Updating my Rivers and Lakes

Beautiful art I used for the MV, by Xuedaixun, Deviant Art

Two Three posts: one is my final impressions for Return of Condor Heroes 1983 here. Don't read it if you're an avid fan of Yeung Gor/Dragon Girl...

Two: Made another CLH MV titled "The Wandering Life Before You", this time without Siu Ching for the majority of the scenes. She only appeared in the last scene. The song is from the 1979 CLH sung by Adam Cheng. Hope you like the new MV!

Three: Posted a review on The Academy 2005 starring Michael Miu. Not a wuxia series, but it's Michael, so it's there...

Updating my Jianghu blog

I have found the third OST of Chor Lau Heung 1984. It's a beautiful song titled 情到濃時休說痴 (Love Makes a Fool of None), performed by Liza Wang. I have accordingly made an MV based on that OST; the MV can be viewed here. 

I have also posted my second interim impression of ROCH 1983 here.

Drop me some thoughts in my River and Lake blog please!

Updates on my Jianghu blog

Beautiful magnolias by Ella Saridi, Etsy (I used two of her arts in the new MV)

I just uploaded a new MV for Chor Lau Heung 1984 using "Undying Love", one of the OSTs for Return of Condor Heroes (ROCH) 1983. You can listen to and watch the MV here. 

Speaking of ROCH 1983, I started watching the series last week. I decided not to make episode summaries for this series, but I will (and have) post my interim and final impressions. The first interim impression was posted here. 

Enjoy!

New updates for my Jianghu blog

Wong Yung's gorgeous bright yellow tunic, Ep 50

I have added some screen shots of the last episodes of LOCH 1982 from ep 55 to 59, particularly during the Yeung Gor/Yang Guo baby naming scene. Might add more screen shots for other episodes too and will keep you posted if I do.

I posted a new article on the costumes worn by Michael Miu and Barbara Yung in Legend of Condor Heroes 1982.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Updates for my River and Lake blog

First update: I posted a series of sketches of Chor Lau Heung and Song Siu Ching here and sketches of Wong Yung and Yeung Hong here (thanks Cynthia from the MB Forum for the new sketches!).

Second update: I finished an LOCH fan-fiction (The Dragon's Repentance) with the following snippet:

What if Yeung Hong managed to escape death... at least until Yeung Gor was born? 

Inspired by the 2008 LOCH which gave YK the chance to be with his son and wife for a few months... and born of my wish of Yeung Hong having a closure with Wong Yung... 

I've also linked individual Michael/Barbara wuxia posts here to their counterpart posts in the River and Lake Realm. I haven't finished all of them, but I hopefully will during the weekend. 

Enjoy and see you at the River and Lake!

My new Jianghu blog

Let me know if you
know the artist's identity

Dear readers, to accommodate the growing wuxia/jianghu posts I have on this blog, today I just published my new blogspot specifically for that topic. Called 'The Realm of Rivers and Lakes', with the blog address RiverAndLakeRealm, the blog is specifically for wuxia, jianghu or wulin posts, in particular those featuring Michael Miu Kiu Wai and Barbara Yung Mei Ling. As such, I have copied all Michael/Barbara related posts to my "Realm of River and Lakes" blog site. All comments have been imported there too. 

The summary of new wuxia posts will still be posted here if they are Michael/Barbara related, but the full article will only be at the new Realm of Rivers and Lakes blog. Non MB posts (e.g., if I do want to write a summary on Return of Condor Heroes 1983) will only be posted in the Realm of Rivers and Lakes. Hence, I do recommend that my regular wuxia/jianghu readers subscribe to my new blog to get the regular updates of new posts.

Note to those new with the 'Jianghu (江湖)', the literal translation is 'rivers and lakes', usually to convey the world explored by martial artisans. There is a very interesting article by Helena Yuen Wai from the University of Hong Kong that explored this matter. Click here for said article. Abstract is below the break. I've read the paper; it was a very informative read.

Thank you for visiting my new site!

Yang Kang's demise (LOCH 1982 screen caps)

Below are the screen caps of the final scene of Yang Kang where he finally accepted his demise. It's a total tearjerker for me that I delayed it for two weeks since I saw this ep 52, but I feel like I owe myself and MB/LOCH fans the screen caps. The screen caps started from the moment Guo Jing found the poisoned Yang Kang inside the Iron Spear Temple. Click this to read this post at my new Jianghu blog.

GJ trying to save YK but the latter knew he had no hope

LOCH 1982 episode guides (eps 50-59) and final impression

The followings are the episode guides of the last 10 episodes of LOCH 1982. More screen caps will be posted later (still haven't really gotten over Yang Kang's death...). Click this to read this post at my new Jianghu blog.

The Quanzhen Sect's Tiangang Beidou Formation Ep 50

Ep 50: Wong Yung kidnapped First Freak Master Ke to ask him about the Peach Blossom Island massacre. GJ intervened, and Master Ke hit WY instead, and she was imprisoned. GJ asked Hong Qigong and Old Imp’s help to release WY; she was released. The three of them then went to the inn where Huang Yaoshi and Quanzhen Sect were about to have their duel (must be an expensive venue...). Master Ke and GJ also went to the same inn to side with Quanzhen. Yet, across that inn, we saw Wanyan Honglie and Ouyang Feng observing the inn.

Apparently, the Peach Blossom massacre had Wanyan Honglie et al’s fingerprints on it. Ouyang Feng wanted wuxia supremation, hence if Huang Yaoshi and Quanzhen were at loggerheads, then Ouyang would be the supreme master.  Plus YK knew the Baigu claw, hence we know that he was behind this too, that bastard!  Based on Ouyang Feng’s instruction, YK had stationed lanterns with poisonous gas outside the inn as another layer of trap.

Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (a.k.a. The Rise of WonderBat)

Superman (Henry Cavill), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and Batman (Ben Affleck) at BvS

So I watched this highly-anticipated movie last night: Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. Tho I feel like I want to post the last summary of LOCH 1982, but I will defer it until tonight cos I want to get this one out of my head first. Not a lot of spoilers; more of character discussion. And remember: this is a DC movie. This is NOT a Marvel movie.

Now, BvS (Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice) has been a long-anticipated movie and it’s always been the case of “whether DC will outdo Marvel” this time. To me, it’s never been about that. It’s about whether Warner Bros finally got it right to set up the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) for there are so many stories to tell from DC (and I mean the pre-new 52 DC which has our lovely Trinity acting as themselves, not the current hoohaa in the new 52 that I cannot recognise (okay, I love Azzarello’s Wonder Woman despite many of you not liking that version, but I hate the Finch’s WW to the core. The Finches just don’t get Diana). So when I came to the cinema, I tried not to hope that I would see a Marvel movie. The premiere goers have stated that this is a DC movie, not a Marvel movie, so I wasn’t expecting a lot of humour.  However, I was indeed hoping for a movie that stays true to the core characters of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, and lo and behold, I wasn’t disappointed.

My recent trip to Sri Lanka

In which I talked about visiting Buddhist temples, food and saree in Sri Lanka

Purple waterlilies sold outside the Dalaga Maligawa

Yesterday (19 March) was my birthday. Since I made up my mind to go to at least one place I've never been before (Star Trek really) once a year, I want to make a post on my recent trip that I really love. Last February, I had the blessings of going to Sri Lanka for a meeting. The meeting has been covered in my professional blog, so I won't cover it here. What I want to present below is instead my personal trip before and after the meeting. Sri Lanka is a truly beautiful country, and I wish I had more time to explore the island. I will definitely come again one day (hopefully for another meeting, but also with extended holiday afterwards). I fell in love with the island, and I certainly am grateful for the few friends that I knew before coming to the island (because they truly welcomed me with open arms), and also for the new friends I've made during my short one week visit in Sri Lanka.

Below are thus a series of photographs that I took during my trip. It covers my visit to the Dalaga Maligawa (Temple of Tooth Relic) in Kandy, some food fest (God, those delicious SL dishes!) and a bit of saree spree... Oh, and a bit about the traffic in Colombo, tho you can't truly "appreciate" the chaos until you set foot in Colombo. Enjoy!