'A Thousand Dreams of You' - an UWS 1984 MV

Well, Tung Pang-fei must be happy now, for I have actually become a night-owl just to work on this United We Stand MV! Since I watched UWS last Oct-Nov, I have always wanted to make a noir MV, or at least an MV with the 1930s feelings. I love the fact that Michael and Barbara starred in a series set in a transition period like the 30s, where it's not wuxia anymore but certainly it is not a modern drama yet. Thus, for UWS, it has to be a 1930-1940 jazzy song as well. I sleuthed iTunes and YouTube for days until I came across Leslie Cheung's beautiful 'A Thousand Dreams of You'. Then, as I listened to that song, I realised that this is the perfect song for Michael and Barbara in UWS. And TBH, who can resist Leslie's deep beautiful voice?!

Oh, and Happy New Year, everyone! Let's hope for a more peaceful, healthier and happier 2017 for all... Blessings for you, and thank you so much for being with me throughout the year!

The song was written in 1937 by Fats Waller, but I daresay that Leslie Cheung definitely made this song popular. The Vimeo, Dailymotion and the second YouTube version (the total noir version) links are now here below.

Old photos of Michael Miu and Barbara Yung

My new favourite: MB singing (during a tour in Malaysia Singapore)

Hannah had given me a beautiful Christmas present yesterday by sending me her old collection of photos of Michael and Barbara. She also sent me photos of Barbara alone, Barbara with Kent, and Barbara with friends (including with Felix Wong, Maggie Cheung Man Yi and Andy Lau). I was very touched with the old photos of Michael and Barbara... the photos showed how close they were, how happy they were, that I can't wait till New Year to post them. Thus, my dearest readers, these are the old photos of Michael and Barbara, some of them very hard to find in the cyberspace. 

I will post other photos in due course. Thanks a lot, Hannah! Enjoy! 

Runaway Dragon and Missing Phoenix part 5 (prelude to deleted scene)

Belated Merry Christmas, guys! Sorry that I couldn’t post this last weekend, but Christmas has been busy for me… This instalment is the prelude to the deleted scene of Runaway Dragon and Missing Phoenix part 5. Contains a link to the real deleted scene…

Source 

He didn't mean to wake her up, but she stirred in her sleep as his fingers caressed her pure face.

"Sai Man..." she whispered his name even before she opened her eyes. Then, as she realised he was indeed in front of her, she grabbed his hand and pressed it to her face. "It's you! Tien, it's you..."

"It's me... it's me, Sik Sik..."

"I heard your proposal was accepted. Congratulations..." When he smiled to acknowledge her, she added, "It must feel so good now..."

Conflict of Interests

In which the authoress is overwhelmed by requests from her fictional (and non-fictional) characters...

Source

Chor Lau Heung: So... I heard, well, read that you're into Li Sai Man these days.

Me: Correct. And Chun Sik Sik. Why?

CLH (snuffing his snuff bottle): Don't you know he's a murderer? Like, he actually killed his girlfriend!

Li Sai Man: What, you're jealous? At least the deleted scene fics of mine and Sik Sik got hundreds of reads!

CLH: You're still a murderer!

Runaway Dragon and Missing Phoenix part 5

On rescuing Chun Sik Sik, which almost took a village…of sort. I've made a label for this fan fiction series here. This is not the last instalment, but I hope the next chapter will be.

Seems perfect for a protective Li Sai Man and the pregnant Sik Sik (source)

Li Sai Man never thought of killing his brothers. That is, until one of them appeared unannounced in his estate the morning after Chun Sik Sik was kidnapped, and said brother didn't even bother to hide the indications that he was involved in the kidnapping.

Well, of course Li Yuen Gat didn't admit his involvement, but the way he asked where Li Sai Man's wife was (with the pretext to pay his respect to his pregnant sister-in-law) was very suspicious. Despite him boiling inside, Sai Man decided to follow the game and told Yuen Gat that Sik Sik was under the weather, hence she couldn't come out and greet him. The Third Prince smirked, fanned himself, and said,

"Oh, how unfortunate. I hope she's getting better soon. We wouldn't want you to miss the Court meeting tomorrow afternoon because your wife is... indisposed."

Runaway Dragon and Missing Phoenix part 4

On Chun Sik Sik returning to Cheung’on and the escalating conflicts of the Li princes. Special thanks to Hannah for providing me excellent ideas that I now use in the early and latter parts of this chapter. A ‘deleted’ scene link is already here, scroll down below! Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, Part 3 is here.

-xxx-

Late Autumn, 625

Art by Ibuki Satsuki

Chun Sik Sik had only experienced two autumns in Fusu, but those two autumns had prepared her for the third autumn. She felt that she could tell whether the upcoming winter would be harsh or not based on the autumnal weather patterns. If this year's autumn continued like this, Fusu and its surrounding regions would experience another harsh winter.

Which begged another question: would Tang refugees come again to Fusu this autumn or winter? Li Sai Man's letters, faithfully written and dispatched regularly to her, described his endless fight in the Court to fix the system, but it might be years before the corrupt system was fixed. The last letter he had was almost three weeks ago, concerning a partial investigation team to address the village pilfering during last year's autumn. The lack of letter afterwards would have her worried, had a Fusu spy not informed her in front of King Yau that Li Sai Man had been busy with some court business, but he was safe and sound. Eventually, Sik Sik decided to trust Sai Man to Heaven. She couldn't afford to sleep in fear every night, that wouldn't do her good.

With these thoughts in mind, one late autumn night, after closing the veranda door that connected her private garden to her chamber in the Fusu Palace, Sik Sik changed into a white long inner garment and retired to bed. She was about to drift to sleep when she heard a rustling noise outside the veranda. She opened her eyes and stayed still but alert. The veranda was not accessible from the outside, hence anyone outside would need to jump from the roof into the garden first. At this late hour, anyone in that group would be classified as intruders. Had Sai Man's brothers tracked her whereabouts??

Barbara Yung's letters part 3: The Foundation 1984

Barbara Yung as Chun Sik Sik, 'The Foundation 1984' (credit in the image)

My apologies for the two weeks’ absent. Been doing very busy and productive trips with my amazing team back home. Anyway, I’m working on Part 4 of ‘Runaway Dragon and Missing Phoenix’, which I hope will be online this weekend. Meanwhile, these are two letters of Barbara’s she wrote in September 1983 and in October 1983 containing, among others, the Foundation 1984 series.

From the letters, I learned at least that she was considering either buying a house or investing in a small business (letter Sept’83), that she really cared about her extended family (particularly her mum) and friends, that Kent Tong also cared for her family (sending gifts, Sept’83), and that she liked puppies (letter Oct’83). The last bit somewhat fits the (sad) fact that there’s a little dog statue on her grave in Cambridge… she was apparently a dog lover…

I also learned about some internal problems with TVB (was that one of the reasons why Michael decided to leave TVB and the whole industry after Barbara’s death?). Barbara and Kent seemed to be in a good relationship during the Foundation making; they went to Singapore together afterwards.

What can you learn about her from these two letters, my dear readers?