In a beautiful ad for SK-II, Katie Couric explores Chun Xia and her best friends’ differing expectations for her life plans. The ad is partly in English and partly English subbed.
Music Monday: Don’t be afraid
Up springs the wind, down pours the rain,
Buckwheats getting brown, leaves turning grey.
Here spring fades away, there summer is on the way.
Restless in mind, twirling in time, over the turbulent years.
Don’t panic, don’t be afraid,
of the bitter cold, or of the sunburt days,
of the distress and misery, or of the sowrrow and pain.
Don’t panic, don’t be afraid.
Made popular by Jikejunyi, this soulful Yi song is written by singer-songwriter Mo Xizishi 莫西子诗 . It was first sung by a Yi band here. You can also listen to versions by composer/writer Mo Xizishi as well as Zhou Shen and M.I.C.’s Steelo Zhao, who says he wants to write more songs incorporating his heritage using Yi. Steelo, man, you gotta focus. I’m still clamoring for those Peking opera rap songs that you never wrote.
I found this translation on YouTube and couldn’t figure out who it’s by, but it’s better than anything I could come up with. Which version is your favorite?
Flashback: Wang Junkai’s Photobook
Some photos from Wang Junkai’s photobook last year to celebrate being adorable for nineteen years.
Love and Redemption releases stills
Xianxia drama Love and Redemption 琉璃美人煞 recently a set of new stills of late. The series stars Yuan Bingyan as a lost cause who is determined to redeem herself after ruining a major wulin event. She’s helped on the way by her talented sister (Zhang Yuxi) and the young master of a friendly sect (Chen Yi).
(more…)Lucky’s First Love releases stills of cutest moments
Lucky’s First Love is imo the cutest rom-com since Go Go Squid! this year, so here’s their latest release of stills featuring some of the cutest moments from the show. The two leads have great chemistry and the story is pure cuteness with minimal drama so far at the halfway mark. Bai Lu made a great foray into a new type of character, successfully portraying the loveable happy-go-lucky female lead while still having her be competent and not a ditz. Xing Zhaolin’s character is also much more human and friendly than most of your typical drama CEO’s. The only main flaw is that the main side couple is kind of boring, but they’re easily skippable.
(more…)Chinese dubs of Abominable available in all 4000+ U.S. theaters
Abominable , a collaboration between Dreamworks and Shanghai-based Pearl Studio, is the first animated film available with Chinese dubs across all 4000+ U.S. theater locations through the app Theater Ears. The film is also the first animated film with wide releases worldwide featuring a modern Chinese setting as well as the first major animated film directed, produced, and written by women.
The dubbing for the film in Chinese is done by Zhang Zifeng, Arthur Chen Feiyu, Wan Qian and Cai Ming. The film includes music by Angela Chang (below) and Wang Sulong. Coldplay’s Fix U is the only song that plays in both languages. If you are fairly well-versed in Chinese pop culture, I highly recommend the Chinese dubs as I think it has more jokes and a stronger emotional message. The only main thing you might be missing out is that the English dubs by Chloe Bennet and Tenzing Norgay Trainor had ridiculous romantic chemistry, while the Chinese dubs felt more like brother-sister.
Friday Photos
Magazine spreads, photoshoots and cover art that recently caught our eye.
National Day Film Round-Up
The themes of this National Day week-long break are unsurprisingly patriotism and surprisingly Mount Everest. Here’s the slate of films trying to beat Ne Zha and The Wandering Earth‘s record-breaking numbers this year. All four are available in limited theaters in the U.S. and Canada (and probably New Zealand and Australia).
Abominable, the love letter to Chinese scenery that’s the first film from Pearl Studio, a venture between DreamWorks Animation, China Media Capital, and the Shanghai Media Group. I’ve seen it in English and definitely recommend it. The main characters are very shippable in an Asian drama way, and the imagery is super imaginative.
Note that if you’re in the U.S., you can watch the film with Chinese dubs in theaters by using the Theater Ears app.
Voice actors: Chloe Bennet, Albert Tsai, Tenzing Norgay Trainor in English; Zhang Zifeng, Arthur Chen Feiyu, Wan Qian, Cai Qin in Chinese
Pretty Proofreader remake stars An Yuexi, Xing Zhaolin
Standing in the Time 不负时光, a remake of the hit Japanese series Pretty Proofreader / Jimi ni Sugoi! Kōetsu Girl: Kouno Etsuko, will star An Yuexi as the adorable proofreader who finds meaning in the details and Xing Zhaolin as the loner novelist whose paths cross with hers in more ways than one. The original is one of my favorite recent Japanese drama and extremely heartwarming and An Yuexi is adorable, so I hope the remake lives up to the original. The series is set to be released on October 2nd on Tencent and iQiyi.
Jing Tian, Zhang Binbin begin filming supernatural mystery drama Siteng
Jing Tian plays the titular Siteng 司藤, a half-demon who exacts revenge with the help of the male lead (Zhang Binbin).
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