The rich and famous can usually be counted on to embarrass themselves for our entertainment, especially with the media already antsy about the way they were treated during the March 22 wedding of Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛, aka Big S) and Chinese restaurateur Wang Xiaofei (汪小菲) last week. At the nuptials, Chinese businesswoman Zhang Lan (張蘭), the mother of the groom, made some expansive claims about how good her connections in China were, claiming close ties with businessman Wang Jianlin (王健林), whose Wanda Group (萬達集團) owns the Sanya Sheraton Hotel where the wedding took place.
His son Wang Sicong (王思聰), who is CEO of the financial group, said in an online post that Zhang had never met his father, and while the hotel may have offered discounts for accommodation for the wedding party, it certainly was not free. Fans of Big S have taken to the Internet in defense of their idol, but Zhang and her son haven’t won any points from these accusations of rumormongering.
A number of romantic entanglements were picked up on the celebrity radar over the past week. One involved actress Novia Lin (林若亞) and Edwin Gerard (紀亞文). Lin has strenuously denied any connection with Gerard, a Chinese American male model eight years her junior, but the intrepid paparazzi of Next Magazine caught them on camera this week holding hands and sharing an umbrella. These steamy revelations of public intimacy have led to all kinds of speculation that the 34-year-old actress might be casting off her previously demure facade for something a little more titillating. She is currently promoting the Golden Bell Award-nominated television soap Shan Huen (閃昏), in which she plays a forceful woman with a fondness for sadomasochistic sex, and has also started modeling lingerie.
Photo: Taipei Times
Another romantic entanglement to make the pages of Next Magazine was the seemingly surreptitious meeting between actress Shu Qi (舒淇) and Eddie Peng (彭于晏), who has been quoted as having described Shu as “a goddess.” Shu should have headed back to Shenzhen from the Maldives after attending the March 26 wedding of good friend Kelly Lin (林熙蕾), but she took a detour via Taipei, where she met Peng at the well-known night spot Fucking Place (操場).
Numerous friends and colleagues were there as well, but Next Magazine suggests that there may be something a little more to the meeting than a casual get together. The venue’s name may have sent paparazzi into a frenzy, but the two actors have a long-standing friendship, and while there have been rumors of possible romantic involvement, the sighting last week adds little substance to the case the gossip rags are trying to build.
In other news, Jay Chou (周杰倫) may have reason to congratulate himself. Although he endured many insults as a result of his participation in a subsidiary role in The Green Hornet superhero movie, it got him noticed among young Americans.
Pop Stop felt a rush of patriotic excitement when it saw rumors that Chou had been nominated for the MTV Music Awards. Closer investigation revealed that he has been “nominated to be nominated,” and has joined the likes of Aaron Johnson from Kick-Ass, Arnie Hammer from The Social Network and Alex Pettyfer from I Am Number Four as eligible nominees for the 2011 “Best Male Breakout Star.” Other accolades include his appearance on the nomination list for Time magazine’s list of the world’s most influential people. He’s clearly on the road to becoming Taiwan’s first international star of stage and screen.
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)
“How China Threatens to Force Taiwan Into a Total Blackout” screamed a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) headline last week, yet another of the endless clickbait examples of the energy threat via blockade that doesn’t exist. Since the headline is recycled, I will recycle the rebuttal: once industrial power demand collapses (there’s a blockade so trade is gone, remember?) “a handful of shops and factories could run for months on coal and renewables, as Ko Yun-ling (柯昀伶) and Chao Chia-wei (趙家緯) pointed out in a piece at Taiwan Insight earlier this year.” Sadly, the existence of these facts will not stop the
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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