Chivalry is not dead, especially when accusations of plastic surgery are involved. The entertainment press got an earful earlier this week from Chinese heartthrob Huang Xiaoming (黃曉明), who spoke out in defense of his girlfriend, 21-year-old Hong Kong model and otaku dreamgirl Yang Ying (楊穎), who goes by the name Angelababy.
The two lovebirds have been in the spotlight since publicly acknowledging their romance in Shanghai a few weeks ago, and Internet chatter speculating that Angelababy had a facelift and more to jumpstart her career prompted an angry response from Huang.
“I have seen people that have had plastic surgery, and I have seen her. She is 100 percent real!” the 32-year-old actor told reporters. “The people who say these kinds of things cause a lot of hurt to women.”
Huang also shared with reporters his love for “romantic surprises.” When asked if an out-of-the-blue marriage proposal would fit this category, he said: “Maybe. I do know that I would definitely bring along a big diamond ring.” But he was quick to add a caveat: “I still haven’t grown up yet, it’s too early to talk about marriage.”
Lin Chi-ling’s (林志玲) latest acting venture has, surprise, surprise, been deemed a flop. Taiwan’s top supermodel starred in Moon Lovers (月光戀人), a Japanese soap opera that concluded earlier this week with its eighth episode.
Moon Lovers, which has yet to air in Taiwan, garnered dismal ratings in Japan, which was a surprise given the immense popularity of Lin’s co-star Tetsuya Kimura. It was the Japanese male idol’s poorest-performing show in 14 years, noted both the Apple Daily and our sister paper the Liberty Times.
In other celebrity news, Charles Chen (陳建州), better known as Blackie (黑人), has been keeping a low profile lately. Last month Blackie resigned as the host of a talk show after producers brought on a guest who engaged in rumor-mongering about his pop-star pal Jay Chou (周杰倫).
But thanks to the Apple Daily, we can rest assured that the basketball star-turned-entertainer has been eating well and everything is peachy with him and his girlfriend, pop singer Fan Fan (范瑋琪). In an article that racked up a lot of hits this week, the paper’s reporters stalked the couple in Taipei’s East District as they spent an evening at a spicy hot pot restaurant — an event that brought back fond memories for the Apple.
The last time the couple were spotted together indulging in spicy hot pot, the night ended with Fan Fan calling off their marriage and Blackie checking into the hospital with enterogastritis.
This time around was less eventful, but the Apple dutifully served up the details and even managed to cook up a half-racy story of its own. For dinner, Blackie went with the non-spicy broth, on orders from Fan Fan, but loaded his pot with lots of beef slices and around 30 clams.
And, oh, those clams! The Apple’s reporter quickly concluded that the only reason Blackie would eat such a large amount would be to boost his fertility, which led to the further conclusion that the couple was clearly in a hurry to have a child. After all, they are getting married in March next year. The reporter rushed up to the couple as they stepped out of the restaurant to confirm this theory. Uh, no, laughed Blackie. “With hot pot, you have to add tomato and clams so the broth will be sweet.”
But Apple Daily’s headline the next day said it all: “An evening feast of spicy hot pot with Fan Fan, Blackie pigs out on clams to prepare for battle (范范麻辣夜宴黑人狂吞蛤仔備戰).”
Blackie posted a response on his Sina.com.cn microblog, expressing his annoyance at getting ambushed and lamenting the Apple Daily article. “I’d better watch out what I eat,” he wrote. “Otherwise, next time if I get caught eating a chocolate bar, they’re going to say things like I’m eating shit for the sake of sex! Ha Ha Ha.”
Sina.com.cn’s microblogging service, dubbed Weibo (微博) in Mandarin, has suddenly emerged as the new online soapbox of the stars. China’s answer to Twitter took center stage this week when pop singer Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) surprised fans by posting a candid photo of herself with a towel wrapped around her head sans makeup. According to the United Daily News, other stars actively using the social networking site include Vivian Hsu (徐若瑄), Wang Lee-hom (王力宏) and A-hsin (阿信) of Mayday (五月天).
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
A fossil jawbone found by a British girl and her father on a beach in Somerset, England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth. Researchers said on Wednesday the bone, called a surangular, was from a type of ocean-going reptile called an ichthyosaur. Based on its dimensions compared to the same bone in closely related ichthyosaurs, the researchers estimated that the Triassic Period creature, which they named Ichthyotitan severnensis, was between 22-26 meters long. That would make it perhaps the largest-known marine reptile and would