This week's celebrity news features Jay Chou (周杰倫). Delayed by Typhoon Krosa at Hong Kong airport, the pop king rushed to the wedding of local singer Will Liu (劉耕宏) - most famous for being the king's buddy - to beauty queen-turned starlet Wang Wan-fei (王婉霏). He arrived at the NT$23 million ceremony, which was fully sponsored by celebrity friends and multiple businesses, at the last minute on Sunday evening.
In addition to the star-studded, attention-grabbing nuptials, the Liu-Wang union is a modern fairytale, if not plain fable. During the last four years of their eight-year relationship, the Christian convert couple claim to have stuck to a vow of chastity.
No sex for 1,460 days? It's difficult to imagine why anyone would make up such a scenario and Pop Stop would like to refrain from making any innuendos, but hopes the newlyweds enjoy their honeymoon destination, Hawaii, and the earth moves for them.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
In other Chairman Chou (周董) news, the Mando-pop star donned a cowboy outfit for his latest album Jay Chou on the Run (我很忙), and unwittingly became a rent boy. According to Chinese-language media, a Web user under the name of Jack is using Chou's photos to peddle sexual services on an English gay Web site, with a pitch line referring to a "large and uncut tool." The service fee is US$85 per hour and around US$400 a night.
That snippet of news and the cowboy look coincide with the star's recent pronouncement in an interview that if he were a woman, he would fall in love with Wang Lee-hom (王力宏), who is talented, upright and honest.
Those two would make a toothsome couple Pop Stop has to admit.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Following in the footsteps of his very "close friend" Lin Chi-ling (林志玲), Jerry Yan (言承旭) is eyeing the silver screen again. The first time around, he starred in an obscure romantic comedy Magic Kitchen (魔幻廚房). That was three years ago. Yan's reentry into the coveted movie biz is most likely to be grand and in style as the star was last week caught by paparazzi attending a dinner meeting with not one but three doyens of Hong Kong's cinema industry: Stanley Kwan (關錦鵬); Wong Kar-wai (王家衛); and William Chang (張叔平).
Gossip hounds staking out the joint caught the heartthrob off guard as he walked out of the restaurant after six hours of eating, drinking and getting acquainted with the showbiz movers and shakers. Swiftly escorted and pushed into a car by his escort/agent, Yan disappeared into the night, leaving pundits to ponder the star's next move.
Death metal brand Chthonic (閃靈) has become the nation's new pride and joy after its two-month tour of the US spreading the pro-independence message to the foreign press. Their musical and diplomatic adventure will be made into a documentary by Cheng Wen-tang (鄭文堂), which is expected to hit the international film festival circuit next year.
Currently, the outfit is busy with preparatory work before it departs again, this time to rock Europe with 30 gigs starting next month. One of the concerns raised by the band's erhu player, Su Nung (甦農), however, is not something normally expected from a heavy metal group.
After losing a great deal of money on the stock market during his absence, the artist said a major problem that needs to be solved is how he can stay in touch with his stockbroker while he's globetrotting.
Last week saw the appearance of another odious screed full of lies from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian (肖千), in the Financial Review, a major Australian paper. Xiao’s piece was presented without challenge or caveat. His “Seven truths on why Taiwan always will be China’s” presented a “greatest hits” of the litany of PRC falsehoods. This includes: Taiwan’s indigenous peoples were descended from the people of China 30,000 years ago; a “Chinese” imperial government administrated Taiwan in the 14th century; Koxinga, also known as Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功), “recovered” Taiwan for China; the Qing owned
In Taiwan’s politics the party chair is an extremely influential position. Typically this person is the presumed presidential candidate or serving president. In the last presidential election, two of the three candidates were also leaders of their party. Only one party chair race had been planned for this year, but with the Jan. 1 resignation by the currently indicted Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) two parties are now in play. If a challenger to acting Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) appears we will examine that race in more depth. Currently their election is set for Feb. 15. EXTREMELY
Jan. 20 to Jan. 26 Taipei was in a jubilant, patriotic mood on the morning of Jan. 25, 1954. Flags hung outside shops and residences, people chanted anti-communist slogans and rousing music blared from loudspeakers. The occasion was the arrival of about 14,000 Chinese prisoners from the Korean War, who had elected to head to Taiwan instead of being repatriated to China. The majority landed in Keelung over three days and were paraded through the capital to great fanfare. Air Force planes dropped colorful flyers, one of which read, “You’re back, you’re finally back. You finally overcame the evil communist bandits and
They increasingly own everything from access to space to how we get news on Earth and now outgoing President Joe Biden warns America’s new breed of Donald Trump-allied oligarchs could gobble up US democracy itself. Biden used his farewell speech to the nation to deliver a shockingly dark message: that a nation which has always revered its entrepreneurs may now be at their mercy. “An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms,” Biden said. He named no names, but his targets were clear: men like Elon Musk