[Updated Dec 17] E! Entertainment recently released its “25 Sexiest Men of the World” 2008 list, in which Canadian-Chinese star Edison Chen somehow ranked higher (15th) than Chinese-Japanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro (20th).

Picture of Philippines actor Dingdong Dantes
Dingdong Dantes

Well, Edison might be sexier than Takeshi in E!’s point of views (I guess the sex pics might help a bit), but the sexiest Asian title goes to Dingdong Dantes (3th) from the Philippines instead.

Bollywood actor John Abraham is the other Asian celebrity that made the list, and he too was ranked higher than the two Chinese stars at 10th.

This E! sexiest men list is a bit unique as the chosen celebs covered a wide range of different nationalities and ethnicity as compared to most other sexiest/hottest lists which are dominated by Hollywood stars. Arguable… but nice try.

Here are the top 25 sexiest men of the world according to E!

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Singapore tops the Asian ranking in The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 conducted by the World Economic Forum (and partners) using both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey.

The annual report assesses the ability of countries to provide high levels of prosperity to their citizens, which in turn depends on how productively a country uses available resources. Thus, the index measures the set of institutions, policies, and factors that set the sustainable current and medium-term levels of economic prosperity.

The top 10 overall ranking are USA, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Singapore, Finland, Germany, Japan and Canada.

The top 10 Asian economic entities are Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, China and UAE.

Filipino teenage sensation Charice and international pop star Celion Dion sang a duet in Madison Square Garden on September 15. Because You Loved Me

Great performance by the 16-year-old Filipina. The amazing thing is that the starlet has yet to release a full English album; and with legendary music producer David Foster being her mentor, her future looks bright.

[Video via Pinkrosebud22@Youtube]

Charice Pempengco series

Previous: Filipino sensation Charice on Star King Korea
Next: Charice Pempengco’s Note to God

Hong Kong actor-director Stephen Chow is going to direct and star in the movie version of “The Green Hornet”, announced Columbia Pictures.

Canadian comedian Seth Rogen will co-write the movie and star as the main character; and Stephen Chow will star as Kato, Green Hornet’s sidekick which was played by legendary martial arts star Bruce Lee in the TV adaptation in 1960s.

Picture of Van Williams and Bruce Lee for TV series The Green Hornet
The Green Hornet and Kato, played by Van Williams and Bruce Lee in 1960s TV series

It’s said that the movie will be more comedic than the original versions (comic, radio and TV)… but I have doubts over the making of this movie regardless. It just doesn’t click for me, and I don’t think the young generations could relate to the characters.

The Green Hornet is scheduled to premier in Summer 2010.

Malaysia International Fireworks Competition (MIFC) 2008 is held in the month of August in conjunction with the country’s independence day celebration.

I was planning to go for a show on Wednesday, but the weather was not permitting; will try my luck again on Sunday. Meanwhile, catch a video below, produced by an official media partner of MIFC with the Malaysian team performing on August 12.

Besides the Malaysian team, other teams that are competing in the event this year are from China, Spain, Canada and Australia.

Update – check out a few photos taken by yours truly during one of the shows.

Canadian rocker Avril LavigneIt’s official, Avril’s KL concert is on. The Malaysian authority has changed their mind with the earlier decision to bar the Canadian pop star from performing in Kuala Lumpur on August 29th.

Avril has told MTV earlier that the concert will go ahead as planned; and there were other sources hinting that Galaxy Group, the concert promoter, has successfully appeal to the initial ban. It has now been officially confirmed that the show will go on.

Earlier this week, Malaysian authority made the call to bar Avril from performing as scheduled, stating that the concert is unsuitable for Malaysian culture, particularly not when the country is celebrating independence day on August 31st.

The decision echoed the call from an Islamic opposition party for the show to be scrapped, that the show is considered too sexy for Malaysians and would promote the wrong values as Malaysia’s independence day is looming near.

It’s almost deja vu for Malaysians… as the authority had barred Indonesian singer Inul Daratista from performing in late July 2008 following similar protest that her performance was too erotic. Luckily for Avril’s fans, Galaxy has managed to appeal for the concert to run as planned.

Do mind that Malaysians in general are not that conservative; in fact lots of the Muslims are quite liberal in these kind of matters. Unfortunately the men that make the initial decision were not quite as open minded… glad that the final decision makers are showing more sense.

SM Entertainment, the Korean talent agency that boost the likes of BoA, Kangta, TVXQ, Super Junior, SNSD, Ara and Lee Yeon-hee etc. will be holding the “08 SM Entertainment Global Audition” in Sept/Oct 2008.

Poster of SM Entertainment Global Audition 2008 featuring Korean group TVXQ

The auditions will be held from September 19 to October 25 in Hawaii, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Orange County (CA), New York, San Francisco, Toronto and Vancouver. Nationality doesn’t matters, but it seems like they are looking for Asian faces only.

It’s funny that SM is calling it a ‘global’ audition when in fact the locations are limited to US and Canada. Regardless, it’s a chance for young Asian talents to try their luck if they are interested with the entertainment business.

Set aside the publicity purpose, SM do mean business with the auditions. If not mistaken Tiffany from SNSD and Henry from Suju-M were discovered from previous auditions… there might be a few more that I’m not aware of.

Check SM’s website for details and updates. Good luck if there is any taker here.

Was checking some info on Dragonball (the movie)… as it was originally scheduled to release this summer; didn’t realise that it was postponed to April 2009.

Dragonball movie from Japanese magazine Weekly Shonen Jump
Scanned image of Shōnen Jump, the Japanese magazine that published the original manga… featuring some introduction about the cast and characters (via Dbthemovie)

Dragonball movie is starring Justin Chatwin, James Marsters, Jamie Chung, Emmy Rossum, Chow Yun Fat, Joon Park and Eriko Tamura etc.

The movie created some hype when it was announced last year that Hong Kong star Stephen Chow, a renowned DB fan, would be working with Twentieth Century Fox to produce a live movie adapted from the popular Japanese anime and manga.

The initial buzz was not all positive though, as lots of the Dragon Ball fans are worried that the movie would spoil the original work. Judging from some recent developments, it seems that their worry are not entirely baseless.

I won’t say that I am a huge fan of Dragon Ball, but it was one of the first Japanese manga that I read… and I do like it. Hope that the movie will at least be watchable.

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