Always one to speak candidly, if not always eloquently, Jackie Chan (
The official release party for Sun Yanzi's (孫燕姿) new album was held Wednesday at the Far Eastern Hotel in Taipei, the highlight of which was a sneak preview of an 8-minute film that's like the extended remix of the first video off the album for My Love (
PHOTO: AP
A final decree was issued last week by China's Ministry of Culture, which serves as the gatekeeper for publication imports, declaring that Alex To's (杜德偉) album Take it Off (脫掉) would be barred from distribution within the country. The album was released in July, but had been stalled by censors concerned about the propriety of the highly suggestive sexual tone of To's album. To's label, Rock Records, said in response, that it plans to package the album with other soon-to-be-released products in China. Pop Stop has heard from sources in China, though, that the album was out there long ago in pirate form and was pretty much already forgotten.
PHOTO: AP
Hong Kong singer/actress Kelly Chen (
Perhaps the most exciting news of the past week was the announcement that Godzilla will be awarded a star on Hollywood Boulevard. The nuclear monstrosity, who's often conflicted and always misunderstood by humans in his movies, will get to make his imprint in the pavement in front of the city's Chinese Theatre on Nov. 29, which will mark the world premiere of the 28th and last Godzilla movie Godzilla Final Wars. Before hanging up his rubber suit, in the last flick Godzilla gets to indulge in an orgy of city stomping, this time through Shanghai, Paris, New York and Sydney.
It’s always a pleasure to see something one has long advocated slowly become reality. The late August visit of a delegation to the Philippines led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Huang Chao-ching (黃昭欽), Chair of Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠) and US-Taiwan Business Council vice president, Lotta Danielsson, was yet another example of how the two nations are drawing closer together. The security threat from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), along with their complementary economies, is finally fostering growth in ties. Interestingly, officials from both sides often refer to a shared Austronesian heritage when arguing for
Nov.10 to Nov.16 As he moved a large stone that had fallen from a truck near his field, 65-year-old Lin Yuan (林淵) felt a sudden urge. He fetched his tools and began to carve. The recently retired farmer had been feeling restless after a lifetime of hard labor in Yuchi Township (魚池), Nantou County. His first piece, Stone Fairy Maiden (石仙姑), completed in 1977, was reportedly a representation of his late wife. This version of how Lin began his late-life art career is recorded in Nantou County historian Teng Hsiang-yang’s (鄧相揚) 2009 biography of him. His expressive work eventually caught the attention
Late last month the Executive Yuan approved a proposal from the Ministry of Labor to allow the hospitality industry to recruit mid-level migrant workers. The industry, surveys said, was short 6,600 laborers. In reality, it is already heavily using illegal foreign workers — foreign wives of foreign residents who cannot work, runaways and illegally moonlighting factory workers. The proposal thus merely legalizes what already exists. The government could generate a similar legal labor supply simply by legalizing moonlighting and permitting spouses of legal residents to work legally on their current visa. But after 30 years of advocating for that reform,
The Nuremberg trials have inspired filmmakers before, from Stanley Kramer’s 1961 drama to the 2000 television miniseries with Alec Baldwin and Brian Cox. But for the latest take, Nuremberg, writer-director James Vanderbilt focuses on a lesser-known figure: The US Army psychiatrist Douglas Kelley, who after the war was assigned to supervise and evaluate captured Nazi leaders to ensure they were fit for trial (and also keep them alive). But his is a name that had been largely forgotten: He wasn’t even a character in the miniseries. Kelley, portrayed in the film by Rami Malek, was an ambitious sort who saw in
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