As promised, Jolin Tsai (
But if the "little queen of pop" is to secure her position as the leading pop diva -- with competition from female Mando-pop singers such as Sun Yan-tzi (
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
As 30,000 fans packed the Zhongshan Soccer Stadium on Saturday evening, the concert opened with an exotic solo dance from Jolin. She appeared in a golden-colored satin dress at the center of the stage, blending herself into the crescent shape of the moon, in a yoga dance that she had practiced for more than five months.
Then she was lifted up by a half-naked man and sent to the main stage in a palanquin to begin singing the first of a number of R 'n' B songs. The crowd showed its appreciation when she sang Magic (
Jolin showed her timidity, however, when she began talking to her fans. "I'm not good at talking, so please be patient with me and give me applause to back me up, ok?" She also begged the photographers in a fake, little girl voice, not to take bad photos of her. She was a cute talker, but failed to raise the crowd.
In the latter part of the concert Jolin began to sing a few slow ballad songs. She sat elegantly on a huge "J" and was lifted high above the stage. Her vocals were good and she remembered most of the lyrics to her songs. The atmosphere went a little cold, though, when she challenged herself by singing famous songs by other divas, such as Coco Lee (
She could not emotionally move the audience, either by words, eye contact or any arousing gestures. She pretty much dutifully finished the Karaoke-style songs. The large stadium then turned into a huge KTV room and people began to walk around, chat, or find food to eat.
Fortunately, the atmosphere was heated up again when Jolin, dressed like a black kitten and then in a cheerleader's outfit, sang some more of her recent dance tunes including the latest single Up, Up, Trademark Gesture (
Jolin's six different outfits, slightly exposed cleavage and mini skirts were other attractions on display. She wore a red-colored, patched-up style dress for an ethnic feel; then she was in a bright, yellow-colored dress, reiterating her little princess image. Finally, during her encore,she was again back in a golden hip-hop outfit, baring her belly and doing a duet Rewind (
This was undoubtedly the highlight of the concert. The two danced in a well-matched street dance sequence. They both had solo parts, kicks and knee twisting from Jolin and some flips from Jay. The crowd went crazy and screams and fireworks filled the air.
Throughout the two-hour concert, Jolin was disciplined, hard working and showed off her vocal abilities to their best, all the while charming with her big eyes and various outfits. She is cute and is a good student of the stage, but no more than that. To keep 30,000 fan interested she needed to be a diva and not just a doll.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist