[Ta Kung Pao 15/02/07]

Gigi and Charmaine Lead the Artistes at TVB Spring Banquet

TVB's Artiste Department held its Spring Banquet on Wednesday evening at a Tseung Kwan O restaurant and among the sixty artistes present were Charmaine Sheh, Gigi Lai, Sonija Kwok, Myolie Wu, Ron Ng, Bosco Wong, Steven Ma, Roger Kwok and Bowie Lam. Executives in attendance included Leung Nai Pang, Stephen Chan, Virginia Lok and Catherine Tsang. A group photo was taken before the meal and with Catherine in charge of the seating arrangements, this year's TV Queen Charmaine was placed to the right of Mr Leung, whilst the previous year's winner Gigi Lai was placed to his left. Sonija, Myolie, Bernice Liu, Shirley Yeung, Yoyo Mung and Linda Chung were split to either side. As for the male stars, Ron, Bowie, Roger, Moses Chan, Bosco, Raymond Lam, Steven and Kenneth Ma were placed in front of the ladies. The other less popular stars including Fala Chen, Leanne Li, Sharon Chan, Matthew Ko and Rocky Cheng were sent to the back two rows.

Some reports suggest that in an interview with the Taiwan media, Benny Chan has revealed details of his split with Charmaine and how they are now just friends. In response to this, Charmaine says with surprise: "What? I didn't know. I have no comment about this, there is nothing for me to say." For the Chinese New Year this year, Charmaine will be heading back to the company for the group greetings on the first day, then she will have a few days off. She says that she is very Westernised, so she has not been to the flower markets to buy plum blossom. As for Valentines Day, although she has some pursuits from outside the industry, she says she prefers to spend the evening with her girlfriends on a singles night party, maybe going for a hotpot.

When Yoyo was asked if her boyfriend Ekin Cheng had returned to the mainland to continue filming, she smiles she does not know, but she does not some friends are not in Hong Kong. Asked if Ekin has given her a Valentines gift, she smiles: "My friend has not died yet so he will not leave me anything." Talking of the reports that she has spent $50,000 on a pair of lovers watches, one for her and one for Ekin, she holds up her arm to show her watch saying: "I bought this watch that day, the price was $8000 and I am very careful with money, so I just bought one for myself." As for Gigi Leung's injury during an earlier show, Yoyo says: "I felt very sorry for her because it looked quite painful, but no-one wants accidents to happen, so we all have to be careful."

Roger will be filming with Sonija for "Curious Detective" on Valentines Day but he has not forgotten to send some flowers to his wife. Aksed how many he will be sending, he smiles: "One! One represents only me!" Sonija has received some perfume from a girlfriend as a Valentines gift but this friend has a boyfriend already, so she warns not to get too imaginative. After many years without a date, she hopes to buy some plum blossom this year to help her romance.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/07/02/15/UL-693338.htm



[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun 15/02/07]

Myolie and Bosco Condemn Irresponsible Reports

Myolie Wu and Bosco Wong became the centre of the press attention at the TVB Artiste Dept Spring Banquet earlier, but Myolie seemed rather reserved in a marked changed from her earlier appearances. When the press asked for her to pose with Bosco, she immediately refused, saying: "He wants to be photographed with Ron (Ng)." Then she makes her excuses to move away. She could not run very far though, but poor Ron had to stand with them again in the photo. After the shoot, Bosco and Myolie went their separate ways.

A fortune teller in a magazine has predicted new year horoscopes for the year of the pig and Myolie has been given a terrible prediction that she would break down and commit suicide for love. In response for this, she says: "That is so reckless. No news reaches these limits. It is so unlucky for the new year! No matter what happens, life is the most important thing and even if I have nothing to eat, I will never commit suicide, never mind a silly little thing like love! I will definitely bring that feng shui master down and ruin him. (They also report that Fala Chen has been flirting madly with Bosco?) They are writing rubbish, I don't know what they will write next!" As for Bosco, he smiles that the reports about Fala are just a laugh but he reacted quite strongly to the reports about Myolie, saying: "Writing such horrible things at the new year! I know that Myolie is an optimistic person and will never commit suicide."

Fala, who has also been rumoured to be coming between Bernice Liu and Moses Chan kept her distance from both sets of couples for the evening and opted to stick with Tavia Yeung to keep her company.

Myolie has also been doing voluntary work in her capacity of ambassador for a Social Aid charity and she has been to the Victoria Park Flower Market to encourage the public to donate to the cause by selling designer jumpers for just $50. However, when she approached people to ask them to donate, they were very rude and just photographed her without making a donation. She indicates that she does not have a date for Valentines Day and has not received any gifts or any SMS, never mind a date!

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/07/02/15/UL-693335.htm
http://the-sun.on.cc/channels/ent/20070215/20070214233400_0000.html



[Ta Kung Pao 15/01/07]

Dayo Hands Out Kisses for Valentines Day

Dayo Wong, Cecilia Yip, Lam Ka Wah and Vivien Yeo were among the cast members who took part in the studio blessing ceremony for new series "Evil Kin" yesterday. As it also happened to be Valentines Day, the producer Lam Chi Wah asked Dayo to give all the girls a kiss and at first Dayo was a little hesitant, but after a short deliveration, he kissed each of the ladies on the hand. Then when Wong Chun Tong presented him with the pig head to kiss, he made him very embarrassed.

Cecilia has only been resting for four or five hours per day after starting filming on this series, so she has not had time to clean up or buy anything for the new year. Talking about her character, she says it is very cute abd sometimes she laughs so hard that she has to take a break. However, she is full of praises for Dayo's creativity and she is getting used to the last minute changes in the script that makes it hard for her to keep up. Although she has to work on Valentines Day, she has already received a gift from her husband. She says: "When I returned home this morning, there was a present on my bed. I was very happy and it was so sweet."

With Cecilia's comment about being unable to keep up with Dayo on the scripts, he says: "I have given her copies of the scripts and she is very smart and can learn a whole page after one runthrough. (Has the producer complained?) The script is already very good, so I just changed a little and it is only once in a while." He also says that the other cast members have been affected by him and are not learning their lines and choosing to improvise instead. As for the reports that he is falling out with Cecilia, he says: "How would we? I have never fallen out with any other cast member. (The reports suggest that Cecilia is being a diva?) I don't think so, if they are talking about having meals, then she is definitely the big sister because she has paid for many meals and she is very serious about her work." As for whether he will be finishing early for Valentines Day, Dayo laughs: "I did not have this concept at all. (Has your girlfriend complained?) I am saving money every day! I have been working, so I will buy her a present after this has finished filming." Dayo also reveals that when he was filming a scene where he was feeding a dog earlier he was bitten on the finger by the dog, but he is fine now.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/07/02/15/UL-693337.htm



[Ta Kung Pao 15/02/07]

Hacken Not Yet Confirmed to Host 'Minutes to Fame'

The cast of New Year movie "The Lady Iron Chef" joined together for a reunion dinner earlier and executive producer Wong Jing offered a number of lucky packets for the draw. The dinner was attended by Hacken Lee, Yuen Chau, Alice Chan, Cheung Tat Ming, Chow Chung and Lau Yeung and female lead Charmaine Sheh rushed over after attending the TVB spring banquet. She joined straight in with the games, making sweet soup dumplings with Lau Yeung, which were judged by Hacken, Yuen Chau and Master Chow. However, Hacken had to take a breather after his sharks fin soup before he tried the dessert.

This film will be premiered on International Womens' Day on 8th March and Hacken says that his greatest memory of the film was wearing a highly amusing wig and his first ever scene where his pants fall down. At first when he read the script, he found this a little hard to bear, but in the end he convinced himself that he should not have any reservations as an artiste, so he locked away his 'pop idol' ego for the film. The scene in question tells of him falling from a rooftop and on the way down, Charmaine holds onto his legs, but his pants give way and he falls to the ground. When it was mentioned that this is similar to what happened earlier to Yumiko Cheng, who also appears in the film, but was absent at this event, Hacken denies this, saying: "No, it is not related." He has not discussed this scene with her though.

To avoid revealing himself during the scene, Hacken made sure he had plenty of layers on and he wore two pairs of underpants and a pair of boxer shorts below his trousers. When he arrived at the set, he borrowed another two pairs of shorts from the crew, so altogether he had five pairs of underpants on. He was still a little embarrassed though because he says he is rarely seen in his undies. He says: "I am not filming kung fu series, but I always end up on wires whenever I film a movie. The scene took a whole night to shoot and I was taking my trousers off and putting them back on numerous times during the shoot. It felt strange and uncomfortable because normally you would only do this if you had diarrhoea. (Was Charmaine embarrassed?) I don't think she felt anything, we just don't discuss it and it was nothing really because I had so many layers on." Talking of a scene where they closed off streets in Mongkok to film, Hacken comments that it has been many years since he walked down a street in Mongkok so happily. Howeverhe says that he has never been insulted on the streets, proving how accepted he is. He says that the only unhappy incident during filming was that he fell ill and he is still coughing.

Asked if he will be hosting the forthcoming new series of "Minutes to Fame", Hacken says openly that he is not sure yet and if the timing is right then he will do it. He is currently working with TVB on a slot in his schedule and he says that maybe he is just one of many choices for TVB. As for the rumours that TVB only wants one out of him or Joey Leung, he says he does not know and in the first series, he did not have time to do it originally and only found the time at the last minute. Moreover, he and Joey were the second choice options for the original job.

When Charmaine was asked about Hacken's trouser scene, she says she did not see a thing and she felt concerned more for his safety because he was on wires all night. Asked if after becoming TV Queen, her new goal is on the Best Movie Actress title, she says: "This is very far off and I would like to make more movies. It is great fun, especially comedies and the atmosphere is happier." There have been reports that a fortune teller predicts a death in her family this year and although this angered her, she does not feel there is any truth in what he says and good things always happen to good people. She does smile and hope for good luck. The reports also suggest she does not have the fortune to marry into a rich family, she says she would rather depend on herself.

Alice plays a cameo role in the film and she will not start work again until after the new year. Since selling her home, she has lived in a hotel for the past two years and recently she has moved to a serviced apartment. She reveals that she has not bought another property because she has been given advice from a soothsayer that she has to wait until 2008 before she does, otherwise there will be a flood. For Valentines Day, she is working during the day and she has an appointment with the dentist in the evening because she does not have a date. Having been photographed hand in hand with a man earlier in Mongkok, she says this is not her boyfriend, just a friend.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/07/02/15/UL-693325.htm
http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/07/02/15/UL-693326.htm