Faye Wong’s (王菲) recent visit to Taipei caused a stir among fans and the entertainment media, but that was to be expected.
The pop diva performed a run of highly anticipated shows at Taipei Arena (台北小巨蛋) last weekend as part of a comeback tour. Wong dropped out of the limelight in 2004, hinting at a retirement from singing.
The announcement of her return to the stage late last year was greeted in Taiwan with frenzied ticket sales: When tickets for last week’s shows went on sale in October, buyers caused ERA’s online ticketing system to crash within minutes. Once ERA fixed the problem, 90 percent of the tickets for her three shows were sold within two hours.
Photo: Taipei Times
While in Taipei last week, the Beijing-born 41-year-old singer’s every move and utterance was closely scrutinized.
Wong is famous for her cool demeanor in public, and TVBS illustrated her reticence by counting the total number of words she spoke to the audience during the three shows: 26.
And as the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) put it, Wong often found herself getting “stuck” (卡卡) wherever she went. Paparazzi and fans mobbed her as soon as she stepped off the plane last week. They mobbed her again at a post-concert party at the Taipei nightspot Barcode (where she had to plead with the photographers to be careful and not push each other), and saw her off at the airport when she left.
But Wong didn’t seem to mind the attention while waiting for her return flight, at least judging from video posted online by the Apple Daily. When asked by reporters to judge her own performances, she replied, “It’s in the past, I don’t care about giving myself a score. Anyhow I did my best.”
She also addressed a minor drama that occurred during her final concert on Sunday. During one segment, Wong sang a number while sitting on a “flying chair” that was lifted three stories high above the audience. The chair got stuck for a few seconds on the way down, which left Wong visibly startled.
“I was a little nervous, but it was OK,” she said. “I thought that the audience was calmer.”
Overnight sensation singer Lin Yu-chun (林育群), also known as “Little Fatty” (小胖), had better look out, because there’s a new YouTube star in town.
Forty-one-year-old comedienne and singer Lotus Wang (王彩樺) has scored more than two million hits for her video and electro-house hit Bobee (保庇, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gWu5Y6yY4E), a cover of a song by South Korean girl band T-ara.
The video recently received a nod from CNN as the “best viral video of the week,” and the “Bobee” dance has become a veritable craze, spawning a rash of copycat videos. The Macarena goes taike (台客), if you will.
Bobee, a catchy tune sung in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) about asking deities for protection and luck, is on Wang’s first album, Bo Peep Bo Peep (有唱有保庇), which reached the number one spot on G-Music’s charts twice since being released last month.
Wang described herself in a recent interview with the Central News Agency as a mere “B-lister” in the entertainment world.
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
Despite the intense sunshine, we were hardly breaking a sweat as we cruised along the flat, dedicated bike lane, well protected from the heat by a canopy of trees. The electric assist on the bikes likely made a difference, too. Far removed from the bustle and noise of the Taichung traffic, we admired the serene rural scenery, making our way over rivers, alongside rice paddies and through pear orchards. Our route for the day covered two bike paths that connect in Fengyuan District (豐原) and are best done together. The Hou-Feng Bike Path (后豐鐵馬道) runs southward from Houli District (后里) while the
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
Mirror mirror on the wall, what’s the fairest Disney live-action remake of them all? Wait, mirror. Hold on a second. Maybe choosing from the likes of Alice in Wonderland (2010), Mulan (2020) and The Lion King (2019) isn’t such a good idea. Mirror, on second thought, what’s on Netflix? Even the most devoted fans would have to acknowledge that these have not been the most illustrious illustrations of Disney magic. At their best (Pete’s Dragon? Cinderella?) they breathe life into old classics that could use a little updating. At their worst, well, blue Will Smith. Given the rapacious rate of remakes in modern
RSS