The Gem of Life - Episode 1 to 5

I had a 2-day break from my finals, I couldn't resist watching The Gem of Life XD This is a summarization for episodes 1 -5..

Characters
John/David Chiang - Ching Yeung
Lee Sze Kei (LSK) - Sau Yau
Maggie - Nga Yin
Gigi - Nga Tung
Ada - Nga Sze
Rocky - Lai Kei
Cheung Chi Kwong - Yeung Chi Kao
Josephine - So Man
Patrick - Tim
Matt - Oscar


Maggie managed to get an invitation card to go for an event, which Ada will be present as well. But since there were rumours spreading about Cheung Chi Kwong (Ada's husband) with Maggie's artiste Josephine, Ada prevented her from entering. But eventually Maggie attended the function and was creating a scene. Ada came and explained to the reporters about everything between Josephine and Chi Kwong.


Gigi has returned from Canada and wanted to lend money from Ada to help her husband open art studio. Their relationship is not as stable as before. Ada lent the money to Gigi, and told her she must not return to Hong Kong.


The cheque was dishonoured, Gigi asked Wong Hei to help her by pretending to be a rich man trying to pursue Gigi so that Rocky will love her back again. The plan succeeded but at that time, Rocky only wanted Gigi for money. The whole family + Rocky had dinner that night, LSK exposed his secret about having another girlfriend and Gigi was heartbroken.


Gigi and Rocky have separated, Maggie asked Gigi to accompany her to work one day. Gigi met Chi Kwong and his friend and they went out for dinner. But his friend did not show up, so Gigi and Chi Kwong were left alone. Reporters caught them together and Ada was furious.


LSK and Maggie attended a charity dinner and Maggie's artiste Matt Yeung, was asked to become a host that night. But Maggie found out that he was in a relationship with someone's wife. LSK misunderstood Maggie for having an affair with Matt. She arranged to meet Matt and tell him not to be involved in other people's marriage. Coincidentally, Patrick (Maggie's husband) was there and heard everything, which got him misunderstood as well.

John (or David) resigned from his job and decided to open a business. Chi Kwong's company was about to go bankrupt, and tried to convince Moses to invest in their company's shares but Moses refused to do so. Moses and Bowie had a boat race (from then on, you can see that they weren't very fond of each other already).


Maggie went to see Bowie for business purposes, but Bowie pushed Maggie into the water. That night, Patrick arranged to meet Maggie in the same hotel. But Maggie appeared wet and Patrick arranged to meet another time. Maggie was furious and took revenge by hitting Bowie on the head with her high heels.


Chi Kwong helped John open his business, when he is already going to go bankrupt. Ada feels guilty because they are somehow cheating his money. Eventually, LSK found out about their bankruptcy and asked Ada and Gigi not to tell Maggie or John about it. John found out about LSK's stomach cramps.


Gigi was angry because Ada told her mum she was about to go bankrupt but she is still buying branded clothes. Ada scolded her back about how Gigi's husband left her. She cried and Moses who was in the same store heard her crying. Gigi saw a beautiful dress beside her and went to try it out. Moses complimented her and bought the dress for her.

Maggie follows Bowie and tries to convince him to sign the contract. Bowie signs the contract but after a while Maggie notices that the ink is fading. She went back and asked him to sign it again. But after meeting with her sister Ada, it was gone. Now everyone knows about Chi Kwong's company going bankrupt. He suddenly went missing and Ada asked Moses to help look for him.

Thoughts
So far, so good :] I'm enjoying the series and I do not think it's slow or draggy. They went straight to the sisters' problems. LSK is doing an excellent job being a strict mother! She's so smart and cunning in the series. LSK mentioned that Ada is her favourite daughter (in the series) because Maggie is stubborn and Gigi always makes her angry. Wong Hei grew up with the 3 sisters and once pursued Gigi when they were young. Gigi's character is really naive, I can't wait to watch the part where she turns into a more confident lady. So far, I really like Wong Hei and Ada's relationship! I really don't know which sister I like most cause all 3 of them are quite likable :P

Thoughts on Gigi Lai leaving the entertainment industry..

Haha, this is something I have to post about.. it came to me as a shock because Gigi's retirement is quite early. I saw it coming already, but never thought it would be now..

If you don't now what I'm talking about, you can read about it from AsianFanatics:
Gigi Lai Announced Retirement from Entertainment Industry
TVB Will Not Terminate Gigi Lai’s Contract

Or watch it yourself:
Youtube

I was pretty sad myself when I heard about it :[! Gigi was the first actress I ever liked from TVB. She's stunningly beautiful. Other than that, I used to dislike her crying because of the heavy breathing that would come along with it. But I do think that it has improved a whole lot. Especially in The Gem of Life (judging on the first 2 episodes and previews).

She's one of the main reasons why I love TVB (besides the series and the other artistes), was GIGI! I remember straying away from TVB and going for English/Korean series, but after watching The Dance of Passion with who else but Gigi in it, I felt that magnetic force to watch TVB series once more. Well yeah, the series was not as good as the previous, successful Chik series, but Gigi captured my attention in that series. I'll have to thank Chik for that :]

Watching The Gem of Life would be very hard for me also, bearing in mind that this is her last series. I will have to treasure it, and try not miss out on any episodes (but of course after my finals!). I do hope she reconsiders about returning to TVB again one day.

God bless you Gigi. I will always support you! Hopefully all goes well with your family too!

When Easterly Showers Fall on The Sunny West 東山飄雨西關晴; Fala Chen's, Ice-Cream

Premiering 27th Oct - 14th Dec, Monday - Friday, 8.30pm
*not official poster

Coming from a very humble background, POON MUK HING (Steven Joe Ma) nevertheless is content with his lot. He works for the POONs of Dongshan as driver. His true identity of the eldest son of the family comes to light when he saves POON CHEUK WAH (Raymond Wong), the young master, in an accident. CHONG FUNG YEE (Liza Wang), the first daughter-in-law in the family, has to admit unwillingly the fact that when she married into the family she was already pregnant. His true identity revealed, HING changes his name to POON CHEUK HING according to the genealogical table of the clan. The mother and son have since been locked in a seesaw struggle.

YIP HEUNG CHING (Charmaine Sheh) came from an influential family in Xiguan. She starts selling congee on a boat for a living with her elder brother after their family has fallen into decline. CHING and WAH used to go out but YEE did all she could to separate them. Later, CHING opens a teahouse with the help and support of HING. Spontaneously, love blossoms between them. Not long afterwards, the Poon family runs into a lot of troubles. YEE and WAH are unable to handle them at all. HING seizes the opportunity to restore the prestige of the family. For the sake of the benefit of POONs, he is prepared to sacrifice his relationships with other family members, his love as well as his friends. By doing so, he also involves himself in a never-ending bloody battle of power.

Producer: Kwan Wing Chung
Scriptwriter: Yip Sai Hong & Choi Shuk Yin
Starring: Liza Wang (汪明荃), Steven Joe Ma (馬德鐘), Charmaine Sheh (佘詩曼) Kiki Sheung (商天娥), Raymond Wong (黃浩然), Selena Li (李詩韻), Edwin Siu (蕭正楠), Samuel Kwok (郭 峰) etc
*edit: sorry guys for the Joe-Steven thing. got mixed up XD

Credits to Astro On Demand

By the way, today I was searching for videos on Moonlight Resonance in Youtube.. and I stumbled upon Fala Chen's performance of the song Ice-Cream. IMO, Fala sings quite well, better than an average singer. Who knows, maybe one day she'll become a singer like a lot of the other TVB actors/actresses :]



Here's the version of the original singer, DNR:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NU2CNQK7 (full credits to Annisa)

Here's Fala's version:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JO7LG4MC (ripped by me)

My finals are just around the corner and I will not be able to post from now on, unless there is something very urgent/super interesting to post about. I even have to wait till mid-November to watch Gem! But I will try to reply to your tags ASAP. Thanks for understanding!

Last batch of creations until after exams!

shall reply tags another time..!

Thoughts on TVB 41st Anniversary Awards Nominees List

Here's the nominees list, but I bet you guys know about it already!:

Best Actress
1. Liza Wang - Wars Of In-Laws II
2. Sonija Kwok - D.I.E
3. Linda Chung - A Journey Called Life
4. Nancy Sit - Silver Chamber Of Sorrows
5. Charmaine Sheh - Forensic Heroes II
6. Kate Tsui - Speech Of Silence
7. Lee Sze Kei - Moonlight Resonance
8. Susanna Kwan - Moonlight Resonance
9. Michelle Yim - Moonlight Resonance
10. Sheren Tang - Your Class Or Mine

Best Actor
1. Kenneth Ma - Survivor's Law II
2. Roger Kwok - D.I.E
3. Damian Lau - Catch Me Now
4. Frankie Lam - Forensic Heroes II
5. Michael Miu - Love Exchange
6. Ha Yu - Moonlight Resonance
7. Moses Chan - Moonlight Resonance
8. Raymond Lam - Moonlight Resonance
9. Bobby Au Yeung - Your Class Or Mine
10. Kevin Cheng - Last One Standing

Best Supporting Actress
1. Joyce Tang - Wars Of In-Laws II
2. Bernice Liu - Wasabi Mon Amour
3. Sharon Chan - Catch Me Now
4. Nancy Wu - The Silver Chamber Of Sorrows
5. Claire Yiu - Speech Of Silence
6. Krystal Tin - Love Exchange
7. Tavia Yeung - Moonlight Resonance
8. Fala Chan - Moonlight Resonance
9. Kate Tsui - Moonlight Resonance
10. Lee Heung Kam - Moonlight Resonance

Best Supporting Actor
1. Tsui Weng - Best Selling Secret
2. Stephen Au - Best Selling Secret
3. Derek Kwok - Wars Of In-Laws II
4. Wayne Lai - The Gentle Crackdown II
5. Paul Chun - Wasabi Mon Amour
6. Kenneth Ma - The Master Of Tai Chi
7. Johnson Lee - Catch Me Now
8. Chow Chung - Moonlight Resonance
9. Oscar Leung - Your Class Or Mine
10. Him Law - Your Class Or Mine

Favourite Female Character
1. Charmaine Sheh - Word Twisters' Adventures
2. Liza Wang - Wars Of In-Laws II
3. Myolie Wu - Wars Of In-Laws II
4. Kitty Yuen - D.I.E
5. Christine Ng - The Silver Chamber Of Sorrows
6. Kiki Sheung - The Money-Maker Recipe
7. Lee Sze Kei - Moonlight Resonance
8. Susanna Kwan - Moonlight Resonance
9. Fala Chen - Moonlight Resonance
10. Linda Chung - Legend Of The Demigods

Favourite Male Character
1. Kenneth Ma - Survivor's Law II
2. Bosco Wong - Wars Of In-Laws II
3. Roger Kwok - D.I.E
4. Derek Kwok - D.I.E
5. Michael Tse - The Money-Maker Recipe
6. Ha Yu - Moonlight Resonance
7. Raymond Lam - Moonlight Resonance
8. Sunny Chan - Legend Of The Demigods
9. Ron Ng - The Four
10. Kevin Cheng - Last One Standing

Most Improved Actress
1. Selena Li
2. Sharon Chan
3. Tavia Yeung
4. Toby Leung
5. Nancy Wu

Most Improved Actor
1. Wong Cho Lam
2. Tsui Weng
3. Derek Kwok
4. Johnson Lee
5. Oscar Leung

Blue Bolded = My Pick!
Blue = Read why down there!

I was really shocked (just like every other Tavia fan out there) that she wasn't nominated for Best Actress, AND is nominated again for Most Improved. It really sounds very de-grading for Tavia. Hasn't she already won it in 2003?!

I do have a feeling it's Raymond's year to win. He achieved great success this year, in both his singing and his acting career. Besides that, I thought that it was Susanna's turn to win this year because she was really good in Moonlight Resonance. The fights, the arguing, the soft parts.. she did it brilliantly. Lee Sze Kei also, but I don't think TVB will present her the award again since she won last year.

Wayne has been in TVB for too long, and he still hasn't got a single award from TVB! He only got 2 in the Astro Awards, early this year and it's not like his acting wasn't good. It's his year to shine :] Ha Yu also did an awesome job being Jo Ba in Moonlight Resonance, being both the bad dad (in the first 10 eps), and the caring good dad (towards the end).

I did not bold these (Most Improved Actor/Actress) because I didn't know which one to choose. And I'm not very keen of these awards also. The nominees list didn't really catch my attention or anything. So I just chose the one I liked most among the 5 in its respective categories. Sharon & Cho Lam! They're both pretty good in acting, and I really do see improvement in Sharon.