that, there will be the Anniversary Gala to be held on mid of November. There would be a special party next month to celebrate 50th anniversary of Liza Wang in the station too.
It’s now October. The semester has flown so fast. This is my second last month of my postgraduate study. It is as though I have just started this course only a few months ago. It has been a great and stressful two years. Or to be exact, one and a half month to go and yet there are so many incomplete tasks. I have only joined one outdoor gathering with my housemates this semester. I am so sorry that I have to reject all the plans made by them as I am seriously filled up with my works. Do you think I don’t want to hang out with you guys and go outside for some fun? If I do that, I’m not going to do well in my study. I have to sacrifice one thing for another. That’s life. There is no such thing as balance of life and work for architecture students.
Haha…been not catching up to new movies for long period of time already.
For other courses, I must say ‘yes’. All they have to do is read some books, write some reports, do some lab testing or maths calculation, and sit for examinations. For architecture students, we didn’t do much on those things, but we have much more of other things to do (do sketches, do research and analysis, build 3D and physical models, produce and edit drawings, treat presentation panels graphically, etc). And these tasks are so time consuming. Allow me to complain of my workload and get jealous of my housemates who always loudly said that they have many assignments to complete and then went to pool and poker, go out to mall and movies, watch live matches, organize parties, etc. How can they have so many time for all those things? To be honest with you, I have only switched on the television in my student accommodation for only once in my almost two years of staying here. You will really feel how busy I am. I have just finished my interim presentation for my thesis project today. Things are going fine and I do hope that I do well at the crucial final submission and presentation next month.
Well, let’s not complaining anymore and I shall keep a very positive mindset in completing the remaining tasks in these two months. Once they are done, I’m really off for celebrations! By the time I am free of everything and is more than ready to join gatherings, my housemates would be busy preparing for examinations. Hmm…opps, no opportunity for bonding with housemates. I still have not buy the flight ticket back home but I guess it will be around end of November. I will leave some time for me to relax and enjoy in Perth before heading back to Kuala Lumpur. Then, it will allow me to remember the time in Perth as not only being stressful all the time, but also is truly enjoyable too. I love this city; small, peaceful, close to nature and nice weather!
By the way, tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival! It is an important celebration particularly for the Chinese on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. It is celebrated on this day every year during full moon when the moon is big and round. I am in Australia now but I still get the chance to eat some mooncakes. Asian grocery shops do sell them but at a very high price. I still bought them (two boxes) as I really love to eat mooncakes (the original one; lotus seed paste with egg yolk). And too bad, I can only eat them once in a year. It costs AUS$ 50 per box (a box contains 4 mooncakes). I can buy three boxes of the same price in Malaysia. On the other hand, the kids in this generation are no longer having the fun like we do as children back years ago who like to light the candles and lanterns, play firecrackers and burn some little things in the process with siblings, friends or neighbours. What a great time back then! Now, kids just love iPad more than anything else. Anyway, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
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