Many Happy Returns!

Okay I'm SO going to make this!

“Chor tai-gor, long time no see!”

Chor Lau Heung nodded excitedly as he saw Szeto Man Mo walking into the garden pavilion with Lam Chor Yin, who was carrying a medium-sized colourful package. “Glad that you make it here, A Man,” Lingering Fragrance nodded to the couple, “ – considering your wife’s pregnancy.”

Chor Yin smiled as she caressed her enlarging stomach. “I’m fine. Plus, I can’t miss her birthday!”

“True,” A Man said as he took the package from his wife’s hand. “Where should we – Ah! Li tai-gor is here!”

Chor Lau Heung whipped his head to see Li Sai Man sauntering into the pavilion; one of his arms holding Chun Sik Sik tightly as if she’d run away if he didn’t do so.  It’s not a secret in their small group that Chor Lau Heung and Li Sai Man had an unspoken rivalry, hence Man Mo held his breath to see if the two dashing tai-haps can actually act civil this time.

Barbara Yung's letters part 4: UWS & FD 1984

The United We Stand ceremony (Mrs Lee Hung-kam was standing next to Barbara,
and Michael was slightly behind Barbara), from Rob's website

Apologies for the slow update. I just returned from a holiday last weekend and had to readjust to the hot weather here so I've been a bit sluggish. Happy Valentine's Day for you all, belatedly for those in Australasia and Europe, but still within the day for friends in the American continent. I've actually been writing a post for V-day, but I haven't finished it. Hence this post in lieu:  a letter from Barbara to her UK family, containing Fearless Duo 1984 and United We Stand 1984. 

In her only letter containing UWS and FD, Barbara also mentioned a 10 days tour with Michael on 15 May, a day after UWS was aired (and a year before her death...). Not sure where the tour was, was it in Malaysia or Singapore? I need to look into this later. Also we learn that Shela (Barbara's aunt now, now that Shela has married Barbara's uncle) had given birth to a baby (Andrew Chan). In June 1984, Barbara and Kent Tong went to UK to visit her family. Afterwards, directly she filmed Chor Lau Heung with Michael as described in her June 1984 letter (seems to be dated 22 June 1984). 

'He's a Man' - a United We Stand 1984 MV

He's a Man ('United We Stand' 1984 MV) from Icha74 on Vimeo.

The first post after New Year is again United We Stand, for Tung Pang-fei managed to make me squeeze in an MV for UWS while I should be working on another thing (namely, Chapter 6 of Runaway Dragon...). Anyway, he's a bit disappointed because the chosen song (Madonna's 'He's a Man' from Dick Tracy movie) was banned from YouTube, hence the YouTube video has no volume. But hey, I at least have tried!

The mute YouTube video and the lyrics are below the break. The Dailymotion MV has been banned, I think because of the Madonna music, not because of the TVB content. Sad face.

I still love this MV because, like the suspense 'The Detective' Chor Lau Heung MV, it provides a different nuance to the usual romantic MVs that I've produced so far.

Hope you like it!

'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.

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!

United We Stand (生繡橋王) summary of episodes 10-12

Too cute not to post upfront: Fei kissing Barbara's forehead (Ep 12)

This is the last three episodes of the United We Stand (Saan sau kiu wong). Watch it at Yueyuyy (complete, annoying ads) or Youku (patchy, not so many ads). Or buy it from YesAsia (free international shipping!); mine arrived in less than two weeks. Special thanks to Sandy for filling me in on some plot holes. Click here for all UWS episode guides.

Ep 19 Yueyuyy (officially Ep 10)

Episode 9 ended with Tung Pang-fei, Andy Tai and A Hoi joined forces to reveal Mr Ho’s illegal weapon trade. They were supported by A Leung and Mr Leung, as well as the Lam family. However, when A Fei et al just found the weapons, some thugs hired by Mr Ho came and defeated them. A Fei recognised the thugs, hence A Hoi thought A Fei betrayed them. After the thugs left, A Hoi almost hit the unconscious A Fei had Andy Tai not intervened. A Hoi returned home and reported A Fei’s ‘treachery’ but his family was all lukewarm about it (because they knew A Fei was in their team).

United We Stand (生繡橋王) summary of episodes 7-9

 

I'm dividing the last half of the United We Stand (Saan sau kiu wong) into two parts, for I might pepper the episodes with screen shots later. Watch it at Yueyuuu (complete, annoying ads) or Youku (incomplete, not so many ads). Or buy it from YesAsia (free international shipping!). Special thanks to Sandy for filling me in on some plot holes. The next installment will complete the series (Eps 10-12). Click here for all UWS episode guides.

Ep 13 Yueyuyy (Ep 7a Youku)

A Leung talked to Barbara, apologising and asking her about Tung Pang-fei. I think Barbara said that A Leung is A Leung, Fei is Fei. Anyway, A Leung went home disappointed. Fei met A Leung and, in a very stylish scene, gave A Leung a pistol to shoot him, but A Leung just shot something else to vent out his frustration. Later, Barbara was courted by a rich young guy (seems to be the son of Mr Ho’s business partner or something like that). Fei was not happy to learn that Barbara was going out with this Chiu guy, but Fei had to tag along as an escort for Barbara. Later, Chiu directly told Fei to just walk somewhere while he and Barbara had a chat, but Barbara told Chiu that Fei was her friend, so it was okay for him to sit with them.

United We Stand (生繡橋王) episode summary 1-6

I’ve had a mixed feeling about watching ‘United We Stand’ (Saan sau kiu wong 生繡橋王) since last year. Because, after watching it, basically that’s it. No more Michael/Barbara new series that I could watch. Not that the other ones were not good, but I do want more...

Anyway, the bad news is, I found NO English subtitle for UWS, which means that I either have to watch Cantonese raw or Mandarin raw. Thank God that Yueyuyy.com and Youku have the Cantonese version. Both sites are not perfect. Yueyuyy is sourced from Tudou and VideoGet, all episodes are listed, but some links are broken. Yueyuyy also has loads of annoying ads. Youku’s ads are less annoying, but it’s missing many important episodes.

The other option is buying the original DVD from YesAsia, which I’ve done last week. It’s expensive (USD 45), but it arrived in Australia in less than two weeks (Update 11 Nov'16: shipped on 3 Nov, arrived on 11 Nov) and the quality is very good, considering it is an 1984 production (remastered in 2015).

Since I’ve actually watched the entire Dik Ching 1986 Cantonese raw without subtitles and provided the episode summaries, I think providing summary for UWS should be doable as well. It won’t be perfect, I yearn for a sudden ability to understand Cantonese (just listening will do, no need for writing). However, until someone translates the UWS into English, this is the only English summary available on the web. At least, to my knowledge. I hope you like it. Input into the general storyline, Cantonese romanisation etc. is definitely welcomed. Click here for all UWS episode guides.

Barbara Yung's hair styles in her series

Today is Barbara Yung's 57th birthday. I almost missed it; I thought it would be tomorrow (8 May). Good thing I checked, otherwise I'd beat myself for missing it. 

I have three posts for Barbara and us her fans: her hairstyle (this post), an MV for her and a bit of LOCH 1983 Behind the Scenes with some Michael as Yeung Hong there. Let's see if I can post all before midnight, for it's less than 1.5 hours before midnight here in Australia. 

For the first post, I have some shots of her various hair styles, including the unused hair style from LOCH 1983. Which one do you like the best? 

"United We Stand" MV (Michael/Barbara)

I haven't found the rom-com United We Stand (生銹橋王, 1984) with English sub (or Indonesian sub) yet, so I haven't been able to watch the series. I mean, I can, I guess, view it through Youku, Tudou, Dailymotion or Veoh... but I wouldn't have a clue what Barbara and Michael were saying. But I found this lovely MV a while ago at Veoh and I remembered it today. 

The MV is below the break (gotta do that so I can track the stat for this post). It's a lovely MV with Barbara as Doh-wan, the well-behaved lady who was courted by Tung Pang-fei (Michael Miu). Babs also portrayed Doh-wan's tomboy twin (Pui-ying), hence I really want to see this series. But for now, the MV will do. Michael looked dashing as always (tho I find his immensely curly hair a bit unsettling, for I'm so used to his long flowing Han hair...). Barbara was so gorgeous and doll-like, it makes me root for her more...