Due to its worldwide box office success, The Forbidden Kingdom is getting a sequel. This chop-suey of Chinese fable will reunite the two big Chinese martial arts stars, Jet Li and Jackie Chan, and will likely feature a romance between Jet Li and Li Bingbing‘s characters, according to the Beijing Times report. Wait, the romancing of the Monkey God and the Grey Haired Lady aka Moonlight Witch? Now that’s a first. A better storyline would be to have Jet Li play a mute guy. This is certainly fitting since he uttered no more than 10 sentences in the first movie, and most were incomprehensible. 

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Korean R&B pop sensation, Rain, was on The Colbert Report earlier this week. The Michael Jackson of Asia was in LA for the promotion of his movie, ”Speed Racer” and decided to pay the funny man Stephen Colbert a visit for a dance off. The segment was pre-taped due to Rain’s limited English proficiency. This is how it started—In 2007, Time magazine conducted an online poll of the 100 most influential people of the year and Rain was number 1 while Stephen tailed him as the runner up. Ever since then, Rain had become Stephen’s arch nemesis and the comedian even joked about him and imitated a scene from his music video. (You can download high quality clips of their performance after the jump.)

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Most Filipinos I know can sing very well, But none of them has a voice as big and a body frame as small as Charice Pempengco.  Apparently this 15-year old girl who found her stardom on youtube just taped a segment on Oprah’s show earlier this week. Charice also made an appearance on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show late last year and performed two songs. I saw this clip of her singing “And I Tell You I’m Not Going” and her voice simply blew me away. She has the voice of Whitney but the body of Britney (when Britney was 15 that is. She is probably thrice the size of Charice now). 

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Things have been pretty slow in the Asian celeb world these two days so let’s talk about food (another subject I love dearly!). Ramen has been all the rage in the major U.S. cities as of late. I am not talking about the little ramen packets that you used to eat in college to save money for drinking. I am talking about a steamy bowl of noodles served in a delicious broth with some sliced pork, egg and seaweed (I am salivating as I am writing this) . There are four common types of ramen - shio (salt), tonkatsu (pork bone), shoyu (soy sauce) and miso ramen. My personal favorite is the tonkatsu ramen. I used to get my ramen fix at one of the many hole in the wall japanese noodles/yakitori places on St. Marks Place, where your entrance and exit are usually accompanied by a loud and zesty Japanese greeting by the restaurant staff.  Now I get them at newer establishments that specialize in serving ramen. These places seem to be popping up in the city like mushroom. Every month there is a new ramen place for New Yorkers to try out. 

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This is probably the most exciting news I have received in weeks! Apparently Live Nation, Madonna’s current recording label, is interested in expanding into Asia and has offered the ultimate Asian Diva Faye Wong a recording contract worth HKD100 Million (USD$13 Million). Ever since Faye released her last album “To Love” in 2001, she has retired into her domesticated life in Beijing. Her daily routine probably consists of screaming at her maid, singing karaoke and playing mahjong with her gal pals. “Fayenatics” around the world like me have been hoping that she would get tired of this lifestyle one day (but seriously, who would?) and come out to bedazzle us with another album. There is not a single female recording artist from Hong Kong, Taiwan or Mainland China that has proven worthy to replace Faye since her unofficial retirement seven years ago. 

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There’s nothing in the world that is more embarassing to us Asians than to admit that this freak show (Bai Ling) is one of our people. From her imitation of Madonna on VH1’s ”But Can They Sing?” to her recent shoplifting at a LAX gift shop, she is nothing but a media whore who gives Asians a bad name. She shows up at every movie premiere (even though the movie has nothing to do with her) and wears really outlandish outfits that would put another Asian freak show Bobby Trendy to shame. The paparrazi in LA adore her because she helps fill up their time with her bizzare behaviors, strange outfits and often incomprehensible comments. 

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While it’s been a challenge for many Asian American actors and actresses to break into Hollywood, it’s a much easier road for their Asian counterparts to make a debut there. This month, Korean heartthrob Rain will make his debut in Hollywood with the famous 60s-anime-turned-movie ”Speed Racer”, playing an Asian racer that is forced to defend his family name. Another Asian heartthrob, Takuya Kimura, is also said to be coming to Hollywood this year. He is set to star opposite hottie Josh Harnett in a movie titled ”I Come With The Rain”, along with korean actor Lee Byung-hun. A veteran actress from Hong Kong, Charlie Yeung, is also making her debut in Hollywood this year. She will star opposite Nicolas Cage in ”Bangkok Dangerous” and will probably play a damsel in distress (how else will Hollywood portray a petite Asian girl?). 

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After dating for what must have seemed like a million years, Tony Leung and Carina Lau are finally getting married this year. Both have repeatedly admitted to the possibility of a marriage when asked by the paparazzi at several public events this year. Rumor has it that these two love birds will officially announce their engagement at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival in May. Why Cannes!? Why not at the recently held Hong Kong Film Awards? After all, won’t they find a broader audience at the latter event to congratulate them on their engagement, since they are more well known in Hong Kong than France? 

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Hong Kong, once known as the Hollywood of Asia, is apparently running out of talented singers or actors. Prudence Law and Shirley Kwan, two Cantopop divas that were popular in the late 80s and early 90s, held a comeback concert separately in HK this month and they were a hit. Sammi Cheng, another Cantopop diva who went into hiatus in the last few years, also had her comeback concert recently (including one in Atlantic City for the Chinese gamblers and fans living in the U.S. Eastern seaboard). Their fans, mostly gay men and housewives, have all responded enthusiastically to these concerts.

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Because of his notorious sex photo scandal, Edison held a press conference and announced to the world (or at least to the people who cared) that he was retiring from the entertainment industry for good. Yet he can be seen everywhere these days. Edison can be seen in a recently released music video with Hong Kong actress/singer Josie Ho (daughter of the Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho). He can also be seen on some billboard in Chengdu, China touting its mass transportation system. He is also about to start shooting a romantic comedy financed by an American Independent movie studio with famous Taiwanese actress Shu Qi. 

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The retired Pop Diva was recently spotted at a Buddhist temple on E Mei Mountain in China

*That’s Faye Wong on the Far Left*

I love Faye Wong, so it’s certainly befitting to have my first Asian celebrity blog dedicated to this retired Asian pop diva. Faye, a devoted Buddhist, was recently spotted at a famous Buddhist temple on E Mei Mountain in China with some of her friends who are also performing/recording artists in China.  Faye looks gorgeous despite having no make up on (and skinny too!). Fans clamored to have their pictures taken with her. How I wish I was there too! I’d ask her “Darn gurl, how did you stay so skinny!?”. I once flew all the way to Hong Kong just to see her in concert. It was a good call since that was her last concert in HK before she went into retirement. Many fans have asked her to come out of retirement to release an album or two. Yes Faye, the current Hong Kong/Taiwan pop tarts out there are nothing compared to you. You can even do a few Buddhist chants for all we care. We just want to hear your melodic voice. Desperate times call for desperate measures—I am heading to the closest Buddist temple in Chinatown to pray for Faye to end her retirement early.

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