Love versus Money in Francis Ng and Ma Tian Yu’s Love Without Distance

hahaha! The role reversal for this movie is just too cute. I’m sure you guys remember Hong Kong actor Francis Ng as the strict and principled Captain Tong from Triumph In the Skies 1 & 2, while Ma Tian Yu (or Ray) has made a name for himself as the cute, reliable younger brother in the industry, so to have them play against type is gold. Francis isn’t really a cupid like the posters suggest; he plays a tyrant CEO in a town with Ray as his serious and scheming secretary. When Francis learns that he is terminally ill, he decides to do something crazy to be remembered by…

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TVB 46th Anniversary Awards Ceremony (2013): “Lovely Winners!”

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Another year of TVB dramas. To be honest, I only watched and finished Triumph In the Skies 2 (skimming through the last 20 episodes, ahum), a few episodes of Brother’s Keeper and Reality Check, and 6 episodes of My Bounty Lady. So I’m not a good representative of a TVB fan. heh. But now that fans have calmed down, I’ll tune in for some fun. Hint: A round of fashion terror!

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Triumph in the Skies 2: Episode 16 – 20 “Not meant to be.”

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You see the blue sign? How fitting, isn’t it?

This set of episodes are uneven in emotions. Most intense scenes take place in the first three episodes and the last two flake out, adding more irrelevant characters to a cast that is already too big. I do not care about Bee, Flowers, Apple, and Pink Pink, OKAY? Can we just skip their sob stories and insert some flight emergency/action? We haven’t had any major accidents in the sequel! If last week’s theme was reunion, this week is breakups. These are mature breakups, not noble idiocy that we see so many times in Kdramas. They break up for the same reasons they got together. Isn’t that an interesting concept to mull over?

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Triumph in the Skies 2: Episode 11 – 15 “Reunions.”

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hee! Love the friendship moments in this drama. The two dorks and their seduction of Batman’s Robin. 😛 Seems like the running theme of this batch of episodes is reunion. Reunion of friends, lovers, ideas, and differences. Opposite from the prequel where the cameo appearances were from big stars, I quite like low-key additions of guest stars here. The effect is not huge to disrupt the flow but small enough to make an impact on our characters, forcing them to look at issues from a different angle. Holiday’s missing boyfriend arc has a closure and we finally learn why Sam’s been swimming in a sea of regret regarding Zoe.

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Triumph in the Skies 2: Episode 6 – 10 “Fun with aviation jargon!”

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Mother Hen and the three gossipers! I love when these four share the same scene. It’s light and fuzzy and cute. And Sam’s reaction is hilarious as he feels challenged by the hyperactive Holiday, playful with Coco, and critical of Isaac. Yet together, these three dominate the mother hen with their mischief. Careful there Sam, losing MOAR hair doesn’t do your image any good. Breathe! And now I’m just sad that our little makeshift family is split up in the next few episodes for the development of other story threads, especially that pesky thing we call love. Oh yea, it comes with multiple sides too. What? You don’t like subtle hints? We have a doll for that! Meet triangle!

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Triumph in the Skies 2: Episode 1 – 5 “Unexpectedly good!”

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Men are handsome in uniform. Yes, yes?

Great flight guys! It’s a good sign when I sat down and breezed through 5 episodes like they did not take away five hours of my day. Old and new characters meshed in very well, with chemistry exploding from left to right. The conversations were surprisingly very funny and witty. Oddly enough, there were no emergency plane situations in the first five episodes. Considering Tvb’s style, this will change pretty soon. But I guess they have 38 episodes for those incidents. Heh. So far, it’s more character-driven than anything, but I don’t find myself feeling the urge to fast forward any scene. It’s a testament to the writer’s strength in turning mundane dialogues into entertainment. 🙂

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