Wong Cho Lam "La Comedie Humaine" promotional tour and gala premiere (王祖藍 - "人間喜劇" 大馬宣傳造勢 & 首映) - 12 July 2010 (GSC Pavillion)

At the time of writing, the box office numbers for "La Comedie Humaine" (人間喜劇) has been steadily rising in Hong Kong. The movie has apparently opened to rave reviews there and to ensure the movie enjoyed the same success rate in Malaysia, Wong Cho Lam was in town for the gala premiere and promo blitz. Public showing is set for July 22.

Cho Lam has got to be the hottest rising king of comedy of this era. His meteoric ascendence to fame is further propelled by his convincing, impressive and funny impersonations in "Fun With Liza And Gods." The thunderous applause he received for his quirky answers during the short appearance prior to the gala premiere speak for itself. At one point, he was speaking in "Handela Baby" tone of voice - churning out familiar one liner like - "Are you serious ?" and ""我接受唔到囉".”

I didn't know that Cho Lam has a penchant for Penang hawker food like prawn mee and asam laksa, too. He lamented that he wished the trip was longer so that he could head to Penang to satisfy his taste bud.
He urged attendees to spread the words to friends and relatives - "watch the movie."
After a short game session with two fans, Cho Lam bade us farewell. I thought he was going to watch the movie with us, just like what the artistes normally do in Hong Kong but too bad, that wasn't to be.

I shall not go into details on the movie synopsis. It's a humourous and touching brotherhood tale about a cold-blooded hired assasin from Mainland (Chapman Toh) and geeky screen-writer (Wong Cho Lam). Fiona Sit plays Cho Lam's love interest. To my pleasant suprise, one-half of FAMA,C-Kwan is casted as one of Cho Lam's screen-writer pals. Gambate C-Kwan !

I had expected more hillarious moments but these were far and few between. Infact,
"72 Tenants Of Prosperity" seems to be way funnier. Chotto matte ! Before you strike off this film from your to-watch list, let me tell ya that this movie is still worth forking out RM9-11 from your pocket. The cast showcased great performance from all the leading stars. Fiona is slowly shedding her teeny- bopper image and she didn't disappoint with her psychotic and abusive lover role. The pairing (Fiona and Cho Lam) is refreshing. Infact, they make a better on-screen couple than Jaycee-Fiona, which is so jaded. Also, when Chapman teams up with Cho Lam, the chemistry is superb ! They can do no wrong - be it funny or moving scenes. One scene worth mentioning - Mr. Wong has a lips-locking scene with Fiona in the tram ! Nah, it ain't steamy but it's certainly sweeet - sweeet ! The only aspect that lacks ooomph in this movie is probably the script. Somehow, it lacks the punch to make the movie standout and not turned into a mediocre fare.

Soler - Neway New Outlet Offical Opening - Penang (3 July 2010).

Neway Karaoke finally made its mark in Penang by opening their very first outlet at Queensbay Mall (auspiciously, the 8th in Malaysia). The Acconci bros (Julio and Dino), popularly known as SOLER, were the special guests for the official opening. Before the hunky duo took to the stage, I was subjected to a long and boring wait coz Neway took the chance to introduce their own new local talents. The final act (a band called "K & K", short for Kent and Kenny) really tested my patience. No complaints about their vocals but the dude with the Rainie Yang-mushroom-inspired hairdo really made me wanna drag his ass down the stage. He thought his answers were witty and tried to act cute but gave me the impression that he is too "syok sendiri" (a famous Malay phrase to describe people who are full of themselves). The emcees were too engrossed interviewing these two clowns that they didn't notice that Soler had arrived and waiting for their turn to shine.

Like a bunch of PTU (Police Tactical Unit), Soler's 3 band mates (btw, the drummer is cute !)stormed the stage and had all the musical instruments set-up in a jiffy. Royce and Wai Fan didn't even have time to formally welcome Dino and Julio and the boyz already made their grand entrance. The twins were all set to rock Queensbay Mall but...Neway failed to understand that Penangites are not into HK acts (TVB stars would be a different scenario though), especially when it comes to Canto rock although Beyond may have universal appeal.

However, those who deliberately attended the function to support Soler didn't let the boys down. Everyone sang along to the "woo" portion of Soler's song. I'm so glad they sang Paula Tsui's evergreen classic - "風的季節". The rock version is simply smashing ! Dino mentioned that one song which he lurved to croon during K session is homebred singer, Michael Guang Liang's played-to-death "童話". Still proves to be a crowd favourite, judging from the response. I guess Malaysians (except for moi) never gets tired of listening to this song. Anyway, Dino did a good job with the edgier version of "童話." Next up, Julio had to cajoled the audience non-stop for a duet. Finally, a gutsy, sporting lady volunteered ! As the saying goes, "Don't judge a cover by its book" coz this demure-looking woman showed off her mettle on stage when they performed Beyond's rock ballad -"喜歡妳"! LOL ! I noticed the guest-of- honour(one of Penang's municipal councilor) snapping away with his cell phone. Soler then headed to Neway Karaoke for the hands imprint ceremony.