Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
When attentive bookstore clerks line their shelves with literature as complements to city guides, the Paris selections are often chosen from favourites of the 1920s and ’30s: Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises andA Moveable Feast, Orwell’s Down & Out in Paris and London, the short stories of Fitzgerald. Rarely if ever does Henry Miller’s Black Spring make the cut. Coming […]
Arj Barker
A role in a cult TV comedy gave him his big break, but Arj Barker prefers to earn his laughs live, writes Pavan Shamdasani “That Flight of the Conchords guy” – for years, comedian Arj Barker has had to live with that alter-ego. As supporting character Dave, Barker won plaudits and broke through to the comedy mainstream […]
Vietnam’s Renegade Chefs
Last April, a shot rang out in Asia’s culinary world, its echo still resonating across the continent. For the first time in its decadelong history, Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list shone a spotlight on Vietnam, ranking contemporary Ho Chi Minh City eatery Anan in 39th place and formally acknowledging it as the country’s most innovative […]
Ho Chi Minh City: City Living
Saigon. Paris of the East. The Pearl of the Orient. The setting of erotic French novels and thrilling Graham Greene mysteries. There was once a time when the city now known as Ho Chi Minh held a fascinating allure for travellers – a place of intrigue and exoticism, the perfect blend of colonial culture and […]
The Man in the High Castle (1962)
Many of us are fascinated by the reclusive author: the literary sage who produces one work every few decades, holed up in a dusty castle of old books, worn-out typewriters and crumpled pages. J.D. Salinger, Harper Lee, Thomas Pynchon, Emily Dickinson – the concept has become almost a badge of honour for many a writer. […]
DJ Enso
DJ Enso has turned a Sheung Wan space into a unique venue hosting art, music and other events, writes Pavan Shamdasani It’s 2am on a Saturday morning and something’s happening in the otherwise sleepy district of Sheung Wan. On a quiet, mostly residential street, a rabble of young rousers has gathered outside a seemingly innocuous […]
Sipping Cocktails on Plastic Stools
Is there anything more synonymous with Saigon than the humble street cart? With stalls citywide on every corner, it’s our version of the public house — places where people come together and connect, as close as possible to the beating heart of the street. From your early morning bánh mì, to a syrupy-strong cà phê […]
Macau: A Colony’s New Groove
It’s been almost two decades since Macau’s handover from Portugal to China – but a new wave of entrepreneurs is harking back to the city’s colonial past. Pavan Shamdasani searches for old-school-style establishments around the city’s backstreets Most people see Macau as its moniker: the Vegas of Asia, a hedonistic city of gambling and gastronomy, […]
Naked Lunch (1991)
Cinematic history is filled with black marks where incredible egos thought they could improve on a literary opus for the silver screen. Still, there exists a small class of filmmakers who realise that the correct adaptation means measure for measure, not page by page. Examples include Stanley Kubrick’s epics, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runnerand, of course, […]
Albert Watson, Photographer
Pavan Shamdasani zooms in on the life of famed photographer Albert Watson. During the past few months, one of Albert Watson’s most iconic photographs has been splashed over the pages of every newspaper, magazine and website in the world. It’s a black-and-white shot of Apple founder Steve Jobs, a striking image of the businessman before […]