Myolie Wu appeared at a promotional event yesterday to receive an award for "Greatest Potential" and "Fastest Progress" award for her career. Myolie reveals that there are several advertising companies in contact with her at the moment and she will soon be flying out to America and China to do some shows so her income has increased by a fair bit and her first 'bucket of gold' (HK$1million) is in sight. She says: "When I look at my savings book, I can barely believe it myself. At first, I wanted to buy myself a sports car, but later I changed my mind and decided to buy a second hand car. The thing I wish for the most is to be able to buy a house with 4 to 6 rooms so I can live there together with my family."

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030802/12/tche.html

Ronald Cheng will be taking on the role of MC at this year's Miss Hong Kong contest semi-final and he needs to be hung from a wire, dance and perform Kung Fu, all tough jobs, but the thing he fears most is getting the contestants' names wrong. He laughs that he has asked for some tips from Eric Tsang, who has suggested that if he forgets his lines then just improvise and he'll be okay, like that year when Eric was injured and Alan Tam had to take over, it was all in chaos.

With news of close friend William So's divorce, Ronald has called William who says he is putting his work first and is feeling okay. When asked about whether William is a bit of a raver, Ronald says that William is not really that much of a partygoer and will only come out when there is a meeting of friends.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030802/12/tcha.html

Although Aaron Kwok's contract with TVB has ended and he is back to being a free agent, his relationship with TVB is still good and was still invited to perform at the latest edition of "Jade Solid Gold". However there are reports that when he was being interviewed by Cable TV, he hid the fact that he was no longer contracted. He says that his work arrangements are left to his agent and he isn't too clear about when his contracts expire.

As for whether he will renew his contract, he says that this is in the hands of his agent who will negotiate with TVB, he says that he is no longer a newcomer and mutual respect is in the heart and not necessarily needed to be laid down in the terms of a contract. If Cable ask to interview him, will he refuse? He says he will handle this carefully. With TVB asking him to perform on JSG even without being contracted, does this indicate that TVB treasure him? He emphasises that he has a great respect for TVB and they have a good relationship, no matter whether or not he signs with them in the future, this respect will be lifelong. Is he worried that his chances will be lowered in the end of year awards ceremonies if he doesn't have a contract with TVB? He says that awards achievements aren't too important to him, to do one's best is more important.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030802/12/tch9.html

[Ming Pao]

Hacken Lee recently had his fortune read by Stephanie Che who told him that September would be a good month for his income. When he heard this, he was very happy because to get married, he needs to make money , so this is his priority at the moment. When it was suggested that he would be paying more tax if his income goes up, he laughs: "I don't earn as much as Alan Tam, to put it modestly I have earned a little more than last year, but at the moment I am just sowing the seed." When he had his fortune read, was he thinking about Miss Lo? Hacken immediately pretended not to understand, responding with: "Who?"

When it was mentioned that TVB will probably arrange for him to appear at the kickoff ceremony when Real Madrid play Hong Kong, Hacken says that he has not been contacted about this, but if he has the chance to stand on the same turf as Beckham, he will be very happy indeed.

Edmond Leung appeared in his "schoolboy" look at the event and looked extremely innocent. Hesays that this is his Form 5 uniform and all this time his figure has not changed. Edmond says he is pleased that his fortune tells that his relationship with his girlfriend will be steady as he hopes to get married when he is 35. When asked whether he was thinking of his girlfriend when he had his fortune read, he said that at first he was thinking about a football player, then he thought about his girlfriend.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030802/12/tch8.html

[Ming Pao]

International Latin Dance King Ricky Martin landed in Hong Kong yesterday in a private jet from Australia and checked in at the Peninsula Hotel. After half a day's rest, he appeared at about 4pm and boarded a helicopter from the roof of the hotel that took him on a luxury birds eye tour of Hong Kong as well as away from the waiting media. He was later spotted sampling Chinese cuisine at the Shangri-La Hotel and shopping at Shanghai Tang in Admiralty. When he was finally caught up with in Central, he was surprisingly friendly and was happy to have photos taken and give an impromptu display of his dance moves. The golden-haired lady at his side was quick to disappear back into the car though.

Ricky will be appearing at a press conference promoting his new album "Almas Del Silencio" before moving on to present an award at this evening's Miss Hong Kong pageant for TVB and then later at Metro Radio's Mandarin Hit's awards.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030802/12/tcgy.html

[Ming Pao]

Flora Chan appeared at the Hong Kong book fair yesterday at Hong Kong's Exhibition and Convention Centre at a signing session, together with Bowie Lam, of the novel version of "Miu Sau Yan Sum" (Healing Hands) that was very popular with over 200 fans queuing up for an autograph.

In response to the news of former co-star William So's marriage break up, Flora says that she isn't very clear about it and he didn't mention it when she called him last week. Flora talks from her own experiences as she says: "At first, the path will be a hard one to pass, but they are both optimistic people and they will deal with this properly; they are both good people and everyone cares for them, I am sure that they will both find their happiness in the future." Bowie Lam indicated that he doesn't really know William that well and having just returned from Japan, he only heard about this from Flora.

(report summarised)

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030802/12/tcgv.html

The semi-finals for the 2003 Miss Hong Kong pageant will be held this evening (3rd Aug) in Tseung Kwan O Broadcast City, the twenty contestants were in rehearsal yesterday wearing their bikini swimsuits and as they cast their own votes for their opinions on “Miss Photogenic”, the results were that Number 2 Cho Man Li received 9 votes and was the most popular, as for Number 7 Wong Chung Hei who has seen much of the press limelight, she didn’t even receive one vote. However she is still full of confidence in herself and confidently says that she will definitely shine through in the semi-finals and enter the final.

Tonight’s show will select the top 12 contestants to move onto the next stage and also select the winners of “Miss Photogenic”, “Miss Talent” and “The Perfect Team”. The contestants have all been split into one of four groups who have been allocated drama, singing, martial arts and dance as their act for this team award. With the slogan “Autumn, Water, Beautiful Ladies – Rising from the Ordinary”, Hacken Lee and Ronald Cheng will be the MCs, Yumiko Cheng Hei Yee will be performing in the opening scene and there will be a presentation of Edison Chen and Shawn Yue’s location films in Thailand’s Phuket.

During the rehearsals, the girls all voted for their own choices for “Miss Photogenic”, Number 7 Wong Chung Hei was very confident and even though she didn’t receive any votes she didn’t feel disappointed. When asked whether she was worried that all her negative press would affect her chances of getting through, she replied confidently: “I have never thought that I would not get through, the opinion of the judges is clear and I know I have the ability.” Mama Wong has also returned to Hong Kong to look after her daughter and will be there to support her tonight.

Number 2 Cho Man Li was very happy to have the support of her fellow contestants and her choice for Miss Photogenic was number 14 Tang Yuen Wai, but she has confidence in herself. She seemed to have a husky voice on the day and it turns out that she has been working so hard in rehearsals that she is starting to lose her voice. She praises her teacher Louisa So greatly as she has gained a lot from the experience.

Already awarded the “Ambassador of Tourism” award, number 11 Yeung Lok Ting also chose number 14 as her favourite for Miss Photogenic because she feels that she looks better on camera than she does in person. As for herself, she is also confident and thinks that as long as she performs well, then getting through will not be a problem.

Number 3 Shui Ming Lo has been picked as a favourite to be in the top three already and she says that this has not affected her because this is just the opinion of the reporters. She agrees that her interview technique is quite weak and she is a little worried about that, so she will ask her big sister Shui Ming Kei to help her practice a bit more.

http://www.singpao.com/20030803/gossip/422177.html

With the restrictions that TVB are laying on the appearance of their contracted singers on other TV channels, this has raised some criticism from the public. There have been accusations that in doing this, TVB may have breached Section 13 of the Broadcasting Regulations. Yesterday, TVB boss Ho Ding Kwan was quizzed about TVB's monopolisation and whether this is in breach of the rules, he revealed he is unclear about this and will be passed the relevant information from TVB's legal department.

Mr Ho says that if artistes have signed as singers, but appear in a different role at other TV stations then this is not a problem. As for Eric Tsang's comments that because TVB is so big it is affecting the progress of the station, Mr Ho did not comment on this.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030801/12/tc0a.html

[Ming Pao News]

TVB announced that the "Real Madrid vs Hong Kong" match to be held on 8th August will be broadcast live on Jade. The normal broadcasting schedules will have to make way for the match including "Aqua Heroes", "Virtues of Harmony" and "Not the Same Conversation". The match will be from 8:00 pm to 10:05 pm, so "Survivor's Law" will be broadcast after the match. Real Madrid will be playing four matches on their "Asia Tour", starting on 2nd August against the China Team of Dragons in Beijing, then on to FC Tokyo on 5th August and Hong Kong on 8th August. The final match against Thailand will be played on 10th August and all four will be shown on TVB's Jade and Pearl channels.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030801/12/tc0c.html

Stylish guy Alex Fong, nicknamed "Hong Kong's Richard Gere" is the Prince Charming for many a lady. At the age of 40, he is becoming more and more masculine but he refers to himself as a "Boring Egg", saying he is not the romantic type at all. At the same time, he hopes that his girlfriends can be very accommodating and never say no to him.

Alex and former Miss Hong Kong Mok Ho Yan have been dating for eight years and even he would never have thought their relationship could still be maintained up to now, to use the old cliche, it was a match made in heaven. He says: "It's a matter of experiences, when I decided to settle down, I met her and when we are together the most important thing is to be happy and get on with each other. Do you think I am still young? Having a different girl every day is left to the young ones, you can't expect me to still go chasing girls at my age! To be honest, I don't have the energy to deal with so many girlfriends, I'd rather spend it on doing exercise to keep fit and healthy instead."

Alex is of the "realistic" type, and together with the practical nature of Mok Ho Yan, they are absolutely made for each other, they don't like fancy details and the best thing is that she doesn't complain about him being boring. He takes a sip of coffee as he says: "I am absolutely not the romantic type of man, no surprises, no worries - totally realistic and I don't create any concerns for my girlfriend." Knowing Alex for so long, I know he is a very regulated person and he will never step over the line or become overly excitable, his rumours are totally minimal, so to be his girlfriend must be a great fortune!

Of course, Ho Yan has plenty of positive points, but her greatest one is she is very accommodating, Alex likes steamboat hot pot, so she will go with him and never say no. Alex asks himself: "What more do I want? Sometimes even my assistant gets bored and asks to go and eat something else, but she will not say a word... when you look for a partner, the most important thing is that you get on, appearances are secondary, but if I was still 20 years old, I would have a different opinion." He goes on to say the reason he likes steamboat is to do with beauty, he explains: "It's not so fatty! Usually I will go eat hotpot or Japanese food and go less to the Western restaurants because eating too much fatty foods is bad for your health."

Do you want to know the criteria in beauty that a stylish man looks for? It turns out to be very simple, says Alex: "The first is easy on the eye, secondly the way she handles people and situations." In his eyes, of course his girlfriend befits these two points, but you would never have imagined that cars and people can be compared in the same way. He uses a car as an example: at the moment he has three cars in his possession, two are Mercedes and an Alfa-Romeo. The car he uses the most is the cheaper Alfa, proving that a cheaper price does not necessarily mean it is not good, cheaper cars have their advantages and in the same way, people cannot be judged simply on their looks or their appearance, you have to agree with the man. When asked why if he gets on so well with Ho Yan, why doesn't he get married? He replies openly: "I just don't have the drive to get married." Don't you want to be a father? He smiles a little before replying: "I don't want to be a father, because this would spoil the fantasies of my fans, I am happy at the moment and some people get married and then still divorce! Like I was affected by my father into loving cars and this makes me a rather big spender, if I have a son like me and I can't give him money I'd be in trouble."

Recently, Ho Yan has successfully slimmed her figure, but his reaction to this is very calm as he says: "I see her every day so it's not much of a surprise, ultimately it is better to be slimmer because you will be heathier, but because of her work, she doesn't have much time to do exercise." Conversely, Alex is very dedicated to his exercise, as soon as he doesn't have to work, he goes down to the gym to work out, every week going five or six times, feeling uncomfortable if he doesn't do it. He laughs: "Sei Gor (Tse Yin) is my target, he is sixty but still so fit, he is so stylish and yet so fit and healthy.

Alex Fong is a lover of cars and has very high expectations of his cars, to the extent of being picky, he will not tolerate his dearest cars having any sign of a scratch. In his heart, is his car or his girlfriend more important? He doesn't reply seriously: "Of course the person is more important! However, girlfriends can be found again, on an economical scale, to find another girlfriend is cheaper than buying a new car."

It would appear that Ho Yan borrowed one of his Mercedes and accidentally damaged it on two occasions, making him very upset, but he wasn't angry with his girlfriend because ultimately, Ho Yan is far more important.

http://www.singpao.com/20030707/gossip/405156.html
http://www.singpao.com/20030707/gossip/405158.html

[Oriental Daily]

Nnadia Chan took part in a charity fasting activity together with Wong Yi Man, Bobo Chan and Tang Kin Wang yesterday. She was earlier worried that with Universal's recent ICAC investigations, this would affect the release date of her new album, but she revealed happily yesterday that she has been informed by her record company that everything is to plan and the release should be in the next two months. She also says her new album will be running along creative lines and the songs will be suitable for middle aged fans and also that during the promotion period of the album, she will continue to host TVB's "Jade Solid Gold" music programme.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030731/10/tba5.html

[Sing Tao Daily News]

With reports of TVB's decision to revise the contracts for their singers, after Jacky Cheung's open criticisms of the company, TVB's Golden MC Eric Tsang also openly criticised the company without reservation saying that this monopolisation is not a healthy sign. On the other hand, the usually outspoken Jordan Chan was so nervous about accepting an interview from Cable TV that he immediately apologised to TVB for his actions.

Eric Tsang has recently invested HK$11 million into a movie called "Dai Jeung Fu" (A Great Man) that he will both produce and star in along with Jordan Chan, To Man Chak and Lee Lung Yee. Always considered one of the favoured martials of TVB, Eric said: "The situation keeps changing without regulation and it is a matter of supply and demand. I originally signed up as an artiste and appearing in my capacity as artiste on other channels is not a problem." He frowns as he continues: "I think that a station that monopolises for too long is not a healthy sign and I agree that artistes should be allowed to appear on other channels and for there to be healthy competition. In the recent ten years or so, the TV industry has improved and without this comparison, the difference between the channels will be too great. There should be a choice in today's era as China and Taiwan both have other channels available." Should the government address this problem? Eric says: "They have as they released bidding for licences, but there was no competition and it went back on itself, it isn't healthy. (Is TVB complacent in its ratings?) There's no solution to this, to a certain extent the government should fund it, otherwise Hong Kong's position in South East Asia will gradually be lost. I have no idea how to rescue this."

The normally outspoken Jordan Chan muddled himself into a Cable TV interview yesterday and was very nervous when he found out: "Cable interview? I don't know, I didn't see. (There was a Cable reporter beside you.) What should I do? I will call Mr Ho later to say sorry. I am a little contracted singer to TVB, if they terminate my contract because of this, then there's nothing I can do." Jordan says that TVB has had this strategy for many years and no one has ever dared to object to it any attempts to revolutionise this has failed. Responding to Jacky's words, he says: "Let me become a big superstar first, I am just a little singer." Afterwards he went on to ask the reporters to be kind to him: "Because I didn't know that reporter was already doing an interview, I couldn't really shout at him, he is just doing a job."

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030731/60/tbbk.html

Series "Mo Ming Tin See 3D" (Nameless Angels 3D) was filming some location wirework in Yuen Long's Bat Heung yesterday and of the three main stars, only Charmaine was missing, with Shirley Yeung and Sonija Kwok accompanied by male co-star Mok Ka Yiu. Yesterday's weather was very hot and with the blazing sun in the sky, filming action shots for the two petite young ladies was very hard work, but as a gentleman Mok Ka Yiu really felt for them, praising the three of them for working extremely hard on the show and he didn't mind when the girls re-injured his old wound with their kicks.

Talking of action filming, Shirley is probably the most advantageous because her rumoured boyfriend's father Lee Ka Ding is the martial arts supervisor and so she can always turn to Gregory Lee for help, Shirley didn't directly respond to this comment as she replied: "If I needed help from him I would have asked already! I don't know if it's because the weather is too hot, but I have had a fever for the last two days so if I had the time I would rather go home and sleep." Sonija is the same, fighting every day until her arms and legs are exhausted so after work she is heading straight home to sleep.

In the show, the three girls play officers from the anti-terrorist activities squad and so there are naturally many fighting scenes. Mok Ka Yiu reveals that most of the time they do their own fighting scenes and he finds the girls are both courageous and hardworking and in comparison, he feels that Charmaine's skills are the best of the three, probably because she has filmed a lot of ancient costume dramas. However he agrees that for the three girls to have to wear all their heavy costumes and fight in them it is very hard work. He says: "In this wire scene today, there have been many takes and earlier, they kicked my hand and it has swollen up, but it is just an old injury."

http://www.singpao.com/20030801/gossip/421030.html

Dodo Cheng's guest on a recent episode of TVB's "Club House" programme was the Hon Mrs Rita Fan, president of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Cheeky Dodo reveals that she asked Mrs Fan why we can often see councillors falling asleep during LegCo meetings. She replied that even she falls asleep at two meetings in the year, being the "Finance Budget" and "Executive Reports". Dodo also reveals that Mrs Fan is actually very afraid of her husband, but she thinks that the normally very serious and proper Mrs Fan was very witty during the interview and is actually very nice!

http://www.singpao.com/20030801/gossip/421037.html

Some Kenix news requested by Tammy...

[Oriental Daily 25/07/03]

Having been in showbiz for a good many years, Kenix Kwok has had a good relationship with her viewers and has gained the support of a big group of fans. In order to thank them for their support, no matter how busy she is with her work, every year she will take time out to spend time with her fan club. A little while ago, Kenix too advantage of the beginning of the summer holidays and invited fifty of her fans, including some from Japan, Taiwan, America and Singapore to a party where they played games and fulfilling a wish of many of her fans to perform a scene from a show with the winner of the games, bringing the atmosphere to a climax.

Kenix fell in love with a T-shirt presented to her by her Japanese fans that had her image on it and she said happily: "Some of my fans have been behind me for seven or eight years so no matter how tired I am when I get home, I will go to their websites that they have made for me and see what they are talking about, with this group of people supporting me for so long, I am genuinely so touched."

Later, Kenix will be working together with Bobby Au-Yeung and Michael Tao in new show "Ching Chu Yu Nam" (From Blue Grows Green) and responding to Michael's return to TVB and another co-operation with her, Kenix can't help smiling as she says: "Of course he has to work with me for his first show upon his return, it has been seven years since I worked with Michael on "Ying See Jing Chap Dong On" (Detective Investigation Files), so you could call this the seven year itch!"

http://www.kenixkwok.net/big5/news/03-7/030725_2.htm

[The Sun 16/7/03]

Accompanied by boyfriend Frankie Lam, Kenix Kwok arrived at Yeung Wo Hospital to undergo corrective eye surgery to be performed by the rumoured boyfriend of Michelle Reis, Dr Cheung Shuk Ming. At about 1pm, Kenix was seen walking from the hospital with Frankie wearing an eye patch. When she was asked why she was at the hospital, she explained that she has about 200 degrees of astigmatism that is affecting her vision when reading her scripts. Wearing glasses would have been okay, but for the sake of convenience, she decided to have the surgery to correct it whilst she has some time on her hands. She says: "Although this operation is being sponsored, I feel that vision is very important so I intentionally came to see Dr Cheung for the surgery."

In fact for this operation, boyfriend Frankie Lam is even more nervous than her, not only asking about how dangerous the procedure is, but also under the permission of the surgeon, accompanying her in the operation itself, showing his care for her. Kenix smiles: "When he found out that after the operation I was temporarily unable to open my eyes, then even though he had to rush to work, he laid out some food, some water and some other things at my bedside and kept on calling me. I was quite touched!" When she was asked if she saw another side to her boyfriend after the operation, she said: "Seeing your boyfriend is not done with your eyes, it is done with the heart, fixing my eyes will only make the world clearer."

http://www.kenixkwok.net/big5/news/03-7/030716.htm

[The Sun 25/07/03]

After undergoing laser eye surgery, Kenix Kwok has been resting at home until she starts work again next month. During this time, she has also been learning Latin Dancing to upskill herself, but this is causing some jealousy with her boyfriend. After her surgery, Kenix said as she returned to the hospital for a check-up: "The doctor says that it is all going well and my eyesight will be back to normal within a month." Although the doctor has instructed her to protect her eyes and not to get them wet, Kenix is often very absent minded and made mistakes: "I can't help it when I am showering to splash myself getting my face all wet. Luckily my eyes are okay, just a bit of a fright."

With her recent spate of spare time, Kenix has been learning Mandarin, English, piano and Latin dancing, but in her dance lessons, this has caused some jealousy in her boyfriend Frankie Lam: "Because when Michael Tse heard that I wanted to learn Latin dancing, he immediately said to Frankie that it is very steamy because you have to slip your thighs between the other person's legs and you have to be very close to the teacher, scaring Frankie so much that he immediately told me to stop learning it!" In order to put his mind to rest, Kenix went along with his wishes and changed her dance steps: "Just using facial expressions to show the flirtation is enough to be very seductive. (Are you not afraid you will get too far into character and seduce your teacher?) No, the teacher is very experienced so it won't happen."

Kenix will be starting work on her new show next month where she will play a teacher along with Michael Tao and Bobby Au Yeung will be the headmaster, she will be the object of both of their desires, Kenix says: "I guess from appearances I would be more matched to Michael, but they are both great guys and filming should be great fun."

http://www.kenixkwok.net/big5/news/03-7/030725.htm

TVB's "Lut Ching San Yan Wong" (Survivor's Law) has had some good ratings with last week's average at 33 points and peak at 37 points (2.4 million viewers). Yesterday, the cast appeared at a boxing promotional event at a Thai boxing gym.

Myolie Wu says that with four relative newcomers taking the lead, they are all very happy with the great results. However some of this was down to the typhoon that kept people in and pushed the maximum ratings. Myolie will be heading to a show in New York in August for a six-figure fee. She says that working in America is risking her life, especially with the recent conflict between America and Iraq she is very worried about any terrorist attacks and will be taking up insurance before she goes.

Bernice Liu's skills were the best yesterday and she explains this is because she used to practice Taekwondo when she was younger. Sammul Chan was laughed at for being a weakling, but he explains that he has injured his eye with his contact lens and his vision is still a bit blurry so he is a little off balance.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030730/12/tacd.html

Winnie Yeung appeared at a promotional event for a famous French brand in beauty products yesterday together with many other beautiful girls such as Catherine Hung, Sze Nim Chi, Patricia Liu and Annabelle Lau. Winnie was named "Goddess of Perfection" and wearing a low cut dress immediately showed off her Latin dancing. She indicated that she is not the company spokesperson but she has always used this product brand. She seems to have more work after her marriage, she laughs: "I think so too, everything is so much smoother, the fortune teller did say that my husband and I will bring luck to each other."

After her marriage, Winnie seems to be beaming and she laughs that she can now concentrate on her work and not have to worry about not being able to get married. As for the title of "Goddess of Perfection" she says: "I don't think that being sexy is all about wearing less clothing, it's all about sensuality." When asked whether she has to pass it by her husband if she dresses sexily, she says that her husband will not mind, as long as she is pretty and comfortable, however she does admit that in her sexy outfit yesterday, she did feel rather awkward.

Earlier, Winnie had to interview Liverpool football superstar Michael Owen for a sports programme, she laughs that she even asked him for an autograph. She says: "I found him really good looking and really nice, he answered my questions with a great sincerity and will not simply humour you with his answers." She laughs that when her husband found out she was interviewing Owen, he was more excited than she was and was constantly reminding her to get his autograph for him. David Beckham will soon be arriving in Hong Kong and Winnie wishes she could meet him too, but she will be working in Malaysia so she won't have the chance this time.

http://www.singpao.com/20030731/gossip/420446.html

[Sing Tao Daily News]

Having been dubbed "Adopted Son of TVB", Hacken Lee supports them all the way when it comes to the company's recent tightening of singer contract conditions, saying that if singers aren't happy with it then they can just not sigh, but he has pledged his allegiance to TVB for life!

Hacken openly shows his feelings for TVB by saying: "The blood that flows in my body is TVB blood, it's red and sometimes blue and green, my TV at home is fixed on TVB, if TVB want me I would be happy to sign to them for life! Anyway, TVB's new terms are mainly to combat local TV stations where there is only ATV and Cable and just by looking at the ratings points, you should know to sign to TVB!"

Hacken appered yesterday at the signing of TVB's contract to air the FA Cup and as for Real Madrid's Charity Ball causing a big scramble for tickets, Hacken says: "I would rather be a commoner and watch it on the TV, for the two matches on the 2nd and 8th in Beijing and Hong Kong I will be hosting it."

Sports host Lam Sheung Yi openly announced that the Hong Kong team was not in with a chance at all, Hacken agrees: "Not having a chance is a truth, but to have the chance to play Real Madrid is a dream come true in itself for many of the players."

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030729/60/t9qe.html



Jojo Cho will be appearing at the arts centre on 10th August to take part in a Theresa Teng memorial charity performance and Jojo who has played Theresa in the past will be appearing in a different guise. She will be the lady on the moon Sheung Ngo and tell the story of Theresa's life through the legend. This time, Jojo has also personally choreographed the dances and she says that the performance was originally planned for May but it was postponed because of the SARS crisis; however she still went up to the mainland to seek the help of some professional choreographers. Jojo will not be paid anything for this performance because all the proceeds will be donated to the Community Chest. She laughs that she will have to pay for the costumes herself, but despite being out of pocket, she doesn't mind because Theresa Teng was her idol.

http://www.singpao.com/20030731/gossip/420456.html

Yesterday, Louis Koo was filming his music special "Ching Yuen Ga Fe Sat" (Romance Coffee Shop) and he has invited Eason Chan, Angelica Lee and Lei Ka Yee as his guest stars. Louis says he will have to take them all to dinner to thank them, especially Eason who agreed immediately, making Louis extremely grateful.

When it was discussed about TVB's prevention of its artistes giving interviews to other TV companies, Louis says: "As well as a singer, I am also a TVB artiste and although some things are hard to avoid, I will always respect the spirit of the contract." Louis says that his contract with TVB ends this year and admits that he has still not decided anything yet, but his first choice will be to stay with TVB. Many film companies have waved for Louis' attention but he says: "It's not confirmed, I haven't made any TV series for a long time now and I would quite like to make a 20 episode series." When asked about the incident where both he and Sammi both wore black at a recent promotion for movie "Luen Sheung Nei Dik Chong" (In Love With Your Bed) and his non-contact with Cable, Louis refused to respond.

Eason will be appearing in the special as an autistic man, wearing thick glasses and mussed up hair, making him stand out a lot. As for Angelica, this is the first time she has worked with Louis and she finds him really easy going and mischievous. She points out that Louis is a renowned good looking guy but she is not worried about attracting rumours.

http://www.singpao.com/20030730/gossip/419902.html

Yesterday, Aaron Kwok appeared at a promotional event for Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2003 yesterday together with Dodo Cheung, Lee Pang Fei JP and the twenty contestants, who met the judges for the first time. Other judges will include legislative councillor Ding Ng Sau and famous Japanese violinist Soko Nisizaki. In order to leave the judges with a good impression the girls toned down their behaviour and as well as being tested on their lingual and elocution skills, they also had to parade in their swimwear for the judges to clearly assess them. All the judges agreed that there is no unfairness in the competition.

It turns out that number 11 Yeung Lok Ting has been a giant Aaron Fan since she was in high school and to be able to get so close to her idol made her very excited as she wore a beaming smile on her face. As Miss Hong Kong judge for the first time, when Aaron found out that Yeung Lok Ting was a fan of his, he said: "To have someone like me, I am obviously happy but I will not give her high marks just because of this." When reporters asked Aaron to have a photo taken with her, he wasn't as friendly to her as he usually is to his fans and didn't look directly at her. He explained: "I didn't put my hand on her shoulder or look at her directly because I didn't want anyone to say that I am being biased towards her."

When Dodo was asked whether she spotted the 34D breasts of number 7 Wong Chung Hei, she replied: "I saw her when she walked towards me, they really are very eyecatching." With the recent rumours about the shady side of beauty contests, did TVB select her to be a judge because of her fair and just image? She said: "I don't know! TVB had already approached me a month ago."

Also, the contests Deputy Production Manager Rosa Chan poinsted out that she contacted Miss Pak about her comments and said: "Miss Pak says that the contestant she mentioned on that day turned down the executive's offer anyway, but the reports in the papers changed my meaning altogether."

http://www.singpao.com/20030730/gossip/419937.html

After a slight change of plan for Steven Ma's appearance at the Hong Kong Book Fair yesterday, he arrived an hour late and explained that he was delayed by a small matter which needed him to attend but his mood has not been affected. He said: "I am so sorry, I heard that people were waiting since 9:30 am for me to sign their books, I will have to see how I can give them their autographs."

Despite this, he rushed back to the event because many of his good friends from the industry were there to support him, including Lai Yin San, master Lung Koon Tin and Joyce Coi. Lai Yin San is one of the women interviewed in Steven's forthcoming book "Women in the eyes of Steven Ma" and others interviewed have also said that they would come and support him, but mainly on Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately, Steven will be heading out today to go and do a show on the mainland before heading up to Beijing and Shanghai and six other places on a promotional tour for two weeks, so he could only meet his friends yesterday.

http://www.singpao.com/20030730/gossip/419928.html

A TVB director and the enterprise managing director Ho Ding Kwan announced on the day of Cable TV Entertainment News Channel's opening day that they will be dealing strictly with any of their contracted singers appearing on other television stations. Those who break their contract will have it terminated. This news caused many singers to decline interview requests from any other visual media other than TVB and when faced with allegations that this is totally biased against Cable, Mr Ho points out they are not targetting any company in particular. He says: "You cannot say we are targetting them, contracts are constantly being revised and in the past we could accept artistes giving interviews in Mandarin, but it cannot be abused and they are doing this locally so it needs to be restricted."

As for artistes appearing in "Road Show", Mr Ho says that if this is in advertisement form then it is okay, but the details will need to be passed to the lawyers to deal with and he emphasises that they should keep with the spirit of the contract. As for Aaron Kwok being interviewed by Cable, Mr Ho says that they need to check whether Aaron is currently contracted. TVB will not force singers to sign with them as this is their freedom, but if they break the rules then this will be passed to the production department to deal with. As for artistes who think that appearing on more media sources to raise their profile, TVB thinks that the current promotional channels are already sufficient.

EEG's artiste section chief Mani Fok reacts to TVB's revision of their contract conditions by saying: "EEG's singers are all contracted to TVB and if TVB has this decision then we will respect this and co-operate by making the necessary arrangements." Although some of their artistes have appeared speaking in Mandarin on Cable's promotional films, Mani is not worried that TVB will be following up on this.

http://www.singpao.com/20030730/gossip/420010.html

This year's president of the Wai Yin Association, Anne Heung appeared with Lam Kei Yan and other members at Hong Kong Baptist University's "Super Summer 2003" activity yesterday visiting some children. Having taken over the position in June, Anne doesn't know how if she can manage it because of her filming , but she hopes she will do her best. Is she worried about any rumours? Anne says that she is not worried about this because she has worked well for three years as a member and any arguments are in the best interests of the society.

When asked about Miss Pak's comments about beauty contests being rigged, Anne doesn't agree, because all the judges each year are well known members of society and she laughs: "If they are being controlled that would be very degrading!". In the past she has also been the judge for Miss Photogenic award and she was very fair in her scoring, together with the auditors checking the results before checking them with the judges to offer any comments, she believes there is nothing untowrard happening. Miss Pak didn't name any names, but Anne feels that the innocent know this and she will not listen to any hints dropped because the audience can make their own minds up.

Lam Kei Yan reveals that earlier she has invested in a vegetarian restaurant and after opening everything has gone well and in just a month, the business is already very steady, she hopes she will start to make some money soon. After becoming the boss, she has treated some of her "meat-eating friends" to her shop to try out the vegetarian dishes there.

http://www.singpao.com/20030730/gossip/419956.html

Recently there have been reports that TVB is planning to film a sequel to "Ngong Fu Sing Lung" (Square Pegs) and also considering the addition of Myolie Wu as a stupid girl. In response to this, she says that at the moment she hasn't had notification from the company but she is very excited about taking part in this show and that this role would be very challenging for her.

Yesterday during a radio interview, Myolie says that she and the rest of the cast of "Lut Ching San Yan Wong" (Survivor's Law) are all very happy with the ratings of 31 points and hearing the praises from the people in the street has touched her greatly. Recently she has been filming with Wong He in "Jui Wan Gau Yik" (Trading Souls) and in one scene, she had to hit him over 50 times. She says: "After hitting him so much, my hand swelled up and it wouldn't stop shaking and I think he had to go home and put on a few plasters."

http://www.singpao.com/20030729/gossip/419302.html

Adam Cheng, Sheren Tang, Patricia Liu and Michael Tong all appeared at the opening and blessing of studio filming ceremony for telemovie "Hung Hang Geep" yesterday. Adam indicated that he will be filming a raunchy scene that tells of Sheren trying to seduce him, but Adam doesn't take the bait because he is sleepy so he refuses her advances.

In the show, Adam has many close scenes with his co-stars, when he was asked whether he has asked permission from his wife, he indicated: "I have to report every time! The first day I worked with Patricia I had to kiss her, my wife doesn't let me kiss her so I can only do it when I am filming!" When asked whether Adam has any feelings when he has steamy scenes with Sheren, he says: "At the time of the kiss then of course there if feeling, otherwise how can you act it?"

Yesterday, Sheren appeared dressed rather seductively and pointed out that she is only dressed like this because it was necessary for the script, in the show she is not only Adam's wife, but also Michael's lover with many racy scenes that are proving to be a great challenge for her. Sheren reveals that Adam has been teaching her how to convey emotional scenes as she says: "Adam says that you have to have very soft and small eyes and relax your voice to be very flirtatious."

http://www.singpao.com/20030729/gossip/419270.html

Victoria Jolly was filming for TVB's new show in a windsurfing shot on Sai Kung's beaches together with Mok Ka Yiu and Wong Yu Si. Victoria says she does not know how to windsurf as she has only tried it once before in Thailand; however she really loves the deep sea activities, especially diving because she can see all the wildlife on the sea bed and she thinks it is all very beautiful.

Seeing that she has a little fake butterfly tattoo on her waist, Victoria was asked whether she would really have a tattoo done. She says: "No, because my dad won't let me, and also the things that society likes change so quickly and after it has been done then you can't keep changing it. I know that some fake tattoos can be kept for as long as a month, but when I try I can only keep it for about four days, probably because I am always going swimming."

Victoria says that she rarely goes out to see nowadays because each time will take at least a day and she is too busy with filming to have the time, so she would rather spend her spare time sleeping after entering showbiz. She also points out that she is now used to working day and night and sometimes sleeping in the car for 15 minutes is enough.

http://www.singpao.com/20030729/gossip/419316.html

Steven Ma opened his new branch of his publishing business after the success of Kinston Publications and his first two books in the "Steven Ma True Tales of Society" range. Soon he will be appearing at the Hong Kong Book Exposition in a capacity as a publisher as well as an artiste. Yesterday, Steven appeared with two of his newly published authors Yiu Chi Hong and Ngan Yin Man to perform a miniature lion dance and pork blessing ceremony and announcing that at this year's Book Fair, the distributors have offered him a stall free of charge to promote a total of five books and as the annual fair opened today, he will be doing a book signing for an hour after it opens.

When Steven first set up his publishing house, he was met with many problems with everyone asking why he was throwing away his money. Now, his first print of his latest book numbering 2000 copies has been sold out and a second print run has been offered, providing him with enough profit to publish another book, as a publisher he sees this as a great achievement. He says: "I feel that being a publisher is better than being an artiste, however I will continue to be an artiste as I have already accepted a lot of work, but I will gradually put more time over to my publishing. When people call me chief, I am very excited because I never thought I would ever become a publishing chief together with the identity of an artiste, this really is an interesting feeling."

Steven was then asked whether he was not optimistic about his future as an artiste, he points out: "I am absolutely optimistic, 'Gam Pai Bing Yan' (Better Halves)'s finale reached an average of 33 points peaking at 41 points and this result made me feel very motivated; also I have just released a new compilation album for a week and together with the earlier 'New Princess Flower' the results are not bad. (What is happening about the copyright with that?) There is no problem, all my albums are passed through CASH to be OK'ed before I use the songs."

In order to prepare for his next book, Steven will be spending the next few days with the Youth Aid charity workers and ministers to go down to the city to meet some young people living life 'on the edge' to find out more about them, he says that he is very excited about this and he will be appearing in a skater look in order to communicate with them better.

http://www.singpao.com/20030729/gossip/419262.html

Nancy Sit appeared yesterday in Tin Shui Wai where she did a store opening for the cake shop that she represents, together with the lion dancing ceremony, she attracted a crowd of over a hundred people and the atmosphere was very lively. Earlier, Nancy had appeared in a kimono look to make an advertisement for these mooncakes and originally she had intended to appear with this look again but because she is afraid of the heat and everyone has already seen this look, so she changed her image again. In the past, all TV serials were not allowed to advertise any products, but because the government has recently relaxed these rules, companies wishing to promote their products can now buy airtime in the shows themselves and this bakery has won the contract for its mooncakes and bread to appear in "Gai Dai Foon Hei" (Virtues of Harmony II), so the cast in the show are always eating bread. Not just bread, the cast of "Virtues" have also been using 'White Flower Oil' for their headaches and will often go into the kitchen to use the tap because even water filters and drinks companies are offering sponsorship.

Will Nancy receive a big bonus for introducing such a big sponsor to the company? Nancy laughs: "I haven't discussed it, I will have to talk to the company. I feel that the product placement within the show is beneficial to both parties. (What if the artistes themselves are contracted to other products?) I am also sponsored by other products, so I will just have to be careful." Then she laughs again that she has a lot of little actions to show the products, but with so much advertisement aren't they afraid the show will just become an advertising feature? Nancy points out: "The effect is even greater than advertising, take for example, the whole cast of 'Virtues of Harmony' must all use the same sponsor's make of phone, otherwise they will have to refilm, so she wants to suggest to the sponsors to offer each cast member one of the latest models." With these perks, will she be getting paid more to be spokesperson? She laughs: "Yes!" As for the boss of the bakery Mrs Lee, she says that the advertisement as well as the copyright to enter into the series amounts to a seven figure sum per year.

http://www.singpao.com/20030729/gossip/419318.html

Annie Man will be taking on the role of MC for the first time at ths year's "Children's Song Gold Awards Ceremony" and yesterday she warmed up at a voting promotional event. Although she fluffed her lines a little bit, she still thinks she did okay and gives herself 60% pass, believing that she will do better on the night. She also laughed that this year she will be working with Edwin Siu and the brand new Miss Hong Kong so if there is any fear, they can be scared together, however Lydia Shum and Ander Jen will be looking after them so she isn't too worried.

http://www.singpao.com/20030728/gossip/418686.html

TVB's new show "Luen Ngoi Jee Yau Sik" (Aqua Heroes) will begin airing tonight and Edwin Siu, Bobo Chan, Theresa and Stephy were among the group of cast members who were at a promotional event at Sai Kung's outdoor training camp. They were split into two groups to play games that included climbing a high wall and a human ladder. The team led by Bobo Chan lost and were subjected to a big punishment that was a soaking from the other team. Eventually it became a mutual soaking for them all and only Leila Tong ran fast enough to avoid getting wet.

Edwin went on to throw a bucket of water over Stephy and when he was asked whether the group of girls would go mad at him, he said: "No, we always play like this, throwing people in the water and if everyone's happy then it's ok." He says that the cast often go out to eat together but there have been no single dates, because he feels it is more fun in a big group. Earlier he mentioned that if the ratings hit 42 points he will wear a T-back and he said that as they were so happy then he definitely would. As for Stephy, she seemed very afraid when they climbed the wall, but she says she was only afraid that she is not strong enough and as she has a bit of a cold she is worried that the soaking will make her ill. Stephy was totally soaked, as was Theresa who was still nursing her leg injury, but still laughed as she said that in this show they were always getting picked on by the guys and were helpless against them.

http://www.singpao.com/20030728/gossip/418711.html

Miriam Yeung, Jordan Chan, Kelly Chen, Cerina De Graca and Eric Tsang all took part in a special promotional show yesterday where one of the games involved a chance of winning one of two apartments in China, one for the artistes and one for the audience. Cerina successfully won the apartment valued at HK$480,000 and she said: "I am so happy, this is the first time I have won such a valuable prize, I will definitely take everyone out for dinner."

During filming of the show, there was a small accident where in a part where they were playing with paper bangers. Playful Timmy Hung threw one at Eric Tsang's feet and when it exploded, it injured Eric's right foot resulting in him limping a little later.

When it was discussed about changes to TVB's contracts, Miriam Yeung responded: "I don't know, I will just have to be more careful, but they will warn me when I do interviews." She indicates that she hasn't filmed any promotional shorts for Cable and doesn't feel she will lose out on exposure by not being in contact with Cable, because there are still many other channels and she is used to this. When asked whether she feels that TVB are being very strict, she says: "When I signed my record company I also signed for TVB, so it doesn't really affect me."

Miriam also revealed that when she does media interviews, there are lots of microphones and she suddenly realised there was an ATV mic sign there, so she took the mic and gave it back to the ATV reporter. The TVB cameraman couldn't help laughing at her, but she felt that she couldn't be interviewed by ATV because that was taking things too far.

http://www.singpao.com/20030728/gossip/418701.html

Lei Ka Yee recently took part in a slimming advertisement and hinted that she will soon be hosting a certain music show, this was later followed by rumours that she will soon be taking over the Jade Solid Gold host spot from Nnadia Chan, but after the news broke about the ICAC investigations, she quickly pulled out. Yesterday, the two ladies in question finally met on a radio broadcast with RTHK.

Nnadia says that she didn't read the relevant reports, but managed to hear from friends about this, she responded with a "not bothered" reaction and didn't feel awkward when she met with Lei Ka Yee. Nnadia says that JSG changes hosts from time to time anyway, but feels there is some chaos with the company recently so she daren't ask about it too much, moreover she will be releasing her new album next month.

Nnadia says candidly that she has already signed with Universal for a period of time and the reports about the corruption will have an effect. She had to leave early because she had another engagement, but at the request of the reporters, she was happy to wait ten minutes for Ka Yee so that they could have a photo taken together.

When Ka Yee saw Nnadia, she was not embarrassed at all because she feels that the reports were all just copying off each other, she feels she has no need to explain anything and will leave this to her management company to sort out. When she found out that Nnadia was waiting for her for ten minutes for a photo, Ka Yee asked everyone to thank Nnadia for her.

http://www.singpao.com/20030728/gossip/418694.html

Recently there have been reports that Steven Ma's "New Princess Flower" album may have legal implications, but Steven responded to this when he appeared at an event, he said: "At the moment I am unsure of any new developments as it is in the hands of the company and I haven't been briefed, but the company has said that there is no problem with the lyrics. I fully respect Mrs Lau and the record company will be passing the information to her, it's probably just a misunderstanding."

When it was mentioned about TVB's prevention of artistes appearing on Cable, Steven says that he has a singer as well as actor contract with TVB. At the moment, Candy Lo is going against monopolisation, saying she may consider not signing again, when he heard this, Steven said: "Wow, so serious! I don't think it needs to be so serious, everything should be done peacefully. I am not standing up for TVB, but everyone's contract is different and it should be discussed in good time."

Steven points out that when he is away from Hong Kong in other countries, he will only speak in Mandarin: "I haven't been interviewed by Cable, maybe they understand my identity. (Will you take care not to breach your terms?) I will respect the contract conditions and I believe that TVB will not act on one or two mistakes that artistes will make, but this will have no effect on me anyway." He also laughs that his contract with TVB will be up next year so he will check through the relevant conditions then.

http://www.singpao.com/20030728/gossip/418659.html