If there was a match made in Pop Stop heaven it would be the king of soap Jerry Yan (言承旭) getting in a lather with Taiwan's supermodel Lin Chi-ling (林志玲). News programs earlier this week were interrupted with "information" that Yan and Lin were together in the US. Reporters following the two stars discovered they had disappeared from the media radar and immediately put one and one together, to come up with a couple.
Not to be outdone in the arena of speculation, where it shines brightest, Apple Daily "interviewed" a holidaymaker from Taiwan who did not have a name and was quoted as saying, "We were near Hollywood in a shopping area looking around when we saw Jerry Yan and Lin Chi-ling!" Wah! Must be true then.
Actually, the story is not so far-fetched as it might seem. Yan and Lin were at the same modeling agency and two years ago someone was hawking around mobile phone shots of the couple together. Yan, a boy band singer with F4 (flower four) and star of The Hospital (白色巨塔) was even said to have bought a toy poodle for NT$60,000 as a get-well present when Lin fell off her horse.
PHOTOS: TAIPEI TIMES
When normal service resumed at the news networks there was no relief from the unraveling scandal of Rebar Group Chairman Wang You-theng's (王又曾) flight from justice. Not known for his tact or timing, "Local King" Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) weighed in with some support for the disgraced businessman's son Gary Wang (王令麟), calling him a "good friend." Not incidentally Wang is the chairman of Eastern Multimedia (東森多媒體), which broadcasts many of Wu's shows. Even so, Wu was moved to say that he noticed Wang was having problems with the bank because when they played golf together Wang would often have to disappear before close of business to sort out his cash problems.
Wave a notepad or a microphone and Wu cannot help himself from saying something stupid. Asked about his "good friend" Hu Gua (胡瓜), Wu told Apple a man who is not convicted must be innocent. Hu got off the hook last week when the Taipei District Court decided he had not cheated at mahjong, even though it was established he did inform his brother by radio about other player's tiles by spying with surveillance cameras from another room. Wu figured the judge would not have declared Hu innocent unless he was; then added rapists should not be set free. Apparently, Wu does not realize he suffers from Tourette's syndrome.
Contrary to what they tell you, not everyone is equal before the law. If you can afford a good lawyer then the law is an ass. Hu managed to solicit the services of William Koo (顧立雄), who is said never to have lost a case. Koo is now representing the president's wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), as she attempts to prove that she did not have her hands in the nation's cookie jar. Surely, all bets are off on whether she's innocent.
Last but not least, Pop Stop would be remiss if it did not inform the English-speaking world of the latest love in Jay Chou's (周杰倫) life. The Chairman of Mandopop was caught by most of the local rags in a rental car at Neihu Riverside Park with 21-year-old model Tsai Hsin-jie (蔡欣潔). Naturally both parties refused to comment and Tsai's agent issued the usual denial to confirm it was true. As if he wasn't getting enough attention, Chou is currently directing and starring in a movie about himself, as a student.
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Perched on Thailand’s border with Myanmar, Arunothai is a dusty crossroads town, a nowheresville that could be the setting of some Southeast Asian spaghetti Western. Its main street is the final, dead-end section of the two-lane highway from Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city 120kms south, and the heart of the kingdom’s mountainous north. At the town boundary, a Chinese-style arch capped with dragons also bears Thai script declaring fealty to Bangkok’s royal family: “Long live the King!” Further on, Chinese lanterns line the main street, and on the hillsides, courtyard homes sit among warrens of narrow, winding alleyways and
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