Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be

活过

曲：吴剑泓　词：许环良、吴剑泓

一条路　有多少分岔口
走呀走　就不能再回头
痛哭过　因为执著
依依不舍　那又如何

一棵树　长多高才足够
风雨中　有过多少惶恐
叶凋落　也曾结果
花开花谢　只为活过

感动的最初　曾经的幸福
尽管我苦苦的追逐
再也找不到来时路

所谓的永久　放下无助　换自由
回忆埋在心中深处
种一棵会发芽　的祝福

This evening, this song really struck a chord with me (pun fully intended) as I listened to it on the bus.

I got together with some friends from JC, and learnt that a guy who was part of our group no longer wants to have anything to do with us.

I won’t go into the details here, but it reminded me that just as strangers can become friends or even a couple, friends or even your boyfriend/girlfriend can go back to being a stranger if things don’t work out.

And if your affinity has come to its end… if you are the only one hanging on, it can’t come back. It takes 2 hands to clap.

We will cry, but there will be other people waiting in the future to enter our lives and touch them.

To translate the last few lines of this song, if we can let go, we exchange our helplessness for freedom and keep the memories in our hearts. And maybe even plant a seed that will bud into well wishes.

Singapore may not have any gymnasts competing at the Beijing Olympics but…

They played JJ’s 曹操Cao Cao at one of the men’s gymnastics events!

Post on JJ’s youyou forum: http://bbs.youyou.com/viewthread.php?tid=69295
My reply: http://bbs.youyou.com/viewthread.php?tid=69295&page=4#pid1464346

A-do in 《同一首歌》

只要你过得比我好 Zhi Yao Ni Guo De Bi Wo Hao (Chinese New Year 2003/2004?): http://video.cctv.com/opus/subplay.do?opusid=68908

Other familiar faces here include Fish Leong (梁静茹Liang Jing Ru), S.H.E. and Jacky Wu.

坚持到底 Jian Chi Dao Di (end 2004/early 2005): http://video.cctv.com/opus/7918.html

爱字怎么写Ai Zi Zen Me Xie (end 2004/early 2005)

http://video.cctv.com/opus/subplay.do?opusid=7919

My goodness that’s a lot of torches he’s getting from his fans!

他一定很爱你Ta Yi Ding Hen Ai Ni (end 2004/early 2005)

http://video.cctv.com//opus/subplay.do?opusid=7920

坚持到底 Jian Chi Dao Di (19 October 2007):

A-do’s 20 August 2008 Sina blog update: Have been busy lately

http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_50d071b90100anhb.html

This update includes 2 pictures taken in China! :)

But it seems that I am unable to see the new entry by going directly to the blog's home page via a Singapore connection. This happened to me too when Kiki Hu Ling wrote about her birthday party on her Sina blog. If any kind soul is able to see this post on the home page, do reply this post. Thanks! :)

Getting back to A-do’s blog entry, A-do is not the only one who has been busy lately. I just started school, so that’s why my blogging (both here and on my personal blog) has slowed down.

A-do and JJ on Beijing Olympics opening ceremony

cnhan.com report: http://www.cnhan.com/gb/content/2008-08/18/content_919551.htm
(retrieved from youyou)

While watching the live telecast, A-do said that it was as if what was on the TV screen was in a dream; until he rubbed his eyes to be sure he was awake.

ourvoicebox.sg report: http://ourvoicebox.sg/posts/jj_beijing_olympic

I was particularly amused (and so were the JJ fans when I posted this on the JJ board) by what happened at the Bird Nest when JJ got his friends, Jaycee Chan and S.H.E. to cheer for the Singapore contingent as they came out.

They ended up shouting, “Satay, Ya Kun (they sell local breakfast sets of kaya toast, half-boiled eggs and coffee) and pandan cake”! JJ didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Quite a number of non-Singaporean JJ fans responded, “Haha that is a very creative cheer!”

A-do at 14 August 2008 Coca Cola Olympics event

(A-do comes in at around 8:10.)

The songs he sang were 《坚持到底》Jian Chi Dao Di (Perseverance) and 《他一定很爱你》Ta Yi Ding Hen Ai Ni (He Must Love You A Lot)

Wow, looks like A-do gets lots of opportunities to appear at Olympic-related performances for this current Olympics. I really hope that he will get chances like these when we host the first Youth Olympics in 2010!

A-do’s Habitat for Humanity videos

June 2007 China trip in 13 July 2007 Frontline



5 January 2008 housecleaning

林宇中 淋雨中 Rynn in the Rain

I am writing this piece on Rynn Lim Yee Chung, after I tagged Weiquan (he was the one who introduced me to Zettai Kareshi), and he tagged me back.

What happened was that he wrote about the pun in Rynn’s March 2007 album Rynn’s in the Rain (Chinese album title淋雨中).

Rynn started out as a music producer with OB, and then later signed a recording contract to become a singer. His first album 1st was released December 2005 in Taiwan, and hit Singapore stores in January 2006. I had seen his name in A-do's 2002 debut album Tian Hei as composer of 你很好Ni Hen Hao (that was the first song he managed to sell) and thought when I heard he was going to release an album, "Oh, I am going to buy it then."

I remember when Rynn came to Singapore in 2006 to promote his first album and was being interviewed on Y.E.S. 93.3. He introduced himself as Lin Yu Zhong (He started using the English name Rynn in between his first and second albums, I remember he posted on OBMspace, the OB official website from July 2006 to July 2007, asking for suggestions from fans.) and the DJ commented, “That sounds like 淋雨中(lin yu zhong, Chinese for “being drenched in the rain”). And it’s raining now!” Rynn said, “Yes, that’s what everyone says.”

From young, every time it rained his friends would mention his Chinese name.
http://www.obmspace.com/board/archiver/?tid-10005.html

This was one of the times it didn’t rain on Rynn.
sohu.com report on 14 April 2007 Taiwan autograph session: http://music.yule.sohu.com/20070415/n249443917.shtml

Last October, I saw one of Rynn’s Taiwanese fans say mention him on either the OB forum or in our chat room and then add: Yes, I am calling him淋雨中because he brought that typhoon back with him when he returned to Taiwan (for work). So now it’s extended to his fans and even his friends’ fans (or is it just me? *looks around* :P).

Even as recently as 17 July 2008, when we were running around playing Treasure Hunt, it started raining halfway… and Rynn was due in Singapore to promote his new album, Homely Life (Chinese album title 干物世界Gan Wu Shi Jie) the next day.

Well... I think I have said quite enough about this pun already, so I will go on to his music next.

My personal favourites from 1st were 不打烊的店(Bu Da Yang De Dian/Store Forever) and 落脚(Lao Jiao/Station).

This is what I wrote in my private blog for my favourite songs in Rynn's in the Rain:

猫头鹰The Owl: The music arrangement has a strong Chinese influence which is pleasing on the ear. Owls are Rynn’s favourite animal, and that’s how he got the idea of writing this song.

复活Reborn: A duet between Rynn and Kym Jin Sha, also from Ocean Butterflies. This is the theme song of the popular Korean computer game Granado Espada, and I do get an “across the ages “ feeling when listening to this song.

对调Switch: Theme song of the movie Just Follow Law. I like the lively music accompaniment.

空秋千Abandoned: I became familiar with this theme song while following the drama The Beginning, in which Rynn had a lead role. It reminds me of my childhood, and the lyrics are closely related to the storyline. (Another song in Rynn’s in the Rain, Hide and Seek, has a similar effect on me.

Melodi (one of the bonus songs in the Singapore edition): A duet between Rynn and veteran Malay singer Sheila Majid, with some Malay interspersed in the lyrics. I knew why Shelia Majid is respected in the Malay music scene when I heard her voice, it’s really great! Combined with Rynn’s talent, it’s another good song!

As for Homely Life, the title track is rather catchy. 远嫁Yuan Jia with Chinese instruments in its music arrangement is pretty nice too.

I have come to the end of my piece, but I hope this is not the end of Rynn's musical story. I am looking forward to hearing more great songs from him in the future!

A surprise discovery on the CCTV podcast website

I honestly never thought I would get to watch these again, especially after PEACE disbanded.

I was looking for A-do’s videos when I saw the videos from the 2001 Singapore 同一首歌Tong Yi Shou Ge. (The show came back to our sunny island again in 2006 and A-do, JJ and their fellow OB singers were in it; those were the videos I was looking for.)

Although PEACE released 2 songs, unfortunately, they never got to release an album of their own. Gary released an album in Malaysia, and is hosting an entertainment news programme which airs every weekday evening (A-do was a guest on it in early 2004). Jeff’s album, I hear, is due early next year, and he has already finished the songs and filmed some of the music videos.

I still watch Jeff’s shows on TV; Say It If You Dare (有话好好说You Hua Hao Hao Shuo) is pretty entertaining and informative, and he’s got a new food show with Dennis Chew that started on Friday night.

Thank you so much, CCTV.

小人物的心声Xiao Ren Wu De Xin Sheng

爱与哀愁Ai Yu Ai Chou

2008 National Day special

While A-do hasn’t had the chance to sing a National Day song yet (by the way, congratulations to Joi Chua and Hady Mirza for being given the chance to sing this year’s National Day song), he did record a song《有你才完整》You Ni Cai Wan Zheng (Only Complete with You) for the Singapore Tourism Board when he was our tourism ambassador in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong from 2004 to 2006. The original song title was 《一根红线》Yi Gen Hong Xian (A Red Thread) and the first time he sang it in public was at his 21 May 2005 Beijing concert.

Watch the music video at youyou: http://ado.youyou.com/mv.php?id=1197
More about the song (with lyrics) at sina.com (mainland China): http://ent.sina.com.cn/y/2005-04-28/1734714188.html

According to the sina article, when Chinese immigrants came to Singapore in the early days, the red thread tied on their wrists was often a reminder of home, and the family they left behind to make a better life for them all. Even today, the red thread features a lot in traditional rites at various stages of people’s lives.

To any Singaporeans reading this, happy National Day in advance.

《北京欢迎你》Bei Jing Huan Yin Ni to be performed at tonight’s Olympics opening ceremony?

xin.sg article: http://www.xin.sg/article.php?article=22072

Since this is the Olympic song which A-do is a part of, and JJ who also sang this song mentioned that he will be there, let’s all keep our eyes (and ears) out for A-do tonight!

Singapore telecast of Olympics opening ceremony
Channel 5: 8pm

PS: The Hong Kong stars mentioned in the xin.sg report did sing, but it was not telecast by CCTV and Mediacorp. JJ was invited as a guest to watch the ceremony by an Olympic sponsor.

But as my friend Ping says, to be selected as one of the 100 stars to record the song is already a great honour as a Chinese Singaporean.

The release date of A-do’s first album 《天黑》Tian Hei (Nightfall)

To our Sydney friend who came in looking for this piece of information:

I am sorry, but I think I wrote the wrong date at the side under “Who’s A-do?”

I just was talking about this with a friend, and she reminded me that it was in April.

A-do’s official website gives the date as 1 April 2002. I did the Chinese equivalent of your Google search, and the different April dates listed on various websites include 1 April 2002, 3 April 2002 and 21 April 2002. Since The Straits Times music review dated 3 May 2002 mentioned that the album had been released for about a month by that time, it is more likely to be 1 April 2002. 1 May 2002 was most probably the day of the Taipei press conference for the album release instead.

I have already amended the album release date written under "Who's A-do?". Sorry once again.

10 November 2007: A-do in China

Sina.com report on artistes catching up with each other backstage, with 1 photo of A-do with Kenji Wu and Evan Yo (mainland China): http://ent.sina.com.cn/y/2007-11-14/10581791336.shtml

My favourite A-do album cover! (as of 5 August 2008)

It’s the cover for I Do…!

It’s in my Baidu avatar…

And I used my I Do… album to show how big this dog book of mine is!

30 July 2008: Sequel to Kiki Hu Ling’s birthday party

lanmei’s Sina blog entry (simplified Chinese): http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_3d13ad490100a4r2.html
In this company, the artistes and the fans (and sometimes even the staff) share jokes!

Part 1: Kiki Hu Ling’s blog entry on her birthday party: http://much-a-do-about.blogspot.com/2008/07/hu-lings-account-for-her-birthday.html

lanmei was saying that she heard about this particular performance from Hu Ling’s fan club i/c. On youyou where everybody’s (A-do, JJ, Kym Jin Sha, Hu Ling, Rynn Lim Yee Chung and the other OB artistes) discussion boards are, we post news about each other’s favourite stars if we happen to see anything. Some friends from JJFC came to show support for A-do at his Singapore autograph session in January, and even filmed a few videos. Most of us say “海蝶一家亲Hai Die yi jia qin” (OB is one family) and I hope it will be this way for a long time to come.

《撒野》Sa Ye/Release MVs

All other videos here: http://snowado.pixnet.net/album/set/13015102

The Cha Yi Dian and Sa Ye MVs are in the DVD which comes with the China edition Cha Yi Dian album.

《撒野》/Release=《差一点》Cha Yi Dian/Almost

This album is known as Cha Yi Dian in China, as the authorities found “Sa Ye（撒野）” (my Chinese-English dictionary defines it as “behaving atrociously”) too violent. The song’s title was changed to “Kuang Ye（狂野）” and the English title is the same, Release. On the youyou board everyone refers to the album as Sa Ye though.

Being chosen as a theme song of a TV show → lots of publicity

I remember when Kinship II (for which A-do’s 《新家》Xin Jia/New Home was the theme song) was being shown on TV, a friend of mine asked me if I knew what had happened in the show.

Friend: Hey, do you know what happened when (narration of part of the story)?
Me: No, I didn’t watch the show.
Friend: But A-do’s song is the theme song right?
Me: Erm well, A-do’s album is already out… （so I don’t have to turn on the TV every night to listen to his song.）

Kym Jin Sha’s songs were also chosen as the closing themes for both part 1 and part 2 of Kinship. When I posted on her board on this, her non-Singaporean fans were curious about the show for which the song had been chosen as the closing theme. If the show is good, the publicity can work both ways.

For more information on which of A-do’s songs have been chosen as opening/closing themes previously, this is the thread I started on A-do’s youyou board: http://bbs.youyou.com/viewthread.php?tid=41826&extra=page%3D6%26amp%3Bfilter%3Dtype%26amp%3Btypeid%3D38

To give another example outside Singapore, at the recommendation of a friend, I watched 《绝对彼氏》Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend), a J-drama about an OL (Japanese term meaning “office lady”), Riiko, who is out of luck in love. After being approached by a salesman and answering a few questions, she has a robot in the form of her dream boyfriend delivered to her doorstep, much to her surprise. The robot, being a robot, in his earnestness to make his “girlfriend” happy, sometimes does things at the wrong place and time (the main source of the humour in this show). What I can tell you without giving away the ending is that Riiko’s life does change (as the “salesman” says in the first episode) after the robot enters her life. Although the script is based on the shoujo manga of the same title by 渡濑悠宇Watase Yuu (the Singapore title is《绝对男友》Jue Dui Nan You), the character backgrounds, settings and some of the plot details have been changed. Personally, I prefer the drama.

Getting back to this post’s focus on theme songs, the closing theme of Zettai Kareshi is 《おかえり》Okaeri (Japanese for “returning”) by 绚香Ayaka, the singer and composer of I Believe. This song really grew on me as I went through the 11 episodes of the show. Apparently, Ayaka was approached by Watase sensei to do the theme song for this live action drama, and she read through the manga series before working on the song with her music producer.

Both A-do’s and Ayaka’s singing styles change a little for Xin Jia and Okaeri respectively. While you can feel how powerful their vocals can be in some of their other songs (逃离Tao Li/Escape for A-do, I Believe for Ayaka), they go easy on the power (but not the emotion) for these 2 heart warming songs.

While Ayaka’s Okaeri is about the ordinary happiness of returning home to one’s loved ones, A-do’s Xin Jia was originally written for Habitat for Humanity Singapore last year and later chosen as one of the relief songs for the Sichuan earthquake. So the lyrics say, “We build with love, forgive what has passed and embrace hope again,”（我们用爱打造／原谅过往／再拥抱希望）and are generally on finding the courage to live life again after a disaster.

More about Ayaka
Ayaka’s official website in Japanese: http://www.ayaka.tv/
45 second preview of Okaeri on Warner Japan website
Ayaka’s Oricon interview about writing this song (English translation): http://forums.tokyograph.com/showthread.php?t=3357
Wikipedia entry on Okaeri: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okaeri

Winnie Hsin’s The Answer of Love (with her duet with A-do Yue Guang Ri Ji/Moonlight Diary)

Just as I have said in my post about A-do songs I can’t find at online music stores, I bought Winnie Hsin’s 2007 album with her duet with A-do, Yue Guang Ri Ji (Moonlight Diary)

Usually the cover for the cardboard box and the liner notes is identical, so when I pulled out the CD case I inwardly exclaimed, “强いです！”(Sugoi desu, Japanese for “wow!”)

Apart from 《月光日记》Yue Guang Ri Ji (because of A-do), my personal favourites in this album are 《空窗》Kong Chuang (This literally means “empty window”. If someone says in Mandarin that “My romance status is currently “empty window”,” it means that the person does not have a boyfriend/girlfriend.), the 4th track, and 《你还记得爱情吗》Ni Hai Ji De Ai Qing Ma (Do You Still Remember (Our) Love?). Kong Chuan has a faster beat compared to the Winnie Hsin songs usually aired on radio, and Ni Hai Ji De Ai Qing Ma has a Chinese flavoured accompaniment, this being the theme song for the musical 《粱祝》Liang Zhu. (I believe it is the 2003 musical where she acted as the female lead.)

Winnie Hsin’s official fan site: http://www.winniehsin.net/winnie.htm

The songs from this album are in this website’s musical player, and you can listen to part of Yue Guang Ri Ji here.