Although the birth of Angelina Jolie's and Brad Pitt's new baby girl may be regarded as one of the biggest celebrity news items of the century by Western media,Chinese diva Faye Wang (王菲) took some of the limelight last week, giving birth to her second daughter on the same day. Wang's husband Li Ya-peng (李亞鵬) shed tears of delight at the sight of child, who weighed 4kg, a big child by Asian standards.
You would have thought that this would bring an end to the two-week stake out by Chinese-language media, who wouldn't let Wang out of their sight in the lead up to the birth. Hong Kong media estimated that the total cost of following the star day and night was around NT$4 million. But there is no rest for the paparazzi, who are in an all out race to take the first photo of the baby, a money shot worth NT$2 million. This is small potatoes compared to the NT$160 million which the photo of Jolie's baby fetched.
As for the future Wang's plans: to become the contracted star at Li's agency firm and work at giving him a son.
On the international scene, Taiwan's biggest-budget horror flick, Silk (
Love seemed to have been in the air at Cannes. Thailand-born, Hong Kong-based director Oxide Pang (彭順) was in high-spirits at the showing of his new horror flick, Re-cycle (鬼域), and opened his heart to the press about his romance with the film's leading actress, Angelica Lee (李心潔). "When I saw her for the first time, I knew she was mine," Pang said. Through reporters, he even proposed marriage, but Lee played cute saying "I'm not hearing you."
Local celebrities are now gearing up for the 17th Golden Melody Awards (金曲獎), Taiwan's equivalent of the US Grammies, which is ready to roll on June 10 at the Taipei Arena (台北巨蛋). The Internet is already buzzing with predictions as who will take away the big prizes at Taiwan's most important musical event, which will be attended by some of Asia's hottest musicians. Yet one can easily detect some friction in the heated discussion over this year's less than star-studded nomination list. The Double J pair of Jay Chou (周杰倫) and Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) are notably absent.
With significantly fewer consistent hit-song singers among the nominations, some people have questioned the jury members' expertise, suggesting that if the top-ten teen crowd is not catered to, nobody will pay much attention to the Golden Melody event. Others have praised the judges for sticking to principles and not bowing to popular taste.
Whatever the reasons, the pop idols have been squeezed out by the alternative crowd.
The biggest surprise is Best Male Singer nominee Puyuma folk singer Kimbo, also known as Hu De-fu (
Previously ignored by the Golden Melody, ABT R&B musician David Tao (陶吉吉) finds justice with the album The Great Leap Forward 2005 (太平盛世), which earned him six nominations in the Best Male Singer, Best Album and Best Song categories. To the dismay of many, Wang Lee-hom's (王力宏) Heroes of Earth, one of last year's best selling record, only earned him a single nomination for Best Male Singer, and with critics saying that his new album offers little that is different from his previous work, he is not favored for the prize.
According to an ongoing online poll at the official Golden Melody Awards Web site, it is the lesser known musician Ken Wu (
As for the female leads, Malaysia-born folk rock singer Penny Tai (
Taiwan alt-rock godfather Wu Bai (
From an anonymous office in a New Delhi mall, matrimonial detective Bhavna Paliwal runs the rule over prospective husbands and wives — a booming industry in India, where younger generations are increasingly choosing love matches over arranged marriage. The tradition of partners being carefully selected by the two families remains hugely popular, but in a country where social customs are changing rapidly, more and more couples are making their own matches. So for some families, the first step when young lovers want to get married is not to call a priest or party planner but a sleuth like Paliwal with high-tech spy
With raging waters moving as fast as 3 meters per second, it’s said that the Roaring Gate Channel (吼門水道) evokes the sound of a thousand troop-bound horses galloping. Situated between Penghu’s Xiyu (西嶼) and Baisha (白沙) islands, early inhabitants ranked the channel as the second most perilous waterway in the archipelago; the top was the seas around the shoals to the far north. The Roaring Gate also concealed sunken reefs, and was especially nasty when the northeasterly winds blew during the autumn and winter months. Ships heading to the archipelago’s main settlement of Magong (馬公) had to go around the west side
Several recent articles have explored historical invasions of Taiwan, both real and planned, in order to examine what problems the People’s Republic of China (PRC) would encounter if it invaded. The military and geographic obstacles remain formidable. Taiwan, though, is part of a larger package of issues created by the broad front of PRC expansion. That package also includes the Japanese islands of Okinawa and the Senkaku Islands, known in Taiwan as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), to the north, with the South China Sea and certain islands in the northern Philippines to the south. THE DEBATE Previous invasions of Taiwan make good objects
When Portugal returned its colony Macao to China in 1999, coffee shop owner Daniel Chao was a first grader living in a different world. Since then his sleepy hometown has transformed into a bustling gaming hub lined with glittering casinos. Its once quiet streets are now jammed with tourist buses. But the growing wealth of the city dubbed the “Las Vegas of the East” has not brought qualities of sustainable development such as economic diversity and high civic participation. “What was once a relaxed, free place in my childhood has become a place that is crowded and highly commercialized,” said Chao. Macao yesterday
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