[Ta Kung Pao & Oriental Daily 29/11/04]

"Santa's Grotto Stars" Sonija Kwok and Louis Koo were the guests at the switch on for some Christmas illuminations at a shopping centre yesterday and they were dressed up very formally and looked like a pair of newlyweds, with Sonija appearing in a red evening dress, coupled with jewellery worth about $10 million, whilst Louis wore a very smart suit. At the event, they told stories to some children who were all dressed in red and white santa outfits. Maybe it was because they had once been rumoured to be dating, but they seemed rather awkward in each other's company and exchanged very few glances and even fewer words. Afterwards, Sonija indicated that there was no embarrassment working together and although she has not seen Louis for a long time, they will still say hello to each other when they meet.

Sonija will be enjoying a white Christmas in Beijing as she will be heading out there next month to film ancient drama "Jianghu's Wandering Sword" and she will be there for four months, together with Sunny Chan, Kenny Ho and two Taiwanese stars. She says that this will be the first time she has been apart from her boyfriend for Christmas, so will he be visiting her? She laughed that the topic always comes back to this, but says that she is concentrating on her career, so she does not know if her boyfriend will be visiting her yet. Will she be giving him a Christmas card in advance? She says that she will already be bringing a lot of things with her and she does not send cards anyway, so maybe she will just send him a Christmas email or text message instead.

Louis has spent the last few Christmases in Hong Kong and he hopes to experience a white Christmas, where he can eat turkey with his family in front of a roaring fire. In order to build up the atmosphere, he will be decorating his home and last year, he bought a stable setting, a five foot tall father christmas and angels. When his parents came out and saw it, they were very shocked. He laughed: "Never mind them, when I went to the toilet at night, then I found it scary when it seemed like a big family were sitting in my lounge." When filming an advertisement for Pepsi, he injured his collar bone, leaving it slightly detached and it needs a month to recover. He will continue filming today, but luckily it is all just dialogue scenes.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-11-29/UL-335487.htm
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a24cnt.html



[Ta Kung Pao 29/11/04]

The 12th Mai Po Charity Walk was held yesterday to raise funds for the World Wide Fund for Nature (HK)'s Educational Trust. The guests of honour was Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Henry Tong, Daniel Wu and representatives from this year's Miss Hong Kong winners, Kate Tsui and Fu Sze Sze.

This was Daniel's first trip to Mai Po, but he is no stranger to the area. He says that every year, 5,500 birds will migrate to the marshes, so it is an area that needs much protection. However, he is not very knowlegeable about the actual bird species. In December, he will be heading out to Shanghai to film for Stanley Kwan's new movie version of "Song of Everlasting Sorrow". There have been reports that filming of this movie has been delayed because of it having to fit in with the schedule of female lead Sammi Cheng, but Daniel says he has not heard about this.

Daniel will be in Shanghai for a month and as he is a Shanghainese, then he knows the city quite well. In the film, he will have a lot of scenes with Sammi. Talking of Edison Chan's sister Chan Kin Fei being charged and found guilty of drug possession, Daniel did not know about this as he has not been in touch with Edison for a long time now. He feels that if they had made the decision to do this, then they have to face the consequences.

Kate says that she usually likes to go hiking and although there have been some crimes on hikers, she will not be too afraid because she will often go with a big group of friends and there are often community patrol groups around. Meeting the financial secretary Mr Tong at the start of the walk yesterday, Kate said that he was very friendly.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-11-29/UL-335485.htm



[Ta Kung Pao Special Report 29/11/04]

Since moving over to the variety show team, Cutie Mui's appearances on screen have reduced greatly and with the promotional focus being moved to the newcomers, is she starting to lose faith in her performing career?

Cutie admits that her appearances have reduced, but this is through mutual arrangement with the company in the hope that she can spend more time filming externally and diving. She says: "TVB is a large organisation after all and it is the best port to be moored with. Many stars here and abroad have found fame after appearing on TVB and in the next five to ten years at least, TVB will be a stable place to be, so I will not be leaving them."

Cutie admits that no matter in work or love, she is still full of hope and laughs: "If I was always very negative, then I would be better changing careers, but I feel I am suited to this industry because I am not very ambitious and I do not get jealous of others easily. In truth, since entering showbiz, I feel that I have built a great relationship with the viewers and this is my fortune." Cutie filmed a series in the mainland "Liaozhai" and the response was quite good, so she intends to sign a mainland manager to find her some work.

As well as performing, Cutie is always trying to improve herself, so she has been taking courses in English earlier and is now learning to play the Chinese Harp, clay making and Mandarin. She also intends to get a diving certificate. She smiles: "In showbiz, sometimes you are mad busy and other times, you have too much free time. If I take advantage of the free times to better myself, then when the chances come along, I am in a position to grasp it."

Recently, Cutie has become a great fan of diving and although under the strong sunshine, she has gained a lot of freckles on her face, this has not put her off because she has been to the beauty parlour to remedy this afterwards. Each time she goes diving, she will then pay a visit to the beauticians for treatment, so her skin is actually better then before. Cutie reveals that she was introduced to diving by Vivian Lai and Calvin Choi. As for why she loves it so much, she says: "Because when I look at the limitless open sea, then I will feel very comfortable and it lifts my spirits. However, I have to wear a life jacket when I go diving because I cannot actually swim. (Isn't that quite dangerous then?) I want to learn to swim, but the older I get the more frightened I am. I will overcome this fear though and learn how to swim well."

Everyone remembers that Cutie bears deep wounds from her much envied dream romance with Savio Tsang that was met by intrusion from a third party and left in tatters, but this has not put Cutie off finding her true love as she still dreams of stepping into a church with her beloved. She laughs: "Such a shame that I have Margie Tsang and Chu Wai Shan to compete against. Margie is not looking to remarry soon though, maybe because she has previously been married. For a person like me who has never been married and is very traditional, then I would like to try it at least once and even hope to have a baby, but if I do not get married in the next couple of years, then I will not have children, because I don't want the generation gap to be too big. (Do you mind if your husband is younger than you?) No, but not by too much, if he is younger by less than a year, then I can accept this, any more then it isn't so good."

Cutie adds that her horoscope for next year involves many relationships, so she hopes that one will be successful. Surely those who love her will hope that she will have her wish fulfilled.

Reporter: San San

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-11-29/UL-335484.htm



[Ta Kung Pao 29/11/04]

Having just returned from Taiwan, Nancy Sit took part in a promotional event yesterday. Her trip was representing TVB to promote their programmes and travelling together with her were Jessica Hsuan, Bobby Au Yeung and Bowie Lam. Although she was in Taiwan, she still heard the news about the death of Siu Sang and she says that when she was younger, she often bumped into Uncle Siu in the film lots and at the time Chan Po Chu and Siu Fong Fong often worked closely with Siu Sang.

In her memory, Uncle Siu was a very determined man and when many directors who worked with him met with difficulties, then he would be the first person they would turn to. He also liked to help and advise newcomers. Earlier, Helen Ma had been to Guangzhou to visit Uncle Siu, but Nancy did not have time to join her and the others such as Michelle Yim, Alex Man, Ko Hung and Law Ka Ying. At the time, Uncle was still very well and even asked about her. Seeing two great veterans James Wong and Siu Sang's passing makes Nancy very emotional.

Nancy says that there will be a time when life comes to an end and this is inevitable, but she hopes that everyone can treasure those around us, especially the elderly, and spread the love among us all.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-11-29/UL-335494.htm



[Ta Kung Pao Special Report 29/11/04]

In recent years, TVB's internal anniversary awards were just an addition to the main event and a gesture to reward their own artistes for their hard work, but this year it appears to have become the main event of the show as the favourites have tried their best to compete for the awards in their own ways, trying to win votes and influence people even more strongly than the singers vying for awards at the end of the year.

This year's situation stands out because of the various rumours of 'exchanging contracts for awards' and then cries of fixing and even resulting in the executives having to explain themselves and show their fairness. As for the the winners shedding tears at the ceremony, the drama and the tension - it was all rather exciting. The disappointment was that the smell of conflict, the open and closed fighting and even the open sarcasm and provocation seemed to be a replay of the storyline in "War and Beauty" and seemed to put a downer on the celebratory theme to the anniversary.

As for the events within the show, the groups of singing and dancing television newcomers performed what seemed to be a 'quick fix' of song and dance routines and although they put a lot of effort into them, frankly speaking, they made me think back to the anniversaries of days gone by, where the actors we saw in the dramas were able to show off some more well-rehearsed or spectacular skills. Maybe it was just a simple dance or it could have been flying through the air in a dangerous manuoevre, but it showed off something alternative and different. Even for the comedy sketches or impersonation pieces, it was done seriously and in great humour, letting people laugh with genuine entertainment, rather than the rather crass and pathetic 'War and Beauty' sketch offered this year.

I dare not use the suggestion that TVB's talents have been 'bled dry', but I just hope that they can bring us some acts that will truly amaze us and realise the strength and potential that they have behind them after moving into TVB City. They have the ability to produce something along the lines of a Broadway musical to showcase the joys of TVB as well as the talents of the crew behind the scenes as an anniversary gift and if the many facts, figures and achievements were delivered in the scripts, then that would present a much more powerful message than anything that came from an MC reading from a card.

Of course, the production would star each and every member of the performing artiste teams, with different people in each of the scenes and just some common leads for continuity and this would be the ideal situation where they can compete fairly for the awards for best performance.

Reporter: Chui Hiu

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-11-29/UL-335483.htm

Em's note: Here here! Some very interesting comments by Reporter Chui! I sincerely hope that TVB will take these on board and give us a real anniversary show that we will look forward to all year!


(File Photos)

[The Sun & Oriental Daily 29/11/04]

Many female artistes will not discuss their partners when they are dating, but when they have split up, then they will talk. Take Gigi Lai for instance, earlier during a telephone interview with radio DJ Candy Chea, she spoke about when she used to date Tony Wong Yuk Long (of Jademan Comics fame) and revealed that when they split up, she nearly committed suicide, but in the end, she just went home and cried for two weeks before picking herself up. "I liked his talent and at the time I was too young, not thinking about whether this man was suitable for me. (Did this affect you greatly?) Quite, I was young and innocent and I thought that I would be with him forever, but things happened (Wong was jailed) and he needed to go away. My life was shattered and it was a massive low point in my life. I was very unhappy and thought about taking my own life. (Who rescued you?) Crying, I am quite a genuine person, full of emotions so I cried for two weeks and was almost inhuman afterwards, not going out and just calling friends to chat. Afterwards, my personality changed and I became very insecure."

Gigi says that her ambition for life is not to succeed in showbiz, but to find a good man. However, she is yet to find him and she admits that she has little faith in men now. She says that money is very important to her, but not the most important, so she will look for talent and a kind heart in a man!

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20041129/20041128233238_0003.html
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a25cnt.html



[Oriental Daily 29/11/04]

Alex Fong and Niki Chow were at an event to witness an attempt to get into the Guiness Book of Records as two hundred cars were driven into the site of the old Kai Tak airport to build a giant mosaic. Among the cars was the Rolls Royce that once belonged to International Singing Superstar Theresa Teng and Alex and Niki were both very excited to see it, calling for a photo to be taken of them with the car. This event was to raise funds for the orphans and disabled children in Nort West China.

Alex seemed to be in high spirits yesterday, but he revealed that since eating a bowl of mussel congee, he has had a serious allergic reaction and his right eye has swollen up to the size of an egg. He says: "Apart from being allergic to some medicine, I also have nasal allergies, so my mother says that I have a very precious and delicate destiny and she does not let me help out with the cleaning work at home because as soon as I come into contact with dust, then I will be very unwell."

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a08cnt.html



[Oriental Daily 29/11/04]

Recently busy promoting TVB's "The Last Breakthrough", Leila Tong was at a charity event yesterday and revealed that next year she will be working in the mainland for a Taiwanese TV series for the first time, co-starring alongside Benny Chan and staying there for a few months. When asked if her fee was very high, she said: "It is okay, I am pleased with it." Also, Leila took some outfits and accessories along for the charity auction and the response to her donations was very good.

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a23cnt.html