News Links - 2/19/08

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News Links - 2/19/08

Postby dleedlee » Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:02 pm

Comedian Lydia Shum Dies of Cancer
Image
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2008/02/19/195@324519.htm
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/5528/1/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080219/en ... 0219072717
In Memory of Lydia Shum
http://english.cri.cn/3126/2008/02/19/Zt1261@324606.htm

Donald Tsang mourns Lydia Shum
http://www.news.gov.hk/en/category/heal ... n05002.htm
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?fi ... ec=apworld

Rene Liu to Stage "Sleepwalk" in Beijing
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2008/02/19/902@324561.htm

'Up the Yangtze' documents vanishing way of life
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... TopStories

Jingle Ma's "Playboy Cops" with Shawn Yue, Wong Yau Nam, Alloys Chen Kun opens 2/28
Image
Image
http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2008-02-18/02541913951.shtml

Tang Wei's New Commercial on Skin Products
Image
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2008/02/19/1261@324769.htm

"In Love With The Dead"
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/5527/1/

No More Front Page For "Sex Photos Gate"
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/200802b.brief.htm#021
China's top Internet search engine, Baidu.com, censured for allegedly spreading racy photos
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/ ... Photos.php
HK Govt acts on sex pics
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_deta ... con_type=1
???? Better to light a candle than curse the darkness; Measure twice, cut once.
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Re: News Links - 2/19/08

Postby Brian Thibodeau » Tue Feb 19, 2008 3:43 pm




From the Variety obit:
She also appeared in over 70 Hong Kong movies.


From the Yahoo obit:
She went on to star in more than 70 movies, according to Internet Movie Database


While it's technically true that Shum was in over 70 Hong Kong movies, it's clear that having the HKMDB off the grid for so long has been detrimental to proper research. :cry:

By my very rough count of titles in her DB entry here, she graced well-over 140 films (and probably more that even we aren't aware of yet). Perhaps someone in a major publication somewhere will set the record straight by looking beyond the faulty filmographies of the IMDB. :evil:

And 60 is far too young these days . . .
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Postby dleedlee » Tue Feb 19, 2008 4:20 pm

And 60 is far too young these days . . .


Yes, I agree. Sadly, though, with her health problems the past year her passing doesn't come as a real shock. At least she is now at peace and no longer suffering.

What a great talent. Lydia's presence in a movie was a virtual guarantee to me that it'd be worth watching if solely to watch her.

Not very familiar with her TV work or Enjoy Yourself Tonight but her English language Singapore comedy series Living With Lydia was a real treat. And I'm still hoping for the follow up seasons to be released on video.
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IMDB & Lydia

Postby kenichiku » Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:58 pm

While it's technically true that Shum was in over 70 Hong Kong movies, it's clear that having the HKMDB off the grid for so long has been detrimental...Perhaps someone in a major publication somewhere will set the record straight by looking beyond the faulty filmographies of the IMDB

Yeah well, they wouldn't even have 70 if a few dedicated contributors (I'm sure a few of you here who moonlight there too) including myself didn't fatten up Lydia's entry with valid stuff over there the past few years. I can say to you that their staff on different occasions has admitted to me their weakness in the very area that you folks excel at but taking your comments to any form of action is another discussion for your front office, but I agree wholeheartedly.

Since I found out about Lydia's death early this morning 1:00am PST while eating porridge (& no whey, just chinese croutons), the folks I was with saw the news up on a plasma in a Chinese cafe. We were shocked & conversation shifted to Lydia. A lady friend originally from Singapore recalled watching her growing up when Lydia did Living with Lydia, entirely in English (well, Singaporean Pidgin anyway). She even called Singapore just to gossip with her mom about it at the table. It was then I realize the magnitude of Shum's fame, not just some fleeting character actress in old films. I mean, she's got a page in Al Jaujeera today for crying out loud; so I've felt mighty proud about the little bio I typed in over there being one of the most gratifying I ever did because it was meant to send out a beacon from where I stand that there's show biz, fame & celebrity outside of Hollywood & Lydia's certainly deserving of it. It's odd now that the spirit of that blurb aligns with Donald Tsang's sentiments and what Shum's loss has meant for all of HK. I'm pretty sure I wrote that way before I knew she was even ill. The government couldn't buy a lifetime of goodwill & stature with a billion dollars that that little lady has given to the citizenry of Hong Kong for the past 50 years & I think Mr Tsang knows it.

With that aside, what with all the public negativity that the present cadre of HK celebs have begat & imposed onto the airwaves & headlines with them literally being caught with their pants down, I really feel for the ordinary Joe who bust their asses day in and day out to eek out a living over there & having to go home and to turn on their TV to constantly listen to that onslaught and now to this. After a year of tabloid cameras mobbing Shum in and out intensive care, a crowded snapshot every coupla weeks chronicling her demise from a robust +275 to under a 100 lbs & dropping, snapshot by snapshot. I don't know how this poor woman maintained any dignity around all that. It's not beneath them but I don't ever recall seeing Paparazzi even getting into such a situation here for a famous patient whose terminal.
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Re: IMDB & Lydia

Postby Brian Thibodeau » Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:47 pm

kenichiku wrote:Yeah well, they wouldn't even have 70 if a few dedicated contributors (I'm sure a few of you here who moonlight there too) including myself didn't fatten up Lydia's entry with valid stuff over there the past few years. I can say to you that their staff on different occasions has admitted to me their weakness in the very area that you folks excel at but taking your comments to any form of action is another discussion for your front office, but I agree wholeheartedly.


Honestly, I'm not sure why you good folks (whomever you are) bother over there sometimes, but I gotta give you props for trying, being as the IMDB is the most referenced movie database on the planet, for better or worse. But, while I agree that the IMDB needs —and benefits from—your efforts, I wonder if it will all be worth it when one considers just how long it will take to make, for example, Lydia Shum's filmography over there as good as it is over here. I realize the IMDB allows for the inclusion of television programs and even interviews on chat shows, but should that option ever finally come into play here—and I suspect it will—it's likely that HKMDB will trump IMDB in short order.

It's certainly been nice testing google searches of Hong Kong movie titles recently and FINALLY seeing HKMDB entries come back in the first couple of pages of results, but I still say we could pimp this baby a little harder so that journos at places like Variety (Variety, people!) and Yahoo know better than to go to the IMDB first when writing up a piece about Hong Kong entertainers. We may still have our own bugaboos here and there in the system, but nothing else even comes close at the moment (fan sites and forums aren't on the same level, though they should probably be consulted, too, in times like these).




so I've felt mighty proud about the little bio I typed in over there being one of the most gratifying I ever did because it was meant to send out a beacon from where I stand that there's show biz, fame & celebrity outside of Hollywood & Lydia's certainly deserving of it. It's odd now that the spirit of that blurb aligns with Donald Tsang's sentiments and what Shum's loss has meant for all of HK. I'm pretty sure I wrote that way before I knew she was even ill.


Excellent tirbute, sir! Not only does it help me figure out the identity of one of our most interesting voices :lol:, it also belongs here, as do all of the others you've written. Okay, so maybe that's just my opinion, though I doubt it, and I'm pretty sure there would be no copyright issues with IMDB. A write-up like that is worthy of being attached to a more complete filmography. Just sayin' . . . :D


With that aside, what with all the public negativity that the present cadre of HK celebs have begat & imposed onto the airwaves & headlines with them literally being caught with their pants down, I really feel for the ordinary Joe who bust their asses day in and day out to eek out a living over there & having to go home and to turn on their TV to constantly listen to that onslaught and now to this.


Yeah, somehow I don't see Edison Chen or Gillian Chung achieving the kind of all-around goodwill and longevity that Lydia did even IF their careers survive the current circus that is their lives. Maybe others from their generation of actors/singers/faces, I don't know, but the current headlines only serve to reinforce my personal suspicion that too many of today's HK celebs have simply got too much money and too much free time, and none of it as hard-earned as their predecessors who laid the groundwork from the 60's on up to the 90's. (relatively speaking, of course; this IS just entertainment after all)



.
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Postby Brian Thibodeau » Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:59 am

From Hong Kong's "Noon News", with plenty of vintage clips (in Cantonese):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmkM_UfQk_w
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Postby dleedlee » Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:32 am

Brian Thibodeau wrote:From Hong Kong's "Noon News", with plenty of vintage clips (in Cantonese):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmkM_UfQk_w


Thanks, Brian! :cry:
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Postby ewaffle » Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:00 am

Brian wrote:

From Hong Kong's "Noon News", with plenty of vintage clips (in Cantonese):



A lovely tribute to a well loved star--thanks for posting the link.

et lux perpetua luceat eis
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Postby Brian Thibodeau » Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:35 am

Just found what appears to be a special full-length TVB tribute program to Lydia Shum. Five parts, about 10 minutes each. All in Cantonese, and plenty of clippage for those of us less familiar with the language:


Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GmZONDksbs

Part 2 (features a really nice tribute in photos and clips. They also put her birth year at 1945, which would actually make her 62-63?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdDu08f-wOo

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUUWLQ9h_Jw

Part 4 (this segment focuses on her relationship with daughter Joyce. Quite a transformation that girl underwent!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAXxQSkOhBo

Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3V7HhU356U
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