I didn’t go to the cinemas for over a month and after returning from KL two weeks ago, it’s time to compensate by paying a visit to the cinema once every weekend. There are quite a number of newly released movies that I’m looking forward to watch. I watched ‘Moonfall’ last weekend and went for ‘Uncharted’ this weekend. Haha…I guess that’s enough…no more visit to the cinema for the next weekend or two.

‘Moonfall’ is a sci-fi disaster film co-written, directed and produced by Roland Emmerich, a man who is very popular for his past disaster films like ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, ‘Independence Day’ and ‘2012’. I enjoyed this type of films and always thought that he did very well in producing these films. ‘Moonfall’ delivered to my expectation although there isn’t much disaster scenes in this film. What’s interesting from the movie is its unexpected plot and unique take on the origin of the Moon. I won’t spoil any further. There are still some exhilarating scenes though, captured with impressive visual effects and excellent score. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Moonfall’ 7.5.

‘Uncharted’ on the other hand is an action adventure film based on a video game series of the same name and starred Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. I didn’t play the video game and only knew that this is going to be a treasure hunt film similarly to the past ‘National Treasure’ or ‘Tomb Raider’ film series. ‘Uncharted’ couldn’t match those films but it is still an enjoyable adventure film with the currently very popular young actor, Tom Holland as the main lead. Whenever we see him on screen, we immediately thought of Spiderman now. Haha…Many scenes are not making sense (Tom can stand very stable on a car floating on the sky, helicopter holding a huge decaying old ship and flying it around with so much manoeuvring and the ship still does not fall apart unbelievably, etc). Less puzzle solving and actions but the movie is still quite entertaining overall. I rate ‘Uncharted’ 7.1 out of 10.

Right after finishing ‘The Righteous Fists’ last week, I managed to complete another TVB series in just a few days. The series is called ‘Freedom Memories’ and only has 15 episodes (hence I managed to finish it this quick). This drama is based on the Hong Kong TV industry in the 1980s, featuring characters who were TV artists in that era and how they later worked their way to become Hong Kong TV’s future superstars. The series starred many junior artistes like Karl Ting, Dickson Yu, Joey Thye, Tiffany Lau, etc.

This series surprises me a bit with very refreshing storyline and cast lineup. It is a very motivational drama and is a great opportunity to groom the younger generation of the actors and actresses in TVB. I guess Karl Ting’s character is inspired by Stephen Chow while Dickson Yu’s character is inspired by Andy Lau. The series also brought us back a lot of good memories from the past (Hong Kong in their golden era in 1980s with many classic hits and superstars). Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Freedom Memories’ a total of 7.6.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

When the original series ‘Barrack O’Karma’ was first released in 2019, it was met with critical acclaim and success due to its mind bending story, great performances and unique take on its supernatural theme. Many were immediately looking forward to its sequel that was planned soon after the first series. After several filming delays, pandemic and postponement of its release, its sequel titled ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’ is finally released this year with high anticipation.

With almost all of the original cast returning, the series once again centred on the various sub-plots taking place mostly in the Twilight Mansion building. The core of the story was still based on themes of parallel universes with Joel Chan and Selena Li taking on multiple characters again. Besides the two of them, the 20-episodes series also starred Timothy Cheng, Christine Ng, Henry Yu, Willie Wai, Jazz Lam, Candice Chiu, Roxanne Tong, Arnold Kwok, Karl Ting, Hubert Wu, Shiga Lin, Bob Cheung, etc.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a very positive reception to this sequel this time. It felt to me as though the main storyline is confusing for the sake of being confusing. Most of the side stories have little to no connection to the main storyline or the main characters. The side stories are only made more scary/darker but less interesting this time around. They felt very detached to one another too.

The series is still good that it is able to make you scratch your head, think and put some imagination on why it ended up this way. Not many TVB series are able to accomplish this. However, I felt that the scriptwriters overdid it and all the juxtapositions of ideas and universes made the drama quite a confusing mess now. It is also a pity that Joel and Selena’s multiple characters in this sequel are more flat too although they still share very great chemistry on screen.

A good attempt for a sequel though. It is extremely difficult to write a follow-up sequel from the original which was already so spectacular and out-of-the-box. There are still some very creative ideas in play here but diluted by detached side stories and super confusing and over complicated approach on the theme of parallel universe (everyone is talking about multiverse now!). Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’ a total of 7.1.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

It’s the month of June already and four days later, I will be flying to New Zealand to commence my working holiday trip. The trip was planned since March once I got my working holiday visa approved. After nearly 3 months of waiting and preparation, the trip is finally within sight.

Settling on a new place to live is never easy and is pretty daunting at first. Fortunately, I have such experience in the past twice when I moved to Australia for two years for my postgraduate study and then moved to Singapore for work purpose. Haha…I was like a nomad; changing places to settle at once every few years.

I would already be in New Zealand by the time my next blog post appeared. I will most probably write on my first impression of Queenstown, share some stunning pictures of the place during winter (opps…it’s going to be freaking cold over there!), and share some of the things I have to do once I arrived there before I start my seasonal job at the Remarkables ski resort. Looking forward to this view below of Queenstown and the Remarkables mountain at the background when I get there next week.

Before ending my post, I would like to share my quick review to a recent TVB drama that I have watched; ‘Stranger Anniversary’. It is a 25-episode series (cut short to 20-episode for TVB version due to extremely poor rating this series has received) with a story that revolves on two people who are not related by blood, but very similar in appearance. They contact each other, and have been miraculously affecting each other’s life trajectory. The series starred Joe Ma, Roxanne Tong, Winki Lai, Matthew Ho, Alice Chan, David Chiang, Angel Chiang, Tsui Wing, etc.

I understand why the series received such poor rating. A very simple answer; it is simply bad. Comes with a non-engaging storyline and poor chemistry between the cast, the series just couldn’t deliver. Joe Ma is too old for the role and is not compatible at all especially with her much younger female co-stars (Roxanne and Winki). The comedy part of the series was also not funny. For its drama side, it was uninteresting. My only compliment to the series is its effort on putting two Joe Ma’s characters together in the same frame in a couple of scenes which require some hard work. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Stranger Anniversary’ a total of 6.0. A light-hearted show but could not bring anything fresh to the table.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

It’s almost end of the month. I have already been in New Zealand for 20 days now. Still can’t stand the freezing temperature over here. Taking a shower here feels like a torture and going downstair to the kitchen and living area was an undesirable thing to do due to the chilling winter here.

A quick update for my current working holiday here at Queenstown, NZ; I’m still familiarizing myself with all the variety of tasks for my front of house job (including handling some back of house works as well) in a restaurant up on a ski mountain called The Remarkables. I also went up to Coronet Peak (another ski mountain) earlier this week, took a first-timer lesson in ski (for free from my privilege as a staff…both mountains are managed by same company) and managed to learnt how to slow down/brake while skiing. Good first step. My plan is to practice once a week so that I will be able to ski (at least until mastering beginner’s level) before end of this winter season.

Back to the main topic of this post; a brief review for another Hong Kong TVB drama that I have recently finished watching. The drama is called ‘Brutally Young 2.0’ (十八年後的終極告白2.0) and is an indirect sequel to the original which was released few years ago and was quite good as far as I can remember. TVB usually fails when it comes to sequel but that isn’t the case for this one surprisingly. ‘Brutally Young 2.0’ was actually very good and kept me engaged and thrilled by its suspenseful story, brilliant plot twists and excellent performances.

This 20-episode drama starred Shaun Tam, Joel Chan, Katy Kung, Candice Chiu, Zoie Tam, Raymond Cho, etc. It is not a stellar cast but they shined in their respective roles in this drama. I won’t see them as great actors/actresses previously. However, after seeing their performances in this series, I have to change my mind. Their roles here allow them to showcase their wide range of acting. Out of the 6 people I mentioned above, I actually find Shaun Tam (first male lead) to be the least convincing in terms of acting instead (he was last year’s best actor winner for his performance in ‘Take Two’).

The series has a very fast paced storyline (which is good) and was full of nice suspense, secrets (yes, all characters hold so many secrets from one another especially from their partners…and eventually blown up to a hot mess that we love to watch) and surprises along the way. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Brutally Young 2.0’ a total of 8.3. My highest rated drama this year so far. By the way, this drama is Joel Chan’s third drama this year (after ‘The Righteous Fists’ and ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’). Have been seeing him on screen a lot of time recently. What a busy year for him. Well, he deserves more opportunities like these. His time for best actor win will come soon. He was splendid in this series too.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

I’ll start off the post with my brief review of yet another TVB series that I have finished watching recently. It was the 8th TVB series I have watched this year so far. It is a 15-episodes drama titled ‘Communion’. It starred Roger Kwok, Alice Chan, Kalok Chow, Rico Ng, Joey Thye, Matthew Ho, Hera Chan, Tsui Wing, Shek Sau, etc. The story revolves around a man who owns a traditional Chinese restaurant. He struggles to reconnect with his estranged wife who runs a much more successful restaurant business empire with the same name.

I do enjoy its fast-paced storyline. It is a pretty short series too (only 15 episodes!). I felt that this story can be slightly expanded to 20 episodes though. The cast has done great job and there’s quite a great chemistry between all of them including the seniors and the younger ones. Overall, the series has quite a lot of hearts in it and I enjoyed watching it. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Communion’ 8.0. It is also the first time that a Hong Kong series features story about virtual reality/computer technology heavily. That’s interesting!

It’s almost end of July now. Last week I did have a plan to visit Arrowtown and go for night ski but those plans didn’t went through due to the predominantly bad weather last week. It was raining all day long on my planned day to visit Arrowtown. And on the day for the night ski, when I reach up the mountain, it was all too foggy and a bit of shower as well. The condition isn’t good at all especially for a beginner like me. So, I ended up travelling back down to the town.

Anyway, I did manage to go for ski this week (went up last Wednesday). Still falling down quite a lot of times (they do hurt and felt pretty exhausting to get back up on my feet every time). Have tried on new route but is still on the novice’s level. I would be no where close to intermediate level yet based on my present condition. Well, practice makes perfect. Hope that I can be much smoother on the novice’s routes next week onward and then my plan is to get to intermediate’s routes before the end of this winter season. Yup…that’s the goal!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Hey…it’s October now. One last quarter of the year left before we say farewell to 2022. This is going to be an exciting month as I will be finally embarking on my full-time road trip across the entire country of New Zealand beginning mid-October with my friend. Two more weeks of my work at The Remarkables. Time flies. We have worked there for almost 4 months now.

Just when I am getting familiarized with most of the variety of tasks of my present work and just when I am about to be confident on my skiing on the green route at The Remarkables, the ski season is coming to an end. Coronet Peak is having its last day for the season tomorrow. 16th October will be the closing date for The Remarkables. Mount Hutt on the other hand will close last; on 24th October 2022. These three mountains are managed by NZ Ski company.

My full-time road trip will begin on 18th October and will go on for about 2 months. Our itinerary is almost complete (did a lot of homework/research to prepare the itinerary!). We think 2 months are good enough to cover most places in New Zealand. We will then also travel to Australia (visiting Melbourne, Sydney and Perth) before heading back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on January 2023. I hope everything goes according to the plan.

Before ending the post, I will write a quick review for another TVB series that I have watched. It’s ‘Against Darkness’, a 20-episodes Hong Kong series revolves on a great partnership between Sergeant Ko Fai (Ruco Chan) and Sergeant Chi Kiu (Alice Chan) in solving a complicated series of linked murder cases. Besides Ruco and Alice, the series also starred Kaman Kong, Sharon Chan, Joseph Lee, Brian Tse, Andrew Yuen, etc.

Just one case, but of multiple murders and drug offences along the way. The plot is quite interesting but we didn’t get to understand the whole background or motif behind the villain until the last 15 minutes of the entire 20-episodes series. That’s a bit too late. However, it was so predictable from the very beginning who the main villain is. It just kills off the suspense.

I’m glad that there isn’t any romantic storyline wrote between the two main leads. However, Ruco and Alice do have good chemistry in here. Kaman’s character is so full of potential but she is still annoying in portraying her role. Brian is considered good for his main villain role here due to his minimal experience but I don’t get why he create that online game in this series in the first place. It is like pointless. Overall, ‘Against Darkness’ is an average police drama with nothing to shout out for. Out of 10 points, I rate it 7.0.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

TVB Anniversary Awards 2022 was held yesterday to recognize the best in drama series and variety programs for year 2022 from Hong Kong’s largest television broadcasting company, TVB. I didn’t watch many TVB dramas last year as I was occupied with my working holiday and vacations in New Zealand and Australia in the second half of 2022. Anyway, I still follow closely to this annual awards and have indeed watched the presentation ceremony live on last evening.

Here below is the list of winners for TVB Anniversary Awards 2022 (excluding the categories for hosting and other type of programs) along with my comments on some of the categories;

Best Drama: Get On A Flat

Opinion: Have not watch this. Will watch this when I’m back to Malaysia after my current vacation to see how good it is.

Best Actor: Joel Chan (Barrack O’Karma 1968)

Opinion: Very happy for him to win this award. He has improved so much over the years and had been given a lot of good roles in recent years. He deserved the win although ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’ isn’t as good as its predecessor.

Best Actress: Elena Kong (Get On A Flat)

Opinion: Happy for Elena too as she had been a solid actress for all these years in supporting roles. She finally got a leading role and won immediately. Fantastic! ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’ isn’t doing well and hence Selena Li unfortunately misses her chance again to win best actress although she had won Most Popular TV Female Character from her role in the first series.

Most Popular TV Male Character: Kalok Chow (Your Highness)

Opinion: I felt like TVB is obviously promoting him very quickly as he has been winning many awards in recent years despite his young age. I felt this award should be given to Andrew Lam (Get On A Flat) instead.

Most Popular TV Female Character: Amy Fan (Come Home Love: Lo And Behold)

Opinion: Weak competition in this category this year. I don’t think Amy is deserving of this win. Would prefer Alice Chan (Communion) or Selena Li (Barrack O’Karma 1968) instead.

Best Supporting Actor: Eric Tang (Get On A Flat)

Best Supporting Actress: Angel Chiang (The War Of Beauties)

Most Improved TV Male Artist: Ricco Ng

Opinion: Good for Ricco. At least we got to see another new young face frequently on screen rather than the same Kalok Chow or Karl Ting everywhere.

Most Improved TV Female Artist: Rosita Kwok

Opinion: I felt she is too new and inexperienced for this award. Moon Lau is the most deserving out of the top 5 nominees.

Most Favourite TV Partnership: Kalok Chow, Jeannie Chan, Joey Wong, Brian Chu, Jonathan Cheung (Your Highness)

Most Popular TV Drama Theme Song: ‘Wish’ by Joey Wong (Big White Duel 2)

Best Variety Show: Super Trio Returns

Opinion: This show is indeed still very entertaining after all these years although most of the participating guests in this show are no longer famous celebrities.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Catherine Tsang (TVB Executive)

Best Dressed TV Artists: Joel Chan, Nancy Wu, Hera Chan

Malaysia’s Most Favourite TVB Series: I’ve Got The Power

Opinion: I will watch this series soon when I’m back to Malaysia after hearing all the good reviews for the series earlier.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite TVB Actor: Ruco Chan (I’ve Got The Power)

Opinion: This is more like a consolation for Ruco as he has been exceptional in ‘I’ve Got The Power’ too but lost in the best actor category. Ruco also has a huge fan base in Malaysia hence it is not surprising that he won this again.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite TVB Actress: Moon Lau (The War Of Beauties)

Opinion: No ‘Most Improved’ award but a much better award straight away for Moon Lau. Moon Lau should win ‘Most Improved’ and leave this award to Alice Chan (Communion) or Selena Li (Barrack O’Karma 1968) who both has not even win this Malaysia’s award before.

‘Get On A Flat’ is the biggest winner of the evening with 3 awards including the final award of the ceremony; best drama. I’m surprised that there are quite a number of heavyweight guest presenters (Simon Yam, Slyvia Chang, etc) present at this ceremony (thanks to Eric Tsang who is now the general manager of TVB and had known many heavyweight stars as his friends over the years he is in this entertainment industry).

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

It’s the middle of April. How I wish that this month would be gone sooner as this has been one of the toughest months in my life. Never expect year 2023 to turn out like this. Well, I believe there is always a reason my path is set out this way and will eventually lead me to the right direction. There’s a deep void in me, huge inner stubbornness in me, and plenty of self-reflecting in recent days and I’m glad I have really grown up from this.

While I will try my best to move on and stay positive, it is sometimes also okay to not be okay. After all, we are still human with emotions. Here are the two songs I would like to share that I love to listen to and the lyrics hit right to my feeling or thoughts now. Feel the sadness, cherish on the past memories, and then go on and focus on being the better self.

Alright. No more emotional stuff. I have recently completed my first Hong Kong TVB series of the year. It is ‘The Invisibles’, a 30-episodes police action drama that starred Kenneth Ma, Natalie Tong, Joel Chan, Tiffany Lau, Moon Lau, Alex Lam, Elena Kong, Jimmy Au, Ruco Chan, etc. I have to say that this is one of the much better police action TVB series in recent years especially after considering that this genre has been very common.

Excellent performances by the cast including those on supporting roles. It’s refreshing to see Ruco as the main villain (only appear in later half of the series as one of the supporting roles) here. Although it is not a main lead role, but Ruco nailed it flawlessly with brilliant acting. I am also impressed by Elena Kong’s turn as the head police officer with strict and cold personality yet with warm heart within. Kenneth Ma did well too especially during tense scenes but he flaunts too much of his signature ‘puppy-eyes’ during sad moments in this series (a bit too much!).

The series has a lot of gripping action scenes but also has too much of love storylines. I felt there’s a bit too much of romantic relationships featured in this series including those minor supporting characters (I haven’t even mention there are three main couples already in this series!). Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Invisibles’ a total of 7.8. Still a pretty solid action drama with some forgettable flaws.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

‘Secret Door’ is a 2023 Hong Kong series with 25 episodes that starred Ruco Chan, Mandy Wong, Hugo Ng, Roxanne Tong, Moon Lau, Nicholas Yuen, Hugo Wong, etc. The series revolves on two childhood friends, Zhong Zi Kiu (Ruco) and Cheung Sam Yue (Mandy) who have taken very different paths because of crimes committed by each other’s fathers. They two met again and all hell breaks loose once Sam Yue’s father was released from prison and her husband died mysteriously.

The plot for this series is quite captivating. However, while the series comes with quite a lot of thrilling and tense moments, it also unfortunately comes with a lot of silly scenes. The main characters tend to always reveal some major plot in a very exposed/public setting and then as expected, get heard or seen by the other character hidden at the back. You will surely get what I mean after you have watched the series. It happened a lot of times throughout the drama and it just proves the scriptwriter lacks fresh idea or just being lazy. Certainly one of the major flaws of the series.

The ending is too rushed and did not provide a sufficient conclusion to the series. Immediately skipping the timeline to 10 years later in a short finale scene of few characters standing in front of Sam Yue’s grave with minimal dialogue is definitely not a satisfying ending I’m looking for. Roxanne’s character is not even there in the final scene. How is her relationship going on with Ruco in the series at the end? How is Roxanne’s dad or Mandy’s mother-in-law doing in the end? A lot of unanswered questions. I also expected a bit more climactic end to Hugo Ng’s character when Mandy decided to finish him.

Let’s talk about the acting performances. Hugo Ng is the star of the show portraying as the criminal father in the series. His energy and performance is top notch here and he has my support to clinch best supporting actor at this year’s TVB Anniversary Awards. Mandy Wong is given a very good role here who get to switch from playing both nice and wicked personalities. She did it quite convincingly too (although I still feel she has not done her best yet). If luck is on her side, she may even end up winning her first best actress from her performance in this series.

Yes, the series comes with some flaws as highlighted earlier, but overall, I do enjoy the series. Interesting plot and exciting performances from the cast successfully brought up my impression of the drama. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Secret Door’ a total of 8.0.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Urrghh…the final episode of ‘The Queen Of News’ has already been released in streaming platform yesterday ahead of its airing date on Friday next week. I would not have any new exciting episode to catch up on evening from tomorrow onward sadly. What should I do?

‘The Queen of News’ (新聞女王) is a Hong Kong drama that centers on the challenges faced by journalists, their dedication to uncover the truth, and the conflicts that arise in their personal and professional lives in and out of their news reporting office. Themes such as journalistic integrity, ethical dilemmas and the pressures of the media industry are explored throughout the series. This 26-episode drama starred Charmaine Sheh, Kenneth Ma, Selena Lee, Samantha Ko, Regina Ho, Venus Wong, Matthew Ho, Eric Tang, Shaun Tam, Mimi Kung, etc.

26 episodes aren’t enough for me (and I believe for many audiences too). The storyline could easily be expanded to 30 episodes or more without losing its intensity and appeal. Some of the characters’ conclusion felt rushed and there are some unanswered questions (maybe hinting a sequel?). I felt like the last episode was way too rushed too although the outcome is still extremely fantastic (and very touching) which featured a case of which Joel Chan took kids at a childcare centre as hostage as he could not come to terms with his own daughter’s death. The ending which saw the five main female leads finally settled aside their differences after the incident is resolved brought a warm and beautiful closure to the series.

Charmaine Sheh impressed everyone with her superb performance and breathtaking charisma in this series. Critically lauded for that, many has already predicted her to clinch her third best actress win at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023 to be held next month (its nomination list had just been released yesterday with huge support to this series as expected). However, I would prefer more if both she and Selena Lee were crowned best actress together. Selena Lee also delivered outstanding work in this series and their on-screen intense interactions were brilliantly executed. Selena is always solid in her performance. She deserves best actress and shouldn’t be outshined by Charmaine.

The other actresses who tagged along were doing fine too. Let’s not forget the actors. Kenneth Ma was ordinary until the very last episode on a scene when he teared up during a live broadcast after streaming showing Charmaine in danger at the childcare centre was interrupted and he revealed his honest feeling of Charmaine as his friend (finally not viewing her as work nemesis). Although Joel Chan was only participating in the last episode, but his role as the mentally disabled father who lost his daughter is very engaging. Eric Tang do stood out too in his supporting role as a chief director here.

Excellent script, impressive performances, fast-paced development, engaging storyline, and thought-provoking plots that revealed lessons in journalism and life; what else do you need to be crowned best series of the year? ‘The Queen of News’ is not only the best of the year, but also the best in recent years. Out of 10 points, I rate it 8.7.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

It’s a wrap for Hong Kong’s TVB series in 2023 after I have finished ‘The Queen of News’ over a week ago. It’s the time again for me to choose the best of the year based on my personal judgement, observation and analysis. This is purely my own preference and is limited to only the television dramas of the year that I have watched.

By the way, I have been doing this since 2007. Hence, this is my 17th year of annually selecting my personal best of TVB series. I have watched a total of 8 dramas this year as listed below (along with my rating to each series out of 10 points).

• The Invisibles. (7.8)
• Speakers of Law. (6.3)
• Secret Door. (8.0)
• Unchained Medley. (7.0)
• Narcotic Heroes. (7.1)
• Let Me Take Your Pulse. (8.0)
• Romeo and His Butterfly Lover. (6.8)
• The Queen of News. (8.7)

As expected, ‘The Queen of News’ is my highest rated TVB drama of 2023 while ‘Speakers of Law’ is my lowest rated. You may also look up for my individual review to each of these dramas by using the ‘search’ function in my blog page and key in the relevant drama’s title.

Here below are my personal selection of the best of TVB series in 2023 in 15 categories:

Best Drama : The Queen of News

(4 other finalists: The Invisibles, Secret Door, Narcotic Heroes, Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Best Leading Actor: Kenneth Ma (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: Ruco Chan – Secret Door, Owen Cheung – Unchained Medley, Edwin Siu – Narcotic Heroes, Moses Chan – Narcotic Heroes)

Best Leading Actress: Selena Lee (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: Charmaine Sheh – The Queen of News, Mandy Wong – Secret Door, Aimee Chan – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Sisley Choi – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Favourite TV Male Character: Owen Cheung (Unchained Medley)

(4 other finalists: Kenneth Ma – The Invisibles, Ruco Chan – Secret Door, Kalok Chow – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Matthew Ho – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Favourite TV Female Character: Charmaine Sheh (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: Selena Lee – The Queen of News, Katy Kung – Unchained Medley, Kelly Cheung – Narcotic Heroes, Sisley Choi – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Best Supporting Actor: Matthew Ho (Narcotic Heroes)

(4 other finalists: Hugo Ng – Secret Door, Joel Chan – The Queen of News, Max Cheung – Speakers of Law, Ram Chiang – Narcotic Heroes)

Best Supporting Actress: Elena Kong (The Invisibles)

(4 other finalists: Moon Lau – Secret Door, Joman Chiang – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Samantha Ko – The Queen of News, Regina Ho – The Queen of News)

Most Improved TV Male Artiste: Nicholas Yuen (The Invisibles, Secret Door, Unchained Medley)

(4 other finalists: Arnold Kwok – The Invisibles, Alex Yung – Speakers of Law, Mark Ma – Narcotic Heroes & The Queen of News, Ricco Ng – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Improved TV Female Artiste: Tiffany Lau (The Invisibles, Unchained Medley)

(4 other finalists: Regina Ho – Speakers of Law & The Queen of News, Bowie Cheung – Narcotic Heroes, Erica Chan – Let Me Take Your Pulse, Joman Chiang – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

Most Favourite Drama Theme Song: ‘Crystal Clear’ by Gigi Yim (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: ‘They Aren’t You’ by Shiga Lin for The Invisibles, ‘There is No Reason to Leave’ by James Ng for The Invisibles, ‘Blurred in Dream’ by Owen Cheung & Sherman Poon for Unchained Medley, ‘Will Not Say Goodbye’ by Vivian Koo for Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Favourite On-Screen Couple: Matthew Ho & Sisley Choi (Let Me Take Your Pulse)

(4 other finalists: Kenneth Ma & Natalie Tong – The Invisibles, Owen Cheung & Katy Kung – Unchained Medley, Edwin Siu & Kelly Cheung – Narcotic Heroes, Moses Chan & Aimee Chan – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

Most Favourite TV Villain: Hugo Ng (Secret Door)

(4 other finalists: Ruco Chan – The Invisibles, Max Cheung – Speakers of Law, Mandy Wong – Secret Door, Timothy Cheng – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

Best Technical & Production Design: Romeo and His Butterfly Lover

(4 other finalists: The Invisibles, Secret Door, Unchained Medley, Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Outstanding TV Veteran Artiste: Timothy Cheng (Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

(4 other finalists: Angelina Lo – Secret Door & Let Me Take Your Pulse, Mary Hon – Secret Door & Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Cheung Kwok Keung – Secret Door & Narcotic Heroes, Ram Chiang – Narcotic Heroes)

Outstanding Cast Ensemble: The Queen of News

(4 other finalists: The Invisibles, Secret Door, Narcotic Heroes, Let Me Take Your Pulse)

‘The Queen of News’ is the most celebrated drama with 6 honours including best series. It is very likely that this drama will snatch the most wins at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023 too (to be held in 14th January 2024). I will be going mad if it doesn’t win best drama.

Competition for best lead actor is very weak this year and out of intense scrutiny, Kenneth Ma prevailed from his performance in ‘The Queen of News’ (particularly from his emotional scene in the last episode). This is his second time winning this honour. Anyone could take this win at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023.

I was also very hesitant between Charmaine and Selena for best lead actress. They are both outstanding in ‘The Queen of News’ but finally I picked Selena as I find Charmaine had all the charisma and aura in the series but her character lacks a little depth/character’s development when compared to Selena’s character. This is also Selena’s second time winning this honour. I do hope that she could win best actress for the first time ever at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards but Charmaine is likely heading for her historic third win. How about a tie, TVB?

Anyway, if you are a fan of TVB series over the years, what are your picks and predictions for this year? Feel free to share your thought.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

As someone who seldom watch American TV series, I am quite surprised that their series are way shorter in number of episodes compared to Hong Kong TV series that I have been watching since my childhood. Anyway, I have just completed the full 10 episodes of ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’. The series follows members of the Monarch organization as they encounter Godzilla and other monsters called Titans, across a half century.

I came into the series with a bit of a wrong mindset. I am very much anticipating for monster fight scenes (only has one great one very briefly shown in the last episode) and the series ended up being mostly not about that. Godzilla only appeared for a few minutes in the entire series. I also couldn’t grasp the complicated plot unfortunately and hence couldn’t immerse myself into the storyline and characters’ development.

Anyway, I’m now looking forward to the next film in MonsterVerse franchise; Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. The movie is set to be released end of this March. Never gets enough of Godzilla. Haha…Also when will the ‘Godzilla Minus One’ be available on streaming platform?

In other news, the TVB Anniversary Awards 2023 is finally going to be held on evening tomorrow. ‘Most Popular TV Male and Female Character’ awards were removed this year and replaced with ‘Most Favourite Lead Actor and Actress in Greater Bay Area’. Malaysia also gets to continue to choose their own ‘Most Favourite Lead Actor and Actress’ (not anymore for Singapore audiences).

I have a feeling that for lead actor categories, TVB is going to distribute the awards evenly to different persons. It is also because there is no clear frontrunner this year. Hong Kong’s best actor would goes to Moses Chan (he last won it very long time ago back in 2007), Greater Bay’s favourite lead actor (same version as best actor) would be Kenneth Ma and Malaysia’s favourite lead actor would be Ruco Chan (due to his huge fanbase in Malaysia).

As for lead actress categories, hands down…it’s Charmaine Sheh. She is going to take all the three best actress trophies due to huge popularity of herself and the drama (The Queen of News) making it a historic night. However, I have a feeling that TVB may want to pull off something exciting for best actress race by awarding two persons for Hong Kong’s best actress trophy; Charmaine and Selena Lee (her co-star in ‘The Queen of News’). Selena deserved this award too from her excellent performance in that series and she should have won last time from her role in ‘Barrack o’Karma’. I do hope for a tie for the best actress. Let’s see how it will turn out tomorrow’s night.

Ending the post with two beautiful pictures I took from my weekly cycling last night at the same route going through Stadium, Bay East Garden, Marina Barrage, Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands Promenade;

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

TVB Anniversary Awards 2023, honouring the best of Hong Kong’s TVB series and programmes released last year (2023) was held a moment ago at Grand Lisboa Palace Resort, Macau. This is the first time the awards ceremony took place away from its usual location in TVB studio. The emcee for the evening is Karl Ting. The show originally scheduled to take 3 hours only but ended up overrun for additional half an hour.

Without further ado, here below are the list of winners in all categories except the non-series related ones along with my comments;

Best Supporting Actress: Samantha Ko (The Queen of News)

Opinion: Once the top 5 is revealed, I knew right away it would be Samantha as she is the most experienced among the 5 and her performance in ‘The Queen of News’ is quite good.

Best Supporting Actor: Jazz Lam (The Invisibles)

Opinion: Happy for Jazz to win too but my first choice is Matthew Ho as his mute role in ‘Narcotic Heroes’ is much harder to play and he put so much effort on it (and he nailed it).

Most Improved TV Male Artiste: Mark Ma

Opinion: My pick would be Nicholas Yuen but he isn’t even able to reach Top 5 surprisingly. But Mark Ma is ok.

Most Improved TV Female Artiste: Tiffany Lau

Opinion: Very much expected as she is currently heavily promoted by TVB.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite Series: The Invisibles

Opinion: Now, this is quite surprising. Didn’t expect ‘The Invisibles’ could triumph over ‘The Queen of News’. Something fishy here. I guess TVB doesn’t want all awards to go to one particular series and left many other artistes empty-handed. Anyway, ‘The Invisibles’ is still a good drama but certainly steps behind ‘The Queen of News’.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite Lead Actor: Kenneth Ma (The Queen of News)

Opinion: I thought this would goes to Ruco Chan since he has bigger fanbase in Malaysia. Anyway, happy for Kenneth to win.

Malaysia’s Most Favourite Lead Actress: Charmaine Sheh (The Queen of News)

Opinion: Expected. Her first win of the evening. More to come…

Greater Bay Area’s Most Favourite Series: The Queen of News

Opinion: Expected too as this series gotten huge popularity in mainland China as well.

Greater Bay Area’s Most Favourite Lead Actor: Bosco Wong (Dead Ringer)

Opinion: Oohh…now this outcome is something refreshing. Didn’t see Bosco on stage for a long time. Quite happy that he did although I didn’t watch ‘Dead Ringer’.

Greater Bay Area’s Most Favourite Lead Actress: Charmaine Sheh (The Queen of News)

Opinion: Second award for her in the evening. On the route to record breaking wins. She is so far ahead everyone else in her category.

Best TV Song: ‘Crystal Clear’ by Gigi Yim (The Queen of News)

Opinion: That’s my pick too. Very simple lyrics but beautiful melody and suits very well to the series.

Best Leading Actor: Moses Chan (Narcotic Heroes)

Opinion: Same with my prediction yesterday. As there is no clear frontrunner in this category this year, there’s a feeling that this will go to Moses as the last time he had won this was 16 years ago. Time for another one. My gut feeling was right.

Best Leading Actress: Charmaine Sheh (The Queen of News)

Opinion: Wow…Charmaine broke record by sweeping all three best actress awards for the evening. She also broke record as the actress with most Hong Kong best actress wins at 3 (previous win in 2006 and 2014). Congratulations to her. A bit pity for Selena Lee who also did extremely well in ‘The Queen of News’. Whenever she emerges strong that particular year, there is always another one who did well and is of higher status and won (remember 2019 when she was so phenomenal in ‘Barrack o’Karma’ but ended up only winning Most Popular Female Character (shared with Miriam Yeung) and that year’s best actress goes to Kara Hui).

Best Series: The Queen of News

Opinion: Expected and very much deserving. The only series that truly stood out last year. Impressive production. The series became the biggest winner of the ceremony after winning 8 awards.

That’s it. I think I’m the first one to publish the winners list of the just concluded TVB Anniversary Awards 2023 in English version. Haha…efficiency right there as I wrote this post while watching the whole show just now. Good night and have a great week ahead!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Managed to complete last few episodes of ‘Heir To The Throne’ last night before going to bed. Watched them right after I came back home from exploring the ‘I Light Singapore 2024’ artworks at Marina Bay (details of that in my previous post below). ‘Heir To The Throne’ (家族荣耀之继承者) is a 30-episode Hong Kong drama (by TVB) that revolves on fight for power in a wealthy Qiu family that traditionally favours sons over daughters. The series starred Charmaine Sheh, Raymond Lam, Him Law, Venus Wong, Gallen Lo, Benz Hui, Toby Leung, Raymond Wong, Hugo Ng, etc. Quite a star-studded cast there.

Besides than Hong Kong, the series was also partly filmed in Malaysia. I was particularly very familiar with some scenes that are shot in KL showing the city skyline. I do enjoy this kind of family drama with complicated relationships and scheming plots to take down each other for authority, wealth or even love. It’s also nice to see Charmaine Sheh and Raymond Lam collaborate in a drama again after around 10 freaking years. They have such good chemistry all the time on screen but too bad they didn’t end up being together at the end of this series (or are they?…)

No answer to that as the ending left viewers hanging with a lot of unanswered questions and open-ended conclusion. This is one of the main reasons that brought my rating down for this series. It started off pretty well but then the plot becomes too predictable. It was only Him Law’s character that is doing the evil work (I was expecting Charmaine’ character to being forced to turn cunning due to all the ‘attacks’ from Him Law but it didn’t happen). No major surprises as the plot progresses. I was also expecting Gallen to reconcile with Charmaine before his death caused by Him Law.

And then I hated the ending. Him Law was left unconscious on hospital bed, Raymond Lam came in to interrupt Charmaine and Raymond Wong’s wedding and the series ended right away, unknown whereabout of Benz Hui’s still missing wife, etc. What a shitty ending. Out of 10 points, I could only now rate ‘Heir To The Throne’ 7.2. It would have been around 8 if it’s not for the lousy ending.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

It’s the last day of October. For this year, we not only observe Halloween on this day but also Deepavali festival. Hence, I would like to take this opportunity to extend Happy Halloween greeting to all Christians and others who celebrate the festival! Hope you have fun from trick or treat or simply from getting spooked today! Next, I would like to wish Happy Deepavali to all Hindus. May this festival of light brings warm, joy and prosperity to your home and family.

My office organized a lovely event on yesterday’s afternoon in conjunction with these two festivals. There were lunch catering provided along with games and singing session. Although I was quite occupied with work, I do took some time to join in the fun. It is public holiday today but I still had to go back to office for a half day today to complete some tasks. A major submission is due on mid of November which is just around the corner.

I spent the rest of today finishing the last 5 episodes of this recent Hong Kong series titled ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ (黑色月光). This 25-episode series revolves on a woman plotting to take revenge against the people who were involved in the rape of her and her younger sisters 18 years ago. The series starred Tavia Yeung, Vincent Wong, Rosina Lin, Priscilla Wong, Edward Ma, Lenna Yeung, Mat Yeung, Matthew Ho, etc.

I do enjoy this kind of storyline of taking revenge and it provides a platform for chilling scenes and excellent acting. This drama delivers in that aspect. Tavia Yeung nailed this role as the lead character plotting the revenge with impressive performance especially through her intense eyes’ expressions. Besides her, I’m also seeing improvement in Rosina Lin’s acting. Both of them have good chance for second best actress win at this year’s TVB Anniversary Awards. I’m placing my bet more on Tavia. Solid acting by her sisters in this series too, portrayed by Lenna Yeung (who in real life is Tavia’s elder sister) and Priscilla Wong.

Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ a total of 8.0. It’s my highest rated Hong Kong drama this year so far. A solid and engaging series. Spoiler alert…; The climax at the last episode where Tavia revealed to Rosina all the strategies the former had created successfully to bring the latter down was so satisfying to watch. The series concluded with a happy ending for the three sisters and also for the relationship between Vincent and Tavia. There is also an end-credit scene not to be missed at the last episode. This series done; the next series that I would be watching is ‘Rosy Business 4: No Return’.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Just realized that it’s already mid of November. This month has been quite tough with countless overtime work (without overtime pay!) and stress from dealing with toxic people in the office. To be honest, that’s something far worst to deal with than the work itself. My career definitely isn’t smooth in 2024 and I am hoping that things would get better next year.

Few days ago, I have completed another Hong Kong series and it’s time for a brief review here as usual. The drama is titled ‘No Return’ (巾帼枭雄之悬崖) and it is the 4th season of the popular ‘Rosy Business’ series that started way back in 2009. ‘No Return’ starred Wayne Lai, Nancy Wu, Edwin Siu, Hera Chan, Joey Law, etc. The story sets in Shanghai in the 1930s/1940s and revolves on an unexpected crossover between a competitive businesswoman (Nancy) who owns a bank and an unemployed middle-aged man (Wayne) who has talented mind in business.

Their business-oriented interactions soon develops into love after the various hardship they encountered including a man (Edwin) who came to take revenge against Nancy. Perhaps I have high expectation on the series and ended up being left quite disappointed after watching the whole series (25 episodes in total). Chemistry between Wayne and Nancy was there but I do enjoy Wayne-Sheren (the actress who took the female lead in the first 2 seasons) pairing more. The plot wasn’t exciting and I felt that the last two episodes after death of Edwin (the main villain) were just pointless and unnecessary. The scriptwriter seems to force themselves to try to end it at 25 episodes.

I was expecting much more from Edwin’s character but nope…poor writing to his character that actually has potential. On the other hand, it is so obvious that TVB is heavily promoting Hera Chan as the young actress to look out for but her acting is still way not aligned to the important roles that she have been given recently including this one. In summary, the standard for this 4th season dropped quite significantly. The first season was the best and an instant classic. The second season was solid too. The third season was starting to get bad as I heard (I didn’t watch that season). And now, the 4th season and it was just average at best. I would rate ‘No Return’ only 6.8 out of 10.

Nancy Wu has a shot for best actress at the coming TVB Anniversary Awards which is usually held on early January. However, Tavia still has the better chance of clinching the title with better performance in ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ which is also a better series overall in my opinion. By the way, it will be TVB’s 57th anniversary gala/celebration on this coming Tuesday.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

My pastime of watching Hong Kong’s TVB series continues this year. I have been a fan of TVB dramas since when I was a teenager and catching up with a new episode on every weekday’s evening has been a norm for me for many years. In 2024, I have watched a total of 9 TVB series (one more compared to last year). You can see the list below along with the ratings allocated after my assessment;

• The Airport Diary. (5.8)
• Sinister Beings 2. (7.5)
• Heir To The Throne. (7.2)
• Broken Trust. (6.1)
• No Room For Crime. (7.4)
• Big Biz Duel. (6.9)
• Dark Side Of The Moon. (8.0)
• No Return. (6.8)
• Call Of Destiny. (7.3)

Here comes the section where I shared my personal selection of the best for TVB series in 2024 (limited only to the dramas that I have watched). There are 15 categories as per usual;

Outstanding Cast Ensemble: Heir To The Throne

(Runner-ups: Sinister Beings 2, Call Of Destiny, Big Biz Duel, Dark Side Of The Moon)

Outstanding TV Veteran Artiste: David Chiang (Big Biz Duel)

(Runner-ups: Kent Cheng – Broken Trust, Samuel Kwok – Dark Side Of The Moon, Mimi Kung – Call Of Destiny, Gallen Lo – Heir To The Throne)

Outstanding Technical Achievement: Dark Side Of The Moon

(Runner-ups: Heir To The Throne, Sinister Beings 2, No Room For Crime, Big Biz Duel)

Most Favourite TV Villain: Rosina Lin (Dark Side Of The Moon)

(Runner-ups: Alex Fong – Sinister Beings 2, Him Law – Heir To The Throne, Edwin Siu – No Return, Benjamin Yuen – No Room For Crime)

Most Favourite TV Couple: Raymond Lam & Charmaine Sheh (Heir To The Throne)

(Runner-ups: Ruco Chan & Rosina Lin – Sinister Beings 2, Carlos Chan & Hera Chan – Call Of Destiny, Owen Cheung & Elaine Yiu – No Room For Crime, Vincent Wong & Tavia Yeung – Dark Side Of The Moon)

Most Favourite TV Theme Song: ‘Still 3000 Of Us’ by Raymond Lam (Heir To The Throne)

(Runner-ups: ‘Erased Timeline’ by Feanna Wong – Heir To The Throne, ‘Regret For A Thousand Year’ by Ruco Chan – Sinister Beings 2, ‘Missed And Realized Again’ by Gigi Yim – Sinister Beings 2, ‘Dark Moon’ by Joey Thye – Dark Side Of The Moon)

Most Improved TV Female Artiste: Kelly Fu (Broken Trust, No Room For Crime)

(Runner-ups: Venus Wong – Heir To The Throne, Hera Chan – Call Of Destiny & No Return, Yuki Law – Broken Trust & Call Of Destiny, Rebecca Zhu – No Room For Crime)

Most Improved TV Male Artiste: Nicholas Yuen (Call Of Destiny)

(Runner-ups: Archie Sin – Broken Trust, Felix Ng – Broken Trust & Big Biz Duel, Adrien Yau – No Room For Crime, Edward Ma – Dark Side Of The Moon)

Best Actress In A Supporting Role: Priscilla Wong (Dark Side Of The Moon)

(Runner-ups: Moon Lau – Sinister Beings 2, Lenna Yeung – Dark Side Of The Moon, Toby Leung – Heir To The Throne, Kelly Fu – Broken Trust)

Best Actor In A Supporting Role: Nicholas Yuen (Call Of Destiny)

(Runner-ups: Ben Wong – Sinister Beings 2, Him Law – Heir To The Throne, Jonathan Cheung – No Room For Crime, David Chiang – Big Biz Duel)

Most Favourite TV Female Character: Charmaine Sheh (Heir To The Throne)

(Runner-ups: Rosina Lin – Sinister Beings 2, Tavia Yeung – Dark Side Of The Moon, Rebecca Zhu – No Room For Crime, Kelly Cheung – Big Biz Duel)

Most Favourite TV Male Character: Alex Fong (Sinister Beings 2)

(Runner-ups: Carlos Chan – Call Of Destiny, Raymond Lam – Heir To The Throne, Benjamin Yuen – No Room For Crime, Vincent Wong – Dark Side Of The Moon)

Best Actress In A Leading Role: Tavia Yeung (Dark Side Of The Moon)

(Runner-ups: Rosina Lin – Dark Side Of The Moon, Charmaine Sheh – Heir To The Throne, Elaine Yiu – No Room For Crime, Nancy Wu – No Return)

Best Actor In A Leading Role: Ruco Chan (Sinister Beings 2)

(Runner-ups: Shaun Tam – Big Biz Duel, Raymond Lam – Heir To The Throne, Vincent Wong – Dark Side Of The Moon, Joel Chan – No Room For Crime)

Best TV Series: Dark Side Of The Moon

(Runner-ups: Sinister Beings 2, Heir To The Throne, No Room For Crime, Call Of Destiny)

‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ received the biggest distinction with 5 honours including for the best TV series. It was my highest rated TVB drama of the year and I’m looking forward to see similar success is being replicated for this drama at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards to be held on 19th January 2025. Special mention to Nicholas Yuen for 2 honours from his outstanding performance in ‘Call Of Destiny’. If you are one of the TVB fans, you are most welcomed to share your thought on my list above.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

TVB Anniversary Awards 2024, honouring the best of TVB series and programmes released in 2024, took place yesterday (19th January 2025) at Macau. The awards ceremony which commenced at 8pm overran by a huge amount of time and only concluded when it was almost 12am. The entire ceremony took nearly 4 hours with a lot of time unnecessarily spent on constant advertisements, repetitive acceptance speeches (thanking the same group of people over and over again), and some awkward interactions among the award presenters.

TVB managed to invite a lot of heavyweight celebrities this year to present awards such as Donnie Yen, Gallen Lo, Simon Yam, etc. I’m afraid this is the only compliment I have for the ceremony this year. The important role of the ceremony host is taken up by a junior female artiste and her shrieking voice is almost unbearable to me. Giving opportunity to juniors is good but it shall start with smaller programs for them to learn and improve rather than immediately start with huge show like this. She is too inexperienced or young for this.

The result? I’m terribly upset and shocked. The result made me felt that the awards are possibly rigged or altered! It was obvious that TVB wanted to desperately acknowledge those younger or loyal actors/actresses who have not win before and remain close to the station despite them not giving the best performances last year. David Chiang who is earlier a hot favourite for best supporting actor ended up not even being shortlisted into the top 5. What a joke! King Lam who had a very plain and unpopular role in ‘No Room For Crime’ is my last pick of the top 5. He ended up winning. Huh! Even he himself was surprised when his name is called out.

Best lead actress goes to Katy Kung for her performance in ‘Big Biz Duel’. My goodness. The ladies who gave out the best performances last year are Tavia Yeung and Rosina Lam from ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’. No question about that. Even Yoyo Mung gave a better performance. Katy needed a few more years and a few more good roles to be truly deserving of this prestigious award. Rosina Lam went to the ceremony with extravagant dress and with huge hype and support behind her, but ended up returning home empty handed. She must be very disappointed. Tavia, on the other hand, at least won an award for the evening which is the Most Favourite Lead Actress from Greater Bay region.

Owen Cheung took best actor from his performance in ‘No Room For Crime’. Another disappointing outcome. He is nowhere near my mind for the recipient of this award as his performance in that drama was just average. This drama also won Best TV Series, the final award of the evening. It was one of my top 5 series last year but certainly not the best. My pick remains to be ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’. ‘No Room For Crime’ was the biggest winner surprisingly after taking home many top awards. It doesn’t deserve that many. On the other hand, the race for best supporting actress was very competitive. My own preferences were Griselda Yeung or Priscilla Wong and they were both earlier considered hot favourites too. Surprise again!; Kelly Fu ended up taking the supporting actress.

The only outcome that I’m truly happy for was seeing Nicholas Yuen taking home the ‘Most Improved TV Male Artiste’ of which he truly deserves it after all the hard work and excellent performances he delivered last year (especially from his role in ‘Call Of Destiny’). In short, terrible result this year. Many disagreed with most of the result of the ceremony and left negative comments in TVB’s social media posts in regards to the awards. I shared similar sentiment with majority of them. You can see most of the general public disagreed and TVB still have the face to inform that the result is transparent and fair. To be honest, this was one of the shittiest results ever. That’s the remark I can give to you, TVB.

Here is the list of the awards handed out yesterday’s evening (I only shared the ones that are series-related) for your information and comment if any;

My Favourite TVB Series (Greater Bay Area): Dark Side Of The Moon
My Favourite TVB Lead Actor (Greater Bay Area): Kenneth Ma (The Airport Diary)
My Favourite TVB Lead Actress (Greater Bay Area): Tavia Yeung (Dark Side Of The Moon)

Most Improved TV Male Artiste: Nicholas Yuen
Most Improved TV Female Artiste: Hera Chan

Best Supporting Actress: Kelly Fu (No Room For Crime)
Best Supporting Actor: King Lam (No Room For Crime)

Most Popular Drama Theme Song: ‘This Home’ by Chantel Yiu for ‘Come Home Love: Lo And Behold’

My Favourite TVB Series (Malaysia): Big Biz Duel
My Favourite TVB Lead Actor (Malaysia): Owen Cheung (No Room For Crime)
My Favourite TVB Lead Actress (Malaysia): Kelly Cheung (Big Biz Duel)

Best Lead Actor: Owen Cheung (No Room For Crime)
Best Lead Actress: Katy Kung (Big Biz Duel)
Best TVB Series: No Room For Crime

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

The first month of 2025 is ending soon and I have completed watching my first TVB series of the year. This Hong Kong drama is called ‘Battle of Marriage’ and starred Edwin Siu, Jinny Ng, Winki Lai, Brian Chu, Eric Tang, etc. This 20-episode romance comedy series revolves on a successful actor who tried hard to juggle between living with his wife who have returned from Canada after several years and his mistress who lives just a floor below.

To be honest, the drama is quite entertaining to watch if you don’t put any high expectation of it which is common for any TVB series that is released in early part of the year. Edwin Siu is a solid actor and he is seriously in need of a breakout role for him to clinch the best actor some day. Too bad this role isn’t one but the truth is, it is not easy to portray a comedic role convincingly too. Both Jinny and Winki also gave out good performances and it is quite refreshing to see the two of them on screen.

The plot get bored at times but did went heated up as it should near the end when Edwin finally had to decide the way out of the love triangle that made all three of them suffer. A cameo appearance by Owen Cheung with a little interaction with Winki that referenced back to their previously collaborated series is a nice add-in in the final episode. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Battle of Marriage’ 7.3.

Moving on to the second topic now. The nomination list for the 97th Academy Awards (Oscars) was finally announced recently after a bit of delay due to the LA wildfires. ‘Emilia Perez’, a French musical film led the list with 13 nominations, followed by ‘The Brutalist’ and ‘Wicked’ of which each received 10 nominations. These 3 films made it into the 10 titles vying for the best picture, alongside ‘The Substance’, ‘A Complete Unknown’, ‘Conclave’, ‘Anora’, ‘Dune: Part Two’, ‘Nickel Boys’ and ‘I’m Still Here’.

So many ‘nominees to be determined’. Haha…It seems that details are not finalized and a lot of paper works need to be done. Out of these 10, I have so far only watched 3 of them (‘The Substance’, ‘Dune: Part Two’ and ‘Wicked’). I’m looking forward to watch ‘A Complete Unknown’ and ‘The Brutalist’ once they are available. As I am not that immersed into Oscar-bait movies last year, I don’t have much preference on my choice out of the nominees this year. Anyway, the 97th Academy Awards will be held on 2nd March 2025. 3 more years and the Oscars will be entering the historic centenary celebration.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)