A bizarre incident took place last week when Ken Yu (余祥銓), the son of veteran entertainer Yu Tien (余天), was struck dumb after his performance was seriously criticized by a jury of musicians and producers on a TV show. Yu is said to have turned unresponsive and unusually quiet after the show. Seeing his public humiliation broadcast on TV a few days later pushed the wanna-be-star over the edge.
Yu's nervous breakdown generated a great amount of curiosity. How on earth could a few critical comments make a perfectly healthy young man go mad?
To prove their son was indeed mad, Yu's entertainer parents made public video clips showing the young man sometimes howling and screaming uncontrollably and sometimes falling into an apparently vegetative state.
The heartbroken parents admitted Yu is one of the so-called "strawberry tribe," a colloquial term used to describe young adults who snap at the slightest sign of stress or pressure. The good news is that he is gradually regaining his faculties. The moral lesson: Spoiled young people need to save their best performances for TV rather than home videos.
Last week was an exciting week for local star-chasers. Chinese actress Zhou Xun (周迅) and Taiwanese/Japanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro (金城武) were both in town to promote their new film Perhaps Love (如果愛). Dubbed the most beautiful male star in Asia, Kaneshiro insisted on keeping a low profile during his trip back to Taiwan. He remains one of the most elusive of stars who is not parti-cularly found of giving interviews and shows little interest in making his way to Hollywood like most Chinese mega-stars do.
Zhou, on the other hand, was friendly and open to the nosy media. She didn't even shy away from questions about her love affair with Taiwanese stylist Lee Da-chi (李大齊) and said they would get married for sure in the near future. Unlike her cha-racter in the film, the sweet young woman said she treasured love more than her acting career and would like to have a family soon.
South Korean mega-star Jang Dong-gun was also here to give local fans the joy of their lives. Wherever he went to promote The Promise, traffic was paralyzed by screaming groupies.
The constantly smiling Korean star revealed to the local press that the reason director Chen Keige (陳凱歌) picked him for the role of the slave wasn't just because of his pretty face and international fame but also because he has big feet, which enable him to run fast.
On a more somber note, local singer Saya broke into tears nine times during the promotional event for her new album after a two-year career break. Having lived in the shadow of Mando-pop queen A-mei (阿妹) since the beginning of her singing career, Saya finally cracked up and announced her decision to quit showbiz for good. Her next plan? To go back to her Aboriginal village in Taitung and enjoy a carefree life, again.
Hong Kong sweetheart Lin Jia-xin (林嘉欣) often forgets that one of the job descriptions of being a star is to look presentable at all times. Hong Kong paparazzi spotted Lin going shopping last week, wearing a loose T-shirt, fashionably impaired jeans and a pair of glasses that dated back to 1980s. One thing good about her sloppy appearance is that it's a perfectly natural disguise for not being recognized. But not this time.
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