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
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
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
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
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located