Nicole Kidman's Quarantine-Free Stay in HK Sparks Anger

 

Kidman is in Hong Kong filming a TV series for Amazon

Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman is in town filming a television series for Amazon called Expats and she really is living the glamorous expatriate life in Hong Kong.

She flew into Hong Kong from Sydney in a private jet and even got permission from the government to avoid having to quarantine, much to the shock of the rest of us who have had to suffer through the authorities' extreme measures of up to 21 days in quarantine to keep the Covid-19 virus out.

She was shopping in Cos, not in quarantine

The Australian celebrity was spotted in fashion boutique Cos -- which made people wonder why considering she is living in a residence up on the Peak for HK$650,000 (US$83,500) a month, and apparently staying until October.

When asked to explain why Kidman was already out and about two days after her arrival when she should have been in hotel quarantine for seven days, the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau clarified today she was given permission to carry out "designated professional work... conducive to maintaining the necessary operation and development of Hong Kong's economy."

What about the rest of us? Are we not contributing to the local economy?

This privilege of avoiding quarantine came with other conditions, that Kidman take at least three Covid-19 tests in the first two weeks of her stay, submit an itinerary of her job activities, travel only point-to-point, and stay off public transport.

Oh guess we won't be seeing her on the MTR then.

A select few others get to avoid quarantine as well, such as top business executives and diplomats, subject to the approval of the Chief Secretary.

A complicated quarantine graphic shows Kidman free to go

On social media Kidman was criticized for taking advantage of these perks and living the high life while residents are literally trying to leave the city because of the repressive measures the government is imposing.

This is not the first time Kidman has been hit out for her living arrangements -- last year she and her husband Keith Urban came back to Sydney and didn't have to do quarantine in government quarters, but in the comfort of their holiday home with their two daughters.

So today Kidman is on par with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in terms of their popularity ratings. 

There's going to be lots more questions about this at Lam's Tuesday morning press conference...

 

 

Chloe Zhao's Big Oscar Win Muted in China

Zhao gives her acceptance speech with a saying in Mandarin

 

The results of the Academy Awards this year were such a breakthrough for Asian stars and films -- but no one in Hong Kong could watch them on television.

On March 29, pro-establishment broadcaster TVB announced it would not show The Oscars -- despite airing the awards show for the past 52 years -- saying it was a "purely commercial" decision.

Protesters shield themselves in Do Not Split

Perhaps it was following an edict from Beijing telling mainland Chinese media in February not to transmit live coverage of the Academy Awards this year because of the nomination of Do Not Split, a 35-minute documentary about the 2019 Hong Kong protests, and remarks made by Beijing-born director Chloe Zhao back in 2013 that were deemed controversial by Chinese internet users.

In the end China was the sore loser -- Do Not Split did not win after all for Best Documentary Short, losing to Colette about a French resistance survivor who returns to Germany for the first time since World War II, while Zhao, 39, won two Oscars for Nomadland. She is the first woman of colour and second female to win Best Director, and she also won for Best Picture, while actress Frances McDormand also won Best Actress for Nomadland.

While Asians on Twitter rejoiced Zhao's historic win, the Chinese on the mainland were completely silent, either unaware or instructed not to make any comments on social media, or if anyone tried to post something about her or her film, it was immediately censored.

A widow drifts around the US in Nomadland

Nomadland was supposed to be released in China on April 23 and it may not even happen.

Nevertheless, Zhao seems to have taken things in stride and in fact took the high road.

"I've been thinking a lot lately of how I keep going when things get hard. I think it goes back to something I learned when I was a kid," she said in her acceptance speech.

"When I was growing up in China, my dad and I used to play this game. We would memorize classic Chinese poems and texts, and we would recite them together and try to finish each other's sentences.

"There's one that I remember so dearly, it's called the Three Character Classics. The first phrase goes, '人之初，性本善', 'People at birth are inherently good'. Those six letters had such a great impact on me when I was a kid and I still truly believe them today.

Zhao's win was censored in China today

"Even though sometimes it might see like the opposite is true, I have always found goodness in the people I met, everywhere I wen in the world.

"So this is for anyone who had the faith, and the courage to hold on to that goodness in themselves, and to hold on to the goodness in each other, no matter how difficult it is to do that.

"And this is for you. You inspire me to keep going."

In that thoughtful speech Zhao demonstrated she was a well educated woman who learned Chinese classics and has kept those values as an adult. 

Why wouldn't Beijing want to uphold her as an example of a worldly and successful Chinese person who has conquered Hollywood? 

But no, it would rather not showcase someone who left China and became an independent person with an independent mind. And she's a woman.

Zhao's next movie is Marvel's Eternals, starring Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani and Richard Madden that is due out in November.

Will Beijing ban that too?

 

Another Side of Audrey Hepburn

Beautiful pale blue dress Audrey Hepburn wore

Auction house Christie's is going to sell some of Hollywood actress Audrey Hepburn's personal items in an upcoming sale on September 27 in London.

Tailoring details in this coat dress

To drum up interest in Hong Kong, some of the pieces, from clothing to jewellery to miscellaneous items are being shown at the Landmark Atrium -- otherwise known as the Landmark fountain -- from now until September 8.

Yesterday we saw the items on show and were in awe of Hepburn's petite size, though she was quite tall too.

There was a black cocktail dress by Givenchy Couture she wore as Regina "Reggie" Lampert in the 1963 movie Charade, or how about the gorgeous pale blue satin cocktail gown she wore to promote Two For the Road.

She also had Burberry trench coat way before it was trendy years ago, and a few pairs of ballet flats (used) should you want to own them.

We loved the detail of the ivory wool coat dress with the detail of the outer stitching, the mother of pearl buttons, and knit sleeves. What a cool combination created by Valentino.

Also for sale is a tiara and the annotated script from Breakfast at Tiffany's that will probably generate a lot of interest.

Did you know Hepburn could paint? Now you do!

What I liked the most was her oil painting called My garden flowers painted in 1969. The flowers are so colourful and vibrant, with texture too from the brushstrokes to try to make it less two-dimensional.

I didn't know she was a painter, like Katherine Hepburn too!

Our Princess Leia

Princesses can also hold their own, in a galaxy far, far, away...

There are only a few more days left in the year and it was very sad to hear the news that yet another celebrity who made an impression on my youth was gone.

Actress Carrie Fisher passed away this morning at the age of 60, a few days after she had had a heart attack on a flight from London to Los Angeles.

Actress Carrie Fisher died today at the age of 60

We all thought our Princess Leia had died.

Many of us remember when Star Wars came out in 1977, watching this beautiful brunette woman with these large buns around her ears and dressed in white.

Up until that point, my preconceptions of what a princess was was developed from watching Walt Disney movies, like Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Snow White -- how the princess or the beautiful woman was saved by a dashing prince and how they would live happily ever after.

Princess Leia shattered those old fashioned images for me -- and countless other little girls -- love her. While she might be a princess, she was very adept at shooting guns to kill storm troopers, knowing her way around the Death Star, wearing a long dress that covered her up and flat boots, and even having funny zingers to fend off the attentions of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.

Fisher in Star Wars with Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford

The next Halloween I was Princess Leia though I remember it was very cold wearing that thin white outfit with a brown belt. But we all wanted to be Princess Leias and Luke Skywalkers.

Watching the original Star Wars trilogy again in my 20s made me see how the dialogue was much more wittier than my six-year-old brain could figure out, and I could see the sexual chemistry between Han Solo and Princess Leia.

She redefined for me the definition of a heroine -- that she could achieve things herself -- she didn't need to depend on a man. They seemed like tools she could use to achieve her means.

I didn't watch the thinly autobiographical Postcards from the Edge, but I later saw Fisher in When Harry Met Sally..., another favourite movie of mine, where she plays Sally's best friend Marie, who immediately clicks with Harry's best friend Jess and they soon get married.

Fisher with Bruno Kirby in When Harry Met Sally...

It was lovely to see Fisher again, and saying some funny lines.

Now I feel like I should read some of her books, where I am reading in obituaries that she was an even better writer than actress, writing about her life experiences as the daughter of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, growing up in Hollywood and getting into drugs, and being diagnosed bipolar.

Carrie Fisher, thank you. Thank you for telling an entire generation of little girls in the late 1970s that we too can be our own Princess Leias -- able to hold our own, witty, smart, strong and caring.

Pictures of the Day: Fashion Flops

Huanhuan and Sarah Jessica Parker -- look familiar?

The big fashion event in New York Monday night was the Costume Institute Gala, an annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute. Vogue's Anna Wintour gets to pick the theme of the year, and it coincided with the current exhibition, "China: Through the Looking Glass".

Everyone from Hollywood actresses to singers, celebrities and models pulled out the stops to make a grand entrance on the red carpet.

Rhianna's dress resembles an omelette.... right?

The verdict? Not many laowai can pull off the China look.

There were two big flops. One was actress Sarah Jessica Parker with her red headdress designed by Philip Treacy that looked like flames coming up from her head. She resembled Huanhuan, one of the Beijing Olympics mascots, that has flames coming out of its head.

The other was Rhianna, who wore a large imperial yellow dress by Chinese designer Guo Pei, who has now found notoriety, because many people in the mainland felt the haute couture dress looked like a giant omelette.

Some people got creative with photoshop, and there's one image of Rhianna in her dress in a frying pan with SJP with her flaming headdress underneath...

Jack Ma Yun Speaks his Mind

Jack Ma talked about a wide range of topics at the World Economic Forum

Charlie Rose interviewed Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma Yun at Davos at the World Economic Forum. The video is here.

Someone did not brief Rose on how to pronounce Chinese words and names... it was excruciating hearing him say Hangzhou wrong as well as tai chi! Hello?! Who is your research assistant!

Nevertheless, it was a wide-ranging 44-minute interview asking Ma about his background and how he became successful with Alibaba. Ma was born in 1964 in Hangzhou and grew up during the Cultural Revolution and around the age of 12 fell in love with English.

But he said there were no English books so he went to what is now the Hangzhou Shangri-La and would take foreigners around on tour of the city for free to practice his English.

This was how he got the name Jack -- a tourist from the US suggested it, and after practicing for years, people were impressed by Ma's English, saying he sounded much like a native speaker. Ma added he also learned different things from visitors, who taught him things he never would have learned in school or from his parents.

Charlie Rose interviewing Jack Ma in Davos

He talked about being rejected many times, not only in his application to Harvard (10 times), but also Alibaba's IPO the first time around. "I don't know anyone else who was rejected 30 times," he says humbly.

In 1995 he visited the US for the first time and tried the internet for the first time in Seattle. The first word he typed in? Beer. He found there were beers from different countries, but beers from China were not mentioned.

His second search word was "China" and there was no information on the country, so he suggested to his friends that they create a website that he admits looked hokey.

Ma came up with the name Alibaba in the US. He asked a waitress in a restaurant what she thought of the word Alibaba and she said, "open sesame". He asked more people o the street, and they said the same and so the name stuck. "It also starts with A," he said with a smile.

The company has 100 million buyers online everyday and has helped create 14 million jobs. Some 800 million use Alipay.

Rose asked Ma about his relationship with the Chinese government, and the response was direct. He said he didn't want to do anything with the authorities when it came to business, but felt it was important to keep them abreast with what's going on with regards to ecommerce and the internet. "Be in love with the government but don't marry them," he said.

When it started, many wondered if Alibaba would work because most transactions in China relied on guanxi. But now the company does 60 million transactions a day so there must be some kind of trust, he says. Customers don't know who the seller is and yet they give them money in the trust that they will get the product they want.

For the first few years Alibaba was just surviving, but he saw how the company changed people's lives. Ma wasn't making money, but he would go to restaurants, and later find out his bill was paid by a happy Alibaba customer.

Not only does Alibaba sell Chinese products to the world, but vice versa. He gave the example of American cherries, where the fruit was pre-ordered and then sent over to China within 48 hours of being picked. He also cited selling 300 tons of nuts to the mainland as well as Alaska seafood.

When Rose changed the subject to Hollywood, Ma immediately said that his favourite character was Forrest Gump. "He's simple and never gives up. People think he's dumb but he believes in what he is doing," Ma explains. "Life really is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get."

Towards the end of the interview, Rose says Ma is one of the richest men in China. Ma is humble about it, and tries to explain it's not his money, but investors who believe Alibaba can do better with the money than the government, which is why he feels he must be responsible.

Ma also feels it's crucial to spend more resources on young people, because he observes they lose hope, vision and complain. "We were also depressed at the time, but we found opportunities," he says.

Interesting to hear Ma trying to inspire young people to keep going, and he is the poster boy for being China's Forrest Gump in his determination. He definitely is a trailblazer -- not without his stops and starts -- but can others follow his example?

Red-Faced Hong Kong

Hollywood director Michael Bay is in Hong Kong filming Transformers 4

This morning some friends woke up very early and wandered around Central to find director Michael Bay shooting Transformers 4 in Hong Kong.

They did find him at Chater Garden and took some snaps that were uploaded on Facebook.

Later in the afternoon I just happened to see a small crew huddled in a corner across from the Bank of China building with lots of uniformed police standing around.

We're assuming there's more security after Bay, 48, was attacked by two locals trying to extort money from him in Quarry Bay earlier this week.

On his blog, Bay explained that every vendor who is inconvenienced by the filming is compensated "a fair price", but then two men made filming difficult by creating lots of noise on the set or purposely bumping into the stars.

Bay says the two demanded four times the amount of compensation and he personally refused to pay them more.

"He didn't like that answer. So an hour later he came by my crew as we were shooting, carrying a long air conditioner unit," blogged the director.

"He walked right up to me and tried to smack my face, but I ducked, threw the air unit on the floor and pushed him away."

Bay then said security tried to subdue the man, but Bay says it took seven men to do this, suggesting the extortionist was drugged up. "It was like a Zombie in Brad Pitt's movie World War Z."

Then according to Bay, the perpetrator lifted seven men and even bit into one of the guard's shoes. In the end it took 15 policemen in riot gear to control the situation.

A police spokeswoman said two brothers surnamed Mak, 27 and 28, approached Bay and demanded HK$100,000 ($12,900).

It was the elder brother who attacked Bay and was arrested on suspicion of assault, while the younger Mak was arrested for suspicion of blackmail and assault.

Bay suffered minor injuries on the right side of his face from the attack and refused medical treatment.

At the end of his blog post, Bay wrote, "After that, we had a great day shooting here in Hong Kong."

Incidents like these are so embarrassing for Hong Kong. We have ambassadors like Andy Lau Tak-wah trying to promote the city as fun and exotic, but then the positive images are thrown by the wayside when a few rotten apples crop up.

Perhaps the Hong Kong Tourism Board is bending over backwards for Bay and his crew in order to ensure this doesn't happen again. And if it isn't, it should -- We can't afford the negative publicity.