J-Game, part 2

I am back with the 2nd part of a 2-part review (of sorts) of Jolin Tsai's latest offering. I watched Jolin's re-packaged CD last night, albeit over & over & over again.

Actually, it got me thinking of this: Why did Jolin release a bonus DVD of her live performances & MVs, packaged with her 2nd version of J-Game album? Compared with David Tao, who also released a compilation of MVs from his latest CD, The Great Leap 2005. The difference between these 2 stars are that for Jolin, her compilation MVs are bundled TOGETHER with her CD, whilst for David's case, it is sold seperately, in DVD & VCD formats.

As I waited anxiously to see if David Tao would re-release TGL with some extras, I wondered why the stars would do this. It is hurting the fans' pockets; i.e., less spending money. Fortunately for now, DT has not released it. Only for those who pre-ordered TGL have got a bonus AVCD extra. Further down the time path, Tao Zhe did release a MV compilation SEPERATELY. As far as I know, it is retailing for about S$30 (DVD) & S$22 (VCD) at HMV. There should be retailers selling it slightly cheaper.

A minus-point against JT is that for those who have bought her album when it was first released, only to "discover" that later only in a few months, she would re-package her current album with a bonus DVD compilation of live performances & MVs, they wouldn't know a little (at first) what to do with their copy of her album. Give it away? Sell it on Yahoo SG Auctions? Buy the re-packaged version? Worst come to worst, throw the 1st version of J-Game away??

As the story runs, I bought the re-packaged version of J-Game; the one with a very glossy shimmering CD cover. It opens up to the CD & DVD side by side, long-form. If one is not careful, the lyrics booklet & mini-foto booklet falls out. Yeah, the album does not have your conventional CD casing form.

To play the DVD on my PC as I do not have a DVD player for now, I slotted the DVD into the DVD-ROM. Waited a bit before trying to watch it on Windows Media Player but it failed to materialised. So, waited again & tried later. This time, I went to "My Computer". There was a J-Game icon, which I clicked on. This FINALLY brought me to the WMP & immediately started the DVD.

Alas, due to my impatience, I couldn't get pass the mandatory blah blah copyright warnings. I could not move forward the recording. Wait & wait like forever before it came to the main menu of "choose your song". THIS PART before I get to ACTUALLY watch the music video is dammed irritating. I wonder why it is so. Did the music company made the DVD in such a way that you gotta listen/read the warning BEFORE they would actually allow you to view.

Anyway, the MVs were nice to watch. A very slick production, indeed. Though I watched only 3 of them so far, I am very impressed. I spent the entire time trying to learn 2 or 3 moves from Jolin. I cannot make it, cannot dance even 1% like JT. She must have spent a lot of time rehearsing for the making of MVs. There is a theme for each song, like "Open One Eye, Close One Eye" & "J-Game".

Well done, Jolin Tsai. I just hope that you can win at Taiwan's equivilent of the Grammy Awards.