[Article] TVB Awards Nomination List 2011 (& my comments)

Do take note, I'm only commenting based on series I have watched: Twilight Investigation, Links to Temptation (Partial), A Great Way to Care (Minimal), 7 Days in Life, The Rippling Blossom, Yes Sir Sorry Sir, My Sister of Eternal Flower, Ghetto Justice, The Other Truth, Lives of Omission, River of Wine.


Should Win
Bias (Like actor/performance but may not be good enough to win)
Will Win


Best Actor:
Julian Cheung Chilam (The Rippling Blosssom)
Stephen Au (Be Home for Dinner)
Moses Chan (Yes Sir Sorry Sir) - Dramatic style of acting's not my cup of tea. :(
Kevin Cheng (Ghetto Justice) - Rather different from his usual laang zai (spelling?) roles. Not bad!
Roger Kwok (Wax and Wane)
Ron Ng (Wax and Wane)
Ruco Chan (The Other Truth) - Ruco was again outstanding (I'm referring to his previous role in Every Move You Make). But I dun really think it's time for him to get an award yet. (Unless TVB is pushing for him to be heavily promoted.)
Steven Ma (The Life and Times of a Sentinel)
Kenneth Ma (The Life and Times of a Sentinel)
Michael Tse (Lives of Omission) - Simple reason: Laughing Gor's popularity shoots thru the roof!
Bosco Wong (Lives of Omission)
Bobby Au Yeung (Men With No Shadows)
Raymond Lam (Men With No Shadows)
Wayne Lai (Forensic Heroes 3)
Sunny Chan (Curse of the Royal Harem)

Glaring omission of Bowie & Joe here. TVB politics are at play! :(
Actually Law Ba is also really popular but it probably hasn't had enough time to gain as much support as Laughing Gor simply because Laughing is an "older" character. (I mean, Laughing first surfaced in E.U. so Laughing/Michael would have had more time build his fan base.)


Best Actress:
Liza Wang (Home Troopers)
Tavia Yeung (The Rippling Blossom)
Louise Lee (Only You)
Yoyo Mung (Only You)
Crystal Tin (Be Home for Dinner)
Linda Chung (Yes Sir Sorry Sir) - She was really great as Miss Koo!
Charmaine Sheh (My Sister of Eternal Flower) - That's if  TVB wants to tempt her back with an award. Unlikely though.
Selena Li (The Life and Times of a Sentinel)
Fala Chen (Lives of Omission)
Kate Tsui (Lives of Omission)
Nancy Sit (River of Wine) - She better not get it! Totally over-the-top acting.
Elena Kong (River of Wine) - She was simply exceptional. Loved her crying scenes & her dialogues with Bowie. But I dun think she has the status to win. Her role is also more of "Supporting rather than "Lead". :(
Maggie Cheung (Forensic Heroes 3)
Jessica Hsuan (Curse of the Royal Harem)
Myolie Wu (Curse of the Royal Harem)

Actually I'm thinking if Kate or Tavia will win too. To me, this race isn't so clear-cut. But the one TVB chooses will probably indicate who it is supporting as top Fadan to "replace" Charmaine. Or perhaps they'll choose Maggie. I have no idea since I haven't watched FH3. *Blames exams*


Favorite Male Character:
Julian Cheung Chilam (The Rippling Blosssom) - I've always liked Chilam's characters. Funny yet serious. Chi Ying's no different! :P
Stephen Au (Be Home for Dinner)
Jason Chan (Be Home for Dinner)
Moses Chan (Yes Sir Sorry Sir)
Kevin Cheng (Ghetto Justice) - Law Ba was really well-received. Though there should be a tough fight with the ever-popular Laughing Gor in the run.
Ruco Chan (The Other Truth)
Raymond Wong (The Other Truth)
Steven Ma (The Life and Times of a Sentinel)
Michael Tse (Lives of Omission) - Laughing Gor is such a perennial favourite!
Bosco Wong (Lives of Omission)
MC Jin (Super Snoops)
Wong Cho Lam (Super Snoops)
Louis Yuen (Super Snoops)
Johnson Li (Super Snoops)
Wayne Lai (Forensic Heroes 3)

No male character was really as well-crafted as classic characters like Lau Sing & Chai Gau. They din really have enough personality. Hmm...perhaps only Law Ba comes close.


Favorite Female Character:
Sonija Kwok (7 Days in Life)
Yoyo Mung (Only You)
Louise Lee (Only You)
Liu Xuan (Grace Under Fire)
Crystal Tin (Be Home for Dinner)
Linda Chung (Yes Sir Sorry Sir) - COOL Miss Koo!
Myolie Wu (Ghetto Justice) - It was notable but *no offense* I'm a little biased against Myolie so yeah...
Sharon Chan (Ghetto Justice) - Loved how her character had so much 骨气!
Toby Leung (Wax and Wane)
Tavia Yeung (The Other Truth)
Fala Chen (Lives of Omission)
Kate Tsui (Lives of Omission)
Liza Wang (Super Snoops)
Maggie Cheung (Forensic Heroes 3)
Aimee Chan (Forensic Heroes 3)

No idea who will win. Maybe FH3 characters? I haven't watched so I've got no idea at all.


Best Supporting Actor:
Kenny Wong (Links to Temptation)
Cheung Chi Kong (A Great Way to Care)
Patrick Tang (7 Days in Life)
Elliot Ngoc (Grace Under Fire)
Matt Yeung (Be Home for Dinner)
Law Lok Lam (Yes Sir Sorry Sir)
Sam Lee (Ghetto Justice)
Jazz Lam (Ghetto Justice) - Great performance. He was really cute & hilarious. :) But he still can't beat Ben's awesome performance!
Lee Sing Cheung (The Other Truth)
Cheung Kwok Keung (The Life and Times of a Sentinel)
Derek Kwok (The Life and Times of a Sentinel)
Ben Wong (Lives of Omission) - I believe TVB will follow audiences' wishes here. He was exceptional as 辣酱!
Ngo Kanin (River of Wine) - Being my favourite actor, of course he will appear on my list. But I felt that his performance was missing that spark that I saw in his other roles. Actually I preferred his role in My Sisters of Eternal Flower (His chemistry with Toby was better than with Sire) or The Rippling Blossom (His intellectually-disabled character was refreshing) over this.
Power Chan (An Uninvited Date)
Lee Kwok Lun (Forensic Heroes 3)

If Ben isn't gonna win, I really have no idea who will.
Personal note: Even though I'm Kanin's fan, I dun really hope that he wins (Sorry Kanin!) though I still fully support him. Cuz it would not be an "Accepted" win. I dun think it would be good if he has to deal with the kind of backlash that hit Kevin when he got his 2006 Best Actor Award.


Best Supporting Actress:
Vivien Yeo (A Great Way to Care)
Lam Yi Kei (Be Home for Dinner)
Queenie Chu (Yes Sir Sorry Sir)
Sharon Chan (Ghetto Justice) - She was really not bad. Just not exceptional.
Joyce Tang (Ghetto Justice)
Mannor Chan (Wax and Wane)
Florence Kwok (Wax and Wane)
Aimee Chan (The Other Truth)
Natalie Tong (The Other Truth)
Helen Ma (The Other Truth)
Ching Hor Wai (The Life and Times of a Sentinel)
Elena Kong (Lives of Omission) - Not a bad performance either. She might get this, though it's also really a slim chance. :(
Sire Ma (River of Wine)
Nancy Wu (Forensic Heroes 3)
Gigi Wong (Curse of the Royal Harem)

Totally no idea who will get this cuz I usually pay more attention to actors than actresses. HAHA. Maybe Nancy. As I said, I haven't watched FH3 so I can't comment.


Most Improved Actor:
Jazz Lam (My Sister of Eternal Flower, Ghetto Justice, River of Wine, Ghetto a la Spice, Neighborhood Gourmet) - He's really stood out in many of his roles this year. This award should be his if TVB doesn't do funny things again.
King Kong (Gourmet Neighborhood, Super Snoops)
Jason Chan (Only You, Home, Home for Dinner, Dropping by Cloud Nine )
Matt Yeung (Only You, My Sister of Eternal Flower, The Other Truth, Home for Dinner)
MC Jin (Big Boys Club, Show Me the Happy, Stairway to Dragon, Yes Sir Sorry Sir, Lives of Omission, Top Eats) - He put in good performances in Yes Sir No Sir and Lives of Omission. But he seems too new to get this award. Plus, isn't he a singer?

Jazz's Lam year, definitely.


Most Improved Actress:
Samantha Ko (Eat This Way, After Hours, Admirals Feast, Forensic Heroes 3)
Sire Ma (Eat This Way, Relic of an Emissary, River of Wine, An Uninvited Date, Curse of the Royal Harem)
Mandy Wong (The Scoop, Home Troopers, Ghetto Justice, Lives of Omission, An Uninvited Date)
Cilla Lok (Yes Sir Sorry Sir, River of Wine, Forensic Heroes 3)
Katy Kung (7 Days in Life, Ghetto Justice, Home for Dinner, The Life and Times of a Sentinel)

Perhaps Mandy? Her performance in Lives of Omission was commendable. :) But I dun really think I should comment on actresses for the reason I stated above. HAHA


Best Series:
Show Me the Happy
Twilight Investigation
Links to Temptation
Home Troopers
A Great Way to Care
7 Days in Life - It was ok until the end. Disappointed with how it all wrapped up.
The Rippling Blossom - Nice scenery & theme (SUSHI!). Ok (recycled) storyline. Ok overall acting (Kanin, Julian & Myolie were not bad. *No offense* Tavia wasn't up to par though & Michael's expression reminded me too much of Laughing.) Nothing really exceptional though it wasn't that bad.
Only You
Grace Under Fire
Relic of an Emissary
Home for Dinner
Yes Sir Sorry Sir - Interesting theme but the dramatic storytelling tactic is not my cup of tea.
My Sister of Eternal Flower - Love Kanin & Toby in here! But *no offence* Charmaine & Raymond didn't really go down well with me. Jazz added a welcome comic dimension though. :)
Ghetto Justice - Refreshing take on the lawyer genre with Law Ba. But I dunno if it's *no offense* Myolie or what, I just dun really like it. Immensely popular, so much so that there's Ghetto Justice 2 so I think it stands a good chance.
Wax and Wane
The Other Truth - The telling of one of the sub-plots from the jury's perspective was really fresh. But apart from that? It was quite a typical series IMO.
The Life and Times of a Sentinel
Lives of Omission - Sorry to fans of LoO but if it's meant to be a sequel to The Academy, it's the worst. On it's own, it's just average. Cinematic feel due to the blue lighting but that's about it. The acting was just so-so & the main story line was poor compared to the other The Academy shows though the romantic story lines of Laughing & Jodie, Cripple Co & Paris and even Dog Head and Lemon were not bad.
River of Wine - How can I not be biased when there's both Bowie & Kanin? But I admit, this series was veering very close to boring.
An Uninvited Date
Super Snoops
Admirals Feast
Till Love Do Us Lie
Forensic Heroes 3

Nothing I watched this year fully lived up to expectations. (Pinning my hopes on FH3!)
The standards of this year's TVB series have dropped (To be fair, Ghetto Justice was a good effort.) Characters aren't as well thought out. Story lines may have certain fresh aspects but they're essentially the same in the end. Supporting actors are doing quite a good job though. But it will be some time before they can fill the shoes left behind by the likes of Bowie, Charmaine, Steven and Wong He.


This my first time writing an article on TVB. Hope it's alright & do comment! :)

[Note: I will not tag this post with artiste/series names cuz there's simply too many.]

[Banner+Chat] Made with PowerPoint

Wong He [王喜]


Wonder why the dimensions are rather weird? & why it's so simple? It was a challenge I posed to myself - to use only Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 to create this graphic! Do check out the tools in the Format ribbon! They are quite useful! :) Anw, how's it compared to the rest of my graphics? :P

PS: Do you want me make more graphics using other programs besides PS & perhaps share some tips with you all? (this includes GIMP!) Or shld focus on PS?

[Banner+Poster] Lines

Wong Cho Lam [王祖蓝]


Maggie Cheung [张可颐]


Eddie Kwan [关礼杰]

[Banner+Poster] HAPPY!

Steven Ma [马浚伟] - It's gonna be his birthday (& mine too^^) in an hour! Happy birthday!


Bowie Lam [林保怡] - My favourite first-line actor! :P




[Pierre] Ngo Kanin - My other favourite actor! I really hope he can become a first-line actor soon! ^^



BH (Be Happy) :D

& Happy Deepavali (Diwali) to all Hindus! :)

[Banner+Poster] River of Wine [九江十二坊]

*Alert! Newer version of the first banner (Ching Yiu's) added on 11 Oct 2011*

Leung/Sung Ching Yiu [梁/宋正尧]
Older version:

Newer version:

PS: Actually the "newer version" was edited long ago but I uploaded the wrong version when posting.
If you observe carefully, the styling of “苦衷” has been changed. Do tell me which is better! (Personally I prefer the newer one.)






Leung/Sung Ching Yiu [梁/宋正尧] + Leung Dai Ma/Kwan Wai Lan [梁大妈/关蕙兰]



Sung Chi Tsun [宋子骏]

(Note: This was originally a birthday banner for Kanin. I removed my birthday message for him before releasing the banner on my blog.)




Sung Chi Ching [宋子澄]

[Banner+Poster] Smooth & Rough

I actually completed 7/8 of them before that hiatus post. But I decided to keep them till now cuz I knew I wun have much time/energy/creative juices to make graphics once uni starts. Btw I completed Michael Miu's one just ytd. Hope u like all 8!

Selena Li [李诗韵]


Him Law [罗仲谦]


Michael Tse [谢天华]


Aimee Chan [陈茵媺]


Lai Lok Yi [黎诺懿]


Astrid Chan [陈芷菁]


Nancy Wu [胡定欣]


Michael Miu [苗侨伟]

[Announcement] Partial-hiatus

Hi all! Thanks for ur support over the past few months. Uni's starting really soon for me so I might not have as much time to make & post graphics until end-Nov, depending on how things turn out. So just in case you dun see any more updates for quite a while, this is the reason!
I'm not sure how it'll be but here's just a rough guideline:

• Postings of around 4 graphics (not posts) per month, 1 for each wk
• The format of my posts might change to per-graphic release rather than batch release
• Requests will still be open but I might take a longer time to fulfil the request.
• I might not check my cbox/comments much so if there's anything impt/urgent, please email me (tantsy@hotmail.com)

Once again, thanks for ur support! My blog will still be open, just that the frequency of my updates may be reduced.

[Chat] Shout-out to all TVB graphics designers!

Hey hey!
Besides Molly (MDG Creations) & tvbobsessions (TVB Graphics), who are both not really active now, do you all know of other TVB fan sites which focus solely on graphics (like mine)? Heheh I'm just curious! :)
& do u all make TVB graphics? Do leave ur name & link! I would like to know u! :D

Edit (related to Tumblr stuff): I follow Jia at both lyricalstars and her personal blog. I really admire her fantastic works! Quoting from her About page on lyricalstars, "This is a combination of Lyrics and Images site, in short Lyrical Images. Lyrics are added on to Images and presented in this tumblr site. They are mainly C-pop lyrics.", you can see that she does mostly song-related stuff. But she also has some TVB-related graphics (under the tag "TVB") at both lyricalstars and her personal blog. Do check them out! :D

[Chat] Fun fact on Kanin

Some time back, Kanin (or as some people call him, "Pierre") & his friend actually set up a company, Freebase Media, an advertising and film company which is separate from Kanin's TVB work. Visit http://www.freebasemedia.com/about_us.php for more information. :)

But that’s the old site. The new “About Us” page only shows his friend's name. I believe that Kanin is not really involved in this any more due to his far busier TVB schedule now.

Note:
As a long-time Kanin fan, I would like to take this chance to clarify that he has said before that he would prefer that people refer to him as "Kanin" instead of "Pierre" as "Pierre" is not is real name. It was given to him by his teacher.

Sidenote:

I feel that my previous post was not really well-structured & rather poorly written. Sorry! Will do a better job in the future, when I'm not rushing for time.

In any case, THANK YOU for all your support! :D

[Article+PSD] Curves & Layer Styles

Each & every time I make a graphic, the effects I add are unique. You will not find exactly the same ones between any two of them.

For CURVES, high-contrast & high-saturation ones usually have Curves that are S-shaped (The left side of the histogram, which controls the shadows, are pulled low while the right side of the histogram, which controls highlights, are pushed up.) "Ligher" ones have usually have points above the original line. There are many other combinations. Experiment!

As for LAYER STYLES, I usually use them for vignetting (the dark rim you see around Linda in the first "After" graphic below). However you can also use them to add noise/gradient/textures/glow to the whole layer. What I've done (for both graphics) is to add a subtle inner glow (radiating from the centre) so that Linda's face is brightened up & thus contrasts better against the (dark) background.

There are endless things you can do with Curves, Layer Styles (& many other tools in various image editing software). Take these 2 graphics & their PSD files only as a reference. The most important part is to "get your hands dirty" & try them all out!

Tip for Photoshop users: If you do not have a layer mask, change the layer to a SMART OBJECT before applying filters. This will allow you to make non-destructive changes to the layer, adjust your filter settings endlessly, mask parts of your filter(s) & much more!


PSD file 1: http://www.mediafire.com/?4m3vas8vjb5w646


PSD file 2: http://www.mediafire.com/?8mv0muwkahjl9k9


Sidenote: Hey do tell me which "Before & After" you like more! :)