Probably not. But that won’t make these guys any less competitive about their pen spinning skills. Watch this awesome and wonderfully geeky video of Hong Kong’s 2010 Pen Spinning Championship. Judged on style, creativity, difficulty and fluidity, 100 contestants competed for the coveted first place. The winner? 14-year old Eugene Wong, who now qualifies for the Pen Spinning World Tournament.
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With Chinese New Year coming up on February 14th, many fobs will be burning paper joss money to worship their ancestors. But what started traditionally as burning a few wads of fake cash has now grown to become a whole industry of elaborate, pimped-out paper products. Take for example the paper gym, equipped with a paper bench press, treadmill and shower. And these paper afterlife luxuries aren’t cheap either–the gym costs a hefty HK$6000 (US$772).
HK blog The Dark Side wrote a hilarious list of top 10 “must-burns” for pimping out one’s ancestors’ afterlives. Here are my favorite picks from their list! Check out their full post here.
#3: Beer – Nuff said.
#4: Mac D’s – Great hangover food, especially after having lots of #3.
#6 ATM – Why burn paper cash when you can give ancestors a whole ATM!
(Thanks Dunks!)
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A friend sent me this funny parody of British singer Jay Sean’s chart-topping single “Down.” This cracks me up because back in undergrad, my friend Pearl and I sat around for hours trying to do the same thing to Lil Jon’s “Get Low.” We came up with the most ridiculous lyrics, and everyone just looked at us like we were crazy when we tried to explain it to them. Good times!
(Thanks, Andy!)
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On Tuesday night, I saw Utada Hikaru, 27, perform live at Chicago’s House of Blues. It was freakin’ awesome! Like any good fob, I’ve been a huge fan of the Japanese artiste since her hit song ‘First Love.’ The New York born singer sang that number and a couple of good oldies like ‘Automatic’ and ‘Sakura Drops.’ I have to say, she sounded amazing live, and her vocals seem to have developed smoother transitions with less vibrato compared to her early days. Love the way she goes breathy at certain parts too.
She was very cute, and shared with the audience her day-to-day anecdotes such as her trip to the Art Institute of Chicago. She also told us about the crazy things the crowd will shout to her. This one guy at her Vegas show actually yelled “Don’t marry anyone, Utada!” instead of the generic “Marry me, Utada!”
The pic is taken courtesy of my friend Susie. We were high up in the balcony so we couldn’t really get a good glimpse of her face. But we managed to sneak up there and got a pretty sweet view without having to deal with the massive crowds.
Check out the music video of ‘Sakura Drops!’
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Who knew that Glee would capture audiences all the way to Japan? Featuring the famous sumo wrestler, Akebono Taro, Japan’s version of Glee is seriously fobby. Check out the trailer–the show starts this week!
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You can now wipe your butt with your work documents! The White Goat machine, produced by Japanese company Oriental, spits out a toilet roll for every 40 pieces of A4 paper you feed it. The whole process takes 30 minutes. The machine basically shreds the paper, mixes it with water, then turns it into a pulp mixture. The mixture is then converted into a toilet roll.
The price tag on the $100,000 machine is quite hefty, but I think it’s well worth it. It saves the environment and will give the office never-ending supply of lavatory rolls!
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After deciding to rename a mountain after the film, China has chosen to pull all 2D showings of Avatar from cinemas due to fear of political unrest. Millions of Chinese people have been evicted from their homes to make room for high rise buildings and government infrastructure projects, a sensitive issue that runs a little too close to Avatar’s plot of human colonists attempting to demolish an alien village for its resources.
You can still watch the film in 3D, but unfortunately very few theaters in China have 3D capabilities. So if you’re living in China, I hope you all have had a chance to see it! Which reminds me, I still need to schedule a visit to the theater myself.
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In what would be China’s very first animal welfare law, Chinese lawmakers have proposed a ban on dog and cat meat for human consumption. As China’s pet-loving middle class continues to grow, attitudes towards eating dogs and cats are changing. Still, the law remains controversial since dog meat and cat meat are traditional dishes in certain areas. Also, others think it’s ridiculous to fret about animal rights when other issues like poverty and unemployment are still prevalent.
According to the proposed law, people who eat dog or cat meat can be fined up to 5,000 yuan ($730) and 15 days’ detention. And if you’re found selling the meat, you could be fined anywhere from 10,000 yuan ($1,460) to 500,000 yuan ($73,190).
I actually tried dog meat in China many years ago, and I had a pet doggy at the time too. For some reason, it didn’t really bother me that I was eating dog, except for the fact that it gave me the worst food poisoning ever. Maybe we really aren’t meant to eat our furry friends!
(Thanks, Dunks)
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Originally called the Southern Sky Column, a mountain in the city of Zhangjiajie was renamed on Monday as the Avatar Hallelujah Mountain. Apparently, photographs of the mountains had inspired the scenery for Avatar’s fictional world of Pandora, including the floating Hallelujah Mountains featured in the film.
Avatar is now the most popular film ever in China, and Zhangjiajie is capitalizing on the movie’s overwhelming success. In fact, the municipal government has even adopted a brand new slogan: “Pandora is far but Zhangjiajie is near.”
Written and directed by Titanic’s James Cameron, Avatar is a visually stunning film about the struggle between humans and the indigenous Na’vi people of Pandora. It has since become my favorite movie of all time and I’m admittedly a die-hard fan. I’ve already watched it twice in the theater!
I might just have to visit the Avatar Mountain on my trip to China this year.
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Can money really buy love and happiness? Well if you have 300,000 Yuan ($44,000) to spare, you may come close. This will afford you a ”Diamond Love” membership to China’s online dating site, Golden Bachelor. However, being able to pay the membership fee may not be enough. Other qualifications for becoming a member include: a personal or family wealth of at least 2 million yuan ($292,000); a background that is extremely superior, wealthy and aristocratic; and other qualities such as being young, talented and beautiful.
Due to the rise of single men in China, online dating has popularized and has now developed a market catered specifically towards China’s millionaire bachelors. It is predicted that China’s online dating service will be worth $83.4 million this year.
I guess I shouldn’t be complaining about eHarmony’s $59.99 a month membership fee.
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