POP STOP

A special guest checked us out this week. Taiwanese movie godfather, Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢) sent his film assistant to a Taipei Times staff reporter's house on a mission to scout out locations for a new project. Hou later showed up with his assistant at the door of the staffer's place -- a former colonial-Japanese warehouse. The director seemed reluctant at first to reveal what the film was about, but after a cup of herbal tea he gradually relaxed and eventually began to give away a few clues.

After sending the sketchy information to our film expert for analysis, Pop Stop concluded that the film could be Hou's long-awaited project The Best of Our Time (最好的時光), which will star actress Shu Qi (舒淇). And yes, if they pick this elegantly ancient building as one of the shooting locations, Pop Stop will dig into the behind-the-scenes dirt.

Now back to the bitchy side of show biz. Nationally acclaimed as ``the most beautiful woman in Taiwan,'' age-resistant Stephanie Hsiao (蕭薔) braved the biting cold at a fundraising event on Sunday in a cleavage-showing spring dress that apparently worked well, since more than NT$1 million was pledged within an hour of her arrival.

After 15 years in the entertainment industry, Hsiao is now tapping into the Mando-pop music scene and introduced her first album earlier this month. Since then, the musical freshwoman has been running around, popping up at as many events as she can in the hope of boosting her not-so-promising record. Judging from the reviews and sales so far, the star still has a long way to go.

But another foxy lady is on the rise. Despite a previously plump figure (plump by the industry's standards), Little S (小S) has regained her perfect body and has thus attracted all kinds of companies to pay her ridiculously large sums of money to work as their spokesperson.

Not only is she the spokesperson for a body-sculpting cosmetic brand, but Little S also got a big fat red envelope from a Taiwanese diet-drink manufacturer for endorsing its products.

Local media put the super-model Lin Chih-ling (林志玲) and Little S in a competition to find out who endorsed the most products and shot the most TV ads last year. The score: Lin many, Little S even more.

When asked whether she has the confidence to win back the title of ad queen by the end of the year, the sweet, well-cultivated lady Lin gave her typical response, ``I always put 100 percent effort in each and every job. Titles to me are not important at all.''

While Little S will use her fat check to take her whole family abroad for a luxurious vacation, Singaporean pop singer Stefanie Sun (孫燕姿) went to Wufenpu

(五分埔) clothing market last Sunday to shop for her new outfits for the Lunar New Year. Contrary to the fancy lifestyle that many female stars enjoy, the thrifty star believes in simplicity and pragmatism when it comes to clothing and style and doesn't think designer labels always equal beauty.

During this time of happiness when everyone is preparing for the New Year break, show biz is still able to generate miserable break-up news. Chang Chen (張震) -- the actor who has frequently starred in works by Ang Lee (李安) and Wong Kar Wai (王家衛) -- has broken up with his singer girlfriend Lu Jia-Hsin (路嘉欣) after six years of their low-profile relationship. Chang chose to remain silent after the news broke, but Lu made a brief and ambiguous comment: ``Right now, I feel everything is illusion.''