I love weddings and these two kids were long overdue for one, having been together for ten years (ableit with a brief separation in between). Yuan Quan, who recently filmed a wedding scene for her film, Lian Ai Ba, and during it, told reporters that she would not want to marry as formally as she did was in the movie, because it was so exhausting, and she kept that promise by having a low-key marriage. The newly released shoot the happy couple did for the wedding also reflected that simplicity.
Amidst the great albums that came out recently from people like David Tao, whom we’ve looked up to for their song-writing talent, and whose albums we look forward to for very reason, one album lifted itself from up from our expectations and stunned us over our lack of anticipation for it. Chris Lee, without much press or fanfare, came out with a CD, a good one, containing 8 self-composed songs, and 9 song with lyrics she herself wrote.
No one had preparation for such a revelation that Li Yuchun could compose. No one knew she had even tried, and the sudden materialization of an album almost all her own surprised us, and then slowly overtook us our quiet shock with such astonished joy where we wanted to run around and congratulate her and her fans for such a wholly unexpected burst of talent from this much maligned woman. However, looking back at our excitement over this, we had to wonder, why are we so happy for her? I just admitted it – we never her fans, nor are we currently her fans. So why the crazy happiness?
Ugly Wudi also dances and sings?
What happens when the American Ugly Betty, the Mexican La Fea Mas Bella, and the Chinese Ugly Wudi meets? The audience may just find out soon. According to sohu and other major websites, there are plans for a movie version of Ugly Betty that will bring the three different “Betty’s” together in Hawaii.
While we wait for that, cfensi and I are both hyped about Ugly Wudi 3 the musical that’s airing after Meteor Shower. It’s a beautiful example of Hunan TV’s creativity and willingness to move beyond the norm.
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Edit: I was clearly too hasty with the pictures
I think we were all a little disappointed at the movie cast of Du Lala’s promotion, but as always, China gives you two of everything at the same time for your choosing, and the cast for the drama version looks so much more promising. Xu Jinglei may be one of China’s four “Hua Dan”, but she was really, really too old to play someone at her first job. But Wang Luodan, one of the four new “Hua Dan” is quite perfect for the job. And so is Li Guanjie, who I’ve only seen in passing since he got his breakout role in one of those series that only people like my dad watches, but he definitely has that manly charisma and acting ability to pull off the role.
The Super Boys Musical airing on the 29th also features self-compositions by the boys.
Other than exceeding almost everyone’s expectations in terms of acting, scenery and script, Meteor Shower’s other big plus is its music. The OST also shows off eemedia’s composing talents by featuring at least two (possibly four) insert songs composed by their very own Wei Chen and Lu Hu.
Wei Chen is the co-composer/co-producer of his official insert song – “Replacement lover.” Lu Hu wrote the background vocal, which Wei Chen also sung. He also has another insert song called “Rain Marks” that he composed himself that’s not in the official OST but at a little after 3 minutes in this trailer. Lu Hu composed Zhang Han’s insert song, for which he is also the background vocalist. And if this trailer is an indication of the insert songs in the drama, the song at around 13 minutes is called “that idiot is me.” That song is also composed by Lu Hu, with Wei Chen writing the lyrics.
Wei Chen and Lu Hu aren’t the only Super Boys releasing self-compositions recently. Allen Su Xing also released his present for the 60th birthday of the PRC, named China China:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXKdHA4RUtM] (more…)
Shu Qi and Kelly Lin, arguably Taiwan's two top leading ladies help raise money for Typhoon relief
Natural disasters are always so painful, but one of the nice things is seeing all the people come together to help one another. Jet Li , Andy Lau joined celebrities in Taiwan with answering phones on Friday night as two televised fundraisers brought in more than 1.1 billion Taiwan dollars (33 million US dollars) for aid for the typhoon that is estimated to take 500 lives in Taiwan. In one village, Hsiao Lin suffered a massive landslide where almost no one survived.
For more pictures of these guys hard at work go here.
Sigh…because of this site I have so many movies, dramas that I am looking forward to , that I may not actually have time to watch. “Lian Ai Ba” is one of them. I have a lot of affection for all of the actors, and it’s nice to see a mature modern day romance about adults refinding love. So even if I’m a little wary of the first-time director, I will definitely be following this. And Chen Kun and Lu Yi in suits? Just two words: So shuai!
Chang Chen on the right
Wow, I haven’t seen too much Chang Chen news lately, but when he pops up, he pops up in style. The Taiwanese actor was already training in martial arts for his upcoming movie Yi Dai Zhong Shi in Beijing, and amidst that preparation, he was invited to became part of the record-breaking group of 34,000 doing taichi together. The youngest was 7 years old and the oldest was 65 years old. Jet Li‘s teacher praised the actor as having potential in martial arts. I’m curious to see this movie…the last time he did a martial arts movie, it was Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. But whatever he does I’m sure he’ll be great in.
They had time to climb the great wall but not dub themselves
This is going to be another open post, for discussion about the drama as it airs this Saturaday at 10:00pm Beijing Time on Hunan TV.
For those of us without Hunan TV (or friends who do that we can convince to “watch meteor shower together” with) but want to watch the drama live, the only way is through legal and not-so-legal online streaming sites. Here’s a compilation of ways to watch Meteor Shower online.
But before that, cfensi wants to pimp Brickwall, who is doing Chinese Paladin 3 recaps. Cfensi: She also recently finished up some great Black and White recaps as well.
1. TVU
This is the fastest online streaming of Hunan TV I know of. Cfensi and I watched the New Year’s show on here. You can download the software for free here, and then simply search for Hunan TV in the bar.
2. Mango TV
Mango TV is fairly fast and one of the more HQ video-streaming softwares. In addition to live streaming, it also has videos of older episodes of Hunan shows. This also requires a software download here.
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China’s film market growing in size means that you now have enough money to hire famous crew. While I normally would rather these jobs go to rising Chinese artists, so that the industry can actually build up talent, who can say no to Patricia Field? She’s the stylist for Sex and the City, Devil Wears Prada, etc. She flew from New York to Beijing in order to be a consultant for the movie, Du Lala’s Promotion, an adaptation of a very popular novel in China, and the much publicized directorial comeback of actress-director-screenwriter Xu Jinglei.
