Crashed Career

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Posted on 01-03-2008

No matter how much we try not to be prophets of doom and leave a bad taste in your mouths, in the interests of truth we have to spill the bad news. Folks, when you have a broken computer take care to save the data that is on your hard drive. If the hard drive is broken, have the computer guy make a house call. But on no account let the hard drive out of sight. Or else….oh well, read on.

Edison Chen, who had acted in The Infernal Affairs, the racy Hong Kong cop drama later remade as the Oscar winning The Departed had problems with his customised MacBook and had to drop it off at a computer repair shop. Nothing out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary was the data stored in the hard drive—his “personal” pr0n collection! The number of pictures was 1300, and all were pictures of various stars in the Hong Kong entertainment industry in “compromising” situations. Since this is Tabloid Tech lets be blunt: they were all photographed having sex with Chen. In his defense, he says the photographs were not taken without permission, but we’re guessing that he did not intend them for public distribution.

However, thanks to his indiscreetness and carelessness all these photos are now stored in multiple servers, downloaded by thousands of people and virtually impossible to stamp out. The actor made the mandatory apology to all his co-stars and has resolved to quit the Hong Kong movie scene, introspect on the mess he created and go underground for some time. As for the actresses who found themselves unwittingly exposed for no fault of theirs, they are all keeping a low profile and hoping the storm will blow over.

Good Will Gaming
We have featured a clutch of celebs in these pages who are technophiles at heart. The latest to join the list is Robin Williams, the funny man and sensitive actor.

Robin Williams discovered the Internet after giving up addictions like drugs and partying. Once he was hooked and logged on, there was no prying the man away from the computer. Things had come to such a pass that he would not stay in a hotel without a Net connection. Besides being active on chat rooms—where he was once accused of impersonating an 8 year old girl—he is an avid gamer.

His favourite genre is first person shooters, and gets his kicks playing online against other players. Half-life and Warcraft 3 are what he nominates as his favourites, though he is game for other titles too. Williams is fascinated by the clans and myths and guilds that are the heart of modern day games, especially MMORPG and, for a newbie and a guy on the wrong side of 50, picks up stuff pretty well. In fact, his analysis on how mods make a good game greater, as well as how modding evolved, is as good as that coming from a hardcore gamer. Way to go, Robin.

Apart from online gaming and chatting, William’s other online activities include trawling the auction sites for kicks and checking on game sites. Curiously, like most of the rest of the world he does not check himself out, even though there are fan sites devoted exclusively to him.

We think he is adopting a wise course, as the Internet is a free-for-all field, and anybody can speak their mind. No sense getting upset about stuff that you can’t control, right?

Heath Ledger Movie To Be Salvaged

Director Terry Gilliam is trying to proceed with the production of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which actor Heath Ledger was part of, before his death on January 22 this year due to drug overdose. The movie is reportedly an American fantasy-adventure film. Prior to suspending the production of the movie, Christopher Stoner and Tom Waits were co-starring with Ledger in a story about the leader of a travelling theatre troupe, who through a deal with the Devil, takes audience members through a magical mirror to explore their imaginations.

Ledger’s untimely death in January led Gilliam to suspend the production. To his benefit, Ledger’s role is based in the magical world, and so he plans to turn Ledger’s character “Tony” into other characters to be played by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Collin Farrell. Gilliam plans to use computer graphics imagery for this.

Unfortunately, the production of Michelle Williams’ starrer Mammoth had to be put on hold following her grief. Surprising as it may sound, technology advancement has led to the dead continuing to work, while those still alive, take a break to mourn!