Retro Gaming Goes Analogue
Within seconds, nearly all of the world’s media can be at your fingertips. At the click of a button, you can easily access Buster Keaton’s early shorts, the “Closet Mix” of the Velvet Underground’s third album and the entire oeuvre of Philip K. Dick. However, this isn’t true for video games. Once a generation has […]
Hong Kong: The Ultimate Melting Pot
Hong Kong is one of the world’s truly cosmopolitan cities. It is a melting pot of native Tanka, mainlanders, descendants of British colonists, and immigrants from corners of Eastern Europe and South Asia, among other places. My family is quintessentially Hong Kong: I’m an ethnic Indian, raised by two thrill seekers who grew up in […]
The Princess Bride (1973)
Great fantasy often acts as a means to escape the boredom of everyday life. Particularly in literature, where nothing more than faded text on yellowed paper can spur the imagination and evoke realms far beyond the mundane and the ordinary. A tale well told can change a story from simple fiction into the stuff of […]
Robert A.M. Stern, Architect
A new addition to Hong Kong’s skyline goes against the city’s love affair with glass and steel. Its architect Robert Stern talks with Pavan Shamdasani. A tourist arrives at the Chek Lap Kok airport after a tiring long-haul flight. He boards the Airport Express and gets off at Central. He gets in a taxi at […]
A Crafty Little Brew
Craft beer. It’s on the minds and in the mouths of every Asian hipster, and over the past five years, hundreds if not thousands of craft breweries have cropped up across the continent. Most are jumping on the bandwagon with little inspiration, passing off hop-heavy brews as another bland IPA. But a select few are […]
Japan’s Craziest Theme Parks
World-record-breaking roller coasters and recreations of eras long past. Gargantuan video-game paradises and maze-like odes to anime. Mini versions of a quaint Dutch town and the long-demolished Kowloon Walled City. Theme parks like these could only exist in Japan – a country that embraces niche interests and encourages strange tastes while others obsess over the […]
Civil Disobedience (1849)
As pro-democracy protesters continue to peacefully fill Hong Kong’s streets, despite tear gas and paid thugs, we’re reminded of past successes. Of Mahatma Gandhi’s fight for Indian independence, of Martin Luther King’s American civil rights movement – and of the man who inspired both, by being the first to define nonviolent resistance: author, poet and […]
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Red Hot Chili Peppers take change in stride, always bonded by the passion for the music, writes Pavan Shamdasani Anthony Kiedis steps out of a taxi at the Four Seasons Hong Kong Hotel – and nothing happens. No paparazzi harassing his wife and kid for a sneaky shot, no boob-tube fan armed with a […]
The Secret’s Out
It’s 2pm on a lazy Sunday afternoon and you’re trying to enjoy brunch. The latest hipster spot your “insider friend” recommend is packed to the gills, and you’re crammed shoulder-to-shoulder over some overcooked eggs and a weak Bloody Mary. But across the street, something is happening. The lights are dimmed, the curtains drawn, but through […]
Alternative Singapore
Thoughts of Singapore naturally turn to flatness – to its mostly level terrain, but also to its lack of edgy appeal. Many consider it a characterless city that’s always a couple of steps behind trendsetting metropolises, with nothing to offer but bland and overpriced entertainment. But a sea change is under way, thanks in part […]