Pop Stop

The funniest thing to happen last week in the twisted world of Pop Stop was a case of stage diving that went horribly wrong.

Singer Fan Wei-qi (范瑋琪) was in full flight during her concert held in Danshui when she missed her footing and fell -- like a World Cup player in the penalty box. Unfortunately, the unscheduled dive off the 2m-stage did not receive the support of the crowd and poor Fan Fan hit the ground, hurting her knee in the process.

Worried that she would not be able to walk again, the singer was carried off by organizers and taken to Mackay Memorial Hospital. Fortunately, it was not a serious cut and according to our sister paper the Liberty Times, Fan Fan was consoled by a phone call from her boyfriend, TV host Hei Ren (黑人), who was in Zimbabwe for a charity event.

All the local papers this week have covered the triumphant return of Jolin Tsai (蔡依林). The siren seems to have emerged stronger than ever from a difficult breakup from the king of Mando-pop, Jay Chou (周杰倫), and 30,000 fans turned up to see her turn on the style in Kaohsiung over the weekend.

She dirty-danced with Stanley Huang (黃立行), writhing on top of him while he was prostrate on a couch. She then showed off her classical side by playing the harp (after two lessons). She even managed to turn on the waterworks when singing a song she is said to have written about her relationship with Chairman Chou (周董).

It loses something in translation, Pop Stop is told, but you get the idea: We smiled/ We didn't hide/ This is a pure admission/ We denied ourselves for each other/ No more/ We smiled/ Time stopped/ We cherished the moment and dropped the burden/ No more silence/ We learned but did not keep it.

There was a collective, "Ahhhhh!" from those in the know in Kaohsiung and for once Tsai was spared by the media from overt criticism of her singing and dancing. The only cheap shot came from the country's most popular tabloid, which commented on the star's G-cup breasts and noted they were sagging badly.

More tits for the lads popped out at MC HotDog's (熱狗) World Trade Center gig in the Xinyi district. The talented rapper was side-showed by his dancers when a bikini contest got out of hand. Twenty beach babes took to the stage wearing their itsy-bitsy-teeny-weenies and were encouraged to gyrate in a suggestive manner for the title of "Bikini Queen."

Whether it was a "wardrobe malfunction" a la Janet Jackson or she was just overexcited, a girl known only as "Sunny" ended up dancing topless. Comperes at the event rushed to cover up the girl's "missiles" (飛彈) with a towel, but she was gallantly rewarded with the title anyway.

Further investigation by news hounds, however, found that Sunny works in a Taipei bar and "entertains" businessmen for a living. No wonder she was so quick to get her kit off, opined newscasters on Era News (年代電視台). The police are now considering prosecuting the exotic dancer for public indecency and Sunny is said to be distraught by all the attention she has received -- which is ironic, for an exhibitionist.

Finally, TV entertainer Hu Gua (胡瓜) is in more trouble, this time for siding with his daughter's boyfriend, who was caught canoodling with a porn star. Hu may have been inspired to ignore the photographic evidence of blatant philandering because he was caught out many years ago in flagrante delicto himself. He claimed then that he had been set up by the media and said this was likely a similar case.