Allen Chao’s (趙樹海) recent return to the entertainment world continues to be bumpy.
His new Saturday night variety show on CTS (華視) didn’t pass the muster of station executives, who have put the program on hold and requested major “structural changes,” according to the United Daily News.
The executives also reportedly were unimpressed with Chao’s “old school” style of hosting, which they feared wouldn’t live up to competition from variety show kings Hu Gua (胡瓜) and Chang Fei (張菲).
Chao’s temper hasn’t helped, either. The atmosphere at the studio has been “tense,” as he has reportedly bawled out many crew members on the set.
The 59-year-old singer-turned-TV celebrity, who has been out of the limelight for most of the past decade, has recently attracted some unwelcome publicity over the past few months, with entertainment media portraying him as an ambitious and overbearing father and womanizer.
In October, there was intense speculation that he had pulled strings to help his son Mark Chao (趙又廷) win a Golden Bell Award. Then several weeks ago, the Apple Daily spotted Chao having dinner with model Sonia Sui (隋棠), prompting rumors that he was stepping in between Sui and her boyfriend Yao Yuan-hao (姚元浩).
Earlier this week The Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported seeing Chao at yet another dinner, holding court with three shounu (熟女), which roughly translates as attractive women over 30.
At least he received some kind words from would-be competitor and old friend Chang Fei, who complimented him on his “outspokenness” and “steadfastness.” Chang recalled how Chao threw a tantrum when he tried to back out of a golf outing because it was raining. They wound up playing 18 holes in the rain, leaving Chang with a nasty cold that lasted a week.
Actor and singer Eddie Peng (彭于晏) has a new flame, according to the Apple Daily, whose paparazzos snapped a few photographs of the two on a movie date at the Core Pacific Mall (京華城). Apple’s report portrayed the date with the mystery “square-faced girl” as something of a comeback for Peng, who supposedly once dated Mando-pop diva Jolin Tsai (蔡依林). Apple asked for a response from Tsai’s manager, Wang Yung-liang (王永良), who replied, “Best wishes to him.”
Peng is probably the last thing on Tsai’s mind, as she is just fresh from a three-week vacation in Montreal, where she took French classes. This stirred the imagination of the press, which asked if her studies had led to any romantic encounters. “I mostly just asked for directions from elderly men and women on the street,” the pop star said. “But some people whistled at me from a casino ... does that count?”
Tsai admitted that while in Montreal she got recognized on the street a few times, but never let on about her identity. According to the Liberty Times, she told her would-be admirers, “A lot of people say I look a lot like her, but really, I’m not Jolin.”
And faithful Jolin-watchers just can’t seem to let go of the possibility of a rekindled romance with fellow Mando-pop star Jay Chou (周杰倫). Both the Liberty Times and Apple Daily mentioned how the two “rumored former lovers” are both scheduled to appear at an awards ceremony in Beijing this weekend.
Since their leader Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and others were jailed as part of several ongoing bribery investigations, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) has risen in the polls. Additionally, despite all the many and varied allegations against Ko and most of the top people in the party, it has held together with only a tiny number of minor figures exiting. The TPP has taken some damage, but vastly less than the New Power Party (NPP) did after it was caught up in a bribery scandal in 2020. The TPP has for years registered favorability in the thirties, and a Formosa poll
Chiayi County is blessed with several worthwhile upland trails, not all of which I’ve hiked. A few weeks ago, I finally got around to tackling Tanghu Historic Trail (塘湖古道), a short but unusually steep route in Jhuci Township (竹崎). According to the Web site of the Alishan National Scenic Area (阿里山國家風景區), the path climbs from 308m above sea level to an elevation of 770m in just 1.58km, an average gradient of 29 percent. And unless you arrange for someone to bring you to the starting point and collect you at the other end, there’s no way to avoid a significant amount
Nov. 4 to Nov. 10 Apollo magazine (文星) vowed that it wouldn’t play by the rules in its first issue — a bold statement to make in 1957, when anyone could be jailed for saying the wrong thing. However, the introduction to the inaugural Nov. 5 issue also defined the magazine as a “lifestyle, literature and art” publication, and the contents were relatively tame for the first four years, writes Tao Heng-sheng (陶恒生) in “The Apollo magazine that wouldn’t play by the rules” (不按牌理出牌的文星雜誌). In 1961, the magazine changed its mission to “thought, lifestyle and art” and adopted a more critical tone with
While global attention is finally being focused on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) gray zone aggression against Philippine territory in the South China Sea, at the other end of the PRC’s infamous 9 dash line map, PRC vessels are conducting an identical campaign against Indonesia, most importantly in the Natuna Islands. The Natunas fall into a gray area: do the dashes at the end of the PRC “cow’s tongue” map include the islands? It’s not clear. Less well known is that they also fall into another gray area. Indonesia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) claim and continental shelf claim are not
RSS