Ang Lee(李安), Taiwan's pride and joy, expressed great disappointment with the local media after his long awaited espionage thriller, Lust, Caution (色戒), premiered at Cannes last week. The Oscar-winning director was miffed that the front-page reports of major print media focused only on the full-frontal nudity of Tony Leung (梁朝偉) and his provocative sex scene with Chinese actress Tang Wei (湯唯).
Admitting he almost had a nervous breakdown shooting the film's steamy sections, Lee said it was his duty to guide the actors through "hell," and this helped him make it through the testing scenes. He applauded both Leung and Tang for their exceptional performances.
To Fanny of the voluptuous girl outfit F4, however, the nudity in Lust, Caution doesn't seem that big of a deal. Against her agent's advice, the singer who "always talks craps" (in the words of her agent) walked up the red carpet at Cannes to see Lee Kang-sheng's (李康生) Just in Love (幫幫我,愛神).
Photo: Taipei Times
When asked what she thought of the sex scenes in Ang Lee's work, Fanny said Just in Love had just as much to offer because "Lee Kang-sheng also has his three points exposed," Chinese-language media reported.
Local singer-turned-high society dame Zhang Qing-fang (張清芳) returned to Taiwan from Hong Kong to celebrate her 41st birthday and threw a party for her 100-day-old son. With a husband whose assets are reportedly worth over NT$1 billion, Zhang's party was grand and attended by entrepreneur celebrities Terry Gou (郭台銘), Taishin Financial chairman Thomas Wu (吳東亮) and Acer Group founder Stan Shih (施振榮).
However, the husband, father and investment banker Sung Hsueh-jen (宋學仁) is a man repulsed by the limelight. Spotted by local media leaving the party last weekend, the 54-year-old banker ran back to the hotel at a lightening speed while reportedly shouting "Help! Guard, guard! Catch them!"
Photo: Taipei Times
Pop stop has to hand it to Sung since one has to be a resourceful businessman like him to come up with an innovative way to ditch the paparazzi in a split second.
On a more somber note, Hong Kong's megastar-turned-housewife Cherie Cheung (鍾楚紅) lost the love of her life when her husband of 16 years, the advertising genius Mike Chu (朱家鼎), died of cancer last week. The former sex goddess married Chu at the height of her career in 1991 and shocked the Chinese-speaking world by giving up the glitz and glamour of stardom for family life. Since her marriage she shunned the spotlight.
It is sad that death has parted the devoted couple, but fans of the 47-year-old star may see their beloved diva return to the big screen. According to Chinese-language media, Hong Kong director Tsui Hark (徐克) already has a project lined up for Cheung and megastar Chow Yun-fat (周潤發) has also called up his Hollywood friends to pave the way for the international comeback of his old friend.
All they wait for is a "yes" from the grief-stricken widow whose dream was said to be a carefree life with her beloved husband at their holiday resort, which is under construction in Bali, Indonesia.
As mega K-pop group BTS returns to the stage after a hiatus of more than three years, one major market is conspicuously missing from its 12-month world tour: China. The omission of one of the group’s biggest fan bases comes as no surprise. In fact, just the opposite would have been huge news. China has blocked most South Korean entertainment since 2016 under an unofficial ban that also restricts movies and the country’s popular TV dramas. For some Chinese, that means flying to Seoul to see their favorite groups perform — as many were expected to do for three shows opening
A recent report from the Environmental Management Administration of the Ministry of Environment highlights a perennial problem: illegal dumping of construction waste. In Taoyuan’s Yangmei District (楊梅) and Hsinchu’s Longtan District (龍潭) criminals leased 10,000 square meters of farmland, saying they were going to engage in horticulture. They then accepted between 40,000 and 50,000 cubic meters of construction waste from sites in northern Taiwan, charging less than the going rate for disposal, and dumped the waste concrete, tile, metal and glass onto the leased land. Taoyuan District prosecutors charged 33 individuals from seven companies with numerous violations of the law. This
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry consumes electricity at rates that would strain most national grids. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) alone accounted for more than 9 percent, or 2,590 megawatts (MW), of the nation’s power demand last year. The factories that produce chips for the world’s phones and servers run around the clock. They cannot tolerate blackouts. Yet Taiwan imports 97 percent of its energy, with liquefied natural gas reserves measured in days. Underground, Taiwan has options. Studies from National Taiwan University estimate recoverable geothermal resources at more than 33,000 MW. Current installed capacity stands below 10 MW. OBSTACLES Despite Taiwan’s significant geothermal potential, the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chair Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) returned from her trip to meet People’s Republic of China (PRC) dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) bearing “a gift” for the people of Taiwan: 10 measures the PRC proposed to “facilitate the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.” “China on Sunday unveiled 10 new incentive measures for Taiwan,” wrote Reuters, wrongly. The PRC’s longstanding habit with Taiwan relations is to repackage already extant or once-existing policies and declare that they are “new.” The list forwarded by Cheng reflects that practice. NEW MEASURES? Note the first item: establishing regular communication mechanisms between the Chinese Communist Party
RSS