The eternal quandary of Thanksgiving – to follow the traditional pilgrim path of turkey, or go new wave with chicken or duck? Why put yourself through such a dilemma when you can have all three? The Turducken (yes, it’s a terrible portmanteau, and yes, the word “turd” is in it) is a fusion recipe that could only come out of America, combing the three beloved holiday birds into one gargantuan meal that questions, “How much meat is too much?”
1. Gluttony
Sushi Robot
Seven gadgets for the truly sinful.
HK Magazine: You’re not allowed to smoke in here.
Julian Schnabel: Well, I’m a bit of a pirate like that.
Modern-day renaissance man Julian Schnabel talks to Pavan Shamdasani.
Category IIB. As you’ve no doubt heard (and possibly experienced), “No Country for Old Men” is a masterpiece; a bleak journey into the values of men told through the futile efforts of civility and the relentless violence that follows. In other words, the perfect slice of American crime fiction.
In 2001, the government renovated the Lok Hing Lane playground into a public theater. At great taxpayer’s expense, three years were spent building the Lan Kwai Fong-situated stone amphitheatre. The project was part of an initiative to convert unused public areas into more community-friendly spaces.
But those hoping for live performances and Shakespeare in the Park have been sorely disappointed. In the past two years, the so-called amphitheatre has been hired out only four times.
What’s so public about our public spaces? Picture by Kay Yuen
You shouldn’t believe what I say. Questions provoke lies, especially when there is no answer.
My hands are insured for US$1 million. I had a bad motorbike crash where I broke my fingers – now I can’t bend my little finger properly. So when I paint, it drags across the canvas and creates little marks.
The price tag on my paintings? These days anywhere between $60,000 to $250,000.
Former DJ and promoter Simon Birch has hit it big in the Hong Kong art world with his street culture-inspired portraits. He talks to Pavan Shamdasani about art, life and free noodles.
Phone
Xun Chi 138
Overpopulation, one-child policy, cramped living quarters – the last thing China needs is fat cell phones. Enter the 55-gram recipe for taxi-loss disaster, the Xun Chi 138. Measuring less than three inches, the female-friendly phone (only in pink for now) has no keypad to speak of, but packs handwriting recognition with a stylus pen located conveniently on the back. All this, plus they’ve somehow crammed in a 1.3 megapixel camera, USB, WAP, GPRS and an MP3 player with 138mb onboard memory.
Size matters. Pavan Shamdasani checks out the best teeny weeny gadgets
Category IIB. It’s not the “best gangster movie since The Godfather.” It’s not the “best druglord movie since Scarface.” Hell, it’s not even the best crime movie of the past couple years. What it is, and what you won’t read in most reviews, is another failed attempt to define our current decade through the life of a criminal.
HK Magazine: What was the inspiration?
Wilson Shieh: The idea for the series came to me about two years ago, when I went for lunch at a sushi-go-round restaurant. I noticed that 90 perecnt of the customers were women and thought, where do men go for lunch? Cha chaan tengs? I came to the conclusion that women have changed Hong Kong with their economic power.
Ink master Wilson Shieh is exhibiting his latest – cartoonish drawings of famous buildings displaying feminine wiles. He talks to Pavan Shamdasani.
HK Magazine: How did you get into comic books?
Ben Hall: As with the best things in life, it came to be through a sequence of events that relied heavily on coincidence and luck – plus an overactive imagination.
Ben Hall is the writer of “DevaShard,” an English-language comic book released by local publisher Fluid Friction. He speaks to Pavan Shamdasani about all things geek.
