One Friday afternoon, Jojo Tsai takes time out of her busy schedule to come up to Taipei for an interview. Waiting in the restaurant in her orange fleece jacket, she picks at her tossed salad as if it were an unfamiliar object. Her coach and Chao, Angel War's director, wait with her.
Normally, she'd be shooting pool at this time. "I usually do my laundry in the morning, and then I practice for six hours every afternoon," she says. "I'm also really good at sleeping. If I don't have anything to do, you wouldn't believe how long I can sleep."
"She goes to KTV five nights a week," butts in her coach, Steven Jiang, owner of Steven's Billiard Hall in Taichung.
At that, Tsai gives a pout, crosses her arms, and sinks a few inches down in her chair. Already, this is a contrast to her TV persona: mature, good-humored, yet enticingly attractive. But maybe this is better, her being personable and direct, saucy and unpolished - a real person. And as her gestures show, she's good at communicating with body language, which is one reason Chao thinks she projects well on television.
To tell her story: Jojo, now 25, has been playing pool competitively for five years. Ergo, she's spent most of her time since high school hanging around pool halls. Her parents (surprise, surprise) never thought a career in pocket billiards was such a hot idea. But she did it anyway, leaving her home in Taipei to study the game first in Tainan, and now at Steven's in Taichung.
Drawing this information out of her takes a bit of work. She'd like to talk, just about something else, like the first thing her random scanner curiosity latches on to. Accordingly, her life story is quickly derailed by my Caesar salad. She points at it abruptly and asks, "Why does it have bread?"
While Jojo is distracted, Jiang points out that she should earn about NT$1.2 million this year. "There are only about six women in Taiwan who can do this," says her coach, "Men don't even earn as much. If you are the 10th ranked male in Taiwan, you can't make over twenty thousand US."
In last year's national association rankings, Jojo came in 25th. She is one of three in the Angel War that didn't come out of the top 20. Jiang explains away the low ranking, saying that she didn't participate in many association events.
"Before, she wasn't really a tournament player," he says, "But for this program, we had a feeling about her because, I tell you, we know she is a stone heart money game player. And now she is ranked number three, so I think we were right."
Chao concurs, but with a slightly different slant. "Her appeal is pretty strong. She's even been on a variety show, the Jackie Show, as a guest singer."
Wait a minute. Does Jojo really have a shot at pop stardom here? Chao nods at the notion; he's thought of it before. "Sometimes we meet people outside, or take a taxi," he says," and the driver can name every girl on the show. It's possible."
The Angel War's show materials also hint at this multi-stage plan. Specifically, there are the player information sheets and their factoids for the commentators. The one page bios read, more or less, like pages out of teen idol magazines, giving Zodiac sign, blood type, billiards experience, three adjectives worth of personality (Jojo's are vivacious, cheerful and confident), and personal interests (Jojo's include dancing and sleep, though at the restaurant, she also says she likes this one Japanese hardcore band).
Well, what does Jojo think about becoming famous? "I like signing autographs," she snaps back pertly, though she also gives the impression that she hasn't thought much about it. After all, she still spends most of her life cloistered in the pool hall, and the Angel War phenom is only a few months old.
She does, however, have stronger opinions about being called a "hot babe" on TV. When I mention the phrase, she takes her salad fork to make a mock stab at Chao, following it up with an evil glare. Perhaps she's starting to learn something about the entertainment industry.
If she ever gets famous, that kind of spunk may just play a part in it. But fame is probably still a ways off, and for now, pool is the most important thing. Chao, Jiang and Tsai all know it, because the game has brought a different kind of success to each of them: a hit show, a livelihood, and competitive success respectively. But more than that, pool is also something Jojo Tsai really loves, even to the extent of denying herself a boyfriend. "I want to get a title first," she says. At that, both Jiang and Chao give a silent nod, partially in agreement, and partially out of respect.
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