Of all the surprises at the Golden Horse Awards last Saturday, by far the most shocking and controversial was Tony Leung (梁朝偉) besting Andy Lau (劉德華) for the best lead actor award. The Hong Kong twin towers of pop acted opposite each other in Infernal Affairs (無間道) and, at least by Pop Stop's judgment, neither outshined the other in the movie. Nonetheless, the pre-ceremony hoopla gave the impression that Andy was far and away the favorite to take the award. And the fact that Tony didn't even bother to make the trip to Tainan for the show, reasoning he was too busy on the set of the new Wong Kar Wai (王家衛) movie 2046, made it seem almost a given that he wouldn't get the award.
When it came time to distribute the award, TV cameras turned to Andy and there was even a short interruption for an impromptu interview with him to see how he felt. The only thing missing was a drum roll. And then the envelope was opened and Tony's name was read out loud.
Andy was a good sport about the snub and maintained his shiny smile until he boarded the plane to return to Hong Kong on Sunday. But the Hong Kong press wasn't nearly so forgiving, accusing the organizers of setting up and humiliating Andy. Taiwan's media, including Great Entertainment Daily (大成報), Yam.com.tw, ETtoday.com, had a different take on the whole event, implicitly or explicitly saying that the Golden Horse Awards was a pointless Hong Kong party paid for by Taiwan.
This certainly seemed to be case this year, as Hong Kong films walked away with 13 awards from the 24 categories, including a clean sweep of all the major awards. Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮) did get a chance to grace the stage, though, but it was to pick up the best Taiwanese film award -- not exactly the most competitive category.
Pop diva A-mei (阿妹) had a scare last week when the first DPP presidential campaign TV ad was aired and it featured someone singing the ROC national anthem in a voice similar to her own. Rumors emerged that it was her on the soundtrack, which, if true, would land her in a lot of hot water with Beijing's puerile bureaucrats. Recall that A-mei was declared persona non grata in China for a year, costing her millions in endorsements and performance fees, after singing the national anthem at Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) inauguration in 2000. The Presidential Office later clarified that the voice on the track was someone else's.
More rumors were dispelled over the past week when boy band B.A.D. released their fourth album on Friday despite reports in the Apple Daily (蘋果日報) that the group had disbanded and that one of the members had returned to the US because his dog died. In the spirit of the referendums that have become so popular in Taiwan of late, the band's label EMI has set up a poll at http://music.hinet.net/bad so that fans can vote on whose solo track on the album is best, Ben, Alex, or Danny's.
Hong Kong actress and model Chu Yin (朱茵), who's a 35D, finally had enough of her hometown media's obsessive focus on her body and lashed out last week, according to the China Times Weekly (時報週刊), saying: "Making a news topic of my body is simply immoral. It's no different from sexual harassment. I'm a normal woman, I want to be respected and my body isn't something that needs to be discussed publicly." Chu, who is sometimes referred to as "Missiles," made the comments after media reported on her becoming a spokeswoman for a weight loss and body shaping therapy company.
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