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."
May 11 to May 17 Traversing the southern slopes of the Yushan Range in 1931, Japanese naturalist Tadao Kano knew he was approaching the last swath of Taiwan still beyond colonial control. The “vast, unknown territory,” protected by the “fierce” Bunun headman Dahu Ali, was “filled with an utterly endless jungle that choked the mountains and valleys,” Kano wrote. He noted how the group had “refused to submit to the measures of our authorities and entrenched themselves deep in these mountains … living a free existence spent chasing deer in the morning and seeking serow in the evening,” even describing them as
Yesterday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominated legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) as their Taipei mayoral candidate, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) put their stamp of approval on Wei Ping-cheng (魏平政) as their candidate for Changhua County commissioner and former legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) has begun the process to also run in Changhua, though she has not yet been formally nominated. All three news items are bizarre. The DPP has struggled with settling on a Taipei nominee. The only candidate who declared interest was Enoch Wu (吳怡農), but the party seemed determined to nominate anyone
In a sudden move last week, opposition lawmakers of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) passed a NT$780 billion special defense budget as a preemptive measure to stop either Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) or US President Donald Trump from blocking US arms sales to Taiwan at their summit in Beijing, said KMT heavyweight Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), speaking to the Taipei Foreign Correspondents Club on Wednesday night in Taipei. The 76-year-old Jaw, a political talk show host who ran as the KMT’s vice presidential candidate in 2024, says that he personally brokered the deal to resolve
What government project has expropriated the most land in Taiwan? According to local media reports, it is the Taoyuan Aerotropolis, eating 2,500 hectares of land in its first phase, with more to come. Forty thousand people are expected to be displaced by the project. Naturally that enormous land grab is generating powerful pushback. Last week Chen Chien-ho (陳健和), a local resident of Jhuwei Borough (竹圍) in Taoyuan City’s Dayuan District (大園) filed a petition for constitutional review of the project after losing his case at the Taipei Administrative Court. The Administrative Court found in favor of nine other local landowners, but
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