For the likes of Sonia Sui (隋棠), resolving financial difficulties is as easy as getting undressed. One of Taiwan’s top models, Sui has been relatively conservative about stripping down for the camera. But after a tiff with TV station SetTV (三立電視台) over appearances on a rival station’s show and the purchase of an expensive new property in Taipei’s Xinyi District, the NT$2.5 million contract for modeling a new line of lingerie will come in handy.
This is a bit of a turnaround for Sui, who in May scorned offers by an online mahjong game site to pose in a bikini. According to Next Magazine, Sui was more than a little shy in the studio, and demanded that all unnecessary staff leave during the actual shoot. The reason for this turnaround is partly attributed to her boyfriend Yao Yuan-hao (姚元浩), since it was her appearance on his new program Rookies’ Diary (新兵日記) on FTV (民視) that caused her problems with SetTV. Yao reportedly was a gentleman about the whole thing, providing flowers and support for Sui in her ordeal before the camera.
Another touching little romance that is going on out in celebrity land is the unlikely coupling of Malaysian-born singer-songwriter Rynn Lim (林宇中) and otaku lust object Tina Li (李毓芬). The story has acquired further savor because Li’s name has long been romantically associated with Show Luo
(羅志祥). Lim and Li have been photographed openly consorting with each other, and there are suggestions that he has even written songs for Li, who is scheduled to release a new album in the not-too-distant future. There have been no sparks of romantic rivalry from Luo as of yet, but watch this space.
Rumors that Hong Kong sweetheart Karina Lam (林嘉欣) has got herself knocked up have surfaced in the media as an explanation of why the award-winning actress suddenly left Hong Kong in March. She flew back to her family home in Canada, leaving behind a career already set for ever greater success. According to the Liberty Times, an unnamed Chinese media group received information this week that the reason for Lam’s precipitate departure was that she was pregnant. The father is said to be commercial director Steve Yuen (袁劍偉), who is already very much married. The relationship was something of an open secret, with Lam even moving into the same apartment building as Yuan at one time. The pregnancy is still very much at the rumor stage, but celebrity gossip hounds are no doubt already hard on the trail.
F4 girl Fanny has decided to be Fanny no more, and Next Magazine reports that she aims to follow in another F4 girl’s footsteps and break into the music business under her own name: Liu Yue-yan (劉樂研). The wisdom of this move is questionable as Liu has always been more appreciated for her looks than her musical talent.
She has also taken the opportunity to publicize the fact that she now sports shaved private parts, adding to her luster. Shaving and adorning the delta of Venus is not a new ploy for attracting attention in celebrity land, though the story behind Fanny’s smooth look reveals the price a girl has to pay for art. Basically, it was all film director’s Tsai Ming-liang’s (蔡明亮) fault. According to Next Magazine, while working on Tsai’s film Help Me Eros (幫幫我愛神), Fanny, to help save money, checked into a cheap, and as it turned out, not very clean motel. After using a bath towel provided by the establishment, she broke out in a rash, and to facilitate the application of medicated cream, opted for a shaven maven. Whether she will have the area encrusted with crystals, in the manner of Pauline Lan (藍心湄), or have a boyfriend’s initials tattooed there, in the tradition of Jill Yu (于婕), remains to be seen.
Earlier this month Economic Affairs Minister Kuo Jyh-huei (郭智輝) proposed buying green power from the Philippines and shipping it to Taiwan, in remarks made during a legislative hearing. Because this is an eminently reasonable and useful proposal, it was immediately criticized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). KMT Legislator Chang Chia-chun (張嘉郡) said that Taiwan pays NT$40 billion annually to fix cables, while TPP heavyweight Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) complained that Kuo wanted to draw public attention away from Taiwan’s renewable energy ratio. Considering the legal troubles currently inundating the TPP, one would think Huang would
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (將萬安) last week told residents to avoid wearing scary Halloween costumes on the MRT so as not to alarm other passengers. Well, I thought, so much for my plan to visit Taipei dressed as the National Development Council’s (NDC) biennial population report “Population Projections for the Republic of China (Taiwan): 2024-2070,” which came out last week. Terms like “low birth rate” and “demographic decline” do not cut it — the report is nothing short of a demographic disaster. Yet, in Taiwan, as in other countries, it is solvable. It simply requires a change in mindset. As it
One of BaLiwakes’ best known songs, Penanwang (Puyuma King), contains Puyuma-language lyrics written in Japanese syllabaries, set to the tune of Stephen Foster’s Old Black Joe. Penned around 1964, the words praise the Qing Dynasty-era indigenous leader Paliday not for his heroic deeds, but his willingness to adopt higher-yield Han farming practices and build new roads connecting to the outside world. “BaLiwakes lived through several upheavals in regime, language and environment. It truly required the courage and wisdom of the Puyuma King in order to maintain his ties to his traditions while facing the future,” writes Tsai Pei-han (蔡佩含) in
Chiayi County is blessed with several worthwhile upland trails, not all of which I’ve hiked. A few weeks ago, I finally got around to tackling Tanghu Historic Trail (塘湖古道), a short but unusually steep route in Jhuci Township (竹崎). According to the Web site of the Alishan National Scenic Area (阿里山國家風景區), the path climbs from 308m above sea level to an elevation of 770m in just 1.58km, an average gradient of 29 percent. And unless you arrange for someone to bring you to the starting point and collect you at the other end, there’s no way to avoid a significant amount