The 41st Hong Kong TVB Anniversary Awards were presented on November 16, with drama “Moonlight Resonance” dominating the winner list as expected…
China’s Ministry of Culture on Wednesday (Nov 12) released a draft of new regulations to gather public opinions on commercial performances related matters; among the proposed regulation is to ban lip-syncing in commercial events in the country.
If the proposal is approved, artists who lip-sync will be penalised, and repeated offenders will have their performance license revoked.
It’s not the first time that such suggestion is made; a people’s representative had proposed similar idea in 2005, but didn’t manage to get much response.
Ironically the new proposal is made just months after the scandalous lip-synching at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in which a background singer was used while having another kid lip-syncing at the centre of the stage.
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.
Chinese MV of “Not Mature Enough” (不够成熟 - Bu Gou Cheng Shu) by 16-year-old twins group BY2. The song is featured in their debut album “16 Under Age” (16 未成年) which was released a couple of months ago…
The public responses seem pretty encouraging for the Singapore born sisters, Miko and Yumi Peh… but it’s still too early to tell how popular they could be.
Their vocals still need some brush up, but I think they are already singing better than lots of the pop idols these days; and apparently they can dance a bit as well.
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.
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
