boybands are like reeses cups, you don’t really want one until you had that first bite, then you can’t help but be a little greedy and reach for a second… and a third…
Boybands are usually the fastest and easiest way to make money for any record company, so it’s no surprise that <a href="after 4 years, with only a few surviving boybands, the music industry is back again with a new batch of groups.
(c) eeMedia via hunantv.com
Sorry – the new site and forum is being fixed and worked out. We’ll make an announcement on this site when it is more complete.
In the meantime, here’s a list of modern day romance movies to look forward to in 2010, because these films are covered less than the ancient/wuxia/martial arts films by English-language media and yet, China has completely nose-dived into this genre in the past year. Cinema goers in China want the choice of light-hearted entertainment from the cinema, and the Chinese film industry is rapidly accommodating that niche in the market.
Last year, there was only a small selection – this year there’s much much more. With China’s total box office up 44% in 2009, and 1.65 cinema screens added per day, with no signs of slowly down, this should only be one sign to look forward to of the growing diversification of China’s rapidly rising film industry.
As part of the Music Ai de 5003 project (which Top Combine and other performed for) Bobo went to a mountainous unprivileged school, bringing with them school supplies. They acted as teachers, teaching the children songs, participating in their PE sessions, and went to the homes to get a better understanding of the conditions. They are one of many artists who have contributed in charity recently, but we could never post on them all, so this will have to be the representative of all those efforts.
BOBO was on Happy Camp last Saturday, helping it to be the number one watched show of that time period. Watch part 1 here and part 2 here. Interview translation of BOBO below the cut
Zhang Jie and Li Yuchun will appear on the next two episodes of Happy to promote their new albums next. Who’s excited for some Zhang Jie-Xie Na interactions? The preview made me lol so much when Zhang Jie pretended to be his picture that always appears on Happy Camp when he’s mentioned and said “what does that have to do with me?”
Li Xijun and Yu Haoming on the set of Yu Haoming's new MV filming...not sure why, but they're so cute together
The bad news is that Xue Zhiqian‘s upcoming album is actually a compilation album. Which means Incomplete Song and My Athena are the only new tracks, whereas the 12 other tracks are old. But for him it’s probably better that he doesn’t put out all that effort into composing for an actual album.
Because there’s too many new releases and too much competition.
We were going to post the pics when EASY magazine came out with their professional pics, but what’s the point when BOBO is so much cuter behind the scenes and not doing forced poses? Plus, EASY has boring photography. I gave up hope on an album for this year, considering they’re stuck in that big Hua Yi-produced, Wing Shya-directed, romance movie extravaganza, but apparently they filmed an MV (pic included below too), so hopefully, maybe.
It’s times like this when you learn to appreciate the difference between a good voice and an average one, and the value of hardwork. Laure Shang Wenjie’s voice definitely stood out as the one gifted with a beautiful voice. Even Cong Haonan, a decent singer normally (and from Sichuan Conservatory of Music, too), made me annoyed when him singing meant the end of Laure’s segment.
Then there’s the contrast between Huang Xiaoming and Li Bingbing. Neither were born singers, but from his other recent live and this, it’s obvious he’s been through major practicing. Li Bingbing obviously haven’t, but that’s forgivable since she’s not a singer.
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In lieu of a second album, BOBO has been giving us photoshoots, which is nice for the time being, especially if they are cute as this. They pose with various plushies, which evoke thoughts of childhood, and we thought it would be a good time to translate one of the blog entries that is representative of of Jing Boran’s dislike of fame and struggles with what it means to grown up and be responsible. He always smiles and does a great job with whatever’s given to him when the camera is on, but he’s pensive off camera and sometimes says these thoughts in interviews or his blog. Fu Xinbo doesn’t say much to the public, but Jing Boran says they say a lot to each other off camera, and it’s nice that they do have each other for talking about things like this.
Jing Boran’s blog entry about growing up and dealing with the fame that is now an inescapable part of his life:
– translated by idarklight,
Once upon a time
when a boy was 18, he received a pair of wings
the boy wanted to become an angel
so without any doubts nor directions, he flew toward the sky
slowly
he flew higher and further
but he doesn’t yet know
the moment he flew up
he could never return
the lives of 18-year-old children are beautiful
they can do many things
can sweetly go shopping with their girlfriends
can play video games with best friends
can laugh loudly when they’re happy
can cry loudly when they’re sad
when they’re rebellious family and friends will understand them
they’re free
But that boy, could only be in the endless sky,
flying with all his strength, flapping his wings
as they slowly blur the true happiness and life of an 18-year-old
Both BOBO and BBFF recently had some nice professional photoshoots, which is nice, because Chinese idols have a limited magazine market, and thus, crappy pics. BOBO will next be seen in the movie Young Gods of Cookery, the trailer of which you can watch here. Not surprisingly it looks fairly low budget since the two are at the bottom rung of Hua Yi’s actor ladder, but it’s still cute even if an album would be better. Blue Bird Flying Fish hasn’t gained many fans since their debut but they’ve been quite busy and actually released music unlike BOBO. Listen to them sing prettily here.
Argh I waited too long to post this…massive pileup of news. This was such a headache to all get in here.
BOBO was kept busy recently with the release of their show, NONSTOP, and celebrated their two year anniversary with the release of a new photo diary that I’ve already added to my list of goodies to buy. They also wrote loving speeches to each other.