An American, a Japanese man, an Englishman and an Indian are traveling on a train. Each of them insists their country is best. The American throws his dollars out of the train window to demonstrate how little he cares about money, since America has so much of it. The Japanese man responds by chucking out his PDA. Surprisingly, the Englishman throws the Indian out of the train. Asked to explain himself, he says he doesn't care about having an empire any more. This joke, as told on the popular Here Comes Kang and Xi (康熙來了) program, shows that humor is universal. Or is it?
When is a brothel not a place full of prostitutes? When local politicians and businessmen go there. Then they are "guesthouses," with women who just happen to be available, for a price. Press coverage last weekend about the nocturnal habits of a presidential aide and some lawmakers revealed just how inventive politicians can be when it comes to the truth. DPP lawmaker Yu Jan-daw (余政道), for instance, explained he went to a guesthouse to ask for expert opinion about a land deal. So now we all know where to go for legal advice.
Politicians may be the kings of cant but show business agents run a close second. For instance, personality Suzanne Hsiao's (蕭淑慎) representative blamed cosmetic surgery for his client's positive drugs test this week, according to the Apple Daily. Hsiao has in the past admitted to eye and ear surgery, breast augmentation and liposuction. So when hair samples found she had used copious amounts of cocaine and ketamine, her agent imaginatively responded police were mistaken and said the medication she was taking to recover from cosmetic surgery was to blame. Not.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Hsiao is facing jail time in a "rehabilitation center" which will begin with intrusive searches of the anus and other possible drug hiding holes. Apple rammed this point home with a harrowing graphic illustrating how searches of this nature are conducted. In addition to her freedom and loss of dignity, Hsiao also stands to lose up to NT$20 million next year in TV and film appearances.
Other high-profile people found in the police's drug net include actors Jung Hsiung (戎祥) and Chang Li-wei (張立威), who were found to have taken marijuana and are looking at eight months and two months, respectively, behind bars. Former child actor Fang Shun-ji (方順吉) was found to have taken ketamine. On a previous occasion he was caught with the evil weed but is currently claiming he's innocent and has "turned over a new leaf," according to the English-language Taiwan News. TV host Tuo Tsung-kang (庹宗康) faces two months inside and the loss of three shows and income of around NT$27 million for puffing on the magic dragon. Presenter Chu Chung-heng (屈中恆) is in a similar predicament; while Hung Chi-te (洪其德) stands to lose more than two months of freedom, with a projected loss of NT$60 million after traces of amphetamine, ketamine and Ecstasy were found in his hair.
In less seedy news, Gong Li (鞏俐) and her breasts, which knocked out Jay Chou (周杰倫) while he was filming Curse of the Golden Flower (滿城盡帶黃金甲) were splashed all over most papers when the cast came to Taiwan for the movie premiere earlier this week. One picture in the United Evening News shows Li's agent protecting her boss' assets with her hands. Pop Stop has to ask: Why go out dressed in a low cut NT$130,000 Dior dress if you're worried about photographers taking pictures? The Shanghai Daily, meanwhile, said Chou was so taken with Li and her 36D figure during filming he couldn't look her in the eyes.
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
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
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
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