天梯 The Last Steep Ascent: English Character Map

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I haven't watched the finale of King Maker yet, but I will be writing a review when I do!
*Edit: I have done so now, read it here.

Why I would like to see Nancy Wu lead Rosy Business 3!

I just thought I'd like to voice my opinion on the casting of Rosy Business 3...

As you probably know, TVB are producing RB3 in early 2013, and Lee Tim Sing has chosen Myolie Wu to be the female lead since they have been unable to recruit Sheren Tang. I don't think it's a bad choice: even though out of the top of my head, I don't they they match very well, I wouldn't know before I actually watch the series. And I trust the two persuade the audience to like them as a couple anyway, as to me, they are both great at their jobs and can portray all types of characters convincingly. 

However as the title of this post says, it would be awesome if they had cast Nancy Wu as the female lead instead! She was part of the cast in both Rosy Business and No Regrets, so the change of the female lead wouldn't be so out of the blue. She has already been paired with Wayne before in "Forensic Heroes 3" and they will have some sort of relationship line in the upcoming "The Confidant", so they'll already be compatible to some of the TVB audience. 

It's true that Nancy Wu has never lead a series before, but RB3 would be just the right drama to secure Nancy Wu as a leading fadan.  Having her pair up with an experienced actor like Wayne for her first leading series would also give her status that push to make it up there with those like Selena Li. 

I would trust Nancy to make a good job of leading this drama too, even if it's a big production. I've seen many people on forums and other blogs  hoping that Nancy Wu will be promoted soon, and she is such a great actress anyway! I consider her to have better acting chops than some actresses that are promoted much more such as Selena Li and Aimee Chan (I have a post here where I ranked 30 TVB actresses in terms of how much I felt they were promoted).

So there's my mini rant about why I would like Nancy Wu to lead this new series. I'm quite confused if it is supposed to be RB3, or it's just a new drama Lee Tim Sing is producing. He denies its production, now they say it is happening after all? Still, whether it is or not, I want Nancy Wu to be promoted! I really do think that if she does get to lead a series, Wayne Lai should be cast as her partner. Maybe it could be a male dominated drama just so Nancy gets some leading experience before she gets another leading role with more screen time.

Wishful thinking though, sadly it seems that TVB likes to keep Nancy under-promoted. What are your thoughts?

7 of my favourite TVB theme songs

Following my post on 8 english songs used by TVB that I liked, I thought I'd do a post on the TVB theme songs that I liked too!

I was only going to do my 5 favourite songs, but it turns out I can't count and I chose 6 songs, and by that time I just couldn't take any of them away from the list!

Also it appears that I like songs with creepy beginnings. I'm a weird person.
I'll put an asterisk on those songs :) 

*6) 心竅 from "Ghost writer" by Steven Ma (蒲松齡- 馬浚偉)

My first song with a "creepy beginning. This is not the type of the song I would want on my MP3, but I love Steven Ma's voice in this.

*5) 傷城記 from "L'Escargot" by Ron Ng and Linda Chung (缺宅男女- 吳卓羲+鍾嘉欣)

I didn't like this song at first when hearing it during L'Escargot. It didn't help that the piano at the start of the song got cut horribly in the video at the start of the show. I only started liking it when I listened to the full version. Then I really loved the starting instrumental. I think it sounds quite "creepy" but beautifully creepy as the piano pattern crawls about with the cello in the background. I like the tune and the singing too, I personally don't think Ron can sing very well, but he's ok here. But to be honest this song only made the list because of its first 25 seconds. I liked it that much!

4) 最幸福的事 from "Witness Insecurity" by Linda Chung ( 護花危情- 鍾嘉欣)

The cello introduction is very pretty and I really liked Linda's style of singing here. I think because TVB kept playing this song in the series, it got stuck in my head more, so I liked it more and it made this list :)

3) 有意 from "Burning Flames III" by Kevin Cheng and Myolie Wu (烈火雄心3- 胡杏兒+鄭嘉穎)

This song is played at the end of the show, so it is not strictly a theme song. I like both of their voices. It's a song I can listen to all day!

2) You light up my Life from "My Sister of Eternal Flower" by Raymond Lam (花花世界花家姐- 林峯)

This song is so happy and peaceful. I like the instrumental. I love Raymond Lam's voice too! It's just a lovely lovely song!

*1) 小故事 from "A Journey Called Life" by Steven Ma and Linda Chung  (金石良緣- 馬浚偉+鍾嘉欣)

I count the start of this song as being creepy because of that women's ghostly voice.
I reserved the top spot for this song, there was no competition for my number one favourite song! I didn't watch this series and I only noticed this song by watching random Youtube videos. I then found myself looking for the song to listen to again and again. I think that Steven and Linda's voices match really well and they both have good emotion. I remember thinking that Linda somewhat spoilt the theme song for "A Watchdog's Tale" because Steven Ma sung it so happily and cheekily, whilst I though her parts were just  missing something and unmatchable to Steven's parts. But again, their singing really matched in this number one song.

I've read about this series and lots of people say that this is a really good show. I'm a bit tempted to watch this series now, but even if I do, I'll have to wait until there's an airing TVB series that I don't want to watch. I can't watch 3 TVB series together at one time!



If you've noticed that I've only listed 6 songs here, whilst the title of the post says that this post will have 7 songs, then well done!
I haven't put my 7th song in the list above has it isn't actually the theme song of its series and I don't think it was played at the end either, but it was played in the series instead. I love it too much not to include it in my list. It's also a bit of a cheat to add another song to this list:

愛在記憶中找你 from "The Drive of Life" by Raymond Lam (歲月風雲- 林峯)

This is my all time favourite song of LF's.



Out of the 7 songs, Linda Chung is in 3 of them and both Steven Ma and Raymond Lam are in 2 of them.
I think that Linda Chung and Raymond Lam are in my list more than once because of coincidence, I don't go looking out for their songs even though I think they are both good singers, LF especially!   
However I do think that I listened to the Steven Ma songs initially because they were sung by him and I love Steven Ma. It's such a shame he left TVB! There aren't many people in TVB that can sing and act well, as well as having many other talents.




So these are my favourite TVB theme songs. Which is yours?

List of english songs in Divas in Distress 巴不得媽媽

*Edit on 6/09/12 Thurs 14:04- Download link to Brian Tse's version of "Can't my eyes off you". See end of post.

See my review of Divas in Distress here (link opens in new window).

If you read my post on the song in episode 6 of Divas in Distress played when Mandy Wong and Him Law are on screen, and also the post on english songs used in TVB series, you would've listened to quite a few songs already!

Well, Divas in Distress has played more than one english song, here are the songs. If there are more songs, I'll add them to this list. I'm not sure about the singers though apart from "Can't take my eyes off you". If I post the wrong version it would be nice if someone could correct me so I can change the video :)

1. "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"- song in episode 6 when Mandy Wong and Him Law are on screen.

2. "If you don't know me by now" -song in episode 6 when Liza Wang is talking at her daughter's grave.
Version by Stephanie Ho: See bottom of post for download links.

3) "Separate lives" -song near the start of episode 7 when Him Law is thinking about Mandy Wong.
*Edit (22/09): I had the wrong version before, here's the right one! It's sung by King Lam and Stephanie Ho (林景程 and 何雁詩), another two people from The Voice. It probably means "If You Don't Know Me By Now" is sang by someone from The Voice too! See bottom of post for download link.

As above, here's my other post on other english songs that TVB has used for other series:
8 English Songs Used in TVB series
If you want to listen to more music, you could read this post:
7 of my favourite TVB theme songs


*Edit on 6/09/12 Thurs 14:04!!!
Click here for the download link to Brain Tse's version of "Can't take my eyes off you": (Credits to here. The song was not uploaded by me.)

It's not the whole version, and the song ends mid-sentence. It is 1minute 51seconds.

*Edit on 24/09/12 
Click here for the download link to King Lam and Stephanie Ho's version of "Separate Lives": (Credits to here. The song was not uploaded by me.)

*Edit on 27/09/12
Click here for the download link to Stephanie Ho's version of "If you don't know me by know": (Credits to here. The song was not uploaded by me.)

8 English Songs Used in TVB series

In my recent post here about the English song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" in Divas in Distress I have realised that TVB has pretty good taste in music when picking English songs to put in their series :)

I've posted Youtube videos here of the songs that I remember and really like! Please note that none of these videos belong to me!

1. "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Brain Tse. Used in Divas in Distress (巴不得媽媽).
So I was only introduced to this song yesterday by episode 6 of Divas in Distress. Like I mentioned there, I can't find the actual version which was sung by Brain Tse from series 2 of TVB's The Voice.

So here's another version by Barry Manilow

A few of you have sent me youtube links to the full version, and I thought I had updated the post for it, but it turns out I haven't! Sorry! Anyway so here's the full version of Brian Tse's cover!


*Edit: found the download link to Brian Tse's version of "Can't my eyes off you". Find the link at this post.
2. "Some Say Love" by LeAnn Rimes. Used in Ghetto Justice 2 (怒火街頭2).
I think of this as the Ah Deng and Sum Sum song, played when Sam Lee and JJ Jia are onscreen.

There are other songs by a singer called Adele used in Ghetto Justice 2, but I didn't include them in this list as I knew the songs already! For anyone looking for them, the song names are "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone like you".

3) "Close To You" by The Carpenters. Used in Let It Be Love (4 in Love).

4) "Top of the World"  by The Carpenters. Used in Let It Be Love (4 in Love).


5) "Summerboy" by Lady Gaga. Used in Let It Be Love (4 in Love).
I was surprised when I found that the song is by Lady Gaga as I've never enjoyed her music. I can't deny that I like this one though, and it's pretty catchy!


6) "Wonderland" by Susan Barth. Used in The Rippling Blossom (魚躍在花見).
I think they only played this song once near the end of the last episode. It's a lovely song!


7) "Save The Best For Last" by Vanessa Williams. Used in Fly With Me (飛女正傳).
I didn't really like the series itself, and the only good thing I remember from it is this song. Otherwise I remember Moses Chan's wig and the silly storyline which wasted Ada Choi's appearances in TVB.


8) "In Another Time" by Jodie Simmons. Used in Shades Of Truth (水滸無間道).
From 2002, I don't actually think I watched this series fully. It was 10 years ago! The only thing I remember from that show is Gigi Lai's hair and that Chilam is in it. The song however I still remember, and I still remember the majority of the lyrics!



...9) Any more?

These are the english songs that I remember TVB using. There must be ones that I've missed out though, leave comments below if you know remember any others! 

If you enjoyed this post, you can listen to mores songs in this post:

7 of my favourite TVB theme songs

Divas in Distress: The song for Him Law and Mandy Wong

I watched the preview today for episode 6 of Divas in Distress:

The english song in it is pretty nice even though we only hear a snippet of it. I've spent over an hour trying to find it now!

The lyrics in the bit of the song played there:
You're just too good to be true,
I can't take my eyes off you,
You'll be like heaven to touch....

I love you baby

I quickly found that the song is called "Can't Take My Eyes Off you". Only problem is that there are lots of covers of the song! I've gone through the original and all the covers noted in this Wikipedia article and I swear that none of them is the one played in the preview!

The nearest one I found is this version below: (* Edit: see below!)


It's definitely not this one, in my opinion they sound most similar.

Here is Brian Tse's full version:


Does anyone which version it is that they used in the show?

More of the song will probably be played in episode 6. I wonder if it will be a song they play for Mandy and Him like they had one for JJ Jia and Sam Lee in Ghetto Justice 2?

Meanwhile the trailer looks good :) Mandy and Him are my favourite pair in this series and I'm interested in the hardships that they have to go through to hopefully be together in the end. I also wonder how Him will feel when he finds out about he is starting to like this "lower class girl" who causes him to cover his nose every time he sees her!

*Edit: Mandy has stated on her Weibo that the cover is by Brian Tse, 謝東閔, who came from The Voice 2. I can't find the full version but I will post its whereabouts if I do find it!
** Edit: This song has made me think about other english songs that TVB has used in their series. Click here to see my new post to listen to some of those other songs!

5 TVB Series that were much better than I expected!

There so many new TVB series every year. Whilst I look forwards to watching some, there are some series that I'm just not interested in. It might be because I'm not interested in the cast, or it might be because the storyline doesn't appeal to me. Some of them I do watch to pass time, some I watch now and then, but some I end up really enjoying. For example I'm watching Divas in Distress now, which I had minimum interest in, but I'm finding myself quite enjoying the show!


Here are another 5 of those series, ranked with the last one mentioned being the one I like the most. Series 4 to 1 were actually one of those series that left me longing for the next episode Monday to Thursday and slightly miffed on Fridays as I had to wait for the weekend to pass before I the next episode was available. 

5. Ten Brothers 十兄弟 (2007)

Story in 3 sentences: 
-Kenix Kwok eats some magic beans and gives birth to 10 sons. 
-Frankie Lam who is her admirer looks after the children with her, which all grew up almost overnight and all have different magic powers. 
-They all develop a loving family relationship but all 10 sons sacrifice their life for their mother in the end.

I didn't see the appeal with 10 men with weird haircuts acting like children. It was quite sweet actually, it was lovely seeing the brothers learning what is happening around them. They all had a kind heart but didn't understand what was right and what was wrong. It was also nice seeing the newly wed Kenix Kwok and Frankie Lam leading together as a pair. The show was quite comedic as the brothers utilised their different powers. The ending was sad though, even though all the brothers died happily and together.

4. Relic of an Emissary 洪武三十二 (2011)

Story in 3 sentences:
-Michael is an unlikable imperial guard who loses his memories and becomes good, and serves Joel Chan, the King.
-He finds out that he actually works for Joe Ma who wants the throne, but is now loyal towards Joel Chan.
-When Joe Ma becomes king he chops his arm off and lives away as a commoner with a princess.

I didn't watch E.U so I never got with the obsession over Michael Tse's "Laughing Gor".  I do think that Michael is a good actor but to this day his presence in a series won't make we interested in it. I also wasn't interested in Elanne Kong either and assumed that she wouldn't do a very good performance but she proved me wrong as I really liked Elanne Kong in this. The storyline was very captivating, rather dramatic but I still wanted to watch it. It was rather unpredictable too!

Question off the topic, can someone tell me if the Laughing Gor in E.U, Turning point and Lives of Omission the same person, or different characters with the same name? I'm a bit confused there, thanks!


3. Wax and Wane 團圓 (2011)

Story in 3 sentences:
-Roger Kwok and Sunny Chan are relatives but their families are against each other with their respective noodle businesses.
-Sunny Chan turns into horrible person, Roger fancies his little brother's girlfriend.
-The two family solves their misunderstanding, Sunny Chan becomes a goody again as Ron Ng and Kate Tsui go back together again.

From the start this series seemed like a rip-off of Moonlight Renaissance, they both have the family feud and the man and women from each side who just wants to be together. I loved the all the acting and seeing the transformation of Roger and his attitude towards Kate and her family. The most annoying thing was Sunny's character when he got jealous of Roger, but I'd say that's down to some fine acting too. The series had a nice ending too with everyone paired, and I like happy endings!

2. Rosy Business  巾幗梟雄 (2009)

Story in 3 sentences
-Wayne Lai begins work at a rice business run by Sheren Tang and her husband in hope of making money to give back to his village.
-The two form a great friendship as they stop Pierre Ngo and his mother try to steal the business as their own.
-Wayne contracts a deadly disease spreading around town and dies, and Sheren lives to bring trucks full of rice back to his village.

I didn't even watch the first couple of episodes. I only started to watch bits of the later episodes when my parents were watching it on TV, but I found myself watching the whole of the rest of the episodes shortly after. This show was so popular after all and won countless awards. I actually liked "No Regrets" more but I can't include that in this list because I wanted to watch that series as soon as TVB announced they were to produce it!

1. A Fistful of Stances 鐵馬尋橋 (2010)

Story in 3 sentences:
-Yuen Qiu's husband disappeared and she had to raise her children up herself but her eldest son is also lost.
-Grown up, she finds the eldest child, Kevin Cheng and they all want to know what happened to her husband, and they are certain it's something to do with Dominic Lam.
-The truth is found, Dominic Lam was the murderer and Kevin Cheng becomes a martial arts master.

I wasn't very sure about the rankings of the other 4 series, but this one definitely tops the list! Another series similar to Moonlight Renaissance but coupled with martial arts action.
I remember the first few episodes being a bit slow when they were revealing the past and questions of the families. I also remember Jacky Heung, who played Dominic Lam's son. He was pretty bad at acting.
However the interactions between the siblings were so warming and Kenneth Ma was so cool in this series! Dominic Lam was so incredibly evil in this series too and Natalie Tong really shone. The martial arts storyline was exciting, and my blood boiled when I saw Nancy Wu's character.
I'm glad it had a happy ending too! It's a series that I would very much like to watch again. 


Any more?

Were there any series that you found yourself not initially interested in but loved by the end of it?