Gillian Chung banned from Beijing Olympics 2008

Gillian Chung, who was recently involved in the Edison Chen's nude scandal photos, was axed from singing at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. Here is the citation from the Sydney Morning Herald:

A female Hong Kong pop star at the centre of a sex photos scandal has been banned from singing at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, a news report said today.
The ceremony’s artistic director Zhang Yimou decided to take Chung off the bill after the scandal broke and had replaced her and another Hong Kong star not involved in the photos incident with Chinese pop act A-One, the newspaper said.

More than 2000 people complained when Chung appeared on a charity TV show at the height of the scandal a fortnight ago and she was forced to scrap a public appearance last Saturday when protesters threatened to disrupt her performance.

The scandal over the pictures has tainted the saccharine-sweet image of Hong Kong’s so-called Canto-pop industry whose cheesy romantic melodies sung in Cantonese sell by their millions in Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan.

I wonder if there are any further consequences from this scandal in the near future again.

Hong Kong Veteran Actress Lydia Shum Dies at 60

Lydia Shum a.k.a Fei Fei with daughter Joyce Cheng Yan-yee.

Hong Kong television veteran Lydia Shum died after a protracted fight with liver cancer, local broadcaster Radio and Television Hong Kong reported on its Web site, without citing anyone. She was 60. The actress, affectionately known as Fei-fei for her plump appearance and jolly disposition, died at 8:38 a.m. Hong Kong time at the Queen Mary Hospital, the report said.

She was best known for her comedic roles in Hong Kong films such as ``Drunken Tai Chi.'' Fei means fat in Cantonese. Shum was born in Shanghai and joined Shaw Brothers, founded by Hong Kong media mogul Run Run Shaw, in 1960. Her work in ``Living with Lydia,'' a Singapore sitcom, won her the ``Best Comedy Performance by an Actress'' award at the 2003 Asian Television Awards.

(Citation from Bloomberg)

celebrity tutors wanted

If you read the Education pullout on Sunday Star last week, you definitely won't missed the article entitled Wanted: Sexy Tutors.

Tuition business in Hong Kong is very competitive. Almost every tuition centre able to predict what questions will be asked in exams. Hence, the head of Modern Education, Ken Ng said that to differentiate themselves from other competitors, they sell sex appeal (of course along with teaching ability and knowledge).

Well, Ken Ng is not really a good looking tutor himself. But chances are you won't missed the dashing former model, Frankie Tam, who teaches Computer and Information Technology. This guy, a celebrity in Hong Kong, has a very impressive resume both academically and professionally.



Our local tuition business is equally competitive. I don't mind if the business owners here use the same marketing tactics (or gimmicks) to attract students as long as they provide quality education. I would love to see the emergence of some fresh celebrity tutors instead of the boring Sunny Yee.

Astro Wah Lai Toi Drama Awards 2006

We arrived at the Arena of Stars, Genting almost at about 7.20 p.m. By the time my friends and I checked in at the entrance and squeezed through the huge crowd, the emcee of the red carpet show, Hui Min was already counting down the arrival of the stars.

I tried to get a space near the mini stage where Hui Min interviewed the celebrities. The first HK star that arrived was Nat Chan, the emcee of the event, and his wife (I think). I tried very hard to get a good shot, but the best that I could get was his back.

Then of course the arrival of the other emcee of the night, Chui Ling together with Alan Yun. She dominated most of the talking while poor Alan Yun was just posing the rest of the time.

By the way, I'm going to skipped the local celebrities because I don't know most of them except Ryan and Phoebe.

The purpose for me being there tonite was mainly because Kevin Cheng is my favourite TVB stars. He arrived after veteran actor, Tsang Kong, and Raymond Cho. I've been listening to Kevin's songs since my secondary school years which was back in the 1990s. That time he was not very popular but I listened to his songs because I was happened to be a fan of Linda Wong. They were romantically linked to each other at that time.

When Bernice Liu appeared, I was totally blown away by her beauty. I couldn't believe my eyes because she is totally different from most of the characters she played in drama (you know, the sam pat and funny characters she usually played). I must admit she is much prettier in real person than in photo. Probably ten times prettier. On the other hand, Ryan, looked rather chubby in the white shirt.

For the first time in my life, I thought Raymond Lam is really talented. He is cool but not the kind of cool's "cool" like Ron Ng and Kevin Cheng. He can dance and sing better than a lot of young Hong Kong stars today too.

Ron Ng, on the other hand, looked exactly like what he is on tv. He only performed and danced with Raymond Lam tonight. On the other hand, Raymond got a chance to perform his winning theme song from the drama, The Last Break Through.

I didn't know Myolie Wu can sing so well! Well, not perfect but at least this girl can hold some notes here. She really slim down a lot (!) after putting lots pounds for the drama To Grow With Love. She was not as chirpy as last year. Kinda serious. And she broke down in tears after she was announced the favourite leading actress. Probably it was emotional to won an award over Liza Wang, who took away her Best TVB Actress in Hong Kong the previous year.

During the entire event, there was nothing better than to put Moses Chan and Bernice together. The emcees keep teasing them and the fans chanted for them to kiss when they won the Favourite Couple award.

Although my seat was way up at the corner of the hall and I barely recognised the celebrities' faces, from afar, I was completely satisfied with the red carpet show. Watching live awards presentation is definitely better than sitting in front of the idiot box.