[Takung pao - 1/4/2004]


Hacken Lee and Alan Tam are in the midst of preparing for their series of concerts ("Left Alan, Right Hacken/ Jor Lun Yau Lee") to be taken place around the Lunar New Year period. While recording for the Jade Solid Gold event recently, Hacken unexpectedly announced that instead of staging 8 concerts, they would be staging 10. He added merrily that this should coincidently beckon a better 2004.

Affectionately known as the 'Godson of TVB', would Hacken finally win Andy Hui at the coming Jade Solid Gold event? When quizzed, Hacken replied that he does possess the confidence and that next to Hui, Andy Lau is another strong contender. He added that since they are great friends, it does not matter who wins in the end since he would still be happy with the results.

Along the lines of Hui winning at the recent Chik Chat Music Awards and the advice given at his thank you speech about treasuring the people around one and telling them "I love you", Hacken would have emulated it during his turn if not for the mood. Hacken felt that the mood at the ceremony was very sombre and some words were not appropriate; he had meant to crack some jokes but he did not dare to amidst such a serious atmosphere.

Although he was also a winner at the Chik Chat Music Awards, Hacken's girlfriend has yet to celebrate the win with him. He said his girlfriend had only cooked him some instant noodles! However, she was listening to the radio broadcast throughout the ceremony and when he was announced as the bronze winner, she wept with joy. With Hacken's career on the rise, it begs the question to when he would finally get hitched? Hacken laughed and said that marriage is definitely in the cards but he would consider it after attending all the award ceremonies.

The "Jor Lun Yau Lee" concert is fast approaching but it seems that Hacken has been recently plagued with problems relating to his vocal cords, causing him to further suspect asthma. After undergoing an x-ray, he was relieved to find out that it was just a case of inflammatory windpipe that will not cause any damage to his vocal cords.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-1-4/UL-214821.htm

- posted by Mrs Hanashima @ 8:38 pm

 

(Source - Oriental Daily)

2003 Chik Chak Pop Chart Awards (CRHK)

Best Composer Award: Mark Lui
Best Lyricist Award: Lam Jik
Best Producer Award: Mark Lui
Best Arrangement Award: Mark Lui
Best Singer-songwriter: GOLD Jay Chow, SILVER Chet Lam, BRONZE Ronald Cheng
Best Male Newcomer: GOLD Chet Lam, SILVER Deep Ng BRONZE Remus Choi
Best Female Newcomer: GOLD Stephanie Cheung SILVER Wang Rong BRONZE Judi Wong
Best Group Newcomer: GOLD Boy'z SILVER Tai Tau Fat BRONZE 2R
Best Male Artiste: GOLD Andy Hui SILVER Edmond Leung BRONZE Eason Chan
Best Female Artiste: GOLD Joey Yung SILVER Miriam Yeung BRONZE Gigi Leung
Best Group Act: GOLD Twins SILVER Shine BRONZE at17
Best Album: "Number 10" - Edmond Leung, Produced by Mark Lui
My Favourite Male Artiste: Hacken Lee
My Favourite Female Artiste: Joey Yung
My Favourite Group Act: Twins
My Favourite Song: "Deadly Attack" - Leo Ku (Music: Lam Kin Wah, Lyrics: Lam Jik, Arrangement: Robert Lay, Producer: Mark Lui)
Top Record Company: EEG
Four stations joint broadcasting Album Award: "Number 10" - Edmond Leung, Producer Mark Lui

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/040101/10/wbuh.html
- posted by Em @ 2:09 am

 
[Info from Just Music]

According to Just Music*, from 03/01/2003 to 25/12/2003, only 7 HK singers mananged to sell over 50 000 copies of their albums in Taiwan. They are Eason Chan, Jordan Chan, Faye Wong, Jacky Cheung, Karen Mok, Sammi Cheng and the late Leslie Cheung.

Eason, Jordan and Faye are the only ones that managed to chalked up sales of more than 100 000 copies for their albums.





*Just Music Charts figures are of the sales of albums and not the number of copies shipped. It figures are pegged to the largest albums retailer in Taiwan that has the most comprehensive sales network.

- posted by lepra @ 6:28 am

 
[SUN news]



After so many years, Hacken Lee finally triumphed at the Chik Chat Music Awards that was held on 01/01/2004.

He was denied for years in this particular awards ceremony. He got 2.5 awards this time; for his song "I dont know how to sing", voted My favourite Male Singer and sharing another with Kelly for the duet "To Love Someone".

- posted by lepra @ 5:03 am

 
[SUN news]



Cecilia Cheung bought a brand new Mercedes Benz after getting her driving license back. She was banned after being caught speeding months ago.

She told the press that she has 12 vehicles, 10 were for her own use as she likes to match her attire with her cars. Lamenting the days that she couldnt drive because of the ban, Cecilia resolved not to speed again and revealed that she had tweaked her cars' speed limit to 80 km/h.

Cecilia also turned Christian recently. She intends to get baptised soon and said the faith has molded her to be more tolerant to others.



- posted by lepra @ 5:02 am

 
Review of 2003: HK Entertainment Pushes Forward Against the Storms

[Ta Kung Pao - 31/12/03]
Reporter: Chan Wai Fong
Translation: Em

Before saying goodbye to 2003, it is good to see that the markets are on the rise and the Hong Kong economy is looking rosier again. This makes you look back at the end of March just as SARS broke out and the streets were quiet as people walked around wearing masks; beneath the masks there were no smiles to be found as the shadow of SARS stole the smiles of people in Hong Kong and weighed down their emotions. Right at this time, on April Fools Day 1st April, our familiar superstar Leslie Cheung chose to end his illustrious life and say goodbye to the mortal world. Why did he bring another tragedy into people's hearts? As SARS victims around him were fighting to live, Leslie chose to give up. As 'No Mood to Sleep' was still playing, who would have thought that the next scene was to be 'Gone with the Ashes and Smoke'. The bad luck to hit Hong Kong Entertainment has lingered until the last minute as Anita Mui who has been strong in her fight against cancer met with complications in her lungs and was stolen away at the age of forty. The heavens envy the beauty and the farthest scenery can no longer be seen; in the waves and mist, all that are left are memories; life trickles away like water as no words are left to question the heavens.

Anita Mui Loses the Fight against Cancer

Reviewing the year, it is hard to look back - after saying farewell to Leslie Cheung, it was already enough to leave one's heart in much pain, but when in September, Leslie's good sister Anita Mui announced that she had cervical cancer, a group of good friends stood behind her as they silently supported her valiant pledge to win the battle. Through this, she fought through her work because you can only win by fighting hard, but after winning the respect and admiration of everyone, she was alas no match for the heavens. After three monthsof treatment, our Anita, who was so full of talent and spirit, finally fell. As she drifted away, her friends were still there to see her one last time - Anita, rest in peace!

Anita was undoubtedly an amazing woman: in the days when SARS was rife, she was devastated by Leslie's death and yet she still took a pivotal role in organising the 1:99 concert in her capacity as the president of the Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild, calling together many people from the world of the performing arts.

Leslie Cheung and Ko Shou Liang Depart

On the evening of the first of April, Leslie Cheung jumped from a balcony at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to his death. When the news was reported on the television news bulletins, no-one could believe the cruel reality; then came the unfathomable enigma and tens of thousands of questions: why did Leslie have to die? He had fame and fortune and he had true love, in everyone's eyes he was the king of the world, but in the end, he was unable to overcome the control of his emotional problems and found no hiding place from the temptations of Death. Leslie was confirmed as suffering from depression as his family called for an end to the pointless conspiracy theories and not to cause any more hardship for those still living. Leslie's funeral took place on 8th April and to satisfy his desire for perfection, his family created a fitting ceremony for him as the tears of his family, friends and fans sent him on his final journey. 'The Wind Continues to Blow', but it will never blow away the memories of Leslie, 'Not Bearing to Go Far', yet he has gone far away, all that is left is 'This Love is Comforting to the End'.

Life is never the same, but the angel of Death can never be avoided and 'Flying Man of Asia' Ko Shou Liang also departed this life in Shanghai on 9th December. The reason for his death has been a mystery, but was later explained by his family as bding down to an alcohol induced asthma attack that was not treated in time. Ko Shou Liang's body was taken back to Taiwan for the funeral on 20th December, followed by a memorial ceremony in Hong Kong the next day as 200 artistes gathered, showing how many friends 'Blackie' had in the industry. His widow Song Lihua thanked Blackie's friends for supporting her all the way and urged everyone to treasure those around you. Also, Lam Yun Tim, son of Cantonese Opera star Lam Ka Sing also committed suicide, once again bringing to light that people should not put too much pressure on oneself and learn to relax.

Everyone is equal when faced with life and death, it will come if you live life happily or not. Living life as a game for so long, Wong Jim won his battle against lung cancer as he told of his story.

HK Entertainment Unites to Fight SARS

In the harrowing days of the SARS outbreak, Hong Kong Artistes displayed the positive power of the media to show their support for the citizens and the medical teams. Among the activities was a 36 hour spectacular spanning six major media routes and TVB broke the barriers by entering the badly stricken Amoy Gardens to hold their events. The movie industry was sponsored by the government to make a series of encouraging short films as directors, cast and crew took just a token $999 for their services.

Delegation to Beijing Advanced Movies Rebound

The entertainment industry was having a roller coaster ride and after the dip of SARS, it quickly rebounded. With a short upturn being severely affected by SARS, the opening up of the Mainland movie markets was a great encouragement to the industry. A delegation was sent to Beijing to speed up the injection of Hong Kong movies into the mainland and the visit was strongly supported by the authorities as the Deputy Chairman of the People's Republic of China personally met the delegation and joined them in the song "Pearl of the Orient". In truth, with the effects of SARS, the box office takings for the year have only fallen by 4% on last year with total takings for foreign and local films at HK$784million for the year. The top position was "Finding Nemo", which took HK$31,894,000 and second place was "The Twins Effect" grossing HK$28,423,000. Just on takings alone, this suggests that foreign films are still leading the way over locally produced movies. Movie industry executive Hung Cho Sing indicates that with the release of several blockbusters over the Christmas period, then this will have a positive effect on the future scene.

"Operation Shadowdance" shakes up the Music Industry

The biggest incident to hit the Music industry this year has to be the ICAC's 'Operation Shadowdance', where several executives of TVB and EEG were arrested on suspicion of corruption. However, up to now there have been no formal charges made against them. With the changes in the stormclouds of the Music scene, the first awards ceremony of the year has taken place as the CRHK Top Ten Chinese Songs are announced, with EEG's singers gaining all the top awards and causing an outcry from the other artistes. However, EEG has been faced with many other troubles, including the appeal of Nic Tse against his conviction for perverting the course of justice last year being dismissed. Also, Eason Chan's father has been convicted of corruption and is awaiting sentencing early next year, leaving Eason to face his work bearing the burden of worry for his father.

George Lam Falls Through the Stage - Suki Kwan is Jailed

With the effects of SARS, the market for concerts has fallen into the depths and there was another unexpected fall during a concert as George Lam guest starred at Liza Wang's concert in May and accidentally fell into an opening in the stage. Hitting his head on the ground, George's condition was serious and after being taken to hospital, he was kept in for a while. He has still not completely recovered with hearing problems, but luckily he has not suffered major damage to his brain. Renowned lyricist Lam Chun Keung has also fallen victim to cancer this year in his fifties, another great loss to the music industry.

Dubbed as a 'drunkard' of the industry, Suki Kwan was convicted of perverting the course of justice after a road traffic accident and was sentenced to fourteen days in prison. After her release, she said that she just wanted to go home. With her friends at the court offering their support, she has settled down now and will prepare to put her heart into her work.

Weddings, births - happier occasions aplenty

Life is full of happiness as well as sadness and the year of the Ram has also brought some happy occasions to the entertainment world. Winnie Yeung has married the son of a race horse trainer and a pregnant Joan Tong married Ben Ng before giving birth to a daughter. Jimmy Wong and Maple Hui also married expecting their child, holding their wedding ceremony after the birth of their son for a double celebration. Evon Yung had a lightning wedding to her Casino boss boyfriend of two months in Atlantic City. Priscilla Koo and Kau Hung Ping both overcame their past and found true love in happy partnerships. And towards the end of the year, the news was revealed that Nick Cheung and Esther Kwan had ended their marathon of love by tying the knot in Australia. They deny that there is a child on the way, but they say that one could come along at any time. New parents also include Jerry Lam and Lily Hong.

However, not every relationship has bloomed as Angie Cheung split up with her fiance Fok Siu Kau after a rather violent incident that ended in a call to the police. However, after six months rest, Angie is back and ready to take on a new movie by Wong Jing.

Chow Yun Fat, Sister Fong and Leon Lai are honoured

With the recognition of the services that artistes give to the community, Special Administrative Region Honours were given to Chow Yun Fat, who gained a Silver Bauhinia Medal and Cantonese Opera Star Fong Yim Fan who gained a Bronze Bauhinia. Leon Lai and Fung Lam were awarded honorary medals. Chow Yun Fat inicated that his honour came from the whole of the entertainment industry and with the completion of the Avenue of Stars next year, hand prints have been made by many stars including Hui Koon Man, Connie Chan, Tse Yin, Fung Bo Bo, Ha Mung, Samo Hung and Ng Si Yuen.

Tony Leung gets the Best Actor Triple

As for the most outstanding achievement this year, it has to go to Tony Leung, who swept the boards at the Movie awards this year with "Infernal Affairs" taking Best Actor at the HK Academy awards, the Golden Bauhinia awards and the Golden Horse awards. He even says that for one film to have such acclaim from all fields is very rare. Sandra Ng gained the Golden Horse best actress for the first time with "Golden Chicken". Also "Infernal Affairs" was also nominated for the Oscars for Best Foreign Language film alongside the Mainland production "Hero". As for which film can enter the top five, we will have to wait until next year.

TVB Move into Asia's Finest Studio Complex

Despite the effects of 'Operation Shadowdance', TVB's move into its new studio complex took place on a lucky day witout any hitches. Situated in Tseung Kwan O, TVB City is the largest such complex in Asia and was opened with a blessing ceremony led by TVB Chairman Sir Run Run Shaw. Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee Wah also presided and took part in the lighting up ceremony. TVB's 36th Anniversary Extravaganza took place there, with Roger Kwok taking three awards with his performance in "Square Pegs" and Maggie Cheung taking the Favourite Female Lead Award as she wept before the cameras. Also, TVB's coverage of the Real Madrid Asian Tour matches and their visit to Hong Kong broke all ratings records in TVB history as the 'six aces' including Beckham, Zidane and Ronaldo pushed ratings up to 50 points as 3 million viewers tuned in.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2003-12-31/UL-213703.htm
- posted by Em @ 11:40 pm

 

Anita Mui 1963 - 2003

[Sing Tao Daily News - 30/12/03]

A legend in this generation of pop, Anita Mui has finally lost her battle with cancer and died this morning at the age of 40. News of her critical condition was reported yesterday and over a hundred close friends rushed to the hospital to see her, but Anita was already in an unconscious state, being kept alive by a ventilator. She died in the early hours of this morning and her friends at the scene were very distressed. Anita's death follows that of another superstar who departed this year, Leslie Cheung.

Ever since publicly announcing that she had cervical cancer in September of this year, Anita's condition has been rather tumultuous and her health has been a major worry. Last night, as news of her worsening condition was released, close sisterly friend Chingmy Yau called in some Tibetan monks to the hospital to pray for her, but sadly Anita was to lose the fight, with over a hundred friends by her side to say their goodbyes.

With the sudden change yesterday in Anita's condition, many stars rushed to visit her including Cherie Chung who has not made a public appearance for a while. When the press asked Anita's manager Marianne Wong about Anita's condition, she looked solemn as she told reporters to remember her words. She revealed that Anita had been admitted into hospital two days ago for a check up and had found that her condition had worsened and was kept in hospital under the advice of the doctor.

Anita has made few public appearances recently because of her cancer and after finishing her advertisement last month has not appeared at any public events. Even Christmas was spent in her own home with her friends suspected of keeping her condition under strict secrecy. Her manager said all along that Anita had been resting at home after turning down the offer to film in Zhang Yimou's new film.

With changes in her condition two days ago, Anita's condition was announced as critical at 7pm last night with two different reports, one saying that the cancer cells had spread to a critical region causing her to lose consciousness and another report suggesting that overuse of the medication had caused complications in her liver.

At 9:20pm last night, Wong He opened the gate at the side of the hospital to allow Chingmy Yau and her husband in together with four Tibetan Lamas, but not a word was said in this incident. When Wong He was pushed by the press for photographs, he said: "Don't take so many, they [the Lamas] are old people." Finally the gate was closed and it was obvious that Anita's good friend had brought in the Buddhist priests to pray for Anita, who was a Buddhist follower. After an hour and a half, Chingmy, her husband and the Lamas left. Among them one of the Lamas had red eyes as he had obviously been crying, suggesting that the situation was not optimistic.

Other stars who rushed to see Anita for the last time included Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Alan Tam, Michelle Yeoh, Dicky Cheung, Nic Tse and the Grasshopper trio. Each wore a solemn expression and most did not say anything to the press. Movie superstar Jackie Chan also appeared at the hospital and he said that Anita was just in for observations as he left late in the night. Finally at around 2am, he returned and when he heard the terrible news, he was very upset.

http://www.singtao.com/yesterday/loc/1230ao01.html
- posted by Em @ 10:28 pm

 
[News from TakungPao]




The top ten earners at the HK box office from 09/01/2003 to 26/12/2003 are;


Finding Nemo
Gross: $31, 894, 016



Twins Effect
Gross: $28, 423, 960



The Matrix Reloaded
Gross: $26, 771, 000



Lord of The Rings 2
Gross: $26, 501, 560



Running on Karma
Gross: $26, 339, 848



Infernal Affairs III
Gross: $26, 043, 391
it is still showing in theatres



My Lucky Star
Gross: $24, 961, 198



Infernal Affairs II
Gross: $24, 919, 376



Love for All Seasons
Gross: $24, 726, 283



Love Undercover 2
Gross: $21, 665, 466




- posted by lepra @ 6:41 am