A personal take on the King of Mandopop, incorporating pics, vids and links to relevant websites and forums.
NB: Absolutely no copyright infringement (of pics) intended.
I've posted the songs below too.
They are not necessarily in the same order as the album proper tho'.
Enjoy!
Four Seasons Train (shi ji lie che) 四季列车:
Giggle (sha xiao) 傻笑 ft Cindy Yen:
You Are Everywhere (na li dou shi ni; love theme for The Rooftop) 哪里都是你:
Worldly Tavern (hong chen ke zhan) 红尘客栈：
Gong Gong Has Headache(gong gong pian tou tong) 公公偏头痛:
Obviously (ming ming jiu) 明明就:
Ukelele (wu ke li li) 乌克丽丽:
Big Ben (da ben zhong) 大笨钟:
Dreams Start (meng xiang qi dong) 梦想启动:
A Bigger Cello (bi jiao da de da ti qin; fancam of MV from press con) 比较大的大提琴:
Sign Language (shou yu) 手语:
No Difference Loving You (ai ni mei cha) 爱你没差:
All in all, OPUS 12 is a much more satisfying album than Exclamation Mark, with many songs which stick in my mind after only just one listen. The three official MVs have been really good and I can't wait to see the rest, especially for Sign Language and Ukelele.
I'm now having a good time listening to all the tracks.
Will post my comments and review after I've savoured them and gathered more thoughts. :)
Here are some photos from the album specials (can't wait to get my own soon!!)...gosh, not for nothing do I address Jay as His Royal DIAOness!
And of course, this one takes the (beef)cake... *faints*
Well, it's officially 25 December where I am so here's wishing one and all a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!
In the spirit of this blog, I shall now post as many of the recent goodies Jay and JVR has unleashed online as possible, for Christmas, OPUS 12 and The Rooftop. :)
First of all, two Christmas greetings from Jay!
Doesn't he look too darn cute in that blond hair?? :))
For OPUS 12:
News about another new song, Eunuchs Get Headaches (the title is enough to make me LOL 'cos it's so Jay!) aka 公公偏头痛gong gong pian tou tong:
20sec teaser audio clip of the song (it reminds me a little of Battle Between Heaven and Earth):
And Jay has taken the unprecedented step of releasing the rest of his new songs on HitFM radio on the 27 December, one day before the official release date of the album so that his fans can listen to the songs first!
He looks soooo young and fresh!!!! Especially with that extremely DIAO cap he's wearing with such great attitude!
And this is apparently the *confirmed* tracklist:
1)四季列車 Four Seasons Train
2)手語 Sign Language
3)公公偏頭痛 Eunuch with Headache
4)明明就 Obviously
5)傻笑 Giggle
6)比較大的大提琴 A Bigger Cello
7)愛你沒差 Loving You Makes No Difference
8)紅塵客棧 Worldly Tavern
9)夢想啟動 Dreams Start
10)大笨鍾 Big Ben
11)哪裡都是你 You Are Everywhere
12)烏克麗麗Ukelele
It's all anyone's guess which other styles or genres those seven other songs will be so I'm not going to speculate. :)
Now for a HD 40sec teaser trailer for The Rooftop, which looks and sounds fantastic! The whole concept/feel, music and dance, not to mention the action scenes and Jay's bouffant hairstyle...omg...I think we're looking at another winner here! Only His Royal DIAOness could do a movie like this and get away with it. ;)
It was just amazing being in Jay's Secret restaurant, where the only music played was his and EVERYTHING was related to him and the movie! Given half the chance, I would have stayed there the whole afternoon, but that would not have been fair to my family. ;)
The restaurant is housed in the premises of Taipei Medical University, which is a 1.6km walk from the liuzhangli MRT station. It was a sunny day, which meant it was also rather hot! But still preferable to rain, right? ;)
The entrance is next to the 7-11 store and we arrived there earlier than the reserved time of 2pm.
About some special offers and a reminder that 'outside food' is not permitted:
Upon
entering, high up on the right are the photos from the movie, together
with a huge head of Optimus Prime in the corner(!)...I guess Jay just
likes Transformers too...lol!
Montage of a vital scene from the movie:
The rocking horse was NOT in the movie but I think Mr Chou has a thing for horses...Jay fans would understand!
Shelves at the cashier's counter.
Photos and autographs from Jay's friends
The school uniform jackets worn in the movie.
Glass cabinet housing loads of memorabilia relating to not just the movie, but Jay's other works and miscellaneous stuff:
MTV Award, Golden Horse Award (for Best Newcomer/Initial D), amongst other things
More merchandise:
A
huge wall mural of one of my fave scenes. We got the table just in
front of this and I just HAD to sit facing it whilst eating...lol!
Entrance to the kitchen.
Aww! Another fave scene!
The bar and interestingly, there was a picture of Mary and Jesus on the left side (the oval-shaped frame). :)
View
from the top of the stairs (where the immaculately spotless restrooms
were). It was about 2pm then and most diners had left, which suited us fine. :)
Haha...just outside the imaculately spotless restrooms was this phone booth, with random Jay stuff (of course)
Jay's beloved Secret piano!!! Complete with Christmassy decorations. I was not allowed to play, sadly. But the nice staffer explained that it was because Jay really loves this piano and wants to preserve it well.
The inscription on the front panel of the piano.
"Please do not play the piano or you might get transported 20 years back into the past."-- Ye Xiang Lun
Time Travel theme:
"Follow the notes upon the journey At first sight marks one's destiny Once the voyage comes to an end Return lies within hasty keys"
Escargots were on the house, which came as a very pleasant surprise!
The staff explained that this was to make up for having to change my
original intended reservation date (due to some unforseen
circumstances), when I booked online a month ago. They had been very
apologetic in their email already but still, this was a very nice
gesture which showed how service-oriented they were. :)
My pan-fried codfish and scallop with saffron sauce. Yes, it was as delicious as it looked. :)
This. Was. Heavenly. Love the chocolate sauce design.
Fans and well-wishers can buy a card for charity and pen a message for Jay on it to hang on the tree. Yes, of course I did too...but what I wrote shall remain a Secret..haha... ;) Le Le (the staff) told me that Jay visits the restaurant every six months and collects all the cards. I'd like to imagine that someday, somewhere, he'll read what I wrote to him ;)
Playing cards and mobile phone straps
Postcards given to diners who spent above a certain amount:
All in, it was a most memorable experience and when I return to Taiwan (which I have feeling I will), I would definitely go back to this restaurant and spend a longer time there. :)
For reservations online, here's the link...click on the pink box below the Secret piano picture and then you can email them in English:
