Yesterday Michael expressed over the phone: “No such thing. I won’t be upset at the Magazine because it’s not my first day in this industry. What’s more important is if readers believe it. You have to understand that is the canteen at TVB, there are colleagues sitting nearby. Why would I do what the magazine said I did? In fact, that magazine should put more effort into writing their stories and shouldn’t be too careless. If the location was a hotel, then the creditability would be much higher. Actually, it was not just the two of us either, there was another person with us.”

Michael expressed he met Candy while shooting for Lives of Omission {C}{C}(TN: She played the role ‘Ding Man’, the triad leader’s mistress). They soon realized they had common friends and naturally had more topics to talk about. When asked if this was upsetting to his wife, Tina? Michael laughed: “How so? She saw the report and laughed. She understands the tactics used by the magazines. We have seen a lot of the photos are taken from behind. I don’t need to explain too much. I hope this magazine can have more sincerity next time, don’t think readers are stupid.”

As for Candy, she did not understand why there was such report and she does feel a tad unhappy. “That day, it’s been long while since I’ve seen Michael, so I showed him the pictures I took when I went Korea for shooting of a travel special. We also weren’t playing crazily at the canteen, so he didn’t bump into my chest. Those [photos] were just a matter of camera angles. Michael was sitting across from me, and I was just taking my camera over to show him. If the report has cause any unhappiness for his wife, I have to say sorry to her.”

Candy expressed she’s often telling Michael on Weibo that she has no special intention, “He is just an artist that I like since childhood. Perhaps our personalities are similar and we are playful people, so we became good friends. The magazine interviewed me, and said I said Michael touched my entire body. I was just talking about our scenes in Lives of Omission.” She expressed she will not maintain her distance in the future, but may find someone to be in between to avoid any misunderstandings. “I went to Australia at age 13, and came back to HK at age 19. My personality is a little westernized, sometimes I would unconsciously lean on people.”

Source: Mingpao, Oriental Sunday (cover image)
Translated by: aZnangel @ http://asianuniverse.net/forums/

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Its appeal followed threats by Television Broadcasts (TVB), the industry giant, that it may seek a judicial review of the government decision.

The pay-TV operator’s free-to-air subsidiary, Fantastic Television, decried delays in issuing licenses yesterday, saying the issue is still with the Executive Council a full year after a Broadcasting Authority recommendation in wake of its license application in January 2010.

“Allowing this frustrating situation to continue would only make it more embarrassing by the day for this administration and run the risk of leaving a political predicament for the new administration,” it said

Fantastic TV – together with PCCW’s Now TV and Ricky Wong Wai-kei’s City Telecom – are widely expected to win licenses in a first for the sector since the 1970s.

Fantastic said it “could not even … start investment preparations in view of the legal action already threatened by the two incumbent licensees, the protracted legal battles that will ensue and the risk of the government losing.”

TVB said last week it may resort to legal measures following a High Court rejection of Asia Television’s application for a judicial review.

Fantastic TV wants new consultations on questions such as “Will the public welcome more and better free-to-air TV choices?” and “Should the government depart from long established policy and involve the incumbents in the approval process because they have so demanded and even threatened legal action?”

Fantastic TV called on PCCW and City Telecom to join in its request. City Telecom has refused, saying it is confident of being granted a license.

Market watchers said City Telecom is the least willing to face a further delay as it has agreed to sell most of its telecom business for HK$5 billion in preparation for the capital-intensive investments in the TV business, while i-Cable and PCCW have more room with their ongoing pay-TV operations.

Wong has questioned TVB’s earlier complaint that the free TV-to-air market is so “limited” that it cannot accommodate new competitors.

“In the last 15 years Hong Kong’s economy especially the overall advertising market has grown a lot, while only the free-to-air TV market has stalled,” Wong said, implicitly referring to TVB group general manager Mark Lee Po-on’s comment that advertisement revenue in the sector saw no growth from 1996 to 2011.

“Maybe it’s because the [TV] programs are not interesting enough.”

Sources said the Executive Council discussed the issue in yesterday’s meeting.

A government spokesman said it will swiftly and prudently process the applications.

Source: http://www.thestandard.com.hk

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Does she feel she has more freedom and space working outside of TVB? Jessica is grateful that TVB gave her all those opportunities that got her the fame she has today. She also took the opportunity to disclose the main reason for her leaving the company: “Because the internal personnel changed a lot. We all have different work styles and coordination and can’t work well together. In the past, I have always had pleasant collaborations. I am getting older, and have already pass the point of working for money. If I’m unhappy at work, then I leave. Now that I have left, I’m feeling quite happy.”

When her plastic surgery accusation was bought up again, Jessica was furious. Earlier a plastic surgery company in Mainland invited her to be their spokesperson and implied she got a boob job. Jessica was still upset at the incident: “Because the contract was different from what was discussed before, so I decided to turn down that job. At the time, I was very angry, I felt a little insulted. I’m not opposing boob jobs, but it is just I’m not too happy that I’m getting accused for doing it. I’ve encountered these incidents after I left my maternal home (TVB), so I’ve learned a lesson for the future and will be more careful in accepting jobs.”

Source: MingPao translated by aZnangel @ http://asianuniverse.net/forums/

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Source: Oriental Daily, The Sun
Translated by: aZnangel @ http://asianuniverse.net/forums/

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The day before yesterday, Raymond Wong accepted an interview with Information Times during which, in addition to sharing his joy at becoming a father, he also reveals how he was once contacted by a magazine and asked to ‘generate’ fake news for them.

Partner: Kevin Cheng filmed Gloves Come Off while injured

In the series, Raymond Wong and Kevin Cheng go from a ‘brotherly’ relationship to ‘enemies’ fighting to obtain the ‘boxing champion’ title. Outside of the series, action scenes consultant Sin Ho Ying blasted Kevin Cheng, accusing him of questioning certain sequences and refusing to do them because he was afraid of getting hurt. In response to this, Raymond Wong put in many good words of support for his ‘brother’, stating that Kevin filmed the series while already injured and so being especially cautious with the action sequences was very normal: “Before filming on the series started, Kevin had accidentally injured his back when he was filming Startling with Each Step 《步步惊心》in the Mainland. Therefore, when filming for Gloves Come Off started, he had to see a doctor to get therapy for his back at the same time. All of Kevin’s action scenes were actually filmed at the end – the first half of the filming focused primarily on his scenes with his son and also his romance storyline.”

Raymond continues: “When audiences watch on TV, our boxing sequences appear so easy, but in reality, filming those few minute scenes actually took us hours – it was normal for us to film from 4pm in the evening to 4am the next morning just on that one scene.” Raymond expressed that most of the scenes in the boxing ring were filmed on a specially built set at TVB City. Oftentimes, in order to let the equipment [used in the series] cool down, the air conditioning would be turned on full blast, to the point that some of the crew actually had to wear down jackets in order to keep warm: “Despite the cold, we had to film the boxing scenes shirtless – not only that, we also sprayed water on our bodies to make it look like we were sweating. We were so cold, we would be trembling!” In order to make the boxing sequences look as realistic as possible, they would often film each scene at least 10 times – and that didn’t even include NG scenes – which obviously consumed a lot of the actors’ physical strength and energy. “Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to prepare much for the role ahead of time, as I started filmingGloves Come Off almost immediately after I finished Bottled Passion – I didn’t have time to get into shape. Luckily I had a little bit of martial arts background and generally kept up with exercising, so I was satisfied with the end result in terms of how things turned out physically.”

In the series, Kevin Cheng’s character ‘Tong Sap Yat’ has a reserved, quiet type of manliness to him while Raymond’s character ‘Bat Ka Sing’ comes across like a big kid who still has not grown up, with exaggerated facial expressions and constantly moving about, unable to stay still for a minute. Raymond expressed that the series’ producer [Marco Law] wanted the huge contrast between the 2 characters: “I exaggerated some of the movements on purpose so that later on in the series when my character’s personality changes, the audiences will notice the changes more.” So far, his performance has been both praised as well as criticized, however Raymond expressed that he does not mind either way, as he is already satisfied that he got the chance to play such an interesting character. Most importantly, with his performance in the series, Raymond gained a lot of little kid fans – as a new father himself, this made him especially happy.

Starting with this week’s episodes, the relationship between Raymond and Kevin in the series will slowly start to deteriorate – when the friendship between these 2 ‘brothers’ starts to rupture, it cannot be mended in a short amount of time: “There’s the saying that ‘sincere advice is jarring on the ears’ – unfortunately, both men allow the bad advice of the people around them get to their heads, causing the misunderstandings between them to deepen.” Raymond bluntly stated that his own personality is very different in that if he were to encounter a similar situation, he would clear it up with the person face to face and not allow the misunderstanding to fester: “Communication is a mutual thing – how much you give is how much you’ll receive. There are some people that it’s easy to become ‘brothers’ with and confide in them about all matters, while there are others who are only suitable as ‘acquaintances’. Each person has their own ‘list’ in their hearts.”

Father: Return home to accompany son every chance he gets

In the series, Raymond marries his girlfriend (played by Natalie Tong) after she becomes pregnant and he ends up ‘reluctantly’ becoming a dad. In real life, Raymond and his wife have been together 10 years and are still a loving couple — 3 years after the couple married, Raymond became a dad and almost instantly, he went from being a ‘workaholic’ to a devoted father. The filming schedule for Gloves Come Off was quite intense and there were days where they filmed for 20 hours straight, so by the time Raymond returned home, his son was already asleep, which definitely caused him to feel guilty about ‘neglecting’ his family. As soon as the subject of his son came up, Raymond’s voice became softer and with a smile, he expressed that his son is just learning how to walk – seeing him teetering back and forth as he learned to balance himself was extremely cute: “After my son was born, I realized what it truly meant to have a sense of responsibility. I don’t want to miss a single minute watching my son grow up! In the past, I always felt that my career was the most important thing in my life and so I never wanted to take time off, but now, whenever I have even a 2 to 3 hour break, I rush home to be with my son.” After a 3 month hiatus, Raymond’s first ‘job’ upon his return was filming the series The Confidant《大太监》, which required him to be away from his family for a few weeks due to filming on location in Hengdian [China]. As soon as Raymond left HK, he received word from his wife that their son was sick: “It’s one thing when they’re by my side, but when I’m away, of course I worry about my son being sick and whether my wife will be able to handle the situation by herself – therefore, I chat with them via webcam every night.” Raymond feels that parents have a huge impact on their children, so he insists on sharing in the responsibility of taking care of his son right alongside his wife, even if it means sacrificing their personal time. Raymond states that he often waits until after his son is asleep before he studies his scripts or he and his wife chat about their days: “There are only 24 hours in a day and now with an additional person in our lives, it’s inevitable that we’ll have less personal time.”

Rumors: Refuse to collaborate with tabloids in creating ‘false’ news 

Raymond Wong is an ‘infrequent visitor’ when it comes to tabloids, as he rarely has any gossip reports or rumors surrounding him. Raymond revealed that one time, a tabloid reporter called him up to ask if he was willing to collaborate with them in ‘making news’ – for instance, having him ‘photographed’ holding another woman’s hand while walking down the street or eating dinner together: “This kind of thing is actually very common within the industry — everyone knows it and a lot of artists will actually go along with it, since they know that the tabloids need to have something to write about. However, I absolutely refuse to go along with this kind of thing! I would rather have less media exposure and go slower [in terms of career path] than to be involved in these types of negative reports. I have enough pride and confidence in myself! I’ve never had to purposefully generate rumors like that and I’ve still been able to survive on my own for this long – I have not let myself down!” Raymond expressed that he normally only agrees to interviews during the promotional periods for his series – when he became a father, he especially wanted to dedicate more time to his son, so he purposefully reduced his media exposure even more.

Low point: Practicing ‘dai sing pik gwa’ martial arts helped bring positive energy

In the series, Raymond’s Thai boxing moves are very nimble and agile – part of that can be attributed to him practicing ‘dai sing pik gwa’ martial arts in real life with Master Sin Ho Ying: “I started practicing martial arts back when I was experiencing a low point in my career – it was during a time when I didn’t have much work and was constantly unhappy.” Later on, he discovered that physical exercise, jogging, practicing martials arts, etc. all made him feel happier, so he continued on this path and now exercise is as natural to him as eating: “When I have time, I go practice martial arts and on days when I don’t need to film, I get up at 6am to go jogging, then shower and start my day with attending events and such. I realize now that happiness truly cannot be bought with money!”

Source: Information Times

Translation: llwy12@ http://asianfanatics.net

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Steven and TVB’s back and forth contract negotiation seesaw has finally ended. Yesterday while at work in Hengdian, Steven, in this exclusive interview, confirmed he will regain his independence from TVB starting next month (March). He expressed his gratitude towards his ‘maternal home’ for taking care of him all those years. He said: ” Last month the company and I agreed to have my contract terminated at the end of this month. The whole issue concluded quite smoothly. I’m very grateful. Now there is one less problem for me to worry about. I can now move on to contemplate my future.”

As to all these alleged enticements to attract this red-hot guy, Steven says forthrightly:“Previously, I did talk to Ricky Wong. Also Zan jie (Catherine Tsang) is my mentor. I always keep her words to me in mind. As for the other companies, they did approach me also. But I’m still vacillating, at this moment in time I’m still undecided.” 

Steven admits that besides shooting series, there is also the management contract to consider. He says: “The script is the most important. Money is secondary. As to the management contract, I have to carefully think about it. In any case, I’m grateful to all those who have approached me. I thank them for their appreciation of me.”

source:oriental daily – 2/9/2012
translator: Tamaya @ asianfanatics

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Admits Spending Time Together

Speaking with reporters, Tavia stated, “On Valentine’s Day, I need to work. If he truly wants to ask me out, then he needs to pre-arrange the time!” Tavia noted that women should wait [for men] to give them gifts. Asked whether she would accept a ring, Tavia replied, “Of course, it’s money!” Appearing in good spirits, Tavia appeared to hint that her relationship with Him Law may have improved, “If I were to come across a good man, I will date. We are good friends.” (Has your relationship improved?) “There is no time! I have to work everyday!” Tavia admitted that she met Him for meal outings privately.

Although Him was not as open in discussing his romantic rumors involving Tavia, he was quite protective when asked about her cosmetic surgery rumors. Him noted, “I do not think there was any [cosmetic surgery]! We always saw each other during filming!” Asked if he ever touched Tavia’s nose, Him replied, “No, there were no kissing scenes, so I never touched [her nose]!” In addition, Him also vouched that his ex-girlfriend, Theresa Fu (傅穎), did not receive any plastic surgery procedures either.

With her popularity surging after portraying “Kwan Yi So” in L’Escargot <缺宅男女>, Mandy Wong said with a smile that she will control herself and not allow the unreasonable and dominant traits of Hong Kong women to surface.  “Otherwise, it will scare away male friends!”

Source: Oriental Daily Translated by Jaynestars

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The relationship seems to be getting more and more stable. The couple will be celebrating their first Valentine’s Day since their relationship was made public. In fact, last year they have already secretly celebrated together, as Florinda excitedly posted photos of 99 roses, cake and champagne on Weibo.

It was said Joel greatly values Valentine’s Day this year, and especially spent 6 figures to prepare a ‘loving’ gift for Florinda. He wants his girlfriend to have a memorable and surprising Valentine’s Day. Joel admitted he is preparing a gift, but when asked what the gift is, he remained mysterious: “Of course I can’t tell you!” Joel expressed they will be in HK to celebrate the holiday.

Source: Oriental Daily
Translated by aZnangel @ asianuniverse.net

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