tidus

Wow DVD rental thru mail is finally here in singapore! www.hollywoodclicks.com Its 35 bucks per month (same as Netflix) and they will mail u 3 dvds of your choice. Once you finish the show and mail it back with the prepaid envelopes, they will mail you the next order on your queue. Not too ex, esp if u share with your neighbours haha. I was hunting around for the pleasantville dvd and they have it... but they dont have Punch Drunk Love (prob becoz its a bit RA). They have the Friends TV series too. I just wrote in to ask them to stock other tv series like Family Guy, Simpsons, Buffy, Smallville... hope they respond... can u guys write in to ask for more tv series too hehe. Another thing i hate is that the pages load too slowly (like dialup) and they only show like 20 plus dvds per page.. makes surfing very very very frustrating. They have to work on that. Like I said, I m impressed by the titles they carry... just to give u guys a clue on how good it is... I put in Tom Cruise and I got Color of Money Top Gun Days of Thunder Few Good Men Far and Away Interview with the Vampires Mission Impossible MI2 Hmm actually not that great... where's Jerry Maguire? Haha but not bad... certainly better than the collection of my neighbourhood dvd shop haha

And that doesnt make sense too! What's the analogy? Your analogy should have been "I dont need to take a module on real estate to tell you that you shouldnt be selling a villa by insulting another villa". Can you pls try to think before you just refute?

No no no.. . you don't even rem what you wrote. I can count on you to make your point when I say Brain tumours are more lethal than lipomas, or when i say lipomas are stupid compared to brain tumours.

Are you in medicine? I hope you are not my junior. Anyway I really don't think you know enough specifics to comment. You used a lot of your impressions to refute my points, and they are not even factually correct. BTW my comments are not original. They are things I read from magazines etc. I m not a professional critic. And maybe you should open your mind a little... everyone here compares. They always say compared to this pair of headphone, that pair sounds.... Why why WHY do you have a problem with comparison? Everyone prefers something, and inevitably, if something s better, everything else will pale. If you don't agree, ok. If you don't like my style, guess wat, I don't really care. That's how I review. I compare. You can tell me why you like David, or his strengths, but guess wat, you never do, despite my numerous urges for you to list his strengths or review his albums. Why? Because you don't even listen to his songs. I have everyone of David's albums and everyone of Jay's. Does that help me in judging? I would think so. If you are not a fan, and don't really listen to them, on what basis are your arguments based on? You just keep picking and picking and picking on my points and the way i review... very objective i must add. I give David a lot of credit in my previous statements, I say his music was "ahead of his time", "did not get the recognition it deserved". You just say that your friends like him? Like wat? Then you say you can't speak for them. Doh!!! My whole review was on how Jay's second album evolved MandoPop and let's face it, David's album never did establish any impact. You keep picking on my stuffs with your "general impressions". I m getting a bit sick with debating with you. You want me to list your factual errors? You said he was NEVER called the King of R&B by the media? Are you sure? Do you even read? Even in Today article i posted, they call him the King of R&B. Friend, you don't refute based on general impressions. Your groundless counter points makes people like me who reads, and listens then makes substantiated remarks very stupid. Anyway, i'm retiring from this thread. I was hoping some muscled reviews would help carry this thread forward.

Wow. Its like discussing with my lawyer about real estates and suddenly, he apologies and tells me, "I just don't like your approach.... actually i've never taken a module on real estates so pardon my lack of knowledge. But if you ever use this approach again, even if its gonna be about brain tumours, you can count on me to make my point... now if you would excuse me..

Besides, David likes to bash his peers too, seems i not the only one who likes to be opinionated. Taken from the New Paper HERE's David Tao's take on the Chinese music scene: It's going down the toilet. In town for tonight's Singapore Hit Awards where he is up for several awards, the, er, 'king' of Chinese R&B bemoaned the 'still dismal' state of Chinese pop. And he sure spared no-one. 'His music is more idol-based, more catered to his age... and fans who are into video games,' David, 34, said dismissively. 'I'm 10 years older than him, and honestly I'm way beyond all that now.' Guess who he's talking about? Why, Jay Chou of course. The two Chinese R&B superstars are up against each other in no less than four award categories - Best Album Production, Best Male Vocalist, Best Performing Regional Male Artiste, and Favourite Artiste in Taiwan. 'The differences between us are becoming even more apparent these days... I think in a few years' time, the comparisons will stop,' said David, after an autograph session at Marina Square. The singer would rather focus on acts he thinks needs a serious makeover. On Taiwanese A*Mei (Chang Huei-mei): 'She started out doing stuff no-one else did. Now, it's a ballad here, a fast track there, but it lacks direction and an overall picture.' On Singaporean Stephanie Sun: 'She's got incredible talent, like a bomb waiting to explode! But she needs somebody who can oversee things as a whole... (with) courage to try new things.' But the Hongkong-born, Taipei-bred and Los Angeles-based David saved his harshest words for... Taiwanese Coco Lee: 'Let's face it, she's abandoned her Chinese roots (for the US market)... (and) lost the hearts of many Asian fans.' Knowing his roots is key to David's continued stardom, and that's why you won't hear an all-English album anytime soon. 'If I focus on the US market, I compromise time for the Asian market,' he said. Asked how he rated himself, David took a little while before he answered. 'I give myself 7.5 out of 10,' he said. 'I need to improve my time management and piano skills.'

I like to be opinionated in forums, to make things lively mah. Don't fume man. I feel since there's no face behind a nick, I dont wanna be too tactful and reserved, wats the point then? Is this a carebear forum? I don't think so right? Freedom of speech right? Must be courageous mah, i follow my heart So don't tell me how to review lah coz I don't agree its unnecessary to put anyone down to highlight merits... maybe that's your style, not mine. Comparisons are inevitable, don't you ever say something taste better than another? Clay vs Reuben. Mariah vs Whitney. Acute pancreatitis vs chronic pancreatitis. Gall stones vs urinary stones... Jurong pt vs Eastpoint. Humans make links... easier to understand. ... if I just say Jay Chous is very good, end of story, then? Like I said, Jay vs David is very controversial. Back to the thread, I respect that you disagree but you are a bit shifty about the merits of Tao (btw our local I magazine called him King of R&B last time. Your friends like him means wat? I also like SHE but I like their faces. So you and your friends like which part? Can you bring up some solid points to tell me why David deserves better standing compared to Jay? Once again, let me highlight this is my satellite picture (my conspiracy theory), my knowledge of the sequence of events. A lot of my friends my age (mid-twenties) feels the same about the evolution brough forth by Jay's first two albums. If you feel that David's image makeover was out of the blue, ok loh. I see some similarities btw his new image and Jay's. You know any other singer previously that's packaged like Jay? Sure every singer is heavily packaged to succeed (except David initially ). I never said Jay is the first, but his bosses (Jacky jacky go) came out with the right formula... quite a blast i must add. Well I agree to disagree and I think my point has been made and I dont think I can elaborate further (law of diminishing returns). Maybe we can focus on recommending our top ten albums of Mandopop too.

This is just my opinion but I really don't find JJ and Z chen that drastically different. My point was to recommend Fantasy and how its success set an epoch, moulding the entire mandopop into the current trend.... its the era of the loner and his smooth ballads, throw in a bit of alternative and experimental styles. Esp Zhang Zhi Cheng with his signature ballad May I Love You. I'll lump the rest like JJ and Van together as the lesser gods.... maybe if they form a boy band then they'll leave a mark on chinese pop history hehe. Actually I like them too lah, but their albums cant really make it into my top ten. Jolin is really one of the ultimate copy cats lah, she knew what the winning formula was and she asked Jay to compose for her... effectively that's Jay with a female singing voice. Sames goes to his other friends Wilber, Xiao Zhu and Liu Geng Hong... a mass of clones... Agent Jay must be the brother of Agent Smith. David Tao was touted as the king of R&B (not Asia lah, prob just Taiwan), you can go check it out. His sales record before Black Tangerine was only so-so wat. You can go check this out too. I'll post his album sales when i find it. And which of his songs made it into the top ten list? You can ask any 10 chinese pop listener (not your friends lah, just normal chinese pop listeners) to list some of David Tao's earlier songs, or the title of his album before black tangerine or even sing a line or two. I would bet most would be stumped unless they bought Ultrasound which is really a clever marketing gimmick to bring airplay to his old songs which didnt get their recognition back then. Anyone here already listen to David before Black Tangerine? Discussion of David Tao and Jay is very contentious. I like David too but he never made that great an impact on Mandopop before. Maybe that's because his earlier R&B albums were way too ahead of the times then. Good songs, but just doesn't have mass appeal. Then there was this lack of packaging. Before Black Tangerine, he was like Jeff with his wholesome look plus baby fat. Then Jay came along, heavily packaged with doses of gossip thrown in to make him credible and sensational. Throw in his composer history, the fact that he doesnt wear underwear, plays basketball, doesnt talk much, his relationships with Jolin and that porn actress... you can't get a bigger star.... never seen before one some more, a star with a strong silent front (actually a bit like Faye). And that's besides the fact that his music were great too. 3 of Jay's albums later, David gets resurrected. He becomes tone and muscular, wears much less than before (half naked in black tangerine), less approachable persona, plays guitar and poses like a rock star in his concert, has a breakup with Melody and an affair with Anita, company arouses media's interest in competition between him and Jay. Sounds like someone just realised the secret formula too ... Even if he's really super original, nothing was planned, he came after the ascension of Jay. That's really a few steps too late. Granted he has some great composer skills, i would be hard pressed to name a few super hits, compared to the proliferic Jay who is writing and writing for himself and everyone around him. Is Black Tangerine that great? As good as Fantasy, maybe you can review the album for us

Jacky Cheung is pretty much a passe. He's like Emil... their kind of sappy love songs belt out in their uncle-ly kind of way just don't connect anymore. There's also a serious lack of vibrancy in their songs. I don't understand why the record companies would pay him so much to renew his contract (reportedly 2nd highest ever, after Faye). Faye, hmm, still the (Icy) Queen of Pop after 10 years (I rem I was only in sec sch when she sang Zhi Mi Bu Hui... around that time, Sally Yeh released her Xiao Sha Zhou Yi Hui). She still rules. I don't even think Jay Chou will have her longevity. The papers recently compared her unfavourably to the late Anita Mui. I think they are just mourning. Anita doesn't even have half as many hits on the pedestrals of fame compared to Faye... or maybe its the wrong era thingy for me

Maybe we can recommend the greatest chinese albums to our follow members... I have this inkling the majority here are englishy (at least i know the onboard technician is ) Personally, one of my top ten albums of all time is Jay Chou's sophomore album, Fantasy! His masterpiece which I feel is still unchallenged, even by his latter albums. Mandopop is v rarely experimental and treads carefully along tried and tested formula of accessiple pop ie nice, easy to sing along and about love (unrequited being the most popular... something like Sarah M's, kekeke). Furthermore, rarely is there a Chinese album that is composed by the singer himself... pretty unheard of previously. This self-composed, self-produced album however sings about spousal abuse, a love for history, his parents love affairs, some heart tugging love songs, horse racing, navy life, filming a commercial in japan, revenge against the rapist of one's daughter and hobbits (hehe just kidding.. the last five are the best picture nominees). This album which won numerous awards crowned Jay as the new king of R&B in Asia, dethroning David Tao (who really only had a cult follower, and he never really made R&B that popular and accessible... frankly his comeback album did ride on Jay's success). Personally, I do feel Jay is the new king of Mandopop. He became so popular he was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, Asia, as well. This album totally changed the musical landscape of Mando-pop forever, sparking a new trend that is popular in rap and R&B (the more moody and individualist sort, not like the US Billboards kind of glam black hip hop). Following the success of this album, it also triggered a spate of copycats (JJ, Jolin, Zhang Zhi Cheng etc) mimicking his rap and R&B style. Did I mention the album made into the top ten best seller chart of Italy, hee, thanx to the two kung fu tracks. Anyway to all the non-chinese pop listeners out there, he's not overhyped, he's not second class to english music. He has mass appeal but doesnt make him any less good. Give him a chance, pick up Fantasy, open your mind, and enjoy!

Hey I'm sure some of us here listen to mainstream chinese music too right Who is your fave? Any records to recommend that you think have a high production standard... or just get you rocking!

Baby One More Time by Bowling for Soup. Its a very cool cover

I have the Mirrorball Concert DVD. The set is actually quite good. And although its a concert, it has the intimate feeling. Her live performance is superb of course. But after going to several live concerts, i was not really expecting this tho... tot it would be high octane and adrenaline flowing... Anyway if anyone is interested in borrowing it, just pm me. Just my personal opinion, hope no flaming hehe... I actually started listening to her after looking at this thread and frankly, i feel she is slightly over-rated. I feel her strength lies at tugging people's heart strings and she kind of specialises in sappy sad love songs, mostly about breakups and the sorts. Then again ballads are big locally of coz. Compared to Dido who kinda sings like her, I feel she is slighly more mainstream. But both sucks the life out of me, they make me go ssslllooowww. As I m in a rather good mood most of the time, her sad songs sound like a persistent whining.. makes me wanna shout "Get a life!" I just can't relate to her songs. On a brighter note, she has a powerful voice and her live performance is outstanding.

got it too, thanx to ablaze who brought me there... wow, my first decent pair of headphones

Yeah after stumbling onto this fantastic site, I'm really keen! So are u gonna build a headphone next, ablaze?