News Links - 1/4/09

[dleedlee]

Tactical Unit - Comrades in Arms



Hu Jun - Kungfu Cyborg, Red Cliff and Bitter Bamboo Grove





http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2009-01-04/11552327177.shtml

Takeshi Kaneshiro, John Woo, Tony Leung Bejing premiere Red Cliff Part 2

http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/p/2009-01-04/19232327815.shtml
http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2009-01-04/ba2327690.shtml (more)
http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2009-01-04/ba2327691.shtml

http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2009-01-04/11302327128.shtml

Look For A Star


George Lam


http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2009-01-04/06262326714.shtml (more)

Planet B-Boy - DVD review
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/35820/planet-b-boy/

TVB Jade Solid Gold (JSG) awards recap
Leo Ku and Miriam Breaks Down in Tears
Most Popular Male and Female Singers
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Leo-Ku-a ... 14796.html
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Miriam-T ... 14779.html
Miriam Yeung upsets Joey Yung

http://news.xinhuanet.com/ent/2009-01/0 ... 599448.htm

Vivian Chow & Joe Nieh to wed tomorrow; Joe's dad full of smiles
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Vivian-C ... 14705.html

Guangzhou Musical, cheers can be heard,
Charlene Choi performed her dance, Gillian Chung cheered for her in the audience
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Guangzho ... 14826.html

http://ent.sina.com.cn/j/p/2009-01-04/05202326694.shtml
[img]news.xinhuanet.com/ent/2009-01/04/xin_18201060408065002938519.jpg[/img]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/ent/2009-01/0 ... 598963.htm

Charlene Choi predicts that Twins will be back
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Charlene ... 14822.html

Gigi Leung discusses break up with Ekin Cheng three years ago with Sandra Ng

http://news.xinhuanet.com/ent/2009-01/0 ... 598904.htm

Pace Wu magazine spread

http://ent.sina.com.cn/s/h/2009-01-04/14272327380.shtml (more)

New Years All Across China and Taiwan
Jane Zhang wants to take you higher

http://cfensi.wordpress.com/2009/01/03/ ... nd-taiwan/
Harlem Yu and Annie Yi break the ice; wishes each other 'Happy New Year' over the phone
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/Harlem-Y ... 14807.html

[Brian Thibodeau]

200,000 pirated DVDs seized from GTA malls
Industry group behind 2-month operation suspects 'hard-core' retailers are linked to organized crime
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/561408

This crackdown seems to have begun a couple of months back, so the press must have been muzzled, but the raids have been much more effective and long-lasting, presumably because the cops made repeat visits (for a change!) over the course of eight weeks. It's actually nice for a gweilo like me to go to these malls and feel like an outsider once again! It was obvious from all the empty storefronts that something was going on, and it was apparently working. Guess we'll see.

This hopefully will mean more business for the paltry few legit retailers who've managed to hold their own against this onslaught for the past several years, most notably my personal favourite Broadcast Book & Gifts, a chain that has been here since the beginning of the Chinese Mall boom in the mid 90's and which has been stealthily expanding their presence of late in all of the "notorious" locations mentioned in this article, as well as in other Chinese plazas where bootleggers have been eradicated entirely.

Sadly, it seems the bootleggers specializing exclusively in ripping off only Asian product--the industries that are truly hurt the most by the practise--are never bothered by the police in these busts. One hopes it's only a matter of time . . .

Weirdly, Pacific Mall has long been designated an official Canadian tourist attraction . . .

[dleedlee]

200,000 pirated DVDs seized from GTA malls
Industry group behind 2-month operation suspects 'hard-core' retailers are linked to organized crime

Why go after the retailers and not the suppliers? Otherwise, the cops are just playing whack-a-mole just like drug dealing. Sounds like more of a PR offensive.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Why go after the retailers and not the suppliers? Otherwise, the cops are just playing whack-a-mole just like drug dealing. Sounds like more of a PR offensive.

The silence of the press (at least until today) suggests that the authorities are taking a much different approach this time around. Previous raids were always one-time-only affairs where they'd bust a bunch of shops, alert the local media, poo-poo the buyers of the product, and ultimately send that many MORE new customers up to see what all the fuss was about, in turn generating untold fortunes at $2 a pop.

I've long wondered why investigators don't work their way up the retail food chain when it's so obvious that there's more than just sellers and suppliers who are in the loop here. This would include the developers and management companies behind these malls, as well as the realtors who lease the space. There's no way these suits don't know who they're leasing to. NO. WAY. When fully a quarter to a third of your available space is leased to flagrant bootleggers displaying the latest Hollywood movies on racks both inside their stores and in the hallway--such as it is (or was) at the Splendid China Tower mall, which sits directly across the street from Pacific Mall--it should be very difficult to plead ignorance, perhaps even legallly so.

Maybe if the leasing agents weren't so zealous to fill up the space so soon after opening so they can compete with all the other Chinese mega-malls nearby, some of these places might, slowly, grow to resemble the Pacific Mall of 1997, a place that assuredly wasn't free from bogus product, but which also wasn't plagued with the stuff the way it is now. Set rules for those who would even let these criminals in the door, instead of waiting for the criminals to set up profitable enterprises that can withstand repeat crackdowns. Might work.

Also, they do frequently catch suppliers as a result of these raids. Earlier this year, they busted a house about four blocks from where I live that was stuffed to the rafters with millions of dollars in counterfeit product, including DVDs, watches, clothing, accessories, you name it. I believe I posted a link here at the time, but can't find it now. They've also busted a few DVD "authoring centres" operating out of storage rental facilities over the past few years, which usually leads them to bigger fish in the food chain. Of course, when you're dealing with organized crime, you can cut off one leg, but it'll grow back soon enough. This latest effort could very well be temporary . . .