Life Style

For three decades, Sky Dragon Chinese Restaurant has been serving dim sum in the heart of Toronto’s Chinatown. Since May 2022, it has also played host to Queens of Dim Sum (QoDS), a series of drag brunches where Asian performers serve not food but looks as they weave between trolleys laden with char siu bao, spring rolls and more.An old-school Chinese banquet hall may not be an obvious setting for a drag brunch, but for co-founders Ryan Tran and Sum Wong, being visibly queer in a culturally Asian space is the point.“I’ve seen how big the Asian queer community is [from] working 10 years with Asian Community Aids Services, yet people tell me they don’t know where others are beyond DJ Sumation’s AsianXpress” says Tran, referencing Wong’s stage name and his past club nights.The duo approached ...

Classic cocktails are an integral part of bar culture worldwide. Some, like the martini, have achieved cult status through Bond films. Others are the subject of legends.Which bars first mixed these well-known drinks? We tracked down the places where seven world-famous drinks were made.1. The piña coladaDrinks made with rum, pineapple and coconut have long been a core part of beverage culture in the Caribbean.Although drinks containing coconut, pineapple and rum have long been a part of beverage culture in the Caribbean, the piña colada is said to have been invented in 1954 in the Puerto Rican capital San Juan. Photo: Xiaomei ChenThe Puerto Rican pirate captain Roberto Cofresi is said to have given his ship’s crew a mixed drink like this back in the early 19th century. But the name piña col...

J-pop mega group Arashi, wildly popular in Japan and elsewhere in Asia, say they will end their activities as a band following a final tour next year.After debuting in 1999, the five-member boy band rocketed to stardom with their catchy, chart-topping music to become the face of Japan’s now-defunct boy-band empire Johnny and Associates, before going on a hiatus in 2020.Fans have since been anxiously awaiting news of their return to the spotlight, and on May 6, the group said in a bittersweet announcement that they would perform once again next spring – but that it would be their final act.“In the last year before our hiatus, we couldn’t perform in front of you due to the pandemic”, Arashi’s official X account said. “The five of us will now reunite.”It said the idols, now in their forties, ...

2/5 starsSupernatural thriller Holy Night: Demon Hunters might better have been titled “Ma Dong-seok: Demon Puncher”. This lowbrow exercise in low-rent exorcism offers little more than the hulking Korean superstar, also known as Don Lee, throwing down against an assortment of sketchily drawn spirits.Produced and co-written by Ma together with first-time director Lim Dae-hee, the film is the latest, and certainly weakest, in a string of recent Korean horror titles that delve into the dark realm of demonic possession.While a smattering of intriguing ideas are brought to the altar, they are immediately abandoned in a final product that pales next to the likes of box office hit Exhuma, or even the underwhelming Dark Nuns.Kang Bow (Ma) runs the detective-agency-style outfit “Holy Night”, togeth...

Korean actor Park Bo-gum and singer-actress Hyeri are reuniting on Hyeri’s YouTube variety show “Hyell’s Club”, marking their first appearance together since the hit drama Reply 1988.According to industry sources,, Park and co-star Kim So-hyun will film an episode of Hyeri’s web show on May 8 to promote their upcoming JTBC drama series Good Boy, which premieres on May 31 on Amazon Prime Video.Fans are excited to see Park and former Girl’s Day singer Hyeri together again, as this year marks the 10th anniversary of Reply 1988, the 2015 drama in which they played leading roles and captivated viewers with their on-screen chemistry.Their appearance at the 61st Baeksang Arts Awards in Seoul this week also thrilled fans, with Hyeri nominated for best new actress for the film Victory and Park Bo-g...

How do you mix cheese and hot water without making it lumpy? This is the question for anyone who has ever tried to make the popular dish cacio e pepe, which consists of pasta, the Italian hard cheese pecorino and pepper.Physicists have now taken on the challenge of solving this culinary puzzle and sharing it with pasta enthusiasts around the world.In the journal Physics of Fluids, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, the University of Padua and other institutions report their findings – and provide what they consider to be a “foolproof recipe”.Normally, fatty substances like cheese do not mix well with water, which is why starch is an important binding agent. Through tests, the research team discovered that two to three per cent of starch ...

Auctioneers Sotheby’s announced on Wednesday morning that it was postponing the sale in Hong Kong later that day of sacred Buddhist relics in response to a demand from the Indian government.New Delhi also demanded the immediate repatriation of the relics.The “Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha” were to have been one of the highlights of a fortnight of auctions ongoing in Hong Kong that are focused on Asian works of art.According to a member of the family which consigned them for auction, the relics in question are “duplicates” of precious stones, pearls and pieces of gold believed to have been buried around 2,000 years ago with the corporeal remains of the Buddha.Carved into floral and other motifs, they were unearthed in 1898 in what today is Uttar Pradesh state in India by a British ...

David Attenborough’s latest documentary takes viewers on a breathtaking cinematic journey into the heart of the oceans.Dolphins glide through vast open waters, towering underwater mountain ranges loom in the deep and coral reefs pulse with vibrant life.Ocean with David Attenborough features never-before-seen footage captured using state-of-the-art technology, its makers say. In this visually stunning documentary, the world-renowned British naturalist, filmmaker and author celebrates the oceans as the cradle of all life on Earth.“After living for nearly 100 years on this planet, I now understand the most important place on Earth is not on land but at sea,” says Attenborough, who turns 99 on May 8, which is also the day the documentary will be released in cinemas worldwide.The documentary is...

Consider this your official reminder: it’s Mother’s Day on Sunday!The long weekends may be over for now, but don’t miss the opportunity to show the special women in your life some love. And what better way to do so than through food? Read on for some last-minute inspiration on what to do this weekend.The Cakery’s collection showcases half-cakes that are presented like paintings on an easel. Photo: The CakeryFriday, May 9For those keen on staying home, The Cakery’s latest collection has the perfect Mother’s Day celebration: unique half-cakes, intricately presented like paintings on a canvas.Taking inspiration from vintage art and blooming bouquets, the cakes are meticulously decorated with hand-piped ruffles and sculpted flowers and turned into delicate masterpieces with custom messages. Cu...

In the first episode of the Apple TV+ show The Studio, Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese sells his script to the fictional Continental Studios, only to be told later by a studio chief played by Seth Rogen that the project, about Jonestown, has been killed.Instead, the company is fast-tracking a soulless brand-based cash grab: a Kool-Aid movie.“Just give me back my movie and let me go sell it to f****** Apple, the way I should have done it in the first place,” a despairing Scorsese says.The line could practically be an ad for how Apple TV+, the tech giant’s streaming service, has positioned itself as a creative haven for filmmakers trying to sell bold, original ideas.But the question hanging over the company was, just how serious was it about its Hollywood ambitions? Would it be the ne...