The official list of nominees for this year's Golden Melody Awards (金曲獎) was released last Friday, eliciting oohs and aahs as well as disapproval over its non-commercial appeal. Puyuma folk singer Kimbo, or Hu De-fu (胡德夫) in Chinese, is the most surprising dark horse, securing six nominations including Best Male Singer, Best Chinese-Language Album, Best Lyricist and Best Composer.
Also with six nomi-nations, David Tao (陶吉吉) is the only pop singer able to match the powerful presence of Kimbo. Tao and the Aboriginal singer are up against Wang Lee-hom (王力宏) and Jackie Cheung (張學友), among others, for the best male singer gong.
Local rocker Wu Bai (
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Chen and Tai are also in the Best Female Singer category with Tanya Tsai (
Notably absent from the roll call are the Double J pair Jay Chou (
On a queer note, TV host Kevin Tsai's (蔡康永) partner George Liu (劉坤龍) was spotted visiting a gay sauna last week. Protective of their 12-year relationship, Tsai asked local media not to publish speculations based on the outing: "I trust him. It won't affect our relationship. ... Gay gatherings are always stigmatized as if we go there only for sex."
It's understandable that Tsai, as a public figure, is reluctant to publicize his private life in the mainstream media. But it is common knowledge that gay men don't go to saunas just for a relaxing bath.
In more gay-related news, Lee Joon-gi, the lead actor of South Korean box-office hit King and the Clown came to Taiwan last weekend to meet his mostly high-school-age female fans. Playing a feminine man torn between the love of a king and a masculine clown, the 24-year-old androgynous-looking star's sexual orientation was the subject of considerable speculation. "I love women," Lee repeatedly told local media while demonstrating taekwondo moves in a bid to prove his masculinity (as if it would help) at a press conference last Saturday.
Still, it wouldn't surprise Pop Stop if male audience members begin to question their feelings toward their girlfriends when they see the beautiful star dressed up on the big screen.
International director John Woo (吳宇森) has officially confirmed the rumor that Taiwan's pride and joy, Lin Chi-ling (林志玲), will play the leading lady in his historical drama Battle of the Red Cliff (赤壁之戰).
Also starring in the flick with a NT$1.6-billion budget will be Woo's old pal Chow Yun-fat (
Even though the script has yet to be finished the movie has generated heated discussion and cranked up the rumor mill.
For the sake of her debut movie and becoming something more than a hack actress in the shortest possible time, the supermodel quit all her TV work and started taking acting classes. Her agent said Lin's career will turn away from local television in favor of cinematic "international production." A lucky career break for Lin, since working in international productions with hot Asian directors has repeatedly proven to be a short cut to international stardom.
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
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
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located