30 July 2008《北京欢迎你中韩歌会》

Because it is a joint China-South Korea performance, the show will be aired in both China and South Korea. I was so busy with other things this afternoon that it was only a while ago that I realised that…
The South Korean audience will get to see A-do performing!

20 July 2008 欢乐中国行魅力南靖video

Video URL: http://space.tv.cctv.com/act/video.jsp?videoId=VIDE1216566980471499

A-do’s performance is from 2:40-9:14, and he sang 《惠安之春》 (theme song of mainland Chinese show《小城故事》) as well as《梦中的情话》.

欢乐中国行魅力南靖 Internet telecast

Almost forgot to post on this… my sincere apologies. In this show A-do sang his Hokkien duet 《梦中的情话》.

Day: 20 July 2008
Time: 7:30pm (Singapore time)
Telecast URL: http://www.eddy.com.cn/html/TVonline/cctv/20070924/232.html (no additional downloads necessary)

Programme preview: http://space.tv.cctv.com/act/article.jsp?articleId=ARTI1216195878807846

News sources: youyou and Baidu
The podcast will be uploaded onto the CCTV website later, so watch this space.

A-do’s song in compilation album Golden Dramas《黄金主题曲》

The A-do song in this compilation album is《新家》Xin Jia (New Home) as the theme song for the 2007 drama《手足II》Kinship II.

Super Man Hits《男得好歌》tops CD-Rama chart and sold 5000 copies within 2 weeks

Updated the English title in the earlier entry as well.

omy.sg (Singapore) report: http://www.omy.sg/showbiz/enews/200807/20080717_5247.html

There was also a music review in this week’s UW.

Previous entry: A-do's song in compilation album Super Man Hits 《男得好歌》

A-do’s public transport ad for绿色运输 (Taiwan)

To digress a bit, the new MRT lines will most certainly make taking public transport a more attractive option with more places on the MRT network. :)

Video of A-do’s appearance at Hu Ling’s birthday party on 5 July 2008

The song that Hu Ling singing for the first few minutes is 2 Become 1 by the Spice Girls.

The original video is of much better quality, this is the link: http://tieba.baidu.com/%BA%FA%C1%E9/shipin/play/92ceb68ba2d3d9b16b2ed197/

From Hu Ling’s baidu board and youyou.

Hu Ling’s account of her birthday celebration on 5 July 2008-07-12

The tale is best told in her own words. This is the link to her blog entry: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_497096d70100a4av.html

Please allow fellow passengers to alight before boarding the train

By the way, the background music that starts playing towards the end is Linkin Park’s What I’ve Done, a song which A-do introduced during a radio interview in Taiwan last year.

A-do at ourvoicebox.sg

A-do's ourvoicebox.sg interview

ourvoicebox.sg report of 6 January 2008《撒野》Release autograph session
ourvoicebox.sg《撒野》Release review

A-do's 2008 Chinese New Year greeting

View all ourvoicebox.sg content on A-do

(Text not available until 11 November 2008 as ourvoicebox.sg is undergoing a revamp.)

1 photo from the 28 June Sichuan concert on Kelly Poon’s blog

Link from Kelly's pixnet blog: http://www.pixnet.net/photo/kellypoon/95147904

A-do in 10 July 2008 issue of i-weekly

There’s 1 new photo, 2 existing photos (those already on youyou and/or in other reports on the same show) and 1 line of text. The celebrity on the cover is Chiling Lin.

A-do’s Olympic songs

A-do is one of the 100 Chinese stars chosen to record《北京欢迎你》Beijing Huan Ying Ni (Beijing Welcomes You), which was subsequently performed in Beijing on 30 April, 100 days before the Olympics on 8 August.

View《北京欢迎你》MV at enorth.com.cn (Tianjin, Mainland China): http://ent.enorth.com.cn/system/2008/06/04/003357239.shtml

Due to an error in the mastering (if I translated correctly) process, there is another version with A-do singing both his own lines and JJ’s lines (the lyrics displayed on most of the web pages are correct).

Listen to alternate version at QQ.com (Mainland China): http://ent.qq.com/a/20080418/000123.htm
Notice on JJ’s official youyou forum: http://bbs.youyou.com/viewthread.php?tid=58917

Another song A-do recorded was《唱响世界》Chang Xiang Shi Jie with the other OB artistes.
View《唱响世界》MV at JJ’s official website: http://jj.youyou.com/mv.php?id=934

It was originally《聆听世界》Ling Ting Shi Jie, recorded for the 15th anniversary of OB’s Malaysian branch.

Listen to《聆听世界》at haoting.com (Mainland China): http://www.haoting.com/htmusic/131272ht.htm (link taken from Kym Jin Sha’s blog)

A-do’s supporting role in Kym Jin Sha’s《刹那间》Cha Na Jian MV

This is a song in her 2005 debut album《空气》Kong Qi (Air). The MV was included in the Chinese 庆功edition of the album.

Watch《刹那间》MV at Kym Jin Sha’s official website: http://kym.youyou.com/mv.php?id=1100

A-do at Hu Ling’s birthday party 5 July 2008

sohu.com (Mainland China): http://music.yule.sohu.com/20080707/n257994983.shtml

More photos at youyou.com (registration required): http://bbs.youyou.com/redirect.php?tid=65709&goto=lastpost#lastpost

A-do @ The URA Centre

Like a centrestage, Singapore is a dazzling city.
Mr. A-do, Singapore-born pop singer, a celebrity in China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore.

It’s supposed to be promoting Singapore as a “great place to work in”. What is worth noting is that he is the only local male singer featured in the URA Singapore City Gallery.

What I saw at the airport in Hokkaido last year

An airline with the code ADO? (As in All Nippon Airways is represented by ANA.) Apparently Air Do is a Japanese budget domestic carrier that mainly plys routes between Tokyo and Hokkaido.

A-do’s song in compilation album Super Man Hits《男得好歌》

This album is the result of collaboration between radio 1003 and Warner Music. The songs included are those recommended by the radio 1003 DJs, and A-do’s《天天看到你》Tian Tian Kan Dao Ni is one of them! The other songs are by many talented male singers, from veterans like Beyond, Dave Wang, Jeff Chang, Sky Wu, Steve Chou to those of more recent years such as Victor Wong, Yong Bang, Z-Chen, JJ Lin, Nicholas Teo, Mi Lu Bing and Daren Tan.

Disc 1
1. 周传雄：黄昏
2. 信乐团：一了百了
3. 张栋梁：寂寞边界
4. 永邦：你是我最深爱的人
5. 陈伟联：童话
6. 游鸿明：恋上一个人
7. 阿杜：天天看到你
8. 品冠：爱情不能做比较
9. 杨培安：爱不能从头
10. 动力火车：那就这样吧
11. 伍佰：泪桥
12. 林俊杰：SARANG HAE YO只对你说
Disc 2
1. 黄品源：小薇
2. 苏永康：我为你伤心
3. 张信哲：不要对他说
4. BEYOND：光辉岁月
5. 黄大炜：让每个人心碎
6. 陈世维：遗落
7. 张智成：在KTV过夜
8. 欧得洋：有故事的人
9. 迷路兵：适应
10. 伍思凯：特别的爱给特别的你
11. 王杰：一场游戏一场梦
12. 张雨生：一天到晚游泳的鱼

The track list can be found on the window ads at Sembawang Music Centre outlets.

Zaobao.com (Singapore) report

10 Promises to My Dog

(Click to enter Japanese 10 Promises to My Dog official website)

To sum it up in a line: It’s a movie full of tears and laughter.

A secondary school girl in Hokkaido discovers a golden retriever puppy wandering into her garden and decides to keep her. What follows is both the girl’s and the puppy’s growth, the final goodbye and after.

Don’t miss the pictures and additional photos of the dog and her family during the credits!

《新家》Xin Jia/New Home

MV with A-do

MV without A-do

This was originally recorded for Habitat for Humanity last year, and is the theme song of the Taiwanese organ donation campaign as well.

After the Sichuan earthquake, he recorded a duet version of the song with Chen Hong.

What I have been looking for in online music stores

Can’t seem to find these A-do songs on Soundbuzz and Nokia, or purchase the individual tracks from an overseas website…


Mandarin
Ai Jiu Shi Ni《爱就是你》from the China edition of A-do’s 2004 album《醇情歌》
Huo Guo《活过》from A-do’s 2008 Hong Kong best hits album Do the Best/2007 Just Follow Law soundtrack
Yue Guang Ri Ji《月光日记》(duet with Winnie Hsin) from Winnie Hsin’s 2007 album《爱的回答》(I think I will just go buy the CD…)


Hokkien (both duets with Judy Chiang)
《梦中的情话》from Judy Chiang’s album 《10个爱人(跨世纪对唱精选)》
《思念哟》from Judy Chiang’s 2005 album《爱做梦的鱼》(By the way, this is a cover of Natsukawa Rimi's Lullaby - translated title strictly my own)

Other genres in A-do's albums

While most of A-do's songs are ballads, there are also songs of other genres in his past albums.

Rock
Tian Hei《天黑》 (May 2002): Andy, Li Bie《离别》
Hello《哈啰》 (December 2003): Wu Neng Wei Li《无能为力》 (Powerless)
I Do (November 2005): Tai Qi Tou《抬起头》, Ru Guo Ni Ai Wo Yin Wei Wo Ai Ni《如果你爱我因为我爱你》 (my personal favourite in this album), Zhe Shou Ge Shi Shui Xie De《这首歌是谁写的》
Sa Ye《撒野》 (September 2007): Sa Ye《撒野》(nu-rock)

Others
Jian Chi Dao Di《坚持到底》 (November 2002): Tian Xie Hu Die《天蝎蝴蝶》(reggae)
I Do (November 2005): Shui Bu Zhao《睡不着》(hip hop)
Sa Ye《撒野》 (September 2007): Ai Shang Shui《爱上谁》 (a-cappella), Bu Rang Ni Zou《不让你走》 (Brit pop)

A few coincidences in a row

1. On 23-24 December 2006, A-do performed with A*mei in the musical In Love with Carmen in Taipei.
2. A few months back, I read in the papers about A*mei going to Japan to perform in the musical Turandot, and a Chinese transliteration of the title happens to be杜兰朵.
3. Subsequently I read in Yuki Nakaji’s manga Zig Zag about a girl performing a solo extract from Turandot at her school’s open house.
4. A few weeks ago I looked up Zig Zag in Wikipedia… and discovered that the girl’s name is pronounced as Mei! (A*mei’s name was written in her album as Mei Chang.)

Wow… what a coincidence! Regretfully, I do not have the artistic talent to draw a comic of my expression upon making this discovery. I find it quite interesting though. (*^_^*)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Watched this on TV on Sunday.

What’s great

Ms. Tilda Swinton as the White Witch is brilliant! In the book, the narrator tells the readers at her first appearance that she is on the bad side. However, with no narrator in the movie, the White Witch’s sweet talking is very convincing, down to the last action.

The gathering of Aslan and the Narnian folk, as well as the White Witch and her followers as they prepare for war, is much more organised and grander than I imagined from reading the book.

The children’s Narnian friends get a bit more screen time at the ending, as they are actually given the honour of carrying the children’s crowns and crowning them.

What could be improved

Compared to the original book, the Pevensies (with the exception of Lucy) are more reluctant to stay in Narnia to fight for her freedom. While that is a more realistic portrayal of their reaction (imagine yourself entering a strange new land and being told that you are needed to fight for its freedom… would you be apprehensive?), I felt that the movie could have cut down on the children’s arguments.

Also, the part on how the children escape from the White Witch’s wolves with their newfound Narnian friends is longer, much more exciting and original in the book than in the movie.

A-do in Sichuan 28-29 June 2008

He performed in a charity concert organised by the Singapore consulate in Chengdu, and his was the finale performance. Other performers include Mavis Hee, Joi Chua, Kelly Poon, Chen Weilian, Jocie Kok and Edmund Chen. The artistes also visited Mianyang with presents for the children there.

xin.sg (Singapore): http://www.xin.sg/article.php?article=20438
omy (Singapore): http://www.omy.sg/showbiz/enews/200806/20080630_4470.html
ChinaPress.com (Malaysia): http://www.chinapress.com.my/content_new.asp?dt=2008-07-02&sec=entertainment&art=0702ed90a20.txt