January 2nd, 2008
Damn You, 2007! The (late) end of the year post.
Happy New Year! At least, that’s what my parents taught me to say around this time of year. My version would be: it’s time for our customary New Year post, where I recap my 2007 and look forward to my 2008. I’m sure everyone is really excited.
Normally, I would drone on and on, but I’ll try to keep it short, because that’s how people like it. Especially Anthony Wong.
I will never grow tired of this photo
So here’s my 2007 in bullet points:
- LoveHKFilm.com finished 5 years online, but I did nothing to celebrate.
- The site had an official meeting with Hong Kong entertainment personality Andrew Lin.
- I stopped bi-weekly updates, and yet ended up updating even more. Nobody noticed.
- LoveHKFilm.com published 160 reviews. I think that’s a lot.
- The site passed the 1500 review mark. I also think that’s a lot.
- Added 3 blogs: The Golden Rock, The House Where Words Gather, and this one. So far, nobody has complained.
- Life with Kozo died. Amazingly, some people did notice.
- The site’s Alexa ranking improved. Whoop-de-damn-do.
- The site’s Google Page rankings dropped. Which leads to…
- The site’s traffic fell in November and December. I blame the drop on IMDB and Wikipedia, the two sites that leapfrogged LoveHKFilm.com in virtually every Google ranking. There were also others, but listing them would take too much time.
- I updated the polls less frequently. Nobody noticed.
- I got a new computer that doesn’t overheat. This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to this site.
- I saw Wong Jing in a shopping mall. He ran.
- I renewed the LoveHKFilm.com domain name for 9 more years. That means when it finally expires, I’ll be in the midst of a serious mid-life crisis.
- I continued to write way too much about subjects that don’t require it.
Here’s what I’d like to do in 2008:
- Publish at least 150 film reviews. Attempt to write at least 50 of those.
- Figure out what to do with this blog. If I can’t figure it out, mothball it and come up with something else.
- Find a way to shorten my reviews, if only to satisfy the silent majority who only read the first paragraph, the last paragraph, and look at the pictures.
- Actually work on improving my writing, if only to satisfy myself. I’m guessing nobody will notice.
- Maybe meet a second Hong Kong Entertainment personality. I’m guessing another member of Alive. I’m also guessing probably not Daniel Wu.
- To throw something at Wong Jing if I see him this year. I bought multiple copies of Cop Shop Babes for this reason only.
- To bring back the April Fool’s Edition. Maybe Ekin will run again for President.
- Be less concerned over the site’s Alexa ranking. Really, does Alexa actually mean anything?
- Get back to work on that LoveHKFilm.com revamp. I’m predicting it’ll be done by 2012.
- Sleep more.
Plus, I’d like to make an earnest attempt at reviewing this film:
To make this film, they placed the rim seven feet off the ground.
More than anything, I’d like to somehow find the determination to keep the whole machine running - and by that, I’m talking about everything, including my job, my social life, my minor hobbies, this blog, LoveHKFilm.com, and the Democratic party. Already things seem to be stacking up. Lots of movies are coming out, my job responsibilities won’t be changing much, I have a zillion ideas for blog entries, and there’s going to be an election. I’m hoping to get 2 hours of sleep per night.
When I face challenges, I make this face too.
On another note, I spent my New Year checking out Andy Lau in concert. Here are some pictures from my seat. They’re small.
Andy Lau misplaced his shirt before the concert.
Andy sits in support of the Writer’s Guild of America
Andy sings while piloting a Segway.
The event was important to me because I finally got to see a concert with one of the Heavenly Kings (Andy, Jacky, Aaron and Leon, and not those boys from Alive), meaning I now have only 3 more to go to complete the series. Sadly, I missed both Aaron’s and Jacky’s concerts. I haven’t missed Leon, but something tells me I would if it happened. It may never be.
Seeing Andy Lau is a trip. I don’t think there is a Hong Kong entertainment personality who works harder at pleasing his fans than Andy Lau. Not only does the guy perform for nearly 3 hours without a break (No guest singer!), but he performs from great heights, runs around like a madman, does all his own stunts, and even gives himself shock therapy during the concert!
Andy Lau uses Force Lightning on his back-up dancers.
Honestly, after seeing him in concert, I now have a deeper respect for the man, his tireless work ethic, and his amazingly sharp features. Way to go, Andy!
I still won’t buy a CYMA watch though.
“What about some bottled green tea?
My bare chest says you must buy some tea!”
No.
“Come on! Please?”
Well…
“Look, I’ll do some push-ups on this bar! Buy a green tea!”
Okay fine, Andy. You win. I’ll buy a case of your green tea, and I’ll also buy your new album, too! Happy now?
“Yes! Still got it!”
There’s just no refusing Andy Lau. From now on, we’re going to run his tea ads for free.
Buy some tea. It’ll make your whites whiter.
Note: Some photos of Andy Lau in concert taken from Yahoo.com.hk
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:10 am
Happy New Year to you!
January 4th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Happy New Year to you too.
I always liked the weirdly awesome window given to you by new technology because you are (for a brief period of time, but still…) on the cutting edge and you are satisfied with what you own. 
Enjoy it my friend, I think you deserve it.
Congratulations on the HP.
If you were to meet an Alive boy, I hear that Conroy Chan is always usually with wifey Josie Ho. So if you meet him, you might meet her too. Hehehe. At least that’s what I’ve observed from people who’ve met him.
And now that you’ve mentioned it, I’d like to run into a celebrity too. The only one I’ve spotted this year is Charlie Yeung. And Lisa S, who is apparently not photogenic because she’s much prettier in person.
January 6th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Happy New Year Kozo!
I was going to comment on other things but I was distracted by Andy in white-with-black-suspenders. :$
Anyway, a toast to a new year!
It seems like I enjoy reading your thoughts and reviews much more than actually watching the movies. I blame work. 
January 7th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Happy New Year, sah.
If you’re really in need of ideas for this blog (can’t shake the scepticism myself), think comedy. The to-ing and fro-ing with Andy up there had this humble reader in stitches.
P.S. What film was that ‘Anthony Wong of the Verbosity Police’ picture plucked from? My instincts say a Hollywood foray, but I can’t be sure. ^^;
January 8th, 2008 at 10:08 am
I mostly only read the skinny, the last paragraph and look at the pictures. You were almost right on this one. And happy new year.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Yay, a member of the silent majority has spoken! I must admit to some disappointment that people skip around when reading the site’s reviews, but that can’t be helped, I suppose. Sometimes I think this site would be more popular if everything were reduced to 300 words. At least I’d be able to watch more movies instead of spending all my time writing.
Dansk, the Anthony Wong picture is from his part in the upcoming Mummy 3: Curse of the Dragon, or whatever they’re calling it this week. And comedy is hard. We can’t all be Grady Hendrix or Sanney Leung. I have a hard enough time being me.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Dear Kozo,
Happy New Year (very belatedly)! TO echo what the other readers have said, I *do* notice when things happen on this site. It’s fantastic and you’re doing a great job. Keep it up!
January 10th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Hi Kozo! How’s it going? I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and enjoying 2008 so far. I know, I haven’t been around these parts in ages. Was hoping for a Life with Kozo update so when I checked in again I was surprised that you’re doing a blog now. What? Kozo, following trends?! *Gasp* Say it isn’t so.
From those Andy concert photos above it looks like this site is still in fine form hehe. Nice to see some of the old regulars still posting. I really appreciate the reviews you write, despite your not having time even for yourself. This site will always be special to me as it has deepened and broadened my interest in HK and Asian films in more ways than one. I hope you keep it up for as long as you can.
January 11th, 2008 at 5:35 am
What’s with the partiality for meeting with another celebrity who is part of Alive? There’s always Terence who seems like a nice enough fella. Maybe you’d have to give him some kind of award first though to reel him in.
I’ve got a Best of 2007 on my blog. One particular HK entertainment personality was lucky enough to have made my acquaintance.
The first 2 paragraphs (not just the first one) and the closing paragraphs of your reviews are usually the ones I pay careful attention to. ;D
January 11th, 2008 at 9:52 am
A friend of mine has 3/4 of Alive on his mobile phone, so the chances of meeting one of them is higher for me than, say, Andy Lau. Not that I calculate such things - like much of the non-review stuff on this website, it wasn’t an entirely serious statement.
I do believe that a majority of the site visitors barely read the reviews, which is slightly disappointing because the writers put a lot of care into writing them. Then again, they’re just reviews. It’d be worse if people just saw the first 10 minutes of a film and then skipped to the end. Still, some movies may actually be better that way.
Which HK entertainment personality did you meet?
January 11th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I’d like to think that people would skip the plot descriptions and read everything else, but I guess they like knowing the plots more than opinions.
If anyone wanted to know, I put the most effort (as in how I really feel about a film) into the paragraphs after the plot description.
But of course, all of them require a degree of effort, and we reviewers would like people to read the whole thing. At least we took the effort to watch those movies in their entirety.
January 12th, 2008 at 2:24 am
this is going to sound bad because 1) i am one of those ppl who reads the skinny and last paragraph (this part less so) 2) use the reviews to build my hk movie collection!
though having said that i have to add the subtext that i consider myself a passionate hk cinema fan. so much so (not in a bragging way) that if any review sounds like a 6/10 (or better obviously), interesting, or features artists/filmmakers i like, i would go out and seek them or at least take note. basically if you get my drift, i’m not nitpicking which ones to download or not!
anyways secondly, like what TheGoldenRock has said, i skip the main parts of the reviews because although i’m sure you try your best to not give away spoilers etc, you er do. i’m not critising because it’s a given in a more-than-one-paragraph review. i like to watch my films with a neutral/not knowing mentality and be told the story or witness the film on screen. if anything the very first thing i do after watching a dvd..is actually go onto this site and read the review in full length - and find myself agreeing, nodding and laughing in somes 90% of the time.
i seem to do this ‘process’ periodically and sometimes make mental lists of which films to buy etc
January 12th, 2008 at 2:32 am
(whoops pressed enter before i finished above)
i seem to do this ‘process’ periodically and sometimes make mental lists of which films to buy etc that will span over several months!
2nd annnyways, the comments here got me distracted to what i wanted to originally comment about. considering the ppl involved how come there is no review of the film ’shamo’?
is it a simple reason like the film hasn’t been released yet? something along the lines of it doing an ‘exiled’ and doing the rounds at film festivals before been premiered at hk?
btw this is not a keyboard warrior ‘i demand to know why there isn’t a review of this film?!’ thang..
cheers.
January 12th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Considering I don’t watch most of the HK and Other films reviewed here, I do actually read the whole review if I’m interested in the film. So your efforts are entirely appreciated. Like I said elsewhere, they’re on the long-ish side but I can appreciate all the impressions and analyses that you’re trying to put forth. ;D
For the ones I’m not interested in, I read the captions that appears on the home page here.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting all the Alive members.
Have a nice day!
January 14th, 2008 at 1:27 am
I fully understand not reading reviews. To be completely honest, I don’t read many reviews regularly, for the simple reason that I don’t want my experience necessarily spoiled either. If it’s a reviewer I absolutely trust, then I’ll read the whole thing. There are times, however, where I’ll read a review from someone I’ve never read before and immediately regret it. Frankly, it happens more often than I would like.
In the case of Hong Kong movie reviews, I read very few, in large part because I have to write them myself. Usually I’ll check out other reviews after I’ve written my own. In the case of Korean/Japan films, however, I usually go in armed with an opinion from a site or reviewer I trust.
About Shamo, the film hasn’t screened theatrically in Hong Kong. It’s been screened for foreign sales, but from what I hear, it’s not a very good movie. It probably also screened in Taiwan because it qualified for some Golden Horse Awards. I’ll see it when it gets released in Hong Kong. I seem to recall hearing that a release could occur in March, but we’ll see.