Libera me, Domine, de morte æterna, in die illa tremenda

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with stuff recently. I've been feeling quite shitty.

But that's beside the point; Random Taiwanese stuff!!

SO, both Ariel Lin and Xiao Gui (Alien) are coming out with albums this summer. I knew about Ariels, but not about Xiao Gui's! Ariel's comes out 17Jul09, and Xiao Gui's 24Jul09. I'll probably buy both when I'm in Taiwan, since the shipping will take 2 weeks anyway. I'm particularly excited for Ariel's album. Her music isn't really my type (poppy and ballady), BUT I adore her voice.

Summer dramas... well... I haven't been talking about them much, because, to be honest, not a lot of them really interest me. I mean, you've got;

1. Mo Nu 18 Hao (Magic 18) - Joyce Zhao and Sam Wang are the redeeming factors of this drama for me. Mostly revolves around family, and magic, and it's complicated

2. Roseate Love - I'm SO bitter about this drama it's not even funny. Like, I'm sure it'll be good and everything, but it was SUPPOSED to star Ariel Lin AND BRYANT CHANG. In a lead role! But then bad things happened, and now he's not in it, and I'm sad. Rui Jia deserves a lead role, damn it! I mean, he was FABULOUS in Eternal Summer and Summer's Tail...

3. Momo Love - Drastic cast and plot changes cooled my desire to watch this as well. I might still watch it because Vanness and Ken will be in it (along with some other Taiwanese character actors I like), but I can't say it's number one on my list.

4. Love Buffet - This one is a maybe for me. It might actually be a high school twdrama, which never happens... But Calvin and Aaron are adorable, so maybe. I THINK it's based on a manga, and I usually like manga adaptations, so yeah.

5. Fighting Spirit - I have no idea what this one is about, and I think it was only recently announced... It's a sports drama though, so yeah. Not for me.

6. Calling Big Star - I love Mike He, but the premise just seems boring.

There's a few more, but the details are scarce....

ON THE OTHER HAND, there ARE twdramas I'm looking forward to!

7. Down With Love - Ella and Jerry's drama. Anything with Ella in it automatically goes on my list. Add a fun plotline, and it's on my must-see for the summer list!

8. Easy Fortune Happy Life - I finally got the first episode of this, and I'm so excited to see it! Qiao En = LOVE.

9. Ni Shi Wo De Wei Yi - OMG I want to watch this SO BADLY, but it'll probably never get subbed.

10. Summer's Bubble - Cast changes put it down my list, but the plotline, with the fakecest, makes me want to watch it.

11. Take Care of You, Accompanied by the Lights - This is a cdrama, but whatever. The pairing of Ming Dao and Chen Qiao En makes me happy beyond words. I CANNOT WAIT for this drama.

12. Meteor Shower - Another cdrama. This is, obviously, the mainland version of Hana Yori Dano. I want to see it for the lulz.

As for the Taiwanese version of Full House... I'm not really sure how I feel about that one. I adore Wu Zun, and I think he'll be great. I haven't heard of Zhou Xun, but she's a mainland actress, so it's not like I would have heard of her anyway. BUT she's beautiful, and supposedly a good actress. One part of the story I LOVE is the cross cultural issues it'll be addressing, since the plot will go into the relationship between mainland China and Taiwan. THAT is interesting. But then, I have a thing with Taiwanese history and politics.

When you search google for "upcoming taiwanese dramas 2009", my site is the first one listed. Weird.

I was trolling the interwebs looking for news about upcoming twdramas, I came across a bit of news that made me SO HAPPY... until it didn't.

Ariel Lin is supposedly involved in a drama called Paper Rose. It costars ZHANG RUI JIA! And not in a side role either, I think he's the male lead! I proceeded to get super excited for around 5 minutes, until I read that production has been delayed and it probably won't be seeing the light of day for awhile. Ariel might have even dropped it. (Not terribly exciting to me, but will be to others; Baron Chen, of Fated to Love You fame, is also slated to be in it)

This makes me super sad, because Ariel is my favorite serious tw-actress (Qiao En is my favorite tw-idol-actress. I love Qiao En to pieces, but she's really not as good an actress as Ariel is). She's got a great range, and I enjoy all of her work. Rui Jia is, of course, one of my favorite tw-actors. He's really really fabulous (seriously, WATCH ETERNAL SUMMER), and it saddens me that he's always delegated to "best friend" roles. If this drama happens I will watch it and love it solely because I love those two actors.

But anyway, this brings me back to the one thing I hate the most about the Taiwanese entertainment industry; they cannot freaking STICK TO PRODUCTION. Compare to Japan; everyone knows about upcoming jdramas. They have planned casts, they go into production as planned, and they're generally set. Twdramas are a mess. They announce dramas, but then don't do them. Casts change frequently. Production halts all the time. It's so chaotic!

As of right now, the ONLY twdramas I know will be airing soon are Black & White, and Calling Big Star (maybe Quietly Falling in love With You, as well). And of those, only Black & White has an actual air date scheduled. Good Health & Fortune is another one that looks like it could be definite (I hope! Squee! Qiao En!), but honestly, I can't tell. Even Momo Love, one I thought was happening for sure, has been postponed.

Seriously, what the hell are they going to be airing in Taiwan next season is all the damn dramas are postponed?! (Yes, I know they have other shows... Dramas aren't everything)

*sigh* This whole rollercoaster over Paper Rose has made me upset. Angry beyond reason. Way to ruin what could have been an AMAZING drama, CTV.