Shining Inheritance 찬란한 유산 灿烂的遗产

Watching Shining Inheritance/Brilliant Legacy is super frustrating.

**WARNING!! Spoiler ahead**

Don't get me wrong. This is a great series. Han Hyo Joo is so cute and convincing, even when the script drops way off the usual believable scale.

But the problem is that ONCE AGAIN Han Hyo Joo does not get together with my favourite 天寿哥!! Once again, the good guy who did everything right did not get the girl. ROOOAAAARRRR!!! =_=

At first, I was totally against developing any empathy for Lee Seung Gi, ie the guy whom Han Hyo Joo got together with in this series.

Alas, his boyish-monkey charms are undeniable.
(He proves his cute prowess again in My Girlfriend is a Gumiho 내 여자친구는 구미호 我的女友是九尾狐.)

天寿哥 is, after all, an ajeossi 아저씨 oredi.

对不起, 天寿哥!
最 MAN 最帅的，还是你。只不过，李昇基他比较可爱！

My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox (Gumiho) 내 여자친구는 구미호 我的女友是九尾狐

I was made to watch My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox. 

I'm not exactly a fan of rom-com TV series, mostly because I do not believe in the popular social construct of romance and so-called L.U.R.V.E.. I'd rather watch family-based Korean dramas, where the mother-in-law is the public enemy No. 1. LOL! =)))

Regardless of my personal preferences, because life is about compromises and living means sucking such compromises up with an enthusiastic smile, I completed the series which featured the singer-actor Lee Seung Gi and model-singer-actress Shin Min Ah.

This series has a great sound track, especially 'Fox Rain'.
In the series, whenever it starts to rain during a sunny day, it means the fox is crying.

Back to the resistance...
The protagonists, despite how cute they were as a couple, had neither mothers nor mothers-in-law. What a disappointment.

Nah... The story line is decent and the actors did a great job. =))
The thing about Korean actors and actresses, they are very determined to be the best that they can... The leads were in their early 20s, but you know they know what they are doing.

OK, the real reason why I was kept glued to this series is the ultra androgynous No Min-woo. 

My heart was ripped to pieces when he teared. Beautiful people shouldn't have to feel sad.

All leads in this series performed at least 1 song as captured in the series and the original soundtrack. This is No Min-woo's song in the series. It's called Trap and is usually played whenever he was coming onto or onscreen. =)))

According to a quick and dirty survey amongst my Korean wave classmates, I don't think No Min-woo's ultra famous... YET! =)))

But he will be!
Coz he reminds me of dark (as in personality, not skin colour) mashed up version of Takuya Kimura + Gackt. And... He plays the drums... Former drummer of Korean rock band TRAX. And he idolises Johnny Depp.

I think his popularity is currently unstable because (i) his face changes all the time (probably to due to extensive plastic surgery and radical image makeovers every few months), and (ii) rife rumours that he is so not straight.

Seriously, who cares whether he is plastic and/or gay.
I hope he makes it big... I wanna see more of him.

너무너무너무... 너무너무너무... 너무너무너무... 좋아요!!!

Undercover Boss

Undercover Boss is a somewhat reality show where the top guy of a company, e.g. CEO, goes undercover in his own company.

What's been airing in Singapore is the US version of this show.

The formula is as such:

• Top Guy surprises his management team that he's going undercover for the next week.
• Top Guys disguises himself as Joe the former construction guy/ property agent/ heavy machinery operator etc, then proceeds to stay in a cheap motel.
• Top Guy tries out a job in about 4 to 5 parts of his organisation (usually frontline and/or blue collar positions). The staff is told that the crew is following him around as they are filming someone trying to secure a job.
• In these 4 to 5 stops, Top Guy will find a standard distribution of stories (see table below)
• After all stops, Top Guy will summon these 4 to 5 people to his office for the great reveal and follow up. 

Freq	Encounter	Example	Follow-Up
2	Great work attitude with sob story	Kidney failure, Heart attack, Comes from uber poor/immigrant background	Give cash, set up fund, send on all-expenses paid holiday
1	Great work attitude with creative streak	Likes to draw, cook on the side	Sent on attachment to another department. E.g. If you like to cook, sent to food development department
1	Normal worker	He is featured for the 'funny' comments he makes as he watches the Top Guy screw up in the tasks.	-
1	Bad worker	Usually a lousy supervisor	Admonished on national TV, then  encouraged to work together as a team.

• Top Guy will also encounter some kind of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that is not working well. He will then step outside and call his COO on his mobile phone to fix it pronto.
• Lastly, Top Guy gets his staff together to announce what he has been doing undercover, openly commends the above-mentioned examples, and ends off the feel good session with lots of smiles, hugs and fist-bumps.

Because of the standard format of the series, I am inclined to believe that these individual stories had been handpicked before the show. However, it is unlikely that the individual workers had been briefed before filming as their reactions were genuine.

Some friends are fans of this series and imagine for it to be carried out in Singapore. I think if a CEO  manages to go undercover in his company in Singapore, he must be very disconnected from his people.

Unlike the US, Singapore is a tiny county in terms of land and population. Any self-respecting CEO can visit and ought to have visited his production line and outlets anytime and many times.

But hey... What's common sense is usually taken for granted and not carried out. So, this may just work in Singapore after all.

Imagine the Tau Geh of a ship-repair company joining the foreign workers to wash and solder the docked ship while being suspended 20m off the ground. Realises how hot and dangerous the job is.

Or the Tau Geh of the foodcourt joining the PRCs to wash the plastic bowls, make mee pok, and catch mice. Realises how dirty his foodcourt really is and forbids his children to eat in them henceforth.

Or the Tau Geh of SBS attempting to drive a bus for the day. Mounts kerb, kena verbally-abused by some grouchy old lady who cannot get on the bus, tries to ask people to move to the back of the bus, handle a molest situation onboard etc.

Or Tau Geh of security guard company guarding a bank branch, attempting crowd control for a public event, sitting in the guard post for a day etc. Realises how boring the job is.

Or Tau Geh of petrol company working in a petrol station for a day. Pumping petrol, stocking the drinks shelf, washing, drying and vacuuming cars etc. I've tried the first 2 just after JC, and I fell ill afterwards. Tough working conditions.

What can the CEOs do for the staff he meets afterwards?
Give NTUC vouchers to the poor.
Make the good performers do more.

Dong Yi 同伊 동이

Dong Yi, the TV series, is currently showing on Channel U.
We went to Poh Kim and bought the DVD set.

It's a story about how a commoner's daughter rose through the ranks in the Palace and became the favoured concubine of the King.

Though Dong Yi is a historical figure, I doubt the storyline follows history exactly.

Produced by the same famed producer Lee Byung Hoon who made Dae Jang Geum 大長今 대장금, he once again features traditional Korean crafts in his series, this time being music and the art of applied science in the CSI field.

In the typical Korean pride, the actors, palaces, costumes, sets, acting, storyline, and character presentation are of high standards. It is an absolute pleasure to watch.

Of all the characters, my favourite is the swordsman, 车天寿, who was in steadfastly love with 同伊. Even though 同伊 eventually chose the King, he dutifully stood by her side and protected her with his life to the end.

The most touching scenes were when he struggled to figure out what was best for 同伊 while battling his own feelings. He went to have a man-to-man talk with the King. He wanted to know if the King was serious about 同伊.

So, who says 男人不坏，女人不爱!
就是喜欢天寿哥这样的好男人呀!

On the other hand, the uber handsome small-eyed King, is quite a weakling, in my view. Definitely not a hot-blooded man like 天寿哥.

I dislike the scenes where he hugged and cried to 同伊 and suggested for them to run away. I certainly did not like the way he could like Concubine Jang so much at first, then decided later that 同伊 was the love of his life instead.

So you can imagine my disappointment when I dreamt of the King after watching multiple episodes of the series. Why couldn't it be about 天寿哥?!!

BM: Eh... Baby... I dreamt of the King last night. Why couldn't it have been 天寿哥?!! 天寿哥 is so MAAAAAAN!!! ROOOAAARR!!

GF: Nabei... I thought you would say,"Why couldn't it have been with GF?!?!"

BM: Erm... Oh yah... That too... 

=))

Every Singaporean Son

I learnt a new word last evening,"Shellscrape".

After watching Every Singaporean Son on National Geographic Channel and again on Youtube, 'Good Fren' and I realised that the soldier's national reservist experience is rather different relative to that of the NS boy back in the 1990s.

The SAR 21 is a national pride.

The recruits wear gloves while digging.

The camo cream now spreads as easily as Korean BB cream.

And then, there is this touchy-feely bit of Basic Military Training (BMT) where the recruits get a letter from their family. It's like a scene out of Survivor, meant to dramatise their breaking point. Tenssssion aaaaaaaannnnnddd... Release! *BOOOOOOMZ*

The most dramatic bit starts at the 6th minute of the video.


The big-eyed sergeant is super dramatic. No wonder he has been chosen for this segment.

"No soldier is a weakling, Gentlemen! 
It's been an honour for the commanders to train you...
To 'beh'(?) with you... through tough times...
You have seen... how tough you are...
You have stretched your limits...
Today... You... Yourself... How tough a soldier you are.
You are here to prove to them... How much of progress you've made!!
Let them be a proud parents of yours!
Let them be a proud parents of yours, Gentlemen!
You are no more a boy. You are now a MAN!
You are a trained soldier, Gentlemen.
*Signals for family letters to be distributed to the already tearing platoon full of exhausted 18 year olds.*

At this point, Blinkymummy cried.
My 21 year old cousin was like,"Har? WTF? You cried??"
=))

My immediate question was: What happens if your family doesn't write you a letter?
My cousin told me that the Sergeant would then write the letter.
Imagine if you were in that NS boy's position. Everyone around gets a letter from family or girlfriend, whilst your letter was from the Sergeant. Sibeh sian. Life no meaning.

If I had a son, I'd write a freaking long entry letter to him in English and Chinese, decorate it with scratch 'n' sniff stickers, glitter etc, and get Uncle Blinky and Tiger to paw-print on it.

And I would absolutely, proudly and willingly carry his backpack for him, and sing 'Purple light... in the valley...' until he got on that thing that would bring him across the waters and back to camp. No need for my son to feel any remorse whatsoever.

Golden Faith

We are 9 years late, but better late than never.

Golden Faith is an enjoyable drama because:

• Gallen Lo is a good actor.
• Jessica Hsuan is a good actress.
• Deric Wan is a good actor.
• Paul Chun Pui  is a good actor.
• The dilemma of family, self, good, bad, life, death

I did not figure why Raymond Lam has been given so many chances as an actor/singer/entertainer, until I read somewhere that he is a rich man's son (a billionaire).

Three Brothers 수상한 삼형제

I'll give you 3 good reasons to catch Three Brothers on Channel U, every Mon to Fri, 7pm - 8pm.

1. The mother-in-law is utterly unreasonable. ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!! I wanna slap her. Shaddup oredi!!
2. 2 out of 3 brothers are super cute (2nd brother is manly (selfish) and the 3rd brother in his police uniform is.. FWAH!), while the eldest son's idiosyncrasies and helplessness tug at your heartstrings. 
3. I especially like the 2nd daughter-in-law's character and acting. A filial daughter-in-law trapped in a pre-mature marriage and the world of her in-laws' family. She was on the verge of a breakdown last evening. =_=

English write-up here.
Official website in Korean here.

Do remember to watch it in Korean. The emotions are more authentic that way.

The Good Wife

I started reading up on the Good Wife because of Mahmud's hawt wife in the Infidel, Archie Panjabi. Goes to show once again... Sex sells...

But that's not the point of this entry.

I mean to say... That the Good Wife is a really solid drama serial. There's a fair bit of sexual tension, sex, crime and of course... good-looking people... It's Sidney Sheldon in a courtroom with regular references to real-life high profile scandals.

I wonder why it's not showing on Channel 5. This would bring in more viewers than the Pupil could ever manage in all of its nth re-runs, even if you double/triple-counted its diehard fans.

Desperate Housewives

 
"'Money can't buy happiness' 

is what you tell the poor to keep them from rioting."

~ Gabrielle Solis, Desperate Housewives, 
Season 2 Episode 9

She is so right on every level.
So HAWT!
.......................................................................

Did you know that the creator of Desperate Housewives, Marc Cherry, moulded some of these families on Wistoria Lane after his own family at different stages of his life?

It's like Louis Cha 金庸 writing about the women he had been with in his wuxia novels, and spinning stories with cultural values featuring love, life, death, family etc. (Btw, at the age of 86, Louis Cha has started his PhD in Oriental Studies at St John's College, University of Cambridge in June 2010.)

Here Comes Ajumma

Here Comes Ajumma is a 162-episode South Korean production that was released in 2006. It is currently showing on Channel U, Mon-Fri, 7pm... very slowly...

The female protagonist is a self-suffering mother of one in her early 30s. In Singapore, we call these mature females, usually housewife-ish and concerned about matters such as family health, kids' education etc, 'auntie'. In Japan, they are called 'obasan'. And in South Korea, they are called 'ajumma'. According to my South Korean classmates, the male version is 'ajussi'. Like how we in Singapore address mature males 'uncle'.

(Hence, since we started on this series, 'Good Fren' now officially goes by the endearing term 'ajussi' or 'apagee', i.e. Father in Korean.)


Bits and pieces of Here Comes Ajumma resemble those of Cruel Temptations. Or I should say... some parts of Cruel Temptations resemble those of Here Comes Ajumma because the latter is an earlier production. But Here Comes Ajumma is less dramatic and more believeable.

**~** SPOILER AHEAD **~**

Poor Thing Female Lead
This Ajumma is much much more likeable than the Cruel Temptations' blurfuck and sweetie pie Ajumma. Though she is relatively uneducated, she tries very hard for her family, but not in a dumb or shiok-sendiri way.

Philandering Husband
Ajumma's husband leaves her (i) for a pretty and sophisticated old flame, (ii) with a load of debts, and (iii) with his irritating mother. Ajumma signs up for cooking competition on TV to attempt to win the prize money, in hope to settle debts.

Mistress
Husband's mistress is the host of the cooking competition. Similar to the mistress in Cruel Temptations, she is a smart and scheming individual with an abnormal childhood. The difference is that her love for the guy is questionable.

Rich Family, Poor Family
Heir of TV Station falls in love with Ajumma. All set against the backdrop of 2 families, extremely rich and powerful vs extremely poor and helpless. Rich dads in both series are equally uptight, bound by social pressures such as 'face', and tend to faint/heart gives way when things go very wrong in the family/business. Cute grandchildren in all families.

Evil Mother-in-Law
As for the perennial 'evil' mother-in-law... both are totally irritating... with this mother-in-law being absolutely useless, whiny and not good-looking. I am unable to find any bit of myself sympathising with this mother-in-law, while I did feel bad for the Cruel Temptations' mother-in-law at some point. I guess the scriptwriters improved the formula right for the 'evil' yet human mother-in-law over time.

Stomach Cancer and Suicide by the Sea

Enuff said.

So, if you like Cruel Temptations, chances are, you will like Here Comes Ajumma more. Go get the VCD boxset from Poh Kim. Only SGD20. Audio in Mandarin/Korean. Subtitles in Chinese only. Please watch it in Korean. Dubbing takes away the flavour by too much.

Oh yes... Prepare a box of tissue papers. This drama-comedy makes you cry no less than a full-fledged drama.

Kid Nation

Channel 5 is much better after midnight on weekdays.

If you ever get a chance to stay up and/or can bother to record it, do try to catch Kid Nation (Channel 5 on weekdays, 2am - 3am).

I thought it was a kid's show, but I was so wrong. This is a reality show with kids, but what the audience sees is far from being childish.

Throw 40 kids, aged 8 to 15, in an abandoned ranch in the middle of nowhere without adult supervision for 40 days, and call them 'Pioneers'. Divide them into 4 colour groups. Make them compete in challenges.

The winning team will get to be the 'Upper Class', i.e. no chores, just get money each for doing nothing. The 1st runner up will be the 'Merchant Class', where their responsibility was to man a shop in the ranch.

The 2nd runner-up will be the 'Cooks', having to cook for the entire camp. The last group gets the sucky title of 'Labourers' and equally sucky menial tasks of cleaning the toilets and fetching water, while making only a couple of cents. YES. It is like real life.

Meanwhile, encourage the kids to make decisions such as whether they should kill the chickens in the barn for food. Watch their reactions. Some kids get really emotional about something like that.

Wait... We are not done with the structure of this little society. Each colour group nominates a leader which represents the group in the Town Council. The Town Council has the power to make decisions on behalf of the Pioneers.

Once all 4 groups complete a challenge within the time limit, the Pioneers are presented with 2 options for a reward. By default, the Town Council gets to make the decision on behalf of the Pioneers. In one instant, after a wet and tiring challenge, the kids were dirty and shivering in the cold, and presented with 2 options. (A) An microwave with cocoa powder to make hot chocolate, or (B) 40 steaming hot pizzas. The kids went nutz and started chanting Pizza! Pizza! One of them was even wondering about the toppings.

But the Town Council chose the microwave, because 'the pizzas will only last 1 day' but the microwave would be very useful for the rest of the stay at the ranch. Surprisingly rational.

Ahhh... But here's the lovely bit of this programme, you witness the ramifications of such decisions... Afterwards, the Town Council, especially the kid who fought for the microwave, became rather unpopular... Just like how politicians become unpopular when they try to do the 'right' thing.

When the Town Council tried to put together a compulsory prayer session to calm the camp's nerves, no one turned up. =))
 ....................................

Because of the participation of children in the series, some thought it's unethical, e.g. child labour issues. The concept of ' forcing adult issues onto children/childhood' became a point of contention too. What a waste!

See details in its wikipedia entry as highlighted at the start of the entry.

Ashraf, on the first episode of the new Channel 5 talk show called Singapore Talking, used the main points in my blog entry on the current public housing debate. Even the order of those points made is the same.

Please... whoever is doing the research or writing the script for that programme, if you can't think independently, at least credit the sources you lift from. Or you can employ me.

Lifting from my blog in this manner is way too lame.

James Sun & Sun Tzu: War on Business

Perhaps I am the only person in Singapore who watches that much TV and blogs about it.

Regardless... Let's begin...

Have you seen the trailer or any episode of Sun Tzu: War on Business, hosted by James Sun?


James Sun

I was first saw James Sun on Trump's The Apprentice, where Mr Sun worked his way through the reality TV show to the final 2. He lost out to the female winner, probably because Mr Trump thought James Sun had tried to plug his own business on the show. Something to that effect. It was never made clear to the audience. It could well be that the winner was a really attractive female.



Anyhow... I thought James Sun did very well in the show, and began to read up on him. He immigrated from South Korea to the US when he was 4 years old. His family wasn't exactly well-off. He studied hard and started his own company while still in school. The reason why I like James Sun is that while he is aggressive in achieving his goals, he was mostly in control of himself. (Except for this one time he got excited during a challenge and kept talking non-stop.)

And if you follow what he has done after the Apprentice, it's quite clear that he was quick to take advantage of the attention he got and started to explore many different opportunities. He's been invited back to South Korea for lectures and has also become spokesperson for a condominium development.

So anyway, when I saw him on the trailers of Sun Tzu: War on Business, I really wanted to see him in action.

Sun Tzu: War on Business

So... Sun Tzu: War on Business is a reality TV programme, produced by Singaporean-production house the Right Angle, where James Sun travels to different cities in Asia Pacific (Beijing, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne etc) and 'consults' for small businesses there. E.g. He was in Singapore to consult for StyleMart (an Indian ethnic fashion boutique), in Sydney to consult for Witchmount, (a winery), in Beijing to consult for a fitness gym venture etc. 'Good Fren' thought it's rather limited, i.e. the programme had only included consumer goods retailers. I thought it made perfect sense in the context of a TV show. If James Sun were to consult for a plastic pipe manufacturing SME, it would have been really boring to watch.

The 'Sun Tzu' part of the programme comes in when James Sun is ready to give his advice to the subject company and its business. I thought and still think that it is damn awkward to insert principles from Sun Tzu's Art of War halfway through the programme. Everytime James Sun would go,"Soon Tzu says..." Once, I caught one of the business owners raising his eyebrow. It's hilarious. But you have to give it to James Sun, i.e. despite how awkward it is, he still delivers his lines with a straight face.

Fundamentally, I can understand why the Sun Tzu thing anchors the programme. Coz if this was a programme which went,"James Sun says..." Nobody would give a shite... But "Sun Tzu says..." is different! Coz Sun Tzu's famous and dead! Brilliant.

So, I thought... Ok... So these owners of small businesses agree to go on this show where the host will invite a local business leader to help dissect, then give advice for the business. Obviously, the owners realise that type of attention they will get for their business by being on the show. They also realise the potential of getting a local business leader to help/invest in their business. But what they do not realise is that the programme also shows whether the business works out after the 'consultation'. And when it doesn't, it looks really bad.

The most obvious example so far is that of the fitness gym chain in Beijing. It's opened by a Mandarin-speaking angmoh with 'Rothschild' as his surname. O_o As if that's not impressive enough, he was wearing a Wharton Business School t-shirt halfway through the programme. Ooooh... During his business 'transformation', his staff highlighted repeatedly that the relaunch should not clash with the pre-Lunar New Year period as it would be a waste of marketing effort. But he went," 老板说了算," and carried on with it. By the end of the programme, the relaunch had failed. It's quite clear that despite having the education, the money and even the right staff, this business owner failed to deliver because of his perspective. A check online revealed that he had started another business before this one, and that lasted for 2 years.

It's a shame that there isn't an official website for this programme.

Well... In any case, I would recommend for you to catch the next episode of this programme, Tuesday 9.30pm, CNA. The episode will be on the Skoda car distributorship in Singapore.

The Couch... With a Twist

ChannelNewsAsia has this TV programme called 'The Couch' where a pair of 'celebs' such as Joscelin Yeo and her brother, Eric Khoo and his rich friend etc, are invited to sit on the same couch and have a conversation, prompted by a set of questions from the producers.

(I can't find website, pics, links of the Couch online though.)

I was doing the dishes on Sunday morning, when I caught some bits of conversation between Joscelin Yeo and her brother. They talked about their sibling relationship, tough times of their lives etc. Mostly 'inspiring' stuff.

Wouldn't it be a great watch if the producers of the Couch had invited 'average everyday' people instead? Example, someone who used to be in Top 5% of his cohort (went to top schools), but now stuck in an average dead-end job with little savings and no girlfriend. Get him and his sister who went to poly, is now married to an Army technician, and have 2 kids.

Then give them a set of questions such as 'As a child, what was your ambition?', 'Do you think you can still achieve your childhood ambition?', 'Do you think you are successful?', 'What pains you the most so far?', 'What makes you happy?', 'Describe yourself assuming you are 80.' etc.

I guess it wouldn't work.
Coz in a society where 'face' and 'shame' are very much ingrained in our psyche, it's much easier to go on national TV to talk about failures, pains, losses, love, family etc, only when you are deemed successful by 'society' and yourself. It's much much tougher to get someone who has not achieved much to agree to be on TV and talk about why and how they are not 'winners', but 'losers'. What's more... 'losers' can't hold themselves well on TV. They don't look/sound good... Probably speak Singlish, instead of American-accented English.

But hey! This alternative format may shed more light than the 'inspirational stuff' you and I are used to.

Maybe not Channel News Asia (atas channel mah!). Maybe Channel 8 or... 5. And maybe, it'll not be the Couch... But more like... The Stools.

OL Nippon

I saw a couple of episodes of this 2008 Japanese drama series online. It's called OL Nippon, and it's about how the individual Japanese executives in the General Affairs Department deal with their department's function getting slowly outsourced to China.

There are 3 Mandarin-speakers in the cast, acting as PRCs working in Japan.

In just a couple of episodes, the culture clashes and unintended consequences of outsourcing and/or introducing foreign talent into an air-tight system are drawn out... in the polite Japanese manner.

In one scene, the PRC girls (one sweet and hardworking, the other brash, self-righteous and hardworking) asked their Japanese female counterparts why they wore so much make-up to work, and plainly pointed out that in China, OLs do not wear makeup, only hostesses do. O_o

In another scene, the outsourcing agent (who is Japanese) told a Japanese worker in his 50s very plainly and in front of everyone else that the latter had been hidding behind the wall of the Japanese language for too long. The elder Japanese worker had earlier commented that the PRC girls would not be able to take over his job because they did not know the Japanese language.

Of course, one must not forget that this is a drama series.
However, this is not the first time the outsourcing to China vs joblessness issue has been played up in Japanese popular culture. Earlier, I watched Tokyo Sonata.

If you know where I can buy the entire series, do leave a comment. English or Chinese subs are fine.