The Laughing Gor Movie DVD is out for those interested =)

Excerpt from YesAsia:

When Michael Tse’s popular undercover cop character Laughing Gor was killed off in the 2009 TVB police drama E.U., fans mourned his death with online memorial services and a creative outpouring of grief. This unprecedented show of support led TVB to resurrect Laughing Gor on the big screen for the blockbuster spin-off prequel Turning Point. The first film to bear the Shaw Brothers logo since 2002’s Drunken Monkey, the TVB-Shaw Brothers co-production is devoted to Laughing Gor’s backstory, building the legend behind the struggling small-timer who would eventually become the swaggering, scenery-chewing undercover cop that Hong Kong audiences fell in love with. Though the leading character originates from the small screen, Turning Point‘s story is largely independent of the TV drama and requires no previous knowledge.

Previously best known on the big screen as Ekin Cheng’s sidekick in Young and Dangerous, Michael Tse makes an appealing lead as the twice-undercover caught between the police and the underworld, but what makes Turning Point especially exciting are all the other names attached. Jack-of-all-trades director Herman Yau (True Women for Sale) helms the crime actioner, while acclaimed actors Anthony Wong and Francis Ng make charismatic turns as rival triad leaders. Also making supporting appearances are action star Yuen Biao, Eric Tsang, Felix Wong, Wayne Lai, and TVB starlet Fala Chen in her film debut. For the TV drama fans, there are also crossover cameos from E.U. stars Ron Ng and Sammul Chan.

Undercover cop-turned-triad leader One (Anthony Wong) sends his underling Laughing (Michael Tse) undercover into the police force. But the police send him back into the triads to be an undercover under One! Laughing walks the line passing intel between the two sides, but he’s running for his life from both sides of the law after a botched drug bust leaves his handler (Yuen Biao) comatose, and underworld bosses Zatoi (Francis Ng) and Fook (Eric Tsang) out for his head.

Special Edition comes with a holographic cover, a desk calendar, and a bonus disc containing making of, interviews with director and cast, and trailer.

—-

Screencaptures

I’ve finally able to make some screencaptures from the movie now that the DVD is out ^^ I’ve mainly selected ones with TVB actors in it hehe~ Please recredit K-TVB.net if you decide to repost some 🙂

Read the rest of this entry »

Who put candle wax on the hair pin, which caused Krystal’s death? Was it Susanna or Michelle? *suspense* *Do not read further if you don’t want to know!* Only kidding. Please do continue reading 🙂

The answer is revealed to us in the first few minutes of the episode. Shown in a flashback, when young Charmaine rushes out to pick some flowers, young Tavia apologies to Krystal. It was really because of her carelessness, that the candle wax dripped onto the hair pin o_o What a twist! It’s sad to think the whole incident was caused by a young, innocent child. At the very least, I was relieved that she owned up to Krystal, and she was able to forgive her. Still, she’ll have to carry the burden with her for the rest of her life. Will Charmaine ever find out? I think this specific incident is a foreshadow of Tavia’s recklessness as an adult. Yes, she’s only a child and that it’s normal for such a thing to occur. However, have you noticed that even as little kids, young Charmaine and Tavia’s actions are strikingly relevant to their grown-up personalities? *gasp* (What a long sentence..) I could probably go on and on about this but maybe I’ll save that for another day. ^^;

In the following episodes of [Beyond the Realm of Conscience] 宮心計, the plot starts to advance forward. My views on some of the characters are already starting to change. Well, let’s get started! 🙂

Susanna, as the Head of Jewellery Proceedings, was ordered to destroy the hair pin. Susanna however, is extremely hesitant and it’s at this point where I’m convinced she’s not evil. She genuinely seems to care about Krystal; reflecting back on their last conversation, where they exchanged smiles and expressed how much the jewellery meant to them.

After much dilemma, she grabs the hammer and slams it towards the accessory. Next, we see her with a bandaged hand. Did she injure herself on purpose, or is her hand not actually injured at all? Either way, she successfully convinces the Grand Empress the pin is cursed, and destroying it will not eliminate its darkness. This hair pin appears to have a lot of significance so far. In episode one, Tavia is seen wearing it on her head. I’m sure this hair pin’s lifespan will be longer than most peoples’ in the palace…

Young Moses, whose role is “Sill Wong Yea” and his mother Mary are both victims of Palace politics. Mary is absolutely terrified by The Grand Empress (played by Susan). The very sight of her causes her to breakdown and tremble in fear. Although Mary has no intention of gaining power (let alone overthrow the King); Susan sees both Mary and young Moses as a huge threat. To kill two birds with one stone, Susan “curses” Mary by forcing her to wear the hair pin. She smirks, rather proud of her witty idea- but I found that absolutely hilarious XD I guess it’s because we know the pin isn’t actually “cursed”.

What a horrible women! Susan plays her evil roles rather well though. (How creepy does she look in the third shot?)

Fearing for her son’s safety, Mary makes young Moses pretend a bump on his head caused him to become mentally ill. Susan of course, was not easily convinced. She deliberately picks up a pebble and tells Moses it’s a lolly. Luckily, Moses was brave enough to play along and attempts to eat it. As a result, Moses lead everyone to believe he really was “dumb”- and was sent out of the Palace. Sadly, Mary was forbidden to leave with him, so the two are to be separated.

Read the rest of this entry »

I finally picked up the first 5 episodes of “Born Rich” and ended up watching them all in one go-  I’m loving it!! The series contains both dramatic and light-hearted funny  scenes. (It gives me the same feeling as Dicey Business ^^) I love all the characters so far and can’t wait to see their story unfold.

The story is fast paced and dynamic, with each character, relationships and plot developing nicely.  These episodes are like a forecast for what’s to come!  I especially loved the first episode when the characters are introduced and it really develops the backdrop for the entire story.

Episode 1 was both really sad and touching, watching the Cheuk family coming to accept the loss of their father and letting go. It has been over a year and a half since the Cheuk’s male head in the family went missing after going to “Saaba”.

Mixing in with that, the family faces a crisis at the Bank ( their family business)  when a manager mistakenly signs off the wrong batch of safe deposit boxes to get destroyed- including their missing father’s ones. Ray Lui, who plays the filial son desperately tries to retrieve it back. It was also really sad when his mother (Nancy Sit) mistakes him for being a bad son for stopping the search operation and the fact Ray’s wife (Jamie Chik) was in the mood to prepare a party at home! They all miss him so much, yet Nancy thinks she’s the only one who actually still cares. It turns out that it was actually Ray’s birthday that day, so his wife wanted to prepare a party for him to cheer him up and to bring the family together. His mother has forgotten..and even Ray himself  has forgotten =( I’m glad that misunderstanding was resolved and the mother and son made up with each other.

As the episode is about to conclude, Joe Ma (a close family friend/Chief operational Officer at their bank) manages to retrieve Ray’s father’s Safe Box back as a  birthday present.  To Ray, it would have made him so so happy… who would have known that what lies inside the box was one of their father’s biggest secrets! –  the fact he has been having an affair and having another son whom he has been trying to search for!

Ray Lui as Marcus/Cheuk Yat Yuen (One dollar)

Ray Lui is a really filial son and values family- you can understand why in this aspect he really wants to find his half brother back. He wants to fulfill his father’s wishes which he never got to, which was also the reason he went missing at Saaba. I really like Ray’s character so far, especially that filial heart and dedication. One of the downsides I feel is that he  doesn’t see it as much of a big deal about his father having an affair, foreshadowing his affair with Kenix! I think it’d be interesting to watch how all that will turn out!

Read the rest of this entry »

Hi everyone! My name is Chibi and this is my first episode guest entry here at K-TVB.net. While KTVB will be bringing to you everything [Born Rich] between studying, I’ll be covering [Beyond the Realm of Conscience]. So, let’s get started 🙂

I finally sit down and start watching the TVB Grand Production [Beyond the Realm of Conscience] – the opening sequence and themesong itself looks good already.

The show starts off revealing snippets of what’s to come; with both Charmaine (劉三好 Lau Sam-ho) and Tavia (Yiu Kam-ling 姚金鈴) having high status in the Palace. It is revealed they are both pregnant to the Emperor. Both Charmaine and Tavia, who were once “sisters” (extremely close friends), now no longer have that relationship. Tavia is bitter, hateful and full of vengeance. She’s had enough pain and suffering inflicted upon her. Charmaine is petrified by Tavia’s change of heart, is regretful and in utter disbelief.

The appearance says it all…Tavia is looking pretty scary with all that make-up and hair-do. More make-up = More evil? O_o

This dramatic confrontation probably appears near the end of the series. We all know Tavia changes her heart from “good” to “evil”.  But how? Why? What series of events occur which could break this strong bond between them?  I’ll admit now I’m personally a bit biased, and hope I won’t “hate” Tavia too much. I think there’s always a good reason why someone can turn bad. I hope TVB can give her a smooth and believable transition 🙂

Charmaine is the exact contrast, giving off an angelic, very righteous kind-hearted vibe. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. She seems to be a bit extreme in terms of “goodness”. It’s too early to judge whether we’ll enjoy watching her, or if we’ll start pulling our hair out from her very existence. We don’t like Mary Sue characters very much ^^;  I believe any realistic character could easily fit in areas of grey. It makes a character more rounded and interesting anyway. That being said, I hope Tavia won’t turn so evil that we’d want to strangle her without sympathy XD.

20 years ago..

We’re now looking back in time when both Charmaine and Tavia were little children.

Left to right: Young Tavia, Charmaine and Krystal ( Charmaine’s Mother )

Charmaine is Krystal’s biological daughter, whereas Tavia seems to be their servant. She refers to Charmaine as “Sill Jie” and Krystal as “Fu Yun”. However, she is treated quite well and are more like family. The three of them have a loving relationship and are currently on the hideout. Unfortunately, they are soon discovered and forcefully taken into the Palace’s Four Proceedings Council (尚宮局).

Imperial Household Bureau is responsible for managing all household services to the Emperor and the Imperial family in Tang Dynasty.

It is composed of four departments; Jewels, Attire, Food and Furnishings. This is where both Michelle (Chung Suet-ha 鍾雪霞) and Susanna’s (Yuen Chiu-wan 阮翠雲)  roles’ are introduced along with the other Heads.

The Head of Palace Proceedings gathers the departments together to discuss arrangements for Grand Empress Dowager (郭皇太后).

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are screen captures for the opening of [Beyond the Realm of Conscience]. It’s quite a beautifully crafted sequence. As usual, if you’d like to use a few (e.g for forums) please credit K-TVB.net and link to us. Please do not take the lot 🙂 Enjoy!

Hey everyone!

I can’t believe it’s October already! Hope all has been well ^^

As some of you may have noticed, the post below for Beyond the Realm of Conscience Lyric Translations was made by chibi ^_^ That marks her debut blog entry on K for TVB!  She will be a guest blogger on K-tvb.net, so I hope you can all make her feel welcome when you see her random posts around!

What else have I been up to?  I have been really really busy lately : ( I’m looking forward to the Xmas break already because I can really relax then, but until then, just have to keep going, don’t I? =)  I’ve recently completed In the Chamber of Bliss, which was a great series =) Kathy fans should definitely give this series a go- she cries so beautifully lol I love all the political stuff in there, great stuff!

Most people would already be feeling it. Yes, we have finally entered the TVB Anniversary mood with the TVB 42 Anniversary Lighting Ceremony held last Monday! This year’s one was quite special because it was also held on the same night as the airing of the first episode of 2009 Grand Productions/Anniversary Series:  Born Rich & Beyond the Realm of Conscience! The Lighting ceremony was really exciting to watch, which heavily promoted these two series…I wanted to watch both of them so much! They even got the cast to watch the first episodes with the audience, there were performances of the main themesongs & subs and interviews with the cast- the hype was if they have reached the finale already xD

[poll id=”57″]

As of 2 November (which is next week!), TVBJ (Australia) will be airring the 2 grand productions (Beyond @7.30 and Born Rich @8.30) They have been showing “The Stew of Life” on weekends as well as weekdays to finish it off. it looks like they’re skipping In the Chambers of Bliss ^^; At least we’re not too behind HK now, just 2 weeks!
I wish I had time to watch both series, but I can’t. As a result, I decided to watch Born Rich first (though I’ve noticed more people are anticipating Beyond). Hope both series will be mega hits!!

I will try squeeze out some time to make some posts on Born Rich =D

What’s also different with this years Lighting Ceremony is the fact they didn’t release the nominations yet…which is understandable if they want to include Born Rich & Beyond the Realm of Conscience in this year’s anniversary awards (which wouldn’t make sense if people haven’t even seen it yet) I think the date of the Award Ceremony is pushed back a bit later too. If this is the case, wouldn’t this years’ competition be INTENSE??
We will technically have 3 Grand Productions –as I believe The Gem of Life will be in this years one– (including the actors in the respective series) competing in the same..year lol!! How is that going to work..?
Adding to that, the series released earlier in the year seem to be fading as well. When the Award ceremony comes along, will the popularity of Rosy Business, Sheren Tang’s Sei-lai lai, Wayne lai’s Chai Gao-gor still be there? How about Michael Tse’s Laughing Gor? Does he still have a large fan-base as back then? Series which are released closer to the Anniversary date seem to be better off as people still remember it..I wonder what will happen…

Only time will tell…

Palace Scheming (Beyond the Realm of Conscience Themesong)

English translations by Chibi
Please credit K-TVB.net if reposted.

Pledge undergoes a society’s transformation
Good and evil unreported eventually pays a price
Equal step shocks the world
Silk as like mirror assembles like a painting
Appearance like snow, does not taint delicate sand, please stay behind
If grasping, stop dreaming, haven’t been favored upon
What you see, hear, you cannot trust
Regretful is, when you turn a blind eye to this world, regard the number of dark currents
Loving deeply, speaking the truth, don’t be touched
More heart piercing, more deeply ingrained, don’t sense pain
Once extremely hated, can still be held in ones arm
Past events is like dust, like the wind

Download the CD Version

Chibi’s Comments: Another touching song performed by Susanna Kwan. Judging from the lyrics alone, the drama will sure have plenty of tears, backstabbing, hatred, guilt, regret and of course, scheming. The last 2 lines almost sank my heart… what a teary line. Anyway, hope you enjoy the translations. If there is anything mistranslated, feel free to correct me 🙂

Who do you think the lyrics will relate to? Drop a comment and let us know!

I was just browsing through the net and came across…Linda Chung ‘s 2nd album: My Love Story ( pre-order version) available @ YesAsia.com! I was quite surprised because I would have thought Myolie’s one who have been available for preorder by now (as I recall that it should be released this month?) Linda’s 2nd album (limited pre-order version) will be out on 12 November, 2009 and will come with 7 postcards, stickers, and a photo sticker album XD (I wonder what the normal version would include ^^) I’ve had a sneak peak at “Missing You Day & Night” and thought it as pretty decent~ I like those type of melodies 🙂 Hope the album won’t disappoint!

CD
01. 日夜想你
02. 明爭暗鬥
03. 暗示
04. Fly Me To The Moon
05. 有一天
06. 戀愛令人心痛
07. 生死也為愛
08. Cha Cha Bounce
09. 聽說你愛我
10. 白羊座的情歌
11. 有一天 (國)
12. 讓我繼續愛你 (國)

DVD
1. 日夜想你
2. 明爭暗鬥
3. 暗示
4. 有一天
5. 讓我繼續愛你 (國)
6. 有一天 (國)

Read the rest of this entry »