Life Style

On a recent Saturday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles, seven friends – plus one dog – contorted and twisted their bodies to fit inside a brown box 2.45 metres (8 feet) tall that had a mirrored door inscribed with the words “Memory Archive”.Once they were all mostly inside, they looked up towards a Canon digital camera that was peeking out of a small hole.They posed – smiling brightly and holding the dog in the air – as the shutter clicked eight times. They then stepped out of the booth, selected their favourite shots at a kiosk and waited about a minute for the photos to develop.The group, most of whom had only met a few hours earlier at a rave, had stumbled upon the photo booth as they were grabbing food at Idyllic cafe, and decided to commemorate the moment. They gushed over the results...

After indulging in all manner of treats during the Easter long weekend, you might be thinking of a laid-back follow-up – but Hong Kong’s F&B offerings have other plans. From limited-time tasting menus to brunch with DJ-supplied soundtrack, fill your calendar with these “must-trys”.Friday, April 25Aqua has reintroduced its Ankh tasting menu, a seven-course fine-dining experience. Photo: HandoutThis month, Aqua is bringing back its popular seven-course dining special, the Ankh tasting menu. Referring to the ancient Egyptian symbol meaning “the key of life” – also Aqua’s logo – and the philosophy of “where there is water, there’s life”, each dish is created to illustrate the versatility of water (no, we’re not kidding).Dishes include a fresh seafood tartare trio, a king crab salad with ca...

2.5/5 stars“Find the accountant”, reads the scrawl on the arm of J.K. Simmons’ soon-to-be-dead private eye at the beginning of The Accountant 2, the convoluted sequel to the 2016 thriller starring Ben Affleck.The number cruncher in question, Christian Wolff (Affleck), is no ordinary accountant – although he does know a lot about tax, it seems. He is mob-trained, with money launderers and warlords as his clientele.He is also autistic, lives in an Airstream trailer and is a lone wolf, although, judging by the speed-dating session he goes on in one of the film’s more amusing sequences, he is not against finding a life partner.The film is scripted by Bill Dubuque, who wrote the original and is also a co-creator of the television show Ozark, another tale of a mob-connected financial adviser. Un...

Demure, submissive and erotic, Suzie Wong is a bigger-than-life stereotype, a caricature Asian women grew up with in the US.We may have also secretly hoped to play that geisha-like image to win our way out of our oppression. But over the years, some of us grew to resent it, fight it and reject it, hoping to claim our true identity and dignity as a person.In The World of Nancy Kwan, a memoir by the pioneering Hollywood star, we hear from the real-life woman who played Suzie Wong.We learn that for an Asian actor, getting to play an Asian role was a victory back in those days, as the roles were often taken by white actors wearing make-up.The cover of Nancy Kwan’s memoir. Photo: APKwan was born in Hong Kong in 1939. Her father Kwan Wing-hong was Chinese, an architect with a love for films. Her...

If you have a dog, you might find yourself wondering at some point whether your four-legged friend would like to have a friend of their own.At first, the pros of getting another dog may seem to outweigh the cons, but you should think carefully before taking any action.Two dogs may be double the joy, but they are also double the cost – for everything from food to their healthcare to their insurance.Your household circumstances should be considered, too.Do not think that dogs will be able to teach each other to behave correctly, Rolf Franck says. Photo: Jelly TseTiming matters, too. The first dog should be properly trained by the time a second animal moves in, “otherwise it will be difficult with the second”, says Franck.

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) is justifiably known for his renditions of beautiful belle époque socialites.“To have been painted by [Sargent] added distinction to the most distinguished,” wrote one critic in a 1925 obituary.But before he became the hottest portrait painter in France – and eventually the UK and the US – Sargent had to establish himself as both a member of the cultural elite and a painter of unmatched talent.The only place to do that, in his mind at least, was the Paris Salon. When Sargent first arrived in Paris, he was an ambitious unknown.“He gets to Paris, he enrols in art lessons, he is young and energetic and really establishes himself in different circles,” says Stephanie Herdrich, the Alice Pratt Brown curator of American painting and drawings at the Metropolitan Mu...

Even if the filmmakers behind The Last Dance and Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In were to shock everyone and take home zero trophies at the end of the 43rd Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA) ceremony this Sunday, it is safe to assume they would still feel like winners.Rounding out the best picture race are Philip Yung Tsz-kwong’s haunting family drama Papa (with 11 nods), based on a real-life case of killing; Adam Wong Sau-ping’s The Way We Talk (seven), about a deaf woman’s self-discovery; and Ray Yeung’s All Shall Be Well (five), which highlights a loophole in same-sex couples’ legal rights in Hong Kong.Below, Post film editor Edmund Lee gives his predictions for who will win in the major categories, while also reflecting on who should win.Best filmWho will win – Twilight of the Warriors: W...

In 1998, the American composer and lyricist Stephen Trask paired up with writer and actor John Cameron Mitchell to come up with a groundbreaking rock musical loosely inspired by a German babysitter and prostitute who worked in a small city in the US state of Kansas.The multi-award winning Hedwig and the Angry Inch has since toured the world, with its genderqueer protagonist winning over fans with her story of longing, trauma, departed identities and self-discovery.Born “Hansel” in communist East Berlin, Hedwig is full of scars, both figurative (traumatised by past abusive lovers) and literal (a botched sex-change operation that gave her a one-inch flesh mound between her legs).The story follows Hedwig on tour as she stalks her ex-lover and nemesis – a much more successful musician who was ...

Andor returns for its second season on Disney+ with a three-episode premiere this week and the weight of the Star Wars galaxy seemingly on its shoulders.But creator Tony Gilroy says he and his collaborators felt little pressure from Disney and Lucasfilm as they sought to tell the story of a growing revolutionary resentment against the Galactic Empire, and the birth of the Rebel Alliance leading up to the events of the 2016 film he scripted, Rogue One.“We took no creative notes on this show,” says Gilroy, whose screenwriting résumé also includes four films in the Bourne franchise and 2007 Oscar nominee Michael Clayton, which he also directed.“I’ve never had this much freedom before, even in final-cut films that I worked on. The latitude was astonishing.”The forthcoming season, whose product...

Noodles are said to have been invented in China more than 4,000 years ago, with some accounts claiming Marco Polo brought them to Italy during the 13th century.If this is true, Italian-Chinese fusion should feel like a natural pairing.However, even slight deviations from Italian recipes have been known to spark fierce objections from traditionalists on the internet and beyond.But for one MasterChef Italia contestant, the courage to blend the two cuisines and break from tradition was the thing that ultimately led her to victory.In February, Italian-Chinese cook Anna Zhang Yilan was crowned the winner of the 14th season of MasterChef Italia. She was the first ethnically Chinese contestant to win the Italian TV cooking contest.Zhang reacts after being announced the winner of the 14th season o...