Big-budget Chinese movies made through international collaborations are springing up left, right and center these days with new projects being announced one after another. The latest is the police/gangster flick Behind the Sin (傷城) by Hong Kong director duo Andrew Lau (劉偉強) and Alan Mak (麥兆輝) who rose to prominence through the blockbuster Infernal Affairs (無間道).
Shooting began last month for the film, which includes Shu Qi (舒淇), Tony Leung (梁朝偉) and Takeshi Kaneshiro (金城武) on the billing: just the right mix to make some mega bucks and incite the media's interest.
But the press and mass media are not alone in rubbing their hands at the star-studded cast. Attending the movie's Asian press conference last Sunday, Taiwanese diva Shu couldn't hide her excitement at the prospect of working with the ultimate heartthrob duo. “I feel I am the luckiest woman on earth ... and I have already made director Lau promise to arrange intimate scenes with Takeshi and me,” the star was quoted as saying in the Chinese-language press.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
The object of desire among straight women and gay men, the Japan-born actor was the epitome of cool and met the salivating diva's enthusiasm with a polite smile.
Filmmakers have announced plans to produce Taiwan's largest budget film ever. The movie, which will be directed by veteran filmmaker Chu Yan-ping (朱延平) and star Mando-pop king Jay Chou (周杰倫) is backed by a budget that tops NT$300 million. Titled Slam Dunk (灌籃), the flick has secured technical support from the team behind Kung Fu Hustle (功夫). The film's producers hope to secure a guest appearance by NBA superstar Yao Ming (姚明).
(In)famous for his cheesy slapstick comedies, Chu sees the ambitious project as his big career break. But for the rest of us, let's cross our fingers and hope he won't screw this one up and waste a vast sum of money that others could use to better effect.
Hong Kong star Aaron Kwok (郭富城) has made it onto the gossip front pages again, this time with his newly purchased Pagani Zonda F, a black Italian racing car which was personally delivered to him by Pagani's founder Horacio Pagani. The NT$41 million super car is a proud addition to Kwok's garage that houses more than 10 luxurious and limited issue Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini models.
“My next goal is to get the silver version of the same model,” the racing fanatic told the Hong Kong press.
Do movie stars make way more money than they are actually worth?
Local hip-hop singer Wilbur Pan (潘瑋柏) has suffered a double blow with his new album Reversing the Earth (反轉地球). After observers panned the music video for his song Obsession (著迷) from the album as a rip-off of South Korean megastar Rain's I Do, the Taiwanese singer has been accused of lifting the tune from Each Time by the British boy band East-17.
Pan stressed that he was also a victim in the plagiarizing debacle and said that the song's creator had pledged to take legal responsibility for the sad episode.
The moral of the story: Write your own songs.
Mando-pop queen Jolin Tsai (蔡依林), on the contrary, has hit the jackpot with her new album Dancing Diva (舞孃) and knows how to get her fans going; she often flashes her full compliment of mammary protuberances.
Proclaiming that her enlarged breasts were not the result of surgery but were attained with the help of acupuncture, Tsai has spread the good news of the benefits of Chinese medicine among flat-chested stars, especially her girlfriend Stephanie Sun (孫燕姿), who with her more modest assets, exudes a boyish charm.
When asked if she would consider upsizing her boobs, the starlet told the local press that, “breast size doesn't really matter to me. But if someone thinks bigger breasts are better, I will do it.”
But as every girl knows, bigger isn't always better.
What was the population of Taiwan when the first Negritos arrived? In 500BC? The 1st century? The 18th? These questions are important, because they can contextualize the number of babies born last month, 6,523, to all the people on Taiwan, indigenous and colonial alike. That figure represents a year on year drop of 3,884 babies, prefiguring total births under 90,000 for the year. It also represents the 26th straight month of deaths exceeding births. Why isn’t this a bigger crisis? Because we don’t experience it. Instead, what we experience is a growing and more diverse population. POPULATION What is Taiwan’s actual population?
For the past five years, Sammy Jou (周祥敏) has climbed Kinmen’s highest peak, Taiwu Mountain (太武山) at 6am before heading to work. In the winter, it’s dark when he sets out but even at this hour, other climbers are already coming down the mountain. All of this is a big change from Jou’s childhood during the Martial Law period, when the military requisitioned the mountain for strategic purposes and most of it was off-limits. Back then, only two mountain trails were open, and they were open only during special occasions, such as for prayers to one’s ancestors during Lunar New Year.
A key feature of Taiwan’s environmental impact assessments (EIA) is that they seldom stop projects, especially once the project has passed its second stage EIA review (the original Suhua Highway proposal, killed after passing the second stage review, seems to be the lone exception). Mingjian Township (名間鄉) in Nantou County has been the site of rising public anger over the proposed construction of a waste incinerator in an important agricultural area. The township is a key producer of tea (over 40 percent of the island’s production), ginger and turmeric. The incinerator project is currently in its second stage EIA. The incinerator
It sounded innocuous enough. On the morning of March 12, a group of Taichung political powerbrokers held a press conference in support of Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang’s (江啟臣) bid to win the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) primary in the Taichung mayoral race. Big deal, right? It was a big deal, one with national impact and likely sent shivers down the spine of KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文). Who attended, who did not, the timing and the messaging were all very carefully calibrated for maximum impact — a masterclass in political messaging. In October last year, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
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