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Finding A New Doctor in British Columbia Part 1

Since our current doctor here in British Columbia is retiring it’s time to hunt for a new one, this is proving to be extremely challenging. I am going to record that journey on my blog.

The Current Situation

Like most places, there is a shortage of doctors in Canada. There are 1 million people without a doctor in British Columbia, and with a population of just over 5 million that equates to around 20%, that is a vast number. I’m confused about what politicians are doing to address this issue, maybe not a lot.

People I know are facing harsh consequences in this situation but also as a result of unprofessional health care providers. These are some small quotes on what I heard:

“My neighbour is disabled and needs a doctor’s sign-off on medication that is keeping her alive, however, without a doctor, this is an ongoing nightmare”
“I had no choice but to go with my current doctor but he only works half a day a week so it’s impossible to get an appointment with him.”
“I book an appointment with my doctor and wait around for 1 hour and 30 minutes but he never turns up as he decides it’s not worth coming in.”
“My doctor is 28km away, the nearest one I could find, and I can’t drive that far anymore due to my age.”
“I have to go to a walk-in clinic for my medical needs but they only allow me 10 minutes for a consultation for 1 issue only. It’s impossible to get an annual check-up in that amount of time.”

Finding a Doctor

The system of finding a doctor is also broken. For example, in the UK there is one central place to look for doctors that are taking on new patients, it’s very easy and centralized. So in BC:

There are multiple websites to find a doctor. None of them seems up to date. There is no consistency across the province.
There is a mix of dodgy websites that aren’t even run by an official entity, one I found even asking for a subscription, with people posting tips about doctors that are available. In Google, these sites are even ranked higher than official government entities.
The BC College of Family Physicians suggests a few methods. One is the Pathways Medical Care Directory but the information on there is not up to date and as I’ve found missing huge chunks of information are missing. Another is the local Division of Family Practice but when going on their mailing list you never hear of new doctor alerts just irrelevant information.
Medimap is another route in which I have found one lead, but that practice is many kilometres away.
Asking family or friends is another route, to join a practice as a patient, but no one wants to divulge who their doctor is these days. They assume they will become too busy to get to see themselves.
Other people have found that visiting a walk-in clinic 4 times, and the issues can be made up, means the doctors there are legally obliged to take you on. Sounds like a very dodgy route and not sure if this one is even true. I would have thought this is not the best way to find a doctor.

Summary

One thing we learnt before your current doctor goes it’s worth asking if they will retain their license, as long as they do the prescriptions they supply can be authorised by pharmacies. So, just prior to them leaving it might be worth asking for an extended prescription. At least that will provide some comfort room if you can’t find a doctor immediately.

So, soon I will discuss my first experience in trying to sign up with a doctor, it was a most unpleasant experience.

Steven2023-03-20T21:32:49+00:0020 March 2023|Health Care|

New Korean Melodrama Season

The new Korean daily soap, or melodrama, season is coming in March and April 2023.

I didn’t really get into the current shows that are running which include;

The Witch’s Game – The evil grandmother just got on my nerves and the other characters seemed out of place.
Vengeance of the Bride – The main evil character just couldn’t act and was out of place, although some of the other cast was good. The theme music at the end was quite annoying and thought that I could not listen to that again.
The Love in Your Eyes – I didn’t watch this show.

Woman in a Veil

The most interesting show, from the looks of it, appears to be “Woman in a Veil” (비밀의 여자) which starts on 13 March airing on KBS2 for 100 episodes. In some notes I see it is promoted as a sequel to Man in a Veil but I think it’s more of a remake with a different story lines and characters.

Summary: A drama about a woman who loses her sight due to her husband and his lover and falls into ‘Locked-In Syndrome’ (conscious general paralysis) getting involved with an heiress who has everything and comes out for truth and revenge.

The following actors, who were in Man in a Veil, will be appearing in it, it sounds like a class reunion:

Lee Chae Young (이채영) as Joo Ae Ra
Played Han Yoo Ra on Main in a Veil.
Very talented actress and I’m looking forward to seeing her performance.

Kim Ye Eyung (김예령) as Cha Young Ban
Played Joon Seok’s Mother in Man in a Veil

Kim Hee Jung (김희정) as Seo Jeong Hye
Played Joo Hwa Yeon (Seo Joon’s Mother) in Man in a Veil
This great actress appears to be in everything these days.

Lee Min Ji (이민지) as Nam Yoo Ri
Played Joon Seok’s Sister in Man in a Veil

Choi Jae Sung (최재성) as Jung Hyeon Tae
Played Han Dae Cheol (Yoo Jung’s Father)

Hong Seok Cheon (홍석천) as a guest role
He played a Radio Producer in episode 1 and 2 of Man in a Veil
He is an openly gay actor, restaurateur and politician for the Democratic Labour Party. He is the most prominent openly gay celebrity in South Korea.
Instagram

My Gold My Jade

This romance, family melodrama starts n 27 March with 120 episodes.

Summary: A work about the delightful and heartbreaking story of a family growing up while raising a child, centering on a single dad Geum Kang San and adopted child Ok Mi Rae who is the apple of his eye.

One of the actors in the show is Kang Eun Tak (: 강은탁) as Geum Jeong San. He played Tae Pung in Man in a Veil. He is playing a support role in this which surprises me since he’s normally signed up for the lead in these daily melodrama’s. However, it will be good to see him back on screen.

In the support cast there are quite a few familiar faces from other melodrama’s. I cannot find a trailer for it yet.

Fate of Heaven

I don’t have a summary for it but it kicks off on MBC on 17 April. Not familiar with the cast but some of them have appeared in other melodrama’s before.

UPDATE 13 March 2023

Woman in a Veil will now start airing on 14 March 2023.

Steven2023-03-13T21:28:51+00:0028 February 2023|South Korea, Television|

Crossroads Hotel Parody

In order to improve my skills in Adobe products I create parodies of soap operas, namely the UK soap Crossroads, into US themes.

This latest one I created is based on the TV show Hotel, I recreated it from scratch placing Crossroads elements into it.

How I Did It

First, I created the still graphic elements in Adobe Photoshop, that is the wallpaper, photo frame, arches and so on.

I then found the Crossroads clips I wanted to use within the footage. Since much of the footage was old and grainy I cleaned them up in Adobe After Effects and exported them as HD MP4. There was only one clip that didn’t really work out but I still used it.

I tried to match the font used in the Hotel TV show, but I couldn’t get an exact duplicate so just decided on Times New Roman. Close enough.

Most of the non-Crossroads video is from Royalty Free libraries, particularly Pexels. They have some awesome stuff on that site and you don’t have to log in or subscribe to obtain it. However, it is advisable to donate to the content creators on there, even if it’s a small amount.

I couldn’t find certain footage that I really wanted, so I paid for it on Envato Elements. I didn’t want a subscription there since I would have no use for it but I bought some individual content which came to a total cost of CAD25. Overall, that is all I spent on this project.

Finally, the longest part was putting it all together in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Summary

I had been thinking about this project for some time but just never got around to it. I am pleased with the outcome. It has received positive feedback from the Crossroads fanbase. However, I mainly make these things for me as a challenge, I don’t make money out of it, and if it brings a smile to someone else that is great.

The other parodies I have created on my YouTube account have accumulated quite a few views so I feel really surprised and quite chuffed people would spend time checking them out.

Steven2023-02-18T23:26:33+00:0018 February 2023|Video|

The Thousand Faces of Dunjia

The Thousand Faces of Dunjia (奇门遁甲) is a Chinese movie that was released on 15th December 2017.

About

A group of warriors protect the world from a monster invasion, via Internet Movie Database

Cast

Yuen Woo Ping (袁和平) directed the movie. He is a veteran martial arts director whose resume includes Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Ni Ni (倪妮) as Metal Dragonfly
We saw this popular award-winning actress in 1921 and The Rise of Phoenixes.

Da Peng (董成鹏 as Zhuge Qingyun
He seems very familiar but as far as I can tell we’ve only seen him in a brief appearance in Detective Chinatown 1.

Review

This is mainly a martial arts action movie so don’t have high expectations about a sophisticated script. The Internet Movie Database description, above, is probably all one can say about it, for me. It was rated fairly badly on IMDB and some other websites.

The CGI was great and seemed pretty advanced, must have spent some time putting it together. The fish was the best, I gave it an extra mark because of that special effect. I also liked the way the text was embedded into the movie, quite a unique concept, I’d like to be able to replicate that somehow.

The film was saved from worse reviews with the humour, and actors Ni Ni and Da Peng who were a definite draw.

There is a sequel, Fantasy Magician, which receives the same reviews as the first one, although we haven’t found it anywhere to watch it. It doesn’t star Ni Ni or Da Peng, it wasn’t directed by Yuen Woo Ping.

Summary

I would give it a 4/5, I appreciate the hard work they put into this product.

Trailer

More Information

The movie can be found on Viki. I understand it might be on Netflix but certainly not here in Canada.

Steven2023-02-16T23:44:34+00:0016 February 2023|Review China|

A Fist Within Four Walls

A Fist Within Four Walls (城寨英雄) is a Hong Kong TV drama made by TVB that aired from the 1st to 28 August 2016.

About

Bearing the grief of losing his family, Chor Au-kuen returns to the Kowloon Walled City in hopes of finding his long lost sister, only to find that the very place he grew up in has become a lawless no man’s land.

The show won numerous awards across Asia.

Official Music Video

Cast

This feels like a “Who’s Who” of TVB dramas, including:

Ruco Chan (陳展鵬) as Chiu Yeung/Chor Au Kuen
A very buy actor currently on multiple productions per year. He appears to be a very “newsworthy” actor concerning his personal life and relationship to property investment in Malaysia.
Instagram | My The Righteous Fists Review

Benjamin Yuen (袁偉豪) as Duen Ying Fung
He is a winner of the Mr Hong Hong beauty contest in 2007 and a model. He was in the top 3 of a martial arts contest, so I understand. We hadn’t seen him in anything else prior to “Fist”.
Instagram

Nancy Wu (胡定欣) as Tiu Lan
She finished in the top 4 of TVB’s 18th Annual New Talent Singing Awards in 1999. In 2008, filmed in Hunan, she participated in Strictly Come Dancing Season Two. Quite a busy actress appearing in many TVB productions.
Instagram

Philip Ng (伍允龙) as Lung Shing Fu
He has appeared in numerous Hong Kong TVB shows and also numerous shows as Action Director and Martial Arts Choreographer.
Instagram | Ng Family Chinese Martial Arts Association | My The Righteous Fists Review
In this interview Philip mentions A Fist Within Four Walls (it’s in English):

Yuen Qiu (元秋) as Yuk Bo Fung
Appeared in many films since 1972. She trained under the same martial artist master as Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung Kam Bo. She is also has Beijing opera skills. Before she was an actress in films she was a stunt woman and as a student rescuing James Bond in The Man With The Golden Gun movie with Roger Moore.
My The Righteous Fists Review

Grace Wong (王君馨) as Fa Man
Another regular of TVB dramas. She grew up in Brooklyn and Queens then went to Hong Kong on an exchange program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Instagram
She also sings:

Review

It was certainly one of the best TVB dramas we have ever seen.

The story line was good, a little typical of a TVB drama of that caliber, and quite similar to The Righteous Fists in a way. I thought “oh, they are going to knock off that character before the series ends” and they did. There were a lot of story arcs with romances and relationship challenges.

If you like martial arts TV shows then this is one for you. The outtakes at the end of each show provided some insight at how they created them and for a couple of the actors, who are not quite whippersnappers anymore, it must have been quite a challenge for them. Certainly more agile than me.

The set was great, very realistic. Some had been reused from previous dramas, or we had seen them in drama’s to come.

The story arcs challenged the actors abilities as well, not just from a martial arts perspective but also how they got into different emotions. Philip Ng’s character was very different to that of The Righteous Fists playing anything from scary to “kind of” romantic.

The things I didn’t like about the show:

Yuen Qiu’s character was nicknamed “Thai Hag”, I don’t think it was necessary to hear that through every single episode. If I was the scriptwriter I would have excluded that or have the character reprimand others for saying it.
Even though the character was evil he was put down in a vulgar way for being gay, several times. At that point in the show I questioned whether I should finish it off. In the UK this would have generated quite a few complaints to the TV company, realistic of the times or not.

Summary

Overall, a brilliant “must watch” show but will mark them down for the two issues I had with it. I will give them 4/5.

Where To Watch

I watched this show on TubiTV, they have quite a few Hong Kong drama’s on there.

More Information

View a trailer, other information and stills from the show at the TVB Anywhere website.

Steven2023-02-02T00:30:40+00:002 February 2023|Review Hong Kong|

Table for Six

Table for Six (飯戲攻心) is a Hong Kong movie that was released in 2022. It reached UK cinemas in November 2022.

About

This is the story of three couples, living under the same roof, who are involved in four romances together. There is a new disaster whenever they sit down to dinner.

Cast

Dayo Wong (黃子華) as Chan Hung/”Steve”
He is also a screenwriter and director. He is from Hong Kong but gained a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alberta here in Canada. He is a stand-up comedian performing in Hong Kong, Australia, Canada and the US. He has starred in many TV dramas and films, he won the TV King Award in 2013.

Louis Cheung (張繼聰) as Chan Lai/”Bernard”
He was also the composer of this film. He went to the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, majored in acting, and performed in many stages plays. He is also a Cantopop recording artist and songwriter.
Instagram

Review

The movie was a mixture of drama and humour throughout, more than often over-the-top.

It story rarely took them out of the home and was mainly an interaction between the 6 characters.

I thought this was a very different Hong Kong movie compared to what I’ve seen before, it could have been set on a theatre stage and in fact might have been more interesting in that setting. I didn’t really take to the movie that much, it was kind of slow and didn’t really do anything for me. There was some special effects work. The best humour Louis Cheung seems to have includes the bedroom and toilet scenes, you will know what I mean if you get to see it.

The best part of the movie was the bloopers during the closing credits. I feel really bad saying that.

It doesn’t receive bad reviews online but for me personally, I can only give it 2/5.

I did notice this at the very beginning of the film and wonder if it’s in the Chinese version which is 4 minutes less than the Hong Kong one.

Table for Six

Steven2023-01-31T06:06:06+00:0031 January 2023|Review Hong Kong|

Jung_E

Jung_E (정이) is a South Korean movie released on 20th January 2023 commissioned by Netflix.

Jung_E

About

From IMDB:
Set in the 22nd century, climate change has caused the planet to become uninhabitable and humans live within a man-made shelter. A war takes place within the shelter. Jung Yi is the elite leader of the allied forces. She becomes the subject of a brain cloning experiment. The cloning experiment is a potential key to win the war.

Cast

Kang Soon Yeon (강수연) as Yoon Seo Hyun
Sadly she passed away from a cerebral haemorrhage on 7th May 2022, while the movie was in post-production, she was only 55 years old. She is a veteran award-winning actress with her first film being in 1977 and TV drama in 1979. The Korea Times has this interesting article.

Ryu Kyung Soo (류경수) as Kim Sang Hoon
He is best down for drama series such as Itaewon Class and Confession. Jung_E is not his only Netflix production, previously in the 2021 series Hellbound in the upcoming series Glitch.

Review

The best thing about this film was the special effects. Very interesting landscapes and the robot scenes were faultless, including the fight scenes.

The film was let down by the script. They should have focused on improving that.

I take this as a more action movie than anything. So, don’t expect Shakespeare.

With the exception of Kong Soon Yeon the acting wasn’t that great either. The three elements of the film just didn’t come together ie CGI, story and acting.

Unfortunately, when we started watching the movie Netflix defaulted to the English dubbed version rather than the Korean voice and English subtitles. I never watch anything that is dubbed in English because the voices they use are patronizing. This was the case with this film, it was just dreadful, especially the voice of the character Kim Sang Hoon. Later on, I did watch parts of the film that hadn’t been dubbed and it was much better.

Summary

I don’t want to rate this movie since it was all over the place, I suggest viewing it and deciding for yourself.

Where To Watch

This film is only available on Netflix, it’s in their Top 10 in Canada.

Trailer

Steven2023-01-23T18:14:36+00:0023 January 2023|Review South Korea|

Masterchef Singapore

Masterchef Singapore is a food competition show under the umbrella of the “Masterchef” brand.

Masterchef Singapore

About

It is produced by Beach House Pictures and Motion Content Group and broadcasts on Mediacorp Channel 5 in Singapore.

Season 1 ran from 2nd September through 21 October 2018 (8 episodes)
Season 2 ran from 21st February through 25 April 2021 (10 episodes)
Season 3 was broadcast last year between 1st May through 3 July 2022.

Judges

Chef Bjorn Shen
He is a chef and owner of Artichoke, a Middle Eastern inspired restaurant in the arts district of Singapore. He holds a Bachelor’s in hospitality, a Masters in marketing and is a lecturer at the Culinary Institute of America in Singapore.
Website | Instagram

Chef Audra Morrice
Audra is a cook, author, producer of her range of all natural gluten-free products and television producer. She is also a winner of Masterchef Australia. Before Masterchef Singapore, there was Masterchef Asia, which Chef Audra hosted, however, there wasn’t a season two due to the channel being bought out I believe.
Website | Instagram

Chef Damian D’Silva
He comes from a chef background. After spending time in Italy and France he returned to Singapore to create Citrine Chocolat. He then went on to The Soul Kitchen which specialized in Singapore heritage cuisine. He went to Restaurant Kin where he is Executive Chef.

Review

I’ve watched 3 or 4 episodes of the British version and didn’t really take to it, therefore wasn’t an avid viewer. I’ve not seen any versions from other countries including the Canadian one. I watched the Singapore version as it seemed way more interesting.

The good aspects of the Singapore version:

The judges have better constructive criticisms and compliments to share with the competitors
They are very much focused on promoting Singapore, what they produce and how diverse place it is.
More so in Season 3, I noticed they are becoming more anti-food waste.
They have a diverse range of guests who are from all around the world and have set up business in Singapore.

The not-so-good:

My only gripe is sticking to the international “Masterchef” brand, it does come over a little bit too commercial for me.

However, the good outweighs the minor issues I have and I look forward to watching more seasons of the show.

Summary

I would give it a 5/5, such a great program. Looking forward to season 4.

Where Can I See It

If you live in Singapore last season’s episodes are on the Channel 5 website. Some episodes are on YouTube under the Masterchef World banner.

Steven2023-01-23T05:48:41+00:0023 January 2023|Review Singapore|

Swanson Beef Pie Review

In a moment of madness, I thought I would review a frozen Beef Pie from Swanson’s.

Tesco Steak Pie

In the UK I used to pick up a Tesco Steak Pie in Puff Pastry. It wasn’t frozen and was from the fridge department. It was very cheap, about 89p back then. There weren’t any vegetables in it but packed with meat and gravy. I loved it, 10/10 for their product. This is the pie I set my standards to.

Tesco Steak Pie

Swanson Beef Pie Review

So, where do I start with this? Sigh.

Swanson Beef Pie

After cooking the pie, it was stuck to the container it was cooked in. It took some effort to get it out and of course, it broke into a million pieces. Part of the base was stuck on there for good, like cement.

The pastry was something like a shortcrust but kind of dry and tasteless.

The pie contents were extremely small, one piece of meat was half the size of my thumbnail; 4 pieces of meat, 2 carrots and what looked like 1 pea. It certainly was not packed as per the picture on the box. There was some gravy but not a lot. Basically, all I had to eat was pastry in gravy. That is not a pie.

This is the worst pie I’ve ever had in my entire life. They could do much better than that. I would review this as 0/10, I feel bad there is nothing good I can say about this product. It’s currently on sale here at CAD$1.50, which is $1.49 more than anyone should pay for it.

Who is Swanson?

They are an American company owned by Campbells since 1955. I actually never buy anything Campbell makes, if I had known beforehand I wouldn’t have picked the pie up.

Should I Review More?

I was going to review a number of pies that I see in Canadian supermarkets to see if I can find a Tesco equivalent, however, the Swanson one has put me off doing that. I think we are safer making our own at home.

Steven2023-01-22T05:49:32+00:0022 January 2023|Food|

The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty

The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty (成化十四年) is a Chinese TV Show broadcast on the iQiyi network in 2020.

About

From IMDB:
“In 15th-century China, a quick-witted government official named Tang Fan takes a break from his routine activities in order to investigate a murder, teaming up with martial arts specialist guardsman Sui Zhou in a bid to solve the case.”

Cast

Darren Chen aka Chen Guan Hong (官鴻) as Tang Fan
Darren is from Taiwan, an actor and singer, who made his acting debut in 2016 on the fantasy drama Proud of Love which lasted two seasons, he then went onto the Chinese remake of Meteor Garden. Now he seems very much in demand.
Instagram

Fu Meng Bo (傅孟柏) as Sui Zhou
He is also born in Taiwan. He did military service, and then started filming commercials. He went on to act being nominated and won numerous awards, he won the 52nd Taiwan TV Golden Bell Award with “The Last Poem” movie. He has played the main role in the majority of TV drama’s he’s been in. He wanted to be a photographer which is reflected in his Instagram account.
Instagram

Liu Yao Yuan (刘耀元) as Wang Zhi and Yang Fu
He is an actor and singer who graduated from the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Opera.
Baidu

The show was produced by Jackie Chan, and many reviewers have commented that he left his mark on the show.

Review

The novel of the same name, by Meng Xi Shi, was supposedly more gritty that the TV series. It also contained elements of a closer relationship between Tang Fan and Sui Zhou but of course, Chinese censors wouldn’t allow such a thing. There were, eventually, signs of more mutual respect for each other.

It contained all the elements of a costume drama but this show was different. There appeared to be more emotion and I really appreciate how they dealt with some important issues notably PTSD, other mental health issues and veterans’ affairs. They didn’t quite get everything right, especially with Dementia, but it was a good effort.

On the negative side, Darren Chen’s character was quite annoying at times. For fans, I don’t think the actor can go wrong with whatever he does.

There was a good combination of a great story, humour, drama and action. There were some unique things in there, like the bombing of the city. The bombs seemed very sophisticated for that time period. Then there was the flying machine…!

The show wasn’t categorized as wuxia but there was certainly some of that as action sequences included flying onto roofs and so on. I wonder if Jackie Chan had a hand in the action choreography, some of the scenes appeared to be very unique.

The show is absolutely worth watching, I will give it 4.5/5.