Life Style

2.5/5 starsThe dehumanising tendency of corporate finance and the merciless nature of stock market speculation serve as the basis for much of the drama in A Gilded Game, a mildly diverting film presumably made for viewers who won’t mind its predictably moralistic lecturing tone.For admirers of Hong Kong director Herman Yau Lai-to, this mainland Chinese production should be welcomed as a necessary change of pace after he dedicated much of the past decade to making action thrillers, including four produced and headlined by Andy Lau Tak-wah: Shock Wave 1 and 2, The White Storm 2, and Moscow Mission.In A Gilded Game, Lau takes a back seat to finance graduate Gao Han (Oho Ou Hao). A small-town boy with “no connections”, he gets an internship at a top investment bank because he is a friend of Ch...

At 95 years old, Catherine Kuehn was not just lifting weights. She was a competing powerlifter – one worthy of her own documentary.Presented by The New Yorker, Strong Grandma follows Kuehn, of the US state of Oregon, as she reminisces about the love and loss of her husband while preparing for what may be her final competition.According to powerlifting data archive Open Powerlifting, since 2015 she has put 10 victories under her belt in bench press and dead-lift competitions.In 2022, she claimed a first place at the World Association of Benchers and Dead Lifters (WABDL) World Championships.“I have won every event that I have entered,” she said. “It’s been very easy for me to be world champion, which I do not feel [like], simply because no one my age was doing it.”

Public transport service providers and other concerns in Japan are introducing artificial intelligence to categorise and catalogue lost items and provide information on where to return them.Some 30 organisations have introduced a “lost-and-found platform”, developed by Tokyo-based information technology firm Find, at about 2,300 stations and other locations.They include the Sapporo City Transport Bureau and Tokyo’s Haneda airport, as well as the Tokyo police force and the Oita prefectural police.Tokyo-based railway operator Keio has seen its rate of return of lost possessions increase to 30 per cent, up from less than 10 per cent before the adoption of the system.By centralising information on lost items, Find can help people recover lost items. Photo: finds.co.jpWhen a lost item is turned...

Mothers are like real-life superheroes – quietly powerful, endlessly loving and always supportive. This Mother’s Day, show your appreciation in the most comforting way: with a gathering of the people she loves most over food she adores.Whether your mum enjoys starting the day with a luxurious brunch, indulging in a lavish buffet, or savouring a range of traditional Cantonese fare, we’ve rounded up seven of the best Mothers’ Day meals in Hong Kong to help you celebrate the occasion.1. Café 103Café 103 presents a vibrant Southeast Asian buffet for Mother’s Day this year. Photo: HandoutIf you and mum are craving the bold, spicy flavours of Southeast Asia and want to sample a bit of everything, look no further than Café 103 at The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong. The restaurant offers a decadent buffet...

“Some people actually think I’m a legit chef. I’m definitely not,” Chef West says with a laugh. “All I am is a home cook.”Although not professionally trained in the culinary arts, the Hong Kong rapper-producer – who prefers to go by his alias – has garnered over 45,000 Instagram followers, who tune in to his cooking videos thanks to their blend of music and cooking.Things started happening for West on February 29, 2024, when he uploaded a video of himself making chicken with garlic and spring onion oil while rapping about it in Cantonese with a sprinkling of English.At the time of writing, the video has racked up more than 1.5 million views and over 56,800 likes.Since then, he has appeared in adverts for Hong Kong companies such as supermarket chain ParknShop, high-end grocer City’super an...

Scott Daley started feeling tingling sensations in his arm while playing football with his recreation team.At first, he was not that worried about it. After all, as his wife, Brooke Daley, said, “He was always coming home injured from soccer.”But when the tingling kept happening, Daley knew he should get it checked out because he was concerned it might have something to do with his heart.He was 45 at the time and incredibly active. He regularly played football and worked out five days a week. As the vice-president of global footwear for Reebok, he took full advantage of the company’s robust fitness facilities in Boston.Scott Daley (left) with his family at his grandmother’s ancestral home in Ireland. Photo: heart.org/Scott DaleyYet he also had a history of heart issues in his family, and t...

Back in early 2024, Edward Park was having dinner when he received a text from a friend. It read: “Hey, have you ever thought about being a K-pop idol?”“Here we go again,” he thought, letting out an audible groan.That is because the budding actor had already chased his K-pop dream: he spent three months in Korea when he was 17, honing his singing and dancing skills around the clock at a Seoul training centre that acted as a funnel for K-pop agencies. There, Park would sing “until my voice would just collapse in on itself” and dance “until I would just collapse on the floor”, he says.But after promises to join two big companies never materialised – as well as concerns over his mental and physical health – Park decided to walk away from the industry.Eddie, who is Korean-American and grew up ...

Kowloon City is back in vogue. With Hong Kong’s new Kai Tak arena within walking distance – OK, it is a long walk – and last year’s popular film Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In romanticising the area’s legendary former slum, you might say the old district is new again.I live near Kowloon City, and what I go there for is Thai food. There is a cluster of authentic Thai restaurants and shops, operated by a vibrant community that has made the neighbourhood its own.South Wall Road is essentially Little Bangkok now. At weekends the basement bars blast Thai pop music till late. Every Songkran festival, in April, there is a celebratory parade to mark the traditional start of the Thai new year, although Hong Kong officials have included the festival’s water fights in the outdoor park up the roa...

For more than 30 days, Tobias Schlegl walked the Camino de Santiago – the world’s most famous network of pilgrimage routes – with his 73-year-old mother, Sieglinde.She had long dreamed of walking the Camino, also known as the Way of St James, and Schlegl, a journalist and paramedic, wanted to reconnect with her.The historic routes, which date back to the 9th century, extend from different European countries and lead to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.What followed was a 700km (435-mile) journey of laughter, exhaustion, pain – and unexpected joy.“The Camino really hurts. I don’t want to romanticise it – it was real suffering,” Schlegl, who is based in Germany, says.

Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan is showing a collection of his paintings that were created with “emotional resonance”.The 83-year-old Dylan, who is also a Nobel Prize for Literature winner, will bring 97 of his original works to London’s Halcyon Gallery.The solo show, “Bob Dylan – Point Blank”, which captures people playing instruments, couples, sportsmen and women, along with rooms and places, is based on original sketches created by Dylan between 2021 and 2022.These drawings were then painted over with colours to create “living, breathing entities that have emotional resonance, colours used as weapons and mood setters, a means of storytelling”, Dylan says.“The idea was not only to observe the human condition, but to throw myself into it with great urgency.”Bob Dylan performing at the Bluesfe...