So the Bollywood strike ended over the weekend, but really who cares about the workers? What are the celebrities up to? Karen Mok is in Hong Kong stinking up a storm with her new perfume, making her one of the first Chinese celebs to have a scent. Made in a partnership with DNA Beaute it's described as "...capturing the essence of Karen Mok in a bottle ― sexy, edgy and utterly feminine.'' Mok says that the smell of herself in a bottle is especially suitable for Asian women. Meanwhile, Nokia decided that nothing resembled their Vertue mobile phones more than Michelle Yeoh. In fact, they believe she is the human embodiment of all that their cellphones represent and so she has become their spokesperson. Meanwhile, Longines wants you to know that their Hydroconquest watches are "...a homage to the people who have dedicated themselves to conquering the oceans..." and as such, their spokesperson is Aishwarya Rai. And finally, Jinro soju is using Korea's popular TV drama actress, Song Hye-Kyo to advertise its soju. Since soju is the best drink in the world (even better than water) this can only be a good thing.

Not all celebrities are shilling, however. Jet Li recently wrote/had written for him a pretty passionate piece published in Newsweek about how getting caught in the Tsunami a few years ago made him re-evaluate his life and start his One Foundation. (You can read it here) And some celebs are, you know, acting in movies, like Korea's great Bae Doo-Na who is starring in Kore-Eda's next film. He made the announcement at the Pusan Film Festival, saying, "This new movie is about a non-human creature that behaves like a human and even falls in love with a human after it learns to communicate." One can only hope that in this Japanese production they're not casting the Korean actress as a "non-human creature."

 Zhang Ziyi is partnering with Korea's CJ Entertainment to produce and star in a Chinese-language romantic comedy, SOPHIE'S REVENGE. Tsui Hark had to drop his film, ALL ABOUT WOMEN (aka NOT ALL WOMEN ARE BAD), from the Pusan Film Festival because there's been a delay in getting it passed by China's SARFT. People repping the film say this is due to a backlog at SARFT and has nothing to do with the film's content. In the Total Rumor Department, Derek Yee's new movie, THE SHINJUKU INCIDENT, starring Jackie Chan, Ken Watanabe and Daniel Wu is allegedly also having a tough time getting past SARFT. Although its producer, Emperor, is categorically denying this, a Hong Kong commentator passed along the gossip that SHINJUKU INCIDENT has no chance of passing SARFT (it requires SARFT approval before being released in China, and it can't be released in any other territory first or SARFT will not allow it to be released in China) but that the producers are crossing their fingers and praying that it squeaks by and this is the reason that they pushed its release date until later in 2009.

It's rumored that Maggie Cheung and her b-friend Ole Scheeren (a German architect) are getting married in a small ceremony this December. No one in a position to know anything is making a comment. And over in the South China Morning Post, Charlie Young (recently seen in the Nic Cage remake of BANGKOK DANGEROUS) talks about appearing in Wong Kar-wai's ASHES OF TIME and how Leslie Cheung appointed himself her caretaker:

"I was a newcomer. I didn't know anything about acting, but Gor Gor [Leslie] was so down to earth. He looked after me literally like a nanny. Off camera we played badminton, and on the set I would sit next to him when he was playing mahjong with the other cast members. I think I have come to understand now that he was worried I would get bored or something."

In a bit of sad news, the world's most pretentious movie, BLINDNESS, debuted this weekend in 12th place at the box office with a$2 million dollar gross. The movie debuted on 1690 screens giving it a paltry $1,185 per screen average. The fact that the movie, which might be the worst film of the year so far, tanked isn't the bad news, but it is sad for its two Japanese leads, Yoshino Kimura (SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO) and Yusuke Iseya (CASSHERN, SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO), who both did good work and held their own in this big, English-language production.

Tony Jaa invited reporters down to see the massive Khmer palace sets being built for ONG BAK 2, and to see him in action. Assurances were made that ONG BAK 2 will be ready in time for a December 4 release in Thailand, and a trailer for the movie is already playing in theaters. And speaking of Thai celebrities, whatever happened to the Greens? Gerald and Patricia Green, an American couple, ran the company that managed the Bangkok International Film Festival until they were arrested for bribery and it turned out that the festival was just a big feeding trough for corrupt officials. The Thai investigation of the Greens never got very far, but now the US Department of Justice has filed more charges against the Greens in relation to them paying bribes in order to secure contracts for an "elite privilege card" that promised speedy immigration, the ability to buy property and other advantages to rich foreigners visiting Thailand. The new counts:

"...one count of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States by paying bribes to a foreign public official in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and by engaging in money laundering, 10 counts of violating the FCPA, seven counts of transportation promotion money laundering, one count of a transaction in criminally derived property, two counts of false subscription of tax returns, and one count of forfeiture.

The conspiracy and FCPA charges each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison, each of the false subscription charges carries a 10-year maximum sentence, and each of the money laundering counts carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison."

It is a very sad day when Americans trying to rip off money overseas have to face criminal charges as if they were regular people. We're Americans! We invented baseball! Your laws don't apply to us!