Mysteries of Love (My thoughts, thus far)

Instead of updating one of my fanfics (A Truthful Lie), I decided to write a blog entry about the current series, Mysteries of Love. I've been reading great reviews about the series and even the TV ratings in Hong Kong are relatively high compared to the other series that are currently airing. Because of such incidents I decided to give the series a try, other than the fact that I have been secretly waiting for Raymond to once again appear in a series.

I have also read comments about how this series had plagarized the Japanese series 'Detective Galileo' and I must say those comments are somewhat false. I have watched a few episodes of Detective Galileo before and it was a good watch, however, I never had the chance to finish because I forgot the site and I became too busy with other stuff to find it again. The biggest difference between the two is the fact that Detective focused more on the cases, which of course captured its intended audience's attention. On the other hand Mysteries focused a lot more on the relationship aspects.

For example, I'm only on episode 9 and Tavia has already fallen head over heals for Raymond, and she had fallen in love with him several episodes prior. On the other hand 'Detective' mostly had Galileo and the female officer as a bickering duo...and their relationship is built on their numerous encounters with one another...which seemed to be lacking for Raymond and Tavia. Personally, I don't think admiration for one's talent adds up to falling in love with that person, hence, I find Mysteries a bit too unrealistic in the love department.

Another thing I must say about Mysteries is the fact that Kenneth does not fit the role of a womanizer. Sure, he has that intolerable smirk on his face and a few unbuttoned buttons on his shirt, but that does not equate to a womanizer. He doesn't really seem to fit the role whatsoever and frankly I'd rather see Bosco take on that role, or even better to have Ron take that role. Hmm...actually Kenneth and Raymond should even switch roles...that would be the actual sight to see.

At the moment, I don't find Mysteries to be spectacular at all, or even close to deserving such rave reviews. I'm pretty sure most people who are watching the series are watching it because of the cast which consists of Raymond Lam. Without a doubt if that role was replaced by another TVB actor who have been appearing quite frequently on TV screens (ie Kevin) the reaction would be completely different.

I also think that the lack of focus on the cases make the cases quite simple, rather than complexed like the ones in Detective. I would rather have more complicated and detailed cases rather than simple cases with a love story shoved everywhere. The physics behind some of the early cases that I'm watching currently seems to be quite simple, and being a non-physics expert...I think such incidents in the series could even be explained through common sense. This leads me to wonder about a few things...

1. Why would you ask a physics professor to explain something so simple?
2. Is it cheap to hire a physics professor?
3. Did the police officers lose their common sense?
4. Why do they call Raymond's character Professor King? I thought his last name would be Chinese. And, I thought they would call him Doctor _____ instead
5. Wouldn't it be interesting if Kenneth and Tavia got together instead? lol

I think that's about it for now...I'll obviously continue to watch it because I still have hopes for the latter episodes...and I'll probably write another blog about it once I get a chance to finish it.

Tell me what your thoughts are of MOL at the moment!

oh, and stick around...in a few days I will be updating my fanfics...as well as something special!

Randomness...OUT!!!

2009: A Year in Review: Just a few series

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I can't believe that 2009 is over and that we are currently in the year 2010...I think time totally flew by and it left me a tad bit confused. For some reason I felt that 2009 was one of my least productive years...to think about it...I seem to have not been able to finish any of my fanfics, my grades in university were not what I had hoped for and finally...the series that were out this year were definitely not up to par.

So…I started writing a year end review right before the year ended…yet I couldn’t complete it. I didn’t know of a creative way to show you my view of 2009. However, I figured it out…I’ll use something that I learned in school to convey my message across.

First off, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who continuously supported me and my fanfics over the years and that I truly believe that the motivation that keeps me writing is from your support. I know not everyone who reads, comments, but that’s a given for I, myself am a silent reader (for the most part). Academically, 2009 wasn’t the greatest year for me. I haven’t done as well as I would’ve liked…and so I’m making sure 2010 will be 100 folds better. So far, I’m starting off well, I’m doing my readings and I feel on top of things…but then again it only has been a few days into the term, so hopefully I can keep it up.

Anyways, as I stated previously, I will convey my view of 2009 using something I learned in school…and I did this last year as well when I wrote my year end review…so…what exactly am I going to use? Well…GRAPHS...and other stuff



As you can see from my not so clear graphs, I watched almost 50% of the series produced this year (I included those that were warehoused, and excluded shows like Chip, Beauty and Watchdog) However, of the series I did watch...I only enjoyed three of them. Yes, just THREE. They were You're Hired, Rosy Business and E.U.




And actually...I found myself enjoying You're Hired the most...it was a really entertaining series...I'm not saying that it was the best produced...but in my perspective it was definitely the most enjoyable. Now, you're probably wondering whether or not I've watched the anniversary series like Beyond and Born Rich...and my answer is...I started to...but gave up on both of them.



At first I did enjoy both series, especially Born Rich...but then it occurred to me...that there was just too much talking in both of them. It was always about people being evil, trying to gain more and more and other people bickering...and it wasn't even that witty bickering, it was just nonsensical...and so...i gave up on watching both of them. Beyond was the series that really ticked me off. Why...why must TVB create series with so much talking, so much glaring, and so much make-up? Why? Why?

So...I managed to watch the beginning and the end of both of those series...I used that trick that Power Chan spoke of in You're hired. Where, when people read long reports, they tend to look at the first few pages and the last few...and skip the middle...that's what I did...and from doing so I learned two valuable lessons...one from each of the two grand productions.

Lesson from Beyond: make-up is proportional to evilness...the more make-up you have on...the more evil you are

Lesson from Born Rich: In this day and age, always get a proper DNA test done before you call someone family

Thank you TVB for teaching me two valuable lessons.

And now to continue my review of 2009...let's see...remember how last year I said TVB gave Bosco too many useless roles...well...once again Bosco got more useless roles...and I realized that Kevin is good-looking...but must he always play those prince charming like roles? BF3, which I gave up on...was terrible...why did the producer make Kevin such a Hero and Wong He such a loser? Is it because kevin is better looking? Well...in my opinion...I find Wong He so much more manly...and portraying him as someone with low self-esteem and making him from the king of the world, to the world's slave...was too harsh. I didn't get it...and thus, i gave up on BF3. BF is Wong He's thing...so...the good news is...this probably means there won't be any more BF. Yay for no more crappy sequels to one franchise of series ^_^

I guess we'll end here for today...

So...until next time...I wish everyone a fantastic year, with great health, happiness and success...

Randomness...OUT!!!

NEW FANFIC!!!

Alright...So...

How has everyone been doing? Hmm...let's see...Tired of Being Sorry will end by August...and if you remember, I've mentioned multiple times about a new fanfic...so...here is my MV for my newest fanfic and most importantly the song that you hear in the background is not only written by me but also sung by me. I know...my voice is not that great...but whatever...it was fun. =D

*The recording is a bit bad...since I'm an amateur but...hopefully you'll enjoy it.*





So now you know the main characters in my newest fanfic...well then...I'll let you know when the foreword will be up...and so on.


=D

Random

It's almost the end of the week...tomorrow is prom...then...BAM! EXAMS...

Anywho...school has been getting on my nerves lately. Let's see why...

Well... We had a 'celebration assembly' and I felt that it was so wrong. Wrong in the sense that this celebration assembly was supposed to be on Asian Heritage. Asian, that must be all of Asia. So...that should include ALL the countries in Asia, if I'm not mistaken. But...it didn't include all of Asia...hmmm...let's see...it actually left OUT the majority of Asia. And can we all guess which Asians did this assembly NOT leave out? I'll give you a hint, stereotypically speaking they are 'brown.' I didn't want to be racist and actually put it NOT in quotations. So anyways...they didn't leave out countries like Pakistan and India, no...of course not. Not when the chair of the parent council who 'decided' to have the assembly is from one of those countries. Hmm...what does this leave me to say? It leaves me to say that it was a racist assembly. That's right, plain RACIST. I would NOT have said it was racist if, they wanted to celebrate Indian and Pakistan Heritage, no because it is what it is. But it was Asian Heritage, and to say Asian Heritage is just Indian and Pakistan Heritage is racist. It's like saying all Canadians are white. It's the same concept and that concept is WRONG. How can people not see how this is just NOT right? How do people fail to see that we just went against our own Canadian charter by administrating such an event. How is it fair to other Asian people from other Asian countries? IT IS NOT FAIR!!! I felt cheated of and lied to. This was the first year my school has done an assembly like this, and what happens, more than half of Asia is NOT included.

Speaking of Asia...let's go to something else before I continue to rant on about how I dislike my school for being racist.

The earthquake in China and its territories have killed so many innocent lives that I feel that my school should have gone over that, and have a little memorial thing for those people. But...half of my school consists of 'brown' people, and about a third is 'black' people. Why would they even bother with such a thing. And it makes me feel so horrible, even though I'm not chinese. Teachers always tell us to read the news and pay attention to things internationally, thus, they still were able to not do anything that is so significant like a mini memorial for the thousands of lives that were recently lost. What a shame.

Anyways...moving away from such a depressing thing, I recently finished the TVB series Catch Me Now. For a series that I never intended to watch, it was quite entertaining. The 21st century robin hood thing really works. I totally agree with his character when he says how some bad guys can't be punished by the laws, and thus, he needs to punish them using extraordinary means. This is totally true, we all know it. The law is there, but it can only do so much. Justice may or may not be served, but in the series it really shows you how there are different means to serving justice, the legal and illegal way. Overall I really enjoyed it, very interesting.

Now...my fanfics....Tired of Being Sorry should be updated this weekend...since I always have ideas for it. As for Take 2, I seem to be having issues finding a way to continue it, maybe I really lost that inspiration I once had for it. I don't really know. Recently I've been working on an opening theme for my new fanfic that should be coming this summer...I'm having difficulty giving the newest fanfic a title, thus, it's difficult to write the lyrics to the song. I think this fanfic will be amusing...and dramatic...and I'll leave it at that. lol

I'm tired, restless, and I have a calculus quiz on Prom day...I think I should study...well...that's all folks.

My Apologies

I know that I said before that I would update this fanfic during the week/before the weekend but because of the many events that took place, I was unable to do so.

My week started off fine, as in everything went pretty well. Our school managed to come second in the Science Olympics (yes, I was part of the team). So the next day we come back to school...everything seemed to have spiraled downward for me.

It's funny how for all of the classes I have, I have a student teacher. I, as an extremely opinionated and creative student never get along with student teachers. I don't know, maybe I have the mentality that they are not really teachers, but rather students. STudents that are trying very hard to impress the teacher (my actual teacher). I find them to be somewhat pathetic and they tick me off. Maybe this explains why my marks are always dropping whenever I have a student teacher. So...I failed the math assessment and asian failed a bio assignment...

And remember...it continues to spiral downward. I come home to check my email...and what do I see...a rejection email from the university program that I actually wanted to go into. Now...with everything that happened...do you really think I was in the mood to update?

Of course not. I was disappointed at myself for not getting a higher average and disappointed with the typos that I found in my supplementary application for that program. Then the 'what if's ' started to pop in my head. I really hate those 'what if's' so very horrible in deed.

So...let me inform you of my update. The update will take place this weekend...I don't care how busy I am...but I WILL UPDATE this fanfic because it is my outlet. I really do enjoy writing...it's funny how I love writing, I love music...and yet I want to go into science. Maybe it's an asian influence, maybe I've been watching too many doctor related series...or maybe...just maybe...there is something in my past that motivates me to go into sciences and become a doctor.

Yes...this sounds like the story of a typical asian...but let's face it...that's the reality of an Asian person. Your parents will always want you to be a doctor, lawyer, pharmacist, engineer...and etc. Personally...I actually like those occupations, I love to argue, I love research and I like taking things apart, and cutting things open. Anywho...back to the fanfic.

The next chapter will arrive soon...very soon...hopefully, I'll finish writing it tonight, and post it up sometime during this weekend. HOPEFULLY.

Anyways...I finished watching A Journey Called Life, and I absolutely loved it...well more like really liked it...and now I'm starting to watch Catch Me Now. At first it didn't appeal to me at all, but...I thought it might be cool...so ya...


And this summer...there will be a fanfic...a very nicely crafted fanfic written by me. So far...I have the plot, and I'm working on the intro video and I already wrote a very short instrumental openning theme for it. Hopefully it won't be a disappointment.


TOODLES

Randomness' Week

Alrighty, for those of you who have been wondering when I will be posting up the next update...I can say this, it will NOT happen this weekend for a couple of reasons.

1. I have a physics test, this coming Monday
2. I have a calc quiz, this coming Monday
3. I have a bio test, this coming Tuesday

So...that means that this weekend will be 'hard-core' studying...lol...which will result in reading the entire unit for bio, since I didn't read it, reading the entire chapter for physics, since I didn't read that either...and doing some calculus homework...which I didn't do. For a grade 12 student, it seems as though I'm slacking off more than others...but this is my carefree attitude...and this also makes me...Randomness lol

So now...I'll give you a run down of next week...and the possible dates of updates...

Monday: Calculus quiz, Physics Test, Student council meeting, science olympics (I'm such a nerd)
Tuesday: Biology Test
Wednesday: Ball hockey tournament
Thursday: Ball hockey tournament
Friday: I have NO clue

So...looking at this schedule I have here...it looks like there is a possibility for an update on the Wednesday...when I come home from the all day tournament...hmmm...that seems like the likely plan. But, it might change...since I rarely go according to plan.

I guess that's all...

Keep an eye out for the next chapter of Tired of Being Sorry...


*Side note*

I'm watching A Journey Called Life and I'm loving it...i think everyone should give that series a try. It has a nice pace, and the chemistry between Steven and Linda is amazing.

Oops...

Howdy folks...

Ok...so my week was busy/is busy. I'll give you a run through of my week...

Monday: Bio presentation
Tuesday: Calculus and Physics Test (I think I failed the calc one)
Wednesday: Badminton Regionals (came in 4th place...booo)
Thursday: Reel Canada film fest (walking around, still exhausted from Wednesday)
Friday: Helping out with the ball hockey tournament

As you can see...my week was quite unpleasant. With that being said...I still managed to update Take 2 just because it has been quite some time since I last updated it. As for Tired of Being Sorry...I'm sorry to say that the update might be pushed until the actual weekend, meaning Saturday or Sunday. Right now, my legs are tired and probably have so much lactic acid built up because of the badminton regionals yesterday and my right hand shakes whenever I do too much work. This means that, typing this up is already a huge problem...I can't imagine how I would be able to type up like a 7 page word document for the next chapter.

Anywho...

Random

It's been a while since my last update. So...as one can tell from my banner, I've watched The Seventh Day, it's much better than I expected...(I had zero expectation for it). I also finished WOIL2, I started Wasabi Mon Amour...but gave up on it...since it was just not my cup of tea. I also started to watch The Gentle Crackdown 2...and gave up on it since it was quite ridiculous. Even if it had 2 of my many favourite actors...it was just not my cup of tea. So...I thought I'd give DIE a try...even though the storyline is obviously fake, and the way they solve the cases seem extremely unreasonable and unrealistic...it's quite entertaining...and Sonija Kwok is starting to grow on me. I find her acting acceptable now...and her bickering scenes with Roger was great to watch. Hmmm...as for Tai Chi...i haven't had the time to give it 100% of my utmost attention so I thought I'd save that series until I have the time to watch it. A series that seems to attract me is the one with the marathon with Steven and Linda. I haven't seen Linda in a while...and i sorta miss watching her act...kinda weird. But it's true. I'm really becoming bored/tired of watching the same people over and over again.

What else is there...

Right...so as some people might know...I'm in my last year of highschool...glazing over the classes and trying to maintain a decent average with all the extra curricular things I do. When I say a decent average I do mean a 90. I really hate this feeling of anxiety that I'm getting cause the university that I want to go to won't reply until early May...just because they need to see 6 marks...in order to calculate the average. Since their minimum requirement for the program is a 90 average...grrr. So i'm praying that I'd get in...especially when I know that there are only 160 spots available and their pool of applicants this year is close to 6000. Imagine that...or actually calculate that! The chances are quite slim...but I'm hoping and praying.

The last thing I'd like to mention is about my fanfics. Tired of Being Sorry has been going on for a while now and I really enjoy writing it. I have so much to say and to respond to the comments...but I really don't have the time yet. I do know that I will probably have a nice entry on this blog in a couple of days to just reply to comments and give the readers a heads up. My other fanfic Take 2 has been on hiatus...and I'm considering to start it up again...continue where I left off...if I do...the next chapter will be quite sad...but I feel that it would be the most emotionally moving chapter that I would write. I'm really looking forward to it too. Now...I have a very big announcement to make regarding this summer...but that will be part of a later post.

So...this post is to give everyone who ever visits my blog a lil heads up to the upcoming entries that I'll have.

That's all folks.

Family Link: Power to the Women!

A family oriented series, but what did I expect from it?

Drama...drama...and more drama?

No.

I was looking forward to a series that could entertain me and it did exactly what I expected to. Surprisingly the plot was nicely put together. Who would've thought that one murder mystery would help run an entire series? I didn't and I was surprised when it did. I thought that the pacing was reasonable not too draggy or too fast like some.




The storyline speaks of the life of a housewife, a married woman who stays home to look over the kids and take care of her husband. These women have nothing better to do but gossip and put their noses into everyone's business thinking its their own. Financially dependent on their husbands all expenses are usually calculated carefully because their husband makes just enough for them to live a decent life, that is if they are middle to a bit lower class. As for the richer women, they too have nothing to do but gossip, but their extra hobby would be to go around and spend money. But these women whether rich or poor have something in common...to get their kids into the best school and for their kids to outshine others or at least that is what most of them think.

This series is really focused around three women, Sheren Tang, Cecilia Yip and Kiki Sheung. Oh...and I almost John Chiang as the male version of a housewife.



I should start off with Sheren Tang. At first I thought her role in here would be very similar to her role in Le Femme Desparado (lol...wonder what language TVB was thinking about when naming that series) anyways...moving on. I really thought that Sheren would have a strong mentality and is decisive and even conniving like her role in LFD but I was wrong. Her role was very dependent on her husband (Michael Tse), very family-oriented and almost to a point where she would do anything to get her family together. She was a good wife, caring mother and good friend to the other housewives. Even though she was dependent on her husband people around her were dependent on her...and when she 'collapsed' and needed someone to be there for her she sought for the help of her neighbor. In the end her LFD role started to peek through a bit as she became more decisive and had full control of her own life. Sheren played a very convincing housewife, especially when she started to go a bit 'crazy' after finding out her husband was a cross-dresser.

Next is Cecilia Yip. She's the 'rich' one who became 'one of them.' She has been in a rivalry with Sheren's character ever since high school. And it really showed in the first few episodes, with the swimming race to the ' my kid is better than yours' sort of thing to the ' my husband is better than yours' Kinda childish when you think about it...these women are in their thirties...and maybe even forties (or so some of them appear) but whatever floats their boats. Her story is quite interesting because not only is she in rivalry with Sheren but she is also in rivalry with the real rich women. Her character would do anything to gain a higher status in the society that she's living in. Compared to the others...she's definitely not a very good housewife or mother. All she cared about was herself and her own status and she did that by using her husband and daughter. A not very nice character played by an actress who can't act very well...it's quite an interesting connection. Though she doesn't go all 'crazy' like Sheren did...she definitely was angry when she found out she had...shhh...some sort of STD =O



Kiki Sheung. She acted as a 'younger' person in this series? The last time I recalled seeing her was when she played Charmaine's aunt or something in that series where Charmaine won Best Actress. (That series isn't good enough for me to remember its name) Anyways...her character in here really reminded me of Myolie's character in War and Destiny. She was so nice...always the peace maker for Cecilia and Sheren and she did everything for her family. She's naive and caring. Luckily her character didn't make me pull out my hair like Myolie's did just because she didn't cross that very thin line between being nice and way too too nice, at least in the end she did something for herself. I liked how Kiki portrayed her character and I don't think anyone else would do her role justice. Kiki just really has that look of someone who lacks that confidence because she's just a tad bit on the heavy side compared to her friends (Sheren & Cecilia), she's a bit older and her son is as poor in academics as she is in dressing up. Let's just say due to her lack of confidence and her nice and naive character her husband found someone else.

Now onto the one and only John Chiang. He's a food inspector who turned housewife. That's a more drastic change than Michael becoming a cross-dresser. For someone who is morally conscious and rule abiding to gossiping and bargaining is a huge change. But did he pull is character off? My answer is no. To be honest I see Mr. John Chiang as a veteran but his acting isn't exactly up to par with his status. He's not very convincing as the gossiping man who cares for his daughter and then starts to have feelings for Sheren. I really think he should stick to playing more evil roles like in RDOV. His character in RDOV really really annoyed me...and I enjoyed being annoyed by his presence because it just shows that he can act. But this character is too 'nice' for him or it's just too weird to see him like this. Like when he smiles and act all cutesy for his daughter or whatnot...I was a bit scared. It's his face...no...his smile...no...it's his acting.

Now for the main supporting actresses:

Leila Tong. I love watching her in almost every single series and this was definitely not an exception. She really portrayed a convincing 'evil' character when she first appeared. Well she played a more convincing 'slut' as the housewives thought she was. Either way she was convincing enough...but there's always room for improvement.

This series was led by 3 housewives. John, even though a housewife didn't portray his character strongly enough for me to be able to say he's a true lead in the show. Let's just say the men in this series were weaker than their counterparts whether it is the acting or the character itself.

Overall...a watchable series with a watchable cast and a few entertaining scenes in the beginning where Michael first dressed as a woman. My mom thinks he's pretty (-_^)

As for the chemistry...I'll add that on later

That's all folks!