There was plenty of glitter across both sides of the strait this past week – Taiwan held its highest television honors with the Golden Bell Awards while the popular Chinese and Korean stars alighted for the Bazaar Star Charity Night in Beijing. I concur with commentators who have noticed that Chinese and Taiwanese actresses tend to be way more fashion conscious and edgy … Continue reading →
I feel like there are fewer K-dramas nowadays, or maybe it’s just fewer K-dramas that excite me enough to anticipate and later write about. The falling domestic ratings may indicate the K-viewers feel the same way, and it’s hard to fault that sentiment when dramas are packed with PPL to the point of being distracting and the story lines are … Continue reading →
There’s a new C-drama to check out this month, the production values look decent despite the drama being a web only affair aired on Chinese web portal iQiyi. The small screen adaptation of popular tomb raiding C-novel The Lost Tomb (盗墓笔记 The Grave Robber’s Chronicle) finally arrives, much to the excitement or dismay of the legions of loyal fans of … Continue reading →
I do love hearing of romantic overseas visits, but I’m wondering how the heck these two ever thought it could possibly be kept underwraps in this day and age of social media prying eyes. April 19th is K-actress Lee Da Hae‘s birthday, but oddly she chose to celebrate it the day before on April 18th and posted pictures of her … Continue reading →
I’ve noticed that over the years I’ve been writing about C-dramas, and C-entertainment more and more due to the rise of both the quality as well as the increase in cross-border collaborations. Some folks new to C-dramas, or haven’t even dipped a toe in, sometimes enjoy my posts without a clue of who’s popular and why certain stars seem to … Continue reading →
I’ve gotten my optimism back up with the surge of C-dramas I’m looking forward to as well as a handful of silly but watchable ones recently. Perfect Couple with Tang Yan and Wallace Huo as well as Incisive Great Teacher with Liu Shi Shi and Nicky Wu were enjoyably cute and much better than I expected last year while My … Continue reading →
Filming has started for the big-budget and big-cast upcoming period C-drama Wu Shen Zhao Zi Long with a working English title of God of War Zhao Yun. The drama made headlines last month for the casting of SNSD member Yoona as the female lead, making her first foray into the Chinese market and doing it in a big way. She’s … Continue reading →
When one is the It Boy its best to ride the wave while it lasts. I’ve personally adored young C-actor Li Yi Feng for many years now ever since he totally stole my heart in Sunny Happiness. My love for him isn’t even rocked by his admittedly chopping acting and usually bad taste in picking projects. Most of his dramas … Continue reading →
This is definitely one of the most bizarre bibimbap casting mashups I’ve ever come across. I can’t definitively say whether the end product will be good or bad, but my prediction is hot mess with tons of eye candy. Yoona of SNSD will be following in the footsteps of many of her Korean acting brethren and heading over to Mainland … Continue reading →
I’m sorry but I am dying here with the latest juicy on-dit to drop in C-news. Seriously spazzing and falling off chairs and rubbing my eyes to make sure I read the news reports right. I also watched the actual media event to make sure my baby boy said what he said. And he said it all right! On the promotional trail … Continue reading →
Sometimes I wonder if SARFT releases decrees and suggestions and the Chinese networks give a collective shrug and go back to their regularly scheduled programming. A little over a month ago SARFT issued a suggestive letter that it wished all networks aired dramas during the Summer months of July through October that promoted “the Chinese dream” (whatever that means), leading … Continue reading →
New drama alerts drop pretty consistently but I only have the bandwidth to post about the select few that strike my fancy. Even though Tang Yan isn’t anywhere near my list of favorite C-actresses, and even manages to annoy me when she often overacts, lately she’s been hitting up drama after drama that I want to watch. This week her … Continue reading →
I’ve been trying to retrain my brain to tolerate fantasy wuxia dramas, which to me is like the untalented sibling of the overachieving star of the family. It substitutes special effects for story, dumbing down characters because magic and make believe elements can be thrown in to solve any problem. But once my darling rising young C-actor Li Yi Feng … Continue reading →
