Pop Stop

Time magazine's annual search for the 100 most influential people of the entertainment world this year has launched a struggle for cultural dominance between fans of director Ang Lee (李安) and Korean singer Rain. It has become a hot issue on bulletin boards and chat rooms, as Lee went head to head with Rain. They all but wiped out the rest of the competition.

Lee came in first with 34 percent of the vote, with Rain trailing at 29 percent. Clint Eastwood managed to put in a respectable performance with 18 percent, but the cream of celebrity stardom, including George Clooney, Jon Stewart and J.K. Rowling, all polled at 4 percent or under.

Some Taiwan patriots on local BBS where busily posting links to the site. Fearing that South Korean fans would mobilize a mass vote for Rain, they urged Taiwanese fans to support Lee. They even designed a program to allow Internet users to vote multiple times.

You can't help but wonder that given their tech savvy fans, just how much of Lee and Rain's popularity was due to technology. Even Zhang Ziyi (章子怡), Miss Bitch herself, got in with 8 percent. Clearly fans in Asia are willing to go the last mile for the cultural icons, even if it does involve bending the rules.

Broadway musical Westside Story will be performed in Taiwan from May 15 to May 28. The star of this much-anticipated show is Caral Anne Sanita, who is a great fan of Chinese culture, and even has the Chinese character, xin (信), meaning faith, on her shoulder.

"I got this tattoo in China Town in New York two years ago. I like its meaning," she said.

Preparations for the Beijing Olympics 2008 are moving on apace, but even the issue of the official song, which will be sung by a number of Hong Kong stars, has led to some unseemly wrangling, with Jackie Chan (成龍) demanding a bigger slice of the lyrics than had been allotted to him. You would have thought Chan is secure enough in his celebrity status to be above that kind of thing. In any case, his request got knocked back by producer Alan Tan (譚詠麟), who didn't want Chan hogging the whole show.

Chan said he wanted every-body to have an equal share. Like, yeah right.

Hong Kong's notorious paparazzi have been up to their old tricks again, catching Karen Mok (莫文蔚) and boyfriend Stephen Fung (馮德倫) enjoying a bit of domesticity. Mok has denied that the two are living together, but Fung was happy to leave the allegations of cohabitation hanging, and added that he was glad of the opportunity for the media exposure. Nevertheless, he said he would keep the curtains drawn next time.

Popular show host Little S (小S) is coming back on screen and totally staying fit. She has reduced her workload so that she can be there when her newly born child says "mommy" for the first time. She proudly announced that for the whole period of her pregnancy she didn't swear or use bad language -- except once, when she totally lost it and gave the nurses a fright.

Little S will be co-hosting the Golden Melody Awards with Momoko Tao (陶晶瑩) in June. Tao's baby wasn't expected until the end of the month, which had producers worrying she would not be back in shape for the big event, but now the smiling new mother is also the darling of the event organizers, who can expect two young mother hostesses on the award podium.

Perhaps the fuzzy feelings generated by two new, young, and most importantly, slim mothers will be enough to give new life to the sagging spirits of the Golden Melody Awards.