Monday 31 March 2014

《细水长流》"Youthful Aspirations" on TesTube

I happened to see the Trailer on 《细水长流》"Youthful Aspirations" yesterday afternoon. What drew my attention to the trailer was, of course, the song 《细水长流》, which was one of my favourite songs. I had no idea what type of show and what TesTube were all about then. So I watched the telecast on Channel 8 last night at 10.30 pm.

I realized that《细水长流》"Youthful Aspirations" is a TV musical drama with Romeo Tan (陈罗密欧), Rebecca Lim (林慧玲), Xu Bin (徐彬)and Julie Tan(陈欣淇)as the main cast. TesTube is a brand new showcase of content where the audience gets to influence what goes on television, the Internet and social media. Viewers can watch, rate and vote for the drama of their choice. We were told at the end of the 30 minutes telecast that we could go to meclub.sg or xinmsn.com/Testube to cast our votes so that MediaCorp will decide whether they would make it into a drama serial.

I think this is something different/fresh for the local Chinese drama serial scene. I have always liked musical plays so I really welcome the idea of making《细水长流》"Youthful Aspirations" into a musical drama serial and incorporate 新谣 into the drama.  I also liked the pairing of Romeo Tan (陈罗密欧) and Rebecca Lim (林慧玲), Xu Bin (徐彬)  and Julie Tan (陈欣淇) too. 

What sets a musical play apart from a drama serial would be the difference in the backdrop used and the duration/length of the story. In the case of a musical play, it's performed on a live stage so the backdrop would be limited and not as real as a drama serial which can be filmed outdoors with many different places as the backdrop. With more time, a drama serial can also develop the story further.

If you liked this show, remember to cast your vote at xinmsn.com so that we can see this made into a drama serial soon.

Thursday 20 March 2014

《隱形的翅膀》 ("Invisible Wings")

《隱形的翅膀》 ("Invisible Wings") was a song sung by 张韶涵 (Angela Chang).  Angela Chang sounds and looks very sweet.


I find this song very motivating. It's about having a pair of invisible wings that helped her overcome all difficulties. Finally, her dreams came true.





隐形的翅膀


作词:王雅君  作曲:王雅君


每一次都在徘徊孤单中坚强
每一次就算很受伤也不闪泪光
我知道我一直有双隐形的翅膀
带我飞 飞过绝望

不去想他们拥有美丽的太阳
我看见每天的夕阳也会有变化
我知道我一直有双隐形的翅膀
带我飞给我希望

我终于看到所有梦想都开花
追逐的年轻歌声多嘹亮
我终于翱翔用心凝望不害怕
哪里会有风就飞多远吧

隐形的翅膀让梦恒久比天长
留一个愿望让自己想像

which can be translated as:

Every time I always become stronger when wandering in loneliness.
Every time even if it hurts, I will not cry
I know I always had a pair of invisible wings
that helped me fly over despair

I will not think of their beautiful sun
I see that there will be changes in the sunset every day
I know I always had a pair of invisible wings
that gave me hope

I finally see all my dreams come true
Pursuing youthful voice singing loud and clear
I finally soared, stare intently and not be afraid 
Fly as far as the wind takes me.

Invisible Wings let dreams last forever
leaving a wish to imagine.

Note: As the lyrics were more abstract, I translated it in the way that I interpreted it.


Sunday 2 March 2014

Last Episode of 《千金》("Precious")

The last episode of《千金》("Precious") (Episode 34) was shown on 28 Feb 2014, MediaCorp Channel 8.

In this episode, Qianjin (played by Jeanette Aw) finally figured out that the An family's secret prescription could be in the sandalwood beads that her mum had already given her. She used a chair's leg to smash the beads and found a small note with an address in Beiping on it. She passed the note to Li Chuanzong (her boyfriend, the adopted grandson of Li Dahai) to find out more about it. 



Qianjin and her cousin, Ling Zhichu (played by Dai Xiangyu) then went on to confront Li Dahai, the person who killed Qianjin's maternal grandmother, An Tianlan and was also responsible for the deaths of An Tianlan's maternal family and husband. Qianjin told Li Dahai she had already found the secret prescription but she would not give it to him. 

Li Dahai then grabbed hold of Qianjin as a hostage to get them to give him the secret prescription. Ling Zhichu, in the process of trying to save Qianjin, accidentally killed Li Dahai. Ling Zhichu then instructed Qianjin to tell the police and other people that he was the one who killed Li Dahai. He would hide in the mountains and continue his work with the guerrillas. 

Xinyi, the adopted granddaughter of Huang Yuena, was upset that Ling Zhichu and Li Chuanzong both did not want to marry her. She hated Qianjin, so she put a lethal poison in the ginseng soup that Qianjin made for Huang Yuena. She was thinking of killing two birds with one stone. She could kill Huang Yuena and put the blame on Qianjin. She would never have thought that Xinrui (Xinyi's sister) would be the one who drank the soup, was poisoned, vomitted blood and died. She came in too late to stop Xinrui from drinking the soup. Xinyi was extremely upset, went crazy and stabbed Qianjin. Huang Yuena shouted for help and her servants came in to catch Xinyi. Huang Yuena ordered the servants to kill Xinyi but Qianjin, in her weakened state, still pleaded with Huang Yuena to let Xinyi go. 

The next scene, Qianjin went to visit Li Chuanzong. Li Chuanzong told her he had gone to find the address she had given him. It was a treasure trove of the An family. There was no secret prescription. Qianjin gave the treasure to Li Chuanzong to help them fight against the Japanese and said she would wait for him. 

The show ended in the modern day (2011) with a group of tourists visiting "千金汤",a shop that served herbal soup which was opened by Li Chuanzong and Qianjin before Li Chuanzong went off to fight the Japanese. In the group of tourists, there was a guy who looked like Ling Chaoyan (Qianjin's father, played by 霍震谚).

When this Ling Chaoyan look-alike was looking at a stick of candy, there was a flashback of Ling Chaoyan and Xiruo (Qianjin's mother, also played by Jeanette Aw). Then a girl who looked like Xiruo came, took the stick of candy from the guy and commented that the stick of candy looked interesting. She then introduced herself as Huang Peishan and was in the same tour group as him. He then introduced himself as Ling Yiran. This whole scene was similar to how Ling Chaoyan and Xiruo got to know each other except that this time round, it was the girl who took the initiative to talk to the guy (it is 2011, after all).

Presumably Ling Yiran and Huang Peishan should be the descendants of Ling Zhichu and Qianjin respectively. There was no mention of their actual identities, so I could only guess this much. Perhaps those flashbacks of Ling Chaoyan and Xiruo was to hint to viewers that Ling Yiran and Huang Peishan were the reincarnations of Ling Chaoyan and Xiruo, respectively? 

Below are just some of my thoughts on this drama:

1. Huang Yuena had known that her son, Yakun, had been secretly visiting Xiruo and helping her. When Huang Yuena got someone to burn Xiruo's house, I don't understand why she told the person to do it as soon as possible. Shouldn't she tell the person to make sure Yakun was not at Xiruo's house before doing it? In the end, Yakun was burnt to death in the fire while saving Xiruo and her unborn daughter.

2. It was very sad that such a nice girl like Xinrui should die in such a manner - poisoned to death.

3. There was no mention of what happened to Xinyi later. Was she arrested for murder? 

4. We were also not sure what happened to Ling Zhichu and Li Chuanzong. Did they survive the war? 

5. Did Qianjin ever get married and to whom? 

6. Why should Qianjin visit Li Dahai just to tell him she had found the secret prescription but she would not give it to him? 

7. The An family's secret prescription which Li Dahai kept harping on, turned out to be just a treasure trove. Why in the world would someone claim to have a secret prescription and run the risk of having the whole family killed for it when it did not even exist?

Nevertheless, it was still an interesting drama to watch. Apart from the fact that Xiruo is a mute girl just like Juxiang in 《小娘惹》"The Little Nonya", there were very little similarities between the plot of 《千金》("Precious") and《小娘惹》"The Little Nonya"