News Links - 2/4/08

[dleedlee]

Watanabe joins "Shanghai" cast
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/5428/1/

HK Stars Sing for Snow Victims

http://english.cri.cn/3086/2008/02/04/1261@320381.htm

Stephen Chow's the Big Winner at Box Office
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2008/02/04/1261@320351.htm

HK police arrest 7 more in celebrity porn scandal
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/5426/1/
'Edison's Conquests' Sex Photos - Swiped By Computer Repair Staff
http://batgwa.com/story.php?id=570
'Edison's Conquests' Sex Photos - Computer Shop Searched
http://batgwa.com/story.php?id=569
Eight now held in internet sex probe
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_deta ... con_type=3

CCTV new year celebrations to include blizzards
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/5429/1/

[Fan]

Edison apologized to the victims for the sex photos

http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=CtRXCRA_89U

[dleedlee]

Thanks, Fan. I can't watch the video yet, thanks to the great Office Wall, but reading the transcript, he at least seems sincere. This blogger's comments are also amusing.

(edison)
“I now call upon everyone to help and assist the victims of this case. If you have ever downloaded any of these images, please do not forward them to anyone. Please do not send them to anyone. If you are still in possession of these images, I urge you to please destroy them immediately. Let’s help the wounded heal their wounds. I urge you to help the victims and not make anything worse.”
(blogger)
You mean these photos? You want me to destroy them? Like, delete? Forever? Oh, right away your majesty! Your wish is my command. May I wipe your butt too? Yes? Fantastic!
http://theblemish.com/2008/02/edison-chen-responds/

[Brian Thibodeau]

Edison apologized to the victims for the sex photos

http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=CtRXCRA_89U

Worst. Performance. Ever.

And one of many.

I notice some of these articles mention moral indignation coming from certain (but not all) quarters. Promiscuous pop stars surely aren't any more of a surprise in Hong Kong than they are in any other entertainment industry the world over? Is this really such a moral shock in Hong Kong, or is it due to the probability of actual proof this time around?



EDIT (just noticed Dennis' response!)

You mean these photos? You want me to destroy them? Like, delete? Forever? Oh, right away your majesty! Your wish is my command. May I wipe your butt too? Yes? Fantastic!
http://theblemish.com/2008/02/edison-chen-responds/

This probably won't surprise anyone here, but I think this blogger nails it (and no doubt others will follow). If these "scandalous" photos are real, tough s**t for playah EDC and his conquests. Some celebs do this kinda thing. Some regular folks do this kinda thing. It's just sex, as they say, and possibly damned good sex from the looks of things (despite it involving Edison Chen ), but these are the risks one takes in a wired world. Hell, these were the risks they took twenty, thirty years ago, but paper trails (and film negatives) were a bit easier to clean up than the instantaneous world-wide replication available today (such as the "related" link in that Blemish article). All these arrests will stop nothing at this point.

[Brian Thibodeau]

And of course, the Wikipedia entry is up already

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_Chen_photo_scandal

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[cal42]

Kind of puts the Bra-gate scandal into perspective, doesn't it?

[Brian Thibodeau]

Kind of puts the Bra-gate scandal into perspective, doesn't it?

I'm sure Charlene has a few skeletons in her own closet (just like many celebs), especially if any of the gossip about her holds any water. Perhaps she's frantically trying to remember if anyone ever took pictures right about now?

As for Edison, I can't say I'll miss him after his completed movies make their way through the release pipeline. What a tool! I'm all for people doing whatever they want in their bedrooms—cameras, trapezes, bondage, sleeping—but if you're gonna keep a library, an external hard-drive is a good investment.

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[dleedlee]

Kind of puts the Bra-gate scandal into perspective, doesn't it?

I'm sure Charlene has a few skeletons in her own closet (just like many celebs), especially if any of the gossip about her holds any water. Perhaps she's frantically trying to remember if anyone ever took pictures right about now?

No, not Charlene! She is and always will be pure as a snowflake from heaven.

As for Edison, I can't say I'll miss him after his completed movies make their way through the release pipeline. What a tool! I'm all for people doing whatever they want in their bedrooms—cameras, trapezes, bondage, sleeping—but if you're gonna keep a library, an external hard-drive is a good investment.
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Not only that, rumors have Edison possibly being edited out of that musical he was teaming with Stephen Chow and Stephen Fung on:

Meanwhile, there are word from both Oriental Daily and Apple Daily that Colombia Pictures have told Stephen Chow that they want the Chow-produced and Stephen Fung-directed dance flick starring Edison to either have its release pushed back, take out all of Edison’s scenes, or release it straight to video - all because of the scandal. Currently, the film is slated to be released on May 1st. However, remember that this is the Hong Kong press, so you never know how much of this is true.
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/blog/thegoldenrock/?p=663

[Brian Thibodeau]

No, not Charlene! She is and always will be pure as a snowflake from heaven.

Oh dear me, I didn't realize her Magic Fluffycandy Bubblegum Mind-Clouding Technique actually worked! This is much worse than I thought . . .

Not only that, rumors have Edison possibly being edited out of that musical he was teaming with Stephen Chow and Stephen Fung on:

Interesting if true. I suppose the HK press could be trying to provoke something, though. Gotta wonder.

Down deep, I don't think anyone's career should suffer because it's revealed they have creative sex lives. I just don't like Edison Chen, so whatever method worked . . .

[JohnR]

Brian Thibodeau wrote:
cal42 wrote:
Kind of puts the Bra-gate scandal into perspective, doesn't it?


I'm sure Charlene has a few skeletons in her own closet (just like many celebs), especially if any of the gossip about her holds any water. Perhaps she's frantically trying to remember if anyone ever took pictures right about now?


No, not Charlene! She is and always will be pure as a snowflake from heaven.

dleedlee wrote:
No, not Charlene! She is and always will be pure as a snowflake from heaven.


Oh dear me, I didn't realize her Magic Fluffycandy Bubblegum Mind-Clouding Technique actually worked! This is much worse than I thought . . .

Wow, you fellas are pretty harsh. First, bra-gate involved Gillian, not Charlene. Second, what does everyone want? We lambast Lindsy Lohan, Brittney Spears, Paris Hilton and the like for being drug-addled sluts, and rightfully so, but when Charlene keeps her image clean (as we'd hope someone who is a role model for kids would) we bash her for it. ??? Don't mean to sound all righteous and I know you're just joking around, but hey.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Wow, you fellas are pretty harsh. First, bra-gate involved Gillian, not Charlene. Second, what does everyone want? We lambast Lindsy Lohan, Brittney Spears, Paris Hilton and the like for being drug-addled sluts, and rightfully so, but when Charlene keeps her image clean (as we'd hope someone who is a role model for kids would) we bash her for it. ??? Don't mean to sound all righteous and I know you're just joking around, but hey.

I was aware that Gillian was the bra-gate "victim" (:roll: ) when I responded, although in retrospect, my post could have been better worded. My point, wobbly though it might sound, was that there have been occasional rumours about her singing partner as well, but Charlene's been more successful (it would seem) at steering clear of controversy. Wasn't trying to bash Charlene, per se, so much as to suggest that I don't for a second buy into this manufactured facade of sugary goodness we're often spoon fed by celebrities and their creators. While Dennis was (I assume) joking about her being a "snowflake from heaven" or whatever, I find no amusement in the fact that there are legions of fans out there who might actually believe that. When I look at those pictures of Gillian and the others, I see real people, with their guard down, possibly high (what a surprise!) and enjoying their sexuality. Unfortunately, for the world to see the photos at all, an uneducated, immature, extremely-lucky-in-life 27-year-old dimwit like Edison Chen just couldn't resist cataloguing his conquests, and in that regard, I find it sad that these women will likely pay the price for doing something so . . . normal, something so unaffected by the artifice that is their lives in the eyes of the public. Of course, that any of these people are role models is beyond me, but that's another issue. Tough to complain when there will always be, and always has been, a segment of society that can't find less superficial heroes to look up to.



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[cal42]

I'm all for people doing whatever they want in their bedrooms—cameras, trapezes, bondage, sleeping—but if you're gonna keep a library, an external hard-drive is a good investment.

I have a certain amount of sympathy for anyone caught out like that (and I have to admit, if I was doing something improper with Gillian Chung I'd want photographic evidence of it), but how frickin' stupid must you be to give the evidence to somebody you don't know? I mean, that stuff would be pretty hot even if you weren't a celebrity. You've got to expect this to happen, surely?

[Brian Thibodeau]

I have a certain amount of sympathy for anyone caught out like that (and I have to admit, if I was doing something improper with Gillian Chung I'd want photographic evidence of it), but how frickin' stupid must you be to give the evidence to somebody you don't know? I mean, that stuff would be pretty hot even if you weren't a celebrity. You've got to expect this to happen, surely?

Certainly shouldn't expect that it won't happen, although in Edison Chen's case . . .

Perhaps no corporate marketing department had offered him a rainbow-hued, logo-encrusted portable flash drive as swag, so the poor dummy simply had nothing on which to move his "gallery" for safe keeping.

I have some sympathy—some—for the girls involved in this thing. But it's evident they knew homeboy'z camera was being used, so they can blame themselves in part for their current problems, but still I wonder if any of them were bright enough to even consider the risks, or were they so deeply embedded in their little fantasy lifestyle bubbles that they thought something like this could never actually happen?

I haven't got much sympathy for Edison Chen, however. He clearly got all that he wanted from these ladies—an admittedly impressive list of apparently disposable conquests as long as your arm—and he'll still die richer than most of us. Where many probably thought he was some kind of shallow, posturing and questionably talented faux-playah, he's ultimately revealed himself to be the real thing, though no less shallow, posturing and questionably talented (just check out that hilarious heal-the-suffering 'apology' video. Can't wait for the next one!