Two new areas facing Marina Bay will allow more revellers to be part of Singapore’s biggest New Year countdown party tomorrow night.
A 3,000 sq m lawn next to the recently opened Marina Bay Financial Centre and the 5,000 sq m promenade in front of the Marina Bay Sands ArtScience Museum will provide extra standing room for some 16,000 partygoers to ring in 2012.
Where else to party
With new immigrants and expatriates at Tiong Bahru Park: This party will feature local DJ Andrew T and local youth indie bands Eleventh Hour and Juz Members. MediaCorp artist Rui En and Singapore Idol Hady Mirza will also perform.
Starts at 9pm. Admission is free.
Source: The Straits Times
Categorised in EN, The Straits Times, Tiong Bahru Countdown Party 2012.
CODE OF HONOUR (DEBUT)
Channel 8, 7pm
Zheng Geping stars in this martial arts drama set in 1960s Singapore.
Code of Honour æ£ä¹‰æ¦é¦† debuts 5 December 2011 7pm on Channel 8.
Source: The Straits Times
Categorised in Code of Honour æ£ä¹‰æ¦é¦†, EN, The Straits Times.
By Rachael Boon
Ongoing series Love Thy Neighbour has sparked a wave of criticism against local Mandarin TV dramas.
Channel 8 drama Love Thy Neighbour has not been feeling the love. In recent weeks, it has been the lightning rod for all kinds of criticism directed at locally produced contemporary dramas. Viewers have taken issue with the show’s lack of subtlety and poorly written dialogue, among other things.
The gathering storm of protest eventually involved two Members of Parliament.
Last week, one of them, Mr Lee Yi Shyan, questioned in a Facebook post the need for characters to shout or scream in order to express themselves.
Mr Lee, who is also Minister of State for Trade and Industry and National Development, tells Life!:”It was not just a particular episode that I based my comments on, but over a period of time. I find that Chinese local drama production has a lot of conversations that feature raised voices, a bit of screaming and shouting to express anger or frustration.”
“Of course human emotions are complex and there will be moments when you will be really angry. But I think in a good drama, everything should be in proportion – you have some gentle, soft moments and then the emotional moments and so on.”
Lianhe Zaobao senior correspondent Ang Ming Hwa agrees, saying that frequent arguments in a drama have become “the focus of the show” over the years. “It becomes a habit they find hard to break. They think that with loud voices, they will catch the audience’s attention but they actually lack creativity,” he adds.
In response, Mr Paul Chan, vice-president of MediaCorp Channel 8 Branding & Promotions says:”For each drama, the dialogue is specially crafted and relates strongly to the social status of the characters, the genre and era. For instance, in a youth drama such as On The Fringe, the teen characters would have more youth-speak dialogue. If we do not capture the essence of the different characters or genres in each drama, we would not be reflecting reality.”
Civil Servant S.L.Leong, 43, has been turned off by Channel 8 dramas because of the quarrelling scenes, which she says happen “most of the time”. She now prefers to watch Channel U’s local productions, some of which are made outside of MediaCorp.
She likes the more “wholesome themes” of shows such as Secret Garden (2010), which looks at psychological problems.
In contrast, she says Channel 8’s recent youth-oriented drama On The Fringe glamorised teen gangs. She adds:”I thought it was a negative portrayal of youngsters, even though the ending was good.”
Assistant Professor Liew Kai Khiun of Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information says the problems he has observed in recent Channel 8 dramas have to do with “little imagination, inspiration and realism in the plot of grumbling parochial and unconvincing characters.”
“I am not convinced that the audience would be pleased with the frequent pretexts for explicitly explaining government policies and the reminders on how fortunate Singaporeans are in receiving handouts.”
This trend of poorly written scripts with propaganda-like dialogue was also seen in shows such as police drama C.L.I.F., which aired in the middle of this year, says student Hubert Wah, 23.
“The police would be introduced into the scenes mid-way, which made part of the show seem like a corporate video or propaganda. It was so fake to me.”
Source: The Straits Times
Categorised in Dramas - General, EN, On The Fringe 边缘父å, The Straits Times.
If things go to plan, more Channel 8 drama serials filmed across the Causeway will air here.
As the first MediaCorp Studios Malaysia drama commissioned by the channel makes its debut this month, the television company says more made-in-Malaysia dramas are to come.
Upcoming dramas include Code of Honour and The Quarters, says the studio’s head Yeo Saik Pin,50.
Code of Honour æ£ä¹‰æ¦é¦† debuts 5 December 2011 7pm on Channel 8.
Source: The Straits Times
Categorised in Code of Honour æ£ä¹‰æ¦é¦†, EN, Ratings 节目收视率, The Straits Times.
Did I imagine it, was it an 80s thing, or was the old On The Fringe more electric and romantic?
Definitely, the 1988 Channel 8 classic was more focused on its subject of Singaporean juvenile delinquents than the new On The Fringe, which toggles between teenage drama and gangland thriller.
Much has changed in more than two decades, admittedly: hairdos, fashions, habits.
The Centrepoint Kids have made way for the Facebook generation.
But teen crime hasn’t gone away (Google “Downtown East death”, if you have forgotten), and the reboot of On The Fringe is rather timely.
There is a new clique in the new drama, a group of good bad kids who cut classes, hack into other kids’ blogs and filch snacks, and sometimes, adult diapers for someone’s ailing grandpa.
Like I said, they’re good bad kids – as self-absorbed yet well-meaning as regular teens, though less well-behaved – and the drama has flashes of authenticity and fun whenever it is close to them, capturing the camarade-rie and and confidence of young actors such as Edwin Goh and Phua Yida.
Then there is a living, breathing flashback to the old On The Fringe. Li Nanxing, who was a bad boy in the old drama, is now the long-lost, ex-con dad of Goh’s character – and it is kind of fun, too, even when the joke is at the expense of Li’s character (he has never heard of Facebook).
The trouble with the drama is glamorous corporate gangsters (Fann Wong and Zhang Yaodong) who turn up from nowhere, really, to wage a triad turf war and drag in Li’s character.
It’s likely that they have flown in from a Hong Kong crime film, although Fann and Zhang’s accents – floating between Singapore, China and Taiwan – are so disorientating that it’s difficult to be sure.
Whatever their origins, gangsters in suits, to my untutored eye, just don’t seem native to Singapore, or to the sort of naturalistic teenage drama the new On The Fringe could have been.
Groups of men glowering at one another at funerals, fights at steamboat restaurants: Why does the drama dish up warmed-over bits of foreign crime films, when it can tell a Singapore story?
Source: The Straits Times
Categorised in EN, On The Fringe 边缘父å, The Straits Times.
The In-Laws
Channel 8, 9pm
When Baozhu vents her anger on Jiazhen, Jiazhen plays her recorded conversation with Zhijun to prove her innocence. Stars Rui En and Pierre Png (right)
Source: The Straits Times
Categorised in EN, The In-Laws 麻婆斗妇, The Straits Times.
All the acting honours at this year’s Star Awards went to first-time winners.
China-born star Qi Yuwu won Best Actor for playing a roguish lawyer in legal drama The Family Court and local girl Rui En took home the Best Actress trophy for her role of a grieving widow in With You.
While Best Actress Rui En, 30, appeared composed, her frequent small smiles clearly revealed how happy she was. She said: ” I’ve never taken anything for granted and I only want to act even though there were times where i would hear things like the media telling me that I’m not suited for this industry.”
She was referring to the fact that she has a reputation for not playing the public relations game and for being forthright and unconventional.
Her win crowned a triumphant 2010: She starred in three of last year’s top five dramas on Channel 8 – With You, Happy Family and Unriddle.
Her feminine side was on show with a Hermes black dress, a deviation from the usual menswear-inspired outfits she had worn in past years to the Star Awards.
“I feel most comfortable in men’s clothes but I was in a mood for a dress and I’m sure everyone is tired of me looking the same. Besides, I’ve had a lot of breakthroughs in the previous years, so I thought, why not?” She explained.
Source: The Straits Times
Categorised in EN, Happy Family 过好年, Star Awards, Star Awards 2011, The Straits Times, Unriddle 最ç«ææ¡£, With You æˆ‘åœ¨ä½ å·¦å³.
What is it like having a famous daughter?
Regene: I love meeting with the actors, and getting to know them well. I would play iPhone games with Jeanette Aw and Fann Wong. I am friends with Tay Ping Hui, too, and he would teach me lessons on life manners. My sister loves Rui En, and I introduced them when she visited the set.
Source: The Sunday Times
Categorised in EN, The Straits Times.
Referring to the LifeStyle article Top Of The Hill (Feb 20), I thought it was appropriate for Elvin Ng and Rui En (both above) to be crowned king and queen of the new generation of stars at Caldecott Hill.
Both of them have come a long way. Rui En, especially, has a consistently stellar track record. She captured my attention in 2007’s Metamorphosis. I have always appreciated her subtle acting, which is not like the typical overblown portrayals we see on Channel 8.
It is surprising to note that a lesser-promoted name such as Rui En was able to garner such high viewership figures in her drama serials last year. I suppose this translates to the fact that, in the eyes of today’s viewers, heavily promoted names such as Jeanette Aw and Joanne Peh do not necessarily guarantee viewership.
Xabryna Kek
I agree that Elvin Ng’s acting has improved by leaps and bounds in the last few dramas he appeared in, such as Together and Breakout. He fully deserves the nomination for Best Actor in the Star Awards. In Breakout, he was totally immersed in the autistic character. Ng himself was obliterated. That is the ultimate success of a skilled performance.
The same cannot be said of Rui En. I think she has a long way to go. Her acting is exaggerated and unnatural.
Patricia Lim
Source: The Straits Times
Categorised in EN, The Straits Times.
