Compiling a news links post which should be appear shortly but I couldn’t resist throwing in my two cents after coming across this item about Jackie Chan:

Jackie Chan praises kung fu of Will Smith’s son

RELATED: Jackie Chan’s blog post about THE KUNG FU KID

Once again, Jackie Chan throws his son under the bus.  It’s weird that he constantly feels the need to take these public digs at his kid.  What’s even more off-putting about this instance is that Big Brother Jackie seems to be doing it for thirty pieces of silver.  Doesn’t it come across a little bit as him singing the praises of Jaden Smith because he’s sucking up to Will Smith?  There have got to be countless ways to make the same point without going out of his way to slam his own flesh and blood.  Did he really need to say this: “He put my son to shame!  I provided my son with the best martial artists in the world, and he could not be persuaded to try it.”

Isn’t this odd behaviour for a public figure?  How many famous people continually denigrate their offspring in the pubic eye?  When Richard Li and Isabella Leong announced the birth of their son last month, Li Ka-Shing didn’t go on Twitter and tweet about how he wished his son spent more time making money and less time having children out of wedlock with starlets.  Instead, he told the press that he was happy to be “promoted to grandfather status”.

Jackie Chan’s behaviour reminds me, a bit, of something the great Tracy Jordan said in the 30 ROCK episode “Tracy Does Conan”.  In it, he revealed:  “I like to walk around my house naked, to remind my oldest son who’s still got the biggest ding-dong.”

With an old man like Big Brother Jackie, it’s remarkable that we haven’t had any news stories of Jaycee Chan crashing his Ferrari in the Central district or inappropriately touching a taxi driver while in a drunken stupor.

ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES:

- A quick merci to m for the French lesson in the comments section of the last post.

- Speaking of comments, I’m temporarily switching the blog’s discussion function to “moderated” because the comments section has been overrun, of late, with spam.

Back later with a news links post.

Joyeuese Fête Nationale à tout le monde!

Or is it Joyeux Fête Nationale?  Also, do I need the à or can I just go with “Joyeuese Fête Nationale tout le monde!”  Apologies to all of the francophone readers out there, it’s been a long time since I took high school French and even longer since I watched late-night movies on CBC French.  Hey, when you’re a 13 year-old boy, Fanny Ardant films can be quite, uh, intriguing even if you can barely understand what’s going on.  These days, of course, I’m sure 13 year-old boys have the ability to cast a wider net when it comes to that sort of thing.  Back in my day, the Sea of Titillation was not as vast and definitely not as bountiful.

What was I saying before I got distracted by remembrances of things past?  Oh right, Joyeuese Fête Nationale or, for the rest of us non-francophones, Happy Bastille Day!  On this day, 220 years ago, the French people stormed the Bastille and kick-started the process of turning France from a monarchy to a republic.

Let’s celebrate with some box office news and a few links.  But first, congratulations Kelly Chen:

• HK Standard: Baby brings early joy for Kelly Chen
• Channel News Asia: New mom Kelly Chen to return to work next month
  
• Straits Times: Kelly back at work in August
• Channel News Asia: Hong Kong star Kelly Chen gives birth prematurely
• Yahoo! Singapore: Kelly Chen gives birth to baby boy prematurely in HK 

FEATURES:

Simon Abrams interviews WRITTEN BY director Wai Ka-Fai

Electric New Paper on Michael Hui Kwoon-Man: ‘It’s like your chicken rice’

Carol “DoDo” Cheng Yu-Ling: Too much plastic surgery

PRODUCTION NEWS:

Chan Ho-Nam and Chicken together again, sort of:  ‘Affairs’ team to become ‘Gangsters’

Stephen Chow:

• Chow quits Green Hornet role 
• Stephen Chow Drops Out Of ‘The Green Hornet’
• ‘Green Hornet’: Chow out as Kato; Rogen stays
• Though the Jack Black superhero movie doesn’t sound much more promising, I think Stephen Chow dodged a bullet here.  I hate to be a “crow mouth” but I think a Seth Rogen backlash is brewing and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it manifests itself against this movie.

Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith start filming ‘Kid’

MY COUSIN TONY:

A Tale Of Two Tonys: The National (Abu Dhabi) on Tony Leung Chiu-Wai

My cousin Tony breaks his arm:

• Channel News Asia: Tony Leung suffers broken arm during martial arts training
• CRI English: Tony Leung suffers broken arm during kung fu training
• Associated Press: Tony Leung breaks arm in training for kung fu film

WEDDING NEWS:

Gigi Leung to wed?

RELATED: Xinhua article featuring photo of Gigi Leung with her man

Zhang Ziyi:

• Zhang Ziyi’s wedding postponed 
• Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi postpones wedding
• Ziyi-Vivi wedding postponed,says tabloid

STEFANIE SUN:

Stef’s head-over (clumsy)-heels in love

Stef Sun, Singapore’s Anita Mui

A more confident and self-assured Stefanie Sun returns to S’pore

Sun’s comeback concert

Stefanie Sun wows fans

Shiny style, subdued Sun

ASIAN FILMS IN NEW YORK CITY:

Ang Lee Heading To Lincoln Center

Asian Film Fireworks for the Fourth: Richard Corliss on the New York Asian Film Festival

BOX OFFICE RESULTS:

Weekend box office figures aren’t available yet but here are the numbers from Friday:

MURDERER, 36 screens, 2 days, HK$1.01 million total

WRITTEN BY, 32 screens, 2 days, HK$301,000 total

SHORT OF LOVE, 14 screens, 15 days, HK$3.62 million total

MURDERER is off to a fast start but it should fizzle out quickly as it’s getting killed here on LoveHKFilm (Kozo’s review, The Golden Rock blog post) and on Chinese-language discussion boards.  I’m always dispirited when I hear that a highly-hyped film looks like it’s a dud.  I believe that it’s these types of films that are killing the industry more than anything else as the casual HK film fan who only sees a handful of movies a year will pick up on the hype, watch the movie then have the notion that “HK films suck” reinforced in their minds.

In other box office news, reader Mark Shaver wrote in to report that Johnnie To’s VENGEANCE is hitting Hong Kong screens on August 20th.  It hasn’t popped up yet in the “Coming Soon” sections of various movie ticket buying sites but I’m sure it’ll show up in the near future.  In the meantime, you can console yourself with the news that THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON is coming to Hong Kong on December 17th, 2009 — just in time for the holidays!

芝麻綠豆 (SESAME SEEDS AND MUNG BEANS): 

Finally watched the Michael Jackson Memorial (hey, with my need for ten hours of beauty sleep and my two-hour, three-martini lunches, I can only devote 12 hours a day to watching TV).   A few thoughts:

• You’d have to have a very cynical mind and a very cold heart to think that the Paris Jackson speech was staged to launch a show business career.
• It’s normal to heap praise on someone upon their death but I think it went a little too far with the King of Pop.  The notion that without Michael Jackson, there would be no Tiger Woods, no Oprah Winfrey and no Barack Obama is giving Michael Jackson way too much credit.  I think Tiger’s skill has more to do with Tiger being a global icon than Michael Jackson paving the way.  I think Oprah Winfrey’s drive has more to do with her success than Michael Jackson and I think Barack Obama’s vision and ambition had more to do with his becoming President of the United States than Michael Jackson making “blacks” acceptable in the eyes of “whites”.
• It could be because I’m a big sports fan but when anyone says MJ to me, my first thought is always Michael Jordan not Michael Jackson.
• Ten to fifteen years from now — if I have the good fortune to find a lovely bride or if I finally save enough for a mail-order bride — when my kid asks me why people thought Michael Jackson was an all-time great, I think I’ll answer by playing “I Want You Back”.  Even now, forty-years after the song became a hit, it’s hard to believe that a ten year-old gave that performance.

A groundswell of reader interest (two e-mails! + one blog comment!) prompts tonight’s blog post …

Hong Kong nation was abuzz earlier this week when rumours emerged on July 6th suggesting that Joey Wang (aka Joey Wong Tso-Yi) had become a Buddhist nun.  Supposedly, Wang entered a Buddhist temple in the Vancouver area and had her head shaved because she had become distraught upon hearing rumours that her old flame Chyi Chin (齊秦) was about to marry model/actress Stephanie Siao (蕭薔).

As he was at the root of the rumour, Chyi Chin reportedly began frantic attempts to contact Wang to confirm the reports.  While Chin was unable to talk with Wang herself, he was able to reach Wang’s uncle who assured Chin that the rumours were false.  Speaking to the press on July 8th, Chin told reporters that Joey Wang wrote “there is no such thing” when she and her uncle exchanged text messages about the matter.  Further, Wang’s uncle told Chin that the talk probably started because Wang joked with her friends recently about becoming a Buddhist nun.

JOEY WANG PROFILE:

Birthday: January 31st, 1967

Past Rumoured Relationships:

• Sam Hui Kwoon-Kit (while working together on WORKING CLASS BLUES)
• Lawrence Ng Kai-Wah
• Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (while working together on A CHINESE GHOST STORY)
• Peter Lam Kin-Ngok (Media Asia chairman, son of tycoon Lim Por-Yen)

Confirmed Relationships:

• Chyi Chin (16 year on-again, off-again relationship that began in 1989 while working together on the film PRETTY GIRL)

First Film: HOW TO CHOOSE A ROYAL BRIDE (1984)

Breakout Hit: A CHINESE GHOST STORY (1987)

Final Film: SHANGHAI STORY (2005)

Retired to Vancouver, Canada area in 2005

Last photographed: September 2005 while shopping with an elderly lady — believed to be her mother — in the Vancouver area

RELATED LINKS:

• Yahoo! News Singapore:  Joey Wong a nun? (English)
• Taipei Times Pop Stop: Joey Wang, Vivian Hsu, more (English)
• Asia One: Ex-actress now a nun? (English)
• China Daily Star Gazing: Joey Wang; Nic Tse/Cecilia Cheung, Lin Miaoke (English)
• Xinhua article about the text message (Chinese)
  
• Sina.com.hk article about Joey Wang (Chinese)
• Xinhua on the life and loves of Joey Wang (Chinese)
• Initial report of Wang becoming a nun (Chinese)
• Profile and Photo Gallery courtesy Xinhua (Chinese)

Image credit: Xinhua

READERS, I CANNOT TELL A LIE …:

I’ve had to retire the “Because I’m Not On Twitter” sections of this blog because I’m actually now on Twitter.  Don’t expect too much over there, I only joined to follow the Twitter feeds of the guys at PTI and The Sports Guy Bill Simmons.  I didn’t realize until after I joined that I could actually follow them WITHOUT joining.  Then, I started getting notices that people were following me on Twitter so I started feeling compelled to tweet.  I think this is how people get sucked into quagmires.  They all start off with simple aspirations that get increasingly complicated.  You know, you start off just wanting to get your Dad’s approval, then that leads you to ignore the findings of the CIA, which leads you to invent an excuse to invade Iraq, which leads to …

It’s like the old woman who swallowed a fly, she had to swallow a spider to catch the fly, then she had to swallow a bird to catch the spider, then she swallowed a cat to catch the bird … what happened to her in the end?  Oh that’s right, she died …

Here’s a picture of Jo Koo in a tank top to distract you from today’s grim blog post.

Sorry to start off this post on such a grim note but it seems we’ve been surrounded by death of late.  From Shih Kien to David Carradine to Michael Jackson to Alexis Arguello to that Nanjing drunk driving accident last week to Steve McNair killed in a murder-suicide on the weekend to the riots in Xinjiang.

Speaking of the riots, I wonder if the Kozo Entertainment Group’s health plan covers treatment for post traumatic stress disorder because I think I may be getting PTSD from looking at the Chinese media coverage of the Nanjing drunk driving accident and the Xinjiang riots.  Unlike the Western media, the Chinese media and news blogs have no compunction about showing graphic images with nary a warning.  As a result, I saw some things in the past few days that I won’t be able to scrub from my mind any time soon.

When I had my own site a few years back, I caught a lot of heat for posting a link to a picture of Leslie Cheung’s body covered by a sheet next to a pool of blood.  It was, admittedly, a mistake.  I think this was karma’s way of getting back at me for it.  The pictures of the Nanjing accident were especially grisly — the twisted, mangled corpses, the disemboweled pregnant lady … I initially thought some of those pictures were of the remnants of the smashed watermelon stand … if only …  I’m normally not a proponent of capital punishment but, in this case, not only should this scumbag be shot, his next three incarnations should be summarily executed as well.

Ah well, that’s the price you have to pay when you’re scouring the Internet for news links.  Sometimes curiosity gets the better of you and you click on a link you probably shouldn’t click on.

If only I was involved with a hot starlet who allowed me opportunities to hang around and eat roast pork with the likes of Dante Lam, Michelle Ye, Richie Ren and Leon Lai …

Uh, oh.  Manny Kok — my Kozo Entertainment Group handler, uh, manager — is giving me the evil eye.  I better shut up.  Don’t want to get “frozen”. 

Anyway, my point is that because I’m now on Twitter, I can no longer use “Because I’m Not On Twitter”.  I’m changing it to “Sesame Seeds and Mung Beans” after the Chinese phrase “芝麻綠豆小事” or “small, inconsequential matters/things like sesame seeds and mung beans”.

The latest edition of “Sesame Seeds and Mung Beans” appears after the news links update which begins with …

BRUCE LEE:

Examiner.com review of the documentary HOW BRUCE LEE CHANGED THE WORLD

Plans for Bruce Lee Museum get off the ground, finally

Bruce Lee’s former Hong Kong residence to be transformed into museum

MURDERER:

Aaron Kwok: New role boosts acting credentials

Crime and Complexity: bc Magazine feature on MURDERER director Roy Chow Hin-Yeung

Aaron Kwok promotes Longines watches at the premiere

Others in the photos: co-star Janine Chang, the lovely Maggie Cheung Ho-Yi, Ekin Cheng with members of Grasshopper

More Photos from the gala premiere

In addition to stars Aaron Kwok, Janine Chang and Eddie Cheung, Ekin Cheng, Grasshopper, Wong Yau-Nam, Josie Ho, William So Wing-Hong and Leo Koo Gui-Gei attended

FEAUTRES:

Date With Eason: The Sun Daily (Malaysia) on Eason Chan

Being Edison Chen: Bangkok Post feature on ol’ EDC

RELATED: Sina.com High Definition Photo Gallery of store opening

HK Magazine Online feature on Gillian Chung

Mirror, Mirror …: bc Magazine feature on Wai Ka-Fai

A Filmmaker Finds Her Play Is the Thing: New York Times on Sylvia Chang

RELATED:

• Ti Lung, Brigitte Lin, Connie Chan attend
• More photos: Behind The Scenes, Johnnie To, Richie Ren

HK Magazine Online feature on Jeff Lau (KUNG FU CYBORG)

Dead Factory Blues: bc Magazine feature on Mainland director Jia Zhangke (24 CITY)

RELATED:

• bc Magazine review of 24 CITY
• HK Magazine Online review of 24 CITY

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Pop duo BY2 grateful for fans’ support, including leering older men who pester them

PRODUCTION NEWS:

John Woo to make film about Flying Tigers:

• Associated Press: John Woo plans Flying Tigers movie 
• Hollywood Reporter: John Woo, CFG uncage Tiger film
  
• Screen Daily: Woo set to direct Flying Tigers project in China
• CRI English: Woo to Direct China’s Biggest Budget Film
  

Behind the scenes: Bodyguards and Assassins

Young Bruce Lees Wanted for Ip Man 2

Ron Ng, Sammul Chan feature in Michael Tse’s movie for free

RELATED: Xinhua article

Opening lens ceremony held in Huangzhou for Feng Xiaogang’s new film AFTERSHOCK

• CRI English: First Peek of Feng Xiaogang’s New Movie
• Xinhua article

‘Spying Rose’ Yu Na 

The Crow re-boot news

Chen Kaige Braces for Battle of Impressions

Shandong and Metan are ‘Golden’

COMING SOON:

‘Overheard’ a Crime Thriller

RELATED: Sina.com Photo Gallery

TRACING SHADOW: Mental makes a big move

RELATED: Photo gallery of Franics Ng and Pace Wu promoting the movie in Beijing

MOTHERLAND (Director: Doris Yeung;  Cast: Francoise Yip Fong-Wah, Kenneth Tsang Kong):

• Official Site
• Twitter Feed
• Facebook Page
• Trailer

New Posters of “The Message” Released

New Film Release: MCDULL KUNG FU DING DONG

PHOTOS: Louis Koo in ON HIS MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE

RELATED: Photos courtesy Sohu.com

New poster for SOPHIE’S REVENGE (Zhang Ziyi, Fan Bingbing)

New “Ani-Men” Animation to Become Mini-Franchise

FOUNDING OF A NATION: All star blockbuster “Jian Guo Da Ye” opens official web site

GENERAL NEWS:

Rumours: Cecilia Cheung expecting again!

Kelly Chen’s Active Bundle of Joy

Jetsetter Li: Earth is his home

Aaron Kwok: still passionate, but only about his music

Miriam Yeung forced to postpone wedding

Michelle Reis Now Says No to Surrogate Mother

Andy Lau:

• Island of Greed bill rises as Andy Lau loses appeal
• Andy Lau to compensate $300k for damaging helicopter

Fan Bingbing Wins ‘Plastic Surgery’ Case

Liu Ye’s Big Day

RELATED: Sina.com High Definition Photo Gallery of Liu Ye’s wedding

Vivian Hsu Denies Relationship with Stephen Fung

Zhou Xun Plays Down Breakup at Public Appearance

Long-delayed ‘Sniper’ to Screen in Taiwan

Coco Lee’s memories of Michael Jackson and Neverland

BUSINESS/INDUSTRY NEWS:

Raymond Wong launches Hong Kong production outfit Pegasus

Hong Kong’s TVB set to take control of pay-TV unit

Star unveils slate of Chinese movie acquisitions

China media body gets new film boss

Bank of China to invest in media

OPINION: How the West can win in Asia

MOVIE REVIEW:

Review of MAGAZINE GAP ROAD (Jessey Meng, Elvis Tsui)

BEYOND HK:

South Korea: 19% of Actresses Forced to Provide Sex for Career

Stefanie Sun back with a bang after two years

Taipei Times Pop Stop on the Golden Melody Awards

Taiwan TV declines broadcast of A-mei’s video

Vincent Fang to direct film insinuating Jay and Jolin’s romance

Ethan Ruan Loves Older Women, Cheryl Yang’s The Role Model of Girls

Z-Chen: Fish Leong unlikely to withdraw from showbiz after marriage

Mavis Hee insane? Music producer clears her name

Tank wants to hook up with Jolin Tsai

Rain not falling for hot Fox

Harlem Yu: Perfect romance only happens on reel

AROUND TOWN:

Cecilia Yip Tung, Kristy Yang, Linda Wong Hing-Ping and Catherine Hung Yan

The ladies were among those who attended a charity event at a MTM skin care products store earlier this week.

Lin Chi-Ling, Pace Wu, Eunis Chan Ka-Yung, Lisa S. and others at an event for Swarovski

Gillian Chung

Gillian Chung did an interview for HK Commercial Radio on July 7th in which she was coy about her relationship with Juno Mak.  She does, however, plan on inviting him to see her upcoming play.  Also, she did not hear the news about Cecilia Cheung’s supposed pregnancy but plans to contact her and wish her well.

Vivian Hsu was in Hong Kong last week to promote laser hair removal for Dermes

• Xinhua article
• Sina.com Photo Gallery

Ruby Lin and Aloys Chen at an event for Gucci

Rosamund Kwan Chi-Lam

Kwan was a celebrity guest at a charity event for an education fund.  HK$1.7 million was raised.

Kelly Lin at an event for Bobbi Brown Cosmetics

Daniel Wu at a promotional event for a soft drink

AD WATCH:

Jolin Tsai and a cyber version of Jolin Tsai shoot an ad

• Xinhua article
• Sina.com High-Definition Photo Gallery

Zhang Ziyi, Carina Lau: Celebrity Cheer for Launch of ‘Lan’ Jewelry

Hu Jing Shoots Clothing Ad While Four Months Pregnant

STALKIN’ THE STARS:

Zhang Ziyi wears a surgical mask while shopping in Hong Kong

Tony Leung Chiu-Wai

My cousin Tony met up with some friends on the night of July 4th.  He, reportedly, celebrated his 47th birthday recently by having a quiet dinner at home with his wife Carina Lau Ka-Ling.

PHOTO GALLERIES:

Crystal Liu Yifei’s photo spread for the June-July 2009 Chinese edition of HARPER’S BAZAAR

Michelle Ye (FIRE DRAGON, VENGEANCE)

Mainland model/actress Zhou Weitong

Catherine Hung Yan and fiance Zhang Danfeng

Angelica Lee Sum-Kit poses for the July edition of Dairizi

Charlene Choi gallery on the Arabic version of People’s Daily

CULTURAL NEWS:

China to spread the news in English

Chinese writers pen ‘instant’ Jackson bio

芝麻綠豆 (SESAME SEEDS AND MUNG BEANS):

Honest Croatian politician is not a breath of fresh air

Miniskirts, cleavage upset male South Koreans: survey

Image credit: Wong Jing’s Workshop Ltd. (Still from THE VAMPIRE WHO ADMIRES ME)

The following is a list of release dates for upcoming HK movies.  No sign, so far, of a Hong Kong release date for Johnnie To’s VENGEANCE.

Back later with a news links post.

RELEASE DATES FOR UPCOMING HK MOVIES

July 9th, 2009

• MURDERDER (Aaron Kwok, Janine Chang, Josie Ho, Eddie Cheung)

July 10th, 2009

• WRITTEN BY (Lau Ching-Wan, Kelly Lin)

July 23rd, 2009

• KUNG FU CHEF (Sammo Hung, Vanness Wu, Cherrie Ying)
• SOUNDLESS WIND CHIME (Lu Yulai, Bernhard Bulling)

July 30th, 2009

• OVERHEARD (Lau Ching-Wan, Louis Koo, Daniel Wu, Zhang Jingchu, Alex Fong Chung-Shun)

August 6th, 2009

• ON HIS MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE (aka FORBIDDEN CITY COP: SMART DOG; Louis Koo, Barbie Hsu, Sandra Ng)

August 13th, 2009

• MCDULL: KUNG FU DING DONG (Animated)

August 27th, 2009

• HAPPILY EVER AFTER (Ken Hung Cheuk-Lap, Carlos Chan Ka-Lok, Michelle Wai)

October 1st, 2009

• THE MESSAGE (Zhou Xun, Li Bingbing, Alec Su)
• TRACING SHADOW (Francis Ng Jun-Yu, Pace Wu, Jaycee Fong)

December 17th, 2009

• THE STORM WARRIORS II (Aaron Kwok, Ekin Cheng, Charlene Choi, Nic Tse, Simon Yam)

December 18th, 2009

• BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS (Leon Lai, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Nic Tse, many, many others)