Hong Kong Talent at Local Chinese Malls

[Brian Thibodeau]

Thought I'd start this (potentially infrequently updated) thread for kicks after noticing a few Hong Kong celebrities turning up at the Chinese Malls near my place in recent months. I'm generally not one for star-gazing unless it requires almost no work on my part, such as at the Toronto Film Festival, where I would have tickets anyways, or at one of the many Chinese Malls here, where I routinely shop, a lot! On a recent visit First Markham Place here I noticed the poster below taped up on all the entrance doors:



Naturally, I was at the office--just two kilometres down the road--when this little shindig was going on. I'd never go out of my way for something like this, but since First Markham is actually on my way to and from work, it might have been nice to pop in and do a little rubbernecking or, if I was feeling particularly gweilo-dorky, walking up with a bunch of my DVDs for autographs! It would be interesting to ask them how they feel about appearing in a shopping mall where all but one of the DVD retailers (the venerable Broadcast Book & Gift) is peddling bootlegs of many of their collective works, but then again, I'm sure they're used to it by now!

This follows the July 25th appearance of singer/thesps Justin Lo and Stephy Tang along with a lesser-known named Terence Chui at an Air Justin promo event at Pacific Mall. I noted the posters plugging this while giving our own Cal42 a tour of the joint during his Toronto visit, but, typically, never found the time to attend the festivities, such as they were (although I think I'd be less of a sore thumb at the First Markham event, what with it's more mature roster of guests! ).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyEXezY9osc
(dammit why can't we embed YouTube videos here!?!?! )

[dleedlee]

Thanks for posting, admittedly I had to look up Air Justin and Terence Chui aka Chubby(!) to make any connections. Stardom and fame looks a little less glamorous over the from the railing of a mall, huh? I like where the one guy skips past Stephy and goes directly to Justin for his autograph!

[Brian Thibodeau]

Thanks for posting, admittedly I had to look up Air Justin and Terence Chui aka Chubby(!) to make any connections. Stardom and fame looks a little less glamorous over the from the railing of a mall, huh?

Indeed! But I guess if you're a Hong Kong star/starlet, the Chinese malls in most major cities are probably the most logical venue, since most of them are like Mecca at the best of times anyways!

(I meant to put Terence Chui/Siu Fei but forgot; the latter is his Chinese name and the one that appears on his album covers, posters, etc.)

I like where the one guy skips past Stephy and goes directly to Justin for his autograph!

Yeah, I think Justin is actually the biggest draw of the three. He's better known as a singer than an actor/hybrid, so the posters for this event prominently featured his photo, while the other two were only mentioned by name, and quite a bit smaller. His gimmick, apparently, is that he's never seen without his ball cap. Ever. It's probably an unnecessary hook because he's actually a powerhouse vocalist, but teenage girls being what they are . . .

[dleedlee]

His gimmick, apparently, is that he's never seen without his ball cap. Ever.

Oh, so that's him. He violated the dress code imposed by Eric Tsang at the 8.8 Typhoon Morakot benefit. Everyone was told to wear the t-shirt and jeans, no adornments, rolled up sleeves or anything like that. But Justin ignored it. All the BIG stars complied. I figured maybe he must have a receding hairline or something, like most C&W musicians.

[Brian Thibodeau]

I figured maybe he must have a receding hairline or something, like most C&W musicians.

The longer he wears it, the more it looks like he's hiding something, doesn't it? Even in his film appearances, like the recent LOVE CONNECTED with Stephy, the hat never comes off, but then, we're not exactly talking potential HKFA award-winners here (except maybe for songs).

[hungrytiger]

hey brian it looks like you are close to me (markham) it is quite interesting when you see a familiar actor in local malls. my friend said he spotted double pheonix eating shark fin soup in pacific mall.lol he had the trademark screwface on and did not look aprochable so he didn't. my best sightings was gordon liu making a short notice aprearance last year and meeting with fans. and sammo when he came durring SPLs run at the TIFF. i admit when i walk around i keep my eyes open for any sightings

[Brian Thibodeau]

I work in Markham, actually, and Richmond Hill before switching offices, so plenty of time to wander the Chinese malls there on the way home from work as well! I live just south of the Toronto/Markham border, so all for these places are, frankly, too damned close for my pocketbook to ever permanently recover!

Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing that Gordon Liu event advertised somewhere, most likely on a poster. Was that at Pacific Mall? I never even thought of the TIFF being ideal opportunity for actors to make appearances in the North End malls, which makes me wonder if any thesps will be appearing at the festival next week for either Soi Cheang's ACCIDENT or Johnnie To's VENGEANCE and then popping up to one of the malls for a surprise visit.

Just thought of another appearance of Hong Kong celebs at Pacific Mall, this time at the Taste Of Asia Festival that's closes the road beside Pacific Mall for a day or two every summer (crap, I think I missed it this year! ). The "surprise guests" in 2008 were the HK pop group Grasshopper (reunited?).

Grasshopper Performance (crap video, unfortunately)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HhL6m8gHeg

Looks like 2009's guests were Fala Chen and Johnson Lee, neither of whom I'm particularly familiar with. The press conference was held at rival mall Splendid China Tower across the street. I wonder if the festival is held over there now?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpCYCvDUZ94

News item about last year's Taste of Asia (now I'm hungry, dammit):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HhL6m8gHeg

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Indicentally, for anyone who'd like to see more of Pacific Mall, and why it's a pretty cool place to hang out and why I can't shut up about it, I found this tour that someone posted on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP8YlgFQXKI

[dleedlee]

I figured maybe he must have a receding hairline or something, like most C&W musicians.

The longer he wears it, the more it looks like he's hiding something, doesn't it? Even in his film appearances, like the recent LOVE CONNECTED with Stephy, the hat never comes off, but then, we're not exactly talking potential HKFA award-winners here (except maybe for songs).

Justin Lo's new look:

[Brian Thibodeau]

Wow, that sure adds a layer of suspicion, doesn't it? It's almost as if he finally tired of wearing the hat, but really didn't want anybody to see what was (or perhaps wasn't) underneath it, so he took away any opportunities to speculate. It should be interesting to see just how persistently he keeps up the cueball look, because even a whiff of stubble can be very telling.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Went to Pacific Mall today (of course!) to take in some of the Chinese New Year hustle-bustle, and noticed posters on nearly every window touting the upcoming appearance of one of my all-time favourite Hong Kong actors, Wayne Lai, presumably in support of a new book he wrote. Not that I'd be standing in line with stacks of VCDs for him to sign, but the event is scheduled for late Tuesday afternoon, so I wouldn't have a chance to geek out even if I could shed my integrity thanks to being at work that day. Can't find any mention of the event on line, but figured I'd update this thread nonetheless.

[cal42]

Ooh, I wish I was there for that .

[Brian Thibodeau]

A little more digging reveals that singer-sometimes-actor Jan Lamb will be at Market Village (which is right next door to Pacific Mall) on Feb. 28 to promote his new album.

First Markham Place, another big Chinese mall not far from Pacific Mall doesn't seem to have any big names for their CNY week, but they did manage to get Michael Tse (another favourite), Tavia Yeung (in town for to perform a concert at Casino Rama), Shirley Yeung and Raymond Cho to make an appearance/"press conference" at the end of January (in the food court, no less!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL73sKEyJbQ

I really wish there was a better way to keep up on these things without having to go to the malls themselves every day to see what new posters are up! The internet's helpful, but the actual mall websites haven't been updated in ages, so if you don't have an inkling that something's going on, you wouldn't necessarily go searching.