Starring Jay Chou (周杰倫) and teen-idols Edison Chen (陳冠希) and Shawn Yue (余文樂) from Hong Kong, the most talked-about Chinese movie of the year, Initial D (頭文字D), finally hit the big screen last Friday in Taiwan. With a string of terrible reviews because of the poor acting of its protagonist, the movie nevertheless grossed over NT$7 million in ticket sales in the first half day of screenings.
No surprises there. A blockbuster movie is never about good-quality performances and intelligent story-telling. It's all about grand promotions, well-plotted publicity stunts and behind-the-scene stories that the press can happily chew on for weeks.
The three young male idols
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
involved know all the tricks. And like their female counterparts, they understand the importance of lavish outfits and accessories. Showing up at their press conference in Taipei, Shawn smiled confidently with his NT$160,000 necklace (almost invisible to the untrained eye) and Edison strutted out of the car in a pair of Adidas sneakers worth NT$40,000. As for Jay, he didn't need to try hard -- or even try at all -- with the title King of Mando-pop under his belt.
It hasn't all been smooth sailing, though. Bad-boy Edison reportedly got pissed off by Chou's steeply rising star and felt frustrated enough about being ignored by the media during promotional tours to make a noise about it.
Petty break-up news from the self-absorbed celebrity circle is as follows: Following the break-ups of Big S (大S) and Lan Zheng-long (藍正龍), Elva Hsiao (
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
TV hostess Momoko Tao (陶子), on the other hand, happily showed off her two-year relationship with actor Lee Lee-ren (李李仁) by talking about the possibility of marriage in a promotional event on Monday. As an ordinary-looking woman, Tao admitted she once wanted to get her whole body revamped with plastic surgery, but said, as reported by the Apple Daily (蘋果日報), ``on second thought, there must be a beautiful side of me -- otherwise how could I have landed such a great-looking boyfriend?''
Truth is, wealth and power can can get most people (male or female) what they want and they don't have to be good-looking to get it.
Although she's one of the least-favored movie stars in the eyes of the Chinese press, Zhang Zi-yi (章子怡) has been gaining increasing popularity and recognition in the West. She has recently been honored by becoming a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and she's so hot there that the big-hearted Chinese media have accused her of being a snob who's forgotten where she came from and who doesn't give a shit about Chinese-speaking markets.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Hong Kong beauty Maggie Q is another Asian actress who's made it to Hollywood. According to the Great Daily News (
The four-piece boy band F4 is going to have a girl version soon, according to the local media. But while the boy band uses pretty faces as their selling point, the F4 girls will take pride in their voluptuous breasts -- that is, all four band members are required to have F-cup equipment. The band has already recruited three big-bosomed babes, all college girls. If you want to join the band and have the right stuff, hurry to get your application form in. This is your chance to be counted and join "Fantasy 4."
Oct. 27 to Nov. 2 Over a breakfast of soymilk and fried dough costing less than NT$400, seven officials and engineers agreed on a NT$400 million plan — unaware that it would mark the beginning of Taiwan’s semiconductor empire. It was a cold February morning in 1974. Gathered at the unassuming shop were Economics minister Sun Yun-hsuan (孫運璿), director-general of Transportation and Communications Kao Yu-shu (高玉樹), Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) president Wang Chao-chen (王兆振), Telecommunications Laboratories director Kang Pao-huang (康寶煌), Executive Yuan secretary-general Fei Hua (費驊), director-general of Telecommunications Fang Hsien-chi (方賢齊) and Radio Corporation of America (RCA) Laboratories director Pan
President William Lai (賴清德) has championed Taiwan as an “AI Island” — an artificial intelligence (AI) hub powering the global tech economy. But without major shifts in talent, funding and strategic direction, this vision risks becoming a static fortress: indispensable, yet immobile and vulnerable. It’s time to reframe Taiwan’s ambition. Time to move from a resource-rich AI island to an AI Armada. Why change metaphors? Because choosing the right metaphor shapes both understanding and strategy. The “AI Island” frames our national ambition as a static fortress that, while valuable, is still vulnerable and reactive. Shifting our metaphor to an “AI Armada”
The older you get, and the more obsessed with your health, the more it feels as if life comes down to numbers: how many more years you can expect; your lean body mass; your percentage of visceral fat; how dense your bones are; how many kilos you can squat; how long you can deadhang; how often you still do it; your levels of LDL and HDL cholesterol; your resting heart rate; your overnight blood oxygen level; how quickly you can run; how many steps you do in a day; how many hours you sleep; how fast you are shrinking; how
When Taiwan was battered by storms this summer, the only crumb of comfort I could take was knowing that some advice I’d drafted several weeks earlier had been correct. Regarding the Southern Cross-Island Highway (南橫公路), a spectacular high-elevation route connecting Taiwan’s southwest with the country’s southeast, I’d written: “The precarious existence of this road cannot be overstated; those hoping to drive or ride all the way across should have a backup plan.” As this article was going to press, the middle section of the highway, between Meishankou (梅山口) in Kaohsiung and Siangyang (向陽) in Taitung County, was still closed to outsiders
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