Posts Tagged ‘review’
With Law & Order: UK (series 6 in UK or the 2nd half of season 3 in US!) coming back to the UK on January 6 (9pm ITV1), I thought it’s about time I finally write down some thoughts on this show.
I previously wrote a lengthy post about my love for the original L&O / Mothership, so after I finished watching the last three seasons, I really needed something to fill that missing gap. I’m now up to date with L&O:UK also – it’s a bit confusing since in the UK, it was broadcasted in a batch of 6 or 7 episodes, but in the US it was broadcasted in a lot of 13 episodes. For consistency sake I’m going to use the UK series numbers. In the US, they have already shown these series 6 episodes (on BBC America) so you can find spoilers / reviews on this season!
Since I live in Australia I just wanted to add a note on how dismal television programming is in this country. Channel Ten has shown about 9 episodes of L&O:UK somewhere down the track. I seriously doubt it will be back on that channel anytime soon. I think their rights to series 1 & 2 have already expired? But at least you can see it on pay TV. Foxtel (Channel TV1) recently showed series 1 & 2 on Mondays 8:30pm. I hope it will be back soon.
As one of the two remaining L&Os in the franchise (the other still airing will be SVU) – yes I know there’re adaptations in France, Russia and an upcoming one for L&O: Cape Town (!), L&O:UK was adapted from the Mothership with the first half focusing on the police investigating crimes and the second half the crown prosecutors prosecuting the offenders. It’s also important to note all of the episodes in the UK version (so far) are based on scripts from the Mothership, mostly from the earlier years. Before watching L&O:UK I wasn’t familiar with all but one of the original episodes.
L&O:UK series 6 brings about another change in cast. I guess it’s not that much of a spoiler after that cliffhanger episode from the end of series 5 when the ITV website writes quite clearly that a new detective (DS Sam Casey) is joining the show. It is sad to see DS Matt Devlin (Jamie Bamber) go because the “Law” team of DS Ronnie Brooks (Bradley Walsh) and Devlin was one of the main reasons why I fell in love with L&O:UK.
Mothership viewers will be used to the frequent cast changes. Although fans of the original will always have differing opinions on their favourite cast / seasons. I guess being a shorter series, L&O:UK is more character driven – cases often reveal personal details of the characters, and each of the main cast had at least one episode where they were personally involved. After the cast changes in the beginning of the last series (that would be series 5) – only half of the original cast remains.
One of the most surprising (or casting genius!) is Bradley Walsh’s DS Ronnie Brooks. As the older detective, he is often called the UK version of Lennie Briscoe (the late Jerry Orbach). Yes there are many similarities – two ex-wifes, ex-alcoholic… but just watching his work on L&O:UK it’s really hard to imagine this guy was famous for being a comedian and hosting game shows! After the departure of DS Devlin – Ronnie Brooks was the reason I continued watching! Luckily, the L&O:UK writers recognised this and two of the episodes in series 6 focused on DS Brooks.
Description from YesAsia
There were controversies – unfounded, some would say – when Raymond Lam was awarded “The Most Popular Hong Kong Male Singer in the Asia Pacific Region” two years in a row on TVB’s Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards. Now the hot Hong Kong singer/actor is out to prove a point with the release of his long-awaited first Mandarin album. Aptly titled First, the album is a collection of 10 new songs tailor-made to Raymond’s magnetic voice. The heartfelt ballad “Let Me Love You For An Hour” comes to be the first plug and is followed by the up-tempo number “One More Time”. Some of Raymond’s biggest Cantonese hits are also adapted into Mandarin here, such as “Another Way To Love You” and “Love Searching For You In Memories”.Tracklist
01. 再一次 (One more time)
02. 太熱了 (Too hot)
03. 讓我愛你一小時 (Let me love you for one hour)
04. 換個方式愛你 (Change to another way of loving you)
05. 不想讓你失望 (Don’t want you to be disappointed)
06. 吻過吸血鬼 (Kissed a vampire)
07. 愛在記憶中找你 (Love to search for you in memories)
08. 一直都在 (Have always been here)
09. 我們很好 (We’re very well)
10. 長假期 (Long vacation)
Thoughts
Ahhh Raymond Lam. He’s my favourite HK actor / singer. But this doesn’t mean this will be one of those “OMG YOU MUST BUY THIS – HE’s HOT!” type of review. In fact it’ll be quite the opposite. Sometimes I feel like I’m being more harsh on him because I know he’s capable of better.
Firstly – the cover. Does it even look like him? My answer is no. I’m not a fan of it, at all. There’re actually better photos inside this album but they chose this one. I would like to know why. Not the best first impression.
The major problem (and this is critical) I have with this album is that there is only three NEW songs. Apart from “One more time”, “Too hot” and “Let me love you for one hour”, the other SEVEN songs have been previously released in his Cantonese albums. As Cantonese is my first language, one of my pet peeves is Cantonese converted to Mandarin songs (and vice versa). This pet peeve is right up there along with people who chew with their mouths open, or people who talk way too loud on their mobile phones on the bus.
**I started writing this a month ago and finally finished! Lots of things happened in between which diverted my attention…lol**
Description from YesAsia
A year and a half after 007, Will Pan has come up with his highly anticipated new album, intriguingly titled 808. Named after a model of drum machines popular among hip-hop artists since the 1980s, the album carries other meanings for the Taiwan pop star, as he was born in August 1980, and this being his eighth album. Boasting a new retro-futuristic sound and image for Will, the very personal album features the dance floor-burning first single “Totally Wanted”, as well as “We are all afraid of pain”, the theme song for Will’s latest idol drama Endless Love co-starring Sandrine Pinna.Tracklist
01. 全面通緝 (Totally Wanted)
02. 未來愛情 (Future Love)
03. 觸動 (Touch)
04. U U U
05. 電腦 (Computer)
06. 次世代 (Second Generation)
07. 我們都怕痛 (We’re all afraid of pain)
08. 小小螞蟻 (Tiny little ant)
09. 我的電話 (My phone)
10. 肩膀 (Shoulder)
11. 最終 (Finally)
Thoughts
My interest in his music has only really begun since his 6th album “Play it cool” – where I think he had more control over his music and became more of a singer/song writer. Born and studied in the USA, some might still think of him as this “hip hop ABC rap cool dude wannabe”, but I think he’s gone past that now and capable of releasing some great pop music – trendy as well as putting cpop on the world map.
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