Fallout from the Edison Chen (陳冠希) online sex-photo scandal rages on in the tribulation of Cecilia Cheung’s (張柏芝) troubled marriage to Nicolas Tse (謝霆鋒).
A touching little performance at Bangkok International Airport in April in which the couple seemed to have made up their differences seems to have been just that, with Next magazine (壹週刊) gleefully reporting that Tse was conspicuously absent from his wife’s birthday party on May 24.
This could simply be because he is busy helping in quake relief efforts in Sichuan Province, China, but the fact that Cheung, 28, seems to be spending most of her time at her mom’s and sister’s homes suggests that this is more than just a momentary separation for the celebrity couple.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Cheung, who used to be often seen sporting expensive designer labels, is dressing down these days. Next reports that she has earned virtually no income since the scandal broke.
Other girls are better at making use of their assets than others, and TV personality Wu Wen-hsian (吳玟萱), 36, has parlayed her 36D breasts into a lucrative endorsement package for Cutie Bra, despite being over 30, a divorcee and a single mother. But all was not left to nature, and Wu is reported to have overcome the effects of gravity with a little surgery two months ago, which has put her peaks back firmly where they belong — in front of the camera.
Reality talent shows continue to churn out more fodder for gossip hounds. Last week’s celebrity was Chang Yun-ching (張芸京), the androgynous singer and favorite of SetTV’s talent show Super Idol (超級偶像), the main rival to CTV’s One Million Star (超級星光大道). Chang’s handsome looks have won her a huge female fan base, and this led to problems with her “best-friend” and bandmate Chang Wei-lun (張維倫). The lesbian frisson gives the story just that much more appeal, and Next reports that Chang Yun-ching dropped all her commitments in Taipei to get her friend back after she returned to Hualien, supposedly jealous at Chang’s success. Next magazine reports that as a pledge, Chang will sing one of her friend’s own composition for the final of Super Idol tomorrow. It is the stuff that huge television ratings are made of.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Another love story that has the media rumor mill spinning involves Janet Hsieh (謝怡芬), host of the Fun Taiwan show that airs regularly on Discovery’s Travel and Living channel. Next magazine reports that she has recently become involved with her manager Li Ching-bai (李景白), who is — horror of horrors — 16 years her senior. Certainly Li seemed to be doing more than his job description as an agent in looking after Hsieh’s parents when they visited last month. Next even suggests that in accepting a job to produce Ohaeva for Videoland (緯萊電視網), he is taking a step to helping Hsieh fulfill her acting ambitions.
This strategy seems to be what all the local celebs want these days. Lin Chi-ling (林志玲), Taiwan’s top fashion model, has now made it to the big screen in John Woo’s (吳宇森) Red Cliff. When asked about her acting skills in an interview with Sina.com on Monday, co-star Tony Leung Chiu Wai (梁朝偉) replied that “she was very polite. Although she’s not a professional, she worked very hard.” It’s hard to get more damning than that in the Chinese movie press.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not