The art of "lying"

What set me thinking about this topic were two pieces of news that is related to J-ent. Why I prefer to post it here rather than the Dorama World blog is because these are my personal views so I'll want to keep the J-ent news and reviews there but save the personal thoughts here. Disclaimer here again: please don't get worked up if anything here isn't to your liking so I hope that you read this in a light-hearted mood. ^__^

A couple of days back, a Mr. M and Ms. K were reported to have been on an overnight date. The exact words in Japanese were お泊りデート(a date where the couple spends the night together) and 半同棲 (semi-cohabiting i.e. not entirely living together but already getting total access to each other's apartment) but I had chosen then to use some "milder" words when doing the translation since the parties involved have not admitted to anything. The two of them are already in their 30s and can definitely do what they want, as long as it doesn't affect anyone adversely. Honestly speaking, I don't think anyone has the right to stop them if they are truly in love with each other. The issue I see here is not their relationship but rather how they chose to deal with the news being out in the open.

In this time and age, celebrities dating one another is no longer as much as a taboo as in the past. In fact, it's very much encouraged especially if the artiste has been single for a long time and well past the marrying age. Fans these days also tend to be more receptive to open relationships nowadays (well, as long as the other party isn't someone with a sordid past or very questionable character etc.). In this instance, the two of them had already been reported to have gone on dates last year. Mr. M even denied in public that they are an item and that they had gone out with their staff members in tow. This time, even with Ms. K clearly having spare keys to Mr. M's apartment and no mention in the article of any third party heading into his apartment prior or after Ms. K's arrival, the "official" response from the agency was that they were not alone in that apartment even though they did spend the night together in the same place. As soon as I read that article, my first response was, "you guys are taking everyone to be idiots". When you know jolly well that the story seems too far-fetched, wouldn't it have been better to avoid from commenting rather than shoot yourself in the foot?

Another story is about Ms. S's departure from a very popular drama series which coincidentally was also reported in the past week. This isn't totally unexpected because rumours of her being dropped were rampant for a very long time. There were lots of conspiracy theories about why this happened e.g. one of the big-name supporting stars hated Ms. S after they worked together in the past, the lead wanted someone from the same agency as his to take up the meaty role of his sidekick or that Ms. S had other plans in mind e.g. concentrate on her singing career (apparently, she has a concert tour planned this year) or spend time with her new beau. Whatever it is, since the announcement had been made, you would think that's the end of the story, right? No, the TV station chose to dig a hole for itself by saying things like although Ms. S will be out of the series after the first episode, she might come back for future appearances in the later episodes. So what happens if Ms. S doesn't appear after the first episode?Oh well, I certainly do not think that Ms. S will want to do that when the limelight is hogged by someone else. Besides, it was clear that Ms. S had been replaced and the new female lead is there to stay at least for the whole season. Where does that leave Ms. S if she has to come back for cameos? Wouldn't it have been better for the TV station to just say that Ms. S is gone for good?

Which brings me to the point, how do you "lie" without making a fool of yourselves? Sometimes, I think the more people try to explain, chances are, they will end up looking bad at the end. If there's obviously no way for you to wriggle out of this situation, perhaps it would have been better to stay quiet. Some people may take it to mean that you are admitting it to something but surely, the damage caused by this will be lesser than if you are found to be lying or spinning a tall tale. Ridiculous stories don't work anymore these days, you've got to think harder to fool us from now on. ^__^