Tony Blair's make-up secret is out
The secret of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's famous all-year healthy glow has been revealed -- he spends almost twice as much on make-up as the average British woman. Figures released by Downing Street in answer to a parliamentary question showed that Blair spent more than £1,800 (US$3,150) on make-up and make-up artists over the past six years. In contrast, the average British woman spends £195 (US$345) a year on both make-up and skincare. The written answer was released quietly on the final day of the parliamentary session before MPs begin their summer break.
Download Robbie Williams legally
Robbie Williams may never win any prizes for originality with his hugely popular musical output but the chart- topping singer has signed a novel deal with a mobile phone network that could revolutionise the way fans buy his songs. The singer has signed an exclusive deal with the global telecom giant T-Mobile that will allow customers to download songs, exclusive live tracks and concert footage to their mobile phones. The 18-month deal is the biggest tie-up yet between a big artist and a phone company and will be watched with interest by others convinced that mobile music delivery will become an important factor in boosting flagging record sales over the next few years.
`Paris Plage' starts copycat trend
Paris Plage, the ephemeral beach set up on the banks of the Seine River that winds through the French capital, opened this week for the fourth season of a quirky project that has since spawned copycat beaches in cities across Europe and as far away as Tokyo. This year's version took off with a samba beat in honor of the year-long "Brazil in France" cultural and economic exchange. The now familiar blue-and-white beach chairs, flags and umbrellas are sprawled along a 3.5km stretch of sand and grass named this year after Brazil's legendary Ipanema, Maracana and Copacabana beaches.
Christmas but once a year, Santas say
Some 80 Santas from around the globe meeting at their World Congress debated establishing a second Christmas in July to ease their December workload, but finally decided that the holiday would be feted only once a year, the Danish Santa host said this week. "There was a proposal from the Japanese Santa Claus that was hotly debated, but the delegates, even if they were in favour of the idea, did not want to adopt it because it risks upsetting the children of the world," Denmark's Father Christmas said. "The Christmas date of Dece. 24 to Dec. 25 will not be changed, even though we are about to collapse from overwork. The tradition must be respected," he said.
Artwork stolen, presumed drunk
An artist has appealed for the return of an artwork that consisted of a bottle of water on a plinth, saying he feared it had been stolen and then drunk. US artist Wayne Hill, had devised the artwork, a two-liter clear plastic bottle filled with melted ice from the Antarctic, to highlight the dangers of global warming. Entitled Weapon of Mass Destruction it was on show at an arts festival in Devon, southwest England. "It looked like an ordinary bottle of water, but it was on a plinth, labelled, described and in the program of the whole festival," Hill said. "It was very, very clear what it was -- a work of art."
Coldplay singer `sexiest vegetarian'
Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin has been named one of the "World's Sexiest Vegetarians" in a poll conducted by a US animal rights group, officials said this week. The British husband of Hollywood movie siren Gwyneth Paltrow joined the winner of the American Idol television talent show, Carrie Underwood, at the top of an online poll of more than 13,000 people conducted by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Martin, 28, and Underwood narrowly edged out other non meat-eating celebrities including X-Files star David Duchovny, Legally Blonde actress Reese Witherspoon, British singer Joss Stone, and actor Joaquin Phoenix.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not