A lot of Hong Kong people have been angry about what the tycoon Simon Lo Lin-shing has done to Sai Wan, or “Big Wave Bay. But not until our Honourable Lau Wong Fat, a member of both the Executive Council and LegCo, made these comments earlier this week, did we learn that a lot of people in the New Territories actually love developments!

Lau, the “King of New Territories” and the Chairman of Heung Yee Kuk since 1980, said a lot of indigenous inhabitants in NT are now very angry about the conservationism hype in Hong Kong. Now some of you might be puzzled; aren’t those inhabitants nature lovers like Na’vi who would fight to protect their homes? For historical reasons, the Brits granted those living in the New Territories before they started ruling Hong Kong in 1898 certain special rights. Male indigenous inhabitants of NT upon reaching their 18th birthday can apply for building a small house with limited scale without paying any rates. They basically own the lands and will pay very minimal rents for the lands. Whenever they’re required to move their villages, the government will need to compensate them. (more…)

You cannot have missed it over the past few months: Vitaminwater. The colorful varieties of the product have been pushed aggressively in Hong Kong lately by a firm called Glaceau, which is a privately owned subsidiary of Coca Cola. Throw in a flashy website with copy that (trendily?) lacks capital letters and addresses us as if we are all health conscious hipsters with no time for reading (boring) cus we’re late for yoga and voila: a successful product launch is there. Similar stuff occurred earlier in New York, LA, Sydney, London and Mexico City where yuppies got enticed with terms such as pantothenic acids, electrolytes and antioxidants.

The fact that it tastes like cheap, overly diluted lemonade is something most of us choose to ignore as it’s supposed to be water with some added vitamins anyway. And that’s healthy shit right? Well, not exactly according to a US federal judge earlier this week as he concluded that Vitaminwater is simply non-carbonated fruit coke disguised as a sports drink. Because it’s composed mostly of sugar and not vitamin-laden water, judge John Gleeson held that Vitaminwater’s ridiculous marketing claims were likely to mislead consumers.

And that, friends, is of course old news. Tired of marketing scams by our greedy corporations? Relax and have some of this.

Synopsis: As a CIA officer, Evelyn Salt (Jolie) swore an oath to duty, honor and country. Her loyalty will be tested when a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy. Salt goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture. Salt’s efforts to prove her innocence only serve to cast doubt on her motives, as the hunt to uncover the truth behind her identity continues and the question remains: “Who Is Salt?”

So exciting! Is she a Russian spy or isn’t she? Oh. Thanks Standard.

In an amazing bit of investigative journalism The Standard has uncovered that the majority of homeless people in Hong Kong are crazy. Contrary to popular belief, people of sound mind do not voluntarily seek a life on the roach and rat infested streets and back alleys of Hong Kong. The TDS investigative unit was not so easily convinced and decided to do some probing of our own. However, due to a lack of funding we were only able to reach out to this man, who allowed his photo to be taken, but would not give his name. The following is a transcript of an interview with “BumX” translated to English (for the original Chinese version, please click here).

TDS:  ”What do you think of The Standard’s recent article alleging that most homeless people are crazy?” (more…)

Found in SCMP today. Oh and look, Nicole Scherzinger Cheryl Cole of the Pussycat Dolls is featured in it as well.

Keeping with tradition, the Hong Kong Book Fair was once again overrun by pseudo-models and the hordes of spank monkeys admirers that come to gawk at them. Unlike previous years however, the star of the show was not some tricked out china doll, but rather an adoring fan.

Samuel Cheng, after a brief on-site interview with Now TV, has since become an online sensation of sorts. Video clips documenting the exchange – during which the boy passionately described his facination with Hong Kong “it” girl Chrissie Chau – have already received as many as 228,000 views to date.

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