Chinese actress Gong Li is officially a Singaporean after taking an oath and collected her Singapore identity card last Saturday (Nov 8).
The 43-year-old actress was supposed to collect her identity card on August 23, but failed to show up because she was filming a movie overseas. Her no show irked some Singaporeans who felt that she was disrespecting her new country… but it’s all history now.
Gong Li is married to a Singaporean businessman since 1996, so the switch of citizenship is not entirely surprising. Both China and Singapore do not recognise dual nationality, which literally means that she would have to renounce her Chinese citizenship.
Chinese netizens are generally unhappy about the news… lots of them are criticising Gong Li’s decision, while some are sharing concerns that this would become a trend among popular artists and younger generations.
Some netizens are showing support Gong Li though, stating that it’s her freedom to choose her own path; a few also stated that they would also like to migrate out of China if given the chances.
Legendary Japanese music producer Tetsuya Komuro was arrested on Tuesday morning (Nov 4) on suspicion of fraud and could face up to 10 years of jail term.
The 49-year-old is alleged to have scammed an investor of 500 million yen (~USD5 million) in August 2006 by selling copyrights of 806 tunes which he written but did not actually own the rights.
Tetsuya lost a civil suit in July 2008 in which he is required to pay 600 million to the investor as compensation, but he didn’t manage to do so by the deadline (Sept 30), thus prompted the investor to file a police report.
Tetsuya is widely regarded as the most successful J-pop music producer in 1990s. He was the producer for top Japanese stars like Namie Amuro, TRF, Ami Suzuki, Ryoko Shinohara and Hitomi etc… it’s estimated that more than 170 million copies of his production were sold over the years.
Tetsuya was then one of the richest entertainers in Japan with over USD100 million of wealth. His music career has however been declining since 2000, and his investment failure in 2001-2004 has sunk him into financial trouble which he obviously couldn’t manage to recover.
Korean pop group Wonder Girls will be starring in a reality show, “Wonder Bakery” in which they will be pairing up with aspiring bakers to compete for a cash prize of 10 million Won (~USD8,000). Sharing some promotional pics for the programme, which is scheduled to start showing this evening (Nov 5) on Mnet channel…
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Hong Kong star Gillian Chung might be starring alongside Taiwanese actor Ethan Ruan and actress Cheryl Yang in a Taiwanese idol drama.
Gillian is struggling to make her comeback after the infamous Edison Chen scandal… her Hollywood venture didn’t work well as she only managed a three-second cameo; while her appearance in the highly anticipated Chinese movie “Mei Lanfang” is wiped out altogether.
It’s reported that EEG (Gillian’s agency) is making compromises to have Gillian in the idol drama, which she will take on the supporting female role instead of the main lead.
The arrangement has not been finalised though; despite willing to take a pay cut… EEG’s desired pay is ironically the highest among the cast. The drama producers are still in negotiation with EEG and are positive that they could reach an agreement.
Update - the parties involved couldn’t reach a final agreement; Gillian won’t be appearing in the drama. Young actress Yang Ya Zhu is taking the role instead.
Chinese MV of “Take Me Away” (带我走 - Dai Wo Zhou) by Taiwanese artist Rainie Yang. The song is written by Qing Feng from pop-rock band Sodagreen; it’s the ending theme for drama series “Miss No Good” which stars Rainie and Wilber Pan.
A different singing style from Rainie; obviously trying to jump out of her usual cutie image. Not a bad attempt imo; it’s a decent song and is likely to become a huge hit, partly thanks to the popularity of the TV drama as well.
The song is also included in Rainie’s 4th album “Declaration of Semi-Maturity” (半熟宣言) which is scheduled to release on Nov 7…
Chinese star Isabella Leong has reached an out-of-court settlement with Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG) to cancel her contract with the agency, which literally means that Isabella is now a free agent and can do whatever she wants in future.
Isabella was AWOL in early 2008 and prompted EEG to file a lawsuit against her in April for breaching of contract; but Isabella, with the backing of her rich boyfriend, had counter-sued EEG for unfair contract terms instead.
The first court hearing for the cases was supposed to be held this morning (Nov 3), but reporters found out on Saturday that the hearing has been cancelled… EEG later confirmed that a settlement has been reached, but didn’t provide further details as the info is deemed confidential as part of the agreement.
Some red carpet pics from Korea Drama Awards 2008 which was presented on November 1 at Jinju Castle in Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea…
Grand prize winner Kim Myung-min
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The 43rd Golden Bell Awards were presented in Taipei on Friday (Oct 31); Golden Bell is Taiwan’s most prestigious radio and television broadcasting awards.
“Fated to Love You” won the best drama series as expected; Ariel Lin was crowned the best actress (in drama series) with “They Kiss Again”; while Jacky Wu and A-Ya claimed the best variety show hosts award with “Guess Guess Guess”.
Other winners are relatively unknown; couldn’t recognise most of the names to be frank. Sharing a few red carpet pics (from Sohu) instead…
The emcees - Patty Ho, Jacky Wu and Tian Xin
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