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Andy Lau (劉德華), Jacky Cheung (張學友), Kelly Chen (陳慧琳), Leo Ku (古巨基), Eason Chan (陳奕迅) and Alex Fong (方力申) were today among the popstars who took part in the Hong Kong leg of the Olympic torch relay.

Windsurfer Lee Lai Shan (李麗珊), a gold medallist at the 1996 Atlanta Games, started the 120-person relay, which included athletes, officials, businesspeople and celebrities, through rainy streets of the city.

Tens of thousands of spectators lined the route which ran from the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui, to the Golden Bauhinia Square, Wan Chai.
 

The Pang brothers, Oxide (彭順) and Danny (彭發) are currently filming the long awaited sequel to Stormriders <風雲> in Thailand. Original leading males Aaron Kwok (郭富城) and Ekin Cheng (鄭伊健) are reprising their roles as Cloud (步驚雲) and Wind (聶風) respectively and showed off their fresh new look at the film's blessing ceremony yesterday at a film studio in Bangkok.

The two leading stars gave a demonstration of their fighting scenes for the press who were present at the ceremony and at first everything was going very smoothly as they showed off their graceful moves. However, there was a slight mishap, when Ekin accidentally hit Aaron on the head with his sword. The shock and the pain left Aaron clutching his head and Ekin was immediately very apologetic. Fortunately, there was a doctor on hand and after a quick check, Aaron was given the all-clear and showed just a small bump on his head. He was very supportive of Ekin, saying that they had not had very much practice with the weapons because a lot of the action shots are created with computer graphics.

n the run up to the coverage of this year's Beijing Olympic Games, TVB called together a group of nearly a hundred artistes and singers today to film a music video to the station's Olympic theme song "Glorious Land" <光輝大地>. The shoot took place in two parts, firstly on location at the waterfront and then in the studios.

Among those taking part in the video were Joey Yung (容祖兒), Eason Chan (陳奕迅), Hacken Lee (李克勤), Leo Ku (古巨基), Juno Mak (麥浚龍), Shirley Yeung (楊思琦), Bernice Liu (廖碧兒), Alex Fong (方力申) and Fiona Sit (薛凱琪).

Charlene Choi (蔡卓妍) was due to attend, but was absent due to illness. Miriam Yeung (楊千嬅) and Kelly Chen (陳慧琳) were notably excluded from proceedings due to their decision not to extend their contracts with TVB.

During the location shoot, Eason and Joey were arranged to stand on top of two podiums, perhaps reflective of their status among the station's contracted singers. TVB's mascot TVBuddy adorned with his special Olympic icon also made an appearance.

Talking about Miriam's exclusion from the shoot, Joey said diplomatically that maybe it was Miriam who was busy and could not attend. She added that it did seem somewhat quieter without Miriam's presence. She denied that she had less competition now and said that she understood Miriam's desire to broaden her horizons.

Lee Hyori, who is known for her provocative looks, recently said on a show that the whole sex appeal concept was no longer fitting to the person she is.

"Now that I'm 30 years old, I don't think the sexy image suits me," the 30-year-old revealed. "I want to be able to present myself with a different image... a more comfortable one."

Nobody really knows where the sudden change of heart is coming from. But, the rumor is that because she has landed two emceeing roles on "Sang Sang Plus Season 2" and "Good Sunday: Change," she wants to get rid of the whole sexy image.

credits: allkpop.

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The red carpet was rolled out this evening at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsimshatsui for the 27th Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony, where the film industry honoured its highest achievers for the past year.

After much speculation about who would take the most coveted Best Actor statuette, it was Jet Li (李連杰) who emerged victorious for his performance in the epic drama Warlords <投名狀>. The film proved itself as a masterpiece by going on to take a further seven of the 21 awards, including Best Film and a Best Director gong for Peter Chan (陳可辛).

Jet later expressed his delight at winning the award, sharing his accolate with his wife, Nina Li (利智): "I have run this path for 28 years and have finally completed it. I am very thankful to my wife. She is the female lead in my heart and we share everything."

The Best Actress award went to mainland actress Siqin Gaowa (斯琴高娃) for her performance in The Post-modern Life of My Aunt <姨媽的後現代生活>, which also deservedly took the award for Best Original Soundtrack for Joe Hisaishi. The Japanese composer is noted for his work in international anime successes including Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away.

Gaowa commented that the awards were special because they honoured achievers from different age-groups, different appearances and different nationalities. She added that she had taken the opportunity to visit her friends in Hong Kong and she thanked everyone for their support.

More often to be seen among the Best Actor nominations, Andy Lau (劉德華) and Chow Yun Fat (周潤發) were both nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category this year and, when he was announced as the winner, Andy received numerous congratulatory embraces from his friends, including MCs Carol Cheng (鄭裕玲) and Sammi Cheng (鄭秀文). Presentation guest Eric Tsang (曾志偉) seemed a little envious and joked: "Who else receives so many hugs at an awards ceremony?"

Andy said that a Best Supporting Actor award is just as important as a Best Actor award for him. He added: "I feel that the audience does not have high expectations for me, but the industry and my colleagues want me to continue to improve, so the pressure on me comes from within the performance industry itself."

With a film career spanning over four decades, Siu Yam-Yam (邵音音) celebrated her first ever nomination, first ever win and first ever acceptance speech, taking the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Pye-Dog <野。良犬>. Asked how she would be celebrating, she laughed that she would have a photo taken of her sharing the award with her 15 pet dogs.