JoleCole's Station

If anyone has been reading the comments I've been posting lately, you are probably aware of my great disappointment and utter frustration in the development of the much anticipated coupledom Hailanzhu and Hong Taiji. Though I'm quite upset over their poor story development, or to be more correctly, "lack" of story development, I was not too surprised at the poor writing of this drama series. To clarify some confusion, the writer of this drama series is not the infamous Yu Zheng, but scriptwriter from a Hong Kong named Shen Zhi Ning 沈芷凝. I heard she was also a student of the famous Taiwanese writer Qiong Yao. So don't blame Yu Zheng for the poor writing in this series. He's just a producer. I blame him for hiring her.

Title : In Love with Power / Beauties without Tears/ 山河恋 /美人无泪 # Episode : 39 Genre : Historical Melodrama, Court Intrigue Broadcasting Compan y: Jiangsu TV Cast: Yuan Shan Shan as Dayu'er, Hawick Lau as Hong Taiji, Han Dong as Prince Dorgon, Zhang Meng as Hailanzhu, Ada Choi as Zhe Zhe Release Dat e: December 17, 2012

OMG! I just literally squealed in excitement after looking at these stills. Battle of Changsha is looking promising! Wallace Huo still manages to retain his dashing handsomeness despite his new war-torn look in this drama series.

The official air date is quickly approaching! Hence, we have more and more materials of INWP being released. Check out the end theme song titled "Promise." Once again, Yuan Shan Shan is the singer.

ILWP fans, let's count down till the official air date! It was originally designated for December 16th, but now I think it's been postponed for another day, December 17th.  One day delay I can take. Just don't make an official announcement and then delay it for a month or something. Anyway, more photos galore below!

OMG...Good news are just rolling in this month! And just in time for Christmas too. We just got another confirmation about the official release of Female Prime Minister in early January. I'm getting super excited for January now!

ILWP fans! It's a done deal now! The OFFICIAL release date has finally been announced! No more speculations, doubts, and the never ending wait. The drama series is coming out on December 16! Are you all ready to scream out in excitement?!

Many thanks to our wonderful translation savior Woan Ting! Translation by Woan Ting 千山暮雪 第二部分 千山暮雪 第三章（ 5 ） 在梦里他背着我一直走，一直走，我搂着他的脖子，问他： “ 你要把我背到什么地方去？ ” In my dream, he piggybacked me and kept on walking along the trails. I asked him while wrapping my arms around his neck “Where do you want to carry me to?”

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! Hawick Lau, Han Dong, Zheng Meng, or even Yuan Shan Shan fans, I have some good news for you (you can probably tell already by the title of this post. LOL). Sohu TV  just revealed on its website that they will release along with Jiangsu TV this drama series in December. They are already starting to promote this drama series on their official website.

 Wallace Huo's fans and semi-wuxia fans, the new Swordsman trailer is finally out today! And it already comes with English subtitles. Double hooray?!

Dear SWAK novel readers, I apologize for my laziness and lack of progress in the translation of SWAK novel. I haven't been able to find the motivation to resume my translation since I've been rather distracted with other things. Fortunately, a blog reader was extremely gracious to share with me her translation work of the SWAK novel. I am very thankful for her effort and can't express my gratitude enough for her generosity. Please applaud Woan Ting for her wonderful translation and leave a kind comment. I'm sure she'll appreciate it !

The famous or should I say "infamous" producer Yu Zheng tend to produce multiple costume TV series simultaneously . After the rating successes of Gong and Gong 2 last year and earlier this year, Yu Zheng's series seem to have went under the carpet. Though he continues to make some greatly anticipated series such as the Swordsman, but for some odd reasons, most of Yu Zheng's completed series have been put on hold for most of 2012. I speculate the delay definitely has something to do with politics.

Happy Saturday! Due to my current interest in Wallace Huo's new series adapted from an online novel, I decided to share with you a brief translated excerpt. This excerpt involves the very first scene where Wallace Huo's character, Gu Qingming, appears in the novel. I'm actually building up high expectations for this production because it's being directed by an acclaimed mainland TV series director. I want to see how this particular scene will play out onscreen and hope Wallace Huo will have sizzling chemistry with his female co-star, Yang Zi. Gu Qingming may seem like a total arrogant a$$ at certain times with his pompous attitude and condescension, but I still find his tempestuous relationship with Hu Xiang Xiang extremely entertaining. Since the scriptwriters will substantially expand the role of Gu Qingming in the TV series, I hope this expansion equates to more screen time to develop the OTP relationship. I always love to watch drama series where most of the sc...

It appears the release date for both Female Prime Minister (FPM) and In Love with Power (ILWP) is not anywhere near the horizon. Rumors and speculations are plentiful but nothing concrete is set. FPM was originally slated for summer, then got pushed to October. Now I don't even hear any details on it's official release date. I just know Hunan TV has officially included FPM in its long list of dramas to broadcast for 2013.

After a 10 year hiatus from their last collaboration Lofty Waters and Verdant Bows, fans of the Michelle Ye and Raymond Lam pairing can squeal in excitement about their upcoming Tang Dynasty period drama called "Legend of the Purple Hairpin." I used to be a big fan of their pairing in Eternal Happiness. Raymond Lam was absolutely adorable as the simple-minded but kindhearted boy. It would be interesting to see how much of their original chemistry remains in this collaboration. The Legend of the Purple Hairpin will be loosely based on a famous Chinese opera.

I think I'm on a Wallace Huo-craze or something because I'm getting rather excited about his upcoming TV series set during the Second Sino-Japanese War (which eventually merged into World War II). Non-war drama fans, please don't shy away yet! This TV series isn't all about guns, bombs, and bayonets. It's actually based on an internet novel that chronicles the trials and tribulations of a prominent but not too wealthy literati family (surname Hu) living in the ancient city of Changsha, Hunan Province. Even though the novel was originally published on a internet novel website known more for romance, the story isn't exactly romantic but focuses more about wartime survival and the value of family. In fact, it doesn't even feel like a love story between two individuals but more like a story of family love. This story is definitely not going to be the typical modern family drama with constant bickering and infighting among relatives. And if you'r...

Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying the cooler temperatures. I've been quite zoomed out of recent releases in dramaland since nothing really catches my attention. Many of you recommended that I check out Zhao Liying's new period drama called Cuo Dian Yuan Yang . I will definitely check it out since the story is based on one of the very first Chinese novels I read. However, I just wish the main actor was bit more...charismatic. LOL. He isn't exactly how I pictured him when I read the novel. Instead of watching new drama series, I've actually been giving older dramas I checked out years ago but somehow never fully watched them in depth another glimpse. It also happens that Wallace Huo starred in these dramas I've been watching lately. This coincidence is the result of my mom who has been watching Rouge Snow and Chinese Paladin 3 dubbed in Cantonese on my local Chinese satellite channel. While she was watching these two series, I suddenly got the urge to rewatc...

I'm not sure if you are familiar with this old actor, Austin Wai, but he remains one of my fondest childhood supporting actors in TVB wuxia series. He actually started out as an action performer in the early 1970s and later diverted into a TV actor. Most of his TVB characters were rather rather wooden, stony, or cold, but there was a still noble charm to whoever he portrayed.  The most poignant memory I have of him was his role as the straitlaced and noble Lu Guanying in 1983 version of Legend of the Condor Heroes with Felix Wong and Barbara Yung. He co-starred opposite another veteran TVB actress, Rebecca Chan, as the wuxia verion of Romeo and Juilet.

MBC's cur rent Wednesday and Thursday drama Arang and the Magistrate While I was watching the Korean drama Arang and the Magistrate, I found one of the theme songs to be awfully familiar but couldn't pinpoint it in my memory where I had heard it before. I later realize it was Hawick Lau's Thousand Mountains in Sealed with a Kiss. Go figure. Somehow I'm surprised and not so surprised about the Korean adaptation of this theme song. Not surprised because the song was originally written by a Korean composer 刘英锡 or Yoo Young Suk. Hawick Lau also purposely went to Korea to get trained for the song and did the recording there too. Surprised because I did not expect MBC to use previously existing music material for their drama series.

I have a strong habit to "ship" people together. This involuntary desire to ship couples can range from real life celebrities, characters in dramas or movies, characters in manga/books to famous historical figures! Fortunately, I have no interest to ship individuals I know in real life. PHEW! There are quite a few historical couples that I shipped, but my ultimate favorite is the Tang Dynasty Emperor Taizong 唐太宗 (personal name Li Shimin 李世民) and his Empress Zhangsun 长孙皇后. I'm not sure if you've heard of this couple since many existing Chinese period dramas tend not explore their relationship. They are often written as major characters in a series but Li Shimin ALWAYS gets paired up with some fictitious female character. -_-

A drought has once again descended upon my land of dramas and I have nothing substantive to post besides the occasional picture spurts. My eagerness for October 1 has all but dissipated. I highly doubt Female Prime Minister will get to air next month. It seems the unspoken ban on costume series from September to November during prime time hours (7 pm to 10pm) is taking effect. For the past two months and will probably continue till November, Hunan TV has been airing nothing but modern series and idol dramas. I'm soooo sick of them. I want to see pretty people in pretty costumes with a good storyline. After Turbulence of the Mu Clan, I'm back on the hunt for series that can hold my interest.

Turbulence of the Mu Clan evolves heavily around family politics and revenge. The constant plotting and traps can get tiresome, but the series still provides enough surprises and excitement to make the story engaging, I'm mostly intrigued by the main love story and perhaps the development of the Mu Zeng's character. Though Aleqiu is the #1 central character that connects everything together, I feel her character can get too goody two shoes for my liking. She has both good and annoying moments, so I have mixed feelings about her in general. Anyway, I'm planning to do some recaps focusing mainly on the OTP.

Turbulence of the Mu Clan has an extensive ensemble cast and many complicated characters.  I hope this list of characters will help those who don't understand Mandarin very well  or those who would just like to know more about the drama before you invest your time into it. :-D

Title: Turbulence of the Mu Clan /Mu Fu Feng Yun/ 木府风云 # Episode : 40 Genre : Ethnic History, Family Politics, Romance Broadcasting Compan y: CCTV Cast: Choo Ja Hyun as Aleqiu, Zhu Xiao Yu as Mu Zeng, Ray Lui as Mu Qing, Yu Rong Guang as Mu Long, Pan Hong as Luo Shi Ning. Sun Wei as Mu Kun, Su Xi Wei as Azhao

Are you tired of dynastic Chinese history, palace dramas, or idol dramas in general? Turbulence of the Mu Clan or Mu Fu Feng Yun 木府风云 offers a good change of setting and some sugarcoated sweetness with the love story. This series traces the rise of a famous Naxi Chieftain and his beloved wife in 16th century southwest China. The highlight of this drama is the battle between hate and love. In sum, this is a classic Cinderella story mixed with Romeo and Juliet elements, except with some very different outcomes.

I suddenly got interested in this upcoming modern series after the heavy promotion by Hunan TV on weibo. The storyline is rather overused and cliche. Since I'm currently bored in dramaland and the trailer looks captivating enough for me,  I'll give this series a try when it airs Monday. 

 Title: Fairytale in 1/2  童话二分之一/ Tong Hua Er Fen Zhi Yi / Half of Fairytale # Episode : 26? Genre : Modern Romance Release Date : August 27 Broadcasting Compan y: Hunan TV Cast: Janine Chang as Zhao Tingxuan/Zhao Tingyu, Lee Joon Hyuk as Du Yu Feng, Zhu Zixiao as Jing Wei  

Okay. It's established fact that Gao Zhan is alive in this scene Today is Chinese Valentine's Day. To "celebrate" this special occasion, more pretty pictures from Female Minister just got released . Yay! These stills just shows the various romantic relationships between the major characters. They include: Gao Zhan and Lu Zhen; Lu Zhen and Shen Jiayan; Gao Zhan and Shen Bi; Gao Yin and Xiao Guanyin. I think the pairing I dread most is Gao Zhan and Shen Bi. Based on what I read and saw in the trailer, Shen Bi just looks like the typical jealous villain without any redeeming qualities. Hopefully, she won't be too bad in the actual drama.

While Chinese dramaland remains dormant with no exciting news, I will drift off to other random topics.  Though I sometimes pretend to be profound and philosophical in my drama rant, I certainly possess a superficial side, which makes me nonimmune to all things pretty, particularly pretty people in pretty costumes. Hence, you all understand my attraction to Female Prime Minister, which has two gorgeous main leads. I have always been a big fan of period dramas because I feel they offer more visual stimulation than modern series. In period dramas, more exquisite details are given to props, sets, and costumes.  Add some pretty faces to this formula and the aesthetic effect of the production automatically magnifies.

Before the advent of popular internet novels or even romantic "idol" dramas in general, Chinese television was once dominated by romantic series created by Qiong Yao.  She is a famous Taiwanese romantic novelist who adapted many of her novels into popular TV series and movies for decades. Her first movie screenplay brought major success in 1960s. She is also renown for hand picking countless beautiful women and bringing these aspiring actresses to super stardom. They include Bridgette Lin, Vicki Zhao, Ruby Lin, Fan Bingbing, Jiang Qinqin (Shui Ling), Chen Hong, Chen Derong, Qin Lan, Leanne Liu Xuehua and etc.These women were completely unknown to the general audience before filming Qiong Yao's TV series/movies. I don't think I know of any prominent writer who has as much monopoly or "power' over her TV series as Qiong Yao.

What can I say? Somehow I saw this coming; BUT I still do not want to see it happen! Apparently, Jiangsu Television, the channel that bought the rights to broadcast In Love with Power, just publicized their remaining 2012 and 2013 program plans. Unfortunately, In Love with Power did not make the cut into the 2012 calender year and got allocated to the 2013 schedule.

Yet again I dedicate another post to this upcoming onscreen couple. I admit I'm really hyped about their collaboration because of my eagerness to watch Female Prime Minister. A few days ago, Chen Xiao attended an event in Beijing for the International Youth Culture Art Weeks and got interviewed about his role in Female Prime Minister.

Title : Ballad of Seodong/ Seodongyo / Ballad of Suh Dong # Episode : 55 Genre : Historical Romance Director : Lee Byung Hoon   Writer: Kim Young Hyun (also wrote Dae Jang Geum, Queen Seondeok) Release : September 2005 Broadcasting Compan y: SBS Cast: Jo Hyun Jae as Jang/Seodong, Lee Bo Young as Princess Sunhwa of Shilla,Ryu Jin as Kim Do Han/SaTaek Giroo, Koo Hye Sun as Eun Jin

Even though I watched A Frozen Flower more than three years ago, I suddenly got the urge to write about it. The intensity of the storyline definitely made it memorable. It's also interesting that as I browse the online commentary on this movie in both Chinese and English-speaking world, the interpretation of the story is quite divided based on gender.

While we wait for this series to come out, we can just sit back and  enjoy the pretty colors of these photos. Even though Dayu'er is the main focus of this drama, I'm sooo UNEXCITED about her character and I do expect much from Yuan Shanshan's performance. I'm certain her character will grow out of the naive and "I want to save the world" attitude eventually, but Dayu'er has been over exposed in the Chinese TV drama history. I want the focus shifted to another figure...like her sister.

A Frozen Flower (Ssanghwajeom) is a 2008 Korean movie about the love triangle between a homosexual king, his queen, and his chief royal guard. I'm a total sucker for pretty period dramas or movies with pretty people and pretty costumes. But man...when I first watched A Frozen Flower, it gave me quite a SHOCK! I knew it contained some sexual material and violence inappropriate for the young audience, but I never expected it to be SOO graphically explicit!

Aye, I've been so idle lately in dramaland that I just can't help but stalk the Baidu Forum and scout the weibo world for any new bits of information on Female Prime Minister. Unfortunately, there is still no official release date except for Yu Zheng's weibo response citing a October 1 broadcast date and some minor changes to the total number of episodes (extended from 40 to 45 episodes). In the meantime, I'll just gush over any spoilers I can get and speculate on the story.

Hailanzhu - The Pearl of Revenge In Love with Power devises the character of Hailanzhu to undergo some drastic transformation. Hailanzhu and Dayu'er grew up together in the great plains of Mongolia. The former is dubbed as the "Grassland Star of Disaster" while the latter is called the "Grassland Star of Good Fortune."  Hailanzhu's mother is the maidservant of Dayu'er's household. They shared the same father but are birth by different mothers. Because her of low social standing, Hailanzhu experiences quite a lot of hardships and often gets ostracized by her own tribe. Later when Dayu'er falls in love with Hong Taiji, Hailanzhu inadvertently becomes the love of his life.

Ever since photos have been leaking out of Da Mo Yao film sets, we rarely have any high quality photos of Eddie Peng's Huo Qubing. To my pleasant surprise this morning, some high quality photos were posted on Eddie Peng's Baidu Forum. I'm just amazed at how good he looks in his nobleman wardrobe. The parted combed-hair and the male hair ornamentation transform Eddie Peng into a very sleek young gentleman with an aura of grandness and regality.

The popular Chinese Television Magazine just dedicated a whole section to In Love with Power and conducted some short individual interviews from the writer and main cast, which included Hawick Lau, Yuan Shanshan, Ada Choi, Zhang Meng, and Han Dong. In these interviews, they give their take on how they portray their character. Below is Hawick Lau's interview translation. Hong Taiji - A conniving and manipulative emperor with a touch of loving softness 

Just when I'm running out of things to say about Female Prime Minister, Sina Entertainment News releases a series of new romantic stills I can drool over. I just want to scream "OH MY GOSH!! Sooo godly delicious to the eyes!" I'm already pretty hyped up about this series, but these stills just heighten my excitement by tenfold!

Character Descriptions Quite a few pretty ladies seem to have given their heart to Gao Zhan in this drama. I counted at least four major characters: Lu Zhen, Xiao Guanyin, Shen Bi, and Shen Jiamin. I excluded Princess Tong Chang because she has a mindset of a juvenile. I highly doubt anything romantic exists between the two. Besides these five women, I'm not sure how many minor characters will crush on him. Gao Dan is truly one popular guy! But what about our lovely Lu Zhen? Drama isn't drama without a complex polygonal love story. Let's add two or three guys into this complicated love equation for Lu Zhen. Muahahaha....

Due to the relative downtime I'm experiencing in mainland Chinese dramas, I've been surprisingly venturing back into TVB dramaland. Just a little caveat, I completely gave up hope on TVB's ability to produce any great series several years ago and would rarely watch anything from beginning to end. My expectations for TVB productions are pretty much NIL , but at the same time, my patience to endure their mediocrity is also very low. If I do watch any TVB dramas, they tend to be modern crime/detective series or just pure brainless comedy. Both Tiger Cubs and Three Kingdoms RPG fall into these categories.

Early this morning, Yu Zheng (producer) just announced on his weibo that Yun Zhong Ge (a.k.a. Song in the Clouds) will experience some dramatic changes in its setting. The historical context is removed to avoid references to the Liu royal house of the Han Dynasty or any prominent historical figures. The original historical setting gets supplanted with a wuxia setting. Liu Fuling is no longer a Han Dynasty emperor but a reluctant supreme leader of the martial arts world.  Our female protagonist, Yun Ge, becomes an orphan girl from the desert with no association to the famous Han Dynasty general, Huo Qubing. Other than the historical context of Yun Zhong Ge, the major love stories and scheming subplots should remain intact.

While I was browsing the Baidu Forum, I discovered this BTS video created by one of the crew members from the Female Prime Minister production team. This 4-minute clip features some new footage and shows the technical shooting process of the drama.

I'm sure everyone has their own set of memorable TV characters they never grow tired of watching. A few days ago, I saw a video documentary about the suicide of a famous 1980s Hong Kong TV actress, Barbara Yung, and I suddenly became very nostalgic. Her role as the spoiled, highly intelligent Huang Rong made a very deep impression on me as a child. As a result, I decided to put together this list (note: I actually have another list for my favorite characters in American TV shows). Though I lost count on how many dramas I've watched in my life, the number of characters that still ring loudly in my head are far fewer in comparison. I didn't really rank my favorite TV characters but put them in chronological order based on the year I first viewed the TV series.

After watching a bit of Wallace Chung's Tian Ya Ming Yue Dao (TYMYD) and noticed the hideous male costumes/hairdos, I got inspired to write about the stunning male costumes in Female Prime Minister. It demonstrates how costumes and hairdos, if done right, can absolutely transform an actor. I picked the Crown Prince Gao Zhan's costumes as the topic of our discussion because his wardrobe contains some of my favorite pieces. I think I'm on a "Chen Xiao" marathon or something because I've been writing quite a few posts about him lately. LOL. 

If I remember correctly, this scene is where Jinyu was waiting for Meng Jiu to respond to her love confession, but to her devastation, he didn't show up. My interest in Da Mo Yao/Ballad of Desert has been on hiatus in recent months due to the lack of news, photo release, and the secretive nature of the production team. But today the splurge of new images just reignited my interest. In the past few weeks, there were barely any high quality photos of Eddie Peng in his character mode and without the usual interruption of crew/production equipments in the backdrop. Since filming just completed, we should expect more photo releases or maybe even a trailer if SARFT finally decides to approve DMY for national broadcast in China.

It has been a very long time since I have a strong urge to watch a movie in theater and right now I wish I can just fly to China to watch Painted Skin II: The Resurrection on the big screen. Currently breaking box-office records, this fantasy epic about a fox demon trading "skin" or body with a disfigured princess is drawing massive viewership and earning accolades for its cinematic achievements.

I was never really an ardent or true fan of a single artist or singer. When I do get obsessed about something, it tends to be about an onscreen couple (e.g. FengMi, Alex Su/Vicki Zhao, Carmen Lee/Louis Koo, etc.) or drama series (e.g. Sealed with a Kiss, Huan Zhu Ge Ge). Rarely would I follow one particular actor religiously. I do have a few actors/actresses I prefer NOT to watch in leading roles and would rather see them in supporting roles. In other words, there are more cases where I prefer not to watch a  drama series because of particular actor/actress than I would purposely watch a drama series just for a particular actor/actress. Due to my exposure to Female Prime Minister, Chen Xiao caught my attention and I began to "study" his filmography. I first heard his name on Spcnet Forum from a fellow hardcore FengMi Shipper and my good buddy, Mango_cake. She seemed to be very fond of him. When I saw his photo, my first reaction  was "Oh young boy with pretty face...

Mandarin title : Tian Ya Ming Yue Dao/ Horizon, Bright Moon, Sabre/                            Magic Blade/ 天下明月刀 # Episode : 40 Genre : Wuxia, Revenge, Martial Arts Release date : June 24,2012    Broadcasting Compan y: Hunan TV Cast: Wallace Chung as Fu Hongxue, Baron Chen as Ye Kai, Zhang Meng as Zhou Ting

Since I've been a little obsessed with the OTP of Female Prime Minister lately, I would like to share with you all this lovely little fanmade MV I found on the Baidu Forum. The original creator cut out all the good scenes from the trailer, rearranged the sequence, and seamlessly weaved it into the melody of this pretty Mandarin song.  The song is called Xiangsiyin 相思引which I roughly translated as "Incurring Lovesickness."