Pride Came Before

My much-delayed return to the gym has had a rather inauspicious start: I fell off the treadmill. Yes, I was happily trotting along when I suffered from a lapse of attention (I can’t recall what caused it), and the next minute I was already at the back of the belt, and thinking “oh shit”. It [...]

Dinner@Frites/2009 A cappella in town@City Hall 22 March 2009

I was rather looking forward to having dinner at Frites, aka Belgium on Tap, on Queen’s Road Central – novelties are always appreciated in the culinary department. S, C and I (as in yours truly, not another alias) shared a cosy pre-concert meal in this Belgian pub, where a wide selection of beers and ales [...]

觸。一瞬 19 March 2009@香港兆基創意書院

Nice idea, decent production that left one wanting just a little bit more. Chivalry Creative Theatre, another one of the local theatre groups, presented a musical of sorts: with two characters reminiscing about their past relationships through songs, just like any other musical, except the songs they used were pop songs of those times, which [...]

港女 vs 電車男

It’s a battle of the sexes, and the battlefield: Hong Kong.
Well done, TVB, for making these two documentaries about 港女 and 港男: not so much for originality or journalistic merit, but for picking a hot subject: for the last fortnight, my colleagues spent much of our lunch time discussing these very issues.
To be frank, neither [...]

Milk

Based on the life of gay activist and Californian politician Harvey Milk, this film raises quite a few timely issues about attitudes towards homosexuality. At the beginning of the film, Milk, played with pathos and dignity by Sean Penn, moves to San Francisco with his boyfriend, an act that would change his life forever. Following [...]

Rachel Getting Married

This week’s Movie Tuesday feature was Rachel Getting Married, a drama/dark comedy about a dysfunctional family (aren’t they all) coming together for the eldest daughter Rachel’s wedding. The story centres on Kym, Rachel’s younger sister and former drug addict, who comes out of rehab to join the wedding proceedings. She is the most watchable character [...]

你咪理, 我愛你, 死未? 14 Mar 2009@HKAPA Lyric Theatre

Another blast at the theatre, this time another local production, by Windmill Grass Theatre (風車草劇團). 你咪理, 我愛你, 死未? is an adaptation of the off-Broadway musical “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” by Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts. That said, it felt highly original: the producers have clearly taken the concept and given it a [...]

Hong Kong Flower Show

I made my first ever visit to the Hong Kong Flower Show last weekend, and brought along my new love interest (my Panasonic LX3 camera, that is): I neglected to charge up the battery the first time round (dusk on Saturday) that it ran out before I finished walking through the show; refusing defeat, I [...]

The Arts Centre – Buildings, birdcage and bathrooms

Before (and after) watching 水中之書 at the Arts Centre, I wandered around and chanced upon a photography exhibition, titled “One Square Foot – Photography by John Fung”. The Chinese title, 樓花, more aptly sums up John’s work, which mainly consists of geometrical patterns formed by repetitive arrangements of images of Hong Kong urban buildings. I [...]

水中之書

It is a play that speaks to many of us city dwellers: indeed, it was concocted by renowned Taiwanese playwright/director 賴聲川 (Stan Lai) – in collaboration with the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre (香港話劇團) – who noticed many a sour puss whilst walking around Central District in this very metropolis. The result was a wonderful production that [...]