SINGAPORE : When Edison Chen arrived in Singapore to promote his new movie, “The Sniper”, on Sunday, we wondered if he had some kind of death wish.

After his first public appearance here in February for the launch of Carl’s Jr’s new Thickburger and the adidas Originals’ 60th anniversary party, bullets were mailed to Hong Kong media threatening the 28-year-old’s life if he should appear at any more public events. As a further consequence of last year’s sex scandal, the actor has also been on the receiving end of mafia threats.

It was, therefore, a little anti-climactic when nothing had happened. TODAY overheard someone calling into his headquarters to report, “There was no shooting.” He sounded almost disappointed.

Organisers had taken every precaution to ensure safety. Besides some 20-odd security personnel and four armed guards, entry was restricted and the guards at the door thoroughly inspected bags – no leisurely poking around with giant popsicle sticks like they do at the Esplanade.

“The Sniper”, filmed two years ago but held back due to the release of Chen’s private pictures, is an action movie about snipers in the Hong Kong police force. Chen’s co-star Richie Jen and director Dante Lam were also present at the conference. And they had the guts to sit next to Chen.

“If I said I wasn’t afraid, I’d be lying. I am a little. But I will go on. Some things just have to be done,” said Chen in Mandarin.

“Whether this is my first step back into the entertainment industry … We’ll see how it goes. I think I have to take it slow and listen to my bosses and the audience before I can decide when to re-enter the scene.”

And why does Chen keep coming back to Singapore? Does he feel safe here? Does he have an unbridled fondness for chicken rice? To that, Chen would only say: “I have to thank Singapore for welcoming me.”

Channel News Asia

HONG KONG: A computer technician pleaded not guilty in a Hong Kong court Monday to illegally copying and distributing more than 1,000 photos of a Hong Kong actor performing sex acts with a string of starlets.

Sze Ho-chun, an employee of computer shop Elite Multimedia, saw the images on Edison Chen’s laptop when the Canadian-born singer-actor brought it in for repair work in 2006, prosecutor Hayson Tse told the Kowloon City Magistracy.

Sze then copied the images on to a computer server which was connected to the Internet, Tse said.

At the start of his 10-day trial, Sze pleaded not guilty to three counts of obtaining access to a computer with a view to dishonest gain for himself or another.

The prosecution said that Sze saved 1,300 sex photos of Chen and other local celebrities on a compact disc and passed the disc to another of his customers. He also told the customer how to access the images on the Internet.

The 24-year-old Sze allegedly sparked one of the city’s biggest sex scandals when the photos, which Chen has admitted taking himself, were plastered across the Internet for weeks in February last year.

The pictures showed Chen in compromising positions with celebrities including Canto-pop star Gillian Chung, actress Cecilia Cheung and former actress Bobo Chan.

The incident caused a storm in the celebrity-obsessed city and sent Chen fleeing to his childhood home of Canada.

On Sunday, Chen braved a death threat to appear in public in Singapore with an entourage of security guards to promote his movie “The Sniper.”

His appearance came less than a month after a Hong Kong television station received an anonymous letter sent with a gold bullet, warning Chen to stay away from public events if he valued his life.

Hong Kong triads, apparently angered by the scandal’s damage to the city’s entertainment industry, have allegedly offered a US$110,000 reward for the star’s right hand, according to local media reports.

Chen admitted he was a bit fearful of the threat but added that he hoped to resume his career in the Hong Kong movie industry.

– AFP/yb

Channel News Asia

SINGAPORE: Despite being a “little bit afraid” scandal-hit Asian pop star Edison Chen braved a death threat to appear in public in Singapore on Sunday to promote a movie called “The Sniper”.

His appearance came less than a month after a Hong Kong television station received an anonymous letter packed together with a gold bullet, warning Chen to stay away from public events if he valued his life.

“If I say I’m not fearful, I would be lying,” the 28-year-old told a packed and tightly guarded media conference at a hotel in Singapore.

“I’m a little afraid but I have to do what needs to be done (to promote the film) so I hope everyone will welcome me and watch my movie,” he said, referring to the crime thriller “The Sniper”, directed by Hong Kong film director Dante Lam.

About 20 security personnel, including four uniformed private guards armed with handguns, were at the media conference venue.

The actor-singer had been one of Asia’s biggest entertainment stars until he fell into disgrace after photos he took of his sexual encounters with a string of female celebrities were plastered across the Internet last year.

Chen, 28, was wearing a dark shirt with the top button off, and there were no visible signs he was wearing a bullet proof vest, an AFP reporter said.

Hong Kong triads have allegedly offered a 110,000 US dollar reward for the star’s right hand, according to Hong Kong media reports.

Chen at the news conference thanked Singapore for welcoming him and said he hopes to resume his career in Hong Kong.

“I hope to be able to continue (working) in the Hong Kong movie industry, but I’m taking things slowly for now,” he said. “I will be brave to face whatever mistakes I’ve made.”

While he might have been here to promote his new film, the media’s main attention was on his personal life.

Chen told the media he plans to help his father who recently filed for bankruptcy.

When a Mediacorp reporter asked for more details, Chen got angry and his manager demanded for the earlier part of the one-on-one interview to be deleted in order for the interview to continue.

Chen also said he hopes to get back on track with his acting career and added the latest film was completed about two years ago.

Chen said: “I really put the movie’s destiny and everything in the company’s hands… It’s not a movie I produced, it’s not a movie that I paid for. So, it’s not really in my hands to decide when it releases or not. I’m actually very pleased that the movie is actually being released, because for a long time now, I’ve been wondering what’s going on with this movie.”

The sex photos taken by Chen became an Internet sensation when they were posted online, forcing him into early retirement and sending him fleeing to his childhood home of Canada.

The pictures showed Chen in compromising positions with various celebrities, including Canto-pop star Gillian Chung, actress Cecilia Cheung and former actress Bobo Chan.

Chen has said the photos had been stored on a personal laptop computer that had gone missing. He believed the release of the photos was due to “some foul play” by employees at a Hong Kong computer store.

- AFP/CNA/yt

Channel News Asia

Rap
PELBAGAI filem menarik berbentuk romantik, komedi dan aksi disiarkan 8TV setiap Sabtu jam 8.30 malam. Pastinya filem popular dari Asia menjadi pilihan penonton setia 8TV bagi memenuhi malam minggu bersama keluarga dengan penuh ceria.

Bermula dengan filem komedi, Tricky King yang mengisahkan Ohmygod lakonan Eric Kot yang kehilangan pekerjaan dan maruah kepada King Of Tricks. Dia kemudian bekerja dan menjadi anak didik Supreme King of Tricks. Mereka kemudian ditugaskan Go Lumbus untuk memalukan kakak tirinya.

Ohmygod pula jatuh cinta dengan Dkny (Anthena Chu) yang bekerja sebagai jururawat. Filem yang disiarkan pada 4 April ini padat dengan aksi lucu turut dibintangi Sherming Yiu, Mark Lui, Ann Lee, Wong Jing dan Nat Chan.

Siri seterusnya menampilkan gandingan pelakon popular Hong Kong, Anita Yuen dan Emil Chow dalam filem Just Married yang disiarkan menerusi slot sama pada 11 April.

Filem romantik komedi mengisahkan Kau Siu Suet (Anita Yuen), eksekutif pemasaran yang bertemu dan akhirnya berkahwin dengan jejaka baik hati bernama Kong Chi Wah (Emil Chau).

Namun, perkahwinan mereka dilanda masalah apabila Madam Kong (ibu Wah) yang dilakonkan Lydia Sum datang ke rumah mereka dan sentiasa mencari salah Siu Suet.

Filem yang padat dengan aksi dan tragik turut dipaparkan menerusi Welcome To DongMakGol yang disiarkan pada 18 April. Filem ini mengisahkan juruterbang tentera laut dari Amerika Syarikat, Neil Smith, yang ditimpa kecelakaan apabila kapal terbang dipandunya terhempas di Dongmakgol iaitu sebuah perkampungan terpencil di Korea.

Neil yang parah diselamatkan penduduk kampung. Tidak jauh dari kampung itu, perang tercetus antara Korea Utara dengan Korea Selatan dan membunuh ramai penduduk.

Namun, hanya tiga askar dari Korea Utara terselamat iaitu Rhee Soo-hwa (Jeong Jae-yeong), Chang Young-hee (Lim Ha-ryong) dan Seo Taik-gi (Ryu Duk-hwan).

Mereka dijumpai seorang budak perempuan terencat akal bernama Yeo-il (Kang Hye-jeong). Yeo-il membawa askar itu ke kampungnya dan di sana mereka bertemu dengan dua askar Korea Selatan iaitu Pyo Hyun-chul (Shin Ha-kyun) dan Moon Sang-sang (Seo Jae-kyung).

Penduduk kampung langsung tidak mengetahui yang mereka bermusuhan. Namun Dongmakgol berjaya merubah persepsi dan pendirian masing-masing dan mereka akhirnya menjadi rakan baik.

Diikuti tayangan filem dari Jepun, Final Romance yang mengisahkan percintaan antara Ah Dik (Edison Chen) dan Jean (Amanda Strang). Ah Dik dan Jean bertemu di Jepun untuk membawa abu mayat adik mereka yang juga pasangan kekasih untuk disemadikan.

Ah Dik dan Jean akhirnya jatuh cinta namun hubungan mereka terganggu apabila bapa Jean membawanya pulang ke Hong Kong untuk dijodohkan dengan seorang doktor. Ah Dik pulang ke Hong Kong untuk bertemu Jean dan mendapat tahu kematian adiknya mempunyai kaitan dengan bapa Jean.

Pengurus Besar Penjenamaan, Pembangunan Perniagaan, Pemasaran dan Komunikasi 8TV, Lam Swee Kim berkata sebagai stesen televisyen tempatan yang mencatat pertumbuhan dari segi jumlah penonton pihaknya sentiasa memastikan pemilihan program terbaik untuk disiarkan di stesen berkenaan.

“Kami hanya menyediakan yang terbaik untuk penonton-penonton setia kami. Semoga penonton terhibur menerusi program yang disediakan,” katanya.

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Harian Metro

JENAKA yang amat melucukan. Itu reaksi Edison Chen mengenai ugutan bunuh yang diterimanya gara-gara kontroversi seks dan foto lucah dengan beberapa aktres terkenal Hong Kong termasuk Gillian Chung yang berlaku pada tahun lepas.

Malah, dia menegaskan dia tidak akan menjadi begitu penakut sehingga membatalkan kemunculannya di tempat umum di Singapura pada bulan depan, sebagaimana yang dijadualkan.

“Saya tidak batalkan kemunculan saya di Singapura nanti,” tegas Edison.

EDISON dikawal ketat ketika menghadiri satu majlis di Singapura 27 Februari lalu.

Bekas aktor terkenal Hong Kong yang mengumumkan persaraan selepas kontroversi tersebut itu baru-baru ini dilaporkan telah menerima dua sampul surat yang masing-masing dihantar ke ibu pejabat Hong Kong i-Cable TV dan ibu pejabat akhbar Apple Daily iaitu Next Media.

Kedua-dua sampul surat itu mengandungi nota ugutan untuk membunuh Edison yang disertakan dengan sebutir peluru.

Nota ugutan itu memberi amaran kepada Edison, 28, supaya membatalkan kemunculannya pada majlis rasmi di Singapura pada 4 April ini.

Tambah nota tersebut, Edison telah diberi peluang terakhir untuk muncul di tempat awam, apabila dia hadir di Singapura pada bulan lepas.

Jika dia tidak menghiraukan amaran terakhir itu, keselamatan dirinya dan individu-individu yang disayanginya bakal berada dalam keadaan bahaya.

Kosmo