Asian Entertainment News & Celebrity Gossip

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock or haven’t had access to any news source, you have by now heard that Paris Hilton was released from jail then forcibly sent back to serve the remainder of her 45-day sentence.

So aside from the media circus, the public display of tears and police escorts and the obsession with all things celebrity, let’s not forget the reasons why Paris was sentenced in the first place. Hilton was arrested in January on an alcohol-related charge of reckless driving. In the next two months, police stopped her twice while she was driving, a violation of parole conditions.

Regardless of her celebrity status, serving time is meant to ensure that such reckless behavior is not tolerated and to make our roads safer. So before you bemoan the injustice of her sentence, look no further than the other side of the world where Taiwan singer Shino Lin killed a 41-year old nurse, the mother of an 8-year old boy, while driving home drunk. Shino’s car collided with a motorcycle, which was being used by the victim who died on the way to the hospital.

Hopefully Paris learns her lesson rather than view her time in jail as an inconvenience to her socialite schedule. No matter how farcical this situation has become, no one wants to see anyone die from such irresponsible behavior. So instead of crying a river for spending a maximum 45 days at a low security prison, Paris should be grateful that her actions didn’t result in anything worse like involuntary manslaughter on the highways of LaLa Land.

Taiwan Singer Shino Lin was involved in a car accident on Wednesday morning in Taipei, which killed a 41-year-old nurse.

The Singaporean newspaper Lianhe Zaobao reports the intoxicated singer drove in heavy rain after a late-night party and crashed into the motorbike of a nurse who was getting off work.

The nurse, whose surname is Lin, suffered multiple fractures including severe injuries to the skull. She showed no sign of life before being sent to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Shino Lin escaped the accident with no injuries. She has been taken to a police station for investigation and faces the charge of posing a public danger.

“Posing a public danger”?!? She drove drunk and killed a person. Unless that phrase means manslaughter or something equally severe, DaDump is at a loss.

La dee da, here we go again. Getting to be ‘old hat’ this opening a festival thingee…
First Wong Kar-Wai came to a little town called Cannes and opened up a quaint little film festival there with his first foray into English speaking cinema called My Blueberry Nights. An art house film with a commercially viable Hollywood cast.

Now word has trickled out that Academy Award winning director Ang Lee’s new movie Lust Caution will be the opening movie of the 64th Venice Film Festival according to festival director Marco Muller. The cast includes Hong Kong veteran actor Tony Leung (Liang Chaowei), Taiwan pop singer Leehom Wong (Wang Lihong), and Chinese mainland newcomer Tang Wei, all of whom are expected to go to Venice at the end of August.

The movie is now in post-production in New York. Ain’t it grand that Asia is gaining the much needed attention it deserves. Film festival openings in Asia, Europe and in due time, the United States of the Americas!

Shu Qi - Brown Blue Eyed Girl

Shu Qi, Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, and Bai Ling are making the rounds and really putting in their face time at Cannes. Here are some more pics of the Chinese beauties at amfAR’s Cinema Against AIDS Benefit. Michelle is Malaysian, I know, and, yes, that’s Bai with her clothes on this time. Check out Shu Qi with the blue eyes. A bit freaky but of course DaDump is oddly turned on…. not surprising.

South Korean director Kim Ki-duk was so taken by Taiwanese actor Chang Chen, star of the Academy Award winning “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” that he created a role that broke down language barriers.

Chang, who speaks no Korean, stars in Kim’s latest film “Breath,” a poetic story of jealousy and redemption in competition at the Cannes film festival, as Jang Jin, a condemned prisoner whose repeated suicide attempts have left him unable to speak.

“I would like to have been able to speak Korean but I can’t,” Chang told reporters through an interpreter. “It’s a role that gave me quite a few challenges at a psychological level. I had to use my body to express emotions.”

His growing love for Yeon, a married woman played by South Korean actor Zia, is conveyed solely through looks and gestures that become steadily more intense as their strange affair develops through her repeated visits to his prison.

“I wanted to cast the image of Chang Chen because I’d seen a lot of pictures and films that he’d made and the only way to cast the image and to get something different, was to do without language,” Kim Ki-duk, a regular at international festivals, told reporters after the film’s press screening.

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Since DaDump can’t sing, I’m going to do the next best thing and serenade Shu Qi with the ballad, “I Who Have Nothing” from the future American Idol, Jordin Sparks.
So when you’re done prancing the red carpets in Cannes and downing flutes of champagne from fleeting admirers, kawl me when you’re ready to settle down and have little dumplings.

Carina Lau is staying away from Taiwan for half a year to keep her distance from her billionaire admirer, Terry Gou.

The China-born, Hong Kong-based star is known to make private visits to Taiwan regularly to meet friends there. But Lau, who was linked to Gou late last year, has reportedly said she will not go there for six months – apparently to avoid more tabloid talk of them.

Lau has said yes, however, to a role in Taiwanese theatre director Stan Lai’s play, Like Shadows, which will be performed in Taiwan in December.

Gou, 56, told the media in March that he was serious about the 41-year-old actress.

But last month, Lau and her actor boyfriend, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, 44, attended the Hong Kong Film Awards hand in hand in a show of unity. Later, she said of their relationship: “We’re like a family.” [StarCentral]

Taiwan pop queen Jolin Tsai recently apologized through her agent for refusing to sing with fans in a TV show organised by China’s Central Television Station, CCTV.

During the recording of the show on April 30, Jolin Tsai was supposed to sing three songs, including “Today You Will Marry Me”, which she had performed with Taiwan singer David Tao at the 2007 CCTV Spring Festival Gala.

Jolin Tsai was asked by the director to sing with a fan picked from the audience, but she refused to do so, saying it was not written in her contract.

Enraged by her attitude, Director Sun Bin launched a fierce quarrel with the assistant of the star. The recording was stalled for several minutes.

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A photo shoot of one of DaDump’s fave actresses, Shu Qi. If I had pictures of her reading a newspaper or peeling an orange I’d print those too… luckily these have a bit more creative value.

He’s baaaack….

If the film is half as good as the behind the scenes goings on of the upcoming The Battle of Red Cliff, then this is going to be one heck of a film!

In the ongoing game of cinematic musical chairs, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, who quit director John Woo’s “The Battle of Red Cliff” last month, will rejoin the $70 million production following co-star Chow Yun-Fat’s sudden departure earlier this week, producer Terence Chang said on Thursday.

Leung previously was cast in the role of Zhuge Liang, but quit in March due to scheduling conflicts only to be replaced by actor Takeshi Kaneshiro.

“Leung’s one of the best actors working in Chinese cinema today, I’m so glad that he’s coming back to the production,” said producer Terence Chang. Asked if the film’s shooting schedule had been affected by the rapid series of cast changes Chang said, “Nothing is affected because we have so many characters in the story and it’s so complicated, one actor will not affect the production.”

A two-part production based on a decisive battle fought in China’s Three Kingdoms period (220-280AD), the film is Woo’s first Chinese language film after more than a decade. [HollywoodReporter]

Back in the day when egos didn’t get in the way….