Raymond Lam Releases New Book, “It’s LF”
Raymond Lam (林峯) released his new book, It’s LF, detailing his 13-year experience in the entertainment industry. More than 200 fans attended the promotional launch of Raymond’s new book yesterday. Since the book included rare photos of Raymond over the last decade, his changing looks raised questions over whether he had received plastic surgery. Raymond denied any drastic changes, stating that his looks only matured and grew masculine over the years.
Published by TVB Weekly, It’s LF traced Raymond’s roots from TVB acting class, it did not mention anything about his love life. His past girlfriend, Mavis Pan (潘霜霜), was not mentioned in the book at all. The book is a commemorative release, rather than being truly autobiographical in nature.
“At the beginning of the year, I starting thinking about releasing a book to commemorate my past dramas and films. I possessed numerous images over the years. My weight has fluctuated and my images varied. This book captures my transformation over these years.”
Raymond’s Face Drastically Changed Over the Years
Although Raymond did not write the book himself, he dictated the contents to the author. He carefully selected photos to be included in the book. The book included Raymond’s photos in past films and TVB dramas. Over his 13-year career, Raymond has starred in more than 30 TVB television dramas.
Examining photos of Raymond from past years with his current chok image, his features were markedly different. The young Raymond drew comparisons to being a “young Louis Koo (古天樂)” versus “young Wayne Lai (黎耀祥).” Asked whether he was afraid that fans will exclaim that his face has changed, Raymond said, “Change? When you are a child versus a grown man, did your looks change? I do not think I have changed. If there are changes, it is because I look more mature now. Since I am entering my thirties, my acting roles and image have become more mature!”
Raymond Did Not Comfort Ron
Raymond’s good friend, Ron Ng (吳卓羲), suffered heartbreak when Viann Zhang (張馨予) announced their breakup on July 18th. Although Ron appeared to be saddened by the breakup, Raymond has not offered Ron any comfort. Raymond said, “I did not contact him and do not know of his matters. We normally do not talk about relationship matters. I am not clear on the matter from its start to finish!”
Interestingly, Ron replied in the same manner when Raymond Lam suffered heartbreak in March 2011, when his bed photos with Mavis Pan were released. Ron had also responded that he rarely discussed relationship issues with Raymond and did not comfort his good friend.
Source: Ming Pao, Oriental Daily
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Jayne: Although It’s LF is a compilation of Raymond’s onscreen roles, I wish it was more autobiographical in nature. I also found it interesting that both Raymond and Ron do not comfort each other when they have girlfriend problems.
Would love to get a copy of the book and I agree with you Jayne that it should have been autobiographical to provide more insight into his life.
I truly don’t believe that he didn’t comfort Ron and vice versa since they are such good buddies. Probably a rehearsed line they learn to say.
Bros don’t wanna talk about feelings, especially if 1 of them has been burned by a girl. The best comfort is to act like nothing happened. Plus another hot girl will be along soon.
They wont have to wait long, har?
Ron is already working and attending an event! He’s handling this humiliation from Viann in a great way! Good job LOL
Some guys are like that. I know some guys who are close friends that talk about everything EXCEPT for girls and relationships so I am not that shocked that Ron and Ray did not comfort each other in regards to relationships. Even brothers who are close do not talk about girls with each other,therefore, some close friends don’t either…
Its quite apparent that Raymond has gone under the knife.
Agree!!!
And issshhh will anyone really buy that book >.<?!!!
Many will. He has a lot of fans. 😀
Yes, many fans will buy it. I may get it since I love these types of commerative books.
Yes, even casual fans would buy it if there were more pics of him showing some skin.
I am actually not interested in the pix of him showing skin or not. I just like how he will include photos from his series since I enjoyed many of them.
LF got most fans among TVB artistes. This book will be out of stock fast
In Txb booth of the book fair ytd, it was sold out. More ppl buy it than you expected. In yesasia it is on top 10 best seller collective book. 600 books sold out in the first order of his baidu bar.
And it was just released the first time on 18.
Sold out on first day! That means LF got lots of fans who’ll buy his products!
Vivien the truth is his fan will buy anything by Raymond. Even his new fragrance or paperback with his name attached to it.
Good fans will support their idol 😀
Yea, there are many crazy fans that will buy anything of him. I have a friend like that. I would only buy certain things since it would be a waste of money to get everything…
Wow! And I had thought these guys were now into writing their autobios. now though it is too early for Raymond to write his. Normally, people start to write about themselves only during their retirement when past experiences would be important.
P.Tan,
Wayne Lai also released a book on his philosophy on acting. I believe he met with the author for lengthy interviews, in which the results were compiled into a book. This is the fastest way to release the book to market.
Chen Kun wrote his own book, in which the contents should be quite deep about his reflections and search for self.
Jayne, do you know anymore celebs that write their own book? Not asking ghostwriter to write for them, but, writing the book themselves (cook book not counted).
I only know Steven Ma written and published several books.
There are many of them that write their own books and biographies. Some that I remember off the top of my head are: Andy Lau, Hu Ge, Ariel Lin, Tony Sun,Vanness Wu, Sam Wang, Alec Su, Vicki Zhao, Fish/Jasmine Leong and many others… I have read some of them and many are touching and you get really close with the artists and learn about how they are as normal people rather than just celebs with an image.
Two others that I forgot to mention that have written their own books are Jiro Wang and Calvin Chen of Fahrenheit. Both of their books are really nice and are a good and touching read…
It seems that it’s not really popular for HK artistes to write their own books? but more so for taiwan and mainland artistes. Like Qiao En, Annie Yi all wrote their own books.
Steven,so far has published 5 books, earlier 3 co-written with other authors, 4th comprised of his prose essays on his inner thoughts and 5th cookbook of nutritious recipes. To read English translations of his 4th book goto: http://stevenma-fanblog.blogspot.com/p/book.html
A book review from random blogger: @作者:晚来风急 – a Singapore TV scriptwriter/
http://cpengng.blogspot.com/
translator: Tamaya
Taiwan television has grown rapidly this past decade with the satellite channels predominating in my household, hence I have not watched TVB series for a long time now. One day while at a bookstore I came upon the name, “Ma Chun Wai”, I did not even know that TVB had such a person. The other book that also momentarily caught my eye was Pang Jie’s 潘秀琼 (Poon Sow Keng, a 60s-70s famous singer) biography. Both are books by artistes: one is a biography; the other, a collection of prose essays. I chose Ma Chun Wai’s 《图文并谬》。
That I chose Ma Chun Wai’s is not because he is an artiste but because I could not believe he is an artiste. Artistes seldom write books. Like how Pang Jie’s book is not written by her. And Ma Chun Wai’s book is a collection of prose essays. Artiste vs prose essays – made me curious, enticing because it intrigued; mine’s not a rational reasoning but an intuition. So my apologies to Pang Jie for I only skimmed her book in front of the bookshelves before returning it on the shelf.
Actually, what made me choose Ma Chun Wai was primarily because of the few pages he wrote of his mother.
Mother Ma passed away because of cancer. Ma Chun Wai’s writing was unadorned, subdued, yet imbued with heart and genuineness.
I have never appreciated melodramatic essays, too much histrionics. In fact, the over-the-top kind of unrestrained emotional essays make one feel smothered.
He wrote when his mother was diagnosed with cancer, he was only six years old. Every time his mother carried a heap of medicines home after her doctor visits, he was merely curious. Why mother had to consume so much medicine?
During middle school, when he finally knew what cancer was, he was panic stricken and felt helpless. He went to a corner at the school all by himself and sobbed bitterly.
Mother under Father and family’s solicitous care lived her life uneventfully for 22 years. Just when we thought Mother was blessed, the author’s pen tip shifted. He wrote that within those 22 years, she had had 3 relapses; her hearing, smell, and taste faculties; all gone. Just one sentence conveys a ton of unbearable pain.
It is precisely this kind of pen strokes that evinced Ma Chun Wai’s restrain. Later, Mother even lost the ability to ingest food, therefore could not eat. Doctor said the only way to let her live was to drill a hole in her stomach to get food into her. But Mother refused. Naturally, the author did not want to force her, but at the same time, he felt helpless against life. So at that very moment, for the very first time, he wept helplessly in front of his mother. That Mother could persist over the years of adversity was due to her unceasing optimism in the face of suffering. Son crying in the public was like a knife into Mother’s heart, and so she gave in. Subsequently, food flowed into the stomach, but the lungs got infected; she left.
A very moving story indeed, but the emotions aroused were not through the written words, but through what were not written.
To better understand Ma Chun Wai, I watched some of his short videos which further deepens my appreciation for this Hong Kong artiste. As artistes, they should possess this kind of class and inner substance (氣質和內涵). Both are artistes of small islands, but I just can’t understand why ours are so much more inferior?
******************
For his 3rd book,[向好走 向坏走] Steven, together with a colleague and a social worker, had pounded the streets, ‘accosted’ late night young loiterers, and chatted with juveniles placed on probation; their encounters were later compiled and narrated into that very book.
Oh yea, it doesn’t seem like many HK artists write their own books. The only other one besides Steven Ma is Andy Lau. He has a few autobiographies/biographies out. Taiwan and Mainland stars seem to write more of their own books.
“The only other one besides Steven Ma is Andy Lau. He has a few autobiographies/biographies out. “
Are these autobiographies written by himself or another writer? An autobiography might not necessarily be written by the person himself. The book can be written by other writers after research and/or interview with the person. Many celebs who claim to write books actually did not write the book. They have a story/idea in their mind. But, they are not good at writing. So, they tell a ghostwriter their idea and the ghostwriter write for them.
@Kidd,
I know that but when reading their books, you can sort of get an idea. I personally would never put myself as the author if I did not write the books myself. I think they should say if others wrote it or if the ghost writers help them since it would be a bit deceiving if they claim to have written it but really did not. Like when I was reading Fann Wong’s biography, it clearly stated who wrote it and how they talked to them and had them write it. I guess it will be hard to know who truly wrote their own books then, unless they honestly say if they did or not… I know that. Vivian Chow wrote a book or 2 about her cat and I have a very good feeling that she wrote the books herself.
Kidd, HeTieShou
Aside from Wayne Lai and Andy Lau, I know that Niki Chow, Anita Lee, and Nnadia Chan had released books.
Niki may have written about her travels in Japan and Nnadia Chan on her beauty and skincare secrets. I think Niki wrote the book herself, but I am not certain.
Andy Lau and Wayne Lai’s books were likely written with authors that were assigned by the publishers to handle the project.
Most artists do not have time to write a book, which would require them several months commitment. To take off such a lengthy amount of time would result in lost income. Thus, it is more profitable for artists to agree to book deals, where the info is provided through lengthy interviews with the authors.
Even some so-called autobiographies which are marketed as books written by the famous people themselves may be written by “ghostwriters.” It depends on the marketing strategy of the publishing house and whether it is necessary to market the book as written by the famous person themselves. Certainly, it puts a distinctive cap on this book if numerous other titles exist on the same subject.
Given that Hong Kong artist books are limited, there is no need to actively market the book as written by the artist himself to generate sales. The exist of such a rare book is enough to drive sales. So for the most part, fans buy these books for exclusive access info not normally found in magazines, but they do not expect the artists to pour out personal details of their lives.
These books are also released at the height of the actors’ fame for the most part, and not memoirs written at the end of their careers.
I wish to read Wayne Lai’s book on acting the most. I wonder if it is still available in print?
@Jayne,
Good points that you raised. But I think when you read some of the books, in some ways for some of them, you can kind of tell if they wrote it or someone else wrote it for them. I know that Vivian Chow wrote her books since she actually retired for many years so had plenty of time to write a book. But I personally wished that she had wrote a biography or something rather than just a book about her cat. I thought that was a bit silly…
@HTS: haha! Vivian Chow’s cat book reminds me of Bernice Liu’s numerous dog books.
@Clamine,
Oh yea, I almost forgot that Bernice wrote some books about her dogs. I wonder if she wrote them herself though? Now I wonder even more if any of them really wrote any of the books themselves since they always claim to be sooo busy??
P.Tan,
I thought you may be interested in knowing that Kevin Cheng’s ex-girlfriend, Linda Wong, released a recent book on women’s etiquette.
@P. Tan,
That is not true that people only write about themselves during retirement. Many celebs have already written their own biographies just to share with fans and the public about their lives and experiences so that people can understand them better and learn from their experiences as well. I have mentioned some already and I encourage you to read some of those if you have not already. Some write because of a tragedy like Hu Ge did for example. Some want to write one to commemorate a milestone in their career, like Fann Wong(Singaporean actress) wrote a sort of biography(in English too)with her drawings and family photos as well as photos from her childhood to commemorate her 10th year in the E circle. It just varies about why an artist writes an autobiography or has someone else write a biography for them. Many of them can be really touching if the artists are willing to open up and share their good and bad experiences with everyone…
Raymond honestly can write his now if he really wanted to but maybe he is not ready to do so since he may not be ready to share his life experiences with everyone. He entered the business way before Calvin Chen and Jiro wang as well as many others, but they have all written their own autobiographies already while he just chose not to yet. I hope that he will in the future when he is ready to share more about his inner self with everyone.
This one is more of a photobook with some dairy than a autobiography.
The cover design of Raymond’s new book, “It’s LF” is a little lacking. Why put that silly box around his face? Certainly his concert posters from EEG look a lot better, with more interesting light and fashions.
His new moniker, LF, makes me think of LV, especially after I heard he will be releasing a clothing line named LF. 🙂
I thought that I was the only one that thought that… Why didn’t Raymond pick a better photo for his cover?? He has way better and nicer photos than that one. Maybe he was influenced by someone else or it was not his choice for the cover photo??
Maybe it is Raymond in a box aka TV box or movie box. LF is a gimmick, as with the book.
His face is the moneymaker. U gotta frame that fine face.
LOL…yes a masterpiece!
Let’s hope Joel Ho isn’t the designer for LF clothing line
No he isnt. Sure that.
Joel Ho? vivien Is this a short form of Joel Chan and Florinda Ho, or is it a teasing to Joel for his relationship with Ho family?
he probably needs to “入贅” into Ho Family, so his name should be Joel Ho. LOL
lol it makes sense because the Ho family is more powerful 😛
Lacking design or not his book still sold out on first day as Fox said 😛
It’s his face the thing which sell. This cover is way better than the First album’s cover (its name is First, not the first one) but that First can sell 120k copies in less than 1.5 months.
Btw, the clothing line is L.For, not LF. LF is the symbol, the label is L.For
Still LF 😀
Yup, because it’s LF’s. Still that. Better than using the word Chok to be label although I like the design of the Chok tees than the LF tees. All designed by LF himself but LF was kinda short to design it effectively
I am so happy to hear about the contents of this book since I was debating about whether to get it or not. I have been hoping for Raymond to have a book like this out. I love commerative books just like the one that I have of Andy. They are very nice. I hope that Raymond will have a biography or autobiography out one day.
i thought thy were great pals.. how cme dont dscuss relationship.. only work is it
Since it is not an autobiographical book, so it is more like a photobook for fans to buy and keep. In other words for profit and meant strictly for fans since it is neither too personal or too revealing.
He didn’t write it?
It is too young for him to write an autobiograpical book. And he never will.
For those who may like to read articles on past and present HK artists spanning 30 years or more compiled in a book 「義筆蓉情」by a former Ming Pao Director of Interviews, and Steven Ma’s ex-manager, Tsui Rong Rong.
In the past, as a journalist, I was always outside looking in at false images and impressions. Now, having toured this entertainment amusement park without the pressure of reporting duties, and being able to observe the shooting of series, I’ve learned a lot, and the new experiences gained are broad; one had to experience in order to understand and empathize.
Over the years I have seen the sorrows and hardships of many an artiste. Honestly, without an iron will, this line of work is not easy to stomach. I, more than ever, have gained a greater respect for the people working in the artistic field because I’ve seen the toils of a group of artistes. Truly not easy to endure!
She feels sad to see the increasing deterioration of relationship between the media and artists these days.
Claimine,
Steven’s books sound quite deep. Wow, you have taken the task to translate excerpts of his books! Your posts are always very well written, with an elegance and precision that reminds me of how Steven writes in his blogs as well. 🙂
Ming Pao Weekly always has the best artist interviews, in which they attempt to humanize the artist behind the onscreen personas, focusing on transcending experiences that have shaped their lives. 義筆蓉情 sounds like a very interesting book.
Hong Kong publishers seem to have limited runs on these type of artist books, in which they tend to print in small batches and if sales tapers off, it becomes out of print and difficult to find years after publication.
@Jayne: Thanks for you kind words. You are always very gracious in your posts.
Steven’s books are insightful and thought provoking at the same time entertaining to read and easy to relate. Steven has the knack through words to bring a different perspective (always positive) to a situation, or to impart meaning in an innocuous, everyday matter or thing like this piece on Dingdong, his favorite cartoon figure.
A Magic Portal 隨意門
When young I loved to watch cartoons, especially Dingdong. Today, Dingdong’s name has been changed to Doraemon. I remember when young, of all Dingdong’s magical objects, I loved the magic portal the most. Just imagine, say where you want to go and the door duly opens, and there you are! Now that I am all grown up, my most favorite magical object is still the magic portal.
It is simply amazing! There’s no lapse of time to consider, no boundary hassles to deal with, and no traffic jams to get caught in! The four corners of the world are all within a short distance. Actually, I too possess a magic portal; it’s my thoughts. The freedom of thoughts is unlimited. No matter where one is, all one has to do is close both eyes, and immediately one is flying freely in one’s thoughts. Whatever one wishes to see, to get or desire, they can all manifest before you! This kind of freedom not even fascism can expunged.
I love to roam inside my thoughts.
Not posturing any philosophy or artsy affectations, but in real life, things don’t always go our way, and often times are even beyond our control. Hence, to indulge ourselves of this magic portal to get what we normally cannot get in real life, why not?
Just like how Dingdong’s name change is outside my control; but to me, he is still the big head, small body, round eyes and watermelon mouth Little Dingdong. You change your last name; I keep my first name; don’t care.
In the cartoon, Dingding is a simplistic and cute cartoon figure; the cartoon has simple plots and projects uncomplicated feelings! But undoubtedly, Dingdong is a philosophy. In Dingdong’s philosophy you can see real life characters, the fine line straddling righteousness and evil, and the struggles between good vs bad. Even to having the good and bad always getting their comeuppance, the cartoon explicitly illustrates that to the fullest. Anyway, will not touch on that for right now.
2008圖文並謬 p 78
Translator: Tamaya
Thanks claimine for the excerpts!
Steven gives me the impression of being a very deep person. I think reading his books would be both fun and insightful 🙂
Most other artists just use their name, put alot of pics and/or have someone else writing the content.
Wish he will mention Michelle in here…. hehehe
Michelle mentioned of him in hers :D.
Yea, and Michelle said he better mention her if he releases a book! He better! Haha
That’s sweet and it shows that they are still good friends after so many years…
Maybe in the part about Eternal Happiness or Lofty water will have? But I dun think he wrote much in tge book. Mostly pix. So it’s still a photobook.
wish i have one
go buy one
It’s LF
Wow! Cool idea…gets the fans to understand the person behind the mic, camera and CD!ITZ LF!
I think I’m going to vomit.
I have a been a fan of this man for 8 years… nothing has changed for me 😉
uh clothing line? for men?
Also have tees for women. But since the line isnt out yet, dunnoe what it will contain.
forgot to say i do like raymond a lot but i truly do like steven ma!!!! i can tell he is a good guy. raymond is a bit mysterious to me.
I’m surprised he didn’t wear his tacky LF hat.
checked it out at the book fair but it was too pricey for me. at hk$168, it’s even more expensive than those leng mo pictorials.
Being a fan is tough.. our wallets always feel so empty. 🙁
I don’t think $168 Hk dollars is that bad. Most of the other photobooks that I have seen cost more than that. Of course it isn’t cheap but is a fair price in my opinion. But then again, it depends on what you are comparing to.
HeTieShou,
Is “It’s LF” more like a pictorial? Is there anything insightful about Raymond Lam’s early childhood or his career, things which have not been revealed in past interviews?
Jayne,
I skimmed the book since I have not had the time read through all of the little snippets. Anyways, to answer your questions, yes it is more of a pictorial with just some little passages here and there about what he did during the filming and how he felt. However, the passages were pretty short. I think a lot of it may have been mentioned before but i am not sure since I did not read or follow all of his interviews. There is not much or anything about his childhood. All they did was have a page or 2 of his childhood photos all scattered on like a sloppy collage. That was it. I wish it had more text and info about him but not much. But then again it is more of a photobook and not a biography. I am still disappointed that he did not include anything about Lofty Waters and Eternal Happiness. I wonder why he did not??
HeTieShou,
Thanks for the info. From Raymond’s description, it sounded more like a pictorial.
Since Raymond did not write the book and it was a TVB Weekly publication, he probably did not have too much input as to which series to focus on. Such a book, while commemorating his old works, tend to also focus more on bigger productions recently (especially his films) due to sale value of such items.
Jayne,
Yea it was more of a pictorial but they also did not have much on his movies either. But then again, he was not in that many movies right? My friend said that he mentioned during his concerts that he worked hard on it and choose the photos himself. Now I think that he probably did not and TV Weekly probably did since they published it… Overall, it is a nice book but it has it’s flaws and limitations.
didn’t go under the knife? who’s gonna believe that?
Average look
I just got this book the other day and like it overall but am a bit disappointed that he did not talk about or include anything about Lofty Waters Verdant Bow and Eternal Happiness at all. I thought he would for sure… It is also a strange coincidence that those are the 2 series that he starred in with Michelle Yip. I thought he was on good terms with her too?? I still wonder why he did not include anything about those series? Strange…
So he mentioned other series except EH and LWVB????
Yes, a lot of his series were mentioned except for Lofty waters and EH which is still a shock to me. But maybe he did not get to pick all of the series to include?? But it just seems like such a coincidence that he starred in both of those series with Michelle. I thought they were on good terms and are still good friends too. I still find that such a big loss and flaw for this book.