The biggest money-losing event in showbiz of recent months is the theatrical production Snow Wolf Lake (
Touted as impressive and sure to wow audiences, tickets for the musical sold out months before the Taiwan premiere at the newly opened Taipei Arena last Friday.
However, organizers forgot to take into account factors beyond their control.
Suffering from a serious cold, Hong Kong pop king Jackie Cheung (
With his ego dented and feeling downcast, Cheung collapsed in tears backstage.
After the less-than-A-list second half performance, organizers postponed the show until tomorrow because Cheung didn't want audiences to pay top dollar for second tier fare.
Fans and stars support his insistence on professionalism, but the move hurt the show's organizers where it hurts most -- in the pocket.
Organizers are facing a big loss that may run into the billions of dollars for the delayed performances.
Annual report cards were handed out to local pop musicians this week. Mondo-pop king Jay Chou (
However, after winning the best new performer award at the Golden Horse, Chou seems to have diverted his focus from music to film. Having been outspoken about his interest in becoming a movie director, Chou has again taken up the role of MV director, this time for three-piece girl band S.H.E.'s new album.
Chou was said to have used visionary filmmaker Wong Kar-wai's (
The on-and-off love affair between actors Shu Qi (
Nicknamed Olivia, the plain-looking, 21-year-old girl works as a waitress at a nightclub Chang has invested in.
Wearing a greenish coat and brown boots that would have caught the attention of the fashion police, Olivia was caught by dutiful paparazzi walking out of Chang's studio and denied the rumored romance. The actor himself simply shrugged his shoulders and flashed enquiring members of the press a "what-you-are-talking-about" look.
Starlet Yan Shu-ming (嚴淑明) got really pissed off at reports earlier this week that claim she used to be a he and underwent a sex change operation in Thailand 10 years ago.
Transvestite celebrities Li Jing (
Super model Lin Chi-ling's (林志玲) birthday wish has come true in six days. Making public her desire to find a bigger house for her whole family on her 31st birthday, on Nov. 26, Lin is rumored to be contemplating spending some NT$55 million on a spacious apartment near the former nightclub Second Floor. When asked about the possible relocation Lin's mom reportedly said, "We are just thinking about it, but with the news all over the place, we have to buy it now."
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
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