Asia's entertainment bosses seem to require celebrity debutantes and starlets to appear chaste and remain single (at least in public) for as long as possible to maximize their moneymaking potential. With the former, as the recent Edison Chen (陳冠希) sex-photo scandal demonstrated, displays of "naughty" - or human - behavior are enough to destroy a music career or kill a toothpaste endorsement. Those who tie the knot can expect to meet the same fate, which is probably why many members of the celebrity firmament marry into money.
And so it is, with the Chen debacle cooling down, gossip rags scramble to dig up juicy gossip that compares to the former Canto-pop star's sensational misdemeanors. Apple revisited a rumor spread last year that aging "national treasure" and model Lin Chih-lin (林志玲) is engaged to Scott Qiu (邱士楷), the son of a toilet magnet reputedly worth NT$3.5 billion.
An online poll conducted by Yahoo and reported in Apple asked the earth-shattering question: Would Lin's career suffer if she got married? Of the roughly 17,000 respondents, 60.3 percent said it would. But like other models before her, Lin probably isn't too concerned because the money she could marry into (she was allegedly courted by Terry Gou, 郭台銘, one of Taiwan's richest men) would more than compensate for the loss of strut time.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
In other faux-wedding news, Apple and the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) reported that Hong Kong actor/singer Leon Lee (黎明) and supermodel Gaile Lai (樂基兒) spent NT$4 million (Apple) or NT$40 million (Liberty Times) on a wedding in the Maldives - a rumor the pair promptly denied upon returning to Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, Cecilia Cheung's (張柏芝) marriage to Nicolas Tse (謝霆鋒) seems to be stabilizing after the Chen affair. The Liberty Times reported last week that Tse's parents are willing to overlook Cheung's erotic photos in the interest of their young grandson and family harmony.
A judge threw out "entertainer" Lu Ching's (盧靚) sexual harassment lawsuit against comedian and TV personality Peng Chia-chia (澎恰恰). Readers of Pop Stop will remember that Peng learned the hard way that masturbating in front of the camera might have unintended consequences. At the time, August 2003, he was secretly filmed "bashing the bishop" by Lu, who recorded the action to "protect" herself from the onanist's sexual advances. Peng, however, claimed Lu was out to blackmail him to the tune of NT$44.7 million, according to an Apple Daily report.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
A judge eventually found in favor of Peng and handed Lu a three-year jail sentence, which was reduced to two years on appeal. She began serving her time last December.
In related news, it seems that Brazilian-Japanese model Akemi (樂明美) has a new beau, a Brazilian model named Henderson. The couple were captured on film after taking in a movie, the Liberty Times reported. Clearly, however, the intrepid paparazzi weren't using a long enough telephoto lens when they caught Henderson and Akemi playing tonsil hockey outside of the movie theater. In a gesture that would make Sean Penn proud, Henderson pounced on one of the photographers, throttling him into submission. But Henderson's act of chivalry may result in LH7, the company that brought him over to Taiwan, dumping him from its roster of models. Perhaps Akemi should have warned ol' Hen about Asia's gossip hounds before engaging in public displays of affection.
And finally, a warning for readers who plan on enjoying a jaunt out to Wulai (烏來) for a dip in the hot springs: there's a Peeping Tom on the loose. In a front-page story, Apple published an image of a man with binoculars partially obscured by bushes looking across a wide ravine into a row of resorts. The vernacular daily also provided images of the scene the Peeping Tom was presumably watching: a nude couple in various acts of copulation. Pop Stop has to wonder what the paper's photographer was doing there in the first place.
Last week, Viola Zhou published a marvelous deep dive into the culture clash between Taiwanese boss mentality and American labor practices at the Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) plant in Arizona in Rest of World. “The American engineers complained of rigid, counterproductive hierarchies at the company,” while the Taiwanese said American workers aren’t dedicated. The article is a delight, but what it is depicting is the clash between a work culture that offers employee autonomy and at least nods at work-life balance, and one that runs on hierarchical discipline enforced by chickenshit. And it runs on chickenshit because chickenshit is a cultural
By far the most jarring of the new appointments for the incoming administration is that of Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) to head the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). That is a huge demotion for one of the most powerful figures in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Tseng has one of the most impressive resumes in the party. He was very active during the Wild Lily Movement and his generation is now the one taking power. He has served in many of the requisite government, party and elected positions to build out a solid political profile. Elected as mayor of Taoyuan as part of the
Moritz Mieg, 22, lay face down in the rubble, the ground shaking violently beneath him. Boulders crashed down around him, some stones hitting his back. “I just hoped that it would be one big hit and over, because I did not want to be hit nearly to death and then have to slowly die,” the student from Germany tells Taipei Times. MORNING WALK Early on April 3, Mieg set out on a scenic hike through Taroko Gorge in Hualien County (花蓮). It was a fine day for it. Little did he know that the complex intersection of tectonic plates Taiwan sits
When picturing Tainan, what typically comes to mind is charming alleyways, Japanese architecture and world-class cuisine. But look beyond the fray, through stained glass windows and sliding bookcases, and there exists a thriving speakeasy subculture, where innovative mixologists ply their trade, serving exquisite concoctions and unique flavor profiles to rival any city in Taiwan. Speakeasies hail from the prohibition era of 1920s America. When alcohol was outlawed, people took their business to hidden establishments; requiring patrons to use hushed tones — speak easy — to conceal their illegal activities. Nowadays legal, speakeasy bars are simply hidden bars, often found behind bookcases