發表時間: 2003/6/15 上午 03:17:23

HELLO EVERYONE！
SORRY！！！。。。。?在才留言。。。。。。最近一直忙著?校的功?跟新加坡的
??宣?。。。SIGH。。。。。。。。太想台?了。。而且特?想台?的歌迷。。
你??好?？?在的天气??不冷了吧 HEHE？我一回到新加坡就?始想?台??
? 的天气 ：) ??是超?的。。。。。我前三?星期考完?。。。。。YUCKS?提
了。。。。ANYWAY?然我人?在不在台?，希望你???把我留在心里。。等第二
?好?？已??始??了：)。。我??不?忘了台?歌迷的?情跟照?。。。。但
??系我?通留言版勾通OK？BYEBYE

LUFF ALWAYS，
芮恩
RUIEN

Source: Alfa Music

Categorised in Bridge, Rui ∑n vol. 01, Yahoo! Group.

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30 May 2003

Readers write in about Lionel Seah’s negative review of the new Channel 5 drama Chemistry, which is produced by Rushes Networks, and Ong Sor Fern’s Tome Raider column and article on The Matrix.

I REFER to Lionel Seah’s review of Chemistry (Chemistry Flunks The Test, May 26).
The show had me glued for the whole half-hour.
Sure it helps that the leads are attractive, but Lu Rui En‘s acting actually draws you in.
Being a woman, it would have been easy for me to hate her for her beauty and I wouldn’t hesitate to criticise her acting skills.
But she came across as natural and definitely outshone Howard Cheung in the first episode.
Acting skills aside, the plot might not be the most original, but it is good enough for some relaxing entertainment on TV. I don’t feel in any way that it flunked the test. I think it only failed Mr Seah’s test.
I hope he wasn’t using personal, biased reasons in judging Chemistry because, honestly, it is one of the more watchable locally produced shows.
Sparks do fly in Chemistry and I won’t put it down so fast.
It definitely deserves better reviews, not prejudiced, immature comments.
FIONA YU

Categorised in The Straits Times.

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29 May 2003

WATCH IT!

WATCHING the new local romantic comedy, Chemistry, is akin to sitting in front of a school lab experiment, praying that the results will turn out accurate.

You see, creating a successful TV show is a science in itself.

Complementary elements (script, direction, cast) are blended, but just the exact amount of heat and timing are of utmost importance.

On-screen couples like Tony Leung-Maggie Cheung and Zoe Tay-Li Nanxing have mastered the art of having chemistry ooze from their pores.

Not so with acting newbies Lu Rui En and Howard Cheung.

The abrupt and dull debut episode could have benefited from a full one-hour opener to properly introduce the couple.

Rachel (Rui En) is a cynical radio deejay who rolls her eyes at the concept of love, until she meets CK (Howard), an uptight expat fitness consultant.

By a cliched twist of fate, they switch bodies ala The Hot Chick.

They become joined at the hip, and soon, animosity melts into affection.

Judging from the trailer, the show actually gets a shot of adrenaline when CK (in Rachel’s body) struggles to wear a bra and accidentally walks into a ladies’ loo.

Unfortunately, I don’t see such gender-centric fish-out-of-water gags lasting another 12 episodes.

And I hope Howard won’t overdo his one-note brow-furrowing expression.

On the other hand, Rui En is a natural in front of the camera. She shines while delivering ego-deflating lines like: ‘At least I eat my food! You, on the other hand, can’t even handle a carrot. Call yourself a man.’

Rui En definitely makes the grade, but Chemistry scores a C.

Chemistry is shown over Channel 5 on Thursdays at 9pm.

Source: The New Paper

Categorised in Chemistry, The New Paper.

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26 May 2003

The results are in: Channel 5’s new series – Chemistry – doesn’t so much sizzle as fizzle. Will someone light a bunsen burner under it, please?

DRAMA
CHEMISTRY
Channel 5
Thursdays, 8.30 pm

IF THERE is one thing more exciting than watching the debut episode of Channel 5’s new series, Chemistry, it is memorising the Periodic Table.
Judging by the episode last Thursday, the 13-parter is the television equivalent of helium, the most inert element in the table. Half an hour of it is enough to leave viewers bereft of life.
Chemistry is produced by Rushes Network, the production house of Hype Records to which the series’ leads, Lu Rui En and Howard Cheung, are signed on to.
The storyline revolves around a girl and a guy with clashing personalities who finally overcome their animosity and fall in love. Only the words in a Hallmark card can beat this for originality.
In the first episode, the male and female leads, played by newcomers Cheung and Rui En respectively, swopped souls and took over each others’ bodies.
It was very much like Prelude To A Kiss. But, presumably, the scriptwriter has not watched that film before. Or All Of Me. Or Freaky Friday. Or The Hot Chick.
Maybe because the debut episode was expository, setting the scene for what is to unfold in future episodes, there wasn’t much excitement going on.
Thursday’s show moved like a one-legged man with gout, though only to explode in its own face like a bad experiment that went horribly wrong.
The casting of singer and part-time model Rui En as Rachel, a headstrong radio DJ, is a huge mistake.
She is pretty, but no actress. Her acting lacks subtlety and has as much depth as a petri dish in a laboratory.
She carries a wide range of expressions. All, unfortunately, involve her playing cute and putting on a series of exasperated looks. We could be looking at the next Fiona Xie here.
Rui En is actually fine in small doses. In fact, her ‘acting’ is passable in Jay Chou’s Secret Signal MTV clip and in the SingTel HiCard advertisement in which she appears.
And, she’s a much better singer than actress, as those who have heard her self-titled debut Mandarin album would attest to.
Who knows, Chemistry, the musical might have worked better for her?
Thankfully, there are redeeming factors to the show. Each episode is only 30 minutes long. And the colours look rich and deep, like Money, one of MediaCorp’s better series, a few years back.
In fact, the colours are so brilliant that in the first episode, Rui En’s multi-coloured eye-shadow – though no fault of hers, poor girl – made her look like a talking parrot.
The best thing about the show is Hong Kong-based model Cheung. He doesn’t over act, and in an industry known for over-the-top acting, he bucks the trend.
He is also eye candy, which is a requirement in a series that is – like others before and many to follow – essentially a case of style over substance.
And if Cheung goes topless ever so often as Vincent Ng does in Heartlanders, he might well be guaranteed longevity in Singapore’s TV scene.
Chemistry is a wake up call that there should be a Geneva Convention for television, that gratuitous showing of pretty faces without acting talent should be banned.
Admittedly, Chemistry could do a U-turn and show an impressive next 12 episodes. Right now, it positively makes Light Years, the teen series on Channel 5, watchable.
But only after one has exhausted memorising the Periodic Table.

Source: The Straits Times

Categorised in Chemistry, The Straits Times.

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22 May 2003

Showtime & Lifestyle

COULD life imitate art?

Two people – as different as day and night – meet and fall in love.

But that’s the TV plot.

In the case of actors Lu Rui En and Howard Cheung, the falling in love bit is still a question mark.

Both are lead actors in the new local English series, Chemistry, about free-spirited radio deejay Rachel, who falls for strait-laced fitness consultant CK after overcoming a string of misunderstandings and differences.

And since the two characters were actually modelled on the leads’ real-life personalities, things might just get interesting.

In fact, just as in the plot of the romantic comedy, it took quite a while for Rui En and Hong Kong-born Howard to warm up to each other during the rehearsals.

Rui En, 22, who launched her debut album in January, told The New Paper frankly over lunch on Tuesday: ‘I thought that him being a model, he would be the vain sort.’

And according to her, Howard didn’t help matters by hanging out with the guys and not really bothering with her.

PSYCHOTHERAPY’ SESSION

But after a ‘psychotherapy’ session ordered by the producer so that both can exude more chemistry on the show, the pair started to get along a lot better.

The final-year NTU business undergrad added: ‘I totally got it (my first impression) wrong.

‘Howard’s actually got another side to him. He’s very patient and gentle, and when he gets to know you better, he will actually start telling you jokes.’

Soon after the ice was broken, the couple even started teasing each other.

‘I would tease him about his love for health food, and he would bully me back by making me feel guilty about what I was eating.

He would go, Do you know how much oil that contains?’. He’s just like HNN – Health News Network – I can ask him all sorts of questions about health.’

When The New Paper called Howard in Hong Kong, where he’s based, the first-time actor would only describe his co-star as ‘very pretty’.

The difference between them was painfully obvious.

While Rui En was gregarious and lively, 26-year-old Howard was shy and subdued.

He then claimed that he didn’t spend much time with Rui En off the set because she was ‘always so busy’.

But unlike the Chemistry script, the ‘love’ story of Rui En and Howard may not progress beyond friendship.

When asked whether sparks will spill over from reel to real life, both didn’t sound too keen.

Howard would commit only to a polite ‘anything’s possible’, while Rui En was a bit more adamant.

She said: ‘I don’t believe in opposites attract.’

He’s not really my type, and I’m quite fussy about type.’

Then she added: ‘But I guess you can say that he’s a potential can lor.’

So how well do Rui En and Howard know each other? How much chemistry do they have after working on Chemistry? We put them through the test …

PERSONALITY TEST

*ON HOWARD

What is his favourite phrase?

Rui En: Dude.

Howard: Isn’t life exhilarating?

What is his pet peeve?

R: This one I know! Confirmed! Forgetting to bring his health food and having to eat ‘unhealthy’ food like the rest of us!

Do you know that he comes to the shoot carrying two huge backpacks full of health food?

He eats his cereal in the morning, has fish soup for lunch and he prepares his own afternoon snack of an apple and tuna mixed with olive oil … every day!

H: Smoking I guess, I don’t like smoking. But she’s right about the two backpacks, only thing is I’ve never forgotten (my health food)!

What is his worst habit?

R: Farting. He doesn’t do it all the time, but he’s been known to do it, even in the air-con room! And apparently, it smells very bad, which is very shocking, since he doesn’t really eat red meat. He has never done it in front of me, but he has threatened to.

H: Sleeping in. I’ve been late for filming before, but so have the rest.

(We then told him what Rui En said.) Oh no! But it’s a guy thing, farting in front of one another! I hate the smell of smoking. I have to fart to neutralise the smoke.

What is his secret fantasy?

R: To open a martial arts school and a health food cafe.

H: To become a professional tennis player.

* ON RUI EN

What is her favourite phrase?

Howard: (pauses for a very long while) I can’t recall her having one.

Rui En: Wah lao eh! (As in her favourite phrase, not Howard’s inability to answer the question.)

What is her pet peeve?

H: I don’t know. It’s been a while since we last met, and we spent only three months together … Why don’t you tell me her answer, and I’ll go, ‘oh yah, that’s right’?

R: Having to wait for something.

What is her worst habit?

H: Smoking?

R: Biting my nails and picking at my toe-nails. Especially during exam time when I have to study. I can’t sit still, I have to find something to do. And because of that, I’m very ashamed of my toe-nails, I don’t like people to see them.

What’s her secret fantasy?

H: To meet Takeshi Kaneshiro. She really likes him. When we talk about it, she will go ‘Oh, so gorgeous!’

R: My secret fantasy will be to go sky-diving.

CHEMISTRY TEST

X-Men or The Matrix?

Rui En: X-Men
Howard: X-Men

Dogs or cats?

R: Cats.
H: Dogs. I like cats too, but I’m allergic to them.

Suntan lotion or sunblock?

R: Sunblock
H: Sunblock

Which came first – the chicken or the egg?

R: Egg
H: Egg

Is the glass half empty or half full?

R: Half full
H: Half full

Wow, 4 out of 5 – sizzling hot chemistry!

Source: The New Paper

Categorised in Chemistry, The New Paper.

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22 May 2003

Will Chemistry, a new Channel 5 romantic comedy premiering tonight, fare better than recent teen drama Light Years and comeback sitcom Under One Roof? The 13-episode series starts off on a Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus footing before twisting into a happy ending.

SAMUEL LEE talks to lead actors Howard Cheung and Lu Rui En.

WHO: Lu Rui En, 22
RUI EN WHO?: I was the ‘running girl’ in the SingTel HiCard ad. I’ve also appeared on Channel 8 drama No Problem and in Jay Chou’s music video for Secret Signal last year. I released my first Mandarin R&B album earlier this year.
WHAT’S UP: I’m now one semester away from a degree in banking and finance at Nanyang Technological University.
WHY SHOULD WE WATCH CHEMISTRY: It’s not the usual boy-meets-girl, enemies-become-lovers storyline. There are lots of supernatural and fantasy elements, and some sleaze and suspense. In Episode 1, Howard and I swop souls and go into each other’s bodies – which means I have to act like him and he, me.
WHAT DO YOU PLAY: Rachel, a stubborn radio DJ quite like me – clumsy, un-girl and jaded about love and men because of my single-parent upbringing. The only difference is that I don’t suan people (make sarcastic jibes) at every turn.
CHEMISTRY MEANS: No bedroom scene and not much kissing – both on- and off-screen – because I have no time to create any chemistry with anyone.

Chemistry debuts tonight on Channel 5 at 9pm, but will air at 8.30pm on Thursdays starting next week.

Source: The Straits Times

Categorised in Chemistry, The Straits Times.

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19 May 2003

Hype Records: The local record label is known for grooming local stars, including Stella Ng and Rui En. It organises a massive talent search once a year and constantly scouts for promising new acts.

Source: The New Paper

Categorised in The New Paper.

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A new singer has emerged from the sunny shores of Singapore, and her label HYPE Records has wasted no time dubbing her with the tagline of ‘Hai Pa Ping Fan De Nu Sheng’ (the girl who fears being ordinary).

“I’m a bit embarrassed by that, it sounds arrogant,” says Rui En laughing, “I hope to express to people who listen to my songs, that I have ideas and viewpoints of my own and that they can understand them you know, everyone wants to be special and be their own individual,” says the 22-year-old.

Just what distinguishes the 1.69m tall Aquarian, who dropped her surname Lu and picked up a special ‘S’ sign for branding sake?

Is it the fact that 1 of the hottest names in Chinese pop, Jay Chou, writes songs for this newcomer? Or the fact that she shops largely on the Internet in a conscious effort to own things not easily found in local stores?

Or maybe her poor grasp of Mandarin, which resulted in a funny incident in Taiwan last month when she was there for album promotions. She kept refusing to order food because the menu were not written in the simplified Chinese script taught in Singapore schools.

Besides how many Mandarin pop singers do you know are avid fans of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth and dig books like The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy?

These less than hip reading materials are what occupy her time apart from her shopping, surfing the Internet, sleeping and watching TV- if she manages to find any time at all.

“I guess in terms of lifestyle [I have] changed dramatically, I don’t have time and have no social life, it’s zero,” laments Rui En.

Call back

Her rise to fame though, was pretty run-of-the-mill. Like a plethora of local models-turned-singers like Shirley Yee, Fann Wong and Celest Chong, Rui En was picked from obscurity to star in the memorable Singtel ‘Hi!Card’ commercial in 2001. In it, she ran like the wind to top up her Hi!Card just to receive a call from a guy she’d given her number to the previous night.

From that promising debut, she landed commercials for MPH’s online bookstore and did some photo shoots for magazines. She got her first celeb break when she acted in a MediaCorp Channel 8 drama serial called No Problem opposite Chen Han Wei, after an audition at HYPE Records.

HYPE Records saw Rui Sn’s X-factor in the Singtel commercial, “[it was] her confidence and energy level that captured our attention, but her unique vocals took us by surprise during our face-to-face audition,” said Yvonne Lim, 27, Promotions Manager at HYPE Records. “These days an artiste has to be multi-talented and Rui Sn fits our requirements to a T.”

School blues

Things are a lot less peachy in her day job as a 3rd Year Banking undergraduate in Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

“No, I don’t like what I’m [studying] now, it was a mistake. If you give me a choice now, I would choose to do Arts in NUS (National University of Singapore), because I like writing, reading and especially English Literature. At that time I did pretty well for my ‘A’ levels, and I thought of going into something more prestigious and I realised after a while that I really didn’t like Math, so now I’m regretting it.”

“The fact is if I quit now I would have wasted 2 whole years, that’s quite kek sim (agonising),” she says. Rui Sn had considered quitting, but decided to be practical instead, heeding friends’ advice to avoid regretting her rashness later. “What to do, pia lor (just grit my teeth and strive harder).”

She’ll be the first to admit that balancing work and school is easier said than done. “I tell you honestly I don’t cope (laughing), I try my best…because once you become an artiste, you think it’s so fun and you go get your pictures taken, you perform in front of a lot of people, and after that you go back home and you realise that you’ve got homework to do.”

After a tough initial period of adjustment, “now it just takes a lot of determination and will power, I basically sit down and force myself to do homework.”

Family ties

Even though the self-confessed tomboy grew up with an independent streak, playing with boys, watching wrestling and riding bicycles, as an only child, her parents were understandably apprehensive about her entry to showbiz. “My dad is very liberal, he gives me a lot of freedom but my mom was a little bit worried about me being cheated by all these terrible men, now she’s pretty okay and [my parents] are pretty proud of me.”

“I have always known I like performing [previously] I was in this Singaporean mindset, where I have to graduate and get a proper job, get married and have 5,000 kids, [then] this chance came along and I realised I really want to perform.”

“In Alfa Music, a very small music company in Taiwan, there are very few artistes, so Jay [Chou] and Landy [Wen] really took care of me…especially Landy…[who was] really cool, and I hung out with her. Jay was really nice [too], he helped me a lot and gave me a lot of [criticism and praise]. It’s like having a big brother and sister, it’s really cool for me, because I’m an only child”

The long haul

“In Alfa Music, a very small music company in Taiwan, there are very few artistes, so Jay [Chou] and Landy [Wen] really took care of me…especially Landy…[who was] really cool, and I hung out with her. Jay was really nice [too], he helped me a lot and gave me a lot of [criticism and praise]. It’s like having a big brother and sister, it’s really cool for me, because I’m an only child”

The long haul

She doesn’t have to have the mind of a banker to know it’s a competitive market out there. “It’s really tough, but I think [the path I’m taking] is worth it, I can’t see myself doing anything else at all. I think I would die of boredom.”

Heavy efforts were certainly invested in Rui Sn’s debut album, RuiSn vol.01 album which was released in January here. Singer/songwriter Jay Chou, famed lyrist Fang Wen Shan and composer Lin Mai Ke were roped in to contribute to her album too. She has gone to Hong Kong last December for a brief appearance and toured Taiwan after that, with Landy and Jay giving her pointers along the way.

Her promotional activities include attending countdown shows, appearing on TV programs and conducting radio interviews throughout Taiwan. Though she has yet to achieve success similar to Kit Chan and Stefanie Sun, she is slowly gaining popularity judging from the fans that queue up as early as 6am to attend her autograph sessions. It’s no wonder she’s bound by a 10-year contract with HYPE Records.

“I trust Hype [Records] a lot they explained to me their initial capital outlay is a lot and it takes that long to establish yourself and make sure you are making money for the company I figured it benefits us both ways because I’m really serious about my career. I really want to have a career in showbiz and if they really want me for 10 years to push me, they get their money and I get my career advancement. It doesn’t really scare me because I know I’m being serious about being a singer and actress.”

So far, she has completed a MediaCorp TV Channel 5 English comedy/fantasy/drama serial called Chemistry where she stars as someone who is bitter and jaded about love initially. But after going through a whole series of events, her character Rachel realises that she should give love a chance. “All the characters were written for us, so our characters were very much like what we are [in real life]. Rachel is more sharp, mean and more sarcastic then I am, [but] I’m like her in a lot of [other] ways.” The show is slated to air next month.

For now, however, acting has taken a backseat and it’s just album promotions in Singapore, which is her last stop. She will have to concentrate on her studies soon after. A 2nd yet untitled album is underway which will see her composing lyrics for a few songs. There is no official word on the date of release yet.

Her parting advice is simple, “Don’t fake anything and just be yourself, have your own style.”

If she’s as enduring as she is insistent about being anything but ordinary, we’ll be hearing of her for a long time to come…

RuiSn vol.01 album is available in stores.

Source: Urbanwire

Categorised in Chemistry, No Problem 考试家族, Rui ∑n vol. 01, UrbanWire.

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17 April 2003

FESTIVAL OPENERS :
Singapore singers Stella Ng and Lu Rui En will take the lead in opening the Singapore Street Festival next month.
TO ENCOURAGE youths to come out to play, Singapore singers Stella Ng and Lu Rui En will open the Singapore Street Festival on May 31 at 7 pm at the open field next to Faber House in Orchard Road.

Source: The Straits Times

Categorised in The Straits Times.

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