TVB Anniversary Awards 2023; ‘The Queen of News’ emerged the biggest winner as expected with 8 awards including best series while Charmaine Sheh swept all 3 best actress awards in a record-breaking outcome.

TVB Anniversary Awards 2023, honouring the best of Hong Kong’s TVB series and programmes released last year (2023) was held a moment ago at Grand Lisboa Palace Resort, Macau. This is the first time the awards ceremony took place away from its usual location in TVB studio. The emcee for the evening is Karl Ting. The show originally scheduled to take 3 hours only but ended up overrun for additional half an hour.

Without further ado, here below are the list of winners in all categories except the non-series related ones along with my comments;

Best Supporting Actress: Samantha Ko (The Queen of News)

Opinion: Once the top 5 is revealed, I knew right away it would be Samantha as she is the most experienced among the 5 and her performance in ‘The Queen of News’ is quite good.

Best Supporting Actor: Jazz Lam (The Invisibles)

Opinion: Happy for Jazz to win too but my first choice is Matthew Ho as his mute role in ‘Narcotic Heroes’ is much harder to play and he put so much effort on it (and he nailed it).

Most Improved TV Male Artiste: Mark Ma

Opinion: My pick would be Nicholas Yuen but he isn’t even able to reach Top 5 surprisingly. But Mark Ma is ok.

Most Improved TV Female Artiste: Tiffany Lau

Opinion: Very much expected as she is currently heavily promoted by TVB.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite Series: The Invisibles

Opinion: Now, this is quite surprising. Didn’t expect ‘The Invisibles’ could triumph over ‘The Queen of News’. Something fishy here. I guess TVB doesn’t want all awards to go to one particular series and left many other artistes empty-handed. Anyway, ‘The Invisibles’ is still a good drama but certainly steps behind ‘The Queen of News’.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite Lead Actor: Kenneth Ma (The Queen of News)

Opinion: I thought this would goes to Ruco Chan since he has bigger fanbase in Malaysia. Anyway, happy for Kenneth to win.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite Lead Actress: Charmaine Sheh (The Queen of News)

Opinion: Expected. Her first win of the evening. More to come…

Greater Bay Area’s Most Favourite Series: The Queen of News

Opinion: Expected too as this series gotten huge popularity in mainland China as well.

Greater Bay Area’s Most Favourite Lead Actor: Bosco Wong (Dead Ringer)

Opinion: Oohh…now this outcome is something refreshing. Didn’t see Bosco on stage for a long time. Quite happy that he did although I didn’t watch ‘Dead Ringer’.

Greater Bay Area’s Most Favourite Lead Actress: Charmaine Sheh (The Queen of News)

Opinion: Second award for her in the evening. On the route to record breaking wins. She is so far ahead everyone else in her category.

Best TV Song: ‘Crystal Clear’ by Gigi Yim (The Queen of News)

Opinion: That’s my pick too. Very simple lyrics but beautiful melody and suits very well to the series.

Best Leading Actor: Moses Chan (Narcotic Heroes)

Opinion: Same with my prediction yesterday. As there is no clear frontrunner in this category this year, there’s a feeling that this will go to Moses as the last time he had won this was 16 years ago. Time for another one. My gut feeling was right.

Best Leading Actress: Charmaine Sheh (The Queen of News)

Opinion: Wow…Charmaine broke record by sweeping all three best actress awards for the evening. She also broke record as the actress with most Hong Kong best actress wins at 3 (previous win in 2006 and 2014). Congratulations to her. A bit pity for Selena Lee who also did extremely well in ‘The Queen of News’. Whenever she emerges strong that particular year, there is always another one who did well and is of higher status and won (remember 2019 when she was so phenomenal in ‘Barrack o’Karma’ but ended up only winning Most Popular Female Character (shared with Miriam Yeung) and that year’s best actress goes to Kara Hui).

Best Series: The Queen of News

Opinion: Expected and very much deserving. The only series that truly stood out last year. Impressive production. The series became the biggest winner of the ceremony after winning 8 awards.

That’s it. I think I’m the first one to publish the winners list of the just concluded TVB Anniversary Awards 2023 in English version. Haha…efficiency right there as I wrote this post while watching the whole show just now. Good night and have a great week ahead!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

My picks for the best of TVB series in 2023 and a little prediction for upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023.

It’s a wrap for Hong Kong’s TVB series in 2023 after I have finished ‘The Queen of News’ over a week ago. It’s the time again for me to choose the best of the year based on my personal judgement, observation and analysis. This is purely my own preference and is limited to only the television dramas of the year that I have watched.

By the way, I have been doing this since 2007. Hence, this is my 17th year of annually selecting my personal best of TVB series. I have watched a total of 8 dramas this year as listed below (along with my rating to each series out of 10 points).

• The Invisibles. (7.8)
• Speakers of Law. (6.3)
• Secret Door. (8.0)
• Unchained Medley. (7.0)
• Narcotic Heroes. (7.1)
• Let Me Take Your Pulse. (8.0)
• Romeo and His Butterfly Lover. (6.8)
• The Queen of News. (8.7)

As expected, ‘The Queen of News’ is my highest rated TVB drama of 2023 while ‘Speakers of Law’ is my lowest rated. You may also look up for my individual review to each of these dramas by using the ‘search’ function in my blog page and key in the relevant drama’s title.

Here below are my personal selection of the best of TVB series in 2023 in 15 categories:

Best Drama : The Queen of News

(4 other finalists: The Invisibles, Secret Door, Narcotic Heroes, Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Best Leading Actor: Kenneth Ma (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: Ruco Chan – Secret Door, Owen Cheung – Unchained Medley, Edwin Siu – Narcotic Heroes, Moses Chan – Narcotic Heroes)

Best Leading Actress: Selena Lee (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: Charmaine Sheh – The Queen of News, Mandy Wong – Secret Door, Aimee Chan – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Sisley Choi – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Favourite TV Male Character: Owen Cheung (Unchained Medley)

(4 other finalists: Kenneth Ma – The Invisibles, Ruco Chan – Secret Door, Kalok Chow – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Matthew Ho – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Favourite TV Female Character: Charmaine Sheh (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: Selena Lee – The Queen of News, Katy Kung – Unchained Medley, Kelly Cheung – Narcotic Heroes, Sisley Choi – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Best Supporting Actor: Matthew Ho (Narcotic Heroes)

(4 other finalists: Hugo Ng – Secret Door, Joel Chan – The Queen of News, Max Cheung – Speakers of Law, Ram Chiang – Narcotic Heroes)

Best Supporting Actress: Elena Kong (The Invisibles)

(4 other finalists: Moon Lau – Secret Door, Joman Chiang – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Samantha Ko – The Queen of News, Regina Ho – The Queen of News)

Most Improved TV Male Artiste: Nicholas Yuen (The Invisibles, Secret Door, Unchained Medley)

(4 other finalists: Arnold Kwok – The Invisibles, Alex Yung – Speakers of Law, Mark Ma – Narcotic Heroes & The Queen of News, Ricco Ng – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Improved TV Female Artiste: Tiffany Lau (The Invisibles, Unchained Medley)

(4 other finalists: Regina Ho – Speakers of Law & The Queen of News, Bowie Cheung – Narcotic Heroes, Erica Chan – Let Me Take Your Pulse, Joman Chiang – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

Most Favourite Drama Theme Song: ‘Crystal Clear’ by Gigi Yim (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: ‘They Aren’t You’ by Shiga Lin for The Invisibles, ‘There is No Reason to Leave’ by James Ng for The Invisibles, ‘Blurred in Dream’ by Owen Cheung & Sherman Poon for Unchained Medley, ‘Will Not Say Goodbye’ by Vivian Koo for Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Favourite On-Screen Couple: Matthew Ho & Sisley Choi (Let Me Take Your Pulse)

(4 other finalists: Kenneth Ma & Natalie Tong – The Invisibles, Owen Cheung & Katy Kung – Unchained Medley, Edwin Siu & Kelly Cheung – Narcotic Heroes, Moses Chan & Aimee Chan – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

Most Favourite TV Villain: Hugo Ng (Secret Door)

(4 other finalists: Ruco Chan – The Invisibles, Max Cheung – Speakers of Law, Mandy Wong – Secret Door, Timothy Cheng – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

Best Technical & Production Design: Romeo and His Butterfly Lover

(4 other finalists: The Invisibles, Secret Door, Unchained Medley, Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Outstanding TV Veteran Artiste: Timothy Cheng (Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

(4 other finalists: Angelina Lo – Secret Door & Let Me Take Your Pulse, Mary Hon – Secret Door & Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Cheung Kwok Keung – Secret Door & Narcotic Heroes, Ram Chiang – Narcotic Heroes)

Outstanding Cast Ensemble: The Queen of News

(4 other finalists: The Invisibles, Secret Door, Narcotic Heroes, Let Me Take Your Pulse)

‘The Queen of News’ is the most celebrated drama with 6 honours including best series. It is very likely that this drama will snatch the most wins at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023 too (to be held in 14th January 2024). I will be going mad if it doesn’t win best drama.

Competition for best lead actor is very weak this year and out of intense scrutiny, Kenneth Ma prevailed from his performance in ‘The Queen of News’ (particularly from his emotional scene in the last episode). This is his second time winning this honour. Anyone could take this win at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023.

I was also very hesitant between Charmaine and Selena for best lead actress. They are both outstanding in ‘The Queen of News’ but finally I picked Selena as I find Charmaine had all the charisma and aura in the series but her character lacks a little depth/character’s development when compared to Selena’s character. This is also Selena’s second time winning this honour. I do hope that she could win best actress for the first time ever at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards but Charmaine is likely heading for her historic third win. How about a tie, TVB?

Anyway, if you are a fan of TVB series over the years, what are your picks and predictions for this year? Feel free to share your thought.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

‘The Queen of News’ is top-notch and is Hong Kong’s best series in recent years.

Urrghh…the final episode of ‘The Queen Of News’ has already been released in streaming platform yesterday ahead of its airing date on Friday next week. I would not have any new exciting episode to catch up on evening from tomorrow onward sadly. What should I do?

‘The Queen of News’ (新聞女王) is a Hong Kong drama that centers on the challenges faced by journalists, their dedication to uncover the truth, and the conflicts that arise in their personal and professional lives in and out of their news reporting office. Themes such as journalistic integrity, ethical dilemmas and the pressures of the media industry are explored throughout the series. This 26-episode drama starred Charmaine Sheh, Kenneth Ma, Selena Lee, Samantha Ko, Regina Ho, Venus Wong, Matthew Ho, Eric Tang, Shaun Tam, Mimi Kung, etc.

26 episodes aren’t enough for me (and I believe for many audiences too). The storyline could easily be expanded to 30 episodes or more without losing its intensity and appeal. Some of the characters’ conclusion felt rushed and there are some unanswered questions (maybe hinting a sequel?). I felt like the last episode was way too rushed too although the outcome is still extremely fantastic (and very touching) which featured a case of which Joel Chan took kids at a childcare centre as hostage as he could not come to terms with his own daughter’s death. The ending which saw the five main female leads finally settled aside their differences after the incident is resolved brought a warm and beautiful closure to the series.

Charmaine Sheh impressed everyone with her superb performance and breathtaking charisma in this series. Critically lauded for that, many has already predicted her to clinch her third best actress win at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023 to be held next month (its nomination list had just been released yesterday with huge support to this series as expected). However, I would prefer more if both she and Selena Lee were crowned best actress together. Selena Lee also delivered outstanding work in this series and their on-screen intense interactions were brilliantly executed. Selena is always solid in her performance. She deserves best actress and shouldn’t be outshined by Charmaine.

The other actresses who tagged along were doing fine too. Let’s not forget the actors. Kenneth Ma was ordinary until the very last episode on a scene when he teared up during a live broadcast after streaming showing Charmaine in danger at the childcare centre was interrupted and he revealed his honest feeling of Charmaine as his friend (finally not viewing her as work nemesis). Although Joel Chan was only participating in the last episode, but his role as the mentally disabled father who lost his daughter is very engaging. Eric Tang do stood out too in his supporting role as a chief director here.

Excellent script, impressive performances, fast-paced development, engaging storyline, and thought-provoking plots that revealed lessons in journalism and life; what else do you need to be crowned best series of the year? ‘The Queen of News’ is not only the best of the year, but also the best in recent years. Out of 10 points, I rate it 8.7.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

4 days 3 nights trip to Hong Kong & Macau, China.

I’m back! Have just returned early this morning from quite a dramatic trip to Hong Kong for the past 4 days 3 nights. Why was it dramatic? The trip to Hong Kong was originally planned because of a concert we would be attending that me and my sisters managed to bought the tickets (and it’s my favourite singer). I have been waiting for the concert for almost a year. However, the concert is now postponed to a later date as the singer has not recovered from long-Covid effects. Flight tickets and hotel payments already been made and hence we still went ahead for the trip (purely for travel this time) while I continue to just wait patiently for the concert. It is what it is.

Then, when we arrived at Hong Kong on last Monday, we were welcomed with category 8 typhoon! Haha. Our flight was delayed by over 2 hours because of that too. There’s nothing much we can do and explore on the first day due to the strong winds and rain and many businesses/shops were closed that day. Well, at least we got to experience how typhoon feels like for the first time. Fortunately, weather gradually improves on the following days until it was extremely hot and sunny on our final day in Hong Kong yesterday.

Without further ado, here below are the highlights of our trip;

Day 1 – 17th July 2023 (Monday)

Arrived at Hong Kong in the afternoon and immediately made our way to hotel for checking in. Had a little chat with the taxi driver who took us and talked about food, the area where we will be staying and the current typhoon situation in Hong Kong while passing through famous landmarks like Tsing Ma Bridge and International Commerce Centre tower (tallest building in Hong Kong).

The typhoon was downgraded to level 3 by late afternoon and we went out for a late lunch nearby our hotel. During our lunch, we met a TVB actor (not famous one as he only played minor roles). We then walked around old Kowloon area and along Nathan Road covering Mong Kok, Yau Ma Tei and Jordan neighbourhoods. We visited the Sneakers Street and Temple Street too. Temple Street particularly looked very deserted with very little vendors setting up their stalls along this famous street. Because of the lack of open shops and very wet surroundings that day, we got back to our hotel early evening (also to catch some rest after a long day in the plane and airport).

Day 2 – 18th July 2023 (Tuesday)

Started the day with a lovely breakfast at Australia Dairy Co, a very famous ‘cha chan teng’ (Hong Kong style cafe) which is just a few minutes walk from our hotel. We then took MTR (subway) to cross over to Hong Kong Island.

Once we were at Central, we took the Peak Tram to go to the top of Victoria Peak, a popular spot to check out the breathtaking view of Hong Kong city skyline. The tram’s track goes up to about 400 metres and it was quite a steep incline. Our tram tickets cover the admission to Sky Terrace 428, Hong Kong’s highest viewing platform that offers 360 degree panoramic view across the city. It was really cloudy during our visit and hence we couldn’t snap some cool shots. However, the view was still very spectacular particularly for me who loves and admires city skylines! There is also a Madame Tussauds Museum in the Peak Tower but we skipped that one.

We made our way back down the hill via the tram again. Walked around the city for a short while and saw some iconic buildings such as the HSBC Headquarters and Bank of China Tower. We then went on board another type of tram (double-decker city tram) to go to Sheung Wan to do a little exploring. After that, we proceed to visit Causeway Bay, a major shopping district in the city before heading back to our hotel in Kowloon for lunch (had dim sum) a brief afternoon rest.

We went out again in the late afternoon to visit the Avenue of Stars, a busy waterfront promenade along Victoria Harbour which honours celebrities of the Hong Kong entertainment industry. There are plaques containing handprints or autographs of various famous Hong Kong stars such as Stephen Chow, Chow Yun Fat, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, Andy Lau, etc along the avenue. Statues of late Bruce Lee, Anita Mui, McDull (fictional cartoon character) and Hong Kong Film Awards’ trophy are also displayed. With the amazing city skyline view along the waterfront too, there’s just so much to see over there.

We then had a quick stopover at the nearby K11 Musea, a very ornately-designed shopping centre. The thing that intrigued me the most from the mall is the buttons for its lifts which is in the form of a book display at the side (that’s so interesting!). We then went back out to the promenade to catch the daily 8pm city light show (felt the light show a bit underwhelming though).

We were supposed to be watching concert for the evening. Now it is replaced with a visit to Lan Kwai Fong and we had to take subway from Tsim Sha Tsui back to Central again. Lan Kwai Fong is a popular street in the city for drinking, clubbing and dining. However, we were left disappointed by the lack of activity around the area that night. It was already over 10pm and the place looked quite empty with only few bars opened and not many people around. It felt so different to what we usually see of that street in past TVB series (that was depicting the street as very long and lively).

Day 3 – 19th July 2023 (Wednesday)

It’s the day for our one-day trip to Macau. We took 1-hour ferry ride (by Turbojet) from Sheung Wan’s ferry terminal to Macau Outer Ferry Terminal at noon. Once we reached Macau, we went to visit the Senado Square, a historical paved town square in the city surrounded by European-styled buildings. We then passed through St Dominic’s Church and walked along the bustling street of Rua de Sao Paulo filled with souvenir shops. Due to our limited time in Macau, we didn’t have the luxury to explore most of the shops around the area. We just went in to one of the shops to buy some pastry souvenirs and tried some Portuguese tarts.

We then arrived to the most recognizable landmark in Macau, the Ruins of St Paul’s. Countless people filled the area and the grand steps in front of the iconic church’s front facade for pictures. The ruins of the religious complex which was originally built in 1640 is now restored into a museum.

We then climbed over some steps to visit the adjacent Monte Fort, a historical military centre of the city and is now also part of the Museum of Macau. There are many cannons that line the walls of the fortress and from there, we were able to view the city skyline of Macau made distinctive by the gold-coloured leaf-shaped Grand Lisboa Hotel Tower and the Macau Tower.

After that, we went to Cotai Strip, a strip of large and luxurious hotel-casinos in the Cotai section of Macau. We went inside the Studio City to check out its casino (I didn’t play anything in there though). The resort’s two hotel towers are connected by a unique figure-8 ferris wheel. We then walked past The Parisian and The Londoner (both are also hotel-casino complexes) before reaching The Venetian. Here we checked out its beautiful interior mall designed to resemble Venice and we had our dinner here as well.

We then headed back to the ferry terminal for the ferry ride back to Hong Kong in the evening.

Day 4 – 20th July 2023 (Thursday)

It’s our last day in Hong Kong. After checking-out of our hotel and a breakfast (had polo bun today), we went to Tung Chung to take the Ngong Ping 360 cable car ride to Ngong Ping Highland in Lantau Island. The 25-minutes ride offer beautiful views over hills, cityscapes (you can also view Shenzhen far at the back from the ride), Hong Kong International Airport and Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (longest sea crossing in the world). This cable car ride is a must if you are planning to visit Lantau Island.

We then arrived at Ngong Ping Village and we proceed to visit the Po Lin Monastery. It is a large Buddhist monastery with its main temple housing three bronze statues of the Buddha – representing his past, present and future lives. I burnt some incense and did a brief praying there in hope of a smoother path for the rest of the year after all that I had gone through in 2023 so far.

Next, we climbed 268 steps (not too difficult) to reach the Tian Tan Buddha. It is a large bronze statue of Buddha completed in 1993 and has become a major tourist attraction in Hong Kong. The view from up here was also quite spectacular.

After that, we checked out the Wisdom Path, a monument consisting of 38 wooden columns on which verses from the centuries-old Heart Sutra have been carved. It is about 15 minutes walk from Po Lin Monastery. Took some photos and then we immediately head back to Ngong Ping Village for cable car ride back to Tung Chung.

We then had our early dinner at Citygate Outlets which is right beside the Tung Chung cable car terminal before making our way to the Hong Kong International Airport for flight back to KL in the evening. We had a flight to catch and hence we do not have time to explore the mall unfortunately. Our AirAsia flight back to KL departed on time surprisingly! I manage to catch a last view of Hong Kong (it’s so beautiful!) from my window’s seat in the plane. Arrived a little after 1am (the next day) at KLIA2.

That’s all for the highlights of my trip to Hong Kong (and Macau) from July 17 to 20, 2023. We will be back here soon for the concert next time and also to visit some places that we didn’t get to check out this time around such as the Ocean Park, M+ Museum, ICC Sky100 Observation Deck, Tai-O Fishing Village, Monster Building, etc. There goes the end of my trip to Hong Kong. This was my second time visiting Hong Kong (first time was way back in 2006) and my first time ever visiting Macau.

Review to TVB series ‘Secret Door’ (2023).

‘Secret Door’ is a 2023 Hong Kong series with 25 episodes that starred Ruco Chan, Mandy Wong, Hugo Ng, Roxanne Tong, Moon Lau, Nicholas Yuen, Hugo Wong, etc. The series revolves on two childhood friends, Zhong Zi Kiu (Ruco) and Cheung Sam Yue (Mandy) who have taken very different paths because of crimes committed by each other’s fathers. They two met again and all hell breaks loose once Sam Yue’s father was released from prison and her husband died mysteriously.

The plot for this series is quite captivating. However, while the series comes with quite a lot of thrilling and tense moments, it also unfortunately comes with a lot of silly scenes. The main characters tend to always reveal some major plot in a very exposed/public setting and then as expected, get heard or seen by the other character hidden at the back. You will surely get what I mean after you have watched the series. It happened a lot of times throughout the drama and it just proves the scriptwriter lacks fresh idea or just being lazy. Certainly one of the major flaws of the series.

The ending is too rushed and did not provide a sufficient conclusion to the series. Immediately skipping the timeline to 10 years later in a short finale scene of few characters standing in front of Sam Yue’s grave with minimal dialogue is definitely not a satisfying ending I’m looking for. Roxanne’s character is not even there in the final scene. How is her relationship going on with Ruco in the series at the end? How is Roxanne’s dad or Mandy’s mother-in-law doing in the end? A lot of unanswered questions. I also expected a bit more climactic end to Hugo Ng’s character when Mandy decided to finish him.

Let’s talk about the acting performances. Hugo Ng is the star of the show portraying as the criminal father in the series. His energy and performance is top notch here and he has my support to clinch best supporting actor at this year’s TVB Anniversary Awards. Mandy Wong is given a very good role here who get to switch from playing both nice and wicked personalities. She did it quite convincingly too (although I still feel she has not done her best yet). If luck is on her side, she may even end up winning her first best actress from her performance in this series.

Yes, the series comes with some flaws as highlighted earlier, but overall, I do enjoy the series. Interesting plot and exciting performances from the cast successfully brought up my impression of the drama. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Secret Door’ a total of 8.0.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Yes! Managed to buy tickets for Sammi’s HK concert this July!

I’m so excited this morning! Today is finally the day when the online public sale of admission tickets for Sammi Cheng’s concert on this coming July at Hong Kong Coliseum starts. The aim to watch her concert in Hong Kong is already fixed in my mind ever since she announced late last year that she will be holding her 11th solo concert tour in July 2023.

Her tour this time is called ‘You & Mi Sammi Cheng World Tour’ and will begin in Hong Kong with 13 shows (originally planned to have only 8 dates but 5 more shows were added later on due to overwhelming response in the priority sale for specific bank card holders earlier). The tickets are priced at HKD1080, HKD680 and HKD380. Although I have been her fans for over 2 decades and I have watched three of her past concerts at Genting Highlands before (last one being in 2015), but I have never actually watch her performing at her home turf in the famous Hong Kong Coliseum (or commonly known as Red Hall).

The online public sale today commenced at 10am. I was working but I was already standby with the ticketing website on my office desktop once I reached my office couple of minutes after 9am. However, as soon as the clock reaches 9.57am, one of my superiors called me for a quick discussion. Haiya….Once that was over by 10.01am, I immediately get back to my work station and clicked on the purchasing page. I was already in a queue with over 80 000 people ahead of me. I was only late for like 2 minutes. What the heck!!! At that moment, I felt so defeated. With only 64 000 tickets available to purchase out of her 13 shows (with a huge portion already reserved for organizers earlier), it would be impossible for me to get any with that many person ahead of me (and one person can buy a maximum of 4 tickets). There was also some technical glitches with the website (very much expected due to extremely high traffic to the website) this morning that made me felt worst.

Luckily, I did ask my eldest sister to help to buy this morning too since she will be going with me for the concert along with my second sister and her partner. She came prepared with two phones, one laptop and one iPad to try to snap the fast-selling tickets. And yup…she managed to purchase 4 tickets priced at HKD680 each for the show on 18th July (Tuesday). She immediately told me the good news and I’m so delighted! Can’t thank her enough! Once I got into the purchasing page some 10 minutes later, all the shows were already sold-out with no option to purchase seat with any prices on any dates. The website then made an official statement an hour or two later that all the shows are sold out. My sister was so lucky. By the way, we will only be able to collect the physical tickets once we arrive at Hong Kong close to the date of the show that we purchased.

And yup..I will be going to watch her HK concert and it’s now confirmed that my next travel destination will be Hong Kong on this coming July, exactly two months from now. Haha…Perhaps I will include one day trip to the neighbouring Macau as well since I have not been there before (I have been to Hong Kong once back in 2006). I have just returned from my solo trip to Dubai two days ago (and had already been to Australia and Japan early this year) and now I have to start planning for another one. My life is mostly about travelling this year, I guess…Haha…it is undeniable that travel is great! I hope more and more good news like this one today will come rolling to me for the rest of the year.

Like what I mentioned earlier, this will be my first time seeing my idol performing at the four-sided central stage in the Hong Kong Coliseum. Can’t wait for it. With this 13 shows planned, this would push her total number of shows held in Hong Kong Coliseum to 115. She is already the third female artist with most number of shows in that famous venue, only behind Paula Tsui and the late Anita Mui. With 115, she will also join the list of top 10 artists with most number of shows in Hong Kong Coliseum. What an achievement! Also let’s not forget she had won 4 best actress honors from her critically acclaimed performance in the film ‘Lost Love’ early this year including from the prestigious Hong Kong Film Awards.

She recently released a new song with spectacular MV that involved over 100 dancers and was shot in Taiwan last year. The song is very catchy and I quite like it. It also features a new young artist, Jeffrey Ngai who is an actor, model and singer that does the rap part/English part of the song. You can have a listen to the song below from YouTube:

It has become a very common occurrence nowadays that concert tickets in Asia were all snapped up very quickly for any popular singers recently. Earlier, I was informed of news that Jacky Cheung’s shows planned at Singapore had been extended to 9 dates and all were sold out immediately. Same to Aaron Kwok’s coming 3 shows at Singapore as well. Then, Eason’s shows at KL last weekend were also sold-out quickly according to one of my friends who did attend his concert. And then, news came out yesterday that Coldplay concert at Malaysia in this coming November sold out immediately too once the tickets are released. Everyone suddenly have huge interest on watching concerts and the singers are making big bucks!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Finally! Sammi Cheng won her first best actress honor from Hong Kong Film Awards!

Finally! After 10 nominations in over 20 years, Sammi Cheng finally won her first ever best actress honor from the prestigious Hong Kong Film Awards. The 41st Hong Kong Film Awards which is often known as the Hong Kong equivalent to the American Academy Awards was held a moment ago (16th April 2023) to honor the best in Hong Kong films released last year (2022).

Those who knew me must have been well aware that I’m a fan of Sammi Cheng. She is my favourite idol. She enjoyed immense success in Hong Kong music industry from 1990s till now and is regarded as Cantopop queen/diva. However, the same success cannot be replicated for her involvement in acting industry as her acting in close to 40 films in nearly 3 decades do not appear to receive significant recognition.

All that changes this year with multiple local film awards honoring her with best actress honor from her performance in 2022 film ‘Lost Love’. In the film, she portrayed a grieving mother who lost her 3-year old son to illness and decided to devote herself to foster children with her husband. I watched the film last weekend when I was back in KL and I’m indeed moved by her performance.

After all the hard work switching from her signature early works in romance-comedy movies back in early 2000s to more drama films in later years, her effort finally paid off. For her impressive performance in this film, she had so far swept 4 best actress honors from Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards, Hong Kong Directors’ Guild Awards, Hong Kong Online Film Critics Highlight Awards and the most recent 41st Hong Kong Film Awards in 2023.

She had been very emotional during her acceptance speech just now. She had waited over 20 years for this and it is finally in her hand. Also can feel her immense joy near the end of her speech. Very well deserved. She is now Hong Kong music queen and film queen. An astonishing feat! It is also a beautiful moment when she received this award from her frequent film co-star, Andy Lau who is the evening’s guest presenter for best actress award. What a nice arrangement for him to present this award to Sammi. She had also won ‘best original film song’ earlier at the awards ceremony for her song ‘Live a Life’ in the same film.

Well, I hope her film ‘Lost Love’ will be able to contend at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards near end of this year and also at next year’s Asian Film Awards so that she can go on a winning streak. What a good news for her and also for me. It gives me a much needed ‘feel good moment’ at this period of time when I was seriously feeling very down.

There are actually quite a number of past films where she delivered brilliant performances too but didn’t seem to have the luck to win major awards back then. Those films are ‘Wu Yen’, ‘My Left Eye Sees Ghost’, ‘Everlasting Regret’, ‘Blind Detective’, ‘Fatal Visit’, and ‘Fagara’. I also particularly enjoyed her funny light-hearted roles in ‘Love on a Diet’, ‘Needing You’, ‘Love for all Seasons’ and ‘Marry a Rich Man’. There is no doubt her acting isn’t always the best, sometimes feeling not natural and often her ‘superstar image’ sticks around her making audiences felt like she couldn’t able to dissolve into the characters. However, she had truly improved a lot over the years and is certainly overdue for a recognition. And her well deserved recognition finally comes today.

She will be holding her concert at Hong Kong’s Coliseum at this coming July. I do have a wish to watch it. I have watched her past concerts (I think twice) at Malaysia’s Genting Highlands but I have the desire to watch her performing at her home turf on 4-sided stage at Coliseum. It would be a wonderful experience.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Completed my first TVB series of the year. ‘The Invisibles’ is one of the better police action dramas in recent years.

It’s the middle of April. How I wish that this month would be gone sooner as this has been one of the toughest months in my life. Never expect year 2023 to turn out like this. Well, I believe there is always a reason my path is set out this way and will eventually lead me to the right direction. There’s a deep void in me, huge inner stubbornness in me, and plenty of self-reflecting in recent days and I’m glad I have really grown up from this.

While I will try my best to move on and stay positive, it is sometimes also okay to not be okay. After all, we are still human with emotions. Here are the two songs I would like to share that I love to listen to and the lyrics hit right to my feeling or thoughts now. Feel the sadness, cherish on the past memories, and then go on and focus on being the better self.

Alright. No more emotional stuff. I have recently completed my first Hong Kong TVB series of the year. It is ‘The Invisibles’, a 30-episodes police action drama that starred Kenneth Ma, Natalie Tong, Joel Chan, Tiffany Lau, Moon Lau, Alex Lam, Elena Kong, Jimmy Au, Ruco Chan, etc. I have to say that this is one of the much better police action TVB series in recent years especially after considering that this genre has been very common.

Excellent performances by the cast including those on supporting roles. It’s refreshing to see Ruco as the main villain (only appear in later half of the series as one of the supporting roles) here. Although it is not a main lead role, but Ruco nailed it flawlessly with brilliant acting. I am also impressed by Elena Kong’s turn as the head police officer with strict and cold personality yet with warm heart within. Kenneth Ma did well too especially during tense scenes but he flaunts too much of his signature ‘puppy-eyes’ during sad moments in this series (a bit too much!).

The series has a lot of gripping action scenes but also has too much of love storylines. I felt there’s a bit too much of romantic relationships featured in this series including those minor supporting characters (I haven’t even mention there are three main couples already in this series!). Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Invisibles’ a total of 7.8. Still a pretty solid action drama with some forgettable flaws.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

‘Brutally Young 2.0’ was unexpectedly good.

It’s almost end of the month. I have already been in New Zealand for 20 days now. Still can’t stand the freezing temperature over here. Taking a shower here feels like a torture and going downstair to the kitchen and living area was an undesirable thing to do due to the chilling winter here.

A quick update for my current working holiday here at Queenstown, NZ; I’m still familiarizing myself with all the variety of tasks for my front of house job (including handling some back of house works as well) in a restaurant up on a ski mountain called The Remarkables. I also went up to Coronet Peak (another ski mountain) earlier this week, took a first-timer lesson in ski (for free from my privilege as a staff…both mountains are managed by same company) and managed to learnt how to slow down/brake while skiing. Good first step. My plan is to practice once a week so that I will be able to ski (at least until mastering beginner’s level) before end of this winter season.

Back to the main topic of this post; a brief review for another Hong Kong TVB drama that I have recently finished watching. The drama is called ‘Brutally Young 2.0’ (十八年後的終極告白2.0) and is an indirect sequel to the original which was released few years ago and was quite good as far as I can remember. TVB usually fails when it comes to sequel but that isn’t the case for this one surprisingly. ‘Brutally Young 2.0’ was actually very good and kept me engaged and thrilled by its suspenseful story, brilliant plot twists and excellent performances.

This 20-episode drama starred Shaun Tam, Joel Chan, Katy Kung, Candice Chiu, Zoie Tam, Raymond Cho, etc. It is not a stellar cast but they shined in their respective roles in this drama. I won’t see them as great actors/actresses previously. However, after seeing their performances in this series, I have to change my mind. Their roles here allow them to showcase their wide range of acting. Out of the 6 people I mentioned above, I actually find Shaun Tam (first male lead) to be the least convincing in terms of acting instead (he was last year’s best actor winner for his performance in ‘Take Two’).

The series has a very fast paced storyline (which is good) and was full of nice suspense, secrets (yes, all characters hold so many secrets from one another especially from their partners…and eventually blown up to a hot mess that we love to watch) and surprises along the way. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Brutally Young 2.0’ a total of 8.3. My highest rated drama this year so far. By the way, this drama is Joel Chan’s third drama this year (after ‘The Righteous Fists’ and ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’). Have been seeing him on screen a lot of time recently. What a busy year for him. Well, he deserves more opportunities like these. His time for best actor win will come soon. He was splendid in this series too.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

‘Modern Dynasty’ surprises me after being reluctant to watch it in the beginning.

I was watching ‘The Righteous Fists’ when the ‘Modern Dynasty’ is airing back during the past Chinese New Year period. Both are Hong Kong dramas released this year. Only I watched the former while the rest of my family watched the latter. I did joined them to watch a couple of minutes of an episode around the middle of the series but felt overwhelmed by all the dialogues and lost interest.

After finished watching ‘The Righteous Fists’ and ‘Freedom Memories’ end of last month, I spent my daily’s evening on past movies or simply just browsing through YouTube videos. My urge to watch dramas came back last Saturday when I couldn’t find anything else to watch. I decided to pick ‘Modern Dynasty’ of which all of its 30 episodes have already been released. I give it a try and I made the right decision not to miss it.

In less than a week, I finished the whole series. That shows how engaging the series is. ‘Modern Dynasty’ (家族榮耀) revolves on the ups and downs of the three generations of the wealthy Ma family after two close friends got married into the family on the same day. Many back stories and motives unfold as the plot progresses that lead to family tragedies and also downfall of their business empire. The series starred Julian Cheung, Tavia Yeung, Rain Lee, Him Law, Derek Kwok, Lynn Hung, Toby Leung, Raymond Wong, etc.

I think this is Tavia’s comeback drama after several years. She is also reunited with her real life husband, Him Law on screen (but not act as partners in this drama). She delivered fantastic performance as the villainous second brother’s wife and CEO of the company. Her acting here is worthy of a second best actress win for her. Well, a female lead character with scheming mind and evil intention…if you nailed this kind of role, you are on course to awards. All the other main and supporting cast also did great on their respective roles within the huge family in this series. Even unfamiliar faces like Rain Lee and Lynn Hung surprised me with their cleverly delivered emotional performances.

The storyline is interesting (enjoyed all the revelation of the evil plots and histories). Great script there accompanied with a beautiful huge residence as the main setting of the show that showcases the high status of the family. It was also quite a happy ending for the Ma family in the end after all the crisis but I felt weird with the surprised abrupt ending at the very last minute of the final episode (and also felt Gallen Lo’s cameo appearance in the final episode to be unnecessary). It could have ended in a better note.

Anyway, the series is still a solid one with great story and cast. Out of 10 points, I rate it 8.2, the same rating given also to ‘The Righteous Fists’. Both are my equal best Hong Kong dramas this year so far.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)