JoleCole's Station

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've been a little bored with the recent dramas lately, so I went back to rewatch some episodes from SWAK and decided to do a little recap of some "intense" scenes. Our lovely but angsty main couple certainly falls under the "I'll kill you, I'll throttle you, and I'll kiss you" category. One moment, they're are at each other's throat, and the next moment, they can start kissing. In Thai Lakorn term, it's a slap-kiss drama. LOL. Anyway, SWAK definitely has quite a few kissing scenes, but most of the kisses are quite chaste, nothing too passionate. I think Wallace Chung's Too Late To Say I Love have more kissing scenes and passionate ones too. Out of all the kisses Mo Shaoqian and Tong Xue shared, my favorite is probably the last kiss initiated by Tong Xue. It's rare that we see this shy girl returns the favor back to Mo Shaoqian. Oh, on a side note, I realize that throughout the drama, Mo Shaoqian and Tong Xue never hugged each oth...

I always knew the production company (Xing Sheng Di Movie & Television Culture Co.) who produced SWAK was also responsible for Ru Yi. But I definitely did not expect them to reunite many of SWAK cast members back to shoot Ru Yi. LOL. There are just too many familiar faces! I counted 10 cast members so far. Luckily, this time the production company has more money to spend on the costumes because the main leads have quite a few good looking outfits. Unfortunately, the story/writing of Ru Yi doesn't captivate me as much as SWAK. I thought it would be fun to list out all the actors/actresses who returned to shoot Ru Yi. Hawick Lau's next Qing Dynasty project called Night of Spring, also based on a novel by Fei Wo Si Cun, is produced by this company again. So expect some veteran cast members to return for that drama as well! Hawick Lau: Tan Mingkai vs. Mo Shaoqian

I've been meaning to compile a list of my favorite characters in SWAK and describe why I like them. This ranking is mostly based on how the character itself is written in the series. I tried not to judge too much based on the acting. Well...I'll be honest. The acting does play a role in how much I like these characters. But I still tried to make it subsidiary to the scripting of the character.

Please forgive me for continuously bombarding you all with Sealed with a Kiss fanmade music videos. I just can't help but share my love for them, particularly this one called "Qing Shang" or "A Love that Dies Prematurely." I absolutely fell in love with the intro. VERY PRETTY. Even the SWAK director, Yang Xuan, was impressed with the artistic editing of this particular MV and praised it on his microblog. The song chosen is also perfect and sung by the boy band Xin Yue Tuan. I wish this song was used as a theme song in the drama as well. Yan Shui Duo Yun, the original creator of these MVs, is a video editor genius. He/she also made the last SWAK MV I posted.

  Stratagem 3: Episode 25 - Mo Shaoqian refuses to see Tong Xue Entice the tiger to leave its mountain lair ( 调虎离山 ) Wiki    Never directly attack an opponent whose advantage is derived from its position. Instead lure him away from his position thus separating him from his source of strength.

I found another nice fanmade MV of SWAK. If you have time, check it out! The song used in this video is called "Hui Bu Qu Le" meaning "Can't turn back."

  Originally written by cainfreya, translated/commented/edited by JoleCole   Stratagem 2: Episode 1 - At a night club, Mo Shaoqian sits leisurely as he watches his men bully the private investigator who has been trailing him. Kill with a borrowed knife ( 借刀杀人) Wiki Attack using the strength of another (in a situation where using one's own strength is not favorable). Trick an ally into attacking him, bribe an official to turn traitor, or use the enemy's own strength against him. The idea here is to cause damage to the enemy by getting a 3rd party to do the deed.

I'm sure many of you who like Sealed with a Kiss is largely attributed to the charisma of Mo Shaoqian. At least for me, I definitely fall into that category. Mo Shaoqian is one of the "smarter" Chinese television characters I've seen. He's not perfect, nor he is the typical hero. He honestly sounds more like an anti-hero. Despite his unethical actions and flaws, I still find his character irresistible and love to watch every minute of this character gets unfolded onscreen.

Shaoqian’s mother, Jiang Yun, seeks to befriend the injured Tong Xue as they share the same hospital room.  In contrast to her stern and serious son, Jiang Yun is a vivacious and fun-loving middle-aged woman who loves to play video games. Tong Xue seems to really enjoy her company because her spirited personality definitely helps to brighten Tong Xue’s melancholy.  Jiang Yun confides to Tong Xue that her husband has already passed away and she rarely even sees her son.  As they chatter, Tong Xue begins to reminisce about her own parents. She reveals that this coming hour of midnight is actually her lunar calendar birthday, the day her late parents usually celebrate with her.  Jiang Yun tries to comfort her and rocks her to sleep.  On Jiang Yun's cellphone, she reads an email message from Shaoqian saying “Today, I did something wrong again” and she replies, “Then, don’t do it again.”

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Since 2011 just ended, I just wanted to do a quick personal review of all the TV series I've fully watched/attempted to watch/or managed to dip my fingers into last year. First, I must confess I have a peculiar/somewhat unpredictable taste in dramas and also an incurable habit of loving to speedily skim through my dramas because of the strong urge to know what happens next or the lack of patience. Sometimes I may get too easily distracted by a new drama and completely abandon the current drama I'm watching. The dramas I don't finish do not necessarily mean I hate them. More often, it just means that these "unfinished dramas" failed to sustain my interest for too short of a time period to make me want to watch it completely in one sitting or follow it all the way during the initial broadcast period. I may go back to finish them at a later time when I have more time or regain the mood to resume where I left off.

I just discovered this nice fanmade MV dedicated to Tong Xue and Mo Shaoqian. It's beautifully made and the editing looks really professional. The scenes chosen are great too. The song used in this MV is the original main theme song "Thousand Mountains," sang by Hawick Lau. All fans of the drama should check it out!

☃ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥MERRY CHRISTMAS! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ☃ I wish you all have a very very fun-filled joyful Christmas and get a TON of presents that you like! I must also thank everyone who has been following/reading my blog and leaving comments for me. I love to read what you all have to say and try to reply as much as I can. For those of you wondering what happened to  my translation project, I'm still working on it and not giving up yet. The same goes for drama recaps. In the meantime, I put together these photos to let Sealed with a Kiss fans take a look at the cast and crew during the filming process. Behind the Scene:

I just watched a 1-minute interview ( HERE ) with Ying'er and Hawick Lau after their Youku Award Ceremony. During this interview, Ying'er talked mostly about the relationship between Tong Xue and Mo Shaoqian in Sealed with a Kiss. Toward the end, however, a reporter asked her, "Are you and Hawick more loving toward each other off-screen than on-screen ?"

Youku, one of China's largest streaming sites, just hosted their annual TV Series Award Ceremony in Beijing. Hawick Lau attended the star-studded ceremony with Ying'er to receive their "Best Onscreen Couple" award with the highest statistics for their roles as Mo Shaoqian and Tong Xue in Sealed with a Kiss. Other winners included Wallace Huo, Hu Ge, Ruby Lin, Liu Shishi, Ariel Lin, Tong Liya, Peter Ho, Wallace Chung and etc.

Since Mu Zhenfei had offered to help his sister dig out Mo Shaoqian’s dalliances, Yongfei calls him to check on the progress on of his investigation. Mu Zhenfei, who is fully aware of his sister’s erratic and uninhibited behavior, cautions her not to go too far.  He fears his sister will do something crazy and hurt another innocent woman like Su Shanshan. He warns, “The more you pressure a man, the more he will resist you. Your tactic won’t work.” Ignoring Zhenfei's advice, Mu Yongfei shoots back saying that after their father suspended his hospital construction project, Mo Shaoqian has been a very “good husband” recently and has even moved back home to spend more time with her.

Recently, I've been absorbed in playing with Photoshop and making some Sealed with a Kiss banners for this blog. And I thought maybe I should share what I've done and convert some of the banners into high resolution wallpapers. If you have a particular banner that you really like and want it in wallpaper format, please let me know! Size : 1600 x 1200 pixels ♦♦ Peachy Theme ♦♦ ♦♦ Blue Night Theme ♦♦

When I read the chapter written in Mu Yongfei's narrative, I really despised what she did to Mo Shaoqian. Her suffocating love for him (or more like an obsession) completely ruined his life. Without Mu Yongfei, Mo Shaoqian's father would probably still be alive and he wouldn't turn into the twisted, vindictive man he later became. Inadvertently, Mu Yongfei was also the precipice that linked Tong Xue and Mo Shaoqian together. She actually only shows up in a single scene in the main novel despite having a "strong" hold in Tong Xue's mind throughout the story. Readers only get to see her character flushed out in this particular chapter. It is also through her eyes, we learn about the true extent of Mo Shaoqian's sacrifice for Tong Xue and the hardship he experienced. I found Mu Yongfei to be the most pitiful character in the novel despite her maliciousness. The reason why Mo Shaoqian and Tong Xue failed to get the "gloriously prestigious first pl...

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all get some good Black Friday deals. I'll be doing some midnight shopping too, so hopefully the crowd won't be too crazy. Anyway, I finally finished recapping Episode 4! No idea why it took so long. I guess there are so many memorable scenes in this episode that I kept on trying to snap the right moment for screen captures. Feeling like a piece of chattel, Tong Xue devastatingly thinks that Shaoqian is passing her over to other men. She feels her life will be ruined after she consents to Shaoqian's "request." She recalls her parents' desire to send her abroad to study and their hope she'll explore her artistic talent to become a great interior designer. Shaoqian, who seems completely unaffected, leaves his house and calls his assistant, Wenhao, to investigate the mastermind behind the trailing of Yueying. He then gets a phone call from Yongfei and the first thing he hears from her is "Do you know how I deal with...

Mo Shaoqian's monologue is one of the several epilogue chapters the author wrote after she completed the main chapters in Tong Xue's narrative. It is the only chapter, narrated by Mo Shaoqian, where we get a rare and intimate glimpse at his innermost feelings in the entire novel. I suspect the time frame of this chapter is set between the events after his blissful beach house days with Tong Xue and their eventual reunion shortly before their marriage. In stark contrast to the previous humorous epilogue about Shaoqian and Tong Xue's married life, this short narrative is definitely more heavy-hearted in nature. This chapter is titled " Gui Mi Xin Qiao 鬼迷心窍" in Chinese, roughly meaning "inexplicably blinded or memorized by some devilish obsession." It's a Chinese proverb that literally translated as "ghosts have blinded one's heart and intelligence," which is often used to describe people are are overwhelmingly memorized by something...