TVB Cafe

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August 30, 2006

Posted at 3:17 PM

I saw something really interesting on the Hong Kong news today morning. The news is related to the “personalized” license plates that will be auctioned in mid-September at Hong Kong. According to the news, Hong Kong government began authorizing “personalized” license plates earlier in April, and now the first batch, about 1000 of them, is done and will be sold to Hong Kong citizens through an auction. Each license plate will start at a $5000 base value.

What is interesting is that one of the license plates has the words “TVB” on it. I guess it must be a devoted TVB fan that provided the idea. So sad that I am not in Hong Kong, or else I might show up on the day of the auction and take possession of the license plate…haha…just kidding, but it will be a great piece to add to any TVB fan’s collection!

And TVB has said they have no intention of bidding the license plate…good for the lucky fan then!


AND new links of the sample MP3s are here. Savefile's upload is still not back yet as far as I know, so I uploaded the files instead to sendspace. Hopefully the downloads will work, if not, do tell me at the taggie.

Sample MP3 (not played by me, it's played by finale the software program)

LWOLAP theme Click Here
Yummy Yummy sub Click Here
Forensic Heroes theme Click Here

posted by magnolia_sara | |

August 27, 2006

Posted at 10:45 PM

Not sure if everyone is aware of this annual event held by TVB each year, but “TVB Children Songs Award Presentation” has been a customary event takes place each year since 1991. Personally, I was a big fan of the event when I was young, and even until this date, I am still continued to be interested with the news related to the “TVB Children Festival” every summer. Since the 2006 award presentation just took place last Saturday in Hong Kong, I decide to write a feature about this event and let you all learn a little more about it. So…read on!

This Year’s (2006's) Feature is…

“Journey to the East"...which came from slightly twisting the Classic Chinese Story "Journey to the West”. Not entirely sure about the storyline and such since I don’t watch “After School ICU” anymore, but I found out who acted which characters and such. Just look at the picture and you can see them yourself…

Caption: From left to right, Jacky Wong, Charles Szeto, Steven Ma, Angela Tong, and the other girl that I am not sure...

For more, click here for the official website: Kids 2006

Tracing back…

Let me just give a little about the historical background. TVB has always tried to target each and every age group with its shows, and of course, the children population in Hong Kong could not be overlooked. As a result, TVB started a summer event titled “TVB Children Festival” in 1991, gathering different little events and special children shows to be displayed during June through August, and usually end the “Festival” with a grand finish, the big show named as “TVB Children Songs Award Presentation”.


What’s so special about it…

Just as the title suggested, the award presentation features children songs. More than thirty children songs competed in the event each year, and usually ten songs will be chosen “by the children population” and the singers who sang the songs will be awarded a trophy. The singers are usually viewed highly by the children, and the winning songs are easy reflections of what the children like about in that given year.


“Hidden Conspiracy?”…

Perhaps the best way to describe the TVB Children Songs Award Presentation is as a microcosm of the Jade Solid Gold Award Presentation, only to replace children songs with pop songs. Singers usually compete a chance to sing children songs, and when they do have a chance, the popular singers usually become the winners single-handedly. Rumors fly around each year about TVB awarding singers by TVB’s own wish, instead of following the voting results. Yet another chance for TVB to give favors again, why let it slip away, right?


Fading…

I don’t know if this is my personal feeling or not, but it just seemed like TVB Children Songs Award Presentation is no longer as bright as the previous years. I think the golden years belonged to the mid and late 90s, when lots of singers used to participate, including Leon Lai, Aaron Kwok, Miriam Yeung, Eason Chan, Kelly Chen, and more. It seems like the participants in recent years only consist of TVB’s artists and a few singers.

Moreover, recent children songs are not as popular as before. I still remember when the songs of “Sailor Moon”, “Pokemon”, “Superman”, etc. ruled the children world. “Bila bala, bila bala” (song lyrics) were basically a “language” of the time. The time of those days seemed like long gone…


The show of 2006…

The 2006 one just took place Saturday (August 26th) night in Hong Kong; the hostess is once again Lydia Sum (for the consecutive 9th year), accompanied by Steven Ma and Angela Tong.

And…the new winners of 2006 are…

The winning award list of 2006 is as below…(scroll down for English Translations)

10首兒歌金曲：

1. 沈穎婷 - 白雪天使
2. 李逸朗 蔣雅文 - 在校園渡假
3. 王祖藍 - 奇異冒險
4. 關智斌 - 月光光
5. 高鈞賢 - 龍王傳說
6. Twins - 光之美少女
7. 鄭嘉穎 - Keroro 軍曹
8. 馬浚偉 - 放學ICU
9. 薛家燕 王樹熹 陳靖琳 - 媽咪點解點解
10. 吳卓羲 - 超世代之戰

最受daddy mommy歡迎歌曲：
李紫昕 - 布娃娃

最佳兒歌歌曲大獎：
唐韋琪 - 健康跟住我

最佳兒歌歌詞大獎：
司徒瑞祈 - 未來之旅

兒歌金獎：
鄭嘉穎 - Keroro 軍曹

The Ten Winning Songs:
1. Snow Angel by Winnie Shum
2. Vacation at School by Don Li and Mandy Chiang
3. Special Adventure by Wong Cho Lam
4. Moon Light by Kenny Kwan
5. The Legend of the Sea King by Matthew Ko
6. Light's Girl Warriors by Twins
7. Keroro’s Army March by Kevin Cheng
8. After School ICU by Steven Ma
9. Mommy, why? by Nancy Sit, Jackie Wong, and Chan Jing Lam
10. Battle of the Super Era by Ron Ng

Parents’ Choice:
Doll by Purple Lee

Best Children Song:
Healthy Follow Me by Vicki Tong

Best Lyrics:
Trip to the Future by Charles Szeto

Gold Award (most votes in the ten winning songs):
Keroro’s Army March by Kevin Cheng


Congratulations to Kevin for picking up the Gold Award! According to Kevin, it is his second award in his career since receiving the newbie award in his first year. But not too sure why TVB cancel the Silver and Bronze this year…as for the show itself, I haven’t had a chance to watch it myself…


Looking Ahead...

So, yet another year. I read from some forums that this year’s presentation lacked of surprises once again. Wonder how will TVB fare out next year? But I'm already looking forward to hear Charmaine's, and Bernice and Myolie's new children songs.

Anyways, see you next year, CSAP 2007!


PS: Sorry for the lack of updates! But school has started for me on the 22nd, and I have been busy since. I'll re-upload all the sample MP3s as soon as possible, as savefile lost all of my files...>.<...meanwhile, the progress on the new sheets music are coming slowly...but hopefully I'll finish on it soon...*sigh*...

posted by magnolia_sara | |

August 19, 2006

Posted at 10:37 PM

Exactly three months from today will be the 39th Anniversary of TVB. Is there anyone already getting excited like me??? Probably not…but anyways, I am already on the lookout for all-related anniversary news. And as we wait another three months before the actual date arrive, let’s see what we have so far and what we can be speculating about…

--- According to Kitson at TVB Chinese News Collection, the anniversary series will be “Pearl of Orient” and “Lush Field Happy Days”. Will TVB change their mind at the end?

--- Also according to Kitson at TVB Chinese News Collection, there will be three shows celebrating the anniversary this year, including the Singers Show, an Award Ceremony, and the actual celebration that night on the nineteenth. So I guess we can conclude that the celebration on the nineteen will be performance-based if they separate the awards. But how will the arrangement fair out? What about the ratings and qualities to the shows?

--- The ballots and votings aren't even out yet for this year's awards, but do you already have your "list" in mind?

--- For the past few years, a big hit series usually dominate the award ceremony. This year we haven’t really had one yet, except probably “La Femme Desperado” and “Forensic Heroes”. But we are still waiting for “the” series…

--- There has been a lot of news about Sir Shaw Run Run wanted to sell his part of TVB’s stocks to others. Might this year’s anniversary be the last one that Sir Run Run will attend as a “boss”?


As the future is still unclear, I will be taking some time in the remaining three months to share with you some of my thoughts of the old anniversary shows, which are shows on my top TVB favorites for all time. Actually the first ever anniversary show that I have watched is the one took place in 1994, the 27th anniversary. And since then, I have been catching on every year’s show.

It will be a long story to talk about…it’s getting late now at my place, I’ll be back for more! ^_^

posted by magnolia_sara | |

August 16, 2006

Posted at 10:02 PM

So far as I know, there are four new series to be released/have already released overseas and in Hong Kong recently. Anyone going to watch all of them at the same time? Not me, but here are my views on them…

War and Destiny
Main Cast: Myolie Wu, Ron Ng, Sunny Chan, Leila Tong, etc

It was claimed as one of the grand productions, but TVB decided to release it overseas first to test the market. Is TVB learning to be smart after the failure of “Dance of Passion”? But of course I don’t support TVB’s decision. Nevertheless, I am starting on this series now. Just finished one episode so far, not too much happened yet, but got me interested already. I will be looking forward to Sunny’s character development especially.

Face to Fate
Main Cast: Frankie Lam, Raymond Lam, Tavia Yeung, Selena Li, etc

Another warehouse series. Honestly, I have been waited so long for this series already, and now finally the rentals have them out. After watching the MV’s of the main theme and sub-theme, I am practically craving for the series! The main theme is sung by Raymond, and it's a really fast song. As for the sub-theme, it is a duet by Frankie and Tavia, which I fall in love with it after just listened to it once! Hope that I can get my hands on the series soon, and hope that it won’t disappoint me…

CIB Files
Main Cast: Bowie Lam, Wong He, Christine Ng, Maggie Siu, etc

Investigation type of series. Frankly speaking, I don’t like the cast too much. However, it will be kind of interesting to see what’s CIB is about. From what I recalled, Kevin works at CIB in “Split Second”, so this series will be a lot more in depth about the actual police department. Whatever the case, I will be waiting this series to air next year on JadeWorld, instead of renting it now.

Phoenix Quartet
Main Cast: Charmaine Sheh, Joe Ma, Sammul Chan, etc

This series will be aired on August 28th in Hong Kong. After seeing the trailers from sehseh’s site (thanks to her!), I am now more interested in the series. Seemed that the four generations part is really refreshing. Hope that I can watch it soon, but I highly doubt it.


So what about you? Watching any new series lately? Share your thoughts at the tagboard!

PS: Savefile.com is down all day today. Not sure why, but that means all the downloads for the sample MP3 are down…=(…hope that Savefile will be back soon…or else I’ll have to do something about it…

posted by magnolia_sara | |

August 15, 2006

Posted at 8:49 PM

Thanks for all the birthday greetings at the tagboard! You guys/girls are the best!!!

Second batch of blood-related relatives may come less surprising to everyone, but nevertheless, here are them:

Tavia Yeung and Griselda Yeung
Series together before: Shades of Truth and Vigilante Force
Relationship: Sisters

Thoughts: Metal has written a feature about the Yeung sisters awhile ago, and I agree with him about an "awkwardness" existing between the sisters as one is a lot famous than the other. But nevertheless, I hope that the relationship between the sisters will remain good despite their different statuses.

Tommy Leung Ka Shu and Toby Leung
Series together before: None
Relationship: Father and Daughter

Thoughts: Last year when Toby received the “Bronze Newcomer Award” at the JSG music ceremony, many people speculated about Tommy Leung’s intervention with the decision. Well, as we never get to find out whether it was true or not, Toby will definitely have some kind of advantage over the others when Tommy her father is one of the top executives in TVB. I haven’t gotten a chance to watch “Men in Pain”, so I can’t comment on Toby’s acting skills, but will she appear in the top five “Most Improve Award” this year because of her father?...

Tang Ying Man and Shermon Tang Sheung Man
Series together before: None
Relationship: Father and Daughter

Thoughts: Second pair of father and daughter for this round of blood-related relatives. Tang Ying Man hasn’t had a lot of screen time recently, so probably most people have forgotten about him. As for his daughter, she participated in last year’s (2005’s) Miss Hong Kong Contest, and received the photogenic award.

Wong Wei and Stephanie Wong Chung Hei
Series together before: Not sure…?
Relationship: Father and Daughter

Thoughts: Yet another pair of father and daughter, and very similar case to Tang Ying Man and her daughter. Stephanie appeared in a lot of minor roles lately, and most of the roles are ones that are portrayed to be negative to her image. She participated in 2003 Miss Hong Kong (the year when Mandy Cho got 1st place), and she didn’t even get to the top five. Personally, I don’t really like Stephanie.


(pic credit to asianfanatics, yahoo search engine, tvb.com, sina)

more to be coming soon, including real couples...=)

posted by magnolia_sara | |

August 14, 2006

Posted at 9:34 PM

Today’s my birthday! Almost can’t believe that I am 20 years old already! Thanks to those lovelies who have sent me birthday wishes and greetings! THANKS!!! =)

Anyways, I’ll celebrate with you guys with a new sheets music. This time, it features the main theme of "Forensic Heroes" sang by Frankie Lam.

Talking about the song itself, I really like the melody and lyrics, which I think match perfectly with the series. As for Frankie's performance, this is the second time I have heard him since the main theme from "The Herbalist Manual", in which Frankie didn't disappoint me. And of course this song is co-written by Tang Chi Wai. Didn't really surprise me to find out it is once again his work.

As for the score itself, this one took me some time to write, especially the beginning and the ending. The song is relatively fast, and really don't seem to go in hand with piano, but since I like the song, I decided to give it a try. And here we have the score, but I think I didn't do too good of a job.


The Score:

Page 1 -- Page 2 -- Page 3 -- Page 4

Sample MP3 (not played by me, it's played by finale the software program)
>Click Here



Any suggestions/comments/criticisms are greatly welcomed! Just direct them to the tagboard or leave a comment!



PS: Currently working on "Fortunately" by Myolie, still in the middle of it...and more "Real Relationships" feature will be coming tomorrow...stay tune...and is anyone having problems with the downloads? Do tell me, okay?

posted by magnolia_sara | |

August 9, 2006

Posted at 8:16 PM

Many rumors come and go each day in the TVB circle, in which some of them are true while others not. While we audiences decide upon what to believe, many real relationships exist among this TVB circle. Do you know about them?

A new feature I am starting on, titled “Real Relationships”, will be about some interesting facts about TVB actors and actresses and their “hidden” relatives and companions.

I will be talking about two main categories:
Blood-related Relatives
Married/Non-married Couples

Let’s start with the first bunch of “Blood-related Relatives”…


Blood-related Relatives Part I

Natalis Chan Bak Cheung and Yuen Siu Cheung
Series together before: Women on the Run
Relationship: Half-brothers (same father, different mother, but different last names)

Thoughts: I still remember I found this out when I watched the TVB anniversary show from 1995. Ah Nat told about their relationship during one part of a game show in the anniversary. This really came to a surprise to me as they don’t look like brothers to me.

Vinci Wong Chi Yin, Kevin Cheng, and Anne Heung
Series together before: "Hidden Treasures" for Anne and Vinci
Relationships: Kevin and Vinci are cousins, while Anne is Vinci’s mother’s cousin (basically his aunt)

Thoughts: You might be saying, “What?”. Yup, that was my first reaction too when I learned this. These three people seemed to have nothing related to each other, but they turn out to be relatives. Vinci and Kevin had a performance together on a recent “Tung Wah” show, and that was when I found out about their cousin relationship. As for Anne, I heard that she told about her seniority on Vinci when the press asked her about whether they can be a pair together.

Paul Chun and John Chiang
Series together before: Not sure about TVB series, but they appeared in a mainland series before
Relationship: Brothers

Thoughts: I think most people from the elder generation know about this. I guess Paul and John do resemble each other in some angles. I still remember watching parts of the mainland series when they starred with each other. Ironically, they are enemies in the series, and went after the same woman.

Lau Dan and Hawick Lau Hoi Wai
Series together before: Kindred Spirit, Virtues of Harmony I and II
Relationship: Father and Son

Thoughts: Probably many people know about this too. I just find it quite interesting that they act as father and son in the first series they starred together. When Hawick received an award from one of the Children Music Award show, TVB also arranged Lau Dan to deliver the award to his son. Really sweet...but now that Hawick went to work for ATV, the father and son will have to be "against" each other...

(pix credit to orisun, takungpao, tvb.com, yahoo search engine)


Part II and Couples coming soon...

posted by magnolia_sara | |

August 8, 2006

Posted at 4:28 PM

The second round of Sheets Music features the sub-theme of Yummy Yummy (Food For Life). Sang by Kevin Cheng, the song first appears in "All About Men", and later a second version sang by the girls in the series Tavia and Charmaine also turns up.

This song 三角兩面 (translated roughly by its name: Three Corners Two Sides), which I usually refer it as "Triangular Love", is a rather ordinary song I think. The tune is relatively simply, which is pretty easy to arrange for me. It took me only two hours to write the score I think. But because the tune is simple, the song is pretty catchy as well. The lyrics of the song itself ties perfectly back into the series Yummy Yummy, about the love triangle between Kevin, Charmaine, and Tavia.

And without further ado, here are the sheets music. Once again, there are four pages. (The lyrics on the sheets music are those of Kevin's. The version that Tavia sang during the series is slightly different)

Page 1 -- Page 2 -- Page 3 -- Page 4

Sample MP3 (not played by me, it's played by finale the software program)
>Click Here



Any suggestions/comments/criticisms are greatly welcomed! Just direct them to the tagboard or leave a comment!

posted by magnolia_sara | |

August 4, 2006

Posted at 9:23 PM

As TVB series get on air each and everyday, audiences usually notice the actors and actresses on screen. However, those behind the scenes created a lot of impact in the overall production as well. Want to meet them?

A new feature of TVB Café: “Behind the Scenes”, where I dive into different areas of the hard-working people behind the scenes. The first ones I will be focusing on are “TVB Music Masters.”

Anyone having watched modern TVB’s series for even a short while would notice that TVB always have a main theme song to go with every series, while sometimes sub-themes are included as well. Ever wonder who wrote those songs, who gave them lyrics to make them connect to the series?

One of the young songwriters emerged in just the past few years has played a key role in recent series music production. His name, Tang Chi Wai 鄧智偉, probably might sound unfamiliar to you at this moment, but his songs are just all too familiar to you.

His songs included (not inclusive):
Don’t Blame Her (Revolving Door of Vengence sub)
Triangular Love (Yummy Yummy sub)
Fortunately (War and Destiny main)
Let it Flow (Love Guaranteed main)
Swear (Sau San Juen main)
Biased Love (Love Bond sub)
Broadcast by the Standard (At Home With Love)
Truth (Into Thin Air main)
Leaving Trace (Forensic Heroes main)
No one loves (Au Revoir Shanghai main)
Put Your Hands Up (World Cup TVB theme)
Don’t Blame Him
Please Speak (Under the Canopy of Love main)
Flower in the mirror (The Charm Beneath)
Forever Friends (Yummy Yummy main)
King Kong (Men in Pain sub)
A Deep Breath (Last Breakthrough main)
Welcome to the House main
The Charm Beneath sub

I first noticed his name when I brought “All About Men” CD. Afterwards when “Lady in Red” CD came out, his name is even almost printed on every page on the little lyrics booklet that came with the CD. It’s at that time that I started to notice that he has produced songs for a lot of recent series.

Just out of curiosity, I typed his Chinese name in Yahoo Hong Kong search engine and found two interviews. Not the entire articles are relevant, but here are the summaries:

- He entered TVB in 2001.
- His debut is the main theme for “Last Breakthrough”.
- He is the producer for “War of In-Laws” main theme; he pointed out that they actually wrote the lyrics part before the song, a very rare innovation in Canto music.

the links to the actual articles…
Article 1
Article 2



My thoughts: I think it is interesting that a lot of recent hit TVB songs are written by the same person. I think his songs are pretty good and hope to hear more from him…What do you guys think?

posted by magnolia_sara | |

August 3, 2006

Posted at 4:40 PM

The sheets music for Lethal Weapons of Love and Passion's main theme are up. This is the first ever TVB theme song arranged by me. The sheets music are saved as jpg format. Just click on the link and it will open to a new webpage:

Page 1 -- Page 2 -- Page 3 -- Page 4

Sample MP3 (not played by me, it's played by finale the software program)
>Click Here

Again, just refer back to my last post for other information. And comments/criticisms/suggestions are greatly welcomed! ~

posted by magnolia_sara | |

August 2, 2006

Posted at 9:13 PM

When I first became a TVB fan, I have always been interested in all those lovely theme songs. Whenever there is a new series airing, the first thing I will notice most of the time is the theme song. Since I am also a pianist, the ability of playing those lovely theme has been one of my wishes. Is anyone out there have the same thoughts with me?

And now to extend my little wish, I have started to arrange sheets music for the themes and sub-themes. And opening this blog, I've decided to share with the TVB fans community out here.

But...just a few words before I hand my humbly scores out...
-- Original melodies and lyrics are copyrighted to TVB. I do not claim them as my own other than I arrange the scores. If anyone is offended by my scores, please notify me and I'll remove them in 24 hours.
-- I must admit my skills of arranging scores are not good as I am a starter. If you find them poorly written, feel free to criticize me, but don't do anything harmful to me other than that...please...
-- Please do not redistribute any of this sheets music anywhere, unless you ask my permission and link back. And please don't make profit out of these sheets music and claim them as your own.
-- If you find them useful, kindly refer your friends to here?
-- If you have any future request for any songs, feel free to leave a comment at the tagboard. However, I don't guarantee I will fulfill every request as not every song is easy to arrange...
-- A sample mp3 will/may be included with each song's download. If you post it up anywhere, please link back...
-- Other than that...do enjoy!


Scores that will be posted soon:
LWOLAP main theme by Raymond Lam
Yummy Yummy sub-theme by Kevin Cheng
Forensic Heroes theme by Frankie Lam
and more...

posted by magnolia_sara | |

August 1, 2006

Posted at 9:32 PM

After pondering for two months, I have finally decided to open this tiny blog of mine, just a little place where I ramble about things related to TVB...hope that you will enjoy your visit while you are here...

Looking Ahead in this TVB Cafe:
-- Take a look at TVB's recent music masters...
-- Sheets Music givaways?
-- Ebuzz Weekly Inclusives
-- and?...

posted by magnolia_sara | |