At the Venice International Film Festival awards ceremony last Saturday, Ang Lee (
The novelist said that during the judging panel's intense meetings, some members thought Lee's film wasn't impressive enough and wanted to let Good Night, and Good Luck by George Clooney win the top award. "But I convinced them that Brokeback Mountain was almost perfect, in every aspect. And eventually I turned the judges' opinions around and saved the film," Zhong is quoted as saying in the Apple Daily (
Perhaps we should have known film festival awards are less focused on artistic achievements, and are rather based on ethnic considerations and the art of persuasion commonly exerted by salespersons. Our mistake.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Mando-pop star Little S (
marriage, following the newly weds wherever they went, from the airport, to the ceremony, to a private family gathering. Most entertainment pages were taken over by photos of the star's
smiling face, with commentaries saying she is the luckiest woman on earth because the mom-to-be married a man who could provide financial security and a connection to a family which is far more valuable than her career.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
So, gays, feminists and radical socialists beware! Traditional family values are making a comeback, and the ideas of marriage and having babies are still deeply rooted in society's collective consciousness. And yes, brave comrades, there is still a long way to go.
Ken Chu (朱孝天) of boy band F4 and Taiwanese sex kitten Kelly Lin (林熙蕾) have emerged as the latest hot couple in showbiz. According to the Liberty Times (自由時報), the couple has been secretly dating for a while, but the affair was downplayed by friends. "Lin has so many
admirers. This long-distance romance will definitely be the shortest-lived relationship ever," one mutual friend is quoted as saying in the daily.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Chu doesn't seem to mind the ill-intended prediction. Judging from snap shots of him attending a wedding last weekend, the young guy seems to have let himself go with a dodgy mustache and an outfit that should have caught the attention of the fashion police.
Disney World in Hong Kong had a grand opening this week, and a troupe of super stars were invited to show up. Local media paid especially close attention to the interaction between two Chinese divas, Gong Li (
In recent weeks the Trump Administration has been demanding that Taiwan transfer half of its chip manufacturing to the US. In an interview with NewsNation, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said that the US would need 50 percent of domestic chip production to protect Taiwan. He stated, discussing Taiwan’s chip production: “My argument to them was, well, if you have 95 percent, how am I gonna get it to protect you? You’re going to put it on a plane? You’re going to put it on a boat?” The stench of the Trump Administration’s mafia-style notions of “protection” was strong
Every now and then, it’s nice to just point somewhere on a map and head out with no plan. In Taiwan, where convenience reigns, food options are plentiful and people are generally friendly and helpful, this type of trip is that much easier to pull off. One day last November, a spur-of-the-moment day hike in the hills of Chiayi County turned into a surprisingly memorable experience that impressed on me once again how fortunate we all are to call this island home. The scenery I walked through that day — a mix of forest and farms reaching up into the clouds
With one week left until election day, the drama is high in the race for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chair. The race is still potentially wide open between the three frontrunners. The most accurate poll is done by Apollo Survey & Research Co (艾普羅民調公司), which was conducted a week and a half ago with two-thirds of the respondents party members, who are the only ones eligible to vote. For details on the candidates, check the Oct. 4 edition of this column, “A look at the KMT chair candidates” on page 12. The popular frontrunner was 56-year-old Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文)
Oct. 13 to Oct. 19 When ordered to resign from her teaching position in June 1928 due to her husband’s anti-colonial activities, Lin Shih-hao (林氏好) refused to back down. The next day, she still showed up at Tainan Second Preschool, where she was warned that she would be fired if she didn’t comply. Lin continued to ignore the orders and was eventually let go without severance — even losing her pay for that month. Rather than despairing, she found a non-government job and even joined her husband Lu Ping-ting’s (盧丙丁) non-violent resistance and labor rights movements. When the government’s 1931 crackdown
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