Stefanie Sun topples music charts in Taiwan Still HOT!

Over the weekend, it was announced that local singer Stefanie Sun's latest album It's Time was the best-selling album across the five biggest music charts in Taiwan.

Her singles When winter nights turn warm and Telling the world words from my heart took the second and third spot respectively.

On Mar 13, Stefanie held her first autograph session at Ximen Ding in Taipei. The autograph session attracted about 3,500 fans. Some fans started queuing at 10am and there was even a fan who bought 137 albums!

Stefanie said that the song 'When winter nights turn warm' is one of the most important songs from the entire album. The last sentence in the song which states, "The most important thing is that we were once in love" is especially dedicated to her fans.

"I wrote another song 'Fools' Nation' from dusk to dawn. This song gave me a lot of room for imagination and visual emotions. It's a song girls would like," Stefanie added.

As a temple fair in the area was held at the same time as Stefanie's autograph session, the singer joked, "It felt like they're promoting for me."

Kelly Chen suffers a lost her babies

Hong Kong singer Kelly Chen was five months' pregnant with twins girls when she recently announced that she had suffered a miscarriage.

Kelly had conceived through artificial insemination last year. Kelly had been admitted into the hospital for a checkup after feeling labour pains. Despite the doctors and nurses' meticulous care, the singer lost her babies and was warded for a week.

Her husband Alex Lau never left her side during the week. Her family and son accompanied her throughout the difficult time too.

Kelly took to her microblog and confirmed the unfortunate news.

"I just went through the worst week of my life. My two daughters could not live with us even though I've tried so hard," Kelly blogged.

The singer later added that there was no special reason behind the miscarriage and was thankful for the extreme care she received from the doctors and nurses.

Kelly even comforted her fans, "Don't worry. I will rest well. I'll see everyone again when I'm ready. Thank you for all your well wishes!"

It is believed that Kelly is now recuperating at home. After the announcement of her miscarriage, friends and fans consoled her, saying that "tomorrow will be better".

Hong Kong singer Gigi Leung, who has a twin brother, expressed, "Giving birth to a pair of healthy twins is not easy. I hope you will be strong. A pair of little angels will watch over you in Heaven. All the best!"

Jet Li donates S$200,000 to help quake victims in Japan and Yunnan

Ever since the earthquake in Japan, celebrities from various countries have come together to raise money for the victims. The latest is internationally-renowned kungfu star Jet Li.

According to a Japanese website, Jet was heartbroken when he heard the news and hoped to be able to give assistance.

Through One Foundation, which he founded, Jet had already donated RMB$500,000 (approx. S$100,000) to the Red Cross Society in Japan. The actor had also allocated another RMB$500,000 for the victims in Yunnan, China.

Jet's One Foundation had helped in various disaster reliefs ever since its establishment. The actor recently posted on his microblog, "Praying for all the victims [from the disaster], I hope that there will be more survivors through the rescue missions."

In other related reports, as the Asia-Pacific ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund, Cantopop singer Miriam Yeung expressed that she wished to visit the affected areas in Japan personally and that she is not worried about the nuclear radiation.

Taiwanese actress Stephanie Siao, who is known to donate NT$1 million (approx. S$34,000) to charities annually, will give this amount to the Japanese Red Cross.

Other Taiwanese celebs such as Show Luo, Rainie Yang and S.H.E member Ella Chen have also rallied public to help the quake victims in Japan and Yunnan.

Winners Announced for 2011 Asian Film Awards

The Thai film "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" was named best picture at the fifth Asian Film Awards on Monday in a ceremony overshadowed by the absence of Japanese filmmakers who stayed home in the wake of a deadly earthquake and tsunami.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's mystical drama follows a dying man from Thailand's rural northeast who explores his past and the idea of reincarnation in his final days. Apichatpong said it was especially sweet to win in his home region, a year after he took the top Palme d'Or award at France's Cannes Film Festival.

Amuro Namie to open for “ONE PIECE” with song, “Fight Together”

Self-proclaimed “Queen of Hip-Pop” Amuro Namie will be providing the opening theme song for the wildly popular manga and anime series, “ONE PIECE“.

Although there are no plans for a release of the song yet, here’s what we do know: the song, titled “Fight Together“, will first hit the airwaves on a March 27th airing of the anime, and is expected to be an upbeat track.

When asked about the opportunity to sing for the anime, Amuro released a comment full of positivity and happiness: “I love ‘ONE PIECE’ as a comic and as an anime, I even read it when on tour. I’m honoured to be doing the theme song this time around“.

Come back to tokyohive for a preview of the new track in the coming weeks!

Source: Shonen Jump, One Piece Fan

Amuro Namie donates 50 million yen to JAPAN disaster relief

It was revealed on the 18th that Japanese singer Amuro Namie donated 50 million yen (~$615,000 USD) to the Japanese Red Cross Society. Amuro’s entertainment agency stated that the donation was “done by [Amuro] as a personal [activity]“.

According to an acquaintance of the singer, Amuro is devastated over the earthquake and has been constantly thinking of ways to help the disaster relief effort.

Source: Nikkan Sports

GACKT encourages victims of the disaster via Twitter

Previously, we reported that GACKT had organized a charity named “SHOW YOUR HEART” after the earthquake in Japan, and he had also opened his official Twitter account the day after the disaster.

GACKT has been sending encouraging tweets for the victims of the earthquake, and also telling people who were not affected, that it’s time for everybody to help each other.

According to GACKT’s blog, he also started sending relief to the devastated areas with the cooperation of many people.  Make sure to follow GACKT to keep up to date with his charitable events and do what you can to help as well.

Source: GACKT’s official Twitter & blogTip: Elizabeth

6Theory Media Japan Disaster Relief Fund

On March 11, 2011 magnitude-9.0 earthquake hit off the shore of Japan, unleashing a 23-foot (seven-meter) tsunami and leaving enormous destruction in its wake.

Thousands have been killed in this disaster and thousands more have been left homeless, as the tsunami swept through, causing mass destruction and setting off widespread fires that burned out of control.

We have created this fundraising page to aid with the enormous relief efforts which will be required to help Japan recover and rebuild.

6Theory Media has already made a contribution of $1,000 USD to the Mercy Corps and we will match up to another $4,000 from our readers donations until March 31st.  Although we have a total goal of $10,000 right now, we hope to significantly exceed this amount.

Thank you for your contribution to this cause!

Please click here to make a donation

Johnny Noh
CEO, 6Theory Media

Paul Han
COO, 6Theory Media

Update 3/17/2011: Thank you all for your generous contributions!  In just a day our readers donated about $2,000 and we just matched it!  Please continue to spread the word and help us reach our goal!