:: Sixtwentyseven ::

This will be a pretty short post. As I had problems with the previous blog counter, I've decided to change the counter and back to zero! Haha, till the next time i change my blog layout for the reset......

Fure Fure Girl has the typical Japanese high school setting that talks about the struggles the students face and ultimately triumph over all the adversities that they face. Aragaki Yui is the main lead as Momoyama Momoka, a dreamy 2nd year high school girl that loves romantic novels but does not know how to fall in love in real life. One day, while reading her romantic novel while walking out to the school gate, she was accidentally hit by an errant baseball. In the process, she fell in love with the perpetrator. Wanting to cheer him on, she decided to join the cheering team which is almost disbanded due to a lack of members. Together with the vice-leader, they managed to form a cheering team but in the process, learn the art of cheering as well as the meaning behind cheering sincerely and not asking anything back.

I would have to say this topic of a cheering team will be quite foreign to those who does not know the Japanese culture. These cheering teams are more prevalent in baseball matches where they lead the whole school as one to cheer for their team. You may find similar video clips on the web with regards to cheering team.

However, besides the possible unfamiliarity of a cheering team, I thought the movie fell short as well. No doubt this zero to hero theme is tried and tested, for example movies like Swing Girls & Water Boys, Fure Fure Girl seems to deliver less. More emphasis was placed on the cheers which isn't a bad thing, but I thought it was slightly draggy at the end of the movie. In terms of acting-wise, although it was decent, the cast somehow did not manage to pull me into the movie, which was disappointing in that aspect.

Give it a try, but I believe they are better choices if you're looking for this genre of Japanese movies.

Anybody who tried to conjure out how the synopsis of a story using just the movie poster is going to be terribly wrong with Au Revoir Taipei. Just when you thought this is gonna be a sweet love story between the two cast shown in the poster, again you'll be very surprised.

The story started with the departure of the Kai's (Jack Yao, 姚淳耀) girlfriend, Faye, to Paris. In order to attempt to join his girlfriend, he began going to a bookstore to self learn French through one of the guidebooks available. In the bookstore, he befriended Susie (Amber Kuo, 郭采潔), who worked in the bookstore. Susie, who has feelings for Kai due to his determination to learn, had always tried to make small talk with Kai, but he was more interested to learn than to bother her. However, things changed when Faye decided to break up with Kai. Kai, in his desperation to go to Paris to salvage the relationship. However as his family is poor, he decided to turn to soon-to-be retired triad boss Bao　(Gao Ling Feng, 高淩風) for help. In exchange for the money, Bao asked Kai to help him collect a parcel from another person. Bao's nephew Hong(Lawrance Ko, 柯宇綸), is jealous that his uncle did not ask him to do the job instead and decide to thwart the transaction. However, things got a little messy when a kidnapping and cop-chasing were involved in a messy night in Taipei.

Frankly speaking, I was thoroughly entertained by the movie as I was surprised by the storyline (FYI, I did not read any reviews or sort before I watched the movie). And one thing I love about the show is how the director tried to portray Taipei as Paris with the clever use of soothing background music that is jazzy yet utterly french, as well as the line dancing in the middle of the movie to convey Taipei can be romantic as well.

Credits has to go to the rest of the cast that has small parts but important for the movie. Characters such as Gao, Kai's good buddy who got abducted due to the parcel; Jiyong, who was chasing Kai due to the parcel and got dumped by his girlfriend on the same night, add colors to the movie which is already vibrant in its own nature. The director also showcased Taiwan's street snacks scene, making anyone who watched the movie with an empty stomach wanting to try those snacks as well. The director also stuck with the formula to keep each scene short and simple so that they do not bore the audience and kept the colors bright to make it a visual escapade.

Overall, I was very surprised with the storyline as well as the production of the movie and I'm beginning to feel the movie churning out from Taiwan is going to surprise quite a few persons. Although trying to replicate the success of Cape No. 7 is going to hard, they can still score in the indie film scene.

Here's the official trailer of the show:

Just realised that I haven't been keeping up with the chinese pop scene, I've decided to scour the charts to see what's new in the charts. I was pleasantly surprised with this newcomer who is so multi-talented that it defy beliefs. Apparently, he wrote the songs, rhythm and lyrics everything, arranged the songs and played the keyboard for all of his songs. Technically speaking, he is like a one man band, handling almost everything by himself. I guess what is more surprising is that the record company has confidence in letting him do his way, which is pretty unheard of in the chinese pop industry.

If you want to know more about him and you know Chinese characters, feel free to check out his official website here or his personal blog at here.


What I liked about his songs is the variety that you can find. It's hard to pin point the genre of his songs because he does not fall into any category. [我喜欢，不我爱] has a Jason Mraz feel which uses just a wooden guitar and acoustic drums to bring out the feelings of a guy express his puppy love. [爱就是咖哩] has a jazz arrangement instead, using an old jazz number as the base and yet fusing mandarin, english and the local taiwanese dialect into the song, making it extremely infectious. [困在台北] is a more angst number telling about his life story and the struggles he faced before he finally produced this album.

You can sample the songs below:







Another song from Yen-J, but I thought this song is more commercial.