Wong Kar-Wai's (王家衛) 2046 finally saw the light of day this week at the world premiere held in Shanghai, a massive gala event on the Bund attended by the director and all the stars, minus Takuya Kimura, the Japanese superstar who reportedly butted heads with Wong during the film's five years of production. The conspicuous absence of the Japanese star caused awkwardness that Wong diplomatically deflected by assuring Kimura would be on hand at the film's Japan premiere.
Meanwhile, Carina Lau (劉嘉玲) made a couple of disclosures in The Great Daily News (大成報) about her nude scene with Taiwanese actor Chang Chen (張震), saying he had a great body that was "just her type," and made favorable comparisons with her boyfriend Tony Leung (梁朝偉), who's also in the movie. When pressed to elaborate on the comparison, she made her man proud by saying that while Tony may not be as chiselled, he more than makes up for it where it counts.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Sex talk was another theme last Friday on Star TV's new show Sex, hosted by the statuesque model Emma Ni (倪雅倫), which was advertised in local media under banners that read: "Taiwanese on average have sex 113 times a year" and "Satisfaction with their sex lives among Taiwanese rates the third lowest in the world." The first special guest on the show that aims to tackle these harsh truths was Stephanie Hsiao (蕭薔), who described herself as a "good Taiwanese girl," which she interpreted to mean "not very open" about sex. She then went on to pontificate about the indivisibility of emotional and physical intimacy and about how size doesn't matter. But when it came time for her sex psychology test, the result said that she "is very curious about sex, but pretends to be pure and innocent."
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Chang Huei-mei (張惠妹) might be a good choice, going by her new video that tells the story of a love affair between two girls. The video has proved too controversial, due to its tongue-kissing scene, for Southeast Asian markets, so Warner Records has rushed out a less saucy
edition that turns the story into a nebulous friendship, for play in other even more uptight regions, including China.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's Taekwondo gold medalist Chen Shih-hsin (陳詩欣) is basking in the limelight for the time being and enduring the attention of the gossip rags with applomb. The former betel nut girl will be featured on commemorative stamps and was in Ximending last weekend for an anti-piracy campaign where she told reporters that during her training she would change the lyrics to popular songs by Jay Chou (周杰倫) and others to fill them up with expletives so that at each curse word she would deliver one of her devastating kicks to whatever object or person had the misfortune of being in front of her. Apparently it worked.
In 2020, a labor attache from the Philippines in Taipei sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanding that a Filipina worker accused of “cyber-libel” against then-president Rodrigo Duterte be deported. A press release from the Philippines office from the attache accused the woman of “using several social media accounts” to “discredit and malign the President and destabilize the government.” The attache also claimed that the woman had broken Taiwan’s laws. The government responded that she had broken no laws, and that all foreign workers were treated the same as Taiwan citizens and that “their rights are protected,
A white horse stark against a black beach. A family pushes a car through floodwaters in Chiayi County. People play on a beach in Pingtung County, as a nuclear power plant looms in the background. These are just some of the powerful images on display as part of Shen Chao-liang’s (沈昭良) Drifting (Overture) exhibition, currently on display at AKI Gallery in Taipei. For the first time in Shen’s decorated career, his photography seeks to speak to broader, multi-layered issues within the fabric of Taiwanese society. The photographs look towards history, national identity, ecological changes and more to create a collection of images
March 16 to March 22 In just a year, Liu Ching-hsiang (劉清香) went from Taiwanese opera performer to arguably Taiwan’s first pop superstar, pumping out hits that captivated the Japanese colony under the moniker Chun-chun (純純). Last week’s Taiwan in Time explored how the Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) theme song for the Chinese silent movie The Peach Girl (桃花泣血記) unexpectedly became the first smash hit after the film’s Taipei premiere in March 1932, in part due to aggressive promotion on the streets. Seeing an opportunity, Columbia Records’ (affiliated with the US entity) Taiwan director Shojiro Kashino asked Liu, who had
At a funeral in rural Changhua County, musicians wearing pleated mini-skirts and go-go boots march around a coffin to the beat of the 1980s hit I Hate Myself for Loving You. The performance in a rural farming community is a modern mash-up of ancient Chinese funeral rites and folk traditions, with saxophones, rock music and daring outfits. Da Zhong (大眾) women’s group is part of a long tradition of funeral marching bands performing in mostly rural areas of Taiwan for families wanting to give their loved ones an upbeat send-off. The band was composed mainly of men when it started 50
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