[Ta Kung Pao, The Sun & Wen Wei Po 07/07/06]

TVB's new forty episode drama held its costume fitting at TKO TVB City yesterday and the cast was revealed in a strong line up of the most promising male and female stars, who are joined by the return of Lee Sze Ki, who has not filmed any series since "A Kindred Spirit" in 1999.

Sze Ki has not filmed in Hong Kong for a while now and she explains that her condition has improved a lot after suffering from leg problems. Asked whether she will be seeking more rest time from the producer, she says: "You either don't film, or you work the same as everyone else. You can't ask them to make allowances for you. The producer has said that there will not be too many location shots though, so it will not be too hard." Faced with a group of new and young faces, Sze Ki was a little bewildered and pointed out Yoyo Mung, saying: "She should be quite famous, but I don't know her name. I feel like I am suffering from senility because I don't recognise anyone and this is not a great thing. I will take my time to adapt."

Moses Chan will be playing an illegitimate child in the series and his character will be helping his father Ha Yu to look after their abalone business. His costume appeared to be very old fashioned looking and he explains to portray a rather common look, he is wearing some black kung fu slippers.

Talking of the world cup reaching a climax now, Moses admits that he has not been able to watch any of the matches this year because he has been busy filming, so he has just been following it through the news to find out the score. Although he was unable to watch the match, he is a France supporter and Henry and zidane are his favourite players. He predicts that they will win the final 2-0. Linda Chung will be playing a lawyer in the show, who will have love affairs with Moses and Raymond Lam. With Raymond's reputation as a magnet for gossip, Linda indicated that she also has rumours about her when she films series, but they are untrue because she knows how to detach herself from the roles and she has never put her real feelings into it.

After playing lovers in "Casino Crisis", Bosco Wong and Tavia Yeung will also be playing a couple in the new show. Asked if they are worried about this being quite confusing, Bosco said it wouldn't and moreover they already have the association, so their emotional scenes will be even better. As for many of the female stars in the show being tall girls and although he is 5 ft 11 ins tall, is he worried about not being tall enough around them? Bosco laughs that he will tell Carrie Lam to go away, or he will buy himself some high-heeled shoes to wear.

Tavia appeared with a 'Cleopatra' look that was quite unusual and she plays a model in the show. When it was pointed out that she has got quite a tan from filming "Casino", she explains that it is quite fashionable now. I don't need to use fake boobs this time, although I did get quite fond of them. (Why don't you get implants?) I don't have any money!"

Yoyo Mung will be forming a group of 'Four Golden Flowers' with Carrie, Linda and Fala Chen and she laughs that when she heard that she would be working with so many beauty queens, she has to wipe the sweat from her brow as her heart formed a feeling of dread. She says: "In this show, we have to dress up and this is a weakness of mine. I am the shortest girl of the four, but I will need to wear high heels throughout the show. In the show, I am a couple with Raymond Lam, but I don't care about him, I will still wear high heels. I have invested a lot into this show, spending over $10,000 om four pairs of shoes, but you pay for quality and the more expensive the shoes are, the more comfortable they are to wear."

Lai Lok Yi will be playing the son of a second wife, but he finds his own happiness. With so many pretty girls in the show, is he worried about any rumours? He smiles confidently: "Why don't you ask them if they are worried, because I class as a handsome guy!" He indicates that he has worked with all these girls before, so if there were any rumours, then they would already have been written about before this series.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/06/07/07/UL-590016.htm
http://www.wenweipo.com/news.phtml?news_id=EN0607070003&cat=011EN
http://the-sun.orisun.com/channels/ent/20060707/20060706233714_0000.html
http://the-sun.orisun.com/channels/ent/20060707/20060706233732_0000.html



[Ta Kung Pao 07/07/06]

TVB's music program "Jade Solid Gold" was aired live from a shopping centre on Wednesday, to tie in with the airing of the World Cup semi-final between Portugal and France, stretching the show out to 3am and allowing for performances from many singers, including Twins, Yumiko Cheng, Hacken Lee, Hacken Lee, Ron Ng, Kevin Cheng, Raymond Lam and Bosco Wong, who stayed on to watch the game afterwards with the audience.

Arriving late for the show, Hacken did not exchange many words with his co-host Lam Man Chung on or off the stage and asked if he felt awkward, he replied: "I don't want to talk about this matter now, or anything else about him." Hacken admitted that he was very bothered by all this 'strange behaviour' by the press and he hopes that with the end of the World Cup tournament, this will also mark the end of his gossip. There have been reports that in booking the slot for the live broadcast, TVB had taken the time that had been arranged for Leo Ku to perform at the venue, much to the annoyances of his management company Gold Label. As a result Hacken's song "I wear Number 10" was allowed to become top of the popularity charts this week. Hacken says he did not know about this because he is just a company pawn. However, with his song being the theme song for this year's World Cup, then it is only natural for it to come top on the night of the semi-final.

Lam Man Chung was suffering from a cold on that night, so he did not say very much. Talking of sharing a stage with Hacken, he says: "We were both working. (Did you chat?) We were too busy, there was too much to prepare. (Will you be celebrating Spencer's retirement on the night of the final?) No, I don't want to cause too much trouble. I will catch up with him privately."

Ron Ng appeared at the event alongside rumoured girlfriend Ella Koon and in response to the reports about him 'hooking up' with Kate Tsui, he denies this, saying that he will not comment on things that aren't true. Ella would not comment either, saying that this was other people's business. Spencer says once again that he has worked well with Hacken: "Every time it is like this and our 'lack of communication' is made up by other people. We have worked well together."

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/06/07/07/UL-590024.htm



[Ta Kung Pao & Wen Wei Po 07/07/06]

The sixteen Miss Hong Kong contestants headed out to Korea for their location filming yesterday and before they set off, they first held a blessing ceremony at TVB City. Roger Kwok will be joining them as guest performer. As the girls were paying their respects to the gods, it suddenly rained and the girls got out their umbrellas to avoid the rain in what was a rather embarrassing situation.

Roger says that he has only met the girls once, so he does not have any favourites yet. From what he has seen though, the girls seem to be a lot of fun and don't mind being called by their nicknames. When the girls saw Roger, they started calling him 'Ah Wong' and Roger laughs: "If you call me Ah Wong, then I will call you all my Lo Por Jai's (Little Wife). They don't mind about this." He will be spending five days in Korea to try and help the girls show their most genuine side. ASked if he will feel awkward having sixteen girls clad in bikinis around him, he laughs that he will not because he would be too happy.

The host on the day Miguel Choi revealed that Roger had met his girlfriend Cindy Au whilst filming in Korea and with this revelation, Roger could only smile and not respond.

The gossip surrounding the contestants has been endless and among them, Number 11 Cheng Wing Sum has been the target of revelations by her former manager that she used to be drink and smoke and tell everyone that she had been dating Denise Ho. To these reports, Cheng says that she has read the reports and she has not been in any affairs with Denise because she does not know her. She thinks that she has probably spoken about Denise with this manager and signed to be a singer with a similar voice to Denise's, so this has caused a misunderstanding with her manager. As the reports are untrue, she and her family reserve the right to take legal action. She also indicates that she does not drink or smoke or party late and that she has ended her contract with this manager a year ago. She admits that she has changed her name because her previous name was the same as another female artiste.

Number 4 Wong Ying was photographed by the press in secret and it was suggested that she spent five days in at her boyfriend's home. She says that the person involved was not her boyfriend and she was just watching football. In any case she had to go to TVB City for rehearsals every day, so there was no way she could stay in for five days. Asked if her real boyfriend was jealous, she laughs that of course her real boyfriend knows the truth. Number 8 Suki Tsui Suk Man has not had time to prepare a mobile phone that is compatible with the Korean networks, so she laughs that she will have to use the hotel phones to keep in touch with her boyfriend. This eleven day trip to Korea will be the longest time that she has been away from home.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/06/07/07/UL-590026.htm
http://www.wenweipo.com/news.phtml?news_id=EN0607070002&cat=011EN



[The Sun 07/07/06]

In the recent series "Men in Pain", Toby Leung's character is forced to get married to Ron Ng's character because she has fallen pregnant, but in real life, Toby would say no to getting married just because of a child. "I would not mind being an unmarried mother, because I love children and when I was studying in Canada, I was a nanny for a family." Toby's father Tommy Leung is an executive at TVB and so she knows many artistes very well, so when Gallen Lo became a father, Toby, who has always been full of love offered to be his babysitter.

As for when she would have kids of her own, Toby laughs out loud and says: "I hope that this will happen in seven years time. I am still only 23 years old. I would not get married for the sake of it, but I would still have children because it is your child after all. If you know that the father is not a good person or husband, then I just wouldn't marry him. (How about sperm donor?) No, I would rather adopt."

With many modern women opting not to have children, Toby does not understand this: "Maybe it is because of the influence of their own parents. My family are like friends, who all get on. They used a very open teaching and threw me to study abroad from an early age, because they felt that if I was bad, I would turn bad anywhere, because this is down to the child's original personality."

http://the-sun.orisun.com/channels/ent/20060707/20060706235025_0000.html





[The Sun 07/07/06]

Winnie Shum will soon be taking part in TVB's new series "The Academy 2" and as she will be playing a female cadet, then she will have a lot of scenes where she will be filming marching outside in the hot sun. "I have prepared myself that filming for this series will be hard work, but it doesn't matter because the character has a lot of opportunities to shine and I can take this chance to polish my acting skills."

As well as honing her acting ability, Winnie will also be building up her body strength: "There will be a lot of marching and hill climbing in the show and I am worried that I will not be able to bear it, so I have been training myself first. Recently I have been going up to the gym whenever I have time and sometimes I will pull some weights when I finish work at home. I have developed some muscles in my arms recently, so it should be okay."

http://the-sun.orisun.com/channels/ent/20060707/20060706233947_0000.html




[Ta Kung Pao 07/07/06]

Vivien Yeo, Michael Tse and Natalie Wong were among the artistes at TVB's July birthday party yesterday. Sonija Kwok was absent. It will be Vivien's 22nd birthday on the 20th and she does not need to work on this day and then the day after she will be heading back to her homeland of Malaysia to be a judge at their version of "Minutes to Fame". While she is there, she will stay for three days to celebrate her birthday with her parents.

As for her birthday wish, Vivien laughs she hopes to become more beautiful, get a better figure and more work. When it was suggested that she has a breast enlargement for a better figure, she jokes: "No, I have to get more jobs to make more money before I can afford implants! I just want each area to firm up, including my bust." She also hopes that she can slim down her face a little because she has baby fat.

Vivien also adds that at this age, she should look for a boyfriend. Last year, this was already her birthday wish, but it has not come true yet. Her criteria for a partner is that he must be mature with an established career, but not too old, anything between five or fifteen years older than her is is fine, but over twenty years would be too much. She says: "I hope that this person can look after and love me. I was chased by an older man before, but maybe I was not mature enough then, so we did not get together. I think if he is five years older than me, then that would be ideal."

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/images/06/07/07/ul-33.jpg



[The Sun 07/07/06]

With the new Miss Hong Kong about to be crowned very soon, Sharon Luk is not too sad about handing over the title and has set herself a five year plan: "Although I have come into contact with many things before, I have to keep in line with the Miss Hong Kong image afterwards, so my paths are somewhat limited. I am quite interested in trying acting thought." In the past year, Sharon has been learning hard in preparation for the future.

http://the-sun.orisun.com/channels/ent/20060707/20060706234750_0000.html