The most embarrassing moment in the Golden Bell Awards' (金鐘獎) 42-year history came to light on Monday when the jury panel confessed that a top honor, the Best Supporting Actor accolade, was awarded to the wrong person at the ceremony on Saturday. The real winner was Hong Kong-based Chang Chia-nien (張嘉年), also known as Tai Pao (太保), not veteran actor Chang Kuo-chu (張國柱).
Jury committee convener Wang Chang-an (王長安) explained that the two nominees' similar-sounding names confused the awards ceremony presenter, which is the same as saying, "Oops, we handed the envelope to the wrong person."
What showbiz pundits are wondering is how badly the jury members squirmed on the night of the awards ceremony, which was televised live.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF CTV
An anonymous source, quoted in the Chinese-language press, claims jury members were called back for an emergency meeting during the ceremony. Official statements indicate the jury assembled on Sunday to formulate a damage-control policy and came up with a solution that was supposed to make everyone happy: the award goes to both Changs.
Gracefully accepting the trophy that didn't actually belong to him, Chang Kuo-chu couldn't help but voice his discontent by saying to the local press: "Rather than a celebration party, I'll just treat everyone to a bowl of Udon noodles [Udon is written as 烏龍 in Chinese, a term that means 'daft mistake']."
A third wave of police raids on celebrities suspected of using drugs officially began last week when newly crowned showbiz caner Suzanne Hsiao (蕭淑慎) was busted with 30.4g of cocaine, 2g of ketamine and drug paraphernalia sitting in her rented apartment. Shortly after Hsiao's arrest, starlet Pei Lin (裴琳) was brought to the police station and confessed to having been puffing the magic dragon for a couple of years.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Prosecutors hinted that there are at least three more female stars and two basketball players on their to-bust list, which promises more grist for the media mill.
A new computer game (ent.163.com/special/000327LU/ziyibaolian.html) puts into action the ongoing speculation on the unspoken rivalry between Chinese stars Zhang Ziyi (章子怡) and Tang Wei (湯唯). The aim of the game is simple: Zhang has to kick Tang out of her way on the red carpet in order to give Ang Lee (李安) a hug.
The inspiration comes from Zhang's well-known complaint that Lee didn't give her a hug of encouragement during the shooting of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍) while Tang has been the center of Lee's countless praises.
In other film-related news, with John Woo's (吳宇森) epic period drama Red Cliff (赤壁) nearing the end of shootng this month, China Central Television last Saturday took the lead in examining the big-budget, Asian-financed film and revealed details of the movie's star-studded cast, which didn't score well with the Chinese Net-using public.
It is opined that Tony Leung (梁朝偉) looks too old to play the character Chou Yu (周瑜) and Takashi Kaneshiro (金城武) too sissy for Chu-ko Liang's (諸葛亮) part. Chang Chen (張震), however, stands out from the crowd for his insidious enough looks to bring Sun-chuan (孫權) to the big screen.
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
Indigenous Truku doctor Yuci (Bokeh Kosang), who resents his father for forcing him to learn their traditional way of life, clashes head to head in this film with his younger brother Siring (Umin Boya), who just wants to live off the land like his ancestors did. Hunter Brothers (獵人兄弟) opens with Yuci as the man of the hour as the village celebrates him getting into medical school, but then his father (Nolay Piho) wakes the brothers up in the middle of the night to go hunting. Siring is eager, but Yuci isn’t. Their mother (Ibix Buyang) begs her husband to let
The Taipei Times last week reported that the Control Yuan said it had been “left with no choice” but to ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the central government budget, which left it without a budget. Lost in the outrage over the cuts to defense and to the Constitutional Court were the cuts to the Control Yuan, whose operating budget was slashed by 96 percent. It is unable even to pay its utility bills, and in the press conference it convened on the issue, said that its department directors were paying out of pocket for gasoline
For the past century, Changhua has existed in Taichung’s shadow. These days, Changhua City has a population of 223,000, compared to well over two million for the urban core of Taichung. For most of the 1684-1895 period, when Taiwan belonged to the Qing Empire, the position was reversed. Changhua County covered much of what’s now Taichung and even part of modern-day Miaoli County. This prominence is why the county seat has one of Taiwan’s most impressive Confucius temples (founded in 1726) and appeals strongly to history enthusiasts. This article looks at a trio of shrines in Changhua City that few sightseers visit.
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