[Ta Kung Pao, The Sun & Oriental Daily 31/08/04]

A group of cast members from "Twin of Brothers" including Raymond Lam, Ron Ng, Tavia Yeung, Nancy wu, Christine Ng and Leila Tong took part in a charity event for Po Leung Kuk yesterday, playing games with the students. As it was also Tavia's birthday and with Ron and Nancy also celebrating birthdays on September 2nd and 9th respectively, the three were presented with a birthday cake and wishes from the rest of the cast.

Tavia is currently filming for new series "Imperial Layabout" and she says that her birthday wish is for good health, to make more money and for everything to go smoothly. What will she do with the money she earns? She says: "I hope that my family can have a more comfortable life and to be able to start a little business of my own. I don't wish for romance, just see what comes along."

As his birthday is very close to Tavia's, Ron will be taking her out for dinner to celebrate. When asked if he will introduce her to his friends, he laughs: "Choosing a boyfriend is all about personal preferences and I do not have anyone to introduce her to, but I hope that she will find the one this year, so I can take them both out next year." Ron was wearing shades throughout yesterday's event and it turns out that he has just had a moulding of his face done for new series "Courageous Kunlun", but this has caused a skin allergy on his face.

Egged on by Lo Chun Shun and the other cast members to give Tavia a birthday kiss, Ron just gave her a peck on the cheek and this was returned to wish him a happy birthday for the 2nd. Tavia indicated that she will be celebrating with her family after finishing work. She says: "When I was filming for 'Imperial' yesterday, the crew bought me a cake and I received some presents from my fans. Adam bought me a cheesecake and gave me a birthday kiss."

Raymond returned from filming for "Tossing Rain Turning Cloud" in Beijing for the event and sported a large bruise on his arm. He explains that this was caused by an accident where it was caught in the door of a van and when the accident happened, it was a full five minutes where he could not speak because of the pain. Only after much rubbing did the pain subside. With his earlier injuries to his back whilst filming for "Twin" leaving him with a scar on his back that scared his mother when he returned home and these new injuries, does he feel that the more injured he is the more famous he becomes? Raymond laughs: "What? I don't know about that!"

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-8-31/UL-300285.htm
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a25cnt.html
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040831/20040831011227_0003.html



[Ta Kung Pao 31/08/04]

Roger Kwok, Myolie Wu, Cherie Kong, Kenneth Ma and Wong Yeuk Tung were among the cast members from "Same Work Same Bowl" who headed out to Zhongshan yesterday for the location filming. As this shoot will only last until mid-September, they did not take too much luggage with them. Although she was unwell, Roger's girlfriend Cindy Au still saw him off at the port they seemed very loving towards each other. They indicate that this is because they have been apart from each other a lot recently, with Roger only spending just over two months in Hong Kong, so they have to make the most of their time together.

When asked if she will be visiting her boyfriend in Zhongshan, Cindy says that she will not because she has some stage work to do and although one of the stops is in Zhongshan, this is after Roger has finished filming there. Roger also says that she does not want his girlfriend to come and visit him because he is worried about her safety whilst travelling. He says: "This is only a short time away from each other, we have been apart for six months before. If I accept another mainland series shortly, then we may be apart for a while again." He admits that he has been away from his girlfriend a lot this year, only spending two months in Hong Kong and with this shoot for "Same", that has been cut down to just over a month. With the saying: "Absence makes the heart grow fonder", have they found their relationship growing stronger? Roger laughs: "There is nothing unusual that has happened between us, so I don't feel anything particularly good about it. Although we miss each other, we are used to it now."

As Myolie had to host the closing ceremony for the Olympic Games, she was only able to return home to pack at 5am and catch an hours sleep before heading out to the harbour. Luckily she does not have to start working straight away when she reaches Zhongshan, just appearing at a short ceremony before being able to rest. Among Myolie's luggage are the boredom-busting VCD's and CD's as well as some cup noodles for emergencies because she does not know what the food will be like there.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-8-31/UL-300274.htm



[Ta Kung Pao 31/08/04]

At the request of Nanjing Television, Steven Ma was invited to take part in one of the top rated variety shows alongside other guests such as Bobby Au Yeung and Flora Chan. During the show, Steven had to do a comedy sketch with host Chen Yi, where he played Popeye and had a great time. Steven's series "Where the Legend Begins" and "Perish in the Name of Love" have both aired on mainland television and he has many fans in China. During filming in Nanjing, he received a rather special gift from one of his fans. Steven explains: "One 19-year old female fan has taken a year to write a 100,000 word novel for me using my own experiences as a blueprint for the male lead."

The fan passed the manuscript to Steven backstage and left him very touched and surprised. Her sincerity really shocked Steven and the story tells of Steven's former life being that of a monk, so in this life, he also has a very strong link to Buddha. He agrees with this theory and he hopes to be able to publish her work or pass it to a director to see if it can be made into a film.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-8-31/UL-300277.htm



[The Sun 31/08/04]

Raymond Lam took part in a promotional event for Corum watches yesterday, modelling the latest unique designs in the sailor's range. As a guest model, Raymond showed off a Trophy 41 model worth $20,500 but later indicated that he preferred the $39,900 Chronograph watch. The organisers knew what to do and presented him with the more expensive watch as a gift.

When Raymond was asked if he collected watches, he said: "Not really, because I have to change a lot when I am filming and it is easy to lose it. (Have you bought a watch for your girlfriend?) No, because I don't have a girlfriend to buy for."

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040831/20040831011404_0003.html



[Oriental Daily 31/08/04]

Since finding fame in "Triumph in the Skies", Joe Ma has been heavily promoted by TVB, with one series after another as well as hosting the Olympic Games coverage. Together with the endless stream of advertisements, Joe has finally risen to become a luxury homeowner.

Joe originally lived with his wife and son in a rented apartment in Tseung Kwan O, but he has recently bought a 16 year old luxury villa in Sai Kung for over $4 million. The house is 1200 square feet with a 1000 square feet rooftop and an average cost of $3,300 per square foot.

Reports from the estate agencies reveal that Joe agreed on the sale just a week after viewing because the demand for these properties is very high and the house has open surroundings and a beautiful view, hence speeding up Joe's decision. When asked about this, Joe indicated that he has bought a property, but was reluctant to reveal any more information.

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a05cnt.html



[Oriental Daily & The Sun 31/08/04]

When TVB covered the opening ceremony for this year's Olympic Games, they received much criticism over the poor commentary, so with this in mind, TVB passed the order to their hosts to keep their mouths shut and not talk so much rubbish over yesterday's closing ceremony. However, with more errors in the reporting, over ten further complaints were received. Even though the Olympic Games are over for another four years, the complaints keep rolling in and the HKBA also received six complaints about the hosts saying the wrong thing, such as referring to the Mayor of Athens as the Mayor of Greece, misunderstanding the meaning of the Chinese flag and airing too many advertisements.

As for the heavily criticised Michelle Ye, she seemed to have less to say over the closing ceremony, but when a voice that was suspected to be hers referred to the Olympic stage as resembling 'mosquito incense', then this was picked up as being rather disrespectful. Broadcasting critic Cha Siu Yan then went on to ask: "What happened to the six Olympic stars? Why was there only Sammul Chan left at the end?" However, TVB external affairs assistant director Tsang Sing Ming indicated he was very pleased with the performance from the hosts and there is a marked improvement with complaints falling from over 30 at the beginning to just over 10 at the end. When asked whether Vincent Kuk had been kicked out and hence his absence, Mr Tsang explained that Vincent was only able to host until 26th because of his movie filming schedules.

As for Alex Fong who was appearing in a Children's song awards show, he indicated that he did not believe that Michelle has been left out of the forthcoming Chinese medallists celebration as he says: "With so much news before, if they were to kick her out, then they would have done it then. I will be interviewing the swimmer Liu Xuejuan at the event and I am very happy about that."

TVB are currently working hard to prepare for the celebratory show next week, but are awaiting finalisation from Beijing about who will be appearing. Many of the local singing stars would like to duet with the athletes, but there are indications that the Beijing authorities were not too pleased with this four years ago, so TVB will be avoiding the same thing happening again.

The police are also taking a very stringent approach to security at the event, rejecting any potentially dangerous suggestions. Reports indicate that there was a suggestion for the Women's Tennis Doubles Gold Medallists Sun Tiantian and Li Ting to hand out signed tennis balls to the audience, but this was stopped by the police who say that this would cause chaos and requesting TVB to rethink.

As every member of the audience will receive a special memento keyring with a photograph and printed autograph of a Chinese athlete on it, then this will be a very precious souvenir and it will be a lottery to see who receives the keyrings featuring the more popular stars such as Li Xiang and Tian Liang. To bring the audience into the atmosphere, there will be competitions and drawns with the complete sets of keyrings and signed photographs up for grabs.

The master of ceremonies for the event have been confirmed as Nat Chan, Winnie Yeung, the already heavily promoted Miss Hong Kong winner Kate Tsui, sports commentator Chung Chi Kwong and Derek Lee.

Also, TVB reported last week's ratings, with the Olympic Closing ceremony gaining 7 points (approx 450,000 viewers), first week "War and Beauty" did well reaching 30 points (approx 1.97 million viewers) and will be holding a celebration on Thursday. Also, TVB received a further three complaints regarding the new ending to "To Catch the Uncatchable", including viewers unhappy about the short ending and others requesting a sequel.

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040831/20040831010814_0003.html
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a02cnt.html