Top 10 entertainment news

1.John Woo's latest epic Red Cliff prescreened to the press in an abridged version about one third of its total length.

This disappointing highlight overturns the filmmaker's claim that it will be the best movie in Chinese history.

2. Kung Fu Panda has just exceeded 100 million yuan in box office receipts in the mainland market.

I told you an ass-kicking panda could make more money than a sitting panda.

3. CCTV-5 sportscaster Zhang Bin has emerged from a six-month hibernation imposed after his wife openly accused him of adultery.

Hester Prynne: Do you call that punishment?

Zhang: I'd rather wear the letter A on my chest than vanishing from public view.

4. Tony Leung has denied, for the umpteenth time, that he was not going to tie the knot with long-time beau Carina Lau.

I don't understand why the public is more anxious than Leung's mother. You're not going to hold the baby, or be invited to the wedding, for that matter.

5. Actor Wang Baoqiang, known for playing Forrest Gump-like characters, has just published his autobiography.

It's hard to embellish a true-life rags-to-riches story, but it's worth a try. Who knows, the Wang Baoqiang story may be turned into a movie or TV drama and spawn more money-making ventures.

6. Cecilia Cheung is said to join the cast of Outlaws of the Marsh as the archetypal unfaithful wife Pan Jinlian.

This sounds like another gee-whiz casting idea that entertainment producers have conjured up from their logic of art imitating life.

7. There was a rumor, later denied, that Wang Gang, host of a Beijing TV show about antique collection, has married Luo Xiyue, hostess of a similar show on CCTV. In an unrelated rumor, Han Han, the second most popular blogger in China, is "chasing" Xu Jinglei, the number 1 blogger.

You see the pattern? The marriage of rivals leads to the creation of monopolies.

8. Shaanxi farmer Zhou Zhenglong has been arrested for faking the South China tiger photos.

But you can't deny that he was an extremely good actor. Even an Oscar winner could have buckled under such public scrutiny, but he held out for quite a long time.

9. The leak of photos from the Dream of the Red Chamber cast is so consistent that the entertainment pages are flooded with these images on a daily basis.

I have a better marketing idea: leaking photos of photogenic young actresses caught on candid camera in a catfight.

10. In another story about Dream of the Red Chamber, writer Wang Meng openly speculated that Cao Xueqin, author of this classic novel, could be gay. What man would give such detailed descriptions of so many different women, Wang argued.

Many defenders have come out to protect Cao's good name, but not a single critic has sided with Wang. Does this say something about the status of gays in China?

(China Daily 07/11/2008 page18