Veteran entertainer Chu Ko Liang (豬哥亮) has been basking in the limelight since his new TV variety show Wan Xiu Zhu Wang (萬秀豬王) nabbed the top spot for Saturday night ratings four weeks ago.
But the celebratory mood was dampened earlier this week when the newly crowned King of Talk Shows announced that he is getting tested for intestinal cancer.
Chu said earlier this week that he was awaiting hospital tests to confirm his condition. Media reports said Chu had been feeling unwell as of late, having lost weight due to a decreasing appetite, and the discovery of blood in his stools prompted the tests.
Photo: Taipei Times
That Chu is in fragile health is of no surprise — he spent a decade hiding because of gambling debts, and then made a dramatic comeback to the entertainment world three years ago with high-profile advertising campaigns and TV appearances. However, he wound up having to quit his regular TV program, Brother Chu’s Society (豬哥會社), due to heart problems. For the moment, Chu is continuing with his current show, and says he is still intent on keeping the number one ratings spot.
It’s unofficially official: recent divorcees Cecilia Cheung (張柏芝) and Nicholas Tse (謝霆鋒) are back together. The Hong Kong edition of the Apple Daily provided the scoop as the paper’s photographers nabbed shots of the couple lounging at the swimming pool of a swank country club in Hong Kong.
Tse and Cheung were there for an outing with their two sons, a five-year-old and a two-year-old, the presumed motivation for their reconciliation. But the report saw another sign that the fire has been rekindled: Cheung’s decision to “ingratiate” herself with Tse by donning a bikini.
Photo: Taipei Times
As the Apple Daily saw it, Cheung’s eensy-weensy garb must have paid off, as she and Tse were laughing and talking at the poolside. The chemistry was apparent between the two parents, the report intoned, as if past transgressions — most notably Cheung’s starring role in a series of explicit photos shot by actor/singer Edison Chen (陳冠希) — had never occurred.
Apple report also made a point to comment that Cheung was “pigging out” on French Fries, warning that it was an unwise thing to do, out of concern for her bikini-worthy figure. How noble.
And we’re back to speculating on a would-be couple that the gossip pages can’t let go of, Jerry Yan (言承旭) and Lin Chi-ling (林志玲). The Apple Daily reported that the two were spotted separately in Shanghai, which has fueled long-running speculation of a secret romance.
The couples’ agents issued the standard denials, pointing out that their clients were there for work. Yan, who was spotted by netizens shopping at H&M in the Bund at 10am, took such a short break that there was no way he could have run into Lin, his manager said. Lin’s manager said it was pure coincidence that Lin also happened to be in The Bund for a photo shoot.
A Yan-Lin romance has supposedly been in the works for 12 years, and given their busy careers, not to mention their aloofness, it feels like we’ll be waiting another 12 years for anything to pan out.
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
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