I love watching every bit of Raymond and Kate’s interactions in [Highs and Lows]- no matter how small the scenes may be. They’re so cute together and I enjoyed watching their relationship develop through the series.

I’ve picked out some of my favourite scenes to share 🙂 Warning: May contain Spoilers (Episode 1-12)

Episode 6:

While following and eavesdropping on the criminals for Raymond,  Kate gets locked up in a cold storage room and eventually passes out. Raymond eventually rescues her. With the help of Ella, he removes her clothes and dips her in a tub of warm water. He performs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and hugs her to share some of his body heat. I loved watching how worried he was and how hard he tried to save her- so sweet! <3

Episode 12:

A really cute scene where Raymond and Kate co-incidentally (or by fate?) bump into each other at the mountains while picking flowers. Kate was picking flowers for her mother’s grave nearby.

Raymond: Finally found you [Refering to the flowers] *He then notices Kate.* Hey what are you doing here?
Kate: Why are you here? This is my hometown. What are you doing here?
Raymond: I’m thirsty, let me have some first *grabs Kate’s bottle of water on the ground and starts drinking it*
Kate: Hey that’s mine, don’t you have any manners? You don’t even ask and you just take people’s things to drink.
Raymond: It tastes familiar- did you buy it at ‘Flower-Tea Shop’?
Kate: No I made it myself. I’ve added two drops of honey in it. I was the one who taught the boss at the Flower-Tea Shop
Raymond: No wonder there’s no business there- because you taught her
Kate: Did you go there today? Oh..so you’re the person who complimented that it taste good today, I know now..
Raymond: I did drink it. That’s why, when I drank it today it taste kind of strange. Now that I drink it more carefully- it stinks
Kate: If it stinks, spit it out- you drank half my bottle already *The two start laughing*

Love how they can joke around like that 🙂

Read the rest of this entry »

During August 2012, Raymond Lam released its 2012 music album [Self-Portrait]! I don’t know how I even missed this….lol It’s never too late to do my bit to try help promote his album though right? haha so here it is! ^^

Looking forward to getting this album!! Please support Raymond Lam and purchase his album!

CD
01. 頑石
02. 寂寞星球
03. 年時
04. 暗中作樂
05. 一刀切
06. 膠椅
07. Because Of You
08. LFX 6.8
09. The One
10. I’m Okay
11. 頑石點頭（國）

DVD (MV)
01. 頑石 MV
02. Because Of You MV
03. 一刀切 MV
04. I’m Okay MV

Excerpt from Yesasia.com:

Raymond Lam returns to the pop scene in Summer 2012 with his highly anticipated new Cantonese album Self-Portrait! Taking his time to refine his singing chops, the TVB and EEG idol finds strong backing from a top creative team that includes producer Alvin Leong, composer Christopher Chak, and lyricist Lin Xi. There are 11 captivating new songs on the ballad-centric new album, such as the beautiful first plug “Stubborn Stone” (Track 1) and its Mandarin version (Track 11), Because of You, and I’m Okay.

The album comes with a bonus DVD containing 4 music videos. This version comes with an album poster.

English Title: Silver Spoon, Sterling Shackles [Anniversay Series]

Cantonese Title: 名媛望族 (ming nui mong juk) “Prominent Family of high status women“”

Cast: Damian Lau 劉松仁, Idy Chan 陳玉蓮, Tavia Yeung 楊怡, Kenneth Ma 馬國明, Ron Ng 吳卓羲, Rebecca Zhu 朱晨麗, Mary Hon 韓馬利, Elena Kong江美儀, JJ Jia, Sire Ma, Shek Sau,  Ben Wong

Episodes: 40

Airing date: 22 October 2012 (After The Last Steep Ascent)

Themesong:  此時此刻 by Fiona Sit (CD Version) | Sub Themesong Sometimes (有時) – Ron Ng (CD)

Official: Website

Executive Producer: Chong Wai Kin

Scriptwriter: Au Koon Ying, Lo Mei Wan

Thoughts and write-ups

• Episode 1- 3 Thoughts
• Episode 4-6 Thoughts
  
• Episode 7-9 Thoughts
• Episode 10-12 Thoughts 
• Themesong Download, Lyrics, Pinyin & translations *NEW*
• [poll id=”137″]
• Favourite Couple Poll *NEW*

Synopsis

During the 1930s in Hong Kong, where east meets west, feminist activists started campaigning for women’s rights, seeking to uproot the phenomenon of men’s superiority over women. Though having studied abroad in England and leading a western lifestyle, CHUNG CHEUK-MAN (Damian Lau) , a well-known Chinese barrister, is very traditional indeed. As a man possessing privileges and eminence, he has five wives, including his first wife KOO SUM-LAN (Mary Hon) coming from a noble family, second wife YEE YIN (Idy Chan), who is an ex-princess of the fallen Qing dynasty, third wife YIK YEE-FONG (Elena Kong), a daughter of a banker. Being a famous Peking opera artiste, HONG CHI-KWAN (Tavia Yeung) became his fourth wife. And as his fifth wife, CHIU TAN-TAN (Jia Xiaochen) covets vanity a lot. Despite being CHEUK-MAN’s favorite among the five wives, CHI-KWAN and him do not agree with each other on elevating the social status of women. Moreover, his two sons – CHUNG KAI-SUN (Kenneth Ma) and CHUNG KAI-YIP (Vincent Wong) turn their back on their strict father respectively, while his daughter CHUNG HO-YEE (Sire Ma) marries to a poor policeman regardless of the consequences. As the intensification of the family struggles becomes more ferocious, KAM MUK-SHUI (Ron Ng) penetrates into the CHUNG family. Unwilling to compromise on the marriage of his beloved KWAI SIU-YAU (Rebecca Zhu) and the son of the CHUNG family, he seeks vengeance on them. This seemingly splendid family is in fact beginning to crack from the inside.

三十年代香港，正值東西文化衝擊，女性開始爭取地位，改變男尊女卑現象。法律界名大狀鍾卓萬（劉松仁）曾留學英國，生活洋化，但骨子裡是一個傳統的中國男 人，他同時擁有幾個女人，彰顯他的權力和身份地位。元配顧心蘭（韓馬利）是大家閨秀，二太太是前清格格爾嫣（陳玉蓮），三太太是銀行家之後易懿芳（江美 儀），四太太是著名刀馬旦康子君（楊怡），第五個女人則是貪慕虛榮的趙丹丹（賈曉晨）。然而，卓萬心中最愛只有子君，但子君為爭取婦女地位，跟卓萬意見不 合。此外，在嚴父強權管教下，兩個兒子鍾啟燊（馬國明）和鍾啟燁（王浩信）先後與卓萬反目，女兒鍾浩頤（馬賽）不顧一切嫁給窮警察，鍾家各房人明爭暗鬥愈 演愈烈之際，金木水（吳卓羲）愛慕義妹季小由（朱晨麗），不甘她成為鍾家媳婦，混入鍾家展開復仇大計；豪門表面煦燦，內裡四分五裂……

English Title: Highs and Lows

Cantonese Title: 雷霆掃毒 (lui ting so duk)

Cast: Michael Miu 苗僑偉 (飾向榮), Raymomd Lam 林峯 (飾韋世樂), Kate Tsui 徐子珊 (飾陳家碧), Elaine Ng 吳綺莉 (飾于詠彤), Ella Koon 官恩娜 (飾高希璇), Ben Wong 黃智賢 (飾潘學禮), Derek Kwok 郭政鴻 (飾何葵), Alex Lim 林子善 (飾年有富), MC Jin 歐陽靖 (飾吳德添), Law Lok Lam 羅樂林 (飾鄭志成)

Episodes: 30

Airing date: 24 September 2012 (After Divas in Distress)

Themesong: Done Being Naive (幼稚完) -Raymond Lam  (CD)

Official: Website

Executive Producer: Lam Chi Wah

Scriptwriter: Leung Yan Tung

[poll id=”126″]

• Raymond and Kate Scenes Episode 1-12 | Episode 13-16 | Episode 18-21*NEW*
• Ending Thoughts– contains spoilers *

Synopsis

As a Senior Inspector of the Narcotics Bureau Operation Unit, HEUNG WING (Miu Kiu Wai) profoundly abhors evil. He and WAI SAI-LOK (Raymond Lam) – Senior Inspector of the Intelligence Unit have closely co-operated with each other as peer mentors, frequently solving drug trafficking cases for the Police Force. During an operation to knock down the targets, SAI-LOK discovers clues that HEUNG WING is most likely the corrupt cop in a collusion conspiracy with drug dealers. Apart from launching a secret investigation into HEUNG WING, SAI-LOK is also alienated from him by the evil-willed Chief Inspector of the Operation Unit – PUN HOK-LAI (Ben Wong). Having undergone various disputes against each other, the long-term brotherly relationship between SAI-LOK and HEUNG WING appears full of contradictions.

On the other hand, following an investigation, SAI-LOK falls in love with a snitch – CHAN KA-PIK (Kate Tsui), who suffers from low self-esteem due to her humble beginning. Deliberately denying her affection to SAI-LOK, KA-PIK gives up on him so that his secret admirer – KO HEI-SUEN (Ella Koon), a rookie police officer, can have the chance, leading to a subtle relationship among the three. Feeling life is so dreary, KA-PIK ultimately digs her own grave by becoming a new generation of drug dealer, involved in drug trafficking and provoking the Police Force. With intense sorrow, SAI-LOK then joins forces with HEUNG WING against KA-PIK, waging a chain of bitter battles.

毒品調查科行動組高級督察向榮(苗僑偉)嫉惡如仇，與情報組高級督察韋世樂(林峯)亦師亦友，合作無間，為警隊屢破毒案。世樂在一次緝毒行動中，發現蛛絲馬跡，向榮極有可能是勾結毒犯的神秘黑警。世樂開始暗中調查向榮，加上心術不正的行動組總督察潘學禮(黃智賢)從中挑撥，多年兄弟連番角力，矛盾重重……

另一方面，世樂因調查行動認識線人陳家碧(徐子珊)，兩人暗生情愫，但家碧出身低微，自卑感作祟，刻意逃情，並讓愛予一直暗戀世樂的新紮師妹高希璇(官恩娜)，三人之間有著微妙的感情關係。生無可戀的家碧最後走上不歸路，成為新一代毒后，販運毒品，挑戰警隊。世樂痛心疾首，與向榮聯手，跟家碧展開一幕幕的毒戰……

Earlier in the week, I got a call from TVBA informing me that I was one of the lucky winners of the TVBA online voting poll, so was invited to attend the TVBA Jadeworld Carnival Press Conference at Market City held today! WOOT!!!

It was held at the Eight Chinese Modern Restaurant and Kenny Wong and Shirley Yeung were going to be there! I haven’t been to a TVB conference before and I didn’t really know anyone there so I wasn’t sure what to expect haha… Thankfully I was working nearby, so it wasn’t too much of a hassle to get to during my lunch break.

When I arrived, I went to sit at my allocated seat which was pretty much at the back, with the other lucky winners. They were mostly older mums, happily chatting away with each other about their favourite TVB series- how cute! XD I guess because it was a private function, there weren’t that many people there. A lot were old too, so they were nowhere as keen as I was to approach the artistes- SCORE! hahah

Soon, the guests arrived and the conference commenced….I immediately moved to stand at the front with the bunch of other photographers haha. The guests each made a little speech- Shirley was talking about the TV programmes she has been hosting in the past years; and Kenny made mentions of liking to take photos while on trips and promoted a bit on his new series “The Last Steep Ascent”. As usual, I was waving at them enthusiastically and Shirley waved back haha. Kenny acknowledged with a smile.

The lucky winners were then asked to come on stage as they presented the sponsor gifts! 10 people were presented with Holden company umbrellas. I was part of the second batch, which was one of the 4 people who received a skin care set from SASA!! 😀 We also received some cutlery, and a TVB calculator in our TVB show bags. We were then asked to stand behind the artistes for a group photo.

At the end of the conference, the guests were coming off the stage to get seated for lunch. This was when I went on stage to ask Shirley for a photo!! 😀 She’s so pretty!! (and so skinny!) She said “Sure! Oh let’s move over a bit, the lighting is not as good here” haha! The artists surely know where they look best on camera! ^^

I then went to find Kenny and asked for a photo who happily agreed and led me over, where, again- there were better lighting. He looks EXACTLY how he does on TV hahahha Very manly lol After taking pics, I went back to my table to enjoy the free yum cha lunch!

Towards the end when we were pretty much done with the food, I went to find Kenny and Shirley again at their table to asked them for autographs 😀 YAY!! I came prepared haha Shirley said she really likes the photo of her! (I like it lots too!!) I was in a bit of a rush last night to find picture of them to print and I couldn’t find a good quality Kenny pic to use so ended up using the TVB poster of “The Last Steep Ascent”. As he was signing, I mentioned I watched the first episode when it broadcasted last night- his response was “Only the first episode? So behind?” XD

I had a lot of chances to chat with them, but I was kind of out of words. I didn’t really know what to say to them ^^;

At the end, Shirley and Kenny were recording a little clip to promote TVB Jade carnival.

They then stood on stage where we lined up for more photographs with them 🙂

I have to admit I was quite star struck haha Totally the highlight of my week!!!

[poll id=”125″]

English Title: The Last Steep Ascent

Cantonese Title: 天梯 (Tin Tai)

Cast: Moses Chan 陳豪 (飾苗天), Maggie Cheung 張可頤 (飾顧新月), Aimee Chan 陳茵媺 (飾田愛娣), Kenny Wong 黃德斌 (飾鄭嬌), 羅蘭 (飾賀老太), Edwin Siu 蕭正楠 (飾賀世豪), Katy Kung 龔嘉欣 (飾賀世雯), Mat Yeung 楊明 (飾魏保羅), Joel Chan 陳山聰 (飾黎濟民), 張翼 (飾賀坤堯)

Episodes: 25

Airing date: 17 September 2012 (After King Maker)

Themesong: One Life One Heart (一生一心) by Hubert Wu (CD)

Official: Website | Purchase DVD @ YesAsia.com (English Subtitles)

Executive Producer: Lee Tim Sing

Scriptwriter: Chan Ching Yee

Synopsis

During his youth, MIU TIN (Moses Chan) encountered bride-to-be KOO SUN-YUET (Maggie Cheung Ho Yee), who has lingered in his mind ever since.

Twenty years later, they reunite when MIU TIN becomes a manager of a pharmacy, whose owner is SUN-YUET’s husband – HO SAI-CHEUNG (Cheung Kwok Keung). Shortly afterwards, SUN-YUET finds out about her husband’s love affair with his maid TIN OI-TAI (Aimee Chan) during his convalescence in San Francisco and the two even live together in Foshan. Not wanting to damage the clan’s reputation, SUN-YUET endures the hardship until SAI-CHEUNG’s death. Upon discovery of OI-TAI’s pregnancy, she greets OI-TAI home as her own sister believing that she is conceiving SAI-CHEUNG’s offspring. However, the only person that has the inside information is CHENG KIU (Kenny Wong Tak Bun) – MIU TIN’s best friend.

Managing the household and the pharmacy affairs as well as confronting the manipulation of her brother-in-law HO KWAN-YIU (Cheung Yick) and his son HO SAI-HO (Edwin Siu), SUN-YUET is exhausted. Regardless of the gossips, MIU TIN devotedly helps her overcome the difficulties. Though being reluctant to reveal her true emotions in light of the moral standards and the kindness of her mother-in-law HO LEUNG MEI-KUEN (Law Lan), SUN-YUET is finally touched by MIU TIN and elopes with him to a remote mountain leading a secluded life. Since then MIU TIN has taken fifty years to build a six-thousand-step stairway on the mountain, representing the genuine love striding over the barriers between them.

苗 天(陳豪)年少時遇見正在出嫁的新娘顧新月(張可頤)，令他畢生難忘。二十年後，二人重遇，苗天在藥行當大查櫃，新月是老闆賀世章(張國強)的妻子。不 久，新月發現丈夫在舊金山養病時與侍婢田愛娣(陳茵媺)發生了一段深摯的愛情，二人在佛山更築起愛巢，新月顧及家聲忍辱負重直至世章病逝，後來愛娣懷有身 孕，新月以為是世章的骨肉，將愛娣接回家並待她如親妹妹，而唯一知道內情的只有苗天的好友鄭嬌(黃德斌)……

新 月成為當家又要打理藥行，面對大伯賀坤堯(張翼)及賀世豪(蕭正楠)兩父子的操控，內外受壓弄致心力交瘁，苗天不理閒言廷身而出，全力扶助新月克服困難； 過往新月礙於世俗禮教和奶奶賀梁美娟(羅蘭)之恩情，未敢表露心跡，如今終被苗天的情意打動，決定與苗天搬到深山隱居。苗天更用了五十年的時間完成了一條 長達六千級的愛情天梯，見證了二人跨越藩籬的真愛……

Credit: TVB.com.au

Another old post I drafted back then but never got to publish. It’s now complete! lol Hope it brings back some memories on this drama although it wasn’t one I would particularly recommended . Enjoy~

• *Contains Spoilers*
• 
• Series Synopsis | Episode 1-5 Thoughts
• I watched this series for Raymond even though I didn’t have much expectation for the series. They said this was the series Raymond was using to go for TV King for 2011, so I wanted to watch his performance. I’m glad it wasn’t as cringe-worthy as “Fly with Me” (Thank goodness!) and I managed to complete the series (^.^v)  The initial idea of “Death God” sounded somewhat interesting although it turns out to be quite different from what I imagined.
• I felt the series was split into different segments. During the first 5 episodes, I really liked Raymond’s character- he was cute trying to learn to be human and trying to pursue Tavia, and loved it when he had those lost expressions on his face. He seemed carefree and let Bobby live, so he didn’t seem that much of a “devil”. The other characters were really annoying though (John Chiang, Gigi Wong, and Bobby’s parents…)
• The series started to turn dark from episode 6-10 when we find out Raymond was scheming to take revenge on Bobby!  I was quite shocked!! It made the series quite interesting as he turned out to the son of the man Bobby couldn’t save 10 years ago…What left me majorly confused was when they revealed Raymond had a sister (played by Mandy Wong) who stayed at the hospital. It was interesting how he willingly let a Death God possess him to allow him the powers to come back to life to take revenge on Bobby. He didn’t just want to take Bobby’s life; he wanted him to suffer something worse than death.
• I didn’t know how Bobby was going to fight against- it seemed quite impossible and he wasn’t some ordinary “vampire” (still remember the scene Bobby and Tavia was planning to protect themselves using chanted Papers/crosses etc)
• Raymond wanted to take Tavia’s life and the baby (Bobby and Tavia’s child) after she gave birth. The video recording Tavia did for her future baby was so emotional. The series became quite dark, especially when Raymond bought her a grave.
•  In desperation to get rid of this death god, Bobby set up a trap, and lured Raymond into a shed and locked him up while burning down it down.  At the same time, Sire (Bobby’s sister) started to realise Raymond was actually a human! It was a really suspenseful scene. Sire realised he caught the cold when trying to save her earlier, which meant he really wasn’t a Death God.
• Now that Raymond’s scheme has been revealed, the series moves into a new phase where Raymond starts pretending to have forgiven Bobby and will start a new life. However, he secretly continued to scheme, manipulates people and causes A LOT of problems for Bobby. He turned his life up-side down. When Raymond found out Tavia was actually John Chiang’s daughter , he  made Bobby think Tavia cheated on him (according to the DNA test, Tavia was carrying John’s baby)><
• At the end, Tavia ends up losing her unborn child and becomes so distressed she goes into a depression and this breaks up the family. Raymond also manipulated Power to betray his company to take revenge on his own father and everything was turning so messy!
• 
•  Raymond also set up a trap and hired an assassin to kill him and John Chiang, and then accused Bobby instead. He put the company betrayal blame on Bobby, so he could no longer continue his research or continue as a doctor.
• To be honest, I didn’t enjoy watching the series that much. It was ok but there was something about it …It might be because of the large number of unlikable character in the series (especially Bobby’s dad). I was also a bit disappointed after they revealed Raymond was actually human. It just turned into a guy wanting revenge type of story and he was totally irrational. (How can he only blame Bobby??) I didn’t like what he was doing because Bobby totally did not deserve it! I felt the way Raymond treated Bobby was completely unfair.
• I quite liked the episodes towards the end, because Raymond started using his powers again (with the red eyes).Throughout the series, it made me wonder what kind of powers he had and whether it was just  hallucination or whether he could mind-control people. Towards the end,  I felt really sorry for Raymond. He was so traumatised by the whole incident he had to create and live in a fake world to escape reality. I was quite shocked when we found out the scenes with his sister were all fake and she hadn’t woken up from her coma all along! I thought it was pretty sad and I wanted to give him a big hug!
• 
• He started pursuing Tavia again towards the end after some encouragement from his sister (who turns out to be his imagination).
• When his sister finally woke up, she told him not to take revenge. If only his sister had woken up earlier =P
• The series had a eerie feel to it which was a bit uncomfortable to watch(might be also due to the cheesy graphics used)
• I felt the 2 hour finale was a nice closure to the series and tied all lose ends and questions : ) I liked Raymond’s performance here, but the series itself was quite a let down..