I took the chance to binge-watch this 56 episode drama over the CNY 2022 break (my workplace is closed for a week over the CNY holiday). And just right after I finished it, most of the videos in the playlist were removed from Youtube. Sobz.
There was another series in the Novoland media franchise which was in my watchlist, but I decided to watch this first as I had just seen the male lead in an earlier series.
About the drama adaptation
The drama is an adaptation from the novel by the same name by Jiang Nan, set in the fictional universe of Novoland. You can read the summary here (Cdramalove | Cnewsdevotee)
Based on some snippets in youtube and various other Chinese sites, some of the storyline differs from the original novel, but I won't go into detail since I haven't read it. Will post some thoughts on the drama itself if I have some free time.
OST
Main theme song is by Ayanga.
Only after finishing the series did I realise that this was the song that he sang when he first appeared on "Young Forever"
After all the past years of K-drama addiction, I got bored and watched more variety shows. But alas, my command of the language and eyesight deteriorated, so I was looking for entertainment where I didn't have to keep my eyes glued on the screen and follow the (sometimes poorly translated) subtitles.
I got back to looking for Chinese language singing competitions which we watched occassionally on TV. And I am so glad that the (almost-complete) playlist were still around on the YT channel of the broadcaster.
I don't remember a lot about my childhood, compared to some of my friends and siblings, but 《倚天屠龙记》 was one of the first Chinese sword-fighting drama I watched. I recall eagerly waiting for the episodes to be aired on TV on Sunday evenings. Then we didn't have the internet or on-demand TV programmes. Just the good old, free-to-air TV channels and a trusty videotape recorder. I remember, in some cases, being the one to set the VHS tape to the desired location, and waiting for that exact moment when the episode aired, to press the red "Record" button. And of cos, some of the instances, when we would panic upon realising the tape was coming to the end, and hoping that there would be an advertising slot so that I could quickly pause the recording and swop a new blank tape. I would also sometimes sneakily, snap off the small square at the corner of the tape, so that it would prevent someone else from recording over that particular tape.
A youtube playlist of the 2019 drama
Back to this particular story, this 2019 version is probably the 3rd rendition I've watched. I marathoned-watched this 2019 version on Youtube(actually "watched" is the wrong verb to use, as I mostly listened to the Mandarin dialogue while doing household chores), then tried to find some (decent quality) videos online, of the original one I watched, but failed. Watched the above playlist from start to finish again a second time, which cemented my review of it as being lesser than the 1986 TVB version, starring a very young Tony Leung (see picture below).Ah, the psychological effects of first impressions and nostalgia combined. I even went one step further and found the original novel text on 金庸网. I am no good at reading Mandarin text, so I was lucky to find websites with the full length text and exported to play it on my mobile using the "@Voice Aloud Reader" app. That became my latest entertainment means after I'd stopped watching Korean dramas early this year.
I started watching "Reply 1988" after watching "Love in the Moonlight" and "Jealousy Incarnate". Partly because I wanted to see Park Bo Gum's and Go Kyung Pyo's previous works and also because it was on my KIV list .
Although I do not belong to the same generation as the leads and the songs are foreign to me (cos they are mostly in Korean), I enjoyed the storyline for the bromance and family stories. And of course, I was spared all the angst of "finding the husband", that was characteristic of the Reply series, because I only started watching after the whole drama was over.
In the earlier post on "Moonlight Drawn By Clouds" OST, I promised more on Hwang Chi-yeul (See wikipedia). Here we go.
The youtube playlist below is by Sarah Bosch, stringing all 8 videos of Hwang Chi-Yeul's journey through the Chinese version of "I am a Singer" season 4.
When his version of the MDBC OST was released, I was so excited I actually played it in the car for my husband to listen. And he could identify Hwang's voice as he had been watching some of the Chinese singing programmes. Now I am wondering whether to marathon "I am a singer" Season 4... Hahaha
😀
Bugs (벅스) is a South Korean music company I first came across when searching for the lovely soundtrack of the 2016 hit drama "Moonlight drawn by clouds".
Below is the playlist of the Moonlight drawn by clouds playlist on Youtube.
A rather long (50 episodes!) Korean drama on family and forgiveness. With quite a few typical K-drama makjang elements. Initially watched it for the female lead, Kim Hee Sun, after watching her in "Faith", but was glued to the finish for the bromance between Lee Seojin and Taecyeon.
