Fierce competition in the sagging pop music market and the tabloids' obsession with sex and celebrity have prompted record companies to cook up increasingly elaborate schemes to garner free publicity and place their singers under the showbiz spotlight. The transgression of good taste may now be par for the course.
Last week several tabloids ran the sensational story of Singaporean singer Stephanie Sun (孫燕姿) and personnel from her record label EMI Capitol being held up at gunpoint by local guides while shooting a music video in Cairo, Egypt. Music video director Huang Chung-ping (黃中平) later clarified, however, that there were no guns present during the incident, which was just a slight disagreement over the guides' payment.
The record label changed it's side of the story from "being extorted for NT$1 million" to labeling the brouhaha a "a big misunderstanding" and Sun, currently in Singapore recovering from the ordeal, ameliorated her previous invective against the "the local villains" by lauding Egypt as a beautiful country.
Taiwan's sweetheart Lin Chih-ling (林志玲) has reached 33, an age deemed overripe for marriage by some. Rumors are doing the rounds that "ice cream" Lin has secretly gotten engaged to Scott Qiu (邱士楷), the son of a local wealthy family who made its fortune of some NT$3.5 billions selling toilets.
The star's equally glamorous mom Wu Tzu-mei (吳慈美) last week took the liberty of refuting the news but did make known her preference for Qiu over Lin's other rumored lover Jerry Yan (言承旭).
While Lin puts her love affair, or affairs, on hold and strives to make it in movies in John Woo's (吳宇森) Battle of Red Cliff (赤壁之戰), the news of Tony Leung's (梁朝偉) withdrawal from the film was made public on Monday and immediately generated intense speculation.
The official reason: Leung has made other business commitments and can't be fully commit to the six-month long shoot in China. The other version: Leung asked for too much money and was replaced with Takeshi Kaneshiro (金城武) who was willing to settle for less money.
The story doesn't end there, however, as many in the showbiz firmament believe the 44-year-old heartthrob ditched the project to prevent IT tycoon Terry Gou (郭台銘) getting his hands on his girlfriend Carina Lau (劉嘉玲).
Record company ALFA Music (阿爾發音樂) is about to lose its biggest cash cow as its seven-year long contract with Jay Chou (周杰倫) expires this month. Desperate to keep the gold mine that is estimated to have brought in over NT$1 billion in profits over the past three years, ALFA has warned other big labels that it has first dibs on extending the contract with the king of Mando-pop.
However, on the other side of the town, the soon-to-be-free star has already procured himself a 200-ping luxurious office and looks set to launch his own empire. A troupe of investors including Sony BMG and Hong Kong entertainment tycoon Peter Lam (林建岳) have promised to back the golden boy.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
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