Grand Bell Awards

    THE 52nd Grand Bell Awards kicked off in Seoul on Friday night, with South Korean drama “Ode to My Father” grabbing 10 awards, including best film and best director. Hwang Jung-min was named best actor for his role in the film. The film depicts a part of modern Korean history through the life of an ordinary man, as he experiences events such as the Hungnam Evacuation of 1950 during the Korean War.

    Korean actress Jun Ji-hyun won the best actress title for her role in “The Assassination.” Chinese actor Sun Honglei and actress Gao Yuanyuan won overseas best actor and best actress awards.

    Bond car show

    BOND cars in “Spectre,” the latest film in the franchise, have joined about 40 other cars and vehicles from the previous 24 Bond films at the “Bond in Motion” exhibition in London, which makes the largest official collection of James Bond vehicles.

    The most striking is a specially built half-car of Bond’s Aston Martin DB10 sports car, complete with an ejector seat. The car contains only those elements necessary for filming, so the front of the car is missing.

    Other vehicles on show from the film include a vintage Rolls-Royce, a Jaguar sports car which is wrecked in the film, and a Land Rover, which features in a fall down a mountain on screen.

    New album

    CUI JIAN, known as China’s “Godfather of Rock,” will release a new album Dec. 18, he himself announced Wednesday in Shanghai. The 54-year-old rock star says this new album is in a break from his iconic style, which will stress melody and include no rap. Entitled “Guang Dong,” meaning “movement of light,” this upcoming album marks Cui’s music comeback almost 10 years after his last release.

    Cui rose to fame in China with his 1986 performance of “Nothing to My Name,” setting off a nationwide rock craze.

    Talk show guest

    ACTRESS Fan Bingbing will act as the final guest of the popular Taiwan comedy talk show “Kangxi Coming.”

    Taiwan’s Eastern Television says that Fan has accepted the invitation to be a guest in the Dec. 2 show with a reported appearance fee of 100,000 Taiwan dollars (US$3,000).

    “Kangxi Coming” has been one of the most successful talk shows in Mandarin speaking countries across Asia since it was first aired in 2004.

    (SD-Agencies)