Many celebrities think they can do anything and with the constant ass-kissing they get from "friends" and fans who can blame them for believing this. Jay Chou (
Like his acting skills in Initial D his performance as a director is has been panned by the critics. Needless to say his fans have been supportive so our big- headed hot shot is saying he's good but is still not satisfied with his success and his "small bank account."
To make up for his "small bank account" Chou and his business partner MV director Kuang Sheng (鄺盛) have invested over NT$1 million to transform their old antique store in Taipei, into a new shop selling footwear and clothing and Chou's personal belongings.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
The actress/singer Vicki Zhao (趙薇) is stuck in a downward spiral of trouble these days. Zhao showed her inability to handle alcohol after reportedly getting so drunk at a pub in Beijing that she irritated gangsters from Taiwan's Bamboo Union Gang (竹聯幫). Luckily for Zhao the gangsters weren't believers in hitting women so they smacked Zhao's unlucky boyfriend/escort around like a rag doll instead, according to Next Magazine (壹週刊). Zhao refused to respond to press enquiries about the alleged events.
Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai (
Considered by many to be the successor to Tony Leung (梁朝偉), one would have expected Wing Fan (范植偉) was too famous for a TV production, and he thought so too. The crew complained that the arrogant actor often didn't prepare for the shootings, forgot his lines and rarely acted (pun intended) like a professional. Momoko Tao (陶子), on the other hand, was late for work because her new album and TV shows took priority. Both stars naturally denied the rumors and said they "learned" a lot from the valuable experience.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Leon Lai (
Things haven't been going smoothly for director Tsui Hark. He recently announced his next film would be an adaptation of Brigitte Lin's (
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
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