We’re headed into the Fall awards season in Taiwan. The current Chairman of the Golden Horse Awards Association is famed director Hou Hsiao Hsien, who has creatively roped last year’s Best Actor winner Ethan Ruan into filming a charming spot for the upcoming film festival. The CF has all the evocative touches that make Director Hou’s works (A City of … Continue reading →
Black & White never pretends that it isn’t a police procedural, with the meat of the drama around the investigation of criminal matters that surround Pi Zi and Ying Xiong. What makes B&W more than just a standard police drama is how well it’s plotted, how perfect the acting roles are cast and the chemistry the characters have with each … Continue reading →
How can two people be so beautiful together? It’s ironic that Han Hyo Joo plays a blind girl in her upcoming movie Always with So Ji Sub, because watching the video first look with them almost blinded me with their collective beauty. His rugged reserved gruffness. Her delicate sparkling presence. Always has been selected to open the prestigious BIFF (Busan International Film … Continue reading →
I have faith in the writer for Protect the Boss, who hasn’t let me down yet. SBS just confirmed that it’s giving a two-episode extension to PTB, which has settled into a comfortable ratings groove of around 15%. It’s not so stellar as to automatically consider an extension, so I’m guessing the decision is tied to giving its follow up drama Tree … Continue reading →
Who has watched a Taiga in your lifetime? Any Taiga will do. My last one was 2010’s Ryomaden due to my Fukuyama Masaharu bias, but I mostly skip all the ones in in the last decade or so. This year’s Taiga is the female-centric Gou headlining Ueno Juri, so it sorta makes sense that next year’s Taiga swings the opposite … Continue reading →
I kinda wish we can have just one drama with cute adorable kids that doesn’t involve the kid getting lost. It’s not all that common to lose a kid in real life, especially one as adorable as Piitaro. But the lost kid plot device always serves its purpose, and does so in this episode of Zenkai Girl, which was short … Continue reading →
Vogue Magazine sponsors a Fashion Night Out (FNO) in all the countries where it has a local presence. Vogue Taiwan’s FNO is coming up this September 17, 2011, and the magazine has rounded up a slew of Taiwan stars as its fashion ambassadors, including among others, Rainie Yang, Ella, Joseph Chang, and Show Luo. FNO is a relatively new event … Continue reading →
Protect the Boss is resembling more and more a slice-of-life drama, with sprinklings of the more typical K-drama emotional hooks, but ultimately an ensemble story. Ji Heon and Eun Seol may be the hero and heroine, but they are not the universe of PTB. It’s everyone else that adds the richness which makes this drama work. Not sure why some … Continue reading →
You know how certain set ups just don’t work for some people? I can safely say the lonely career woman adopts a full grown male dancer pet construct in the upcoming You’re My Pet movie just doesn’t work for me. Doesn’t matter if it’s Jang Geun Seok this time instead of MatsuJun, or whether I think Kim Ha Neul can … Continue reading →
Vic Zhou is currently in Beijing filming the period movie Saving General Yang, while his just completed remake of the classic Taiwanese movie Destiny’s Pair is starting its promotions by releasing official stills and holding a media day for the stars to meet the press. Starring Zai Zai and Ella, this movie will allow us to decide which F4 guy … Continue reading →
You know there is this description of a guy as a “man’s man”? Somehow that doesn’t seem adequate (i.e. manly) enough to describe Joseph Chang. Maybe man’s man’s man then? Just looking at his latest photo shoot for Esquire Taiwan leaves me an incoherent blubbery mess, my brain stuck somewhere between squealing and staring slack jawed in awed silence. This … Continue reading →
This was an interesting episode of Protect the Boss, one that is starting to make me notice that the love triangle might be the weakest link in the story. While it was refreshing to see Moo Won and Ji Heon honestly declare their feelings for Eun Seol out in the open, and for their pursuit to be candid and direct, … Continue reading →
Rumor has it that Mike He will be enlisting soon for his mandatory military service, so the newspapers are quick to report that he’s going out with a bang with his upcoming photo book Le Retour du Sud de la France. As the title gives away, Mike went to the South of France for the photo shoot, confirming for me … Continue reading →