[Ta Kung Pao & Oriental Daily]

Bobby Au-Yeung and Sonija Kwok were filming for TVB's "Golden Egg of Ap Liu" yesterday and the scene told of how Bobby's character had failed with his business and then got caught up in a scuffle in a roadside cafe where he is beaten by a mob. Coincidentally, his character's girlfriend played by Sonija and his son are passing by and see him. Afterwards, he also had to film a scene where he loses his temper and pushes Sonija away. Sonija had jokingly warned him in advance to take care not to touch her 'important parts' as he waves his arms around during the scene. Luckily he managed to complete the scene without touching her and he later laughs: "If I am not to touch her, then I definitely won't!" Bobby's professionalism puts Sonija's mind at rest.

Later, Bobby's screen son, played by young actor Jacky caused quite a few outtakes and they had to repeat the scene nearly twenty times. However, Bobby and Sonija were very patient with the young actor and did not lose their cool and even patiently teaching the child how to do it again, showing their professionalism, even after Bobby had been lying on the ground for nearly an hour. Bobby does not blame it on Jacky and praises him for being really smart usually, in fact, he blames the NG's on himself, saying he became ill during the Chinese New Year period and he has not had time to get checked out, so after a few energetic scenes, he is feeling rather dizzy.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-1-30/UL-222910.htm
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a12cnt.html



[Oriental Daily]

The continuation to "Triumph in the Skies" is to be filmed at the request of the show's sponsors, but since the reports came out about this show's conception, there have been many other sponsors eager to pay large sums of money to become an exclusive sponsor for the show. After much negotiation, reports indicate that the contract has been won by a real estate company in Hong Kong, but they have also set criteria for the cast, indicating that Francis Ng must be in the cast. Originally, Francis had showed some interest in filming this show, but there are rumours that when he found out TVB stood to make a large amount of money by using his name as a selling point, he was not very happy about this, and as he is currently filming another advertisement, he has turned down the job.

When Francis was called and asked whether he was aware that the sponsorship contract had been won by a real estate company and whether or not he had pulled out of the filming, Francis seemed rather surprised as he responded: "Ha? Really? The reason I cannot film is because I have an advertisement for Sprite in China and I have to film there." Francis emphasises that he had already filmed part of this advertisement contract before he filmed "Triumph" and the results after its release was good, so the sponsors have extended his contract for him to film a fresh set of ads for them. Francis says candidly: "The salary for making adverts is obviously higher, it is all money!"

Despite the popularity of "Triumph" bringing fame to the cast members, it has not brought much in the way of material rewards for Francis. He says: "'Triumph in the Skies' has not brought me any more advertisement contracts, just that the sponsors have won the acceptance of the viewers. I had already negotiated this drinks commercial before the show, so don't think that I got the job because of "Triumph". It is because of this ad that I am not filming the continuation."

In response to this, producer Poon Ka Tak reacts excitedly: "Francis is not that kind of person, he will not be that materialistic. Artistes filming shows for TVB receive a set fee, for the company to then sell the show onto the sponsors is a different policy and a matter between the company and the sponsor. There are no conflicts of interests between the two. This is a sequel and not an advertising feature, the sponsors just buy the commercial break and will have no influence over the production."

With regards to Francis not being able to take time from his schedule to film, Poon says: "We don't know the broadcast date at the moment anyway and the time to film the show will only be about five to seven days. We have to decide the air date before we set the filming dates and I am busy filming my new show 'Family of Five', so I have to complete this before I start on the continuation piece. Of course, I would hope that all the original cast will appear and we will try our best to work around Francis. If we really can't do it, then there will still be many original cast members who will appear and there are many other story leads we can follow."

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a01cnt.html



[Oriental Daily]

"Virtues of Harmony" had a ceremony to open the new year yesterday and Cutie Mui and Louis Yuen were among those wearing masks because of illness. Louis had a fever when he returned home from work earlier, but he has not had time to go and see the doctor. However he points out that he has not eaten chicken or been abroad. As for Cutie, she has a touch of the flu and also neck pain from a previous injury leaving her unable to get up on Sunday. She says: "It was from the anniversary show six years ago when I was doing an item with Louis when I injured my neck through hitting my head on the ground. That morning it was so painful I couldn't get up, so I can't go waterskiing for now and my sister laughed at me saying that I could get in this way sleeping in such a big bed! I replied saying that if there was another person in the bed to do exercises with, then I wouldn't be in this way!"

Although Louis and Cutie both had flu, they had both taken the special medicine provided by Nancy Sit's herbalist, so they were fine. However, for safety's sake, they will not be heading overseas in February and will not be eating chicken. At the event, Nancy continued to hand out lucky packets to everyone generously as she laughs: "I have already handed out the $30,000 I prepared in lucky packets, but it doesn't matter because the more you give, the more you make as long as everyone has lucky packets to give. Once when I gave out less, that year I made less!"

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a15cnt.html



[The Sun]

Rain Li and her mother attended the Chai Kung temple because this year is a conflicting year for those born in the year of the pig, so she came to offer her respects to the Tai Sui God. Rain arrived at the temple for around noon and first bought a windmill to help bring good fortune. After entering the temple, Rain followed the instructions of the temple keeper, offering incense to each buddha in the temple and then praying for a fortune stick. However Rain was a novice and two stick fell out of the tube in her first attempt and she had to try again. Rain discussed her fortune with the reader for a while before performing another ritual to raise her luck and leaving in good spirits.

Afterwards, Rain said: "Every year I will come and pay my respects to Tai Sui, even if my sign is not in conflict. From what the temple keeper says, Sandra Ng comes here every year and managed to win Best Actress with the help of the gods. As well as making offerings to Tai Sui, I have also done a ritual to remove the gossipers and raise the fortunes, so I hope that my financial luck will be better this year! Last year when I was filming, I once only slept for two hours in three days, but my health is still okay, so this year, as well as wishing for more work, I hope that my colleagues and myself will have good health, then the busier we are, the happier we are!"

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040130/20040130003057_0003.html