The "wardrobe malfunction" has become something of a staple among Taiwanese wannabe celebrities. The most recent happened to Liu Zhen (劉真), when a nipple escaped from her strapless top during a book launch of her photos (of her rather than by her). There is no better way of bringing in the punters than by showing them a glimpse of the real goods. This exploit was given extensive exposure by a shocked media - Next even went so far as to provide an almost clinical close-up of the offending nipple ... so it could be recognized again if seen in public? Zhen's venture follows close on the heels of Vivi Wang's (王婉霏) "black forest incident," when the spokesperson for a car manufacturer showed off her pubic hair while posing for photographers. Despite her agitated response at the time, this incident did nothing to hurt her career.
David Tao (陶吉吉), who seems to be going through a South American phase, has moved on from a passing interest in Brazilian-Japanese model Akemi, to pursuing Guatemalan-Taiwanese model Liz Yang (楊莉思). Yang has already acquired a reputation for pushing the boundaries of good taste with her steamy poses and willingness to let it all hang out, and if Tao's involvement means she features on more magazine covers, it is unlikely that there will be many dissenting voices. Except perhaps Tao himself: Next's motley crew of paparazzi have caught Yang out and about town with fellow model Neill Wan (萬子豪), even though Tao has even gone to the trouble of taking Yang home to meet the folks. Tao is going all out to get his hands on those 32Ds, but clearly Yang is anything but a pushover.
In other romantic news, Shu Qi (舒淇) is salving the wounds of her reported breakup with Wang Lee-hom (王力宏) with looker Hu Bin (胡兵). This is certainly a step down-market, but given her record, the tabloids are already speculating whether she is going to make a move on Takeshi Kaneshiro (金城武), when she gets in front of the camera again to shoot a new costume drama based on the Chinese classic novel Heroes of the Water Margin (水滸傳). She will be playing Pan Jin-lien (潘金蓮), a wily seductress who will, on camera at least, go all out to get her hooks into Kaneshiro.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
In slightly more uplifting news, Little S (小S) is showing her support for her husband by deciding to have a third child, in the hope that it will be a boy. The celebrity mother has already given birth to two daughters, and in a desire to fulfill husband Mike Hsu's (許雅鈞) wish for a man-child, she has even gone so far as to eat a gecko, which is believed to improve the chances of giving birth to a boy. This refreshing example of selfless behavior on the part of a married celebrity is almost enough to counterbalance the interminable flood of news about faithlessness, sexism and betrayal.
Actress Brigitte Lin (林青霞), who has been going through an extended bad patch over the last few years, seems to have found salvation in Jesus. Once a devout Buddhist, Lin has announced that she has experienced a conversion and has been seen taking her two children to the Franklin Graham Festival, a huge Christian convention in Hong Kong. She says the conversion has helped her defeat depression. Well, the Lord works in mysterious ways.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
The canonical shot of an East Asian city is a night skyline studded with towering apartment and office buildings, bright with neon and plastic signage, a landscape of energy and modernity. Another classic image is the same city seen from above, in which identical apartment towers march across the city, spilling out over nearby geography, like stylized soldiers colonizing new territory in a board game. Densely populated dynamic conurbations of money, technological innovation and convenience, it is hard to see the cities of East Asia as what they truly are: necropolises. Why is this? The East Asian development model, with
This is a deeply unsettling period in Taiwan. Uncertainties are everywhere while everyone waits for a small army of other shoes to drop on nearly every front. During challenging times, interesting political changes can happen, yet all three major political parties are beset with scandals, strife and self-inflicted wounds. As the ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is held accountable for not only the challenges to the party, but also the nation. Taiwan is geopolitically and economically under threat. Domestically, the administration is under siege by the opposition-controlled legislature and growing discontent with what opponents characterize as arrogant, autocratic
June 16 to June 22 The following flyer appeared on the streets of Hsinchu on June 12, 1895: “Taipei has already fallen to the Japanese barbarians, who have brought great misery to our land and people. We heard that the Japanese occupiers will tax our gardens, our houses, our bodies, and even our chickens, dogs, cows and pigs. They wear their hair wild, carve their teeth, tattoo their foreheads, wear strange clothes and speak a strange language. How can we be ruled by such people?” Posted by civilian militia leader Wu Tang-hsing (吳湯興), it was a call to arms to retake
When Lisa, 20, laces into her ultra-high heels for her shift at a strip club in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, she knows that aside from dancing, she will have to comfort traumatized soldiers. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, exhausted troops are the main clientele of the Flash Dancers club in the center of the northeastern city, just 20 kilometers from Russian forces. For some customers, it provides an “escape” from the war, said Valerya Zavatska — a 25-year-old law graduate who runs the club with her mother, an ex-dancer. But many are not there just for the show. They “want to talk about what hurts,” she
RSS