It is amazing to see how the entertainment apparatus turns a nobody into a star and its efficiency to produce, consume and cash in on its creations is flabbergasting. Right now the machine is working its magic on Aska Yang (楊宗緯), its latest product. A local version of China's Li Yuchun (李宇春), Yang rocketed to stardom after participating in the singing contest One Million Star (超級星光大道), on national TV. Two months on, the college student-turned-household name keeps the nation enthralled with no more than a reasonably nice voice and a bent for getting teary eyed over defeated contenders.
Nicknamed cry baby for his tears and caveman for his rugged appearance, Yang has quickly become the gossip rag's new favorite as paparazzi digs out dirt saying the contestant once flunked out of college, subtracted five years from his real age and has developed a predilection for young, pretty assistants.
The show has been accused of deliberately eliminating Yang from the competition so that it can invite him back later in the game, adding a bit of suspense and drama to the show even as the star in the making ensures that gossip fodder is in ample supply.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
The Aska craze is predicted to reach a climax in a couple of months as Yang and the nine other finalists, now dubbed as the Million Star Gang (星光幫), are working on their first compilation album slated to hit the market in the summer. Whether or not the gang are successful products like Hello Kitty or Jolin Tsai (蔡依林), only time will tell.
In other tabloid news, A-mei (阿妹) is said to have developed a fancy for younger men as a widely circulated picture of her nestling up to Super Basketball League player He Shou-cheng (何守正) is interpreted as a sign of budding love by local media proficient in making gossip headlines out of nothing.
As the rumored romance comes suspiciously close to the release date of the star's new album next month, and one cannot but wonder whether the record company is getting a bit slack in resorting to a publicity gimmick that is so yesterday.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Pop singer and entertainer Alan Luo (羅志祥) is apparently in the prime of his life. Not only does his romantic pursuit of the queen of cute Rainie Yang (楊丞琳) look promising, the business-savvy star has set up his own clothing brand and his first flagship store opened last weekend in Ximending (西門町).
Over 600 fans flooded into the store to pick up Luo's designs of limited edition clothing and plastic toys. And by the end of the day, the astute star took more than NT$1 million of bucks for what are in fact plain T-shirts and trinkets.
Meanwhile, Luo's past rumored girlfriend Jolin Tsai is spending the same amount of cash on the other side of the planet. Picking up pricey lessons from Kylie Monogue's dance instructor in London, the dance diva's studiousness has been faithfully documented by the record company, lauding the star as a studious young lady who can lead a ordinary life like other Taiwanese students do despite her fame and wealth.
Pop Stop just wants to point out one thing: expensive dance lessons, extravagant shopping and five-star hotel accommodation can hardly constitute a common experience shared by Taiwanese students in foreign countries.
In recent weeks the Trump Administration has been demanding that Taiwan transfer half of its chip manufacturing to the US. In an interview with NewsNation, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said that the US would need 50 percent of domestic chip production to protect Taiwan. He stated, discussing Taiwan’s chip production: “My argument to them was, well, if you have 95 percent, how am I gonna get it to protect you? You’re going to put it on a plane? You’re going to put it on a boat?” The stench of the Trump Administration’s mafia-style notions of “protection” was strong
Every now and then, it’s nice to just point somewhere on a map and head out with no plan. In Taiwan, where convenience reigns, food options are plentiful and people are generally friendly and helpful, this type of trip is that much easier to pull off. One day last November, a spur-of-the-moment day hike in the hills of Chiayi County turned into a surprisingly memorable experience that impressed on me once again how fortunate we all are to call this island home. The scenery I walked through that day — a mix of forest and farms reaching up into the clouds
With one week left until election day, the drama is high in the race for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chair. The race is still potentially wide open between the three frontrunners. The most accurate poll is done by Apollo Survey & Research Co (艾普羅民調公司), which was conducted a week and a half ago with two-thirds of the respondents party members, who are the only ones eligible to vote. For details on the candidates, check the Oct. 4 edition of this column, “A look at the KMT chair candidates” on page 12. The popular frontrunner was 56-year-old Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文)
“Eighteen years ago, people didn’t even know the name of this ingredient,” says 58-year-old Gil Sa-hyeon, holding up a cluster of dried brownish stems. “Now it’s everywhere.” His shop, Joseon Yakcho, sits in the heart of Seoul’s Yangnyeongsi Market, South Korea’s largest traditional medicinal herb market, its streets lined with shops displaying buckets of herbs such as licorice root and cinnamon bark that spill on to the pavements, filling the air with their distinct, earthy aroma. The ingredient Gil is referring to is hovenia dulcis, known in Korean as heotgae — the oriental raisin tree that’s become the cornerstone of South Korea’s
RSS