The Silver Chambers of Sorrow, 銀樓金粉

*Poster found from: Szeki World; posted by Blue_Angel_12

I am very excited to read that The Silver Chambers of Sorrow will be releasing on April 28th, 2008. The cast is very promising, and I think I like the majority of the cast even though they aren’t popular. This serie is somewhat referred to Heart of Greed ancient version, highlighting family feuds and schemes, but I think it’s also somewhat a little of War & Beauty crossed over with The Charmed Beneath too, while looking at pics and reading the plot. Like War & Beauty, it seems like it would focus on the main wife and the concubines and their feud/scheming with each other, and this seems like a serie the females would get more screen time and a better script. Then like The Charmed Beneath, I think they would be some focus on the patriarch’s children and their romance and lots of arguing from the ladies’ parts. Hopefully this serie would do well, but if TVB has faith to release it so early, then it must not be so bad right?

Well good script or not, I definitely think the acting would be something to look forward too. The majority of the older cast are veterans, so their performance should be stable if not better. The cast as a whole is refreshing to me since I don’t think this group worked together as much (compared to the same cast/couples used over and over again from HOG, Dance of Passion, Gem of Life). I am really interested in how the four wives are going to “duke it out”. Not to mention, it would be interesting to see the four actresses (Nancy Sit, Rebecca Sau, Christina Ng, and Nancy Wu) portray their characters. This serie is also, I believe, Ng Wai Kwok’s second serie since returning to TVB. I quite like watching him from The Drive of Life, so I look forward to his performance in this one as well. And of course, Shirley is also in this serie! I don’t actually like her character’s role and story from what I have read, and it doesn’t seem like a role with a lot of room for her to improve on, but maybe I would change my mind after watching.

I really like the poster of the cast above! It seems like the people to the left of Ng Wai Kwok are the antagonist or the trouble-makers, and the people to his right, are more of the protagonists. Especially like Christina Ng's tragic/sorrowful look! As for the promos, I like the promos focusing on the two lovers moreso than Nancy Sit and Christina Au and Nancy Wu, but both of them are too short though. Wonder when the themesong would come out?

Edit 4/21- Themevideo is added below from todou and youtube. I love the beginning when Nancy Sit does the voiceover which lists a series of human sorrows in life,..it automatically catches your attention. Very fitting with the title. As for the scenes in the themevideo, I anticipate a lot of crying and injustice but nothing really catches my eye though. The song is very beautiful, but it is also not catchy in the first hearing. I just wish the themesong was a bit longer.

Edit 4/23- Added intense trailer clip of this series below from Szeki World. Very intense clips, although a bit revealing about the plot....but nonetheless it seems like a very plot-driven series. Christine Ng seems to be the main female lead or at least the main focus. Can't wait to see how this series would fare for the HK viewers!

I. Themevideo:






II. Themesong sang by Ivana Wong, first few verses recited by Nancy Sit

王菀之 - 認命

獨白：天荒地老　最好忘記
笑也輕微　痛也輕微
生老病死　相聚分離
身不由己　心不由己

曾經我不太相信　定了宿命
曾經我想去反抗　命中注定
如果我感覺心跳 沒法安靜
誰願聽

在歲月裡飄和沉　是我的命運
無望中啞忍　痛苦中偷生
用愛換最傷教訓　妄想走近
因此生出了遺憾

如果我可以改變　就勇敢地
留住你

*Lyrics above found from here: http://www.littleoslo.com/lyc/home/?p=1248


III. Trailer & Promos(watch before Youtube takes them down....you know they will!!)

Intense Trailer (recommended) *found from Szeki World


Promo # 1:


Promo # 2:


To see poster of the serie and cast & more info: http://www.shirley-yeung.starszz.com/main.html

Blown Out of Proportion or Wrongful Death?

On April 5th, a Chinese girl named Tan Jing (谭静) was found dead in Shenzhen, China. I first read this story on Asian Fanatics. What caught my attention first was that she used to be an ATV artiste. The tabloid has reported that she was a prostitute who got into a 4P session (which is like a four-some) and was raped and murdered by three Korean guys. However, the Chinese police deemed her death as a suicide. Netizens and media are still questioning the death and making it a mystery.

After surfing the web around, I have found many stories regarding this incident. Although the tabloid reported that she was a prostitute, there are reports that said she was not a prostitute. There were stories about how she was often partying and meeting up with men. Then, there were stories that she broke up with an American or Thai boyfriend, who cheated her money. There was also bits that said she was unstable because her dad was murdered around the same time a decade ago. What to believe? What to believe?

Well, I think what cause this whole controversy was the photo of her hanging in midair half-naked with a rope tied around on the thought that her body was originally found that way. You can see the picture here, but please be warned that it might be a little too morbid for some. However the picture of the rope tied around her while she was hanging in mid-air was what the police/firemen used to take her body down. Her body was originally on top of a strip between the two buildings. Got to say it was a morbid shot of the body when it was just hanging there though. You could see the original finding of the body in the below Youtube video.



So it is just blown out of proportion or was it a wrongful death? Well it could be both. Perhaps she was murdered and pushed out the window. Perhaps she was, like the police said, committing suicide or just fell to her death b/c she was too drunk to know. Whichever it is, it can be seen how crazy the stories get with just so little information.

What is sad is that there seems to some tensions between Koreans and Chinese due to this incident. Hope that she has been given a proper funeral or will be given one soon and that the tabloids/media doesn't exaggerate too much on this.

Here are some forum topics about this:
http://asianeu.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=73080
http://www.soompi.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=212037
http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=155630