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Chinese director Zhang Yimou's (張藝謀) highly anticipated film Memoirs of a Geisha (藝妓回憶錄) had a grand preview screening last Saturday in New York City. Judging from the less than enthusiastic response from the press after the screening, the film is probably not going to do too well at next year's Oscars.

Attention mainly focused on the performances given by Zhang Ziyi (章子怡) and Gong Li (鞏俐), two candidates for, respectively, best leading and supporting actresses at the Oscars.

Most critics seem to agree that Gong's supporting role as a crazy villain stole the show, leaving leading lady Zhang in the shadows.

Zhang struck back with her improved language skills at an interview session with the international press, held after the screening .

Zhang's marketablilty has been rated in an online poll that used various indexes such as remuneration, endorsement fees and advertisement to assess female stars on both sides of the strait.

Zhang took first place, worth a cool NT$480 million, followed closely by Maggie Cheung (張曼玉) and Gong Li.

Mando-pop singer Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒) looks pretty down in the dumps these days.

After Hsiao spent NT$2 million making a pilgrimage to Los Angeles to learn fresh dance moves for her new album originally planned for release next month, Warner Music suddenly decided to pull the plug on the project.

The reason is said to be that Singaporean Stefanie Sun's (孫燕姿) new album A Perfect Day exhausted Warner's budget and didn't make respectable returns, so the money-tight label company just can't afford another Mando-pop queen right now.

Sun's lackluster record sales have made music giants and pop stars quiver in their boots, with even smash-hitter David Tao (陶吉吉) expressing concern. Local paparazzi eavesdropped on Tao complaining about the low-quality of records produced by the music industry at a private meeting. Tao said that even teen idols from soap operas can become musicians. "I don't understand why Yang Cheng-lin's (楊丞琳) album can't sell. It just proves that the market doesn't care about quality now," Tao is quoted as saying in a Chinese-language daily.

Dubbed as the new teen boy killer, Yang put on her trademark sweet-doll smile to fend off the criticism, saying she didn't believe Tao would say something so bitter and the comments were a paparazzi ruse.

Spoiled rich girl Paris Hilton may come to Taiwan for New Year. Chinese Television System (CTS, 華視) has been working its ass off to invite the star to promote her TV series The Simple Life which currently airs on CTS. Her agent is said to be satisfied with CTS' plan and the possibility of her coming is high. If the Hollywood social butterfly decides to come, then local high society dames and stars will surely have a hell of a time searching for high-end luxu-ries to vie with the heiress.

Newly endorsed movie queen Shu Qi (舒淇) was spotted at a temple in Keelung thanking the Goddess of Mercy for helping her wish to become the best leading actress come true. Shu said she had gone through a period of mild depression after Three Times (最好的時光). The shrink didn't work so the star turned to Buddhism, Taoism and Christianity for spiritual comfort. It looks like the piety paid off and even won her a secular reward.
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