Hong Kong's paparazzi are unique in their sense of entitlement when it comes to invading the privacy of celebrities, as if these stars are supposed to accept their rude, probing questions with a smile and maybe even a handshake afterward. But Cecilia Cheung (
Her skills in this category were on full display at a press conference for her newest movie, as reported in the The Great Entertainment Daily (大成報), when in response to a reporter's question about something completely unrelated to the movie, she snapped "You should really go home and look in the mirror! Look at the questions you're asking." After a few more rhetorical volleys between her and the reporter she was whisked away by her agent.
The following day, on the set of a variety show, she held court with a 20-minute monologue detailing how she has a low EQ but a high IQ, and that people with a low IQ tend to make her fly off the handle, especially journalists. According to the Apple Daily (蘋果日報), after the recording session the gaggle of incensed reporters on the scene refused to interview her.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Always standing in her corner in the ongoing Cecilia vs. media battle royale is her friend and suspected lover Jordan Chan (陳小春). Last month he jumped to Cecilia's defense against someone dressed up in an oversized alien outfit, at a cellphone promotional event in China, who allegedly squeezed Cecilia's butt. Whoever it was in the costume got a swift punch in the head from Chan, who will have another chance to display his loyalty when the two star opposite each other in a movie that is planned to start filming in the next two months. Chan is currently winding up filming an as-yet untitled movie in Hong Kong, in which one of the scenes features Chan standing outside a senior citizens' home masturbating with the intention to sell his sperm to earn money for his ailing father.
Big S (大S) had her own run in with the media last week while on the set of a TV show in Dalian. According to GTV, a Chinese photographer followed her into the toilet to shoot her on the throne, but was apprehended by the TV film crew who promptly beat the living hell out of him.
Last week, Pop Stop reported on Faye Wong's (王菲) lackluster album sales and her problems renting space at the Taipei 101 mall for an autograph session. Her travails didn't end there. As part of her nine-day promotional tour she was a guest on several TV shows and, according to the Liberty Times (自由時報), viewers changed stations whenever she was on because the shows were too bad to watch.
Faye has a reputation for being a tough interview, responding with single-word answers or sometimes simply not responding at all. On Momoko Tao's (陶晶瑩) show, back on the air after a week's break, Faye misunderstood a question about whether they should talk about "mature women" (熟女) and said, "Why would we talk about that? That sounds horrible." She apparently wasn't accustomed to the Taiwanese usage of the term, meaning grown-up, sophisticated and confident, and thought it insinuated looseness. Later in the show, when handed two cards, one with an X and one with an O, for her to use to respond to questions in case she didn't feel like talking, she didn't get the joke and said "Oh no. Do I have to act again?"
David Tao's concert went off last Saturday, with scalpers asking for up to NT$36,000 for tickets. The show was a hit with most fans, except for the fact that the entrances to the venue for the sections with cheap tickets were too few to ensure everyone was inside before the music started, so that over 1,000 people were still standing outside when the first songs were played.
The year was 1991. A Toyota Land Cruiser set out on a 67km journey up the Junda Forest Road (郡大林道) toward an old loggers’ camp, at which point the hikers inside would get out and begin their ascent of Jade Mountain (玉山). Little did they know, they would be the last group of hikers to ever enjoy this shortcut into the mountains. An approaching typhoon soon wiped out the road behind them, trapping the vehicle on the mountain and forever changing the approach to Jade Mountain. THE CONTEMPORARY ROUTE Nowadays, the approach to Jade Mountain from the north side takes an
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and