We were going to post the pics when EASY magazine came out with their professional pics, but what’s the point when BOBO is so much cuter behind the scenes and not doing forced poses? Plus, EASY has boring photography. I gave up hope on an album for this year, considering they’re stuck in that big Hua Yi-produced, Wing Shya-directed, romance movie extravaganza, but apparently they filmed an MV (pic included below too), so hopefully, maybe.
Deng Chao never fails to impress, and now in addition to his acting, I’m quite enjoying his singing, especially since I know he does good lives too. His series, the Zhang Jizhong-directed Heavenly Sword Dragon Sabre, has suddenly begun airing in China without any press and indeed it seems to be a bit rushed through post-production. But it’s the first wuxia series that I’ve gotten into because Deng Chao is just that good of an actor. And he’s no Jane Zhang (who sadly, only gets crappy themesongs now that she’s no longer with Hua Yi), but I think he makes the themesong quite nice to listen to.
Opening Song of HSDS, sung by Deng Chao
You can watch all aired episodes here. I’d skip 1-10 because the quality actors (Deng Chao and Ady An) don’t appear until after that. All four of Zhang Wuji’s loves seem to be decently acted too, so if you’re like me, and you don’t want to feel ashamed anymore for not knowing what the hell Jing Yong writes about, give it a go.
Crowd Lu released his album Seven Days yesterday. There’s a lot of things frustrating me with C-entertainment, particularly Cpop lately, which ranges from the way the market is being taken advantaged of, to the way Chinese people abroad seem to look down on their own culture, dissing it for not being trendy enough, and then saying it’s copying others if it does dare to diversify. Why does such a big country with so many languages, so many minorities, so many different centers of entertainment from Changsha to Shanghai, not to mention very different entertainment influences from Hong Kong and Taiwan need to pigeonhole itself in style?
But there are constants that never fail to make me smile, and Crowd is one of them. So today, in a cathartic measure, I’m posting everything that does make me smile in C-entertainment.
Crow Lu – Oh Yeah!!! MV
Yu Haoming recently released a single with one Cantonese song. I wavered on whether or not to post this; the song was pretty, but average. However I really liked the fact that he sang in Cantonese because he’s from Guangdong (Canton) province. While I get headaches when I know homogeneity would be the quickest route to accomplishing anything, I know also at the same time how the diversity in China is such a unique and beautiful thing, and I hope that all singers could be able to sing in their dialect/regional language at least partially on any albums they produce.
Yu Haoming – Hug (Cantonese version)
Who wouldn't fall in love with those gorgeous eyes and the beautiful voice?
A love letter from 2009 Super Girl Pan Hongyue to 2005 Super Girl He Jie, via Pan Hongyue’s sina blog. He Jie was increasingly unhappy in her years at eeMedia back when Long Danni hadn’t taken over the company, and left it before her contract, which put her and eeMedia in a bad position. Happily the comapny seems to still have amicable relations with her as He Jie is to go on Jie Jie Gao Sheng to promote her new single.
In 2007, I finally attended the college (Sichuan Conservatory of Music, where both girls attended) I liked, to see the person I want to see.
Today, I begin to remember. I miss Baobao (He Jie’s nickname is Jie Baobao aka Baby Jie), I miss her very much.
I like you, but I’ve never done anything for you.
I saw you on TV. I was happy because you smiled, I was sad because you cried.
Today, I rewatched your videos, the latest ones and the old ones.
I know that the status quo is not what you want, but who can I understand you!!!!
When I see the dark bags around your eyes become heavy, my heart aches, aches so much! ! !I hate hearing anyone saying bad things about you, because they’re all idiots!
They don’t understand you, they don’t understand your troubles. Although I’ve never met you, I know you’re not that type of person.I trust you! I’m not very happy today, neither. Watching you returning to our school in 2007, the bravery with which you sung, I like you, not because of your voice but you yourself. There’s no f-ing reason why, I simply do!
Pan Hongyue’s MV – If you didn’t leave
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All of eeMedia’s favorite artists except for Top Combine seem to have released MV’s at around same time – Li Yuchun, Zhang Jie/Zheng Shuang/Lu Hu and Yu Haoming.
Which MV’s your favorite?
Li Yuchun’s self-composed, self-directed Amour:
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The film unfortunately did not win anything at Tokyo which makes me extremely sad. This makes the film less marketable, and everyone involved less marketable, and that would be just a shame because I don’t recall the last time I became so interested in a film simply from reading a synopsis, watching the trailer, and watching the interviews from the lovely cast and crew.
The film tells the story of an intelligent girl, Shen Xingchen (Liu Dong ) as she goes from age 16 in high school to work at age 30, from 1993 to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the most rapid times in China’s development. Throughout, the theme is an idea of is there anything everlasting in this world? Is there everlasting love? This is the question that Shen faces, along with her love, childhood friend Ming Yuan (Huang Ming). Both are scarred emotionally from the devastating ways their parents’ relationships ended and wonder whether love is worth it if eventually, it simply doesn’t last.
At first I just wanted to see this because of Huang Ming, but after watching the trailer (seriously, watch it) and reading about it, it looks so amazing, from the story to the art direction.
The two Chinese Films are in competition at the TIFF are getting extremely favorable feedback, which means heavy coverage from the Sina website. Their cameras followed two young stars, actor Huang Ming and actress Tong Yao to their trips around Tokyo.
I’ve said before that Huang Ming is one of those actors who I really hoped would get a break because he’s awesome in acting and personality, but I didn’t think it’d be when he was only 23, because right now, for various reasons, most mainland Chinese actors only hit it big when they’re close to age 30. And it is so gratifying to see someone I’ve been rooting to get famous all of a sudden get so many pictures, coverage, interviews…it’s just rare, and for some other actors I like it will probably never happen. Must savor the moment.
As for Tong Yao, all I know is she looks incredibly similar to Zhang Ziyi, except it’s rumored her acting is better (They’re both from Central Academy of Drama, but I think Zhang Ziyi entered when she was too young.)
In her most impressive album so far, Laure Shang Wenjie brings out the richness of her voice in TimeLady. Thanks to Jane leaving, Laure took over basically half of all Huayi’s theme songs. Of the ten songs in her new album, five are movie/TV series theme songs, and one is the theme for a commercial. While it’s sad that Jane couldn’t have sung some of them, they make Laures’s album quite exceptional.
You can and definitely should listen to her whole album by copy and pasting the following onto your browser: http://xinge.baidu.com/r/song?sid=8c55c2a6993d36e141041687aecfa3de
Make sure you continue and listen to all the songs. Her voice is beautiful.
Amis – lyrics by Laure Shang:
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It’s times like this when you learn to appreciate the difference between a good voice and an average one, and the value of hardwork. Laure Shang Wenjie’s voice definitely stood out as the one gifted with a beautiful voice. Even Cong Haonan, a decent singer normally (and from Sichuan Conservatory of Music, too), made me annoyed when him singing meant the end of Laure’s segment.
Then there’s the contrast between Huang Xiaoming and Li Bingbing. Neither were born singers, but from his other recent live and this, it’s obvious he’s been through major practicing. Li Bingbing obviously haven’t, but that’s forgivable since she’s not a singer.
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