Crime Scene 明星大侦探

Today I will be introducing my favourite variety show of all time ...... 明星大侦探 also known as Crime Scene (China) or Who's the murderer!!!
                                 

明星大侦探 is a Chinese variety show broadcasted by Hunan TV and consists of 3 seasons. (2017) The first season started airing in mid-2016, second season in early 2017 and third season in late 2017. Each season consists of 13 episodes in total, including a 'trial' episode. It is based of a South-Korean variety show called Crime Scene (Korea)

The motive of the show is very simple -- Find the Murderer. A typical Whodunit game, yet so intriguing. There is a total of 6 members, 1 of which is the Detective. The remaining five are all suspects of the crime and in their midst lie a Murderer. At the end of the 'investigation' all the members will get to vote who they think is the murderer, the person with the most votes will go to 'jail'. Now the remaining question is, Who is the Murderer?

The original members are 王鸥，撒贝宁，何炅，鬼鬼 and 白敬亭. Each episode usually has one or two guests.  Frequent guests whom people also deem as original members are,  大张伟，王嘉尔，杨蓉，乔振宇，魏大勋 . Of course, there are also other 1-2 time guests that appears.

What I like about the show is the plot. In each episode, people are not who they seem to be. Each and everyone has a motive to kill the victim, and when the plot starts unravelling, it brings a surprising twist making every audience shocked and curious to know more. For the 2-hour long episode, it really keeps me on the edge of my seat not wanting to skip a single second. It is like reading an Agatha Christie book, where once you start reading it, you cannot stop without finishing it.

Every episode has different themes (although there might be a sequel of a few episodes). From an idol star manager getting murdered to queens of a fantasy land being killed, the list never ends. Thus, it keeps the show very fresh and makes audiences eager to watch the next episode.

Lastly, from season 2 onwards, each episode has a life lesson we all can take away. Because of the different themes and murder motives, each episode tells us something we can learn from and improve personally. It makes the audience feel like they did not spend 2 hours in vain.

Cast-wise, everything is perfect. The cast's chemistry is amazing and they are able to inject humor in the show even though it is related to murder.

Why shouldnt I just watch the Korean version?

I watched both series and I must say the Chinese version wins hands down. Apart from the reasons I mentioned above, the Chinese version has obviously a bigger budget. They invite the best Chinese hosts as members, renowned actors as guests but more importantly, their setting is much better and more detailed. I am not saying the Korean version is bad, but the Chinese one has better plots and setting.

However, the plot may be a little confusing for some people and there are some serious moments in each episode.

I seriously recommend it to people who enjoy mystery and thriller.

Rating : 9/10

What to do?

It has been awhile since school ended. I have started my long awaited holidays that I anticipated since the beginning of the year. I finally finished a major examination and thought that I would be really happy when the Holidays came.

For the first 2 weeks, I literally did nothing. I binged watched korean/chinese dramas, found some new animes to watch. But after the 2 weeks I was seriously rotting away at home. Thus, I decided to find a temporary job so that I can earn some extra bucks. At the same time, I started selling some of my used items online so that I can clear my room and earn some money at the same time. I sold some of my school uniform and earned quite abit, but I felt that I sold it at too low a price and all the travelling made it not worth.
Few days later, I found a job as a promoter in a department store selling toys. The store I worked at was rather old, so there was very little customers even though its Christmas season. I spent most of my time in the warehouse, looking for items to restock. Even though my job is to promote the toys, there arent people to promote too. I approached customers, but most of them did not seem interested in the toys. Although I did persuade some people to buy toys, I found that my time there was extremely useless.

With the money I earned from my job, I bought some nanoblock toys and model kits so that I can spend time at home doing things that I like. I bought the Saturn V rocket, the ISS and the Space Shuttle. I spent around 2 hours building these nanoblocks and I felt very accomplished after finishing them :)).

Now, I do not have much to do, my job ended and I have returned to binge-watching dramas and animes. I am running out of shows to watch so please comment below if you have a good recommendation :)

5 YEARS !!

WOHOOOOO

It has been 5 years since I started this blog!!!

When I started this blog, I just needed a place where I can share my feelings and what I like, slowly, I started writing some inspirational stuffs and started Question of the month ( even though it stopped for a while ) .  Whenever I started to like a certain show , I would write a review on my blog such as my Anime Reviews and most recently my C-dramas reviews .

I also wrote some post about myself and my cute little dog Muffin who is still as playful as ever. I shared my interest AVIATION and my desires,goals and hopes.

The last 5 years was a rocky road definitely, I am proud to say that I have grown from a little kid to a teenager, I have met more people , made new friends , learnt more knowledge , and grew fatter lol

To be honest, I started this blog in my PSLE years ( first major exam ) and now it is the year I am taking my O Levels . To be honest, I am very scared, I hope to get into a good school and can fulfill my dreams of becoming an airline pilot . I also strive to lose some weight and do well for my physical exam . I hope that I can continue to grow and become a better person to acheive my dreams and at the same time enjoy my life.

Thank you for reading this and I hope that we will all grow to become a better person .

I will definitely continue blogging to share my thoughts and experiences!!!! :)

C-drama Reviews Part 1

Although Korean Dramas are the in thing right now, I am more attracted  Chinese Dramas and decided to write a few reviews about some of the dramas I watched

1st Drama : The Mystic Nine

I am a huge fan of tomb raiding dramas and I happened to stumble across Tomb Radiers a 10 episode dramas consisting of 8 seasons ( although currently only 1 has been broadcasted ) . After finishing the drama, I found out about Mystic Nine being the prequel and naturally started to binge-watch it

Plot : Set in the 1930s - 1940s where the Japanese started invade China, lived 9 families -- also known as the nine gates. Fuo Ye, the leader of the nine families who also happens to be the Commander of Changsha found out about a tomb , in which lies a treasure so precious that even the Japanese are looking for. With the aid of the rest of the Families, they strive to unravel the secret of the tomb and the mystery of the Nine Gates.

Cast : William Chan, Zhao Li Ying , Zhang Yixing (LAY) and more

I was really excited when I heard about the show and watched all 48 episodes in a week. The plot is really interesting and immediately draws the viewers in with the arrival of a mysterious train. However, as Er Ye's wife started to fall ill and in the end passed away, there was too much focus on Er Ye and Chen Pi which made the middle very draggy. It started to pick up 3/4 through the drama though and the ending is memorable.

Well, character wise, everything was awesome . William Chan and Zhao LiYing chemistry was great and I love their couple moments (even though I am not a fan of romance) . The friendship between Er Ye , Fuo Ye and Ba Ye were also really interesting and cute which brought much joy to the show. The interactions were fun and made it a great drama to rewatch + *bonus* Eye Candy aka William Chan and Lay

Overall : 7.5 /10 -- highly due to the draggy part in the middle. But recommended for those who enjoy adventure and mystery . I feel this drama incorporated  a few genres which makes it appealing to the general public

Fact : This drama has gotten over 11.4 billion online views



2nd Drama : Love O2O / One smile is very alluring

Introduced by my friend, stayed for Yang Yang

Plot : A modern day drama . Xiao Nai, a 3rd year student (Uni) is the CEO of a video game company. Through an unexpected encounter with Wei Wei, his junior in the same University , he falls in love with her and uses the Video game to get to know her better. Soon, they become the talk of the town when he starts revealing his identity and the 2 start to date. To put it simply, it is the perfect romance when the perfect guy meets the perfect girl.

Cast : Yang Yang , Zheng Shuang 

I am not a huge fan of romance dramas but through a friend's recommendation ( and nothing to do ), I decided to pick up this drama. 

It was Awesome 

What makes this drama stand out is the trust between the 2 leads. Xiao Nai never doubts the woman he loves even though there were so many rumours spreading in the school campus. He never listens to the antagonist and always stands up for Wei Wei. With that Wei Wei is also the perfect girlfriend as she fully supports her boyfriend's endeavours and even helps him in the company during the summer holidays . To be honest, I did not really think the 2 leads had much chemistry at first as they seemed really awkward with each other, but it grew onto me. 

However, I feel that Zheng Shuang is probably not the best choice for Wei Wei as she is tooooooo skinny. That being said, she did do a rather good job acting as Wei Wei. 

I also feel that Yang Yang as Xiao Nai could be a little more humorous to liven up the show as he was a little too straight-faced. 

Overall : 8.0 / 10 -- it is definitely worth watching especially for those who enjoy playing video games + love romance + simplicity. Not much drama/fights  which makes the drama really enjoyable 

Fact : This drama propelled Yang Yang to mainstream popularity and gathered a whooping 15.8 billion views online 

Ode To Joy 1

 Drama Review : Ode To Joy 1

         

Plot :  The series is about five modern women who live on the 22nd floor of an apartment complex called "Ode to Joy" in Shanghai. Each with their unique personality and lifestyle, the five women have different backgrounds, including their age, social status, personality and careers. Their relationships were initially rocky, but eventually they became good friends and neighbours. Together, they navigate their career and love lives, solving problems and growing more resilient.

To be honest, when I first saw the plot, I did not bother watching it or even adding it to my watch list. The story plot seems really normal and fake , but oh my I was wrong ! Terribly wrong ! 

One fine day, when my last exam ( of the term ) finally ended , I was scrolling through some websites and read about the great response Ode to Joy 2 had and since I had nothing else to watch, I thought ' why not just give it a shot' . And boy, it was the best decision I made this year ! 

1st Season : 

As it is a drama containing 42 episodes, the start was rather slow. The first episode was a brief introduction of the characters and their families with little interaction. At that time, to be honest, I thought that the narration was overdone and rather annoying, but episode after episode, it grew onto me and I realised this method was actually a great method to let the viewers understand the characters better 

This drama started off with Guan Guan, Sheng Mei and Ying Ying despising their new neighbours , Andy and Xiao Qu. However, after an incident, they changed their opinions of each other and soon enough they became really good friends who are closer than sisters. 

The highlight of this drama is that the growth of the individual characters are really obvious and allows the viewers to feel as if they are growing with them 

Xiao Qu -- played by Olivia Wang, is a heiress and a spoiled brat . Since young, she has lived a life of luxury and do not take things seriously. She just came back from abroad and is trying to vie for her father's inheritance, wanting to prove to her father she is the one worthy of the estate and company . 

Thus she moves into Ode To Joy and meets the rest of the cast. To be honest, I did not really like her character at first and I found her quite annoying at times. However, I really respect her courage to change and move out of her comfort zone where she founded her own company and used her abilities to run the company well ( with the help of Andy hahahaha ) . What is more admirable is that she is the ' friend in need is a friend indeed ' person. When one of the members is in trouble, she will have her own methods to solve the problem. She is able to totally get rid of the problem using her own ways, and only she can do it 

Ying Ying -- played by Yang Zi is also another character who was annoying in the beginning but became adorable in the end. In fact she was my most hated character at first but is now my favourite character. 

She is 1/3 of the trio and lives together with Sheng Mei and Guan Guan . She is not well to do and she hopes to have a stable and fulfilling career in Shanghai. She is the 'maknae' of 22 floor and encounters many relationship problems through which helps her grow and mature. At first, she is your usual crybaby and self-centered person where she only cares about her problems and not the feelings of others, but through some tough times and advices from her 'sisters' she becomes a brave, optimistic person who is ready to tackle future challenges .

In my opinion, she is the one who matures the most and *spoilers* has the best ending HAHA

Sheng Mei -- played by Jiang Xin, is the mother out of the 5. She used to be a very materialistic person and only dates the rich as she hopes to have a steady income and steady life in Shanghai. At first I despised her a little, thinking she was those who only cares about money. However, as her family was revealed I felt nothing but sympathy for her. Her family is extremely -- and I mean extremely reliant on her when she does not even earn much, thus she has to rely on her 'extra income' to sustain her family. 

                                  

However, after meeting her true love, she realises money is not necessarily everything and she learnt how to say no when her family asks for money. Although she is probably the most pitiable character, she is a very motherly figure and is always there for everyone.

Guan Guan -- played by Qiao Xin, is the most lucky one probably out of all. She is from a well-to-do family however, she is too dependent on her family's decisions and finds it hard to reject her mother. She works in a very well-known company, but being the only one who does not have good qualifications, she finds it hard to catch up with her colleagues and is scared to be fired

She used to be my favourite character ( but became 2nd now after Ying Ying ) because I can really relate to her . She is an introvert and does not really mix with guys, but longs to date. Through some determination and encouragement from her 'sisters', she was finally able to make decisions on her own and change her 'goody-two-shoes' image which helped her grow. 

Andy -- played by Liu Tao, is the main lead . She is a mysterious lady who just came back from the States to work as a CFO in one of the best companies in China. She is an introvert who prefers being on her own and finds friends nothing but a burden. She never wanted to date and initially planned on staying single forever. 

At first, it took sometime for her to open up to her neighbours, however, after spending time with the she finally finds them a joy to have. She loves their company and is willing to help them with whatever she can (usually its money). After finding the secret of her past however, she was more reluctant to find true love and refused to come clean with her 'sisters' as she does not want to trouble them. With regards to love, her character will undergo more changes in season 2 

Other characters include, Wang Kai (Zhao Qi Ping) , Jin Dong ( Tan ZongMing ), Yang Shuo ( Bao YiFan)

Okay that is quite alot. HAHAHA This drama is indeed a very interesting and different drama. It has gotten over 15 BILLION views in China, due to its realism and relevance in today's society. 

Storyline: 4.5/5 -- real and intriguing 

Acting : 4/5 -- the acting of all the 22 floos 'sisters' and their boyfriends can all act except for Andy's 1st boyfriend which I though was a little cringe

OST : - isnt a fan 

Overall : 4/5 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!! 

LETS WELCOME THE FINALE OF SEASON 2 NEXT WEEK !!