The funniest thing to happen last week in the twisted world of Pop Stop was a case of stage diving that went horribly wrong.
Singer Fan Wei-qi (
Worried that she would not be able to walk again, the singer was carried off by organizers and taken to Mackay Memorial Hospital. Fortunately, it was not a serious cut and according to our sister paper the Liberty Times, Fan Fan was consoled by a phone call from her boyfriend, TV host Hei Ren (黑人), who was in Zimbabwe for a charity event.
All the local papers this week have covered the triumphant return of Jolin Tsai (
She dirty-danced with Stanley Huang (黃立行), writhing on top of him while he was prostrate on a couch. She then showed off her classical side by playing the harp (after two lessons). She even managed to turn on the waterworks when singing a song she is said to have written about her relationship with Chairman Chou (周董).
It loses something in translation, Pop Stop is told, but you get the idea: We smiled/ We didn't hide/ This is a pure admission/ We denied ourselves for each other/ No more/ We smiled/ Time stopped/ We cherished the moment and dropped the burden/ No more silence/ We learned but did not keep it.
There was a collective, "Ahhhhh!" from those in the know in Kaohsiung and for once Tsai was spared by the media from overt criticism of her singing and dancing. The only cheap shot came from the country's most popular tabloid, which commented on the star's G-cup breasts and noted they were sagging badly.
More tits for the lads popped out at MC HotDog's (熱狗) World Trade Center gig in the Xinyi district. The talented rapper was side-showed by his dancers when a bikini contest got out of hand. Twenty beach babes took to the stage wearing their itsy-bitsy-teeny-weenies and were encouraged to gyrate in a suggestive manner for the title of "Bikini Queen."
Whether it was a "wardrobe malfunction" a la Janet Jackson or she was just overexcited, a girl known only as "Sunny" ended up dancing topless. Comperes at the event rushed to cover up the girl's "missiles" (
Further investigation by news hounds, however, found that Sunny works in a Taipei bar and "entertains" businessmen for a living. No wonder she was so quick to get her kit off, opined newscasters on Era News (年代電視台). The police are now considering prosecuting the exotic dancer for public indecency and Sunny is said to be distraught by all the attention she has received -- which is ironic, for an exhibitionist.
Finally, TV entertainer Hu Gua (
Hu has obviously learned that it pays to blame the "dog pack" (狗材隊), or paparazzi, if you get caught with your trousers down. This did not help, however, when Hu was nabbed for taking part in a NT$15.2 million gambling sting. Despite his initial protestations of innocence he's currently awaiting sentencing.
Along with his brother he bilked friends and clients at the illegal mahjong casino he set up in a luxury Taipei apartment by installing a peephole camera. His former friends ratted him out when he refused to give back his ill-gotten gains and in May he was indicted for fraud.
With friends or family like Hu, who needs enemies?
Recently the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and its Mini-Me partner in the legislature, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), have been arguing that construction of chip fabs in the US by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is little more than stripping Taiwan of its assets. For example, KMT Legislative Caucus First Deputy Secretary-General Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) in January said that “This is not ‘reciprocal cooperation’ ... but a substantial hollowing out of our country.” Similarly, former TPP Chair Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) contended it constitutes “selling Taiwan out to the United States.” The two pro-China parties are proposing a bill that
Institutions signalling a fresh beginning and new spirit often adopt new slogans, symbols and marketing materials, and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is no exception. Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), soon after taking office as KMT chair, released a new slogan that plays on the party’s acronym: “Kind Mindfulness Team.” The party recently released a graphic prominently featuring the red, white and blue of the flag with a Chinese slogan “establishing peace, blessings and fortune marching forth” (締造和平,幸福前行). One part of the graphic also features two hands in blue and white grasping olive branches in a stylized shape of Taiwan. Bonus points for
March 9 to March 15 “This land produced no horses,” Qing Dynasty envoy Yu Yung-ho (郁永河) observed when he visited Taiwan in 1697. He didn’t mean that there were no horses at all; it was just difficult to transport them across the sea and raise them in the hot and humid climate. “Although 10,000 soldiers were stationed here, the camps had fewer than 1,000 horses,” Yu added. Starting from the Dutch in the 1600s, each foreign regime brought horses to Taiwan. But they remained rare animals, typically only owned by the government or
“M yeolgong jajangmyeon (anti-communism zhajiangmian, 滅共炸醬麵), let’s all shout together — myeolgong!” a chef at a Chinese restaurant in Dongtan, located about 35km south of Seoul, South Korea, calls out before serving a bowl of Korean-style zhajiangmian —black bean noodles. Diners repeat the phrase before tucking in. This political-themed restaurant, named Myeolgong Banjeom (滅共飯館, “anti-communism restaurant”), is operated by a single person and does not take reservations; therefore long queues form regularly outside, and most customers appear sympathetic to its political theme. Photos of conservative public figures hang on the walls, alongside political slogans and poems written in Chinese characters; South
RSS