Bai Guang: Durian Lover

Now here's a woman after my own heart, a fellow lover of the forbidden fruit.

According to the caption that accompanied this cartoon, Bai Guang loves durian so much that she wishes she could be born a nyonya and stay in Singapore for good.

The funky fragrance of durian is definitely not for those with delicate taste. Let Yan Jun and Li Lihua turn up their noses at your catch, Miss Bai. I will gladly join you in a finger-licking feast for two!

Thanks to Oldflames for sending the "Stars' Dream Journey to Singapore" spread from which this comes.

Bai Guang: Lady Bodhisattva

Ah... Bai Guang, my lady bodhisattva... although you are infamous as the supreme bad girl of Chinese cinema, your devotees find nothing but sweetness in your sour beauty, as they single-mindedly follow the tantric path towards your white light.

"I'm a Female Bodhisattva" by Bai Guang (play song)
from Courage in the Spy World (1949)

Translated lyrics can be found at my new favorite blog, Ambuscade from Ten Sides. The breathtaking pinup of Miss Bai comes from International Screen No. 23 (September 1957).

Who's the Moddest Queen of All?

Why, it's Angela Yu, of course!

A great big thanks to Oldflames for sending this mad mod cover and providing the title of this post.

Name those Fortunes!

Okay, kung fu fans! Who can name all of Master Yu Jim-yuen's "Little Fortunes" in this photo from The Birth of Yue Fei (1962)? I'll start off with the easy ones: Sammo Hung (standing in the middle, looking a bit bewildered) and Mang Hoi (top row, far right). Which one is Jackie Chan? I'm tempted to say the scowling fellow in the top row, far left. But I have a hunch he might be one of the little shrimplings.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Master Yu's China Drama Academy, the training ground of a generation of stuntmen, fight choreographers, and action stars who revolutionized martial-arts movies. Try imagining Hong Kong cinema without Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, and you'll realize the depth of their influence. And those two big shots are just the tip of the iceberg. Die-hard fans will have their own personal favorites, whether it's Yuen Biao or Yuen Wah.

Next month the Hong Kong Film Archive is presenting a small retrospective to celebrate the early films of Master Yu's students. It will include two other films from the early 1960s featuring the "Little Fortunes" when they were kids.

For a fun read, check out these reminiscences of the "Seven Little Fortunes", which appeared in translation all summer long at HKSAR Film No Top 10 Box Office.

And finally, here are two clips: the first is from Seven Little Valiant Fighters (1962), which will be shown in the Hong Kong Film Archive's retrospective, and the second is from Dragons Forever (1988), featuring Sammo, Jackie, and Yuen Biao in a hilarious three-way scuffle.

Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Dee Lohan ( born July 2, 1986)is an American actress, model, and pop singer. Lohan started in show business as a child fashion model for magazine advertisements and television commercials. At 11, she made her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap.




Lohan rose to stardom between 2003 and 2005 with leading roles in the films Freaky Friday, Mean Girls and Herbie: Fully Loaded. She subsequently appeared in independent movies like Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion and Bobby. Her career was interrupted in 2007 as two DUI incidents and three visits to rehabilitation facilities led to several lost movie deals. She guest starred in the TV series Ugly Betty in 2008 and filmed Robert Rodriguez's Machete in 2009.

Lohan launched a second career in pop music in 2004 with the album Speak and followed up with A Little More Personal (Raw) in 2005. She is a favorite target of paparazzi photographers and her personal life has been a frequent subject of celebrity and tabloid journalism.

Christy Yow is Rose Chan

Back in May I posted about director/producer Eric Khoo's search for an actress to play Rose Chan in his upcoming biopic about Malaysia's legendary "Queen of Striptease". After looking for a year and a half, he has finally chosen Christy Yow, a Malaysian model who caused quite a stir last December when she appeared in a bikini on the cover of FHM Singapore and was quickly dubbed "36C Christy" by the local tabloid press.

Christy is certainly sexy enough, but it remains to be seen whether she has the necessary chutzpah to portray the indomitable Rose Chan, who besides stripping was famous for wrestling pythons and having motorcycles ride over her.

Production on the film is scheduled to start late next year in Shanghai. Here's wishing Christy great success in channeling Rose's wild spirit!

Further Reading

• "Khoo Finds His Rose"


• "Busty Malaysian Actress to Play Queen of Striptease"


• "I'm Really Just a SHY GIRL"


• "The Girl Next Door: Model Christy Yow is Making Heads Turn in Asia"


• "Not Just Your Girl Next Door (Although She Is)"


• Christy Yow's Southern Exposure

* Photo of Christy Yow from The Daily Chilli/Asia News Network; photo of Rose Chan from the Soft Film Collection

Soft Film Video Jukebox: PixelToy & at17

A musical oasis in Hong Kong's wasteland of prefab Cantopop, record label People Mountain People Sea is the home of my two favorite Hong Kong bands, PixelToy and at17. Both are featured in this charming DIY video for the song 漂亮 ("Beautiful"), which appeared on PixelToy's debut album Science of Love (2005). They are joined by PMPS founder, Hong Kong alt music pioneer, and drama queen, Anthony Wong Yiu-ming.

Behold the Banned!

You don't even know what this is, but you know you want a look.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you if this was the work of the film censorship board of Singapore or Malaysia, nor if the movie itself was censored or just this particular lobby photo.

What... do you really want to see it?

I don't know if it would be in your best interest. There was a good reason that this abhorrent image was banned some forty-odd years ago. Why risk opening a Pandora's box of degeneracy?

From your ravenous eyes and twitching hands, I can tell that you are not dissuaded. You are hell-bent on gambling away your moral well-being for a taste of the forbidden.

Very well then... behold the banned!

Nina Dobrev

Nina Const Dobreva (born January 9, 1989) is a Bulgarian-Canadian actress, singer, instrumentalist, and model currently living in Canada. She played the role Mia Jones, the single teenage mother on Degrassi: The Next Generation since the show's sixth season.


She currently stars as Elena Gilbert in the TV series The Vampire Diaries.


Modeling jobs led to commercials, which then turned into film auditions. Shortly thereafter, she booked roles in feature films including Fugitive Pieces, Away from Her, Never Cry Werewolf, and the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation. She was also in an MTV movie called The American Mall on CTV.


She has landed the lead role in The CW's drama pilot The Vampire Diaries, playing Elena, a human who is caught between two vampire brothers.

A Little Chung Ching to Chase Away those Winter Blues

I'm definitely starting to feel a little depressed now that the days are getting shorter, the skies greyer, and the air colder. With a rainstorm on the way, all I want to do is crawl under my comforter and sleep for a long, long time.

Then I remembered this bright and cheery Chung Ching pinup that Oldflames sent me back in June. It's just the tonic for turning my sad into glad!

Min Sun ye

Min Sun Ye (born August 12, 1989)is as you all know her the leader of the Wonder Girls! She was first discovered by JYP Entertainment in 2001 during Park Jin Young’s 99% Challenge project. Sun Ye showed off her singing and dancing talents at the young age of 12 and has trained under JYP Entertainment ever since.




When the Wonder Girls debuted in 2007, Sun Ye was put under a lot of pressure; during the group’s debut. Many tragic events happened simultaneously: former Wonder Girl Hyun Ah had to leave due to medical issues; So Hee also had a role in the film I Like It Hot and had suffered injuries while filming. Sun Ye mentioned this was one of the hardest times for the Wonder Girls, but that they would make it through. Fortunately, her fans were by her side to cheer her on, too.

Sun Ye is an exceptional leader. Right when the Wonder Girls first debuted, they were suddenly hit with all sorts of challenges and obstacles, but they all made it through; during those tough times, the Wonder Girls kept it together and performed their best even when they were short two members. Sun Ye is also one of the main vocalists of the girl group. She comes out sounding fantastic in all of her performances, has a strong and powerful voice, and never fails to entertain.

Ting Hao: What's Up, Tomcat?

This post goes out to YTSL, who mentioned Kitty Ting Hao's gender-bender You Were Meant for Me (1961) as one of the Cathay films whose DVD release she had been eagerly awaiting. Alas, it failed to materialize before the series was discontinued, and the movie now remains tantalizingly just out of sight.

I'm sure that YTSL and I aren't the only ones turned on by the notion of seeing Kitty in drag. Doesn't she look dashing with suit and cigarette? Whenever I look at this photo, I can't help but think of Anita Yuen in She's the Man, He's the Woman (1994) — that wonderful film which helped turn me into a Hong Kong movie fanatic so many years ago.

Hopefully, Kitty's You Were Meant for Me will become available to the masses some day in the not so distant future. In the meantime, long live the People's Republic of YouTube!



* Photo of Kitty comes from the Yau Leung collection 昨夜星光 (1940s-1960s).

Remembering Kitty Ting Hao

Oldflames sent me these charming pinups of Kitty Ting Hao a few days ago, and I felt that I should pay tribute to Miss Kitty, just in case anyone got the impression from my recent post that I was a hater when it comes to MP&GI's "Little Darling".





Both photos exhibit that mixture of cute and spunky that made Kitty the cat's meow for movie fans then and now. It turns out that today happens to be her birthday (she would have been 70 years old). In memory of her unique charm and talent, here's a clip from one of her best films, Between Tears and Laughter (1960).

Maggie Q

Margaret Denise Quigley, better known as Maggie Q (born May 22, 1979), is a Hawaiian-born actress and former fashion model. She initially gained fame in Hong Kong.

After graduating from Mililani High School, she traveled to Japan and Hong Kong to become a fashion model. In 1998, she got her first role in a Chinese-language TV series.


She began acting in Hong Kong and elsewhere in East Asia. Among her first appearances in film was the lead roles in the Hong Kong action thrillers Gen-Y Cops and Naked Weapon, in which she played the martial artist assassin Charlene Ching. She has also played the titular role of Harmony in the German-Singapore telemovie collaboration Das Haus Der Harmonie, opposite leading Singaporean actress Fann Wong.

In 2006, she starred alongside Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible III. She played Zhen, the only female member of his IMF team. In 2007, she appeared in the Bruce Willis movie Live Free Or Die Hard, the fourth film in the Die Hard franchise and in Balls of Fury.



In 2008, Maggie played fictional Cao Ying, a granddaughter of the warlord Cao Cao in Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon, in her first Chinese ancient costume performance.


She also stars in the video game in the Need for Speed franchise Need for Speed: Undercover as Inspector Chase Linh who is the player's only contact to the Tri-City Police.

She changed her name to Maggie Q in order for it to be more easily pronounced by Chinese audiences.

Hitchcock à la Hong Kong

Check out this cool flyer for Black Cat, the Cat Burglar (1956), a remake of To Catch a Thief, starring Ng Cho-fan, "The Movie King of South China", and former Miss Saigon Tsang Lam-si. Talk about your Cantonese quickie — it was released less than two months after the original played in Hong Kong!

Treatment for Wolves

Here's another one of those wacky Screenland pictorials (No. 27, December 1961). This time around our favorite fatty Peng Peng gets cured of his lasciviousness by "Doctor" Cheung Ying-choi and Siu Keun, a popular Amoy actress from the 1950s who some 16 months later would become one of the hottest stars on the Mandarin screen. That's right, folks: this young lady is none other than Ms. Ivy Ling Po!

A scan of the original is available here.


Pang Pang, despite his unusual bulk, was as fond of women as he was fond of eating. One day, he went to a friend's house and saw a nurse at the house opposite. He called to her as if he knew her.


The pretty nurse, Siu-kuen, did not know Pang Pang. But he insisted that he knew her. Siu-kuen had to admit it. She even invited Pang Pang into her house. He of course jumped at the offer and went.


Siu-kuen told him that this was the bungalow of her doctor whom she had followed here to take a rest. She said that she would introduce the doctor to him. Pang Pang said that was fine. After a moment, Cheung Ying-choi came out, claiming that he was the doctor.


Pang Pang wanted to get rid of the doctor, so that he could be with Siu-kuen alone. He complained of a stomach ache, and the doctor brought instruments.


It was the biggest hypodermic needle in the world, and also a thermometer which was one foot long, which he forced into Pang Pang's mouth. Pang Pang was quite scared of these huge things, but since the girl was there, he didn't mind much.


After taking his temperature, Cheung said it was necessary for an injection. Pang Pang was taken aback. "But your needle is so big!" he stammered. Cheung Ying-choi smiled, "But so is your own body."


As he said so, he motioned Pang Pang to remove his pants. When his fat buttock was exposed, Cheung held the needle like he was holding a rifle. He aimed carefully and pushed it down into Pang Pang's flesh.


Almost two feet of the needle went in and Pang Pang bellowed like a pig being tortured. "Don't move," Cheung warned seriously. "Otherwise the needle may break and will require an operation to get out."


Pang Pang gritted his teeth and appealed, "Please take it easy." "I have tried my best," Cheung declared. "Now don't move, I'm going to inject the medicine." "How many c.c.?" "It is not how many c.c. It's two pounds!"


After Cheung finished injecting the two pounds of medicine, Pang Pang cried in despair, "I'm going to die!" Cheung took a look and was secretly shocked. For the medicine had made Pang Pang's belly swell real big!


Pang Pang could not move a foot. He held on to his belly and moaned, "I sure am going to die this time!" Cheung called Siu-kuen out and winked at her. "We have succeeded," he told her proudly.


Seeing Pang Pang, Siu-kuen could not help wanting to laugh. She told Cheung, "This is exactly the kind of treatment for wolves!" "He should have had enough this time," Cheung replied.

Happy Autumn Moon Festival

Best wishes to all my friends and readers!