There were rumblings of discontent in luvvie land last week when Government Information Office (GIO) minister Pasuya Yao (姚文智) held back the list of nominations for Best Drama for the annual Golden Bell Awards (金鐘獎). In his
defense, Yao said the list was leaked to the press before it was officially signed and released, and he had no
intention of manipulating the jury's decision. The minister then doled out seven more awards and 35 more nominations to placate the grumblers.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
In somewhat related news, the Golden Horse Awards Ceremony
Among those who are suffering from the knock-on effects of Yao's missteps, ETTV (
Comedian Peng Chia-chia
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Both Pang and Lu put on outstandingly melodramatic performances and the only thing they agreed upon was that they never had sexual intercourse. This modern sex story is far from coming to a close, however, so readers please be patient, this farce will drag on for quite some time yet.
Following Li Ao's (李敖) controversial trip to Beijing University, Jet Li (李連杰) was also invited to deliver a speech at the university last week. Li opened his speech, according to a local Chinese-language daily, by confessing that "an elementary school drop-out seems not to be qualified to stand on the platform of one of the most prestigious universities. But, it's true, I really didn't graduate from elementary school." The kung-fu master needn't have acted so humble because according to an on-line poll, he was voted as the most welcome celebrity to give a speech at Beijing University, beating Li Ao by 10 percent.
International star Michelle Yeoh
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
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
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
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
A fossil jawbone found by a British girl and her father on a beach in Somerset, England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth. Researchers said on Wednesday the bone, called a surangular, was from a type of ocean-going reptile called an ichthyosaur. Based on its dimensions compared to the same bone in closely related ichthyosaurs, the researchers estimated that the Triassic Period creature, which they named Ichthyotitan severnensis, was between 22-26 meters long. That would make it perhaps the largest-known marine reptile and would