URL	www.allrovi.com
Commercial?	Yes
Registration	No
Available language(s)	English
Owner	Rovi
Launched	2011
Current status	Online

AllRovi is a commercial database launched by the Rovi Corporation in 2011. It combines information and reviews about music and movies from the former services AllMovie and AllMusic.

Content[link]

Reviewers include Jason Ankeny, Roxanne Blanford, Marisa Brown, John Bush, Al Campbell, Eugene Chadbourne, Matt Collar, Mark Deming, Ken Dryden, Bruce Eder, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Katherine Fulton, Jo-Anne Greene, David Jeffries, Thom Jurek, Andy Kellman, Rudyard Kennedy, Don Kline, the late Cub Koda, Andrew Leahey, Steve Leggett, Jason Lymangrover, Scott McClintock, Greg McIntosh, Opal Louis Nations, Wilson Neate, Heather Phares, Greg Prato,^[1] Ned Raggett, Margaret Reges, Eduardo Rivadavia, John Phillip Roberts, William Ruhlmann, Tim Sendra, Michael Sutton, Rob Theakston, Richie Unterberger, Joe Viglione, Sean Westergaard, and Scott Yanow.^[2]

AllRovi's database, which is licensed and used in point-of-sale systems by some music retailers, includes:

• Basic data: names, genres, credits, copyright information, product numbers
• Descriptive content: styles, tones, moods, themes, nationalities
• Relational content: similar artists and albums, influences
• Editorial content: biographies, reviews, rankings

AllRovi also claims to have the largest digital archive of music, including about 6 million digital songs, as well as the largest cover art library, with more than half a million cover image scans.

The website allmusic.com (oft-referred to as "AMG", or All Music Guide) is a sample of what is available in the database. The site was launched in 1995 as an online demonstration for potential database licensees of the breadth of content included in the database.

The AllRovi database is also used by several generations of Windows Media Player and Musicmatch Jukebox to identify and organize music collections. Windows Media Player 11 and the integrated MTV Urge music store have expanded the use of AllRovi data to include related artists, biographies, reviews, playlists, and other data.

AllRovi is also used to provide catalog data, artist biographies, album reviews, related artist information, playlists, and other information in the iTunes Music Store, Zune Marketplace, Zune player, eMusic, AOL, Yahoo!, Amazon.com, and other music stores. Additionally, AllRovi is at the heart of the Naim Extended Music database used by the Naim HDX hard disk player.

The web version of AMG has much more information on most forms of popular music than the 1,176 pages of the 1992 book edited by Michael Erlewine and Scott Bultman (All Music Guide: the best CDs, albums & tapes, published by Miller Freeman Inc., San Francisco), but it is missing much of the information on classical music that appeared in the book. One could look up a composer in the book and identify specific recordings recommended by AMG reviewers, but the website only provides a list of recordings.

AMG headquarters is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States.

History[link]

URL	www.allmovie.com
Commercial?	Yes
Registration	No
Available language(s)	English
Owner	All Media Guide (Rovi)
Launched	1998
Current status	Active

AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) was a commercial database of information about movie stars, movies and television shows.^[3][4] It was founded by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine, who also founded AllMusic and Allgame.

The database was licensed to tens of thousands of distributors and retailers for point-of-sale systems, websites, and kiosks. The Allmovie database is comprehensive, including basic product information, cast and production credits, plot synopsis, professional reviews, biographies, relational links, and more.

AllMovie data was accessed on the web at the allmovie.com website. It was also available via the AMG LASSO media recognition service, which can automatically recognize DVDs.

Rovi Corp renovated the website, and, now, the site is renewed/updated, and therefore, active.^[5][6]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (March 2009)

Ekin Cheng
Cheng at the Beautiful Day Concert 2011
Chinese name	鄭伊健
Chinese name	鄭伊健 (Traditional)
Chinese name	郑伊健 (Simplified)
Pinyin	Zhèng yījiàn (Mandarin)
Jyutping	Zeng6 Ji1-gin6 (Cantonese)
Ancestry	Enping, Guangdong, China
Origin	Hong Kong
Born	(1967-10-04) 4 October 1967 (age 44)
Other name(s)	Cheng Yee-Kin Dior Cheng Noodle Cheng (鄭伊麵)
Occupation	Singer Actor
Genre(s)	Cantopop
Instrument(s)	Singing
Label(s)	BMG (1991-2001, 2004-2005) EEG (2001-2004) BMA Records (2005-2009) Sony BMG (2009-present)
Years active	1986-present (acting) 1992-present (singing)
Partner(s)	Luisa Maria Leitão Maggie Siu Gigi Leung (1999 to 2006) Yoyo Mung (Current)
Official Website	Official Website

Ekin Cheng is a Hong Kong actor and Cantopop singer. Early in his career he used the name Dior (because that was what it sounded like when his younger sister tried to call him 第二哥) as a first name. He has also been referred to as Noodle Cheng, (鄭伊麵) after a popular noodle product with a similar name. Currently Ekin is the name used.

Career[link]

Television[link]

Cheng began acting in commercials when he was in high school, the most well-known being for Hi-C Lemon Tea. After high school, he enrolled in TVB's Martial Arts school, but did not like it and switched to their acting school. After that he began to get a number of TV roles. The latest TVB series he participated in was Always Ready, working with Charmaine Sheh, Bowie Lam and Linda Chung.

Film[link]

His first film was Girls Without Tomorrow 1992 (1992) and at the time he was still called by the name Dior Cheng. He changed his name to "Ekin" before his breakout role in the Young and Dangerous series as Chan Ho-nam. The film was first meant to glorify the triad life, but after about the third film, the story focused more on the characters and explored the truth about the Hong Kong triads. It became so popular that it launched Cheng and co-star Jordan Chan to superstar status. And because of its incredible success, it is said^{[by whom?]} to have made many youngsters at that time fond of the triad life, thus making teens throughout Asia join the triads. It also started a trend for triad films around that time and is considered^{[by whom?]} to be a classic. The film led to six sequels, all starring Cheng, and a lucrative working partnership with director Andrew Lau. Together they went on to make The Storm Riders, which was the highest-grossing Hong Kong movie at the time and the first film to utilize a truly large number of special effects. They also worked together on The Legend of Speed, a film about a street racer who would follow his father's footsteps of becoming a racing god, A Man Called Hero a movie adaption of the famous comic, about a martial arts master in America The Duel starring Cheng, Andy Lau, and a few other famous stars, and the comedy Women From Mars. In 2001, he acted in a movie titled Born to be King. This is the last installment of a triad movie series Young & Dangerous.

Cheng has branched out in the roles he has taken, including more comedy like earlier in his career with My Wife is 18 with Charlene Choi and Six Strong Guys with singers Hacken Lee, Andy Hui and George Lam. But he still does action-oriented films like The Twins Effect where he acts with rising pop superstars Twins and Tokyo Raiders where he is cast with Tony Leung and Kelly Chen. My Wife is 18 tells the story of an arranged marriage between 30-year-old Cheng and 18-year-old Charlene Choi. The significant age difference between the two is the source of the comedy. Six strong guys tells the story of Cheng and his other five friends who tell funny stories of the modern Hong Kong man. The Twins Effect is an action film about the feuds between vampires and humans who share the same world. Toyko Raiders is about international thievery in Toyko. He also play as Ming in the legend of zu mountain the movie.

Recently,^[when?] Cheng returned to the movie scene (having taken a break in 2005 to work on the Ultraman TV series in Thailand). He had a brief appearance in My Name is Fame as himself. Soon after that he starred in Heavenly Mission, a triad/cop thriller starring alongside Stephen Fung and Alex Fong (this is not the swimmer Alex Fong.). He has completed a Pang Brothers film called The Forest of Death, which was released in March 2007. His serial filmed in Mainland China based on the life of martial arts master Huo Yuanjia with former Young & Dangerous co-star Jordan Chan is currently in syndication. Current^[when?] projects include a sequel to The Storm Riders, also directed by Pang Brothers and Kamui Gaiden being filmed in Japan. Cheng's latest film with Shawn Yue, Rule Number 1 directed by Kelvin Tong, won Best Actor Awards for both Cheng and Yue.^[1]

Cheng's golden age was during the Young and Dangerous era. At the turn of the century his popularity declined and he has been criticized^{[by whom?]} as being merely an accidental superstar. He has also been criticized by some^[who?] as being a wood-like actor with little expression or feeling in his work. Despite these criticisms, Cheng has continued to make movies throughout his career and currently is once again^[when?] enjoying considerable success.

Music[link]

Cheng had a successful music career with BMG. But in the 2000s, he signed with EEG, a juggernaut company owned by Albert Yeung. Under this company he was 'frozen' and not allowed to put out any records. But as is a custom with EEG, he made several movies with other EEG stars. As of 2004, his contract with EEG ended and he returned to BMG briefly where he released a new record before signing with BMA. As of 2009, Cheng has once again returned as an artist of Sony BMG. Through the course of his career, he has made several hits. Though many criticise Cheng for not having a voice capable of singing harder or higher-noted songs. And though his music career has been going smoothly, his most-acclaimed music came during the Young and Dangerous age. The theme song for Young and Dangerous 1 "Age of Friendship" is considered his best. Though he and Jordan Chan both sing a separate version, it was Cheng who sang it first.

In 2007, Cheng made a guest appearance at a Leo Ku concert and received popular applause from the audience.^[2] He also represented Hong Kong in the 2009 Asia Song Festival, performing two songs. Since his last concert held 11 years ago, E-kin plans to hold his coming back concert during 18–19 December 2009 in Hong Kong.^[3]

Radio[link]

In the 1990s, Cheng also starred in a number of radio dramas.

Others[link]

In 2002 Cheng was asked to be the official Ocean Environment Ambassador. The Chief Secretary of HKSAR, Anthony Tsang presented the appointment letter. At the same press conference WWF also asked Cheng to be their Ambassador with a special interest in the marine environment. In this capacity he traveled to WWF's Whale Shark conservation site in 2007. TVB's Jade Channel aired the documentary.^[4]

2006 saw the publication of Cheng's first book, 'Looking Into Ekin's Eyes'.^[5][6] This book was very successful and is now in its third edition. In 2007 a Japanese version of the book was published.

Endorsements[link]

Cheng has been asked by numerous companies to endorse their products. The most notable are Canon IXUS,^[7] Seiko,^[8] Shiseido JS^[9] and HTC.^[10] In 2008, Kingsoft featured Cheng in their popular online game The First Myth 2 (封神榜II) as "Er Lang Shen" (二郎神) a character in the game.^[11]

Throughout his career Cheng has been featured in many magazines, and photo books, including an autobiography in Yes Idol Magazine (1997).^[12]

References[link]

External links[link]

• BMA's Official Website for Ekin / Ekin's Blog
• Ekin Cheng at the Internet Movie Database
• HK cinemagic entry
• Ekinpedia An online encyclopedia of Ekin Cheng

Nick Cheung
Chinese name	張家輝
Chinese name	張家輝 (Traditional)
Chinese name	张家辉 (Simplified)
Born	(1967-12-02) 2 December 1967 (age 44) Hong Kong
Spouse(s)	Esther Kwan (m. 2003–present)
Children	1
Awards Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actor 2009 Beast Stalker Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards Best Actor 2008 Beast Stalker Golden Horse Awards Best Actor 2009 Beast Stalker TVB Anniversary Awards Most Improving Actor 1998 Secret of the Heart

Nick Cheung Ka-fai (born 2 December 1967)^[1] is a Hong Kong actor. Cheung was a Royal Hong Kong Police officer^[2][3] for five years and changed his career as an actor with ATV. After a few years Cheung moved over to rival TVB.

Cheung met Hong Kong actress Esther Kwan while he was still working for ATV. The couple married on 8 November 2004 in Australia. Their daughter, Brittany Cheung (張童) was born on 24 January 2006.

Filmography[link]

TV series[link]

Feature Film[link]

Nick Cheung has won totally 7 prizes for Beast Stalker including Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor, Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor, Golden Horse Film Award for Best Actor etc.

Dubbing Roles[link]

Nick Cheung has also dubbed foreign films and Television programs into Cantonese Chinese.

This section requires expansion.

References[link]

• "Beast Within." Giant Robot Magazine Issue 63, 2009

External links[link]

• Nick Cheung at the Internet Movie Database
• Nick Cheung Ka-Fai at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase
• Nick Cheung on LoveHKFilm.com
• Nick Cheung at the Hong Kong Cinemagic