We all know that Jay Chou (周杰倫) fancies himself something chronic, but his most recent automotive acquisition really takes the cake. Not content with his already considerable collection of luxury sports cars, the Chairman (周董) has recently taken delivery of his very own Batmobile.
According to a report in the United Daily News, the custom-made auto is based on the one used in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman. The car, which takes up to three parking spaces and cost NT$5 million, is not just a collector’s item. Chou said he might have the chance to take it on the road one day. “We’ll see if the paparazzi will be able to keep up with me then,” he said.
Chou’s new toy is an innocent diversion compared to what other celebs have been getting up to, most notably Ethan Ruan (阮經天), who has been caught, once again, with his pants down.
Pop Stop reported last week that Ruan’s girlfriend Tiffany Hsu (許瑋甯) had changed her Facebook status from “In a relationship” to “It’s complicated” after the star was spotted at a hotel in Taichung with an unidentified woman.
Since then, additional details have been pouring in of his louche behavior.
At the time of the alleged indiscretion, Ruan was supposed to be on leave from the publicity tour for hit film Monga (艋舺), in which he starred, to attend his grandfather’s funeral.
Photos submitted by a member of the public to Next Magazine suggest that he might have had a date with a “long-haired hottie” (長髮辣妹) whose going price, according to the rag, is NT$30,000. There is still plenty of controversy as to exactly what might, or might not, have happened, as the dates and locations of the photos are disputed.
Rather less controversial, though equally eye-catching, is Stanley Huang’s (黃立行) most recent romantic involvement. Huang, who is no stranger to speculative gossip, has generally managed to keep a fairly tight lid on the details of his private life.
There has, nevertheless, been intense speculation about a possible new courtship following the breakup of his three-year involvement with singer Dominique Tsai (蔡詩蕓). According to Next Magazine, his new inamorata is model Hu Jia-ai (胡嘉愛). Up to now, Hu has been very much in the minor league, but perhaps now she’ll have a chance to move up from the D list.
Someone else who’s going places is Wang Ying (王瀅), niece of singer Harlem Yu (庾澄慶).
Wang is getting hitched to Jimmy Yang (楊立傑), scion of the Nankuo Construction (南國建設) family.
Suggestions that the whirlwind romance, which is leading to marriage after only six months, is being driven by a pregnancy are providing a rich vein for the gossip rags to mine.
From romance to finance: Chang Chen-yue (張震嶽) is romancing a “long-haired hottie” of his own. The singer is riding a wave, and apart from having nothing to hide (when asked who she was, he simply replied that he had plenty of women friends), his participation in Super Band (縱貫線), together with veteran rockers Lo Ta-yu (羅大佑), Emil Chou (周華健), Jonathan Lee (李宗盛), has proven a huge success.
The Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) estimates the band’s 52-show concert tour (six gigs were added on to meet demand), grossed NT$4.3 billion, with each of the performers pulling in NT$100 million.
In recent weeks the Trump Administration has been demanding that Taiwan transfer half of its chip manufacturing to the US. In an interview with NewsNation, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said that the US would need 50 percent of domestic chip production to protect Taiwan. He stated, discussing Taiwan’s chip production: “My argument to them was, well, if you have 95 percent, how am I gonna get it to protect you? You’re going to put it on a plane? You’re going to put it on a boat?” The stench of the Trump Administration’s mafia-style notions of “protection” was strong
Every now and then, it’s nice to just point somewhere on a map and head out with no plan. In Taiwan, where convenience reigns, food options are plentiful and people are generally friendly and helpful, this type of trip is that much easier to pull off. One day last November, a spur-of-the-moment day hike in the hills of Chiayi County turned into a surprisingly memorable experience that impressed on me once again how fortunate we all are to call this island home. The scenery I walked through that day — a mix of forest and farms reaching up into the clouds
With one week left until election day, the drama is high in the race for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chair. The race is still potentially wide open between the three frontrunners. The most accurate poll is done by Apollo Survey & Research Co (艾普羅民調公司), which was conducted a week and a half ago with two-thirds of the respondents party members, who are the only ones eligible to vote. For details on the candidates, check the Oct. 4 edition of this column, “A look at the KMT chair candidates” on page 12. The popular frontrunner was 56-year-old Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文)
Oct. 13 to Oct. 19 When ordered to resign from her teaching position in June 1928 due to her husband’s anti-colonial activities, Lin Shih-hao (林氏好) refused to back down. The next day, she still showed up at Tainan Second Preschool, where she was warned that she would be fired if she didn’t comply. Lin continued to ignore the orders and was eventually let go without severance — even losing her pay for that month. Rather than despairing, she found a non-government job and even joined her husband Lu Ping-ting’s (盧丙丁) non-violent resistance and labor rights movements. When the government’s 1931 crackdown
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