Former Taiwanese singer Yuki Hsu has revealed in a press conference that she has been working as a legal assistant for over a month after a six month-long spell of unemployment.
She said that she was taking the opportunity to study legal principles in preparation for her eventual lawsuit against her former management company to resolve contract issues.
31-year-old Hsu tearfully said that she had no choice but to take the job as she is her family’s sole breadwinner and had not been given any opportunities after an ugly incident during an appearance in China in April last year.
She claimed that a local businessman had propositioned her after her performance in China and that she was so frightened that she switched hotels and escaped to Taiwan. She alleged that her management company had set her up with the businessman.
Hsu added that the company did not pay her the commission that she was due and did not give her any work for six months after the incident. This forced her to resort to borrowing more than a million yuan (S$200,000) just to get by.
Her agent Wang Yu Sheng denied all of Hsu’s allegations.
“How is it possible that we deliberately set her up to drink with the businessman at the hotel? He was just a local businessman who wanted to share a meal with her. We also invited Hsu to appear at other functions but she refused,” he said.
The company also expressed that it already told their clients it would no longer entertain requests to share meals with their artistes.
It went on to explain that it did not withhold Hsu’s commission and claimed that it was Hsu who had privately accepted engagements and caused confusion over her fees.
Both Hsu and her management firm are now preparing to go to court over the matter.
Hsu entered the entertainment industry in 1998 and was known for her upbeat dance tracks. Her debut album sold about a million copies and she was named “The Commoner Queen” at the height of her popularity.
Hsu had been plagued by negative media reports throughout the later part of her career, including some that claimed she behaved like a diva. There were also reports that she had refused to acknowledge her elderly grandfather.
Simon Fuller, creator of the Spice Girls pop group and US reality show “American Idol,” was robbed of more than 100,000 dollars in cash and jewellery while vacationing in Uruguay, El Pais said Tuesday.
The newspaper said Fuller and his wife, interior designer Natalie Swanston, discovered the theft on January 7 at the villa they were renting in the Punta del Este beach resort, 150 kilometres (93 miles) east of Montevideo.
The items found missing, Fuller said, included a watch, a gold and diamond bracelet, a gold chain encrusted with diamonds and sapphires, a set of gold earrings and rings, as well as 9,000 dollars, 1,500 pounds and 500 euros in cash.
Also missing were the couple’s passports, the newspaper said.
In the police report on the robbery, Fuller specifically requested privacy.
“I don’t want it ending up in the newspapers. I don’t want exposure,” he was quoted as saying in the report that El Pais accessed.
The day after the robbery, Fuller and his wife left Uruguay on a private flight, the newspaper added.
Popular Taiwanese television host Patty Hou has revealed that she hopes to tie the knot with fiance Ken Huang some time this year.
Hou, who arrived at the Chinese city of Xiamen on Tuesday for a hosting gig, quickly removed what was believed to be her three-carat engagement ring when she spotted the media.
When asked about her upcoming nuptials, Hou told reporters that the couple hope to walk down the aisle this year but would have to discuss the wedding details with the elders first.
She added that both sides would like the wedding to be “simple, quiet”, and as low-key as possible, with not more than two tables of friends.
“We will not be distributing wedding invitations and there will be no need for wedding gifts,” she said.
News of Hou’s engagement made headlines after the couple were spotted celebrating Christmas with their families at an exclusive restaurant in Taiwan. There were even rumours that Hou, 32, is pregnant.
34-year-old Huang, and Hou, have been dating for just six months.
If other people have the proverbial seven-year-itch, Adrian Pang has an eight-year one.
For the past eight years, the actor and local television have been virtually inseparable – first with the now-defunct MediaWorks and later, with his current home since 2005, MediaCorp.
Next April, however, he’ll be going on a “trial separation” from his long-time employer.
The 43-year-old MediaCorp artiste told TODAY that he will not be renewing his current three-year contract, which ends on March 31.
But that doesn’t mean he’s hanging up his acting shoes. Instead, Adrian will be channelling all his energies towards theatre, courtesy of a new company he has recently set up with his wife, Tracie, called Pangdemonium!.
Their first production will be the Broadway musical version of the hit film “The Full Monty”, which opens on June 18 at the Drama Centre.
It will be an amicable parting of ways. Both Adrian and MediaCorp have stated they’re both open to working together in the future.
“MediaCorp Artiste Adrian Pang has been working on both Channel 5 and 8 productions in the past five years with us. We have always been supportive of his love for theatre and had encouraged him to explore his own creative space for the theatre.
“We wish him all the best in his new set up with wife Tracie Pang in Pangdemonium!, and welcome the opportunity to work with him again,” said Andrew Cheng, MediaCorp’s senior vice-president, production resource and artistes management, in a statement.
But couch potatoes don’t have to bid farewell to Adrian just yet. You can still catch him on the telly with “Polo Boys” (the last episode airs Thursday) and “The Pupil” on Channel 5 and “New City Beat” on Channel 8.
Plus, he’s in the midst of shooting a new 20-episode Chinese drama with Rui En called “I’m With You”.
“Like a James Blunt song,” he quipped.
But lest you think the theatre thesp is disdainful of his time spent on the small screen, allow Adrian to clear the air one final time.
“One analogy I came up with is that I work for a chocolate factory and we make chocolates. Who doesn’t like chocolates? There’s nothing wrong with being the purveyor of chocolate,” said Adrian.
“But I’ve come out to cook a meal in my little bistro or tze char restaurant.”
Will you be totally leaving TV behind?
The TV thing and me have been in an arranged marriage of convenience. Which I entered into with consent. We did sign a pre-nup that at such point, we could agree to have a trial separation – which is what it is now. I need to go out and sow my residual wild oats. We’ve parted on amicable terms for a trial separation but we shall remain f*** buddies. That’s a bad analogy.
Well, the metaphor is consistent.
The fact is, I’d be silly to decide not to do any more TV. I have enjoyed one or two things so why would I say goodbye to all that? Hopefully, there’ll be opportunities for me to work again and hopefully they will keep that door open. I don’t want to burn any bridges. Hopefully, the door will stay open for me. It’s probable that it’ll come to a point in the near future when I’ll be knocking on that door and saying: “Helloooo … ”
I guess in an ideal world, this new corner that I’m turning will mean that, because I’m focusing my energies on nurturing this new child that is Pangdemonium!, I’ll be able to do something that I want to do and choose to do. I just want to do work that I feel for, lah. Put a gun to my head now and I will have to say theatre is still the thing that makes me feel most (alive).
Don’t you think it’s such a risky thing to do – from your secure job to setting up a fledgling theatre company with Tracie?
Ever since I came back to Singapore to embrace this whole being an employee for a corporation thing, it’s easy to just get lulled into this comfort zone. It’s easy to get comfortable and used to and to an extent, to take it for granted as well. I’ve done it for eight years in Singapore.
Before that, I was working for eight years as a freelance actor in the United Kingdom. It’s an eight-year itch. It’s risky, it’s a gamble – but I’m always in a nervous and anxious disposition anyway, which is very bad for my blood pressure. But it’s incredibly liberating as well. Ever since we made the decision, I’ve really felt a whole new lease on life.
Whenever we’ve interviewed you, you’ve never failed to take funny potshots at acting on Chinese language TV. Where did this whole love-hate relationship come from?
It started in MediaWorks … Against the odds, we were living hand to mouth. And it came to a point where (it was) ‘Oh, what do we do with this guy?’ So just to make sure I was earning my keep, they tried me out on the Chinese channel (Channel U) on a food programme with Michelle Chia, thank goodness.
I was very lucky to be paired up with her. She kinda held my hand through the whole thing and by the grace of God and by the open-heartedness and generosity of the viewers, they accepted my shortcomings in the language.
I was The Chinese Experiment, lah. After that, I started doing Chinese dramas and I was like: ‘What’s going on? I’ve created a monster here!’ The ‘Pangdora’s Box’ of Chinese (TV) was opened! (Laughs)
Well, reluctant Chinese television actor or not, the viewers seem to like you right?
Objectively, I’m grateful that the experiment kinda worked – some mutation came out of it and it was accepted. It could have been a lot worse! They could have decided to reject me. I have to be honestly gracious about it.
After the merger, the first show MediaCorp put me in, ironically, was a Chinese 100-episode drama. Before Channel 5 could rope me in, Channel 8 (did). They got me for a whole year for a show called “Portrait Of Home”.
After that, I kinda ducked and dived for a few years – just doing English shows – before they nabbed me again. As Michael Corleone in “The Godfather III” said: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back again!”
And I would candidly confess the only reason I was in “Polo Boys” was because I heard that Channel 8 was gonna put me in a ping pong drama. I was like: ‘Chinese! … Ping pong! … Chinese ping pong drama!’ So I just had to knock on Channel 5’s doors and go “Help!” And they said: “Oh, we’ve got … water polo.”
Do you use your ‘I’m Adrian Pang’ card?
It’s work. It’s all good. I’ve been a freelance actor before and work is hard to come by, and the way I’ve looked at it actually is it’s no different from being a freelance actor. In as much as, when you’re freelance actor, you’re just auditioning furiously hoping for a job to come along. And a job comes along, you thankfully grab it. And how it turns out is completely out of your hands. You’re just an actor for hire.
Working as an employee on a payroll? No different! You pick the work that is thrown at you, gratefully and graciously accepting it, do the best that you can. The ultimate product is out of your control. You’re just a little cog in the whole machinery, lah.
Out with it, drama or comedy?
I prefer drama, lah. I mean, one of the first things I had told myself when I came back to Singapore was I didn’t wanna do any sitcoms. That worked out. I’ve always wanted to avoid it. But what to do? You just kind of go with it, really.
So what’s on your calendar after March 31?
We’re already planning stuff for Pangdemonium! and “The Full Monty” for the next couple of months leading up to that. I don’t want to anticipate some sense of: ‘Oh, he’s free’ … ‘Cos I’m not! I’m just under a new management! (Laughs) It’s not that I’m leaving TV to do something completely different, which a lot of people have done, and you know, respect to them. Live long and prosper.
Any regrets?
My mullet in 1987. We’re going too far back already. (Laughs) I kinda regret not putting in more effort in studying Chinese in school. I’d have more of a TV career now if I wasn’t so terrified of it.
Adrian’s top five
Mr Pang wracks his brains for his most memorable moments on the small screen (for now).
1. Michelle Chia
I’ve worked with her on several different things. We used to be paired up a lot to do external hosting gigs as well. And we have worked together this very easy, unspoken chemistry thing which you can’t manufacture. We’re just lucky to have that. She’s a lovely girl. And she puts up with my nonsense. And working with her once again on “Polo Boys”… I wish I could work with her more.
2. Parental Guidance
I really enjoyed working with Jessica Hsuan. Really nice girl and great fun to work with. I did really enjoy doing “Parental Guidance”. It was such a light comedy rather than a broad camp-type of thing. You had real characters and it was intelligently written and directed, and there was a lot of care and love put into creating this little world.
3. Kym Ng
I acted with her in “Durian King” and again now on “New City Beat”. She’s always a scream, and always a pro, and the one person who is genuinely warm and “up” all the bloody time.
4. Six Weeks
It was the last MediaWorks Channel i production that we did. It’s special to me because the idea for the six-episode mini-series was a story that I had brought to my boss. It was a real labour of love for me. And the most gratifying thing was that many, many people have told me how much that story spoke to them … It’s just gratifying that you do something and hope it lands somewhere good. Otherwise it’s just indulgence.
5. 2009
The whole of last year. I had great fun doing “Red Thread” – it was five months of pretty hard, intensive stuff. And “Polo Boys” was a scream. That was a riot to do.
Google has vowed to defy Chinese Internet censors and risk banishment from the lucrative market in outrage at “highly sophisticated” cyber attacks aimed at Chinese human rights activists.
China-based cyber spies struck the Internet giant and at least 20 other unidentified firms in an apparent bid to hack into the email accounts of activists around the world, Google said Tuesday.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Beijing to explain the cyber attacks.
“We look to the Chinese government for an explanation,” the chief US diplomat said in a released statement.
“The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy.”
The online espionage has Google reconsidering its business operations in China and it said it will no longer filter Internet search engine results in that country.
“These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered — combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the Web — have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China,” Google chief legal officer David Drummond said in a blog post.
“We are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all,” he said.
Drummond said Google realizes that defying Chinese government demands regarding filtering Internet search engine results may mean having to shut down its operations in China.
The iconic “Tank Man” photo taken during the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown and banned in China was available on Google.cn Wednesday, hours after the online giant vowed to defy Chinese Internet censors.
The picture of a Chinese man who boldly stood in front of a line of tanks during the crackdown on pro-democracy protests made headlines around the world. It is banned in China where the event is still hugely sensitive.
Google said it detected in mid-December “a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google.”
The company said it was notifying at least 20 other large companies of similar attacks including finance, Internet, media, technology and chemical firms.
“We have no indication that any of our mail properties have been compromised,” Microsoft told AFP, declining to comment further.
Yahoo! backed Google’s decision.
“We stand aligned with Google that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as Internet pioneers must all oppose,” Yahoo! said in response to an AFP inquiry.
Google said its investigation revealed that accounts of China human rights activists who use Gmail in Europe, China or the United States have been “routinely accessed” using malware sneaked onto their computers.
Google believes the attack was mostly blocked and that only minor information was stolen from two accounts.
“The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences,” said Drummond, adding that the heart of the matter is freedom of speech on the global Internet.
Google stressed that the decision was made by the California company’s US-based executives and not by workers within easy reach of authorities in China.
“Google was in a no-win situation,” Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle told AFP. “The choices they’ve got are all bad, but this one allows them to claim the high ground at home by standing up to evil China.”
Internet firms interested in access to China’s booming market have been pressured to acquiesce to “onerous” government rules regarding online censorship, according to Enderle.
“China is a hard market to walk away from,” he said. “It took a lot of guts. Capitulating wasn’t working, so taking a harder stance might work better.”
Google’s unofficial motto “Don’t Be Evil” became a topic of derision after the company in 2006 began censoring search results in China.
“When Google first launched a filtered search engine in China, EFF was one of the first to criticize it,” Danny O’Brien of the Electronic Freedom Foundation said in a blog post.
“We’d now like to be one of the first to commend Google for its brave and forthright declaration to restore an uncensored Chinese language version of its search engine.”