Local paparazzi have once again uncovered a celebrity misdemeanor — this time by circulating snapshots of a not-so secret tryst between supermodel Shatina Chen (陳思璇) and TV host Bao Xiao-bo (包小柏) in a Yangming Mountain (陽明山) parking lot.
A former boy-band member, the married record company executive has returned to the limelight after years in the shadows after having taken up the role of showbiz professional who appears on variety shows to fire off bitchy criticism of wannabe starlets.
The 31-year-old beauty Chen was spotted getting up close and personal with Bao last week in his parked car. Classy. Both parties defended the late-night rendezvous saying they were “studying a script together.” Yea right. The pair must have superhuman vision to read in the dark with the car's internal lights switched off. Or perhaps the two were trying to coin a new phrase: so from now on, instead of euphemistically referring to a shag as “a bit of how's your father,” or “rumpy pumpy,” the showbiz term for copulation is “studying a script together.”
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
But Pop Stop isn't that gullible. When a top model who is reaching the end of her shelf life is discovered in a compromising position with a married D-list celebrity, the resulting brouhaha would give tabloid readers enough to chew on for weeks, and of course raise the pair's profile in the public eye. As the saying goes, there's no such thing as bad publicity.
Publicity whore Hsu Chun-mei (許純美), 48, and her 23-year-old toy boy fiance Peter Chiu (邱品叡) are at it again; cashing in on the media's obsession with their warped private lives that is. A self-proclaimed victim of domestic violence at Chiu's hands, Hsu has offered to show off her bruises on various TV shows in what she says is a kind offer to “boost viewing figures.”
While the national laughing stock dominates gossip rags with the (un)intended exposure of her breasts while lying on a bed, her kept man hogged media coverage by getting beaten up by street punks while on a date with a girl in Taidung (台東). For members of the public who are fed up with the gruesome twosome's antics, the bad news is that the ongoing saga shows no signs of abating.
After a yearlong hiatus, Mando-pop band F.I.R. (飛兒樂團) returns with its third album Flying Tribe (飛行部落), which has generated so much interest that pirated copies are already widely available in China before the original is released today. The band's record company Warner Music has estimated it will lose up to NT$100 million in profits because of the leak.
Meanwhile in Ximending (西門町), Taipei, the band held a pre-sales mini concert last Sunday. A passionate female fan took off her top and ran toward guitarist Real (阿沁) in anticipation of receiving some affection from her idol.
The girl was stopped in her tracks; the young guitarist shivered with fright and turned to his rumored girlfriend lead singer Faye for comfort. The pair held hands in front of the crowd and assembled media but denied they were an item.
Last weekend, local residents saw the grand finale of May Day's (五月天) world tour at Taipei Arena (台北巨蛋), a concert which broke the venue's attendance record with ease. Lead singer A-hsin (阿信) failed to live up to expectations and performed below par with his hoarse voice and occasionally off-key strumming.
The group's fans didn't seem to mind though and A-hsin deflected embarrassment by comparing himself to Jon Bon Jovi whose voice “gets huskier when he sings high notes.”
Good news for the ladies: South Korean superstar Bae Yong Jun will appear in senior high school text books as part of a curriculum that aims to examine the popularity of South Korean pop culture in Taiwan. It is also reported that pictures of the star will appear in Japan's senior high school books for geography courses next year. The link between the heartthrob and geography is unclear, although pop stop is sure many young female students would like to see him included in anatomy textbooks.
Reactions to the inclusion of Bae in local schoolbooks has been mixed: female teachers are reported to be pleased, whereas others have expressed a preference for mega star Rain.
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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
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The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su