[Ta Kung Pao 21/08/04]

The Miss Hong Kong pageant has been and gone and the three winners have been crowned, but there is still the opportunity of a career in showbiz for the remaining fifteen contestants as TVB arranged for them to have a screen test yesterday. From noon onwards, the girls made appearances in TVB City for their auditions and each of the fifteen read a scene that needed them to lose their temper, thus not requiring any inner acting abilities.

With her heart set on entering showbiz, Winnie Shum was asked if she has decided to stay and further her career. She says that she will decide after the audition. As for already being accepted by a Canadian university, she indicates that she was already accepted last year, but she could not do the subject she wanted, because she wanted to study nursing but she did not get enough points and so had to study nutrition instead.

Talking of some magazines publishing pictures of her boyfriend and dubbing him a "Tai Ping Road Nic Tse" because she lives in Tai Ping Road in Mong Kok and also indicating that he is a barman, Winnie says that she has told her boyfriend about the reports and after they read it, they could not stop laughing because they made so many mistakes about the identity of her boyfriend. She indicates that her boyfriend was in Hong Kong for a vacation and her mother does know who he is. There are also some suggestions that she is buying a property in Hong Kong so she can stay and work, but Winnie emphasises that it is her mother who is buying the apartment because she does not have any money. She says: "My sister and I will soon be finishing our education and we will then be starting work. If my mother buys an apartment in Hong Kong, then we will have a place to live if we decide to come back to find opportunities in Hong Kong and wouldn't need to stay in a hotel and even if we don't come back, then we can rent the apartment out."

Kayee Tsang would prefer to work behind the cameras, but she still joined in the screen tests yesterday, She says: "I did ask for advice from the crew during the contest and i would like to become a production assistant. Luckily I have finished my study now, so I do not need to make a decision between work and study and my family are very supportive, allowing me to follow any career I want to."

Jacqueline Wong would like to be a nurse and she has already found work as a nurse, but she still came along for the screen test yesterday. She explains that the only reason she entered the contest was to gather more experiences and taking part in the audition was for the same reason. Also Tiffany Leong and Lulu Ng are interested in entering showbiz.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-8-21/UL-296456.htm



[Ta Kung Pao 21/08/04]

Having been married for a while already, Priscilla Koo will be holding her wedding banquet today, inviting her friends and family for a delayed celebration. She laughs that she did not want to have a banquet, but her husband felt that it should not be so simple and would like one, so after a year, she finally made a decision.

For this banquet, Priscilla personally called all the guests and her friends are very amicable, offering to create some events and build some atmosphere at the party, some offering to be MC's and others taking their turn to sing, so the banquet may even turn into a golden oldies concert! Priscilla admits that her husband loves singing and she does not like it at all, but at the request of her husband, she will sing a little and hopes that people will not laugh. She also says that as they have already had their 'first night' as well as numerous honeymoons, but she points out that her husband is a very honourable man who keeps his word every time, so with this great directness and modesty, he is not only a good husband, but also a good friend.

In order to repay her friends' kindness and wishes, Priscilla has ordered some special Chinese cakes for the banquet to share the happiness of her marriage. The bakery also requested famous artist Ah Chung to paint some special pictures for her cake boxes using red and white in the design that shows a pair of flying love birds and the verse: "Having endured the wind and rain, Now lovingly flying together". Priscilla and husband Chan Si Wai's names are also printed on the box.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-8-21/UL-296459.htm



[Ta Kung Pao 21/08/04]

There were reports yesterday that Andy Hui is talking too much rubbish during his commentary of the TVB Olympic Games coverage and had received instructions from TVB to curb his comments. When asked about this when he appeared at an event yesterday, Andy asked in return which magazine that had alleged this. He then suggested the reporters should ask the TVB Variety show manager Wong Ka Leung, insisting that up to now, he has not received any instruction for him to be 'shut up'. When asked if TVB has asked him to be more careful with his choice of words, Andy says that he is already very wary and he will not give himself more pressure whilst working on this show.

Andy says that as a singer, then the pressure should arise from his performing work and as for being an Olympic host, there is an element of difficulty, for example, even if you know all your lines, then there may be a sudden change to the schedules and some very quick improvisation is needed, so this feeling gives him some excitement. He also admits that as a host for the games coverage, he is just a supporting role because the real stars are those people competing in the events. When asked if he will do this again in four years time for the Beijing Olympics, Andy says: "Of course, even if I am not a host, then I will still go to Beijing to watch the games."

Wong Ka Leung indicates there has been no instruction sent to Andy to beware of his words, but in order to avoid hosts repeating themselves, then they are always coupled with a professional commentator, so they will have the opportunity to share opinions and communication.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-8-21/UL-296460.htm



[Ta Kung Pao 21/08/04]

Alex Fong has completed his hosting work in Athens and returned to Hong Kong yesterday and reflecting on this trip to Athens, Alex says that it was not too hard but he has had throat problems recently that has not had a chance to recover and so he is a little worried upon his return because he has to start recording. Talking of all the rumours surrounding the TVB Olympic coverage, first with the suggestions of Alex falling out with co-host Michelle Ye and then the criticisms of Andy Hui and Vincent Kuk's lack of professionalism, Alex emphasises that just before leaving Athens, he joined with Michelle to have a meal with officials from the China Sporting Council and Michelle even introduced him to some of the female athletes, so they must be on friendly terms. When asked why they had not worked together on the same slot since the news of their animoscity, Alex explains that there were only four of them and they had to cover a lot of different competitions, so they had to head in different directions to report.

As for the attacks against Andy and Vincent, Alex supports them both for hosting the show from the audience's point of view and their role is to ask the questions about rules and details on behalf of the viewers and therefore injecting a more interesting element to the show. With the news of Hong Kong's "Queen of Windsurfing" Lee Lai Shan being disqualified for a false start, Alex was not aware of this before he left and he thought that she was still in the lead. He feels that there was no need for her to jump the gun and no matter what, he will still support his idol.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-8-21/UL-296462.htm



[Ta Kung Pao 19/08/04]

Jessica Hsuan and Sunny Chan were filming in Woo Kai Sha yesterday on location for new series "My Wife, Your Honour" and as the weather was extremely hot, whenever she had a break, Jessica was cooling off with her little fan and drinking lots of water. Luckily her great co-star Sunny is very optimistic and often makes the atmosphere very relaxed and comfortable.

Yesterday was also Jessica's birthday and she was asked how she would celebrate after work. She smiled: "I have to work until 3am today before I finish, so I can only celebrate with the crew. In truth, birthdays and festivals do not have much significance. I just want to work more and save some water (money) because I have sweated a lot today. (Will you be making up the celebration later?) I have already had meals with my fans, my boyfriend and my friends and I received a lot of calls today. (What did your boyfriend get you?) I will not say. (Did he give you a surprise?) The surprise was I did not know what it was."

As for her birthday wish, Jessica says: "I wish for good health because it has been twelve years since I entered the industry and my health is getting worse by the year and I have to pay attention to this, so I have now reduced my late night working because not getting enough rest is bad for health, but the work keeps coming in. (why don't you get married sooner then you don't have to work?) No, I love my work, so if I don't work I will become ill and I have just extended my contract with the company. (Do you hope to take the best actress award again?) Actually I am already happy at achieving this award before, so I will not wish for anything because awards are all about being the right person in the right place at the right time and I will not focus my attentions on awards, just on whether I am happy during the filming process."

Also, Jessica has injured the bottom of her spine during filming recently and when asked how she was, she says: "After an X-ray, it showed that there were no fractures, but I have a friends who has had the same injry and at first the X-ray showed it was fine, but it only started to hurt five days later when the MRI scan showed that there was in fact a fracture, so I will be careful over the next few days and not move around too much, but I should be okay. (You are wearing three inch heels for today's shoot, are you not worried this will affect your injury?) I can't help it, my role needs it."

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-8-19/UL-295607.htm