Miss Universe 2010 Quick Update

OMG! So many shocks this year! I can't believe some girls were excluded but I'm happy for Miss Mexico, she's not my absolute favourite and I prefer Miss Jamaica but in the end I'm happy for her, in such an eventful year. Post later if possible.

Miss Universe 2010 Final Preview

So Miss Universe is tomorrow. I've been following this since the start and tbh I still don't have an outright favourite of mine. The first year I followed Miss Universe was 2007 where I supported Honey Lee (Korea), in 2008 it was Marianne Cruz (Dominican Republic) and in 2009 I supported Stefania Fernandez (Venezuela, the eventual winner) but this year I'm not sure I have a sentimental favourite, I have about 10 girls I like a lot but nobody out of the 10 really stands out as my No.1. Sadly I haven't been able to watch the prelims which is a shame but anyway here are my Top 10.

Top 10 in no particular order

Colombia - I actually finally see the nose thing, anyway I think she's fierce and will "rip!" the runway.

Jamaica - I like her look and how sweet yet sassy she looks.

Philippines - Not the prettiest but very engaging, natural charms.

Puerto Rico - She's like a doll

Russia - Beautiful 

Trinidad and Tobago - Fresh and liked her since the start

Venezuela - The nose does get on nerves but besides that she is actually near perfect 

Ireland - Whilst I'm not as deeply in love with her as some fanatics are I like her, she's different - but I actually don't like her mouth. Her eyes are mesmerising though. 

France - I didn't like her at the start but I like her now (actually since I saw her at Roland Garros, I think)

Mexico - I also didn't like her at the start but she has built her way up with me.

I originally wanted to make a Top 5, Top 10 etc etc but as my Top 5 had 8 candidates I decided to add two more girls to make a top 10.

The 5 others making my Top 15 were a much harder process, in fact I haven't actually got a list. The following two girls are definitely going to make my Top 15.

Israel, Great Britain (it's not only about patriotism here)

The other 3 are much harder atm the list for those 3 include

Australia, Japan, Honduras, Thailand, Korea, Poland, Czech Republic, Malaysia, Ghana, Norway, Slovak Republic, Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, USA, Greece, Bahamas, India, Brazil, Belgium, Curacao, Haiti, Canada, Panama, Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru

Yes a lot of girls are fighting for my final 3 places! Basically anyone not listed here are girls I don't really want in my Top 15 - which includes Albania (who is in a lot of Top 15 lists) I just don't like her look. 42 girls! Basically everybody in my Top half can make my Top 15 atm.

I hope the winner will come from my Top 10 list, it would be a shock if it wasn't.

Anyway here are my predictions for the night, a difficult decision...

Top 15

Japan - I'm a bit iffy on this one but I think she may just scrape through

Venezuela - She'll get in but I think she won't get far - a three-peat is possible but very unlikely for MU

Poland - I have a feeling she'll make it on the Trump list

Switzerland - I think she'll be another trump card

Tanzania - I think she is for some reason the most plausible African candidate to make the Top 15 - I don't think Africa will be totally excluded

Top 10

Albania - I hate to say it but there is normally one of these type of girls that gets through (girls I don't like but are loved by others and the judges)

France - I think she'll get in but won't make it to the Top 5

Jamaica - I see a Chloe Mortaud performance in her

Ireland - I don't know why but I can't see her answering the final question, unless she looks very sophisticated on the final night

Peurto Rico - Yet again I don't know why I can't see her answering the final question

USA - If you look at her Miss USA performance she scraped in both times, it'll be harder here

following properly? Then you'll realise I had 6 in my Top 10!

Top 5

Colombia - I just think if she makes the Top 15 it'll be hard to exclude her from the Top 5

Russia - There needs to be somebody demure looking in the Final 5

Mexico - I'm not actually convinced she'll make the Top 5 - in fact I think it may be unlikely but as I had 7 girls in my Top 10 I had to choose 2 to make it in here.

Philippines - I think she'll make the Top 15 and if she does she'll make the Top 5. However it's possible she'll be missing from the Top 15 list as well.

Weirdly enough I don't see any of my 4 girls from my Top 5 winning!

Alternative 10:

Australia

Canada

Czech Republic

Finland

Haiti

Korea

Norway

Panama

Slovak Republic

Trinidad and Tobago

This year is so hard to predict, I'll be happy if I make 7 out of 15 right.

See you on the 23rd :)

A Pillowcase of Mystery

Before I go into my nominations I want to say one thing - why was Jessica Hsuan's character only 20? Sorry I just can't accept how the series manages to cast Jessica as a 20 year old - I understand why Jessica was cast but please don't ridiculously make the characters so young! And Bobby Au Yeung's character is 30! It seems that TVB doesn't mind cutting off 15-20 years off an actor/actress. The character's could easily have been mid 30's and mid 20's to make it slightly more realistic.

Also I don't actually like this series that much, I find it confusing why this series scores higher ratings because I don't find it much better than series such as "In the eye of the beholder". The ending was not very interesting imo.

Anyway here are my nominations

Best Actor

No Nominations

This may be shocking to some as it is also shocking to me but I've decided to not nominate Bobby. He was the best actor in this series but I still don't think he was interesting enough to be nominated as Best Actor (maybe Best Supporting lol) I just found his portrayal repetitive and actually slightly odd. I am a self confessed Bobby fan so there is no bias whatsoever I believe in my judgement.

Best Actress

Jessica Hsuan

I do think Jessica was better than Bobby in this series because she was more natural in my opinion. I just felt that a lot of Bobby's expressions were too overdone. I was however slightly disappointed with Jessica. I still think at times Jessica is about to burst out laughing in her scenes, it's something to do with her eyes, she slightly cocks one of them at points which just doesn't look very natural if you are really sad.

Best Supporting Actor

Joel Chan

I don't think Joel was a great actor in this series but he was memorable and provided good comic relief at times. I think his faults actually worked quite well with his goofy character.

Best Supporting Actress

Leila Tong

Leila always does well in her series but for some reason she isn't that memorable - I think it's the problem with the characters she portrays.

Recognition Award

Cha Cha Chan

She just stood out in this drama for some reason. I really hope she gets bigger roles in the future.

Sorry for the bad pic

Rosanne Lui

I like Rosanne, she also did well in this series I think. She needs some recognition.

A Fistful of Stances

I have decided to at least keep this blog until the end of this year to continue with my blogging of TVB's series this year. A Fistful of Stances has been named one of the best series this year, finally I finished watching it and I have to agree. It's not perfect but it was definitely a very good drama and definitely the best I have watched atm. I think this story succeeds because it was generally well paced, I found that many dramas this year started off well but ended in a dump. Anyway here are my nominations.

Best Actor

Kenneth Ma

Kenneth has always been one of my favourite TVB actors, last year I thought was a really strong year for Kenneth and it seems like he's growing from strength to strength as his next drama is "Can't Buy Me Love" which I'm sure will get decent ratings. His performance in "A Fistful of Stances" was likeable but also very witty - I consider him the main lead for this series as I believe he had more screen time than Kevin Cheng, he definitely handled his first major lead very well (Of course he has been a lead actor before but this series I consider to be his biggest role ever). Hopefully he'll be recognised this year as a Top 5 nominee for Best Actor.

Best Actress

Tavia Yeung

I listed her under Best Actress because I believe she played a major role in the story. Yes she may have only played the younger years of Kenneth's mother but I think that there are scenes in that section as important as the current time. I do think Tavia was one of the best actors in this series so she definitely deserves this nomination.

Selena Li

Ok I may be a bit biased on this one because I love Selena but I still think she performed really well. Yes there were times when she wasn't too strong but the overall performance was strong imo. I also liked her portrayal a lot, maybe she was elevated by Kenneth Ma's performance but I found her chemistry with Kenneth really shined in this series.

Best Supporting Actor

Dominic Lam

To be honest I think Dominic wasn't very strong when portraying his earlier years but I think he did a decent job as a villain. There were definitely some emotional scenes where he could have been a bit more into it but I think he had a strong performance.

Ram Tseung

I'm nominating him mainly because I felt that his "see fu" role was very believable, the other parts could have been stronger but I genuinely thought he was a skilful martial artist in some of those scenes.

Best Supporting Actress

Natalie Tong

Whilst I think Natalie could have done better I think she handled the big emotional scenes very well, with a lot of emotion and passion. However it was the normal day to day scenes which I think let her down a bit but overall this is definitely one of her breakthrough performances - hopefully she'll be considered more for future series.

Kara Hui

Kara has been a favourite of mine since a long time ago. I love how her roles in TVB have gradually become more interesting as before she always played the one dimensional "kung fu por". The scenes where she went insane were definitely very emotional - I felt so sad for her. I loved how her character struggled between doing good or evil.

Nancy Wu

Whilst I think Nancy's character was utterly pointless I think the few scenes she was in she played fantastically. Nancy has never ceased to amaze me with her performances, she plays these alternative characters very well - it's a shame she hasn't been rising in popularity since her win.

Angela Tong

I think Angela is becoming very good at "ancient dramas". She just seems perfect for these roles and I'm beginning to fall in love. I think she did really well in this role and would love to see her in similar but more diverse roles.

Best Couple

Selena Li and Kenneth Ma

I loved their scenes - Kenneth manages to act the sweet scenes much better than Kevin does, there was a genuine connection I felt between their coupling but with Kevin and Natalie I felt it was all too dramatic. I loved how the last scene was dedicated to them two as to me they were definitely the main leads in this drama.

Most Improved Actor

Alex Lam

I want Alex to be recognised in this drama but I don't think he did well enough for me to nominate as best supporting either so he's now Most Improved, well actually I do think he has improved because he was much more interesting to watch in this portrayal.

Favourite Male Character

Kenneth Ma

How can you not love the guy who manages to always solve every problem and talk his way out of everything. His character was very interesting as there were many different faces of his character which were portrayed e.g. his strong protective manner contrasting with his asthmatic attacks and his love for Selena despite his hatred of his dad. Things like these made his character very likeable and genuine.

Favourite Female Character

Selena Li

I don't know whether it was Kenneth's pairing with her character which made me like her character so much or if it was her gradual acceptance and discovery of her dad's evil deeds, but at the moment her character is one of my favourites.

Most Annoying Character

Dominic Lam

I really wanted to hit him when he was portraying his younger self!

Recognition Award

Eileen Yeow

I actually quite think her portrayal was great but I decided to nominate her in this award instead.

Chung King Fai

I actually found him kind of annoying at times but when he was nice and when he helped his students to no end I really got to like his character.

Shirley Yeung

I don't think this portrayal was strong enough for an award but I like how Shirley is participating in more and different types of roles nowadays.

Miss Hong Kong 2010

Hi guys, I think my blogging here is slowly going to cease. I'm just deflated by all the spam comments I'm getting. I think I'll have to find another refuge for my writing as I no longer feel happy about posting things on this blog.

Anyway my main purpose today is to talk about Miss Hong Kong 2010, I know it has been a while but I really needed some time on this one. The results were definitely controversial for Hong Kong. I wasn't over the moon with the results but I was Ok with them.

Firstly the 3 winners. I think No. 13 Toby Chan is a decent winner. She isn't the prettiest of delegates but she is Ok looking. She is by far the most eloquent of the 15 girls and answers questions with wit and intelligence. I think what made her sparkle was her Q&A round. Actually the girl who has sparked the least controversy is the girl I think shouldn't have made it. I don't find No.15 attractive nor do I think her Q&A was particularly good - I'm utterly confused why she isn't getting some negative comments whilst the other two are. Whilst No.5 is by far the girl given the most hate. I actually quite like her, to me she seems like a shy but sincere girl. Yes at angles she may look a bit plain but I don't think any girl in this competition doesn't have a bad angle. I just find it rude to disregard her performance when in my opinion she did quite well overall.

This year could really have reversed the tides on MHK spiralling downwards but sadly I felt the results weren't able to do that.

However whilst I say that I was definitely shocked with the results. I also don't understand the Final 4 thing? That just doesn't seem logical. I think it would have been better to do a Final 10 then a Final 5 with one or two rounds in between. The way that TVB did it I'd much prefer they just went straight into a Final 4. I also felt that the Swimsuit and Q&A should have been split and I think there weren't enough segments for us to clearly judge the girls. The dance segment was utter useless and the modelling segment could have been spiced up a bit.

Anyway my perfect Top 8 would have included 1,5,7,8,9,10,13,14

Ok I omitted No.2 because I think she was slightly fake - I think she had a decent night but she wasn't as instantly likeable as some other girls.

No.3 was omitted because I thought she was the worst girl on the night - her Q&A was ok (as in not the worst) but I still believe she wasn't deserving of a Top 8

No.4 - even though she has the same surname as me I didn't really like her.

No.6 - forgettable.

No. 11 - Elle was the press favourite but I have always found her features to be rather awkward. I liked her but I honestly thought the competition this year was just above her. A Top 8 was hard to pick.

No.12 - Ria was my early favourite but tonight she just looked awful and performed averagely on top of that.

No. 15 - As I have said.

Then My Top 4 would have been; 7,8,10,13

This wasn't an easy process;

1. I liked Alice, she was reasonably pretty and she actually reminded me a bit of Mandy Cho but I chose to eliminate her because her performance on the day wasn't memorable enough.

5. I also like Lisa and I felt she did well on the night. She was just marginally squeezed out by me as I don't think she looks very MHK.

9. This was a difficult one. I love Crystal but I think her physique lets her down hugely. I think she and No.13 did the best on the Q&A but I don't think Crystal was as strong throughout the night. She would have been in my Top 5.

14. Yet again I like Kitty but there wasn't a strong enough reason to keep her as far as the Top 4.

So based on pre pageant and the pageant itself my Top 3 would be...

2nd Runner Up: No.13 Toby Chan

1st Runner Up: No.8 Phoebe Pang

Winner: No.10 Queenie Ma

Sadly No.7 Krizia Ho lost out, the reason being I think she really didn't perform on the finals night. At times she looked lost but I really grew to like Krizia through the finals - pre pageant I thought she would be quite stuck up but during the night she just looked so genuine and sincere. On terms of favourites she would be right up there but sadly I don't think she was as strong as the others on the night.

Ok the Top 3. I actually thought Phoebe and Queenie's Q&A was much weaker than Toby and even Krizia's but personally I felt that Phoebe and Queenie had a good night overall. It was definitely a difficult year as I think there were girls that did well on the dance, catwalk etc segments and girls who excelled at the Q&A. I think this year really needed a Top 5 and that would have included 7,8,9,10,13 - in which I actually wouldn't really mind what combination made the final 3.

One interesting note; as I didn't watch this live I was trying to avoid all news of who were the winners. However I accidentally saw a piece of news with No.8 Phoebe Pang as the headline - at once I thought Ok, she probably won, I then heard on TV that No. 13 Toby Chan was one of the winners - making me confused on who the winner was - and then my dad comes up to me and said he heard from the news that someone with the surname "Lee" won, most probably be being No.9! It did make it more interesting to watch though :)