[Music] Theme Song of The Legend of the Condor Heroes (1983) -- Roman Tam and Jenny Tseng

Poster for The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017)

Yang Xuwen (male) and Li Yitong (female)

Meng Ziyi (female) and Chen Xingxu (male)

Roman Tam

 Jenny Tseng

1. I have watched the first 12 of the 52 episodes of the Chinese TV drama "The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017)" and am very impressed by the beauty of the camera works.

It is a visual experience.

"The Legend of the Condor Heroes" ("射鵰英雄傳") is a Chinese novel by Louis Cha and this novel has been adapted into movies 6 times and into TV series 7 times.

In terms of TV series, the 1983 production by Hong Kong's TVB is the gold standard by which other TV series are compared.

The 2017 TV series is a remake of the 1983 Hong Kong TVB production.

I have watched the 1983 Hong Kong TV series and like what I have watched so far of this 2017 remake; I will probably finish watching the rest of it.


2. ("The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Wikipedia):

"The Legend of the Condor Heroes is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It is the first part of the Condor Trilogy and is followed by The Return of the Condor Heroes and The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. It was first serialised between 1 January 1957 and 19 May 1959 in Hong Kong Commercial Daily. Jin Yong revised the novel twice, first in the 1970s and later in the 2000s. The English title is a mistranslation since both species of the condor, the Andean condor and Californian condor, are not native to China. A more accurate translation is Story of the Eagle Shooting Hero."


3. ("The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017 TV series)", Wikipedia):

"The Legend of the Condor Heroes is a Chinese television series adapted from Louis Cha's novel of the same title and a remake of the 1983 Hong Kong television series based on the same novel. The series was directed by Jeffrey Chiang and starred Yang Xuwen, Li Yitong, Chen Xingxu and Meng Ziyi in the lead roles. It started airing on Dragon TV in mainland China on 9 January 2017, and on TVB Jade in Hong Kong on 8 May 2017."


4. Since it is a remake of the 1983 TV series, the 2017 series also uses the theme song of the 1983 original as its opening and ending theme songs.

The 1983 series is produced for the Cantonese speaking Hong Kong market and the 2017 remake is produced for the Putonghua speaking China market and because the lyrics are written for Cantonese pronunciation, the song will not sound right if sung in Putonghua.

The producers for the 2017 TV series appropriately use an instrumental version of the song as the opening and ending theme songs; but I wish the opening and ending theme songs are longer like the original.


5. The name of the 1983 theme song in Chinese is "鐵血丹心".

"鐵" : Iron.

"血" : Blood.

"丹" : Red.

"心" : Heart.

The phrase "鐵血丹心" symbolizes patriotism and is an allusion to the background of the novel "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" which is set against the conflicts between the Sung dynasty (Chinese), Jin dynasty (Jurchen), and the Mongols.

This song is a duet by Roman Tam and Jenny Tseng.


6. The 2017 instrumental version of the song followed by the 1983 Cantonese original:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFMT3tFiYsM

The video is consisted of scenes from the 2017 TV series.


7. The 1983 Cantonese original with pictures from the 1983 TV series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDGu0uYPunc

The lyrics sung in Putonghua with videos from the 2017 TV series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKAfjuMv6qg

Since Cantonese and Putonghua are pronounced differently and the lyrics written for Cantonese, the Putonghua version of the song does not sound right.


8. The 1983 Cantonese original:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAh7nmvcXMA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QDjUvbXkoo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AprlDAOo-xk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfKHpj02RE4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLhtVexM9SA

and many more in YouTube.


9. The 2017 instrumental version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPU8dUHu-T8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkT5B9zstW8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_9ve9C-fdA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBnn9fsQgG0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATPzUQ_NDho

and many more in YouTube.


10. Other instrumentals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8mAgfQHPLA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uypb6IulyEs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGD4xAK98Mw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMIFxac0_yY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNSP4f2yZuU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhA01KpdQK4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEltThzXD8E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ2eDOgvzqE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q4tSBy7rKw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UerKYkvZsVk

and many more in YouTube.


11. Three other songs from the 2017 TV series:

The Soul of Swords ("剑魂") by Well Lee:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiy7PJo2dqA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ce6JGM0MsU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1_cxSau4h8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9PI5zHRQrQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJBWq-vU50A


Whom Have You Loved ("爱过谁") by Shang Wenjie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEhc9A5QhUc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGA9MnjEwzc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPAwmSNHNQQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfs1taBOlyA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5trY_jjcGNY


Under the Heaven ("江湖天下") by Silence Wong:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58xvTOtXqLk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t5u-Ns9X78

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq6wYks5Q-4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5hMbnKqts0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abmlnsYKjHQ


12. The Lyrics in Traditional Chinese:

鐵血丹心 -- 羅文 & 甄妮

作曲：顧嘉輝
作詞：鄧偉雄
編曲：顧嘉輝

女：依稀往夢似曾見   心內波瀾現
男：拋開世事斷愁怨
合：相伴到天邊

* 男：逐草四方沙漠蒼茫   那懼雪霜撲面
女：冷風吹   天蒼蒼   籐樹相連

# 男：射鵰引弓塞外奔馳   笑傲此生無厭倦
女：猛風沙   野茫茫   籐樹兩纏綿

@ 男：天蒼蒼   野茫茫   萬般變幻
女：應知愛意是流水   斬不斷理還亂

& 合：身經百劫也在心間   恩義兩難斷

Repeat *, #, @, &, &


13. The Lyrics in Simplified Chinese:

铁血丹心 -- 罗文 & 甄妮

作曲：顾嘉辉
作词：邓伟雄
编曲：顾嘉辉

女：依稀往梦似曾见   心内波澜现
男：抛开世事断愁怨
合：相伴到天边

* 男：逐草四方沙漠苍茫   那惧雪霜扑面
女：冷风吹   天苍苍   藤树相连

# 男：射雕引弓塞外奔驰   笑傲此生无厌倦
女：猛风沙   野茫茫   藤树两缠绵

@ 男：天苍苍   野茫茫   万般变幻
女：应知爱意是流水   斩不断理还乱

& 合：身经百劫也在心间   恩义两难断

Repeat *, #, @, &, &


14. Names, Words and Phrases:

Chen Xingxu (Traditional Chinese: 陳星旭; Simplified Chinese: 陈星旭).

Dragon TV (Traditional: 東方衛視; Simplified: 东方卫视).

Jeffrey Chiang (Traditional: 蔣家駿; Simplified: 蒋家骏).

Jenny Tseng (Traditional: 甄妮; Simplified: 甄妮).

Jin Dynasty (Traditional: 金朝; Simplified: 金朝).

Jin Yong (Traditional: 金庸; Simplified: 金庸).

Jurchen (Traditional: 女真; Simplified: 女真).

Li Yitong (Traditional: 李一桐; Simplified: 李一桐).

Louis Cha (Traditional: 查良鏞; Simplified: 查良镛).

Meng Ziyi (Traditional: 孟子義; Simplified: 孟子义).

Mongols (Traditional: 蒙古; Simplified: 蒙古).

Roman Tam (Traditional: 羅文; Simplified: 罗文).

Shang Wenjie (Traditional: 尚雯婕; Simplified: 尚雯婕).

Silence Wong (Traditional: 汪蘇瀧; Simplified: 汪苏泷).

Sung Dynasty (Traditional: 宋朝; Simplified: 宋朝).

The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (Traditional: 倚天屠龍記; Simplified: 倚天屠龙记).

The Return of the Condor Heroes (Traditional: 神鵰俠侶; Simplified: 神雕侠侣).

TVB Jade (Traditional: TVB 翡翠台; Simplified: TVB 翡翠台).

Well Lee (Traditional: 李煒; Simplified: 李炜).

Wuxia novel (Traditional: 武俠小說; Simplified: 武侠小说).

Yang Xuwen (Traditional: 楊旭文; Simplified: 杨旭文).


References:

"The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_the_Condor_Heroes
(accessed 2017-05-31).

"The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017 TV series)", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_the_Condor_Heroes_(2017_TV_series)
(accessed 2017-05-31).

"射鵰英雄傳 (2017年電視劇)", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E5%B0%84%E9%9B%95%E8%8B%B1%E9%9B%84%E4%BC%A0_(2017%E5%B9%B4%E7%94%B5%E8%A7%86%E5%89%A7)
(accessed 2017-05-31).

End.

[Music] Adult's Law -- Doughnuts Hole

Poster for Quartet ("カルテット") (2017)

1. Adult's Law (Japanese: おとなの掟) (Otona no Okite) is the theme song of the Japanese TV drama Quartet ("カルテット") (2017).

This 10 episodes TV drama aired weekly in Japan between January 17, 2017 and March 21, 2017.

The four main characters formed a string quartet in the TV drama called "Doughnuts Hole" and the theme song is credited to Doughnuts Hole.


2. There are more Asian TV dramas produced each year than I can possibly watched and choosing what to watch is often a hit or miss affair.

I sometimes skim the first two episodes of a TV drama to see if I like it enough to watch the rest; other times I look at the user ratings on different websites to look for what to watch.

In the case of Quartet (2017), it was by word of mouth: One of my younger brothers recommended this TV drama to me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this TV drama.

Not only is one of the lead actresses, Takako Matsu, one of my favourite Japanese actresses, the script of this drama is very sophisticated.

When I watched the first episode for the first time, I knew I was missing some of the storylines.

I have to watch the first episode a second time to know what was going on.

As a matter of fact, I have watched the first episode a third and fourth time for the pure enjoyment of it.

And the rest of Quartet (2017) did not disappoint either.


3. The four actors that formed the string quartet Doughnuts Hole are:

Takako Matsu (松 たか子) (as Maki Maki);

Ryuhei Matsuda (松田 龍平) (as Tsukasa Beppu);

Hikari Mitsushima (満島ひかり) (as Suzume Sebuki);

Issei Takahashi (高橋 一生) (as Yutaka Iemori).


4. Adult's Law ("おとなの掟") (Otona no Okite) by Doughnuts Hole:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwg6ILsn8cI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axOgPDYWOzY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz7X_NtsuFg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbfAwJwNWXE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q7l0B4jZQQ


5. Other covers of Adult's Law: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6KFSiIXLeo
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TAXt7QQ7tg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIqXiOuCwd8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8STVBxEuiXY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_QYcE3VBn8


References:

"Quartet (TV Series)", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartet_(TV_Series)
(accessed 2017-05-16).

"Quartet (2017)", DramaWiki,
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Quartet_(2017)
(accessed 2017-05-16).

End.

[Quotation] Alvin Plantinga -- Are All Truth Claims Interpretations Only?

Alvin Plantinga

1. Since the encounter with Logical Positivism in Twentieth Century Western philosophy, testing a truth claim to see if it is self-referentially coherent has become standard fare for a beginning philosophy student.

("Logical positivism", Wikipedia): "Logical positivism and logical empiricism, which together formed neopositivism, was a movement in Western philosophy whose central thesis was verificationism, a theory of knowledge which asserted that only statements verifiable through empirical observation are cognitively meaningful."

Attempting to use science to rule out metaphysics and religion as meaningless, the logical positivists introduced the Verification Principle.

("Verificationism", Wikipedia):

"Verificationism, also known as the verification principle or the verifiability criterion of meaning, is the philosophical doctrine that only statements that are empirically verifiable (i.e. verifiable through the senses) are cognitively meaningful, or else they are truths of logic (tautologies)."

"Verificationism thus rejects as cognitively 'meaningless' statements specific to entire fields such as metaphysics, theology, ethics and aesthetics. Such statements may be meaningful in influencing emotions or behavior, but not in terms of truth value, information or factual content. Verificationism was a central thesis of logical positivism, a movement in analytic philosophy that emerged in the 1920s by the efforts of a group of philosophers who sought to unify philosophy and science under a common naturalistic theory of knowledge."

"The verifiability criterion underwent various revisions throughout the 1920s to 1950s, but, by the 1960s, was deemed to be irreparably untenable. Its abandonment signaled the end of the entire movement launched by logical positivism."

The reason why the verification principle is irreparably untenable is simple: It suffered self-referential problems.

Verification Principle: Only statements that are empirically verifiable (i.e. verifiable through the senses) are cognitively meaningful, or else they are truths of logic (tautologies).

If we apply the Verification Principle to itself, we find that by its own standard the Verification Principle is cognitively meaningless.

The Verification Principle itself is not something that can be empirically verifiable through the senses and it is also not a truth of logic, so by its own criterion it is cognitively meaningless.

2. Many claims also suffered self-referential problems.

One such is a version of relativism which claims that there are no truths: all truth claims are interpretations only.

In the following brief quotation, which is part of a book review, Alvin Plantinga deftly disposes of this relativist claim.

(Plantinga 1987, 22):

"There is much to be said about this (most of it not flattering), but I won't take the time to say it. The basic idea here seems to be the notion, familiar in some varieties of continental philosophy, that whatever we think or believe is only a hermeneusis or interpretation, to which there are equally satisfactory alternatives. No matter what you believe on any important matter, there are alternatives to your belief that are quite as valid and acceptable. Indeed, for any belief you hold, its denial will be just as valid or satisfactory as it is."

"Of course if this is true, then Christianity, despite Sheehan's confident pronouncements, is as good an interpretation as any other. Thus Sheehan winds up (p.223) having to concede that Christianity is as acceptable an interpretation or hermeneusis as any other, and, indeed, as true as any other -- Sheehan's own interpretation, for example. (How we are to understand that is a bit puzzling, since Christianity and what Sheehan proposes are clearly inconsistent; but then Sheehan neither says nor suggests that ordinary logic is part of his interpretation.) Self-referential problems loom here. The fundamental claim seems to be that all we can ever have are equally acceptable if conflicting interpretations. But then, of course, if this claim is true, then it is itself just one more interpretation, and it is no better or closer to the truth than alternatives -- for example, its denial. If all is interpretation, then this idea itself has no more to be said for it than the contrary idea that some interpretations are vastly preferable and vastly closer to the truth than others. If all is interpretation to which there are equally satisfactory alternatives, then this very claim is an interpretation to which there are equally satisfactory alternatives: one can take it or leave it. As for me and my house, I think we'll leave it."

References:

"Logical positivism", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_positivism
(accessed 2017-05-12).

"Verificationism", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verificationism
(accessed 2017-05-12).

Plantinga, Alvin. 1987. "Sheehan's Shenanigans: How theology becomes tomfoolery". The Reformed Journal 37, no.4 (April): 19-25.

End.