[Ta Kung Pao, Oriental Daily & The Sun]

Singing superstar Jacky Cheung made a guest appearance in TVB's youth drama "Prints on Red Sands" yesterday. Originally, he was to just play a passerby, but because it was raining, his role was changed slightly into a 'dopey man' looking for something on the beach during his brief scene that took just over an hour to film.

Having never appeared in a TVB series before, Jacky indicates this is because his work has been too busy and he has focussed his acting work in the past on movies. He has never made any series, only music specials for TVB. After his appearance this time, will he consider being a guest star later on for one or two episodes? Jacky says he will consider it, but he will have to see what the supporting cast are like and whether the script and director are good. Jacky also indicates that he will not be receiving a fee for his scene as he is just making a special guest appearance and he will treat it as though he is just passing by.

Although the shoot took place at the beach yesterday, Jacky says he was not surrounded by female swimmers and just had photos taken with the female cast members. Talking of plans for the future, he indicates that he has just been to Scotland and Japan on holiday with his wife and daughter and will soon be preparing for his daughter's entry into school. As honorary ambassador for the Hong Kong Disneyland, Jacky's first task will be to host a special show on "Disney's Fantasia" and in the show, Jacky will tell of his daughter Yiu Wah's recent visit to Disneyland and was captivated by her favourite Winnie the Pooh characters, chasing the guy in the Pooh costume, even forgetting her beloved father for a while.

Also, Vivien Yeo met Jacky for the first time yesterday and of course did not let go of a photo opportunity with him. She praised Jacky for playing his character very amusingly and with his constant smile, he was very friendly. She adds that she really loves his songs. There will also be a number of other famous cameos appearing in this series, joining Aaron Kwok and Andy Hui will be Jordan Chan, Ekin Cheng and Russian boy group Smash. Cheung Tat Ming will be playing an old woman and Alex Fong and Niki Chow will appear as a pair of lovers. Sammi Cheng is also trying to fit an appearance into her schedule.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-7-30/UL-288283.htm
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040730/20040730010215_0003.html
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a11cnt.html



[Ta Kung Pao & Oriental Daily]

Ada Choi appeared yesterday at a signing to become the spokesperson for a beauty centre alongside Tsang Po Yee, Cheung Man and Singapore representative Zhong Qin. Ada wore a fiery red stui and although it was very eyecatching, she was well covered up. On the stage, MC Chin Ka Lok joked about her romance with Zhang Jin and left her rather embarrassed.

Afterwards, Ada was asked if she minded Ka Lok's joking around and she said that she didn't mind, but she will not discuss her love life. Ada says that Ka Lok knows her quite well, so he dares to joke about it. Did he tell her about it beforehand? She says of course not, he just decided to do it himself, but she did not think anything of his words. Yesterday's spokespersons were mainly dressed quite seductively, but Ada seemed well covered up, does she not feel she would lose out to the others? Ada says: "Not really! I wouldn't lose out." She laughs that she has been the spokesperson for many years now and she should give the opportunity for the new spokespersons.

Ada's series "To Catch the Uncatchable" reached 31 points in its first week, gaining good results. Dayo Wong will soon be taking everyone out for dinner to celebrate and Ada says she will be there because Dayo had sent her a text message, suggesting that they pay for the meal together. Ada says: "I have not called him to tell him off for being so cheeky! I will still go though, I have to with such good ratings!" As the ratings are good, Ada does not mind paying for the meal. She says that this show has broken the record for first weeks ratings for any show and she hopes it will keep on improving.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-7-30/UL-288276.htm
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a07cnt.html



[The Sun]

Often giving people the image of being rather tough, Flora Chan was sighted enjoying afternoon tea yesterday in Admiralty, with a friend and her god-daughter. During this time, she often played with the little girl and lifted her up, even telling her to smile for the cameras as she showed a more feminine and maternal side to her.

At around 3pm, Flora was looking around a shopping centre and later, the three headed towards the food court of the mall for some food, when the little girl fell asleep in the arms of her friend. Flora did her part to help out her friend, cutting the food up into small pieces. Later when the girl woke up, Flora's friend took her for ice cream, before they headed off in Flora's car. When Flora noticed the press, she was very calm and said that as she had no make up on, she had to wear her shades, then she told the little girl to smile for the camera. When asked who the girl was, Flora says: "She is my god-daughter and has been for the last two years."

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040730/20040730010100_0003.html



[Ta Kung Pao]

TVB's "2004 Children's Songs Awards" will be taking place in TVB City on 29th August with 'Magic' as the theme of the show.

In the past, Lydia Sum and her daughter Joyce Cheng have sung children's songs together on the show, but as Joyce will be returning to Canada to prepare for the new academic year, she will not be making an appearance. In response to Joyce's recent apearance singing the theme for her slimming company and being praised by record producer Mark Lui as having great potential, Lydia was very happy about this, but says that everyone has some potential and that Joyce will be concentrating on her studies for now and therefore not entering the music industry. She insistat that this is not because she is opposed to it, but that Joyce does not want this herself, because she does not like being hounded by the press. She feels that as an artiste, you give up too much and you lose your freedom and privacy. Lydia says: "Joyce grew up overseas and of course she does not like this. I am even happier because being an artiste is very hard work. I have always been opposed to her entering showbiz, but if after university, she is still interested, then I will not stand in her way. However I do insist that whilst she is still studying, she should listen to me."

Lydia feels that Joyce's singing talent is from her father Adam Cheng, but even if she does not become a singer, she will not waste her talent because she may shine in another area. She says that all along, there have been many offers of press and radio interviews and advertising and stage performances for Joyce, but she has turned them all down because she does not want to make money through these means. She has only made appearances recently because of the great support her slimming company has shown her in the past year and they have not asked for a penny in return, so after this round of promotion, Joyce will return to a more normal life.

Joyce will be returning to Year 12 after the summer and will enter university next year, so this is an important year for her education and Lydia hopes she can concentrate on her studies and maybe read law or medicine, but Joyce has chosen Asian History, Japanese and Film Production as her subjects, so Lydia can only accept this. She feels that Joyce has a great affinity for languages and as well as Mandarin, her Japanese is also not bad.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-7-30/UL-288285.htm



[The Sun]

Gigi Lai was filming for "Healing Hands III" yesterday, holding Michael Tong's hand as they walked down a Wanchai street. She laughs: "It has been many years since I held a man's hand in the street! To be able to do this so openly, I am very happy!". Although Gigi has many men in pursuit, she is still single and she says that she often meets with love cheats: "It is so difficult to find a good man, I don't know where they have all gone. I feel that many men are players , I wonder if I am just unlucky and meet the wrong people, it seems that every one has faults. There are many women being cheated every day, you have to be very careful." However, Gigi hopes that she can find a good partner: "Although I have a fear of marriage, my family do hope I can find a good boyfriend. My criteria is very simple really, as long as we get on, then that's fine."

Also starring in "Healing Hands III", Bernice Liu and Moses Chan have been in Singapore, promoting TVB video rentals, together with Claire Yiu. Despite the reports of her 'split' with rumoured boyfriend Hawick Lau and his sightings in many clubs after dark, she seems unaffected by it all as she went about promoting her series "Virtues of Harmony" and "Survivors Law". As the leading female, Bernice was very popular wherever she went and was often surrounded by groups of fans as she played games with them, singing and dancing on the stage and chatting and joking with Moses. She says: "I hear the fans calling me 'princess' and I am very excited because it proves how much they are supporting me."

Bernice was very happy with this trip, but she says it was very rushed and she did not have time to go shopping. She also praised the high security standards: "Earlier, when I did a stage performance in China, it was very chaotic, so I lost out a little." Talking of Hawick being spotted in a club, she says openly: "There is no problem with that, I am concentrating on my work now and we have always been just friends."

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040730/20040730011338_0003.html
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040730/20040730011240_0003.html