Pop Stop

A-mei has done her part for world peace. PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES

When Jackie Chan (成龍) said the recent presidential election in Taiwan was "the biggest joke in the world," it seemed like a rash thing to say for someone whose words are always picked up by the media. But if his comment was a stupid reaction to a distinctly un-funny situation in Taiwan, it received an equally stupid counter-reaction from the DPP's senior ranking member Parris Chang (張旭成), who proposed that his ruling party retaliate with legislation to ban Chan's new movie Around the World in 80 Days (還遊世界80天) and bar the Hong Kong star from entering the country. And we thought banning movies was the domain of China's government.

Well, to be fair, Chang's fit of pique will probably soon be forgotten and Chan's movie will play in Taiwan with everyone politely forgetting that silly proposal to ban it. Edison Chan (陳冠希), however, won't be so lucky when his latest movie Jiang Hu (江湖) won't be screened in China because the censors there have taken offense to its violent content and supposed glorification of gangster lifestyles.

That's definitely not a vibrator in Cecilia's hands. PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES

In other cinema news, Wong Kar Wai (王家衛) finally completed his sci-fi drama 2046 and submitted it in time to participate in the competition section of the Cannes Film Festival, making it the only Chinese-language film in this year's competition after Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢) withdrew his movie Coffee Time (咖啡時光).

Meanwhile Taiwanese pop diva Chang Huei-mei (張惠妹), or A-mei (阿妹), will be getting some global acclaim on June 22 when she'll be awarded a World Peace Music Award. A-mei won the award for the "Greater China region," an appellation that has predictably drawn fire from fans on her label Warner Records' billboard, and is scheduled to perform at the ceremony in Hanoi with two dozen other acts from around the world, including Black Eyed Peas, Tata Young and Jurassic 5. The awards are in their second edition this year and it's still a bit unclear what they honor, but the organizers have described it as a sort of Nobel Peace Prize for musicians. In that spirit Gloria Gaynor was recognized at the last one in 2002 with her timeless song I Will Survive.

And Hong Kong, Cecilia Cheung (張柏芝) found reason last week to cheer when she was awarded HK$510,000 by a Beijing high court for the illegal use of her face in the promotion of cosmetic products by a Chinese company, according to the Apple Daily (蘋果日報). The settlement was sweet revenge for a suit brought against her several years ago by the same company accusing her of doubling her spokeswoman duties with a rival company. This time, she accused the company of using her picture in their promotion after her contract had run out. But, no sooner had that case been settled when it was reported this week that a Japanese company was using her to advertise vibrators. Her agent promised the Hong Kong media she would be bringing a suit against the company.