Onyx Boox Poke 4 Lite eBook reader - review

 #onyxboox #onyx #boox #poke4lite #eBookreader #shopee #review #iluho

I've not been blogging much lately because I've been busy working, learning Blender and getting back to reading again.  After much deliberation and research, I finally got an eBook reader instead of reading off my trusty 7-inch tablet.  So instead of spending the money I had been saving to get a new tablet to replace my ageing tablet, I decided to get a device from Onyx Boox. Since I have never owned an eBook reader before this I decided to get one of the more budget models to try out first and the model I decided on was the Poke 4 Lite.

Busy with learning Blender3D

I'm a huge believer in 活到老学到老 and I often spend a substantial portion of my time trying to learn something.  Ages ago, as part of an Advance Diploma Course, I learnt basic 3D modelling in Maya in one of the modules.  I ended up picking a different career path that didn't require me to model anything but I have always retained an interest in 3D Modelling.

The Night Belongs to Us 属于我们的黑夜 - 对立面 Face's a Verb short film anthology - update

#TongYao #童瑶 #SongYang #宋洋 #ZhouYiwei #周一围 #MarkChao #趙又廷 #TheNightBelongsToUs #属于我们的黑夜 #FIRST训练营影片 

I was wrong, #对立面 (Face's a Verb - click me to read why I have decided to go with this English title for now) is not region locked, at least Singapore isn't locked out.  This makes things easier because it means that you don't need a VPN to watch this short film anthology.  I took some time out two nights ago to figure out if I can buy a ticket to watch this anthology and I managed to do it.  It did take me some time to figure it out but it also means that it's not impossible.  I encourage those of us who are interested in Tong Yao, Song Yang and short films to buy this ticket if this is within your means and if you can figure it out.  It's just 12 RMB unless you have a VIP membership for iQiyi's China site which would make this cheaper by 6 RMB. 

The Night Belongs to Us - released as part of 对立面 short film anthology

#FIRSTFilmFestival #FIRST训练营影片 #TongYao #童瑶 #SongYang #宋洋 #ZhouYiwei #周一围 #对立面 #ShortFilm #TheNightBelongsToUs #属于我们的黑夜

(amend: I was unwilling to call this anthology by the English title "Face's a Verb" since I wasn't sure if I was reading it properly but it seems like some websites are calling it that so I will too for now.  I might change this in the future if this turns out to be the wrong title.)

  

The FIRST International Film Festival released a trailer promoting the debut screening of an anthology of short films a few days ago (21st June). This anthology of short films, titled 对立面 (literal translation: Opposites), consist of a collection of films from the 15th FIRST Training Camp. The films were first screened at the festival last year but will not be released for public screening till 29th June this month.

Madame Figaro April 2022 - #TongYao #童瑶 - Interview Translation

 #心居 #LifeIsALongQuietRiver #微暗之火 #PaleFire

I still don't intend to prioritise interview translations over reviews but this article contains some interesting information on two drama series, with information on 微暗之火 (Pale Fire) being particularly interesting. The production of this drama has been shrouded in mystery and, to my knowledge, up till this point, Tong Yao had not yet officially talked about it except for a few cryptic references on Weibo. This is the main reason why I decided to translate this interview. There is at least one more interview of interest with regards to Pale Fire. I may translate that in the future, if I do, I'll link it on the Page (Click Me).

First, some disclaimers, my Chinese isn't the best and some of what was written in this article have no direct equivalent in English or have nuances that were hard to translate easily so I just did the best I could. I will place a link to a copy of the article in Chinese on this page so that those who can read Chinese can also read the article in the language it was originally written in. (CLICK ME) 

Also, please note that for ease of reference, I will refer to 微暗之火 as Pale Fire in the article even though I don't think it's the official English title.

封面时装A 

经典款连衣裙 132 5. ISSEY MIYAKE

Stepmother Xu Duoduo - Short Review

#StepmotherXuDuoduo #后妈许多多 #TheBlendedFamily #重组家庭 #TongYao #童瑶 #WangZhifei #王志飞

Stepmother Xu Duoduo aka The Blended Family is a contemporary series that was shot and set in Xiamen, China. The story centres around Xu Duoduo (Tong Yao), a young television drama screenplay writer who meets plastic surgeon Wen Shuping (Wang Zhifei) in a series of amusing encounters before eventually falling in love and marrying the much older man.

Life Is A Long Quiet River #心居 - long commentary

#LifeIsALongQuietRiver #TongYao #童瑶 #HaiQing #海清 #ZhangSongwen #张颂文 #FengShaofeng #冯绍峰 #JieBing #节冰 #SunAnke #孙安可 #DongQing #董晴 #LuSiyu #陆思宇 #TengHuatao #滕华涛

A COMMENTARY WITH MAJOR SPOILERS (read at your own risk)

(Note: Some of the paragraphs in the first section have portions that are similar to the Spoiler-Free Short Review of the series because they both serve as a synopsis for the series.)

Life is a Long Quiet River (henceforth abbrev as LLQR) is a contemporary series set in Shanghai in the Autumn of 2017. The series is centred around two protagonists played superbly by Tong Yao and Hai Qing, They play a pair of sisters-in-law who are superficially cordial but who actually dislike and mistrust each other privately. At the beginning of the series, the pair will clash over money and the buying of property. This will result in a tragic event which will drive the two of them further apart.

Life Is A Long Quiet River #心居 - short review

#TongYao #童瑶 #HaiQing #海清 #ZhangSongwen #张颂文 #FengShaofeng #冯绍峰 #JieBing #节冰 #SunAnke #孙安可 #DongQing #董晴 #LuSiyu #陆思宇 #TengHuatao #滕华涛

A SHORT SPOILER FREE REVIEW

Life is a Long Quiet River is a contemporary series set in Shanghai in the Autumn of 2017. The series is centred around two protagonists played superbly by Tong Yao and Hai Qing, They play a pair of sisters-in-law who are superficially cordial but who actually dislike and mistrust each other privately.

Tong Yao plays Gu Qingyu, a very successful executive in a multinational investment bank. She owns her own apartment and pretty much everything she wears is from luxury brands like Giorgio Armani, Dior, Chanel etc just to name a few and she looks effortlessly elegant in them. (Aside: Tong Yao looks stunning in this series.) She's independent, forthright, practical and rational but can also be dispassionate, acerbic and sarcastic.

#TongYao #童瑶 #ZhangXincheng #张新成 #WeWillGrowOldTogether #爱情回想 - review

I finally got around to doing this one too.  This approximately 10 minute short film was released as part of a series of short films by #VogueFilm China near the end of 2021.  Titled We Will Grow Old Together, it's scripted and directed by Wen Ye. 

It's a nice short film.  It won't be winning any awards but then it wasn't made for that.  If you're a fan of either star or if you like films and/or short films, you won't be wasting ten minutes of your time to watch this.  Happily Vogue China has made this available on their YouTube channel and they have provided English subtitles too.  So now you have no excuse not to watch it. :)

#TongYao #童瑶 #TheNewYearEveofOldLee #过年好 - Film - short review

The New Year's Eve of Old Lee - 过年好

I finally got around to watching this in part to see if it's any good and in part to check out Tong Yao's cameo in this film.  It's not bad but it's also not great.  It's merely a relatively generic story about an elderly man, Mr. Lee, who's suffering from Alzheimer's disease.  His daughter Yang Duo just found out about it and returns immediately with her daughter Julie in tow to celebrate the Spring Festival.  Several simmering grievances surface during this short visit leading to several tense moment but given that this is a Lunar New Year film, you can expect a happy ending.  Which means, in a film like this, the journey is more important than the conclusion.

#GiorgioArmani #Crossroads Podcast - #TongYao #童瑶 - translation

source

I started work on this translation last year but didn't have time to finish it.  I think this would be a good time to finish this since #心居 #LifeIsALongQuietRiver has just started release. 🙂

In April of 2021, Giorgio Armani announced that Tong Yao would be one of the ambassadors for the Giorgio Armani campaign called Crossroads.  They had interviewed 14 "amazing women" and asked them to "reflect on the journey that led them to where they are today." (quoted from the Giorgio Amani FB post). 

(For capsule reviews and links to interviews & other reviews of Tong Yao's work, please CLICK ME)

Confirmed #微暗之火 #TongYao #童瑶 #StevenZhang #张新成

We can pretty much confirm that both Tong Yao and Steven Zhang did indeed work on 微暗之火 (weianzhihuo).  Some websites translate the title as #PaleFire but I'm not sure if that's official yet.

Until today, I wasn't certain that I could confirm this even though I did see flowers and a poster congratulating Steven Zhang on wrapping work on the series several days ago.  I was inclined to believe that it was confirmed.  However, because it was an illustration and I didn't know if I could trust the source 100% and because Steven Zhang himself didn't clearly indicate what series he wrapped work on on his Weibo, I didn't want to jump the gun.

source

The only thing I knew for sure was that he definitely worked with Tong Yao on something and that he acknowledged on his Weibo that he had wrapped work on it.

Life Is A Long Quiet River #心居 - trailer, synopsis, preview

#LifeIsALongQuietRiver #心居 #TongYao #童瑶 #HaiQing #海清 #ZhangSongwen #张颂文 #FengShaofeng #冯绍峰 

(For capsule reviews and links to other reviews of Tong Yao's work, please CLICK ME)

I thought that I would write up a little something on this series since it's going to be released very soon.  Most international audiences should be able to view this on iQiyi.

This series boasts a strong cast with award winning and/or well regarded actors like Tong Yao, Hai Qing, Zhang Songwen and Feng Shaofeng.  The director Teng Huatao is also an experienced award winning director who also helmed two older series that I found quite interesting.  I'm hopeful that this will be a quality series about women, life and family in our current world.