Picture of the Day: Hello Kitty Bling

Care for a Hello Kitty-themed necklace from Mikimoto? Only HK$2 million

Today I was out for a story and was at Elements mall at Kowloon City when I passed by the Mikimoto boutique and when I saw this necklace I couldn't help but laugh.

The 12-strand pearl necklace features the face of Hello Kitty, with her distinctive eyes, nose and bow on her left ear.

I couldn't make out what's on the left side of the necklace -- perhaps a cat that just went splat on the screen door?

But I did a bit of research and discovered this collaboration between Mikimoto and Hello Kitty was back in 2014, and the necklace I just described has a whopping HK$2 million price tag.

There's also a choker featuring the famous feline around the neck of the wearer.

How chic.

Who would be a Hello Kitty freak and have enough dough to buy these jewellery pieces?

Or is this a serious miscalculation on the part of Mikimoto that this would be a sure winner?

Checking Out Affordable Art

A Yue Minjun image made of tram pictures

This afternoon I went to check out the Affordable Art Fair at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. It's much smaller than Art Basel, but without the pretense which is refreshing, as the works on sale range from HK$1,000 to HK$100,000.

There's no limit -- use receipts to make art!

There also aren't as many outrageous pieces, keeping it focused to a practical, novice crowd. Interestingly while 62 percent of the galleries were from Hong Kong, the second-biggest showing was from South Korea at 22 percent, followed by Singapore (12 percent) and Japan (3 percent).

A lot of the art on show was very accessible, and for the most part fun. How about the painting of Hello Kitty crossing out the "C" in "Celine" and writing "F" on top for "Feline" by Andre Tan for HK$16,250?

Zoie Lam busy drawing cartoons on the wall

Another cool one was by Aldo Williams, using thousands of images of Hong Kong trams and maps to create a collage of a Yue Minjun-like image, which is why it is titled Thanks to Yue Minjun1, for HK$29,100.

We also liked the Mona Lisa found object collage by Jane Perkins, definitely a one-of-a-kind for HK$33,250, and if you had that on your wall, you'd probably find something interesting in it everyday, with all the different items in there to recreate Leonardo da Vinci's most famous portrait.

Another painting by Kim Yeong Su called Sunset Clouds and Trees in Spring (HK$45,000) looked like a cross between Chinese realism painting and Monet's waterlilies. Go figure.

One piece that caught my eye was Scott Chan's series of colourful drawings called Holiday (HK$4,000), that on closer look reveal they were drawn on receipts from cosmetics shop Bonjour, and supermarkets Wellcome and Park N Shop. Now there's no excuse not to make art anywhere.

A collage of Mona Lisa by Jane Perkins

Another popular artist was Ric Tse, who creates diorama scenes out of Lego and then photographs them. All of his pictures relate to Hong Kong in some way, attracting interest from young and old.

A few artists made art in front of visitors, like Zoie Lam, who drew numerous cartoon-like characters on the wall that looked funky.

I finished going through the show in just over an hour. Events like these get the public more exposed to art which is a good, and also learn the value of art, instead of just hearing the astronomical prices for big names sold at auction.

You too can have some decently-priced art on your wall!

A mashup of portrait and waterlilies

The Sales Pitch

A giant boat load of orchid plants for only HK$13,888

It's that time of year again -- the Lunar New Year flower market at Victoria Park. The madness began yesterday and I decided to check it out tonight with a friend.

Poking fun at the police banners used during the protests

While we entered from the Causeway Bay entrance, we didn't take the conventional route of going from the far left row to the other end, and instead headed to the middle in a bid to avoid massive crowds at the beginning.

We saw the usual stuffed toys, from sheep and Hello Kittys, to emojis and even pillows shaped like giant lollipops. There were a few Umbrella Movement-themed stalls, one with voice balloons that said: "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one" quoting John Lennon, and yellow umbrella-shaped  balloons.

One stall had a yellow banner that read: "Merchant warning: You are in Lunar New Year Fair. You may be approached", and the people manning the stall were selling water bottles that looked like tear gas canisters.

Check out Regina Leung and her tank!

The Democratic Party didn't have a large supply of Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying-themed toilet paper and tissues on hand, but instead had face towels with his caricature on it looking wolf-like. They also had a cardboard tank with lobster claws on it and Leung's wife Regina in her military-like outfit as commander-in-chief of the Hong Kong Army Cadets. She even has a Hitler-like moustache...

And while there were lots of stalls selling flowers, mostly orchids, there was one selling potted cabbage -- sang choi which has the same meaning as prosperity. So maybe it would be good to grow one of these at home -- have fresh salad and hopefully the money will be rolling in too?

However we got sucked into one stall when we saw the guy handing out free stuff -- was it really free? First it was cloths for household cleaning, and then these plastic hooks that can hold up to 4kg of stuff. My friend and I got those hooks and were hoping to get our hands on those cloths.

But wait! There's more! The sales guy whipped out a chopping knife and showed us how sharp it was and told us each of us could have one -- and if you did, raise your hand! Of course we did.

Lots of cabbage for those wanting a richer Year of the Sheep!

He was very chatty and kept making us repeat the company name, that these products would be available from March 15, and that we were not allowed to sell these, but to try for ourselves and tell our friends about it. Would we do that? Yes! Who wants to try them? We do!

But that's not all! There's also a shaver that you add shaving cream to and it doesn't make a mess, and you can even clean it by dunking it in a container of water! And even the wire for charging it can be put in the water too even if it's plugged in! Very crazy.

By this time, my right foot went numb from standing there listening to him go on and on and telling us he would give us all these things, and at the same time teasing and cajoling us, making us repeat his words over and over. Was he going to give us the stuff or not?

Only 12 people would be able to get all these things -- including a cutting board too -- but wait -- it's not free. Would you pay HK$1 for it? How about HK$10? HK$100?

Some yellow umbrella balloons hanging around

In the end it turned out people had to pay HK$500 for the whole lot and there were many takers -- even a few who had already whipped out the money because they had been told the total value of all the items was under HK$2,000.

We had stood around for almost an hour... and left empty handed. But boy was he a good talker.

By this point we were exhausted and so we didn't finish the rest of the stalls and instead headed to the flower stalls so that I could buy my consolation prize of a pot of orchids...

Pictures of the Day: Hello Kitty Madness

The first Hello Kitty design from 1974. Happy Birthday!

The other day I was in Causeway Bay a decided to go to Windsor House to pick up more of those delicious green tea cookies made by iBakery. When I got to this mall, what did I see? A feline with a giant oval head and a red bow on her left ear.

I immediately contact YTSL and she just happened to be in the vicinity and rushed over.

Hello Kitty flying a plane...

Needless to say she was in kitty heaven -- and she was in good company. There were lots of people ranging from kids to women in their 50s and 60s all wanting to take photos with Hello Kitty.

Even though there were signs that said "Do not touch", they were fondling her face when posing with her...

The small exhibition and pop-up store on the ground floor celebrate Hello Kitty's 40th birthday until June 8. And the statues they have set up are mostly of the retro kind -- the cat wearing overalls, sitting on a yellow plane, and a baby version of her with Dear Daniel.

There's also a strange one of her with strawberries over her ears and on her stomach...

And behind glass cases are some memorabilia, with the oldest one from 1974 -- the date of her birth -- is a change purse with Hello Kitty sitting in between a bottle of milk and a goldfish in a glass bowl.

Inside the pop-up store are lots of Hello Kitty merchandise, from towels and stuffed toys of the cat's likeness, to chopstick designs from every year, handbags and stationary items all reasonably priced.

An antique now -- Hello Kitty change purse

Most surprising was that YTSL didn't buy anything! But she did go back again and take more photographs of her feline friend...

Windsor House

311 Gloucester Road
Causeway Bay