Young artists shine at Hong Kong show

CHANNEL NEWS ASIA
HONG KONG: With artwork sprawled on queen-sized beds, hung in front of television sets and even placed on toilet counters, Hong Kong's Asia Contemporary Art Show has an unusual take on what constitutes an art gallery.

Hosted in a luxury hotel, the bi-annual fair caters for emerging artists hoping to break into global markets and the unorthodox venue is an attempt to reduce costs in a city fast becoming known as an international arts hub but where sky-high rents pose a challenge for artists and galleries.

Thousands attended the four-day show, which emphasises young and mid-career artists and is the city's second-largest art fair after the Hong Kong edition of the prestigious Art Basel.

Collectors moved from room to room inside the five-star JW Marriott hotel where more than 70 galleries showcased paintings, sculptures and photography from around the Asia region and the world.

"The informality of the hotel is one of the characters of the art fair," the show's director Mark Saunderson told AFP.

40 Days of Dating Couple Discuss Fans, Friendship and the Future

ABC NEWS

Two friends fed up with repeating the same dating habits decided to embark on a 40-day relationship with one another to see what happened: The story has all the makings of Hollywood romance, and it soon may become one. But first it was simply a blog.
40 Days of Dating, a social experiment that became a viral sensation, followed New Yorkers Jessica Walsh and Timothy Goodman as they documented 40 days of hand holding, planned dates, couples therapy, self-analysis, and even a trip to the Magic Kingdom. More than 300,000 fans checked in daily to read the "he said, she said"-style posts, which were recorded during the project then released to the public months later.

Revered for centuries but reviled in recent decades, Confucius is making a comeback in China -- and on its dinner plates.

CHANNEL NEWSASIA

QUFU, China: Revered for centuries but reviled in recent decades, Confucius is making a comeback in China -- and on its dinner plates.

"Confucius cuisine" is a fine-dining trend that reflects how the ruling Communist party -- which long saw the sage as a reactionary force -- has drafted him into its modern campaign to boost what President Xi Jinping has called China's "cultural soft power."

One of the few ancient Chinese names to have global recognition, the philosopher highlights bonds with overseas Chinese and other Asian nations, and his moniker has been adopted for more than 300 language-teaching "Confucius Institutes" in 90 countries.

The authorities are "going back and finding certain elements that existed before the 20th century" and "exploiting Confucius as a brand," says Thomas Wilson, a professor at Hamilton College in New York.

Among restaurants in Qufu in the eastern province of Shandong – where the philosopher known in Chinese as Kong Zi lived from 551 BC to 479 BC -- the cuisine is an edible symbol of the way the writer has been reworked.

Hotels Tap Local Breweries for Bespoke Suds

ABC NEWS

After a long day of sightseeing, many travelers retire to their hotels for an evening refreshment before heading back out on the town. But the regional exploration doesn't have to pause there. More and more properties are responding to their guests' desire for local flavor by serving proprietary beers made in collaboration with area breweries.

The Fearrington House Inn, a Relais-Chateaux property in Pittsboro, N.C., introduced their first collaboration with Durham-based brewery Fullsteam over the summer: an English IPA that used bronze fennel and lemon thyme grown in the Fearrington garden. Following the positive response to that creation, which has been sold out for weeks, a new autumn beer will be released to discerning sippers later this month with an outdoor dinner beneath the estate's pecan trees, an image that also decorates the craft beer's bottle labels.

'12 Years a Slave:' an American story unearthed by British filmmaker

(Reuters) - Set in the plantations of sweltering southern Louisiana and based on the 1853 memoir of a free black man sold into slavery, "12 Years a Slave" is unmistakably an American story.

And yet, much is being made of the provenance of a film that has won widespread acclaim from critics and audiences at festivals in Toronto and Telluride and been touted as a top early contender for Oscars.

Director Steve McQueen, whose idea it was, is British.

"It's strange that it took a Brit, Steve McQueen, to ask a question 'Why are there not more movies on American slavery? And he's absolutely right," Brad Pitt, a producer on the film who also has a role in it, said at its Toronto premiere on Friday.

Chinese market won’t change Hollywood film plots, says director

South China Morning Post

Director Roland Emmerich says although Hollywood may be benefiting by adding Chinese elements to its films, it won’t be making wholesale changes to the way it tells stories on the screen just to cater to China’s massive audience.

“There will be co-operations, there will be all kinds of stuff, but will it affect the movie so much? I don’t think so, because China doesn’t also want to only see movies about China, they want to see movies about other things in the world,” said Emmerich, who was in China to promote his action film White House Down.The nation of 1.3 billion people is now the world’s second-biggest movie market. But China limits the number of foreign films that play here, and its censors reject movies or edit them if they show China in a bad light or are too explicit.

Is your insomnia down to what you are eating? Food tips for better quality sleep?

 Mirro

How did you sleep last night – tossing and turning restlessly in the small hours? Well yesterday’s dinner, or even breakfast, could be to blame for your bleary eyes today.

Scientists have found that our diet directly affects how well we sleep – and the resulting advice is nowhere near as obvious as simply avoiding that extra coffee before bedtime.

A study published in the journal Appetite found big differences in the diets of people who slept the longest number of hours compared with those snoozing for the least.

More than meets the eye

Doctor warns cheap sunglasses might do more harm than good. At first glance, a basic accessory like a pair of sunglasses really has no reason to be expensive _ and to be a health-related issue worthy of ophthalmological concern. How much can two small dark plates and a simple frame cost, and how detrimental can a pair of poor quality sunglasses be to your eyes?We are bombarded with choices today, and a pair of shades can cost anywhere from 20 baht to more than 20,000 baht. We have ultra-cheap, plastic junk sold in a pile at the market, and we have unbelievably expensive branded ones. We even have various grades of knock-offs to choose from, offered by dodgy online shops. What's a consumer to do?

Dr Keerati Pungpapong, ophthalmologist at Bumrungrad Hospital, said that it is important to choose well when it comes to something to protect your eyes.

How I Became a Hipster

You know you’re in hipster Brooklyn when someone who looks like a 19th-century farmer tells you that his line of work is “affinity marketing.”  I had fallen into conversation with the affinity marketer (beard, plaid flannel shirt, vintage work boots) in the lobby of the Wythe hotel in Williamsburg, a beehive of instrument-bearing musicians, nose-pierced locals and twentysomethings who use the word “ridiculous” in nonpejorative contexts. I guessed aloud, “So, like, if I buy a pair of shoes, then you’ll try to sell me socks?” The affinity marketer smiled and said: “Or maybe something bigger, like flooring. You buy a pair of shoes, I sell you reclaimed hardwood flooring.”

O, bohemia! There are several ways to react to a culture quake. You can meet it with befuddlement, perhaps wondering how flappers handled the thorny intersection between dancing in fountains and limited dry-cleaning.

Country artist Billy Currington indicted on terroristic threat charges

Country singer Billy Currington is a wanted man, indicted on charges of making terroristic threats and the abuse of an elderly person by a Georgia grand jury.

The indictment accused Currington, 39, of threatening bodily harm against Charles Harvey Ferrelle in Tybee Island, Georgia, on April 15.

The elder abuse charge was included because Farrell is older than 65, the indictment said.

A Savannah judge issued a bench warrant for Currington's arrest after the indictment was handed up by a Chatham County grand jury that "found sufficient evidence" against him, District Attorney Meg Heap said Wednesday

Bus scare brings lesson in a spirit of generosity

Khmer New Year falls around mid-April, and every year the people who live in Phnom Penh leave the city to their home provinces or get out of town to celebrate the three-day holiday. This year my girlfriends and I decided to take a trip to Siem Reap, the province where the Angkor Temples are located, about 315 kilometres from Phnom Penh.

We chose to go on the Giant Ibis Transport, an affordable luxury bus in Cambodia, catering to passengers since 2012. With destinations to Siem Reap and Kampot, the Giant Ibis Bus has deluxe leather seats, air conditioner, complimentary snacks and water, and exceptional customer service. A round trip ticket from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap is only $26.

Traffic was horrific getting out of Phnom Penh the day before Khmer New Year, and our bus driver, Sitha, was very patient. National Road 4, which is a one lane road, turned into a three-lane road, as cars, motorbikes and tuk-tuks tried to cut in front of each other. The Giant Ibis Bus had no control of the other vehicles cutting in front of it. Then a pickup truck, filled up with over a dozen people, and stacked with four motorcycles, sideswiped the bus, as it cut in front of us.

Korean Rapper Psy Releases New Single

South Korean rapper Psy released his much-anticipated new single on Thursday hoping to repeat the success of "Gangnam Style'' that made him the biggest star to emerge from the growing K-pop music scene.

The video for "Gangnam Style'' has become the most watched item on YouTube with more than 1.5 billion hits and Psy's horse-riding moves sparked an international dance craze.

The details of his latest single, "Gentleman," were kept under wraps until the song was released at midnight in New Zealand (1200 GMT). The song, with a techno beat, was full of puns in Korean and contained the lines "I am a party mafia!'' and the refrain, "I am a mother father gentleman''.

Glitter and drag: Glamming up for Cambodia’s elephants

In Cambodia,  people work an average of six days a week, and Sunday is a day of rest, spending it with family and friends. For Yulia Khouri, CEO of Innov8 International Group, and husband, Darren Harris, spending every Sunday with the endangered species in Cambodia is their regular family outing.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to spend time with them at Phnom Tamao Zoological Park and Wildlife Rescue Center. With bags of lettuce, peanuts, mangoes, dragonfruit and corn, we were ready for a day with the baby macaques – the most sought after species by poachers – and the Asian elephants, the most popular animal in the park. 

Louis C.K.: I'm an accidental white person

Where does Louis C.K.'s off-kilter comic vision come from? Turns out the answer may be "Mexico."

C.K. was born in California, but moved to his father's native Mexico at age one -- he and his family didn't move back to the U.S. until he was seven or so.

How Louis C.K. became the darkest, funniest comedian in America

"Coming here and observing America as an outsider made me an observing person," C.K. tells senior writer Brian Hiatt in the new issue of Rolling Stone.

‘This is my life and everything is true’: B Kak film wins award

In the wake of winning two human rights awards, Boeung Kak lake resident Tep Vanny is now also part of a film that has scooped up the best documentary prize at the 35th Annual Film de Femmes Festival in France.

Directed by Vincent Trintignant-Corneau and Christine Chansou, Even a Bird Needs a Nest is a documentary about the notorious forced evictions at Boeung Kak lake.

Vanny was one of 13 women imprisoned in May last year after a lawyer-free, three-hour trial, convicted of defying authorities and illegally occupying land at the Boeung Kak lake site – a move widely condemned by human rights groups across the world. After protests and calls for their release, the Appeal Court set the women free in June, but upheld their convictions.

RUFA students put on show

On a sweltering 39-degree day, the high-ceilinged, chequerboard-tiled studios of the Royal University of Fine Arts don’t provide much respite from the heat, but for 150 visitors crowded around the students’ drawings and building models, it is barely a distraction.

Over three days, more than 2,000 people visited the vibrant turn-of-the-century grounds for a one-stop showcase of new work from the Kingdom’s oldest public arts college.

The open day was the first collective exhibition from the university in at least a decade, organisers say, and was entirely student-led.

“I care about our culture and the students’ ability,” said fourth-year architecture student Lor Vuthy, 23, who initiated the exhibition. The university doesn’t have a student union, but it does have elected student representatives, who ran the idea past the school management and were met with support from their teachers. More than 100 volunteers helped run the event, with local sponsors providing money for things like lights and staging equipment for the night time music and dance performance.

Aerobics gets the heart and mind in better shape for life

Since the passing of my father last December, I have been eating a lot, and food became my comfort blanket. Recently I started working out, not only to lose the weight but to keep fit physically and mentally.
Aerobic exercise gets the blood pumping and endorphins running, boosting both your cardiovascular health and your mood.

I had heard about an aerobic exercise instructor who leads nightly classes on the riverfront and decided to try his class one Sunday evening. Kicking off at 5:30pm, the evening workout will cost you 1,000 riel ($0.25) for four hours of aerobic exercise, Khmer dancing and hip-hop. Khmer songs boomed out while we moved to popular Khmer dances like the Saravang, Ram Vong, Lam Leo, and classical Khmer dance, as well as other dances, like the Madison.

After the third hour, I stopped to watch because the hip-hop workout was a little tough for me, as I am not familiar with the moves. It felt really good to finally get into the workout regimen again, despite the tourists and locals gazing on while we sweated it out.

Tech addicts to retreat to Koh Kong for digital detox

Do you get phantom phone vibrations in your pocket? Ever check Facebook while watching a movie or drinking at a bar? Does going without internet for extended periods make you anxious? If so, you could be an internet addict.

“The idea that a person can’t go without internet for half a day without getting anxiety – that is a symptom of addiction,” says Levi Felix, a California native who founded the company Digital Detox, which specialises in tech-free holidays and is soon to arrive in the Kingdom.

A few spots remain on Digital Detox’s retreat at Nomads Land ecotourist guesthouse on Koh Totang island, off the coast of Koh Kong. For six days, 12 participants will surrender their phones, laptops and even their clocks with the aim of “re-formatting” their minds.

“You feel like you’re far off on the edge of the planet [on the retreat],” said Felix. “You feel like you’re alone, that you can disconnect and reconnect with yourself, with a community of people. This will change your life.”

Clean stoves forum hoping to help fire global change

Three million people a year die from exposure to cooking stove smoke, with an estimated 12,000 in Cambodia.

More than 500 people from all over the globe have gathered in Phnom Penh this week aiming to establish a global market for clean stoves, more than two million of which are now used in Cambodia. 

Femme-Tab 20 contraceptive pill to be subsidised slashing price

A LOWER dose version of the contraceptive pill that reduces side effects like nausea and headaches will be subsidised from next month slashing the cost from $45 to as little as $5.90.

Femme-Tab 20 contains lower amounts of the hormone oestrogen than existing subsidised contraceptives and will be the first such pill to go on the nation's medicine subsidy scheme.

The generic medicine will compete with the contraceptives Microgynon 20, Microlevlen ED and Loette which are currently sold as private prescriptions.

Contraceptive pill without seeing a doctor