With
the downward spiral of record sales over the years, most HK singers have shied
away from doing album promotion in Malaysia….unless you are GEM where album
sales are almost guaranteed. I was
surprised that Joyce Cheng held a series
of roadshows in KL and Penang recently to promote her latest
album-“Joyce”. This latest effort is
apparently about Joyce re-discovering her self-esteem and being comfortable of
plus size figure. The album cover is unconventional, too. It shows Joyce with
one finger up in her nostril, which reminds me of Sanrio’s “Gudetama” cartoon
character. Both Joyce and the emcee took turns to emulate the album cover. Quite honestly, Joyce is one of the few left
in HK who could actually carry a tune. The first single, “Goddess” (女神)is
already a hit and the song really grows on you after a few listen. Infact, the
cd supply brought over from HK to Malaysia were all sold out! Joyce revealed that she is more involved in
the album production this time. She also shared that she is overjoyed by the
overwhelming support from her buddies ( I believe she is referring to Alfred
Hui and Mag Lam). This happens to be Joyce’s third visit to the Penang island.
She hopes to try out local delicacies like rojak, char koay teow and king of
fruit, durian. Joyce absolutely adores
durian and is the spokesperson for frozen musang king durian in HK. Joyce
performed two songs at the showcase and followed by an autograph session.
I
knew Eddie has a growing fan base but didn’t anticipate such a large following
in Malaysia. Avid supporters occupied the stage six hours prior to the “Call of
Heroes” meet and greet session ! The stars were quite punctual as they had to
leave for Mid Valley mall for the movie premiere. This is Eddie’s first movie promotion in
Malaysia. Eddie’s last official appearance was in 2014, when he graced the
official opening of "Longines" outlet at Pavilion. More recently (last 2015),
Eddie was on location shooting in Penang for Dante Lam’s soon to-be-released
new movie, “Operation Mekong”.
This
happens to be my first time seeing Eddie in person. I haven’t watched any of
his Mainland nor Taiwanese dramas. I only noticed Eddie after he started to
actively participate in HK productions lately.
“Call of Heroes” is an action packed period drama which also stars Louis
Koo and Sean Lau Ching Wan. Obviously, Louis had to bail on this since he was
in KL just a week earlier to promote “Line Walkers”. For this round of promo tour, only Eddie,
Sean and Benny Chan were in attendance.
Eddie displayed a playful antic on stage and were extremely nice to the
fans. Those star struck fans who had the chance to go up the stage literally
hit the jackpot, so to speak. Eddie even gave them all a tight hug ! The female emcee made some unwarranted comments, repeatedly stressing that day happens to be the 14th day of the seventh month in the Chinese Calendar and assuring the
artistes that the fans surrounding the stage are actually humans, not spirits ! Please ! It ain't funny and judging from the celebrities’ expression, they
find it lame, too.
I
expected the event to conclude within 15-20 minutes (just like the “Line
Walker” event) but I was lucky. The session lasted more than half an hour.
Louis plays the baddie in this movie. I dislike the fact that Eddie’s voice
has been dubbed. Eddie is still communicating in Mandarin during interviews,
unlike fellow Taiwanese, Annie Lau Sum Yau, who now converses in Mandarin
during Q&A and public appearances in HK/Msia. Annie’s Cantonese has improved
tremendously. Frankly, I keep seeing the
same ol’ faces (leading actors) in HK movies – Nick, Sean and Louis.
Most often than not, I get confused about which movies they appeared in. It’s
either a combo of Nick and Louis, or Louis and Sean, or all three…thankfully,
they are all very capable artiste, especially Nick and Sean. However, this also shows a dearth of good young actor from Hong Kong. “Call of Heroes” hits the local cinema
circuit on 18th August (818 – auspicious).
SYNOPSIS
(credit to GSC cinemas)
In the early Republic of China, the whole
country was trodden by incessant civil wars. The new ruling warlord Cao Ying
sent his son Cao Shaolun (by Louis Koo) to take over the remote village
Puchong. Cold-blooded and temperamental, Shaolun killed the innocent and
orphans relentlessly. The guardians of Pucheng arrested him and the guardian
commander Yang Kenan (by Sean Lau) planned to execute him after the trial.
Zhang Yi (by Wu Jing), a colonel under the warlord Cao Ying, learnt what
happened and came to Pucheng demanding the release of Shaolun. Zhang came
across Ma Feng (by Eddie Peng) who learnt martial arts under the same mentor as
Zhang. Ma witnessed the outrageous behaviour of Shaolun and refused to take
Zhang’s side. He was determined to assist Yang to keep Shaolun behind bars.
Zhang failed to rescue Shaolun. Cao’s army invaded Pucheng and caused numerous
causalities and deaths. The brave feroes swore to fight the battle to protect
their homeland…
