獵豔 - Zoom Hunting

獵豔 (Zoom Hunting) is an 2010 film out of Taiwan. The movie stars Janine Chang (Ning Chang), Chu Chih-ying (Zhu Zhu-Ying), and Wen Sheng-Hao. The supporting cast include Chou Heng-yin (Zhou Heng-Yin) and Michelle Krusiec. The movie is director Cho Li's debut and ventures into suspense thriller territory.



Chang plays Ruyi, a freelance photographer on an hiatus. Ruyi randomly takes pictures of things all around her balancy and accidentally captures an couple across the way getting it on. Ruyi is intrigued and starts to take more pictures and starts to stalk them. Yupe, stalk them. From this, he finds that the man across the way is in relations with someone not his wife! From there, the thriller goes into overdrive as she is torn between keeping quite or telling the wife. Along the way, Ruyi confides in her sister. Ruyi's sister is an writer of erotic thriller a la 50 shades. There's a larger mystery that unfolds.



The movie was pretty good for a movie out of Taiwan. If the movie were made in HK or even the US, it would be a straight to video movie. The acting was ok and the story itself was hard to follow. I found myself having to rewind and go back to plot points that past me by. Which isn't good. However, for Taiwan movie buffs, you'll need to watch this one to see the progression made in Taiwanese cinema since.



I covered its upcoming release in Taipei back in January 2010.

偷心大聖P.S.男 - PS Man - Upcoming

偷心大聖P.S.男 (PS Man) is an upcoming Taiwanese drama starring Bianca Bai, Sonia Sui, Blue Lan, and Wen Sheng Hao (James Wen). The idol drama is set to replace Autumn's Concerto on Sunday, February 28th.



There's been a lot of fanfare or media coverage of this series. Bianca Bia and Sonia Sui have promoted this in the past month and the ads are popping up on SETTV now.

From the looks of it, it'll be a fun and deary story. Fun in the sense of its coverage of showbiz, but deary with the subject of a child born before Bianca's character gets famous.

敗犬女王 - My Queen - On LA 18.8

敗犬女王 (My Queen) has recently started broadcasting on Los Angeles LA18.8. As you know, 18.8 is one of the digital LA18 channels and is 24 hours of Chinese programing.

If you don't want to purchase, rent, or download the series, you can give it a go on 18.8. Shown on weekdays at 2pm and 10:30pm.

敗犬女王 - My Queen

敗犬女王 (My Queen) is a 2009 drama out of Taiwan. The 2 main stars are Cheryl Yang and Ethan Ruan. The supporting cast is huge, but includes Jessica Song. Fish Leong shows up as an DJ.

Cheryl Yang as Wu Shuang, plays a 女王 (super women) at a gossip magazine. She's 32 years old and does whatever it takes to get the story. Ethan Ruan as Lucas, plays a handyman that's got a energy for life. They meet on Christmas Eve as Wu takes a bike that Lucas was giving to orphans. In a strange turn of events, Wu and Lucas continue to bump into each other. Lucas eventually becomes Wu's bodyguard and assistant.

Wu is presented as a super woman at school and work. But not so super at life. As Wu hasn't had a boyfriend in 6 years and was "left at the alter" (figuratively). Wu has grown up as the "# 1" in all sorts of competitions. Wu has had the cover story at her mag and the majority of Wu's co-workers do not get along with her.

Lucas is 25 and tries to live life to the fullest and has a heart of gold. He makes a living doing handyman type activities as well as anything that you need. Kind of a handyman for life situations. Like dressing up as Santa.

The drama is very different in tone and has a more mature subject matter. There's a lot of screaming, yelling, and crying. Hey, what do you expect from a drama. The two main stars somehow, someway meet up when you don't think they would. When they're suppose to go their separate ways, they do not. Its drama magic for you.

I enjoyed the first 12 episodes and it went by real quick. Episodes 14-18 were a major chore to watch. The first 12 took roughly 1.5 weeks while, episodes 14-18 took me 3 weeks to finish. Because I started Chinese Paladin 3 and because I didn't like where the story was headed.

I do recommend this drama if you're in your late 20s or older. Some of the subject matter is totally going to be foreign to people in their 20s. And dating an older women with her biological clock on the other half is also going to be a subject matter that is foreign to those that do not think about it.

Towards the end of the series, when the 8 years of age different was the main focus, it reminded me of work. I am one of the older guys in my office and it's hard to relate to those that are a decade younger than me! A full decade, not even 8 years. So, the points brought up hit home a little. I do the daddy thing everyday now. There's no daddy vacation. Young people think about what's the next young thing to do. I can finally move on to Black and White.

I don't think this drama got the play of 命中註定我愛你, but it's rating average for the span of 21 episodes is very high.

敗犬女王 - My Queen - First Thoughts

I am finished up to episode 15 of 敗犬女王 (My Queen). With 6 more to go, I am conflicted. I don't like where the series is going and episode 14 and 15 were a major chore to watch.

With a stack of other series stacking up behind it, I don't want to waste another 7-8 hours on weak sauce stuff.

So, my first thoughts are that the first 11 or so episodes lives up to the title. They painted Cheryl Yang as a workaholic who's not smooth with the guys. However, Cheryl Yang is way to attractive. These challenges wouldn't come her way. They paint her as a 33 year old who's biological clock is now past 9. I get the concept. I get it. I just can get with it while Cheryl Yang is that person.

Ethan is a hot headed "hippie" type guy. He's enjoying life and making friends on the way.

The tone of the series is way way different than the 2 that preceeded it, 命中註定我愛你 (Destiny to Love/Fated to Love You) and 無敵珊寶妹 (Invincible Shan Bao Mei/Woody Sambo). Lucas and Wu Shuang yell a lot. Tempers flare a lot more. I had to turn the volume down seemingly every 15 mins or so because it would wake up my kids. I have to have the volume up to a decent level to hear while I wash dishes.

Should I bare and grunt my way through the next 6 episodes? I already know the ending, so there's no build up for me. Decisions, decisions.

一八九五 - 1895

一八九五 (1895) is a 2008 film out of Taiwan starring Cheryl Yang and Wen Sheng Hao. My local Chinese media store AMAX got it about a month ago, but it's taken quite a few days for my wife and I to finish it.

The movie is the telling of Hakka resistance in the wake of the 1985 Japanese invasion of Taiwan. It intertwines the lives of the the 2 leaders of the Hakka resistance with their family, wives and servants.

Along with the telling of the lives with the families, there's also a Japanese perspective. That perspective has the Japanese Prince compassionate toward the Taiwanese. It is one that shows compassion and one that tries to avoid conflict.

However, in times of war, there is a losing side and a winning side. Both sides have causalities and in this case, it was the Taiwanese that suffered the most.

Having just seen Nanking recently, war seems like a lot of suffering. Lots and lots of people die. The numbers are staggering. It saddens me to think about it and to appreciate the relative calm and quite of my life.

The language is mostly Hakka and some Taiwanese. You'll notice actors that you've seen in Taiwanese dramas.

If you're in the US, you can only get a bootleg or an imported version. I don't know if it'll get a US release.