Huo Yuan Chia review
Saturday, April 01, 2006 |  
Jay Chou is probably my biggest Asian inspiration to date. I admire him for his talent as a musician. Meaning, his art is music. He doesn’t work to entertain like other kiddy boybands and stuff like that but he’s like near or ON Beethoven’s class. You can call him a musical auteur as he writes, composes and sings many of his songs. Every single little bit of detail.. every click and ping pong ball sound is largely from his direct order of placement. In short, everything he do la. Nice or not nice is basically him.

Also, I’m forever intrigued by his music videos. They are TRULY cinematogrphy-intensive. Meaning every little bitty bit that appears onscreen like the set design, costume, placement..... everything has been thoroughly thought of.

My recent trip to Johor had my splurging in Speedy CD shop


- Sad Movie (Korean DVD)
- Jay Chou – Huo Yuan Chia
- Andy Lau – All About Love

Damage = RM132.

I give father pay. Muahahah.

Ya you saw correctly.. Andy Lau... hahaah I’m old already. I guess having him being played every Friday at AMK K-Pool lead me to this.

So I bought a Korean movie. Aaa... it looks like a heartwarming one. Henry wanna come watch? You know what I said about Korean movies? ...makes ppl cry.



Jay Chou’s latest release is a compilation of music videos from his album, November’s Chopin (and there are a lot! About TWELVE!). Also included is his soundtrack from Jet Li’s so-called “last martial arts movie”, Fearless. (so called because.. watch him ar can damn shiok wan! He go liao then wasted.)

Ive watched the movie and I tell you..... WATCH WATCH WATCH! I can go on and on and on about the cinematography and choreography of this film ( I like to observe cinematography... not so much on acting or story or who is playing who in the show). Jet Li is teh m@rTiaL arTs PRO! Jackie Chan you can siam siam sit one corner in your coffee shop with Jack Neo pls.



Anywho... there is only ONE track inside the blardy soundtrack cd. HAHA!. Ok there is another track la but its more like an “extra” bit cos it’s a recording of a Jay’s number, Live.

The CD cover for the soundtrack cd gives “newcomers” (ppl who just cum LOL) an idea on how big-budget this Jay Chou guy is by looking at the images included.



But for some.... it’s a gauge on how serious Jay’s cinematographer and art director is.
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Stop laughing la!

These guys are truly well-versed in their expertise. Its not some ball-scratching work you find on F4 cds or our very own Singapore Idol’s.

The compilation DVD is the mother bomb of this set. I figured its one of the most elaborate and expensive one Sony BMG’s done to date for Jay. All the videos here feature songs from November’s Chopin and the quality is top-notch. And top notch as in they can make professional short films if given the permission!

You know.. I think they did a MV for ALL the songs of Novembers Chopin. Ooo rich rich.

Haha ok la im ass kissing. Its bloody good la to say the least. I LIKE.



The CD cover boasts a collage of Jay that was taken during the filming of the music videos. I guess these are pretty much the original film captures, with maybe some mnimal touch up at most. The big picture you see on the left is from Fa Ru Xue.

This is what it looks like after going through the editing machine.


Many of Jay’s MV are low-key in terms of lighting. That’s good fo him since it brings out all the rigidness of his face. Char bor like guy with jaw line.
Also, Jay’s MV are mostly dark and moody.

“NO LEI!!!.... some so sweet wan leihhzzzxxxx!!!”

Aaa I noe I noe... but if u think about it ar.. the video is about love! And the plot is what?

“Guy and girl. Like each other. But best friend of guy also like girl. But he got face so never tell friend. Then comes the secret love thingy doo daa. Skali girlfriend found out!”.

In the end, it’s stilll pretty much a dark plot.

Ever noticed that most of the Award winning films can be considered as “dark” ? Memoirs of a Geisha... Crash... Titanic... Harry Potter...

Ever seen “The Grinch” winning anything?



Anyways I had a little encounter with defect products.

Not sure whether everyone else who owns this has the same problem or its only me who suay kanna this set.





At first, all the teeth were there.. bt after I took the cd out.. EVERYTHING CRUMBLED!... like wtf la..... Is the plastic too brittle? Sure not me push to hard wan since ppl say I punch like drunk turtle.

Aiya but whatever.... as long as I have the cd can already. Correct? Correct.


You wait ar lu..... come ur office ask for replacement....

Overall, Jay’s latest compilation is pretty much sweet and complete. For film students and enthusiasts, I believe that this set could be a really handy reference for style and texture in films. Not so much on story since many of it is simple. But then again simple DOES NOT MEAN -->> SUCKS. Just watch Korean shows.

Also included are highlights of the Hong Kong Concert. Pretty much the same as all of Jay’s other Live concerts (thank you mother, thank you friends, thank you fans....). But there is this section where he has a piano duel with one of his friends (it’s cool and fast!) and Jay FINALLY makes up for his odd singing in An Jing by giving us a NEW rendition of it! And it’s sooooo much better! (its loaded in the player below already.)

I leave you with screen captures from the Music Videos. Please ar grab a copy.













But of course... there are some videos that look so outta place in the compilation.

After watching the Lan Se Feng Bao video...


all i can say is....... WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU PEOPLE THINKING?!?!?!1
LMAO la! it looks like a special effects project gone wrong! (floating castles, lightning to hand, odd-saturation/colour selection method...)


Then again it’s just another style. Some ppl like it. Some don’t. (i think they call this one Surrealism.)



p.s.... Err.... are you all getting bored? come feedback lei...... :) :)
Posted by Audi