Life is not all roses for the Queen of Mando-pop, and just as her career hit a new high note with the success of her Tokyo concert, in which she unleashed her bad-girl persona A-mit (阿密特) on Japan, boyfriend Sam Ho (何守正) was caught by paparazzi checking into a Sindian motel with a woman in a white hat. Next Magazine assures us that the couple remained there for two hours.
The report goes on to speculate that the woman in question may have been Ho’s former girlfriend “Little Cutie” (小可愛), and that his romance with a, let’s face it, vastly more successful older woman, was beginning to weigh on the young stud.
In a little aside, Next reports that Ho, on discovering the paparazzi on his heels, drove through nine red lights. Despite “speeding” at more than 80kph, the basketball star wasn’t nimble enough behind the wheel to shake off the tail.
Why he should have been so flustered is something of an open question, for not long after evidence of his alleged infidelity hit the media, A-Mei (張惠妹) told NOWnews that the relationship had come to an end nearly six months ago and that it was no concern of hers who Ho was seeing. It probably helped that her Tokyo concert on April 18, her first in Japan, has been considered a big success, drawing a crowd of 1,400 and running for nearly three hours. Rumors of suitors in the wings mean that A-mei is unlikely to be lonely for long.
Other women who are getting lots of lovin’ in the news this week include model Liz (aka Yang Li-si, 楊俐思), who made headlines with rumored relationships with singer David Tao (陶喆), and male model Chen Chih-chiang (陳志強). While Liz has proved adept at revelation, disrobing in a more than obliging fashion for the camera, what got uncovered this time was a bit of history, which ain’t nearly as pretty. It has emerged, if Next Magazine is to be believed, that the half-Paraguayan model, who has courted the media with her boldly flirtatious behavior, is already married to a Brazilian national. This news came to light when photos of the couple, including one of Liz in full matrimonial white, were sent to the magazine by a reader disgruntled with her raunchy behavior. With fans like these, who needs enemies.
The release of Adult Ceremony/Grown UP (成人禮) by By2, a girl group made up of twins, in the No. 1 spot on the charts has added some spark to the predictable lineup of chart-toppers. The Singaporean twins, Peh Wei-fen (白緯芬) and Peh Wei-ling (白緯玲), who go by the names Miko and Yumi, have proved a huge hit here. An incident earlier this week, when there was a fire in the building they live in, only enhanced their reputations. According to a report in the Apple Daily, when a record company executive alerted them to the fire and told them to evacuate the building, they found time to dress in their promo outfits and don high heels before leaving. “It’s not as if they were making an appearance. It’s really too much,” the staffer is quoted as saying.
The professional and personal rivalry between Vic Chou (周渝民), aka Tsai Tsai (仔仔), and Mark Chao (趙又廷) has intensified with the approach of the Golden Horse Awards. The two actors, who came to prominence with the somewhat inexplicable success of the police drama Black & White (痞子英雄), began their rivalry after Chao pipped Chou to the post for a Golden Bell Award in October last year.
Since then, Chou’s career has been in the doldrums, with a number of scheduled projects being put off and his professionalism coming into question after spats with Black & White director Tsai Yueh-hsun (蔡岳勳). He also refused to participate in a group photo at a classmate’s wedding, priggishly citing contractual obligations.
The only bright spot had been the August release of Love You for a Thousand Years (愛你一萬年), which will put him in contention for a Golden Horse nomination. Unfortunately, given Chao’s involvement in the hugely successful release of Monga (艋舺) last month, Chou’s chances of outdoing his rival are slim.
March 24 to March 30 When Yang Bing-yi (楊秉彝) needed a name for his new cooking oil shop in 1958, he first thought of honoring his previous employer, Heng Tai Fung (恆泰豐). The owner, Wang Yi-fu (王伊夫), had taken care of him over the previous 10 years, shortly after the native of Shanxi Province arrived in Taiwan in 1948 as a penniless 21 year old. His oil supplier was called Din Mei (鼎美), so he simply combined the names. Over the next decade, Yang and his wife Lai Pen-mei (賴盆妹) built up a booming business delivering oil to shops and
The Taipei Times last week reported that the Control Yuan said it had been “left with no choice” but to ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the central government budget, which left it without a budget. Lost in the outrage over the cuts to defense and to the Constitutional Court were the cuts to the Control Yuan, whose operating budget was slashed by 96 percent. It is unable even to pay its utility bills, and in the press conference it convened on the issue, said that its department directors were paying out of pocket for gasoline
On March 13 President William Lai (賴清德) gave a national security speech noting the 20th year since the passing of China’s Anti-Secession Law (反分裂國家法) in March 2005 that laid the legal groundwork for an invasion of Taiwan. That law, and other subsequent ones, are merely political theater created by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to have something to point to so they can claim “we have to do it, it is the law.” The president’s speech was somber and said: “By its actions, China already satisfies the definition of a ‘foreign hostile force’ as provided in the Anti-Infiltration Act, which unlike
President William Lai’s (賴清德) March 13 national security speech marked a turning point. He signaled that the government was finally getting serious about a whole-of-society approach to defending the nation. The presidential office summarized his speech succinctly: “President Lai introduced 17 major strategies to respond to five major national security and united front threats Taiwan now faces: China’s threat to national sovereignty, its threats from infiltration and espionage activities targeting Taiwan’s military, its threats aimed at obscuring the national identity of the people of Taiwan, its threats from united front infiltration into Taiwanese society through cross-strait exchanges, and its threats from
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