Wednesday, 30 December 2015

"Accidentally in Love" - a Fearless Duo 1984 MV

The first bickering between Lam Chor Yin (Barbara Yung) and Szeto Man Mo (Michael Miu), FD ep 1

Okay folks, the last Michael/Barbara MV before the New Year. "Accidentally in Love" for Fearless Duo this time. Music is "Accidentally in Love" by Counting Crows. As per usual, TVB owns Fearless Duo and I intend for no copyright infringement with this MV. I only upload it in Vimeo for I use a Western music, hence Dailymotion might delete it. Hence, check the MV below the bar. 

For now, have a Happy New Year, and may 2016 be more prosperous, healthy, loving and peaceful for us all... Thanks again for the visits and support!


Tuesday, 29 December 2015

"The Moon Represents My Heart" - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 MV

About two months ago, after listening to "The Moon Represents My Heart" sung beautifully by the late Teresa Teng, I wanted to make an MV of Chor Lau Heung and Song Siu Ching using this song. But somehow I wanted the singer to be a male, for I wanted it to represent Chor tai-gor’s feelings to Siu Ching. After all, our wanderer was a total helpless in expressing his thoughts! Then I came across Leslie Cheung’s version on this YouTube video. I fell in love with his beautiful rendition. However, that version was too live for the MV I wanted to make. After an easy searching in iTunes, I struck gold by finding another version sung by Leslie in his two albums (“I Am What I Am” and “Forever Leslie”). After a very painstaking process of converting the MP4 protected file, I finally gave up and searched online for any mp3 version uploaded by any kind soul. I struck gold again with this site. Hence, this MV.


   
"The Moon Represents My Heart" - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 MV from Icha74 on Vimeo.


Monday, 28 December 2015

"Jealousy" - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 MV

I have been listening to Queen for the last few days, and two songs stuck in my head. The first song is Crazy Little Thing Called Love, which I plan to make an MV for Fearless Duo, hopefully this week. The second song is Jealousy, and I'm using it for this MV below. Story: Chor Lau Heung was jealous with Fell Cut because Song Siu Ching took care of the assassin and spent a lot of time with the latter. His jealousy was totally unfounded because Siu Ching was just sympathising with Fell Cut's plight, but Chor tai-gor didn't know this by the time he found her. "The New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung 1984" is the property of TVB Hong Kong. Music is Queen's Jealousy. I uploaded the MV to both  Dailymotion and Vimeo; both are embedded below. I hope the MV stays and you like it. 

Edit 29 Dec15: Dailymotion blocked it (palm/face). Have tried Veoh but still having some technical problems. Will post it here once I have Veoh online. For now, just check the Vimeo embedded below the break.


"Jealousy" - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 MV by icha74



Sunday, 27 December 2015

"Storm" - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 fighting scenes MV

I've always wanted to make a Chor Lau Heung MV containing the fighting scenes in the series, cos they're just pure gold! But I just got the hang of Windows Movie Maker like last week, hence the project never materialised until just now. I am pretty happy with the result, so I hope you are too. The music is "Storm" from my favourite Japanese shamisen-playing Yoshida Brothers, which is one of my favourite Yoshida music/songs actually (they have a lot!). Enjoy!

 
Chor Lau Heung 1984 fighting scenes from Icha74 on Vimeo.

And here's the Dailymotion streaming:

Friday, 25 December 2015

"You're beautiful" - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 MV

Chor tai-gor doubting himself, Ep 27

Merry Christmas everyone, may Peace, Love and Health be upon us! Thanks to MB and/or CLH fans and/or Fearless Duo fans and/or the Foundation fans for keep returning to my blog; you guys are amazing!

Here's another CLH 1984 MV for you guys (or ladies?). Chor Lau Heung pondering about his love to Princess Wing Ching (aka Song Siu Ching) and how he is just not good enough for her. From "The Adventures of Chor Lau Heung" 1984, copyright by TVB Hong Kong. Music "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt. Video is under the break for stats purposes. I understand that it might feel weird to have a Chinese MV with English music, but I find James Blunt's song really befits Chor tai-gor's feelings and self-doubts (tho they wouldn't have a subway back in the Ming Dynasty!), so I just decided to use the song. Hope you like it.


I uploaded the video to Vimeo cos Dailymotion blocks it. I didn't even bother trying YouTube cos my CLH videos have been blocked several times...

Wednesday, 23 December 2015

“Alone Up the West Chamber” – a Chor Lau Heung 1984 MV


"Alone Up the West Chamber" Chor Lau Heung 1984 MV (Du Shang Xi Lou with Pinyin) from Icha74 on Vimeo.




Since I listened to Teresa Teng’s rendition of Li Yu’s “Du Shang Xi Lou” (“Alone Up the West Chamber”), I’ve always wanted to make this MV. I just finished it, and I hope it touches many MB/CLH fans. The story is about Song Siu Ching reminiscing on her love story with Chor Lau Heung after he took her hairpin and left her in the Palace. I found the theme of Du Shang Xi Lou befitting her loneliness upon Chor tai-gor’s departure.

Du Shang Xi Lou is part of Li Yu’s poem titled "Grief" (哀思 ai si), which in itself is the segment of "Happy reunion" (相見歡 xiang jian huan). The late, angelic Teresa sang Du Shang Xi Lou as part of her Dandan Youqing (Light Exquisite Feeling) album.  If you’re a fan of Teresa Teng, or just found out about her angelic voice, you should listen to this album.

The original lyric is from this site, while the English translation is from HKships4TeresaTeng2’s YouTube video of Dandan Youqing (Light Exquisite Feeling). The Pinyin lyrics are combined from the two sites. The English translation is below the break. Click here for my previous fanfiction on this theme. 


Thursday, 10 December 2015

"Yearning Lady Playing the Zither" - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 fanfiction

A scene from Ep 27 where Song Siu Ching played the zither after stomping out of a conversation with Chor Lau Heung, and said wandered was forlornly listening to the melody, plus the hypothetical scene afterwards. Watch it with the scene below for better effects. As usual, the fanfiction is dedicated to Michael Miu and Barbara Yung. I don’t own any of the characters; Gu Long and TVB Hong Kong do.



Yearning Lady Playing the Zither

It had been a while since he heard music flowing from the zither chamber inside the boat, such that Chor Lau Heung felt as if it was his adopted sister Sung Tim Yi who was playing right now. Yet, of course the wanderer knew better. Tim Yi, So Yung Yung, Li Hung Chao and Wah Jan Jan were kidnapped a while ago, and he hadn't been able to trace their whereabouts.

Nay, the fingers that danced through the zither strings right now weren't Tim Yi's. They were Siu Ching's, the girl who had been haunting his mind as of late. Give and take the last few months since he met her that very fine afternoon in an inn, which seemed like a life time ago. Slowly walking the Fragrant Boat deck, Lingering Fragrance sighed and caressed a strand of his own hair. Song Siu Ching didn't have Tim Yi's excellence in music, but the former was surprisingly good with the zither. Lau Heung never heard Siu Ching playing a musical instrument before, so he was a bit surprised to learn that she was a good player. He shouldn't really be surprised though, the girl would have taken some meaningful musical lessons back at the palace, given that she was actually Princess Wing Ching, the only princess the empire had. Yet, despite the crystal clear notes she played, Lingering Fragrance detected an unmistakable yearning, longing, infused in the melody.

Monday, 7 December 2015

"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...


Saturday, 5 December 2015

The Promises (CLH eps 20 & 32 screen shots)

SC just wanted CLH to treat her as he used to do, Ep 20

I miss Chor Lau Heung and Song Siu Ching... hence despite my sleepiness, I want to post the following screen shots from episodes 20 and 32. Episode 20 screen shots portray Chor tai-gor's initial hesitance in having a relationship with Siu Ching after he learned that she was the Princess. Ep 20 and 32 screen shots portray Siu Ching's promise to Chor Lau Heung; that she just wanted to be with him, to spend her life with him, and she was ready to cast aside her title and rank for him. Of course when in Ep 40 she later forgot her promise and wanted him to stay with her in the palace instead, he was disappointed (see these screen shots for the latter scene in Ep 40). The shots also showed how CLH took marriage seriously, hence his initial reluctance in trying out the relationship with the Princess, because he really actually wanted it to work, and he originally didn't have faith in their relationship. Ep 32 was very important in the CLH/SSC saga because it was here when Chor tai-gor truly promised that he'd take Siu Ching with him (presumably to be his wife) in his wandering adventures.

Sunday, 29 November 2015

The Foundation 1984: My impressions

One of my favourite scenes: Li Sai Man trying to kiss Sik Sik (Ep 4)

I thought I should write a post about what I think of The Foundation 1984 (决战玄武门) after watching it two weeks ago. A month ago, I found that I could obtain the series in Mandarin and Cantonese subs and Indonesian subtitles. It seems the excellent subtitles was done by fans, and it reflects how fans could actually do wonders with their dedication. I was relieved to receive the DVDs and dreaded it at the same time. I dreaded watching the series for fear of a broken heart, but I couldn’t help it. In the end, I am glad I forced myself to watch it; at least now I can rest the case.

The story line itself; don't buy it as the definitive chronicles of Li Sai Man or Emperor Taizong. Reports had it that Li Sai Man indeed killed his brothers, but there was never a record of him loving a peasant girl and killed her for the throne. It was true though that Li Sai Man was a good emperor, if not THE best, of the ancient China.


Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Timeline of Chor Lau Heung 1984

Wu Tit Fa gave some paper money to have CLH 'killed', Ep 8

I’ve been thinking about the timeline of Chor Lau Heung. Since I couldn’t find any info on the net (well, the English version at least), I just gathered some facts from the series and (ahem) Wikipedia and deducted that Chor Lau Heung’s time frame was in the early to middle Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Here’s how I came to the conclusion.

One of the most prominent sects in the CLH saga was the Wutang Clan. This clan wasn’t established until the Yuan Dynasty (per Louis Cha’s Dragon Sword and Heaven Sabre 1961). Also, the Province of Yunnan where Song Siu Ching and the Emperor escaped to wasn’t created until 1274 during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). Previously, Yunnan was called the Dali Kingdom. Hence, the setting should be during the Ming Dynasty that ruled the Mainland after the Yuan Dynasty.

Sunday, 22 November 2015

‘The Days of Happy Laughters’ – the Foundation 1984 happy OST

The Foundation 1984 has three main tracks, all sung by Michelle Pau. The opening and end credits are sad, but the third one has a very happy note. It was played during the first real date between Li Sai Man (Michael Miu) and Chun Sik Sik (Barbara Yung) in Episode 4. I said “the first real date” because by this time, Sai Man no longer pretended that he was a jerk just to evade his brother’s spies. It was like, “Screw this. I’m dating her and I will just cherish her presence and make her laugh!”  Hence the song and the scene, which I successfully uploaded to YouTube (TVB, please don’t tell me to delete it later, it’s only 2.5 minutes anyway...). Edit: TVB blocked it, so I moved it to Dailymotion. If it's blocked again, I will just post the video on my public Dropbox domain... (Jeepers, I'm not even trying to sell anything here!)


Michelle Pau The Foundation 1984 "The Days of... by icha74


The original lyrics are found at Musixmatch and SPCNET (the Musixmatch missed the last line). The English translation is also provided in the second version of the video. The song is a happy one indeed. It shows how Li Sai Man truly loved  Sik Sik and just wanted to make her happy...


Sai Man trying to kiss the blushing Sik Sik, Ep 4


Karmic Connections: a Michael/Barbara wuxia fanfiction

My attempt to bridge the four main MB wuxia stories together.  It started at the end of Ep 20 of Fearless Duo when Lam Chor Yin accidentally broke the jar that contained Szeto Man Mo’s soul. The Foundation 1984, the Legend of Condor Heroes 1983, Chor Lau Heung 1984 and Fearless Duo 1984 and their characters are the properties of TVB Hong Kong. This fanfiction is dedicated to Michael Miu and Barbara Yung. Contains plentiful reincarnation viewpoints. Not everyone's cup of tea, but it works for me to mend my broken heart for what Li Sai Man did to Chun Sik Sik. Check this for the accompanying MV.

The four Michael Miu/Barbara Yung wuxia that I string here


Karmic Connections 

 On an autumn night, their reunion darkens all love scenes
Moments of their reunion surpass joy on earth
So sad to part each other
Eternal love shall withstand the time apart




The ceramic jar broke and the white butterfly escaped. Lam Chor Yin made a small, disappointed gasp as she saw the butterfly flying away out of sight. In panic, she scanned the room to find the butterfly's whereabouts to no avail. The Supreme Master, the person who opened the door and hence bumped into her and caused her to drop the jar, entered the hall to find the Young Madam Szeto looking around the room like a mad woman before finally slumping down on the floor and wallowing in sorrow. Despite his own heartbreak to learn that the butterfly that contained Szeto Man Mo's soul had escaped, Supreme Master did his best to console Chor Yin. They had to find the butterfly again soon if they want to successfully install Man Mo's soul back into his body, and he needed Chor Yin to pull herself together to speed up the search process. 

Friday, 20 November 2015

CLH 1984 ep 40 screen shots: the final boat scene

Chor Lau Heung (Michael Miu) and Song Siu Ching (Barbara Yung), final scene, Ep 40

I still want to finish capturing some scenes from The Foundation 1984, but since it's so sad, I'm taking a break for a few days. Since I have been wanting to do screen shots for the last scene of Chor Lau Heung 1984, I figure out that this would be a good, happy break from the Foundation. This post is best read after reading/watching the screen caps of the previous CLH/SC scene, i.e. the garden scene (click here). The boat scene that I refer to here started after Chor tai-gor realised that he didn't hear any commotion outside, though he had asked So Yung Yung, Li Hung Chao and Sung Tim Yi to prepare the boat for sailing. 





Monday, 16 November 2015

The Foundation 1984 recap eps 10-12 (end)

Sik Sik taking care of the injured Sai Man, Ep 11

Below is the recap of the Foundation 1984 episodes 10-12. I’d like to thank the Kaypang Gallery for providing the Cantonese ver with excellent Indonesian subtitles for this series (the DVDs can be purchased here). You can also watch the Cantonese ver from Tudou. The spellings of the main characters are in Cantonese. Spellings of other characters in Mandarin pinyin. I sourced many spellings from the Wikipedia entry of Li Shimin and its associated links. Needless to say, the post contains spoilers, so you are forewarned...

Ep 10: Kong Fung took Sik Sik to the beach, where she later told him that it was the very place Li Sai Man usually took her to when he wanted to cheer her up. She then told Kong Fung that Sai Man actually knew that she met KF on the beach that day. Kong Fung then realised that it was all Li Sai Man's play, that he actually just wanted to get KF's support to overthrow his brothers. Kong Fung then visited Sai Man and confronted him about his play. He said that Chun Sik Sik was a fine lady and Li Sai Man should treasure and cherish her. On the matter of assisting the 2nd Prince, Kong Fung still firmly said that HTM wouldn't intervene with Royal affairs. Later, Li Sai Man walked down the beach and found Sik Sik there. He whispered her name, she heard him and tensed slightly. He approached her. She turned and calmly commented that he looked thinner. He replied that she was thinner too. She melted into his embrace.