With so many in Taiwan’s celebrity firmament embroiled in scandals over the past few years, 2010 may turn out to be the year when some turn to religion to change their evil ways. But don’t count on it.
“God is better than sex,” screamed a T-shirt worn by actor and singer Vanness Wu (吳建豪) while attending a Christian conference late last week, according to a report in the United Daily News.
After arriving at the Festival of God’s Power Conference (神大能醫治布道會), the 31-year old heartthrob — who recently changed his first name to Van Ness — proceeded to disclose details of his changed lifestyle since being baptized two years ago.
In a tell-all to the media scrum following him, Wu confessed to losing his virginity aged 17 and “dating” six women in the past. Those wild days are behind him, though, as he told the assembled gossip hounds that he signed a “celibacy card” in 2008 and prays for one hour every day — this in addition to surreptitious prayers for friends and colleagues. He said that he manages to avoid temptation by putting God first.
He also confirmed rumors that he’d been involved with singer and actress Vivian Hsu (徐若瑄), claiming he could no longer lie about their past relationship. (Incidentally, Hsu has been spotted in the past at Xingtian Temple (行天宮) praying for divine intervention to help her find a mate).
When asked if he planned to become a pastor, Wu replied that he’d leave it up to God. If that wasn’t odd enough, CTV showed a clip of Wu’s hand placed on the head of a middle-aged woman, a sight that could have come right out of America’s Bible Belt.
All this talk of clean living is hard to swallow. Several media outlets implied just as much by juxtaposing images of Wu at the conference with those of him lying naked on a fully dressed Ady An (安以軒), his co-star in the soap opera Autumn’s Concerto (下一站，幸福). Perhaps Wu’s abstinence pledge has an opt-out clause for television.
Singer and actor Jay Chou (周杰倫) may need Wu’s help in calling on the Almighty for a miracle to salvage Pandamen (熊貓人), a new television program which he directs. The drama series about two heroic pandas that protect a city received the lowest rating for its 10pm time slot last Friday, according to a report on NOWnews.
Bloggers complained Pandamen had a childish plot and seemed to cater specifically to viewers in China. One would expect, then, that it would have received rave reviews when it aired on Guangzhou Television last month. But the NT$110 million show barely registered, with only 5,000 viewers tuning in on its third day, making it the lowest-rated show in the station’s history.
And now to more mundane news. The Apple Daily released the results of its “Queen of the Bra” (內衣皇后) poll. Joe Chen’s (陳喬恩) mammalian protuberances (33D) blew away the competition with 52 percent of the votes, coming out victorious in the ongoing lingerie battle against her To Love You Is My Destiny (命中注定我愛你) co-star and undergarment rival Bianca Bai (白歆惠). Bai’s tatas, practically exploding out of a 33B cup, placed third with 14 percent.
Actress Cheryl Yang (楊謹華) came second with 22 percent, and singer Landy Wen (溫嵐) placed last with 3 percent. Pop Stop awaits Apple’s “Queen of the Thong” poll with baited breath, and wonders when the “King of the Thong” contest kicks off.
Yahoo Kimo, meanwhile, came up with its own poll on who is the top male idol, which seems more of a promotional gimmick for popular boy band F4 than anything else.
Jerry Yan (言承旭) topped the poll of 170,000 votes with 30.8 percent, beating out fellow F4 band members Van Ness Wu and Vic Chou (周渝民), both of whom tied with 26 percent. Perhaps Yan has been praying in secret.
And finally, Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi (章子怡) is in a little hot water lately over allegations that she embezzled money donated to her charity to help victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
Zhang had publicly pledged the equivalent of NT$4.7 million to China’s Red Cross for victims of the disaster that killed an estimated 68,000 people. China’s media and bloggers have been in a tizzy over revelations that she donated only part of that total, leading to speculation that she had funneled the rest into her own personal account.
The Red Cross confirmed on Monday that it had received the balance owed, according to a report on Sina.com.
Towering high above Taiwan’s capital city at 508 meters, Taipei 101 dominates the skyline. The earthquake-proof skyscraper of steel and glass has captured the imagination of professional rock climber Alex Honnold for more than a decade. Tomorrow morning, he will climb it in his signature free solo style — without ropes or protective equipment. And Netflix will broadcast it — live. The event’s announcement has drawn both excitement and trepidation, as well as some concerns over the ethical implications of attempting such a high-risk endeavor on live broadcast. Many have questioned Honnold’s desire to continues his free-solo climbs now that he’s a
As Taiwan’s second most populous city, Taichung looms large in the electoral map. Taiwanese political commentators describe it — along with neighboring Changhua County — as Taiwan’s “swing states” (搖擺州), which is a curious direct borrowing from American election terminology. In the early post-Martial Law era, Taichung was referred to as a “desert of democracy” because while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was winning elections in the north and south, Taichung remained staunchly loyal to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). That changed over time, but in both Changhua and Taichung, the DPP still suffers from a “one-term curse,” with the
Jan. 26 to Feb. 1 Nearly 90 years after it was last recorded, the Basay language was taught in a classroom for the first time in September last year. Over the following three months, students learned its sounds along with the customs and folktales of the Ketagalan people, who once spoke it across northern Taiwan. Although each Ketagalan settlement had its own language, Basay functioned as a common trade language. By the late 19th century, it had largely fallen out of daily use as speakers shifted to Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), surviving only in fragments remembered by the elderly. In
William Liu (劉家君) moved to Kaohsiung from Nantou to live with his boyfriend Reg Hong (洪嘉佑). “In Nantou, people do not support gay rights at all and never even talk about it. Living here made me optimistic and made me realize how much I can express myself,” Liu tells the Taipei Times. Hong and his friend Cony Hsieh (謝昀希) are both active in several LGBT groups and organizations in Kaohsiung. They were among the people behind the city’s 16th Pride event in November last year, which gathered over 35,000 people. Along with others, they clearly see Kaohsiung as the nexus of LGBT rights.
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