Pop Stop readers will know that Van Ness Wu (吳建豪) has recently gotten very cozy with God. The Taiwanese-American heartthrob called on his new best friend for support last week when his production company became embroiled in a drug scandal. Wu hauled a copy of the Bible to a press conference where he and Smash and Grab Productions
(天地仁和電影公司) co-founder Jimmy Hung (洪天祥) both denied any wrongdoing.
The trouble started when a police raid of the film company’s office uncovered a baggie of marijuana in an employee’s belongings. Apple Daily described 29-year-old Chou Ichuan (周毅銓) as Wu’s “clingy assistant,” but Wu’s manager insisted that her client had only known the alleged pothead for one or two weeks. Chou’s three roommates were also arrested on charges related to drug trafficking.
Hung and Wu appeared at a joint press conference after the arrests. Despite being clad in black leather and sporting a tough-looking buzz cut, Wu appeared very pious — and, indeed, demure — as he clutched the Good Book. He dismissed rumors that he’d shaved his head to avoid a drugs test, saying that his new coif was for an independent film he shot last month in the US. Both men distanced themselves from Chou and his alleged herbal remedy. “I told him not to bring that kind of stuff to work and he said he wouldn’t touch it again,” said Hung. “One of our employees made a mistake, it doesn’t mean it has anything to do with the rest of the company.”
Hung went on to kvetch about the police officers who’d searched Smash and Grab, complaining that he’d been ordered to leave the premises. “They acted like we were all drug traffickers,” Hung wailed to reporters, before adding that if urine samples could prove Hung and Wu’s innocence, both men would be more than happy to step up to
the cup.
According to Apple Daily, Chou admitted to possessing marijuana but insisted he didn’t sell it (his roommates also say they are innocent of the drug trafficking charges). While being questioned by police, Chou claimed he’d gotten drunk in the East District’s (東區) Room 18 and bumped into a blonde man outside the nightclub, who offered him the baggie of marijuana. Zhou said that the bag cost him NT$2,000 and that all he wanted to do was go home, have something to eat and drink and then “relax.”
TV producer Chen Yulin (沈玉琳) appeared to be on something at his wedding last week, but the only thing he was high on was life ... or his 25-year-old wife Wu Hsiao-chun (吳曉純), also known as Yaya (芽芽), who is 17 years Chen’s junior. According to reports in the Apple Daily, 700 guests attended the lavish 81-table banquet. Chen entertained the gathering with a failed attempt at hula-hooping, some very moist tongue wrestling with Wu and touching proclamations of love: “[Wu’s] a good daughter, she takes care of me, her bedroom kung-fu skills [床上功夫] are excellent and, most importantly, she’ll never bash me on television!”
The last part was a jab at Chen’s ex-girlfriend, television host Peajen (佩真), who he dated for eight years. The two climbed to the top ranks of show business (or at least the top ranks of the B-list) together before splitting up. Peajean has referred to Chen on her talk show as a heartless two-timer. Nonetheless, she put in an appearance at the banquet with a NT$8,000 hongbao in hand, telling reporters that she and Chen remained good friends.
Before the wedding, Wu’s friends ribbed Chen by forcing him to enter the hotel in a pair of high heels and sing while hula hooping (the toy fell almost instantly, crashing into a coffee table). At the banquet, Chen praised Wu for her skill at preparing instant noodles. The 700 guests, who caused a traffic jam in front of the reception venue, included semi-celebs, such as actors Ma Kuo-hsien (馬國賢), Jonathan Chang (張克帆),Ting Kuo-lin (丁國琳) and Riva Zhang (張芳奕). TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) was Chen’s best man and joked during his speech that the groom’s father was only interested in Ding’s cleavage.
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
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
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built