Eurovision doesn’t just entertain, it informs. So for Oslo 2010, an impromptu geography lesson from the snazzy graphics designers:
That’s Armenia, Azerbijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina and France. Whaddya mean you can’t tell the difference?! Well, now you’re into the swing of things, how about these…
Not these either?! Oh well… (They’re Germany, Moldova, Romania, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine btw).
Remember the days when you hadn’t learnt to resize pictures at the diagonals but by squashing, stretching and hoping for the best? *cough cough*
Anyway, apart from the countries morphed into identikit-ness, the other moment of note came from a crowd invader who managed to pick a performance so bizarre, he actually blended in. Nice work.
This item neatly encompasses many HK things – strange food flavouring, being in thrall to all things Japanese and an intriguing use of English.
With a craving for Roast Beef Monster Munch and Chargrilled Steak crisps, this was the best I could find: Yamayoshi’s Beef Tongue Salt.
Were these crisps? Were they dried pieces of cow tongue? Was it made from salt derived from beef tongue? And if so, what is salt derived from beef tongue? Presumably it’s a bit of a specialty if it’s been going since 2002.
Looking at the ingredients list left me none the wiser, other than telling me that ‘crustacean’ may be involved in the action too. Which was reassuring.
The cartoon cow looks frankly over all this nonsense.
A shopaholic and her money are never more quickly parted than when the words ‘limited edition’ and ‘exclusive’ appear in press releases. So kudos to Benefit for managing to score on both fronts with their latest gift set, celebrating their fifth birthday of being sold in the fragrant harbour.
Limited to 3000 sets, exclusive to Hong Kong only, the We Are Five gift set includes five Benefit favourites, specially-packaged to look like the HK skyline. Adorable, cute, classy – and a bit of a steal too, retailing for $990 (the retail value of the products bought individually is $1430).
The products are all tried-and-tested bestsellers, with only the inclusion of Woman Seeking Toner raising a few perfectly-arched eyebrows. I thought we’d long ago agreed toners were obsolete in our beauty routines… oh well, maybe it’s a Hong Kong thing. The other products are That Girl Primer, which I have been desperate to switch to after a long and not entirely happy experience with Make Up Forever’s HD seaweed green primer; PosieTint, the petal-pink version of cult cheek-and-lip stain Benetint; the ever-popular Dandelion Blusher and Dr. Feelgood, a sort-of magic balm that I’ve been looking for an excuse to afford ever since a Benefit beautician showed me its many virtues a few years back.
The fact that these cosmetics have been put in pretty limited-edition packaging in a pretty limited-edition box has given rise to a new dilemma that I usually only face with my Collector Edition Barbies – to de-box or not to de-box? Of course, I must de-box (no, I was never contemplating just putting it on a shelf and stroking it lovingly on occasion) but it is killing me a little on the inside. Expect full reviews at a later date!
If there’s one thing guaranteed to make me feel like a 12 year-old again, it’s reminiscing over old-but-not-ancient tv shows. Especially the ones that aren’t actually the agreed ‘classics’ but the sort of not technically great but still holds a place in your heart stuff, that has the power to make one generation alone go goo-goo eyed yet cause blank stares and bemusement to everyone outside this narrow range.
So how are these pictures of the Saved By The Bell cast all grown-up for making you feel old? Take that, High School Musical, this will you be in 20 years!
In the UK, this used air at 9.25am on Channel 4. Oh, the days when I used to wake up at 9.25am through my own volition.
Zack Morris was my best friend Tom’s first gay crush. I wanted to be Kelly Kapowski but was probably always more of a Jessie Spano (sans the addiction to ‘I’m so excited! I’m so excited! I’m so…. scared’ caffeine pills). My Saved By The Bell tee from TruffleShuffle.com is the most commented-upon item in my wardrobe, eliciting knowing smiles and thumbs-up from random passers-by every time that I wear it (well, at least I hope that’s why they were smiling).
The cast look amazing and it makes my heart go all warm and fuzzy to see them back together again (this behind-the-scenes video is cute too). Of course, you’ll notice Screech is missing. In-between making porn, becoming a chess master and desperately flogging t-shirts on his website, I guess he was too busy. Or he just wasn’t pretty enough for this shoot. Or, given the number of years he clocked up with the SBTB franchise, he’s STILL working for Mr Belding.
Jimmy Fallon unsuccessfully tried to reunite the cast on his show (Screech and Tiffani ‘Kelly’ Thiessen didn’t sign up, although Thiessen released an odd viral about how busy she was which suggested that she was game), so I guess this photo shoot might be the closest we get. Although Mario Lopez (ah… those dimples are still cute as ever) does tantalisingly hint we might get a future reunion show later. Fallon’s attempts did result in this rather awesome interview with Zack Morris. He is STILL the coolest kid in school.
UPDATE: Come 2014, he finally managed to reunite four of the Bayside gang… I challenge you not to grin your way through this! And how do they all look EXACTLY THE SAME? Was there something magic in the water fountains at The Max?!
As a consolation present, Fallon instead reunited the California Dreams cast. HELL YEAH. In the UK, this would often air immediately after Saved By The Bell and was basically the same, except this lot were in a band (the ‘song an episode’ premise features in another childhood favourite obsession, Jem & The Holograms). It came from SBTB’s genius producer, Peter Engel who, once he’d found a successful formula, sure as hell stuck to it (Hang Time, Malibu CA, City Guys) – young attractive cast, cheesy jokes, “issues” episodes and a cavalier attitude to cast changes to keep the dead horse flogged for as long as humanely possible.
Again, the cast look sickeningly-good (possible because they’ve not exactly been exhausting themselves with work ever since) apart from the Latino one, who wore a leather jacket back in the day signalling his ‘bad boy’ character, and is now nearly unrecognisable (hang on, isn’t he Weevil in later seasons of Veronica Mars?!). Sly, the slightly rat-faced Tom Cruise-alike (couldn’t sing so became the band’s sleazy manager and of course, best character) even whips out the six-pack – oh, the desperation of out-of-work actors (not that I’m complaining).
But the real fangirl squeal is reserved for when the cast actually sing the theme tune (at 9.30 in the vid). Yes, these folks sung and played their instruments for real (although the badly-mimed, leotard frenzy that was the girls’ band in SBTB still remains a guilty pleasure that pops up way more often on my iPod than I’m ever going to admit).
I’m going to repeat – they sing the theme tune. Live. The warm fuzzy feeling produced by the SBTB photos just multiplied tenfold into a shivery happy glow. It’s actually a brilliant mellow theme song, which transports you instantly to laidback lounging on the beach. Amazing harmonies, evocative instrumentation, fantastic vocals (possibly in the days before Autotune existed). It’s actual theme song GOLD. In fact, let’s watch in all its full-length 90s glory – just wait for that guitar solo.
And it made me feel like a carefree child again for a few precious hours. These dreams *are* good.
…Except you can at Style2 Restaurant. And it’s garlic butter. And it’s as amazing as that sounds.
Honestly, this may be the best garlic bread I’ve ever tasted. I’m not entirely sure how it’s made – toasted, fried, made by the garlic bread fairies – but it’s delicious and possibly a meal in itself. What I do I know is that I somehow winded up with four on my last visit.
It’s double the thickness of normal toast, meaning it’s golden crispy on the outside yet still soft and fluffy on the inside. And it’s double the deliciousness of normal garlic bread because it has garlic butter on both sides. Yes, you heard right. Why has no-one thought of this genius before?!
It comes free with some set meals, with others you add $6 for a slice or you can order it as a side of 2 slices for $18. But at the moment, for the whole of April, they’re giving it away FREE. I’ve obviously been trying to rack as many visits up as I can (the rest of Style2’s food is good, the atmosphere is nice, the staff are really helpful even though there’s no 10% service charge… and the menu is a Chinglish-spotter’s delight). What’s more, they’re open until 3.30am, meaning I could presumably get my garlic bread fix whenever the urge takes me. And believe me, it’s been taking me rather frequently these days!
UPDATE: Style2 is now closed.
Style2 Restaurant, Shop E F, G/F Tung Po Building, 483-497 King’s Road, North Point, 2811 1515
Apologies for the lack of posts but I have spent the last week struck down with gastroenteritis – a week of being bed-ridden and existing on nothing but congee and clutching at my stomach. So it’s only now I can tell you about the amazing thing that happened to me last Friday morning…
If there’s one thing I don’t mind being woken up early by, it’s this:
There can’t be many better starts to a working day than a Chinese courier bearing gifts. Let’s take a sneak peek inside:
So that’s a bag full of Bliss goodies for those of you not in the know. I regard Bliss as Benefit’s smarter yet stunning sister – the two companies share a sense of humour and playfulness that I adore (pun-writer’s dream Bliss product names: Fatgirl Slim, Love Handler, Quadruple Thighpass, whilst each box opens with the missive ‘You look spa-velous!’ on the flap) married with top quality product. Bliss majors in skincare and body treatments (it’s the scientific wizardry behind the skincare that makes them smarter than Benefit fyi!) in-line with where it all started, their delightful modern luxury spas. Founded by Marcia Kilgore (who now oversees the brilliant Soap & Glory range, available at Boots in UK), Bliss spas offer up not just luxury but a sense of cool, fun and free brownies. Yes, you read right, free brownies. No wonder Kate Hudson, Oprah Winfrey and Jessica Alba are fans.
Receiving this bag of Bliss bounty is possibly one of the best days of my life – apart from my day spent at Bliss Spa itself, of course (and yes, I filled up on the free brownies, no doubt undoing all the good work the Bliss beauty therapists had spent hours on). It comprises of the Bliss Triple Oxygen Trio – energizing face mask, cream and eye mask – plus a lovely handwritten card telling me to ‘stay beautiful’. Note to PR companies worldwide, *this* is how it’s done. This, rather than the daily irrelevant spammage I receive as music/style editor for Teentoday, is the way to ingratiate yourself to your customers. Any other HK-based PR agencies wishing to bestow me with samples, I’m only an e-mail away at rachelmread@gmail.com (and you’ve got a tough act to follow!).
I was recommended the Triple Oxygen face mask by my Bliss therapist after my treatment, and ever since, it’s been waiting in the Make-Up Miracles vaults for me to shout from the rooftops about how brilliant it is so expect to see that get the full glowing write-up soon; I’ll save proper reviews of the other products (and even my trip to Bliss Spa at W Hotel HK if you’re lucky) for later, once I’ve had a chance to try them out. This is just a post to say a big thank you to Bliss for just proving why they’re totally at the top of their game.
A while ago, I hastily-penned a short article expressing my disdain for the whole Sugababes v.27 thing. Just a few months later, in their eternal bid to prove that anything the Brits can do the Yanks can do better, the Pussycat Dolls are making the Sugababes incident seem like an event of ‘kid pushes over other kid’s sandcastle’ magnitude.
It currently looks as if Nicole Scherzinger is the last Doll standing – a mean feat considering she wasn’t even a Doll in the first place (she was added to give ‘vocal strength’ when the burlesque troupe became a band). Given that Scherzinger apparently manages to sing both lead and backing vocals on When I Grow Up (meaning should the post of PCD magician become vacant, Scherzinger is a dead cert), any other members are clearly dispensable and amidst tales of dressing rooms, drug tests, regulated screen-time in videos, non-sharing of vocals, broken ribs and even homelessness, Kimberly Wyatt, Jessica Sutta and Ashley Roberts have all confirmed their departures. The exit of Melody Thornton, the only other member even allowed within breathing space of a microphone and who had an outburst live on stage about not being ‘featured’ (a reference to the band’s new name of “Pussycat Dolls feat. Nicole Scherzinger” on their last singles), surely cannot be far off.
The fact that you’re probably scratching your heads trying to place these names – that’s if you’re even bothering attempting to place them at all (and no, none of them are the one who looked like a he-she – that was Carmit Bachar and she left 2 years ago) – illustrates the problem. These other members were little more than glorified back-up dancers for Scherzinger and in fact, salaried employees of the record company. This means they picked up pay cheques for a set amount just like you, me or any other average Joe flipping burgers at the local Machouse.
This already promoted the idea that members were interchangeable – in any corporation, no-one is irreplaceable – and this has led to a somewhat blasé attitude amongst some commentators regarding PCD’s (as we know them) demise. But this isn’t a corporation, it’s a pop band. You put these girls on every single record sleeve, you have an official website where each has a member profile, you send them out touring and you do this over the course of five whole years – of course, their job status is a little different to your average Joe flipping burgers and should be treated as such. It’s a little sad if we just shrug our shoulders and continue to lap up whatever material Scherzinger and her chorus line put out next.
The notion of modern pop fandom means having some connection with the individuals in the group, for better or for worse. Yes, yes, it should all be about the music blah blah blah but where would the fun be in that? People inevitably develop favourite members, bustling fansites and forums emerge and Thornton, Wyatt and Roberts have approximately 90,000 followers on Twitter between them; to the hardcore fans, the staple of pop groups who rely on such fans to religiously buy singles even when they’re at the tricky dodgy ballad stage, these women are not just interchangeable faces – whatever Robin Antin, the brains (and the botox) behind brand PCD, may believe.
Compare and contrast the videos for the lead single and last singles from the Doll Domination album campaign. By the end, the other members are lucky to get 20 seconds screen-time between them and aren’t even bothering to lip-sync to backing vocals. It shows disrespect to the fans, disrespect to real bands whose performances aren’t a total charade and disrespect to the girls themselves.
Line-up changes, bust-ups and messy splits are practically written into girl groups’ DNA and I daresay that if the Pussycat Dolls, in whatever Nicole-centric incarnation (lest we forget she had a prolonged crack at solo stardom and comprehensively flopped), continue to release highly-commercial material of a similar calibre to their work in the past, they will continue to sell decently. To lose one band member is bad luck, to lose two is carelessness… to lose four in one fell swoop hints at deeper problems. I hope the press give them a hard time because they genuinely deserve it. Come back Sugababes v.48, all is forgiven.
Sure enough, Treg’s Luck meant that by the time we reached our destination, it was drizzling. Thankfully, this being HK, the MTR (think Metro or Underground but better) was prepared for such a situation…
Ta-Dah! Umbrella vending machine – cute, right? Well it would have been cuter in the ice blue or the pink yet boyfriend was in charge of the purse strings and he wanted to assert his masculinity by opting for black. It comes in some pretty sleek packaging and even has a 180-day warranty (but to whom do you return it – the vending machine genie?!).
In fact, the whole design is quite nice – lightweight and with better than the usual Borrower-sized coverage that portable brollies usually offer. A cut above the desperate ‘It’s raining!’ impulse buy of umbrella avec giant 7-Eleven logo anyway and you don’t even have to communicate with a real live person. (I make a great hand model, right?)
I'm Rachel Read, a Hong Kong-based freelance writer and editor, make-up addict and general layabout. I'm powered by bacon, cupcakes, nail polish and the needs of two cute Yorkies.
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Through The Looking Glass 