Love or Bread 我的億萬麵包

I've been crazily watching Taiwanese drama these days. (Mainly because I have nothing better to do after I have finished my exam in January. =P) People asked me if I like Taiwanese drama a lot, actually apart from Meteor Garden, I can't remember if I have ever watched any other before It Started with a Kiss and They Kiss Again.

As I tried to decide which drama to watch next, should I watch another drama series with Joe Cheng 鄭元暢? I thought I probably liked Zhishu (his character in the "Kiss" series) rather than the actor himself.

I tried watching another seemingly really hit series 命中注定我愛你, my conclusion is please do NOT watch this series.

The bad and cliched plot... the actor/actress are not as good looking as Joe and Ariel... their acting is no good... I got through 3 episodes and then stopped watching... (Kiss series started with a conventional plot as well but ended up being really special, because of the portrayal the real relationship, not just some fairytale story where Cinderella meets the Prince and they stayed happily ever after. =P) I don't know if the series is going to better in the next 21 episodes, I don't think I'm gonna continue to watch it.

Back from sidetracking, I also started Love or Bread 我的億萬麵包 around the same time, of course because of Joe and Ariel. I think the plot is original, the hero being a guy who cheats the heroine and owes debts from loan sharks. I can forgive the seemingly ridiculous parts of the story, given that it's a comedy. However, the execution of the plot is a bit weak, I felt even more so after reading reviews from this blog! (You can find reviews of all the episodes in her blog, I think the reviews are good, haha! and I like those screen captures.) The original ending from the novel is much better!! How come they didn't put those parts in the drama series??!!

However, after watching this series, I came to appreciate Joe Cheng, the actor. He's a really talented actor. Of course, his good looks managed to make this jerk actually attractive even when he's doing bad things. =P But you can see how good his acting is through all his facial expressions, postures, even when he stood with his back turned. Unbelievable!

These photos are all from the blog I've mentioned above.












I think it's a entertaining drama series with extraordinary actors, but not a classic like Kiss 1 & 2.

Which generates the next question, should I go and watch his stage play (see next post)? hmm...

Song from Love or Bread

I didn't plan to start a new TV series so quickly, but after I have handed in my paper and exam AND finished It Started with a Kiss and They Kissed Again, I really have nothing better to do, so I started watching Bread or Love 我的億萬麵包 yesterday. The leading actor and actress are the same, but their characters are totally different from the previous two series.

The heroine is a thrifty and hardworking person, whereas the hero is debt-ridden because he buys expensive things with his 23 credit cards! I'm looking forward to see how the two of them can fall in love with each other, being so different from each other. =P It is funny to see how the hero become "clown-like" in the protrayal of the character "Frank", so different from his cool look in the previous two series. (He is still good looking, occasionally, in his expensive clothes when he's not making weird faces.)

I like this song from the series. It's sang by Ariel Lin 林依晨, but this is a clip from a new year's eve program where both of them sang together. It is sweet but Joe Cheng 鄭元暢 should not be a professional singer. =P



ok, this one is by Ariel Lin only, so u can appreciate how good this song is


麵包的滋味

回頭想起一切都還 像昨天
我還天天對你生氣 板著臉
時鐘才轉幾圈 有了轉變
緣分太妙不可言

雖然你滿身數不完　的缺點
完美小姐也不是我　的頭銜
越看就越順眼　我們之間
舒服得像　星期天
是命運緊緊把我們　綁在一起
越吵越甜蜜　越吵越愛你　越不分離
生活的難題　考驗著愛情
才顯得我們的努力　多麼值得被珍惜
從今就緊緊的和你　綁在一起
不管壞天氣　不管壞心情　都不分離
麵包的滋味　有多香多甜
有你分享 才真的完美

雖然你滿身數不完　的缺點
完美小姐也不是我　的頭銜
越看就越順眼　我們之間
舒服得像　星期天
是緣份　是愛情
是命運緊緊把我們　綁在一起
越吵越甜蜜　越吵越愛你　越不分離
生活的難題　考驗著愛情
才顯得我們的努力　多麼值得被珍惜
從今就緊緊的和你　綁在一起
不管壞天氣　不管壞心情　都不分離
麵包的滋味　有多香多甜
有你分享　才真的完美 ~~

就這樣緊緊的和你　綁在一起
不管壞天氣　不管壞心情　都不分離
麵包的滋味　有多香多甜
有你分享 有你分享 才是真完美

It Started with a Kiss & They Kissed Again

Usually sequels are bad. Examples include Pirates of the Caribbean, Gone with the Wind, Meteor Garden. =P

This time, to my surprise, They Kissed Again 惡作劇2吻 is even better than It Started with a Kiss 惡作劇之吻!

They Kissed Again is the story about Zhishu and ShangQin after they got married. It managed to convince me why their relationship can work. And how their character and intelligence (IQ 200 vs IQ 75), as different as they are, could be complementary to each other.

『這世上有90%的事是我做得到的而她做不到；剩下的10%我做不到的，她卻能做到任何一個人都無法模仿的地步。』

And it really surprised me-- the depth this "teenage idol drama" had. How both of them can grow together!

Highly recommended!

I finished all the 50 episodes in 1 week's time, I think it's a record for me. haha!

Entertainment for CNY

It's time for the most boring festival of all-- CHINESE NEW YEAR!

It's already better now, compared to the days when I was a kid. No shops were opened. All the TV programs were about CNY, EVEN the commercials became more boring than ever. Still...

I've been searching for entertainment for my one day holiday... (coz I need to work on the 2nd day, perhaps sleep on the 3rd day of the New Year)

I watched this movie 醜女大翻身 on TVB last month and loved the movie and loves the songs! I told myself I would find the name of the songs after I came back from Israel, but I have totally forgotten until today.

From the movie《醜女大翻身》, these songs are really good.






I have just finished watching "It Just Started with a Kiss" 惡作劇之吻 on tudou.com, and plan to watch "It Just Started with a Kiss 2" 惡作劇2吻. Usually I hate stupid heroines, but in this one, the hero and heroine are both quite cute =), and the TV series is very funny, so I enjoyed it even though the heroine is unbelievable stupid... Quite surprised that I actually liked this TEENAGE idol drama, haha!

The songs from the series are quite good!






Any other good entertainment suggestions for a "mo liu" person like me? Even though I think the 2 episodes of "It Started with a Kiss 2" is quite enough for one day... haha!

Wish you all a really Happy Chinese New Year!

Good! Why are we so concerned about the lives of celebrities??

I'm really not quite updated in celebrity news, I don't even read the entertainment news on newspaper.

Recently, the latest celebrity news headline is about the breakup of Ngai Chun and Vivian Chow. (It's all over the internet even when I don't read gossip columns.) Many people thought the statement she gave was classy, I just found that too fake. Breaking up with her boyfriend after being together for 19 years! And she was so calm? I highly doubt it.

I like what the "ex-father-in-law" said.

倪匡語氣明顯變得不耐煩：「那你要問甚麼？如何看法？你和你男朋友分手，你的家長可以如何看法！可以講甚麼！你想也知道答案了，對吧？（那你個人有否覺得遺憾？）話明個人感受，我為何要告訴你？這只是他們兩個人的事，為何你們傳媒一定要浪費時間關注這些小事，劉曉波坐牢這等國家大事你怎不去採訪？社會付出那麼多資源裁培你們，你們為何不做點有意義的事？他們兩個到底做了甚麼大事，是牽涉到人類命運還是經濟海嘯，你們一定要追訪？」告訴倪匡，雖然分手是倪震與周慧敏兩個人的事，但因為導因是倪震和城大女生在夜店熱吻，破了學校的風氣，亦對香港教育帶來負面衝擊，已不是純粹的情人分手，所以傳媒才會追訪，他更加生氣：「那你去問城大才對，問我做甚麼！完全搞錯對象！（那請問你覺得一個成年男人和大學生在夜店鬼混對嗎？）你不用套我，我食鹽多過你食米，肯和你說這麼多，我已覺得自己好低B！」一向予人嘻嘻哈哈的老頑童倪匡，第一次發如此大的脾氣。

You have to applaud the ingenuity of these reporters, HK education!!!!! And his reply, haha!

Finished Buffy Season 7

I have finally finished all the seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It took me like half a year to finish all the episodes, mostly because it got quite boring in the middle and I stopped watching it. =P

I have wanted to watch it for many years, but since it wasn't shown in television here in Hong Kong, I didn't have the chance to watch it. And one of my favourite writers love the TV show, and since she also loves the West Wing (one of my fav TV show), I thought I would love the show, so I got the DVDs. (China version =P)

Even though the basic plot of a superheroine who fought vampire, but fell in love with one herself is so cliche =P, the good dialogue and the gorgeous and cool heroes made up for it. =)

As I have mentioned before, the hero in the first 3 seasons- Angel (David Boreanaz), Buffy's first boyfriend, is good looking and cool.

The second one is so boring, I won't even mention him...

The third one- Spike (James Marsters), is really breathtakingly gorgeous. =P





Since I started reading about James Marsters on the web, I found a lot of interesting stuff about him. He graduated from Juilliard, he is actually an American (his British accent in the Buffy show is just an act!), and he is a singer and guitarist with his own rock band.

And this quote of his impressed me a lot.

"I don't know much about the internet, I'm afraid.

I don't have a computer - I don't like to get into it that much 'cause it can screw with your head a little.

I have not, just because -- see this brings up a very interesting thing, I don't have a computer, because it so -- it's like bourbon, going to a fan site you know, it makes you feel so puffed up about yourself and so cool, and I promised myself when Joss asked me to come on the show as a regular, I hung up the phone after screaming like an idiot and then like I didn't even pretend to be cool, I sat down and I was like 'okay, I'm gonna be getting a lot of money, I'm gonna be getting a lot of fame, but the most important thing is if I can keep from becoming an asshole'.

What I noticed was that when I go on the Internet, or used to, my head would swell. Why am I an actor? God knows but some of it has got to be the need for acceptance and stuff, right? So I'm just drawn to that stuff like honey and at some point I just had to say, 'James, get off the 'Net, go back, clean your toilet.' Now I find I'm like a mentor to the guys in the band because they're tasting it now too. And I'm like, 'Charlie, get off the Internet. Get off your fan site now. You're losing it.' And he's like, 'Yeah, boss, right.'"

I have never thought much about this, how celebrities would react to the "good" stuff people write about them on the net. I like this guy even more when I read this.

Plus bad boys are far more interesting than the good ones. Just compared Buffy's two vampire boyfriends with her human one (the second boring one). =P

6 Million Others - Happiness

I watched this program on one of the English TV Channels.

6 Million Others is a simple yet profound project where the people around the world are interviewed on simple topics like happiness, love, family.

One of the clips about happiness, the woman said "I am happy because I have water." Are you happy? Why? And why not?

You can watch the testimonials on the website as well. It can make you rethink your life.

The Green

I just watched this program on ATV World. Extremely good, highly recommended!!

Big Ideas for a Small Planet

As the name suggested, it's about environmental protection. The episode I watched is about people who used art to protect the environment, I remember there are photographer, architect, designer.

The photographer took pics in the Arctic Circle, places that used to have no trees/shrubs, now all these willows started to grow because of global warming! And they have used up all the water in the lakes, and so the lakes disappeared and no more fish for the local people!! Even coffin buried underground were exposed as ice melted!!!

The real life story of this mentally retarded person in the McDonald's Commercial

I have never watched this commercial before until today. And I searched for it after reading the story of the couple. It's a must read!!

分享轉載：我們這樣相愛…麥當勞文叔文嫂愛得簡單活得快樂‏

Did we ever think about the consequences of the "small" things we did?

I remembered watching on TV: actor Li AhPeng threatening the Hong Kong reporter and barely able to restrain himself on violence against the reporter.

What I was thinking was that the Hong Kong reporter deserved that. It's so very understandable for a father to be protective of his own children.

Apparently most Chinese have the same thoughts as mine according to a poll on the web.

I still remembered explaining to my mom why the reporter wanted to get a picture of Li's daughter after watching that short clip on TV, as my mom is even more ignorant on celebrity gossip than me. (In case, you're just like my mom, his daughter got cleft lip.)

Why is it that we want to see what his daughter looks like?

Come to think of it, why is it that we want to know about these celebrities who have nothing to do with us? This pathological curiosity is driving these paparazzi into doing crazy stunts.

So many reading materials in the world, so many types of entertainment, why do we need to read about these celebrities? Even if one hate reading "words" and just want to read a magazine that requires no brain cells at all, one can just read a magazine on travelling or food, right?

If there's no market, this type of stuff simply won't happen.

Same thing with printing 10 pages of the same thing just for convenience's sake. If you think about the consequences-- the sheer number of trees it will involve if everyone in the world uses 10 more sheets of paper.

Instead of saying the 10 sheets of paper I used , or the one magazine I bought is not going to make a difference to the world, think about this-- if everyone keeps saying the same thing like this, this world is never going to change.

How come so many people agreed with the actions of Li AhPeng in protecting his own child, yet the magazines' sale is still so strong? If you think protection of children is important, why not start protecting his children by stop reading these gossip magazines?

The West Wing

I have been going through the West Wing marathon in the past few days. I have stopped watching the West Wing on TV in the mid 3rd season, when the drama kinda slows down. And just started watching the rest of the episodes this year.

I've just started the seventh season. It is mainly about the presidential election for the next president of the United States. It is uncanny to see how a TV series made in the year 2005-2006 (Season 6-7) is so similar to what is actual happening in the US.

I know Matthew Santos (the fictional Democratic presidential candidate) is based on Barack Obama, both are ethnic minority, one Latino, one black, and both are very charismatic. Still, the tight race between the democratic candidate, the relatively old liberal Republican candidate.

After I noted the similarity, I began to read more about it on the web, and discovered so many people think the same. haha!!

Whenever I watched the West Wing (even though there are so many politicians with integrity in the TV series that makes it kinda unbelievable), I cannot help but wonder why scriptwriters in US can write this sort of amazing script with excellent plots, witty conversations, likable and intelligent character (I love both of the presidents they have created, and Josh as well!!), and why Hong Kong TV remains bad all these years. I guess the reason is audience in Hong Kong simply don't want to use their brains when they watch TV (or have no brains at all!)

What I did after my exams...

Is it just me who can't stand reading a book with a dumb hero/heroine?

I had the misfortune of picking up a book with this incredibly stupid heroine. It dampened my mood in reading, I can't believe I don't want to read after NOT reading any non-exam related stuff for so long...

I think Phillipa Gregory chose Mary Boleyn as the heroine in the Other Boleyn Girl for the happy ending (I don't know for sure, because I have only read like 1/4 of the book and I don't think I can finish it), as Anne Boleyn would be beheaded.

I don't know much about this part of English history other than the fact Anne Boleyn would die on the guillotine. And I have to admit I don't know much about Mary Boleyn, but all she did in the parts I read was obeying what other people told her to do, falling in "love" (more likely in lust) with a guy she didn't even know/understand/communicate with...

I know I'm in the minority when I read the reviews on Amazon.com, I'm not the only one though. =P The writing is so bad, and absolutely disengaging... Don't even waste your money on this book.

I have abandoned this book, and started another book I have wanted to read for quite some time-- the Amulet of Samarkand, the beginning is quite promising, let me see if the rest is as good.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a TV series I have wanted to watch for a long time. It has never been shown in any of the TV channels in Hong Kong as far as I know. (Maybe I am wrong.)



It is interesting to watch this TV series, it was produced like 10 years ago (season 1) about these high school students, and although their high school life was a lot different than mine =P, it felt better to watch this than others about high school students now because they make me feel so old. =P

The plot is not exactly new, the vampire slayer falling for the vampire. And the special effects 10 years ago were not good. =P However, it's got a smart and strong heroine! I'm not a man, but I still like looking at her, she's quite pretty. =) Though I don't understand why she wore all these short skirts when she had to kick the bad guys so often, haha!!

And Angel! (Angel was the vampire Buffy fell in love with, he's a guy, his actual name was Angelus. =P) Wow!!!!



The storyline and acting are quite good. No wonder it was so popular in the US.

haha! I am determined to waste at least one month of my time!! haha!!

Ada Choi is getting married!

Just heard from TVB, actress Ada Choi is getting married to an actor from China named Max Zhang. (Just did a search on google, coz I have no idea who this guy is, and found out that both of their blogs got links to each other's blog. =P)

The letter she sent to the press was shown on TV. I have just caught a glimpse of it while parts of her praises of her future husband was being read, like being handsome.

What I want to mention is the point I have glimpsed on the letter but was not being mentioned on TV... She mentioned her future husband is loyal to God. Interesting, to find an actor from China who is a good Christian, hmm. I have always liked her, just really happy to hear this piece of news.

"Old Biscuit" TV Commercial Test

你是半個電視廣告迷﹗

你有69分，看來某程度上你是半個電視廣告迷吧！ 你喜歡看電視之餘，也有留心電視節目之間所播放的廣告。得到這樣的分數，也許只是有些不太突出的廣告你沒有留意。沒關係的，這不是你的錯，是廣告商拍攝得不夠吸引罷了！：） 老餅廣告測試

I'm not that old afterall. HAHA!! Or maybe I got too old to be really forgetful now... =P

Start from Hong Kong

Almost everyone I know watched On the Road 向世界出發 on TVB Jade. I don't think it is all that good myself.

I think Start from Hong Kong 從香港出發 on ATV is much better despite the lack of celebrities. I watched every episode of the series last year. (The whole series concentrated on different places in China last year.) This year they shot in other countries as well.

The places they chose are a lot more interesting, they spent more time on the places than on the celebrities (well, there are NO celebrities, haha!), and they did NOT show every interesting details in the trailers (unlike TVB, I am so bored while watching On the Road because I have watched all the interesting stuff in the trailers already.) Probably because they have more fascinating stuff in each episode.

And the director/cameraman are much better. The sceneries were beautifully shot. Much more so compared to that in On the Road. Wow, they are simply breathtaking.

For people who love traveling. Remember to watch ATV every Sunday at 9pm.

P.S. I just realised you can actually watch the previous episodes on the ATV website, here and click on 影像播放.

The White Tower (The Hospital)

Anaesthetists in Taiwan really called themselves 麻醉師? I hate this term...

Really liked the first scene where the anaesthetist injected some saline instead of muscle relaxant when the surgeon got mad about inability to close the tense abdomen... but it's like a trick everyone knows... haha! wonder why the first guy did not know about it? =P

(Warning: technical stuff in the next two paragraphs, normal afterwards)
They use a Drager machine, Cato edition (never used it before looks like an older version of Primus), the monitor is HP...

Why on earth did they cardiovert the woman when she is in asystole?!

Overall, it's slightly more realistic than the medical drama produced in Hong Kong.

And Jerry Yan is good looking! haha!

This is the first time I've seen anaesthetists play a major part in a medical drama, not just A & E doctors or surgeons! WOW!

The worst commercial of the year

I seldom pay attention during commercial time.

One commercial catches my attention every time it airs... it must be great?

NO, IT IS THE WORST COMMERCIAL OF THE YEAR!

The song is so awful, I want to turn my TV off every time the commercial is on.

Can you guess which commercial I am talking about??!!












WHITE FLOWER OIL!!

I told a colleague that song (and the commercial) could never help selling the product, it simply stops me from buying it. White Flower Oil simply doesn't need any advertisement, it's so effective, everyone buys it.

My colleague said after listening to the song, everyone becomes so dizzy that they need White Flower Oil.

......

What you've never seen the commercial?! Impossible, but if you haven't watch TV for a while, click on the video below... Don't tell me that I didn't warn you...

My Girl (aka Liar Girl on TVB)

It's such a funny show! And sweet as well. Last night, after I don't remember how many episodes, they've finally admitted to feelings to each other... This can only be done in a Korean drama... even though the progress of the story is slow, this one has no boring moments...

Here's a funny one to show you.



Watch this if you haven't started! Really good!!

Seemed that TVB has cut a lot... wondering if I should go and buy the DVDs... though I don't really have time to watch it...

On the Road

Surprising, surprising. I have never really liked Nicholas Tse all that much. To me, he had seemed to be an immature rebel. I don't like high school dropout... I can understand that some people do not like academic stuff... but the ones who want to leave school and earn money ASAP always seem immature to me, they don't seem to understand how harsh the world is...

Surprisingly, the new series of On the Road (I just checked the TVB website for its English name! haha!) changed my impression on him. I like him.

He's direct and blunt. Like me. (haha! I hate pretentious people.)

This type of character can be portrayed as impolite and cool. Just like the first impression people get from me.

Yet in the series, he was featured in a positive light. It showed how successful the producers are!

And the way he talked about his family... how young people always fail to communicate with their family. It reminded me of my own relationship with my mom. We both love each other. However, I don't know if it's generation gap or what. We never seem to communicate well. It goes both sides... when I talked about A, she answered with B, or when she disagreed with me, she just talked about her own opinion and disregarded mine... and I don't want to talk to her, and don't want to listen to her... vicious cycle, I guess... every time I try to break the cycle, she ruins it... or she try to talk to me, I ruin it... sigh...

Takuya vs Jerry

I heard about this on TV today... if anyone know where I can view this show on the web, pls tell me!! Takuya pretended to be Jerry in the Meteor Garden!! I want to watch this!!

Two of Asia's most famous idol groups "F4 VS SMAP" battles together in one show! F4 will go to Japan today for the Taiwan Tourism Bureau promotion. They will also guest at the taping of alreaSMAP's variety show "SMAP X SMAP". After they return to Taiwan, they will hold a Japanese and Korean fan meeting sometime in April, in its aim to target the Japanese and Korean tourists.

Actually, the only public appearance of F4 in Japan is tomorrow's press conference, but they will already arrive there a day earlier because they will guest in the taping of the "SMAP X SMAP". It's only Takuya Kimura, Shingo Katuri, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Goro Inagaki who will be together with Jerry Yan, Vic Zhou, Vanness Wu and Ken Zhu in this episode, that could bring enough excitement to the viewers.