Jackie Chan campaigns against piracy

Martial arts mega-celebrity Jackie Chan is putting his star power to work against film piracy in China, an industry executive says.

The huge billboard in Beijing's Silk Market has Chan saying: "Protect the movies, say NO to piracy." The billboard was joint effort of the Beijing Silk Street Co. and Chaoyang Model Anti-Copyright Infringement and Piracy-Free Zone, the Daily Variety reported Tuesday.

The Hong Kong actor's message is expected to reach more than 20 million people in the two weeks it will be up. The Silk Market is a shopping area once known for its counterfeit goods, including pirated DVDs.

"Chan's message to Beijing's citizens is direct and simple," said Mike Ellis, MPA's regional president and managing director.

The MPA recently announced the winners in a copyright protection-themed student film contest and last week signed an agreement with the seven most popular Chinese Web sites to promote copyright protection for U.S. movies.

ｓｏｕｒｃｅ：http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Jackie-Chan-campaigns-against-piracy-talk530745.html

Jang Hyuk goes to Singapore to promote new movie

In his first Hollywood movie, Jang Hyuk is in Singapore to promote his new film, “Dance of the Dragon” with Jason Scott Lee and Singaporean actress Fann Wong.

This is Jang-Hyuk’s first English speaking role, so we are curious on how good his English is. In movie trailer 1, the Korean actor does not say a word, so we don’t know how his speaking skills are. But in trailer 2, he stutters out 1 short sentence, “But I’m….I’m a dancer.” (at 1.07). Is this an indication of what’s to come?

Dance of the Dragon is a modern day tale of love, passion, courage and hope that blends dance and martial arts.

The world premiere of Dance of the Dragon will be held in Singapore on Wednesday April 24th and then opens in theaters in Singapore May 1st, 2008 and in the U.S. on May 15th.

source:http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Jang-Hyuk-goes-to-Singapore-to-promote-new-movie-talk530604.html

Elva Returns to EMI Virgin

After weeks of speculation, renowned Taiwan singer Elva Hsiao officially returned to EMI Virgin Records at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday afternoon.

In 1998, Elva became the first artist signed under the EMI Virgin Records label, and the company helped to push her to numerous career highs. Now, in 2008, Elva is back with EMI, the place where her talent developed.

Her first album, 1999's "Elva Hsiao," was released soon after she was recruited from a singing competition while studying design in Vancouver, Canada. The album chalked up record sales and helped Elva Hsiao top many leading music charts at the time. She then shot to the top of the Mando pop music world with her magnetic voice and catchy tunes.

At the end of 2006, Elva Hsiao returned to the limelight after a three year hiatus with her album "1087," a number that stands for the days Elva disappeared from the music industry before releasing the album.

EMI Music Taiwan Division Manager Huang Wei Jing says, "We believe that Elva's return marks the end of her bad spate of luck. We will be working out the grand plans for Elva's future career development. Besides strengthening her music career, we will also leverage her bilingual skills by focusing on pushing her into the international movie scene. All of us are ready for this, and we welcome her back."

With the return of a diva, everything must be spectacular. Zheng Donghan, president of EMI's Asia Division, presented Elva with a dedicated jade ruyi, symbolizing her expected success in the near future. Fans sent an empress' crown to Elva to encourage her to record more songs.

Elva's latest album is scheduled for release in June, at the start of the summer holidays, Elva said.

Kelly Chen to Hold Concert in Hong Kong

Hong Kong singer and actress Kelly Chen held a press release for her upcoming concert titled "Love Fighters". The star, dressed in white, said she has been fully devoted to rehearsals these days and the dance practice was so intense that her feet were bruised.

Kelly also revealed that she has ordered a "Time Machine" from Australia, which will help her "transcend in time and space on the stage".

The concert will run from June 13 to the 18th and singer and actor Leon Lai will guest perform during the concert, the report said.

source: http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Kelly-Chen-to-Hold-Concert-in-Hong-Kong-talk530449.html

Jimmy Lin going to get a yacht operator's license

Jimmy Lin was born with a babyface but his passion is speed. Besides his love of car racing he is now learning to operate a yacht and planning to get a license.

My Lucky Star, the SETTV idol series that Jimmy starred in will air on Japan So-net in September. So-net sent a team to Taiwan to interview him. Jimmy spoke in Japanese and recommended some local dishes for the Japanese audience. He spoke Japanese fluently and the interviewer thought that he learned the language before. But Jimmy said, “I used Romanized pinyin to memorize. I spent a lot of time memorizing it.”

Jimmy owns a racing team. He won 1st place in a race last month. He said he love to control steeling wheels. He can control cars. He wants to be able to control ships. He wants to film a movie about racing in order to show off his excellent driving skills.

source: http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Jimmy-Lin-going-to-get-a-yacht-operator-s-license-talk530408.html

Jay Chou envies his good friend for having a family and love

Yesterday afternoon, Taiwanese artist Will Liu, who came to Nanjing to be Jay Chou's star guest at his concert, participated in The Amity Foundation charity auction at Shanxi Road even though it was raining. They sold 40 T-shirts signed by Jay Chou, Will Liu, Jacky Wu and other artists and 10 CDs signed by Jay Chou, 20 CDs signed by Will Liu, all the proceeds will be used by the foundation for their charity work. Before the event started, Will Liu brought along his newly wedded wife Vivi Wang to do an interview.

A lot of the Mainland China audience only know Will Liu because he is one of "Jay Chou's buddies", fans started "hating" him when he played the big evil role in "Kung Fu Dunk", to this he laughed: "Me and Jay go back 10 years, back then the director invited me to play his friend in the movie, I rejected it, wouldn't you loathe having to play good friends when both of you are already such good friends privately, afterwards the director called me and asked if I was willing to play a baddie going against Jay? I was very happy. In the future I won't be playing his good friend in movies, but he's always playing the good guys, I can only play the baddie."

In Will Liu's wedding, best man Jay Chou grabbed all the limelight, but Will Liu didn't mind at all, "Everyone thinks he's popular, actually he paid a big price for it, like I'm quite familiar with Jolin Tsai and Patty Hou...when we were filming "Kung Fu Dunk", he talked about his anguish with me, including the complications with his girlfriend. I said you should write a song like this, because being your girlfriend she can't go to award ceremonies with you, and can't have dinner and go shopping...afterwards there was the song "I'm Not Worthy", Will Liu revealed that Jay Chou even envies him, "Sometimes I say to him, I'm not as popular as you, but can you be like me and magnanimously go public with your relationship? Can you enjoy the sweetness I have right now? It's because you are Jay Chou so you can't do it! So at a certain level he envies the fact I have a happy family and someone I love".

After being out for 5 years, Jay Chou's hasn't changed his shy and introvert attitude, until now whenever he has pressure on him he has to talk to his buddy Will Liu, "He's too popular and too busy, he has considerable pressure on him, sometimes me and my wife often get him to read the Bible and chat." Now Jay Chou has become his own boss, Will Liu often helps him share his stress, "After the performance yesterday he pulled us to his room to go online, he wanted me to help him look at finding actors for the new movie. I said we've been too busy recently we haven't seen each other very often, I don't want to come here to be a guest star just for work, can we not talk about work and just have a chat, the result was that we chatted all night, actually what you chatted about, it wasn't much, but we were especially happy."

source: http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Jay-Chou-envies-his-good-friend-for-having-a-family-and-love-talk530405.html

Kelly Chen "Fights for Love"

Hong Kong singer and actress Kelly Chen held a press release for her upcoming concert titled "Love Fighters", the Hong Kong based publication Tungstar reported.

The star, dressed in white, said she has been fully devoted to rehearsals these days and the dance practice was so intense that her feet were bruised.

Kelly also revealed that she has ordered a "Time Machine" from Australia, which will help her "transcend in time and space on the stage".

The concert will run from June 13 to the 18th and singer and actor Leon Lai will guest perform during the concert, the report said

source: http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Jay-Chou-envies-his-good-friend-for-having-a-family-and-love-talk530405.html