China Showbiz 2012/12/31
- Anita Mui Yim-Fong: et lux perpetua luceat ea Anita Mui succumbed to cancer nine years ago today (or yesterday, depending on which side of the international date line you are) having made an impression on untold numbers of film and music fans, as well as her fellow artists, during her too short career.
People's Daily had the official English language version of her obituary and the web was full of remembrances of the effect she had on people. She was an astonishingly sexy performer--the camera loved her full lips, perfect for bright red lipstick, and her remarkable hooded eyes with their heavy lids and come hither look.
This fan site has pictures from her last concert.
There are a lot of images from her films and concerts (plus some from civilian life) on various tumblr pages such as this one. A quick search of will return scores of sites.
- 2012-2013 New Year Concerts guest list Hunan TV (live)
Zhang Han and Zheng Shuang lean in for a kiss at the Shenzhen New Year Concert
Hosts: He Jiong, Xie Na, Wang Han, Sun Xiaoxiao, etc.
Artists: Yu Haoming, Jane Zhang, Zhou Bichang, Li Yuchun, Andy Lau, eeMedia artists, Korean artists, Jam Hsiao, Yang Mi, Huang Yali, Gary Cao, Jolin Cai, Tanya Chua, etc.
Jiangsu TV (live)
Hosts: Meng Fei, Le Jia, Li Hao, Li Xiang, Peng Yu
Artists: Wang Leehom, Lin Dan, Show Luo, Elva Hsiao, JJ Lin, EXo-M, Yoga Lin, Karen Mok, Jacky Cheung, etc.
Zhejiang TV (live)
Hosts:Zhou Libo, Cui Yongyuan, Yi Yi, Hua Shao
Artists: The Voice competitors, Chinese Dream competitors
Anhui TV:
Hosts: Xie Na, Liu Yan
Artists: Yang Mi, Liu Shishi, Tang Yan, Qi Wei, Hu Ge, Ruby Lin, Jimmy Lin, Sun Li, Jiang Junfu, Gulnazar, Wallace Chung, Li Xiaolu, Jia Nailiang, Yan Kuan, Cheng Sicheng, Du Chun, Chen He, etc.
Shenzhen TV :
Hosts: Ou Di, Wang Zulan, etc.
Artists: Fan Bingbing, Zhang Han & Zheng Shuang, Ariel Lin & Chen Bolin , Nicholas Tse, Hu Xia, Allen Su, Wang Feng, F(x), Cui Jian, etc. - 楊淨淳
- Steven Ma Tells Raymond Lam: "Don't Waste Yourself" Yesterday Steven Ma attended The 47th Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo (HKBPE) to promote for the brand 'Han Sang' in which he is the spokesperson for. When speaking of his junior Raymond Lam has plans to retire from the industry due to his TV King loss and take over his father's family business? Steven said: "Actually he has a lot of potential, very suitable for this industry. At the end of the day, don't feel discouraged, awards are just secondary, don't waste yourself! (He said he wants to help his father's business?) Well he can hire other people to help. Just continue acting on one side, while learning how to run a business on the other!"
It was also rumored Kevin Cheng turned down a TVB costume drama Cold Mountain Hidden Dragon because he didn't want to shave his head and TVB is turning to Steven for help? He said: "I temporarily left TVB in February of this year, but we have always been in touched. Catherine Tsang contacted me several months ago, but it is definitely not about this series. The rumor is a beautiful misunderstanding. Ricky Wong and other TV stations have approached me as well. If all goes well, I will have a decision after Lunar New Year. (Siu Sangs are unwilling to shave their heads?) I understand this because we can't accept other jobs for 6 to 7 months! I often shave my head, already 6 times. Although it is troublesome to do other jobs, but for a good script, it's no problem."
- Moses Chan Won't Make Aimee Chan an "Aged Pregnant Woman" Earlier Alastair Lam disclosed he dated Bernice Liu before. Last night, he and Bernice's ex-boyfriend Moses Chan attended the same event, the designer brand Hackett London opening in the Hong Kong and China market. However, Alastair appeared to have deliberately avoided Moses. The two did not meet at all during the event and prevented an awkward situation. It was recently rumored Alastair is dating wealthy girl Carol, but she quickly denied their relationship.
Alastair later expressed even if he does see Moses, there will not be awkwardness, he said: "That time, Bernice said had never dated Moses before, so I'm not considered a love rival. I don't know Mr. Chan."
Earlier Moses was spotted spending Christmas as his girlfriend Aimee Chan's house. He admitted he was at Aimee's house, but they were having a party with a bunch of other friends. When asked what kind of Christmas gift he gave his girlfriend? He laughed: "I promised I wouldn't say it. After all, it is very warm and requires money to purchase it. (Personal product?) To me it is personal! (Did you and Aimee each give each other underwear? Does your girlfriend know your size?) Haha! Nope! (When are you two getting married?) When the time is right. (Pregnant before marriage?) That won't be too good, I'm a traditional man, must take it step by step. I won't have a baby before marriage." When speaking of good friend Ada Choi almost got a miscarriage, Moses said he has not heard about that, but will contact her to ask if she's alright later. A female reporter told Moses not to turn his girlfriend into an 'aged pregnant woman', he laughed: "Yes Madam!" Although the couple haven't planned their marriage yet, Moses exposed his mother loves Aimee as if she's a future daughter-in-law. "My mother praised she's a good girl, she's very pleased with her and believes she has promising potential in her acting career!" - Interview with former TVB veteran actor Deno Cheung: The 'spoiled young master' endures with all his might Having toiled silently at TVB for 18 years, Deno Cheung (張松枝) is best known for his villain roles, which he started playing back in 1999 when he portrayed the role of a spoiled, rich young master in the series Plain Love II (茶是故鄉濃) – since then, that 'spoiled young master' image stuck with him and had become his 'specialty' role of sorts over the years. Fortunately for him, audiences seem to like and appreciate Deno's villain roles – when fans bump into him on the street, they 'chide' him for being 'such a bad person' [referring to his characters in the series], but yet at the same time, they have smiles on their faces. This little bit of 'recognition' can be attributed to the years of hard work and effort that Deno put in to building his career. At one point, Deno reveals his experience of almost going into shock while filming a particularly strenuous scene, yet at the end of the day, he endured it with all his might and successfully completed the filming.
Deno Cheung entered the industry when he was 20 years old. He recalls how he was swimming at a beach in Shek O one day where, coincidentally, a commercial was being filmed – the PA (production assistant) went over to him and asked if he wanted to participate, and just like that, his filming career began. In those first few years, Deno filmed commercials for all sorts of products, including toothpaste, M&Ms, real estate, etc. During the height of the karaoke craze in the early 90s, Deno switched to filming karaoke MVs (music videos) – in 4 short years, he filmed close to a thousand MVs and got the opportunity to work with some of HK's most popular singers at the time, such as Kelly Chen (陳慧琳), Cass Pang (彭羚), etc. Deno recalls those early years with fondness: "Back then, we filmed 4 days a week and sometimes, we would even travel offsite to various locations." Asked about his experience filming the MV for music queen Kelly Chen's hit 'Care Too Much About You' (對你太在乎), D! eno smiled and praised Kelly's down-to-earth personality: "I remember how much she loved talking about food! During filming, she would constantly ask what we would be eating for lunch and where we should eat when we got off work!"
No pay raise for 12 years
It turns out that filming MVs was actually only a 'side job' for Deno – his 'real' job was in mechanics: "My friend had a company that specialized in buying second hand cell phones from Japan, refurbishing them in HK, then selling them in Mainland China -- since I had studied mechanical engineering, I was the one responsible for refurbishing the phones. It wasn't really a full time job, so I still had time to film MVs on the side." So with 2 salaries coming in, life must have been worry-free then? With a slight smile, Deno replied: "Worry-free? Of course not -- in fact, the work was quite arduous! Later on, I joined a certain company [TVB] and in a few years, that 'double income' was gone."
In 1994, through a friend who worked behind-the-scenes at TVB, Deno was introduced to the station's manager of the artists' department at the time, Hsiao Siu Ming (蕭笑鳴). [TN: 蕭笑鳴 left TVB not too long after Virginia Lok took over the Artists' Department in 2004; she is the wife of TVB's production head Tommy Leung (梁家樹) and the mother of TVB actress Toby Leung (梁靖琪)]. After meeting with 'Ba Jeh' (Hsiao Siu Ming's nickname), Deno signed with TVB and with that, started his 18 year 'relationship' with the company. Deno expressed that his early years with TVB were the happiest – at one point, he was practically filming non-stop and participated in so many series that he was able to accumulate over 290 'shows' in one year! However, all of that changed in 2000 when, during the filming of the series Gods of Honour (封神榜), TVB held up Deno's schedule for 7 months, yet only had him film for 3 days – as a result, Deno didn't have enough 'shows' to f! ulfill hi! s contract and had to rely on his meager salary from previous months to survive. Luckily, the next year, producer Lau Shi Yu (劉仕裕) invited him to participate in the series Country Spirit (酒是故鄉醇), which allowed him to 'recover' the lost wages. Deno revealed that for 12 years, he was never given a pay raise, which definitely made life difficult: "Luckily, I consistently had work and was very careful about spending money – at least eating the boxed lunches at TVB helped me save a lot of money on food!"
Filming action scenes in extremely hot weather almost sent him into shock
As the saying goes: 'One minute on stage takes ten years of practice/hard work (台上一分鐘，台下十年功) – this has definitely been true in Deno Cheung's case. Deno expressed that from the moment he joined TVB and filmed his first series, he was already 'learning' from the many experienced artists he collaborated with – one of those artists was actor Michael Tao (陶大宇): "Back when I participated in Detective Investigation Files 2 (刑事偵緝檔案II), I got the chance to work closely with Michael practically every day. Every time we had scenes to film together, I would practice by looking through the script and try to memorize all his lines, then imagine myself filming the scene in his position – when it came time to actually film the scene, I would observe the way Michael did it and see if there were any similarities with the way I practiced it – this was my way of learning. After that, I started doing the same thing with every series and slowly, it helped me learn a lot about acting – more importantly though, it also helped me develop a good memory. I remember back when I filmed Eternal Happiness (再生緣), I had a scene with Raymond Lam (林峯) where my character had 5 pages of dialogue – we did that scene in one take! Another time, when filming a scene for Country Spirit with Paul Chun (秦沛), my character had 3 full pages of dialogue! for that! particular segment. At first, I thought that since I was somewhat of a 'newcomer' at the time, Paul Gor wouldn't pay much attention to me, but then, as I was practicing that particular scene with the director, Paul Gor heard me reciting those 3 pages of dialogue practically in one breath – when he noticed me practicing that scene, he immediately told the people around me to keep the noise level down so that I could concentrate. Seeing him do this truly made me feel very happy in my heart!"
In one of his last series with TVB, 2012's Three Kingdoms RPG (回到三國), Deno played the historical character of Zhao Zi Long (趙子龍) – his performance was very well-received by audiences. Deno expressed that even though he already knew going into it that the character wouldn't have much screen time, it was still important for him to do the best job he possibly could with it: "The action choreographer told me that at the end of the day, I'm the one in front of the audiences and so how much effort I put in to doing the action scenes, the audiences will definitely notice. The 2 days that we spent filming those scenes were very grueling and arduous. Coincidentally, that was also the time when the extras [temporary workers] went on strike – originally I was told that there would be 50 extras filming the scenes, however when I arrived, I found out that there were no extras at all due to the strike. Therefore, the production team had to call around last minute and eventually were able to find 10 students from the acting classes and 5 stuntmen to serve as extras – since we would have to re-use the same people as extras in the other scenes, we couldn't have the cameras focus on them too much, so the cameras ended up being focused more on me and showing them fighting in the background with their backs toward me. This meant that I would actually have to be the one 'fighting' the entire time – throughout the filming, I felt like I had 'died' 4 times because we were filming outs! ide under! extremely hot weather with heavy costumes and armor. In between some of the fighting sequences, I would have to rest for 5 to 10 minutes to catch my breath and drink water – it was so strenuous that I almost went into a state of shock! I ended up drinking 8 bottles of water just filming those scenes alone!" Looking back now, Deno expressed that even though the filming was exhausting, the memory of that collaboration was a happy one, as he was able to work together with the production team to overcome the difficulties and finish the scenes.
In many of the series he participated in, Deno often played similar characters: the spoiled young master, the chap who betrays his triad boss, and other similar 'villain' characters – towards this, Deno laughed and stated: "Sure I would like to play other types of characters such as comical ones for example, but it rarely happened. Actually, come to think of it, producer Poon Ka Tak (潘嘉德) helped me a lot in the beginning, as he was the one who initially gave me the 'good guy' roles to play, such as the ones in Rural Hero (離島特警), Untraceable Evidence (鑑證實錄), The Awakening Story (婚前昏後), etc., but later on, even he started asking me to do villain roles too…haha! In terms of the 'spoiled young master' character, producer Lau Shi Yu (劉仕裕) was actually the first one to have me play this type of role back during Plain Love II (茶是故鄉濃) – from that time on, I continued playing that role." Even though Deno did play a lot of typecasted roles, at least his performances were well-received by audiences – in fact, a netizen recently suggested that Deno should get together with other 'known villains' [artists who regularly play villain characters in series] such as Timothy Cheng (鄭子誠), Ricky Wong Chung Tong (王俊棠), Wong Man Piu (黃文標), and Cheng Kar Sheng (鄭家生) to film a 'battle of the villains' series: "Hey, if you send the idea to HKTV (CTI), there's a huge possibility ! it might ! happen, as there is a lot of flexibility with their series – it could be 5 episodes, 10 episodes, even more! Since there's 5 of us, we could do a 5 episode series and it would only take 1 week to air!" - Raymond Lam - Retiring From Showbiz One Step at a Time At this year's TVB Anniversary Awards, it is the first year TVB did an all-citizen public vote for TV King and Queen awards. Everyone thought Raymond Lam, who had the most fans, would certainly get the award, but what was the result? He didn't even get half of an award. What a disappointment. Raymond said: "Of course there is disappointment, but I was already back at work the next day, how can I let disappointment drag me down? But honestly, I did think about what I would say if I got the award. I thought of many people I had to thank. This year, I really have to thank every one of my family members and everyone who loves me. Ai! But it's already good enough to have my family and fans support! There are a lot of news and rumors going around, but actually there is no such thing."
The public is saying Raymond isn't happy with Wayne Lai becoming a three time TV King? Raymond said: "There is no such thing. I've always wanted to collaborate with him, but its unfortunate I still haven't had this opportunity. Wayne came to support me during my concerts and for my upcoming concert, I plan to invite him to come watch too."
But Raymond is only doing one TVB series per year now. It was initially set for Raymond to be part of next February's series Food for Slave with Ron Ng, Wong Cho Lam and ex-rumored girlfriend Linda Chung and he already did the sales presentation for it. However, he told TVB that he's not accepting this series. As TVB is lacking Siu Sangs and the current Siu Sangs like Kevin Cheng and Bosco Wong are already in Mainland filming; Moses Chan and Kenneth Ma are working on other series Transfer of Love Firm and The Hippocratic Crush II respectively, TVB is having a major headache on the casting and could only try to persuade Raymond to accept it.
Tommy Leung: Will Talk to Him Again
It was rumored Raymond declined to be part of this series because he was upset that he did not get any awards this year? Executive producer Tommy Leung expres! sed: "I am really not sure, but that role belongs to Raymond. Of course we hope he can be part of the cast. (But he didn't want to shave his head?) I'm currently on vacation, when I get back I will find out what the situation is. I'll try to talk to him again, there is still some time because the series doesn't start until late February."
Food For Slave producer (Wong Wai Sing) said: "The role has not been fully confirmed yet, many times the sales presentation isn't the final cast. (But its been said TVB intended Raymond to be the first lead?) This role is indeed very suitable for Raymond, it is about a prince becoming an emperor. The role has lots of room to develop and Qing dynasty dramas are very popular in Mainland. We can discuss more and he doesn't necessarily have to shave his head. Just stick on a wig, but the hair on the side must be shaved."
Lost TV King & Turning Down Series Not Related
Raymond admitted he turned down the series, he said: "The main reason is because this is a Qing dynasty series. If I had to shave my head, then I can't do other jobs, such as commercials, sponsors or music. There is no reason for me to be wearing a hat all the time. Also, I have a lot of jobs on hand between February and May. Filming schedules are tight, and at the same time I have two films releasing, Saving General Yang and another TVB invested film, so there is a lot of promotion work to be done. Saving General Yang isn't just promoting in Mainland, it's globally promoted. I feel sorry too, but I actually just want to concentrate on one thing, I don't want to be too distracted. First, that is physically exhausting and secondly the outcome won't be that good. Why should it be this way? Basically, this has nothing to do with me not getting any awards and I'm fussing to TVB about it."
Not An Impulsive Thought
In the past, TVB 'biological son' Raymond Lam had always been under the impression that he's 'bleeding TVB's ! blood', b! ut it was understood Raymond actually only has a year left in his contract and he still does not have plans to renew it. Raymond did not answer directly, he said: "My contract isn't up yet, haven't really thought about it. I'm just focused on my concert. (What is the relationship like?) We've been okay." After some more talk, Raymond finally said honestly: "Ai! I've been confused before and didn't know what direction I'm taking. Should I be continuing to pursue my acting career? Or should I go back and be the eldest son in the family? I eventually chose family, my family. If I continue to be in this field, it is impossible for me to spend time with my family. Actually, I really like to be home and not many people know this. Because there is too little time for me to communicate with them, even my family doesn't know. When I first entered this industry, I wanted to do something I had interest on, something I could make a living off of and not let my family worry. However, there are a lot of unnecessary news that worries them. This reality is far from what I had pictured."
It looks like Raymond could only choose one out of the two, family or acting career. Will Raymond be willing to give up his career and retire from the industry completely? "I only could choose one out of the two. How can I not be willing to? What I'm pursuing is basically not these things, and it is not an impulsive thought. I've been thinking about this deep down for a very long time, my life goal is to go back take up the responsibility in my family. If I spend my life like this for another few years, then what? Since I've entered the industry, my mentality had not changed, my family is still the most important. My Dad is already 60 years old, his rags-to-riches family business, how could I not go back and help him out? That is not filial at all. I'm a family-oriented person."
When will this happen? Raymond said: "Won't be too long, but at what time, I really don't know. When I get to the point where I really don't have mo! tivation ! to continue pursuing anything (referring to his acting career), I will choose my family." Is it because you lost the TV King award that you feel discouraged? "Absolutely not related. I have always had this thought inside my heart. (Disappointed?) How so? What if I get a lot of awards, then what? My plan, ideals and thoughts are all around me wanting to spend more time with my family. That's it. (Not afraid Fans be unhappy about this?) They love me very much and hope I find my own goals."
Taiwan’s F4 to Reunite for Lunar New Year Show
After waiting for four long years, fans of F4, one of the most successful Taiwanese pop groups from the 2000′s, will finally get to see them performing together once again. It is reported that the Jiangsu Satellite TV (JSTV) Lunar New Year’s show will net the quartet a hefty 6 million RMB for a pre-recorded performance, and fans will get to hear their classic song, Meteor Shower <流星雨> one more time.
Blazing Brightly, Light a Meteor…
F4 rose to fame after Taiwanese TV Series, Meteor Garden <流星花園>. The drama featured the four members, Jerry Yan (言承旭), Vanness Wu (吳建豪), Ken Chu (朱孝天), and Vic Chou (周渝民). The drama was a hit all over Asia, and the group was extremely popular in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. In fact, F4 was so popular that they were recruited to help promote tourism for Taiwan and reportedly brought in an estimated 4.2 billion TWD in revenue for the country.
Gone, but Not Forgotten
However, after its record breaking concerts in Japan in 2008, F4 technically disbanded. The members of the band have since embarked on individual projects, and fans have been waiting for a chance to witness a reunion. There have been numerous rumors of a reunion concert, the latest one being CCTV’s New Year’s Gala, but all ended with the fan’s hopes being crushed.
Vic’s fans and Jerry’s fans even accused each other for shunting the reunion. Little do they realize the four have been extremely busy during the past year. Jerry is currently busy promoting his movie, Ripples of Desire <花漾>. Vic just finished movie Season of Love <愛的季節>, in which he costarred with popular actress Cecilia Liu(劉詩詩). Vanness acted in the drama Ti Amo Chocolate <愛上巧克力>, and the movie Baseball Love <球愛天空>. Ken has been focusing on the mainland Chinese market with three dramas and a movie.
The Stars are Aligned…
Finally, after 4 years, F4 fans will finally get their wish come true. Not only is JSTV’s offer too good to refuse, the current schedules of the 4 members seem to align, allowing time for a reunion. The four will be seen in Beijing next January, and will perform the song Meteor Rain.
Source: Apple Daily
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