This year Ekin has mostly made movies. After the publication of the annual box office figures, a report charged Ekin as being box office poison. Ekin said that he probably would not take the report to heart. He said that earlier when the top ten box office line up was published in another report he was 4th in the lineup. A little unaccountable the sudden change in reports.

Ekin said,

"I am not unhappy. In fact many thanks, everybody to remind me. It will cause me to work hard to make this year even better."

Miriam also supported Ekin. She said that the box office is not reliant on one actor alone, every movie is a team effort.

Both actors talked of their sorrow at the passing of Anita Mui. Miriam said that the emotions she felt had been surprising to her. Ekin said that unfortunately he would not be able to attend her funeral rites, because he would be in Japan filming an advertisement.

Mingpao - Article in Chinese

Singtao - Article in Chinese

Tungstar.com

January 2, 2004

Ekin likes to wear leather jackets in the winter. He has 50 leather jackets. For the last few years he has collected jackets of different colors and different designs. He likes the contrast of a leather jacket with blue jeans.

Ekin was born tall and so the leather jackets look good with his blue jeans. From his portrayal of Chan Ho Nam he was already beginning to wear leather jackets. In those days the jackets were mostly black, but in recent years he has begun to wear apricot or coffee colored jackets. He is pleased to have the opportunity to travel the world. Everywhere he goes he looks for the opportunity to add another design to his collection.

Ekin said that the complaint of many people was that leather jackets were expensive and caring for leather was most inconvenient.

Ekin said,

" I think a leather jacket can be worn for many years so I feel I will get my money's worth. Also the dress trend will always include leather jackets so you need not worry to be out of style."

Ekin was happy to instruct on the care of leather,

" In fact caring for them is not easy. They need to be kept in a special room with a lukewarm temperature. If too dry or too wet then will have problems. If it is too dry the leather may split open, if it is too damp then mold may grow on the leather. I have a friend who opened a laundry store so he helps me to store the jackets and take care of them."

Scanned from Apple Daily courtesy of E-Dimension

January 8, 2004

Yesterday, Ekin took advantage of a break in his schedule to go out to buy Chinese New Year gifts for himself and his family. Ekin has always been interested in new science and technology and his choices from the JC Store were no exception. He stayed in the store more than an hour and as a result came home with many purchases. He bought an automatic vacuum for his mother, and also tried out a motorized scooter around the mall. As next year is the year of the monkey, he also bought a toy that made the sound of a monkey. One of his purchases was a lighted mirror. He said that it was for a friend so that she could put makeup on when traveling on the bus. it was not clear whether he would give this to Gigi or not.

Ekin always gives the impression that he likes to have fun. Ekin explained that when he invites friend to his house they like to have fun and share their discoveries of new inventions. Some of them are nonsense things but the idea is to talk and laugh and have a good time.

Ekin in the last few days finished filming Warriors of the Black Rose the sequel to last year's Twins Effect, in the movie he has a robot as an opponent. Ekin said that he had to rely on his understanding of science and technology products. He had to take care of not laughing at the model, the robot makes him have to use much fantasy strength.

Scanned from Apple Daily courtesy of E-Dimension

January 14, 2004

Ekin has just finished filming his latest movie with Charlene and Gillian of Twins. The movie Protege de la Rose Noire is an action comedy. Donnie Yen is once again the action director for the movie. The movie is planned to be released for the Chinese New Year holiday.

Sha Zhi ( Charlene) and Lu Jiao ( Gillian) rent an old house, but it is full of traps. They get trapped in a cage and a mysterious woman Hei Mei( black rose) comes to them and wants to recruit them for her disciples. They are unable to resist but they are forced to their limits, so time and time again they try to escape. They send a message on the telephone of Luo Da ( Ekin) who is a taxi cab driver. He listens and hears that they are in captivity so he sets out to rescue them.
He enters the house by digging a hole into the ground. Unfortunately, the escape plan fails. Eventually Sha and Jiao start to receive training in kungfu.

It turns out that Black Rose has sad story of how she loved a certain hero.

Even though they are touched by her story, they still want to escape, seems they give Black Rose some kind of confusion drug... as they are about to escape one of Black Rose's former disciples Zi Teng turns up. She has turned evil and is a thief.

Anyway they manage to escape ( after a big fight with the bad guys) and take Black Rose with them, but Black Rose is injured. Because the evil disciple is causing Black Rose so much hurt Sha and Jiao agree to train to take her out. Zi Teng is determined to get revenge.
They go back to the garden of the old house but Zi Teng is already hidden there.
The final enormous battle takes place.
Luo Da and Black Rose, Sha and Jiao become 4 super heroes fighting on the side of righteousness.

In one scene Charlene and Gillian beat on Ekin and make his nose bleed. Charlene said that seeing Ekin like that made it very difficult not to laugh. All of the actors said that the movie required a lot of heard work and was exhausting.

Ekin talked bout the current trend in Hong Kong movies where the females were the important characters and the male actors were more the supporting roles.

The Sun - Article in Chinese
Rose Noire - Official Website

January 16, 2004

In Ekin's latest movie Protege de la Rose Noire Ekin wears super hero tights and a cape. During one of the scenes he has to suffer a kick to a significant place by Mao Shun Jun who plays Black Rose. The scene took several takes. Ekin and his co star were anxious to avoid putting a foot wrong. Mao Shun Jun said the pressure to be very careful was great or she would be very embarrassed. Ekin laughed and said the alarm was genuine, he was sweating in case he would be caused never to have children.

The movie is expected to be released for Valentines Day. It is likely to encounter stiff competition as movies by both Miriam Yeung and Li Ming are also being released at the same time.

Scanned from Apple Daily courtesy of E-Dimension

January 17, 2004

Yesterday, Ekin attended a Chinese New Year good wishes event. He shared the stage with the First Lady to write New Year good wishes for elderly citizens.

Afterwards Ekin explained that the First Lady had asked him to recommend some movies that she could watch at home during the New Year vacation. Ekin said I introduced to her a lot of movies, of course I include my own movies.

Ekin also said that he will go to Japan to work filming and advertisement. He will be there for the New Year so will also have some vacation. Ekin said that Gigi is in the same profession so can never count on having free time at the same time. They both have other single friends.

Ekin was asked about the situation with bird influenza in Japan. He said that he was not worried, however recently there seemed to be germs. Japan has already banned the import of American beef. Ekin said maybe he should consider raising his own chickens and keep a cow so he could be self sufficient.

Scanned from Apple Daily courtesy of E-Dimension

Singpao - article in Chinese
Mingpao - article in Chinese
The Sun - article in Chinese

January 21, 2004

Tomorrow is the beginning of Chinese New Year, according to tradition everyone buy things that interest them before celebrate the holiday. Ekin is no exception. A few days ago he went to a store to deal with purchasing New Year goods. He bought abalone fish, winter mushrooms, and a number of famous name expensive technology products. The goods were for himself and also to give as gifts to his family and friends.

Ekin is planning to spend the New Year holiday in Japan with friends including his girlfriend Gigi Leung. Ekin also explained that he is in Japan to film two product advertisements, and will stay there over the New Year holiday.

We will definitely go shopping, have something to eat, we will definitely travel, laugh and have fun. However, don't think just two people, in fact there is a big group of friends. I could still invite company colleagues, recording supervisors and maybe hold meetings to plan a new album.