Stayin' Alive

SINGAPORE : When Edison Chen arrived in Singapore to promote his new movie, “The Sniper”, on Sunday, we wondered if he had some kind of death wish.

After his first public appearance here in February for the launch of Carl’s Jr’s new Thickburger and the adidas Originals’ 60th anniversary party, bullets were mailed to Hong Kong media threatening the 28-year-old’s life if he should appear at any more public events. As a further consequence of last year’s sex scandal, the actor has also been on the receiving end of mafia threats.

It was, therefore, a little anti-climactic when nothing had happened. TODAY overheard someone calling into his headquarters to report, “There was no shooting.” He sounded almost disappointed.

Organisers had taken every precaution to ensure safety. Besides some 20-odd security personnel and four armed guards, entry was restricted and the guards at the door thoroughly inspected bags – no leisurely poking around with giant popsicle sticks like they do at the Esplanade.

“The Sniper”, filmed two years ago but held back due to the release of Chen’s private pictures, is an action movie about snipers in the Hong Kong police force. Chen’s co-star Richie Jen and director Dante Lam were also present at the conference. And they had the guts to sit next to Chen.

“If I said I wasn’t afraid, I’d be lying. I am a little. But I will go on. Some things just have to be done,” said Chen in Mandarin.

“Whether this is my first step back into the entertainment industry … We’ll see how it goes. I think I have to take it slow and listen to my bosses and the audience before I can decide when to re-enter the scene.”

And why does Chen keep coming back to Singapore? Does he feel safe here? Does he have an unbridled fondness for chicken rice? To that, Chen would only say: “I have to thank Singapore for welcoming me.”

Channel News Asia

Edison Chen Braves Death Threat To Promote Movie In Singapore

SINGAPORE: Despite being a “little bit afraid” scandal-hit Asian pop star Edison Chen braved a death threat to appear in public in Singapore on Sunday to promote a movie called “The Sniper”.

His appearance came less than a month after a Hong Kong television station received an anonymous letter packed together with a gold bullet, warning Chen to stay away from public events if he valued his life.

“If I say I’m not fearful, I would be lying,” the 28-year-old told a packed and tightly guarded media conference at a hotel in Singapore.

“I’m a little afraid but I have to do what needs to be done (to promote the film) so I hope everyone will welcome me and watch my movie,” he said, referring to the crime thriller “The Sniper”, directed by Hong Kong film director Dante Lam.

About 20 security personnel, including four uniformed private guards armed with handguns, were at the media conference venue.

The actor-singer had been one of Asia’s biggest entertainment stars until he fell into disgrace after photos he took of his sexual encounters with a string of female celebrities were plastered across the Internet last year.

Chen, 28, was wearing a dark shirt with the top button off, and there were no visible signs he was wearing a bullet proof vest, an AFP reporter said.

Hong Kong triads have allegedly offered a 110,000 US dollar reward for the star’s right hand, according to Hong Kong media reports.

Chen at the news conference thanked Singapore for welcoming him and said he hopes to resume his career in Hong Kong.

“I hope to be able to continue (working) in the Hong Kong movie industry, but I’m taking things slowly for now,” he said. “I will be brave to face whatever mistakes I’ve made.”

While he might have been here to promote his new film, the media’s main attention was on his personal life.

Chen told the media he plans to help his father who recently filed for bankruptcy.

When a Mediacorp reporter asked for more details, Chen got angry and his manager demanded for the earlier part of the one-on-one interview to be deleted in order for the interview to continue.

Chen also said he hopes to get back on track with his acting career and added the latest film was completed about two years ago.

Chen said: “I really put the movie’s destiny and everything in the company’s hands… It’s not a movie I produced, it’s not a movie that I paid for. So, it’s not really in my hands to decide when it releases or not. I’m actually very pleased that the movie is actually being released, because for a long time now, I’ve been wondering what’s going on with this movie.”

The sex photos taken by Chen became an Internet sensation when they were posted online, forcing him into early retirement and sending him fleeing to his childhood home of Canada.

The pictures showed Chen in compromising positions with various celebrities, including Canto-pop star Gillian Chung, actress Cecilia Cheung and former actress Bobo Chan.

Chen has said the photos had been stored on a personal laptop computer that had gone missing. He believed the release of the photos was due to “some foul play” by employees at a Hong Kong computer store.

– AFP/CNA/yt

Channel News Asia

Edison Chen Receives Death Threat

HONG KONG : Hong Kong star Edison Chen has been left fearing for his life after a death threat aimed at the actor was sent to Hong Kong broadcaster Cable TV. The letter has been handed over to the police.

Cable TV said the letter, which was written in English, was placed in a white envelope. It was delivered to them in an A4 sized paper bag, along with a bullet. Hong Kong’s Apple Daily also received a similar package on Thursday.

The anonymous letter to Cable TV was a warning to Chen to stop appearing in promotional or public relations events after April 4.

The threat came after the 28-year-old attended two promotional events in Singapore on February 27, his first media appearance since quitting showbiz in a year ago.

That same day Cable TV aired an interview with Hong Kong actress Cecilia Cheung, one of the victims caught up in the sex photo scandal. In the interview, Cheung who is married to Hong Kong star Nicholas Tse, called Chen a hypocrite and said that he has yet to apologise to all the women involved in the scandal which includes Twins singer Gillian Chung and starlet Bobo Chan.

According to the letter, Chen was given a reprieve in Singapore last month and that no second chance would be given.

On the envelope were 10 stamps marked USA First-Class Forever and a return address in Pennsylvania. The stamps which depict the Liberty Bell, alluded to “giving a bell” which sounds like sending off the dead in Chinese.

Hong Kong police are not taking the matter lightly. A spokesman said that threats to media figures are considered a threat to public safety, and that such malicious conduct is a “common enemy of the public”. The case has been handed to the special crime squad who will continue with the investigation.

This is not the first time that Chen’s life has been threatened. He received a threatening phone call after a press conference last year, where he announced his withdrawal from the Hong Kong entertainment industry.

We’ll just have to wait and see if Chen will be intimidated by the latest round of threats. According to Apple Daily, Chen is set to make an appearance in Singapore on April 6 to promote his movie “The Sniper”.

– CNA/ap/il

Channel News Asia

Edison Chen Receives Death Threat

HONG KONG : Hong Kong star Edison Chen has been left fearing for his life after a death threat aimed at the actor was sent to Hong Kong broadcaster Cable TV. The letter has been handed over to the police.

Cable TV said the letter, which was written in English, was placed in a white envelope. It was delivered to them in an A4 sized paper bag, along with a bullet. Hong Kong’s Apple Daily also received a similar package on Thursday.

The anonymous letter to Cable TV was a warning to Chen to stop appearing in promotional or public relations events after April 4.

The threat came after the 28-year-old attended two promotional events in Singapore on February 27, his first media appearance since quitting showbiz in a year ago.

That same day Cable TV aired an interview with Hong Kong actress Cecilia Cheung, one of the victims caught up in the sex photo scandal. In the interview, Cheung who is married to Hong Kong star Nicholas Tse, called Chen a hypocrite and said that he has yet to apologise to all the women involved in the scandal which includes Twins singer Gillian Chung and starlet Bobo Chan.

According to the letter, Chen was given a reprieve in Singapore last month and that no second chance would be given.

On the envelope were 10 stamps marked USA First-Class Forever and a return address in Pennsylvania. The stamps which depict the Liberty Bell, alluded to “giving a bell” which sounds like sending off the dead in Chinese.

Hong Kong police are not taking the matter lightly. A spokesman said that threats to media figures are considered a threat to public safety, and that such malicious conduct is a “common enemy of the public”. The case has been handed to the special crime squad who will continue with the investigation.

This is not the first time that Chen’s life has been threatened. He received a threatening phone call after a press conference last year, where he announced his withdrawal from the Hong Kong entertainment industry.

We’ll just have to wait and see if Chen will be intimidated by the latest round of threats. According to Apple Daily, Chen is set to make an appearance in Singapore on April 6 to promote his movie “The Sniper”.

– CNA/ap/il

Channel News Asia

Gillian Chung Contemplated Suicide Over Sex Photos

HONG KONG : A Hong Kong pop star contemplated suicide after explicit photos of her with another famous singer were plastered on the Internet last year, a report said Friday.

Gillian Chung, half of Canto-pop duo Twins, said she was devastated when photos of her with actor Edison Chen appeared on the Web, the South China Morning Post reported.

Chung said the idea of killing herself was only fleeting, the newspaper said.

“If I died, all my problems will be passed on to the people around me, the people who care about me,” she said in a television interview due to be screened on Saturday, according to the Post.

Chung was one of several starlets pictured in compromising positions with Chen, who has told a court the images were posted on the Web after his computer was stolen.

Chung said she lost all her dignity when the photos were released.

“There’s no privacy any more,” she was quoted as saying.

“I showed everything to everyone, and no matter what I do I’ll get the blame. But dignity is the most important.”

Images from Chung’s tearful interview were plastered across the front pages of Friday’s newspapers in celebrity-obsessed but conservative Hong Kong, where the photos caused a storm when they appeared in February last year.

Chung and Chen are hugely popular across Asia, though Chen, one of the region’s biggest film and music stars, saw his career destroyed by the scandal.

He was forced into early retirement and fled to Canada, his childhood home.

Chung was the second victim of the scandal to break her silence over the photos, after actress Cecilia Cheung lashed out at Chen last week for not apologising.

“I blame myself for doing such a foolish thing,” said Chung, who has kept a low profile over the past year but is hoping to make a comeback in a high-profile ad campaign next week, the report said.

A computer technician in Hong Kong has been charged with illegally posting the photos online.

– AFP/il

Channel News Asia

HK Actress Cecilia Cheung Lashes Out At Edison Chen Over Sex Photos

HONG KONG: A Hong Kong actress at the centre of an Internet sex photo scandal has broken her silence about the incident, lashing out at the pop star who took the compromising pictures, a report said Saturday.

Cecilia Cheung, one of several local celebrities shown in the photos with Hong Kong-Canadian actor and singer Edison Chen, said he had never apologised, and that she was still reeling from the ordeal a year later.

“He has never apologised to us personally,” Cheung told iCable in an interview broadcast late Friday, according to a report in the English-language South China Morning Post.

“He should at least have called us to say sorry if he genuinely admitted his mistake.”

She added: “The photos are still circulating online. How can we live a healthy and happy life? How can we put ourselves back on our feet?”

The photos — showing Chen in compromising positions with various celebrities including Cheung, Canto-pop star Gillian Chung and former actress Bobo Chan — became an Internet sensation when they were posted a year ago.

Cheung said she decided to break her silence after Chen gave evidence earlier this week in a Canadian court in the case of Sze Ho-Chun, a computer technician charged here with illegally posting the explicit photos online.

The 28-year-old Chen for the first time identified Cheung, Chung and Chan in the Vancouver court as some of the women in the photos, but said later outside court he wanted to “protect” them and that they had “suffered enough,” the Post reported.

Cheung, also 28, angrily retorted: “You should not have come out (now)… saying one thing but doing another in a bid to win the public’s forgiveness whilst hurting us.”

Chen, one of Asia’s biggest stars in film and music, saw his career destroyed by the appearance of hundreds of the sex photos, which caused a storm in celebrity-obsessed but culturally conservative Hong Kong.

The scandal forced him into early retirement and sent him fleeing to his childhood home of Canada.

– AFP/yt

Channel News Asia

HK Actress Cecilia Cheung Lashes Out At Edison Chen Over Sex Photos

HONG KONG: A Hong Kong actress at the centre of an Internet sex photo scandal has broken her silence about the incident, lashing out at the pop star who took the compromising pictures, a report said Saturday.

Cecilia Cheung, one of several local celebrities shown in the photos with Hong Kong-Canadian actor and singer Edison Chen, said he had never apologised, and that she was still reeling from the ordeal a year later.

“He has never apologised to us personally,” Cheung told iCable in an interview broadcast late Friday, according to a report in the English-language South China Morning Post.

“He should at least have called us to say sorry if he genuinely admitted his mistake.”

She added: “The photos are still circulating online. How can we live a healthy and happy life? How can we put ourselves back on our feet?”

The photos — showing Chen in compromising positions with various celebrities including Cheung, Canto-pop star Gillian Chung and former actress Bobo Chan — became an Internet sensation when they were posted a year ago.

Cheung said she decided to break her silence after Chen gave evidence earlier this week in a Canadian court in the case of Sze Ho-Chun, a computer technician charged here with illegally posting the explicit photos online.

The 28-year-old Chen for the first time identified Cheung, Chung and Chan in the Vancouver court as some of the women in the photos, but said later outside court he wanted to “protect” them and that they had “suffered enough,” the Post reported.

Cheung, also 28, angrily retorted: “You should not have come out (now)… saying one thing but doing another in a bid to win the public’s forgiveness whilst hurting us.”

Chen, one of Asia’s biggest stars in film and music, saw his career destroyed by the appearance of hundreds of the sex photos, which caused a storm in celebrity-obsessed but culturally conservative Hong Kong.

The scandal forced him into early retirement and sent him fleeing to his childhood home of Canada.

– AFP/yt

Channel News Asia

So, What Are Singaporeans Googling For?

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans are preoccupied by the economic downturn, and this is showing up even in searches on Google Singapore.

The search engine’s annual Zeitgeist, which highlights the year’s top search trends, found an almost 120-per-cent jump this year in the number of searches for terms like “cheap”, “sale” and “spree”.

Terms such as “recession” increased by a whopping 270 per cent, and “financial crisis” spiked by 140 per cent when the global markets began to fall.

There were also other interesting results. Hong Kong scandal-embroiled celebrity Edison Chen took the top spot in the fastest rising search this year, while Newton Hawker Centre was dethroned by Maxwell Hawker Centre on the hawker centre search list.

Channel News Asia

Penyebar Foto Lucah Edison Chen Dipenjara

Susunan Razif Rosdi

HONG KONG,  25 JULAI 2008:  Lelaki dari Hong Kong menjadi orang pertama yang disabitkan kesalahan mengedarkan gambar lucah di Internet. Difahamkan, Mahkamah Majistret Bandaraya Kowloon memutuskan bahawa lelaki yang dikenali Kwok Chun-Wai, 24, akan dipenjara selama 2 tahun kerana kesalahan yang dilakukan.

Pada Januari dan Februari lalu, Kwok didapati telah muat naik 140 foto lucah yang melibatkan penyanyi dan pelakon kacukan China-Kanada, Edison Chen Koon-Hei bersama beberapa aktres popular di Hong Kong dan Taiwan. Daripada 140 foto itu, terdapat 84 foto yang dikategorikan sebagai tidak senonoh.

Majistret turut menyatakan pesalah harus diberikan hukuman kerana menyebarkan foto itu kepada orang ramai walaupun ia tidak melibatkan keuntungan. Kwok dilaporkan bertugas sebagai kerani pejabat di sebuah syarikat logistik dan memiliki ijazah. Lelaki itu mempertahankan bahawa dia sekadar mahu berkongsi foto tersebut kepada teman rapat saja.

Setakat ini, pihak berkuasa mendapati lebih kurang 13 warga China sudah dikenal pasti terlibat dengan foto tersebut.

Sementara itu, seorang lagi lelaki bernama Wei, 25, turut ditahan pada 12 Februari lalu berikutan mengedarkan 1,174 foto dari satu ruangan chatting si mangsa. Apa yang pasti, foto tersebut melibatkan aksi lucah Edison dengan artis wanita seperti Gillian Chung dan Cecilia Cheung.

Selain Wei, pada 15 Februari, seorang lagi pesalah, Li, 21, ditahan selama 10 hari dan didenda sebanyak US$420 memandangkan beliau mengambil 180 keping gambar dari laman web individu mangsa.

Apapun, Polis di Tai’am, Shandong menjelaskan, Li mengambil kesempatan mengedarkan gambar tersebut semata-mata untuk meraih populariti.

Februari lalu, Edison sendiri sudah menyatakan perasaan kesal dan maaf. Aktor ini mengumumkan tidak lagi mengulangi perbuatan terkutuk ini dan mahu bersara dari industri hiburan Hong Kong. Dia mengakui mengambil kesemua foto yang disebarkan itu. Berikutan dari peristiwa ini juga, Edison pernah menyembunyikan diri di Kanada dan Amerika Syarikat.

 

Murai

ORIENTAL WHIRL: From The Asian Grapevine

Takeshi’s face is insured for a whopping RM11.2 million.

Gossip doing the rounds in the Asian entertainment scene is as addictive as that in Hollywood.

Rain makes waves in Hollywood.

WHAT’S hot and happening on the Asian entertainment scene? Easy, just trawl the World Wide Web or, if you are able to read Mandarin, peruse the colourful pages of our Chinese Press. A greater challenge would be to separate fact from fiction, gossip from malicious talk, even hearsay from neighbours. Here are some of the stories making their way around the Internet and elsewhere:

Hunk Takeshi Kaneshiro was recently paid a hefty sum to continue as a cosmetic brand’s spokesperson. Think eight figures. The advertiser, concerned that Takeshi’s long exposure to spotlights while filming some advertisements could damage his skin, also paid US$3.5 million (RM11.2 million) to insure his whole face.

Takeshi, who is of Japanese-Taiwanese parentage, will soon be seen in Japanese flick Sweet Rain. He had previously involved himself in a string of Chinese movies (including the mega-budget The Warlords and Red Cliff).

He plays a god of death who takes human form and spends time with people who only have a week left to live.

Hugely-popular Korean pop star Rain is basking in the Hollywood limelight. He’s been cast in Speed Racer, a live action film by the Wachowski brothers; of The Matrix trilogy fame. Apparently, they liked him so much in Ninja Assassin, which they also helmed, that they have given him a supporting role in the new flick.

Speed Racer will be released on May 8 and is based on Mach Go Go Go, the 1960s Japanese animation series by Tatsuo Yoshida.

His co-star in this fast-paced film is apparently Matthew Fox.

Rain will also be going all over the world to promote Speed Racer. He will be in Hong Kong on Wednesday, then Los Angeles (May 9), Berlin, London and Tokyo at the end of June.

It’s sad but Anita Mui still cannot rest in peace. The mother of the late Cantopop singer and actress has started a court battle to gain control of her daughter’s fortune, estimated at HK$100 million (RM41 million).

Tam Mei-kam, 84, is challenging the validity of the will – in which she gets HK$70,000 a month – that was executed on Dec 3, 2003, less than a month before Anita succumbed to cervical cancer at the age of 40.

The will left two properties to her close friend, designer Eddie Lau, and set aside US$130,000 for her nephews and nieces’ education. It also left money for a Buddhist association.

The singer’s mum wants the High Court to declare the will void and allow her to be the sole beneficiary of the estate.

Is Anita’s brother behind the old lady’s move? From what I have read, Anita did not want the bulk of her money to fall into his hands, preferring her mum to receive a regular monthly income instead of the millions she left behind.

Her sibling had apparently been a cause of much grief, borrowing from loan sharks and getting her into much trouble when she was alive.

The Beijing Olympics will seem incomplete without some input from our Eastern singing stars. Jacky Cheung, Hong Kong’s “God of Song”, girl band S.H.E. and Wilber Pan have apparently different versions of the Games’ theme song, Hong Bian Quan Qiu. Expect a hip-hop version from Pan!

Taiwan supermodel Lin Chiling is the sexiest. This, according to a recent issue of Taiwan FHM magazine, which kept a close watch on 100 curvy belles in the region. Hong Kong actress Carina Lau, 41, got 81st place.

Korean actor Lee Dong Gun has apparently gotten over the tragic loss of his brother – murdered Down Under last month – and will start filming a new drama serial titled Every Day Every Night. According to the grapevine, Lee will also be releasing a single in Japan titled Tsuki Akari.

If you have seen and enjoyed My Boyfriend is Type-B, which also stars his ex-girlfriend Han Ji Hye, then you would feel for him (more so since they dated for three years and the break-up happened just recently).

And of course, you want to read about the notorious Edison Chen, right? Well, he may have opted out of the Hong Kong entertainment industry after his sex photo misadventures but singer-actress Josie Ho Chao Yi (she’s casino tycoon Stanley Ho’s daughter) has a new MTV – with Edison in it.

Ho’s new music album is titled Elastic Rock and the MTV was apparently recorded last December. It was not released earlier due to the bad publicity generated by the Edison incident.

In the MTV (the song is titled Repay – how ironic), Edison plays a clown puppet and Josie Ho has to kiss him!

Meanwhile, Edison, according to one online story, may even be coming to Singapore to film a movie, with sultry Shu Qi no less.

 

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