The love triangle between Mando pop diva A-mei (張惠妹), basketball player Sam Ho (何守正) and airline hostess/wannabe star Lin Pei-yao (林佩瑤) died a death this week as Taiwan's leading superstar quickly saw off her rival after members of the paparazzi caught Ho having a secret tryst with Lin last week.
Currently in Tokyo playing the role of Princess Turandot in a Japanese production of Turandot, A-mei publicly acknowledged her relationship with Ho for the first time by admitting that they had daily phone calls after the gossip gristmill went into overdrive.
Contrary to celebrity watchers' portrayal of Ho as a rake who sought warmth in the bosom of a maid while his belle is away, the basketball player is, in the diva's understanding, a hard-working lad who takes his profession seriously. As for the suspicious date in the park, A-mei brushed off the press pack's eager questions by proclaiming everybody has the "right to make friends."
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
One Million Star alumnus Aska Yang (楊宗緯) has found out the hard way that there is such a thing as bad publicity. The unlikely star, who built his entire career on a reasonable voice, unverifiable rumors and a slew of publicity stunts, has been put under the microscope. While appearing on the TV variety show Temple of the Spicy Queen (麻辣天后宮), hosted by transsexual celebrity Li Jing (利菁), two nightclub employees insinuated that Yang took a drunken girl to a love motel after a night of clubbing, Yang reportedly faces the loss of several product endorsements.
The crybaby crooner's agent promptly issued threats to take the matter to court. The two so-called witnesses subsequently apologized, and the TV station promised to edit out the whole sorry scenario.
Hostess Li, however, decided to play dumb by saying that she failed to remember anything due to the brain surgery she had underwent earlier this year.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Taiwan's veteran beauty Stephanie Hsiao (蕭薔) was spotted entertaining two Japanese distributors along with local director Alice Wang (王毓雅) last week at a Cash Box KTV (錢櫃) in Taipei's East District (東區). The gathering further makes Hsiao a favored candidate to star in Wang's latest film project tentatively titled The Story of Taiwanese Presidents (台灣總統的故事) as the nation's first lady-to-be Chow Mei-ching (周美青).
Presenting her credentials to the press, Hsia, a spokesperson for luxury and extravagance, said she had worn the same pair of white sneakers for eight years. The implication, supposedly is that makes her the perfect character to play Chow, a down-to-earth, makeup-free first lady.
In the aftermath of Edison Chen's (陳冠希) sex-photo scandal, Hong Kong actor and singer Nicolas Tse (謝霆鋒), now better known as the ill-fated husband of Cecilia Cheung (張柏芝), is being depicted by paparazzi as a husband and father sent mad by the affair and running up and down on the streets of Hong Kong like a lunatic.
Clearly, Hong Kong's observant reporters decipher a daily jog as aberrant human behavior. Watch out president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
As for the now best known and most admired fellatio "artiste" in the Chinese-speaking, Chen is keeping his promise to leave the entertainment business in Hong Kong indefinitely by starting his career afresh somewhere else.
The star has been reportedly offered several new movie projects, his agent said this week. One of them is a romance flick co-starring Shu Qi (舒淇) with funding from Singapore and the US.
If everything goes well, women and gay audiences will soon be able to fantasize about the star again on the big screen.
Following the shock complete failure of all the recall votes against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers on July 26, pan-blue supporters and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were giddy with victory. A notable exception was KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), who knew better. At a press conference on July 29, he bowed deeply in gratitude to the voters and said the recalls were “not about which party won or lost, but were a great victory for the Taiwanese voters.” The entire recall process was a disaster for both the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The only bright spot for
Water management is one of the most powerful forces shaping modern Taiwan’s landscapes and politics. Many of Taiwan’s township and county boundaries are defined by watersheds. The current course of the mighty Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪) was largely established by Japanese embankment building during the 1918-1923 period. Taoyuan is dotted with ponds constructed by settlers from China during the Qing period. Countless local civic actions have been driven by opposition to water projects. Last week something like 2,600mm of rain fell on southern Taiwan in seven days, peaking at over 2,800mm in Duona (多納) in Kaohsiung’s Maolin District (茂林), according to
Aug. 11 to Aug. 17 Those who never heard of architect Hsiu Tse-lan (修澤蘭) must have seen her work — on the reverse of the NT$100 bill is the Yangmingshan Zhongshan Hall (陽明山中山樓). Then-president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) reportedly hand-picked her for the job and gave her just 13 months to complete it in time for the centennial of Republic of China founder Sun Yat-sen’s birth on Nov. 12, 1966. Another landmark project is Garden City (花園新城) in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) — Taiwan’s first mountainside planned community, which Hsiu initiated in 1968. She was involved in every stage, from selecting
As last month dawned, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was in a good position. The recall campaigns had strong momentum, polling showed many Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers at risk of recall and even the KMT was bracing for losing seats while facing a tsunami of voter fraud investigations. Polling pointed to some of the recalls being a lock for victory. Though in most districts the majority was against recalling their lawmaker, among voters “definitely” planning to vote, there were double-digit margins in favor of recall in at least five districts, with three districts near or above 20 percent in
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