French Festivities

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Yep, Christmas is a big time of year for beauty and cosmetics brands, with many of them pulling out all the stops to repackage their signature products as sparkly festive packs that are fail-safe gift options for just about anyone. Here are some of the best.

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With the holidays just around the corner, everyone’s in the mood for something a little indulgent. So take full advantage of the festive season with the sumptuous selection of yummy holiday goodies the town has to offer.

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On Saturday Nov 28, at 8:30pm, Lan Kwai Fong Bar will host an event where six gay men will vie for the first ever Mr. Gay Hong Kong title. Motivation? The winner gets a one-year modeling contract with Model Management, a cover shoot for gay mag Dim Sum, a year’s worth of free grooming from Paul Gerrard Salon, and an overnight at the EWOW (Presidential) Suite of the W. Oh, plus the lucky man gets to go on to represent Hong Kong at the Mr. Gay World pageant, held in February next year in Oslo, Norway.

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There’s good reason to be skeptical of hub talk in Hong Kong. We’ve heard endlessly from the government about the city being a logistics hub, a financial hub, an IT hub, an electronics hub, a film-financing hub, a creative industries hub, and plenty of other hubs. Most of these claims have become all too easy to dismiss as hot air. Yet recent developments suggest similar promises with respect to wine may be an exception.

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“Diversity is the one word I would use to describe the upcoming Arts Festival,” says Grace Lam, program director of the 38th Hong Kong Arts Festival. “We are bringing the best of the best to Hong Kong, combining our traditional Chinese roots with contemporary aspects of the performing arts. From the Russian Mariinsky Theater to Cantonese opera, to conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi from London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, who will be celebrating his 80th birthday in Hong Kong.”

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Has it been a year already? Didn’t you put your Heath Ledger Joker costume away just last weekend? Fret not, we’ve checked to find the most frightful happenings around the city on October 31. Get your costumes ready.

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I was summoned to the Island of the Gods. I just HAD to go on my pilgrimage to meet Lord Shiva (or Siwa in Balinese) and Lady Saraswati. Spiritual friends gave me their full blessing. “You will LOVE Ubud! Go to this Mahatma therapist!” Jealous bitches were like, “I don’t like Bali.” Well good for you, coz you ain’t going there anytime soon.

We love our mooncakes, but only once a year. Rich with lard, cloyingly sweet with all that sugar and maltose syrup, dense with the egg yolk, the little buggers are typically carved up and eaten in minute wedges accompanied by a strong cup of pu-erh tea to cut the grease. This calorie-packed treat is comparable to traditional festival food like Christmas puddings and meatpies, a sugary indulgence eaten once a year. Cantonese mooncakes contain the time-honored filling of white lotus seed purée with a whole salted egg yolk in the center, symbolizing the full moon.

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This November will see the first Hong Kong film festival hosted on the mainland. At least ten films will be screened at the event in Guangzhou, and for the first time in front of mainland audiences, they will be screened in their original Cantonese. According to Wellington Fung, general secretary of the organizing Hong Kong Film Development Council, the aim is to promote the original Hong Kong flavor of the films across the border. “It will hopefully create a better understanding among audiences there of the distinct style and character of our films,” he says.

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