Pneumatic media personality Yaoyao (瑤瑤), real name Kuo Shu-yao (郭書瑤), is climbing off the DD-list with her best-selling new album — but her ascendance in the charts has reportedly reduced one pop rival to tears and another to a hissy fit.
Singer Angela Chang (張韶涵) burst into tears at a recent press event, which our sister paper The Liberty Times attributed to the fact that her latest album, 5th Season (第五季), has been superseded by Yaoyao’s Hug of Love: Farewell to 18 (愛的抱抱:告別18歲) in Taiwan’s music charts.
To be fair, Chang has plenty of reasons to cry that have nothing to do with her rival, who was previously best known for riding a mechanical horse braless in a commercial. The pop star and actress is in the midst of a well-publicized feud with her mother and father, who say she is a negligent daughter and left them mired in poverty even as she enjoys the limelight. Chang, on the other hand, accuses her parents of mismanaging her earnings.
Since news of the family scandal broke last month, Chang has pleaded with the media to leave the matter alone and refused to answer further questions. Last weekend marked her return to the public eye after keeping a low profile for nearly a year and a half, with a performance and autograph signing session to promote 5th Season.
Unfortunately, Chang started sniveling after just two songs. Afterwards she denied that Yaoyao’s dominance in the charts had caused the tears, and said she was just touched by the continuing support and affection of her fans.
“It’s been 10 years since I was first signed to a record label. I care less about sales numbers than the affirmation of my fans,” Chang said.
“If there is a talented new singer out there, people should support him or her,” she added.
Fellow pop singer Peter Pan (潘裕文), however, was less gracious. The singer’s latest album, Dreamer (夢.想.家), received good reviews, but has lagged in the charts. His record label issued a pouty statement after the numbers were in, bemoaning the fact that there is no accounting for taste among listeners. Pan himself sarcastically asked fans for a “loving hug,” a play on the title of Yaoyao’s album. Yaoyao’s own label called the kvetching “pointless.”
“Everyone thinks they are number one, so why don’t they just proclaim themselves number one?” it said in a statement.
While Yaoyao’s album topped Taiwan’s two major music charts, Penny Lin’s (林韋君) twin peaks were getting some attention of their own. Next Magazine worked itself into a lather over its beachside photo shoot with the model and soap actress. The gossip rag gloried in the fact that Lin had insisted on going surfing even though the photographer said the waves were too rough; celebrated when the stick-on bra Lin was wearing underneath her bikini top fell into the ocean; panted as said top rolled upwards and Lin’s right breast was nearly exposed; and muffled its regret when Lin modestly held the surfboard in front of her chest.
The rest of Next Magazine’s fluff piece reported that Lin, who split with her boyfriend three months ago, was spotted in a tete-a-tete with actor Wallace Huo (霍建華) at a nightclub. Lin insisted that Huo “just came by to say hi,” though he clearly had more than that to say, because the chat lasted for three hours.
Hopefully Lin will have more luck in love than fellow actress and model Kelly Lin (林熙蕾, no relation), who recently split from her fiance, singer and actor Ken Zhu (朱孝天). The break-up came several days after the duo announced they were delaying their wedding and just a few months after Lin and Zhu finally went public with their four-year relationship. Various media reports said that Lin was unhappy with Zhu’s income and stalling career. The actor is currently appearing on MoMo Love (桃花小妹). Lin thought the TV series would turn her fiance’s life around. But instead, he has allegedly fought with crewmembers and showed up to work hungover.
Reports of Zhu partying in nightclubs while filming in Taichung were allegedly the final straw for Lin. The couple met in 2005 when Zhu was at his peak, starring in hit series Meteor Garden (流星花園) and performing with popular boy band F4. “She had no idea Zhu would so quickly burst into fatness, become stagnated in his career and find less and less work, while her own light grew brighter,” The Liberty Times tartly wrote.
March 24 to March 30 When Yang Bing-yi (楊秉彝) needed a name for his new cooking oil shop in 1958, he first thought of honoring his previous employer, Heng Tai Fung (恆泰豐). The owner, Wang Yi-fu (王伊夫), had taken care of him over the previous 10 years, shortly after the native of Shanxi Province arrived in Taiwan in 1948 as a penniless 21 year old. His oil supplier was called Din Mei (鼎美), so he simply combined the names. Over the next decade, Yang and his wife Lai Pen-mei (賴盆妹) built up a booming business delivering oil to shops and
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