Jay Chou Diaoness: 2013

Monday, 30 December 2013

Top Ten Happenings on The Rooftop in 2013

The Rooftop was truly Jay's baby, what with his writing the story, script, music as well as directing and acting in it.
So much so that many people felt he had overstretched himself which in turn could have compromised the quality of the movie.

Well, I beg to differ.
To me, the whole film was a wonderfully kaleidoscopic work of art coupled with music, dance, action and drama, something which was totally unheard of in the Chinese movie industry.
There can be no doubting that Jay and his friends poured their heart and soul into this production and I really still feel so sorry that the Taiwanese audience (of all people) did not view it in the same way nor appreciate it enough.
But enough of that.
I shall now highlight some significant moments over the past year.

1. 28 Feb: Pics and a trailer

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/02/updates-for-rooftop.html

2. 7 May: New trailer and press conference

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/05/the-rooftop-new-trailer-and-press.html

3. 27 May: Li Xinai

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/05/the-rooftop-jay-unveils-female-lead.html

4. 2 June: Announcement of my Facebook Page viz The Rooftop: A Jay Chou film
http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/06/diaoness-updates-rooftop.html

5. Taipei promo
http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/06/diaoness-updates-rooftop-and-lang-lang.html

6. Updates: Trailer, Beijing premiere, mags
http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/07/the-rooftop-updates.html

7. My own and others' reviews

I. Freaking. Love. The. Rooftop.
So there!

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/07/jay-chous-rooftop-rocks.html

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/07/fangirl-muses-on-rooftop-beware-spoilers.html

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/08/the-rooftop-reviews-good-bad-and.html

8. Rooftop Restaurant

Trust Jay to open yet another restaurant to tie in with this movie!

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/09/the-rooftop-restaurant-opens-hollywood.html

9. Non-moment:

Yes, I was well and truly upset about the non-nominations in the Golden Horse Awards.

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/10/wth-gha.html

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/10/a-rooftop-rant.html

10. 56th Asia-Pacific Film Festival Award for Best Music

Awesomeness!
At least this was one jury which recognised and appreciated good music.

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/12/diaoness-updates-apff-award-dreams-come.html

Hope you enjoyed those recollections of The Rooftop.
I love Jay's vision of this movie and will fully support it all the way till many years down the road.
I am still managing the Facebook Page concurrently with Jay Chou Diaoness and another Jayannah Page (more on that in another post).
And surprisingly, I still get Likes on this Page!

Here are some nice pics to end off this post:

Swoon......

Top Ten Jay Chou Happenings in 2013

Hi all!

Looking back on my blog entries in the past year, it occurred to me that 2013 has been an INCREDIBLE year for His Royal DIAOness!

Here then is my own list of the highlights in his life (and mine!); some are single occasions, others are a whole constellation of events revolving around one theme.
Where appropriate, I shall insert links to the relevant posts.

In chronological order:

1. OPUS 12 promotion events

Album #12 was most aptly titled OPUS 12 and featured twelve tracks comprising his signature mix of ballads, zhong guo feng, rap, hiphop, R&B, collaboration with classical pianist, Lang Lang and a song he was very proud of, the theme from The Rooftop.

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2012/12/opus-12-press-conference.html

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/01/interview-with-jay-for-opus-12.html

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/02/jay-interview-with-yahoo-for-opus-12.html

2. Jay's 34th birthday

I had a little celebration with some friends on 18 January with a special cake and a K-session.
And Jay had a very special cake from his staff too!

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/01/happy-birthday-jay-chou.html

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/01/birthday-joy-for-jay.html

3. Beijing University lecture

For the first time in his life, Jay addressed an audience solo for about ninety minutes at Beijing University on 22 April and he impressed everyone with his disarming candour and humour as he told his life story and elaborated on his longstanding friendship with Will Liu.
Definitely one of my most favourite events ever!

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/04/jay-chou-at-beijing-university-lecture.html

4. OPUS JAY Shanghai

OPUS JAY kicked off on 17 May at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai and from then on, it was full steam ahead for Jay Chou's awesome concert tour!

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/05/opus-jay-in-shanghai.html

5. OPUS JAY Singapore

Here in Singapore, we finally got our turn at having him on our shores for not just one night but THREE and boy, was it worth every single cent I paid for rocking with him on 6, 7 and 8 June!
Plus I also got to send him and his crew off at the airport on 9 June with the fanclub members!

And this one....@@

9. Interview with Sisy

Jay was super cute and once again, candid and down-to-earth in his own way in this one-on-one interview with Sisy on 19 November.

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/11/jay-chou-on-china-youth-forum-with-sisy.html

10. Jayannah

And of course, in his own cool way, Jay happily went shopping with Hannah in mid-December, all togged up in mask and hoodie, yet being utterly nonchalant about the pappz taking their photos.
This was a first in the life of Jayannah and I was so proud of them. :)

http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/12/diaoness-update-jayannah-goes-shopping.html

So there you have them!

Hope you enjoyed this little trip down the Memory Lane of 2013 in Jay Chou's life. :)

Wednesday, 25 December 2013

Merry Jay-ous Christmas!

Hello again!

Merry and Jay-ous Christmas to all of you!

Those of you who follow Jay Chou Diaoness on Facebook would have known about my recent trip.

I only just returned from Japan on 23 December, about a day later than I was supposed to because bad weather conditions resulted in a flight cancellation and a scramble for alternative arrangements.
I also had to spend the night in Tokyo's Haneda airport and I tell you, sleeping on a hard airport floor was not fun.
I really wished I had one of these to hug:

Anyway, all's well that ends well and thanks to the flight changes, I got to watch The Rooftop and listen to OPUS 12 on the journey back because I was flying Singapore Airlines which had a better range of entertainment options than the original Japanese airline I had been scheduled to fly on.
Cool, right?? :)

Anyway, I am now safely back in Singapore and enjoying my Christmas with friends and family. :)

Just a little note that our Jay has come out tops in earnings for 2013 amongst other artistes in Taiwan:

Here's a nice greeting from Jay and Xuegao:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAhsztPRxWQ

And Jay was Eason Chan's special guest at the latter's recent concert in Taipei Arena:

http://jaychoustudio.com/archives/eason-chan-holds-concert-at-the-taipei-arena-director-chou-gives-him-his-support/1631

Link to my JCD Album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.453657818072227.1073741921.399217090182967&type=1&l=38b9c0eaef

Super love this pic of Jay backstage waiting for his cue...so handsome!

I shall end off with some recent pics of Jay showing off his hairstyling skills and visiting his friend's gun shop:

Love his hair here!

Cheers everyone!

Thursday, 19 December 2013

DIAOness Update: Jayannah goes shopping!

Like....finally?!?!?

The breakthrough which many Jay Chou fans have been waiting for arrived today!

So here I am in Hokkaido checking on my Facebook News Feed periodically like any self-respecting fangirl when I caught sight of a photo composit of two familiar masked faces accompanied by some headlines and a link to Apple Daily.

TADAH!!!!

Now I've previously registered my displeasure with this tabloid but it soon became apparent that this was a significant scoop for them and it appeared to be non-confrontational.

Of course I had to read the article and watch the video.

(However, this was not really the first time they had been seen together and photographed.

If I remember correctly, there was a movie date in October.)

Anyway, back to the current report.

From what I gather, Jay and Hannah were shopping for groceries two days ago at Costcos, an American supermarket chain and the sharp-eyed fans soon deduced that they were getting stuff for a steamboat meal....lol!

What was significant was how nonchalant Jay was this time, as opposed to earlier occasions.

Hannah was also cool and they were apparently only accompanied by another male friend, instead of Jay's usual entourage.

To me, this showed that he was definitely getting more comfortable about his relationship with Hannah and made me feel really happy for the both of them.

Yes, I shared it on JCD immediately and it was soon all over the other fan Pages and Timelines too.

The general feeling was that of well-wishing coupled with relief about him finally being more open about things.

Of course there was also a tinge of sadness amongst a few, which is totally natural.

But I trust that at the end of the day, true fans would put Jay's happiness first and continue to support him no matter what.

After all, they have been together for more than two years, which is also the longest he has been linked with any female all this time since his debut.

How do you guys feel about this? :)

I shall end off with a sweet pic of Jayannah in another form:

Here's wishing them both the best and a blessed Christmas together with each other and their loved ones!

Diaoness Updates: APFF Award (amended on 4 March 2014), Dreams Come True concert

There are two important updates about His Royal Diaoness to share.

I have to clarify that the statements below were erroneously written but totally unintentionally at the time.
As such, I'm cancelling them out.
Jay did NOT win the APFF Award for Best Movie Music.
Fyi.

~~Drumroll please!~~

~~"And the award for Best Music at the recent Asia-Pacific Film Festival goes to.....~~

~~Jay Chou and Jason Huang Yuxun for The Rooftop!"~~

~~I was jumping with joy when I saw the update on my News Feed and wasted no time posting it on my Facebook Pages!~~

~~Will Liu was on hand to accept the award as Jay and Yuxun had a prior commitment which I'll share below.~~

~~As the producer, it was also quite appropriate for him to be there and his wife, Vivi and son Yu-en (who also made an appearance in the movie) were there in Macau with him, too. :)~~

As for Jay and Yuxun, they were at a concert with other Taiwanese artistes were in China for a concert viz Dreams Come True on 14 December.

I think it was in aid of either kids with special needs or other illnesses and Jay expressed his empathy for them as he, too has a chronic medical condition (ankylosing spondylitis) which afflicted him in his late teens.

He sang Snail, one of his most uplifting songs:

http://youtu.be/Vyf-EIjCrUE

Dandelion's Promise:

http://youtu.be/MrumxRdfmA8

Dao Xiang:

http://youtu.be/T-grnNpRtwI

Qing Hua Ci:

http://youtu.be/EpSJKPanKuI

All in, it was a most fruitful weekend for Jay.

But I know for a fact that he has been up to more engagements which shall probably be in my next post.

Till then, let me leave you with some awesome pics of our hero. :)

Love Jay!

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

A Trueno in Ueno!

Greetings from Japan!

Yes, fangirl here is now writing this from Hokkaido where I will be for the next five days.

Prior to this, though, I was in Tokyo where my fervent search for a certain Jay Chou-related piece of merchandise was serendipitiously rewarded when my son and I wandered into a shop in the district of Ueno.

It looked like any other anime/comics shop but considering that after two days of asking and showing a photo around many other similar places and being disappointed, I figured there was no harm trying my luck.

And voila!

Upon entering the tiny entrance, I soon discovered that there were at least five levels within, with each level absolutely crammed to the gills with all manner of merchandise galore!

Star Wars, Marvel, Doraemon, One Piece and loads of other anime/comics stuff were on display and I slowly browsed, keeping an eagle eye out for what I wanted.

On the third level, I caught sight of shelves of car models and immediately approached the store assistant to show her a photo on my phone.

She nodded in recognition and with mounting excitement, I followed her as she walked towards the shelves with the toy cars and pointed out my object of desire....

OMG!!!

The Toyota AE86 Trueno!!!

From Initial D, Jay's first movie!

Which I had been looking for and asking friends going to Hongkong to help me get hold of without any success!

*happy dance*

At 735 yen, I just had to get more than one for not only myself but for my friends as well.

An added bonus find after that was a bigger self-assembly model which I also could not resist getting, after my son promised to help me put it together. :)

Actually, there was also another version with car engine included which I now wish I had gotten instead.

Oh well!

I guess I can't brood over that as it was already a thrill just acquiring the miniature one.

Anyway, the cars have all been safely packed away to be brought home and displayed eventually.

Mission Toyota AE86 accomplished!

Thursday, 12 December 2013

Jay's fellow musician: Jason Huang Yuxun 黄雨勋:

I had posted about Jay's dancers and crew previously.
http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2013/11/opus-jay-dancers-and-crew.html

Well, it's now time to write about a very important collaborator in Jay's music.

See that cute guy next to our Jay in the photo above?

Yup, that's Jason Huang Yuxun, Jay's music arranger and fellow musician who has worked with him for the past six years or more, probably since their Alfa Music days.

I'm blogging about Yuxun because he has figured very prominently in all the OPUS JAY concerts this year, with Mr Chou always getting him to sing and telling fans about which songs Yuxun had helped him arrange.
These include Dao Xiang and many others.
Yuxun also has a solo spot with the portable keyboard and he rocks!

And of course, he worked with Jay on the soundtrack and score for The Rooftop, which has been nominated for a Best Music award in the upcoming Asia-Pacific Film Festival this weekend!

I loved the soundtrack for The Rooftop but was initially unaware that it was Yuxun who had composed all of the score and background music, including the haunting opening piano piece in the gallery scene.
Movie scores are perhaps even more important than the songs as the appropriate music can really make or break a scene.

Anyway, my dear friend, Irene gave me a link from baidu which I shall try to summarise with my very average standard of Chinese.

http://www.baike.com/wiki/%E9%BB%84%E9%9B%A8%E5%8B%8B

The link shows his bio and a rundown of his works.

From what I gather, Yuxun:

1. is the same age as Jay
2. plays keyboard and violin
3. composes, arranges and sings
4. has worked with many artistes apart from Jay, including Wilbur Pan, Farenheit, Landy Wen, etc
5. has won awards for his music arrangements
6. has his own music studio

Here are some pics of Yuxun on stage, reposted with permission from the owner, June Lau:

Here's my vid of him singing Black Humour with Jay at OPUS JAY in Singapore on the first night...listen to the fans screaming!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG7HXAUSvrs&list=PLbHLPahX3mJ6WICn3mX0WFjKeo4Rb2b9d&index=5

Yuxun was also very sweet when we went to send him and the crew off at the airport.

He actually took a photo of our fanclub members and posted it on weibo/Facebook, with a nice comment that we were very well-behaved and polite!
That thrilled all of us no end!

Thank you, Yuxun!

All in, Mr Huang is every bit as DIAO as Mr Chou and my friends and I are looking forward to seeing him and the rest of the crew again in the near future.

We also wish him and Jay all the very best in the APFF Awards!