20100524 娛樂百分百 周杰倫 歌唱大賽

part 2 3 4 5

It's been such a long time since we see Jay and Show together. This episode was recorded on the 18th, when Jay came on the live show. I don't know whether they have sorted things out between them, but I really, really hope so. At least even though there's still a little awkwardness in the air, there wasn't obvious tension and they weren't putting each other down, like the previous time Jay was on the show. I don't know whether it's just Show being a very professional host or whether things have gotten better between them, but I really hope it's the latter. I was so happy when 小猪 showed concern over Jay's sickness; when he said, "好人好事代表" -- that is actually part of 超人不會飛 lyrics -- when Jay was making comments that sounded like he was just trying to not be mean; when at the end he kept looking over at Jay's direction and finally asked, laughing, whether Jay wanted to learn the phrases 小猪 and 小鬼 were saying. The way 小猪 laughed looked sincere, but I don't know whether it looked that way just because I want it to be. Either way, I hope they will solve their problems and become good friends again!

That aside. I don't usually watch 娛樂百分百 歌唱大賽 because of various reasons, but this episode wasn't too bad. 陳柏村 is a splitting image of Jay, like seriously o__o. His looks, the way he talks, everything! Man this is freaky. He's cute, but I'm not sure whether it's because he's so much like Jay, LOL.

As you might have noticed, 小猪 has his own tag now! I think it's about time, haha ^^.

And I have to say, I really love Jay a lot :).

I need a drink.

SS501 - Destination

HOLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. Finally, the long-awaited mini album! It only consists of 4 main tracks, which is really little, even less than Rebirth, but it's a very solid release; all the songs are great. Both the first and second tracks are remakes of English songs previously released by other artists, which is disappointing, but that doesn't make the songs less awesome. The boys sound amazing, and somehow, they sound more.. together here, like they're really singing as ONE :). Moreover, mostly we hear beautiful instruments and very minimal autotune, which is great news :D. There are many English phrases here and there, but there's no bad Konglish and they are all grammatically sound, which is good xD. I really wished that they had released a full album, but this mini album is freakin' awesome too. The boys are making a comeback on 4th June; I can't wait :DD!

But I have to get this out of my system: 5 years since debut with only one full (totally awesome) Korean album to their name is DOWNRIGHT RIDICULOUS, DSP; this should be fixed ASAP!

1. Let Me Be The One (그게 나라고..) (That Person Is Me)

An R&B song which sounds soothing and sweet. Love the piano accompaniment. The English phrases in the beginning are by Hyungjoon! Wow he sounds decent ^^. (It's him in the beginning of Love Ya too, by the way!)

2. Love Ya

OMG I LOVE THIS SONG! It's a catchy dance song which sounds almost rock-ish because of the heavy beats. The instruments -- strings and piano -- in the background are so gorgeous *____*. Youngsaeng is awesome with those high notes. Kyujong rapped! He sounds good, I'm surprised ^^. Hyunjoong and Hyungjoon too of course; they're the resident rappers of the group xD. I wonder whose voice that hoarse voice in the chorus is; it sounds like Jungmin. Interesting. Love the layerings near the end! And of course, Hyungjoon's "Andwae~~" at the end is awesome. The teaser for the MV looks very promising too. Baby let me love ya, love ya, love ya~

3. Crazy 4 U

A dance song which would almost feel like a ballad if not for the electronic beats, because of the tempo and piano background. I love the contrast! I like Hyunjoong's rapping near the end x). I think Kyujong's voice suits this song the most ^^. This song was already performed quite some time ago during their concert tour, and I love the choreography! (The video is from their Persona concert DVD, where somehow the sound was edited and we can only hear the CD version, but from the fancams we can see that in reality they performed live.)

4. 영원토록 (Forever)

A ballad! Everyone sounds gorgeous, SIGHHH. It's a song that may not sound that special at first, but gets better after each listen. It's a sweet song, that gives me a hopeful feeling somehow :). I love how the song builds on and everyone sings together in the last minute of the song. Youngsaeng wrote the lyrics ^^. I wanna be with you my love~

5. Let Me Be The One (그게 나라고..) (Acoustic Ver.)

In this version the beats are replaced with guitar, and it sounds very nice too :).

6. Love Ya (Instrumental)

Love this! Usually instrumentals sound kinda empty without the voices, but this sounds wonderful, like it can be a stand-alone track in itself.

I LOVE SS501 ♥♥♥♥♥. Please stay five as one forever, guys!

就想賴著妳 (Down with Love)

(Dramawiki)

I watched this drama because of Ella, and because the pairing seems interesting. Usually I watch a drama after it has finished airing and all the episodes are subbed, but I actually watched this episode by episode as it aired in Taiwan; wow how rare xD. That says a lot about the drama -- it's really good :DD! The scriptwriters have a GREAT sense of humour LOL.

Yang Guo is a very hardworking, realistic girl. She's a very kind person! And she's so adorable; even I feel like hugging her sometimes :3. Ella is hilarious HAHAHA. She's got such an awesome personality! And actually even though she keeps her hair short, she's quite feminine. She's very pretty :). There were a few times I felt her acting was quite exaggerated, but for the most part, it was fine. And she got a lot better at emotional scenes too!

Yu Ping is suave as the big-shot lawyer, but really adorable like a kid when he's with Yang Guo. Yu Ping is very, very considerate towards Yang Guo, in the little ways that would make one smile :)). Even though he seems like a difficult person to get along with, he's actually really nice. In addition, he's super smart and has a high EQ. The gentle way Yu Ping gazes at Yang Guo never fails to make me melt into a puddle of goo *_____*. By episode 9, he had climbed his way into my list of "Mr Perfect"s, hahaha xDD. 項羽平, 我愛死你了 ♥♥♥. HOWEVER, in the later episodes he became a tad too possessive and albeit cute, if I was Yang Guo I'd feel super irritated lol ^^;;.

Jerry Yan is a great actor :). I really liked how he acted out his parts; all the details felt natural, from the way he smiled/smirked, the way he sighed/held his breath, to the way he lowered his gaze/shifted his eyes. That kind of smile, as if he can't help but smile when thinking about Yang Guo, makes the audience smile with him. There were a few scenes of his that actually made me teared up, LMAO. There was this crying scene of his that made me say, "OUCH" out loud, 'cos it was so painful just watching him. I can go on and on, but I'll stop here HAHA. It's nice seeing how his acting has improved since Meteor Garden! Appearance-wise, he is kinda like Oguri Shun; he's not that handsome, but attractive. No, make that very attractive. I think it's the way he stares at Yang Guo, the way he secretly smiles to himself, his face structure, and his very gentle speaking voice ROFL. I think after this drama, I'm going to be watching out for Jerry's future works ^^.

There was once news about Skip Beat! being made into a drama, where Ariel Chen would act as Kyoko and Jerry Yan as Ren. At that time I was vehemently against Ren's casting, as I thought that he's not good-looking enough to act as Ren. But after this drama, somehow I can see Jerry as Ren LOL. I think he'll be able to pull the acting off. Of course, he's still not as good-looking as Ren, but there probably isn't anyone who is good-looking enough in my eyes to be Ren xP.

Yu Ping and Yang Guo are very funny together LOL. They argue a lot, and their arguments always make me burst into laughter haha! Some scenes are very sweet too! I love their all scenes together. And Ping + Guo = Ping Guo HAHAHA! Jerry and Ella have AMAZING chemistry and are SO adorable off-screen :DD. Apparently Jerry is usually an introverted person who keeps his distance from others, but as he said it himself, Ella changed him. That is one of the many reasons why Ella is so awesome, by the way. I've been watching their videos together and they seem very close. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for them to get together for real :)!

Ke Zhong is a good person. He's charming, perceptive and tactful. He'd do anything for the one he loves. That's why when everyone was cursing him when he used Yang Guo, I still couldn't hate him; he was too pitiful ;__;. From the very beginning, he treated Yang Guo well, because he's someone who is nice towards everyone. But when he used her, he started to feel obliged to be nice towards her, because he knew that he was doing a terrible thing towards such a good girl and he felt guilty. He's a good person, but still, what he did was wrong. What he did was wrong, but still, he's a good person. LOL, what the hell am I saying. Anyway, Ke Zhong is just a great guy! Michael Zhang did great, especially in the latter episodes. I felt so sorry for him :((.

I like Yang Duo; she's such an awesome big sister :DD. She's so stingy and calculative, but she's very smart! And it's hilarious how money-faced she is LOL. Her job interview cum confession was seriously THE BEST okay! I've always thought that the actress who acts as her looks like Jolin. She really does, okay; a lot!

If you haven't noticed already, I always have so little to say about female characters/actresses, but a lot about the male ones. It's nothing to do with whether I like the character/actress or not (because I like Ella a whole lot); it's just because I am a girl, LOL.

Yu Fei is pretty and so smart! Yu Ting (Xiao Xiao Bin!) is adorable :3. Hui Fang is an annoying, selfish bitch, but she's also pitiful. Liang Zhi Hao is cute haha!

One of the best things about this drama is that it has one really awesome soundtrack, 禮物. Other than the actors' great acting, the song really made the emotional scenes.

Somewhere in the middle this drama got a little draggy, but the actors' acting made up for it. Its ending is a bit disappointing; I wanted to see Ping Guo's super romantic wedding! And they should have given Yang Duo a clear ending, even though I guess it's already assumed that she would end up with Qi 大哥. But overall, it's a good drama :).

firsts are intimidating.

I experienced a lot of firsts in this week alone. On Wednesday I went to a friend's house to bake my first tart, yesterday I attended my first hip hop lesson, and today I went ice skating for the first time with my colleagues. The tart turned out okay; it tasted good and looked okay, but the texture wasn't that great. It was quite an accomplishment for the first time, though, and the process was exciting. The hip hop lesson was held in a rather fast pace, and even though it was a beginners' course, I think most of the students have had a little dance background, to say the least. It was quite fun, but I struggled to keep up with the class and left me feeling stupid. I think it has something to do with my level of confidence, though; I need to just let go, which is difficult. The ice skating was exciting, but in a terrifying sort of way, because during those times I almost fell, my heart skipped so many beats I felt that I lost a few years of my life in the process. And it left me feeling depressed, 'cos I felt like I was being a burden. So after three rounds of holding on for my dear life to the sides of the rink, I stopped altogether. I don't like to depend on people.

Firsts are always scary, I guess.

周杰倫 Vol. 10 - 跨時代 (The Era)

Finally, after almost two years of waiting! The album was actually released two days ago, but I wanted to listen to the album enough times to give a proper review, since it usually takes a while for Jay's songs to grow on you. There are mixed reviews for this album -- in general, people who liked his previous album, Capricon, doesn't like this album, while those who didn't like Capricon likes The Era. I belong to the third group -- the one which likes both albums. In a way, it's more daring than his previous album, which, albeit good, left one feeling like Jay wasn't really trying to make any breakthrough in the album. I guess it's because he's had more time to complete this album this time around, so it doesn't sound rushed and he could experiment more, with some new effects, type of music, and ways of singing. All in all, it's a great album, and it's still the same old Jay that we know and love :).

1. 跨時代

At first when I listened to the preview of this song, I was like, "NOOOO, he's using autotune!" However, after listening to the full song, the autotune is actually alright; it blends in with the song and it's not too obvious. Besides that, the song itself is nice! I like the piano part in the middle. I always like Jay's rock-ish songs.

2. 說了再見

I almost cried the first time I listened to this song, even when I wasn't looking at the lyrics, because he was singing the lyrics clearly and the way of singing spells out his sadness, even though it's not as desperate as some other songs of his. His falsetto sounds so sad, IDEK. See, Jay can sing clearly when he feels that it suits the song better! SIGH, I LOVE JAY'S BALLADS. I love this song :). And it gets better after each listen.

3. 煙花易冷

The first 中国风 song in this album. It's a soothing song and the rap is nice, but other than that I have nothing much to say ^^;;.

4. 免費教學錄影帶

I think this is the first time Jay includes some English words in his songs? Must be all the Western influence from filing Green Hornet, haha ^^;;. I LOVE the spontaneity of the song! This song made me laugh out loud a couple of times, LOL. Especially the middle part, where there's a rather impressive guitar solo and suddenly the string broke HAHA. In the MV we see how he played that guitar solo; it's cool! But anyway, this is such an energetic, fun song, from the first second to the last. You can take my words on that! The lyrics are so playful, hehe ^^. He made a few funny sounds too (POK!), which are cute, but I think nothing can be cuter than those in 甜甜的 hahaha. The dance moves are cute too!

5. 好久不見

I like the lone, strong guitar in the beginning! He sings in Taiwanese in a good half of this song, which is not that great 'cos I don't understand it, but I don't mind haha. It's a very light-hearted, sweet song which will make you smile ^^.

6. 雨下一整晚

This song surprised me! It is the second 中国风 song in the album, which is already out of ordinary 'cos usually there's only one in each album, and moreover, the 中国风 element is only apparent from the instrumentals at the end of the first chorus onwards. Jay's singing is very good here! The beginning was totally gorgeous, with gentle-sounding guitar and his voice singing in a soft way, plus a bit of echo effect on the voice. He sings totally differently in the second verse, singing with a slightly hoarse voice and with a hint of a nonchalant attitude. I like the instruments used in this song a lot :)). There are a lot, but I can't name them due to my ignorance on Chinese instruments ^^;;. I feel that the ending is kinda abrupt; the song should be longer!

7. 嘻哈空姐

While in 跨時代 the use of autotune was okay, in this song, it turns me off -.-. Maybe it's because the autotune is used throughout this song, not just in the chorus like that in the earlier song. The song would have sounded much better if he had taken the autotune off the chorus. And the lyrics are so shallow; they totally turn me off. Its MV will have hot stewardesses in mini skirts asking, "Coffee, tea or me? -.- I am not gonna tell you that my favourite parts of this song are the "Ah~" sounds Jay makes at the end of a few sentences in the beginning, 'cos that sounds totally wrong, like HUH?!

8. 我落淚．情緒零碎

I like the piano melody! It's a really nice, soothing ballad, albeit sounds quite ordinary. 哭久了會累 也只是別人的以為.

9. 愛的飛行日記

Another collaboration with Gary. I guess Jay must really like working with Gary, huh xP. Not that I mind, because their voices go well together. Somehow all their songs give me a village feel, lol. This song reminds me a little of 陽光宅男 and 時光機, but other people might disagree with me.

10. 自導自演

This song reminds me of 对不起, especially because the strong beats in the background.

11. 超人不會飛

The first single off the album, which I had posted previously. I've grown to like this song a lot, and the lyrics too. Some parts of the lyrics made me laugh, but in general the whole song made me feel sorry for Jay, and well, perhaps celebrities in general. There is something about Jay's singing that is different here, and he used it in 說了再見 as well -- I can't put it into words but you'll perhaps notice it if you listen to the song, especially in the chorus part. I think Jay looks great in the MV :D.

Well, honestly, I like almost everything Jay makes. For me, 周杰倫 isn't just the name of a musician (or actor, director, whatever); it is also a brand of music, one totally unique genre that is different from the other genres. And I love that brand of music. That's why I LOVE JAY :).

100513 Beast - Easy (Sincere Ver.) @ M!Countdown

OMG ♥♥♥♥♥. They did so well! I'm so proud :)). I like the stage setting better here, how they showed the members individually in the beginning. I'd do away with the little movements in the last chorus, though, 'cos the members danced instead of singing and the vocals sounded kinda empty. That aside, everyone looked awesome! Junhyung looks hot, but hey, I think it's always more of his attitude rather than his outfit, which in this performance was the best out of the six too in my opinion, by the way. Yoseob's outfit made him look so cute, I don't even know why lol. And I died at 3:20 *___*.

Beast had their last goodbye stage today! I'm too lazy to post up the performances 'cos I'd end up saying the same things again and again, but the last performance at Inkigayo was cuter than usual, with more Doowoon and lots of smiles. And the Green Sports Song was all kinds of crack and SO adorable xDD! Hope the boys get lots of rest and come back soon with an even more awesome, full album :).

倪子岡 - Superman

One of the soundtracks of Hot Shot, that I'm currently watching. It's so bad-ass lol; I LIKE.

誰叫你還搞不清楚
我跟你的差別
yeah 我是Superman
yeah 你是Loser

100508 Beast - Special @ Music Core

Yoseob pointing out the cameraman's mistake at 1:45 was the cutest thing EVER, omg *____*. I can't stop replaying that part! From where he stylishly turned around at 1:44, to 1:45 when he pointed to Hyunseung who was singing, indicating to the cameraman that he should be filming him instead, while being all smiley and cool. GUH why so adorable, Yoseob?!

I actually wanted to post this just because of that LMAO, but hey, this performance is awesome! Best one so far. Everyone's vocals are very clear and the pitchy parts are all gone. Yoseob's vocals are as steady as ever, and his hoarse voice is hot damn. PLEASE perform a rock song someday, Yoseob! The dance is as coordinated as usual, even though I still wished they had added something to the choreography. And I forgot to mention that I love how in the beginning Junhyung held Yoseob back, even though I don't know what it's all about. (I love everything Yoseob+Junhyung, WHAT.) All the boys look spiffy in suits. There was some Doowoon going on, and Dongwoon's reaction was adorable haha. Leader fools around a lot, huh xDD. Dongwoon is the best-looking member by a mile, by the way; he's so handsome I'm thankful that he's not younger than me xP.

I didn't get into Medicine.

Was offered my second choice, Business. I actually knew that I wouldn't get in, but now that it's confirmed, it feels kinda.. funny, haha.

I guess I'll just study Business then. I think I'll drop out of the double degree programme that I was offered 'cos I listed it in my choice -- Business Admin and Communications & New Media -- and just take a single degree. I'll take Psychology as a minor and take language modules. I'll probably stay in a hall. After the 4 years, I may take a MBA for around 1.5 year. After graduating I'll find a job, and hopefully make a lot of money. I'll buy a car and a good house. I'll retire when I have enough money to travel around the world on a tight budget. If by the age of 45 I still don't have enough, I'll go on a backpacking trip, and maybe stay a few months at each stop before moving on to the next destination. After travelling, I'll return here, find another job, spend my life away.

I don't think I'll go for the USP interview. I wanted to get into USP because the modules are interesting, because as business isn't what I like to do, I'd like to have something I actually like to keep me looking forward to school. But then again, USP modules are tough. And I may not even get in, in the first place. And for the time being, everything seems kinda meaningless, haha ^^;;.

100506 Beast @ M!Countdown

Easy (Sincere Version)

Beast released this "Sincere Version" of the song as a digital single last week. I didn't manage to post it because I was too busy listening to Jay's new single, but I think it's very good -- it really does feel more sincere, lol xD. Other than rearranging the parts, they stripped down the background music in the beginning to just mostly piano, violin and cello, plus I think they re-recorded the parts in the first verse and chorus to bring out the softer feeling of the song. The only thing that bothers me is Junhyung's newly-added two English sentences in the beginning, though; I love Junhyung, but I really can't make out what he's saying ^^;;. His rapping part in the middle of the song is absolutely my favourite part off this song, by the way!

Anyway! The performance is awesome. Everyone nailed his part perfectly. But hey, that's nothing new, since they have been performing really well in the other radio performances of this song :). The boys are looking great too! I don't know why Hyunseung always gets weird hairstyles during the first single promotion period, but has awesome hair during the follow-up song LOL.

Special

After all the speculations, it turned out that their follow-up song is Special! That's what I thought from the very beginning, okay xPP. It's just kinda funny that after Shock, they released an MV for Take Care of My Girlfriend, then released another version of Easy, but then now they're going to be performing Special as their follow-up song. They sure like to keep the fans guessing, huh? Not that I'm complaining, though, 'cos I think that this song can leave a stronger impact than Easy. But I still wished that they would be performing Take Care of My Girlfriend instead.

About the performance, vocally it was good, though not without slightly pitchy parts here and there. Yoseob's hoarse voice here totally rocks, 'nuff said xDDD. I was disappointed with the choreography though; a lot of times the boys were just standing around doing nothing, like huh DD:. I LOVE the group robotic moves thing during Junhyung's rap starting at 2:14 and that little floor move, though, and the dance after that got a little tighter. I know that even though the moves seem lax, they are more difficult than Shock choreography, since this one has a lot more popping and what not. Still, I hope they will modify it a little x__x. I think that more can be done, since this song is a powerful dance track that can leave an impression on viewers. Like what they did with Mystery and Shock, they should have invented a move that is easy to remember, and if necessary, easy to imitate, at the "Special, special, special guy" part in the beginning of the choruses. I know nuts about dance so I can't give any specific examples, but really, think harder, guys!

V.O.S - 사랑할 줄은 몰랐어 (Did Not Know Love)

I LOVE V.O.S ♥♥♥. LIKE, REALLY, REALLY. They look good in the MV too ^^.

Get up and go, take a chance and be strong
Don't look back just go, take a breath, move along
Believe the tunnel can end, believe your body can mend

Yeah I know you can make it through, cause I believe in you
So let's go put up a fight, let's go make everything all right
Go on and take a shot, go give it all you've got

Don't you spend your whole life holding on

Boys Like Girls - Holiday

I LOVE THIS SONG!

Even though I keep saying that I already know what the result is going to be (I even made a bet of $50 with my mum), the wait is killing me x__x. I even checked the online portal a few times today, even though I know that it's a Saturday lol. I think it's because today is already the first day of May. Last year the result came out on the 7th of May.

Tomorrow is an off day. ARGH I need to get out of the house.