Edison during the press conference

Edison made his announcement at a press conference in Hong Kong on Feb 21. He has admitted that the most of the related nude photos circulated online in recent weeks are taken by him, and has also apologised to her female ‘partners’ and others that have been affected by the issue.

The Chronicles of the nude Photos Scandal

On Jan 28, several nude photos involving two female Hong Kong artists and Edison were uploaded online and spread like wildfire.

The artists’ respective agency had responded that the photos were fake and doctored, but lots of the netizens have different opinions.

Jan 30, the Hong Kong police arrested the first suspect for spreading the photos. This action has enraged the netizens, accusing the police of playing favouritism to protect the artists.

Jan 31, the Hong Kong police had verified the authentication of the photos. Early investigations suggested that the photos were obtained from Edison’s hard disk when he sent his computer for repair earlier.

Feb 1, Edison made his first response to the issue, apologising to the female artists that was involved through a video from his blog. This indirectly indicated that the photos are real and was taken by him.

Feb 9, more than 400 photos were uploaded by a mysterious person, who is nicked as Kira (or Killer) by the netizens. A total of seven female artists have been linked to the photos.

Feb 10, a few hundred Hong Kongers demonstrated on streets for the action to arrest netizens while not investigating the alleged artists. Demonstrators also expressed discontent to authorities for helping the artists but did nothing to fight online porns.

Feb 11, artist Gillian Chung became the first ‘victim’ to make a public response to the issue, expressing her regrets for her naiveness.

Feb 16, Edison was scheduled to hold a press conference in Hong Kong, but was cancelled due to death threats.

Feb 21, Edison held the press conference under police protection, apologising to various parties and announcing his quit from Hong Kong entertainment (after serving some contract terms).

[With reference from Baidu]

Aftermath of the Photo Scandal

Kira, the prime suspect of the case is still at large. Kira has indicated that there are still other info that are not released, including some real sex videos, a statement that Edison and others have not denied. There are rumours though, that an artist’s company has paid huge sum to Kira to prevent further photos (or videos) to be spread online.

Edison will almost be gone from the entertainment world; despite stating that he is quiting HONG KONG entertainment and not the whole business, he would face with fans’ rejection in other markets (ie China, Taiwan etc.) as well. The only place left for him is Hollywood, which could be tough if he has no backing from established international stars like Jackie Chan etc.

Gillian Chung is facing challenge of being accepted by the audiences as well. Gillian’s healthy image is very much ruined by the sex photos… although lots of Gillian’s loyal fans have expressed their support, but some others are still critical about the issue.

A TV channel has received over 1900 complaints following Gillian’s appearance at a live fund-raising concert for Chinese snow-storm victims. Although no commercial sponsors have retracted their contract yet, most of them have chose to delay any projects involving Gillian.

Cecilia Cheung is another high profile artists involved in the photo scandal. Cecilia is currently married to pop star Nicholas Tse; she gave birth to their first child (Lucas) in August 2007. There are rumours that they are facing marriage crisis, but both of the stars have not responded to the issue yet.

Edison’s official girlfriend in US has broken up with him. She is not an artist and her photos were exposed as well. There are further exposes that some of the photos were taken after this relationship was made public, which lead to further debates about some artists’ morality.

Other female artists are now retired or semi-retired. One of them is actually getting married soon, although her fiancée has expressed his support, it seems like the marriage will be postponed at the moment.

On personal note, I actually pity all the artists (yes, including Edison despite him being an idiot). Their act might be indecent or stupid, but it’s still their private life after all, and they don’t deserve what the ‘punishment’ they are having now. The scandal seems to come to an end following Edison’s response, but the photos have already been widely spread and will never disappear online… internet can be horrific sometimes.

Hong Kong actor and director Stephen Chow is working with Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox to produce a live movie adapted from popular Japanese manga “Dragon Ball”.

Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball Manga and Anime

Dragon Ball is created by Akira Toriyama in 1984 and was originally published at Shonen Jump, a weekly Japanese manga magazine. Dragon Ball is one of the most popular manga ever produced and was remade into anime in the 90s.

The story centres on Son Goku as he searches for the mystical artifacts known as Dragon Balls which have enormous power. The later parts of the plots revolve around Goku’s quest to protect the earth from evil forces who want to take over the planet and control the Dragon Balls.

The anime version of Dragon Ball is made into 2 entities, the “Dragon Ball” and “Dragon Ball Z” (DBZ). Dragon Ball adapts the first 16 volumes of the manga, while DBZ covers the later 26 volumes which portrays the adulthood of Goku.

Dragon Ball movie

The Dragon Ball movie will adapt stories from Dragon Ball Z. The movie will start filming by end of 2007 (shooting in Montreal according to unconfirmed sources) and is scheduled to release in August 2008.

Stephen Chow, a long time fan of Dragon Ball, will produce the movie. James Wong of “The X-Files” and “Final Destination” fame is the director.

Justin Chatwin (”War of the Worlds”) will play Son Goku, while James Marsters (”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) will play Goku’s arch rival Piccolo. Other major roles are currently being cast… a few favourites to join the cast include “Heroes” star James Kyson Lee and Hong Kong based actor Edison Chen.